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Ho, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR JAMES J. DAVIS, Secretary CHILDREN’S BUREAU GRACE ABBOTT. Chief STANDARDS AND PROBLEMS CONNECTED WITH THE ISSUANCE OF EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATES PROCEEDINGS OF CONFERENCE HELD UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE UNITED STATES CHILDREN’S BUREAU AND THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION AT BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS JULY 5-6, 1922 Bureau Publication No. 116 WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1923 < 3 7 U.FRASER *59 C Digitized for https://fraser.stlouisfed.org * il L Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OWING TO LIMITED APPROPRIATIONS FOR PRINTING, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO DISTRIBUTE THIS BULLETIN IN LARGE QUANTITIES. ADDITIONAL COPIES MAY BE PROCURED FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D. C. AT 10 CENTS PE R COPY https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis S(=a-1 U-SSC. I )i L ,? CONTENTS. Page. Letter o f transm ittal-__________________________________________________________ jv F ibst Session — J u l y 5. Introductory statement : Grace Abbott______________________________________ Part I. The local issuing office— its problems and functions______________ 1 3 -22 The procedure and organization of an employment-certificate office: Anne S. D avis_________________________________________ 1_________________ 3 The relation o f certificate issuance to the enforcement of school at tendance la w s : Arthur P. Lederle_____________________________________ 11 The value o f certificate-office records to the student of ehild-labor problems: M. Edith Campbell_______________________ 14 D iscussion_________________________1_______________________________________ 20 Part II. The relation of State ageneies to the loeal issuing office_____ _ 23-38 State supervision o f the issuance of employment certificates: Taylor Frye_________________________ 23 30 Discussion_______________________________________________ 1 ________________ ' S econd S ession — Ju l y 6. Part III. Methods of enforcing standards o f employment-certificate issuance_____ ._____________________________________ _________________________ _ 39-67 The enforcement of an age standard: Esther Lee Rider___________ 40Discussion __________________________________ ___________________________:___ 44 The enforcement of an educational standard: Jeanie V. M inor-___ 48 Discussion___________ _________________________ _______________ J__________ 53 53 The enforcement of a physical standard: Dr. W ade W right_________ Discussion_______________________________________ ._________________________ 61 The enforcement of a “ best interests ” or “ necessity ” standard: Dr. E. J. Lickley___________________________ ____________________________ Discussion______________________ .__________________________________________ i ii https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 62 66 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. U. S. D epartm ent or L abor, C hildren ’ s B u r eau , Washington, January 25,1923, S ir : There is transmitted herewith a report, Standards and Prob lems Connected with the Issuance o f Employment Certificates, Pro ceedings o f Conference, Boston, July 5-6, 1922. This conference, which was attended by State and local officials actually engaged either in issuing or in supervising the issuance of employment cer tificates, was held under the auspices of the Children’s Bureau and thé National Education Association. A committee, appointed by the president of the National Education Association, and composed o f the following educators—Mrs. Mary I). Bradford, Susan M. Dorsey, Thomas E. Johnson, Peter Mdrtension, Sam Slawson, and S. E. Weber—cooperated with the Chil dren’s Bureau in making the arrangements for the conference. Respectfully submitted. G race A bbott, Chief. Hon. J am es J. D avis , Secretary o f Labor. IV r https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AND PROBLEMS CONNECTED WITH THE ISSUANCE OF EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATES. PROCEEDINGS OF CONFERENCE, BOSTON, JULY 5 -6 , 1922. F IR S T SESSION—JU L Y 5. Chairman: Miss G race A bbott, Chief of the United States Children’s Bureau. INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. * Miss A bbott. We have called this conference at the request o f a good many people who are interested in the improvement of our methods of certificating children for employment and in better coop eration between all agencies in the enforcement of our child labor laws. Experience everywhere has demonstrated that the age, edu cational, and physical standards o f a child labor law can be evenly and uniformly enforced only if no child is em ployed without a certificate and if no certificate is issued ex cept upon reliable evidence that the child is legally qualified to work. With a good certificating system, inspection serves as little more than a reenforcement o f respect for the certificate by both employer and child. If, however, certificates are issued on inadequate evidence or a careless canvass o f the facts, o f ficial approval of the employment of children who are below the legal age is sure to be given by the issuing officer. This places a very heavy burden upon the inspection department, as under such circumstances the inspector must determine the ages of all the children employed, whether with or without certificates. Annual or semiannual inspection of factories will discover children illegally employed only after their school life has been interrupted and after they have, in consequence, already suffered much o f the damage of premature employment. In a few States the issuance of employment certificates is under State control, but in most States the authority to issue certificates is given to the local superintendent of schools. The careful at1 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 12 EM PLOYM ENT CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE----- tcntion which this work requires is usually not given it by busy school or other local officers in the smaller centers, unless its value is clearly and frequently indicated by State officers. Supervision has been specifically provided for in the laws o f only a few States. Authority to prepare forms or require reports is more frequent, but in many States such provisions in the law have not been utilized. While absolute uniformity in administration is not necessary and perhaps not desirable, it is essential that, at least a certain minimum administrative standard should be followed throughout a State. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis P A R T I. THE LOCAL ISSUING OFFICE— ITS PROBLEMS AND FUNCTIONS. THE PROCEDURE AN D O R G A N IZ A T IO N OF AN EM PLOYM ENT- C E R T IF IC A T E O F F IC E . A nne S. D a v i s , Director, Vocational Guidance Department, Chicago Public Schools. The department o f vocational guidance o f the Chicago Public Schools includes the employment-certificate division, which issues employment certificates to boys and girls between 14 and 16 when they leave school to work; the vocational guidance and placement division, which advises boys and girls in matters concerning further education and assists them in finding suitable positions; and the industrial studies division, which investigates industrial conditions and opportunities and studies the economic problems which young wage earners face. The employment-certificate division, including the medical and statistical work, is the one which I am going to discuss in this paper. In 1917, when the present child labor law o f Illinois became effective, the issuing o f employment certificates was transferred to the department o f vocational guidance, where it logically belonged. Through a well-organized employment-certificate bureau it is pos sible to collect much valuable information which is necessary in giving vocational advice to children in the schools. It is through the employment-certificate office that the school is able to follow up children o f employment-certificate age into industry; to supervise them to some extent after they have entered employment; to advise them from time to time regarding their work, their health, and fur ther schooling; and to determine what effect industry has upon chil dren who enter it. The child labor law o f Illinois requires that, in order to obtain a certificate: 1. The minor must be 14 years o f age. 2. He must have completed at least the sixth grade in school and be able to read and write legibly simple sentences in English. 3. He must have a promise o f employment. 4. He must be physically fit for the kind o f work he is going to do. The employment certificate is mailed to the employer, and re turned by him to the issuing office when the child leaves his employ; this makes it necessary for the child to return for a new certificate https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 4 EM PLOYM ENT CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE— and have a physical examination each time lie changes his employ ment. The process o f issuing certificates includes : 1. Interviewing the children and inspecting the credentials (proof o f age, school record, employer’s statement). 2. The physical examination. 3. The clerical and statistical work in connection with both. The intervening is done by vocational advisers. Besides the central office, there are four district offices where children applying for employment certificates are interviewed. The district adviser has a distinct advantage over the adviser working at the central office, in that each child desiring to leave school for work is referred to her by the principal before the job has been secured and before thé school bonds have been broken. The advisers have been able to keep in school 30 per cent or more of the children who have con templated leaving. Proximity to home and school and knowledge o f the industrial situation enable the adviser to study each individual child ; to become familiar with his home conditions, his scholarship, and his conduct in school; and to give vocational or educational guidance. The adviser reports to the principal the results o f her investigations and her interviews with the child and his parents and, if it seems advisable for the child to leave school, the principal issues a school record. The principals have been instructed not to issue a school record until the child has secured a job and his proof o f age. This prevents children from roaming the streets looking for work for long periods when they should be in school. The children are told by the district adviser the procedure necessary to secure an employment certificate. The child’s information or record card and all the papers are sent with him to the central office where he has his physical examination. During the rush period at the end o f each semester, when large numbers o f children are applying for certificates, physicians and clerks are assigned to the district offices and the entire procedure is carried on in the districts as well as at the central office. The first interview is most important. Full and specific instruc tions at the time o f the first interview often prevent long and unneces sary trips on the part o f the children and effect a saving of time on the part o f the interviewers. The credentials— the proof of age, the school record, and the employer’s statement— are carefully examined to determine whether the child meets the legal requirements. I f the child’s papers are incomplete, he is given written instructions as to how he may proceed to secure the necessary papers. I f the child does not bring a birth certificate, which is the evidence he must first try to secure under the law, or a baptismal certificate, or a passport, etc., he is sent away with instructions as to where and https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AND PROBLEMS. 5 how to apply for a birth certificate. I f his birth is not recorded, he must bring back to the interviewer a statement to that effect from the bureau o f vital statistics. The interviewer must be convinced that the birth certificate can not be secured, before the next evidence is accepted. I f it is necessary for the child to send away for his evi dence o f age, he is told to return to school until he receives a reply. The child is questioned regarding his grade and school attendance, in order to make sure that the school record has not been issued in error. Occasionally it is found that the child is in the sixth grade but has not completed it, or that he does not meet with the require ment for 130 days’ attendance between his thirteenth and fourteenth birthdays or during the last year. In such cases a letter is sent to the principal and the child is returned to school. The promise o f employment is a written statement made by the employer, giving the name o f the child, the nature of the employ ment, the number o f hours per day and days per week he is to be employed, and the signature and address o f the employer. The child may procure a “ promise of employment ” blank from the school or the central office. I f the occupation to be assigned to the child is -prohibited under the law or the hours he is to work are more than eight a day, he is referred to the industrial studies division. A voca tional adviser in this department then calls the employer on the telephone or visits him. I f an adjustment can not be made, the child is referred to the placement department to be placed in legal employment. Frequently a child brings a statement from the employer in which the name given the occupation is ambiguous. Employers use dif ferent terminology, and it is possible for a job to include illegal features in one establishment, and not include illegal features in another, though the same term has been used in both instances. When there is any doubt, the interviewer sends a request to the in dustrial studies division to have the establishment and occupation investigated. A child came into the office with an employer’s statement from a candy company, giving the occupation as “ candy helper.” Any job o f “ helper” may be looked upon with suspicion, as it usually in volves machine work. The investigation in this case showed that the job consisted of— ^ Breaking up