The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-02-02

charity. Over against all tits power
ty, miserv and woe men are piling UP
colossal fortunes beyond the dream
OF avarice. On the same stress are
to be found the grinding, maddening
sweatshops and the glittering equip.
ages, the swell and pomp of wealth
The strains of music and revelry float
out OF the places of the rich and min
gle with the groans and novels of the
destitute. Many of these poor are at
least kept SO on account of the low
wages paid them.
Nine per cent, says Mr. George
Eckman, "of the families of the
United States own seventy-one per
cent of the nations wealth." Another
phase of the social problem t. child
labor. Nearly two millions of the
children under fifteen years Of age,
are engaged in manual labor unsuited
to their tender age. Graham Brooks,
one OF the most conservative observ
d
study of the conditions prevailing in
the southern cotton mills. He tells
us OF the great number of children.
many OF them under Twelve years Of
age, dragged out of their lit
tie beds to have their meagre break
fast hurried down their Threats e1e
rushed off to the mills to toll amid the
roar OF machinery for ten to twelve
hours per day. The homes from
which they go are often small, dirty.
Ill kept, built on marsh. with fever
and malaria, bringing sickness and
death in their train. These pinched
and broken little waits look VI sad
eyed and wistful, making the;f mute
appeal for existe ice.
Ask the owneIs of these mills and
factories why hey use child labor,
and they reply, I'VE have to do it to
compete with other mills and keep
UP our profits. Last year sixty
per cent of the operatives in the spin
ming departments of the cotton mills
OF the south were under sixteen years
OF age. I'm North Carolina sixteen
per cent of them We're under four
teen. At the opening of the year
1909, there were in all the southern
cotton mills twenty-thousand children
under twelve years of age" On these
ill-gotten profits the mill owners are
living, many Of them out on the hills
in their own beautiful, healthy and
richly furnished homes. The majority
of them are members of the Christian
church. These men stand high in
society and church, in spite of the
fact that they are trading on the
blood and tears of children, many of
whom have been sent to work by
their parents whose wages We're not
sufficient to support the family.
DR.. Peter Roberts. in his book. en-.
titled "The Anthracite Coal Communi-
ties has made an estimate of the
number of children who are unlaw.
fully employed in the mines. He saws
There are not less than 6,4oO bows
under the age of fourteen years. en-
ployed in and about the mines" Mr.
owen Lovejoy tells us In a groun of
twenty-five breaker boys, sixteen of
them were under fourteen years of
age, and We're thus employed in omen
violation of the law. For nine hours
per day these little fellows toll in the
breakers, bending over stream of
coal which pours out cloud of dust
SO thick that light cannot penetrate
It, These little fellows are responsI.
bic for the exact separation from tine
coal OF all slate and rock, and as they
can not see for dust they must de-
pend upon the sense of touch Thew
are always conscious of the presence
Of the boss who stands behind with
lis stick or small piece of coal nv
which he prompts to duty If ore
should so forget himself as to stop to
play or rest his tired back.
All this is being done largely be.
'ause the appetites of the stock hold
,rs In the mines and factories are
teen for dividends. Has the church
If Him who said. Suffer little child.
en- 10 come unto me and forbid them
lot' anything to do with righting
hese wrongs? Is 1t any of her bust
less? These are questions that
hould cause her to sit up md take
lotice. Is it right in the sight of God
or the church to play hands off? Is
I Gods Will that ! preach about the
ocial life of the Canaanites, Hittites,
Amorites and Inbusitas, line up
pharaoh for his oppression of the
sraelites and his compelling them to
make brick and furnish their own
straw, when there are men in some
II our churches who are building up
ortunes out of the low wages paid
heir employees? When these en-
'loyes are enlarging their business,
declaring good dividends, living in