New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-12
OUR FUTURE
CITIZENS

Bg Courtesy Of "The Ne'C Republic
TINE scattered attacks that tor more IMAM nan
decade have been made against the
exploitation Of children are gathered
in one concerted drive and the beginning Of
the real battle is in sight. The territory Of
childhood is the prize. Shall it be occupied
by freedom and health and intelligence as the
culture bed Of a real civilization, or shall igno-
rance and a short-sighted industrialism hold
it in the interest Of social penury?
Recent events testify to new alignment
Ten years ago business interests with wealth
and power were protesting against any re-
strction on the labor Of their small employees
Their plea was always in the interest of the
childrenl The perils Of idleness, the absence
Of schools. the poverty of the home, these were
the dismal. dominant notes in their persuasive
appcal. The agents of organized relief zeal
ouslv engaged in hunting jobs for the children
10 solve the riddle Of the family budget and
like Saul of old verify thought they were
doing Gods service. Pubic-school teachers
official agents Of democratic educational
svsten-gaily clipped off the backward, I'M
promising twigs in the interest, of course, OF
educational efficiency, and sent the failures TO
the limbo Of unslilled labor Everybody was
satisfied with the combination. The cry OF
hunger was stilled. The supply Of cheap
labor was fed. The classroom was pruned
of dolts and lsggards. The children were
stunned into the contentment Of industrial in
efficiency.
But the awakening has come. We are
demonstrating that child labor does not solve
the problem Of poverty but rather compli-
Gates it, Our school men are learning that
the school must digest the laggard, not elimi-
nate him. Juvenile court records show with
uniformity that the Jail and house Of correc-
ton are recruited from unsdlled and neg
lected childhood Business is discovering that
child labor does not pay-that the most waste
fu and extravagant kind Of labor is the in
efficient hand guided by the unframed mind.
Child labor is a national outlaw. Congress
has said so by a decisive vote. In fixing his
signature which made this act law the Pres
ident said: IL want TO say that with real
emotion / sign this bill because / know how
long the struggle has been to secure legislation
Of this sort and what it is going to mean to
the health and to the vigor Of this country, and
also to the happiness of those whom it affects.
1t is with genuine pride that / play my part
in completing this legislation. 1 congratulate
the country and felicitate myself"
What then remains? Is not the task
achieved? Is not the yoke of industrial bond
age lifted? Have not the children been set
free? No. Our work has been failure if
American intelligence thinks it finished. 1t
has only begun. What has been accomplished
is rudimentary. Here is the beginning of the
chapter-not the end How does it read?
First: A written law is a prescription, not
a recovery. Congress has not abolished child
labor but only made it possible for you to do
so. Responsibility is laid on you, every
citizen, to see that this law is enforced in your
community. 1t is a duty you cannot delegate.
The public spirited man of business who has
been annoyed by the guerilla warfare of his
unscrupulous competitor may now defend him
self. The citizen who has found local admin
istration Of the child-labor law bound by graft
and politics may now bring his complaint
before the United States Department of Labor
The discouraged factory inspector whose faith
full attempts to prosecute have been parayzed
by petty courts dominated by powerful local
interests will now lay his case before Federal
Grand Jury. These are your weapons.
Second Assuming that this law is effec
lively enforced how far does it reach? Only
10000 children will be affected. The other
1.S5OOOO children are left untouched. No fed
era law can reach them They are the wards
Of the several states the young hawkers of
news and chewing-gum on our city streets;
the truck garden conscripts of Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, Ohio, Colorado and Maryland; the
sweating cotton-pickers of Mississippi, Okla
homa and Texas; the 10000 domestic servants
under 16 years Of age in our American homes.
From the sugar-beet fields of Colorado,
from the berry fields of New Jersey, Maryland
and Delaware, from the onion beds of Ohio
from the tobacco fields of Kentucky and from
the hot cotton fields of Oklahoma and Texas,
the cry of the children ought to make itself
heard. But they are mute. They have not
tasted liberty Without complaint they step
into the ranks of the 100000 illiterates to
grope blindly through land of plenty.
Third: Illiteracy must be stamped out. We
hail the school as democratic Then it must
reach the people. The investment Of the tax
payer is misapplied, the security Of the coun-
try is imperilled, so long as children are denied
the opportunity of education The public
school is public and it must reach the public.