The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-02-01
of
Child Labor
Brings Reply
Well-Fed Adults Lead
Movement Opposing
Amendment.
BY DOROTHY DUNBAR
BROMLEY
Author of Birth Control. Its Use and
Misuse"

BROMLEY
Author Of Birth Control. Its Use and
Misuse.
WHEN 7 was young I had GER
w tam household duties TO per-
form every day OF the week. and l
am sure that they we're good for
me. 7 am not s0rry. either that
had 10 put myself through college
Children who grow up with no
sense or r. p0usibihty. thinking their
parents should do everything for
them. pr0ba bly, VIII not make good
citizens or good husbands and wives
when they NARY But this is not
10 say that children should work
like CroWn-upS.
The opponents Of the Child Labor
amendment claim that il VIII mean
can unwarrauted invasion Of the
rights Of the family" But I have
not heard any such complaints from
the mothers and fathers Of America.
p You who have growing children, 1
am sure don't want them TO be
"swcatcd' in a garment shop or
factory under frightfUlly insanitary
conditions during the hours when
they should normally be in school.
am sure. too. that YOU don't want
Your II OF 12-year-Old boy to get
mp i'm the morning before it is light
10 deliver papers. or to sell them I'M
Oh late at night, boiling his meals
so that he won't miss a sale. If he
does. you can hardly expect him to
be- sturdy or TO be an apt pupil at
school
Growing children are like sensi-
tive plants-they must have sleep.
good meals-and. yes. some fun.
The boy who spends p hours a
week outside of school hours deliy-
ering papers. getting new accounts.
listening to pep sales talks, and
trying to collect his bills from dead
beat customers certainly IS having
no fun at all and is working far
harder than he should for the s.
or So a week he makes.
There arc a good many boys in
the country who are doing just that
the childrens bureau found out
when they investigated working con-
dltions among newsboys IN II cities
WOmen's Attitude Strange
It seems strange that there should
be any women ranged among the
. opponents Of the amendment. Yet
NhCre are a small number ash
TO say. There is an Organi ion
called the National Committee To
Protect Child. Home. School and
Church. formed oStenSibly to defea.
the amendment. and a sister organ
lzatiOn called The Sentinels of the
Republic
These groups are hardly what
their names imply. The greater part
OF their members are lawyers repre-
Sentlng business interests. There Is
a sprinklng of women members.
too. But 1 can't believe they are III
the least concerned with protecting
the average American child and the
average American nome. They are
all women whose own children. Won
may be sure. have never had to
work at anything but their lessons
You'll ind, too. i'm the camp of the
enemy the blue-b CODED and thin
bloodcd ID. a. RS and the United
Daughters of the COnfcdcracv. who
think that the country is still in the
pre-Civl War days when factories
were few. Be Dc said to the credit
of the Memphis branch of this Or
ganlzat.on tnat they have come cut
III favor of the amendment.
Branded CommuniStic
I should Ike to ask Mrs. Court
landt Nico.l who recently denounced
the ar --crt over the RAD,
whetrer she saw any one of the
Thousand SWcatshOps. with their
pale-taccd workers. that we're 60
ing fun blast before the NRA closed
them doWn2
She knows that the NRA can't
last forever and that the sweating
VIII begin aga II as soon as 1t ex-
pircs. Yet she throws dust in the
eyes OF The mothers and fathers
OF America by telling them that The
amendment Is a "cOmmunistic
scheme and that the government
Will IN time take charge of the
children The same as the Bolshe-
NlkS are doing in Russia"
As Charles c. Birmingham has
explained. there is no word IN the
amendment which would give The
government the right to militarize
our children or to dictate what re-
hgious instruction they shall and
shall not have. Labor" which is
the word used in the amendment.
docs not mean, IN common usage
education. nor docs 1t mean mill
tary drill. 1t means gainful en-
ployment.
/ can not help but suspect that
MIS-. NiCOM Dr. Butler and the
other Well-fCd folk who are fight
ing the amendment think of chill
oren IN two ClaSSeS-the children
OF the privileged and the children
OF the undcrprivilieged. DR.. Butler
himself said TO me. Childhood is
over at IA But did he say that his
own daughter had gone to work AT
That aee2 He Gid not. What is
sauce for the goose should be sauce
Tor the gandcr.
Please notice that there are no
working women and no social wei
rare organizations with the eXcep- +
ton OF the New York State Catholic .
caTH0HAW 0uIv