Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-17

eeeins and incidentally with the work of the
congress. Il simply could not get here any
earlier" declared one mother this morning.
f'Why l didn't get to bed till midnight"
The first address of the morning. and con-
sidered by many to be one of the most i'm
portant of the whole congress, was that of
Mrs Florence Kelly of New York on Child
Labor in the United States" Mrs. Kelly is
said to have travelled far and wide in study
ing the child labor problem, and to have
been a great force in drafting child labor
laws for various states.
Mrs. Kelly began by stating that twenty
states have child labor laws of some kind,
though many are sadly deficient. She spoke
OF the child labor laws of New York and or
Colorado, one OF the oldest and of the
youngest states in the Union, and the con-
frast she drew was greatly to the disparage-
meut of the older state.
She said that New York had ample pro-
lection for boys under fourteen years old
who did nothing and who had homes, but
for the 25.100 messenger boys of New York
the law IS no protection whatever. For the
boy under fourteen the penal code pre-
scribes a list of some sixteen kinds of
s'busnesS'' houses and other places where
he must not go. with strict penalty if he
does But-and the but was what made
the law ineffective in her Opinion-the
messenger boys. 5000 in number when
In discharge of their duties. could enter
any of these prescribed places. This law,
she said. was thus formed to propagate
2J'sO criminals. for she believed that the
duties of a messenger BOY were of char
acter TO teach him to lie and steal, and to
commit crimes of almost every character.
When not visiting saloons, disreputable
houses or engaging in various gambling
games he was employing his time reading
vicious literature OF the penny dreadful
sort. She believed that there must be a
revision of the New York penal code in
Ibis particular feature
Speaking of the contrast between the
<nlil lob oil
she said that those of the younger state
the finest in existence today for they
afford protection 10 all children under four
teen years Of age, messenger boys and all
The law penalties the boy the house which
the law has forbidden him to enter and the
people who sent him there. This she said
is really the protection the chill needed.
She spoke of the effort that she had per
sonaily made to have children forbidden by
law to work al night. She spoke partic-
nlarly of the great glass works at Alton,
Ill, where 30 boys. under twelve years,
were once employed all night For five
years she drafted bills for the Illinois legis-
lature. and for five years the glass works
managers defeated them. In 1903 a strin-
gent law was enacted against the employ
Inent of children after pm, and now no
child IN Illinois works at night If under
twelve years OF age.
She said that the best laws against child
;abor were in the states of Colorado, Ohio
Illinois and New York. and that there we're
very good laws in the New England states.
Pure Food in the Homes.
OF vital interest to the mothers was the
address Of II. w. Wiley, VI D.. of the Unit
ed States Department of Agriculture ON
Importance of Pure Food in the Home"
On the completion OF his entertaining adj
dress he was piled with questions on many
subjects Of interest TO mothers. DR.. Wiley
said, in part:
Among the many subjects which relate
70 domestic economy IT seems to me there
Is no more worthy Of attention than that
o. pure FOODS The art of aduIteration has
become so refined to deceive even the
expert. and therefore it is all the p,ore
important that those who preside over the
homes OF the country should be on their
guard against deception First what is
understood by purity of foodg' AS 7 nm
derstand 1t the word pure applied to a food
product Indicates that the product is ex-
actly what 1t is represented to be- Purity
rs not always used, nor generally used as
Jar as that Is concerned. as a SYNONYM for
wholesome OF course, pure food should
Oe a wholesome food. but pure product
III. III De any thing but wholesome, as. for in
etance' pure strychnia or pure alcohol The
aduiteFatIon Of food-as defined in many
laws ana as construed in the courts-con-
sIsts h"t only In 50 manipulating 1t as to
IehdeF 1t unwholesome but also in mis-
branding and misrepresenting its qualities
sI1ner by label, method of preparation or
Ora or. statement The happiness of the fam
lily depends largely upon the health 90 a..
members as well as upon its d,anoiaI
status. 80 i''S'hcldi
Adulterated Food Threatens Health
Foods which are adulterated SO as to he
pnwholesome threaten the health OF tho
family. Foods which adulterated so as
to masquerade other products threaten
the finances Of the family. Foods are rem
dered unwholesome either in the method of
Their manufacture or IL their prepare alton
Tor the table. The latter refers to the sub
3ect of cookery and that is a part OF this
Theme which l cannot take up for discus
sion at the present time. In the manu-
facture of foods they more or less I'M
wholesome in many ways. First by the
abstraction Of some valuable ingredient by
means Of which the dietetic value of the
ration is unbalanced, illustrated in alb
another case by so carefully separat ting
the ingredients OF wheat as 10 render flour
roo starchy in composition. L must not be
supp ed that all methods OF food prep
grafton are authorizations or that they tend
70 render. the products less wholesome
Just the contrary Is true. Flour is not an
adulterated article. although ii is not the
whole wheat. But If flour from which a
part OF the ingredients have been separated
is sold as whole whea. flour, then it is an
-adulterated article
Perhaps the great majority of the proc
esses used in preparing foods to send to the
Kitchen are helpful rather than harmful.