The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1906-06-09
CHILD LABOR PROBLEM
FOREMOST IN THOUGHT
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he gave the black. baby a chance IN
it's childhood, 49,. -.
But the white slave owner doesn't
bother about the future. He has no
property in the woman or the little
children that work in his mill. Wheth.
er they live or die doesn't matter to
him. There are plenty more where
they came from, plenty more in the
immigrant ship.
The factory child. to the hardened
factory owner, is simply SO many
pounds of flesh and blood and bone
that can be changed into so many dol
lars-the quicker the better.
There are actually and literally thou
sands upon thousands of young lives
that go up in the heat and the smoke
and the dust, through the chimneys of
factories. Not all actually die on the
factory floors. Their lives little by
little go up through those big chin
neys just the same-the last breath is
breathed out at hon e.
And those that grow up. and sur
vive the factory life and the factory
hours-what do they mean to the
United States7
Go and ask the English people, who
went through the curse of child labor
before it became so firmly established
here.
The English have now passed dras
tic laws and they defened their chill
dren as Wo do not In this shamefully
heartless country
The Englisn learned, a little late.
i the result of child labor, and any
American may learn by investigating
English conditions.
The miserable, little, puny English
soldiers that made such a poor show
| ing before the Beers in the Transvaa]
tell you something OF the effect OF
child labor upon the grown man.
A Manchester factory inspector said,
'You mustn't expect to find any we'll.
grown men In Manchester. The fac
tory life Of the last 100 years has pro-
duced stunted race" In Manches
ter, the great factory center, eleven
thousand men were examined for the
army, and 10000 were rejected. The
standards were then made lower, to
suit an inferior race. Twelve thou.
sands more were examined, and 81
per cent. OF them were rejected DO
cause their chests were too small, their
bodies too feeble.
The child-labor system Of this coun
try, which will get worse and worse
If we have the North and South com
pet1ng as to which shall exploit the
cheapest labor In the cotton mills and
the other mills, Will have a: dreadful
effect upon the future of this country
1t will give us race of human beings
stunted mentally, physically and NOR
ally. as well, for q stunted body must
produce stunted mind and cnarac
ter. ;
We shall get from our child labor
system race as degraded as thai
which makes the Whitechapel district
OF London so hideous-a race where
half the babies die as MASTERS,
where you see the mother with {
young child on her arm and q gin
bottle In her hand, Will the people O.
this country tolerate condition bruta
In the present and full OF danger TO,
the future. or will they have the en-
ergy to do away with the child labo
evil now, before itSbecomes hopelessl,
fastened upon the country and en-
trenched behind that sacred American
wall, vested property interests ?"
1t ought not to be necessary Will
any American to go into details II
connection with child labor. Detail
should superfluous. The bare fac
that a child is deprived of it's youth