Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-12-01
TOILING CHILDREN.
STATISTICS SHOW THAT THEIR NUM-
 BIER IS INCREASING.

5. Alleviate the Ch1Ad LabOr CuESSs | IgnOb1e Attitude of EmpIOyers' As sOctat1Ons. Despite the fact that child labor is
 condemned from one end of the coun-
 try, to the other, the latest census sta tistics show that child labor has in-
 creased. .... Although the employment of children has decreased in some states 1t has in-
 creased in others, and the increase in
 states where such employment is un- restricted more than, offsets the de- crease in states where such employ
 ment is restricted by child labor laws. In the southern states particularly, and
 also in the western states, the percent age of children employed is high, while
 iE the eastern States it is very low in comparison. 6 AS an illustration, 27.2 per cent of the children of Alabama are employed as
 wage earners, while only O.5 per cent of the children in Massachusetts are thus employed. The vigorous and un-. relenting opposition of organized labor and other organizations or societies to the employment of children i'll gainful koccupa tions has secured the enactment of laws raising the age limit in some states. About 20 per cent Of the entire child population of the country be tween the ages of ten and fifteen years are wageWorkers. Of the whole num- 1 Der employed about 33 1-3 per cent are girls and 66 2-3 perlcent boys.
 This is & terrible indictment that should cause the people living under a republican form of government and 1 glorying in republican institutions to pause and ask, "Whither are we drift ing?" Not only are those advantages, which we glorify as developers of the
 best type of citizenship, denied to 20
 per cent of the child population of our
 country, but they are mentally and
 physically 7dwarfed, their economic eff ficiency Iessened and the very source
 Of our future childrenAfuture main tniners and promoters of our govern fnent and institutlons-atta and l impaired.
 In those states where labor is well organized and capable of exerting an l influential force in shaping laws and 1 conditions in the interests of the chill
 dren such laws have been enacted and
 advantages and opportunities secured 1, to them. They have been removed from the mills, mines, factories and work places and returned to the school 1 room and to childhood's proper asso- iations and environments.
 Not only the particular work of or
 ganfzedy labor, in the interest of the l child workers, but every other improve e. l. ment it is striving to bring about, is 1 in the interest of the children as a 1 whole.
 l Tn striking contrast to the work of
 organized labor in the interest of the child workers and the children are the 1 ignoble efforts of citizens alliances,
 anti-injunction associations and em-
 pIoyers' associations. Their efforts iiare directed toward the demolition Itof organized labor, which has done
 more to alleviate the child labor curse than all other organizations and in
 fuences combined. The work of these l employers organizations, of whatever
 name they style themselveT, is in the selfish interests of money making. Con- 1 ditions of whatever nature and regard ] less of effects upon the children of our 1 country are satisfactory and should
 remain, provided satisfactory diyi- 1 dends are earned, is their motto, and
 the perpetuation of this state of affairs
 is the ignoble work these organizations
 are engaged in. Whenever bill in the
 interests of the child laborers is under
 consideration by state or national legis7
 latures the efforts and power of these
 organizations are exerted to show that
 the passage of such. bills would prove, g
 calamity to this, that or the other in l dlustry. t.. ...,. ..r.... ss, s4.e
 There never has been an industry in this country injured by the passage of l humane child labor laws.
 ] In the southern states, where indus
 tries are not trammeled by restric-
 tive child labor laws and child labor
 predomipates to the greatest extent, ! the attempt to level the wages of able
 bodied workers down to those Of child
 workers is gradually forcing south 1 ern workers to migrate to points where
 8 living wage can be secured. Even
 the southern negro finds the wages l insufficient to supply his primeval wants. The wall is constantly going
 out from this section of the country for labor not honest American labor
 at living wages, but cheap, pauper, i'm
 migrant labor at child labor wages.
 Is there an industry other than the padrone industry implanted in our soil
 whose success is dependent upon child
 workers and cheap pauper immigrant labor? There is no such industry,
 Neither does this country, protected
 against these evils of foreign conpett- ton, desire such an industry. = Shoe ! Workers Journal.
 1 - ,-3~' -. ..-..-- ... ,-r @ ,.-. x sn
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