Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1908-03-08

$la" 900 TO be expended by the
Department OF Commerce. and Labor
to find out who is RESPONSIBLE for
the system Of child la Dor that has
been nractlced al! over the country.
unusual interest has recently been
manifested in this because OF the
discovery that in hundreds of mills
and factories five per cent OF the
operatives are boys and girls Of very
tender age.
The proprietors claim that their
duties are very light. Be that SO.
the confinement and close attention
which they must needs pay to the
delicate work with which they are
entrusted, is Il very great hardship.
More than that, it keeps them
from school, where they should be
until they have at least passed their
sixteenth birthday
They. are never paid more than
a dollar a day and sometimes much
less. The proprietors have been
arraigned and censured most unmer-
cifully for giving employment to
these children.
Nearly all OF the states have pass
ed rigid laws against child labor,
when ? a matter OF fact, some in
stances excepted, the proprietors of
mills are not to blame. Cruel and
; inhuman greed OF parents, some
times has much to do with the evil.
Naturally, in families where there
are many Children, it is pretty hard
for the fathers to provide for them
and it is not surprising that they
take the chances of the effect Of this
labor, which is always considered
very fight, upon the health and
strength OF their growing children
for the meager sums which they can
add to the income for the support
of their families.
There are other cases, too, where
widows are absolutely dependant
upon their children for existence.
There is much to be said on both
sides OF this question, but there
should he some authorized super
vision Of the employment and the
kind OF labor that children under
age should be allowed to do. The
hours, also, should be arranged to
correspond to that OF other employ
es, making proper concession on ac-
count Of their immature years.
Parents should be compelled to
allow their children some part OF
the year to go to school. 1t seems
outrageous to defraud them OF any
kind Of an deucation which would
fit them for something more lucra~
tive and important when they grow
older,
If children could so to school
four months out Of year and work
eight. it would enable them to &C
uuire some education. which every
one is compelled to have IN this day
and time to make any success III
life
The probabilities are that If some
such arrangement was made, the
children would be more attentive III
school because of the training they
receive in some industrial pursuit.
All play or all work makes glri
or boy dull. and it is the division OF
time and change of occupation that
produces the most gratifying and
successful results.
It is reported that the question
has been SO much agitated and legis-
latures have taken hold OF the ques-
ton with much determination to
improve the condition Of child labor
that already a great deal has been
accomplished in that direction.
Children are better paid, better fed,
and have more recreation than they
had formerly.
It is reported by some of the OPP
orators that they prefer to take girls
over 16 to having boys and girls
under age, because the salary paid
to these eide girls is about the
same that they have to pay to child
rem and they are much better equip
ped and far more capable to DO the
work than are the "infants."
In tobacco factories no children
a,, =. .1aou,a1 ~ work neither