The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1908-10-25

own. 1t is a law OF nature, ITO be a
man too soon Is to be a small man,
no matter what the physical develop
ment may be. The virile races are
those that have believed in the tutel-
age of childhood and the development
of manhood, the Hebrew, the Greek,
the Roman And in the decaying days
of the Roman Empire the historian
Tacitus, attributes two pre-eminent
virtues to the Germanic races thai
have since over-run the world, the
| honor that they paid to womanhood
and the prolongation of the period OF
adolescence. He tells US that it was
considered a shame to marry before
mature manhood had been reached,
Child Labor Thwarts Progress.
Consider briefly how the modern
system of child labor cuts across this
line of development and progress.
Here, through the long cons, the fam
lily as the social unit has been develop
ing. motherhood, fatherhoOd, brother
hood, patriotism, philanthropy. Child
labor begins its destructive tendency
by disintegrating the family and ends
with the destruction of the state. The
period of childhood is shortened in
stead of prolonged. The dependence
of the child, so necessary to the deVel
the independence of the bread-winner.
The task of the father, the husband,
the house-bond, is relegated in part
or in whole, to the child, who is made
the food-proVider. The child, from
being a blessed incum brance, tending
TO home building, becomes an indus
trial asset, 10 be exploited for gain
The child-laborer, coming into compe-
tition with the father in the labor
market, brings down wages TO the
child standard, and the mother is
forced into the ranks of the bread
winners, because the system of adult
male labor has deSenerated, by rea-
son Of the low wage scale, to the ba-
sis of family labor,
The system perpetuates itself. BY
reason of the iiliteracy which is inva-
riably the result of the child labor
system, the victim of that system is
handicapped in competition with his
more fortunate fellows and is relegat-
ed to the ranks of the unskilled. He
must continue TO receive the low
wages of the unskilled laborer. Hav-
ing to fulfill the duties of manhood he
feels q right to its privileges, and
early marriages become the rule in
stead of the exception. So the power
ty, and the immaturity are handed
down in intensified form to the mex
generation. Illiteracy and resulting
poverty are perpetuated and racial
degeneracy is the inevitable result. In
this new country of ours, with its
shifting population, it has not been
possible as yet to study such devel-
opment in its ultimate results. In
the textile industry, which has always
been cursed with child labor and
therefore with low wages and long
hours, foreign immigration has chang
ed the character of the population.
The native of New England and Penn
sylvania stock, with American habits
of thrift and industry, went from the
ttxtile mills Into the skilled trades
as soon as industries were sufficiently
diversified to accommodate them.
Their places were taken by the Eng
lish. the Irish and the Scotch, who
went through the same process OF
changing TO better conditions as to
wages and hours, and their places
have been taken by the French Cana