HD 
 
 6250 
 
 U4 
 
 M546 
 
 1914 
 
 Cornell University Library 
 HD6250.U4M546 1914 
 
 Report on the effect of the child labor 
 
 3 1924 001 687 585 
 
THE 
 
 MARTIN P. CATHERWOOD 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL 
 
 OF 
 
 INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR 
 
 RELATIONS 
 
 AT 
 
 CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 
HOUSE (V\o^SSa«lV\"\xS2-ttS No. 2552 
 
 REPOKT 
 
 EFFECT OF THE CHILD LABOR LAW 
 
 OF 1913 
 
 State Boaed of Labor and Industries. 
 
 March 27, 1914. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 WEIGHT & POTTER FEINTING CO., STATE PEINTEES, 
 
 32 DERNE 8TEEET. 
 
 1914. 
 

Cfje CommoniDealtb of 9iassaci)usett0. 
 
 Office of the Sechetaky, 
 
 Boston, April 1, 1914. 
 
 Hon. Grafton D. Gushing, Speaker, House of Bepresentatives. 
 
 SiE : — I have the honor to transmit herewith, for the use of 
 the General Court, a supplement to the annual report of the 
 State Board of Labor and Industries (in manuscript form), 
 being the report of an investigation made by the direction of 
 the Board, under the supervision of Mr. Robert A. Woods of 
 Boston, of the effects of chapters 758, 779 and 831 of the Acts 
 of the year 1913. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 FEANK J. DONAHUE, 
 
 Secretarif. 
 
 Property of 
 MAI?TII<I P. CATHERWOOD LIBRARY 
 
 NEW YORK Wi SCHOOL 
 INDUSTRIAL AUB LABOR RELATIOMS 
 
 Cornell University 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924001687585 
 
Ci)e Commontoealtl) of ^a$0aci)u$ett0. 
 
 State Board of Labor and Industries, 
 
 Boston, March 31, 1914. 
 
 Hon. Frank J. Donahue, Secretary of the Commonivealth, State 
 
 House, Boston. 
 
 SiE : — I have tie honor to submit herewith, in the form of 
 a supplement to the annual report of the State Board of Labor 
 and Industries, a report of an investigation ma;de by direction 
 of the Board, under the supervision of Mr. Robert A. Woods of 
 Boston, of the effects of chapters 758, 779 and 831 of the Acts 
 of the General Court of 1913, all of which statutes are referred 
 to in the report as " the law." 
 
 In its annual report submitted in January, the Board stated 
 that it was not prepared at that time to make specific recom- 
 mendation relative to the " child labor law" so called; that it 
 was then conducting an investigation' into the effects of that 
 law and would later submit its conclusions, deduced from such 
 facts as might be reported when the same were available. 
 
 The report herewith submitted is that submitted to the Board 
 by Mr. Woods and his associates ; the facts presented are those 
 obtained by them, and the conclusions drawn therefrom are also 
 theirs. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 ROBERT ]N'. TURNER, 
 
 Commissioner of Labor. 
 
^lit CommonUieaIti) of ^aggacDusetts. 
 
 To the State Board of Labor and Industries. 
 
 The imdersigned present herewith a report of their special 
 investigation of the effects of the child labor law, so called, 
 enacted by the Great and General Court of 1913. . 
 
 EOBEET A. WOODS. 
 SHERWOOD TRASK. 
 WALTER CLARXE. 
 LAURENCE C. STAPLES. 
 
 March 27, 1914. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 Pbepacb. 
 The Intebpbetation op the Effect of the Child Labob Law op 1913 pbom 
 
 Data gathered by the Investigatobs. 
 
 Limitation of the Inquiry, 
 
 First Effects of the Law on Industries, 
 
 The Problem of Readjustment, 
 
 Textile Industries, 
 
 Other than Textile Industries, 
 Effect on Families, 
 Attitude of School Administration; 
 The Larger Outlook, 
 Proposal of Medical Test, 
 Economic Outlook of the Family, 
 
 Intboduction, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 11 
 11 
 
 13 
 13 
 14 
 14 
 15 
 16 
 18 
 18 
 
 20 
 
 of the 
 
 II. 
 
 Part I. 
 The Eppect op the Child Labor Law op 1913. 
 
 Effect of the Law upon Industry, ...... 
 
 A. Number of Children under 16 Years of Age who have been dis- 
 
 charged, .... 
 
 B. Effect of the Law upon Textile Industries, 
 
 Occupations of Children by Departments and the Effect 
 Law in Each Department, . . . 
 
 Attitudes and Opinions of Textile Employers on the Law, 
 
 Inefficient and Wasteful Employment of Children, . 
 
 Facts about the Non employment of Minors between 16 and 21 
 Years of Age, ... 
 
 The Part-time Educational Plan as a Solution, 
 
 C. Effect of the Law upon Industries other than Textile, 
 
 Boots and Shoes, 
 Paper Boxes, ... 
 Jewelry, 
 Fish Packing, 
 
 Machine Shops and Metal-working 
 Hosiery, 
 Corsets, 
 Envelopes, 
 Candy, 
 Stores, 
 Crackers, 
 Miscellaneous, 
 Effect of the Law upon Families, 
 
 Industries, 
 
 21 
 
 21 
 24 
 
 24 
 26 
 27 
 
 31 
 32 
 32 
 32 
 33 
 33 
 33 
 33 
 35 
 35 
 35 
 35 
 36 
 36 
 36 
 38 
 
10 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 III. Effect of the Law upon School Systems, . . . • ^1 
 
 A. Confusions and Difficulties in the Application of the Law, 42 
 
 (a) The Issuing of Certificates, ... . . 42 
 
 (5) Employers' Complaints against Certificates, . . 42 
 
 B. Attendance Officers, . ... 43 
 
 C. Increased Tendency for Children under 16 to remain in School, 44 
 
 D. Night Schools, . . . . . .45 
 
 E. Practical Courses of Instruction in Day Schools, . . 47 
 
 Results of Industrial Education, ... .49 
 
 Part II. 
 
 Some Educational, Aspects of the Working of the Child Labor Law op 
 
 1913 IN Lawrence, Mass. 
 
 Introduction, ... . . . .50 
 
 Analysis of Employment and Educational Certificates, . . . 51 
 
 Night Schools, . . ... 60 
 
 Lawrence Industrial School, . . . . . 62 
 
 Methods of School Department in putting the Law into Operation, . . 63 
 
 Study of Families from Data in School Department, .... 69 
 
 Study of Families through Investigations in the Homes, . . 75 
 
 Adjustment to the New Law, . ... 81 
 
 Conclusions of Investigator, . . . ... 84 
 
 Appendix. 
 Forms useid in putting the Law regarding School Attendance and Labor of 
 
 Minors in Operation, ..... . . 89 
 
EFFECTS OF THE CHILD LABOR LAW 
 
 OF 1913. 
 
 Preface. 
 
 THE INTERPRETATION OF THE EFFECT OF THE CHILD 
 LABOR LAW OF 1913 FROM DATA GATHERED BY THE 
 INVESTIGATORS. 
 
 Limitation of the Inqxtiey. 
 
 The investigation of this subject, ordered by the State Board 
 of Labor and Industries, has continued for a period of a little 
 more than three months. One investigator has devoted his 
 entire time, another less than half his time, a third investigator 
 and the director of the investigation each a much smaller frac- 
 tion of their time. 
 
 It is evident, under the circumstances, that this report can 
 present merely an outline of the subject. It does, however, 
 represent some real contact with the situation in 36 munici- 
 palities in the eastern part of the State, including Worcester. 
 Particular attention has been given to the textile industry, but 
 partial information has been gained about a considerable 
 variety of other industries. The two points at which attention 
 has been concentrated have been Fall River, where complaints 
 against the law seem to be most common, and Lawrence, where 
 the school administration has met its new responsibilities most 
 readily and comprehensively. 
 
 FiEST Effects of the Law on Industries. 
 The first and almost unanimous expression on the part of 
 employers with regard to the law was to the effect that a year's 
 notice should have been given before it went into effect. Apart 
 from any question connected with the passage of the law or re- 
 taining it upon the statute books, many difficulties might have 
 been obviated by a year's delay in putting it into operation. 
 
12 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 There is also the complaint, which is made against nearly all 
 new laws, that they do not allow of proper discrimination m 
 their administration. In incidental respects the law might 
 possibly be amended with advantage so as to bring the detailed 
 application of certain regulations within the supervisory power 
 of the State Board of Labor and Industries. This suggestion 
 refers, for example, to restrictions preventing children under 
 18 from working upon certain types of machines, which seem 
 to interfere unnecessarily with apprenticeship training in ma- 
 chine shops; and to certain forms of agricultural labor, like 
 cranberry picking, when a longer working day for a limited 
 season, might under proper conditions, be justified. 
 
 It has not been possible to include a very great amount of 
 mercantile employment within the scope of this investigation. 
 Some complaints have been brought to the attention of the in- 
 vestigators, to the effect that the law seriously hinders the em- 
 ployment of cash boys and girls under 16, and that it is difficult 
 to secure older children for such work ; also that some hard- 
 ship is involved in the prevention of evening work in stores 
 by women employed in the mills during the day. 
 
 The report goes to show that certainly not more than 4,000 
 children between 14 and 16, out of a total in employment of 
 from 25,000 to 30,000 between these ages, were discharged by 
 their employers and still remain out of work. 
 
 In so far as readjustments have not been made to date, such 
 as to return children of from 14 to 16 to their positions, re- 
 course has been had to young people over 16; or to special 
 systems through which a group of adult workers would cover 
 the service that had been rendered by the children; or, in a 
 few cases, to the employment of older persons. 
 
 In some cities, notably Fall Eiver, it is contended that chil- 
 dren are needed in order to keep up the necessary complement 
 of employees, aside from any question as to the distinctive value 
 of the service which they might render. It is also true that the 
 stay of a certain proportion of families in an industrial com- 
 munity is determined by the opportunity of employment for 
 as many of their members as possible; and this makes a con- 
 sideration of some importance in communities located near the 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 13 
 
 boundary of a competing State, which is seeking to attract 
 additional workers. 
 
 As to the distinctive need of the labor of children between 
 14 and 16, it is very earnestly urged, first, that certain parts 
 of the spinning process require the small hands and deft fingers 
 of children; second, that unless children go to work in the 
 textile miU when they are under 16 they will be strongly in- 
 clined to seek other employment, and thus the textile industry 
 will suffer serious diminution in its necessary labor force. 
 
 In spite of these contentions, and without as yet consider- 
 ing their broader significance, it may be suggested that there 
 are instances where children seem to have been hired at ran- 
 dom, simply because their labor was available and cheap. The 
 number of cases where the children were discharged in a body 
 after the passage of the law clearly suggests this. It is also 
 significant, in most of these instances, how easily young people 
 over 16 were secured to fill the children's places. In mills 
 where such a transfer was made in complete form the investi- 
 gators have not heard that the operations to be performed were 
 any less satisfactorily carried out than had been the case where 
 there was a full complement of children under 16. The fact 
 that in some cities there was so large a reserve force of young 
 people over 16 also suggests the question whether in different 
 ways the employment on a large scale of the younger children 
 had not led to the dropping of a considerable number of adoles- 
 cent employees as they passed the age of 16. 
 
 The Peoblem of Readjustment. 
 
 Textile Industries. 
 Without in any way seeking to minimize the problem of read- 
 Justing children working not more than eight hours a day to a 
 system in which adults work ten hours a day on five of the 
 working days in the week, it must be said that the investigators 
 found that, taking a number of different mills, practically every 
 detailed problem of adjustment has been met, in one or another 
 mill, satisfactorily to the management. It is also true that a 
 rise in the demand for product very quickly brings in a given 
 
U CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 mill a comprehensive readjustment. It is reasonable to believe 
 that a more normal condition of business than exists at present 
 would in marked degree hasten the process and extend the scope 
 of readjustment. Meanwhile, it may be suggested that a sub- 
 stantial part of the difficulty which employers are experiencing 
 has to do with the mere process of change, without indicating 
 necessarily .that the reorganized system, once attained, will 
 present important continuous difficulties. It is also essential 
 to a true judgment that embarrassing conditions, other than 
 those presented by the child labor law, should be carefully an- 
 alyzed in any estimate of the net effects of the law in question. 
 
 Other than Textile Industries. 
 In industries other than textile there are scattered evidences 
 of disturbance created by the law, but in nearly all cases the 
 necessary adjustment has been made. In mechanical indus- 
 tries, and other industries demanding a large proportion of 
 skilled workmen, there has been a continuous process of elimi- 
 nating boys under 16, as not being sufficiently -mature to give 
 the degree of attention required to carry through the operations 
 involved, or in general to assume the responsibilities of pur- 
 poseful, productive work. 
 
 Effect on Families. 
 Here, as in connection with the industries, the results of the 
 new child labor law are complicated with general conditions 
 which are tending to lower the income of the working-class fam- 
 ily. There are numerous cases, in the midst of a financially 
 depressed season, in which the lack of a child's wage creates a 
 degree of embarrassment which, under other conditions, would 
 not be noticed. And there is undoubtedly a substantial number 
 of instances where real hardship to families has been caused' 
 directly by the law. The State Board of Labor and Industries 
 is making a special study of this phase of the subject through a 
 statistical inquiry among the responsible charitable organiza- 
 tions of the State. Meanwhile, it may be said that for expert 
 testimony upon such a question we must look to the experienced 
 social workers, who are in daily contact with such homes. 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 15 
 
 Among such observers there is a division of sentiment, the 
 smaller number feeling that the law is causing exceptional diffi- 
 culties in a considerable group of families ; the larger number 
 feeling that in the homes, as in the mills, the problem is one of 
 readjustment, which a reasonable period of time will satisfac- 
 torily dispose of. It is pointed out that although in some cases 
 mothers have had to go to work in the mills, yet they can remain 
 at home on days when it is important that they should do so, 
 while the young daughters being at home are compelled to 
 familiarize themselves with home duties, — an experience which 
 too few mill girls ever have. Within a period averaging prob- 
 ably about a year, children detained thus at home will be able 
 to go back to the mill on full time. After that families will 
 have timely and full warning as to what they may and may not 
 expect from children under 16 in the matter of earning capacity. 
 The chance that children employed on an eight-hour basis may 
 come to harm in the period between 4 and 6 in the afternoon is 
 little different from that which confronts all school children at 
 the close of the afternoon session. 
 
 Attitude of School Administeation. 
 
 Here, as at the point of factory administration, it might per- 
 haps have been better if a year could have intervened between 
 the passage of the law and the date for its going into effect. A 
 considerable delay in the sending out of instructions and blankg 
 to the school authorities, the prevalent attitude of hostility to 
 the law in certain quarters, and the natural hesitation about 
 matching an untried force and system against a formidable new 
 responsibility, have greatly restricted the schools in fulfilling 
 their pivotal part in the program of action provided for by the 
 law. In many of the smaller places the attendance officers seem 
 quite unfitted, and indeed unwilling, to undertake the new 
 duties. The school curriculum in all our cities and towns has 
 shovra itself to be ill adapted to most of the boys and girls who 
 have left school and gone to work, and is therefore still less able 
 to attract them back to it after they have once left. 
 
 In order to learn what is possible to be done, and what may 
 within a reasonable time be brought about, at least in the cities, 
 a special study has been made of the plans and accomplish- 
 
16 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 ments of the school administration of Lawrence with regard to 
 the newj law. Here, as the special report shows, an admirable 
 system of co-operation with the mill authorities was wrought 
 out, and the attendance officers then canvassed the city, so that 
 the entire situation as regards children between 14 and 16 has 
 been compassed. Without exceptional school facilities all the 
 children of this age period without work certificates are once 
 more integrated into the educational system of the city. Some 
 especially promising experiments are being tried toward reach- 
 ing in the evening schools the problem of young people under 
 21, of whom school attendance is required by law. 
 
 The results at Lawrence are particularly encouraging be- 
 cause the weak point in the network which is brought together 
 by the new law is that which provides for bringing back to 
 school again those who have shaken the dust of the school from 
 their feet. One city, where the problem was most difficult, has 
 already actually achieved this end. 
 
 The Lakgee Outlook. 
 
 It is clear that much sound opinion among the textile manu- 
 facturers of the State does not set forth the difficulties con- 
 nected with readjusting the system of the mill to conform to 
 conditions created by the law as being, in and of themselves, 
 conclusive as against the law. la many instances they seem 
 to be ready to admit that, whether by rearranged time schedules 
 to include the younger children or by dispensing with the 
 younger ones and employing older ones in their places, they 
 can go forward without continuous embarrassment. ' 
 
 Aside from emphasis upon the fact of hardship to the families 
 through the loss of earnings of discharged children, their strong- 
 est appeal is based upon what they regard as a necessity to the 
 building and maintaining of a competent and adequate labor 
 force for the textile industry. They hold that it is essential 
 that the textile operative should begin his career in the mill at 
 an early age ; that if he does not begin before 16 he has either • 
 come to look down on mill work or is an indifferent learner 
 jumping about from one kind of work to another, or resting 
 back indifferently and permanently in some unstable form of 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. , 17 
 
 service. ' They affirm that recruits under the age o£ 16, coming 
 from English-speaking families, are urgently needed in order 
 that the positions of skill and responsibility in the mill may in 
 the future be filled by persons of the same general stock and 
 traditions as in the past; and that only in this way can any 
 substantial proportion of the original elements of the American 
 people be held in om- manufacturing centers as the solid and 
 responsible nucleus of their citizenship. 
 
 In the first place, this attitude leaves out of account the 
 strong possibility, as shown by the experience of Lawrence, that 
 a large proportion of the younger children will once more be 
 included in the mill force on a readjusted basis. This basis 
 will be the more satisfactory in that the school systems by that 
 time will have worked out, in co-operation with the employers, 
 an adequate system of meeting the schools' responsibility. For 
 one thing,, the experiment of part-time schools, providing for 
 a five-hour school session, with five hours' work in the mill, 
 is certain to be thoroughly tried. 
 
 Experience suggests that the method of bringing very young 
 persons into an industry is not the only, and not the best, way 
 to attach them to it. They are held even more effectively by 
 well-administered industrial school training,, leading up to shop 
 apprenticeship. It is, in fact, doubtful whether the general 
 discipline of the mill equals that of the school ; in many cases 
 children leave school and go to work because the regimen of 
 the mill is more lax than that of the school. Certainly, also, 
 the number of unemployed youths in some of the mill cities 
 does not suggest that the mill system is successful in holding 
 its recruits. 
 
 But the most important consideration with regard to the 
 issue raised by the textile manufacturers is as to the entire 
 future labor force of Massachusetts. It is beyond question 
 that the industrial future of the State lies in the more highly 
 skilled branches of industry. We produce practically no raw 
 material; we cannot long compete with parts of the country 
 which have access to the raw materials except through the rear- 
 ing up of a highly skilled labor force. 
 
