For the negro children, the comparison holds good but the percentages are higher for each group, being 34.2 for the daily attendants, 49.2 for other absentees, and 72.6 for the farmwork absentees. The relative retardation of farmwork absentees, other absentees and daily attendants in each county is the same as in the totals for the seven counties. Among the white children, 73.1 per cent of the daily attendants are enrolled in proper grades, that is, are normal, while 68 per cent of other absentees, and only 50.9 per cent of the farmwork absentees are normal. Among the negro children, the corresponding percentages are 65.8, 49.7, and 27.1. It is also worthy of note that 13.7 per cent of the white daily attendants are ahead of the standard, which is much greater than the percentages of the absentees. Indeed, the showing of the daily attendants is in every way superior to that of the other pupils. It is striking that the farmwork absentees are more retarded, both in actual numbers and in proportion, than the other absentees. This is the logical result of the fact that farmwork is responsible for more days of absence than any other cause. One might at first be inclined to think that illness as a cause of absence would be just as great a menace to the standing of the child in school as farmwork, but this is not the case. Farmworkers are more retarded than children who are absent on account of illness because farmwork is steady, while illness is occasional; moreover, farmwork occurs year after year, while illness may occur only once. The outstanding fact in all these figures is that farmwork interferes with the education of rural children more than any other factor. The compulsory attendance law is frequently ignored. The consequences in retardation are disastrous alike to the child, to the school, and to the community. What is Kentucky going to do about it? TABLE E NUMBER AND PER CENT OF WHITE AND NEGRO FARM ABSENTEES, OTHER ABSENTEES AND DAILY ATTENDANTS, 8 TO 15 YEARS OF AGE, WHO ARE AHEAD, NORMAL AND RETARDED IN RESPECT OF ENROLLMENT IN GRADE ACCORDING TO AGE HOW ONE JUVENILE COURT HELPS TO MAKE CHILD LABOR LEGISLATION EFFECTIVE MABEL BROWN ELLIS National Child Labor Committee's Special Agent on Juvenile Courts When the federal law for the regulation of child labor goes into effect next September, the more conspicuous and well recognized forms of exploitation of children in industry will be dealt a body blow. Mills, canneries, workshops and factories, mines and quarries whose products are to be shipped in interstate commerce will be better inspected and more fearlessly prosecuted for violations of the law than ever before and precisely because of the increased emphasis placed upon this field there is danger that public opinion may be unduly diverted from the much greater number of children employed under bad working conditions in occupations which are not touched and in all probability never can be touched by federal law. If these boys and girls are to receive proper protection, all kinds of social agencies which come into contact with the problems of the working child must lend a more vigorous hand than ever before to the campaign for adequate enforcement of existing state laws and city ordinances. Every available source of information must be utilized, not only for the discovery and reporting of violations, but also as a basis for working out complete schemes of child care which will some day make impossible all premature employment of the young life of the community. Prominent among these agencies stands the juvenile court. In many ways its position with regard to child labor is unique. The Bureau of Labor investigation into conditions of woman and child wage-earners in the United States showed how large a proportion of all children who came before the juvenile courts of certain large cities were working children. Out of the 4,839 cases studied, 2,767, or more than half, were, or had been, employed. Now the very foundation idea of juvenile court procedure is that it shall be based upon knowledge of the child as an individual, which implies acquaintance with the social forces which have shaped his life, such as his home, his school, his work, and wherever the court is well established, provision is made for recording the facts thus brought to light. When a child is placed on probation, he must report to his officer regularly for periods sometimes covering a year or more and the substance of these reports must also become a part of the permanent court record. It follows that there should be available in the investigation reports and probation histories of wards of the juvenile court, many of whom are of working age when arrested, or become so while on probation, a large body of information on the kinds and conditions of employment open to children of their class. No stronger argument for vocational guidance can be found than some of these week-to-week entries regarding children between 14 and 16 who are trying to win a foothold in the business world, and no more shocking illustrations of the necessity for child labor laws exist than the testimony of certain boys and girls whose parents seem to regard them only as potential sources of income. Obviously, juvenile court employees have an unusual opportunity for cooperation in the enforcement of laws regulating the employment of children. Arkansas, California, Idaho, Kentucky and Rhode Island are among the states which recognize this fact by specifically enumerating probation officers in the list of those persons responsible for the enforcement of the child labor law. In the District of Columbia, Louisiana, Oregon and Washington, the judge of the juvenile court is given power to exempt children from the operation of the child labor law under certain conditions, and in states and cities which regulate street trading by children, violations of the ordinance are usually considered delinquencies, punishable by juvenile court procedure. A short study recently made with the permission of Judge J. Wilmer Latimer in the Juvenile Court of Washington, D. C., illustrates very well the way in which court records and court influence may be used to promote better enforcement of existing legislation. It happens that in the District of Columbia the Juvenile Court. is given jurisdiction over all cases against adults who have employed children in violation of the child labor law. The actual duty of inspection and the formal bringing of prosecutions is in the hands of two inspectors appointed by the Commissioners of the District. These men are police officers who work out from police headquarters but their full time is supposed to be given to the child labor work. It is the custom of the chief probation officer, whenever an interview with a child reveals the fact that he has been illegally employed, to report the case to one of these inspectors, with the request for a complete investigation, and if conditions warrant it, a prosecution. Prior to May, 1916, these reports were made by telephone, but since that time, they have been sent by letter. In January 1917, the carbons of these letters were checked by the records of prosecutions on the docket books of the court, to see what had been accomplished in the way of definite action. During the six-month period from June 1, 1916 to January 1, 1917, only 18 prosecutions had been brought by the two inspectors and of these, 12 had been reported to them by juvenile court officers. Only 6 prosecutions,-one a month,-had originated with the department entrusted with the enforcement of the law. And this in a summer when owing to the unusual demand for workmen, violations of the child labor law have been notoriously frequent and flagrant! During the same six-month period 48 cases had been reported to the inspectors by the probation officer. In only 12 of these had any action whatever been taken, so far as the court records showed. Three men were fined $5.00 each; 1 case was continued indefinitely because of the absence of a material witness; 2 men escaped with sentence suspended; 1 case was nolle prossed; 1 was adjudged not guilty; and 4 cases were still pending when the study was made. The 48 children represented some 13 different occupations, with errand boys furnishing nearly one-third of the total number, and wagon or delivery boys almost one-fifth. The full list shows a distribution which is probably typical of conditions in many other cities. Occupation Errand boy.. Pin boy, bowling alley Messenger boy. Shop and order boys. Bell boy, apartment bldg. Number of 15 9 6 |