Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-08-17
THE CHILD mmr MILLS.
Tots Of Georgia In q bad Way-What
Is Due to Ehildhood.


Though the growth ofapublic sentiment In
favor of child labor legislation In Georgia
has been steady and sincere. it is not yet.
fective state regulatiOfsc This the writer
ascribes to the rapid growth Of the cot
ton mill industry.
The majority Of the people in the state
are as yet unacquainted with its evil ef-
fects upon the hundreds of children drawn
in the last decade k1te1 mill life There
are undeniably goohG results from the
steady. employment of a>large body of our
population at fair wages who hitherto had
been barely self-supporting, and this inn
mediate good has blinded the eyes of even
sincere people to the ultimate injury to
the child and to the state from existing
conditions The mills of Georgia are de-
pendent for their labor upon poor white
people, who were, as rule, tenants on
farms. Children are brought to the mills
by their parents because the work is light
er, the pay is better and they have better
opportunities for improvement and enjoy
ment than the farms.
In the discussion of the subject before
the legislature Of November. 1892, when
the bill to provide age limit of twelve
years, except in the case Of children work.
ing for the support of disabled parents.
when the age limit Of ten years Is valid.
was defeated by a vote OF - to 10. numer-
GUS arguments were advanced pro and con-
Said one speaker on the successful side:
In all this discussion there has not
been any petition from the laborers them
selves asking that these laws be passed,
and 1t is safe to assert that vote by the
mill operatives would overwhelmingly de-
feat the measure. The agitation for such
laws always comes from representatives of
labor unions. and the people of Georgia
do not know what dangerous elements
they are dealing with when they give
1t,
Their efforts lead inevitably to paternalism
and socialism. This legislature should stop
and think before it takes from these mill
children the option of work and forces
them into idlenesc and vagrancy upon the
streets. Is the state ready to increase the
school tax largely. and by law compel the
attendance at school of all poor children?
Is the state ready for compulsory educa-
ton of both whites and blacks? 1 cannot
believe that any body of sensible men,
looking at every side of the question, can
feel that Georgia Is ready for either COM
pulsory education or labor domination"
From this it may be seen that, between
the fear of increasing the poverty of those
already poor. the dread of paternal legis-
lation and labor unionism and the desire
for such profit as comes from the employ
ment of infant labor, the case OF the
Georgia mill child is a hard one 1t Is
true that there are at the better mills
ameliorating circumstances and for chill
dren of thrifty and seif-denying parents
mill schools and good public schools afford
educational advantages that will be en-
braced. But there are hundreds of little
ones for whom all these opportunities are
as nothing-children of shiftless. drunken
or ignorant parents. The law gives them
no protection, the state offers them educa-
ton In vain. and the public sentiment
which should come to their relief Is di-
verted by mass of reasoning which has
enough of truth in 1t to make 1t effective
for producing false conceptions and per-
petuating cruel wrong tuS these helpless
ones. That their number VS. growing rela-
lively. though not actually, less. through
the slow years. is a small satisfaction:
that better understa riding of what is
due to childhood should ere long be vouch-
safed to our people. ought to be the prayer
Of every man and woman who sees the
situation in It's true light.