The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-11-06
sophistry About Child Labor.

Norfolk Va) Landmark, Oct. &C.
We had intended to say something
about the sophistry in citing instances of
cruelty as justification of the evils of
child la Dor in some of our Southern mills,
but The Montg omery Advertiser expresses
the idea so well that we are glad to let
1t speak for The Landmark also:
The right or wrong of child labor in
the mills in Alabama cannot in any de-
gree be affected by showing that the lit
tie ones are oppressed in Pennsylvania
or Chicago. 1t would be as pertinent to
cry down laws for the protection of wo-
men in Alabama by saying that women
are slaves in Turkey or in China. Wrong
in one section of the country is no justi-
ficaticn of wrong in another section The
fact that children's lives are ground out
of them in the Pennsylvania mining re-
gions does not in any degree lessen the
sufferings of those little ones who are
faring but little better in Alabama. While
we nave a national sympathy for the OPP
pressed of all countries and all sections,
we are most directly interested in those
at our own doors. The Advertiser de-
sires to lend its assistance in the good
work of correcting the evils at home,
and is unable to see how it can accomplish
this by calling attention to the wrong
doing of those at distance"
Calling the kettle black does not whiten
the pot in the slightest degree. Any bar
barity on earth could be excused II 1t
were admitted that the discovery of other
instances constitutes valid defense.
discussion of the child-labor question is
shown in the following New York tele-
gram to The Richmond Times:
Northern and Southern cotton mill
owners seem agreed on the subject of
child labor in the South-that it is far
fl ON being the terrible child slavery IT
has been represented TO be. Charles H.
Fish of Dover. N H., the President of
the Cotton ManIfactuI ers Association,
said last night:
To the unnitated layman. child labor
seems to be a horrible thing. 1t Is not
such a terrible thing, however. for the
manual labor performed by the children
is very light. They are confined from
early morning until evening but surely
1t is better to have them in the mill at
Cme light employment than roaming at
will in the streets and contracting vicious
habits.
Il am not verv sure that their employ
ment is of much financial profit to the
manufa cturer, although the mill that has
less expensive labor than its competitors
has an advantage But If 1t has to en-
ploy more boys to do the work than those
mills that employ more mature help. and
have their work more efficiently perform
ed, then its profit from that source dis
appears
This would make it appear that the
mill is a great thing for children because
it constitutes an all-day curfew, as 1t
were. With n general extension of the
curfew fad and the continued refusal of
State Legislatures in the South to pass
laws to keep little children from being
worked to the bone, many communities
may soon be brought to such point of
perfection" that children will not get
out into the communicating street at all.
Then the little prisoners will all he highly
moral even If they do become mental
and physical weddings
'"ro whom the goodly earth and air
Are banned and barred-forbidden farem
1t is true that the work which children
do in mills is very light. 1t is also con-
slant and monotonous, Picking up tooth
picks one by one and transferring them
from one pile to another is exceedingly
light work: but anybody who does not
think it weighs upon the system is advis-
ed to try day of it, beginning early in
the morning and keeping it up until dark
without any other rest than an intermis-
sion Of (say) an hour and half for din
ner and recreation-save the mark!
If President Charles II. Fish and 9TH
erS who agree with him are not sure that
child-labor increases the financial profit