The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1910-12-09
TOLL OF CHILDREN
Shocking Conditions Shown to
Exist In Europe.
INFANTS GET NO WAGES.
Esrer. lrvestisa. alter Reports That Laws
Are Usually Disressr=eo-"any Be-
Gin Work 4, tne age % sS-Werk-
sheps lnssnitary.

Gin Work a; tire Ase % sS-"erS-
shops lnssni;ary.
Sensational charges Of repulslve con
di.ons IN child labor n continental
Europe are made il s special repo-;
I published IL 3 bulletin q the United
/ States bureau OF labor. The repor;
was made by pr. c. ". a Ved.tz, s
I professor Of sociology IN George Wash
lngror university. who made special
I investigation in Austria. Belgium,
/ France. Germany. Switzerland and It
ally. He gathered al his dats from Of
/ fetal records and sources Of informa-
/ iion.
/ Child labor in Belgium not paid at
/ all. children IN Austria beginning WORK
before six years old and child labore7s
In France drilled 10 disappear through
t-apdoors ct the approach q inspec-
tors and 8 generally Indifferent en-
| torcement Of the laws through which
employers find 1t more profitable 70
pay the nominal fines imposed than 10
/ obey the regulations are some Of the
| conditions described.
The general conclusion IS that child
labor laws abroad are II many essen
/ dal respects poorly enforced and that
the penalties imposed for violations
are ridiculously small and Of practi-
cary no deterrent value. The report
/ indicates thst in most q these coun-
tries it would be g physical impossi-
bility for the inspectors to do more
than a fractional part Of their work or
10 do that part thoroughly and that
the courts are astonishingly lenient
with offenders.
In Austria child labor is not regu-
lated in workshops, in household in
dusuies or in commercial establish
ments. A recent official investigation
showed that about half the children
began work before they were eight
years old, while a large number be
gan before they were six years old.
Their pay varied all the way from
food and certain articles Of clothing to
S14 a year for those in agricultural
occupations. A large proportion re-
ceived from 80 cents TO $3.50 month.
In Belgium many violations escape
detection. One-fourth Of the laborers
under sixteen get no money wages at
all or earn less than 10 cents day,
more than half receive between 10 and
20 cents a day, and less than one-fiftn
receive 80 cents or more.
In France. DR.. Neditz says, some Of
the glass workers 90 SO far as TO drill
their child laborers in quickly disap-
pearing through trapdoors 10 avoid de
lection, and the employers offer prizes
for the children most agile in that per
Torrance. Among the most frequent
and most fragrant violatOrs Of the
rules are religious and charitable in
situations, such as orphanages, in
which the children usually get no
wages, are worked overtime and under
conditions violating the law and the
ordinary rules Of hygiene. A traffic
has sprung up, especially among the
Italian children imported into France
in droves for employment mainly in
glass works, brickyards and as chin
ney sweeps and bootblacks.
Germanys Industrial code was rec
ognized as having not so much abol-
ished child labor as having forced it
out Of the factories into home indus
Try.
In Italy factory inspection is Of so
recent date and 50 poorly organized
that It may be said 10 be noneXistent
in large part Of the kingdom.
In Switzerland conditions do not diff
fer essentially from those in Germany
and France