The Van Buren press., 1902-12-27
The Rights Of Children.
From the Kansas City star.

From the Kansas City Star
suffer .ittle children 10 come unto NE, and
forbid them not for Of such is the Kingdom OF
1iod.-st Luke. ls.ld
II is trite it is true, In say that people
come into this world without. choice or
consent on their OWL part, but there is
justification, sometimes, for the reiter-
alton of trite sayings. Not little of
the wisd,.n Of the world is embodied
in maxlms and adages which show evil
dences of wear and persistent usage,
but they have not become valueless for
that reason. 1t is essential to the force
AND significance of this particular dis
cussiou to keep in mind that of all living
things young children are the most
helpless and dependent, and that the
cruel misery and woe which they often
suffer is the result of conditions that
they have no part in making.
That the world owes everybody In it
n living applies with especial emphasis
to children, for the reason, once more
recalled. that they come into this life
without any volition of their own, and
because, in their tender years, they are
wholly at the mercy of their elders. 1t
is IHiutl ~ Nh WV
decency of human nature that the
actual abuse of children excites among
civilized people the greatest adherence
and resentment The neglect OF chill
dren, and the sinful inequities Of society
OF which they are constantly the vic
tins, do not seem to have made an
appeal to public sentiment sufficiently
strong to have corrected them.
In the hearing yesterday at Scranton
before the arbitration committee ap'
pointed to investigate the complaints of
the miners, it WAS testified that little
girls not older than II and 12 years
were employed at night work in mills,
for which they received 65 cents for
IL hours labor. 1t was stated that this
sacrifice of childhood WAS necessary to
enable their fathers to exc out the
means necessary for the support Of
their families. These are only samples
of instances which are common all
over the land The head and front of
the offending Of these little girls is that
they were born poor. They are paying
the hard penalty of an accident of birth
which fixes the great gulf between them
and the children whose lines are drawn
in generous and luxurious homes. 1t
seems a horrible irony Of fate TO torture
youthful flesh and blood in the embrace
CT the insatiate Moloch called trade, but
that is spectacle which is contrasted
avery day with the happy lot Of children
who were born to happier things.
Now, let no man or woman who looks
into the laughing eyes OF children who
ARE well clothed and fed and pampered
by fortune forget that the system which
consigns other children to toll and pri-
walton is desperately wicked Let them
not lay the fsttering JUNCTION to their
souls that when they have satifed the
wants and and gratfied the desires OF
their own darlings they have discharged
their whole duty. There is not u prin-
ciple of justice in all the universe of
God that sanctions the iniQuities which
cause certain children to abound in lux
ury and Others TO suffer from poverty
Keep steadily in mind the fact that the
poor children who are neglected and
oppressed are not responsible for the
breath Of life which has delivered them
over to wretchedness nor for any Of the
cruel conditions which blight their
youth, and then ask yourself whether
the pittiless inequalities which make
these shocking contrasts are anything
but n trnvesty on humanity, not TO
speak Of Christianity.
1t may not be seemly to question the
designs OF Providence in permitting an
excess OF luxury to spoil one class of
children by safety and indulgence
whis another class suffers for the mere
comforts of life, but IT Is wholly fair
and right to arraign and impeach the
social system which tolerates such u re-
Yolting sin,