The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-07-26

IN minnesota
IN Any Manufacturing
state in the Union-wiII I
hgate Truancy Next Year
ne annual report of the state labor
department now being prepared nv
commissioner Powers will deal stats
LEGALLY with the conditions of all cIass-
eS Oh labor in this state. as cornnaro1
with mat of other manufac tI,ri,,o.
states. The most significant fact chrono
icled IN the report is the showing made
py minnesota in the matter of child la
~ 90 oust sixty-seven one-hundredths
1 ~ one per cent of all tbs
labor employed in the factorias
ana mines of this state is corn
posed OF child labor. This is from u
TO 90 per cent less than that of anv
other manufacturing state in the
Union. In Illinois the proportion NJ
chiId labor is per cent and a frac-
. aion' ana the other states run from
10 8 per cent, and the Eastern states
containing the large cities show a per
centage considerably in excess of
per cent.
Mr.. Powers said yesterday that from
the observations made by the DEPART
Hienl the proportion of children en-
pdoyeo IN the factories largely depend
a.
lion ana the employers of labor.
In nearly all cases the employers NJ
large bodies of laboring men had been
Puplc spirited and had co-operated to
most pleasant degree with the stare
department in its efforts to secure an
Se a of the state child labor
taMs' IN some states it was a constant
labor department to secure an obsarr,o
dhce OF the law, but in Minnesota the
cohdltion of labor was greatly s1nario,.
10 tnat OF other states, occasioned bv
the fact that the majority of men in,
terested IN labor employing institutions
permitted very little of this class of la
DOT IN their factories.
Mr.. Powers also saws that Whom +bo
iast census was taken it gave 80 600 as
the number of men employed in fac
tories in the state, but in the enrnoera-
tion conducted by the United States
thoSe employed in carpenter shops. as
wen as cobblers and labor of this class
were included. In the Investigations
conducted by the state department
only $4,000 men were found To- he uiis snl
tually employed in factories. as the
state did not include those engaged in
carpenter shops, etc.
In the factories child labor is largely
concentrated in a small number Of
eStapLlshments, and ten times more
chiidren We're repored in non-manufac-
turing establishments than in factor
les Such labor is found in sixtvlSiv
factories in Minneapolis, employing a
lotai OF 4,003 individuals, and in forty
SIX factories in st. Paul, EMPLOYING q
total OF 4,228 workmen. In these 112
!actorles the percentage of child labor
IN 1897 was 265. In the other factories
thr0ughout the state the percentage Of
child labor is very small. giving 81 ner
cent FOR the entire q ta
ed up. "e
MI. Powers report shows that since
1895 child labor in Minnesota has de-
creased over one-half, and from the
district reports which are being re-
celved quarterly by the department
rom the inspectors the number is still
decreasing. The report SAYS:
In enforcing the labor law the in
spectors investigated the cases of a
great many children. Some of them an
piled for work claiming to be of the
legal age, but investigation showed
that they We're under fourteen and
were refused the necessary papers.
Inc total number of cases Investigate
eo IN st. Paul was 725, and in Mime
apol1s about the same, the state at
large about one-half the totals of St
Paul and Minneapolis. OF these chill
oren, w per cent in Minneapolis last
attended the public schools, and per
cent the parochial schools. In ST. Paul.
70 per cent attended the public schools
and II per cent the parochial schools"
Mr.. Powers stated in connection with
the report that child labor was not the
greatest evil the department had to
cope with, but that of truancy, in the
leading towns of the state. Truancy
has, Mr.. Powers thinks, a direct rela-
ton to crime in later years, and flu
lure investigation during 1898 will be
conducted along that line