The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1903-11-05
Famous Hull House Worker, OF Chi
cagO, Delivers Lecture at
the Unitarian Church.
1.-THE WASTE OF CHILD LABOR
Miss Adams Discusses the Effect of Child
Labor on Society and Makes Plea For
Better Conditions For Laborers.


A large audience gathered at the
Unitarian church Tuesday night to
listen to an intensely interesting lee
ture by Miss Jane Adams on the
"Waste of Child Labor AS head Of
the Hull House and as pioneer and
leader in social settlement work in
Chicago and other cities Miss Adams
has had exceptional opportunities to
gather the material for her lecture
from personal observation and she
spoke as Zone having authority" Of
the evil effects of child labor upon
those with whom she had come in con-
tact during her work in the social set
Elements and municipal lodging
houses.
In her lecture Tuesday night she
first considered the effect of child labor
upon the child itself and showed, by
statistics gathered in England where
child labor has been employed for a
hundred years that the decline IN phys
ical strength in the districts where
children have worked in the textile
mills for generations is such that the
men Of these districts cannot now
come up to the very modest require
ments necessary for enlistment in the
English army.
The Investigations in the municipal
lodging houses also show that very
large percentage of the men who drift
there ares the victims of child
labor. The men whose childhood is
passed in the hard monotonous labor
of the mills have no staying power.
They are worn out, their vigor is gone,
at an age when they should be ia their
prime and they become perman ent
charges upon society, the victims Of
a pernicious system.
Miss Adams next took up the effect
Of child labor on the family and dem
onstrated that in families where the
children are forced to work parental
authority is diminished and natural
conditions reversed. Finally, the
speaker considered the effect upon so.
ciety Of the employment of the young
and immature. Having shown the loss
of vital force and the physical decline
of the race and che evil effect on family
and home life of the employment of
children Miss Adams went on to show
what theultimate result on society and
civilization in the United States will
be if child labor is to become a fixture
in our industrial system. The old
stock argument that it is often neces-
sary to permit children to work for the
support of widowed mothers was
touched on by the speaker and she
stated that in the whole city of Chica-
&c, with its two millions of inhabitants,
the most thorough investigation by
settlement workers had disclosed only
FIVE cases where widowed mothers were
utterly dependent upon the labor of
their children.
The laws governing the employment
of children in different states were dis
cussed and an education requirement
for the issue of labor permits to chill
dren was favored by the speaker.
After the close of the lecture Miss
Adams announced her willingness to
answer any questions bearing on the
subject unders discussion or on the
work of Hull House and some interest.
ing replies were brought out by the
queries of the members of the audi
ence. Seldom, if ever, has any one APP.
peared on the lecture platform in Ke-
nosha who made such favorable i'm
preston on an audience.
After seeing Miss Adams and list
ening to her forcible and direct words
one does not have to search for any
further explanation of:the phenomenal
success of Hull House under seemingly
the most adverse conditions.
TN SESSION Ar RACINE