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Chiia Labor The Experience of Sparta ant proposed Legis By J. M. The subject assigned me for discussion is one in which I have been profoundly intereeted for a number of years, and I have naturally given it the most careful consideration of which ! was capable. It is a subject, furthermore, which has claimed the ?. attention of the best minds of this and i other great nations. What I shall say, however, in the brief time allotted iae, will be based not so much upon what I have read on the subject as it will be upon my own personal observation. Some great and clear minds > have approached a solution of our Question, while other men, wise maybe in some lines of thought, loaa themselves in a wilderness of confused ideas when they take u^> "Child Labor Legislation." Of course, in such an audience as Viie is nn one who does not j readily realize that the prosperity of J ^ our country and the integrity of the : nation will in a few years rest upon the boys and girls of toda^' We hear this so often that the mer^ petition of the thought sounds commonplace to us; and yet, gentlemen, it is freighted through with a sacred truth. And the sacredness of this truth, Mr. President, is as dear to the hearts of the men at the head of our great cotton industries as it is dear to the hearts of any other class of men on God's green earth. If I can I want tQ clear the atmosphere in the outset of +v>? imnMaainn that the manasement of our cotton mills is essentially the enemy of the children. Some people seem to think of us as a great dragon that annually requires the ? sacrifice of hundreds of tender boys and girle. We, together with all true (forward looking men, desire to see the younger generation develop into citizens . of lofty ideals, with well trained minds and strong bodies, and able, wfoen duty or opportunities offer, to fill places of honor and responsibility in the industrial life of j our nation. j This ideal condition can only be reached by the sane and honest thought of all of our best men united upon this one supreme task; and it will never be reached by the ill-advised and slipshod legislation of men essentially ignorant of the ills they would cure, and who are more iiker ested in the retention of their office | than they are in the permanent good of any legislation. Those who would contribute to the solution of the subject must approach it in the light of generations and not as if it could be ; solved by some two-by-four politician in some law-making body. Very little ^ of the legislation thus far on this question has materially affected the welfare of the children?though many j of the States have laws of some kind j or another. I was interested in reading the story of ancient i Greece a few days ago. I find that Greece, long before the imperial city of Rome was even thought of, had her children's problem. The two leading cities of this ^wonderful people dealt with this ? qp'^tion in exactly opposite ways. (Sparta took the child from the parents at the age of seven and made trim the ward or child of the State. The parent had nothing more to do thp /?bild Hp. henceforth, owed everything to the State. iAthens, on the other hand, left ;he child in the care of the parent. She conceded the mutual duty and obligation of parent and child, ar|i aided both. The wisdom of this latter course has stood the test of future ages; and Athens, * the home of philosophy, art and poetry, was wiser in nothing than in j aiding rather than dogmatically dicH tatinw tn thp narent what his rhilri [should and should not do. There are four requisites In the development of an ideal citizen. First, a strong and healthy body; second, genuine moral training which imbues the possessor with a high conception j of honor and fair dealing with his fel-; lows; third, a well trained mind,?en-1 abling one to weigh well all sides of | ?li o r\ in- . *;very pruyvsiuvu, nuu, luuiiu-, em m dustrial training which teaches him the science of his particular vocation. Some of the great nations of the world today have advanced further in one or the other of these four phases of training than our own nation; but no one of them has so united them all HL or carried them to so high a degree of development as has our own country. IWlo in thic ^nnr.trv rnnsirier p?rh nf r these important in a well rounded citIf we consider these requisites concretely and ap_ply them in our own^ Legislation i Athens Compared?Is the lation Helpfui? DAVIS line of industry to the children that aie in a measure intrusted to cur care, we find a nation-wide interest in the development of the child along all lines by men and women of means and by large corporations. States have passed laws affecting the employment of children in mills, until at present very few States will allow children to be employed under four teen years ot age. In this matter of legislation, the thing I wish to call special attention to is the gross misrepresentation of conditions in the mills and villages. Irresponsible agitation has also had its effect. The question 'has at last reached our national congress. A bill is now before the United States senate to prevent all children under fourteen years of age from working and those under sixteen years from working more than eight hours per day. I believe a great many of our law makers are honest and sincerely desire to support measures which they consider best for the child and the country,?but the average politician, both State and national, cares very little for the merits or demerits of a bill or for the child and family it may affect. If the bill is for the time popular and if by supporting it the politician can retain his office, he is ready to give it his "unqualified support.