Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-03-21
CHILD LABOR.

the public sentiment which was 1nstru-
mental in causing the legislature Of
Georgia to take up seriously the ques-
ton of child labor in the cotton mills of
the state has not been powerful enough
to bring about the enactment of re-
strictive laws. There were times dur
ing the session when it seemed not i'm
probable that something would be done
to ameliorate the condition of these vic
Tins of an industrial economy which
seems sadly out of place in this coun-
try and in the atmosphere of Chris
tan land. But the interests Of the mill
owners proving more worthy of con-
sideration than regard for the we'll be-
ing Of the children, the legislature has
adjourned until next summer without
taking action.
But the members of the Georgia Legs
lature are not the only offenders
against this first principle of justice TO-
ward the defenseless and the imposi-
ton of hardships upon those who have
had no lot or hand in choosing their
place in life and who cannot be held
responsible for the conditions in which
they find themselves. While the north
may not work the little toddlers of ten
or fewer years such as, we are told, are
worked twelve hours a day in southern
factories, there are evidences enough
that we are not entirely blameless in
this matter. The testimony before the
coal commission, for instance, has done
much toward compelling the recogni-
ton of the beam in our own eye. Here
the story was told Of miners children,
some of them little ten-year-old girls,
working in the mills at night for sums
so small that they should shame the
givers and mark the parents that al
lowed it as lacking every spark of af-
lection for their own.
The volumes of the census relating to
manufactures, which are now being
distributed, give official support to the
charge that the number of women and
children wage earners in various indus
tries in the country Is increased. These
figures indicate deterioration of our
society that is alarming. This is con-
fined to no section, but is true of the
north and west and east as well as the
south. In the leather manufacture, for
instance, an increase is shown in the
number of women employed in tanner
les amounting to 344 per cent since the
previous census, while the increase in
the number Of men employed was less
than % per cent. But the number of
child workers was increased by IS per
cent. The boot and shoe factories like
wise show large additions to this same
class of help amounting to 18 per cent
In the case of the women and SO per
cent in that Of children. There was at
the same time falling off in the num-
Der of males sixteen years old and over.
Until such palpable wrongs in society
as these are righted "the cry of the
children OF such tender years to be
delivered from bondage and the plea
Of the housewife to be allowed to fill
her destined place in the family must
not be shut out from our hearing Such
violations Of nature have no place here
in American society and institutions.
Here we have come to look upon pros
perity as our natural portion. AS a
AAuSSCA VI AdSL tAC oAdtAol1Co SuOW ludt
the. volume of business and the earn
ings of capital and labor exceed the
dreams Of the most enthusiastic believ-
ers only few years back in the posi-
bilities of the country. The warning
against sapping the coming generations
Of workpeople must be needed. There
is plenty Of work ahead for the legisia-
tor who would restrain business cupid
tty and the avarice Of both employer
and parent in the interest of the chill
dren's well being.-Boston Transcript.