The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-02-08
EYES OF. THE NATION RESTS ON .
 MONTGOMERY, ], SAYS S'MeKEL WAY

attracted much attention, Mr. Pratt paid his compliments briefly but point edly. Mrs. vanvorst, he said. confessed she could find absolutely nothing In my mill to condemn, but she said she would have to write something sensa- tional or 1t would not be print q.
 Says Operatives Are Ccptenad. ].
 Mir. Pratt exhibited photographs Of employees of his mill and described con- ditions prevalent In Pell City. He said the operatives oi the mills were more prosperous and morS happy than when they had worked on the farms. The people in the mills were not of the class thattowned plantations. al !, they had never sent their children toJschool. He said the cotton mill men were per- fectly willing to have child labor law. but he asked that 1t be fair and not drastic. The mills had been greatly improved. An inspection pro- vision would be futile unless the birth register of the State were made prac- tical.
 It was stated by MT. Pratt that a passage of the Pitts bill would cause one-third of the mills in Alabama to shut down. He said twelve years was the proper age limit.
 Mrs. Erwin Craighead, as represen- tative of the Alabama Federation of woman's Clubs, followed Mir. Pratt. After speaking of the Federation as representative of the best women of Alabama, Mrs craighead argued that the Pitts bill was step higher in civilization. and she expected the model mills" to join hands with the She appealed to the members of the committed that they should not take a step backward. T can not believe" Mrs. Craignead concluded. the Legls- lature will write itself down as favor ing child slavery"
 David Goodwin. "a prominent mill man of Anniston. was the next speaker. He, bad helped .our years ago. he said. to draft the child labor bill in which ten years had been made the age limit. The present trouble with the law, he said. was that 1t was not enforced. the grand juries failing to make prop CT inspections. He said the State could not afford to pass leh drastic legis- latton until Alabama, had more labor; it was business matter concerning am investment of millions of collars.
 Children Must Be Protected.
 Rev. Neal l.. Anderson of Montgom- cry spoke for the Pitts bill In 1889. Alabama had a fine child labor law, Mr. Anderson said. and It was defeated by a corporation of Alabama owned In Massachusetts. They were having the same fight In New England. whore the Jealousy between the sections was played the other way. but just as ef- fectively as .n the South. After speak, ing of previous legislation and com pairing the bills under discussion, MT. Anderson said that two things were desired. the protection of every girl under IA years of age. and the prottc- ton of every child under Is years Of age from night work.
 B. F. Roden of Birmingham, Vice. President of the Avondale and Syla- cauga Mills. spoke for the Kirby bill. He was followed by MT. Kirby, who spoke in. support of his bill. He had been elected, he said. by the votes> of the mill peopie and they did not want the labor laws changed. The mill operatives he said. were prosperous and happy He was followed by Mir. Pitts. author of the other child labor bill, who concluded the argument. He pleaded against a consideration of the child as an asset and contended that the rights of the child should be recog- mixed. Children were driven Into the factory by that hardest taskmaster. Poverty. The employment of children under the age of IA trangressed their every right The child was not the Atlas of the world, said MT, Pitts, and | ought not to bear every burden.