TRUANT SERVICE. It need hardly be said that compulsory school laws exert a positive influence upon only a small proportion of children. In our own country, at least, the great majority of children are sent to school without any thought of law. Indeed, if public sentiment, the regard of parents for the welfare of their children, or the desire to preserve the respect of their neighbors did not lead to this result, compulsory laws could not be enforced in any case. These laws indicate the existence either of a widespread appreciation of the advantages of education or the masterful purpose of determined leaders. In respect to the small percentage of children who would become habitual truants or be kept from school by their parents if the law did not compel attendance, it is certain that such laws are practically useless unless supplemented by an effective truant service. The history of compulsory education in Massachusetts, which was the first State in the Union to adopt the principle, is conclusive on this subject, and the example of this State in organizing a truant service has been followed to some extent by a majority of the States having compulsory laws. In this number are comprised all the States of the North Atlantic division, eight of the twelve States of the North Central division, and five States of the Western division. In many of the States special schools have been established for the reception of children who are in danger of becoming habitual truants. The principal cities of the country have also a well-organized truant service, including the feature of special or truant schools. The humane ideal to which it is intended that this class of schools should conform is indicated by the name “parental" very generally applied to them. The gradual development of the truant service, from feeble beginnings as a feature of criminal procedure to its proper place among the preservative forces of a community, is illustrated by the history of the service in Massachusetts. It dates in that State from an act concerning truant children and absentees from school, passed May 3, 1850, two years prior to the passage of the first compulsory school attendance law. This first truant law merely authorized cities and towns in the Commonwealth to make all needful provision and arrangement concerning habitual truants and children not attending school." Twelve years later (April 30, 1862) an act was passed making the enforcement of the truant law compulsory upon cities and towns, and by a law of 1873 the duty of appointing truant officers was delegated to the local school committees, so that the service was incorporated in the educational system. In 1894 the laws relating to compulsory school attendance, truancy, and the care of neglected children, which had been developing on independent lines, were consolidated, and four years after (1898) was passed the law entitled "An act relative to school attendance and truancy," which, with subsequent amendments, remains in force to the present time. It was a comprehensive measure, imposing upon cities and towns the obligation to make ample provision of schools, elementary, high, and industrial; placing upon parents and guardians the obligation to send children to school, and upon the latter the obligation to attend school. It requires an annual census to be taken in every city and town of all children between the ages of 5 and 15, and of all minors over 14 years of age who can not read and write (sec. 16), and the establishment of county truant schools to which habitual truant boys may be committed. The State industrial school and probation under the watchful care of a truant officer are the corresponding provisions for the restraint of truant girls (secs. 22-28). The prompt operation of the truant service is facilitated by the extensive powers conferred upon the truant officers. They may have the oversight of children placed on probation, and, in accordance with the amending law of 1906, they may "apprehend and take to school, without a warrant, any minor under the age of 16 years who is employed in any factory, workshop, or mercantile establishment in violation" of the law, and shall report any cases of such illegal employment to the officers of the courts appointed to deal with the same (sec. 3). For neglect of this duty a truant officer is subject to a fine not to exceed $100 for each offense. This law provides further that " inspectors of factories and public buildings and truant officers may require that the age and schooling certificates and lists of minors who are employed in factories, workshops, or mercantile establishments shall be produced for their inspection " (sec. 4). The Massachusetts law is not cited as a model, but simply to emphasize the main features which are, one and all, essential to an efficient truant system. The chief defect of the system in that State arises from the diversity of practice on the part of the individual cities and towns, which are alone responsible for the enforcement of the law. As a means of unifying the system, one of the general agents of the board of education suggests the appointment of one or more State school attendance officers, whose duty would be to vigorously enforce the laws of school attendance as applied to parents and guardians as well as to children. In other States, where authority in this matter is centralized, complaint is made of difficulty in fixing the responsibility for violations of the law; of the failure of the officers to understand local conditions; of the assignment of too large an area to a single officer, etc. The compulsory school law secured for the District of Columbia at the last session of Congress provides for the appointment of truant officers and for special schools for the restraint of habitual truants; but it makes no provision for an annual census of the children of school age, which is an indispensable aid in the effort to keep track of them, and one particularly needed in a city having so large a proportion of colored people. These defects and omissions in laws providing for compulsory school attendance and the auxiliary truant service indicate the need of the widest interchange of opinion and experience, in order that each State may profit in the matter by the experience of every other. Without such