The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-01-22

yet prepared To support themselve
a without the labor of their children.
a We believe il is an unfair consider
alton to speak of the proportion of ,llit
crate in any mill community. An TX
ANIMATION of conditions will prove tha
this illiteracy has occurred prior to tn
coming Of'the employees to the mills
The records will show that as full
percentage of mill children are attend
: ant upon school as any other, class o.
working people within the bounds o
!, the State. Indeed we say with Ger
tainty that larger percentage of mil
children are at school than can u2uafl,
be found even in villages.
: The return Of the 65 mills included
in the tabulated statement referred to
show that there are within their com
4n1niues 93 churches valued at $3.50,
500, outside of churches situated in
towns.
OF the above amount the companies
have contributed $S2 ,595S towards the
erection, and they moreover assis, in
the maintenance of tn = churches and
Sunday schools to tue amount OF
S5 ,4S3
1t appears further that these same
corporations ale paying the 3 mill lax
towards the education of the c0mmu
nifty, S44 ,S02.16, and in the way of
special assessments or special Contri-
buttons $27 ,5l2 Ia additional. That
the poll taxes for the several commune
ties amount to 81 ,994, thus maklug a
total OF over $S0,000 contributed by
these mill communities towards cdu-
cation of the people, and OF their own
employees.
They have invested in school buid-
ings S74 ,975; IN school equipment
$ll ,lS0 All The schools with single
exception have free tuition, ami the
| average term has been S Sc months, or
| twice that of the other portions of the
o:ate, acco; ding u the report of the
superintendent of education. The to
tai enrolment under these schools has
been daring the plst ycat 7,43i chit.
drcn, with the average attendance of
3,74l. With such figures it does seem
that fair minded men must be i'm
pressed with the fact that the manufac.
turels are doing their best to educate
the children in their mill viii ,yes anil
10 relieve, so far as practicable, the
unfortunate results of child labor.
IL is to be regretted that the agita-
tion for legislation upon this subject is
coming, to large extent, from labor !
unions. LII any employee of corpora
ton Is truly anxious to remedy the
evils of employment of children of too |
youthful an age, their efforts can be best
directed towards assisting the manu-
facturers to accomplish the results de-
sired. The truth iS that labor unions
have seen an opportunity of availug
themselves Of public sentiment in or
der to strengthen themselves in the
public estimation. We would 81 with
regret that passage of any legislation |
which would be apparently recog-
milton of labor unions within the
State.
The effect of labor legislation has
not been in other countries, or in other
sections of this country, conducive to
an improved condition of the people,
or to success in manufacturing. Eng
land is now so hampered by such un-
fortunate legislation that she is losing
her trade In manufactures.
New England is in many sections
handicapped in like manner. So much |
so, that few years ago her represent
atives in Congress endeavored to enact |
an amendment to the constitution of
the United States for the avowed pur-
pose of hampering Southern labor,
which, free from shacklng laws and |
tyraunical unions, is undermining her |
supremacy In cotton manufacturing.
We believe that much of the agitation
in the South in favor of labor legisla-
ton is brought alb ,ut by labor unicns
in New England, aided and abelted
by New England manufacturers seek
ing to stae. Southern enterprises.
There is no demand for Legislation of
this character, by the vast majority of
those employed within the mills of the
State. Almost without exception such
employees protest against interference
and ask to be let alone.
The advocates of this bill claim that
the working Of children IN the mill is
injurious to the public in that when
such children become grown they are
mentally, morally and physically un-
suited for the duties of citizenship.
We believe the standard citizenship
within the mill villages is the equal of
that III other communities of the State.
However that may be, a compulsory
educational law will effect the villages
as well as other sections of the State,
and the unanimous desire of the man
ufacturers as expressed above, is fol
the enactment of such law as will
enable them 10 carry out effectively
what they have been trying to do for
years, to wit: encourage attendance
upon the schools. Without the com
pulsory school law the enactment of
any child labor law will be of little
value. We believe now that there is
less ignorance among children raised
at cotton mills than those at farms so-
lated and distant from schools, espe-
cially so when 1T is. considered that
within thelnill villages the schools run
about nine months. in the year, and in
the country from three 10 five months.
We append printed table showing
returns from 65 mills out of lit in the
, State, for The purpose of showing
what is being done by the mills in the
matter of educating their employees.
All the mills in the State were re
quested to answer these questions; bui
, many of them being new mills, bn,
/ not established schools, and did MI