The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1909-10-27

that dearly as he loved the South he
was not willing to have her purchase
commercial success at the sacrifice of
her little children, F. c.. Roberts.
chairman of a labor commission of
the Central Labor Union of this city.
today at the convention of the Uni
ted Textile Workers of America, stir
red up much Indignation against DR..
Z. A. Stiles Of the United States pub
lie health and marine hospital service
Tor defending the employment of
children In the Southern cotton mills.
DR.. Stiles offending remarks were
reported as being made at the meet
ing of the Southern Textile Associa-
ton at Raleigh, N. c..
Mr. Roberts declared his surprise
that a public officer, paid from the
public revenue, should appear before
a convention Of employers of labor
and undertake to defend the system
or child labor in the Southern States.
He advocated action by the conven-
ton in opposition to any attempt fur
ther to extend and to perpetuate the
system of child laws in Southern cot
ton mills. Such employment, he said,
merely tended to displace adults.
Il love the Southland" said Mr..
Roberts, "and I would do almost any,
thing in my power to have the cotton
of the South manufactured in South
,rn States, but there are prices
would not pay for such a commercial
victory I would not give our little
children as the price of success. We
know that the houses Of these peo-
pie are insanitary. The effort of or
ganized labor is to make them more
sanitary. Here in the District of Co.
lumbia 1t Is daily occurrence to hear
white and black men and women ask
ing the judge Of the police court to
send them to the workhouse because
they would be better off there than
In their own homes. The workhouse
is more sanitary, and they are better
fed there than in their homes. Our
effort has been and will be to improve
the homes"
Thos. Tracy, secretary of the union
label department of the American
Federation Of Labor, called attention
to an article appearing in an August
magazine which he said would place
DR.. Stiles In the position of a witness
against himself in the matter of the
employment Of children in Southern
| cotton mills. In that article, he said,
| DR.. Stiles had deprecated the employ
ment Of children and had stated there
were 100000 children in the Southern
cotton mills and that their lives were
slowly being sapped by the hook
worm disease.
The employment of child labor in
Southern States was again the subject
of an acrid discussion when John L.
Rodier of this city warned delegates
from the New England States that if
they looked with indifference upon the
policy of working children in South
ern cotton mills they would soon face
a movement for repeal of child la
Dor laws in Massachusetts, Rhode Is
{ land and Connecticut, as the New
England industry would find it impos-
sible to compete against such cheap
labor. .
II find" said Mr.. Rodier, "that men
who advocate putting children in the
cotton mills of the South do not put
their own children there but send
them to school,"
Mr.. Rodier told of his experience
in Atlanta, Ca, during a campaign
against the liquor traffic.
ministers of the gospel and wo-
men got down on their knees" he
said, land prayed to save big strong
men from the demon rum and against
their own vices, but these same min
listers and women were Indifferent
when we attempted to get legislation
preventing the employment of child
rem under 10 years of age"
After the speaker had left the as
sembly hall his reference to the min
listers and children brought Edwin
Johnson of New Bedford, Conn.,, to
his feet, declaring that a gratuitous
insult had been offered to the minis
ters. Secretary Albert HILBERT of Fall
! River, Mass, suggested that it was a
fact that ministers did not take the
same interest in prohibiting child la
Dor that they took in the liquor traf-
fic.
Delegate Samuel Ross, a State SEN
ator of Connecticut, called attention