The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-14
LETTERS TO EDITOR
Cotton Mill Attitude Toward Labor

To the Editor of The Age e-Herald.
 A great injustice has been done to a number of good citizens of this com monwealth by the cartoon appearing in your valuable paper of Sunday. Jan uary 3l and in order to correct false impressions made in the minds of sour many readers by the cartoon l appeal to your justice in asking that the fol- lowing be given space in your Taper at an early date. The cartoon pictured large. fabby-fat monster, hideous to look at riding in an understood cart, which was being drawn by a little child labeled child labor, and the word ing of the cartoon read, q love my neighbor as myself, but 1 don't live with my employees.
 There are as many or more owners and operators of cotton mills in this state who love their neighbors as themselves as there are in any oth- CT line of business in Alabama. They love the folks who are neighbors both geographically and biblically, and their
 geographical neighbors are the em- ployes of the mill. Come to Cordova and see who are the neighbors of the cotton min operators at this place. On enc side of them only few yards away is a double row of substantial four-room houses the homes of mill help of all kinds, widowed women and their boys and girls and other fam flies. On another side to the rear of the other houses, Is a row of negro houses where the humble darkies. yard hands, live happy and contented ana several families of them have saved up from their earnings at the mill enough to buy homes of their own. These are their geographical neighbors. What do they do to help them? They employ a trained nurse to go around and attend eat if occasionally some are unfor- tunate enough through sickness to nec,, it. They provide schools for their chill dren because the state will not do so but for short period of the year five months--and once 1t was barely four months They build churches and pay out their cash in helping maintain them, fit up gymnasiums. reading rooms and do everything else to pro- mote health and happiness among their help. Why? Because it means more ef- ficient labor, steadier and more pro ductive. The womens clubs, who ara understood to be promoting the new child labor bill (misnamed) have never visited the cotton mills of tho state and OI couISc are ignorant or the real cOn- ditions. Your cartoonist no doubt has not made round of them, either All the mill operators asked for was a fair deal for themselves and for their help. The general public is not aware of the fact that the bill as introduced restricts labor of persons up to 21 years of age and it Is misleading to the public to speak of the bill as n child labor bill, as ~pedagogues of all a rll- q 6nnI a rA hal r, sv.At l. longer child after reaching the age of about IS. Yet the mill operators have not opposed the raising of the age limit from 12 years at present to 14, as in the new bill. They do object to those features compelling them to run their mills from to 12 hours week less time than mills of other states and making it so that 1t would be impossible for them to employ boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 16. Those who earn an honest living by working in the mills in other words