Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1909-06-24
THE HOPE OF THE NATION.
Continued from First Page.)


we? Who tills our soil and harvests our
grain? Who digs our coal and shapes
our ore? Who picks our cotton, spins
our thread and weaves our cloth? What
class of people is it that performs near
ly all the hardest and least profitable
work of our nation-work from which
we shrink, not because it is hard. but
because it brings too small a wage?
Who is it that make up the vast mass
of voters that decide the great political
issues of our nation? Whence comes
the greater part of our military force
which stands for the defense of our ma
ton? AS it has been in the past, so il
is In the present, these greatest num-
oers come from our poorest classes, and
the future will not bring forth a differ
ent order of things. So then, the child
rem of our working poor that we are
molding and shaping in this generation
will form the foundation stones Of our
nation in the next generation.
Now what is the manner of the mold
ing? If we allow the children to be
over worked in the mines and the mills,
where their vitality is Slapped and their
growth retarded, the money magnate of
the future will find the men and women
physically unable to endure the hard
ships that the successful laborer must
meet. Less work means smaller paw.
which means greater poverty and dis
trlss, and this means more helpless peo-
pie to be an exper Sc to the nation. And
money which should be devoted to insti-
buttons of learning, must be expended
upon hospitals and almshouses to take
care of the crippled and diseased pau
pers.
But the intellectual weakening is
more detrimental to our future citi-
zenship than is the physical. These
men and women will be incapable of
selt-government. When the great DO
litical problems of the country shall be
presented to them, they will be utterly
unable to take an intelligent and indie
pendent stand, but will be sWayed back
and forth 10y the opinions Of those upon
whom they are dependent for a liveI-
hood. II reigion they will be SUPER
stitious; in war they will be mutinous:
and in times of financial depression.
and in the nations dark hours, thew
Will rise up in anarchy, and alas! for
the Lincolns, the Garields and McKin-
leys that may meet their doom as a re-
suit of our folly.
But you ssy the benevolent workers.
over Jealous in this cause, exaggeate
the conditions as well as the results.
This is impossible. 1t is a fact unde-
nlable, that short time ago in a Ken
lucky town, a child three and one-half
years old earned twenty-five cents a
week gathering stray bobbins on the
dusty floor of cotton factory. To be
sure this is an extrme example, but we
cannot exaggerate the stern fact that
IN many States hundreds of children
from six years and upward are wither-
ing away in the heat and dust of mines
and factories.
Recently a diplomatic student. in
comparing the English and German ma
lions, speaks. of Germany as the domi-
nant power of Europe, and destined to
become more powerful. This, he says,
Is because of her strong and loyal peo-
pie, who, in childhood, are compelled by
law to remain in school until they are
old enough to work. This same stu
dent further makes the startling state
ment that the English race, excepting
the best of the upper class, is deterioat-
ing, the men becoming smaller, less ac-
tive and less efficient The reason for
TINS, he says, is the over-working of
the children in the factories for manv
generations past.
But why dwell upon distressing con-
ditions and damaging effects? Every
effect has its cause, and every bad con-
oltlon should have its remedy. 1t is a
most gratifying fact that the people in
different parts of the country are wax
ing up to this awful evil, and in manv
places they are passing laws which for
bid the employing of small children in
manufacturing estabh shments.
1t was glad day when the President
OF our nation called conference of the
representative people to consider the
conditions of our child-life, and to plan
and discuss means of saving and nour.
lshing them from infancy to maturity.
But the great work has only just begun.
The church, though far behind in her
duty and privilege, is quickening her
pace. All over the country societies
are being organized for relief of the
suffering poor. Homes are established
to take care of infants while mothers
and older children are working: other
places are prepared for mothers meet
ings' where the mothers are taught by
precept and example how to care for
their children; how to battle and nour-
ish them; how to keep their homes in a
sanitary condition; and how to cook
proper food. In many cities play