hard candy after it had been spun, Sifting hard candy to get out the small pieces, Knocking the^andy out of the molds, Weighing out the ingredients into copper kettles, Lighting the gas under the kettles, Watching the thermometer to see that the correct temperature was reached and maintained, 32758°—23----- 2 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 6 EM PLOYM ENT CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE— Helping tile men pour the candy when done, and spinning the candy on a table. Two o f these processes are hazardous to the child and should be ruled out under section 10 o f the Illinois child labor law, namely, the processes that have to do with watching the boiling candy and helping the men to pour it, The employer was told that a certificate would be issued if these duties could be given to a man. The work was adjusted and the certificate was issued. A record is kept o f the first interview, and the missing credentials are indicated on a small card known as the “ control ” or “ index ” card. I f the child does not return within a week with the necessary papers, or if he is found to be ineligible for an employment certifi cate, he is reported to the compulsory attendance department. When the applicant’s credentials are accepted, the paper showing proof of age is stamped with a board of education impression stamp and, after the nature o f the evidence has been noted on a form for that purpose, returned to the child. This prevents another child from using the same document. The “ proof o f age” form, the school record, and the “ control ” card are signed by the interviewer and at tached to the “ information ” card containing information concern ing the child and the social history of the family. The continuationschool card is made out at this point and clipped to the other papers. ' The entire record is then sent to the doctor’s office and the child is ready for his physical examination. The medical examiners are employed by the board o f education. They aim to make the physical examination as thorough as possible, conforming in general to the standards set by the committee on physical standards for working children appointed by the Children’s Bureau o f the United States Department of Labor, as well as the standards accepted by industrial physicians. The applicant is first weighed and measured and his eyes are tested. The child is stripped to the waist to allow adequate examination o f heart, lungs, and back. From 20 to 30 per cent o f the children examined are found to be physically unfit for work, and their certificates are withheld until such time as an examination shows them to be in good physical con dition. Results o f physical examinations of children making first appli cation for certificates between July 1, 1921, and June 30, 1922, were as follows: Total number o f children examined______________.__ ______ 14,800 Total number o f certificates issued__________________ ^ ____15, 553 Total number o f children held______________ (21.3 per cent) 4,201 Total number of defects, for 4,201 children_________________ 6,905 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 17 STANDASDS AND FHOBLEMS. Defects Defects. corrected. Kind of defect. Nose and throat findings: Nasal -obstruction................................ Hypertrophied and infected tonsils... Hypertrophied and tofected adenoids, Acute rhinitis............... ...................... Acute laryngitis_______ Acute, pharyngitis.......... Befectivespeeeh_______ ...._ Defective teeth.............. Disease o f the eye_________ Defective vision.................... Discharging ears................... Defective hearing.................. Thyroid: .Hypertrophied (simple). With tome symptoms... Hypertrophied glands: General adenopathy..... Tubercular adenitis. . . . , Pulmonary diseases: Acute bronchitis. . . ___ Chronic bronchitis......... Pulmonary tuberculosis. Asthma.______________ Malnutrition........................ Undersize :and immaturity.. Anemia..... ............ .... . ....... Kidney disease________ ___ Urinalysis._______ _______ Wasserman____ .__________ Genitourinary disease......... Laboratory examinations: a. Electrocardiograph... b. 'General blood count.. c. Blood pressure......... . d. X-^ray______ _______ Neurological examination: Subnormal................ . Nervous conditions____ Mental tost_________ , Pulse..................................... Temperature.....................„ Orthopedic defects: a. Malformation.......... b. Deformities................ c. Spinal curvature____ d. Fatigue posture......... Hernia.......... .............. ... ..... Vaccinations......................... Hold for report_______. . . . . . Unusual findings.................. } } } 1,352 692 2 1,858 1,033 0 1,235 737 12 2 •119 55 22 ! 5 106 49 1,253 194 38 •5 ' .15 11 598 «2 10 fi 8 3 10 3 41 15 14 15 4 5 M 14 13 9 24' 6 9 8 8 1 The child is examined for the particular occupation specified in the promise o f employment. I f the physician does not consider him physically fit for this occupation, he is referred to the placement department for lighter work, or his employment certificate is refused altogether. Whether the refusal is temporary or permanent depends upon the child’s physical welfare. The doctors frequently find that in order to make a decision as to whether a child with certain physical defects should have a certificate they must know exactly what the surroundings are in an establish ment and exactly what the .child will have to do. Such cases are referred to the industrial studies division for investigation. A small boy who had a heart condition which prevented him from doing any except light work without injury was to be employed as an errand boy for an electrical concern. A visit was made to aseer- https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 8 EM PLO YM EN T CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE— tain how large the packages were that the boy had to carry, how frequently he had to carry them, whether he rode or walked, and what he did between his errands. It was found that in this establishment there was an older and larger boy who would carry the heavier packages, so that only the smaller packages would be carried by the boy who was to be certificated. It was found also that he would have three hours a day to rest. The certificate was issued and a letter written to the employer, asking his special cooperation in executing the promised adjustments o f the work. , A small number of children are allowed to work under supervision,* reporting to the examining physician or to a dispensary at regular intervals in order that any tendency to lapse from health may be found early. I f the child can not afford medical care he is referred to the dispensary nearest his home. • i ;, An interesting development in the work o f the medical department has been that o f cooperation with the clinics and dispensaries. Twenty-five dispensaries and hospitals cooperate with the depart ment in the effort to secure for each child the correction o f his phys-J ical defects and make him better fitted to endure the strain o f indus trial life. Evening industrial medical clinics, where suppers are served so that children can go to them direct from work, are con ducted by four o f the best institutions. Nutrition classes are an adjunct to these clinics, and most o f the medical supervision is accomplished through them. These evening classes have been of the greatest service to working children. They have been the means of keeping many children fit for the job and at the same time o f making others physically fit to enter industry. Due to the great interest aroused in the care o f malnourished children, classes to which chil dren may be sent have been established in nearly every part of the city during the past three years. Cardiac clinics are conducted at four o f the largest and best hospitals, where free hospital care is given when required. Three years ago,.through the generosity of Arden Shore Associ ation, an open-air school at Arden Shore Camp was opened to which boys physically unfit for work are referred. The board of education provides two teachers, a cook, and an assistant; the Arden Shore Association pays all other expenses and provides a staff consisting of a resident director, a nurse, and house servants. The employmentcertificate department provides a medical examiner who visits the camp once a week and supervises the health o f the children. The boys remain at camp from six weeks to three months or until they aie in a sufficiently fit condition to take jobs and hold them. During the summer months a group o f girls is sent to Arden Shore to follow a similar program. , https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis st an d ar d s a n d p r o b le m s . 9 Many o f these children need continued care and health supervision after they start to work. The department has gained the coopera tion o f a number o f employers, who have become interested in see ing these children develop physically and are carrying on the weigh ing and measuring, providing the mid-morning milk, and giving periods for relaxation. I f the child is found to be physically fit for employment, he signs his certificate in the doctor’s office. The certificate form is attached to the record and sent to the clerical division, where the papers are carefully inspected before the certificate is finally made out by the stenographer and mailed to the employer. The “ control” card* on which is stamped the date the certificate is issued and the date it is returned, is filed alphabetically in the “ control ” desk. All other papers concerning the child are inserted in a folder which is stamped with a number and filed numerically. The law requires the employer to return the certificate to the issu ing office when the child leaves his employ. When the child applies for a subsequent certificate he goes to the control desk, where he presents a “ promise o f employment.” I f the control card shows that the certificate has not been returned, a new certificate is not issued. The office communicates with the employer immediately to secure the return of the certificate without further delay. Only a very small percentage of employers now fail to return certificates. I f the certificate has been received, the interviewer records on the child’s “ information ” card the wages he received in his last position, his reason for leaving, the name and address o f the firm for which he expects to work, and the kind o f work he intends to do. The child then goes to the doctor for his physical examination. The physician is then able to determine what effect industry has had upon the child and to take measures for the correction of any defects which may have developed while he has been working. Through this method of certificating there is developed a form o f statistical study which is valuable to advisers and teachers in showing the types o f employ ment open to children o f certificate age, the seasonal character of this work, the trend o f wages, and the relation of school achievement to industrial demand. Upon the clerical staff devolve most o f the in terdepartmental reports. It is important that the certificating office work in close cooperation with the school principals, the compulsory education department, the continuation schools, and the factory-inspection department, if the child labor and compulsory attendance laws are to be properly en forced. The compulsory attendance law in Illinois requires that children remain in school until 16 unless “ necessarily and lawfully employed.” The return o f the certificate to the employment-certificate office indi https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 10 EM PLOYM ENT CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE— cates the unemployment the child. I f the child fails to apply for a renewal of his certificate within a week, he is reported to the com pulsory attendance department for return to school. A ll children who fail to meet the «age, educational, or physical requirements are likewise reported. The continuation school law provides that all children between the ages o f 14 and 16 must attend continuation school eight hours a week. Employment certificates are not mailed to employers until the con tinuation-school office reports that the children have been assigned to continuation school. As all certificates are mailed the day the application is approved, this procedure causes no delay and insures the child’s .assignment to continuation school. The notice requiring the child’s attendance at continuation school two half days a week is mailed with the certificate to the employer. The continuation schools are notified of those children whose cer tificates ¿are returned, signifying that they are out of employment, in order that the schools may secure the daily attendance o f such children until they find other jobs. I f other employment is not found within a limited period, the child is required to return to full time day school. A notice is also sent to the continuation school, should the child again secure a ¿certificate. A weekly report is sent to each regular day school,, giving the names o f the children to whom, during the week, certificates have been issued for the first time. The principals can then secure the return to school of the children who have failed to get certificates after re ceiving their school records. It has been customary to refer to the factorydsnspecti on de partment all child-labor violations which come to our attention. This year a mew development in the work has been the assign ment o f a deputy factory inspector to the vocational guidance and employinent-certificate bureau. Complaints o f child-labor violations come to us from every source—from the principals and teachers, from the attendance officers, from the continuation schools, from interested neighbors, and from ¡the children themselves. The com plaints have to do with the hours worked in excess o f the legal eight hours, work after 7 p. a , and children working without certificates and at illegal jobs such as work in connection with power-driven machinery. The ease is looked tup in the files to get the latest data on the children and then turned over to the deputy inspector. Be sides protecting the children and solving their individual problems through the enforcement of the child labor law, this arrangement with the deputy inspector has made it possible to keep in close touch with conditions in the establishments in which minors are employed. