The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1912-09-01

ground that the industry could not be
maintained except by the night labor OF
boys.
This plea until recently has defeated
legislation for the correction Of the sys-
tem-one advantage OF which, from the
giassblower's standpoint. Is that the
smaller the boy the less wages " re-
qui-es The National Child Labor Com
n:ittee has made a big fight on the ques-
ton in New York and New Jersey and
has accomplished some results. II is
trying to get legislative action on the
same subject in Pennsylvania, Indiana.
and West Virginia.
Few industrial enterprises in this coun-
try yield more satisfactory dividends
than the cotton mills of the South, in
which Northern capital is largely in
vested. They average IS per cent. and
run up as high. 1t is said. as 80 per cent.
These enormous profits are obtained
through the employment of multitudes of
children of both sexes. who can be hired
Tor next to nothing. Twenty-Five cents
a day Is considered fair wages, and mere
tabies work for or cents day.
Many Work Mt Night.
Many of the children work at night
II Columbia, S. c.. Miss Jane Adams
found tiny girl of five toiling all night
Children not old enough TO know their
a
without a moments rest for food or ces-
sation of the maddening racket of ma
chinery, in an insanitary atmosphere
clouded with lint. When. as often hap
pens. they become drowsy, they are kept
awake by dashing water in their faces
The efforts of reformers have brought
about legislation in most OF the States
which has compelled the mill owners 10
mitigate somewhat the evils the children
were formerly obliged to undergo. But
conditions are extremely bad. and little
ones under the lawful age are quite com
monty employed One is told that the
children are in the mills ito attract
Northern capital" Few of them know
their letters. In most parts of the South
the illiterate negro sends his child to
school: the illiterate white man sends
his child to the cotton mill. In South
Carolina there are $1,000 more negro chill
dren than white children in the schools.
North Carolina is the State in which
the greatest number of mills are run at
night. Commonly. the spinning room has
to run twenty-fOur hours in order TO sup
ply the weaving room for twelve hours.
Thus there has to be night shift Of
workers \ recent investigation by the
government Bureau Of Labor showed
that % per cent of the night workers IN
the cotton mills of North Carolina were
children.
Accidents from machinery are aPpsll-
Ing. Chances of such mishaps in .aC-
tories are reckOned from % to to ;0o per
cent greater against the child than wher-
grown Persons are concerned. Losses ~
fingers are the least of the mischances.
One physician said that he had person
ally amputated more than 100 little chill
dren's fingers mangled in the mills Mil
children are frequently seen without
fingers or thumbs, or sometimes with
hand missing. So frequent are such "r
Currences that some Of the companies
oblige the parents OF small applicants for
employment TO sign a contract that IN
case Of injury the mill owners shall not
be held responsible.
Mill Workers PnIIid.
Among the children in the cotton mills
extreme pallor is universal They have
an aged, worn expression pitiful TO See.
And no wonder. inasmuch as they have
become Injured to toll before they ever
learned TO play. One consequence Of
their employment is that wages Of
grown men and women are lowered to
! a child-labor standard. With children
| eliminated. wages would rise to the sub
sLstance point and the adult poor
whites of the South would find such de-
mand for their services as textile oper-
| atives at satisfactory pay would up
! lift them to an entirely new plane.
Fine cotton textiles are made in New
| England, and the tariff on such goods
| IS high as to be practically pro-
| hibitive. The coarser goods are manu-
featured in the South. and the proteC-
| ton they enjoy is nearly as complete.
1t has been urged that people who them
selves receive so much protection ought
to protect children, yet cotton manu-
featuring is worse cursed to-day by
| child labor than any other industry
As Mr.. Roosevelt said in one of his
messages to Congress. IF these manu-
/ facturers demand special privileges and
advantages, they should come TO Com
gress with clean hands. Let them elimi-
nate child labor. reduce the number of
working hours to a reasonable point, and
! pay living wages-then their claims will
! have some right TO consideration"
One of the chief objections to the sys-
| tenn of employing child labor Is that it
| creates and maintains a poor, ignorant.
and helpless class which can be used, and
which commonly is used to !ower the
general scale of wages of adults through
out the country. In view of the misery
that follow in its train, II Is interesting
| to consider the fact that one of the main
objects the Pilgrim Fathers had in leav-
| ing England and emigrating to MasSa-
| chusetts was to escape child labor, which
even at that day had begun to Cypress the
| little ones in manufacturing centers.
RENE BACHE