The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-09-05
Jhe Wessenger.
Untsred at the Postoffce at Whining
ton. n. c. a. Second-Class
Matter. April Is. 1879.
cuILD LABOR IN SOUTHERN MILLS.

have inaugurated a mighty crusade
against child labor in the mills of the
south and are constantly setting forth
it's horrors. These people, of course,
have no sympathy for or interest in the
children who work in factories in our
section. Their object is to try by this
means to check the south's rapid strides
to the front in the manufacturing in
dJstry of the country. They fear the
south and are at the same time jealous
o her growing prosperity. 1t is the old
a clifton spirit of envy aimed at the
south through another channel. One
would believe from these publications
that the worst kim of slavery exists at
OF cotton mills: that the condition of
tn Sc children is terrible; that they are
b .ng worked to death for the sake Of
the dividends the factory owners are
making; and these New Englanders
hold up their hands in horror at the
existing conditions. They pretend that
it IS the working of children in our fac
tories alone that gives them such adj
vantage. When a northern mill man in
vests his money in a southern mill, or
moves his existing plant to this section
the raise the howl that it is for the
purpose of securing child labor. The
following from q northern paper is a
fair sample of this kin of talk:
We spoke in approval of Mr.. Comp
ers' protest against child labor in the
south. \ reprehensible scheme of an
other New England establishment calls
attention to it again. The cotton duck
mill of New Hartford, Conn, which,
according to The Boston Transcript,
has been profitably operated, will move
to a southern state in the belief that it
can De more prOfitably operated there
by child labor. The law in Connecticut
fOrb.l Is the employment of children, un-
der tpurteeen. in industrial pursuits"
Tt, . this question does need regulat-
ing our section we p 10 n
will Ieny; but no unprecedented person
acquainted with the conditions will
maintlin that they are any where near
as ba. as the New England philan-
thrvpisIs would have people believe.
The paper from which the above ques-
ton is taken in depicting the horrors
of child labor in our southern cotton
mills goes on to say:
MI "OiIIpSIS Olu LOl oNSISldlG lii
case when he said men get rich from
the labor of children whose bones are
ground into almighty dollars
Why do the southern people permit
this? Are they callous? No. Taken
by and large they are just as we are
and they are outraged by this cruelty.
But when they endeaVor to get reStric-
tive legislation, the almighty dollar pre-
vaiiS against them there, too. The rich
mill owners. the sharks in many cases
Git is said in most) from the north,
rally TO buy Of yenal legislators, the
life blood of the tende children of the
south Ne have heard much in past
pOLIyas campaigns of the white slaves
of free-trade England" Such an infa-
nous condition as this, that exists in
protective tariff (whom does it protect)?
America would not be tolerated in Eng
land today for an instant"
Do OUT people recognize themselves in
the above picture? Do they know any
such cotton mill owners?
IS to the true facts and conditions the
best source of information is from those
who have taken the time and trouble to
investigate the matter, and we refer
all who wish this information to this
weeks issue of The Tradesman, of
Chattanooga. That p after giving
the matter exhaustive study and
thorough investigation publishes its con
cIusions. 1t also has a lengthy editorial
upon the information it secured. We
give some extracts from his editorial.
As to how The Tradesman secured it's
information it says:
1T was after the management of h
Tradesman had become convinced that
I'D me- N n as
would bring out the whole truth, the
side of the spinner as we'll as that of
the Junior help that We set on foot a
systematic Investigation, so
as to certainly develop the material
facts. We sent an exceptionally pains
taking business man into the mill towns
of the Carolinas and Alabama and into
the mills themselves. His story is pre-
sented in his own language elsewhere,
and to it We refer the reader for de-
tails. We addressed letters to several
hundred-in a word, to 19i-managers
of southern cotton mills, big and little,
and we have gotten hundreds OF replies,
We nave had the mill help-minora and
aduIt-interviewed in large numbers
and have asked the treaSurerS, preSl-
dents and foremen to tell their stories
in writing if they preferred, or to oul
investigating agent if they woulo
rather.
by direct inquiry and by clipping
and preserving newspaper opinions anc
assertions, and magazine articles, we
have accumulated an enormous amount
OF material, much of it very ValuaD
much quite worthless for u purpose
which purpose is solely to get at anC
tell the truth"
From the information so secured The
Tradesman gives the following con
densed statement:
.'The statistical table published else
where in this issue, embraces all th1r'
teen of the southern states; there are
however. but four of these that the child
labor question vitality affects, or upoT
which. in fact, the question has reall!
any special significance. These arr
Georgia, Alabama, North ana Souti
Carolina. The reports from these tina
that We received were signed by TN
presidents or some other official IN au
Ihority, and a therefore be CONSIDER