 It is upon the basis of this conviction, accepted by the gi'eat 
 
18 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 commercial and industrial interests of the State, that the State 
 is now engaged in building up a comprehensive system of State- 
 aided industrial schools intended primarily for children as they 
 graduate from the grammar schools. To that end we must draw 
 particularly upon our English-speaking families. It would be 
 an extremely shortsighted policy, from the point of view of the 
 State as a whole, to reserve any of such children for early en- 
 trance upon relatively unskilled work, keeping them away from 
 such opportunities as are now being developed specifically for 
 the industrial training of just such as they. The effort to 
 train up a future labor force must have a broad basis and a 
 long perspective. Perhaps as this more farsighted view of the 
 problem of the labor force is gained we shall develop a better 
 system for introducing the children of the more recent immi- 
 grants itno the less skilled forms of work, thus making the most 
 of their capacities, while definitely urging the children of the 
 older elements in the population into lines of practical training 
 for a higher grade of work. 
 
 Attention is also called in the report to the possibility of 
 inventions for performing some unskilled work now done by 
 children ; and reference is made to examples of such inventions 
 now in operation. . 
 
 Peoposal of Medical Test. 
 Very little study has been given to the proposal that the re- 
 strictions on the basis of an age limit solely shall be removed 
 from the law, and that children between the ages of 14 and 16 
 be allowed to work on full time, so far as they can pass a medi- 
 cal examination. It is obvious that the suggestion of a medical 
 examination covers only an incidental phase of the argument 
 for the new child labor law; that such a basis of restriction 
 would present very great administrative difficulties; and that 
 in the total result it would amoimt to a virtual repeal of the law. 
 
 ECOXOMIC OrjTI.OOK OF THE FaMILY. 
 
 It is also important that a really farsighted view be taken 
 of the bearing of this general problem upon the future of the 
 industrial family. It has been found by a comprehensive test 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 19 
 
 that families near the poverty line will readily endure priva- 
 tion for the sake of sending children to an industrial school 
 after they have graduated from the grammar school. (See 
 report of the Preliminary Commission on Industrial Educa- 
 tion; also the third annual report of that commission.) It can- 
 not be doubted that the part-time school system would appeal 
 to such families. In fact, there should be, along with every 
 development in industrial education, a systematic propaganda, 
 especially among our English-speaking working-class families, 
 to explain to them the far-reaching financial advantages of such 
 training. The application of the whole or a part of the years 
 from 14 to 16 in practical industrial training will lead to a 
 higher wage scale, more chance of promotion, greater security 
 of employment and a longer working life. Surely, if we wish 
 to build up a productive future labor force, and a resourceful 
 citizenship, we shall keep open the gate of opportunity for 
 children of this age period, and devote our attention to further 
 positive efforts toward creating the needed facilities for their 
 full appropriate training for life. 
 
20 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 To the State Board of Labor and Industries. 
 
 Your special investigators submit herewith their report upon 
 the operation of the new law regarding the employment of 
 minors. 
 
 Because of the lack of time a complete survey of the State 
 has been impossible, although a sufficient number of cities and 
 of lines of industry have been studied to afford a fair judgment 
 upon the effects of the law. While a longer period of time must 
 elapse before the full results of the statute may be known, yet 
 it has been in operation long enough to show its general tend- 
 ency; to reveal whether there are any material hardships or 
 evil consequences ; and to suggest what benefits may result from 
 its enforcement. 
 
 For purposes of convenience the report considers the effect 
 of the law: first, upon industry; second, upon the families of 
 children ^ affected ; third, upon the school system, upon which 
 falls the great burden of constructively fulfilling the educa- 
 tional purposes of the law. 
 
 1 The word "children' is used in this report for minors under 16 years of age. 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 21 
 
 Part I. 
 
 I. EFFECT OF THE LAW UPON INDUSTRY. 
 A. XuMBEE OF Children ttndee 16 Years of Age who 
 
 HAVE BEEN DISCHARGED. 
 
 It is extremely difficult to estimate the number of children 
 who are out of employment because of this statute. The method 
 for determining this point which seems to come nearest to the 
 truth is found in a comparison of the number of certificates 
 issued to children from 14 to 16 years of age with the number 
 of children employed in industry in 1910, according to the 
 United States Census.^ Yet even this method is undoubtedly 
 crude. Census figures are for industry only, and are collected 
 at places of work rather than of residence. Certificates, on the 
 other hand, include children in mercantile establishments and 
 those working at home ; are for places of residence ; and contain 
 duplicates in some cases. The number of certificates issued 
 indicates, by a careful estimate based on the figures from six 
 typical towns and cities, that about 20 per cent, of working chil- 
 dren are employed outside of manufacturing industries. Thb 
 difficulty encountered in collecting the figures, in the one case by 
 industries and in the other by place of residence, is of impor- 
 tance only in cities near Boston. For this reason the figures 
 for these cities are given separately. Figures are also given 
 separately for the cities visited in connection with the present 
 investigation and for those places not visited where more than 
 100 children are employed. The reduction in the number of 
 children employed in the remaining towns and villages cannot 
 be a large fraction of the total for the State. 
 
 ' Abstract with supplement for Massachusetts Manufacturers, chapter IV., p. 6S4 et acq. 
 
22 
 
 CHILD LABOR LAW. 
 
 [May, 
 
 
 Certificates , 
 1913. 
 
 Census, 
 1910. 
 
 Number of children under 16 in employment in 17 cities visited, , 
 
 Number of children in 14 other cities that were not visited where 
 more than 100 children were employed. 
 
 Number of children employed in Boston and 10 near-by towns and 
 cities. 
 
 8,655 
 
 4.m 
 
 7,051 
 
 9,393 
 4,545 
 
 3,918 
 
 Totals, 
 
 19,840 
 
 17,856 
 
 Children employed in 1913, 
 Children employed in 1910, 
 
 Increase, . 
 
 19,840 
 17,856 
 
 1,984 
 
 The totals tlius reached show an increase of 1,984 in the 
 number of children at work in these cities. The figures for 
 children at work in the present year are swelled by the increase 
 in population since 1910 ; but this increase is offset by those out 
 of work because of dull business conditions. Nineteen hundred 
 and eighty-four is an apparent rather than a real increase be- 
 cause of the reduction which must be made for children at work 
 in mercantile and other non-manufacturing establishments. As 
 has been shown, this amounts to about 20 per cent, and applying 
 this reduction to the totals given, the apparent increase of chil- 
 dren employed in the present year changes to a decrease of 
 about 2,000. Including, in addition, the small towns and vil- 
 lages, the decrease throughout the State of children from 14 to 
 16 years of age employed under the operation of the new law 
 cannot be more than 3,000. It is to be understood that this 
 estimate refers not to the total number of children who have 
 had the experience of being discharged since the law of 1913 
 went into effect, but to the net number of those who remain out 
 of employment at the time of this report. 
 
 A second source of information, and one which further illu- 
 mines the question as to the number of children thrown out of 
 employment, is that of school superintendents. Their judgment 
 is based on the number of school certificates issued and the 
 number of children under 16 years of age to be returned to the 
 schools. While attendance officers in some places have not suc- 
 ceeded in forcing a very large number of these children back 
 to school, they are able to make a fair estimate of the number 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 23 
 
 of children affected. Neither superintendents of schools nor 
 their attendance officers think that children have been dis- 
 charged in large nnmhers, and their total estimate of the num- 
 ber actually remaining out of work throughout the entire State 
 ■would not differ materially from that above mentioned. 
 
 A somewhat similar conclusion can be reached from another 
 angle. The statements of manufacturers as to the number of 
 children discharged because of the new law is the source of 
 information in this direction. Of the large concerns visited, 
 a substantial majority report that one-third or more of their 
 children have been discharged, though even some of these com- 
 panies have been forced to re-employ. Statistics show that the 
 highest number of discharges are reported by employers in sev- 
 eral large cities ; i.e., LoweU, Lawrence and Worcester. In Fall 
 Eiver, however, 21 concerns visited report only between 200 and 
 300 children discharged; and the number of certificates issued 
 in Fall Eiver approximates the number of children between 
 14 and 16 employed in 1910. In New Bedford, also, there 
 seem to have been few discharged, and even since the beginning 
 of the year an appreciable number of children have entered 
 the cotton mills. In several large cities where children have 
 been discharged by one or more principal concerns they have 
 apparently been absorbed into the other industries of the city. 
 It is exceedingly doubtful whether any city in the State can 
 to-day show as many as one-third of its children formerly em- 
 ployed and now remaining out of employment, while the aver- 
 age for the whole State is indisputably less than half that 
 proportion of the total. Should the estimate based on census 
 and school returns seem too small, it is hard to see how the 
 total number of children at present out of employment could 
 be more than 4,000 at most. 
 
 But while the number of children employed continues large, 
 the consensus of testimony among the larger concerns is that 
 under an eight-hour law the majority of children will have to 
 be weeded out as rapidly as possible, and that no more under 16 
 will be employed if it can be avoided. They deplore the loss 
 of these children, as it imperils the future labor supply; and 
 undoubtedly many makeshift schemes have been improvised in, 
 an attempt to train children in industrial processes. 
 
24 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 When it is remembered that from 25,000 to 30,000 children 
 between the ages of 14 and 16 were employed in 1912 in Massa- 
 chusetts, a reduction of 4,000 or less is not a matter of serious 
 consequence. Eecent evidence indicates that children have been 
 taken back into the mills in considerable numbers since Jan- 
 uary 1. Moreover, the child labor law is not responsible for all 
 the discharges during this year, as dull business conditions have 
 thrown many out of work. 
 
 On the other hand, it is true that many employers are seek- 
 ing the elimination of children as rapidly as possible, and we 
 hope to show that a considerable number can be dropped from 
 employment in the interests of efficiency and economical pro- 
 duction. 
 
 B. Effect of the Law upow Textile Industeies. 
 Textiles, because of their predominant position in the indus- 
 try of this State, and because of the large number of children 
 employed, are a vital consideration in a survey of the effects of 
 the child labor law. Alteration of schedules to suit an eight- 
 hour day for children has temporarily upset the balance of in- 
 dustry in nearly every mill. Many employers maintain that a 
 readjustment of this situation cannot satisfactorily be made. 
 In nearly all departments of the mills children were employed 
 to a considerable extent as subsidiaries to machine operatives, 
 or upon machines themselves, and the loss of an hour and three- 
 quarters has inconvenienced and hampered the scheme of work. 
 Many mills, however, still continue employing children; some 
 because of the scarcity of older laborers, others because they be- 
 lieve that certain kinds of work can be performed adequately 
 only by dexterous " little hands." 
 
 Occupations of Children hy Departments and the Effect of the 
 Law in Each Department. 
 In the card room children have been used as doffers on slub- 
 bers, speeders and other drawing-in machines. The machine 
 tenders have to doff during the two hours of the day not covered 
 by the children; and these adult employees are compelled at 
 times to stop the machines of which they have charge, with some 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 25 
 
 resultant financial loss to themselves. That this has been a 
 serious complication is shown by the fact that in one of the 
 largest mills visited speeder tenders threatened to strike because 
 of this loss. 
 
 In the spinning rooms, where a great deal of the unskilled 
 labor is found, employers want both ring-spinning and mule- 
 spinning machines to run from whistle to whistle; but where 
 children have been employed at ring-spinning they have to close 
 down the machines for two hours or double up, hands and dimin- 
 ish the output. Those children who are doffers in the spinning 
 room must be relieved for two hours by older employees, who 
 are not always available. It is said that under the old law 
 the young doflfers had as much leisure as now; they were not 
 occupied between doffs, tJiough they were paid for full time. 
 Children have been employed in the spinning room because they 
 are dexterous and nimble-fingered; and as doffers they follow 
 an apprenticeship for spinning, which they can undertake 
 handily after a period of doffing. 
 
 In the weaving room the three principal occupations in which 
 children have been most frequently employed are weaving, put- 
 ting drop wires on warps and filling batteries on automatic 
 looms. Most concerns have dropped children as weavers rather 
 than stop the looms for two hours or double up for an equal 
 period. One mill, however, has worked out a system of employ- 
 ing an extra hand for every four child weavers, and this extra 
 hand relieves each of the four weavers for two hours during the 
 day. The shifts are made on the minute with no time lost, 
 and both the overseer, who devised the scheme, and the superin- 
 tendent are pleased with its working. 
 
 The children employed in putting on drop wires often have 
 to leave a warp unfinished when their eight hours are up ; this 
 causes a loss to the weaver, whose warp is being wired, and a 
 number of complaints have resulted. 
 
 Spooling and winding are two kinds of work that can pile up 
 without affecting the other departments, so that a considerable 
 number of young girls have been transferred to such work from 
 spinning. 
 
26 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 Attitudes and Opinions of Textile Employers on the Law. 
 
 Inasmuch as the chief opposition to the law has come from 
 manufacturers, their attitudes and opinions are given in detail 
 and as nearly as possible with the emphasis made by the em- 
 ployers. It will be seen that the objections are diverse and often 
 either local or not primarily due to the law relative to the em- 
 ployment of minors. They unite on three or four main ob- 
 jections, and we have considered these points at some length. 
 
 A large number of employers maintain that they do not be- 
 grudge children the opportunity for further education, but be- 
 lieve there are many who are better off under the rigorous 
 discipline of the miU than listlessly attending school, not to 
 speak of idling in the streets. They hold that children in the 
 mill are no longer driven to their work, but have ample leisure 
 during the course of the day. Most agents and overseers are 
 self-made men, who have attained their positions by dint of 
 hard work from early youth, and they assert that the boys of 
 to-day who are to be textile operatives must apply themselves 
 diligently for more than eight hours a day if they are to climb 
 to responsible positions. 
 
 In a number of textile communities, especially the smaller 
 mill towns, the father and mother both work, and many manu- 
 facturers have pointed out the fact that the children who must 
 leave the mill two hours earlier in the afternoon are thrown 
 upon the streets and are an easy prey to evil influences. How- 
 ever, the same conditions hold true for school children, so that 
 this evil cannot be attributed to the child labor law. If the 
 benefits of fresh air and sunshine offset such influences for 
 school children, they should not do otherwise for children em- 
 ployed. 
 
 The pivotal point of contention, and the chief necessity of 
 employing children, manufacturers say, is to insure a future 
 trained labor supply. Many believe that the hand must be 
 trained to the proper dexterity during the muscle-forming years, 
 else the operative will always be clumsy and sluggish. It is 
 argued that many of the foreign operatives marry at 17 or 18 
 years of age, and that they are unwilling to enter the mill after 
 16 and start at the menial, elementary jobs and a proportionate 
 
1914.] HOUSE — 2552. 27 
 
 low wage. It is also generally testified that girla begimiing 
 after 16 years of age are unwilling to plod along in the usual 
 course from do£Bng to spinning a few sides of machines and only 
 gradually working up to a maximum number of sides and an 
 adequate wage; they want a substantial position within a very 
 short period. Most of the employers say that the children can- 
 not be adjusted within the limits of an eight-hour day to the 
 majority of learning positions ; and that their elimination imder 
 16 years of age, thus made necessary, will jeopardize the future 
 labor supply to a considerable degree. 
 
 More generally, in regard to the effects of the law, some em- 
 ployers state that the hardship has not been upon them but upon 
 families where the income of the oldest child or children is 
 badly needed. Some have retained what children they have 
 in order to help tide over such families, otherwise deprived of 
 a needed factor in their income. From this general point of 
 view a measure of approval is given to the law because the re- 
 quirement of a new certificate for new employment deters many 
 from throwing up a job on the slightest pretext, as was often 
 formerly the case. The delay and confusion involved in getting 
 employees certified has rapidly dwindled during the winter. 
 
 Everywhere employers hold that children dismissed from the 
 miUs do not return to school, and that, therefore, the purpose 
 of the law is frustrated; many think it is a whimsical fad; 
 they urge that with the improved conditions of the miUs the 
 outcry against the employment of children is not warranted. 
 Some manufacturers insist upon a respite from legislation, 
 urging that uncertainty is the thing that kills business. Others 
 strongly oppose the encroachments of State legislation upon their 
 affairs, and further show that the law places them on an unequal 
 basis with competitors in adjoining States; while the majority 
 of employers believe that this is only the entering wedge for a 
 general eight-hour day. 
 
 Inefficient and Wasteful Employment of Children. 
 On the other hand, the employment of children has often 
 been at random and wasteful. Older operatives can frequently 
 be substituted with as great or greater efficiency, and in most 
 
28 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 cases with no increased cost to the manufacturer. Several em- 
 ployers have said that children, especially boys, are mischievous, 
 meddlesome and unreliable ; that they are slipshod in their work 
 and shirk at every opportunity ; that th^y often blunder in their 
 handling of machinery and play havoc with factory discipline. 
 
 Specifically and in detail such wasteful employment of chil- 
 dren and the possible substitution of older operatives can be 
 shown. Several mills have dropped boy sweepers and hired a 
 smaller number of men to take their places. Some find that 
 they hire on the ratio of two men for three boys, with the aggre- 
 gate wages the same in both cases. One concern utilizes, on a 
 semi-pension scheme, aged women employees as sweepers, and 
 while they are not as agile as boys, they are more painstaking. 
 Those mills that have older sweepers are well satisfied. 
 
 A number of mills employ young men or women instead of 
 children as doft'ers in the spinning room, as they handle more 
 sides, run the machines more steadily and keep the bands 
 tighter. S. S. Salisbury of AUenton, E. I., in an essay on cot- 
 ton spinning a few years ago, said, " Most overseers prefer boys 
 to doff, but I prefer young men grown, with some ambition for 
 something better in the future, as they will work harder to keep 
 the frames running. This is the place to put the best help you 
 have got, as the production depends upon the frames running 
 every minute possible, with no dead spindles." Other mills are 
 getting more efficient work on mule-spinning since replacing the 
 back-boys with young men. Self-doffers are being perfected 
 that promise to obviate the employment of children for this 
 purpose. An investigator saw one of these inventions doff one 
 side of a ring-spinning machine in two and one-half minutes 
 and the other side in four, which equals the work of several 
 girls. Another self-doffer, reported nearly perfected, will do 
 the work in a still shorter time. 
 
 In spinning, the pay is by the number of sides of ring- 
 spinning machines that are operated ; in weaving, by some form 
 of rate, so that the pay is greater in proportion to the number 
 of looms run. As most children can run only a few sides of 
 spinning machines or a few looms, the employers lose nothing 
 by doubling up, with the older operative substituting for two 
 or more children. 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 
 
 29 
 
 Drop-wiring is tedious drudgery and apparently too puerile 
 for grown persons, but battery boys have been eliminated in 
 many instances and a less number of men substituted, to the 
 satisfaction of the overseers. 
 
