The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1903-02-21
Our Dung q Folks:
BY fMothar) Jones.


has not been gained from interviewing
the mine and mill superintendents
while taking tea at their homes, as
many investigators do, but by actual
contact with the slaves themselves by
working and living with them, sharing
their burden of oppression and hear
ing from their own lips their agonizing
tales of torture.
One of the saddest cases in my ex-
perience was that of a little girl in one
of the Southern mills. I met her in
the morning on her way to work. I
asked her how old she was.
Ten years." she answered.
And how much do you get for
working?"
''Oh, don't know how much I'll get
this week, but I hope to get dollar
and a half. Mamma is sick and
want to get her some incidence.
The evening of the next day I saw
the child carried from the mill with
one hand gone-severed by the mill
machinery. The shock killed the moth
err, and the child was left alone to bat
tie with the world. There was no re-
compense for injury, of course
Accidents like these happen every
day and never get into the papers,
In the mills the toll Of the children
is ceaseless. The machinery needs
constant watching and their undivided
attention. Oftimes the chidren's hair
gets caught in the machinery and they
are left completely bald. Their hag-
gard faces and emaciated forms ap-
peal to every human heart for redress.
These children must bear their
wrongs in silence. Their masters ears
are deaf to pity. There is no one for
the children to complain to- They rise
in the dark, go to work in the dark,
come to the novels called home" in
the dark, for five months of the year.
In the mills the children in the mule
spinning room walk twenty miles
day, and those in the spindle room
walk from twelve to fifteen miles.
| 1 remember a band of little tots GO
| ing out to the woods one Sunday to
! get some of the fresh air denied them
| during the week. In one home they
| left behind the eldest Of four children,
little girl who lay sick up on a pallet
| of straw Her mother pleaded with
| her to go also.
maggie, dear, do try and go, it will
| do you good
! "Oh, mamma, please let me stay here
and rest so that [ can go to the mill
tomorrow" the girl pleaded.
! On Tuesday her little form was
stretched out in a pine board coffin
never again to go down the dirt road
to the capitalistic hell.
| AS I looked at the calm, sweet face
with a smile Of peace lowering about
! the lips I seemed to hear her say
''Thank God, the robbers cannot cru
city me any more on the altar Of their
! greed for the yellow gold"
| To my last hour on earth shall see
the innocent faces of the dead girls
| companions as they stood outside Of
| the door and talked in whispers of the
| dead. One Of them said at last:
If that old woman who makes the
bosses be good to us knew Maggie was
/ dead. she would surely come to the
funeral"
"You mean old Mother Jones, Alice ?"
said another
Eyes. I think she Doesn't know how
mean the boss is to us. He puned my
hair yesterday because spoke to Jen-
ME-"
Then they turned to me and asked if
|
woman that makes the bosses give
| more pay.
IF she was here" said one, ''she
would make them let us go home be-
fore dark
President Roosevelt's message to the
! y-eight1 congress contains not
word in defense or appeal for these
helpless little ones. That would inter-
fere with the greed of the robbing
owners of industry. If there was a
Socialist president, his first message
to the lawmakers would be an in
junction to wipe out child labor.
Alice Roosevelt never worked in one
of the capitalistic slave pens. Sine had
q joyous childhood, while thousands of
proetarian children had to expend
their youthful energy to create profits
for capitalists.
And it is because the children of the
workers are neglected and ill-treated
that we have cannibals around us to-
day. While poodle dogs are being
caressed upon pillows of down, human
bodies are being wrecked and distort-
ed, and human souls are being de-
stroyed in mills and mines and slums
throughout christendom.
So long as strikes are necessary to
liberate these children and guarantee
better manhood and WOn1anhood for
the future I propose to be in and en-
courage strikes, even though the ca
pitalists who live in luxury from the
life blood of babies should take my
life, as they many times tried to.
But, my brothers, workingmen with
the ballot, you are a party to the mur-
der Of your own children, so long as
you vote blindly for the ticket of your
masters. Wake up, boys of the mill
and factory and workshops, and vote
the Socialist ticket. Then / will live
to see the workers. children in the
schools and fields and Fairgrounds in
stead of being sacrificed to the god
of Profit.
The calendars of the various state
legislatures now in session disclose
| ~