The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-09-21

WASHINGTON II. 49, OSP@
Thousands of dollars may be IN
yolved in the question OF how olo
a child is. under the child laoor
section of the internal revenue act,
which is now in force and IS said
by officials Of the bureau OF inter
nal revenue to be practically abol-
fishing the employment OF children
under IA years of age in the indus
tries to which it applies. The
validity of the law is yet to be de-
cided by a decision of the supreme
court which will probably be made
some time this fall.
The law provides that tax OF 10
ner cent may be collected on the
net profits of an employer who en-
ploys children below a certain age.
No employer can afford to pay such
a tax. The law is said to work like
q charm. Employers take every
possible precaution to avoid EN-
ploying such children.
In 81 of the states the state law
against child labor require the
child to have a certificate showing
his age. and this is accepted by the
federal inspectors In other states
tain the chiId's age by what means
he can. Where vital statistics are
properly kept, it is easy. In other
cases baptismal records are avail
able, but sometimes the parents or
employers of the children are put
to ingenious devices to prove a
child's age.
In one case in Georgia no writ
ten evidence could be found to
prove the age of a boy, who his
mother claimed, was Il years old.
She took the inspector to her home,
called forth her family and stood
it in a row. There were IA chill
dren. the youngest a babe in
arms. Count 'em yourself, lady"
she invited. There's your evil
dence."
Tombstone Proof.
The tombstone of a dead twin
proved the date Of birth OF a boy
who was trying to prove himself
Il years old. One family was found
which had prepared a tombstone
and set it in the cemetery for their
daughter when she was born. The
date of her birth was carved on
the stone, and a space left for re-
cording her death. Decorated
mugs presented to children and in
scribed with the dates of their
births have sometimes been offered
in evidence, and many families
have been found which had framed
records of all the family births
hanging on the wall. One father
had dispensed with the frame and
merely written the record on the
wall paper. The family record
kept in a Bible is of course the
commonest form, and many per-
sons seem to have thought that any
record written in a Bible would
be accepted. On inspector was
long file of women and children
bearing conspicuously new Bibles
The effort to abolish child labor,
of which this tax law is the latest
manifestation is good example of
how we Iegislate in this country.
Ten or Is years ago child labor
was one of the crying abuses of
American industry. Children from
10 to Il years of age were employed
in number of industries and for
long hours. Many of them were
undoubtedly stunted and killed A
great deal of publicity was given
the subject. Newspaper editorials.
magazine articles and cartoons
aroused the public to the abuse.
AS a result many state laws were
passed prohibiting OF restricting
child labor, and a great majority
of the states now have such laws.
Many of those that have not are
agricultural states in which there
is little or no factory labor of any
kind. The serious abuse has for
some years been confined to a few
states where the interests employ