The Dallas express. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1893-1970, 1919-12-27
SHOWS COMPULSORY EDUCATION
NOT ENFORCED.

How hundreds of communities
throughout the country have organ
lied against child labor and Hitter
acy is told in bulletin Every Child
in School" just issued by the Child
dren's Bureau OF the U. S. Depart
ment of Labor. This bulletin des-
crlbes the methods and results of the
Back-to-School' and 'Stay-in.
School" campaigns carried on last
year by A States and the, District OF
Columbia under the auspices of the
of the Children's Bureau and the
Council of National Defense. A
large proportion of these States have
continued their efforts to stamp out
child labor because they have be-
come aware of the waste of early
employment and are recognizing the
fact that many children begin their
working lives with only scant edu-
cational equipment and before they
have had chance to develop physi-
cally" AS a result school time has
been prolonged in many communities
for boys and girls who might other
wise have had their education cut
short
The Back-to-School and Stay-in-
School campaigns have shown that
in many places school attendance and
child labor laws are not enforced
Many children were found to be
working in violation of the statues
of their States and many children
of school age were in factories be-
cause there was not a sufficient num-
Der Of attendance officers and factory
inspectors to keep them in school
and out of industry. In one State
it was found that 1885 children did
not go to school at all last year. In
a single district an inspector report
ed LOO children as not having had
day of schooling. In many rural
districts the children attend school
only about half the time, and the
hours for rural schools are very
short
1t is conditions such as these, the
bulletin points cut, that make the
United States eighth instead of first
on the list of civilized countries with
regard to the proportion of literacy
/ among its citizens. One out of every
ten adults living in cities in the Unit
ed States can not read or write
one out of every five country adults
is illiterate-and the States in which
there is a high percentage of illit-
eracy are the States in which there
is a high percentage of rural chill
| labor. There are no laws that pro-
hibit the employment Of children in
agriculture, and three-fourths of all
working children work n farms.
The million or more children who
leave school each year to go to
work are not all forced into work
by poverty. Many of them go t.
work because they do not realize
the advantages of education or be-
cause the schools are not interest
ing enough to hold them or some
times because there are not any
schools to go to. In one state the
committee in charge of the Back-to-
School campaign found that there
was serious shortage of schools
in towns and cities. 1t was est
mated that if all the children who
should be in school were there, forty
per cent of them would have tc
stand. Some localities have report
ed schools closed for lack of teach
ers, and it is reported from all ovei
the country that teachers are leav
ing schools for better paid work
Several States have met this sit
uation during the past year by Sc
curing legislation establishing min
imum of $1,000 to $4,000 fer teacher
/ -. IL
of the country are still receiving a!
! little as $40 a month.
But legislation for compulsor!
school attendance or for higher sal
aries is not a complete remedy, say
the bulletin Schools must be made
80 plainly attractive that boys an'