The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1905-04-07

drawn, and full of pain it was. He did
not reach for the money-he did not
know what it was. l tried to stroke
smile of friendship meant nothing to
hiln-he shrank from my touch as
though he expected punishment. A
caress was unknown to this child, SYM
pathy had never been his portion, and
the love OF a mother, who only short
time before held him in her arms, had
all been forgotten in the whir of
wheels and the awful silence of a din
that knows no respite.
| .~,
mere were dozens of just such chill
| dren in this particular mill. A physi-
clan who was with me said that they
would all be dead probably in two
years, and their places filled with 9th
ers-there were plenty more. Pneu-
monia carries off most of them. Their
systems are ripe for disease, and when
it comes there is no rebound-no re-
Spouse. Medicine simply does not act
nature is whipped, beaten, discour-
| dSCNi, anu tiSE CHllu BLIND lHtO 81 SlupOl
| and dies.
| There are now only five states,
| believe. that have no law restricting
| the employment of children. Child la
Dor exists in Georgia and Alabama to
| IN extent nearly as grievous as it does
| in South Carolina, but in each of these
| states there are bands OF brave men
and excellent women who are waging
| war to stop the slaughter of the inno-
| cents; and these men and women have
so forced the issue that the mill own
ers are giving way before them and
| Offering compromise. But South Caro-
lima lags behind and the brave work
ers for liberty there seem hope
less minority.
For these things let Massachusetts
answer.
| Massachusetts may wear silk.
South Carolina can not abolish child
| labor because the mill owners, who
| live in New England, oppose it. They
| have invested their millions in South
| Carolina, with the tacit understand
ing with legislature and governor that
| there shall be no state inspection of
mills nor interference in any way with
| their management of employees. Each
| succeeding election the candidates for
the Legislature secretly make prom
| Uses that they will not pass a law
| forbidding child labor. They can not
| hope for election otherwse-the CAPT
| talists combine with the Crackers"
and any man who favors the restric-
ton OF child labor is marked.
The cracker, the capitalist, and the
preacher live on child labor, and the
person who lifts his voice in behalf of
the children is denounced as sickly
sen.imentalist endeayoring to discour-
| age the best interests of the state.
| The cracker does not reason quite thus
| far-with him it is question OF
rights, sah,' and he is the head of
his family and you must not meddle-
his honor is at stake.
So at every election he jealousy
guards his rights-he has nothing else
to do-he has lost everything else but
honor" If women could vote in South
Carolina they would wipe child labor
out with sweep; but, alas! a woman
in South Carolina does not own even
her own body. South Carolina is the
only state in the union that has no di-
vorce law. In South Carolina the gra-
cious, gentle woman married to a
rogue has him for life and he has her.
The state objects to their getting
apart. The letters forged in South
Carolina never break Tin South Caro-
lina), and the key is lost.
say these things with no prejudice
against the people of South Carolina
as a whole. for some of the bravest,
gentlest, sanest, most loyal, and most
hospitable friends l have in the world
live there. 1 make the mention merely
as a matter of fact to show that the
majority of the people in South Caro-
lima have long way to travel and are
good raw stock for missionary work.
l learned from reliable source that
a cotton mill having pay roll of So
600 week in New England can be
run in the south for $4,000 a week.
This means a saving of just 100000 a
year, and the mill having a capital of
$1,000,000 thus gets clear gain of 10
per cent per annum.
One mill at Columbia. S. c., has a
capital of $2,0O0,O00. In half a dozen
other cities there are mills with cap
ital of a million or more. These mills
all have company department stores,
where the employees trade. A certain
credit is given, and the employee who
has a dollar coming to him in cold
cash is very. very rare. The cashier
OF one mill told me that 10 families
out of 20 never see any cash, and prob
ably never will. The account is kept
with the head of the house. Against
him are charged house rent, insurance,
fuel--three things the man never
thought of. Next, the orders drawn