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AND PROBLEMS. 11 It is the task o f the employment-certificate office to inform the employer, the teachers and principals, the children and parents, and the community, of the requirements o f the child labor law, in order to secure enforcement and reduce the child-labor violations to a minimum.. The vocational guidance and employment-certificate department has sent posters into the schools, calling the attention of the children to the fact that if. they work after school hours they must secure employment certificates. Full instructions regarding the necessary procedure for securing employment certificates have been sent to the principals. An illustrated pamphlet on the child labor and continuation school laws has been prepared in simple form to distribute to the children going to work. The principals have been invited in groups to visit the employment-certificate office,» the procedure the child must follow to secure an employment certifi cate and how the principals may assist in securing better enforcement o f the law have been carefully explained to them. Literature setting forth the conditions which children face when they leave school for work at 14 has been seat to the teachers, to be used in presenting arguments to children for staying in school. An illustrated pam phlet has been prepared, showing the opportunities for training available in the high schools, the vocational courses offered, and the occupations to which they lead. Such efforts have helped greatly toward inducing the children to remain in school until they are better equipped to enter industry, and so have aided in decreasing child labor. It is the aim o f the vocational guidance and employment-certificate department of the Chicago public schools to reduce child labor to a minimum; to keep children in school by the aid of scholarships if they can not remain under other conditions; and to see that every child going to work has the benefit o f advice, guidance, and employ ment supervision during the first years o f his working life. T H E R E L A T IO N O F C E R T IF IC A T E IS S U A N C E TO T H E E N F O R C E M ENT OF SCH OO L A T T E N D A N C E LA W S. A b t h u b P . L edeble , Supervisor of Attendance, Board of Education, Detroit, Midh. The relation between certificate issuance and the enforcement o f school attendance laws seems so obvious., and the work has been so closely correlated in most communities, that it is impossible to discuss one without discussing the other. Investigations conducted by the Federal Bureau of Education seem to indicate that that community prospers most which educates its citizens best. W e like to believe that this State o f Massachusetts https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 12 EM PLOYM ENT CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE— • is prosperous and its per capita wealth large because o f its splendid educational facilities; and there is a growing belief in this country that money invested in education is the best investment that the taxpayers o f any community can make. Miss Blake, o f New York, stated last night in a paper given before the National Education Association1 that in her city 50 per cent of the children left school before entering high school. I will attempt to show how it has been possible in Detroit to increase the period o f the child’s school life through the administration of the employ ment certificate law. In considering this subject we must always remember that all child labor legislation is statute law, and as such lias been enacted by the 48 different legislatures. It is thus possible to have 48 different types o f employment permit acts. As my ex perience has been entirely with Michigan laws, I must confine my discussion to the city o f Detroit. I am assuming, however, that the child labor and school attendance laws in the other States are suffi ciently similar to ours that what I say about Detroit may apply to a greater or less extent to other communities. At first, child labor legislation and school attendance laws developed in Michigan independently o f each other. In recent years, however, there has been a tendency to combine and coordinate these two types o f laws. The Michigan child labor law prohibits the employment of children under 16 years of age during school hours without permits. Farm labor and domestic service are exceptions. Children may be granted permits to work if they satisfy the following conditions: (1) They must be 15 years o f age ; (2) they must have completed the sixth grade; (3) they must have attended school 100 days during the school year previous to their arriving at the age o f 15 or during the year previous to applying for a school record; (4) it must be necessai\ for them to work to support themselves or their parents. The permit is issued by the superintendent o f schools. The compulsory education law requires that children attend school until 16 years o f age with the following exceptions: A child who is 14, who has completed the sixth grade, may be excused if his services are essential to the support o f himself or his parents, and a child who has completed the eighth grade may be excused if he has an employment permit, or wishes to remain at home or work at some occupation that does not require a permit. You will note, therefore, that it is possible to have a child out o f school and employed at 14 years o f age. There are about 25,000 children in Detroit 14 and 15 years o f age, and they would nearly all be eligible to leave school except for the economic necessity clause. However, on June 20, 1922, only 263 o f 1 Proceedings o f the N ational Education A ssociation, Sixteenth Annual Meeting ton, July, 1922, p. 215. W ashington, 1922. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Bos STANDARDS AND PROBLEMS; 13 these children were actually out.of school and employed, and I feel confident that on June 20, 1923, Detroit will be able to make the proud boast that not a child under 16 is permitted to leave school to go to work. We have concluded that the standard set by the Chil dren’s Bureau that no child shall leave school until he has reached the full age of 16 years should be the minimum for the city o f Detroit. We believe with Miss Blake that there is plenty of money for the children in Detroit if the adults do not burn it up, and we have gone on record as saying that we do not want the children o f Detroit to go to work to maintain the city. After all, there is only one reason why a 15-year-old child should go to work, and that is to reduce taxation, and so far as I am concerned as a taxpayer, I do not wish to have any child stop school before he is 16 years old for the purpose o f reducing taxes. In the end Detroit is going to profit by the increased length o f the school period, as our citizens will be able to earn more money because of their 10 years’ schooling than if they were permitted to leave school at the end of 4 or 5 years, The principal means by which this reduction in child labor has been brought about in Detroit has been a constructive interpretation o f the poverty exemption clause. In conclusion to this part of the discussion, I will say that whereas poverty exemptions o f all kinds are wrong in theory, and all o f us rebel at the thought that a child should be compelled to give up his right to education merely because the parents happen to be poor, in actual practice such exemptions can be rendered unimportant. I f the attendance department is alert enough, it will find means for solving economic problems in the home of the school child without taking the child out of school. The value o f a provision whereby children of poor parents may be excused from school at an earlier age than other children lies only in the fact that it makes it easier to get legislatures to raise the compulsory school age to what may be in effect a 16-year standard. The second way in which the permit is important in relation to school attendance is in connection with the system o f child account ing. It is my opinion that the most important phase of the whole school-attendance problem is child accounting. For a number of years in Detroit we have maintained a continuous school census, and we have developed it now so that it is functioning in a highly efficient manner. We maintain a card for every child in the city from 5 to 19 years of age, inclusive, with a cross-index, and once each year we make a house-to-house canvass o f the entire city. The results of this field canvass are checked against the census cards to complete the school census, and also to see that all o f the children o f school age are enrolled in some school. During the school year we receive reports from every public, private, and parochial school in the city 32758°— 23----- 3 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 14 EM PLOYM ENT CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE---- for each child who enters or leaves school. We also get reports from the juvenile detention home, the police department, the marriage license office, and many other agencies. At least once each year, we ask each school to submit a complete enrollment. In this way we have an accurate check on every school child. Our system would be incomplete, however, if children were not required to h ave. permits before entering employment. This is especially true in regard to the part-time school which is now operated in Detroit for those children under 17 years of age who are not in regular day school. The law requires that no child under 17 years of age enter employment without a permit, and in ease this requirement is disregarded penalizes the employer. We are authorized to revoke permits o f children who are not attending continuation school regularly, and this is usually all that is neces sary to keep the child in the part-time school. We try to cooperate with the employers in every way possible. We ask them to see that their lists o f minor employees check with our census records. If, however, they fail or refuse to cooperate with us, we do every thing possible to make them pay the penalty for their negligence. By means o f the employment permit, we also impress upon the child and his parents the fact that we are interested in the child’s welfare up to the time he has reached his seventeenth birthday. We are in this way able to convince many children and their parents that the children should remain in school longer. It brings the children into contact with the school authorities before they per manently sever their connection with the school. This makes it possible for adjustments to be made in some cases so that the child’s parents are satisfied, and the child’s school life lengthened. This has operated to increase the number o f children in the. high schools. During the past year, the number o f children in the ninth grade has equaled and sometimes exceeded the number o f children in the eighth grade in Detroit. THE V A L U E O F C E R T IF IC A T E -O F F IC E R E C O R D S S T U D E N T O F C H IL D -L A B O R P R O B L E M S . TO THE M . E d it h C a m p b e l l , Director, Vocation Bureau, Cincinnati Public Schools. In attempting to substitute for Mrs. Helen Thompson Woolley to-day I have not only a sense o f my inadequacy, but one o f great regret that you can not have her clear and forceful presentation and her own analysis o f her wide experience covering a period o f 10 years as administrator o f an employment-certificate office. For an incredibly long time public schools either entirely over looked or neglected their most important laboratory—the office where employment certificates were issued to children who were https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AND PROBLEMS. 15 leaving school to go to work. Twelve or fifteen years ago students o f child labor began to insist that these certificates provided a fund of information the value o f which could not be overestimated. In 1915, several years after the Board o f Education o f Cincinnati had placed the issuance o f employment certificates under the direc tion of Doctor Woolley, she wrote a paper on this function from which I quote: - Working permits may have a very direct hearing on school problems or none at all, depending on how they are issued and what use is made of the in formation obtainable through issuing them. Statistics of working permits are vital statistics of the school. They correspond to the death rate of the community. The usefulness of statistics of the death rate depends on how accurately the records are taken and how carefully they are analyzed. Most communities plan their campaigns of health and sanitation on the basis of their vital statistics. The statistics regarding working permits should have just as direct a bearing on school problems.1 Mrs. Woolley then gave a number o f facts based upon certificate records: 1. Retardation. The amount of retardation among children who leave school to go to work is more than twice as great as it is in the school system at large. Types of classes in the schools should be formed to meet this situation, and probably the most efficient type of law will prove to be one which provides a part-time system o f education up to 18 years, such that the first steps in industrial life will be taken in close cooperation with the school. 2. Shifters in industry. Every employer complains of the instability of labor and the expense of hiring and firing each year an endless succession of beginners. * * * Measured in school standards, then, the worst shifters were the inferior children. The first step the employer should take in guarding against this evil is to give a preference to children who have done well for their age in school. 3. The comparison o f children who go to work early with those who remain in school. According to the tests, then, the group o f children which drops out of school at 14 is mentally inferior to the group which remains in school. The judgment of the school, expressed in the great retardation of the working group, is confirmed by the tests, and tests form a method of measurement sufficiently different from school work to make their results an important piece of additional evidence. 