Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1913-02-13
CONCERNING LABOR A w

almost any state you can name great
er attention has been given to the al
deviation of the wrongs working peo'
pie have been compelled to labor un-
Ger than i'm our good state. True, /
may be, conditions have not been sc
Objectionable in this State as to bring
forth the crop oflabor laws now flour.
ishing elsewhere; but it is equally
true that conditions do exist which
make it the duty ofethe General ASSN
bly,, as representatives of all the PEG.
pie, to take steps to protect those, who
cannot protect themselves, from actua.
as we'll as prospective imposition at
the hands of those persons and cor
porations, who, by means of the power
Of money, r in a position to exact
More from them than is fair, or right
or just. '"The laborer is worthy of his
hire;" under the constitution he is
made a free man, but when the money
ed classes, with their desire for gold,
are allowed to take children, at a ten
der age, and pervert their minds and
body from their natural course of de-
velopment, the child is deprived of his
rights as a citizen ven before he has
attained them, and before he has an
opportunity to fortify himself, or to
develop the strength to forty himself,
against the sterner necessary condt-
tions of life. By the same token the
State is deprived of a higher average
type of citizenship. 1t is not meant to
say that manufacturers, rs a class, are
o~ppressors but it is patent that in nan
manufacturing business the peculiar
u~facturing business the peculiar rela-
tons existing tend to the development
cf industry at the expense of employees
and to the injury of the same. To pro-
tect our women and children especial
ly and incidentally our adult male
population that has grown up under
difficulties and disabilities, from the
exacting employer of labor, some re-
strictive legislation seems absolutely
necessary. Just as much as a sense
of right and a sense of judgment is al
lowed to be affected by arguments
either pro or con, so far will extend
the failure to place upon statute
books a law that nc right-thinking
person can sustain an objection to.
Il was such lack of attention to the
rights of the great body of American
manhood, known as the middle class
laborers, if you will,-that has brought
the Republican party, with all it's con-
centration of wealth and it's aggrega-
ton of minds trained in chicanery, to
its present state of discredit. No pow
er under the sun can save any other
party from a similar fate if it contin-
ously neglects TO take care of it's
wards.
The proportion of factory workers
and by this we do not mean cotton
mill workers alone-the proportion of
factory workers to factory owners, or
stockholders, is more than four to
one-and this estimate is most liberal
to the manufacturers. What of the
obligation to these four working peo-
pie as compared to the one factory
owner?
The factory influence has so far sue
ceeded in Gripping every act offered
for the protection of the workers. Are
they to be allowed to continue to do so
bv sheer bravado? There is a Just
middle ground, and that is the ground
to be taken, and the only ground which
can now or hereafter be maintained.
No special suggestion is offered here
further than to take the position that
we should be done with subterfuges
and ineffective statutes.
The manufacturers have rights and
these should be protected. No one
should undertake to touch these
rights. But the workers. also, have
rights, and it is the duty of the Legis-
1atuFe2to see that these are not en-
c-oachedzHpon. ToTdo less would DE
to beg the question and leave undene'
duties that should be speedily1dis-
charged.
There,is aswell-defined sentiment for
factory inspection. There is a we'll
defined sentiment for a limited COM
pulsory school attendance law. There
is a strong sentiment for the protec-
ton Of children and women workers.
There is a reasonable sentiment for
modern safety appliances. There is a
just sentiment for ordinary fire pro-
lection and fire escapes, and there is
a crying need for improved sanitary
conditions. A law that Is what it
should be will provide for these things
and one law is all that is required,
with adequate machinery to make it
effective.
1t is not believed that there is a sent
iment for shorter hours per week than
sixty. We fail to see wherein the man
ufacfurnra can auafain an ohiocfinn m