Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-01-02
CHILD LABOR IN
NEW JERSEY IS
TOPIC OF REPORT
Further State Legislation Is
Sought by Committee Head
ed by East Orange Woman.

ed by East Orange Woman.
, A report bearing on child labor con-
/, ditions in this State has been gotten
up by the New Jersey Child Labor
Committee, of which Mrs. G. W. b.
Gushing. of East Orange, is chair
man. 1t is the purpose of the com
mittee to further legislation on child
labor at the coming Trenton legisla-
tive session. The report reads
100000 Under Fifteen.
There are three quarters of mil
lion children under fifteen years of
age in the State of New Jersey. and
each year about $4,000 babies are
born. What kind of a chance do they
have to grow into strong, well-edu
Gated and efficient citizens? How
\ carefully does this State, whose year
Aly manufactured product is worth
IEpillion dollars, safeguard the interests
\ vf'its children by keeping them from
&erwork and providing for their edu-
eAoE?
Vn the first place, it is past discus
sioS that every child of school age
ought to attend school, New Jersey
= has State compulsory school at
! tendance law, but no community can
\ he sure that every child is attending
school until it knows exactly how
many children there are of school age.
The State fails to require such a
school census. Only three other
States, Delaware. South Carolina
and Nevada. and the District of Co
lumbia, lack this fundamental point.
"Fourteen years is accepted as the
minimum age limit for work in all
common occupations: but wealthy
New Jersey is content so long as
child under fourteen attends school
and does not work in a factory and
child under sixteen does not work at
night in factories and mercantile es-
Establishments. So except in three
cities with special ordinances any tot
big enough to hold his papers and
count his change can sell before and
after school, or until a. m. If he
wants to-and many do. Boys and
girls of all ages may run errands
and deliver packages, perform on the
stage or do any other work they can
get between Z in the morning and Z
in the evening, provided they attend
school, and in December the State
tolerates a holiday exemption that
permits boys and girls of any age to
work in stores until 10 p. m.-and
many do.
state Falls Behind.
"Ten years ago New Jersey was in |
the vanguard, one of only fifteen /
States with a fourteen-year limit for
factory work Now it lags behind, !
because. others have been advancing
to forbid other occupations under
fourteen years, to regulate street /
work. and to set a siXteen-y and I
eighteen year limit for dangerous and
extra hazardous trades.
Thus eighteen States, including
Massachusetts,, New York. Ohio and |
Illinois, have limited the working day !
Of children fourteen to sixteen years /
old to eight hours and continue TO I
prosper. But the 1900 workers under /
sixteen years in New Jersey factories T
\are employed for ten hours day. Is +
aw~1arsev too poor to afford this J
lrotection to- the % per cent Of her /
factory wage earners who are sun |
phildren? Eight hours constitute the
workdaV of adults in work done for +
ne federal and most of the state gov
ernnents and also in many of the I
rrades II does not seem unreasonable /
10 eonfine the labor of children under |
Eixteen years within the limits consid- /
bred desirable for men and women,
rand this should be done without fur
ther delay. not only in factories, but
also in stores and other establish
ments.
'ManS children work in factories,
mills foundries and workshops where
dgngerous machinery is operated and i
>|boisonous materials are used, ana the
law should specify all such hazardous
forms of employment and forbid chill
dren under sixteen to engage IN them:
An age limit of eighteen years should
i'll. ,fFHr.e
ira risk or places upon the worker re-
sponsibility for the safety of others.
Ordinances by Cities
Newark, Trenton and Elizabeth,
ir default of a State law. have passed I
ordinances regulating the work of
children in their streets and public
places. 1t is to be hoped that these
local provisions foreshadow the adop-
ton by the Legislature of measure
extending protection to newsboys,
bootblacks and peddlers i'm every city
OF the state. These child traders es-
pecially stand in need Of restraint,
for their work is subject to no SUI
pervision, they are constantly eX-
nDosed to dangers of every Kind com
on in city streets, and they have no
>artunity to acquire knowledge or
Eseful calling. In view of the
Fable character of street work
NIiildren, the age limit for trad
ing hy bows should at least be made
to correspond with that for other
common occupations. but girls under
eighteen years should never be per-
mitted to work i'm the streets at any
time. Bows from fourteen to sixteen
wears should be required to procure
from the school authorities a badge
as a license for trading, just as chill
dren employed in establishments
must obtain the work permit, for such
a system is of great service in the
enforcement of the compulsory edu-
cation law
1.-THE present dual system of work
permits whereby the school authorl-
ties issue age-and- schooling certifi
Gates and the factory inspectors
grant permits results in duplication
Of effort and leads to confusion. The
ape-and- schooling certificate issued
My the school authorities should be
the only recognized permit, and a
copy of each one granted. together
with the proof of age accepted,
ahould be forwarded to the factory in
sne.ctors. Whenever children quit
work their employers should be re-
ouired to return their certificates at
once TO the officer who issued them.
40 as to enable the authorities to fol-
low every boy and girl who is within I
the age limits for compulsory attend
ance at school,.
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