The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1911-12-15
CHILD LABOR IN MISSISSIPPI
BY t. N. CHOPPER, Mississippi Valley Secretary
National Child Labor Committee.

Children Of Twelve Who Work Eleven Hours Per Dav
vToLUME l. senate document e46, on the cotton textile industry. from
~ inc report of the conditions O. woman and child vnee earners in the
' United States. a prepared under the direction Of Hon. Charles P
Neh- commissioner Of labor, himself q southern man and the inves
uea'oh of n bureau of labor were largely conducted by southern mn and
"o"en report Is a most conservative one The figures eiven.t therefore, for
the report page 1922: TT should be remembered that only those children who
very e.ner admitted or positively proved to be under the legal age are In
uooeo IN TIN above tables. Agents estimates of have been dsregmded
~ every case and only age data supported by positive evidence have been
uSu" rage POT: In u mill lin Mississippi employing fourteen children
under twelve years Of age the mill officials reported one of ten. n Of eleven.
Aa % I'M Others under twelve they reported two Is fourteen years Of age.
os as n1teen, a sixteen and one US eighteen The ages OF eighty four
~. " n" chnoren under twelve years Of age we're correctly reported by mill
onN"AA' The report gos On tx say page 1889: II Mississippi every estab
"Snnent investigated employed children under twelve EAR of ase This was
non uue of any other state. OF the total employees In the establishments
visited children under twelve constituted 8 pr cent n much hiphor nrnor.
10 than in other states~
Blue Book Textile Directory for 1910 reports 4l2O operatives I'm the
mississippi cotton and Knit goods mills. Presenting that the same number of
operatives were employed in 1908 there were2 e children in the Mississippi
ims uhder twelve years Of age by most conservative estimates The report
s page ou: although in Mississippi the ratio Of children to the total en-
poyees In IL mills investigated wa higher than in any other state. only two
was iesst ha 20 per cent Of children. in four mills between 20 and q per
oet OF he employees were children and in three mills rs ps cent and over
highest proportion was 428 per cent In a small yarn MILL"
Certainly there was need Of child labor legislation in Mississippi ven to
peohibt the employment Of children under twelve years OF e in me industry.
II the I'M mills investigated page 1881 lis children under twelve years Of
aee were employed. four OF seven years. six o. eight years, eighteen Of
nine years. thiryfve Of ten years and fifty Of eleven years OF age. In order
to &c. the full force Of these figures the reader will bear in mind that even
according to the statements q the mill ownexs themselves in the same ya
the average number of hours q week in which these little children were en-
poyed sixty thre, or more than eleven hours a day TO- the first five
working days If the week. On page u Of the report we learn that 2S per
teen years Of age According to the reports OF the textile directory OF 4,2O
employees this would make 9s chndren-shan w o say q Thousand under
sixteen years Of age employed for these heathenEh hours
In the anonymous pamphlet issued by the Mississippi manufacturers in
1908 It claimed that fully so per cent of the children as they come from
the farms to the mill have received d education A careful census of the
two older mills IN the state shows that Of the children who have been raised in
the country villages less than 5 per cen were with m educational ad
vantages. Free schools and churches ae located without exception in mill
villages" The bureau of labor report does not bear All this claim. According