The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1902-08-23

Effort to Abolish It-They Wish
To Put the Child in the School
Room and on the Play Ground.
Do you hear the children weeping. oh
my brothers!
Ere the SORROWS come with years?
They are leaning their young heads
against their mothers.
But that" cannot stop their tears.
At this time a great outcry is being
made against the evils Of child labor.
Certain instances in the cotton districts
Of the South and the glass factories
Of New Jersey have been brought to
our attention, and have aroused us to
a state of indignation and made us
feel that we were not doing our duty to
the rising generation. In these places
children are forced to work under con-
ditions anything but agreeable. Abuse
is their lot, injustice their daily allow
ance, few pennies their recompense.
This question Of child labor is now
agitating the mind Of the public. It is
question that should be eagerly dis
cussed by>every man and women in the
community, irrespective of their trade
or calling, or whether they are trade
unionists or not. The great press Of
the country should take it up, investi-
gate it thoroughly, and proclaim its
evils to the world. We are all aware
of the fact that on the education and
bringing-up Of our children depends
the welfare of the coming generation
and the responsibility Of the nation.
We should therefore make this question
an issue, and keep hammering at it
until we force greed and selfshness to
release our little boys and girls from
the thralldom Of the workshop, the
factory and the mine, and send them
back to ''the sunny hours of childhood'
and the life intended for them in their
youth.
At this the beginning of new GEN.
tury-called the enlightened and edu-
Gated century-we have thousands of
little white slaves working out their
young lives in the immense factories,
the department stores, the sweatshops
and the workbench. }eight, ten and
twelve hours per day, for very little
recompense, while able-bodied, grown
up men and women tramp the streets
Of our great cities in enforced idleness,
burden to themselves and a disgrace
to a nation that is looked upon as q
land of plenty and overflowing with
abundance. In the race for wealth the
employers of labor drive the man from
work, substitute. the woman in his
place, and, not yet satisfied with the
profits made, force the child into their
service MI h6uzz' any regard. fru1s its %fu-
ture welfare and education, and with
no thought whatever for the welfare
and protection of Young America"
and yet we stand idly by without
making the slightest protest against
the evil
But the young, young children. oh my
brothers
They are weeping bitterly;
They are weeping in the play-time of
the others,
In the country Of the free.
The immoral and degrading influence
of the workshop, the filthy language
used, the bad example shown, has a
tendency to mar the future of these
little ones, to rob them or their BIRTH
right--innocence and purity, to steal
from them their natural grace and
beauty, leaving them miserable speci-
mems of humanity, a dis"race to the
civilized world. Are we as nation
taking care of our children intellect
ually, morally, physically? I should
say not, if we are allowing this evil
of child labor to exist. If the nation
is so Indifferent in dealing with so vital
as citizens and trade unionists to put
y f1v oil =
demand in emphatic terms from the
politicians from the government
in power-the complete abolition of
child labor. Selfshness, greed and
competition have gone too far, and have
claimed too many of our young child
rem already. Crime and prostitution,
from bad example in the workshop,
have destroyed their lives. The pris-
ons have claimed them as inmates,
leaving them, after years of conf1ne-
ment, outcests upon civilization. And
yet we are told that the working con-
ditions of children have been "regu-
lated made more easy, congenia1 and
agreeable: that factory inspectors have
been appointed to rigidly enforce the
laws of the different States on this
question, and that all that could be
done has been done. Still we find no
improvement; things are actually grow
ing worse, with no hope for a change.
It seems to- me that regulation will
not regulate. It has been tried and
found wanting. Therefore the only
thing left is to force the issue, and to
force it soon, that no child labor, under
any conditions, will be tolerated under
the jurisdiction of the Stars and Stripes
the emblem of liberty.