The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-13
LEGISLATION AND METHODS.
Regarding Child Labor i'm the Southern
 States.

States.
 The following Is an abstract of an address before the National Child La bor Committee in New York by Rev. Neal L. Anderson of Montgomery:
 Laws against child labor are among the earliest expressions of the awak ening of the civic consciousness of the people of the South to the responsibil- tiles of the new industrial era which has come upon them with the sudden ness of a monday without a morning. Up to the present time. the textile in- dustry of this section has been largely centralized in the two Carolinas. Geor- gia and Alabama; and 1t Is in these States that the problem of child labor has been recognized. and here the bat tie for the industrial freedom of the child of the South must be fought and won.
 The statutes in the South are defect i've in the requirements concerning proof of age of the child. Among the dificulties encountered in attempts to secure effective legislation there is, first, the apathy and indiffer- ence of the public mind toward this program of reform. In the South this has been accentuated by the unfamil- iarity of the people with the new in- dustrial conditions. Second. Is the fact that many of the mills are managed by men of a just and humane spirit Such mills are brought to the front in every public discussion of the evils of child labor, and the impression is given that the pictures of these evils are largely overdrawn.
 The third dificulty is the prejudice where local self-government has for generations been most jealously guard ed, 1t cannot surprise the student to find that individualism has run to the extreme in the denial of the right of the State to interfere between employer and employe in the interests of the children.
 The fourth difficulty is the inability of the South to provide for compulsory education. The South has been fearful ly handicapped in her efforts to meet the problems created by the illiteracy of the people. "A double system of public education has been, with all its burdens and with its varied difficulties, the inevitable issue of our problem of population. With the gravest prob- lems of civilization, the South has been expected to assume the task of educa- tion of two populations out of the pow erty of one"
 The success of the cotton industry in
  toll of her young children. The plain facts of the case are, that the induce ments offered to the capitalists by the South are the proximity of the mills to the water-power, their proximity to the cotton fields, the salubrity of her cli- mate, and the freedom from labor trou- bles, and not the sacrifice of her chill dren upon the altar of greed. In States where such similar conditions obtain,
 I,A ay,1 Haw efforts to secure. as far as possible uniformity in the laws protecting chill dren. And in attempting to make these laws effective. I would urge, fin- ally, that wherever practicable. proof of age should be required, to be sup plemented by a standard of physical efficiency: and in all cases there should be required, for children under 12 years of age. a certificate showing that they can read and write in the English language, signed, not by the parent or guardian alone, but by the principal or teacher of some public school, residing in the county where the factory Is To- cated.
 Though the enactment of effective legislation comes somewhat more tard- fly than we could desire, 1t is a mat ter of sincere congratulation that leg islation has reached a more advanced stage of development at this period of industrial life of the South, and the Southern people are passing on to the period of effective legislation with less of blood guiltiness than any other sec tion of country in the industrial life of modern times.
 I pledge to those interested in this movement that the South with her needs and with her new industries will not be, in the long run, behind her sis ter States in the protection of her little children.
 r.aNrs- Tao~lr Aa SNa A-~k