Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-12-13
TELEPHONES,
CHILD LABOR IN MILLS.


The Dispatch hopes 20 see at this ses-
zion Of the General Assembly some re-
medal legislation in the matter OF work
ing children Of tender age in the mills ana
factories of the State. No doubt that
.s 10 detail, the extent of this evi! mas
been exaggerated. A good many persons
whose synpa thies have been aroused on
Mis- subject. have imbibed their ideas
II the horrors" OF child labor liz the mills
If this section from the literature sent out
IN the recent crusade started at the Nof'h
against white slavery" III the Southern
cotton manufacturing plants. That cru
sade was on all-feurs with the Northern
ante bellum agitation OF the negro slavery
issue and of a piece with the ''philan-
thropic'i interest manifested up North III
Southern treatment of the emancipateo
man and brother. The child labor sitna-
ton at the South was grossly distorted,
and that there was great deal OF
hypocrisy behind the cry against it
was proved by the fact that remedial leg
islliion in some Of the Southern States
ed Nortfarn capital in Southern plants.
On investigation it was shown that cheap
llild labor at the South was one of the
magnets, which has attracted Northern
money 10 this section for investment IN
cotton manufacturing enterprises
But this We refer to only in order that
sur own people may not nisjudse the
a i'm
nate in placing the responsibility for
working young children in the mills. The
practical fact is that the evil as a sys-
tenn does exist in large degree. and is
growing one. In the absence OF laws to
prevent it, children are cooped up in the
Industrial plants and are compelled to
work long hours at an age when contine-
ment and manual labor cannot but sap
heir vitality and operate TO prevent free
Development into manhood and woman
hood
The children Of to-day are to be the
Fathers and mothers of the next genera
hon. and the continuation and increase of
.!le ills Of employing them in the mills
and factories before they have passed the
limits of childhood mean in course of
!ir1e the infusion into the body polite of
IN clement of physical degencrates. Also
they mean the incubus on the body poll
&c OF great class Of mental degenecates.
This must be clear TO any thoughtful
man, upon a little reflection. The environ
ments and work of q child in nlill-the
former by their monotonous character.
Ind the latter by its enervating effects
upon the body-are calculated to retard
mental expansion. But in addition, the
mill is being substituted for the school
during the very period OF child's life
when the child is most inpressonablc
and the seeds of education can be sown in
Its mind 10 the best advantage. The policy
Of building up q public school system and
the policy of permitting the filing up Of
the mills with children of tender age.
are utterly antagonistic 10 each other.
The one nnocks the other. If popular edu-
cation is the hope Of the future. not 10
stop the evil OF child labor In the mills
~oEld be crime against the future. There
IS no getting over that proposition And
Il il is true that the white race must con-
tinue TO dominate largely through It's ed
ucat!cn, provided we are to have the peace
and good order which ensure progress ard
prosperity. the defences Of the proposition
become all the more i,,lpresnahle. For
The child labor, in the mills especially,
Is exclusively white. While the white lit
&c ones are toling and sweating in I'M
wholesome atmosphere and amid the dis
tracing and nerve-ra cking hum and clat-
or Of machinery, the colored children
Tor the most part are reaping their full
share of the benefit Of she tax levied for
public cducat!on-a tax paid almost alto
sether by the whites. So, apart from the
sentimental and humanitarian phase OF
the problem. as it bears on cruelty 10
children-and that phase docs not fail to
appeal strongly TO us-the broadest con-
sideratsons of public policy demand. as We
see X, such legislation as will bar young
children from the mills. and turn them 10
che schoo! room.