Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1915-03-18
Census Reports Show That 49,
600 Children Under is Years
of AGE Are WORKING
in Cotton Mills.
CHILD LABOR UNNECESSARY

How many children in a yard of cot
ton? The answer to his problem il
human arithmetic is not pleasant
Thousands of children in America are
literally weaving their lives into cot.
ton. According to the United States
census of 1910 there We're 40.221 chill.
dren under 1G working in the cotton
mills of his country in 1909. Forty
thousand children under Is working
from IL to s hours a day in the lint.
laden, heavy atmosphere of the mill
at or near IA never firing machine
Forty thousand children!
And in the state of South Carolina
alone, though South Carolina is honest.
ly trying to cope with her child labor
problem. the commissioner of labor
himself reports 1854 children under 1t
employed in the textile industry there
Or these 1851 are under IA. Three thou.
sand five hundred children under IL
working In the mills in one state that
ranks above several others in the south
In her endeavors to enforce her child
labor law.
Conditions in the South.
North and South Carolina, Alabama,
Mississippi and Georgia all specifically
allow children of IL to work in their
passed d law forbidding the employ
ment of children under IA unless they
are orphans or children of dependent
widows. in which case they may be
employed at IL, but this exception
makes the 14-year limit practically null.
Mlssiss1Dpl has a 14-year limit for girls,
but has not yet reached it for bows.
AS a matter of fact. in all these states
except South Carolina, children under
IL are employed. Factory inspection is
very weak in those states: there is no
compulsory education there. Mannfac-
turers I anxious to have children
help" in the mills because they come
Tor small pay, and so children obviously
less than II years old go into the mills
to become regular wage earners.
A Report.
An Investigator for the national child
labor committee reports his experiences
III n of the better class mill towns OF
Georgia as follows:
Here was a group of well built mills.
surrounded by we'll kept grounds:
homes that were. externally, at least.
well planned and cared fora school
building and a church that pleased the
sye-everything provided for, apparent
~. Upon entering the spinning room
Gin the mild. however, I met Il rea!
setback-youngsters by the dozen. tiny
chaps, sweeping. doffing, spinning
there were rs Of them that l judged to
be under II years OF age in the three
l1AAi'Ah AOoii''o alClit Sahu L loulld Dll-
ers in the weaving rooms. helping).
These little one were all we'll trained,
answering to the age Of IL and IA no
matter how youthful their appearance.
Surely. thought. not a thing neglected
except the children"
On visiting the homes of the people,
looking up family and church records.
this investigator proved nearly a dozen
children to be working there at 10 and
IL years of age, some OF them having
begun before they were 10.
Il found that nan children who say
they are II" he states, are really go
ing on ~. and too often have a long
way to go before reaching ~. Others
who are ~ now. had been working one.
two. or three years. beginning at 10
or before
So it is that in these southern mills,
little children. hundreds and thousands
of them. some -, some 13 and some
only going on 10,' are weaving their
lives into cotton-cotton to clothe the
world. They are not going to school.
they have no time for school. They
are not playing, for surely they have
no time to play. Many of them live
in squalor and poverty. Many of them
can not read or write. They are the
great sacrifice Of America on the altar
OF industry.
Child Labor Not Necessary.
That the S of these children is not