The Washington herald., 1907-03-12

Z
interesting topic. and must be so until
/ the combined efforts Of public opinion
| and law greatly reduce this evil; wholly
4 do away with it they never can, for
/ greed OF parents will remain even after
/ law has forced manufacturers into righJ
doing. but that it can be reduced to a
great degree there IS no question. in the
/ opinion of the Springfield Republican.
/ In the officially furnished department on
child labor In the Woman's Home Com
panion there Is a particularly interesting
/ paper by DR.. Albert II. FreIberg In which
/ ne calls attention 10 the physical results
Of continuous labor in the growing child.
+ He says:
''LayInen usually underestimate the
physiological Importance of the play
+ hours Of children between 10 and Il years
old Work during this period of life in
factory and workshop has the effect Of
causing excessive fatigue in certain
groups OF muscles This fatigue results
in muscular degeneration, and the as
sumption OF certain faulty attitudes which
are at first habitual but later assume the
place Of the normal leaving the child
more OF less permanently deformed, and
20 some extent incapacitsted. These de
fOrmities are 10 be regarded on the one
hand however, not simply as d.sfguTing,
but as interfering with WaEe-eaTning c.-
pacity later. or as menaces 10 health
and the normal tenure Of life on the
other hand
The boy generally works n the stand
ing position. and its frequent effect is the
breaking down Of the feet, often in the
severest form OF what is known as fiat
foot" and results IN permanently forbid
ding the continuance of the trade learned
as a boy thus wasting lab9r's tool tina,
might have served for half a century. But
there's no question Of economy Of the
worker for the manufacturer who exploits
child labor What matter if the child
breaks down? There are P'snty more
bad Eject on Girls.
The girl, as rule. does her work sit
ting down. with the frequent effect Of
rotary lateral curvature of the spine-
In DR.. Jacobs painfully interesting paper
IN Charities aad Jna Commons on Tile
physical cost of woHcn's WORK" h. enun-
crates the long list OF painful ailments
which women suffer because Of their sed-
they have their origin iu the shop and fac
tory during childhood.
Friends and advocates Of oldld-saviHg
are 10 be congratulated on the passage
of the child-labor law in Maryland by tie
last legislature although iOms Of It's best
. provisions were eliminated rom the tiH
before its PASSAGE for the new law pro-
( hibits children under twelve from work
b ing but partly makes up for this low age
s-g.- aH-F u
workers must register at J1e bureau Of
statistics il order to procure labor GER
! tifcates. Examiners may refuse the per-
NIT if the child is physically or mentally
unfit 10 work Statistics show that in
Maryland there are Over H.s1l children
under sixteen at work. ana nearly 5.t be-
tween twelve and siXtes1 were refused
b permits because Of physical or mental lE-
capacity.
There has been so mucd atteIti51 pad
TO the hard lot of the child iU rhe fgr-
tory. mine. and Giass work.: the uewsooy
p and messenger boy have had their eases
y 50 often presented. that children in can
neries and fruit gardens and their equally
b bad employments have been weil-nigh for
gotten. though no one with a sensitit
stomach. 10 say nothing further can re-
call the paper on strawberry picking and
Z preserving in New Jersey. published q
p year or two ago. without lively reneH-
brance of its horrid details and pity for
tie little pickers.
In Canning Factories.
b. This Is taken up in the paper in the
Woman's Home Companion. and action is
B. urged toward regulating the employment
/ OF children in the fruit and vegetable gar
I dens and canning farms. the States men
toned being Maryland, New Jersey,
;; Pennsylvania. some other Eastern States
. and sections on the Pacific slope.
Children whose ages range from nine
r 20 twelve years have bCen found w)rKinS
/ eleven OF twelve hours a day during the
: rush OF the canning season. the hours Cf-
= ten reaching sixty or seventy a week THe
objection to this form Of employment is
not only in the labor itself, but also in
/ the housing and sanitary conditions \
J. description Of living conditions reported
by an investigator for one Of our State
committees is fairly typical Of several
sections OF the country; "As yoT enter
the door of one Of these shanties you sce
a long line Of straw divided into hunks.
/ These are the beds of the workers. The
hunks are divided by small boards not
more than eight inches high-just high
enough TO prevent one family rolling over
d on another. Each bunk represents fam
Lyman. wife. and children There IS
E no privacy. and the influence on the
young boys and girls is wretchedly de-
4 grading These hunks are probably seven
feet long by FIVE broad. and in each there
are from four to six people. Some Of these
| shanties are reasonably decent, but even
= in these a whole family sleeps In q small
/ room Usually the shanties are far enough
A. from the canning house to escape the
T. odor. but IN two cases found the drain
age so close TO the shanty that the rotten
tomatoes and stagnant juice and seeds.
z turned into a moldy and fostering mass,
D. raised an Odor that was absolutely re-
pulsive"
r No one can read this account Of the
conditions that prevail on fruit farms
: without seeing how degrading to the
/ morals and injurious TO health such en-
). ployment is-as bad as the hopfelds Of
. England.
Dangerous to Morals
2. The investigation of these conditions
has not been sufficient To warrant a call
d for legislation. and as the writer OBJ
n serves:
Even the total prohibition of child Ia
. Dor in these large groups would not
; wholly mitigate the evil. The parents
come for the season, accompanied by their
children, and the improvement of housing
and sanitary conditions would be the
d. greatest safeguard 10 childhood. while any
a law establishing minimum age for en-
ployment should be supplemented by ade-
quate provision for the care and educa-
ton OF the children excluded from labor.
From other parts OF the country. where
there Is truck gardening and fruit pick
ing, We have such reports Of the pos
sibility of serious immortality among chill
dren working IN groups although return
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