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

NEW YORK, April 2o--1f the saw
mill men Of your state hal always
used mules and it was proposed they
should give up using mules and use
oxen instead; and if they agreed 1t
would be better to use oxen and q
law should be- introduced to compel
them to substitute oxen for mules;
and then II they dsd everything in
their power to defeat the law,
wouldn't you think that they wanted
to use mules?'' This parable of the
opposition to child labor laws which
he has met In his personal experience
is quoted from Wiley H. Swift in
The Survey for April II in the the
course of note on the tenth Ma
tional Conference 90 Child Labor
recently neld in New orleans. The
note is published under the caption,
What Do American People Want
for Their Children" and the writer
says:
Fight Is More Vigorous.
The fight against child labor will
creased vigor, a wider outlook and a
new method, If the spirit and the
substance Of the tenth National
Conference on Child Labor are fair
Indication fthe future.
lone member of the National
Child Labor COMMITTEES STAN who has
attended all these conferences with
one exception put it tersely: These
people 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 2, 600 people besides the 1,OOO
whom the mayor ahad arranged to
seat: When people who are willing
to stand through child labor speeches
child labor is doomed
us the New Orleans public typdc-
al? Does the spirit OF the leaders
gathered in conference reflect the
temper of the American people? Or
is thfr fighting blood aroused by in
creasingly ins1stent opposition to
good child laibr laws
1.-TWO little incidents at the con-
ference do not answer these Ques-
Aions but they warn us against an
fndolent optimism. Telegraphfc news
was received from four legislatures,
and from two of these states came
Owen r. Lovejoy's review OF the
needs and activities of the commttte
showed how the activities invests
cation, publicity, legislative cam
paigns and study of enforcement
had been restricted in scope and
hindered. in efficiency by the Failure
of the rank and file of thoughtful,
well to do people to supply the
wherewfthal for sufficient stan
Every Phase Discussed.
sfIIess time than usual was devoted
to a description Of child labor, but
certain unforgettable 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.
Hfne with his stereopticon lecture
on the high cost OF child labor.
1.-The INDECENT widow, the uninter-
esting teacher, the misft 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
of touch with the new Industrial con-
sciousness, the editor who adds to the
general inertia by drifting with the
majority, and ourselves, the great
American people who pass laws and
let them die-a11 these came in for a
share of the discussion. The old
three-cornered fight between the en-
pIoyer, the refoEmer and the legisla-
tor is still on, but it no longer occupies
the center of the stage.
There was a pretty general feeling
that the motive for the effort to cor
relate these scattered erring elements
should be found not SO much in pity
for the physical harm wrought by
child labor as in keener sense OF
the stunning Of the spirit The loss in
artistic and creative power was
touched on by Jane Adams, the de-
graduation OF citizenship by Felix Adj
Ter. Alexander johnson made the
statement that unless girls are to be
mothers of decadent race they
should not be allowed to work in In
dustry until they are 16, or, better,
IS years old.
sThe National Child Labor Commit
tee presented to the conference for
the first time a federal child labor
bill drafted by the comittee and pend
ing in Congress. Samuel McCune
Lindsay reviewed the attitude OF the
committee in the past and predicted
that the same. reasons which led the
committee recently to endorse the
,principle would shortly bring about
general demand for federal child
Tabor law.
Census Is Quoted.
.SThe other defenders OF the bill
were Felix Adler. who pleaded for
,Io.ar. fhinIxins and common sense as