Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-09-15
Humanity In
Government
BY JAMES j. DAVIS
Secretary of Labor
BY JAMES j. DAVIS
Secretary of Labor

~
lished by an act of congress signed
bv President Taft on April ., 1912,
for the purpose, as stated in the act,
| OK investigating and reporting upon
| al, matters pertaining to the welfare
of children and child life among all
classes of our people, n espe-
cially to Investigate the questions
of infant mortality, the birth rate,
~orphanage, juvenile courts, deser-
ton, dangerous occupations, acci-
dents and diseases of children, m
ployment, legislation affecting chill
dren in the several states and terri
tories"
The Bureau has two different con-
stituencies to which it reports Its
findings. These are, first, the parents
more especially the mothers of the
country. individual mothers as well
as the groups organized in clubs and
associations; second, the profession
al workers, experts in one field or
another of child care. While the in
dividual mother want to know how
to meet her own problems, the pro-
fessional workers look to the Bu-
reau for the results of research con-
Quoted on a national scale to help
them in the responsibility which is
theirs of putting into practice in
their state and local communities
the best standards of child care.
The Bureaus publications. techni-
cal and popular, have been distribute
ed since it's founding to the number
Of over 5000, 900. Its printed ma
terial for mothers on child care is
called for beyond its funds to sup
ply; it answers. on all subjects. a
a total of $4,000 letters a year, and
for nearly three years 1t has been
sending into less accessible
try regions a motorized child health
station, with a doctor and nurse
and equipment to examine the bao-
les which crowds of mothers bring.
The resources and staff of the
Bureau are limited, so that it has
hardly been able to do more than
make a beginning in the vast task
assigned to 1t. 1t has endeavored to
select for study those questions and
problems of the most practical and
general import. What, for instance,
are the effects of industrial depres-
sion upon children? When the ia
thers are unemployed. are the chi
dren forced to leave school and look
for work? Dc the mothers of young
children find employment to help out
the family resources? In what ways
40 tilc ldiiily Sldiiuaiu " liNti6 -
fected? What special hardships do
the children suffer?
To obtain to these ques-
TORS, by presenting clear pictures of
typical situations, the Children's Bu-
reau has made studies of child wele
fare In relation to unemployment IN
a New England and a Middle West"
ern city in which unemployment has
been serious.
What are the effects on children
of agricultural work? Do they work
as long or longer hours than they
would in factory employment? Is
their physical development effected?
Do they receive the education which
child labor restrictions are intended
TO make possible? These questions
are frequently asked, and the Blu
reau is engaged in a series of rural
child labor studies, covering cotton
sections in Texas, beet-growing areas
IN Michigan and Colorado, and truck
farming regions in New Jersey, Vir-
ginia and Maryland. A problem to
which these studies are calling at
tention Is that of the migratory lab
orers' families, for which education
and welfare no single community
feels itself responsible. Illiteracy
among them Is particularly high, bat
serious retardation is found as well
among children of land owning far
mers. The Bureaus child labor
| studies began with a series on the
employment certificate system, as the
| key to enforcement of laws, and re-
ports on several state systems have
been made.
In cooperation with the Junior
Division Of the U. S. Employment
| Service the Bureau is now investi-
| eating, in several cities where "Vo-
| c~ational guidance" has been we'll de-
veloped, the conditions under which
children are directed into industrial
| life, and the opportunities offered
them and the requirements made by
various occupations.
The Juvenile court has had a rap
i'd development in this country. but
in many small towns and rural dis
tricts no special provision is made
for children's cases; and in the lars-
err cities, where juvenile court or
ganization is more nearly adequate,
there is a large field for improve
ment and Standardization of meth
DDS. The Children's Bureau has
made a general survey of courts
hearing children's cases, summar-
lied laws, and studied ten OF the
leading courts, and last year Joined
with the National Probation Associa-
ton in calling a conference of judges
probation officers and others inter-
ested. The conference nominated a
committee to advise with the Blu
reau in the formulation of standards
which should govern juvenile court
organizations and methods of work,
In addition to its reports of special
studies and the proceedings of the
conference, the Bureau is publish
ing a series of brief bulletins writ-
ten by leading authorities.
The plan of mothers pensions,
with it's recognition of the principle
that, in case Of the fathers death or
disability, children should not be
taken from their mothers because
of poverty alone, has been adopted
in forty states. The states, however,
and sections within the states, ad-
minister the plan in widely varying
ways, and conceptions differ as to
what the amounts of the pensions
should be. The Children's Bureau
made compilations of state and for
eign laws: it began in Illinois-the
FIRST of the states to pass on Aid-to.
Mothers lava series Of first hand
studies. and at present Is carrying
on these studies of methods anc
standards in several parts OF tn
country.
The strength of the Children's Blu.
reau has lain from the beginning
I'm the cooperation of the nation!
women. The assistance of organiza'
lions which could be relied upon II
:. mobilize their membership for pop
ular child welfare campaigns, fol
:. the arranging of infant health con