4. Wage-earning capacity o f children who leave school at 14. There is no correlation either negative or positive between earning capacity and school grade. These statements o f Mrs. W oolley’s have been more than con firmed. There is almost no phase o f the child-labor problem which : s “ The issuing o f w orking perm its and its bearing on other school problems,” School and Society, M ay 22, 1915. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis in 16 EM PLOYM ENT CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE- is not connected with the employment certificate, and every phase o f the educational process could be amazingly illuminated by care ful analysis o f these working permits. During the period 1911-1922, there have been two changes in Ohio’s child labor law—changes which have greatly increased the power of the State in supervising the working child, and the re sponsibility of the school in providing this child with adequate guardianship. The law in 1913-14 raised the age requirement for boys from 14 to 15 years with a sixth-grade school requirement, that for girls from 14 to 16 years with a seventh-grade school require ment. Boys were required to have certificates until the age of 16, girls until the age o f 18. The present law, which went into effect in August, 1921, was based upon the facts presented by the cer tificate offices. The age o f 16 years was made the minimum for both boys and girls, with a seventh-grade school requirement. The futility o f a different age and school requirement for boys and girls had been demonstrated by the steady demand for certificates on the part o f girls, by the amount of retardation for girls which shows an increase with the 16-year age limit, and by the difficulties in ad ministration and enforcement o f the law. We were also completely convinced that the girl did not need protection more than the boy for the sake of either health, morality, or education. I f more facts had been available from the issuance o f certificates, the law in 1914 would not have made this difference between boys and girls. Under the new law the requirement for age proof was made more stringent than ever before, and hence the necessity for birth registra tion brought more urgently to the attention o f the public. No more serious problem than this confronts the student of child labor and o f education. The Cincinnati Board o f Health has been lament ably cut in funds, to the great detriment o f its department o f vital statistics; so much so that the chief health officer recently found himself unable to continue to give children copies o f their birth rec ords. Through the pressure of the strict issuance of employment cer tificates the work o f this department has been made a more effective function o f the board o f health. We are also attempting through the cumulative record card to have the child’s age established when he enters school. I f this could be validly done an enormous amount of time and expense would be saved the public-school system, which now simply postpones this age certification from the fifth to the sixteenth year. The procedure o f the employment-certificate office has had a con stant influence upon standards o f health for the child. When we first began the issuance of certificates, almost no child was refused a certificate because o f inability to come up to the health standard https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AND PROBLEMS. 17 o f the law, and then only when great pressure was brought to bear upon the district physician. Last year the employment-certificate office required physical examinations o f 2,681 children, none of whom was accepted until health recommendations were carried out. Acting upon these results, the writers of the present law greatly raised health requirements—so much so that many felt the impossibility o f administering this part o f the law because o f lack o f physicians and adequate funds. But the law was passed, and an effort has been made to give each child an examination more thorough than those given in former years. This procedure has brought the physicians o f the board o f health— our examiners—more directly into contact with industrial medicine, has more sharply confronted them with a specific public-health problem, and has brought to our assistance the cooperation o f the Cincinnati Public Health Federation— a most effective organization. The present law provides for the issuance of full-time vacation certificates, thus sanctioning work for children o f 14 years when school is not in session and recognizing the distinction between employment during the school term and employment during vaca tion. During the period June 20-August 25, 1922, 756 of these certificates were issued, more than 400 of which were returned by September 1 without follow-up work. These children create addi tional attendance problems, and probably a few more children go into cooperative and part-time work as a result o f the issuance of vacation certificates. W e realized that many children were working illegally without certificates. We were able, however, to compel the initial physical examination of these 756 children and to make some effort for supervision. Thus the certificate method slowly, step by step, impresses upon industry, the school, and the parent that every entrance of a child into industry must be sanctioned and guarded by the State. The amazing ignorance and indifference of the public schools as to what happens to the children who go to work has been consider ably lessened through the effort o f those who realized the value o f work-certificate records. These records have shown a significant amount of retardation, never decreasing and in many years increas ing, as continuously shown in Mrs. Woolley’s annual reports. The effect o f these statistics has been to increase the scope o f continua tion, cooperative, and part-time classes, under the provisions of the new law, and to provide for the issuance of the certificate to retarded children. Again the opponents o f the law and o f vocational education claimed these extensive provisions could never be met. In many communities in Ohio they have not been met. But they have forced the schools and industry to face the fact that the child must be more https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 18 EM PLOYM ENT CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE— ' carefully guarded and supervised on his entrance into working life. The present law requires the school at least to know where the child is until he is 18 years o f age, and the working permit has indeed begun the “ vital statistics o f the school.” It has also begun to impress upon the tax-paying public that the child who goes to work at 15 or 16 has just as much right to the advantage o f school funds, used for guidance and guardianship, as has the high-school child who often avails himself o f these funds until he is 18 years o f age. In the high-school group are only 10 per cent o f our children; the great majority go out from the sixth and seventh grades with their most crying needs unheeded. The mere knowledge o f where the working child is going (far too often his ignorance o f f where” is an indictment of the school), the grade he has completed, the relation (and again the sorry nonrela tion) o f his grade to his job, the condition o f his health, and much else, show the need for complete reorganization o f our present grade system. Superintendent Condon, o f Cincinnati, has asked a com mittee to work out this problem for the school system. The com mittee report was based not only upon facts about the working child, but also upon extremely interesting figures compiled by some of the principals upon retardation and the overwhelming number o f failures and withdrawals in high schools. The Children’s Bureau is also bringing to light interesting data by investigating the correlation between grade and job in cases in which working permits have been issued by the Cincinnati office. The evident lack o f correlation between wages, type o f position, and school grade, as shown in certificate records, emphasizes increas ingly and constantly the need for intensive study o f the industry and the occupation into which the child is certificated. The expense and burden o f this analysis should be assumed by industry, which is still reluctant to initiate and plan such studies. In consequence, we have on the one hand the schools attempting to train the child for some unknown occupation and on the other hand industry bit terly complaining that the child is untrained for industrial tasks. Until the school and industry frankly, intelligently, and with un doubting confidence in each other discuss processes, wages, hours, educative motives, the deadly effect o f monotony, and all else that concerns the real life o f the child, no actual progress will be made, as Mrs. Woolley writes, “ in bringing about those modifications o f educational systems and procedures which will make o f education a more effective instrument in helping each child to reach ultimately a wise adjustment to the occupational world.” I have not attempted to emphasize the question o f mental differ ences shown by the employment-certificate records. In the Cincin nati vocation bureau we are depending more and more upon the https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AlfD PROBLEMS. psychological test for assistance in handling individual children. I again refer to Mrs. W oolley’s paper and to her annual report, the con vincing statements and statistics of which prove the undoubted wis dom of a classification and reorganization in the school system based upon the fact that, as Doctor Whipple says, “ the existence o f funda mental and relatively permanent individual differences in intellectual capacity lias been incontrovertibly demonstrated; that the real mean ing of democracy is properly safeguarded in the notion of ‘ equity of opportunity,’ and if any nation is destined to perish it is that one which fails to provide the best possible educational training for those o f its rising generation that show promise of intellectual leadership.” Provision for this group should include not only facilities for educational training but extensive scholarship funds. The Cincin nati bureau is now administering $6,000 a year in scholarships for a group o f superior children who are 16 years o f age and would other wise be compelled to go to work. The fund is a part o f the budget contributed by the community chest to the vocation bureau, which is a joint enterprise o f the public schools and the council o f social agencies. i Experience in issuing employment certificates has constantly justi fied the method o f placing this responsibility on boards o f education. The question whether one group can more ably perform this task than another one, such as boards of health or industrial commissions, depends, o f course, upon the personnel—which is always the secret of effective work, The training and ability o f the issuing officer is o f paramount importance, and every effort should be made to raise the standard for the officers ; but the great hope of breaking into the present rigidity o f school grades and classes is the teacher’s constant and vital contact with the success or failure o f the working child after he leaves the schoolroom. This knowledge can be given, and the teacher stimulated to secure this information, only when the school system is held entirely responsible for permitting the child to go to work. Presenting to the child a legitimate choice between work and school is a serious responsibility. Such a responsibility must inevitably compel the schools to exercise this right only when they have exhausted every possible resource for the wise guidance and supervision of the working child. A t the end o f a long day this summer when more than 400 children had passed through the office, a small colored boy presented himself to a weary clerk. She had exhausted every apparent clue to a birth record and finally in desperation asked, “ John, do you know the name of the doctor who was with your mother when you were born? ”— to which the bewildered little boy solemnly replied, “ hTo’m—I don’ ’zactly remembah— I wuz right small then.” In the years to come many a man and woman who as a child came to the employ https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 20 EM PLOYM ENT CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE----- ment-certificate office, with the right to expect o f us knowledge of industry and all that was necessary for wise advice, may say to us somewhat bitterly, “ You should have told me what to do; ‘ I wuz right small then ’ ! ” D IS C U S S IO N . G eorge C h a t f i e l d , Assistant Director, Bureau of Attendance, Department o f Education, New York City. The most important and most striking o f all the points brought out here this afternoon is that make what laws you will about these children as to the age when they may leave school, in some way or other those laws will be evaded unless the schools do something for these children’s individual needs. Now, our schools are organized in a certain system. I do not think that any particular individual is responsible for that system in the schools as they are now. We are all responsible for it. But the fact remains that we will not do for these children the things that they want, and a very large percentage leave school because they are mighty glad to.get out. That means only one thing—that they have failed. People do not usually quit doing things that they like to do and in which they have been successful, and they have not been successful in this. I hesitate to speak after the scientific reserve that Miss Campbell has exhibited on the matter; but I do not know but what the fact is that the reason there is no correlation between the things that children do and the grade at which they leave school is that the grade in which they are in school and the work they are doing in school does not necessarily measure their ability or capacity. We have had our standards raised in New York one year after another. At the present time we are compelling all children under IT who have not completed the elementary grades to attend school. We have a very difficult job to make them stay in school. We have not yet found how to adjust the continuation-school program to the needs o f the children. I do not think we have accomplished much for the children except to keep them in school and out of some dangerous employment. We have not given them any better educa tion, and we have certainly increased the school congestion tremen dously. X think a different kind o f solution from the one suggested is needed, and then we shall not have to have these laws to keep children in school. To pass from this question to that of children obliged to go to work because o f family need, I think that this is not a matter for private charity, but that it is the State’s business to step in there just as much as it is in the cases of the widows’ pension fund. I f we ever get our school system into such shape that it can handle our children in a rational way, a good many o f these other prob lems will be solved. ... https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AND PROBLEMS. 