The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1903-07-06
before they were able to make de-
cent living in the cotton mills.
cases Are Cited.


cases Are Cited.
at recall a conversation which is
apropos to the subject under review. Sald
woman of So in reply to my question:
:" Il am widow with four children
three of them here working in the
Exposition mills, three girlS-and my son
Is a carpenter and makes dollar
day and lives with us. We have been
here nearly ever since the mills started.
My girls We're small when we moved here,
but they have had their wages raised
untll we are very comfortable; one gets
81 cents day, and the other two are
paid 70 cents each. We pay $3.50 for this
house-three rooms and a cook room be-
sides. We have a little garden and we
Keep a cow | cook and do the house
work and we live we'll considering we are
poor o.! .I peop n,,, wan ,,oa +, 49,, n, -,
we had to go to the field to put bread
in our mouths. [ worked harder than any
hlgger for the man we rented land from,
and got precious little for what We made.
Me and my children didn't have a decent
shelter or decent clothes and we had no
money to buy anything scarcely il was
dogs life and | didn't any chance
until we heard about the cotton mill and
we get along nicely. They hire preacher
TO preach on Sunday. and the little chill
dren have a school. and we have good
clothes to wear and plenty to eat. My
son couldn't support us all on his work
Tor sometimes he Is ont of job, and this
Is the best way for my girls to get along
because they are at home with me, and
want you TO see their company room
I'VE went into it as she directed and
they had an organ, white curtains, neat
and clean, and some pictures, and nice
that they had been much benefited and
agreed with the woman that she had
made a welcome change in her every day
conditions and circumstances when she
a1,ilI 81
dirt and mud of the corn field and put
them under a shelter from sun or rain
OF cold, and where she was sure of money
to spend for what was absolutely neces-
Sary for their comfort, and they could
live at home with their mother when the
mills were closed a night
some mothers with children were
obliged to work in the mill | thought
then: and think still. 1T was better that
children should be under the mothers eye
and earning little for their support
than left ontside to get into mischief or
10 be burned up by careless handling of
fire
1T was necessary during the fan OF
1902. in company with several gentlemen
vel known to you. for me to visit a
81 mountainous district covered by the
undeveloped coal fields of an adjoining
state. There we found the poorest people
that it has been my misfortune to see in
all the experience of a life spent in daily
contact with poverty Their condition
was much the same as that of the poor
PEOPLE of the mountains of Georgia to
whom Mrs FELTON, alludes. before the cot
ton mills of this state were open to them.
At almost every settlement numerous
" bite-haired children were found who
were poorly clad and whose pale faces
indicated bad health or the absence of
both wholesome and adequate food. These
families were liSrsg u miserable log
hutS. inferior to the stables in which the
cattle and horses at southern cotton mills
are housed. There was evidence of strue-
gle against a degree of pinchng poverty
everywhere apparent, in the cultivated
patches of corn and cotton around the
miserable hanitatiOns of these unfortuna t.
people. But a long dry season had cut
Of the crops and dried up the streams.
anG the heavens above them was as
flaming brass. We saw children under 10
years of age engaged in hopeless drudg-
cry upon these fruitlcss farms. In one
neighhOrhood We passed n little old
church with good sized grave yard,
which indicated that they aud their an
ccstors had long lived under the distress
ing conditions We saw There were no
rims to indicate n decline from Il better
CiViliza ton.