The Washington herald., 1912-02-24
SOUTHERN MILLS
BAD As PRISONS
OF LABOR REPORT.
Families IlI-fed, Poorly Clad,
and Ignored by Every :
Class of Society.
CHILDREN ALL DRUDGEs
OF LABOR REPORT.

The Bureau Of Labor completed and
made public yesterday a report on South
ern cotton mill workers which is likely to
arouse the Southern Congressman con-
siderably. In recent debates in Congress,
the CongreEsmen from Southern States
seemed sensitive on the subject OF South
ern woman and child labor, and the re-
port made public tells In a striking way
the decidedly dispirited conditions under
which Southern cotton mill workers live.
OF scanty pay. scanty food, crowded
homes. company stores, and Of but little
hope for the future.
Twenty-one Homes Described.
The bureau selected twenty-one typical
Southern cotton mill families, ten OF them
living in or near Atlanta, six just outside
of Greensboro, n. c., and five living at
Burlington. n. C.. and the report states
that a comparison OF the menus of the
families studied with the dietary Of the
Federal prison ct Atlantic shows that
for breakfast and dinner the quantity
and quality of food OF the families living
fairly well is not far different from the
prison dies. They have a little more va
riety, perhaps.
Taking the result Of more than hun
dred families studied In the Southern cot
ton mills the report says:
THE minimum standard is a standard
of living so low that one would expect
few families to live on It,
or their social status the report says:
in the first place, they are looked
down upon by the other people OF the
South. There is no attempt to make them
a part Of the community into which they
have recently come. The old residents
know little about them and care less
In the second place. certain conditions
OF the new industrial life forces this
isolation. The whole family-Tnen, women
and children-are engaged In the same
industry in which every other family in
their community IL engaged"
The report says that with few ex-
ceptions they live in houses owned by
the mill company and in many cases
buy their provisions from the company
store.
'Tl other industries adds the re-
port. "the father may feel that he can
never hope for anything more for HIM
self but he can at leasI plan and strug-
gle for better life for his children.
Here the mill demands the children as
well as the fathers
The report says the so-called normal
family-father. with wife and children
depending upon him for support-it not
found among the twenty-one typical
and that most Of the families. even the
poorest. were supported by the earnings
of several wage earners and in addition
the majority had the benefit OF an in
come from boarders. The average num-
Der of wage earners per family for the
twenty-one families was 3.6.
Pork Their Mainstay.
The menus which appear with the
description the character of the food
eaten oy the cotton mill operators"
says the report. 1T will be seen that
corn bread, biscuit, pork. and coffee
form n large part Of the diet OF all fam
lilies. No tea Is used and one family had
a substitute for coffee. When pork Is
mentioned without qualification It means
fat pork, dry salted- This kind OF meat
contains very little lean. Other kinds Of
pork are always specified.
Supper with most Of the families is
a light meal Frequently 1t is nothing
more than what is left from dinner.
warmed over or eaten cold. In many
other cases it is bread, meat (fatback).
and coffee. Breakfast consists Of cof-
fee. bread, sirup, and pork in some
form"
Mothers In Discarded Garb.
The report shows that the earning Of
a family where five were employed in
the mill was something between $50 and
500 a year. and that the average amount
spent by the father of the family on
his clothing was 1887.
The mother. II is stated. spent less for
her clothing than did the older daugh-
ters. and that in some instances the
amount spent by them for clothing was
wholly inadequate. In one instance one
mother reporting as clothing for the year
slippers sSc,'' she wearing the clothing
that her daughters had discarded The
average paid by any mother for her
clothing for the year was s1L92. In the
majority of instances, it is stated, the