The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-02-01

spindles in North Carolina alone as
there were in the whole South at the
former date, and declared that North
Carolina and the South were now
brought face to face with the settle
ment of the problem as to whether
the great milling industry should be
built up with the labor of children. He
referred to his experience with the
question of which he spoke, when he
was pastor of church at Fayetteville
at q time when there was an epidemic
of typhoid fever among the mill oper-
atives and to the fact that the mill
men hadin 1897 prevented the passage
of any act which gave relief to the
/ children of the mills. He stated that
he had been informed that a nine
year old boy was working in Il Raj
eigh mill. He had discovered that this
was q mistake; the boy was now twelve
years of age. but he had been working
in the mills for six years! and had
been working twelve hours aday, If
q, judge should sentence q youthful
criminal to work at hard labor there
would go up a unanimous cry of pro-
/ test but an attempt to take care of
the children raises instant opposition.
| In that home there were two little
| children under twelve years of age,
but they wouldn't so to school; they
were waiting to get in the mill. If the
/ LtH proposed were Ill IOICt tliey WOuIu
| go to school if for no other reason
than that they could thus get to work
| two years earlier than otherwise.
| Friends have told me-" cried DR.. Nc
/ KelWay, that there is a prejudice
against me because / am employed by
outside parties. | propose to outlive
that silly prejudice. l will defend the
| right of Southern men to join in a
great national humane organization
No Jon h. .icri1{ if.iIN n
he in national movements and organi-
cations, being entitled to share there
in by her history in the revolution and
in every crisis in the life of the coun-
try when brave men We're needed. The
disastrous war had been over for forty
years; it was now time for the South
to stand by the larger question of hu
mainly. An advocate at the bar de-
tends one life; the question of chilC
labor is one the advocates of the con
troll Of which deem gives them a cause
of defense of the life and the exis.
tence of thousands. North Caroline
had come to be looked on as the pio-
neer of good deeds in the South; he
had heard it called in the North tn,
pillow of cloud by da and of fire BY
night in the cause of education il
the South. If she adopts q good law
| other States will look on and follow
her example of protection of the chill
dren.
| Taking up the present law, Mr.. Nc.
Kelway attacked it as. first, not effec
| tive. 1t was impossible for any mil
man to violate that statute wilfully i
j he requires the written statement of
parent as to age. If half of what the
mill owners say about the vampire
] parents is true, they are not tho
| proper persons 10 trust, men who are
giving the fruit OF their bodies for the
ease of their limbs. There are plenty
of ten and eleven year old children il
mills in the State; and they are going
! to stay there until the law is made eff.
I fectiVe.
Taking up the first and second sec,
! tionS of his bill DR.. McKelway de.
! Tended them, first because they We're
/ humane and, second because theyv We're
| educational. He referred to an inter.
view with Charlotte mill man ir
which he said that rs per cent OF the
| spinners in the mills were between the
! ages OF II and IA years. He was in n,
hurry for this bill, having agreed to an
amendment postponing its operation
+! to September, 1906, time enough fol
] both mills and operatives to make
+ their necessary arrangements The
time is surely coming in North Caro-
lima, said he, when no where will il
/ be permitted to keep a twelve yeal
old girl standing up for twelve hours
during the day The glory of the race
had always been its regard for wo-
man and its care of them. Tactus
had spoken of the rude Germanio
| tribes devotion to their women; il
was those tribes which Il hundred
years later swept over and destroyed
Rome, whose descendants now rule
the world. The fact that the English
/ the American and the German people
could today command the peace OF
| the world is due to their devotion to
womanh0od and to motherhood. The
most important time in the life of q
woman is between II and IA years OF
age. There is a medical reason why she
should not be forced to do hard work
! or to stand on her feet to any extent al
| that period. He read from doctors
| showing that the women who at the
| transition point from girlhood to wo-
| manhood have to stand much on theil
| feet have "a fate of suffering before
/ them. The men should be the bread
| earners, the women the home keep
ers Southern people are going to pro
! tect their women kind. and diScrimi-
| nate in favor of their girls. He re-
| ferred TO the physical deterioration OF
the men in England in the cotton mill
| ing districts, they being on an average
| three inches shorter than men in 9th
er occupations. That was England's
experience after 100 years. We are
at the beginning and we start with
the best stock in the world And the
South has OF all people the best labor
ing classes physically and< morally
He strongly urged the educational
p-oviso in his bill reading from super
intendent Joyner's report to the effect
that only about two-fifths of the chill
dren in cotton milling sections en-
tered schools and only one-fourth at
tended, and from the message Of Gov
ernor Aycock with regard TO chile
labor in the mills. The provision that
the boy must be able to read and write
TO get in the mills under fourteen
i would give stimulus to education
and would be a mild and practical
form of compulsory education at 20 'nts
/ where it was most needed. He re, d
from tila Progressive Farmer in whic,'