Evening star., 1933-04-30

AuCTlCdu 4uOuStIy 1ldS dAAoCA
from the economic depression.
With millions of adults unem-
ployed, there is no need for young chill
dren to become wage earners. Public
opinion cries out against employing
them as it never has before, demanding
that what few opportunities exist In
gainful occupations be given to adult
bread winners.
Thus the movement to protect children
against premature entrance into indus
try and to safeguard them in their first
year or two of contact with it, which
has been gaining momentum steadily
through two decades, has received unex-
pected impetus. Today it is not only
the socially minded person who says
children ought not to work." but also
the adult who covets the child's job.
Virtually the only honest voice raised
in defense of the theory of child labor
is that of the person who sees the child
as the sole bread winner of his family,
and who argues that it is better for him
to be earning meager wage than for
his parents and brothers and sisters to
starve. One does indeed admire these
gallant youngsters who willingly strive
to bear the burden which their elders
cannot assume, but as social policy
there is no wisdom in settling upon the
shoulders of adolescents the task Of
carrying us through the depression.
It would be far better to keep children
under 16 out of employment entirely and
to acknowledge a social responsibility
for the maintenance of the families de-
pendent upon them. Thus we should at
least take the burden from those least
able to bear it, and we might also re-
duce to a considerable extent the post
poned costs which the present exploita-
ton of adolescent workers is piling up
against the future
CHILD labor has been steadily de-
~ creasing since 1929, just as have all
other forms of labor. Although there
were still 100000 children gainfully
employed in 1880, at the time of the
last census, the number has decreased
since that date. For example, according
to the statistics Of employment certifi-
Gates issued to children in 40 cities with
populations over 100000, 924 children in
every 10000 received work certificates in
1929, but in 1880 the depression cut this
number to GIT, and in 1881 it had been
further reduced to 459. Only half as
many children had work papers in those
cities after two years Of the depression.
It is now the hope Of those who have
the welfare Of children at heart and
through them the welfare of the future
citizenry, that this accidental decline in
child labor may in some way be made
permanent. However, unless preventive
legislation is adopted throughout the
country, it is by no means certain that
when business picks up again, many of
these children will not go back to work.
In the past the employment of children
has always paralleled the employment
of adults, showing corresponding peaks
and troughs from year to year, as busi-
ness fluctuated.
There is, moreover, a reverse side to
this seemingly pleasant picture of de-
clining employment among children.
While the total numbers decrease, there
Is an increasing demand for child labor
in certain lines of manufacturing, in the
"fy-by-nigh industries and sweatshops
which have sprung up as by-product
of the depression and contribute to the
general breakdown Of Industrial stand
ards ;
Children have been driven into street