The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1906-11-30
OUR CHILD
LABOR LAWS
CONTINUED From Page Five.]

| CONTINUED From Page Five.1
more. When the typical Englishman of
the class that went to war-the John
| Bull of tradtiOn-was broad shoulder
ed and deep-chested, a ruddy checked
giant, then the Drawn and endurance of
i the Englishman were Il prOverb. Against
him Hooligan, anemic, neurotic, enact
ated, too often degenerate, dull of wit,
and feeble of will, showed like a figure
, of fright. In 1903 in London, not fewer
than 100000 people are without anything
that by any stretch of the imagination
! they can call home.
The eminent Dr. Robert Jones of Lon
was insanity increasing, but was as
Stunning worse forms. That increasing
great numbers were below normal in
stature and physique. DIR. Robert Far
gusOn, seconding these conclusions
| quotes the president of the Manchester
I Improvement association, in saying that
there are large districts in Manchester
in which are no wellgrown children or
| men and women, except those who have
been born in the country. As early as
1916, Lord McCauley made this proph
esy-already fulfilled in large measure:
'Your over-wOrked boys will become a
feeble and ignOble race of men, the pa
rents of more feeble progeny. Nor
will it be long before the deterioration
Of the laborer will injuriously affect
those very interests to which his phys-
cal and moral energies have been sacri-
feed. If ever we are forced to yield the
foremost place among commercial ma
tions we shall yield it to some people
pre-eminently vigorous i'm body and
mind" That people is the German ma
ton. And Germany is today pushing
England to the wall in commercial COM
petition and winning the enduring vic
tories of peace.
Another example of results" from
England. Once more, who are ruling
England today? Take the new cabinet
of England Sir Henry Campbell Ban
herman is Scotchman, as was Mr..
Balfour, and as was Mr.. Gladstone.
Lord Elgin is Scotchman. Mr.. Hal
dane is Scotchman. James Bryce is
an Irishman. Herbert Gladstone is a
Scotchman's son. Sir Robert Reid is a
Scot. John Burns is Scot. Lord
Tweedmouth is a Scot. David Lloyd
George is a Welshman. Who knows
what unknown Cromwells have had
their genius stif1ed in the atmosphere of
the English mill? Scotch fathers sent
their children to school while the Eng
fish parent reversed the law of nature
and of Scripture by allowing his child
to work for him. And now Scotland
rules the destinies of the British en-
pire. .,
It is carefully estimated that there
are GO,O0O children under sixteen in
the southern cotton mills, and 10000
under fourteen years of age in the
northern factories. And this constitutes
but small per cent of the total num-
Der legally and illegally employed in
this country.
1t is hard to estimate the economic
effect of all this. While in some fam
| lilies the income is greater on account
of this child employment, as a whole.
| the cause of labor must suffer. This
army of children takes the place of a
countless multitude of older laborers.
and forces other multitudes to compete,
| In measure, with the scale of wages
paid to these weak and inefficient SUBJ
stitutes. 1t also puts premium upon
ldleness and dissoluteness on the part
| of shiftless parents. So that while man.
hood and morality are decreasing, vice
and ignorance are on the increase among
| those most affected.
| A reliable glass blower, speaking of
boys engaged around the glass works
in Indiana, says that of l75 boys with
whom he had worked in factory two
years ago, there were only about ten
who were not confirmed drinkers of in
toxicants. AS stated above, vice and
ignorance are legitimate result of the
system of child labor
| L here give some examples of wages
paid to children. We must keep in mind
the fact that in several states, the
hours in which children may be en-
ployed, are limited, thus reducing the
total wage average. In 1899, the aver
age wages paid to girls unaer fifteen
and boys under sixtee EN- years of age in
the United States, was $l39 per year.
In Maine the average was 500; in CAL
ifornia, SIS; in Illinois, $l44; Penn
slyvania, $l5l; Rhode Island, $l58; New
York, $l6l; Massachusetts,, $751;. In
Massachusetts, more days work per