New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1917-12-19
Child LABOR LAWd
in STATE WEAKh
"
Connecticut Hit in Annual RepOl||
Of National Committee

New York. Dec. 2L-Both good and
bad records for child welfare legdA6
ton were established by tho vartoN
states in 1s1e-1s17, according to ~
November Child Labor Bulletin con
tanning tho thirteenth annual repo
of tho general secretary Of tho Ma
tonal Child Labor committee. Among
tho states which weakened tha4r laW4
were four Connecticut, MaSaAnhI4
sets, New Hampshire and VermOnkN
which gave to some Official or conA
mission tho power to relax the child
labor law Of tho state during the war
and two states (New York and CanA
fornia) which authorized a sinilAN
relaxation Of their compulsory educa,i
ton laws. Among tho eleven stated
which strengthened their child lnboel
laws are Delaware. Illinois, KansAA
and Texas, whore entirely now laws
were enacted, and Wi0connin, whiol
added domestic service to thu list 0A
occupations for which permits arc rol.
quired. Compulsory education lAw4
were improved In nix states, and
mothers pension laws were enacted
for the 4rst time in ArlkangaA, DelA-s
ware, Maine and TeHas, and amondo6'
in 10 other states, making q total oE
81 states which now have motherg
pension laws.
In outlining tho work for tho NEXT
year, Owen r. Lovetoy, secretary Of
the National Child Labor committee,
says:
"As standards Of child labor 1egis-
lation rise in the different states II
becomes increasingly evident that
further steps for the protection Oz
oh{1ArA~ Ina ovnIotfA 80 49,
J taken in. closer cooperation with
other measures for the welfare OF
children. """""" The problem OF safe
guarding the child Is one which in-
wolves consideration Of health, .edu-
cation, recreation, and general wel1-
balanced training for useful service to
the community. We believe 1t is the
duty Of this committee to seek q
closer cooperation than has been
possible heretofore in developing leE-
iSlation that shall safeguard children
in all these respects so that legtelA-
ton may be built up as consistant
whole expressed in some clear COZ.
easily understood by all the citizenDi
OF any commonwealth"
In addition to the annual report OIL,
the National Child Labor committed.
the November Child Labor BuI1etinl
contains a study of child labor and3
Juvenile delinquency in Manhattan NJ
Mabel Brown Ellis, the National Chi1ad
Labor committees special agent or
Juvenile courts. The records Of 1.79A
children who passed through thAN
Children's court in New York In i 9114
were studied by Miss Ellis to find olk1
whether there Is greater tendency ~
delinquency among employed or un-4
empoyed children. The popular feal-{
AI~A 1~slI a@% %SvNA
pIoyed is more likely to get into mis-
Miss Ellis found quite the opposite tod
be the case-that working childreni
contributed four times their share tot
the ranks of juvenile delinquency.I
They are also responsible for a larger!
of serious offenses than thol
nom working children. ~
among the recidivists, Or repeatdnGi
offenders" says Miss Ellis, both the!
absolute and relative numbers OIL
workers are very much in excess OFT
the unemployed" 3#sEs
In an effort to account for the poor
showing of the working children, me-
terial was gathered showing the a4o,
amount of schooling, nationality and
home conditions of these children ~
compared with unemployed childrena
In every case it was found that con-
litions were about the same for the
two groups-that the working chill
lren had as much education, as intel
igent parents, and as good homes a.
The non-working children.
1T is hard to avoid the conclusion"
says Miss Ellis, that the mere fact
If being at work, irrespective Of oc-
,upation, was a more potent factor
han age or family conditions In
bringing these boys before the Chill
lren's court
In her recommendations, Miss Ellis
1rges better enforcement OF child la
DOR and compulsory education laws,
he establishment of more special
schools for the retarded boy who IS
rot mentally defective, and vocation
II guidance Of children who are of
he legal age for employment and are
mentally and physically fit to go to
work.