21 Miss C am pbell . In Ohio we have State relief for children who are obliged to go to work because o f family need. The board o f education spends several thousand dollars every year in the relief, but the public are opposed to it. The C h a ir m a n . They like the idea o f the scholarship, but they do not like the word “ relief ” ? Miss C am pbell . Yes; that is the reason. Mr. L e d e r l e . We have State relief in Michigan, but we are not using it in Detroit. It is limited to $3 a week. The C a ir m a n . Suppose you tell us, Mr. Lederle, how you reduced the number o f employed children from 1,700 to 200? Mr. L ederle. Our attendance officers are trained social workers with an educational background. They all occupy substantially the same position in the community as high-school teachers. They are selected from people in the schools who are specially fitted for this kind o f work. When the child wants to leave school the entire family problem is gone into. We find that by making the family budget and studying the family’s problem, getting the older people to work and getting the father into a position that pays him better, we can help the family so that we do not have to give them any money. A large proportion o f the children who leave school and go to work come from the lower class mentally. The parents are pos sibly able to earn enough to. support the family, but have not been able to manage the home properly. We have assisted them in man aging the home. The time we made our greatest progress was in the time o f unemployment, when there were 50,000 or 60,000 men out of work in Detroit. We took the matter up with the mayor and the department of public welfare and they agreed to grant temporary relief to the families where necessary, but we found as a practical matter that it was not necessary. The C h a ir m a n . That was not true of the families of the 50,000 who were without income. Mr. L ederle. In case an older member of the family was not work ing, we would not grant a permit to a child, but would get employ ment for the adult. The public welfare department assisted in this plan. 32758°— 23----- 4 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis > P A R T II. THE RELATION OF STATE AGENCIES TO THE LOCAL ISSUING OFFICE. STATE S U P E R V IS IO N O F T H E IS S U A N C E C E R T IF IC A T E S . OF EM PLOYM ENT T aylo r F rye , Assistant to the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin. / During the first 32 years o f its existence—from 1867 to 1899—the child labor law o f Wisconsin contained no provision for employment certificates (or child-labor permits, as we call them). In 1899 the statutes were amended to provide for the permit, and the require ment has been in force continuously since that time. Previous to September 1, 1917, power to issue permits for child labor was placed by statute in the hands o f the labor department and o f county, municipal, and juvenile court judges. During the latter part o f this period judges were required to file copies o f permits issued by them with the labor department. The head of the labor department was authorized to revoke a permit which appeared to have been unlawfully or irregularly issued, but he had no effective means o f pre venting repetition o f the irregularity. On one occasion a judge maintained that if the department revoked a certain permit he would issue another, and that he would continue to issue as long as the department continued to revoke. In the presence o f such de termination the department was practically helpless. On September 1, 1917, the permit age was raised to 17. O n the same date an amendment to the compensation law became effective which provides that if a minor o f permit age is injured while em ployed without a permit, or if a minor of permit age or over is injured while employed at prohibited work, such minor shall be entitled to treble compensation for the injury, and that the em ployer Shall be primarily liable for the payment o f the additional compensation. Fallowing this legislation, demand for changes in the statutes to render possible a more efficient administration o f the provisions of the child labor law became increasingly insistent. The response later in the same legislative session was a statutory provision placing upon the State industrial commission full responsibility for the issuance o f child-labor permits, and giving the commission authority to desig23 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 24 EM PLOYM ENT CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE- nate persons to assist with the work. A t the same time a statute was enacted giving the commission authority to refuse to issue a labor permit if, in its judgment, the best interests o f the child concerned would be served by such refusal. The vital importance o f this lastnamed statute can not be overestimated. In the appointment of permit officers the commission is not limited to any class or condition. It endeavors, however, to secure the serv ices o f people already connected in some capacity with public service. In practice, all appointments terminate on June 30 each year, unless for special reasons it is ordered otherwise. Under no conditions does an appointment hold for more than one year without renewal. During the five years of operation of this system we have designated 484 persons as permit officers. O f these, 209 are acting at the present time. The changes in the personnel have been far fewer than we feared they would be when the system was inaugurated. The 209 active permit officers are classified as follows: School officials, 108; judges, 44; justices of the peace, 16; bank officials, 14; village clerks* 8; miscellaneous (including attorneys, merchants, physicians, clergy men, and others), 19. Before a new permit officer is designated, the character o f the work is explained to him— either by letter or in person— and he is given an opportunity to say frankly and without embarrassment whether he can and will give the time and sympathetic attention to the work which its proper performance requires. Our advances are sometimes, but not often, repelled. Every class to which we have appealed for help has furnished its quota, small though it may have been, of individuals who have refused. When this occurs, our hearts go out in silent thankfulness that our statutes do not confer upon that indi vidual the power and impose upon him the duty to issue permits for the employment of our young. We try to make every permit officer realize that he is a member o f our organization; that we will try to help him in every possible way, and that he will not be subjected to unkind criticism and fault finding. He is encouraged to submit doubtful cases to the commis sion for advice before acting. Close cooperation with the schools is maintained. It is the statu tory prerogative of the schools to certify to the educational attain ments o f the child seeking a work permit. This prerogative is always respected. The commission goes further than the statute. School officials are requested to recommend for or against the issuance of the permit, regardless o f the fact that the child qualifies education ally. Sometimes, but not frequently, this request for a recommenda tion is declined. In no instance has a permit been issued against the recommendation o f the school official. On the contrary, in many in stances we have been able to prevail upon the parents to keep the https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis standards a n d p r o b l e m s . 25 child in school even after a favorable recommendation. School offi cials are encouraged to use every legitimate means at their command to induce children to remain in school and their parents to keep them there. Approximately one-half o f our permits are issued in the city of Milwaukee under the direct supervision of regular employees o f the commission. About 70 per cent of the remainder are issued in cities maintaining day vocational [continuation] schools. We have 38 such cities, exclusive of Milwaukee, including all our important industrial centers. In 16 of these cities the director of the vocational school is the permit officer, but in each such case the appointment is made on the recommendation of the regular superintendent o f schools, who is first given an opportunity to do the work. This concentra tion o f the work in the hands o f a comparatively small number o f permit officers favors close supervision by the commission o f the issuing o f working papers to the great majority of our working children. There is but one standard for employment certificates in -W is consin—that fixed by statute and by the lawful orders o f the indus trial commission. It is our constant endeavor to maintain that standard throughout the State. Copies o f permits, containing a statement o f the evidence on which they are issued, must be sent to the industrial commission. Our aim is to have these copies sent in at least semimonthly. Rec ords are kept o f these returns and communications are sent or visits made to permit-issuing officers who do not send in these copies. A ll copies o f permits are checked promptly upon receipt, and if any irregularities appear they are called to the attention o f the permit officer for correction. Contrary to preconceived notions, we have comparatively little trouble in getting corrections made— far less, we believe, than would be the case were the permit officer holding under statutory appointment. Employment o f the child is limited to the employer named in the permit. When the employment terminates, the employer must re turn the permit to the office where it was issued. Before the child can again be lawfully employed, a new permit must be issued or the old one must be reissued. A record of each reissued permit must be sent to the industrial commission. A ll blanks used in the issuance of permits are supplied by the commission. Familiarity with the provisions of the child labor law is an es sential part o f the equipment o f all deputies of the commission charged with inspection work. Special measures are taken, however, to educate and train the woman inspectors who are especially in trusted with the enforcement of the laws relating to woman and https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 26 EM PLO YM EN T CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE— child labor, with, respect to every detail o f the law and its adminis tration. Stress is laid upon the spirit and purpose of the law and regulations and the administrative policy of the commission. No woman inspector is deemed adequately equipped until she is thor oughly acquainted and in full sympathy with all the essentials o f the legislative and administrative scheme for the protection o f the working child and is a tactful and accomplished advocate o f that scheme. An essential part of the woman inspector’s duties is to confer with the permit officer. She checks over his records, advises him o f what she has found o f interest to him in the local situation, en courages, exhorts, educates, corrects, and inspires him as conditions demand and warrant. This education o f the permit officer is a tremendously important part o f the work. We have found it to be a painfully common disposition o f permit officers to break down standards, particularly in so-called special cases. After all, it should be remembered that the issuance o f the work certificate is not an end in itself. It is a means to an end. Proper protection fo r the child is the end. Frequently it is essential to his protection that the permit shall not be issued, regardless o f the fact that he can qualify for it under the law. For example, he should be protected from hazardous employments and from careless, reckless, indifferent, or exploiting employers. The commission is on con stant guard in these respects. Under its statutory power, it with holds permits when in its judgment such action is for any reason in the best interests o f the child. Does an employer adopt the policy o f discharging permit children as soon as their age and experience entitle them to pass to a higher wage classification and o f taking on new recruits at the low wage? His attention is called by the commission’s representative to the objections to this policy, and unless the policy is promptly changed he is not permitted to em ploy permit children. Does an employer fail so to organize his shop that children will be given the necessary supervision to keep their employment within lawful and proper limitations at all times? He is offered opportunity and help to correct the situation. Upon his failure to do so, he is not permitted to employ children. Do investigations and experience demonstrate that unusual moral hazards exist for the young in any occupation? The commission resolves that permits shall not be issued to children for that occu pation, advises the permit officers, and permits are stopped. Are there occupations in which it is impossible for the commission to supervise the employment o f children o f permit age as the law contemplates it shall do? Permits are not issued for the employ ment o f children in those occupations. Does an employer o f children https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS A3TD PROBLEMS. 