River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1902-12-11
Child Labor.
BY MRS. IOHN LOGAN.

Child Labor.
BY MRS. JOHN LOGAN.
1t seems that every era has it's
quota of injustice to some class of
society. AT the same time It is
passing strange that in this age of
humanity and Christianity, there
should come up cry from infants
to be rescued from the most inhu-
man form of slavery that ever exist
ed, or that in this country of abun-
dance there should be any necessity
for utilizing babies in any capacity
as wage earners, with our boosted
protection of the weak and educa-
ton of the masses. How is it that
there is such thing as legalized
child labor? There is certainly
nothing more criminal than thus to
dwarf the nation by heaping bur-
dens upon the puny shoulders of
children.
And it is to be hoped that the
philanthropists who have taken up
the question will keep it before the
public and continue their investi-
cations until every trace of the
practice is ferreted out and the
guilty punished.
1t is especially shameful that in
the North there should be found
any manufacturer that would in
dulge in the brutal business of en-
p1oying children under ten years in
the factories at starvation prices.
Northerners were the first to cry
out against slavery, and yet it has
been proven that there are instan
ces of the worst form of slavery,
in existence in New England. In
certain sections of the country were
little ones, almost too young to go
and come alone to the places where
they are supposed to seize laboring
oars and sit like galley slaves, not
eight hours as men and women in
their majorities are required to do,
but from sun till sun on the day
andnight forces, their delicate fingers
scarcely long enough to reach the
threads that their weary eyes must
watch and tie as they break in the
spinning, many of these babies be-
ing only nine years of age, run six
teen and seventeen miles a day in
the performance of their duties.
The sweepers must ply brooms
larger than themselves, with their
puny arms, hour after hour without
respite.
In the South it is infinitely worse,
from the reports of special CORE
spondents sent throughout the south
ern states, where there are no labor
commissions to stop such inhuman-
tiles. 1t was found that hundreds,
even thousands, were to-day en-
ployed in South Carolina alone,
while Alabama had hundreds more,
all of them ranging from six to
twelve years of age. In some mills
running night and day shifts there
were as many children at night as
in the day, the poor little creatures
having the same hours as the men
and women.
Physicians testifying to the haz-
ardous exposure of these little oper-
ators give alarming statistics of the
number of fingers and thumbs they
have amputated from baby hands.
The crime seems more heinous
when it is proven that their earn
ings are simply beggarly-five and
six cents a day for the youngest, or
those under nine years of age. One
prodigy, girl of six years, receiv-
ing twelve and one-half cents for
working from 6 in the evening un-
til 6 in the morning. One dollar
and forty-three cents week is con-
sidered a generous remuneration tor
children of twelve and under. AT
the same time the proprietors OF
these mills probably were posing as
great phi1anthropists.
We say away with that philanthro-
py that extracts the life blood OF
human creatures to pose before an
admiring public as the soul OF gen
crosby by subscribing literally to
some ostentatious enterprise built
in charity's name at the expense OF
human suffering. The worse fea-
ture of the whole question is the in
crease in the employment of women
and children and the proportionate
increase in the dividends of the
owners of these murderous mills.
The employment of men able to do
work would necessitate amuch great
er expenditure for wages, mems
wages being always and everywhere
larger than that of women, though
their services may be exactly the
same. Hence to increase their div
idends they decrease the number