The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-04-20
CHILD LABOR
QUESTION IS
DEAL I WITH
Wiley H. Swift Asks What the
People Want for Their
Children.

1 0ttllS4a OtAs
/ NEW YORK, April 20.-If the saw
mill men of your state had always
used mules and 1t was proposed they
should give up using mules and use
oxen instead; and if they agreed II
would be better to use oxen and
law should be introduced to compel
them to substitute oxen for mules;
and then if they DID everything in
their power to defeat the law
wouldn't you think that they wanted
to use mules2H This parable of the
Opposition TO child labor laws which
The has met In his personal experience
is quoted from Wiley H Swift in
The Survey for April IL in the the
course of note on the tenth Ma
tional Conference on Child Labor
recently neId in New orleans. the
mote is published under the caption,
what Do American People Want
for Their Children" and the writer
says:
Fight Is More Vigorous.
H The fight against child labor viii
enter on it's second decade vita In
creased vigor, wider outlook and
new method. if the spirit and the
Substance of the tenth National
Conference on Child Labor are fair
indication o fthe future.
lone member OF the National
Child Labor Committee star who has
ATTENDED all these conferences with
\ one exception put it tersely: THESE
Ilpeople have set their teeth against
child labor. Thy are In for fight
to the finish And as Jan eAddams
said In her address to the mass meet
ing in Lafayette Square, attended by
some Q 600 people besides the 1000
whom the mayor ahad arranged to
seat: When people who are willing
Ito stand through child labor speeches
child labor is doomed
'sIs the New Orleans public typ4c-
laI2 Does the spirit of the leaders
gathered in conference reflect the
temper of the American people? Or
lis thir fighting blood aroused by IN
Ecreasingly ins1stent opposition to
good child laibr laws
1.-TWO little incidents at the con-
/ ference do not answer these ques-
lHions but they warn US against an
l1ndolent optimism. Te1egraphfc news
was received from four legislatures,
and from two of these states came
word of defeats on the hring me.
owen r. Iovejoy's review OF the
needs and activities OF the committee
showed how the fties-investi-
cation, publicity, legislative cam
4 paigns and study OF enforcement
had been restricted in scope ana
hindered in efficiency by the fa1ure
of the rank and file OF thoughttuE y
well to do people to supply the
wherewEthal for sufficient staH.
Every Phase Discussed.
LESS time than usual was devoted
to a description of child labor, but
certain undergraduate impressions on
the subject were made rather Incl
dentally by Ella Haas and Pauline
Neuman, VINO had been child WORK
ers themselves, and by Lewis W..
Hine with his stereopticon lecture
on the high cost of child labor.
e.The indigent widow, the uninter-
testing teacher, the misfit curriculum,
the parent who does not control his
children, the employer of cheap labor,
the Inspector who does not know how
to inspect, the Judge who is out
i of touch with the new industrial con-
4 seriousness, the editor who adds to the
| general inertia by drifting with me
majority, and ourselves, the great
| American people who pass laws ana
1 let them die-all these came in for
| share of the discussion. The old
| three-cornered fight between the en-
.ployer, the reformer and the legisla-
| for is still on, but it no longer occupies
the center of the stage.
s'There was pretty general feeling
| that the motive for the effort to cor
| relate these scattered err1ng clemens
should be found not so much in pity
for the physical harm wroughtN BY
child labor as in a keener sense OF
the stunting of the spirit The loss in
artistic and creative power was
touched on by Jane Adams, the de-
graduation of citizenship by Felix Ad-
Ter. Alexander Johnson made the
l.statement that unless girls are to be
mothers of a decadent race they
should not be allowed to work In IN
4 dustry until they are is, or, better
..Tbe National Child Labor Commit
/ tee presented to the conference Tor
II the first time federal child labor
bill drafted by the comittee and pend
ling in Congress. Samuel McCune
Lindsay reviewed the attitude OF the
II committee in the past and preu1ctea
mat the same reasons which led the
committee recently to endorse the
n-inciple would shortly bring about a
general demand for federal enid
-'1 Census is Quoted. !,
'eThe other defenders OF the DIN
were Felix Adler, who pleaded Tor
| clear thinking and common sense as
4 waRaW