27 in street-messenger service, knowing that a child whose place of employment is the street has only a remote chance o f recovering damages from his employer in a common-law action for injuries re ceived in the course o f his employment, adopt the policy o f operating outside the provisions o f the compensation law in order to save compensation-insurance premiums, thereby throwing practically all the hazards o f the employment upon the child? The reprehensible features o f this policy from the viewpoint o f the interests of the child and the State are pointed out to him, and he is given an oppor tunity to eome under the act and assume his reasonable responsibili ties. Failing, the issuance o f permits to children to work for him is stopped. These are not fanciful illustrations, as will appear from the follow ing typical resolutions1 adopted and put into effect by the commis sion: 1. Resolved,, That permits shall not be granted to minors under 17 years of age to work in bowling alleys. 2. Resolved, That permits shall not be granted to girls under I f years of age to work in any hotel, clubhouse, restaurant, boarding or rooming house, includ ing boarding and rooming places conducted by industrial plants for their own employees. 3. Resolved, That permits shall not be issued to children under 16 years of age to work in lumbering and logging operations. 4. Resolved, That no permit shall be granted to any child to work in any place of employment in which an active strike or lockout of the employees is in progress. 5. 1Resolved, That no permit shall be granted for the employment pf any child in messenger service on the streets by employers who are operating out side of the provisions of the compensation act. 6 . Resolved, That no labor permit shall be granted for the employment of any child in any capacity in road construction. By circular and personal letters and personal conferences permit officers are kept informed on the actions and policies o f the commis sion. We are sometimes asked what we do i f a permit officer refuses to conform to the standards. Well, we try to educate him. We try to have him get the vision. I f we finally fail, we apply a gentle but effective soporific, and when the patient awakes we have his voluntary resignation— or an equivalent—in our hands. We have been com pelled in a few instances to dispense with the services o f permit officers on our own motion, hut I do not recall an instance in which our action aroused resentment. The commission would not tolerate a defiant attitude on the part o f a permit officer any more than it would on the part o f any other member o f its organization, 1 The industrial comm ission has the right to make rulings which have the force o f law relative to the exercise o f its powers to enforce laws relating to child labor. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 28 EM PLOYM ENT CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE---- I am frank to say that I do not know how we could handle such cases if the permit officer held under statutory appointment. And in this connection it should be remembered that common sense, wisdom, tact, judgment, moral backbone, and vision can not be conferred upon individuals by statute. One o f the most powerful influences operating to secure compliance with the child labor law in Wisconsin is the treble compensation statute before referred to. Under this statute, the compensation-insurance carrier is secondarily liable and must pay the extra compensation only if the employer is unable to meet the obligation. The extra compensation in a maximum case is a little more than $26,000. A ll accidents to minors are investigated with reference to the legality o f the employment, and with the help of our— in the main— sympathetic corps of permit officers we are able, with almost deadly certainty, to determine that question. Under this statute, compensation-insurance companies—as well as em ployers— are financially interested in preventing violations of the law. Educational campaigns are continually being carried on by these companies to educate their policyholders in the necessity of a strict compliance with the permit law. During the last five years hundreds of thousands o f pieces o f literature prepared by the commission, explanatory of the permit and other provisions o f the child labor law and the dangers incident to their violation, have been distributed by the insurance companies. Child labor statutes, at least those of Wisconsin, are not simple and easily understood. The commission is constantly receiving requests for construction and explanation of the terms o f the statutes. Not a few o f these requests come from judges and attorneys. There have been recent instances in which our supreme court has reversed our circuit courts on interpretations of the law. Multiplicity o f in terpretations could not fail to be disastrous. The statute must not mean one thing in Milwaukee, another in Superior, and still another in Madison. Its application is uniform throughout the State when it comes before our supreme court. It is vital that it be so before it reaches that tribunal. In these circumstances it has been most help ful to have a central State body clothed with power to interpret and apply the law, and whose decisions are o f State-wide force and effect unless and until overruled by the courts. Under our statutes a permit, even though issued in contravention o f the provisions o f the law and of the regulations o f the commis sion, if issued by a duly appointed permit officer, protects the em ployer so long as he keeps the employment o f the child within the terms o f the permit. In these circumstances it will readily be seen how a careless or incompetent permit officer may sacrifice the vital https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AND PRO BLEM S. 29 interests o f the child. For example, on some flimsy and unreliable proof of age a permit is issued to a child as over 16 years of age when, in fact, he is under 16. This permit opens up to this child the whole field o f employment prohibited by statute to children under 16. The child is put at one of these hazardous employments and severely injured. The permit deprives the child of his right to sue for dam ages at common law, and it protects the employer from the payment o f treble compensation. The injured child gets only regular com pensation and is compelled alone to bear the terrible burden placed upon his young shoulders by the defaulting permit officer. Permit officers who are made to realize their great responsibilities and the disastrous consequences which may follow any lapse on their part, are slow to wander from the path of safety marked out for their feet by the statutes and regulations o f the commission. And all the time it is a matter o f solicitude—yea, o f increasingsolicitude— on the part o f the commission, that the supervision of his work shall be so close that no irregularity in the permit, whether due to intent, inadvertence, oversight, or incompetency on the part of the permit officer, shall go undetected and uncorrected. The suc cess o f our efforts may, in a measure, be indicated by the fact that during the five years o f operation o f the present system the legality o f the permit has not once been injected as a vital issue into the disposition o f the claim o f an injured child. In closing, I desire to submit that not all our energies in W is consin are being used to uphold existing standards. With one hand we are holding tenaciously to what has been gained; with the other we are reaching out for better things for the childhood o f our State. Figuratively speaking, our extended hand is being grasped by great and increasing numbers of sympathetic people. As among the peo ple who are joining us in this work, we have perhaps a peculiar feeling o f gratitude and admiration for our permit officers. They have responded to the call to unselfish service, oftentimes at the expense o f time and energy which they can ill afford. On the whole, their work is good and steadily growing better. The commission appreciates their help and is not backward about letting them know it. And now, do we claim 100 per cent efficiency? By no means. None can be more conscious o f our shortcomings than we ourselves. But we are on guard. A thousand eyes are watching for defects and a thousand minds are ready to offer suggestions and help for their correction. Whatever elements of weakness the centralized system in Wisconsin has developed, we know that its elements of strength so far overshadow them that they can not be considered as o f vital consequence and that in this work we can safely say, in the 32758°— 23------ 5 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 30 E M P L O Y M E N T CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE----- somewhat paraphrased language o f Dickens, that prince among the friends of childhood, “ It is a far, far better thing that we now do than we have ever done. It is a far, far better rest that the chil dren of Wisconsin now have from premature and blighting toil than they have ever known.” D IS C U S S IO N . J a m e s N. P r i n g l e , D eputy Gommissioner, State Board o f Educa tion, New Hampshire. In contrast to the plan in effect in Wisconsin, the administration o f all child labor laws in New Hampshire is in the hands o f the school authorities. While there is cordial cooperation between the labor and education departments, the inspectors of the department o f labor have no direct responsibility for the enforce ment o f laws relative to the employment o f children under 16. All superintendents o f schools, city as well as rural, are employed by the State board o f education on the nomination o f the local boards. There are 64 “ supervisory unions” employing 68 superintendents and assistant superintendents. Child-labor certificates are issued by the local superintendents o f schools, in practically all cases. The law permits the school board to appoint a special officer for this purpose. This is done in one city. The local attendance officer or, as he is still called in our State, truant officer, enforces the attendance laws. He is also responsible under the local school board for inspection and the enforcement of child labor laws. The State board o f education has authority to remove any tuant officer who fails to enforce the child labor laws. A ll immigrant children coming to New Hampshire are reported to the State board of education and their attendance and employment accounted for. The inspectors o f the State board o f education inspect all estab lishments included under the provisions o f the child labor law, once, twice, or three times a year, the number of inspections varying with the size o f the town and the number o f children employed. One o f these inspections is made during the summer vacation. These inspectors also examine and certify to the correctness of the records o f the certificating officers in the districts. I f it is found that certificates have been issued upon inadequate evidence, or otherwise improperly, they are revoked. In general the records o f the certifi cating officers are satisfactory. A careful study of complaints of hardship caused by the child labor law was made during the first years that it was on the statute books. In very few cases was it found that the employment o f the children was actually necessary. New Hampshire has a mothers’ aid law under which mothers with families dependent upon them for support may receive aid in amounts not exceeding $10 a month for https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis standards a n d pr o b le m s . 31 the first child and $5 for each additional child. A majority o f the “ hardship ” cases showed headstrong children or selfish parents. The weakest point in our child labor law enforcement is our physi cal examination. No provision is made by the law for meeting the expense o f this examination, and in many districts a fee is charged. In a majority o f districts, however, the examination is made by the local health officer or a physician appointed by the school board. The scope of the examination is less than that recommended by the Children’s Bureau. Our law requires a certificate from a medical officer o f the board o f health or from a physician designated by the school board certifying that “ the child has reached the normal de velopment o f a child o f his age, and that he is in sufficiently sound health and physically able to perform the work which he intends to do.” I believe the adoption o f a uniform standard for physical ex aminations to be o f great advantage. G eorge R. S turges, D irector o f Attendance and Em ployment, State Board o f Education, Connecticut. The officers administering the Connecticut child labor law (except for the provisions relating to dangerous occupations and to hours of labor) are officers of the State board o f education, and the State director of attendance and em ployment is also counsel for the State board. The board appoints several deputies or district agents, who do the work o f certificate issu ing and inspecting. They have offices in different cities located so as to be accessible to the districts under their charge. A child who wishes to go to work must bring to the agent of the board proof that he has fulfilled the requirements o f the law, his ap plication for an employment certificate must be approved by the prin cipal or school superintendent or some person designated by such officer, and he must then pass a physical examination. The exam ining physicians in the several towns in the State are appointed by the State board o f education and are responsible to that board for the examinations they make. The certificates are issued in tripli cate ; one copy is delivered to the parent and may be accepted by the employer as a temporary permit good for one week, another is made out to the particular employer and sent to him, and the third must be filed immediately in the office o f the State board o f education at Hartford. As soon as the child commences work, the employer must file a certificate with the State board of education stating that the child has commenced his term of employment. When the child leaves or is discharged, the employer must immediately notify the board that the child has terminated his services. I f those notices do not come in, our follow-up system begins to operate and investigations are https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 32 E M P L O Y M E N T CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE- immediately started to find out whether the child is at work, for he must be either at work or in school. In order to do