The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-02-13
CHILD LABOR ~ SOUTH CARO-
LIMA.
Cotton Mn Hands Petit Ion Legislature
Against Restrictive Laws.

To THE EpiTon OF THE SuS--Str: 40
cordlng 10 the Erenino Post Of Saturday
the Southern cotton mill owners have out
done the 'reformers"
At a recent hearing In the South Carolina
senate on a Child Labor bill the manufac-
turers based their objections TO the bill.
not Mt all on their own convenience, but
entirely on the abject need Of tho mill
operatives
There follows the comment upon their
attitude by Wiley ii. swift secretary of
the South Carolina Child Labor Conn
m.tte.. pervertng what they did say and
commenting thereon with childish limo
cencs lie states that the cotton mill
men have hitherto insisted that persons
Interested in the enactment OF laws re-
stricting the employment OF young chill
dr.n have painted an untrue picture.
This statement Is absolutely true. for tho
interests referred 10 have painted pic
lures Of poverty In the South ~ due TO
the cotton mills and the employment OF
child labor.
Mr.. swift now expresses surprise that
the cotton mill men base their objection
to his bill on the poverty OF the people
and he implies that the people referred
to are the people employed in the mills.
which IL far. far from the truth. The
people referred 10 are not the workers AT
the cotton mills, but the poor poverty
stricken dwellers on the lands. which In
many instances are owned In large tracts
by land barons. who keep their tenants in
n state Of serfdom very much Ike the
feudal harons Of old. NH owners, mill
superintenGents, two preachers and three
operatives declared that the people are
too poor To stand the law much 10 the
evident CONSERVATION and surprise of the
secretary of the Child Labor Committee,
who declares: Il have been reading all
the matter on this question, and | have
looked at the pictures. have neither
read nor seen anything that approaches
their own story In cruel sadness as ! sat
there and heard these mgn tell how very
poor their people are Of ragged mothers
with droves of hungry, fatherless little
BOYS and girls and there he stops. lie
rcfrains from saying that such ~ the con-
dltion Of the people AS they come TO the
mills looking for work, but adds. worst
OF all, the operatives themselves were
petltioning FOR the continuation OF the
right to vcrpetuate these conditions
through child workers and child competi-
ton" when nothing "f the kind was done.
ON the contrary. the operatives them
| selves were petitiOning that these condi-
tions might not Ice pripetuated 10y lcgisia-
| tive acts tending To keep them In their
! stat. Of poverty and ignorance on the
lands from whence they came.
| Every one knows. who knows anything
| about rural conditions in the South and
! conditions at the mills and Is not hired to
dcclur. to the contrary. that the condi-
| lions at the mills tend to uplift. feed and
| educate the poor, half starved, clay eating
| specimens of humanity that frequently
| straggle into the min villages from so
| called farms in search OF employment that
| gives them chance to improve their con-
| dition. That the operatives at the mills
! should want TO perpetuate child compe-
| t!t!on" Is n statement AS unreasonable as
| II Is untrue. for II is a well known fact
| that as the operatives learn and grow up
| at the mills and increase their earning
capacity they send their children TO
| school, and those children. embracing the
educational opportunities offered them,
| usually pursue vocations considered
| higher than those held out TO mere mill
| operatives.
| II is for this very reason that the big
cotton mill men have constantly to reach
| out and bring in the poor benighted fami-
lies from the rural districts, Atrophied
| old fathers and mothers cannot learn
cotton spinning and weaving, but their
| children can. and their children become
| good working men and working women.
Their children are taught and educated
| In turn. but at the school should there
be- any surprise expressed. then, when
| these operatives who have grown up at
| tho mills and have experienced their edu-
| cational advantages, plead before the
| legislative bodies OF their State not to
enact any restrictive measures inhibiting
the country people from taking the very
| road to Improvement and education that
they themselves have taken?
| IL Mr.. Swift Is ignorant Of the facts
! and desires to know them. no need not
read books and examine pictures, but he
can look into the conditions for himself
and ascertain the facts. But he knows
| that were he to do this and act accord
| ingly. he would lose his job The special
| interests that obtain their means OF sub
slstence from Their IONS
cannot AFFORD 10 have the truth known.
THOMAS +. DowLEY, Jr.
| NEW YoRK February 10.