Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1925-01-30
PRES. JOHN n. WALKER OF
STATE F. OF |. ADDRESSES
A CLASS ON CHILD LABOR

john h Walker. ettsideat Illinois
State FEDERATION Of Labor. speaking
before the class iu economics ia the
University, gave q strong appeal in
support Of the Child lahaf amend-
menL His discussion centercd in an
answer &c the arguments ot John NJ,
Glenn, president Of the National
Manufacturer association.
fteSiden, Walker epened his ad-
dress commencing the American edU.
eational system and throughout made
a strong appeal that children Of all
states have the ligh, 10 take adNan.
taee Of The educational opportunities
offered them BY the public school
system, He declared repeatedly that
the present status Of child labor IN
many states prevents the education
Of children. Mr Walker said Ia pat,.
The backward states viii be OPP
posed Go any progress heing made At
all, The most progressive states will
favor ever more than viii the states
thar are halfway between the tive
extremes. As a practical proposition
those whn kroN the methods Of Con
gress. the influences that dominate
Congressman and United States Sepa
tors. and their responsibility 90 their
constituents, de not hope for more
than about What the middle gtound, ia
the way of educational progress. lu
eur dihofen, states, means al the
present time.
If tina, Is tue. then Ne cannot
hnF.4 a.. E4.A.K4l -
as the existing law in the state Of
Illinois, which requires that children
SO To school until they are fourteen
years of age, With legal permit be
lHR required for lawful employment
between fourteen ami sixteen years ol
age That Is really the thing that
those ia Illinois, who are opposed 90
this amendment, are hghtlns against,
They don't want TO give the children
In other portions of our country, the
opportunity 10 40 To school until
they are fourteen yeafs OF age, a We
have In Illinois, They want 10 see
them IN the mills aud factories, They
want TO make profits oul OF them. re.
gardless OF its effect on their ply
sique, their mentality. THEN morals or
their fitness for American citizenship.
There is no doubt but that " Is the
wealthy manufacturers Who operate
the cotton aud textile enterprises, and
the financial institutions. who are la.
tefestcd in those concerns, who are
the influences that are the heart, soul
and llfeblood of the fight that Is be.
ing made at the present time, 10 de
| feat that amendment
II, was especially ,hone employed
who were working immature children
long hours, under unhealthfui ans
dangerous conditions, beyond theli
physical capacity, fof next to nothing
as wages. who fought the establish.
ment Of the public schools. They are
the ones who have fought every step
IN progress that has been made In our
educational system since it inception,
They are the ones who are fighting
this amendment now, and IN the be
genning, just as now, and all through
the long weary years of this struggle
their tactics have been the same.
Were only state conditions IN
voYed, the position of the opponents
of this amendment would perhaps
have something Of logic In II but the
standards Of citizenship OF the peo
ple In one state affects the g vgrnmont
and every other influence that touches
the lives of our people In every other
state In our nation.
THE question OF education Is basic
II Is national one, and no one knows
that better than do these gentlemen.
They want TO maintain the low stand.
ards, the illlteracy In the backward
states where children practically do
not go 10 school at all--whero they 20
into the cotton factories and the tex.
tile mills from eight 10 ten years OF
age, where they work In unhealthful
and dangerous conditions, long hours
beyond the capacity of their little
bodies, for The merest kind of plttance.
They do this to these children Tor
the profits they can make out of them,
and they want 10 use that influence 10
drag the other workers Of our eouh.
try. down TO those lower levels and to
keep them there. The most that those
who favor the enactment of this law,
hope from It,, is, that the backward