The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-25
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1 he is also of the most domineerins temper. He thinks he alone has the right to make issues in this campaign and he resents the effort of any enc else to intimate that there may be oth- CT things worth talking about besides railroads, railroad rates and corrupted public administrations.
 Last week The Advertiser pointed out that Mir Conner was nervous about the Child Labor question and his record upon it. In his debate with Dr. Gun. ningham at opelika on Monday Mir Co., mer again made it very plain that he did no: think Dr. Cunningham had any right to bring in the child labor ques- ton, even in the most general way, as having any bearing In this campaign. Furthermore, Mir. Conner. in the most domineering way tried to bull doze pr. Cunningham out of talking about child labor. Mr. Conner seems to have gotten rather warm on the subject. and yet in his ex- citement he was still cunning enough not to reveal much of his attitude on the matter.
 Here Is the substance of what Dr. Cunningham said at opeiika on that 1 subject:
 | age, the-physicai. the intellectual and 1 the moral natures of individuals are formed, Ihere's no doubt about that. from birth to adult age without the l protection of law, and without favor. able environment, will reap harvest of citizenship deficient. It therefore follows. in my judgment, that If neces- sary to protect the children from en- vironments that would thus destroy them. 1t is for the State of Alabama to prohibit such environment as would I lect or degrade their morals"
 1 Now there was nothing in that ut- terance specifically referring to Mir. Comer's record on the matter, It was a broad statement of principle and ! policy. not necessarily refiecting on Mir. Conner. Yet Mir. Conner seems to have been very much provoked by 1t; | he construed Dr. Cunningham's re- I marks as a reflection, and indulsed In one Of his characteristic explosions Here Is what he is reported as saying about this matter: | In speaking of charges made against him in reference to the employment | of children, he said; All of these | create friction on account of the cot | ton mills. let me tell you Doctor you never did q more unstatesmanlike poor people of Alabama where they | should work and where they should not work? No you would not. The idea of taking these things and trying to sow descending long ways from the high l plane of statesnianship. want to I say to you. gentlemen, that am cot ! ton manufacturer.
 l q have another question: he said in I addressing Dr. Cunningham. What do you know aboiit child laborT No- thing. You don't know as. much about rates and you know you don't know anything about that"
 "Gentiemen, if 1t were possible to build 5000 spindis mili m h. every God speed and let him go and do it.
 He said that the thoughts which were influencing the South against the south from competing with the East in cotton manufacture. He said that the same. people who were re-
 sponsible for the child labor agitation were responsible for the private cars that go spinning from. Washington to
 Booker wsshington's institute.
 He distinctly appropriated Dr. Gun
 ningham's plea for the States taking
 the best possible care of it's children
 as a statement against himself! He
 arraigned the broad, Humanitarian views
 of Dr. Cunningham as unstatesman- like! He talks about dictating to the
 poor people of the State as though that
 was the meaning of the child labor
 lawl He ayers that Dr. Cunningham
 was totally ignorant on the subject
 notwithstanding his opponent is one of
 the ablest physicians in the State and
 has studied the effects of labor inside cotton mills by day and by night upon
 the physical development of young children. He regards the erection of a cotton mill in every county as of su-
 preme importance, no matter how many
 young lives 1t may ruin, if 1t violates
 the law on the statute books today!
 He arraigns Dr. Cunningham for de-
 scending to low plane and trying to
 arouse prejudice against him. a phil
 anthropic cotton manufacturer. and yet
 in the same breath he tries to infiame the prejudices of his hearers against child labor agitation and child labor
 laws as the work of Northern manu- , lecturers and Yankee intermeddlingi What a spectacle. What a begging of the question. He does not go into
 his own record on this matter. He
 does not declare tat he made much
 money out of the child labor in his mill before the present law was
 passed. He does not boast that he
 fought this law with all his might be-
 fore the last Legislature. He does not
 admit that all his spacious arguments on that subject were tried out at that
 time and trampled under foot as worth
 less by the representatives of the peo .
 pie of this State He does not deny
 that the present law. liberal as it is
 in it's restrictions upon the min men,
 has not been obeyed by some of them.
 nor does he promise to help amend
 this law by providing means for it's better enforcement On the contrary
 he plainly indicates that he has no sympathy with the present law, or with pr. Cunningham's humane views. He again reveals himself ss the autocratic spirit, who regards himself as the per. sonification of all wisdom, and looks