Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-08-27
WITHOUT PREJUDICE
CHILD SLAVERY IN SOUTHERN MILLS
SOBERLY DISCUSSED.

The following conservative discus
sion of the question of child labor in
the south Is taken from an article
written at Atlanta by e. ]. Lister for
the Dry Goods Economist, published
in New York:
Proud indeed are a group of southern
states of the marvellous strides which
have marked the development of their
cotton mills within the last decade and
pardonably so, for such rapid extern
sion knows no parallel.
In the wake of such material devel-
opment, however, have come social
problems of vital import, the solution
of which will have a more lasting,
though far subtler, influence upon the
welfare of the commonwealths con-
cerned than the mere multiplication of
spindles and looms or other concrete
evidences Of prosperity could possibly
have.
| That problem is child labor. Ten
nessee and Louisiana excepted, the
| SOulHtln SlultS llOlu lhC uliluue DOol-
ton of being the only portion of the
civilized globe wherein the employ
ment of children Is not regulated by
law.
The great American public, however,
seems to have but faint conception
of the extent or enormity of the child
slavery evil as existing in its own
land, judging from the storm Of in
dignation aroused by the accounts Of
the alleged conditions as published in
leading magazines.
| Could conditions SO narrowing and
out Of harmony with the spirit Of the
times actually exist in this "land Of
the free and home Of the brave" and
that, too, in this much vaunted twen-
tieth century of civilization and prog
ress?
Are such accounts absolutely authen-
tic? Upon a foundation of facts may
there not have been imposed a super
Upon no publication probably do the
duty and responsibility of furnishing
trustworthy answers to such queries
more clearly devolve than upon the
organ of the dry goods trade-the Dry
Goods Economist.
1--WE want the facts concerning child
labor" were the last words of the ed
itor In chief of this paper In Dispatch
| intr M ba nP inv tpr,
which am now making. "We have
no ak to grind, care not whom the
truth may hurt or help, but beware Of
special pleading. Steer clear Of senti-
mentality on the one hand and white
washing on the other. We want facts"
What are the facts?
An article which appeared In the
May Philistine, from the pen of Elbert
Hubbard, entitled "White Slavery In
the South" is perhaps the most sensa-
tional presentation Of the case that
has been published. An exhaustive
investigation of the subject-not from
hearsay or at long range, but as an
eyewitnesses - compels the conclusion
that bad as the real conditions un-
doubtedly are the Philistine's account
of them is at many points palpably
overdrawn. And this is especially un-
fortunate, seeing that the truth in It.
self was sufficiently strong-almost
sensational enough, l might say-to
render exaggeration or misrepresenta-
tion entirely superfuous.
From the viewpoint of child labor
the conditions are indeed appalling.
| Indeed, it Is almost inconceivable how
they could have SO long existed with
out protest that would have resound-
ed the world around.
This Is the more incomprehensible
in view Of the fact that mill presidents
and managers are men of exceptional
character and capacity. Though typic-
al southerners, many of them are
Harvard, Yale or Princeton graduates.
They play golf, sport automobiles and
are prominent In church and politics.
Yet they are parties to a slavery in
finitely more cruel and debasing than
the worst that ever existed in the
darkest days prior to the dawn of
negro emancipation.
1t is true-alas, too true-that these
tiny toilers-"slaves" Is the word, for
slaves they are to the avarice or igno-
rance of their parents-have weazened
bodies and wan faces.
Even mill owners do not deny this,
though ascribing 1t to poor diet and
worse habits. They claim that all mill
workers, due In part to the confinement
incident to their occupation, have
complexion best described as "prison
pallor." Equally plnched and haggard
faces, they add, are also to be OBJ
served in the case Of street arabs and
store children.
In only one mill-and that in Colum-
bla, S. C.-was l enjoined from asking
questions of child operatives. In one
mill only three of the twenty boys and
girls who were asked whether they
could read and write claimed that they
could, and of these two either could
not or would not prove the possession
of such ability when handed paper