The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1903-06-13
..CHIlD'|CAB0R
The Main Cause Of the Shorter Lives
Of the Factory: People,. e-a::z,--:

takes. Not possessing a :merger of all
the infallibility lin the world;> they are
sometimes most painfully afflicted with
obliquity of judgment. They even stu
pidly waste energy in :disputing. among
themselves on WHAT is sorely: needed for
mutual protection: It would be I1udf,
crous enough, were it not so Internally
tragic-this spendthrift waste of asso-
ciative power and opportunity.
But there is one line Of effort, at
least, entered upon by the trade-union
in it's infancy and consistently followed
up to the present time, which even the.
would-be willing critic cannot. find
fault with, and that is with the teach
ing, philosophy and practice of the
trade-union movement in opposition to
the employment Of children Of tender
are in workshops, mines and factories.
From the earlier days of the factory
SYSTEM, when the discoveries made by
the British Parliamentary Commission
as to- the condition of child. labor.in the
Lancashire factories astonished and
Mortified even those robust representa-
tives Of British conservatism, down to
the emphatic condemnation by Judge
Gray of the conditions under, which
II
sylvania factories,Est1he mafn e1e1nents
in this worldwide and pathetic trag-
edy have been the same. Without the
interposition of some external agency
either trade union or statutory law
between the demands of the factory
and the helplessness of the chila,' Chill
dren have been employed at ages and
under conditions which are a reflection
upon the economic wisdom. as we'll as
upon the humanitarian development, of
enlightened communities.
Not that all the blame can justly be
placed upon the employers. Selfish,
stupid and ignorant parents are pos
| sibly equally culpable. The employers,
| however, ought to know better. It il
sometimes possible that nom union
parents don't know better. 1t is part
! of the trade union mission to teach
them better.
The factory laws of MASSACHUSETTS
are fairly well enforced, better than
those of the other New England States
or of New York Or Pennsylvania The
greatest difficulty found here by in
spectors is that parents lie about the
ages of their children in order TO get
them in, the mill. When the child is of
foreign birth, as so many of them are
it is evidently almost impossible for
the Inspector to prove that. it is under
the age limit.
| It is perhaps not to be wondered at
that when man is so densely ignorant
| OF simple economics as not to know
! that he can better his condition by
joining the union of his craft that he
| should carry his stupidity yet farther
and fiatter himself that he is making
money by putting his child of twelve
or thirteen years of age into the mill.
However this may be, it is the I'M:
doubted fact that many of our mill
people strive to follow the. advice OF o,,ir
Istrenlloi4s Presid mt: Of the limited
4 States, and breed n large ;familie I'll ii
|this they are hot: inspired by any pa-
trfotic impulse, but rather becat1se each
child of a workable age is regarded as
an asset in the family stock which will
bring a, sure return when deposited in
the trust company of tn MILL : :a=
But there. are three other interests
to be considered, besides those Of the
thrifty0parent who emulous IF that old
time legendary deity, proposes to wax
fat by devourfng his own offspring.
FIRST, the union man, on purely eco
nomic grounds, has right to protest
against this short-sighted policy Of the
employment of young children, because
so long as there Is a surplus Of adult
labor in the market the child laborer
has most damaging influence upon
the wage rate
Secondly. it is the duty of the COM
munity at large to see to it that the
physical and mental efficienc of the
| future citizenship be not inpairad
through following policy which no
enlightened cattle breeder would for 2
moment think of pursuing, i. e., plac-
ing young creatures at work before
their muscles are hardened and facu1-
ties developed. Thirdly, and chiefly.
the interests of the child ITSELF. the
PROBABLE happiness of whose entire life
uepends upon its getting fair oppor-
tunity when starting out in chiidhood
and whose inherent natural right is to
sucn freedom and such education as
VIII qualify it to hold it's own In the
| hard after-battle to which most IF the
children of the poor are fated.
said something like this before the
committee on Labor z6f the IMassattt1,
sets Legislature a few weeks :aeo: and
a Woollen manufacturer from the CEN
trail part Of the state told me I didn't
know what I was talking about. He
said the mills were healthy places to
work in; that the operators we're ROBUST
and were willing to- work: -eVenf< longer
hours if We pesti1ential labor agitators
! would stop tinkering with factory leg
islation.
When returned to my office found
that the mail had brought me; the Jan
uary Bulletin of the Department OF
Labor, in which was an article on
Factory: Sanitation and Labor Pro.
tection," which thought a very good
thing to at once put on file with the
committee
From the various tables in the article
and their figures bear the official
sanction of the United States govern
ment-the conclusion is drawn that
factory workers, because they are fac
tory workers, have much shorter lives
than do other classes in the commun-