*' I can further illustrate what I mean by referring you to the most common pre-election scene. Who here but has had opportunity to see the small politician (the two-by-four kind, and more are in this class than is generally believed^ going around a few weeks before election kissing the babies, fondling the children, giving the old man the glad handshake and seeing something splendid to speak of everywhere, and who, if elected, i reverses his whole attitude toward the very people he professed pleasure in associating with. It is no pleasure to refer to such conduct on the part of office seekers, and the fact that they can so conduct themselves and get elected ought to bring a blush of shame and a deeD feeling of contempt | to every genuine American. But we cannot deny that such conduct io common among us. The point is: can | we conceive of such a man genuinely supporting any measure except for the reasons already referred to? Is he the one to solve or to have any part in the solution of this deep and sacred question? He must reform himself before he can live comfortably in the atmosphere in which the solution will finally be wrought out. ' - ^ The very tning, to my way or tamping, that has hindered a proper solution of the question thus far has been the paid hireling who misrepresents conditions at the mills and the small politician, who by loud words and leather lunged speeches, proclaims in glowing terms the oppressed condition of the poor little factory child, and proceeds to help it by the enactment of laws which take from it its daily bread. The Bible must have meant some such thing as this when it speaks of a stone for a loaf or a scorpion for a fish! We concede the right of a sovereign State to enact laws for the protection of her people and the devel opment of her citizenship; but we do question the wisdom of negative laws which forbid the child to work without any provision for those who by some misfortune are more or less dependent upon their children for support, and, further still, to deny them the right to work without proper provision for their educational advancement. The questions that come to every thinking man and woman are: Is the type of child labor legislation we have necessary? Or is it helpful? Or j again, do these laws aid in the dei velopment of the child into a well ^ Tf thoca riTiocflAnc? I i vuxiu^u vitjvi* i* ^uv>obivao j cannot be answered in the affirmative, then such legislation most certainly has no place on our statute books. The idealist and the dreamer has the impression that the enactment of negative laws such as most States have now will transform the children into healthy and well trained citizens. iHow may we hope for such splendidresults when, under the law, the children are simply turned upon the I streets without provision for training them? The proverb, "An idle brain is the Devil's workshop" ap plies no more to the father than to the son. no more to the mother than to the daughter. It seems to me that we would he attacking the question from the right ! ... i > If in of a child labor law. i a y education law. i lathe position tiiat the Stale .-bouiu provide facilities for training rhe child, and then by law force the child in:o these training schools. This would develop them into useful citizens. But. at the same time, a way should be found by which the State might be able to render ai:l to * 1* ~ ~ ~ ~/i.* * ??-? i rvf r*Viilrl*<2 1ft must* lit awiuai kjl chu : or fcr support. If tL- State is not prepared to take care of the children under fourteen years of age, then it "has no moral right and should be unwilling to turn them upon the streets in idleness to become moral- degenerates and a menace to the commonwealth. Another brazen defect of these child labor laws is that thev do not affect all children alike. A large part of our child population is lost sight of in this beneficent legislation. The little fellow twelve years of age may still be required to deliver papers in order to support his parents or to earn change for himself. Again, he may be required to work in hotels, in stores, in the Western Union or even as a messen2er in legislative halls where bills are passed against child labor. I will j not undertake to enumerate all the various kinds of work children may be allowed to do under this socalled child labor law. I merely take time to call attention to its shameless onesidedness. Are not the children connected with all this different work worthy of the succor of our law makers? Oh, they will tell you the mill is unhealthy and the children otherwise engaged may get fresh air. Tliey specially stress the fact that poor cmiaren in tue cuunu y v?uu &ic ^v/mpelled to aid in making a living can get fresh air, but too often is it the case with children of poor farm tenants that fresh air is nearly all they do get. Many of you gentlemen came from the farm arid you are familiar with the fact that the poor country family is living under the most unsanitary and therefore the most unhealthful conditions. Many of them live in houses of not more than two rooms, with small openings in the walls for windows. These windows are insufficient in both size and number. The water is from an old surface well that possibly has not been cleaned out for years. The only bath room is the nearby branch, and it is safe to assume that it is used only during the few hot months of the midsummer. Yes, so far as the law is concerned, the children of these families may begin at any age, and in many instances not later than ten years, and work twelve hours per day for the entire year. Our law makers simply term them the "back bone of the nation" and commend their labor. But let ono of these families move to a mill and in the eyes of our wise law makers these children have at once assumed a mythical sacredness and are the special recipients of child legislation. The further this question is analyzed, the bigger farce it seems tQ be. Especially does the incorrectness of all the arguments about health and fresh air seem to me to become plain when it is pointed out that most of the mills of today are doing 60 much to safeguard the health of all their employees. Our