Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-07-17

tFrom Wednesdays Daily.]
Members of labor unions in this city
are interested in the investigation re-
Gently made BY the American Fedora
ton of Labor into tho conditions ex-
listing in the. south in regard to the en-
ployment of children as operatives in
the textile mills. The American Fed
GRAFTON has had a representative in the
south Tor about a year and half in
vestigati1g this matter, and the report
recently made shows sad state of af-
fairs existing in that country.
Child Labor in the South.
After. the expenditure of nearly $780,
900 IN Investigating child labor in the
south, the American Federation of La
Dor mas come to the conclusion that
the mill owners of the south are great
or tyrants than were the slave owners
before the negro gained his freedom
nthat portion ofthe country. Mrs.Irsne
Ashby-McFadden who has been the
agent of the American Federation in
the south during the past eighteen
months, and who has prosecuted a
most vigorous campaign in favor OF
child legislation, has made her report
to the executive board of the A. F. OF
l.. In order to obtain basic facts at
hand in regard to the employment OF
little children. Her story can not fail
to bring wildly before the casual read
er the awful conditions under which
the children of the south are COMPEL
ed to labor 1t is condition which is
disgrace to civilization, to the whole
country as we'll as the south. 1t may
be alleged truthfully that up to this
time the country as whole has not
understood how widespread and deer
rooted has become this evil of child
labor IN the south. With the results
of this investigation by the agent Of
the American Federation of Labor now
laid before the public, there can be nc
excuse for not understanding the evi
of child labor, both as a present and 8
future menace to the prosperity of the
south and to the whole country. The
adult operatives of the cotton mills
are drawn mostly from the class of the
white laborers, which has formerly
been employed on small farms. Will
establishment of the cotton mills these
people came from valleys and hills
and were pursuaded to sell out theil
small holdings of land and come into
a mill town where they rent houses
from the company, trade at the, com
pany store, and are even buried under
the company's auspices.
Operators See Evil.
Doubtless actual contrast of thu
stern reality of factory life, with it,
close confinement, long hours of labor
amid the noise of nerve-racking ma
emery. low wages, lack of time TO
education, and neglect in case of i'll
ness, not to mention the accidents ant
manning of the little ones from unpro
tected machinery, soon shows the op
orators what an evil child labor is IL
reality. Even with this knnwledg'
edged into the mind and heart it il
readily seen that the operatives ar.
their children are almost powerless t
make any protest. If the abuse is tt
be remedied and the public conscience
to be aroused to the enormity of thu
evil, all classes of society must coop
crate to build up public opinion which
will convince the mill owners ant
stockholders in these mills of the aw
full condition that they are bringing
about, not only for the present toilers
but for the future generation. In part
Mrs. McFadden says: The horror o
the wrong is hidden behind the COLI
printed words, child labor legislation.
There are American children dragged
into the mills when scarcely out o
their babyhood. Without education
without opportunity, being robbed o
health morally and physically, forced
to labor as in the days of negro slav
cry negro children never were, will
their baby hands, these little slave
are undermining the liberty Of the flu
ture, not only Of the cotton operatives
Of the south, but of all Of the American
working people. Not only Of the work
ing people, but in the community II
which for good or evil they are to. pla,
so large part. And what is the I'm
iversal reply for your question Why
are they there?' They are there, it il
said, to attract northern capital.
scratching comment on both those
who sell and those who ask for sale.
An Everlasting Shame.
1.-THE southern states of America is