The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-02-01
KING COTTON I'm ASIA
Bv FRANK G. CARPENTER

chlldren are employed, and they are
spinning and weaving cotton quite as
we'll as any Of our American facto-
ries. The most of them are managed
by Chinese foremen and they give
some idea of how the CeIestiaIs expect
to make their own cloth in the future.
During my stay here I nave visited
some of the biggest Of the cotton fac
tories. I went through the establish
ment Of the Soy Chez Cotton Spinning
Company today. 1t lies on the Wharn-
pea river, the branch of the Yagtse
which gives Shanghai access to the sea,
and it IS SO situated that the bales can
be landed right at the mills and the
goods shipped thousands OF miles into
the interior by means of the rivers, or
to Japan or the United States. The
suburb, connected with it is known as
Honkew. This is the great factory
center. and its smokestacks dot the
stream, running along the banks al
most to the Yangtse.
Child Labor at 4 Cents Per Day.
The buildings of the Soy Chee Com
pany cover several acres. They are
Of gray brick and are Swallowed by q
snnokestack which rises to the height
OF a tWelve-story flat. Entering them,
/ found over a thousand men. women
and children at work. I went through
room after room filled with girls who
were weaving and spinning, and j
saw 200 children tending the ma
chimes. Some of them were little tots
not higher than my waist and many
did not reach to my shoulders. The
smaller children were pulling baskets
filed with bobbins here and there
about the rooms. The larger ones
were tending the spinning mules ana
all We're working SO hard that they
scarcely looked up as I entered.
I asked as to their ~ and cum
flny- thew u-orn ahnl1t 4 of n11r nnnjS
per day, and that the pay of the older
hands ranged from that TO 20 cents.
Think of working ten hours for 4
tents; and hat in the dust Of a spin
ming mill! | photographed some OF the
children, frightening the little ones
almost 10 death as I did. The manager
tells me that he has many whole fam
HES employed in his factory-father,
mother and children, all working.
There are no laws against child labor.
and the babies aid in keeping the
wolf from the door.
Speaking Of babies, there were sew
eral OF these in the mill. Som were
still at the breast, and their mothers
had brought them along that they
might net lose work. / remember n
girl spinning AVA with an almond
eyed infant on her knees, and another
had a baby in 81 basket beside her.
The child was quiet. AS l chucked it
otA0 AtiI Nii-A W - 'hih ffiN"7
broke out in its cheek and it smiled.
In another place | saw a three
months Ole baby lying in a pile of
white cotton waste on the floor of
the mill.
Cotton Narn fer Hand Looms.
This factory works day and night,
and there are quite as many children
employed in the night shift as in the
day time. one thousand hands are
always busy. Sunda and week days,
all the year through. It's chief pro-
duct is cotton yarn for domestic Weav-
ers. This is made up into bundles
which are then packed into bales of
400 pounds each, and shipped all over
the country. The yarn is woven into
cloth on hand looms, and it supplies
Il large part of the clothing of the
common people. 1t comes into COM
petition with the mills of India and
Japan, and also with those which are
now starting up i'll other parts of