The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-03
The PEOPLES FORUM OPENS.
MRS. NATHANPLEADS FOR SOUTH
ERN FACTORY CHILDREN.


NtVW8NN
wealth. hut Poor in Trade schools.
New ROCHELLE, Dec. 2.-The Peoples
Forum was opened for the winter this after
noon with addresses by Mrs. Frederick
Nathan, president Of the Consumers
League, and j. C.. Monaghan. editor OF the
United States Consular reports. The meet
ing was held in the New Rochelle theatre,
and Prof. H. c. Bumpus OF the Museum
OF Natural History, introduced the speak
ers.
Mrs. Nathan, taking as her subject, Bible
Ethios Versus Business Ethics" went into
the abuses of child labor particularly az
they exist in the South.
There were Sc, 900 children, mostly little
girls, she said, working in the Southern
textile mills. These little factory slaves
were not as well cared for as the negro
slaves were. They worked where the dust
ehoked them and gave them tubercu losis'
and many of them died in consequence.
Just think of it," she said. 10000 Of
shose little totsl At the time they should
b nesting in their beds with their dollies
- their sides, they are aroused Joy the shrill
factory whistle and compelled to go to
work; work that sometimes lasts FAR
! into the night. Others are employed all
might at the looms and bobbins, and when
morning comes they can be found lying
sround on the factory benches too tired
md weary to go home TO their breakfasts
"When we stop to consider that these
; little girls are to he the mothers OF future
gsnsrations, are we not shortsighted TO
permit such conditions to exist? True,
We are building up wealth. But it is not
: real wealth. True wealth consists OF the
. - fla VAAnI0 n,Ur
/, capital in many instances throughout the
country Is chewing up little children and
spswing them out into the hospitals and
~,xraveyards. The people of the Northern
/ States who we're so shocked two generations
: axo by African slavery are more respon-
sible for these child labor outrages h the
! Southerners, because the stocks OF most
B OF the large Southern cotton and textile
mills are held in the North"
Mrs. Nathan complained that the law
: restricting children to tenxhours a day or
sixty hours a week in thelfactories OF this
state was not being enforced. There were
too many manufacturers who were able TO
have their mansions and autos and yachts
! but could not give their employees a vaca-
' ton.
, she offered a resolution calling on DR..
Darlington of the New York Health De-
p, partment to enforce the child labor law.
: This was unanimously adopted;
Mr.. Monaghan took as his subject
sAmerica, q land of unlimited opportuni-
eies.' The land that has the schools plus
: the raw material, he said, had the future.
A. America was ahead of all the world Tor ITS
wealth OF raw material, but 1t was behind
= European countries in the method or in
} structing the young men OF the country
1 how to use Il. The trouble with this
4 country H." said he, that we sell our raw
material abroad and then let the foreigners
: send it back to US in the form OF finished
i. goods and charge us for the manufacture
work at home il we had the almost perfect
system Of trade schools that exists ON the
continent of Europe.
This country, he said, was one OF wonder
. full wealth and therefore Of wonderful
opportunities. He placed the wealth OF the
United States at $4,000, 600 900. The $ll0,-
= 900, GOO, 900, he said, had been piled up In a lit
tIe more than a hundred years and the larger
part Of 1t in the Last fifty years, 80 that
10 was largely in the hands Of the men who
had made il. In comparing the wealth
OF the United States with that OF other
countries Mr.. Monaghan introduced some
statistics. In 1000 years Great Britain,
which had paid tribute of gold To the Caesars
. and sold tin TO the Phenicians, had piled
fup only s. 900. 900, 900, France with its mag
nldcent vineyards and textile works had
piled up only $50 900, 00O, 600; Germany, in
Guiding all of itsproyinces had MY SHOG-
VWg1OOO bNtFA WIN ~
able globe under its rule, had S35 ,0OO, 600 900;
italy, with its wonderful cities, had $ls,0O0,-
100000, and Spain, with all Of the wealth OF
the Montezumas, had only IL 600 600 900.
-When we come to figure it out, con-
tinued he, "you will find that the United
States now clothes the world, feeds 1t and
heats it. Lastyear We produced 1000, 0OO, 900
bushels Of corn. IL has been difficult to
ret the Europeans 10 use our corn, but the
cattle raisers have now found the way.
They feed it to their cattle and then sell IT
to them as beef and pork.
England has about IL, 900 square miles
Of coal, the most OF it in Scotland and Wales.
They have been using coal Tor over three
: hundred years and many OF the mines are
now depleted. II is estimated that their sup
ply can last only from 25Oto 400 years longer
In this country we have 225,Ooo square
miles OF coal lands. At the rate we are
consuming il our coal will last 5000 years.
And now we read that Italy is gaining her
lost ground as a manufacturing country
because they have learned TO harness the
rivers and mountains with electricity.
This goes to show that even il our coal
supply ran out We could maintain ourselves
Indefinitely by means of electricity"
Mr.. Monaghan advised his hearers not to
make money the measure OF their efforts,
Int to make honor the reward in both busl-
ness and the professions. He cited num-
eIous instances OF men who had refused
large salaries in order to devote themselves
TO their professions and who had afterward
made millions by giving the world some
new invention. Examples OF this kind, he
said, were the men who invented the beet
sugar process. who invented the seedless
orange and who invented the method OF
preserving the color Of flowers, all OF whom
ID made millions out OF their discoveries.
we nave only TO learn how to use our
raw material. said heA-and then there will
be no further complaint about the over
providing of our American cities or the
scarcity of work. Tho young men who
IS -. q. fHano fha nlI Wor1I - raaIy o.,
Hslves because of their careful technical
educations. Every mine and forest and
stream in this country teens with oppor-
tunities for the men. Let US estab-
lab our schools beside them. / want to
s~mphasize what Bismarck has said of us:
thaa we have the raw material, but We need
schools"