 Spooling and winding is work that children can perform, 
 although older girls are more often employed at the same opera- 
 tion; it is optional, therefore, whether older or younger girlg 
 perform the work. 
 
 Thus, after running practically the whole gamut of textile 
 operations which children perform, it is seen that one or more 
 mills have substituted older employees in practically all the 
 operations. They get as great, or greater, efficiency, with no 
 increased cost in the majority of cases, and the manufacturer 
 is frequently well satisfied. 
 
 The effect of the law upon textiles may be summed up as 
 follows : — 
 
 First. — The adoption of the law resulted in considerable 
 confusion. Confusion due to getting large numbers of children 
 certified is practically over; that due to adjusting to an eight- 
 hour schedule remains, because, with the exception of a few 
 peculiar instances, no one has attempted as yet to install 
 more than a makeshift plan for the continued employment of 
 children. 
 
 Second. — The principal contentions of the manufacturers 
 are that the work for children in the textile mills is not strain- 
 ing; that hard work is necessary to climb out of the irksome 
 textile jobs and is a strong counteraction for the lazy tendencies 
 of many boys. They contend that the hand must be trained 
 during the muscle-forming years to attain maximum dexterity, 
 and especially they argue that operatives must be accustomed 
 and trained to mill work before 16 years of age in order to 
 insure an adequate future labor supply. 
 
 Third. — It seems demonstrable that children have been em- 
 ployed at random and inefficiently because they were so easy to 
 obtain; and there is equal likelihood that improved nlachinery 
 and older young people can be substituted for much of the work 
 that children have performed. 
 
 Sweeping, doffing, spinning and weaving are the four forms 
 
30 
 
 CHILD LABOR LAW. 
 
 [May, 
 
 of work at which children have been chiefly engaged. The last 
 two — spinning and weaving — have been performed mainly by 
 adults who run more spinning frames or looms than is possible 
 for a child. The only important hardship pointed out by manu- 
 facturers in eliminating children entirely from this work is that 
 it will prevent the training of textile workers before the age 
 of 16. 
 
 It has been shown that there are a number of employers who 
 prefer older young people for doffing, and that the perfection 
 of self-doffers will further do away with the employment of 
 children upon such Avork. Sweeping has been considered a 
 child's job, although even here several mills have substituted 
 adult sweepers to their own satisfaction. 
 
 In many other and lesser forms of employment adults and 
 children perform the same operations side by side, and in only 
 a few instances, such as dropwiring, does it seem that adults 
 cannot be entirely substituted with resulting greater efficiency. 
 
 The following chart for the four principal textile cities of 
 Massachusetts shows how varied has been the elimination of 
 children in the occupations which they perform. The figures 
 are taken from certificates of children employed where the 
 forms of employment are those given by employers in the cer- 
 tificates known as " promises of employment," and are approxi- 
 mately correct. 
 
 
 Fall River. 
 
 Lawrence. 
 
 Lowell. 
 
 New 
 Bedford. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Sweepers, 
 
 206 
 
 14 
 
 45 
 
 211 
 
 476 
 
 Doffers, 
 
 322 
 
 106 
 
 97 
 
 197 
 
 722 
 
 Spinners, 
 
 159 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 29 
 
 202 
 
 Back-tenders, 
 
 7 
 
 18 
 
 12 
 
 157 
 
 194 
 
 Bobbins, 
 
 52 
 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 70 
 
 Spoolers, 
 
 155 
 
 29 
 
 10 
 
 28 
 
 222 
 
 Weave room, 
 
 327 
 
 
 1 
 
 99 
 
 427 
 
 Drop-wirers, 
 
 61 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 105 
 
 177 
 
 Battery fillers, 
 
 11 
 
 
 19 
 
 5 
 
 33 
 
 Winders, 
 
 73 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 62 
 
 142 
 
 Cloth room, 
 
 14 
 
 
 7 
 
 80 
 
 101 
 
 All other occupations, 
 
 247 
 
 282 
 
 124 
 
 349 
 
 1,002 
 
 Totals, 
 
 1,634 
 
 461 
 
 344 
 
 1,328 
 
 3,770 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 31 
 
 Facts about the Non-employment of Minors betiveen 16 and 21 
 
 Years of Age. 
 
 If the mills are to do without children in any considerable 
 number thej mnst have older young people to take their places. 
 Many of the substitiitions made this winter have been possible, 
 since older young people were out of employment because of 
 slack times. In a normal or prosperous period would there be 
 any reserve force of older young people to employ ? 
 
 It is the opinion of many officials, and other disinterested 
 observers, that there are large numbers of young people from 
 16 to 21 years of age who loaf habitually or intermittently. 
 The group is made up of many who after working for a year or 
 more have tired of the irksome monotony of the mill ; of those 
 who have found themselves poorly trained to rise in their em- 
 ployment and have given up in despair or from lack of stamina ; 
 and of young men from southern European countries who do not 
 fit easily into the hard, matter-of-fact industrial field of this 
 country. In New Bedford, Lowell and other textile centers it 
 is declared that there are many such chronic idlers ; and they can 
 be found in coffee houses and pool rooms, aimlessly standing on 
 the streets, or making the rounds of the moving-picture shows. 
 Fall River alone, of the larger cities, reports a scarcity of labor, 
 and there a number of this group of young people have been 
 pressed into service. It has been suggested that a State census 
 be taken of persons between 16 and 21 years of age to discover 
 the exact prevalence of such idleness, as without such informa- 
 tion an estimate of the niunber who loaf must be largely conjec- 
 ture. It is only in some of the smaller cities and towns that 
 mill agents have been compelled to retain children on an eight- 
 hour schedule, because there was no other available labor to 
 substitute. 
 
 With employers desiring children under 16 years of age to 
 train in textile processes, and with the large number of young 
 people dissatisfied with both school and mill, and not properly 
 equipped by either, something more farsighted than makeshifts 
 is needed. 
 
32 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 The Part-time Educational Flam, as a Solution. 
 
 On the English part-time plan a reciprocal agreement can be 
 made that will be fair to the manufacturer and compatible with 
 the motive of the law for greater educational opportunities. 
 This plan is advocated by several companies and looked upon 
 not imf avorably by other employers. It seems possible to show 
 that fewer children are needed in the mills than have been 
 employed, so that there would be enough children to pair 
 off for working a half day each and spending the remain- 
 ing time in school. The employers would get nine and three- 
 quarters or ten hours work from each pair of children, so that 
 the upsetting of the balance of industry would be eliminated. 
 Of special importance is the fact that they would thus get the 
 children before reaching 16 years of age, to train them in tex- 
 tile processes and insure a labor supply for the future. 
 
 It is true that many children are not well provided for by 
 the present school exirriculum. Under the part-time system, 
 with the proper facilities and courses of instruction, children 
 could spend a major amount of time on mathematics and textile 
 mechanics in school and find a practical application for their 
 studies in spinning, weaving or the other textile operations. 
 They would be pursuing a course analogous to that of ambitious 
 young men who have climbed from spinning and weaving suc- 
 cessively to the positions of machine fixer, second hand, overseer 
 and superintendent. A greater field being open to them, they 
 might come to desire some of the more cultural courses now 
 offered by the present school curriculum. At all events, they 
 would be a more intelligent and efficient class- of operatives than 
 without such practical education. 
 
 C. Effect of the Law upon IjsrnusTEiES Other thai? 
 
 Textile.'- 
 
 Boots and Shoes. — Children under 16 employed at piece- 
 work in this industry can in general be adjusted to an eight-hour 
 schedule, but in many instances there have been discharges due 
 to slack business. The loss of an hour or two to boy helpers on 
 
 1 Limitations of time and working force have necessarily restricted tlie range of inquiry with 
 regard to these industries. 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 33 
 
 some machines, especially nail setters for heels, has meant an 
 equal loss to the older machine operators. In one shoe town 
 it was said that this was the only form of work that could not 
 he adjusted satisfactorily. 
 
 In Brockton they have been weeding out the children for 
 several years. This is due largely to pressure from the unions, 
 but employers are rather glad not to have them around. The 
 chief influence toward the further employment of children in 
 the shoe industry has been the lack of other available labor. 
 
 One rubber shoe company employs boys to run errands, and 
 wishes to employ them full time. Another rubber shoe com- 
 pany dropped most of the children, as they were employed in 
 a preparatory department, which had to run full time in order 
 to supply the rest of the factory with material. 
 
 Paper Boxes. — Girls are employed on glue wheels, or in 
 other continuation processes (where an article passes through 
 several hands and employees are interdependent). In such 
 cases an eight-hour day for the young girls interferes with the 
 work of the older employees. Children can be employed at 
 odd jobs, and at such work in the majority of cases young girls 
 have been satisfactorily adjusted to the scheme of the factory. 
 
 Jewelry. — The Attleborough companies contend that theirs 
 is a seasonal business, and also clean and not tiresome, and that 
 therefore they should be allowed to employ women and minors 
 for longer hours during the busy season. The children are 
 apprentices to machine tenders, for whom they carry tools and 
 otherwise assist. It is contended that the loss of two hours a 
 day prolongs their period of apprenticeship, retards those whom 
 they assist and diminishes the manufacturers' output. The 
 jewelry companies ship most of their day's output between 
 6 and 7 p.m., and want the boys in the packing rooms at this 
 time. 
 
 Fish Packing. — The Gloucester concerns also claim that 
 theirs is a seasonal occupation and that the eight-hour day for 
 children hinders their packing. 
 
 Machine Shops and Metal-Corking Industries. — This im- 
 portant line of industry has for several years been dispensing 
 with boy labor, so that now most of the, larger companies are 
 in sympathy with the law, and even some of the smaller ones 
 
34 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 are but slightly affected. The old apprenticeship system for 
 training boys has become obsolete in most shops. In Worces- 
 ter, where several hundred apprentices were once employed, 
 only a handful can be found to-day. Boys in most instances 
 are employed for odd jobs that can be adjusted in most cases 
 to eight hours. The system of training now in vogue is to 
 start mature young men on one machine, which they become 
 expert in manipulating, or gradually to move them from one 
 machine to another, according to the needs of the shop and the 
 expediency of having some versatile mechanics. 
 
 In small shops and metal-cutting concerns there is a for- 
 midable complaint against the law. They have not yet entered 
 into part-time schemes and are still holding to the apprentice 
 system for training future mechanics. Because certain proc- 
 esses and occupations are proscribed by the law, they cannot 
 employ boys less than 18, for an apprentice is brought con- 
 stantly into contact with all parts of the shop, and the. foreman 
 has( not always time to see that he is employed within the law. 
 They justly argue that the statute will prevent a future labor 
 supply, as eveu 16-year-old boys have to " mark time " for two 
 years until they are of an age to work upon all machines. They 
 say that these boys will not wait so long to enter a trade, but 
 Avill seek work that will be less remunerative in the long run, 
 but in which they can engage without preliminary years of 
 training. It is believed that in unalterably proscribing certain 
 'kinds of machine work the law has gone too far and will un- 
 doubtedly injure the trade in the future. 
 
 In the machine industry, because of its skilled nature, trade 
 schools and part-time schemes are in good repute, and are being 
 adopted gi-adually by the more progressive companies. Employ- 
 ers in the few cities that have part-time schemes draw their 
 boys almost entirely from machine shops. Three of the largest 
 concerns in the State have their own part-time schools, and their 
 graduates are proving well their competency. These schools 
 are an integi-al part of the factory, as the boys, most of whom 
 are over 16, work either in the shops or in a special department 
 from which the output is handled, in general, as stock of equal 
 grade with that of other parts of the shop. One large company 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 35 
 
 in Worcester is about to inaugurate such a part-time scheme 
 under its own roof, and the instructor in charge will look after 
 the physical and moral welfare of the boys outside of working 
 hours, as well as supervising their shop instruction. 
 
 It is the general opinion among many of the instructors under 
 this scheme of trade edvication that boys of 16 are immature, 
 heedless and lacking in powers of concentration for machine 
 instruction. This is consistent with the attitude of shop fore- 
 men who will hire the young boys only for such trifling tasks 
 as men will not perform. 
 
 Hosiery. — Most of the girls work at machines or on other 
 piecework, and their curtailed production can be made up by 
 employing more girls. One company is satisfied with the law, 
 as its officials say that the girls can be quickened to do about 
 the same amount of work in eight hours that they formerly 
 dragged out through ten. * 
 
 Corsets. — Most of the young girls are employed at putting 
 in whalebones, and inasmuch as this is entirely hand work, the 
 eight-hour day makes no difference so long as a sufficient num- 
 ber of girls can be employed. The only complaint is that 
 against the disturbance caused by the young workers leaving 
 early. 
 
 Envelopes. — The companies in "Worcester have been forced 
 to eliminate practically all help under 16. They complain that 
 girls over 16 are impatient to get on, will not stick at elemen- 
 tary jobs, and also that they do not easily acquire dexterity. 
 They thus deplore the loss of younger girls, who learn readily 
 and are willing to work up from the bottom. One attempt, 
 they say, failed to retain the children under 16 in a special 
 department. 
 
 Candy. — This industry has not been seriously affected by 
 the law. Few children have been discharged, though not many 
 under 16 are being hired. For those continuing in employ- 
 ment adjustment has been fairly easy. Children are employed 
 as dippers, packers and a few as helpers, and are paid by the 
 piece. It was the opinion of two superintendents that the dis- 
 turbance caused by the children leaving earlier than the older- 
 workers was largely imaginary. The candy business is sea- 
 
36 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 sonal, so that comparisons with conditions just before the law 
 went into effect indicate nothing. 
 
 It is true that young children can do the work as well as 
 older employees ; some of them earn as much in eight hours as 
 the others do in nine, and they learn much more easily than 
 those somewhat older. But there is a question, it was said, 
 whether the great amount of shifting about and changing jobs 
 among the children does not reduce this advantage. It may 
 be added here that the new law has had a beneficent effect in 
 reducing the amount of this shifting, and some employers favor 
 it for that reason. 
 
 Stores. — The number of children employed in stores is 
 especially large in Boston, and to that city the inquiry has 
 been chiefly confined. In most of the stores the eight-hour day 
 has prevailed throughout the establishment, so that no read- 
 justment has been necessary. In other cities greater difficulty 
 has been reported, as stores have been in the habit of employing 
 high school girls or mill girls to assist certain evenings and on 
 Saturdays. 
 
 The work done by the children is usually of a very simple 
 nature, i.e., cash girls and errand boys. Some managers find 
 that older young people are unwilling to take these positions. 
 On the other hand, an important firm declared that boys over 
 16 are worth more than those younger, and can be secured. The 
 hour at lunch time,' fifteen minutes longer than formerly in 
 some cases, is not too long, though in most stores there is a lack 
 of proper recreative facilities for this time. That one of the 
 largest stores in Boston has for some time employed no boys 
 tinder 16 and no girls under 17 indicatesi that this sort of em- 
 ployment is not necessary either for present needs or to insure 
 a future labor supply. 
 
 Crackers. — The cracker factories in general have displaced 
 the children under 16 whom they employed. It was found 
 impossible to use them for only eight hours, as their jobs were 
 an integral part of the balance of industry. !N"o difficulty was 
 experienced in getting older help to fill the places thus vacated. 
 
 Miscellaneous. — A variety of industries have been visited 
 and are indifferently affected by the law in the majority of 
 cases. 
 
1914-] HOUSE — No. 2552. 
 
 37 
 
 Two companies are able to employ children quite satisfac- 
 torily,— a tag company, where the children are put into an 
 elementary, training department, and a pearl button factory, 
 where the buttons must be sorted by daylight. During the 
 winter this coincides approximately with the eight-hour day. 
 The work is by the piece, and children can be segregated so 
 as not to upset} the discipline by going out early. 
 
 Several companies were found to employ no children, and 
 hence are not affected by the law. Two straw and felt hat com- 
 panies, a felt company, a piano concern, a meat packing estab- 
 lishment, and a ladies' underwear company fall under this 
 category. 
 
 Other companies employ only one or two children and are 
 listed as follows: two shoe polish companies, a clock company 
 and a broom company. 
 
 A net and twine company employed six bobbin girls, and 
 preAdoTis to the passage of the new law had used more. It tried 
 to meet the situation in three ways, which are typical of the 
 usual attempts to adjust, and all of which, in their case, were 
 unsatisfactory. 
 
 1. They had two shifts, but did not have enough work for 
 all the girls in the middle of the day. 
 
 2. They tried to employ older girls, but found they were not 
 available, or else wanted too much pay. 
 
 3. They now close down part of the machines at 4 p.m. and 
 use half the machine tenders as bobbin fixers. 
 
 One large laundry company has dropped girls imder 18 years 
 of age. It says they are a nuisance and it is glad to be rid of 
 them. In a number of factories, where little girls have been 
 mixed in with older employees, it has been observed that they 
 are a disturbing element. They keep up a constant chatter, run 
 in and out a great deal, and are a source of amusement to the 
 older employees. All 'of this is disconcerting and wastes many 
 minutes, so that it would be natural that employers should 
 voluntarily eliminate them because of inefficiency. 
 
 From the wide variety of effects of the law thus noted the 
 confusions or satisfactory adjustments can be summed up under 
 a few headings. In two important lines of industry — boots 
 and shoes and machine shops — we find a tendency, well estab- 
 
38 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 lished before the inauguration of tlie law, to drop children in a 
 large majority of cases. Where they have been retained, as nail 
 setters in the shoe industry, or as apprentices in small machine 
 shops, they are an integral part of the balance of industry, and 
 a satisfactory adjustment cannot be made because of the loss 
 of an hour or two a day. This is likewise true of apprentices in 
 the jewelry business. 
 
 In many cases the children can be employed in separate de- 
 partments for eight hours a day. As they are paid under some 
 form of piecework, the employer can have as great an output 
 as formerly by increasing the number of children employed, 
 though overhead charges may also be slightly increased. 
 
 In a large majority of cases children have been employed 
 because they were unusually easy to secure, cheaper than adults, 
 and because it was thought that they learned more readily and 
 willingly than young people over 16 years of age. However, 
 there is great likelihood, as a few employers have already dis- 
 covered, that the substitution of older young people brings 
 about greater efficiency and improved factory discipline more 
 than offsetting the slight increase in wages involved. 
 
 II. EFFECT OF THE LAW UPON FAMILIES. 
 
 The study of the effect of the child labor law on industry has 
 indicated that although difficulties have arisen they are not 
 insuperable, and that the necessary adjustments can and have 
 in many cases already been made. Its effect on the families 
 concerned, which have been dependent on the wage of a worker 
 between the ages of 14 and 16, is also a vital consideration. The 
 alleged hardship and distress which have resulted is the most 
 common objection to the law, and it appeals strongly to all 
 sympathetic people. Employers have often made this their 
 single ground for opposition, declaring that the burden does 
 not fall upon them but upon the family. 
 
