CHILD LABOR 



1327 



CHILDREN'S BUREAU 



social welfare recognize the fact that child 

 labor is an evil whose influence extends to 

 succeeding generations, and that it must be 

 controlled by legislation. The Dominion of 

 Canada has not as yet enacted a national child- 

 labor law, all regulation being in the hand* 

 of the provincial governments. The laws of 

 Ontario are typical of the progress which has 

 been made. No child under fourteen years 

 of age is allowed to work in a factory, but 

 children between ages of twelve and fourteen 

 may be employed during July, August, Septem- 

 ber and October in canning and preserving fac- 

 tories. Ten hours is the maximum working 

 day, and six o'clock is the earliest hour at 

 which work may be begun. There are various 

 other regulations looking to the safety and 

 health of children. 



In the United States there is naturally a 

 variety in the details of state child-labor laws. 

 These laws all fix a minimum age below which 

 children must not be employed in one or 

 more specified occupations. Many of them 

 regulate the length of the working day and 

 prohibit night work. Most states require chil- 

 dren to procure certificates showing their age 

 and extent of schooling, and in these states 

 employers who hire children without such cer- 

 tificates are liable to a penalty. An education 

 minimum and a certificate of physical fitness 

 are in a few states required in addition to a 

 documentary proof of the child's age. 



In more than half of the states the age limit 

 for factory work is fourteen; it is twelve in a 

 few states, fifteen in Michigan, fifteen for boys 

 and sixteen for girls in Ohio and sixteen in 

 Montana. In the factories of California, New 

 York, Ohio, Massachusetts and several other 

 states children under sixteen may work only 

 eight hours. Many states fix a sixteen- or 

 eighteen-year limit upon employment in speci- 

 fied dangerous or hazardous occupations. 



The enactment by Congress of a national 

 child-labor law has been agitated by various 

 organizations and individuals for many years, 

 and such a law was passed in 1916. The bill, 

 known as the Keating-Owen Act, was signed by 

 President Wilson in September. However, it 

 was declared unconstitutional in 1918. Its pro- 

 visions, in brief, were as follows: 



One year after approval of the act it shall be 

 illegal for the products of any mine or quarry 

 that employs children under sixteen years of age 

 to enter interstate commerce, or for the products 

 of any mill, cannery, workshop or manufactur- 

 ing establishment that employs children under 

 fourteen years of age to enter interstate com- 



merce. Products of industrial establishments 

 that employ children between the ages of four- 

 teen and sixteen years more than eight hours a 

 day. six days a week, or earlier than six o'clock 

 in the morning or later than seven o'clock in th 

 evening, are also excluded. The bill further pro- 

 vides that products sold within a state within 

 thirty days of their manufacture are also de- 

 barred from Interstate commerce. 



CHILDREN, SOCIETIES FOR. In all civilued 

 countries there are organizations having for 

 their purpose the protection and care of chil- 

 dren who have become orphans, or who, for 

 other reasons, have been deprived of suitable 

 homes. In America the most widely known 

 of these are the Society for the Prevention of 

 Cruelty to Children, Saint Vincent's Aid So- 

 ciety, the Jewish Relief Association, the Chil- 

 dren's Aid Society and the American Humane 

 Association. The purpose of these societies u 

 to protect children from evil associates and 

 from cruelty on the part of those who employ 

 them or have the care of them. Home-finding 

 societies, whose purpose it is to place orphans 

 in suitable homes, are formed in many prov- 

 inces, states and large cities. Juvenile courts 

 (which see) have jurisdiction over all cases 

 of dependent and delinquent children, and 

 those conducted according to the most ad- 

 vanced methods exercise the right of jurisdic- 

 tion in regard to placing children outside the 

 home. The administration of these courts is 

 for purposes of guardianship, education and 

 protection, not for trial and punishment. The 

 Children's Bureau (which see), in the Depart- 

 ment of Labor, was organized by the United 

 States government to conduct investigation re- 

 lating to the welfare of children, and to pub- 

 lish reports of the same. H.KJI. 



CHILDREN'S BUREAU, a bureau of the 

 United States government, authorised in April, 

 1912, now under the Department of Labor. 

 Its duty is to investigate and report upon all 

 matters pertaining to child life and children's 

 welfare, especially the questions of birth rate, 

 infant mortality, orphanage, desertion, juvenile 

 courts, employment, and all legislation affecting 

 children. 



Previous to the opening of this bureau, the 

 United States government had been spending 

 large .-um* of money each year in gathering 

 facts and distributing information regarding 

 horses, cattle, hogs and the like, but had not 

 created any service distinctly to study the 

 welfare of children. This new work in not 

 intended to relieve the states of the respoo*i- 

 bility of dealing with child problems, but rather 



