The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1920-05-01
MERCHANTS RAKE
CHILD LABOR BILL
Charles ]. Columbus, for D. c.
Business Men, Calls II I'm.
necessary Measure.

| cbaracterizing the CurtisGard child
labor bill as "boishevistic and molly
goldfish" Charles J. Columbus, sec
rotary OF the Merchants and Manu-
| facturers' Association. Washington,
appeared before the District Senate
subcommittee today in condemnation
Of the bill.
eve believe that the proposed
measure Is generally unreasonable In
the terms and conditions which IT sets
forth" declared Mr.. Columbus read
ing from the report adopted by the
board OF governors of the eMrchants
and Manufacturer Association.
Wants No Interference.
"our investigation shows that b
per cent OF the children who enter
the high schools OF the District OF
Columbia are fourteen years OF age
should be no lawful interference with
the desires OF the children, their par
ents or guardians with respect to
any fomr OF employment
Your committee has a most whole
some interest In the welfare of the
youth OF the District OF Columbia We
believe that child who has passed
through the first eight grades of the
public school system, or prarocial or
private schools, provides the nee
essary ground work to enable any
individual who may through circum.
stances find IT necessary to go to
work, to go on and upward TO the
very highest post OF responsibility
and pecuniary advantage.
TT must be born in mind that
school days by no means constitute
complete educational course. The
present and the future are ages of
specialization and SO the greater in
formation one can have in the lines
that they are to make their life work
sthe all important factor.
I'VE regard the manifold officials
and commissions contemplated in the
act as an unnecessary expenditure of
the public funds and as laying still
further unnecessary responsibilities
on a class of public officials already
over-burdened through extraneous re-
spoons. bility.
eve would respectfully note in
closing that business. whether a man
ufacturing. jobbing or retailing has
no desire to use child labor except
wherein said labor is mentally and
physically fit to meet the require
rnents of the respective BUSINESSES
Says Laws Are Ample.
ON the bill there lie a decided onus
placed on the employer in the null
tiplicity of reports and investig atoms
that he must make and the respon-
sibility that he bears towards the
enforcement of the law. In this re-
gard the opus. IL any. should lie
with the individually office for en-
ployment-
las a parent 7 personally regard
this bill as a distinct menace to the
American home. 1t is unfair to bust
ness in the District Of Columbia to as
sumo that IL is so vile and bad that it
is responsible for the conditions al
legged.
at Is my opinion that we have suffi-
cient law at the present time provid-
ing IT is properly enforced. and 1t Is
my conviction that the labor laws
now existing in the District OF CO.
lumbia afford ample protection to the
juveniles of both sexes.
1.-THE Merchants and Manufacturers
Association desires TO voice its pro-
test against provisions in this law as
it affects business. AS a lifelong res
id<pt OF the District, and as a parent,
I would warn my fellow-citiZens that
they should give psinstaking consid-
Grafton to this measure, and l would
urge that the Congress of the United
States should encourage general ex-
preesions from the citizens of the Dis
trict, representing as this community
does not only native-born people, but
citizens OF every State in the Union
who live under the District laws, to
the end that all may have an oppor-
ttinity to have thorough under
standing of the conditions that will
be imposed upon them by this bill.
81 personally believe that this
measure will constitute most un-
warranted invasion on the RESPONSE
bility OF parents, and it's passage
would make Immediately necessary
the setting aside not only OF large
sums for the execution OF this act but
further to take caro- of the large num-
hers who would need financial relief
as the result OF this act.
From it's operation I personally
foresee an advance OF mollycoddlism
and a further cncroachment OF what
the records have expressed through
communism and Bolshevism."
Judge kathryn Sellers, OF the Ju-
vcniIc Court, appeared before tho conn
mittce as an advocate of the bill. She
stated that one OF the evils In the
| District was the the employment of
messenger boys between fourteen and
sixteen years Of age by the Federal
Government. Many OF thin earned as
high as ST5 a month, she stated, and
found Il impossible thereafter to do
any work for the low salaries paid In
business life.
81 personally know OF a case where
n fourteen-year-o boy earning as
much as $50 a month was picked up
by a girl nineteen years old and mar
rlcd to her" she stated.
That boy considered himself a man,
for he was earning a mans wages.
a. n -. A