this follow-up work these same officers are charged with factory inspection, as well as the State factory inspectors, and continuous factory inspection is something that the local officer must make in connection with his work, so that he may know where his children are. The law permits the State director o f attendance and employment to prosecute in person or by attorney for any violation o f the school or employment laws, and for that purpose he has the same power as every prosecuting officer in the State—grand jurors in the smaller towns and the prosecuting attorneys of the several cities—so that for any violation o f the statute in connection with children he may go directly into the town and prosecute in his own name. The State supervisors and other school officials report violations of the attendance laws to the local truant or school-attendance officers. Under our statute each town may appoint its own attendance officers. Where they are appointed, it is the policy o f our department to work in hearty cooperation with them and to hold up their hands in every possible way. In any event the matter is taken up through the fol low-up system, so if the local officers have not functioned the State officers will. Where the local machinery fails, the State board of education steps in and carries the work on just as though the local officers had not been appointed, bringing the prosecutions over their heads. It might be interesting to note that a State survey which we have had in progress for the past three years and which has covered 157 towns indicates that the percentage o f school attendance for the entire State is 97 for children between the ages o f 4 and 16, eliminat ing those between 4 and 7 who are not obliged by statute to go to school and those between 14 and 16 who have completed the sixth grade and are legally employed. R o b e r t O . S m a l l , D irector, Division o f Vocational Education, State Department o f Education, Massachusetts. As the preceding speakers have told o f their State systems I have been impressed with the fact that in some ways we in Massachusetts have probably more system and in others less than all o f them combined. We have no centralized system, such as has been described, which brings the State into the intimate relation of inspecting the issuing of certifi cates. For issuing certificates we have in the State 354 systems, all local. On the inspection side, however, the visiting o f the factories, we have a centralized system in the department o f labor and indus tries. I do not know that I have any decided opinion on the value of leaving to local communities entirely the system of issuing. I pre sume I am rather typical o f school men in this State in feeling that https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AND PROBLEM S. 33 the State can function best and most by helping to enforce school attendance rather than by taking over as a function the absolute control o f and inspection of the issuance of certificates. I do not see how in this Commonwealth, with 45,000 youths employed between the ages o f 14 and 16, representing something like 160,000 different certificates, we could profitably engage in that enterprise. I do not see how we can advantageously undertake the control and direction o f and have knowledge about all o f those certificates at the statehouse. Personally, I prefer to get a picture of the procedure which should prevail in these different municipalities and then try to get results through cooperation with the 354 different units rather than to try to get results through one State unit. But I am just thinking out loud; I am not taking issue in any way whatsoever with the previous speakers. A ll in all, my acute interest in the matter is of such relatively recent origin and comes from such a different angle that I confess I know very little about the machinery for accom plishing the ends discussed. My interest in the matter has come about through responsibility for enforcing the continuation school law, and the machinery which has been devised for this purpose without concern, so far as we are conscious o f it at the outset, with the certificating side o f childemployment legislation. The machinery which has been devised to apprise the continuation school that John Jones or Mary Smith has left the regular school to go to work is automatic. The continua tion school thereby gets immediately in touch with the employed minor. Because o f follow-up and informational matter which it thus gets automatically in the conduct o f the school my acute interest started. I f I have anything that I would like to submit as a possible contribution here to-day, it is my conviction that through the agency o f the 47 continuation schools which we have in 47 municipalities in this Commonwealth, and through the cooperation of the princi pals of these schools with the attendance officers, we can do a tre mendously more important piece o f work in the certificating of minors than by centralizing all this work in any State office. I do not disparage in the least the benefits which may come from some larger authority in this work. One benefit is in regard to the problem o f differing interpretations of the statute. As I see the problem in this State, the great value o f the suggestions already given is found in the State affording a common interpretation of the law rather than in the physical handling and inspection of cer tification. I have had the pleasure of meeting in the last year practically all the attendance officers in the larger places o f this Commonwealth, and I know that there is a feeling among them that i f we at the State office can get the authority to help hold up their https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 34 EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE---- hands and give a common interpretation to the law it will be of great benefit. One other point which should be emphasized is the dignity and the worth and the importance of the permit officer. I was much pleased to hear in Mr. Frye’s paper the Statement that they felt the success of the law was due to the caliber o f the men and women who were in the permit-isSuing offices. I feel that in this Common wealth we must dignify the position of attendance officer. We need a very great amount o f interpretation o f the functions of the attendance officer’s position. I believe that I, myself, have come only within the last few years to realize that in last analysis all labor legislation enacted for the benefit of children in this Commonwealth seems to have been enacted to assure them of a minimum amount of school-privilege and then to see to it that they get it. O f course, there are some other reasons, such as protection of health, but the fundamental reason is the educational one. It has dawned upon me only recently, but as I see it the most important function o f all child labor legislation is to assure to the child his proper amount o f educational opportunity. The other things come with the proper enforcement o f this provision, and I believe that through the part-time schools we are going to secure in every community where they are'established the agency which, through cooperation with all others, will be most potent to bring this about. E t h e l M. J o h n s o n , Assistant Commissioner, Department o f Labor and Industries, Boston, Mass. I should like to add this one word to what Mr. Small has said regarding the problem o f employment certificates in Massachusetts. I think the big problem is to secure more cooperation among the various agencies responsible for the work and better understanding o f the work and the procedure in issuing certificates. We have, I think, encouraging cooperation here as it is—the school-attendance officers are very friendly in reporting violations that come to their attention—but there is need for more. As you know, in Massachusetts the department of labor is respon sible for enforcing the child labor law and seeing that children are not employed without working certificates, and that employment certificates are correctly made out. When errors are found they are taken up with the school officials responsible and the correct pro cedure explained. A good deal of educational work of this nature is performed by the department through its inspectors. The depart ment has in preparation a handbook for issuing officers on the procedure in issuing employment and educational certificates and badges for street trades. Some time ago the department published a bulletin on “ Conserving Children in the Industries o f Massa chusetts.” Through the cooperation of the department o f education https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis standards a n d . p r o b le m s . 35 this has been introduced into the continuation-school courses throughout the State. One of the most promising plans for further cooperation and for better undertanding o f this subject of certification o f children for employment is that proposed by Mr. Small for an advisory com mittee made up o f school superintendents and attendance officers. This committee, working with representatives from the department o f education and the department o f labor and industries, will try to devise a better system o f procedure for the issuance o f employ ment certificates, and a more general understanding o f the law. The C h a ir m a n . There is authority in many o f the State laws for more State supervision than is exercised. Either the State commis sioner or superintendent of education, or the factory inspection de partment might do a great deal in encouraging the development of good standards. The important thing to remember is that almost anyone issuing certificates would like to make a good job o f it. It is a detailed administrative job, and some one has to show some interest in it or it will be neglected. There should be in the office of the State super intendent and the State factory inspector a concerted effort to help the local officials to do their job. Wherever the blame rests for present neglect, the penalty falls on the children. It is therefore of great importance that we develop, not any one particular system but a good working system, in every town in the State, so that no child will go to work without a proper working permit or before he has had the educational benefits which the law is supposed to insure him. You can not accomplish this end without some centralization of interest and leadership. At present we are drifting along with communities which are backward and do not know that they are backward. They can be brought to see that they are doing a very slovenly job, and in such a way that it will be possible to secure their cooperation in improving their own standards. Mr. A. L. U r ic k , Commissioner, State Bureau o f Labor Statistics, Iowa. I would like to ask the representative of Connecticut a question with reference to his statement that the factory inspectors made inspection of their plants, as well as the school officials. Does he mean by this that the inspections made by school officials are rela tive simply to child labor ? Mr. S t u r g e s . The Connecticut State Board o f Education is not concerned with the ordinary duties of the factory inspector except as the inspection may affect the children. For instance, if our local labor-department inspector in inspecting a factory ascertains that said factory is not provided with suitable sanitary equipment, etc., our office will no longer issue certificates to that particular factory. I f we ascertain that the factory does not have proper fire escapes https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 36 E M P L O Y M E N T CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE— the same would hold true, and the factory inspectors would be noti fied of that fact; but we would have no right to enforce that law. We might call it to the attention o f the proprietor, but that is not a function of our agency. Mr. U r ic k . I f you found a child employed at a dangerous machine could you take him out? Mr. S turges. Y es; and as a further result o f that violation, unless we were satisfied that it was purely an oversight, that particular fac tory would receive no further children from our office. The granting o f a certificate is entirely discretionary on the part o f the issuing officer. I f he doesn’t want to issue a certificate he doesn’t need to do it. Mr. U r ic k . I would like to ask Mr. Frye whether his experience with the judiciary has been satisfactory? Mr. F rye . I would say it has been just as satisfactory as with any other class. We have found the judges just about as willing to do the work and just about as satisfactory as the school people. I wouldn’t want to say they are any better; they are just as good. Not long ago, in a city o f considerable size, we had to dispense with the services o f a superintendent o f schools. We put a judge in his place. This superintendent lacked vision and he did not learn. On one occasion he insisted on putting a 13-year-old girl to work in a restaurant in violation of both the statutes and the regulations of the commission. We have, perhaps, among the judges, secured the services o f the most competent, and as I said in my paper, if they will not learn we dispense with their services. We tell them we understood that they are very busy—too busy to do the permit work— and soon we have others in their places. I can not see how it is possible for a permit officer to do his work well without information regarding the character, conduct, business, and policies o f the people who purpose to employ chil dren. A child 15 years old, for example, completes the eighth grade and applies for a work certificate. He is in perfect health. All right, he goes to work. I f you stop there, however, he may be put out or exploited. I f his work takes him onto the streets, he may be crushed in the traffic and his employer may not find it neces sary—under the law—to gather up his broken body. I f you stop with the issuing o f the certificate, he may be put to work day and night. The child labor law means much more than that the child shall have his opportunity to work. It means that he shall have an opportunity to grow to adult life with an unstunted body and a trained mind. We put into the hands o f the employers o f the State the plainest kind o f statement as to the hours and conditions o f employment of children. