The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1913-12-26
CHILD LABOR AND THE
MINIMUM WAGE LAW
THE CHILD OF TODAY, THE CITIZEN OF TOMORROW
ENT ECONOMIC CONDITIONS DETERMINES THE STATUS
OF CITIZENSHIP OF GROWING GENERATION.

than it seems possible for them to liv,
on, because their more fortunate sis
ters enter the industrial field merel.
to supplement the financial aid the.
receive from fathers and brothers
Added to this disadvantage has beer
added the influence of social agitation
So much has been said about tn,
cheap labor of the self-supporting girls
the moral temptations she is subject
ed to because of her inadequate wage
that the employers hesitate b. to hire
self-supporting girls even when theil
services are offered at the same wage
as the services of the girls who live
with their parents.
These self-supporting girls not only
have their more fortunate sisters to
compete with, but their little sisters
and brothers who enter the industria
field as child-labor.
Putting aside the ethical and hum
unitarian arguments, from a purely
a waste to the nation. "a normal
youth of eighteen years of age ought
to have forty-five or fifty years OF
productive work ahead of him.
The efficiency and the length of the
working life of the average child work
er in factories, stores, and mines is
less than that of the average indivi'
dual who has not been forced to be-
come a bread-winner before the age
of 16 or 1S years of age.
"Not only is the productive effici-
ency of the average wage earners re-
duced because of the prevalence of
child labor but the expense of caring
for dependents, vagrants, and delin-
quents, is increased"
1t is true there are many indivi-
duals in our large army of unemploy-
ed men in our city now who are unem-
ployable in so far as they are incap-
able of rendering services equal to
the services of the average workman.
He works spasmodically not only from
necessity, but often from choice aris-
ing out of his physical inability to hold
job any length of time. The his
tories of many men of this class have
been traced out, and found in them a
long period Of an exploited unframed
childhood.
Say Sidney and Beatrice Webb,
zone of the most obvious forms of in
dustral parasitism is the employ
ment of child-labor. The early textile
manufacturer found that it paid best
to run his mill almost exclusively by
young children, whom he employed
without regard to what was to become
of them when they requir-
ed more wages than his labor bill al
lowed The resulting degeneracy of
the manufacturing population became
so apparent that parliament, in spite
of all it's prepossessions, was driven
to interfere"
While investigating the canneries
of this state I was surprised to find
children employed in certain can
neries in occupations that were per-
formed by men in other canneries. l
have reference to the pushing of
trucks loaded with cans of salmon.
In answer to the inquiry why boys
Of
canneries, since boy labor was cheap
er, and the response was that boys
could not be obtained. The facts are
these. 1t was only possible to substi-
tute child labor for adult labor in can
neries located near, or in a settled
community. Canneries located near
the fish traps, and at isolated places,
had not the child labor market to
draw upon with the exception of a
few Indian children who came from
the Indian reservations near at hand.
There are many kinds of work in
this state that can be performed by
children as we'll as by women or men.
This condition is characteristic of all
developed industrial communities. In
fact people have been so generally
aroused by the fact that so much of
the work was being done by children,
when men and women were anxious
for work, that stringent measures
have been adopted to check the evil.
The Industrial Welfare Commission
Law of this state says:
"The commission may at any
time inquire into wages, and con-
ditions of labor of minors, employ
ed in any occupation in the state
and may determine wages and
conditions of labor suitable for
such minors. For the
purposes of this act minor is de-
fined to be a person of either sex
under the age of eighteen years"
1t is important, whatever steps are