The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-02-21

TSpecial to The Times Dispatch. Il
Washington, d. c., February ~
That C. p. Ncill, Commissioner of La
Dor under Secretary Nagel. is hobby
rider and dreamer. no one IN tho
newspaper business here would deny.
once set in his way he is hard to
move. and. unfortunately for the South.
he has decided in his own mind that
thousands of women and children are
being worked to death there in the
mills and other industrial plants. So
that he and others might ride their
hobbyhorse more persistently and more
gracefully Congress has in two diff
terent lots. appropriated 100000 for
the purpose of sending a horde of
cranks through the country to gather
information bearing on their side OF
the labor question.
BcverliIrc Started the Dali.
Senator Beveridge. of Indiana, It
will be recalled. in a speech on the
floor OF the Senate January %. 1907.
animated that tens of thousands Of
children We're being murdered annu-
ally in the South. At the time Sena-
tors Overman, Tillman, Bacon and 9TH
ers took him to task for his unwar-
ranted attack. But 1t was then that
! Congress made an appropriation Of
| sl50.o0O for an investigation. and au-
thorized the Secretary of Commerce
and Labor to ascertain the facts Com
missioner Neill organized about one
hundred agents into working squads
and sent them into the field. Twenty
or more were dispatched to Virginia.
North Carolina and South Carolina to
look into the cotton mill situation.
Others went to glass. silk and cloth
Inc, rnon,If ri CT
The South was pointed out as tho
place where children were stunted
4 mistreated genarallv and debased.
Neil, 1t was said at the time instruct
ed his hirelings to find these condi-
tons. Later, 1t has been alleged that
those of his agents who found what
he desired them to find were promoted.
and these who found hattor thin~s r.ore
| fred The stories told of the findings
of some OF the agents that went South
sound like the tales of Baron Nun.
chausen. One young woman. socio-
logical crank from vassar, discovered
one mill with pit. or cave. where
children We're hidden away when Wis
itors called. At another mill. In the
mountains. she learned that at the APP
proach of any suspicious looking per-
son the poor ,down-trodden boys and
/ girls, were told to rur for their lives.
| This creature. 1t is said, delighted Nelll
SO that lie boosted her to the very top
| Of the list.
/ IT. r. Dnwley's Experience.
Thomas r. Dawley, Jr. native OF
New York. received quite different
treatment. He was told to go South
and investigate tho conditions OF the
mill operatives before they left the
| farms. In other words. he was to COM
pare their present state With that OF
former davs- when they were troopers
and tenant farmers.
/ Dawley was not the man Neill was
4 looking for. He investigated and re-
ported that the conditions at the mil
were better than those on the farm
lie declared that they not only hae
more opportunities, but had actual,
improved industrially, morally, so
cially, physically and financially.
Dawley was told to write out hi!
report. He alleges that Nell tried t
make him change his Impressions, con
tending that he had nor seen the true
9 conditions, and arguing that, what
n ever the investigation revealed, chill
X dren should not be allowed to work.
: 'If a child is found wallowins in TIL
e gutter, in filth, 1t should not be take
: out of there for better conditions,
s. it means work." Neill is reported t
y have said.
s. Ordered South Again.
NJ Dawley, he says, was sent Sout
"a again to do his work over. He the