New-York tribune., 1902-08-31
QUESTION OF HUMANITY.

THE Charleston News and courier quite
Inisapprehends The Tribunes views and mo-
tives in urging the restriction of child labor ID
the South. In a recent article The Tribune, al
Ter noting how the opponents of restriction
,,rped that the employment of children was
incidental and Improbable. and that legal pro-
lection was not needed for them, declared that
The removal of factories to the South for the
sake of using child labor showed that this COM
Portable view of the situation could not be ac-
cepted Commenting this 1.-The News ana
Courier says:
The point is that 'ff Northern mills are to be
moved ITO the South for the sake Of child
labor and not otherwise, the abuse has
reached a dangerous stage, '-and it is clear that
laws must be made to stop it. by Congress. in
the interest Of the endangered Northern inous,
try and not at all in the interest or the o"arIeo
child laborers-
Now. that is not the point at all, we beg to
assure our Southern friends Their innate sus-
picjons of all Northern comment on Southern
conditions lead them TO read into our words
meaning which was never intended. and
motive which was never cherished. The effect
on the North of the moving of Northern mills
was not at all considered We realize that the
cheaDer adult labor of the South and the near
ness to the cotton fields make inevitable q
large DEVELOPMENT of cotton mills in that region.
We rejoice at the prospect even though some
Northern mills may be moved South. Enough
will remain and enough other business VIII
take the place of those which 90, as result
of the industrial progress Of the South and the
increased prosperity of our common country, 1or
us to look on with perfect composure. If cot
Ton can be manufactured more economically in
South Carolina than in New York, it is in the
long run best for the whole country that mills
be built there. At any rate, sectional interest
was not what we had in mind. The point was
simplv that if Northern mills were moving TO
the South for the sake of child labor the chill
dren of the South were In greater danger than
was realized by those who excused the lack OF
safeguards on the ground that only few chill
dren were employed out of charity, or to please
their parents Our concern was entirely for the
children whose systematic exploitation was
thus threatened by Northern capitalists, and
our urgency TO our Southern friends was TO be
on their guard to prevent the enslayement Of
their white boys and girls by our mercenary
manufacturers, who want to do in the new
field of the South what we, taught by expert
ence with them, no longer allow them TO do
here
The cry for the protection Of children is not
the cry of a section, but of humanity. Every
new manufacturing community has to face this
temptation TO exploit child labor. England had
the struggle years ago. eS every one who re-
members Mrs. Browning's Cry Of the Chill
dren" knows. The Northern manufacturing
States have been compelled to make IN
creasingly strict laws to protect their children
and now the great development of the South
makes the question an issue there, which
should be settled right before vast numbers of
children are ruined. We have not the slightest
doubt that the South has a great manufacturing
future. We have no wish to retard the realiza-
ton of it. Rather would we have the South
protect the rising generation of its mill workers
from the ruinous effect of mill labor in child
hood which impairs their mature efficiency and
frail and degenerate race. The South has had
no chance to study the effects Of child labor
For its sake, for the sake Of our common coun-
try we would have its future Industrial popula
ton saved from the evils which still may be
seen in old manufacturing towns where child
labor was once tolerated. 1t is not at all q
question of one or a dozen mills going South.
That is too petty a matter, and, moreover, a
certain number OF them are bound TO go any
how. and we hope they will go, for as Southern
population and wealth increase We shall sell
there more steel and wool and silk and leather
and thousands of other things. It is question
of humanity, and the only significance of the
moving of Northern mills is its indication that
the danger to the Southern children is more
real than has been frequently supposed.