The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1917-06-02
ENGLAND IS USING
MANY CHILDREN
Various and Interesting Proposals
Being Made for Their Use
In Farm Work.

oe1ng Made Tor Thelr Use
In Farm Work.
WASHINGTON, May 31.-The vari-
Gus propositions which are now being
made for the use of children in farm
work lend interest to the English ex-
perience with farm labor for children.
England Is putting her all into this
war, and If she has found. in spite of
the increasing strain OF the passing
months, that children's welfare has
peen needlessly sacrificed, surely the
testimony of her officials is timely
and important for us.
England has been granting special
exemptions from school attendance.
between the outbreak Of the war and
the first Of May last year, $4,000 chill
dren OF school age had been excused
from school for farm work. What do
the English official records show
about the need for these children's
help and the effect upon them of
their employment?
The granting or Withholding of ex-
emptlOns has been in the hands of
the local educational authorities and
their policy has not been uniform.
Many of them in all sections Of the
country have consistently refused to
excuse children from school. The
farmers of these districts have clam
ored as loudly as others for child
ha1nnrC -
reports that they have managed with
out the children when the school au-
thorities stood firm.
Exemptions From School.
The board of education, during the
first year of the war, advised the local
authorities as follows: Exemptions
should be granted only to individual
children after personal investigation
of each case; no general breakdown
of the laws in any district was in
tended; the employment Of children
Of school age should be regarded as
an exceptional measure and should b ),
allowed. only where the authorities
were satisfied that no other labor
was available. The authorities were
to ascertain that application had been
made to the labor exchanges with an
offer of adequate wages. In no case
were the authorities to excuse chill:
dren If older children past the age Of
compulsory attendance were avail
able; the authority should secure par
ticulars of tie work, the wages Of
fered, and the period for which the
labor was required; the work should
be light and suited to the CAPACITY of
the child.
A year later the board Of education
urged a stiffening of these conditions.
They laid special emphasis on the fact
that the. urgency Of the need for the
child's help might be tested by the
amount Of wages offered; also, they
said, register should be kept of chill
dren exempted, and exemptions should
be reviewed at least once in three
months to- ascertain that the condi-
tons under which they were granted
still existed.
In spite Of this, the latest report Of
the chief medical officer of the board
of education says: 1.-THE. board have
already expressed their concern to
local educational authorities at the
large number Of exemptions which
have been granted far too freely and
without sufficiently careful ascertain
ment that the conditions of exemp-
ton prescribed by the government
were fulfilled =.
Shortage to Be Met.
The British board of trade speaks
of various other ways in which the
shortage of men for farm labor has
been. met. Older children have been
employed. Women have volunteered
for farm work. Machinery has been
increasingly used.
The Labour, Gazette refers also to
the low wages offered by the farmers.
And in the Parliamentary debates. on
child labor in agriculture the farmers
liking for a. boy who will work for
sixpence day is given by some men,
bers as an important reason for the
demand for child labor. Unofficially
it is stated that in those parts of the
country where rural wages are high
est the least use has been made of
children.
That the best interests Of the chill
dren themselves have been sacrificed
is recognized. AS the chief medical
officer of the board of education puts
it in his last report: ITO withdraw the
child from school at an earlier age
than that contemplated by the at
tendance bylaws is to arrest his edu-
cation on the threshold of the years
when he is probably just commencing
to assimilate and consolidate the in
struction he has received and is re-
ceiving at school. His introduction to
labour at this time renders him liable
to conditions of: strain detrimental to
his physical Well-being."
A fuller statement Of the English
situation with quotations from the
English reports. can be secured from
the Children's Bureau. U. S. Depart
ment of Labor, Washington, D. c.,
upon application.
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