Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-10-24
CHILDREN UNDER IA
Continued from page l


on the part OF the citizens OF Wilmington
has deprived them Of the privilege Of
obtaining even that low grade of educa-
ton.
Owing to there being no regular
| appointed attendance officers, the prln-
cipals Of our schools are compelled To
call on the Investigators of the Juvenile
Court and the Child Labor Inspector
To help them in their dilemma. Your
inspector has had calls from as many as
three schools in one day to find out why
certain children were not in school, and
| investigation brought out answers much
as quoted above.
| while we are ever ready To assist IN
such eases, this work takes us away from
our regular field We would welcome tho
| appointment of attendance officers by
the public body having the power 10
| appoint them
NEGRO WOMEN A SUCCESS.
Concerning the employment of Negro
women, Mr. Hagner says:
1--WE desire to touch briefly on the
entering Of Negro women IN industry
Having been convinced that there were
available quite n number of Negro
women Of good type who would welcome
the opportunity of entering the industrial
field, we took up the subject with officials
of several concerns who were having
difficulty in procuring help To Introduce
women of the Negro race into their
establishments
AT fir Il it did not appeal TO the en-
ployers. but after due consideration,
some of them decided to try il out
The result was that in one plant, where
n request had been granted by the com
mission to employ children more than
l6 years Of age. in department where
explosives were not manufactured or
compounded, 100 Negro women are now
employed and the children have been
dismissed from the service entirely
Another concern that employed chill
dren with certificates employed five
Negro women and now have no need Tor
child labor.
Still another company where girls
more than l5 years with certificates
were employed, gave positions To twenty
five Negro women, thus doing away with
necessity of employing children under III
years
sH1PBUrLDEns COOPERATE.
1--WE desire To note especially. the
cAD-operatlon We are receiving from the
shiph,ulding plants Early in April the
attention Of your Inspector was called TO
violations rs ~ excess hours. The
Of the two companies. with the result
that men took the places of boys engaged
as rivot heaters and passers. The boys.
retained work but eight hours per day
and are all close To 10 years and expert
cnced in the work. Applicants for
positions claiming To be more than
l6 years Of age must first produce docn-
mentary evidence as 90 age before they
are engaged On April there were
1870 boys employed in Wilmington ship
wards as rlvet passers and heaters, com
pared with 81 at this tune.
"An inspection Of 81 canning houses
In the State was made during September.
The general. feeling expressed by pro-
prietors was that they did not wnnt
children about their plants. When viola
tions were found they were In establish
mcnts where the help was made up chiefly
OF Polish or Italian workers There
groups arc housed by the employers.
and in most cases entire families are
provided for This class of labor IS
fast giving way TO local help.
LARGELY LOCAL HELP.
Attractive wages made it possible
for many of the Gamers To employ local
help entirely. and in many cof these
places children were not permitted about
the canning house In some instances,
all colored help made up those employed,
while in Others white help prevailed.
Some of the Gamers who were compelled
through force of circumstances to employ
foreign help, with the necessary bother
Of providing quarters for them, expressed
themselves as dissatisfied. and stated
they hoped to do away with that class
of labor in the future
'In one place visited, members OF the
Red Cross of the town gave their services
to the canner in order that he might save
his product. Where violations were
found. proprietors were orde red to correct
the same and warned aga nst further
employment of children under the legal
age.
CoRRECTs FALSE IMPRESSION.
'Our attention has been called to an
article published in a local newspaper
from the National Child Labor Com I
mittee which said that Wilmington was
ahead on child labor, the article stating
that 81 per cent more children have taken +
out working permits than last year I
This statement is misleading In view Of /
the fact that OBS of the l3l5 certificates
issued were for the summer vacation
period only, and, as has been previously
stated, the principals of our public
schools report that comparatively
small percentage of pupils remained away
from school at the opening on September
10. In addition, We desire To state that
no children obtained employment Ger
tifcates unless they were legally entitled
to receive the same. The increase over
April | of this year of children regularly
employed is but lie, which IS normal
increase.
EXPENSES or WORK.
Expenses for the five months ending
August 81 amounted TO $3.50 81, which
amount, together with expenditures OF
S29l 63 for the first quarter, amounts 10
S627 20 for the seven months As Il
deficit existed at the close of 1917, the
December expenses OF s5943, also bill
Of SIS 80 to the Mercantile Printing Co.
incurred in 1917, we're paid from this
years contingent fund making the total
expended TO date S745.l3.
General certificates permitting ehll-
dren to be employed during the entire
year in force September |, number 129.
an increase of ll6 over April /. OF
this number 76i were granted to males,
and 365 to females
Certificates issued during the past
five months, including general and pro-
.,isionai toppt her with reissue of GER