The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1902-08-16
New England in the South


Washington Post.
81 presume '"at the cOmprny can manu-
facture more cheapiy in the South is the |
exclamation offered for the indefinite clos NJ |
of a cotton duck mill at New Hartford, |
Conn, employing some 100 hands. Aud |
that explanation which, though brief, is |
AMPLE elicits these remarks from the |
Springfield Republican:
..Child labor the physcal, intellectual ]
and moral, dwariing Of the children of ths
children of the South for the larger profit of
capital-is n chief element in this compare
tive cheapness of Southern cotton manufac-
ture, far it exists at all. Capital is
without, much if any compunction in the mat
ter, but what of the Southern people?'
Child labor is one element in this compar-
| alive chcapness, but it is not Indispensable
| to the maintenance of that condition. With
| that abhnrrcnt element entirely eliminated.
| the New England capitalists would still he
| able to ..manufacture more cheaply in the
| South Other things being equal, it fol-
| lows inevitably that factories operating close
| to the fields where the staple grows can turn
! out their products at less cost per yard than
factories remote from the fields. That,
however, is not the only factor in the South's
| advantages the North this industry.
| The COS, of subsistence is heavier in colo:
! than in n climate, and the cost of
clothing, fuel, and shelter follows the same
rule. All this means less cost for labor. \
dollar goes much farther in defraying family
expenses in the Sunny South than in cold
New England, that Southern operatives
on a lower wage scale than obtains in the
North would be equally rewarded for their
labor.
These are the chief reasons why Northern
capital has gone into cotton manufacturing
in the cotton States. 1t is uncomfortable
that the Yankees have invested
their money on the chance that child labor
is to be a permanent thing. They know
| that it is next to impossible for them to go
on for many years with their ''physical, in
tellectual and moral dwarfing of the
children of the South''-wth a species OF
| slavery so atrocious that the ''twn relic
which abolished generation ago seems
almost holy compared with it.
..Capital," our Springfield contemporary
: complacently remarks, sis without much if
any compunction in the matter" But no"
is it with the capitalists-thc solid, the
en,inen,ly respectable men behin the dol
lars. Have they conjunction? viii
public sentiment in New England continue
t to tolerate tn. scandal of che use OF New
England capital IN inns worse IMAM
of the innncen,s? When the agents of those
capitalists repeat their interference in legis
S lation in Southern States to prevent th'
enactment of laws to protect the children
from their rapacty, will the press and thu
pulpi, of New England be content with in
During. but what of the Southern people?'
= The Post has been glad to pay tribute Il
+ the generosity of many New England mel
and women who have given freely of thei
means to promote the education of tn
; Southern negroes. Without such he'll
! Hampton and Tuskegee and the great live
: of the lamented Armstrong and Booke
! Washington would not have been possible
Remembering those wise benefactlons of tn
culored people of the South, are temple
u TO ask if such good deeds to be blotte
2 out by the crime OF New England capt. alist
|. against the children of poor whites in tn
:, cotton StateS3