The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-12-15
SPEAK ON CHILD
LABOR QUESTION
No Child Under Fourteen Used
in Coal Mines
NATIONAL BODY MEETS
Or. Adler of Montgomery Says the Per-
centage of Accidents to Mine Work
ers Under 16 Is Sufficient
for Legislation.

Cincinnati, December 14.-Delegates from
the various state committees to the an
nual convention of the national child la
bor committee held conference during
the morning today. DIR. Samuel McCune
Lindsay secretary of the national COM
mittee presided.
Reports were presented from the diff
ferent state committees following which
there was a general discussion of legal
standards and methods of enforcement
of child labor laws. Much interest was
manifested in the discussion. The child
as an economic factor was announced as
the general topic for the afternoon ses-
sion.
DIR. Felix Adler of New York presided at
the afternoon session, which was held
in the Scottish Rite cathedral.
"Child Labor in the Soft Coal Mines"
was considered by Owen r. Lovejoy, as
sistant secretary of the national commit
tee, who gave numerous illustrations Of
the work done by children and the ill
effects in the various bituminous fields.
He said the Investigations were thus far
too incomplete to give any statistics, but
sections of Maryland, Pennsylvania and
West Virginia had already been gone
over by the committee. In summing up,
he said:
Mutilated Bodies.
eve are told that many of the monks
in the middle ages believed it necessary
that the body should be mutilated in or
der for the soul to grow. Was there sig
nihcance in this belief which led many
of them TO wound, expose, torture and
cripple their bodies almost beyond recog-
milton?
Evidently the promoters of child labor
in the coal field think so, for in every
large coal producing community one
meets on the street boys and men who
bear evidence to the bodily cost of their
employment
ION the theory of compensation, the
children of the coal regions. deprived of
school, in early years taken to work in
the dark corridors of the mine, should
have as the reverse side of their life
picture a home of comfort and attractive
ness to many of them even this is de-
MED The coke producing section of the
soft coal fields presents a weird spectacle
to a stranger. At night the strings of
coke ovens, perhaps half mile in length,
is strangely beautiful. BY day the scene
Is desolation. No vegetation can grow In
the shade of the coke oven smoke, and
for many hundred feet on either side of
the works appears no grass or flowers,
nor one living tree, but grmy, implanted
houses muddy streets and alleys and
foul stenches from the unsewered yards.
Yet with all the wealth of our national
life, and the unmeasured hidden treasures
of these coal regions, this is the type of
the surroundings we offer to hundreds of
little children through all the days of
childhood; this their only definition OF
home.
No Child Under 16.
''rhe national child labor committee
would urge upon the judgment and con-
science of the American people the neces-
sity of SO amending the child labor and
educational laws of the coal producing
states as to render 1t impossible for any
child under IS years of age to engage
in any labor inside coal mine. We also
heartily indorsed the recommendation of
the chief mine inspector of Pennsylva-
MIA that certain forms of labor which
expose to special danger should be limited
those of higher age; that runners should
be not less than Is; ladders not less than
R nor miners under 2.
But in the interest of s1fety, educa tion
and economic progress we must protest
against allowing a child of IA years of
age inside a coal mine. The large per-
centage of accidents to mine workers
under 16 years of age and to non-EnG-
lish speaking workmen of all ages is
sufficient evidence of the necessity for
such legislation as shall guarantee. every
boy who contemplates dangerous employ
ment both time and opportunity for the
development of sound judgment, ply
growth and a fair education"
'The Sudden Awakening Against Child
Labor" was the subject of an address
bv DR.. A. J. McKelway of the national
committee. Lewis W. Parker OF Green
Vile. S. c., was heard on Child Labor In
the Cotton Mills, From a Manufacturers
Point of View"
The closing paper of the afternoon was
on poverty and Parental Dependence as
an Obstacle to Child Labor Reform" by
Homer Folks of New York. For the eve
ming meeting 1.-THE States, and the Rights
of Childhood" was the general topic, with
addresses covering the physical effects,
obstacles to law enforcement, and the
effect on the school life of children.
Greene Copper Purchased.