mills are well ventilated and are equipped with the best scientific humidifiers. Germs are kept down by means of powerful disinfectants. The child's welfare has been looked after and safeguarded by means of large expenditures of money by the mill management. Today may be seen in any up-to-date mill village Mnwlrci fl ati'at* rrr? r^nno nit 7. uan yai tvo, grounds, swimming pools with hot, cold or tempered water, good schools with both day and night classes, reading rooms, libraries, music, debating societies and regular Sunday religious service. These are not mere word pictures. They are facts,? facts we have worked out in our own mill, and I know of them in many other mills in our State and neighboring States. Finally, I wish to say, the mill management does not wish to work chil dren under fourteen years of age and in most of the cases where it is done it is more for the benefit of the child [ and his parents than it is for any i monetary advantage to the mill. To sum up then, it seems safe to conclude that the real friends of *he children of the mills of the South a *e not the ill-advised and loose-think:nu politicians, but the management ot our mills; for our destinies are "one and inseparable, now and forever." (Card of Thanks. We want to thank all of our friends and neighbors for their help to us and attention to our dear little baby girl during her illness and death. May God bless them all. With sincere appreciation. Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Dorroh. ^ BARBECUES | j BARBHCL'E- We will give a lirstj class barbecue at the Newberry lili, | Friday, July 21. The dinner will j be cooked by the old cook, H. )M. Wicker. A good dinner is promised to all. Every candidate is especially invited. B. M. Suber and 0. A Felker. 6-9-td. BARBECUE?I will give a first class ! barbecue with the usual good dinner at Mt. Pleasant on July 14, campaign day, and will give good service and make it pleasant for all who attend. G. H. Cromer and Company. WE WILL GIVE a first class barbecue in iMrs. Maffett's pasture at Silverstreet on Wednesday, July 12. Nice shady grove. All arrangements for the candidates to speak. Stand for the speakers. Seats for the listeners. All candidates are invitexA Clr\r\d i^innor P "R Rprrv 6-30-td. BARBECUE?We will give a first class barbecue in front of B. B. Leitzsey's .residence July 27, 1916. Everybody invited. B. B. Leitzsey, A. G. Leitzsey, J. F. Lominack. BARBECUE at St. Pauls?Under the auspices of the ladies of the St. Pauls Lutheran church a barbecue will be served at the church grounds on July 15. The dinner will be cooked by that famous cueist J. D. H. Kibler. 5-23-tf. The iS'chool Improvement association of the St. Phillips school will give a barbecue in Mr. T. E. Halfacre's grove near the school house ! on August 4 for the benefit of the school. Everybody and the candidates are invited. There will be entertainment arranged for the young folk. I will furnish a barbecue at Pomaria on campaign day August 1. Good dinner and pleasant day promised to all. J. Walter Richardson. We the undersigned will give a first j class Barbecue at New Hope churcn, Saturday, July 29, 1916 for the benefit of the Broad River circuit parsonage. Everybody is invited to come out and enjoy the day with us and at me same time neip a gu*-ru v-auoc. Members. <S> <s> <S> CAMPAIGN SCHEDULE <8> <$> <$> The following is the schedule of the itinerary, opening at Spartanburg and closing at Winnsboro on August 26: Columbia, Tuesday, July 4. Lexington, Wednesday, July 5. Saluda, Thursday, July 6. Edgefield, Friday, July 7. ? '' J ~ ~ T?? 1 _ O AiKen. saturuaj, juij o. Barnwell, Tuesday, July 18. 'Hampton, Wednesday, July 19. Beaufort, Thursday, July 20. Ridgeland, Friday, July 21. Walterboro, Saturday, July 22. Charleston, Tuesday, July 25. St. George, Wednesday, July 26. Bamberg, Thursday, July 27. Orangeburg, Friday, July 28. St. Matthews, Saturday, July 29. Sumter, Tuesday, August 1. Manning, iWtednesday, August 2. Monrks Corner. Thursday. Aug. 3. Georgetown, Friday, August 4. Kingstree, Saturday, August 5. Florence, Tuesday, August 8. Marion, Wednesday, August 9. Conway, Thursday, lAugust 10. Dillon, Friday, August 11. Darlington, Saturday, August 12. 'Bishopville, Tuesday, August 15. Bennettsville, Wednesday, Aug. 16. IChesterfield, Thursday, August 17. Camden, Friday, August 18. Lancaster, Saturday, August 19. "Union, Tuesday, August 22. Gaffney, Wednesday, August 23. York, Thursday, August 24. Chester, Friday, August 25. Winnsboro, Saturday, August 26. 18& Gall Stones, Cancer and Ulcers or the! Stomacn and Intestines, Aiuto-Intoxication, Yellow Jaundice, Appendicitis and other fatal ailments result from Stomaih Trouble. Thousands of Stom-1 ach Sufferers owe their complete recovery to Mayr's Wonderful Remedy tt- i-i- ~ ?.+ ViQr> fr\T o ph Ail U 11 Hive cm v mi ? merits. For sale by Gilder & Weeks and druggists everywhere. I Cures Old Sores, Other Kemeflies Won't The worst cases, no matter of how long- sta~ ding, are cured by fhe wonderful, old reliable Dr Porter's Antiseptic Oil. J" te!;""*' i'u 14 tnd ileais at Uif '.am*; uaii. itxJvjC, ( ;>*:r Lo'.cii Ones. The following verses were written j by a little II year old girt 011 the j death of her grandfather, Mr. Thomas ! .1. Boozer, who died last Tuesday at j his home near Smyrna church. I The angels came .it last. When my dear grandpa's life was1 past. And took him t;> his heavenly home, j There to live but not alone. 15*13 and 16 have been very sad years. For two of our laved ones we have lost with many tears." My dear lil.tie sister. Yennie May, left us >re s<i'! May Jay Some day, I, too, shall go, Where I shall grieve no mure: Tender, yet rough, wers my grandfather's hands, But that did not mai.ter, God needed ****"""" niiiiiimii _ _ PjWff T* TRjgVXL THIB ipj KEEP YOUR THe'f.F.OAULEV CO.I 1 HHHHHI ? I I"1 SAVE ML "TVTO coal, gas o a New Pei Stove. 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