Evening star., 1915-01-24

"a NDRBITANT high cost of child
In labor. holding two million chill
IT, dren in the United States in its
S thraldom and endangering the
citizenship of the future. is vividly and
pathetically told in an exhibit that re-
Gently left Washington to be featured
at the Panama Pacific exposition.
This exhibit was an outstanding i'll
iustration of the work being done by
the $500 men and women united in the
national child labor committee. which
closed its eleventh annual conference
here a few weeks ago. 1t contains
more than 5000 tragic pictures of six
to sixteen year old children. dragging
their wan little bodies to work eleven
or more hours a day in the mills. out
in the bitter cold of the winters morn
ing, ill clad, hopeless, literally earn
ing their bread in the sweat of their
brows." oftentimes crippled and MANNED
for life.
x
1t took Lewis W. Hine staff photog-
rapher for the national committee,
more than ten years to collect this pa
thetic display of human waste. This
exhibit divides the reasons why the
country cannot afford child labor into
three groups, because:
/. 1t costs the child. accidents and
disease. lack of education. material and
spiritual loss
2. 1t costs industry, waste of
products, less profit in the long run,
lower efficiency of child labor adults.
9. 1t costs society. wrecked human
beings, broken homes, ignorant citi-
zens and possible criminality.
attention fn ho fort hot
there are 1.ss0.225 children under six
teen years, who are to be citizens of
tomorrow, at work in the United States
today. OF these s1s.7s4 are working in
hired out to work on farms. 1t pa
chetically gives a chill i's creed: 'I be-
lieve in being happy. believe in being
busy believe in being boy. By'n
In a series of twenty-five large pos
ters. and in an automatic stereopticon
voiceless lecture the exhibit shows con-
trast pictures of the normal child and
the mill child. with the inquiry, Would
you care to have your child pay this
price,
II shows how children are the victims
Of :ccidents, not being equipped by
modern industry: that three times as
many Industrial accidents occur to chill
dren as to adults. and charges that
employ nent of children is due to ig-
norance. greed and necessity on the
part of industry and parents. and asks:
Are any of these reasons worth a
child's life?"
Again it shows contrast pictures il
lustrating moral dangers. 1t shows a
boy at mill work threatened by a big
circular saw, commenting. Every one
knows that this is a dangerous job"
Then it shows exposure of boys to
vice. stating. But every one does not
know that street trades also are
hazardous because they expose the
children to moral dangers more deadly
than circular saws" The query this
time is. Does 1t pay to allow children
to have such contact with vicer
The fact that children are not needed
in industry is illustrated by more
photographs. Helpers in a glass fac
tory are shown in peril by the old
method. where the employer said.
illumination of the boys would mean
the ruin of the business" And the auto
matte machine is the contrast, for there
no boys are needed, and better work is
done.
Breaker boys are picking out slate
according to the old method. where the
dust makes it difficult to take a photo
graph. but, the boys breathe the chok-
ing dust ten hours a day. In contrast