Arizona republican., 1902-11-01
An Alabama Outrage

An Ala b ana Outrage
 The good people whose zeal runs to missionary endeavor do not need to hunt up foreign lands whereon to ex- pend their efforts. There are sections ly for the work of the missionary. Ala bama, for instance. It Is undoubtedly true that missionaries to foreign coun- tries do a great deal of good. Most people are firmly convinced that the civilization of heather lands depends upon the success of the missionary. In any event, those who contribute to the various missionary funds have the right to say where their money shall be expended. Just now. the Protest ant churches are making special efforts to collect a great fund for the support of missionaries in foreign lands and remarkable success is attending these efforts.
 But if the atrocities of child labor in southern factories and the servitude of children in state prisons do not call for the uplifting influence of the mis- sionary, it is difficult to imagine what would appeal to the missionary soci- cities. few days ago there was re- leased from the state prison of Ala bama, little boy of eight years He was pardoned by the governor. He had been convicted upon circumstantial ev- idence of stealing money from a store and sentenced to three years impris- onment. Think of it. mere infant doubt. the leading men of Alabama have grown eloquent in this campaign as they have told the people from the stump as to the 'outrages" committed against the savages in the Philippines by American soldiers, but so far as we have observed not a single voice has been raised in all the south agaist the barbarism of child labor in the factories and child servitude in the prisons. How the moral sense of a peo- pie naturally benevolent could become so blunted' is one of the mysteries which no man can explain. It is hard to believe that twelve men capable oi finding verdict of guilty in the case of a mere baby, and with the question open as to whether theft was the pur- pose, could find their way into the jury box at the same time. It becomes marvellous when it is also considered that at that time the presiding justice was man who would sentence such a flric tentiary
 From the point of view of common sense the sentence was atrocious. No child of eight years could spend that period in prison and come out with the possibility of anything but a criminal career There is no more efficient school of crime than prison, and this fact has led experienced penologists to con- demn the sending of boys of any age even to a county jail. Apart from the inhumanity and absurdity of holding a child oi eight years to a full responsi- bility for grand larceny, the sentence was unspeakably wrong Is it because the people of Alabama have had their natural feelings about children blunted by the spectacle of child abor that they tolerate such an incident? It is against Alabama that the most heartrending cruelty to children has been charged. An appeal to the New England propri- etors of factories in that state con tained statement that children who are hardly old enough to leave the nursery are employed steadily for long hours. To persons who can look on such inhumanity unmoved the sight of an eight-year-old child in prison stripes may be tolerable
 However, Alabama does not have monopoly of this form of cruelty and wickedness. The young boys in a chil- dren's home in Westchester county. New York. were found a few years ago to be horribly marked. as by chains. An investigation showed what the su- perintendent admitted, that boys were often chained to the floor, sometimes in dark cells, to prevent their escape | Should the time ever come when the | sending or a little boy to a state pris- | on for long term, or the employment | of children under ten years of age for | ten long hours a day in a factory, or the chaining of children, shall not ere | ate general feeling of intense indig- |