Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-10-31
REPORT ON CHILD
LABOR IN STATE
Ninety per Gent. Employed
through Ignorance of Law,
Says Investigator.

Rutland, Oct 29.-Harry l. Piper of
Westminster, who has been making a
study of conditions throughout YER
mont under the direction of the ma
tonal child labor committee. made
public his report here to-day. He
gives brief statement of the num-
Der of children found In various en-
pigments in about 20 towns in the
state. On the whole the report speaks
we'll for conditions in Vermont. only
n small amount of the youthful labor
reported being Of an intentional ma
ture. Fully 30 per cent. OF the chill
dren found employed in violation of
the law were working In ignorance of
the law on their own part or on the
part Of their employers. or through
Misrepresentation of their ages
| Boys were found in violation Of the
law. as bell boys in hotels, in nearly
all the large towns. The chief objec-
ton to this form Of employment is
the late hours. The same objection
applies to the boys found working H.
legally in bowling alleys and as tele
graph messengers. Comment was
made on the fact that mems clubs
and Y. NJ. c. AS violated the law as
regards pin boys in bowling alleys
just as freely as do the public bowling
alleys.
/ In regard to child labor. which Is legal
under the present laws, Mr.. Piper spoke
of children working in stores as especially
needing protection. In many cases boys
who go to school are working an average
of six hours a day outside of their hours
in school, and from IL to 10 hours on
Saturdays Another legal form of child
labor which he condemned strongly was
the employment of boys from IL to 1G
years old as ushers In the moving picture
theatres. AS a rule these boys were not
doing good work in school and their eye
sight was being spoiled.
a large part of the investigation was
given to conditions in the small rural
communities. 1t was shown that in q
large number of the small towns less
than 90 per cent. Of the boys remained
in school until they were IS years old or
until they had received the education re-
quired by statute. Most of these boys
We're at work on the farms Many who
are enrolled in school attend so Irregular
IT, that their progress is much slower than
1t should be- and they reach the age
when they can legally leave school with
out having reached more than a sixth
grade standing. They work at home on
the farms when there is anything to do
and go to school when there is not. This
applies to boys down to II years old.
OF the $1,000 children In the State be-
tween the ages Of eight and is, nearly 49,
900 are in the rural communities. This in
dicates the magnitude of the rural p, OBJ
lem and the necessity of more adequate
mode Of meeting 1t.
In conducting the Investigation it was
found that nearly all the mill owners and
superntendents were ignorant Of the ex-
act provisions of the present law though
all thought they knew something about
it In general the enforcement OF the
Child labor law as well as the compul-
sorry education law. Is left In the hands Of
the school department. The permit sys-
TEN of allowing children to go to work is
used in a very lax manner. A uniform
system of giving and recording permits 10
work Is one of the great needs especially
in the smaller places