French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1916-1919, 1919-04-10
II RIGHT SPIRIT

Thet K. J. Reynolds Tobacco Com
pany blazes the trail that other manu-
lecturers will do we'll to follow IN
meerini; II" Federal law reeEiat IS
child Lu'"r. The spirit of co-opera
tier shown y this company is nos.
lC0mc Utarlc. 1t is not gai.Is TO vlit
for the Federal authorities to enforce
the law, tu4 the company itself will
inaugurare a system whereby in the
eLlrIoy1lert Uf youths the new regu-
latioEs will he strictly adhered to
both IN letter and spirit. Under this
SYSTEM the l.. J. r. Company will
under no circumstances employ
children under fourteen years Of age,
and children between fourteen n
sixteen will net be permitted to work
NOR than eight hours a day. The plan
IaGcpted was best described by The
Journals news story Sunday morning.
We quote:
The Rc-nolds Company will open
an employment office, which might
very pGpuiarly be termed an age
examination Office, and a corps of en-
ployees viii give their time in con-
ductirg the most complete and rigid
examination OF children fourteen, fl
teen and sixteen years old. If an en-
pioyee says he or she is over sixteen
and does not appear to be to the
examiners, the most rigid examina-
ton will be made and every ex-
.haussed to ascertain the true ageaCf
the applicant"
If all industrial establishments in
North Carolina will adopt a similar
plan. in other words will fall in line,
not only 10 cary out the letter but the
spirit Of the law, they will redeem the
State from the bad reputation it has
in this respect, whether justly or I'M
Justly. and at the same time will open
the door q educational and spiritual
hope fer many children who other
lyise would grow up in ignorance and
live without vision.
Under the plan adopted, the R. j.
r. Company is meeting the require
ments of both the State and Federal
laws on the subject. The State law,
unfortunately, does not go as far as
the Federal. There is nothing in the
Neal Law passed by the last General
Assembly regulating the number OF
hours children between fourteen and
sixteen may labor. Were it not for
this difference between the two laws
there would be no necessity for more
than one set Of officers. But as it is,
the Federal Government will have its
inspectors no matter what steps the
State may AXE to enforce the law.
So that both Federal and State Off
GERS will be on the trail of v%iolaters
the Federal in reality and the State
theoretically:
AS a mater of fact the State makes
no adequate provision for machinery
to enforce the statute and we do not
expect much to be done from Raleigh
or from anywhere else except Wash
Our hope is, that all other
manufacturers viii show the same fine
spirit that our own greatest manufac-
turing establishment has ~demonstraS-
ed If they show more there will be
for inspectors, either Federal or
State to do.
After all is said and done, anG
whether some Of us like it or not, the
moral judgment Of America seems to
be against working children under
fourteen years Of age, and all OF US
might as we'll adjust ourselves tc the
new regime. 1t has come to stay.
Child. labor in industries. as it vas
once known has gone the way OF
slavery, property suffrage, and the sa-
loon. One is just as dead as the other
this Republic. Neither could live
the saz&e csnllr1 WitbathcsDQRfic
schoCi and a public press.-Winston
Salem Journal /