The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-11-18
CHILD LABOR .s1tB: !
WHERE WOMEN VOTE
Minnesota Woman Sudrragist
Association Takes UP Child
Labor Question.
Shops Marked Contrast Be-
tween Legislation In Geor-
gia and In Colorado.

gia and In Colorado.
81. Paul, Nov. II Mrs. Eugene
Farmer, chairman of the Press Com
mittee Of the MAhneyota Woman suf-
fragist association. Is: busaly engaged
furnishing the papers OF the state
some timely articles on the influence
Of wonan's sutrsagtst on ohtld labor
1egislation. She quotes Alice Stone
Blackwell who has ably shown the
difference In such legislation enact
ed by tho legislature Of Georgia, and
that enacted in Colorado where wom-
en- have the right Of suffrage. Mrs.
Blackwell says:
1.-THE Georgia legislature has again
refused to give any protection to the
tiny children in the cotton mills. Lit
tie girls and boys Of flve and six years
cid may still be legally worked for
eleven hours, and all night through
If it pays the mill owner to work night
shifts.
Why Georgia Wonsen Failed.
1.-THE women Of Georgia have lab
ored earnestly for years to- secure a
child labor law, but the women have
no votes. Is it likely that the legis-
lators would have proved so deaf to
the request Of thousands Of women
II those women had represented
thousands Of votes? 1t was Georgia
this bill had been voted down, that
the Georgia Legislature seemed to be
In league with the Women Suffrage
association to convince the women
that they needed the ballot.
"Colorado's child labor law Is con-
sidered the best In the United States,
and it is worthy Of note that children
cannot be worked to death with i'm
punity tn any state where women
vote"
Ida G.. Wooden is also quoted as
follows:
Women's Work of Progress.
Various waves of activity have en-
gagged the attention Of women from
the Civil War marked an era of agi-
tation against slave-holding; the war
itself created organizations for the
benefit of the soldier; great wave
of temperance enthusiasm swept over
the land about the same time that
foreign missions became depart
ment Of church work in all denom-
nations. and this was followed by
the Inauguration and development Of
various organizations to protect do
mestic animals, fishes, wild animals,
forests, and lastly human beings.
The crest of each successive wave
has planted the standard Of human
1tarianism just little higher than
it was before.
What They Have Done for the Child.
The largest number of women's 8
associations organized In the last
twenty years have for their main en-
deavor the securing to children GER
tain rights-their right to pure food,
air and water; their right to play
grounds; their right to an education
unhampered by toll; also to securing
legislation safeguarding the child at
work; the regulation Of factory hours
factory accommodations, night work.
dangerous occupations, requirements.
and sanitary conditions. The child
labor law has gone hand in hand with
Compulsory School law in most of
the states to raise the standard of
child life,, physically, mentally and
morally to the plane Of our ideal
civilization.
Cowardice of Legislators.
Because of what has been accom-
plished along these lines the unthink-
ing observer is prone to feel COM
placent and wonder why we should
be dissatisfied or want to accomplish
larger and better things for posterity,
never taking into consideration that
waves simply flow along the channel
of least resistance and that deeper
currents of thought will rise to the
surface of public sentiment. Many
q legislator declines proposing bill
that would violently antagonize his
wealthy manufacturing constituent,
while his vote is easily obtained In
support of bill forbidding little
children to peddle papers and chew
ing gum on the streets, or to take
check reins of working horses; cheap
popularity is easy in law that Is SO
general the individual Is lost sight
Of in its operation.
Woman's Influence is Strong.
So the women have gone on year
after year presenting memorials to
congress asking largely and accepting
such victory as rewarded their ef-
forts, while patiently studying defeat
to learn better how to attain the end
desired. And year after year the
ranks Of suffragists are increased by
these women who have had a prac-
ticaI object lesson Of how the beau
tiful indirect influence" of women
works on the voter and secures leg
islation.
There can be no such thing as an
ideal social and economic state in
which all will be satisfied. To hold
that there is or can be is to maintain
that the human family would cease
to struggle, that it would stand still
And If It ever does it will commence
to degenerate-go backwards. The
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