The Washington herald., 1908-05-11
Child Labor Bill.
r The Washington Herald

.
There are at least 1900 children in
Washington who are wage earners in a
greater or lesser degree. The child-laboi
bill declares that no child under fourteen
years OF age shall at any time do any
kind Of work whatsoever, and no child
under sixteen years OF age shall. between
the hours of in the evening and in
the morning. be employed, permitted, or
suffered 10 work. for wages or any other
compensation, in any position, TO whom
soever payable.
Is it to be understood that children are
to be dcbarred from employment by this
bin and thrown upon the city in idleness
and whatever evils follow in its train.
after they have been forced by the truant
officer into the schools for a few hours
during each day?
do not believe that any man, or body
Of men. hes the right te say how a man
or woman shall administer the domestic
economy Of his or her home, nor what
part the children Of that home shall take
in assuming a portion Of the support Of
the family. No one has the right to
prejudge the affairs Of another
What do we know of the anxieties and
struggles Of the man of small and often
meager salary 10 support a family Of
healthy boys and girls? Each heart
knows its own bitterness; and the law
maker. comfortable and well fixed, with
often a large private income, can never
appreciate what 81 or g a week, added 10
his so or s12. is to the man with large
family who works for wages. The hus-
band goes day after day 20 his labor, and
If he is sober and just. on Saturday
night brings in the earnings Of the week.
Children come. as they do to all. Poverty
does not lessen the love and desire Of the
father and mother toward their little
ones. They toll early and late. The
boy aad girl go to school, and in few
years are large enough to be considered
factors in the producing force Of the
home. Well the father looks around TO
place his boy al q good trade, and is met
by this: No master mechanic is allowed
by the trades union, to which he must be-
long 70 earn his bread, 70 take more than
a given number OF boys TO learn his trade,
so unless the father is fortunate enough
TO place his boy there is nothing for him
but idleness. the devils worshop.
Fairgrounds are all right, but does any
one think that any average boy or girl
among our working classes viii submit
after the first novelty is worn off. 10 the
rules ana restrictions Of the Fairgrounds?
1t is not child labor in the District that
stunts the body of the boy and warps his
moral sense. Send him to school-force
him to g0-but what viii you do with
him after his seven hours OF study, with
intermissi0ns during the time for play?
viii he hide in lumber yards or ia any
convenient place among depraved boys,
many Of them older than himself, to be
taught ali the things that debase and
make criminals
Why not make the Fairgrounds places
of utility as well as amusement? The
children must attain a certain rank in the
schools before they are allowed to work
In the manual training schools" and
are compelled to pass from the eighth
grade 20 go either to the business or
technical high school.
How many parents among the compara-
lively poor Of our city can afford to
spare their boys all those years? And
how many boys will consent to go to !
school after the fifth or sixth grade? I do |
moderate circumstances We all know
how hard il is TO force the boy to study |
But the sons Of poor men. who feel the !
grind and stint at home, cannot be pre- |
vented from making the effort to earn |
their own living. There are plenty Of |
them with inventive genius who would |
hail with delight an hour or two a day OF |
work at any one Of the mechanical trades |
In this day Of specialties. from high to |
low, the man must be trained eye and |
hand to cope with his fellows. I do not /
believe in enforced idleness any more /
han any other kind. Work has been
ana is the salvation Of many a soul. boy
and man. In the country I have seen /
Bows ten and twelve Tears of age behind /
blows from in the morning until at /
night All summer they worked. and three /
months in winter went TO school, school /
where facts, not theories, were taught; !
where. If a CHILD showed progress, he |
Vas helped forward, and not hampered 1
Jy grades Of a years duration and the /
of duller classmates. They
grew TO be men. too. we ali know one or /
more in our minds. washington is no /
,ity Of mills and factories, where the /
bodies and souls of little children are /
sacrificed TO the greedy thTOats of cor
oorations and the cruel grasp of men 1
Who make the accumulation Of money
he goal Of their lives forgetting the fact /
hat we brought nothing into the world /
md 1t is certain We can take nothing out /
# it"
Let the patient self-sacriheing mothers
# this city be given the chance to have