 In studying the effects of the law from this angle only the 
 question of the immediate results will be considered in this part 
 of the report. It is perfectly clear that even though some distress 
 may be occasioned at the present time, in the long run greatly 
 improved conditions may result. In other words, present sacri- 
 fice may be more than compensated by a large future o>ain. 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 
 
 39 
 
 The inquiry at this point, however, is limited to a consideration 
 of this present sacrifice. 
 
 No one will deny that there have been some cases of severe 
 hardship. All laws which diminish the earning power of a 
 family, either by shortening hours, or by depriving it of the 
 earnings of one of its members, must often cause distress. Thus 
 the large family and the widow with several children do need 
 under present conditions the wage which the child of 14 or 
 15 may earn. And yet it is easy to overemphasize this and to 
 forget that the hardship, grievous in itself, may be a symptom 
 of more fundamental difficulties. Where, for one reason or 
 another, the head of the family cannot earn more than $9 or 
 $10 each week, every possible subsidiary source of income must 
 be used. Further, the fact that the argument of distress makes 
 such a strong emotional appeal makes it easy of exaggeration. 
 In the first place, the number of children thrown out of em- 
 ployment has been greatly overstated. This would indicate also, 
 for this very reason, that the number of cases of hardship is 
 much lower than is generally estimated. But in, addition to 
 those discharged the law has in most cases reduced the hours 
 of the working day, and therefore the wage earned. This dif- 
 ference has not been large ; nor, on the other hand, lias it been 
 negligible. However, the testimony of the relief workers in 
 the cities visited is that comparatively few eases, for which 
 the law can be justly blamed, have been referred to them. In 
 some cases it has aggravated the problem already facing them ; 
 but as for new cases, although the law is sometimes given as 
 the cause of the distress, it is seldom really responsible. Few 
 instances were found in which the trained workers in relief 
 thought the distress caused by the law to be serious. 
 
 Moreover, the general depression which has pervaded indus- 
 try during the past winter has in itself caused considerable 
 hardship, and has made the Joss of income from the child 
 worker more severe than it would have been under normal con- 
 ditions. The study in Lawrence brought this out very clearly, 
 for in a number of cases the wage of the adult worker had been 
 so rediTced by the slack conditions of industry that the further 
 loss of the child's wage had meant real suffering. The improve- 
 
40 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 ment in business conditions already evident should reduce tte 
 distress attributed to the child labor law, but really caused by 
 hard times. 
 
 The testimony of welfare workers that the distress occasioned 
 by the law is not great raises the question as to whether all 
 such cases would be brought to their attention. Might there 
 not be those who would not seek relief although undergoing 
 considerable suffering? At most, this class would be few in 
 number. Furthermore, if the loss of the wage of a child be- 
 tween 14 and 16 brought about so much distress, what of the 
 years before he went to work? Did the family depend on 
 charity then? If not, is the distress more serious now than 
 then ? It may be assumed, therefore, that few cases of real 
 hardship would be unreported. The investigation now under 
 way by the State Board of Labor and Industries, which is 
 drawing its information from the Overseers of the Poor and 
 private charitable societies, Avill give a more complete picture 
 than the preliminary survey already made. This wiU be the 
 only authentic basis for judging the amount of hardship caused 
 by the law. 
 
 This contention, that the deprivation of the wage of the 
 young worker, either completely or pai-tially, has not meant 
 serious hardship, is upheld by investigations into the reasons 
 why children leave school to go to work. Inquiry into this 
 matter by the school authorities of ISTew Bedford some vears 
 ago, taking fifty cases as they came in for certification, showed 
 that in only three instances did the child go to work on account 
 of family necessities. The Federal Investigation on the Con- 
 dition of Women and Child Wage Earners in the United States 
 in 1910 is much broader in scope, and the results are not so 
 striking, but they point in the same direction. In only 30 per 
 cent, of the cases was necessity given as the reason for ffoing to 
 work. Dissatisfaction with the school, preference for work, 
 and help desired but not necessary, accounted for the larger 
 number of cases. Where the needs of the family had not forced 
 the child to work originally, the loss of the wage at this time 
 could seldom have meant any real hardship. 
 
 The law has been condemned in some cases for forcing moth- 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 41 
 
 ers back into the mills. While this is undoubtedly a disad- 
 vantage, ^vhere it has happened it has frequently placed the 
 older girl in charge of the home and so given an opportunity 
 for some training in housework, which is too often lacking. 
 The extended use of aid to mothers with dependent children 
 may reduce the number of cases of this sort. In other cases 
 the loss of the wage of the child worker has forced the loafing 
 father, who is not unknown in Massachusetts, back into the 
 mills, which is certainly an advantage. Altogether, since the 
 cases of hardship are relatively not numerous, opposition to the 
 law on this ground is not sufficiently well grounded to call for 
 remedial action. 
 
 III. EFFECT OF THE LAW UPON SCHOOL SYSTEMS. 
 
 The great burden of constructively fulfilling the purposes of 
 the law falls upon the school officials. Locally, they have sole 
 charge of certifying all minors, and must combat every subter- 
 fuge in regard to ages and other attempted evasions; their at- 
 tendance officers are the chief instruments for enforcing school 
 attendance, while their curriculums and teaching forces must be 
 expanded to meet the urgency of practical education. 
 
 It is the candid opinion of the majority of people inter- 
 viewed, including school superintendents, that the schools have 
 not adequately met their increased duties, and that they cannot 
 be expected to do so with the scanty appropriations at hand. 
 They were not prompt in seeking discharged children, and as a 
 result many are now idling at home or on the streets. Little 
 has been done in practical education to anticipate the influx of 
 children that will result from the enforcement of the law. Such 
 industrial education as there is has barely passed the experi- 
 ; mental stage (and is carried, on in only a few isolated cases). 
 The chief redeeming feature from the school point of view is 
 that many superintendents and school committee men recognize 
 that the problem is immediate, and are doing their utmost to 
 arouse public opinion for sufficient funds. 
 
42 
 
 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 A. COKFUSIONS AND DIFFICULTIES IN THE APPLICATION OF 
 
 THE Law. 
 (a.) The Issuing of Certificates. 
 
 1. Many school committees have provided insuiSeiently for 
 the issuing of certificates, so that small office forces or a) single 
 attendance officer have been swamped by the flood of appli- 
 cations. 
 
 2. Immigration records have not been obtainable from Bos- 
 ton, and are often worthless and false from other offices. The 
 age is copied from a steamship ticket, upon which frequently 
 the person in question has falsely stated his age on entering 
 this country. 
 
 3. The birth records from other countries frequently are 
 unobtainable or are false. 
 
 4. There are serious arguments against the possibility of a 
 physician determining age without a thorough examination, 
 which is not now made. 
 
 (6) Employers' Complaints against Certificates. 
 
 1. Xo uniform filing system is maintained by employers, and 
 it is often difficult for the factory inspector to make certain that 
 a certificate is on file for each employee less than 21 years of 
 age, or that those employed are those named on the certificates. 
 
 2. The employers argue that they have no way of knowing 
 whether an employee has quit or is sick, and hence they cannot 
 return his card to the school authorities within two days. 
 
 3. An overseer or foreman often wishes to hire without no- 
 tice a hand to fiU in for extra work or to replace a sick employee, 
 but the one to be employed loses from half a day to a day in 
 securing a certificate from the school authorities. Because of 
 this loss several companies now discriminate in favor of persons 
 over 21 when employing new help. 
 
 4. Mght school attendance cards and attendance difficulties, 
 which are further considered under " Night Schools." 
 
 5. Confusion in adjustments to eight hours, etc., considered 
 under " Industries." 
 
 \ I 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 
 
 43 
 
 The confusions and difficulties reported are incidental, and 
 can be remedied by the State Board of Labor and Industries or 
 the local school authorities. The tremendous problem of cer- 
 tifying all minors from 14 to 21 years of age will never occur 
 again, and those who need certificates in the future will be only 
 the normal number leaving school for work. 
 
 B. Attendance Officees. 
 
 In practically every city visited there is a wide discrepancy 
 between the number of children discharged from the mills and 
 the number returned to school. This is due in large measure to 
 failure of the attendance officers to cope with the situation in an 
 adequate way. In the large cities they are sufficient in num- 
 bers and routine efficiency, but have hesitated in enforcing the 
 law, through tbe belief that it might be repealed, or have been 
 overbusy with office work in issuing certificates. In the smaller 
 cities they are usually meagerly paid and work only a part of 
 the time. The belief is also prevalent that those children who 
 have been at work cannot be kept in school without constant 
 supervision, or that if coerced into returning they will not study 
 but will hinder the instruction of the rest of the class. There is 
 no doubt that these are important reasons why the children are 
 not back in school. 
 
 In seven large cities visited the officers are capable, but in 
 only three have they the problem well in hand, and even in 
 these cities the children are not all back in school. In the other 
 four cities they have been occupied in issuing certificates, while 
 in one city they do not believe it is the duty of attendance of- 
 ficers to visit factories to check up the number of children dis- 
 charged. 
 
 In eight of the smaller cities visited the attendance officers 
 are fairly effective, and insistent upon factories complying with 
 the law. In several other small cities they are equally enter- 
 prising, but have been handicapped because the duty of issuing 
 and filing certificates has been imposed upon them. In three or 
 four cities the officers are not alert; in two cities janitors are 
 used as attendance officers, and they perform their work in a 
 desultory manner; in other places men act in the capacity of 
 
44 
 
 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 attendance ofBcers along with other lines of work, and are in- 
 clined to be negligent of their school duties. One school super- 
 intendent asked how efficient work could be expected of men 
 who are paid from $50 to $150 a year. 
 
 The attendance problem is further complicated by the fact 
 that many children work in cities other than those in which 
 they have attended school or have their residence, and the local 
 authorities cannot afford to send their officers outside of the city 
 to check up on the employment or the non-employment of these 
 minors. It has been suggested that the State Board of Labor 
 and Industries could facilitate the enforcement of attendance 
 by acting as a clearing house for all such cases, and that it 
 should supervise the attendance more closely than by an oc- 
 casional visit of a factory inspector. As the staff and resources 
 of the Board are increased it may be able to fulfill such a 
 function. 
 
 The difficulty in attendance has been mainly with those chil- 
 dren who have left school, gone to work and then been dis- 
 charged because of the law. It is natural that the school au- 
 thorities should have hesitated to assume this apparently gra- 
 tuitous and extraneous burden, to tide over a few months or a 
 year. In a year or two the question will be almost exclusively 
 that of a continued responsibility and a properly adapted system 
 for those who do not enter employment until 16. At that time 
 the school systems may be expected to handle the situation in 
 a normal way. 
 
 C. In'Oeeased Tendency foe Children undeh 16 to remain 
 
 IN SOHOOL. 
 
 While it is too early to have any authentic figures as to the 
 increased tendency of children under 16 to remain in school, 
 yet it is obvious that such will be the result of enforcement of 
 the law. Three or four cities have already reported an increase 
 of pupils beyond the natural increase of population for this 
 year, and other superintendents are planning an expansion of 
 their school equipment to meet the expected increase. It is more 
 and more difficult to secure employment for minors under 16 ; 
 one principal of a vocational school is able to retain his boys 
 
1914.] 
 
 HOUSE — No. 2552. 
 
 45 
 
 by pointing out this difficulty of securing employment, and be- 
 lieves this is possible in most of the cities of the State. 
 
 Therefore the matter of school equipment, especially along 
 practical lines, becomes of primary importance, and we shall 
 devote the remainder of the report to inquiring into the prog- 
 ress made toward practical education in Massachusetts. 
 
 D. I^iGHT Schools. 
 The following table shows the number of illiterates for the 
 cities and towns visited, and the approximate enrollment of 
 literates and illiterates in the evening schools : - — 
 
 City. 
 
 Number of Il- 
 literates under 21 
 Years of Age. 
 
 Approximate 
 
 Total 
 Em-oUment. 
 
 Cambridge, 
 
 Attleborough, 
 
 Andover, 
 
 Beverly, 
 
 BiDckton, 
 
 Chelsea, 
 
 Clinton, 
 
 Everett, 
 
 Fall River, 
 
 Framingham, 
 
 Franklin, 
 
 Gloucester, 
 
 Ipswich, 
 
 Lawrence, 
 
 Lowell, 
 
 Lynn, 
 
 Maiden, 
 
 Marlborough, 
 
 Millbury, 
 
 Natick, 
 
 Newton, 
 
 New Bedford, 
 
 Northbridgc, 
 
 Peabody, 
 
 Quincy, 
 
 404 
 
 128 
 
 3 
 
 29 
 546 
 371 
 143 
 
 46 
 
 2,093 
 
 300 
 
 No night schools 
 
 300 
 
 2,488 
 
 1,000 
 
 Unavailable 
 
 900 
 
 1,484 
 50 
 53 
 
 1,955 (average 
 
 attendance) 
 
 Did not open until 
 
 January 
 
 No night schools 
 
 57 
 
 175 
 
 268 
 
 300 
 
 1,418 
 
 2,242 
 
 893 
 
 Unavailable 
 
 389 
 
 Unavailable 
 
 92 
 
 1,000 
 
 64 
 
 Unavailable 
 
 2 
 
 No night schools 
 
 34 
 
 .300 
 
 124 
 
 650 
 
 1,279 
 
 2,100 
 
 69 
 
 Unavailable 
 
 262 
 
 400 
 
 250 
 
 600 
 
46 
 
 CHILD LABOR LAW. 
 
 [May, 
 
 City. 
 
 Number of Il- 
 literates under 21 
 Years of Age. 
 
 Approximate 
 
 Total 
 Enrollment. 
 
 Salem, 
 
 
 437 
 
 700 
 
 Somerville, 
 
 
 174 
 
 300 
 
 Taunton, 
 
 
 368 
 
 500 
 
 Watertown, 
 
 
 114 
 
 300 
 
 Waltham, 
 
 
 156 
 
 400 
 
 Webster, 
 
 
 62 
 
 Unavailable 
 
 Worcester, . 
 
 
 426 
 
 1,039 
 
 The total enrollments are merely approximations to show 
 the proportion of illiterates and literates in the night schools. 
 
 The law requiring the illiterates between 16 and 21 years 
 of age to attend school (Acts of 1913, chapter 467, sections 
 1-4) has led some of the leading educators to realize that the 
 night school is becoming of greater value to the illiterates and 
 of increasing importance to the citizenship of the State. To 
 meet the growing demands of the night schools through the 
 State the courses of studies are gradually being changed, and 
 only teachers of experience and training are being engaged for 
 these special positions in the night schools. The point of de- 
 parture is the recognition of the individual. The pupils are 
 divided according to their experience, age and the special re- 
 quirements of the immediate and particular needs of national- 
 ity, industry and general living conditions. Where the school 
 authorities, in a few places, have recognized the necessity of 
 such educational means the pupils are always more interested, 
 responsive and willing attendants. 
 
 ^ Courses in English only are given to the illiterates in the 
 night schools, though several cities have established funds for 
 lectures, and one city, at least, is using for supplementary 
 reading a circulating library in a foreign language. Civics and 
 different courses in drawing and practical arts are more and 
 more being adopted for the illiterates, and two or three cities 
 have evening classes in cooking and sewing. The attendance 
 of foreign women at the latter classes is negligible. The rea- 
 sons given for this fact are that they are unacquainted with 
 the opportunities offered; that their native customs prohibit 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 47 
 
 ■women from going out in the evening; and often they are 
 ashamed to attend school. 
 
 There are many loopholes for evading attendance. In the 
 first place, employers have no certain method of deciding who 
 is under 21 in their shops. An enormous number of foreigners 
 have suddenly become 21, and many look the age. Several 
 novel schemes for changing names have been adopted by illit- 
 erates. The lack of a uniform attendance card hampers the 
 employer in checking up on attendance each week, especially 
 whei"e he employs illiterates from several adjoining cities. It 
 has generally been found impossible to gather into the same 
 evening schools illiterate housemaids and day laborers. 
 Finally, in the matter of attendance, employers in several 
 cities are allowed too much latitude in deciding what is a valid 
 excuse for absence. 
 
 Employers somewhat resent the paternal duties of super- 
 vising school attendance that have been fastened upon them 
 by the law, but they see the value of education for their work- 
 men, and are therefore in a measure satisfied with this phase 
 of it. They want a uniform attendance card for the State, and 
 think that the illiterate is a poor medium for carrying the 
 attendance card to and from the school. It may be said that 
 the night schools, hitherto retarded in their development, have 
 taken a new lease of life, and shortly may be reckoned as a 
 potent force in constructively fulfilling the educational require- 
 ments for illiterates. 
 
 E. Peactical Coueses of Instkuction IX Day Schools. 
 Practical courses of instruction and suitable equipment are 
 not at present sufficient to meet the demands of the increase of 
 children who will re-enter or remain in school. However, this 
 is true of the whole nation, as this phase of education is still 
 recent and experimental. JSTearly all the school superintend- 
 ents of the State see that such practical expansion of their edu- 
 cational schemes is imperative, and are strenuously endeavoring 
 to provide the requisite courses. Massachusetts stands among 
 the foremost States in pioneering the way in practical and in- 
 dustrial education, and the new law serves as a tremendous in- 
 
48 CHILD LABOR LAW. [-^lay, 
 
 centive to rapid progress. The plans for practical courses m 
 several places visited are given as f ollov78 : — 
 
 Attleborough is attempting to remodel the old high school 
 building for the seventh and eighth grades, in which emphasis 
 ■will be laid upon domestic and practical arts, and courses in 
 jewelry manufacturing. 
 
 Beverly has a special eighth grade in which major attention 
 is given to such practical courses. 
 
 Newton has given a great deal of attention in its vocational 
 school to those who have been unsuccessful in the ordinary cur- 
 riculum; and in addition maintains the Stearns School in the 
 foreign district. In this school printing is emphasized in addi- 
 tion to the practical arts, and an employment bureau is con- 
 ducted to aid the boys. A social worker is employed to visit 
 in the homes and also to conduct classes in English for the 
 mothers. Vocational guidance is undertaken by the principal. 
 
 Waltham and Salem have special classes for foreign children 
 and those who have been returned to school, and! these are con- 
 sidered to be the most interesting classes in the schools.^ 
 
 Franklin, as well as several other towns, has been unsuccess- 
 ful in interesting manufacturers in the part-time school, so 
 has started some outside work in farming as an entering wedge. 
 
 Brockton and Lynn have special classes for children put back 
 into school because of discharge from factories, and the fonner 
 city hopes to expand this class into a continuation school. After 
 careful inquiry they find that a part-time scheme in the shoe 
 industry is not feasible. 
 
 ISTatick, a few years ago, sent broadcast invitations to a simi- 
 lar plan, with no response. 
 
