The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-11
CHILD LABOR EVIL
SUBJECT DISCUSSED AT CONFER
 ENCE OF CHARITIES.
fnehc Arcused te the importance Of Adequate LAWS te Protect
 Children From Evil of

Richmond, Va, May 10. Dealing with the world topic, children. their training and the evil of driving them under. steam pressure at the wheel when their frail limbs and bodies were too weak to stand the terrible punishment and strain. the general session of the national conference or charities and correction at St. PauIs church tonight aroused the public to the importance of adequate laws to protect them from the evil Of factory work.
 Three speakers, natives and resi- dents of the South, first championed the cause of compulsory education, and then attacked the employment of chill dren in cotton mills. where they help cd to give leisure and comfort to lazy and worthless fathers. A broad statement was made that iliitcracy would disapppear in the South if these young people could be dragged from ,spfndIes and looms and turned over to the tender care of teachers.
 i9 pr. A ]. McKeiway, of Atlanta. as- ssistant secretary of the national child labor committee. who discussed Child Labor and Citizenship" declared that there was a time when q declaration of independence was necessary. but that the day had come when a declar- ation of independence by the children of America was needed.
 
 of South CarIoina, and, Miss Jean Corr dan, factory inspector of New Orleans, pointed out the imperative demand for compulsory education. while Miss Jane Adams of Hull House, Chicago, urged a modification of the school by which the child should be taught to dominate his machine of labor and I'm. pressed with the relation of his stu dies to the work which he would lat- CT perform.
 Miss Jean M. Gordon, factory in. spector of New Orleans. charged the public school system with the fact of the existence of child labor. She said that the present system does not keep the child's interest in school. Too many school rooms are overcrowded, and then no adequate provision Is made for the pitifully large number of children who are defective and cam not keep up with their classes.
 'An alarming number of our chil- dren,' said Miss Gordon. "are >defec- tive in sight or hearing, or, what is more prevalent, suffer from the debil- itating effect of adenoid growths. which sap the streng tn and ability Of the children to a great degree. Such children soon become dtscourag- ed and wish to leave school. and fre- quently the average teacher encour- ages them to do so, as they constitute a drag on the progress of the class as c whole when they are present."
 Miss Gordon feels that the people of the south do not yet have true ap- preciation of the value of education. as evidenced by the niggardly apprc. portion of public funds for the schools.
 You teil me the South is too poor to educate her children, then tell you the South Is too poor not to educate them. If we are poor, 1t Is because we have been ignorant. Ignorance always t4lA anA lack of opportunity. II was ignorance of the value of our great forests. Of our great mines, of the possibilities In the franchises we sold to Northern cap itai, that made us let these sources Of great wealth slip from us, and so !ett us poor. The sooner we get some ed- .ucation among our people, and learn to Appreciate. the value of what Is left us. the better. The South must have compulsory industrial education. and we must have 1t right away. We can take and are taking the children rom the mills, but the South must supply some place for these children to go' 1t must supply enough interesting scnools to keep the children eOntented.
 Another force taking the children into the mills In the South Is the in- staliment system. Many entd ls working to pay the weekly Installmsnt of S2 on the piano. or the 50 cents on the green plush album. No one ap- proves more than l of sweet homes. and inc refining influence of music. but it is paying a high rate for these little feleSancies' when the future of child lis put up against the green plush all bum5s .r s..
 Miss Gordon said that in her experi- once as a factory inspector. sne mas never found a Jew or negro child In a mill. factory or department store In - b0lnR well ,nourished, playing out In the gio- rIous Southern sunlight waxing strong and fat Tt Is only your little. white faced. shrunken chested, curved back, white. Christians" said Miss Gordon, ls~who are in the mills and department astores of New Orleans. So that the argument against compulsory educa- tton so often offered, that 1t will be a noIItical menace to educate the negro child Is not well founded.
 Miss Addams emphasized the sad, misguided policy of parents who would waste the life of their on-sprins--who would sacrifice their moderate nome and buy lace curtains Sne pieadea TOT manual training and a close relation between school labor and It's effect on Inc ability to earn wages. Owen Love- iov Secretary of the National Child Labor Committee. severely criticised inc vefusal of the United States Senate to adopt the child labor law prepared hv his association for the District of Colum bia. He asked the conference to use its influence upon the Senate to concur with the lower branch and thus frame a model law which could apply to and be enacted by the various States
 Tomorrow the conference Will so by steamer by Westever. At night the general session will dea; with the sub feet of pure health. the principal speak erS being pr. H. W. Wiley, tho gov ernnent's food expert. and pr. Beverly Warner of New Orleans. who Will dis" cuss thA negroes outlook for health. The annual conference sermon was Dreacb ed at St. Paul's Church this at- teTneon by Rev. M. AShby Jones, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Coiumr bus Ca.
 He said in part: One must indeed Ha 1nsensibIe who could live within the stnnosphere of this conference for Ssy ana not have his heart beat faster u1ith human sympathy and human hope. For here is q vantage point from which every tone of human plaint may he heard. The inaFtieulate cry of the hsIf-nourished babe. the moan of the victim of disease, the muttered men ace of poverty, the petition of the inn- prIsoned soul of the defective. the challenge of the drug and drink evil possessed the sudden protest of the criminal the plea of the overworked mother, and the ceaseless call of the unprotected child. ali mingle their minor tones in medley of appeal, whose pathos. Is irresistible. But here, too l. RA