Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-10
CIVIC CENTER MEETS
Addressed by Mrs. BENZ. w.
Corkran of Baltimore.
DISCUSS CHILD LABOR
EXPLAINS RESTRICTIVE MEAS
URES In MARYLAND.
Work of the Consumers League Dis
cussed and Need of Further Leg
islation Considered.

A meeting Of the Council Of Tie Civic Cen
ter was held last evening at the Public IL
brary Tn account of the iDclemency of
the weather there was not large attend
ance present. Mrs. BENJAMIN ". Corkran
OF Baltimore. the president of the Con-
sumers' League of Maryland, was present
and gave an interesting talk on the work of
the league in preventing children under
fourteen years OF ago from working in the
factories. Mrs. Corkran said that the facts
collected by the investigator IN her visits
| to the factories and to the homes of the
working children were sufficiently convnc-
ing to point to the need Of further child
labor legislation. The present law forbids
children under fourteen to be at work in
factories In Baltimore city except in the
canning industries, unless said child is the
only support of q widowed mother, invalid
father, or Is solely dependent upon such
employment for self-support.
This law. like every other piece of leg
islaton, Is not automatic" said Mrs Cork
ran. IF it is to be made operative the
state or city must make provision for
system of inspection. Paid inspectors are
needed to carry out the purpose of the
antl-chiid labor legislation which Mary
land has had the wisdom to enact"
Why Children Work.
Mrs. Corkran then explained that the rea-
sons why parent puts the immature child
to work are many and complex, but the in
stances in which the child is put to work
because the invalid father or widowed
mother needs the child's earnings are in
significant In number.
In speaking of the Investigations made
by the investigator of the league, Mrs.
Corkran said;
Bare mention only may be made of the
effect of introducing child labor on the en-
ployer, testified to by the investiga tor.
In the packing houses the opinion OF the
best men Is that the exclusion of the child
workers would mean better work and better
working conditions. In one of the tobacco
factories and in a department store the SUI
perintendents spoke of the advantage of
system of factory inspection as they had
seen it at work in New York. In another
factory the employer spoke of the import
ance of keeping children ct school and de-
plored the fact that the working people are
so Indifferent TO the advantages of educa-
ton
AS to the effects of child labor on the com
| munity, Mrs. Corkran called attention to
the fact that when the children of the i'm
migrant are forced to work before they
be taught in public schools to become
Americans; when native-born children re-
ceive no real benefit from this public school
system; when children. foreign and native
born, enter the field of labor so early that
strength, physical and mental, Is wasted;
when factory and shop offer the immature
children merely opportunity to become wage
earnerS, out make the wage or labor IN
clude a bartering of power to develop eff
cheney; when such a system of child labor
is accepted, the community has blinded 81
self to its real interest
Children in Canning Works.
Miss S. e. Spicer was introduced by Mrs.
Corkran, and told Of the work she had
been doing in the matter of Investigating
the employment of children IN the
neres. which are not included in the child
labor law of Maryland. but which the
members Of the league hope to have incor-
porated into a new measure at the next
session Of the legislature. At the conclu-
sion of Miss Spicer's remarks a general
discussion was held, and the subject of
whether the owners of the stores of this
city could not be induced to close their
Establishments on Saturday evening SO as to
allow their employees an opportunity Of OBJ
tanning more rest was taken up.
Tomorrow evening there win be another
meeting of the Civic Center at the Public
Library, to which the public is invited.
The general subject for discussion will be
the water supply of Washington, and there
will be several addresses by experts in SAN
itary engineering and sanitation.