 Marlborotigh is at present attempting to interest shoe manu- 
 facturers in a part-time scheme. 
 
 Several other school superintendents see the need for practi- 
 cal courses other than domestic arts or sloyd, and only await 
 a suggestion of plans that have progressed beyond the experi- 
 mental stage. 
 
 1 Such interest spurs the school authorities to provide greater and more practical equipment 
 for those children who left school at 14. Peabody hopes for a new building in which practical arte- 
 will be taught to its large population of foreigners. 
 
1914.] HOUSE — Xo. 2552. 49 
 
 Beftults of Industrial Education. 
 Six cities visited have industrial schools, and all are en- 
 thusiastic over the progress made, although each plan is widely 
 divergent from the others. The boys in these schools manifest 
 far greater interest than in the ordinary curriculum of the 
 grades, and the graduates so far have proved efficient and have 
 been approved by employers. Three large concerns have ap- 
 prentice schools that are meeting their needs, while another 
 company is about to inaugurate a part-time school under its 
 own roof for training future machinists. All of the industrial 
 schools have been reluctant to -enroll children discharged this 
 fall, as they were afraid that they would prove indolent and 
 not remain for any length of time. However, when they see 
 ~ that other children in years to come must remain in school until 
 16 because of the lack of possible employment this reluctance 
 will be cleared away, and industrial education will be greatly 
 increased for practical-minded children from 14 to ir> years 
 of age. 
 
50 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 Part II. 
 
 SOME EDUCATIONAL ASPECTS OF THE WOEKING 0¥ THE 
 CHILD LABOR LAW OF 1913 IN LAWRENCE, MASS. 
 
 A Study dealing with and derived from Data filed in the Oftice 
 OF the Lawrence Superintendent of Schools, elaborated 
 through Specific Investigation of Individual Cases. 
 
 Section L — Inteoduction. 
 
 An account has already been given, of tlie effect of the child 
 labor law upon the principal industries and the educational 
 systems of the State as a whole. In addition to the surveys of 
 the larger cities of the State, an intensive study has been, made 
 of Lawrence. From the point of view of school administration 
 and welfare of families it was assumed that this city presented 
 the educational and home problems of a typical textile center 
 as fully as any one community in the State. The study has 
 been made under the following headings : — 
 
 Section I. — Introduction. 
 
 Section II. — An analysis of the data furnished by the em- 
 ployment and educational certificates on file in the office of the 
 superintendent of schools. In this section will be found a de- 
 tailed description of the three groups of minors affected by the 
 law of 1913, viz., minors 14 to 16 years old, literate minors 16 
 to 21 years old, and illiterate minors 16 to 21 years old. 
 
 Section III. — A description of the Lawrence night schools 
 in so far as they have been affected by the law regarding at- 
 tendance of illiterate minors. 
 
 , Section IV. — The Lawrence Industrial School, which is 
 aided by the State and is imder the supervision of the State 
 Commissioner of Education, 
 
 Section V. — A description of how the superintendent of 
 schools at Lawrence was able to successfully put the new law 
 into operation. 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 51 
 
 Section VI. — A study of 142 families who have been di- 
 rectly affected by the new law. The data for this study were 
 gathered from the application for home permits filed by minors 
 14 to 16 and from data recorded by the attendance officers in 
 their work with the families concerned. 
 
 Section VII. — The result of the investigation of 42 families 
 which were visited and studied intensively by the investigator. 
 These families are among the 142 who have had children ap- 
 plying for home permits. 
 
 Section VIII. — A description of the way in which the 
 people of Lawrence who have been affected by the law are 
 adjusting themselves to the new condition. 
 
 Section IX. — The conclusions arrived at by the investigator. 
 
 Sectio>' II. — Analysis of Employmekt and Educational 
 
 Oeetificates. 
 The investigation in Lawrence began with an analysis of the 
 employment and educational certificates on file in the office of 
 the superintendent of schools. These certificates were classified 
 in three groups as follows : — 
 
 1. Those between the ages of 14 and 16. 
 
 2. Literates between the ages of 16 and 21. 
 
 3. Illiterates between the ages of 16 and 21. 
 
 These three groups were separated in the analysis according 
 to nationality, sex and age, and in the case of those between 
 14 and 16, according to school grade last completed. Taking 
 the three groups in the order here presented, they are as 
 follows : — 
 
52 
 
 CHILD LABOR LAW. 
 
 [May, 
 
 Group I. 
 
 Table 1. — Record of Number of Certificates issued from Sept. 1 to Nov. 
 25, 1913, to Minors 14 to 16 Years, by Age, Sex, Grade and Nationality. 
 
 Agee 14 to 15. 
 
 
 Sex. 
 
 Grade. 
 
 
 Nationality. 
 
 4 
 
 S 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 High 
 School. 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 fM. 
 ' F. 
 
 2 
 
 16 
 
 11 
 
 24 
 
 22 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 86 
 
 American, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 .■) 
 
 8 
 
 15 
 
 11 
 
 23 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 66 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 152 
 
 
 jM. 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 English, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 [f. 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 
 - 
 
 7 
 13 
 
 
 fM 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Italian, 
 
 IF. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Russian, 
 
 [F. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1 
 
 
 JM 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 French, 
 
 If. 
 
 fM 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 German, 
 
 If. 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 
 M. 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 Canadian, 
 
 F. 
 
 JM 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 Othera, 
 
 F. 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total, 
 
 
 13 
 
 37 
 
 33 
 
 46 
 
 54 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 201 
 
 Ages 16 to 16. 
 
 American, 
 
 fM. 
 
 If. 
 
 1 10 
 
 8 
 
 20 
 
 28 
 
 31 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 102 
 
 
 7 
 
 23 
 
 32 
 
 23 
 
 40 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 136 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 238 
 
 English, 
 
 fM. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 Italian, 
 
 fM. 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 IF. 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 10 
 19 
 
 Russian, . ■ . 
 
 M. 
 
 F. 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 
1914. 
 
 HOUSE — No. 2552. 
 
 53 
 
 Table 1.— Concluded. 
 
 
 Ages 15 to 16 years. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sex. 
 
 Grade. ] 
 
 
 Nationality. 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 High 
 
 School. 
 
 Total. 
 
 French, 
 
 M. 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 
 If. 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 5 
 14 
 
 German, 
 
 M. 
 
 If. 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 Canadian, 
 
 jM. 
 
 2 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 If. 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 15 
 
 Others, 
 
 |M. 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 If. 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 ~ 
 
 
 
 
 Total, 
 
 38 
 
 51 
 
 71 
 
 62 
 
 80 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 320 
 
 Total ages, 14 to 15, 
 Total ages, 15 to 16, 
 
 Grand total. 
 
 Summary. 
 
 201 
 320 
 
 521 
 
 This group of 521 cases is that which caused the most general 
 complaint against the law, and it was for the benefit of this 
 group primarily that the law was designed, not only in Massa- 
 chusetts but in several other States of the Union, which enacted 
 similar measures. One of the most frequently stated ideas 
 regarding child labor is that the children leave school and go to 
 work as soon as they reach the age of 14, when the law no 
 longer holds them in school. It is seen from the above table 
 that in this case there are more children between the ages of 
 15 and 16 who have secured employment certificates than be- 
 tween the ages of 14 and 15. This may indicate that the Law- 
 rence employers, at a time when business is slack and labor 
 abundant, prefer in general persons older than 15 to those 
 younger than 15. It is notable, also, that in this group there 
 are more who were in the eighth grade upon leaving school 
 than in any other single grade, and the second largest number 
 
54 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 were in the seventh grade. This, however, ia to he expected, 
 inasmuch as the normal child would be in the seventh or eighth 
 grade at H years of age. It indicates further that the problem 
 of this group is not primarily of the so-caUed " motor-minded " 
 children, but of normal, well balanced children. By far the 
 largest number of this group were American born. However, 
 due to the form of the certificate it is impossible to state what 
 is the parentage of children in this group. It is likely that 
 the majority are the children of Italian, English, Canadian 
 French or Syrian parents. All the 521 cases are " first issues ;" 
 that is, they are children who have received but one certificate. 
 Since November 25 many of these children have changed em- 
 ployment one or more times, and have received new certificates 
 for each new position. 
 
 These facts relate only to children who had employment on 
 November 25. The more important aspects of the problem 
 deal with those who have not been able to find employment 
 under the restrictions of the new law. Such eases are dis- 
 cussed in another section of this report. 
 
 Group II. 
 The provision of the law requiring all minors between 16 and 
 21 years of age to secure certificates of education has made 
 available some interesting data regarding literacy of minors 
 employed in Lawrence. This test of literacy is " such ability 
 to read, write and spell the English language as is required for 
 the completion of the fourth grade of the public schools." 
 Table 2 shows the figures for literates in this group. 
 
1914.] 
 
 HOUSE — No. 2552. 
 
 55 
 
 Table 2. — Recm-d of Number of Certificates ... 
 Nov. 25, 1913, to Minors 16 to 21, classified 
 and Nationality. 
 
 between Sept. 1 and 
 as Literates by Age, Sex 
 
 Nationalitt. 
 
 Sex. 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 Age. 
 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 U 
 
 19 
 
 20 
 
 Total. 
 
 American, . 
 
 |M. 
 
 368 
 
 319 
 
 257 
 
 173 
 
 150 
 
 1,267 
 
 
 l*'. 
 
 425 
 
 423 
 
 346 
 
 301 
 
 243 
 
 1,738 
 
 3,005 
 
 English, Irish, Scotch, 
 
 JM. 
 
 27 
 
 25 
 
 38 
 
 31 
 
 34 
 
 155 
 
 
 [F. 
 
 25 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 29 
 
 31 
 
 148 
 — ^ 303 
 
 Italian, 
 
 |M. 
 
 19 
 
 12 
 
 19 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 66 
 
 
 F. 
 
 20 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 1.3 
 
 5 
 
 53 
 119 
 
 German, 
 
 |M. 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 15 
 
 
 |f. 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 17 
 32 
 
 French, 
 
 JM. 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 28 
 
 
 If. 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 23 
 51 
 
 Canadian, 
 
 |M. 
 
 19 
 
 11 
 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 14 
 
 79 
 
 
 If. 
 
 28 
 
 34 
 
 42 
 
 27 
 
 35 
 
 166 
 245 
 
 Tm-ldsh, Syrian, 
 
 M. 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 31 
 
 
 F. 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 19 
 50 
 
 Portuguese, 
 
 M. 
 F. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 9 
 
 Russian, 
 
 M. 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 • 2 
 
 2 
 
 20 
 
 
 IF. 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 7 
 
 11 
 
 .9 
 
 50 
 
 70 
 
 Austrian, 
 
 M. 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 - 
 
 2 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 If. 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 , 4 
 9 
 
 All others. 
 
 M. 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 
 IF. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 17 
 
 Total, . 
 
 M. 
 F. 
 
 458 
 525 
 
 388 
 519 
 
 356 
 450 
 
 249 
 393 
 
 230 
 342 
 
 1,681 1 
 
 \ 3,910 
 2,229 J 
 
 Grand total, 
 
 983 
 
 907 
 
 806 
 
 642 
 
 572 
 
 3,910 
 
56 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 The largest portion of the 5,605 minors employed in Law- 
 rence are within this group, as indicated by the above table. 
 Literacy being the consideration, it is to be expected that the 
 largest number in this group would be American born. Seventy- 
 six per cent, of literate minors working in this city are Ameri- 
 can by birth. However, as before mentioned, this does not in- 
 dicate the nationality of the parentage. The second largest 
 group also follows the expectation, being those bom in the 
 British Isles. The Italian group, in spite of a very large total 
 population in Lawrence, ranks fourth in the mmiber able to pass 
 the literacy test. The number of literate minors at various ages 
 securing educational certificates decreases between the ages of 
 16 and 21. Thus the number between 16 and 17 is 983, while 
 the number between 20 and 21 is only 5Y2, a decrease of 41.8 
 per cent. This can be accounted for by the fact that of the 
 older persons between 16 and 21 many are of foreign birth 
 and have been unable to pass the literacy tests. Also, among 
 the older minors, many are employed at work which does not 
 require an educational certificate, according to chapter 779, 
 section 23, Acts of 1913. 
 
 Group ITT. 
 Isext to the group of minors imder 16 years of age the group 
 of illiterates between 16 and 21 has presented the most interest- 
 ing problems in view of the requirements of the law that these 
 minors attend night school and because of the difficulty of is- 
 suing certificates to persons unable to speak the English lan- 
 guage. Table 3 presents an analysis of this group as to nation- 
 ality, age and sex. 
 
1914.] 
 
 HOUSE — No. 2552. 
 
 57 
 
 Table 3. — Record of Number of Certificates issued between Sept. 1 and 
 Nov. 25, 1913, to Minws 16 to 21, classified as Illiterates by Age, 
 Sex and Nationality. 
 
 
 Sex. 
 
 AOE. 
 
 
 Nationality. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 IS 
 
 19 
 
 20. 
 
 
 
 M. 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 i 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 34 
 
 American, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 F. 
 
 14 
 
 13 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 50 
 84 
 
 
 M. 
 
 47 
 
 73 
 
 62 
 
 34 
 
 32 
 
 248 
 
 Italian, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 F. 
 
 30 
 
 50 
 
 55 
 
 39 
 
 46 
 
 220 
 468 
 
 
 M. 
 
 3 
 
 16 
 
 ID 
 
 18 
 
 20 
 
 76 
 
 Russian, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ,F. 
 
 8 
 
 11 
 
 25 
 
 18 
 
 25 
 
 87 
 163 
 
 
 M. 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 Pole, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 F. 
 
 ~" 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 6 
 16 
 
 
 M. 
 
 12 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 34 
 
 Canadian, 
 
 F. 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 13 
 
 13 
 
 13 
 
 58 
 — 92 
 
 
 M 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 35 
 
 Austrian. 
 
 F- 
 
 2 
 
 S 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 28 
 63 
 
 • 
 
 fM. 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 25 
 
 Turks, 
 
 IF. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 -' 
 
 1 
 
 
 3 
 
 28 
 
 
 M. 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 13 
 
 11 
 
 9 
 
 47 
 
 Armenian, . 
 
 If. 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 7 
 54 
 
 
 fM. 
 
 S 
 
 12 
 
 24 
 
 5 
 
 12 
 
 58 
 
 Syrian, 
 
 IF. 
 
 6 
 
 22 
 
 24 
 
 11 
 
 18 
 
 81 
 
 139 
 
 
 fM. 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 S 
 
 Portuguese, 
 
 IF. 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 — 15 
 
 
 fM. 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 German, 
 
 F. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 — 8 
 
 
 fM. 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 French, 
 
 IF. 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 3C 
 
 
 Mr 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 Greek, 
 
 If. 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 _ 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 
 
 li 
 
 ^ : ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
58 
 
 CHILD LABOR LAW. 
 
 [May, 
 
 Table 3 — Concluded. 
 
 
 
 Sex. 
 
 Age. 
 
 
 
 Nationality. 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 29 
 
 Total. 
 
 Belgium, 
 
 Roumania, 
 
 English, 
 
 M. 
 F. 
 
 JM. 
 IF. 
 
 JM. 
 
 [f. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 _ 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Total, 
 
 M. 
 F. 
 
 101 
 87 
 
 157 
 125 
 
 158 
 135 
 
 92 
 103 
 
 93 
 121 
 
 603 
 571 
 
 1,174 
 
 Grand total. 
 
 188 
 
 282 
 
 293 
 
 195 
 
 216 
 
 1,174 
 
 As previously mentioned, the Italian section of this group 
 ranks first, composing 39.8 per cent, of the entire number. 
 This is not an unlooked-for result, as Italians make up a very 
 large percentage of illiterate peoples immigrating into the 
 United States at the present time. In another division of this 
 report it is shown that 1,546 persons attend the elementary 
 evening schools. The total number of immigrants as stated 
 above is 1,174, indicating that this group has been in substan- 
 tially full attendance upon the evening schools. The difference 
 between the total school attendance and the number of immi- 
 grant certificates issued is accounted for by the number of vol- 
 untary attendants in the evening school. The number of 
 immigrants at various ages between 16 and 21 is essentially 
 the same. The 84 American-born illiterates can only be ac- 
 counted for individually. Many are cases of French Canadian 
 minors who have attended only the French parochial schools of 
 Lawrence, where little attention is given the English language. 
 Inasmuch! as little English is spoken in the home, the training 
 given in the school quickly slips away, leaving the child illit- 
 erate in English. Others are cases of subnormals who have not 
 completed the fourth grade bef6re leaving school. Table 3 
 indicates among which nationalities the illiteracy among minors 
 in Lawrence is found. 
 
1914.] 
 
 HOUSE — No. 2552. 
 
 59 
 
 Summary of Totals. 
 The study of certificates afforded an opportunity to see the 
 initial effect of the law in a crystallized form upon a textile 
 community before the situation had become complicated by 
 the repeated issuance of certificates to the same individuals. 
 Table 4 gives the total for the three; groups combined as to sex 
 and nationality. 
 
 Table 4. — Totals and Summaries for Three Groups. 
 
 
 Age. 
 
 Grand 
 Total. 
 
 Nationality. 
 
 14 to 16 
 
 1« to 21 
 
 (Literate). 
 
 16 to 21 
 
 (Illiterate). 
 
 Total. 
 
 American, . 
 
 M. 
 188 
 
 F. 
 202 
 
 M. F. 
 1,267 1,738 
 
 M. F. 
 34 50 
 
 M. F. 
 1,489 1,990 
 
 3,479 
 
 Great Britain or English, 
 
 18 
 
 13 
 
 155 148 
 
 1 
 
 174 161 
 
 335 
 
 Italian, 
 
 18 
 
 20 
 
 66 53 
 
 248 220 
 
 332 293 
 
 625 
 
 Russian, 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 20 50 
 
 76 87 
 
 101 140 
 
 241 
 
 Poles, 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 10 6 
 
 10 6 
 
 16 
 
 Canadian, 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 79 166 
 
 34 58 
 
 125 232 
 
 367 
 
 Austrian, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 5 4 
 
 35 28 
 
 40 32 
 
 72 
 
 Turkey, 
 
 
 - 
 
 31 19 
 
 25 3 
 
 56 22 
 
 78 
 
 Armenian, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 47 7 
 
 47 7 
 
 54 
 
 Syrian, 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 58 81 
 
 58 81 
 
 139 
 
 Portuguese, 
 
 
 - 
 
 5 4 
 
 5 10 
 
 10 14 
 
 24 
 
 German, 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 15 17 
 
 4 4 
 
 22 26 
 
 48 
 
 French, 
 
 13 
 
 7 
 
 28 23 
 
 15 15 
 
 56 45 
 
 101 
 
 Greeks, 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 S 2 
 
 8 2 
 
 10 
 
 Belgians, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Roumanians, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 All others, 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 10 7 
 
 - 
 
 12 11 
 
 23 
 
 Total, , ■ 
 
 259 
 
 262 
 
 1,681 2,229 
 
 603 571 
 
 2,543 3,062 
 
 6,605 
 
 Grand total, 
 
 521 
 
 
 3,910 
 
 1,174 
 
 5,605 
 
 
 It is noteworthy that more than 62 per cent, of 5,605 af- 
 fected by the law are Americans by birth. Probably not half 
 of this number were born of American parents. In every 
 group except the illiterate group there were more females than 
 males, and of the total, 5,605, there are over 500 more females 
 than males. The law has, therefore, in so far as is shown by 
 
60 
 
 CHILD LABOR LAW. 
 
