The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1902-08-07
CHILD LABOR IN THE SOUTH.

NSfooAe"AAJ - NoooOA oPAAuAAS, nave us
advantages that do not appear in the
tables of growth and profits. One of
these is the extension Of child labor
in the cotton spinning states, and is
white child labor, for very few colored
people, young or old, are employed in
the cotton mills. From the most re-
liable reports of the cotton industry in
North and South Carolina, Georgia,
Alabama and Mississippi, it appears
that the total mum Der. of operatives in
the mills of these states is $3.50. 1t
further appears that of this number
$4,000 are children under IA years of
age; that 5000 or 10000 are children
under II years of age, while the lower
extreme of the age limit is down al
most to the unbelievable point Of 6
years, the fact being we'll established
that children as young as to and
years are working to-day in the South
ern cotton mills.''
Our readers will remember that in a
recent letter to the UNION from Hunts
vile Miss Love spoke of child labor in
the cotton mills of that city. In that
portion of her letter where she had
taken her readers to one of the cotton
mills of that city she said: "Frankly,
1 would rather not 60 in for T should
see things that would make me want to
speak my mind and so it is better that
we are refused. I should not enjoy
seeing those children just out of kim
dergarten working in that dusky mill
this warm day. Massachusetts, the
state that PIRATES so much about the
oppressed negro, produced the men
and the money which run this mill.
Everywhere as we looked out of our
car windows we saw negro children
playing happily in the dirt, but white
children have to work" =,
A short distance from the mill Miss
Love told of meeting a man who was
busy whiting ''snuff sticks' for
family use only, and this southern man
of leisure who is a fiddler and a.
preacher, takes life easy while his
"gals' work in the mill. It is not to
Iot
ditions can be on a par with those of
the North, and here in the North it
has only been within the last few years
that public sentiment was aroused on
the employment of little children in fac
tories and of working them overtime.
The abuse of child labor in southern
cotton mills must be charged to north
ern capitalists in many cases and
the comments of Miss Love were none
too severe. In fact she should have
spoken her mind with more emphasis
than she did. In the greed for gold
man is the same and it matters not
what part of the country he lives in.
"Get gold" is the cry, and it matters
not at what cost to future generations
in health>and in moral and mental con-
dition. The laws on our statute books
to-day preventing child labor and the
laws that have been passed for the bet
torment of the physical condition of
mankind have been the result of the hu-
name and philanthropic in most cases.
In other words man must be made to
be good in the treatment of child labor
and very often in his treatment of
adult labor. This is not a very credit
able commentary on our social status,
but 1t is true, nevertheless. Let US
hope that it will not be long before the
South will awaken to the fact that it's
future depends largely upon its pres
ent course. 1t must follow in the foot
prints, of the North in large measure.
1t must remember that the human
body and the human soul should be
made temples and not treadmills. The
children of to-day must be prepared to
take up the duties of life with strong
constitutions and bright minds instead
Of in physical weakness and mental
darkness. 9"*
The Massachusetts capitalists should
be given to understand that the en-
ployment of little children in the cot
ton mills of the South is no more to be
tolerated than it is in the North and as
long as they do so they are not bit
better than theslave: holders whom a
few years ago they came in conflict
with. ~ :. =2.s.*>
WANTED lie, 900 farm hands to help
harveststhe immense crops throughout