The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1915-03-22
CHILD LABOR FlAYED
IN FACTORY DRAMA

THE Blood of the Children" a
two-reel human interest drama, fea-
lures William Clifford and Marie
| Walcamp in pictorial denunciation of
the evils of employing child labor in
mills. Gold Seal Feature production,
written by Bess Meredyth and pro-
duced by Henry McRae, will be seen
at the .Theatorium tomorrow (Tues-
day.
No industrial drama in recent years
has aroused more discussion in the
south than The Blood of the Chill
| dren." Prints of the drama, were
privately setn to Atlanta and New
Orleans for exhibition to audiences
of cotton men.
Many of the cotton men admitted
that the conditions depicted in the
drama were only too faithfully drawn
to life and not few, upon the con-
clusion of the private exhibition, an
hoihNNu IilNll lhlNiilIoh vi OhO" lhS
the film in cotton towns" along the
Mississippi valley. One cotton gin
man declared that he would buy
print of the film for continuous free
exhibition at frequent intervals by
the local motion picture exhibitor III
his town. Hundreds of children, the
cotton man said were employed in
great factory in the small southern
village in the midst of the cotton
belt and each year the small local
cemetery numbered among its victims
at least seven or eight emaciated
child factory workers whose lungs
had been affected by the lint from
the cotton sorting machines. The dra-
ma, as whole, is a powerful ar
gument against child labor in fac
tories.
The story opens with Senator
Woodward speaking on the night be-
fore the child labor bill is to be
passed. He pleads earnestly to abol-
ish child labor. His opponents, mill
owners, Hewitt, Davis and others,
sitting in the audience, are aroused
by the enthusiasm of the crowd.
Woodward, fatigued by his hard
campaign, erturns home and bids his
wife, Alice, to retire, telling her he
daughter, Alice, to retire, telling her
he must work late. Meanwhile, Hew-
1T. Davis and others, knowing that
the bill comes up in the morning,
determine to bribe Woodward. They
leave for his home.
Woodward is alone in the library
when the men are announced Hewitt
offers Woodward 100000 to be abb
sent from the house the following
morning. Woodward. in fury, starts
to turn them out, then thinks better
and asks them to listen to them
while he tells them what the bill
means to him. Grumblingly they
consent. Woodward starts to talk.
The story goes back twenty years.
He tells how he, Woodward. was a
worker in the mills and his sweet
heart, Alice, and her little sister were
employed there also, Her sister had
consumption, disease prevalent
among the workers, caused by the
lint entering their lungs. The fore
man. who also loves Alice, begs her
to marry him, promising to take her
out of the mills. Alice's sister dies,
and the doctor advises Alice, too, to
leave the mills at once.
Woodward hears the doctors YER
dict and realizes he cannot help her
With cry of horror, Alice rushes
away and promises the foreman she
will marry him. Woodward takes to
drinking after Alice marries. His
whole nature changes.
This picture comes to the Thea
torium tomorrow Tuesday, and will
probably cause a good deal of COM
ment. as it deals with a very i'm
portant industrial problem.