The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-08-09
PROVISIONS TO ENFORCE
 CHILD LABOR LAW VITAL
Social Service Department By MRS. SIDNEY NJ. ULLMAn

That is why" said another little
 woman, T am coming up here in the probing heat to keep an eye on. things.
 l cant bear to think that through some
 inadvertence oversight the measure providing the necessary inspection may. fail l have set my heart on its pas
 sage"
 Don't worry" answered Mrs Graves,
 T feel certain that this the Hartwell
 t1te bill, will pass without any trouble.
 me legislators are very reasonable. They see that It is a necessary complement to
 the Dill they passed at the spring ses-
 slon; they have put themselves on rec
 ora as favoring an effective child labor
 olll by passing one, now they are not
 going back on their own work by fail ing to put this measure through to make
 the law effective. It is true the calendar
 IS crowded, but these men have shown
 themselves to be thoughtful and con
 structive in all their legislation and they
 are not going to fail on this measure
 for the protection of the children of the
 state They can't afford to: they are
 already committed to it by the passage
 of the child labor act"
 T hope they realize that they are com
 mitted,' said the doubtful lady. q have
 been working for child labor in Alabama
 for 16 years. I began when Edgar Gard
 ner Murphy threw himself into the work,
 and undermined his health in getting
 the first measure through To reach the
 present bill, which, though not ideal, Is very good law, and one that the women or the state are very glad to see written
 into the statute books has meant years Of toll; we can't afford to have all the Work that we have done wasted and our measure nullified for the want of ade- quate inspection. The bill calls for two inspectors and a stenographer and the to- tai amount involved is $500 per annum surely Alabama Is not so poor that she cannot spare that meagre sum for the protection of the children of the state" Other women came up from time to time and joined the group. All showed keen, interest In the measure under discussion and agreed that 1t would
 be great disappointment to the wom- en of the state If the appropriation for | inspectors was not passed. but 1t was generally conceded that 1t would pass
 AS one man put 1t. "the legislature will
 not care to subject themselves to the opus of nullifying the child labor law passed at their previous session for the sake of saving such a negligible sum. Besides" remarked the man with
 chucKle, they haven't any notion of
 having all these women after them. It might be something like Genevieve Clark, who told her father that she wanted him to do a certain thing that she was interested in and if be didn't he needn't come home" That was too
 much for the Honorable Champ. He did as his pretty daughter had re- quested The women of Alabama are not going to tell their men folks not to come home, but the men are too wise to go home until they have fin ished their work in satisfactory man
 ner and a large part or their work con
 sists in satisfying the women. And why shouldn't they" he demanded. "In four years a lot of these fellows will be appealing to their dear lady con stituents to support them and I tell you they are beginning already to look out that they keep their records clear" 100 you really think so?" I ques- toned.
 You bet" he answered with more force than elegance, and with custom ary caution, added as he turned away, ''but you need not say that I said so.' The women went into the committee
 on finance and I went away pondering
 on all that I had heard. ''Verily." I said to myself, suffrage or no suffrage,
 women and men are getting on better
 terms of understanding. They are will ing to give and take and work togeth | CT for the betterment of social condi - tions. Some way I shared Mrs. Graves | opinion that the Hartwell -Fite bill was ] very apt to become q law.