Semi-weekly herald., 1914-03-19
SOutherner DenounCes
Southern Mill Owners
United Press

OnIteO freSe
| NEW ORLEANS, La, March 49,
A scathing denunciation by fellow
southerner of southern manufactur
ers who employ children was the sen
sation of today's session of the tent
annual nation child labor conferenc,
here. Wiley H. Swift. of Greens
boro, N. c., taking for his theme
why it is Hard to Get Child La
Dor Laws in the South" declared tina
"as successors to the civilization Of
so years ago, we feel that there i,
a difference in children, that the poor
child was born to toll and should b.
set at it early" Explaining that ht
referred especially to North ant
South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama
and Mississippi in saying the south is
far below the standard in its chile
labor laws" the speaker said:
"Our people have always been kline
and charitable but they never have
been just. The children of the poor
have been allowed to work because
we have known or thought little OF
absolute human rights. Furthermore
we do not properly understand the
laws of community progress or know
just what we are doing. We have no
reliable data because there has been
no investigation, or until recently we
have resented any suggestion that we
needed to learn. We of the south have
been particularly jealous of our repu-
tation and have in many cases hid
our eyes lest we seen the things that
were not good. Walter Pages speech
on "The Forgotten Man" was bold
When Dr. Stiles said we had hook
worm, the lie was all but passed. But
the signs are hopeful. Our educa-
tional forces are now hunting for the
forgotten man and as result of the
investigation carried on through the
Rockefeller institute, hook-worm is
almost as fashionable as appended
tbs.
"Up to this time we have allowed
ourselves to be deluded because opr
manufacturers have said things were
all right, and we have respect for
men of influence and wealth. If we
have cried out agains the bad rich,
it has been because in our opinions
most of the bad rich live next to
Wall street and certainly Sorth OF
lthr MusontDixon fine. To- appoint
an inspector for our mill villages
would be a reflection upon the word
and character of good men. But
above ALL the reason child labor con
tinues is that the manufacturer wants
the child in the mill. Since the man
ufacturer considers child labor OF
such vital Importance that he is will
ling to go to the legislature and fight
for the right to work the child you
need not be surprised that we still
permit large percentage OF our
children to be taken from school and
placed at work, and that on any work
day in the cotton mills, week in and
week out, hundreds of girls in short
dresses may be found standing eleven
hours"
Professor Frank M. Leavitt, presi-
dent of the National Vocational
Guidance association, Chicago univer-
sity, speaking today on "Co-opera-
ton of the Schools in Reducing Child
Labor" scored the present day school
system as contributing "both to child
labor and child idleness." Hordes of
children leave school," he said, "be-
cause of its uncongenial and unsym-
pathetic atmosphere and because 1t
lacks any important relation to the
child's social and economic environ
ment." A somewhat opposite view
was held on the same subject by
Edward N. Clapper, Phi. d., who de-
clared that the children and their par
ents were in the main, responsible for
their leaving school. Prof. Clapper
said there is danger of jumping from
the academic extreme to the voca-
tional extreme"