The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-12
DISCUSS UNIFORM CHILD LABOR LAWS Three Speakers Heard at
 Morning Session A. T. STOVALL TALKS
  Miss Florence Kelley and Miss Jean Gordon Also Tell Something of
 Progress Made Toward
 Uniformity

Uniform Child Labor Laws. the gen
 eral topic of the National Child Labor conference. was more intimately dealt
 with at the, session yesterday morning
 than at any previous meeting of the
 convention. An address on Standards
 Proposed bysthe United States Comms-
 sion on Uniform Laws ably delivered
 by the Hon. A. T. Stovall of Mississippi
 afforded an interesting summary of all
 that has been accomplished by the com
 mittee toward securing uniform
 child labor law.
 The speaker was introduced by pr
 A. J. McKelway, who presided at the
 meeting, following a short programme arranged for the reports from state and
 local committees and affiliated bodies,
 with additional discussion on "A Legis-
 lative Programme For the South''
 "I am interested deeply in the high purpose of the work of the National Child Labor committee said MT. Stovall In fact the people through out the United States are aroused on
 the subject as they never were before They are sick tired and disgusted with lne leklSldluIeS Ol SOIHc ol tht stdita
 appropriating thousands of dollars an-
 nually for the protection of hogs, cat tie, oysters, etc., and not one cent for
 the protection of the childhood of the state, the most precious of natural re- sources.
 Tt has been the purpose of the com
 mittee of which I am a member to pre- paro eana and uniform law Iembody- ing the best features of all the differ
 ent state laws on the subject, which any state could adopt without lowering
 its present standard. The uniform law will prevent shiftless impecunious par
 ents from exploiting their children labor and the manufacturer from re-
 moving, or threatening to remove to another state because of more favora- . ble laws; and it will be easier of en forcement because decisions of disputed questions in one state will be persua- sive, if not a precedent, In another state. It is furthermore the sense or
 the committee that you will have the support of the large corporations and
 manufacturers for the uniform law. After investigation the committed believes that the earning capacity Of the l child who begins work after It years of age very soon reaches and surpasses the earning capacity of the child who begins work at IA years of age or un der; and that in a few years the ih- come of the family would be increasen if the child be excluded from work un- der 16 years of age. For. this reason tbe uniform law should be favored by 1 the parent and the employer The uni | form law prohibits the employment o' children under Is years of age at any occunation or position dangerous te lufe or limb, naming them, and they are many, and prohibiting further any other employment declared by the s'a'' hoard of health to be dangerous to iii' or limb of children under the age o' 16 years. .5s...as
 The sneaker went further into the details of the uniform child iaoor Ia" and enumerated the trades and the DC cupations from which children al snecified ages would be excluded. n' showed how 1t was provided in the oil ,hot the state health officer shoulf
 he reouired to verify by inspection th' etnass of children as specified before they are allowed to enter into or pe-
 come engaged in that kind of work ioi which the regulations are to be es' tablished. The law requires that the insnecting officer be satisfied as to the child,s eligibility for work not only by the employer. the parents or the child. but by the child himself.
 "It.. therefore. has the advantage oi al1 laws on the subject" said the
 sneaker. '.in having the best of each
 and in our judgment. is fairer to the
 child, fairer' to the employer or the child, fairer to the state, better TOT the child, better for the employer oi
 the child, and better for the state.
 And for these reasons we believe the uniform law will have the support and the cooperation of the people gen erally of the community and so will De effective. In the language of the na- tional child labor committee that NC law enforces itself and no officer can enforce a law which depends on them alone. It is only when they are con sciously the agents of the will of the people that they can really make the law protect the children effectively And so we believe the uniform law Is
 not only a better law, but easier of enforcement"
 Miss Florence Kelley was next on the programme and her subject was uniform Child Labor Laws" Her ad' dress was in effect a resume of what had been done and what had not been done in the way of child labor legisia tion in the different states.
 T believe" said Miss Kelley, we
 shall see by 1920 universal prohibi-
 ton of the employment of children ur
 to the age of IS years at night and in dangerous occupations, and I think by that time we shall have an entirely
 new definition of the dangerous occu- pation."
 The dangerous occupation" she ex- DOCTOR PRAISES ID, D. D.