The record-union., 1894-07-06
CHILD AND STATE.
Demand For the Abolition of Child
Labor.


Demand For the Abolition of Child
Labor.
Society and the State are impoverished
when material out of which useful citl-
Zens could be made is reck lessly wasted,
ruthlessly ruined. TO every child OF the
State. for the sake of society aud common
good, leaving the child's own needs ana
rights out OF the question, should be
guaranteed an education, and an educa-
tion that should be more than mere ab-
sorption of primary school teacnlngs.
"Character development must be the
keynote of Tomorrow" says Editor
Flower in the .ifeaa. For the child of
to-day should be provided all those con-
ditions which will give it fair Opportun-
ity To develop OH the morrow INTO the
man or woman OF good health, sound
brain and clean life. From our present
relation toward the child To this just anu
ideal one is long distance to travel, ana
doubtless many way stations will mark
the advance. But let us set out. Inc
start will be something.
A demand for the abolition OF child
labor would be good first step, and it is
one that will early be taken II the spirit
Of reform be directed to an investigation
of the evils of child labor. IL is doubtful
if any one VINO has made such investlga-
tions, officially or unol1icially. would re-
IuSe 10 SuDscTipe W thesS iouA PAoPoSA
tions:
l. No child should operate a machine
by its own physical power.
, No child should be allowed among
steam-driven or electricity-propelled
machines.
3. No child should be suffered to stand
all day, or sit all day.
4. No child should be shut all day
within the walls of a factory, work.
shop, mine, store or all office.
If all the world, or even an active mi
nority of those who move the world-and
the legislators-can be brought to con-
slider these propositions, child labor will
cease for every child at work to-day, eX-
cept those employed In agriculture, is
su biect to no less than two OF these con-
ditions.
1t is high time, too, that the citizens of
this Republic recog nize the right OF every
child to a good common-school education.
The evening school cannot and should
not afford the only education to which
the child is entitled. When a child has
worked all day it is unfit, physically and
mentally, for study. 1t is cruelty TO sug-
gest such substitute, and folly to ex-
pect general good results where it has
been adopted. This proposition will not
require argument or illustration for any
father or mother of little children. The
short-term school is not satisfactory
substitute for the full term OF school
year. On the contrary. it serves as an
avenue through which the employer, the
parent and the child escape compliance
with any compulsory feature of factory
laws. Wherever the three-months' limit
to child's school year is allowed an in
epector always finds that the children
have ''just been to school," or are going
next week, or next winter, or some other
time than the particular time when their
schooling is being Investigated.
The factory system of children and the
common school system will never -four
ish together. There should be, it seems
to me, no shrinking from the proposition
that it is the duty of the State, and its best
policy as well, to see that all its children
are in school until they have reached and
passed the age of 16 years. The right of
the State to compel school attendance is
conceded. It should also exercise the
power of making that attendance effect
i've by providing school books-nay, even
food and clothing, if need be. Whatever
may be necessary to the achievement of
the purpose for which the common school
was founded, the State may with propri-
ETY. be called on to secure and to adminiS-
ter.
The growing altruistic spirit of the age,
the trend of recent legislation, an awak-
ening public conscience, give promise
that the day OF these suggested changes
may be nearer than the unobservant are
aware. Labor laws are yearly raising the
age under which children may not be
employed. prohibiting their employment
in mines and other dangerous occupa-
tions, and imposing restrictions which
make their labor less and less profitable
to manufacturer. Public opinion will
some time settle Alright this question of
the relation of the State to the child.
Public opinion will some time eliminate
the factory from the ehild's life. Public
opinion will some time cause to be en-
tered as formal Judgment that nation
that suffers child labor is unchristian and
nncivilized, its code OF laws inhuman. its
people without moral sense or moral
courage.-A. 2. Stevens, Assistant m
Arena.