Evening journal., 1908-01-27
CHILD LABOR A
PULPIT THEME
Rev. Or. George c. Hall and
Rev. DR.. ". F. D. Lewis
Speak on Subject

Child labor was denounced I'm sew
eral pulpits In wilmington yesterday,
as the result Of the request Of the Ma
tional Child Labor Committee that the
churches of the country set apart a
special day for the consideration Of
child labor, suggesting January 26 and
27.
The Rev. George c. Hall discussed
child labor in his sermon in st. Johns
Episcopal Church yesterday morning,
and in part said:
we nightly contribute TO the lower
ing of the standard OF our civilization
when we, for instance, allow or make
the child go TO work in our mines, cot
ton mills and sweat shops before IL has
either the years on its shoulders or the
strength in its arms which qualify one
for hard labor. One of the very gravest
tasks on our hands as nation to-day
is the task of saving thousands Of chill
dren from the degeneration which they
undergo in employments that frequent
ly are Of a nature that blights them
bodily and spiritually.
"Our own House Of Bishops at Rich
mond said as much when it, in a reso-
luton, called upon parents and employ
ers to exercise their influence towards
such legislation and enforcement Of law
as will make the exploration Of the
labor Of children impossible in this
c. untry.
"Vhile the laws were improved in
eighteen states last year, and Congress
ordered that the conditions in the lond
at large be investigated 2,00O,o00 chill
drcn still are wage earners, thousands
of them being engaged in forms Of
labor that make their young life in
expressibly hard
Many Children Employed.
children of four years are at work In
some canning factories of a state IN the
North. Little girls only five years old
toll by night in cotton mills of the
South. Most of $4,000 children employ
ed in our textile industries are little
girls.
children under twelve by the thous-
and work twelve hourse from 5 o'clock
10 o'clock every night Twenty-Five
thousand boys under sixteen are en-
ployed in mines and Quarrles. There
are 1900 child laborers engaged in the
manufacture of tobacco and cigars, 40,-
600 boys serve as messenger boys. If
you suggest that the work wrought
Dy CnllOEtn III THESE anu oAhtA otSA-
pations / might name is Ghildren's
work. I answer that the question here
is not what a boy or girl can do. but
what the effect of their doing II is on
themselves.
There also is the moral injury which
thousands receive in employments
when entered at an age too early.
Many a parent is so destitute that she
from dire necessity must send her i'm
mature boy into the mine and her frail
little girl int othe mill. There also are
the parents who are not destitute but
supremely selhsh-impatient for the ar
rival Of the time when their offspring
can be enrolled among the bread win
ners of the family.
Spirit Of Employers.
Closely allied to the calculating spirit
Of such parents is the spirit of the
employers in far too many instances.
They are profit seekers. Cordid gain
Is the thing after which they reach.
They believe in cheapness; they know
that If they i'm the markets are to
hold their own against competitors,
they by cheap labor must assure cheap
production. II pays them not TO pay
a mans wage, but the wage OF a child
pays them so well that they empty
orphan asylums here and there of their
tender wards, not caring apparently
how the fatherless and the motherless
fContinued en- Second Pagel