Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-25
Christmas-and the Child.

and the embodiment of the spirit o.
Christmas. Observance of the sweet ole
customs revolves above the child. Unless
there are children the day is hollow
and disturbed by restless memories thai
become hooking echoes of other Christ
masses now gone.
The day is appropriate for reminder
Of the sacred trust imposed upon the
Nation in its obligation to the child
and childhood.
In this country the last quarter Of
a century has brought a renewed con-
seriousness of this responsibility, and
efforts made to fulfill it have been graft
flying. But there is always danger lest We
take it too much for granted that the
American child, born into a world that
offers boundless opportunities, has come
into an inheritance that cannot be en-
riched and that little remains to be
done for him that has not been done.
We congratulate ourselves upon the
fact that science has reduced the odds
against survival that faced the new
born child few years ago, noting the
steady drop in the infant mortality rate
for the continental United States from
86.6 in 1919 to 6S.7 in 1928, figures that
gain added significance from the fact
that the percentage Of population con-
sidered in 1918 was 58.6, while today it
Is nearly 95. And there Is more en-
couragement still in the knowledge that
efforts to reduce this rate were never
so intelligently directed than they are
today; that funds to finance research
were never so large, while the public's
interest and familiarity with its task
are indicated by the strength and able
leadership of numerous organizations
dedicating themselves to child welfare.
The National Child Labor Committee,
itself pioneer in agitation against the
national evil of child labor, celebrating
its twenty-fifth anniversary in New
York last week, took justified pride in
recording the fact that every State now
has some form Of fourteen-year age
limit for industry and that nearly all
States have an eight-hour day for chill
dren under sixteen; that night work is
restricted and that educational and
health requirements are general.
In its annual report for the year Just
closing the Children's Bureau of the
Department Of Labor notes that laws
advancing the educational standards
for q child obtaining employment have
been enacted In 1929 in Maryland, I'LL
nois and Missouri, Maryland raising the
standard to completion Of the sixth
grade, Illinois raising its standard from
the sixth to the eighth grade and Mis-
souri, making the standard, for the first
time, completion Of the sixth grade. And
the action Of the States Is significant,
because they reflect q national trend.
No State now Is without a COM
pulsory education law, requiring chill
dren from seven to eighteen in a few
States and from eight to fourteen In
the majority Of States to attend school.
With compulsory education laws
have been those raising the age minima
for working schildren, a gradual process
that began tin1idly with ten years, in
creased to twelve and fourteen and In
few States to fifteen and sixteen. But
the national objective now is a mini
mum age limit Of fifteen and sixteen
for all children who must work.
Best OF all Is the fact that the once
familiar pictures Of pitifully young chill
dren, with the pale and lined faces of
premature age, working in the cotton
mills and the coal mines, are regarded
now more as relics of barbarity than as
propaganda Of reformers.
But there is much to be done. The
last census, 1920, showed a decrease
OF ATS per cent In the number of gain
fully employed children between the
ages Of ten and fifteen. But the number
Of such children was 1000, 858-a large
army, indeed-and they were protected
when the 1920 Federal census was taken
by a Federal child-labor restricting
law, subsequently declared unconstitu-
tional.
Recent studies show that the per-
/ centage Of children in the public
schools Is 82.7 In the cities and 75.2
per cent in the country: that the per-
centage Of illiterate children between
the ages Of ten and twenty years is ST
In the city. but it Is 4.3 In the country.
Our colleges and our high schools are
crowded to overlooking, but only 40 per
cent Of the children living in urban
centers complete high school and only
10 per cent continue beyond high
school. In the rural districts only 16
per cent Of the children complete high
school and only 10 of them go beyond
high school.
The last twenty-five years have been
marked by legislation to protect the
child against commercial exploitation
to give him the education and the en-
vironment that a Nation spending -four
billion dollars q year on Federal Gov
eminent alone can afford. The next
twenty-five years should see the
broadening Of necessary legislation
but, what Is more important, a genera
acceptance Of the spirit that prompted
this legislation. in order that the well.
being and safety Of the American chile
will depend upon the intelligence of the
community and not upon it laws alone
| -S~0S-S-
| The lobbyist Is generous with gifts