The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1903-02-07
LABOR R. NOTES.. /
$ y t 49, 4:z III: n ~ I'm
EORY0]'U| |. J | !.
p r as - - m
OF YOUNG CHILDREN
r. ARE WORKING: IN :AMERI- ~ i i
y DAN FACTORIES. /
Down South Children Are WORKING
81 Where Slaves Used to Work BE
fore the War-Labor Organise.
lions Are the Friends of the Lit:
tile 0hildren-John Mitchell Fight.
for the Breaker Boys i'm the Mines

A"H ~He oEe"Aer BOYS In the Mines
THE CRY OF THE CHILDREN.
DO We hear the children weeping, @
my brothers?
They are weeping bitterly,
They are weeping in the playtime of
the others,
In the country of the free.
They look up with their pale and sum.
ken faces,
And their looks are sad to see,
For the man Of hoary anguish draws
and presses
Down the cheeks of infancy
your old EARTH" they say, lis very
dreary;;"
"Our young feet" they say, "are very
weak"
For, "oh,'' say the children, Eve are
weary,
And we cannot run and leap
You ought to know, youthful reader,
that there are thousands of little chill
dren, much younger than you, who are
Obliged to leave their homes in the
morning, while you are still sleeping,
and who work until sun set in order
that they may help their poorly paid
parents to support the home.
Away down south, where slaves used
to do the work before the war, they
now have little children from five to
twelve years of age working in the
cotton mills, feeding the huge machines
that turn out cotton goods for the
people to wear.
Some young children in Minnesota
are very anxious to leave school so
that they can earn few dollars for
themselves. The little children in the
south would be glad to exchange pla-
ces with the school children of the
north. They do not see much pleasure
In being locked up in a factory all day
long, while other little children are
romping on the play ground.
Every Minnesota boy and girl should
praise the labor organizations Of Min
nesota for securing the enactment Of
law forbidding the employment of
children: under sixteen years of age.
labor organization wants to see
every young American enjoy all the
pleasures of childhood. 1t wants to see
the American: workingman's boy the
best educated boy in the world; be-
cause some day in the future these
young boys will be call ed upon to
solve the question Of poverty, misery
and unhappiness among the working
classes. r. -.>" =. ::t,S,1h& < 3 81
#Z :If labor rga1i lions, IL iumph Hfn the
end very rat Her N 10 ISL a orkin man
WIN be- 50 well paid that Will be in =
necessary for" him to compel 5 his
children to- contribute to the support
of the home. Hey would be enabled to
give to his children the: best education
that our public schools afford. They
would be permitted to enjoy all of the
pleasures of childhood' before being
called upon to take their place in the
field of labor.
If there is young reader of this pa
per who has an idea that he can put
into writing, we would be pleased to
encourage him. The Labor World
something to the young folks column.
Next week we want to publish some
thing original from the pen Of a
youthful reader BY and by we will
give premiums for writing.
John Mitchell, the great leader of the
miners, says that it was the young
breaker boys who first interested him
in the cause Of the anthracite miners,
and during the last strike it was the
young breaker boys who gave him
courage whenever he felt blue about
carrying on the strike. Mr.. Mitchell
says that if he could but secure for
the miners enough wages to support
their homes without being compelled
to- send their young children to the
mines to work, he would feel that he
had performed great service for hui
mainly. Is not this purely Christian
idea?
Even boys jobs are not secure in
! these days. Two Of the large tele-
graph companies in some Of the large
cities are disposing Of boy messengers.
| and are replacing them with girls. The
companies say that girls make better
messengers. They do not stop to play
on the way, or do they smoke: cigar
etteS