St. Tammany farmer., 1909-04-10
and CHILD LABOR LAW.

g FST@ y 1SS1A o1ANAC WElS 60IIS very
arguments IN support of the necessity for the
laW, fixing the age limit at which children
should be allowed to labor at ID years, while
Gov. Sanders suggested that if it were in
ms power he would make it is years. Like
Yall reform problems, commercial and social
questions and public policy intervene to
axe the solution difficult. Compulsory ed
<, Ton was declared by some of the dele
gapes to be q necessity that should go hand in
hand with the labor law and without which
the intended benefits would be-defeated.
Aside from the suggestion that such a law
would undo all that has been accomplished
ln the way Of preventing negro ascendency
~ politics IN some portions of the South, the
.fposslbllity of a uniform enforcement Of
tha law in some sections, Especially in
gparcely settled agricultural districts the
proper clothing of children of the poor and
tae provision Of school houses and teachers,
Wfen some OF the schools are being closed
Tor iack OF funds or are dependent upon pri-
Vate subscriptions to keep them going, dis
courage the belief that we are ready for
such an innovation Local option as to COM
= spulsory education might be satisfactory to
+ nose people who are willing to tax them
L lelyes 70 keep up the schools, but we doubt
such law was in existence that it would
De applied IN any district in Louisiana to-day
ls difficult matter to keep the schools
going, as it is. Our great need is some
means OF increasing the school fund so that
sections will have school term of at
hsast nine months and that we may be able
pay sufficiently high salaries to teachers
ha0secufe the best services.
: 4e believe the stand taken by Governor
= dez will meet with general approval
ae are not prepared for compulsory school
sag; but the regulation Of child labor is an
portant movement, especially in view of
fact that the new industrial south will
.. 4velr such an extensive field for that labor
/ rye movement is backed by very strong
kgument and with influence behind it that
should insure the passage Of the law.
The address of Miss Kate Barnard, of
Oklahoma, an extract from which is quoted
below, is very strong appeal for it's neces-
sity:
We have developed machines so
perfect that no one can add screw or bolt,
and then comes the tragedy of our nation
ia front Of these perfect machines stand lit
tie DID, thin, holloWchested, salloW-cheeked,
aden-eyed, pipe-stem children in which
there is no perfection at all.
This machine and this child are fighting
out Americas battle for the trade suprem-
acy of the world, while able-bodied men and
christian, cultured women sit by and take
no notice. This perfect machine, with it's
imperfect child working for few pennies a
day. turns out articles SO cheap that our mill
owners who own them both-can go out
and compete with the Hungarians, Litho-
Y mans, Nallars Poles, Turks and Chinese,
and she can undersell all these together with
their slave labor, scab laborsand sweatshop
labor OF the world. They can undersell them
all, because they convert the American child
into pure gold. They can wiring profits from
their tired muscles and aching brain profits
IN America worth more than the men in the
making. Thus does nation go mad and
lose it's reason in the struggle for gold,
Thus does our little white child wage slave
win for us the mastery of the markets of
the world. In the meantime other nations
are taking better careo of their children, and
are preparing them to be masters in the fu-
tslre over the Weaklngs made by child labor.
ts MI We AI1OW II DIS a SSll-SNluSlE 1dCC
the nation will be greatest in the future
which takes the best care Of it's children to-
day
Our mill children are making vast private
fortunes for q few, at the price Of degener-
acy of race. They breathe the dust and lint
of the loom and they stand constantly on a
floor trembling with the vibration of mon
ster machines until the delicate lining of the
nerve cells becomes diseased and the lung
tissues destroyed. With low vitality, re-
sulting from poor food, inferior clothing and
shelter, and reduced by the physical condi- |
tons Of the mill, these children enter matri-
mony in condition which will only perpetu-
ate race degeneracy physical, mental and
moral decay.
ms means more jails for the ignorant
and vicious, and more soup counters and
aims houses for those who succumb to hard
ship and are easily incapacitated for future
work. For society must pay the price some
where. She must pay mems wages or pay
child's wages, and when its little strength
ii wasted, care for it the rest of its days
England, after hundred years of child
labor has now on her hands six million hooli-
gans who people the Workhouses and the
London slums men who are born with such
d low vitality that they have no ambi-
ton, no energy and insufficient strength