interchange, States and cities that have yet to organize a compulsory system will be constantly repeating mistakes that have been discovered and corrected in those that have led in the work. CHILD-LABOR LAWS. The chief difficulty in the way of securing the attendance of all children at school, at least in the great industrial States, is that of overcoming the influences that force or tempt children to remunerative labor at an early age. Hence, in all countries in which education has become a matter of great concern, and in which the physical and moral health of children are rightly valued, labor laws have been passed restricting the age at which children may be employed as wage-earners. These labor laws reenforce the compulsory school attendance laws by educational requirements, which are sufficient, at least, to prevent the actual increase of illiteracy among minors engaged in manufactures, mining, etc. By comparing Table 1 with the following table (Table 4) it will be seen that laws restricting child labor have been passed in all the States of the Union which have compulsory school laws, and in seven States, namely, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, Acts and resolves of Massachusetts, 1906, p. 676. Sixty-ninth Annual Report of the Board of Education, 1904-5. Appendix A, Report of John T. Prince, agent of the board, p. 254. For the text of this law see p. 1247 of this report. in which compulsory school laws are wanting. An effort was made during the last session of Congress to secure the passage of a child-labor law for the District of Columbia, as a corollary to the compulsory education law; but although urged by all the considerations that gave weight to the arguments for compulsion, the endeavor to safeguard children from the evils of premature and excessive labor failed. It is confidently believed that such a law will be passed at the next session, thereby giving to the cause the very great advantage of national sanction. The tabulated particulars under the head of child labor, Table 4, are comprised in two columns, the first relating to the age under which specified employments are forbidden, the second to the educational restrictions embodied in the laws. As regards the age at which children may be employed, it appears that only three States, viz, Alabama, Arkansas, and Nebraska, place the inferior age limit as low as 10 years, for any class of labor, and even in these three cases children less than 12 years of age can only be employed under specified conditions. It may be said, then, that throughout the United States where laws restricting the labor of children have been passed, 12 years is regarded as the lowest age at which children should be employed as wage-earners in mercantile or manufacturing establishments, and the tendency is to raise the lower age limit to 14 years or even higher. TABLE 4.-Statutory provisions of the several States relating to child labor,a Age under which specified employments Educational restrictions on child labor. State. Alabama.. Arizona.. California. Colorado.. Connecticut. Delaware Florida. Georgia... Idaho.. are forbidden. 10 years, in factories in all cases; 12, 10 years, in all cases in manufacturing 14 years, in any underground works, 14 years, in any mechanical, mercan- 14 years, in any factory, workshop, 10 years, in or about any manufactur- 14 years, in mines (constitution of a Revised to 1907. Children under 14 may not be employed during school hours. No child under 14 may be employed in a manufacturing establishment unless he attends school 12 weeks each year and can read and write English. No minor under 16 may work for gain in school hours unless he can read and write English or attends night school. Unlawful to employ children under 14 during school hours unless they have complied with the school-attendance law; under 16, unable to read and write, unless attending day or night school. Children under 14 may not be employed while school is in session. Children 14 to 16 can not leave school to be employed unless their education is satisfactory to the local or State school board. No child 14 to 16 may be so employed unless he has attended day or night school 12 weeks the preceding year. After Jan. 1, 1908, no child under 14 may be employed as in preceding column (with the exception there noted) unless able to write and has attended school 12 weeks the preceding year; under 18, unless so attended school. TABLE 4.-Statutory provisions of the several States relating to child labor a-Continued. Illinois. State. Indiana. Iowa.. Kansas. Kentucky. Louisiana. Maine. Maryland..... Massachusetts.. Michigan.... Minnesota.. Missouri.... Montana. Nebraska.. New Hampshire Age under which specified employments Educational restrictions on child labor. are forbidden. 14 years, in any mercantile institution, factory, office, theater, elevator, etc., or as messenger or driver; 16, in or about any mine. No female may work in or about a mine. 14 years, in any manufacturing or mercantile establishment, mine, quarry, laundry, renovating works, bakery, or printing office. No female may work in a mine. 14 years in any mine, factory, mill, shop, laundry, packing house, elavator, or store where more than 8 persons are employed. 14 years, in any factory or packing house or in or about any mine; 16, in any dangerous, etc., employment. 14 years, in any workshop, factory, mill or mine, unless the child has no other means of support. 12 years (boys), 14 (girls), in any factory, mill, warehouse, or workshop in cities of 10,000 or more. 12 years, in any manufacturing or mechanical establishment. 14 years, in mills and factories (except canning establishments), unless self, widowed mother, or invalid father solely dependent upon such employment. 19 counties exempt from law. 14 years, in factories, workshops, or mercantile establishments. 14 years, in any manufacturing or mercantile establishment, workshop, laundry, store, office, hotel, messenger service, etc. 14 years, in factories, mills, workshops, or mines. 14 years, in mines, manufacturing or mechanical establishments; more stringent as to forbidden employments in cities of 10,000 population or more; no females in mines. 16 years, in mines or underground works. 10 years, in manufacturing, mechanical, industrial, or mercantile establishments. 