The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1909-02-20
BY Peter Power.

enacted TO minimize the evil VI
child labor, and all the agitation
infected against it by humanitari-
ans and students of social prob
D6ms, there does not only not APP
pear to be any appreciable de-
crease of the number OF child
\ workers, but a startling increase
\ g noted In the larger Industrial
centers. According to the New
York board of health and chari-
table organizations there we're
lust about twice as many children
{ TO apply for employment certifi-
oates during the closing months Of
the past year as sought those GER
tificates during the same period
the year previous.
Public, quasi-public and labor
\ officials in Philadelphia, Boston,
Pittsburg, Chicago and other
places tell substantially the same
story a. comes from New York.
Lack Of employment on the part
3 Of parents, the high prices of the
necessities of life, and the inabil-
lty to provide books, clothing,
food, etc., for children to enable
Z them to go to school. are causes
Advanced to explain this extraor-
binary condition.
Az might be expected, the radi-
Gals In the labor movement are
bitter In their denunciation of the
growing menace of child labor in
the face OF ceaseless work to stem
the tide. They declare that Wall
Ut. IL responsible for the panic that
threw men out of work and made
II impossible for them to support
their families without depending
upon their children for assistance.
They declare, further, that 1t is
nothing short of criminal ignor-
Ance or greed that, notwithstand-
ing the invention of machinery,
\ the discovery of steam and cleo
tricity and the hordes of voorhees,
men looking for jobs, that chill
dren In increasing numbers must
eacrifice their young lives to the
( modern Moloch.
Once upon a time a celebrated
old Indian chieftain was shown
the way and wonders of New
York, the city which the rest of
the country is given to understand
contains a monopoly of all the in
telligence and progress of the age.
The Indian saw the cathedrals, the
Bkyscrapers, the bleak tenements,
the blasing mansions, the thea
ters, the great white way" etc.
what Is the most surprising
thing you have Scent" asked sew
eral comfortable individuals who
~ y0n CT NJ Il = l.
workers, as they beamed patronfz-
1ngly upon the savage" The lat
ter shifted his red blanket and
answered quietly, Little children
working"
Jas. J. Hill, the great railway
magnate, made the declaration re-
Gently, in an unguarded moment,
that train gang on his railroads
handles on the average more than
seven times as many tons of
freight per mile as do train gangs
ON English, French or German
railways. When asked why Ameri-
can train gangs were not paid sew
en- times as much wages, instead
OF only twice as much, the Hon.
Jim" Hill spake not.
HfllB statement Is in line with
claim made by Secretary Wilson
Of the department of agriculture,
In which he lauded the American
farm lGborer, showing that the
latter's efficiency and intelligence
was doing much to make the Unit
cd States the greatest country on
earth. Secretary Wilson declared
that one American farm laborer
can produce more rice than 400
Chinese. As Chinese wages are
only 10 to IL cents a day, Mr.. VIII
sons estimates show that If
American rice workers were paid
proportionate to production on a
Chinese basis they would receive
40 to $4S per day, instead of
$3.50.
The admissions of these eminent
authorities that American labor is
the most productive and (meas-
ured by its production) the cheap
ct in the world, ought to smash
the fallacious theory that prices
are high because wages are high.
III 1t were made a crime to pay
dividends on fictitious values IVA
tered stock prices would be much
lower.
The adjustment of the strike at
Quincky, Mass, satisfactorily to
both sides, has been followed by
the signing of an agreement be-
tween representatives Of the Gran
re Cutters International associa-
fion and the Granite Cutters EN-
ployers' association. providing that
Al disputes arising during the
next three years shall be arbitrat-
"a, and there can be neither
strikes or lockouts entered into
during that period. The granite
cutters union includes nearly all