The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-04-13

can hard-hearted parents and employ CTS still drive a coach and horses through their provisions? By no means. Since the act of 1883 provided home office inspectors for mines and fac tories they and innumerable private persons and philanthropic associations have been on the track of the illegal employers of children. At the present day the education authority, with it's school attendance officers, is dragon in the path of the child who stays away from school to work, as of those who play truant from idleness There Is no need to go to British sources to learn this The Encyclopaedia Amer icana says that "in Great Britain a knowledge of the conditions has al ways preceded legislation" and that consequently public opinion has insist ed on the enforcement of the law. It points out that though in 1901 the min imum factory age in Germany was 12, as against Great Britain's 12, yet the Saxon mines were full of children" and children of or 6 were working 10-12 hours daily on the 'flat-stitch" trade there.
 REAL AGE MUST BE PROVED Nor can any child of 12 do factory work unquestioned in Great Britain. The employer must have a medical cer- lluCdIe as to the real age, anu dS luG chtld's physical fitness, and the child must have passed an educational test In Great Britain the difficulty e-lperi- enced in the United States in obtaining birth certificates seldom arises Births have been strictly registered for three quarters of a century and parents can get a copy of the certificate for l2 cents. When the child, at the age of IA, becomes legally young person." the nrti fiao tn mn hn are other safeguards forbidding the carrying of heavy weights or cleaning of machinery in motion by children.
 When the new education act comes into force all mine, factory or work shop employment of children under IA will be swept away and local authorl- ties may require a child's attendance at school till his fifteenth year. Be- tween 14 and 16 he must, in his em- ployers time and during the working day, attend continuation schools for not less than eight hours week for 40 weeks. And seven years after the act comes into force this instruction must be continued till the age of lH. By so much will his factory hours be reduced, without encroaching on Sun days, half Saturdays or the customary holidays of his trade. And this pro vision is without exception unless the boy or girl shall have received whole time education till the age of It. Con tinuation schools between 16 and Is then ceases to be compulsory for him. Great Britain now knows where she stands and where she will stand with regard to employment of children in mines, factories and workshops. These laws are on a par with the American federal laws and run from sea to sea. But when we came to employment ct children elsewhere-what is known as general smployment-the case is very different. Every considerable town or district has the power of regulating this. kind of employment by by-laws. Those that have exercised the power have done so in the most various ways; many localities have made bylaws. Again, those that have exercised their powers have great difficulty in enforc- ing regulations. This is not surpris- ing, for 1t is difficult to punish a crime or even misdemeanor which is unquestionably lawful act few hun dred yards away
 The education acts now in force pre- vent whole time employment of chill dren under 12, and the new act will raise the age to 14. They also bar the employment of school children during school hours. But before and after school, on Saturdays, to a limited ex- tent on Sundays, and during school holidays, children of school age may be employed if the local bylaws so