12 years, in any manufacturing establishment. a Revised to 1907. No child 14 to 16 unable to read and write may be employed unless attending an evening school, if there is one. No child under 14 may be employed at any work for wages during the school term. Children under 16, unable to read and write English, may not be employed in foregoing employments except in vacation of public schools. No minor under 16, may work in a coal mine unless he can read and write and has attended school 3 months in the year. No child under 14 to be employed in any mercantile, laundry, or printing establishment, or as messenger, except during vacation. Children under 14 may not be employed in foregoing employments, nor in clothing, dressmaking, or millinery establishments, unless they have attended school 4 months in preceding year. Children under 15 shall not be employed in any manufacturing or mechanical establishment, except during vacation, unless they have attended school 16 weeks during preceding year. No minor, 12 to 16, unable to read and write English may be employed where there is an evening school unless attending that or another school. Children under 14 may not be employed at any work for wages during school hours; from 14 to 16 may not be so employed in any factory, workshop, or mercantile establishment if unable to read and write. Children 14 to 16, unable to read and write English, may not be employed. Children under 14 years may not be employed in any service during school term; under school age (16 years), in any occupation during school term unless they have attended school the prescribed period; under 16, unable to read and write English, in any indoor occupation (except in vacation) unless attending day or evening school. No child 8 to 14 may be employed in any way in school hours unless he has complied with the attendance law. No boy under 16 may work in a mine unless he can read and write. Children under 14 not to be employed during school sessions unless they have completed the studies required by law; from 14 to 16, if unable to read and write English. Foregoing employments unlawful for children under 14 (except during vacations) unless they have attended school 20 weeks the preceding year. No child under 14 may be employed during school sessions, nor under 16 if unable to read and write English. No minor unable to read and write English may be eníployed unless attending day or evening school, if any is held. TABLE 4.-Statutory provisions of the several States relating to child labor a -Continued. State. New Jersey. North Carolina North Dakota.. Ohio.. Oklahoma.... Oregon.. Pennsylvania..... Rhode Island.. South Carolina.... South Dakota.. Tennessee. Utah.. Virginia.. Age under which specified employments Educational restrictions on child labor. are forbidden. 14 years, in factories, workshops, mills, or manufacturing establishments; also mines. 14 years, in factories; if 14 to 16, the child must have attended school 130 days the preceding year, and be able to read and write English, and cipher. Similar provisions apply, in places of over 3,000 population, to work in mercantile establishments, business offices, restaurants, hotels, express or messenger service, except for children over 12 in small places during vacation. For work in or about mines 16 years is the minimum. No female may work in a mine. 12 years, in any factory or manufacturing establishment (does not apply to oyster canning and packing); 12 years, in mines employing over 10 men (boys); 13 years in a factory, except as an apprentice. 12 years, in mines, factories and workshops (constitution of State). 14 years, in mines, factories, workshops, mercantile or other establishments. 15 years, in any occupation injurious to health or morals or especially hazardous; 16 in mines; women and girls may not work in mines. (Constitution.) 14 years, in any factory, store, workshop, in or about any mine, or in the telegraph, telephone, or public messenger service. 14 years, in any employment, except domestic, coal mining, or farm labor; 16 years in coal mines; 14 years in or about the outside workings of coal mines; girls may not work in or about coal mines. 13 years before, 14 after Dec. 31, 1906, in any factory, manufacturing or business establishment. 10 years after May 1, 1903; 11 after May 1, 1904; 12 after May 1, 1905, in any factory, mine, or textile establishment, except that certain selfdependent children may work in the latter. Children under 15 must have attended school 12 weeks the preceding year as a condition of employment. Unlawful to employ in any business or service child under 14 during school term; 14 to 16, unless has attended 130 days preceding year, and can read and write English, and cipher, or (in first and second class cities) has completed elementary course or attends evening school 16 weeks a year. See preceding column. Apprentices of 12 to 13 years must have attended school 4 months in preceding 12. Children under 14 may not be employed in any manner during school hours unless they have attended school 12 weeks during the year. No child under 14 may be employed in any other manner during school sessions; or between 14 and 16 if unable to read and write English; or in mines during school term if under 15. Foregoing employments forbidden to any child 14 to 16 unless attended school 160 days preceding year and can read English and familiar with arithmetic to and including fractions. No child under 14 may be employed in any work for compensation during school hours. No child 14 to 16 may be employed unless he can read and write Erglish and has complied with the school laws. Children under 13 may not be employed except during school vacations. Children may work in textile establishments in June, July, and August if they have attended school 4 months during the year and can read and write. No child under 15 years shall be eployed in any manner of work for wages or other compensation when the public schools are in session. Unlawful to employ children 12 to 14 who can not read and write English, in mills, factories, etc., certain self-dependent children excepted. No child under 16 who has not completed the 9-year school course may be employed in any railroad, factory, mine, or quarry work, or in delivering messages, except out of school hours. |