 [May, 
 
 the statistics of those in employment on November 25, affected 
 more American-born persons than all others combined, and 500 
 more minor girls than minor boys. 
 
 Section III, — The liTioHT Schools. 
 One of the ways in which the school attendance provision of 
 the new law has affected the public education system is by in- 
 creasing greatly the number of illiterate minors attending the 
 evening schools. Due to the raising of the literacy requirement 
 for minors over 16, many who were, prior to Sept. 1, 1913, 
 classified as literates are now illiterate. The majority of illit- 
 erates in Lawrence are in the Oliver evening school, which is 
 located in the central part of the city near the foreign colonies. 
 In the Oliver and Oliver annex there were, on Oct. 23, 1913, 
 1,099 illiterate men and women in attendance, and 447 attend- 
 ing the Essex and Packard schools. The following table shows 
 the distribution of both illiterates and literates as to nationality 
 and sex attending the evening schools : — 
 
 Nationality. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Italian, 
 
 Polish, 
 
 Lithuanian, 
 
 Syrian, 
 
 Kuaaian, 
 
 Armenian, 
 
 French Canadian, 
 
 French, 
 
 Greek, 
 
 Portugueae, 
 
 Belgian, 
 
 Hebrew, 
 
 Swedish, 
 
 German, 
 
 English, 
 
 Scotch, 
 
 Irish, 
 
 American, 
 
 304 
 
 84 
 
 45 
 
 93 
 
 31 
 
 102 
 
 98 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 13 
 2 
 
 12 
 
 44 
 2 
 
 11 
 1 
 
 266 
 66 
 47 
 90 
 29 
 4 
 
 121 
 
 1 
 8 
 '1 
 
 S 
 28 
 
 1 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 
 863 683 
 
 Total males and females, 
 
 1,546 
 
 Per cent, of attendance for October, 89.8. 
 
1914.] HOUSE — Xo. 2552. 61 
 
 The evening school students ai*e classified in the school as to 
 sex, nationality and knowledge of English, making it possible 
 to use efficient methods of instruction. Classes meet three times 
 a week, the sessions being two hours in duration. The instruc- 
 tors in the elementary night schools are almost all women, regu- 
 larly employed as day teachers. They give evidence of interest 
 in the human side of their work with the foreign men and 
 women, and with few exceptions the methods and books in use 
 are good. However, there are many handicaps to successful 
 work in the Lawrence evening schools. In addition to the un- 
 comfortable seats designed for small children and unsuited to 
 persons over 16, the crowded rooms and fatigue of a day's work, 
 there is a psychological disadvantage in compulsory attendance. 
 Many of the men and women are listless and uninterested in 
 what is going on in the classes. 
 
 The Xorth American Civic League for Immigrants is doing 
 good work in connection with the evening schools. Once a week 
 the students attend a lecture given upon some historic or pa- 
 triotic theme in one of the classrooms. The classes are brought 
 to the lectures by nationality groups. One evening is given 
 to the Italian students, another to the Syrian, and so on through 
 the whole school. The lectures are illustrated with stereopti- 
 con views, and the words of the speaker are translated into the 
 language of the audience by an interpreter. 
 
 In strong contrast with the listless attitude of the students 
 in the compulsory night school is the enthusiasm of the students 
 in the voluntary night school. This school, recently started in 
 the high schoof building, is open to any person over 21 years 
 of age who cares to attend. About 100 have already been en- 
 rolled. English, history and civics are taught, the classes meet- 
 ing twice a week. This innovation has already been proved 
 valuable by the interest and progress of those attending. So 
 far as is known this is the only adult public evening school m 
 
 the State. 
 
 The difficulties of enforcing night school attendance, as set 
 forth in the general report of evening schools of the State, apply 
 in some degree also to Lawrence. Copies of the forms and 
 blanks which have been used with considerable success m re- 
 
62 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 cording evening school attendance in Lawrence are shown in 
 the Appendix, iN'os. 1 to 15. 
 
 Section IV. — The Laweence Ih-dtjsteial School. 
 
 In the Lawrence Industrial School (State aided) is to be 
 found the only instruction given in the trades and home arts 
 in that city. The usual requirements for admission to a State- 
 aided industrial school are enforced in the Lawrence school. 
 Only persons over 17, and employed in the lines of work in 
 which instructions are desired, can enroll. In addition, they 
 must show that they can profit by such instruction. This lat- 
 ter requirement generally shuts out illiterates. The classes of 
 each course meet twice each week, but the size of some of the 
 classes makes it necessary to have alternating sections. Thus 
 the school is in session four nights each week, the sessions 
 lasting for two hours. 
 
 The curriculum of the school is divided into three depart- 
 ments, as follows : — 
 
 1. The Textile Department^ including elementary and ad- 
 vanced loom fixing, elementary and advanced cloth designing, 
 elementary and advanced cloth calculations, one course in cot- 
 ton spinning, one course in cotton picking and carding, and one 
 course in worsted drawing and spinning. 
 
 2. The Mechanical Department, including one course in 
 rough framing, one course in cabinet making, one course in 
 machine repairing, elementary and advanced electricity, one 
 course in steam engineering, one course in house designing, 
 one course in machine designing. 
 
 3. The Domestic Arts Department, including elementary 
 and advanced dressmaking, of which there are seven sections 
 in all; elementary and advanced millinery, of which there are 
 two beginning sections; one course of cooking, of which there 
 are four sections. 
 
 The policy of the school is to keep the classes small, making 
 the individual contact between pupil and teacher great. Classes 
 do not frequently run over 15 in number under the present 
 plan. The total enrollment for this year is about 600. 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 63 
 
 A waiting list is maintained for those who are specially 
 anxious to enter one of the classes. The only men's course for 
 which a waiting list is necessary is the class in loom fixing, for 
 which about 35 men are waiting, but for each women's course 
 there is a long list of women and girls registered. For example, 
 in the sewing classes, in which there are at present 128 women 
 in seven sections, more than 100 women have placed their 
 names upon the waiting list, — nearly as many as are enrolled 
 in the course. The same is true for cooking and millinery 
 courses. The accommodations, in addition to being too small 
 to care for all who desire instruction, are not well suited to 
 the teaching of domestic arts, it being impossible to give any 
 illustrative instructions ih home decorating and home sanita- 
 tion. The rooms are noisy, barren and comfortless. In spite 
 of all these disadvantages the women seem to enjoy their work 
 and manifest a keen interest in the study of domestic arts. On 
 the other hand, the building, which is an old factory structure, 
 is well adapted to the courses in textiles and mechanics given 
 to men. 
 
 It should be noted that the instruction is not given to those 
 between 14 and 16, nor, in general, to the illiterates, it being 
 impossible for the latter to profit by such instruction as is given 
 in the industrial school. The group, therefore, that can profit 
 by this school are those classified as literates 16 to 21 and all 
 literate adults ; inasmuch as these two groups make up the major 
 portion of the population for whom such a school is designed, 
 these restrictions are justifiable. It has been assumed that chil- 
 dren under 16 years of age could profit more greatly by work- 
 ing through the general courses of the night elementary or high 
 school, subsequently taking up work in the industrial school, 
 than by entering directly into the technical and domestic art 
 courses without restrictions as to age. 
 
 Section V. — Methods of School Depaetmext in putting 
 
 THE Law into Opeeation. 
 
 In the digest of school data furnished on another sheet of 
 
 this report the statistics are given for the schools in general, as 
 
 shown by the employment and educational certificates issued. 
 
64 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 The method of issuing these certificates was systematically 
 ■worked out by the superintendent, ilr. Sheridan. It was as 
 follows : — 
 
 About the middle of August Mr. Sheridan began a series of 
 letters to the large employers of child labor in Lawrence, that 
 is, the managers of the textile mills. In these letters he ex- 
 plained the law and set forth a plan to be followed in complying 
 with it. To each of these employers he later sent a large num- 
 ber of duplicate copies of the State forms of certificates (see 
 Appendix), asking them to distribvite the forms to each child 
 in the two groups, — between the ages of 14 and 16 and be- 
 tween the ages of 16 and 21. Each child was to fill out the 
 information required, having the forms ready for use when 
 called for by the school authorities. 
 
 Mr. Sheridan then named evenings upon which certain mills 
 were to send their minors to the school office, first those under 
 16 and afterwards those between 16 and 21. Every arrange- 
 ment was made for expediting the issuance of the certificates 
 when the candidates applied for them. By inviting the mills 
 to send children on certain evenings, the number who applied 
 for certificates each evening was held under control by the 
 school officers. 
 
 After all the mills had sent in their employees, and all of 
 these who were eligible had secured certificates, a general in- 
 vitation was issued to the other employers of the city to send 
 their minors to the school office for certificates. All of this 
 work was done in the evening in order not to disturb the work- 
 ing day of the applicants. Lawrence was the first city in the 
 State to finish the issuance of certificates. 
 
 Beside requesting the mill men to send in their minor em- 
 ployees, the school superintendent also asked them to send a list 
 of all children between 14 and 16 who were to be dropped from 
 the mills when the new law went into effect. This the employ- 
 ers did, and it was found that 636 children were thus dis- 
 charged. This list of discharged children included their ages, 
 addresses and the school and grade last attended. Having this 
 list in hand, the school superintendent sent out a request to the 
 various school principals for a weekly report of the names and 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 65 
 
 addresses of tJbe children who had voluntarily returned to 
 school. It was found that up to November 25, 60 had thus re- 
 turned to school. Having the names and addresses of all dis- 
 charged from the mills, and the names and addresses of those 
 having voluntarily returned to school, it was possible to follow 
 up those who after September 1 were neither at work nor at 
 school. 
 
 By the time the school census was taken in December many 
 of the 636 children sent out of the mills in September had 
 found legal employment, left the city or become 16 years of 
 age. When the census enumerators found children between 14 
 and 16 years of age not in school and not legally employed, 
 they sent the names and addresses to the superintendent's office. 
 On January 1, when the school authorities began a systematic 
 effort to reach children not in school, nor at work, there were 
 810 minors between the ages of 14 and 16 who had been re- 
 ported neither employed nor at school. The attendance officers 
 had already accounted for most of these, and having a duplicate 
 check in the mill records and the school census returns, the num- 
 ber of children between 14 and 16 years old not included in the 
 810 was probably very small. By January 10 the attendance 
 officers had succeeded in following up and classifying all of the 
 810 cases. They were classified as follows : — 
 
 Over 16 before January 1, H^ 
 
 16 in January, -'-'* 
 
 16 in February, . . . -j. 
 
 Special home permits, 39 
 
 Secured employment certificates, 205 
 
 Returned to school, "^ 
 
 Left city, .... 36 
 
 Address not in Lawrence, .... ... 61 
 
 Total, 584 
 
 The above figures are full of significance in determining what 
 has happened in the group between 14 and 1 6 years of age since 
 the law went into effect on September 1 . 
 
 ^^^5^. _It is seen that 115 children had passed beyond the 
 
66 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 legal age restriction in regard to the eight-hour day and com- 
 pulsory school attendance before January 1, and likewise 35 
 in January and February, Thus, by the process of time, in a 
 few months 18.5 per cent, of the 810 children reported by the 
 census enumerators and by the returns from the mills have been 
 eliminated from this problem. 
 
 Second. — In addition to the 621 children between the ages 
 of 14 and 16 who took employment certificates before ISTovem- 
 ber 25, it is seen that 205 of those reported out of work, or not 
 in school at some date between September 1 and January 1, 
 have taken employment certificates. Thus 25.3 per cent, of 
 the 810 are accounted for. 
 
 Third. — Before the special attention of the school authori- 
 ties had been turned to issuing home permits, 39, or 4.8 per 
 cent, of the 810, had received home permits. 
 
 Fourth. — It is seen that 93 children had returned to the 
 school by January 1, and before attendance officers had made 
 a special systematic effort to follow up the children reported 
 by the census and mill records. These children, forming 11.4 
 per cent, of the 810 under consideration, were reported by the 
 principals of the various grade schools upon the request of the 
 superintendent. 
 
 Fifth. — Oi the 810 reported, 36, or 4.5 per cent., had 
 moved away from Lawrence. 
 
 Sixth. — And, finally, 61, or 7.5 per cent, of tliose reported, 
 were found to live on streets without the city limits of Law- 
 rence, that is, in Methuen, Andover or some other adjacent 
 place. 
 
 It should be noted that 584 of the 810 children between 14 
 and 16 reported by the returns from the mills and by the school 
 census have thus been accounted for as being released from 
 the restrictions of the law, or passed out of the limits of the 
 Lawrence school authority. The school authorities were there- 
 fore obligated to see that the 226 children remaining un- 
 accounted for either secured employment, applied for and were 
 granted home permits, or returned to school. A preliminary 
 study of the 226 led the attendance officers to believe that about 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 67 
 
 176 woiild apply for home permits and about 50 would go either 
 to school or to work. 
 
 Starting Januarj-- 13, the superintendent began sending let- 
 ters to the 226 families, stating the law and advising them to 
 take steps at once to meet its requirements. Copies of these 
 letters are given in the Appendix. There were 144 answers 
 to the first letters, many of which state that the child would be 
 sent to school or would secure a home permit. After waiting 
 ten days, a second letter, more urgent than the first, was sent 
 to 82 who had not answered the first communication. Answers 
 were received from all but 11 of these. The 11 cases remain- 
 ing were looked up by the investigator and it was found that 
 one family had moved away, one child had no parents living, 
 and the parents of the remaining 9 had neglected to reply to 
 the letters from the superintendent. On February 12 the re- 
 sults of the work of the school officers on the 226 cases were as 
 follows : — 
 
 Number of cases : — 
 Males, . . 78 
 
 Females, . . 148 
 
 Source of name and address: — 
 
 Reported by census enumerators, ... 72 
 
 Reported by mill records, . . 152 
 
 Not known to investigator, . . 2 
 
 226 
 
 226 
 
 Number of children : — 
 
 In employment, . ^^ 
 
 In school, ^3 
 
 In home employment, . . • 1"^ 
 
 Awaiting home permits still pending, . . 33 
 
 68 
 
 133 
 
 Not at school, not employed, not holding home permits, . . 25 
 
 226 
 
 It should be noted that there are about twice as many girls 
 as boys among the 226. More than twice as many of the cases 
 reported came from the mill returns as from the census records. 
 Thirty-five of the 226 children have received employment cer- 
 tificates and have gone to work. One hundred and thirty-three 
 children have made application for special home permits, and 
 100 have received home permits, whereas the estimated number 
 
68 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 of applicants was 176. There are 133 children reported as 
 at home, which corresponds to the numher having made appli- 
 cation for home permits and having received home permits. 
 There are 25 children, however, who have not yet been adjusted 
 to the requirements of the law. The attendance officers have 
 the names and addresses of these 25 people and are now work- 
 ing upon their cases. The 11 previously mentioned as having 
 been found by the investigator are among this 25. The remain- 
 ing 14 have, in much the same way as those seen by the in- 
 vestigator, been slow in complying with the law, due in some 
 cases to ignorance and in others to the hope of finding employ- 
 ment or otherwise complying vrith the law without returning 
 to school. 
 
 The most significant thing about the above result is the fact 
 that the school officers have been able to follow up and reach 
 every child who has legally come under their authority. The 
 work of putting the law in operation has been systematically, 
 carefully and tactfully done from the beginning. The state- 
 ment commonly heard that the school authorities in various 
 cities of the State do not know what has become of the children 
 sent out of the mill is not true in the case of Lawrence. Every 
 one of the children, the name of whom was sent to the school 
 authorities by the mill superintendent, has been accounted for. 
 In addition to this, many children not reported by the mills, 
 but found by the census enumerators, have been accounted for. 
 The fact that the Lawrence school authorities were not able to 
 account for all of these children immediately after the law went 
 into effect is no reflection upon the school system, inasmuch as 
 such a piece of work takes considerable time to carry to com- 
 pletion. That such a condition of confusion still exists in 
 many towns in the State does not weigh against the principle 
 of the child labor law, inasmuch as the work at Lawrence has 
 demonstrated that it is possible to account accurately not only 
 for those dismissed by the mills, but also those found by the 
 census enumerators to be still within the age of compulsory 
 school attendance. It is clearly practicable for the school ad- 
 ministration of those cities in which a correct accounting has 
 not yet been made for those children between the ages of 14 
 
1914.] HOrSE — No. 2552. 69 
 
 and 16 to do so within a reasonable period. There are, of 
 course, many reasons why a school system may find it somewhat 
 difficult to adjust itself to the administration of the law, — in- 
 efficient attendance officers, too small a staff of attendance offi- 
 cers, imperfect methods of filing certificates and other school 
 attendance records, lack of interest or efficiency on the part of 
 the superintendent of schools, and want of support of public 
 opinion in the community. Some superintendents have been 
 dilatory in the administration of the law, believing that it was 
 not to be permanent. The work of the LavTrence school officers 
 is important as a demonstration of what can be done to put 
 the law actively and effectively in operation when both the 
 superintendent and the attendance officers are not only efficient, 
 but interested in seeing the law obeyed. 
 
 Sectiox VI. — Study of Famimes feom Data isr School 
 
 Depaetment. 
 Having on file the applications for permits of one hundred 
 forty-two persons, included in the two hundred twenty-six to 
 whom letters were addressed by the superintendent of schools 
 on January 13 advising them to comply with the law, it was 
 possible to get some facts regarding the applicants and their 
 families. It has been noted that one himdred and thirty-three 
 children were classified as " at home ", one hundred having 
 secured permits and thirty-three having applications still pend- 
 ing the decision of the superintendent. The difference between 
 the one hundred and forty-two applications on file and the one 
 hundred and thirty-three children classified as "at home" is 
 the number of permits which have been denied by the superin- 
 tendent of schools. These children will be returned to school. 
 The following data give some interesting information regard- 
 ing the one hundred and forty-two families who have applied 
 for home permits. These families are among those who have 
 suffered the greatest embarrassment during the past winter and 
 have felt the necessity of keeping their children at home from 
 school in order to relieve the pressure of circumstances. 
 
