The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1902-08-12
MRS. ORR AGAINST
CHILD LABOR LEGISLATION.

CHILD LABOR LEGISLATION.
Mrs Lillian Miner Orr. President of
| the Alabama Federation of Women's
| Clubs has issued an address to the Club
women of the State in which she argues
against proposed child labor legislation.
| She says in part:
There are two ways one can obtain re-
strictiors on child labor. One is by a
| law passed by the Legislature prohibiting
such employment the other is by com
| bination of mill owners among them
selves / prefer the second for great
| many reasons.
| in the first place. what is our natural
| attitude to the mill owners and capital
lists in our State? We are the daughters
| the wives or the sweethearts of the we'll
| TODD men of the State. If we carry on
| the issue as Mr.. Murphy has begun IT,
these are the men whom we are to antag-
| OniZe. Do we believe these men who are
actively engaged in creating the prosper
itv we enjoy are heartless? Do we be-
| lieye them to belong to the class of men
| whose word can be doubted about any
| pr ops sition? If we do so believe. then
we should refuse for ourselves and our
| children any share in this prosperity
| which We are to believe by inference 10
| be founded on deceit and in some in
| starces on the blood of little children. If
|
we are honest women. refuse the accom-
| plishment
| Il do not see that we are forced to any
| such alternative We have in my home
| town cotton mill-the Avonoale. The
| direo tors of this mill are sore of the
| hest men in our community. The very
| men to whom we women must go for ad-
| vice and assistance in any humanitarian
| enterprise-c hild-lovers every one of them.
| .,,tt sa. he
doubted then yours and mine may be-
| EVERYWHERE in our State We find the
| same conditions. So 1 can but advise
| that we give them credit for, first,
more accurate knowledge than we can
have Of the conditions surrounding the
labor in their factories. and of the SIN
cerity to give us an accurate report of
these conditions and their attitude to-
ward them.
| AT the outset we have this statement
| from them that child labor does not pay.
l believe this implicitly. That the only
reason children are retained in their mills
is because the parents will not work
where their children cannot get employ
ment. This question of the migratory
character of labor is not SO new that 1t
may be ranked among the incredible
things. 1t is a well known fact that If
| all the money spent by mill owners, mine
| D
| hold" their labor was applied directly
| to the work itself. wages could be raised
Iall around considerably We accept. then,
this statement. that if no mill would en-
| pioy children under II mill owners would
gain by the change. We know that the
mill owners of Georgia have adopted a set
of resolutions which are all We could ask
those of our own State to give us. I
believe them to be willing to give us
| something whenever they are asked.
IF we could get the State Legislature
to pass laws regulating child labor, what
would he the next step necessary? The
| appointment Of an inspector, or inspect
| ors to see that this law is enforced. This
comes in the domain of politics We all
| know what we are to expect when poll
tics takes charge of humanitarian enter
prises We have the record of other
States to draw our conclusions from.
|
Mr. Murphy doesn't think there is any
thing Objectionable in outside interior
ence Many a step-mother could give him
l points on what outside interference can
do.
I have pride enough in my state to
he glad that I can say that the condi-
tons described by Mr.. Hubbard in his
pamphlet on Child Labor in the South
are not brought about by the inhumanty
of the men we represent. If Mr. Hub
bard had hunted out this class Of people
elsewhere than in cotton mills he would
have found that q cotton mill is distinct
step upward in their career. He would
also have found that to go barefoooted
and wear one garment only S the blessed
privilege of the cracker child, and in no
sense a degradation.
One Georgia mill owner has told me
l that he will back one hundred of his cot
( ton mill children against one hundred
OF any other children in the
State Of Georgia for health good
7 looks and mentality. think we
/ should he grateful to every one of these
e men who has made a garden Of his fac
t tory in our state and should refrain from,
,, pelting them with such words as spec
: tacular philanthropy" That is an awful
t combination. 7 am sorry it was ever
! made and still more sorry for the wounds
it has made.
Let us remember always that law is
often a clumsy weapon, bringing about
f the very condition 1t is designed to pre-
7 vent That the State IS the least of the
powers that govern us" That we have
. within ourselves power that is invinci-
| BILE when properly used. That We gain
J nothing by becoming other than ourselves
That by maintaining body Of conserva-
tive. level-headcd women we accomplish
our ends much more surely than by he
coming agitators on any and all subjects
regardless Of the surrounding conditions.
That we are to help our husbands. faith
crs and sweethearts, and if we see them
taking the wrong path edge them into
the right ono instead of calling the neigh
bors in to see how far they have strayed
from the right way.