50 



NATURE 



[July 8, 1909 



1 



CHILD EMPLOYMENT AXD EVENIXG 

 CONTLNUATIOX SCHOOLS. 



A NOTHER appendix volume, No. 20, to the report of 

 ■^ the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and 

 Relief of Distress has been published (Cd. 4632), and 

 incidentally indicates the directions which educational 

 effort should take in this country in order to ensure the 

 provision in future years of better educated workmen in 

 the various industries on which the success of this country 

 depends. 



The report is by Mr. Cyril Jackson, chairman of the 

 Education Committee of the London County Council, who 

 acted for the commission as a special investigator to 

 inquire and report on the main occupations followed by 

 boys on leaving public elementary schools in certain typical 

 towns ; the opportunities of promotion in such occupations 

 or of training for other occupations ; and the extent to 

 which such boys subsequently obtain regular employment 

 (skilled or unskilled) as adults. Mr. Jackson was given 

 power to make any feasible suggestions of a remedial 

 character indicated by the facts, and he limited his in- 

 vestigations to a consideration of the prospects of perman- 

 ence and educative value for adult industry of the occupa- 

 tions entered upon by the boys with whom he was 

 concerned. 



As regards the methods of inquiry adopted, it may be 

 said that Mr. Jackson was able, from the sources of 

 statistical information he found available, to obtain an 

 idea of the various occupations in which there was an 

 apparent excess of boys who could not when adults be 

 absorbed in the same branch of industry. He afterwards, 

 by interviews and by the distribution among employers of 

 special forms to be filled up, obtained some further in- 

 formation as to these occupations ; but he met with many 

 difficulties, and only a small proportion of the forms were 

 returned to him. In addition, a form of industrial bio- 

 graphy for young men was issued to obtain direct evidence 

 of the length of time boys remain in particular occupa- 

 tions and the age at which they were displaced if they 

 have been in boys' work which does not lead to permanent 

 employment as adults ; but a third only of the forms 

 circulated were filled up and returned — " Lads are always 

 suspicious of anything which they think is prying into 

 their affairs, and they believe there must be ' something 

 Tjehind,' " says Mr. Jackson. 



There has been a steady diminution in the number of 

 Tjoys employed under fifteen during the last quarter of a 

 century. Witli the recent stimulus given to secondary 

 education, and counting on the zeal of new education 

 authorities, there is reason to believe the decrease may be 

 even more marked in the next census return. There arc, 

 however, exceptions to this decrease. The census general 

 report of 1901 states, " while owing to Ihe restriction of 

 child labour, the total number of boys under fifteen years, 

 returned as employed, showed a decrease of 12-9 per 

 cent, on the numbers enumerated in 1891, the number of 

 messenger boys at the same ages declined by only 5-1 per 

 cent." It is, however, satisfactory to note how few are the 

 trades in which an actual or a proportional increase in 

 the number of boys is shown. As Mr. Jackson says, 

 messenger boys have a very short life as such, and this 

 form of occupation ceases as soon as the boys begin to 

 require higher wages. It is unfortunate, therefore, that 

 it should be just in this class that the decrease in boy 

 employment is least marked. 



The problem presented by the results of Mr. Jackson's 

 Inquiry is very grave in character, and the various state- 

 ments of it collected in the present volume may be com- 

 mended to the careful consideration of those who 

 administer our educational affairs. Similarly, the opinions 

 here collated of schoolmasters, of men working in boys' 

 clubs, &c., of trades unionists, of distress committees, 

 and others, deserve earnest study. 



The analysis of the numerous forms received by Mr. 

 Jackson proved a long and difficult task, and he is to be 

 congratulated upon the important facts he has been able 

 to gather together. The information respecting the 

 capacity of boys, the wages they are able to earn, and 

 the precise conditions regulating boy Labour in specially 

 selected industries, will repay careful deliberation, and may 

 NO. 2071, VOL. 81] 



with advantage occupy the lime and immediate attention 

 of the members of education committees throughout the 

 country. 



Of especial interest are the conclusions arrived at and 

 the suggestions w'hich Mr. Jackson makes at the end of 

 his report. The following excerpts will serve to show 

 the vital importance of early legislation to ensure some 

 efficient system of further education for all boys and girls 

 during their adolescent years, whether they themselves 

 desire it or not. 



The evidence as to the difficulty boys find in getting 

 into permanent work of a satisfactory kind seems over- 

 whelming. Every inquirer gives the same impression. 



The work of an errand boy or a telegraph messenger 

 is bad for the boy, so is the work of a boy in a ware- 

 house or factory who is employed to fasten labels to 

 bottles, to fill packets of tea, or the like. It is not so 

 much a question of a skilled trade not being taught as 

 of work which is deteriorating, absorbing the years of the 

 boy's life when he most needs educational expansion in the 

 widest sense. 



Mere skill of hand or eye is not everything. It is 

 character and sense of responsibility which requires to be 

 fostered, and " not only morals, but grit, stamina, mental 

 energv, steadiness, toughness of fibre, endurance," must 

 be trained and developed. Work which is monotonous 

 Kiiis aevciopment, and work which is intermittent destroys 

 perseverance and power of concentration. The waste of 

 boys' brains, character, and strength is ultimately not 

 only destructive of the individual, but a serious economic 

 loss to the community. It is probable that boy labour is 

 not really cheap at all, owing to the undeveloped re- 

 sponsibility and carelessness of the young, but if the un- 

 skilled men who spring from them have been mentally 

 and physically stunted, the loss to the employers is 

 enormous, for they cannot earn a sufficient wage to live 

 properly, and their output is below that required from an 

 adult citizen. 



In the large industries there should be a readjustment 

 of conditions, but probably the initiative must come from 

 an extension of State regulation of boy labour. This can 

 be most easily effected by further raising the age of school 

 attendance, or by a system of compulsory continuation 

 schools. It must be recognised that much boys' w^ork is 

 wholly uneducative, and deteriorates instead of developing 

 the man, and that this must be prevented. One of the 

 largest industries — the textile — is still partly based on half- 

 time child labour. It is probable that the operatives are 

 really more to blame for this than the employers, many 

 of whom are not verv satisfied as to the advantages of 

 child labour. The old contention that the manipulative 

 skill reouired compelled the employment of children of 

 twelve, because after that age their fingers lose supple- 

 ness, is not now heard so frequently. 



One thing which appears likelv to be of far-reaching 

 benefit to the boy is increased education. Thus Mr. 

 Kitterniaster gives as his remedies : — 



fi) Boys should be kept at school until the age of 

 fifteen instead of fourteen. 



(2) Exemption below this age should only be granted 

 for bovs leaving to learn a skilled trade. 



(t,) There should be school supervision until sixteen, and 

 replacement in school if not properly employed. 



Prof. Sadler and the Rev. Spencer Gibb suggest com- 

 pulsory half-time schools, or, at any rate, some compulsory 

 school until sixteen or seventeen. Mr. Gibb would like 

 to see further amendments of the Shoo Hours Acts so as 

 to avoid the possibility of excessive hours of labour on 

 certain days of the week. He points out, also, that the 

 present .Acts need to be more thoroughly enforced. 



This inquiry seems to show that these reforms are 

 necessary. The raising of the age of exemption would 

 strengthen the boy, and he would be kept longer under 

 discipline, and would become both steadier in character 

 and more intelligent. It can hardly be seriously contended 

 that the boy of the working man is reallv more fit for 

 life than the public-school boy at the age of fourteen who 

 is .admittedly unready at that age. 



It must not, however, be supposed that the present 

 education given in the schools is all that can be desired. 