70 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 Number of males, °^ 
 
 Number of females, -^^^ 
 
 142 
 
 Number 14 to 15 years old, *' 
 
 Number 15 to 16 years old, ^^ 
 
 Number having sought employment, ... . . 63 
 Number of fathers of applicants working, . . • .94 
 Number of mothers of applicants working, ... 45 
 
 139 
 
 Both father and mother working, 28 
 
 Members of family other than father and mother employed, . . 146 
 Size of average family, 6.6 
 
 It is natural that more girls should apply for home permits 
 than boys because of the nature of the home employment, which, 
 in a city such as Lawrence, would generally be housework. 
 Again we see that more children between 15 and 16 years of 
 age have been affected than between 14 and 15 years of age. 
 It is important to notice that only 63 of those asking for home 
 permits have sought employment in the various mills and stores 
 of Lawrence. From investigation it is shown that many of the 
 children applying for special permits do so because they do not 
 like school and fail to see the value of further schooling for 
 them. In several cases they did not have good health while in 
 school. In some cases the parents have believed it to be more 
 valuable to the child to remain at home learning dressmaking 
 and cooking from the mother than to continue in school. On 
 the other hand, some children have applied for home permits 
 only that they may remain away from school until they are 
 able to find work. In such cases the provision of the law al- 
 lovdng home permits forms a loophole through which some 
 may escape from the principles of the law, unless carefully 
 watched by the superintendent. 
 
 It has been found in some cases that the mother has gone 
 to work in order to increase the family income. This is an 
 unfortunate situation, and cases in which such a move is neces- 
 sary should be reported to the Associated Charities or the ad- 
 ministrators of the law of 1913, granting special aid to mothers 
 with dependent children. Undesirable as such a situation as 
 this is, there may be some value in it in the case of a girl. With 
 the mother at work in the mills it falls upon the girl to do the 
 
1914.: 
 
 HOUSE — No. 2552. 
 
 71 
 
 housework and care for the children, and by this means she 
 learns some of the domestic arts which are not included in the 
 school curriculmn. In all such cases this situation is only tem- 
 porary because the child will take the place of the mother as 
 the wage earner as soon as he or she reaches the age of 16. 
 The number of cases where mothers have been obliged to take 
 the places of children in the mills has undoubtedly been greatly 
 overestimated in current opinion. 
 
 The above table shows 94 fathers and 45 mothers employed. 
 In 28 cases of the 142 both the father and mother are em- 
 ployed. In, these cases where both father and mother are em- 
 ployed it was found that the facts shown in the following table 
 for income prevailed : — 
 
 NtrMBEH OP Families. 
 
 Total Weekly 
 Income. 
 
 None, 
 
 1, 
 
 None, 
 
 2, 
 
 1, 
 
 1, 
 
 3, 
 
 1, 
 
 None, 
 
 1, 
 
 2, 
 
 3, 
 
 2, 
 
 3, 
 
 2, 
 
 None, 
 
 i, 
 
 1, 
 
 None, 
 
 1, 
 
 None, 
 
 1, 
 
 Less than $10 
 SIO to $11 
 
 11 to 12 
 
 12 to 13 
 
 13 to 14 
 
 14 to 15 
 
 15 to 16 
 
 16 to 17 
 
 17 to 18 
 
 18 to 19 
 
 19 to 20 
 
 20 to 21 
 
 21 to 22 
 
 22 to 23 
 
 23 to 24 
 
 24 to 25 
 
 25 to 26. 
 
 26 to 27 
 
 27 to 28 
 
 28 to 29 
 
 29 to 30 
 
 30 to 31 
 
72 
 
 CHILD LABOR LAW. 
 
 [May, 
 
 These figures include the total family income, that is, the 
 earnings not only of the father and mother but also of any 
 children who may be at work. 
 
 There were 14 cases where the mother was working and the 
 father was dead, or for some other reason was not a supporter 
 of the family. The income for such families is shown in the 
 following table:- — 
 
 Number of Families. 
 
 Total Weekly 
 Income. 
 
 2, 
 
 
 $4 to 
 
 U 
 
 2, 
 
 
 6 to 
 
 7 
 
 2, 
 
 
 7to 
 
 8 
 
 I, 
 
 
 9 to 
 
 10 
 
 1, 
 
 
 10 to 
 
 11 
 
 1, 
 
 
 12 to 
 
 13 
 
 2, 
 
 
 15 to 
 
 16 
 
 1. 
 
 
 20 to 
 
 21 
 
 1, 
 
 
 21 to 
 
 22 
 
 1, 
 
 
 25 to 
 
 26 
 
 These data show a very scattered distribution of incomes, 
 according to no regular grouping. The figures of income are 
 for the entire family earnings, including that of older children 
 who are at work. Thus it is seen from the above that out of 
 the 142 cases under consideration there were 28 families in 
 which the father and mother both are employed, and 14 cases 
 in which the mother is employed, the father for some reason 
 not producing income. It is further noteworthy that among 
 the 14 mothers employed there were 5 who were unassisted by 
 the income of another member of the family, such as an older 
 child or another relative. The incomes of these 5 mothers are 
 as follows : — 
 
 1 -was receiving $15 a week. 
 1 was receiving $9 a week. 
 1 was receiving $6.75 a week. 
 1 was receiving $4 a week. 
 1 was receiving $20 a month. 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 73 
 
 Of the 142 cases whioli applied for home permits 128 gave 
 complete data regarding the income of the family and the num- 
 ber in family. It was possible from these data to show the 
 distribution of wages through the 128 families according to 
 the number in the family and a given income. 
 
74 
 
 CHILD LABOR LAW. 
 
 [May, 
 
 
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1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 75 
 
 The table indicates an irregular but sustained relation be- 
 tween the number in the family and the income of the family. 
 The income is reckoned not in the amount turned into the fam- 
 ily treasury, but by the total earnings of all the members em- 
 ployed. The distribution according to number in the family 
 and income is so scattered and irregular that only the tenden- 
 cies shown may be stated. This is in part caused by the nature 
 of the textile industry, which pays not an individual wage but 
 a family wage, that is, it is customary for more than one mem- 
 ber of the average family to work in order to keep up the 
 standard of living in the family. 
 
 Our tabulations indicate that the average size of family 
 included in this study is 6.6, which is larger than the average 
 size for the country as a whole. This is not unexpected, how- 
 ever, as a great majority of families considered are of foreign 
 birth, and such families are generally more prolific than the 
 native stock. It is seen from the table that the largest number 
 of families, 28 in all, have 5 members, which is about the 
 standard for the United States as a whole; and 17 of the 28 
 families have an income of between $13 and $21. The next 
 largest number, 21 in all, are families having 8 members; and 
 17 of these 21 families have an income between $17 and $31. 
 There is not a large enough number of families considered in 
 this table to erase individualities and so furnish results upon 
 which general principles can be stated. 
 
 SECTioiir VII. — Study of Families tiieough Investiga- 
 tions IN THE Homes. 
 
 Forty-two Individual Cases. 
 In order to ascertain the exact effects of the child labor law 
 upon children 14 to 16 years old, and the relation of the law 
 to children at school and in the home, 42 cases were examined 
 in considerable detail by the investigator. These 42 cases were 
 chosen from among those who had applied for home permits, 
 it being assumed that such cases would show where the causes 
 of economic hardship lay. This assumption was made upon 
 the ground that those children who had gone to work were not 
 
76 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 now included in the immediate problem, and those who had 
 gone back to school could be at least temporarily left out of 
 consideration when looking for the families most deeply affected 
 by the economic conditions in Lawrence, whether caused by the 
 law or not. On the other hand, those children who had made 
 application for home permits belong to families who have found 
 the greatest difficulty in keeping up the standard of living dur- 
 ing the past few months. 
 
 The greatest significance of these cases is not in totals or 
 summaries but in the facts relating to individual families here 
 presented. To strike totals in some cases would be to lose the 
 personality of the cases without gaining information about note- 
 worthy tendencies, but there are certain totals which indicate 
 conditions which are general for the 42, cases. The totals which 
 are considered valuable are given below, first for girls and second 
 for boys. They have been drawn primarily from the original 
 notes on the cases studied. 
 
 Summary of Charts. 
 
 Gills. 
 Number 14 years old, .... 6 
 
 Number 15 years old, . ?i 
 
 30 
 
 Nationality of father: — 
 
 Irish, . . . 6 
 
 French Canadian, 10 
 
 English, . . 4 
 
 American, 5 
 
 Italian, 1 
 
 Syrian, . 1 
 
 German, 2 
 
 Nationality of mother: — 
 
 Irish, . g 
 
 French Canadian, 9 
 
 English, 4 
 
 American, . g 
 
 Italian, 1 
 
 SjTian, ' J 
 
 German, j 
 
 Not given, j 
 
 Parents dead : — 
 
 Father, . -^ 
 
 Mothers, 9 
 
 Empldyment of father: 
 Textile, 
 Non-textile, 
 
 14 
 11 
 
 Not working, ^ 
 
1914.] 
 
 HOUSE — No. 2552. 
 
 77 
 
 Employment of mother: — 
 
 
 TextUe, ... . . 
 
 6 
 
 Non-textUe, . ... . . 
 
 3 
 
 Not working, . . 
 
 . 19 
 
 Last school attended by child: — 
 
 
 Public, 
 
 . 15 
 
 Parochial, . ..... 
 
 . 15 
 
 Child's reason for leaving school: — 
 
 
 Disliked school, . . . . ... 
 
 . 16 
 
 Needed at home, ... 
 
 . 12 
 
 Sickness, . . . ... 
 
 2 
 
 Did child like school? — 
 
 
 Yes,. . 
 
 13 
 
 No 
 
 17 
 
 Did parents want child to go to school? — 
 
 
 Yes, .... . . 
 
 14 
 
 No, 
 
 16 
 
 Does child want to go to school? — 
 
 
 Yes, : 
 
 8 
 
 No 
 
 . 22 
 
 Present employment of child: — 
 
 
 Home, 
 
 . 27 
 
 Elsewhere, ... . . . 
 
 3 
 
 Previous employment of child : — 
 
 
 Textile, . • 
 
 19 
 
 Non-textile, ....... 
 
 3 
 
 Not employed 
 
 8 
 
 Date of leaving employment: — 
 
 
 Before Sept. 1, . . . . . . 
 
 9 
 
 After Sept. 1 
 
 13 
 
 Not employed, ........•• 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 Yes .... 
 
 17 
 
 No ... 
 
 1 
 
 Not given, ■ • 
 
 4 
 
 Boys. 
 
 
 Number 14 years old, ... . • • ^ 
 
 4 
 
 Number 15 years old, . . ... 
 
 8 
 
 
 12 
 
 Nationality of father: — 
 
 1 
 
 Irish 
 
 French Canadian, 
 
 5 
 
 English, . . . . V ■ • • • 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 American, .....•■•• 
 
 Italian, .....•■•• 
 
 2 
 
 Syrian, .....-•••• 
 
 
 German, ......■■•• 
 
 
78 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 Nationality of mother: — 
 
 Irish, . . . . 1 
 
 French Canadian, . . .5 
 
 English, . . ...... 1 
 
 American, ..... . 2 
 
 Italian, ... 2 
 
 Syrian, 
 
 German, 
 
 Parents dead : — 
 
 Father, ... 1 
 
 Mother, . . ... 1 
 
 Employment of father: — 
 
 Textile, . . 6 
 
 Non-textile, . . 3 
 
 Not working, . 3 
 
 Employment of mother : — 
 
 Textile, . . 3 
 
 Non-textile, 1 
 
 Not working, . 8 
 
 Last school attended by child : — 
 
 Public, ... 10 
 
 Parochial, . . 2 
 
 Child's reason for leaving school : — 
 
 Disliked school, . 5 
 
 Needed at home, . . 7 
 
 Did child like school? — 
 
 Yes, . . 4 
 
 No, . . 8 
 
 Did parents want child at school? — 
 
 Yes, ...... 4 
 
 No, . . .8 
 
 Does child want to go to school? — 
 
 Yes, 3 
 
 No, . . 9 
 
 Present employment of child : — 
 
 Home, . 6 
 
 Elsewhere, . . 6 
 
 Previous employment of child : — 
 
 Textile, .» 8 
 
 Non-textile, 1 
 
 Not employed, . 3 
 
 Date of leaving employment : — 
 
 Before Sept. 1, . . .... 1 
 
 After Sept. 1, . . . . . !> 
 
 Not employed, . .... . , 
 
 Did child like work? — 
 
 Yes, . . 7 
 
 No, . . . ....... 2 
 
1914.] . HOUSE — No. 2552. 79 
 
 These totals show several important facts to which attention 
 is called. Under the heading " reason for leaving school," the 
 figures show 21 cases of children stating that they left school 
 because " they did not like it," that is, the school did not have 
 sufficient interest nor ostensible value to these persons to hold 
 them there after the compulsory attendance provision of the 
 former law released them. On the other hand, 19 children 
 stated that they left school because the family needed the wages 
 they could earn ; in some of these cases they stated that " they 
 did not like school any^vay," but that the necessity of earning 
 money was the principal reason for leaving. How much value 
 attaches to this indictment of the school by children is not a 
 question for discussion here, but it points to the fact that the 
 operation of the law requiring children under 16 years of age 
 to go to school can be strongly facilitated by an improvement 
 of the content of school work. This is further emphasized in 
 the answers to the question, " Did the child like school ? " to 
 which 17 children replied in the affirmative and 25 in the nega- 
 tive. The fact that 18 parents stated that they wanted their 
 children to continue in school, whereas 24 stated that they did 
 not, should also be considered. This responsibility is not en- 
 tirely upon the public school system, inasmuch as 17 of the 42 
 children under consideration had attended parochial schools, 
 which are a strong factor in the educational situation in Law- 
 rence. 
 
 On the other hand, 24 children who had been employed pre- 
 vious to September 1 stated that they liked their work, while 
 only 3 stated that they did not and 4 were undecided. Nearly 
 all of these persons had been employed in textile mills. An 
 analysis of their statements that they had enjoyed their work 
 brought out the fact that aside from the wages which they 
 earned they enjoyed the social side of their days in the mills. 
 They were more free and unrestrained while in the mills than 
 while in school, and said that they enjoyed working in the mills 
 because they had " jolly times." The figures under " date of 
 leaving " column show that 10 left before September 1 and 21 
 -after September 1, that is, 10 children left before the law went 
 into effect, and 21 after the law went into effect, and as shown 
 by the original notes of these cases 19 of the 21 who left after 
 
80 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 the law went into effect were discharged because of the pro- 
 visions of the new law. In other words, out of 42 special cases 
 investigated, which are assumed to be typical of the families 
 that have felt the depression of the winter most severely, only 
 19 children left employment because of the new law. 
 
 In order to show the nature of the interviews the notes on 
 two cases are given below. These are cases in which the in- 
 formation desired has been quite fully obtained, and which are 
 considered fairly representative. 
 
 No. t. — V. S., a girl of American parentage who will be 15 years 
 old next July, left school last June, having completed the seventh 
 grade, and went to work in a textile mill as a "mender." There she 
 earned between 50 cents and $1 a week while learning to do the work. 
 She was discharged before September 1 on account of lack of work 
 in the mills. She had gone to work in the first place because she dis- 
 liked school and study. She does not go to night school. Her school 
 record shows that she failed in the first and seventh grades, due to sick- 
 ness. She has been seriously ill, having had at various times diphtheria, 
 bronchitis and pneumonia. This girl's earnings were not a necessity 
 to the family, but she was happy and well while at work in the miU 
 and is very anxious to return to the mill. The family consists of the 
 mother, father and five children. The father, who appears to be in ■ 
 good health now, is working in a lumber yard earning $12 a week. 
 However, he has had several operations for tubercular glands. The 
 mother is in poor health and says she has bronchitis. A daughter, 17 
 years old, is a mender in a textile mill, earning $9 a week when on 
 full time. However, due to slack work she has during the past few 
 weeks earned only between $4 and $6. Two other children, 7 and 10 
 years of ag«, are in school; and one, 5 years of age, is at home. The 
 family has a comfortable home, fairly well furnished, for which they 
 pay $2.75 a week in rent. There are five rooms in the house, including 
 the kitchen, dining room, parlor and two bedrooms. There is no bath. 
 The total income of the family is between $16 and $21 a week. The 
 girl under consideration is post-pubertal, well developed, though frail 
 and delicate in appearance. There are some indications of pulmonary 
 disease in her case and in the ease of both the father aaid mother. 
 
 No. 5. — H. v., a girl 15 years old, was born in Michigan. Her 
 mother is 47 years old and is also American born and literate. Her 
 father, who is 63 years old, is French Canadian and illiterate. H. V. 
 has three sisters and one brother at home, two brothers are at work in 
 Portland, Me., but they earn very little. Of those at home the girl 
 of 11 and the boy of 13 go to a Catholic school. The oldest girl, 30 
 years of age, is at home but cannot work on account of epileptic fits. 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 81 
 
 Another girl of 24 works in a restaurant when she can, but has had 
 no regular work all winter and is out of work now. Th^ two boys at 
 work are oontributing^nothing at present to the support of the family. 
 The mother is strong and well and works regularly in a textile mill 
 for $8 a week. The father is out of work at present. The father 
 carries a life insurance of $250. The family live in a house of nine 
 rooms, paying $5 a week for rent. They have two roomers from whom 
 they receive $1 a week each. The total income of the family at present 
 is $11 to $13 a week for a family of 7 persons. H. V.'s earnings were 
 needed because of her sister's illness, and she left school while in the 
 seventh gTade to work in a restaurant where she earned $4 a week 
 and her meals. Since the law went into effect she has been at home 
 and has been trying to find work in a textile mill, but was refused 
 because no help was needed. She goes to "night school and is in the 
 seventh grade and enjoys her work. She did not like day school. She 
 is post -pubertal, well developed and in good health. She was always 
 able to pass her grades in school, but appears to be of average intelli- 
 gence. She states that she enjoys doing housework at home. 
 
