The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-05-18
CHILD LABOR. nw 1Hra p~~an}1Jo ~ k3aduyfn

By Mrs. RreBctlla .. oodWln.
 Have any stronger. words ever been written in connection with the child la Der. Der 'aaISy HuDbsrd osn of New lew tSs York: M
 "White Slavery in the South.
 Next to Massachusetts, South caroii- na manufactures more cotton cloth than any other State in the Union. The cotton mills of South Carolina are mostly owned and operated by New England capital. Massachusetts to South Carolina) was made for the ostensible purpose of being near the raw product, but the actual req son is that ih South Carolina there is no < law regulating child labor. Heartless cu- pidity has joined hands with brutal igno- rance and the result is child labor of SO terrible a type that African slavery was a, paradise compared with it. Many of the black slaves lived to a good old age. and they got hearty enjoyment out of can never develop into men and women. There are no mortality statistics. The mill owners bafiie all attempts of the out side public to get at the facts. but my opinion is, that in many mills death sets the little prisoners free inside of four years Beyond that he cannot hope to live, and this opinion is derived from careful observation. and interviews with practice in the vicinity of the mills. Boys and girls from the age of years and upward are employed. They usually worl from in the morning until 2 at night. For four months of the year they go to work before daylight and work until af- ter dark"
 MT. Hubbard then relates how he saw these .'weazened pigmies" at their noon recess devouring, in silence. their bread and meat. and immediately afterWaro v..,s creatures--no thought of play or fun for them!
 Emotion. sensation were deadened in p.heir work-worn bodies the capacity to play and the ehild tilat cannot play cannot learn"
 Mrs. Ashby McFadyen to whose active work in arousing a general sentiment on this important subject. Alabamians should be very grateful has, many times. de scribed for us the work of the small chill dren in the mills, the tying of broken threads. They stand. these children. pac- ing to and fro. tying the threads. for of itl Eleven hours a day. working at the same thing. without speech. every word, every thought. drowned in the mo- notonous whirr of the machinery-and thinking of it. thank God. that their years mot the cry. of the children-these little ones do not. rebei-but the Woe of the Children" the dull dead misery of little. little children who have forgotten tears 4S well d5 iduHutchs
 How the heart aches and the tears blind to think of them!
 But hear MT. Hubbard again:
 "Child labor exists In Georgia and Ala bama to an extent nearly as grievous as 1t does in South Carolina, but in each Of these States there are bands of brave men and excellent women who are wagine war to stop. the slaughter of the inno- cents. =
 South Carolina weaves cotton. that Massachusetts may wear silk. South car olina cannot abolish child labor because the mill owners who live in Massachu- setts, oppose it. They have invested their millions in South Carolina with the tacit understanding with the Legislature and Governor that there shall be no State in- spection of mills. Each succeeding elec- ton the candidates for the Legislature; secretly make promises that they will not pass bill forbidding child labor. ss If women could vote in South Carolina they would wipe child labor out with a sweep"
 Space will not allow further comment. MT. Hubbard's article should be read in its entirety. It is not long. but 1t is per haps the strongest and most trenchant exposition of the horrors of child labor vet written.