The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1918-06-21
CHILDREN MUST
Be SAFEGUARDED
UnWise to Tamper With the Laws
That Have Been Enacted
for Their Protection.
EUROPE HAS LEARNED LESSON
Little Ones Taken Out of School to
Work on War Necessaries Have
Been Returned to Their Studies
United States Should Profit From
tho Experience.
BY WILLIAM /. cHENERY.

Misguided demands in the name of
be put to work are still being made.
They are not being put forth with the
approval of the administration. Still
the danger is that serious blunders
may be made. To combat this evil the
committee on public information has
released an article on the situation by
James II. Collins.
The federal child labor law went
into effect In September. Miss Grace
Abbott, formerly of Chicago, is charged
with It's enforcement. The law is IT.
self fairly safe. 1t is hardly imagin-
able that congress could be stampeded
into repeating 1t. The real menace
lies in the modification of state laws
and of the rules of boards of educa-
tion which may permit disguised child
labor. Because of this very present
threat the advice dispensed by the
committee on public information is
, timely.
Wartime Economy.
In the first place, war has taught
Europe to respect childhood. Mr.. Col
Inns recalls that "Great Britain and
France particularly yielded to the ap-
parent necessity of wartime work and
granted certain exemptions" under
their laws for the protection of chill
dren, taking the latter out of school,
permitting them to work in factories,
sanctioning might labor and doing un-
der the necessity for war production
what would never have been done in
peace. After two years of this relaxa-
| tion a careful study of the effects upon
children has convinced the officials of
both countries their peace-time regula-
tions should be restored"
Nobody imagines that the necessity
of the United States in this war will
| ever be as great as that of France. We
do not expect to be called on to suffer
as intensely. At the outset, then, plain
| ly we should not be more willing to
sacrifice childhood than is heroic
| France. We may well accept the state.
ment of M. Albert Thomas, previously
| the French minister of munitions, that
'the experience of war time has only
demonstrated the necessity-technical
! ly and economically-of the labor laws
enacted before the war. In our legis-
| lation secured In time of peace we
shall find the conditions for a better
and q more intense production during
| the war"
The Numbers Set Free.
The federal child labor law provides
among other things, that no child un-
der IA shall work in any mill, cannery,
workshop, factory or manufacturing
establishment which ships it's products
| into interstate or foreign commerce.
Manufacturers may protect themselves
| by keeping on file federal, or in GER
| tain cases state, certificates proving
| the ages of the children employed.
Federal inspectors working under
Miss Abbott are responsible for the en-
forcement of the law. Local factory
| inspectors have likewise some respon-
| sibility for it's observance. Twelve
states have standards quite as high
| as the federal law, and since its adop-
tion there has been marked increase
! in the state acts.
The number of children affected by
the law is hard to ascertain. Mr.. Col
Inns reports, however, that at least
27023 children under IA have been
taken out of industry In addition to
these, 17,667 who were employed in
mines and quarries have left that
heavy work Moreover, there Is the
| uncertain group between ID and 16
who by the terms of the law were ac-
corded an eight-hour day The 1910
census reported 1860 such children
in the states without a Juvenile eight
hour law.