The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-04-14
BY PAUL HARRISON
NEA Service Writer

CHAMEFUL as child labor in it.
- self may be, handicapping the
lives Of young workers exploited
by industry, that is not its worst
feature.
For as a parasite of the eco
nomic depression, child labor is
assuming the proportions of
new kind of menace. more dan
gerous to the country as a whole
than to the individual young
worker.
So it is that sentiment is to
have small place in the cam
paign of those who are seeking to
abolish child labor. They are
going to talk in practical terms
of dollars and cents, jobs and
lives.
With some 100000 minors be-
low the age of 18 habitually out
of school, and we'll more than a
million of them holding jobs
which could be filled by adults,
what of the cost to society of
such an oversupply of uneducated,
unframed workers? What about
the hundreds of thousands of
men kept out Of work by the
cheapening competition of chill
dren?
What price underdeveloped and
often manned bodies, mad the
large totals paid each year in COM
pensation for accidents to minors?
Those are some of the blunt
questions that will be asked.
1.-The most preaching effect
of the elimination Of child labor
upon the general industrial situa-
ton would be the removal of a
most powerful depressant from
wages" said Courtenay Dinwid-
die, general secretary of the ma
tional child labor committee.
TOR wherever children are en-
l. ployed on any extensive
scale, there will be found I'M
skilled and semi-skilled adults
obliged to work for approximately
child's pay, or run the risk of los
ing their jobs to children.
This is felt by the whole work
ing class, offsetting many times
over any temporary benefit which
individual families might obtain
from setting their children TO
work"
More and more thoughtful lead
erS in industry as well as in civic
organizations, Dinwiddie declared,
are becoming convinced that a
concerted campaign against the
unsuitable employment of chill
dren today is one of the most
necessary measures for the Stimu-
lation of industrial production
and adult employment.
Increasing use of machines has
introduced a new economic prob
lem. For instance, reports from
the sixteen states which keep rec
ords of accidents reveal that in
these states alone from 10000 to
$4,000 minors under 10 are injured
annually.
About 5000 of these are under
16. In thirteen states at least
1,1o0 under the age of 10 are
killed or permanently disabled
each year.
Statistics show that the young
er the worker, the more likely he
is to be injured in handling ma
chinery.
One 15-year-old boy operating
a punch press clipped off three of
his fingers because, he said, "the
boss was hollering at me to work
faster"
TN a southern state boy of Is
i hired as an oiler crawled under
a steam shovel to release a pin.
His head was caught in the
driving chain, his skull fractured
and his left eye blinded. He re-
ceived about $500 compensation.
When he WIS able to work
again a sympathetic boss took him
back. This time he was killed
outright when the machine he was
operating came in contact with a
high-tenSion electric wire.
Wisconsin set an example in
1917 with triple compensation
rates for children injured while
Illegally employed, and Pennsyl-
vania, New York, New Jersey,
Maryland, Michigan and Alabama
now have double rates.
But these laws, varying among
themselves, apply only to young
sterS who are hired illegally.
Boys and girls hurt while legally
employed usually receive a mere
percentage of their wages, and
the latter, of course are small.
And in twelve states illegally
hired minors are excluded from
any benefits under the compen-
Sation law.
Child labor is not always cheap
labor, especially in those states
o..o $40 ,,a1r1