Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-04-17
cHlLO-SLAVERY IN THE SOUTH.
Infants Work Long Hours at the
Spndles.

Spindies.
A correspondent of the Cincinnati
Post, who has been investigating the
of children in factories
in the southern states, relates some
facts which should shame those states !
into legislative action for the protec-
ton of their infant toilers. The shame, !
however, is to be shared by the north,
for many of the employers who have |
prevented the enactment of laws for |
the protection of factory children are
northern men. Writing of factories
which he visited in Alabama, the
correspondent says:
Alabama ranks fourth among the
southern states in the manufacture
of cotton. In the wholesale en-
ployment of little children she is en-
titled to be classed with the leaders,
for the conditions that I have en-
countered here are by all means the
worst / have yet seen. | have talked
with children whose names are on the
pay-rolls of the mills who are scarce
ly more than babies, yet they are
working II and 1914 hours every day
at the spinning frames for 10 and ~
cents day.
Children of and 10 in the mills
here are common and | talked with
several who made no claim to be
more than eight years Of age. Their
statements were verified by those in
authority, who made no attempt
worthy of the name to defend the
brutal practice. Alabama, like
Georgia and other cotton growing
states, has no law compelling the edu-
cation of her youth, and she vies with
all of them in her opposition to law
prohibiting the employment of chill
dren of tender years. The cotton man
ufacturers have so far been unable
to see their way clear to permit the
legislature to pass any restrictive
measure on this subject. | say per
nit advisedly, because Secretary
Treasurer Tanner of the Montgomery
City nKs, after referring to the move
ment in behalf of the children as
'sickly sentimentalism, said that lin
the legislature it was simply ques-
ton of money, and, as the manufac-
turers' interests were at stake and
they had the money, it was easy to de-
terIaine who would win; the other Top
ponents of child labor would find
themselves up against a stOnewall' -
1t is admitted that the defeat of the
child labor bill in the last legislature
was due to the active and effective
opposition of the representatives of
Massachusetts, capitalists who are in
terested in Alabama cotton mills. Re
ferring to the means resorted to in de-
feating this bill, citizens committee
of which Rev E. G. Murphy is chair
man and ex-Gov. Jones, a member
made the statement that MAS
sachusetts capital is doing here what
it dare not do at home"
| secured entrance to the People's
mills of Montgomery, which manu-
facture sheeting for the China trade
In the spinning-room, where most of
the children are employed, there were
125 persons of all ages at work. Of
that number between 40 and so were
children less than IL years old.
Those who had ever been in a school
house were rare exceptions. In this
room l saw boys and girls so small
that their efforts to perform their
work were absolutely pitiful In
reaching up to join the ends of the
broken threads they were Obliged to
strain and stretch every muscle and
sineW of their frail bodies and some
were so small that they were COM
PEELED to stand on their tiptoes. This
was repeated every five minutes or
oftener for II long hours. I called
the foreman's attention to several lit
tie ones who | was sure could not be
over six years old and was told ''theyI
are not working" which meant that
they We're not on the payroll, but
were helping the parent or older
brother or sister, or learning the ma
chimes. so as to be able to take their
place in the mill
In the cotton mills of Georgia the !
condition of the children was almost
as bad. Children ranging in age
from less than 10 years upward are
INNS L 2 hOu1S d udy LOT as low
as 10 cents a day. They are often
brought up in the mill, lying in i'm
proyised cribs behind their toiling
mothers faces and long before they
can lisp the name of mamma" The
work of the little children is largely
confined to the spinning-room. where
attention is required in
stead of muscle or ripper intelligence.
The children have to be on their feet
almost constantly and always on the
watch for broken threads The doors
and windows are always kept tightly
closed and, as a result, the air is bad
and filled with flying particles of cot
on. The majority of the children
at the spindles are girls,
md the effect of the long hours of
work and being constantly on their I
eet is especially noticeable on their l
health. The health of the children is
Effected in more ways than one, and t
heir growth and development are q
tunted. The general rate of pay is c
o cents day for one side of a frame.
The child is paid nothing for the two :
II three weeks that it takes to learn =
0 do the work. When the little one is !,
BILE to watch one side of a frame She