The Washington times., 1894-08-05

gated July "a. 1882 grants to the courts the
right OF depriving parents OF their authority
Or of suspending its exercise, when they treat
their children with excessive severity, and
give them orders, advice, or examples Of Q
pernicious character.
France long hesitated to follow In the path
traced for her by tine humanitarian and gener-
GUS laws, and still OF all civilized countries
she was the one where the child was least de-
Tended and protected by legislation. Nosystem
ofprotection against the abuse of depraved pa
rents had been inaugurated. Public author
ity assisted in certain instances, the child de-
prived OF father and mother, and found aban-
doned or poor, but the child ill-treated. neg
lected, or misguided was left dependent on
the uncertain assistance of charity In the
absence of the right of law, voluntary associ-
ations of well-disposed persons could do but
little. The principle Of the failure of the pa
| ternal power existed in French legislation,
| but it was long left inactive.
| and even yet, in spite OF the various prohibitory
! laws, it is not rare, especially in southern
countries, TO see children of the most tender
years carried from place to place and put on
exhibition to earn the support of their worth
| less parents. Very frequently the parents
rent or sell their offspring to the strolling
| player. Doomed to be raised in the midst of
! disorder, living without shame, and given
| over to ignorance, they are forever engulfed
|
CHILD EMPLOYMENT IN FACTORIES.
| Then again, condition, partly excusable
by necessity, has widely prevailed in connec-
| ton with factory employment. Children be-
| longing to the laboring classes are obliged to
enter the workshops before they are acquainted
with the school. Formerly these "appren-
tees" received q certain technical instruction,
which partially supplied the need of more
regular education. At first they were given
the more simple parts of the work to perform.
These they were taught and they were then
gradually promoted by easy stages until they
became thoroughly conversant with their
trade.
But now children placed side by side with
rattling, unsympathetic machinery, become in
short time only the hands OF these giants,
while their hearts grow as hardened as the
limbs of the monsters which they feed. Com
PEELED by modern competition to excessive and
continual labor in unhealthy and corrupting
surroundings, their physical growth and men
tai development are exposed to grave danger.
In former times the right of the father to
the labor and earnings OF his child was held
inviolable by law. Again, it was deemed
wrong to interpose any obstacles to the liberty
Of industry. Let the employer use such labor
as he will let him who will or must labor.
Such was the ancient doctrine.
But in time society has recognized higher
rights. The general welfare of the people is
now regarded as more important than the
protection of individuals. This, however,
has its corollary-that wherever the welfare
of the people Is best protected. there the in
diyidual has the greatest liberty of action.
For the sake OF the future years OF the child,
excessive work at too early an age and too
prolonged under dangerous or unhealthy
conditions, has been prohibited.
England was the first to attempt the regu-
lation of child labor in factories. In 1902
Parliament, on the initiative of Robert Peel,
passed an act relative to the work of children,
and since that time it has gradually extended
its protection. Russia and Austria passed
some laws in this respect in 1889. and France
has been actively engaged on the subject
since 1911 Belgium in 1884, by royal de-
cree. modified the antiquated law Of 1913.
determining the age of admission 70 work in
the mines. and by the act OF December 13.
1883, the labor OF children in industrial es-
Establishments was regulated.
PROTECTION AGAINST PARENTS.
But there is need of legislation beyond the
mere limitation OF hours of labor and kinds of
toll. 1t frequently becomes necessary to af-
ford the child protection against either the
neglect or even the willful ill-treatment of
parents Public authority cam OF permit
children TO become morally depraved either
by the Indifference or by the example and in
ducement OF their natural protectors. These
moral outcasts, will. later on, threaten the
life Of society.
According TO the ancient Roman law abso-
lutte power was vested in the father of the
family, even to the exclusion of the mother.
He had the right OF proprietorship in the per-
son and property of his descendants during
their existence. He even had the right to
sell them and TO put them to death. As civil
ization increased the severity of this author
ity was mitisated by law, but still during the
Middle Ages, when the Roman law was in
force, the general character of the paternal
authority was recognized and respected by
the state.
The Germans had an entirely different con-
ception OF the subject. The authority of the
father was subordinate to the welfare Of the
child. The care of the child was an obliga-
ton which nature imposed upon the parent.
Law and custom endeavored to protect the
children, to guard their personality, to as
sure their existence. In the absence. or after
the death OF the father, the same rights and
duties revert to the mother. This protection
ceased when the children reached their major
ity, when they married, or were emancipated.
FRLNcH COMMISSION OF INQUIRY.
The first laws passed were those against
parents melting children to debauchery. In
1874 an act was adopted preventing the en-
ployment of children in vagabondage or beg
gary. Finally a commission of inquiry was
appointed, and after exhaustive study of the
subject, both by examination OF the condi-
tions existing in France and in foreign coun-
tries, and the various laws of the latter. an
elaborate report was submitted to the Senate
in 1881 On July 10. 1888, this body acknowl-
edged by resolution the necessity of the adop-
ton Of such measures. Foreseeing that such
a complex and difficult problem would in
volve lengthy discussion, but still realizing
the immediate necessity for certain enact
ments, the government proposed division
of the legislation and submitted certain por-
tions, which, by adoption of the legislative |
branch, became law on July "a, 1889.
In Belgium there is not any general law |
covering the subject. The courts very seldom |
apply the provisions of the code which gives |
them the right to deprive the father of his |
natural authority in extreme instances.
These cases are so very rare that even SEN |
tence to death or to life Imprisonment does |
not often cause the court to exercise its au-
thority in this respect.
LAWS THAT LACK ENFORCEMENT.
On November 90, 1891, law was enacted |
by which abandoned children, without father |
or mother, may be sent for safekeeping to |
certain reform schools until they reach their |
This regulation, however, is not |
often enforced. There are certain local stat |
utes and customs relating to the detention |
and support of these classes Of children, but |
they are without system or comprehensive |
ness, and frequently fail in their purpose for |
want of proper authority.
From this briaf outIine nf Europaap