 Section VIII. — Adjustment to the jSTew Law. 
 The embarrassing situations attributed to the new law can 
 only be temporary in many of their aspects. In the first place, 
 within two years all children between 14 and 16 years of age, 
 affected by the law on September 1, will have passed the age of 
 16, being then beyond the restrictions of an eight-hour day. 
 According to data given in previous pages of this report 521 
 children between 14 and 16 were employed on l^ovember 21, 
 and 810 other children were affected by the law between Sep- 
 tember 1 and January 1, as shown by our previous discussion. 
 This makes a total of about 1,300 children who have been 
 touched by the new law. The 621 cases employed in the mills 
 have constantly grown in number by the gradual assimilation 
 of children between 14 and 16 into the textile industries. 
 These, then, are eliminated from our immediate attention. 
 Out of the 810 other minors, most of whom were not employed 
 on January 1, it is known that 115 became 16 before Jan. 1, 
 1914, and, furthermore, as our data have shown that the ma- 
 jority of these 810 were between 15 and 16 they will be elimi- 
 nated from the problem within a year's time; likewise those now 
 between 14 and 15 will be eliminated. Then as other children 
 not now 14, through the process of time, come within the re- 
 
82 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 strictions of the law they can be adjusted iadividually to these 
 restrictions and to the industrial conditions, and so no great 
 number of cases will accumulate. Furthermore, a study of the 
 certificates issued between ISTovember 15 and February 13 shows 
 that since January 1 there has been a steady increase in the 
 total number of minors who have been hired in Lawrence, which 
 is an indication of the improving conditions in the labor market 
 and in consequence of the economic conditions of families con- 
 cerned. It was found that that part of the total number of 
 minors employed, whose ages are between 14 and 16, gradually 
 decreased in proportion to the whole number from one-fifth in 
 the period from November 16 to ISlovember 29 to one-fourteenth 
 between December 24 and December 31. But between January 
 2 and January 10 the fraction was again one-fifth and has con- 
 tinued larger than one-eighth to the present time. This is im- 
 portant, as showing that the 'employers of Lawrence are adjust- 
 ing themselves to the conditions of the law including the eight- 
 hour day, and that the labor market is improving, making a 
 larger demand not only for minors over 16 but also for those 
 between 14 and 16. This again points to a rapid elimination 
 of the embarrassing features of the new law. 
 
 A study of individual cases, which have been taken as typical, 
 shows that very many of the parents of children affected by the 
 child labor law are not regularly employed for full time, and 
 that the other members of the family who are old enough to be 
 employed without an eight-hour day restriction are equally 
 unfortunate in not being able to work full time. Many cases 
 were found in which previous to the last few days of January 
 and the first week in February the father and other employed 
 members of the family had not had a full week's pay for three 
 or four weeks, and often for a longer period. This reduction 
 in the family income has in many cases wrought considerable 
 hardship. One example will suffice : a man, wife and one child, 
 all of French Canadian birth, had been living upon the wages 
 of the father, which .amoimted to $10 a week when working 
 full time. At the time of the investigator's visit, about Jan- 
 uary 25, this man had not had a full week's pay for more than 
 six weeks, the income thereby being reduced from $10 to $5 or 
 $6 per week. On account of the meagemess of this income the 
 
1914-] HOUSE — No. 2552. 
 
 83 
 
 mother had sent the child, who was 15 years old, to work for a 
 neighboring family, earing for children and doing housework. 
 The girl received $2 a week and her board, returning home each 
 evening to sleep. After the father had paid the rent of $2.25 
 there was little enough left of the family income to provide 
 food and clothing for the family. The hardship in this family, 
 as in the most of cases investigated, is undoubtedly due to the 
 general economic conditions in Lawrence, and not to the re- 
 strictions of the child labor law. The above table shows a 
 quickening demand for labor in Lawrence. Witt this improv- 
 ing condition most of the embarrassment which has been com- 
 mon during the past few months will pass away and with it 
 many of the objections to the new law. 
 
 In addition to these auspicious conditions the school officials 
 of Lawrence and of many other towns are taking an intelligent 
 and progressive attitude toward the law. For the State as a 
 whole it will probably be more than a year before much change 
 can be worked out in the school system to fit it to the new con- 
 ditions, but such adjustments as can be readily made in dealing 
 with children returned to the school from industry are being 
 put into practice. In addition to this the law has made it more 
 urgent upon the school authorities to incorporate courses into 
 the school curricula which have more vital interest for the child 
 and more incentive and inspiration to a larger education. In 
 the opinion of the superintendent of schools of Lawrence the 
 difficulties which have come to the school system as a result of 
 the law will have been fully dealt with and overcome before two 
 years have elapsed. 
 
 The fact that minors must seciire a new certificate every 
 time they leave one position and take up another has made it 
 possible to record the shifting of children in employment 
 through the number of certificates each child has had. Thus, 
 the figures show how minors are passing from one job 
 to another. It is seen that about nine-thirteenths as many 
 second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth certificates have been issued 
 as first certificates. This is also an indication of the volume of 
 work which must be done over and over again by the school 
 officers, and points to the need of a perfected method of filing, 
 recording and classification. 
 
84 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 SeCTIOX IX. COKCI.USIOXS OF IXVESTIGATOR. 
 
 .V summary of the iDrincipal findings of this investigation is 
 now given as a conclusion. 
 
 First. — The public school system of Lawrence has been able 
 to account for all the children affected by the law, thus demon- 
 strating that with efficient attendance officers and intelligeni 
 and energetic supervision the school system can successfully 
 handle a crisis such as the new law produced last September. 
 
 Second. — Improvements are necessary in the content of the 
 school curricula to make it meet the needs of an industrial com- 
 munity. It has been shown that more than half of the children, 
 who by careful analysis are indicated as most directly affected 
 by the law, are not interested in school and do not find an ap- 
 peal in the course there offered, all of which points to the need 
 of an extension of the field covered by the school curricula and 
 an increase in equipment as a necessary supplement to the prin- 
 ciples of the child labor law. This applies alike to the day and 
 evening schools. 
 
 Third. — The facilities for industrial education in Lawrence 
 are confined to the Massachusetts Industrial School (State 
 aided). This school is doing excellent work, but is not able to 
 meet the demands of women who wish to pursue domestic art 
 courses. Such extension of building and equipment as would 
 enable this school fully to supply the demand made upon it 
 would be of great value to the homes of Lawrence in the future 
 as well as toi the individual in the present. 
 
 Fourth. — A study of individual cases leads to the conclusion 
 that the economic embarrassment found in many homes in Law- 
 rence, about which much complaint has been made, is not caused 
 primarily or originally by the child labor law but by the general 
 slack condition of business and the consequent depression of the 
 labor market. It has been shown that those families dependent 
 upon the textile industry for a living were for some time de- 
 prived of an appreciable portion of their income throiigh the 
 inability oi the older wage earners to work full time and draw 
 full pay. This has led in some cases to a desire to place chil- 
 dren under 16 in employment, but the initial cause of such 
 
1914.] HOUSE — No. 2552. 85 
 
 action may generally be traced directly back to the decreased 
 pay check of the father and other wage earners, who have been 
 laid off many hovirs each week on account of the lack of work 
 in the mills. 
 
 Fifth. — The difficulties and complications that have arisen 
 in consequence of this law have come as a result of the method 
 of placing the law in operation. It is the common opinion of 
 persons, both in favor and opposed to the law, that it should 
 have been placed in operation progressively, that is, not affect- 
 ing those already employed. Many have expressed themselves 
 as being in favor of the law in its principles, but believing that 
 a great mistake was made in the method of instituting the im- 
 provements. These same persons state, however, that in their 
 opinion it would be unwise to undo the work already done 
 at such great pains to the school officers, making this work 
 valueless. 
 
 Sixth . — The findings of the investigation lead to the con- 
 clusion that the difficulties which have followed in the path of 
 the child labor law, some of which are and others of which are 
 not a consequence of it, will rapidly pass away. It has shown 
 that since January 1 the demand for labor is increasing; that 
 the number of minors between 14 and 16 years of age being 
 hired is not only increasing absolutely but also in relation to 
 the total number of minors between 14 and 21. This is an in- 
 dication that an adjustment is gradually being made by em- 
 ployers to the law, and that the demand for labor will probably 
 overcome the temporary disadvantages of an eight-hour day for 
 14 to 16 year old persons. The accumulated difficidty which 
 existed following September 1 will vanish by the simple passage 
 of time, making it possible at the end of two years to have a 
 steady condition of the labor market in regard to minors. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
Appendix. 
 
 FORMS USED IN PUTTING THE LAW REGARDING SCHOOL 
 ATTENDANCE AND LABOR OF MINORS IN OPERATION. 
 
 ^o. 1. — Copies of this form were sent to the overseers of the mills 
 in Lawrence, and by them distributed to children between 14 and 16 
 years of age, to be filled in and presented at the school office in making, 
 application for an employment certificate. 
 
 LAWRENCE SCHOOL DEPARTMENT. 
 Application for Employment Certificate. 
 
 between 14 and 16 only. 
 
 Name 
 
 Factory No 
 
 Nature of employment 
 
 Mill 
 
 Minor's residence Street, Lawrence. 
 
 Place of birth 
 
 Present age years months. 
 
 Distinguishing marks on face [if anyl .' 
 
 School last attended [if in Lawrence 
 
 Grade last attended 
 
 Color of hair ; of eyes 
 
 .• Important Notice. 
 
 A minor between 14 and 16 must have these four things before he comes to the 
 office of the superinterident of schools. 
 
 1. A promise of employment (employment ticket). 
 
 2. A physican's Certificate of Health (written on back of the employment ticket). 
 .3. A school record from school last attended (if in Lawrence). 
 
 4. A certificate of birth from town or city where he was born (unless one i? already 
 on file at the school office). 
 
 Don't come without these fovr things. 
 
 Don't bring your m'other or father. They are not needed. 
 
 School physicians: Dr. Schwartz, 261 Common Street; Dr. Bannon, corner 
 Essex and Hampshire Streets. 
 
90 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 No. 2. — Copies of this form were placed in the hands of the over- 
 seers of the mills in Lawrence to be distributed to minors 16 to 21 
 years of age, to be used in making application for educational cer- 
 tificates. 
 
 LAWRENCE SCHOOL DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Application fob Educational Cebtipicate. 
 
 between 16 and 21 only. 
 
 Name Factory No 
 
 Age years months. 
 
 Employer (mill). 
 
 Finn Name 
 
 Residence No Street. 
 
 Born in 
 
 County State City or Town 
 
 To the Overseer. 
 Instruct this minor that he must bring to the superintendent of schools a certi- 
 ficate of his birth or of baptism in order to get his Educational Certificate (chap- 
 ter 779, section 23, Acts of 1913). 
 
 No. 3. — In case the applicant failed to present all the necessary in- 
 formation this form was returned to the overseer with the point missing 
 checked. 
 
 OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS. 
 To the Overseer. 
 
 The bearer was refused the certificate for which he applied for the reason that 
 is checked : ■ — 
 
 1. Did not bring an application blank. 
 
 2. Did not bring an employment ticket. 
 
 3. Did not bring a physician's certificate. 
 
 4. Failed to pass physician's examination. 
 
 5. Did not bring a "school record." 
 
 6. Did not bring a birth certificate. 
 
 7. Cannot accept the birth certificate presented. 
 
 8. Has not the knowledge of English required by law. 
 
 9. School record not complete. 
 
 10. School record does not cover the law. 
 
 11. Did not bring old certificate. 
 
 No. 4. — In case the applicant between 16 and 21 years of age was 
 illiterate this card was returned to the overseer. 
 
 (Returned to overseer in case of refusal of certi6cate because of raised requirements of 
 law on literacy.) 
 
 OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS. 
 
 To the Overseer. 
 
 The reason why the bearer did not secure a certificate of literacy this time is 
 because the law now requires that all minors under 21 years of age shall be re- 
 garded as illiterate who have not such a knowledge of English reading, writing 
 and spelling as is required for entrance to the fifth grade in the public schools. 
 Formerly, all that was required of minors over 16 was the ability "to read and 
 write simple sentences in English." 
 
 Bebnard M. Shekidan. 
 
1914.] - HOUSE — No. 2552. 91 
 
 No. 5. — This form was used in certifying the age of an applicant 
 who wanted to get his age record from the school which the applicant 
 had attended. 
 
 October, 1913. 
 Principal 
 
 School. 
 
 Please certify below to the age of the bearer, 
 
 as given in your registers the first two years 
 
 he was a pupil in the school. If not two years a member, give 
 
 the age for one year. 
 
 According to the registers of the School, 
 
 was born on 
 
 Month Day Year. 
 
 Principal. 
 
 No. 6. — This form was used to ascertain the number of children 
 who returned voluntarily to school after having been discharged from 
 employment. 
 
 REGISTRATION OF CHILDREN BETWEEN FOURTEEN AND SIX- 
 TEEN WHO APPLY FOR RE-ADMISSION TO SCHOOL, UNDER 
 THE LAW OF 1913, AFTER A PERIOD OF EMPLOYMENT IN THE 
 MILLS OR ELSEWHERE. 
 
 Name 
 
 Bom ■ 
 
 Month Day Year. 
 
 Place of birth ■ 
 
 Parents' nationality 
 
 Lives at Street. 
 
 School last attended 
 
 Grade last attended 
 
 How long out of school 
 
 Places employed ; 
 
 Date last employed ' 
 
 Wages per week last received, $ 
 
 Wai go to work as soon as he becomes 16. Yes. No. 
 
 Will leave school as soon as he can find employment. Yes. No. 
 
92 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 
 
 No. r. — This form was used by applicants for special permission 
 to engage in " profltable employment at home." 
 
 ATTENDANCE OFFICER'S REPORT ON APPLICATION OF 
 
 LIVING AT STREET FOR SPECIAL 
 
 PERMISSION TO ENGAGE IN PROFITABLE EMPLOYMENT' AT 
 HOME. 
 
 Applicant's age is. . . .' years months. 
 
 Will be sixteen 
 
 Date. 
 
 Attends School. 
 
 Left school before new law was operative and was employed in 
 
 Mill. 
 
 Has been unemployed since 
 
 Date. 
 Has tried to get work n mills, but has failed. State the mills where employment 
 was sought 
 
 Is either pp,rent dead? 
 
 Father working? Where? . 
 
 What wages? 
 
 Mother working? Where? 
 
 What wages? 
 
 How many children in family? 
 
 Age of oldest? Age of youngest? . 
 
 Do any of the children work? 
 
 How many? Where? 
 
 Total wages? 
 
 Does father or mother own house? 
 
 What was the condition of the home? 
 
 What does the proposed work at home consist of? . 
 
 Do you believe there is actual need of applicant's assistance in the home in order 
 
 that the family be decently kept? 
 
 Is it your opinion that the purpose of the application is merely to add to the in- 
 come of the family, without a real necessity of it, and so circumvent the law? .... 
 
 After viewing all the circumstances what is your recommendation in the case? 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 Attendance Officer. 
 .1914. 
 
1914.] HOUSE — Xo. 2552. 93 
 
 No. 8. — This letter was the first sent to parents or guardians of 
 children not employed, not at school nor holding home permits. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 Lawrence, Mass, 1914. 
 
 My Dear M ^ 
 
 The records of this office show that .' 
 
 who will not be 16 years old until 19 
 
 has not an employment certificate and is not attending any day school. 
 
 Your attention is hereby called to the following extract from chapter 779 of the 
 Acts of 1913 of Massachusetts: — 
 
 "Section 1. Every child betwen seven and fourteen years of age, every child 
 under sixteen years of age who does not possess such ability to read, write and 
 spell in the English language as is required for the completion of the fourth grade 
 of the public schools of the city or town in which he resides, and every child under 
 sixteen years of age who has not received an employment certificate as provided 
 in this act and is not engaged in some regular employment or business for at least 
 six hours per day or has not the written permission of the superintendent of schools 
 of the city or town in which he resides to engage in profitable employment at home, 
 shall attend a public day school in said city or town or some other day school 
 approved by the school committee, during the entire time the public schools are 
 in session. 
 
 "Section 2. Every person having under his control a child as described in 
 section one shall cause him to attend school as therein required, and, if he fails 
 for five day sessions or ten half-day sessions within any period of six months while 
 such control obtains, to cause such child so to attend school, he shall, upon com- 
 plaint by an attendance officer and conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of 
 not more than twenty dollars. ..." 
 
 The law requires that every person under 16 years of age shall attend a, day 
 school, or shall be regularly at work, or shall have the written permission of the 
 superintendent of schools to engage in profitable employment at home. 
 
 This law went into effect on September 1. We have given everybody four 
 months tq comply with the law, in one of the ways the law requires. Now we 
 are compelled to see that the law is obeyed by everybody concerned. 
 
 All persons, thereforej to whom this law applies must take warning herefrom, 
 and lose no time in complying with the law. This office is ready to explain all 
 matters relating to the law, and to assist, so far as is possible, in enabUng every- 
 body to comply with it. 
 
 Remember that every boy and girl under 16 — 
 
 1. Must be working regularly on an employment ticket. 
 
 2 Must be in a day school. 
 
 3. Must have the written permission of the superintendent of schools to engage 
 in profitable employment at home. Such permission, however, will not be granted 
 in any ease unless, after full and complete inquiry, the superintendent of schools 
 is satisfied that the labor of such child at home is actually necessary. 
 
 A space of ten days from the sending of this notice will be allowed in which 
 persons affected by the law may take steps to comply with it. After that we shall 
 be obliged to take legal measures to have the law obeyed. 
 
 If the information we have in the office regarding your case is not correct, 
 kindly let us know as soon as convenient. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 Beknard M. Sheridan, 
 
 Superintendent of Schools. 
 
94 CHILD LABOR LAW. [May, 1914. 
 
 No. 9. — This letter was sent to parents or ^ardians of children not 
 replying to the first letter shown above. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 Lawrence, Mass., Feb. 3, 1914. 
 My Dear 
 
 On January , a letter was sent to your address from this oflSce notifying 
 
 you of our intention to require all minors under 16 years of age to comply with 
 the law compelling them — 
 
 1. To be in a day school. 
 
 2. To have an employment certificate and be at work. 
 
 3. To have the written permission of the superintendent of schools to remain 
 at home to do work necessary to the support of the family. 
 
 My clerks inform me that up to the present date no word has been received 
 from you, and no visit has been made to this office, to let us know whether you are 
 obeying the law; or, if you are not obeying it, to explain why you are not obeying 
 it. 
 
 We have given you full warning in this matter, and unless we hear immediately 
 from you we shall be obliged to give the case to the attendance officer, with in- 
 structions to take the case to court. We very much prefer not to do this. No 
 one who has come here so far has failed to receive all the consideration possible. 
 But we are here to carry out the law, and will do so if you fail to do your part. 
 Let us hear from you at once. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 Bernard M. Sheridan, 
 
 Superintendent. 
 
 In addition to the above are the following regular forms used by the 
 school department : — 
 
 No. 10. — Enrollment card filed for each night school student. 
 
 No. 11. — • Student record of his attendance at night school, which 
 must be presented and punched each evening the. student is in attend- 
 ance. 
 
 No. 13. — Record of night school attendance for each student, which 
 is kept on file at night school oflSce. 
 
 No. 13. — A record of the progress of the student in night school. 
 
 No. 14. — Weeldy report of absence of illiterate minor from night 
 school, which is sent each week to the superintendent of schools. 
 
 No. 15. — -Report of total attendance each week, which is sent to 
 superintendent of schools. 
 
Cornell University Library 
 HD6250.U4M546 1914 
 
 Report on the effect of the child labor 
 
 3 1924 001 687 585