Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-09-06
ARM CHILD HAS
HARDEST job AND
POOREST HEAL TIL
BY FREDERIC ]. HAsKIN

supposed to be conducive to strong
muscles and a massive brain
This idea is erroneous.
Recent investiga lions by chilli
welfare specialists have shown that
both the health and education \of
the child of the soil are below the
average set by the child of asphalt
pavements. The reason is that the
farm child is overworked.
"It has long been thought that
employment in agricultural work
was not injurious to children" says
one of these Investigators, ANA
probably in thousands of cases 1t Is
not harmful, because the children la
Dor under intelligent parental su-
pervision. But on the whole, the
health and education of rural chill
dren suffer greatly because of then
onerous duties on the farm.
It is estimated by the United
States children's bureau that nearly
100000 children, between the ages
of 10 and Is, are employed to their
J own disadvantage in farm work IL
this country, either upon the home
! fASn or working out" The Va't
> 81 ority of these are kept out of
school for the purpose. A large num-
Der of them, whose hours of labor
are prolonged, develop postural de-
formities, while many are early VIC
TINS Of nervous breakdowns.
Education Neglected
Truancy is not checked up as care
fully in the rural districts as it is
f, in the cities, it being taken for grant
ed that farm work must come before
education. In fact, in some states
farm work is made a legal excuse for
children to stay out of school. -Four
teen states specifically exempt aSrl-
culture from any restrictions as 70
hours; % others do not mention 1t IN
the occupations for which hours are
regulated, and only IL limit the
hours.
In the counties of Maryland, more
than 10000 school children failed
Of promotion last year. This means
that one child out of every four dld
not make sufficient progress to be
advanced into the next grade. Inc
situation was at its worst in the one
room schools of the farming dis
tricts where in some instances, two
thirds of an entire class were re-
tarded. The explanation, according
to the school authorities, is not hard
to find; in most cases the children
were kept out of school in order to
work.
From New England comes the re
port that boys and girls 10 and IL
Years of age have been working
steadily in the tobacco fields of the
Connecticut valley Out in the fields,
working under canvas, the children
nick the tobacco leaves from the
stems and lay them on the ground,
working nine and one-half to ten
hours a day. Most of them are on
their feet during the entire period,
for which they are paid from $lo0
to So.
The employment of city children
in factories is now regarded as an
tintolerable outrage, the first hint Of
which brings a mob of truant Off
GERS about the doors of the Offend
ing esta blishment But people still
insist upon regarding farm work as
sort of recreation, so that even in
states where the child labor laws
are stringent they are safely lS-
nOred by the farms.
Truancy in California
In California, for instance, thou
\ sands of children were found by in
vestigators to be working in the cot
ton fields and on truck farms, al
though the state law does not coun-
t..
cially popular in the asparagus fields.
where their working day is from ten
to twelve hours. Often the bosses
are Chinese or Hindus. There is a
striking contrast between the succu-
lent, white asparagus which looks
so tempting on a piece Of toast. and
/ the dingy, overcrowded shanties in
which the little field hands live.
,s,N
Valley are literally crowded with
child workers under 16 years of age
who have abandoned their schooling
for wage earning. Even babies of
two|and three are taught to earn q
tidy sum by picking-for it is not
hard work. The hours of labor, how
ever, are long, lasting usually from
sun to sun. AS the mother of the
family generally works along with
her children, she has not much time
or energy left for cooking them
nourishing meals. lis not surpris-
ing therefore that the investigators
found a great many of the small
farne 6ands !ndernourished.
Children are also employed to a
large extent in the sugar beet fields
of Michigan. Here special efforts
are made to attract migratory labor
ers, whole families being imported
from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Iowa and Minnesota. In recent years,
workers have come all the way from
Mexico lured by glittering promises
of easy work, good pay, free rent,
free fuel, a large garden, land above
all an opportunity for every child
to work and help the family save
money"
Stern establishment awaits these
foreign families who arrive with the
highest hopes of lettering their con-
dition. They soon discover that
working in the beet fields is not
easy, while the living conditions are
very bad.
Eleven i'll One Room
Fourteen families of four ant
five persons. and four families with
from six to nine persons were found
living in one-room shauties,' accord,
ing to the Investigators. "One family
of eleven, the youngest child , years,
the oldest 16 years, lived in an old
country store which had but one
window; the wind and rain came
through the holes in the walls. the
ceiling was very low, and the smoke
from the stove filled the room. Here
the family ate, slept, cooked and
washed"
In another case, a family of siH
was Fcund living in a one-roonl
.shack with no windows. The only
light and ventilation they received
came through the low, open door
Little Charles, aged s, escaped work