The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-01-06
for Progress.
(By BION II. BUTLER.)

By BION III. BUTLER.)
Raeford, Jan 3.-"Our folks up at
the cotton mill have made this year
about ten thousand pounds Of pork"
said G. w. Seates, as we were talk
Ing about the weather and the fash
ions and those various other i'm
portant events that men turn to when
they meet.
And then Mr.. Seates went on to
talk to me about the progress the
mill folks are making in~one way or
another, and / thought to myself if
some of the Northern enthusiasts
who are SO deeply concerned about
the cotton mill children of the South
could see the honest interest shown
by Mr.. Seates in "our people as he
called them, OF could hear the same
feeling further espOuSed by T. 3. Up
church, head of the mill corporation
who came up shortly after, it would
present the matter in a wholly diff
ferent light.
/ don't believe much in child labor.
A certain simple task is no doubt wise
to give the child a certain discipline,
for owing to a little misunderstand-
ing on the part of our good old
Mother Eve C hope she will not feel
offended at this allusion), it seems we
must all work more or less or have
that ailment Franklin called the emp
ty bellyache. If the child learns hab-
its OF industry the learning seems to
come easier in early life than later
on. But, my brethren, l am candid
enough to say that [ am Yankee en-
cugh to have full faith in the notion
that machines should do the work
What is the use In any of us toiling
from early morn till the sunset sun
when a gasoline engine can do more
In an hour than dozen of us can do
In a day?
Omar khayyam was my man.
book Of verse underneath a bough, a
jug Of, well say lemonade; since the
search and seizure law would deal
harshly with anything SO severe as
buttermilk or persimmOn beer, and a
bit of summer afternoon breeze, and
what would anybody want to work
for?
Opposes Child Labor.
Therefore I go on record as saying
that l do not believe much in child
labor. But, even at that. as between
Scylla and Charybdis / always try to
pick the place that has the most at
tractive features So when it comes
to going out to the woodhouse for an
other pine knot IL I can deiude my
seven-year-old boy into bringing q
stick for his daddy's fire, 1 tell him
he has done a good job and I stif1e my
aversion to child lhaor with the
Dor or something worse, which mean:
the old man going after thes tick him
self. My boy does not believe in hav'
ing his father go for a stick.
Up at the cotton mill the people
made some ten thousand pounds o.
pork this year, and Mr.. Seates wa
proud of it, and Mr. Upchurch wa!
proud of it. for these men are thor
oughly interested in any helpful thin@
the mill settlement accomplisheS.
have talked with good many o
the cotton mill men OF the State, AM
L have found them sympathett'
and sincere lot OF men. have drift
ed about the cotton mills here am
there because when I drop into a tQwl
and have nothing else on hand Unit
the train goes like to be where tn
wheels go round. like to see tn
cotton climb up the cards and to tn
spindles and to the looms, and to asl
questions and jump out of the wa
when big truck loaded with plunde
OF one kind or another skids acros
the floor
Cotton Mill Agent For Progress.
l like to hang around the cottO
mill. for 1t is to me one OF the mos
aggressive agents for progress an
civilization on the ftce OF the earth.
My boyhood days were spent in tn
isolation OF the mountains, and l ca
understand more readily, therefor,
the influence Of contact with peopl
In the towns. / can see better, there
Iore, what the cotton mill has don
Tor the State, and for the whole worit
Shakespeare was a fellow who nos
cd around considerable. and he gen
orally got Il story wherever he be
gun to dig up things. He renarke
one day that housekeeping yout
nave ever homeiy wits.
no Of
Tor cotton mill brings the home