The broad ax., 1919-12-13
CHILDREN'S BUREAU,
q. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR,
Washington.

How hundreds of communities
throughout the country have organized
against child labor and illiteraey Is
told in a bulletin Every Child IN
School" Just issued by the Children s
Bureau of the L. S. Department of
Labor. This bulletin describes the
methods and results of the Baek-tO-
School" and Stay-in-SchOOl cam
paigns carried on last year by A states
and the District of Columbia under the
auspices 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 become
"aware of the waste of early en-
ployment and are recognizing the fact
that many children begin their work
ing lives with only seant educational
equipment and before they have a
chance to develop physically" As a
result school time has been prolonged
in many communities for boys and girls
who might otherwise 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 work
ing in violation of the statutes of their
States, and many children of school age
we're in factories because there was
not a sufficient number of attendance
officers and factory inspectors to keep
them in school and out of industry.
In one state it was found that 1O,S95
children did not go to school at all
last year. In single district an in
spectOr reported LOO children as not
having had a day of schooling. In
many rural districts the children at
tend school only about half the time,
and the hours for rural schools are
very short.
1t is conditions sue has these, the bull
letin points out, that make the United
States eigth 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 United 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 illiteraey are the States
in which there is a high percentage of
rural child labor. There are no laws
that prohibit the employment of chill
dren in agriculture, and three-fOurthS
of all working children work on farms.
The million or more children who
leave school each year to go TO work
are not all forced into work BY, pow
erty. Many of them go to work be-
cause they do not realize the advan-
tages of education or because the
schools are not interesting enough to
hold them or sometimes because there
are not any schools to 60 to. In one
state the committee in charge Of the
Back-tO-SehOol campaign found that
there was a serious shortage of schools
in towns and cities. 1t was estimated
that if all the children who should be
IN school were there, forty per cent
of them would have to stand. Some
localities have reported schools closed
for lack of teachers, and it is reported
from all over the country that teachers
are leaving school for better paid
work. Several States have met this
situation during the past year by Sc
curing legislation establishing a mini
mum Of $1,000 to 81 200 for teachers,
but school teachers in many parts of
the country are still receiving as little
as $40 a month.
But Legislation for compulsory school
attendance or for higher salaries is not
a complete remedy, says the bulletin.
Schools must be made ESQ plainly at
tzaetive that boys and girls win want