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis standards a n d p r o b l e m s . 37 It is one o f the duties o f the factory inspectors especially charged with the enforcement o f laws relating to women and children to visit the permit officers and to discuss with them the local situa tion with reference to child labor. They check over the records of the permit officer and assist him with the work. Permit officers, like the rest of us, tend to follow the line of least resistance. It is easier to comply with a request for a permit than it is to refuse it. Since March 1 1 , 1918, no girl under 17 years o f age has been permitted to work in a hotel in the State o f Wisconsin on a labor permit, under a ruling of the industrial board. Does a proprietor of a hotel ask for a permit for a girl to work in his establishment? His request is quite likely to be granted, but as soon as the copy of the permit reaches Madison the permit is recalled. We do not try to distinguish between good and bad hotels. We recognize that the proprietors o f hotels are just as good as the rest of us; but all hotels are bad in one respect, namely, that they can not control the actions o f their patrons, and we find it necessary continually to brace up our permit officers in the refusal of such permits. Sometimes the permit officer advises that “ this is a first-class bowling alley ” or that “ that is a fine res taurant for the employment o f this child.” We find it necessary to work continually with the permit officers to uphold standards. Shall we issue permits to children to work for violators o f the law? How is a permit officer to know whether he is doing that thing or Rot if the results o f the factory inspection department are not available ? For myself, I can not get away from the idea— after more than 10 years of experience in this work—that one of the most important factors in it is to see to it that the child gets a square deal after he gets that permit. Surely it is as important that he get a square deal after as before he gets a permit. We depend upon the schools to help us make sure that he gets a square deal before he gets a permit, so far as his education is concerned. We are working in close cooper ation with the schools. We are not sidetracking them. In the performance of our permit work, we reach out with one hand to the schools for all the help and information that they can give us, and with the other to the factory inspection department for all the help and information that it can give us. Mr. U r i c k . I wish to ask Mr. Lederle a question. In issuing permits because o f financial necessity, what evidence is required that there is financial necessity at home ? Mr. L e d e r l e . We work it out in this w ay: We record the income as received by the family, and in a parallel column the cost o f main taining that family, based on the same budget requirements as the mothers’ pension and the public relief fund. This budget is worked out in Detroit by the visiting, housekeepers’ association. I f the income fails to balance the minimum requirements for living in the https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 38 E M P L O Y M E N T OEKTIPIGATE ISSU A N CE— city at that particular time, one o f two things is done—either some adjustment is made by the attendance officer to increase the family income, or the family is assisted in making plans that will permit them to live within the income received. Mr. U rtck. May I ask who makes the investigation with reference to this budget to see whether it is necessary for the child to go to work ? Mr. L ederle. That is done by the attendance officers. We keep a record o f the work done by our department with every child in the city. We find that in most of the cases children who apply for per mits have had constant contact with the attendance officer for some time previous. He knows the family before the child ever asks for a permit. Our present program contemplates that a child should never come to the central office until the officer decides definitely that the child should have a permit. The Detroit schools are organized on the 6-3-3 plan. We have a full-time attendance officer in every high school and intermediate school. I f we keep our children in school until 16, most o f them will be through the ninth grade. This means that the children applying for permits will come from high schools or intermediate schools. The attendance officer will have ample opportunity to consider their eases. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis SECOND SESSION—J U LY 6. P A R T III. METHODS OF ENFORCING STANDARDS OF EMPLOYMENTCERTIFICATE ISSUANCE. Chairman: Mrs. M art D. B radford, Chairman, Advisory Committee o f School Superintendents appointed by the National Education Association. Mrs. B radford. The program for this afternoon promises practical helpfulness to all those who deal in any way with the problem o f the child in industry. Superintendents o f public schools should find it o f especial interest. It presents, as you see, four aspects of the gen eral question o f methods of enforcing standards of employment-cer tificate issuance. Standards, here as elsewhere, are o f prime importance. . Mathe maticians point out to us that advancing civilization has at each stage o f its progress been characterized by increasing accuracy in the units o f quantitative measurement used, and that therefore we may judge the general level o f advancement o f a people by the accuracy of these standards. So in its social relations and obligations we may deter mine the plane o f advancement reached by any community by the standards it has set up and by the efforts made to bring these social interests up to the standards adopted. The greatest o f all the social problems is how to conserve child life. Definite progress in the solution o f this problem is shown in raising the minimum standard of educational attainment for children, by fixing a standard for determining physical fitness o f those entering upon industrial life, and by other defensive measures for the benefit o f child-citizens. The degree o f success in enforcing these accepted standards varies widely in different communities. Those who have worked out successful ways o f enforcing right standards are called upon to do others the valuable service o f telling how it was done. We are here for the interchange of experience. 39 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 40 EM PLOYMENT CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE- TH E ENFORCEM ENT OF AN AG E STAN D ARD . E sth er L ee R ider , Chief Inspector, Child Labor Division, Alabama Child W elfare Department. Alabama is not in the birth-registration area, and the enforce ment of an age standard in a State which is not in the birthregistration area has many difficulties. The Alabama child labor law, which is enforced by the State child welfare department, prohibits the employment of any child under 14 years of age in any occupation except agriculture or domestic service when the public schools are in session, restricts the working hours of children under 16 to 8 hours a day and to the hours between 6 a. m. and 7 p. m., and limits their employment to occupations not considered dangerous to the life, limb, or morals o f the child. It also requires every child under 16 years of age who goes to work to have an employ ment certificate issued according to certain requirements. One of these requirements is, o f course, evidence of age. The law definitely outlines the kinds o f evidence o f age that may be accepted. These are, in the order o f their acceptability: (1) A duly attested birth record. ( 2 ) A duly attested transcript of certificate o f baptism showing date of birth and place of baptism of child. (3) A life-insurance policy in force at least one year. (4) A bona fide contemporary Bible record of birth. (5) A passport or certificate of arrival in the United States showing the age of the child. ( 6) An affidavit of age sworn to by the parent and accompanied by a certifi cate of physical age signed by a public-school or public-health physician. Employment certificates are issued by the superintendents o f schools or their authorized agents. In all cities where there are regular school-attendance officers, the superintendents of schools have been requested to authorize these officers to issue certificates. These officials do not always take the time to require the proper evidence, and often accept whatever evidence a child may bring on his first visit; for instance, if the child brings a life-insurance policy the is suing officer may accept it rather than take the time and trouble to have him sent away for his birth certificate. Also, there has been much difficulty in preventing the issuing officers from accepting Bible records o f birth which are not contemporary and which show erasures or changes. We find sometimes that even the parent’s affidavit is accepted by the issuing officer in lieu o f other evidence which the parent may pos sess but which he failed to bring when the first application was made for a certificate. To defeat this practice we made the requirement, when we last revised our instructions for issuing certificates, that in case a parent failed to produce documentary evidence of age a https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis standards a n d p r o b l e m s . 41 certificate must not be issued on a parent’s affidavit until 10 days after the first application. This often brings to light evidence which otherwise would not be produced. I f the child is actually under 14 years o f age at the time o f the application, parents who have brought no documentary evidence in many cases become suspicious when told by the issuing officer that it will take 10 days to investigate the age o f the child, and never return to make affidavit. I f there is really no acceptable evidence o f age in existence, a certificate o f physical age signed by a public-health or school physician must accompany the parent’s affidavit. The standards of height and weight used are those established by the Children’s Bureau for use in connection with the issuance o f Federal age certificates under the Federal child labor law. Although we know that these standards o f measurements are correct for the majority of normal children', yet we come in contact with many exceptions of children large for their age who are able to meet the requirements for 14 when they are a year or so younger. As a consequence, the State child-labor inspectors accept certificates issued on parents’ affidavits and physic-* ians’ statements o f age with a degree o f uncertainty. Birth registration has been in force in Alabama for 25 years, but was not under State supervision until 1908. Few birth records are available for children now applying for certificates, except in the city of Mobile, where there are very good birth records dating back several years even before State supervision. Very few chil dren in Alabama are baptized in infancy, so that few are able to present evidence o f age based on baptismal records. There are pracr tically no children of foreign birth in the State o f Alabama, so that few can furnish passports or certificates o f arrival. Last year, o f the 1,600 children under 16 years of age to whom certificates were issued, only 6 per cent were able to furnish birth certificates, 1 per cent offered baptismal certificates, 27 per cent furnished Bible records, and 32 per cent brought insurance policies as evidence o f age. The remaining 34 per cent o f the certificates were issued on parents’ affidavits and school records accompanied by certificates o f physical age. I f it were not for the fact that the State child-labor inspectors make careful and thorough inves tigations of the ages o f all children whom they find employed, this would mean that the legality o f the ages of a little more than onethird o f all the children who enter employment yearly in Alabama depends to a large extent upon the veracity of the parents. But by this work o f the inspectors, the correct ages o f many of those children who have not presented acceptable evidence o f age on which to issue certificates are established; and if a child is found to be under the legal age, his certificate is revoked regardless o f whether or not the evidence found by the inspector would be accept https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 42 E M P L O Y M E N T CERTIFICATE ISSU A N CE— able as evidence on which to issue a certificate. Consequently it seldom happens that a child under the legal working age is able to escape detection for longer than a few weeks after he enters em ployment. This same method is used in checking up the ages of those chil dren who enter employment claiming to be 16 years o f age or over. Formerly children under 16 years o f age were frequently found working more than the legal hours or at prohibited occupations. The employers would state that they had employed the children in good faith, only after the parents had assured them that the children were 16 or over, and in many o f these cases the employers were honest. To offset this difficulty the department prepared an age certificate for children 16 years o f age or over, to be issued according to the same procedure used in issuing a regular employ ment certificate. The employer must keep this certificate on file for all children claiming to be 16 or over or else assume the responsi bility for the correct ages of such children, and be liable to prose cution in cases o f children found to be under that age and illegally employed. It has been the chief goal of the child-labor inspectors in Ala bama to supervise the work o f issuing certificates so closely as to unify the system and bring the work up to the standards prescribed by the State child labor law and amplified by the officials of the State child welfare department. We have tried to keep this one important fact before the issuing officers, that inaccurate and careless certification not only may defeat the very intent and purpose of the law but also may aid in covering and encouraging violations. The work of the issuing officer is checked frequently by the State childlabor inspectors. A ll evidence and other papers required in the issuance o f certificates are filed numerically in individual jacket envelopes in the office o f the issuing officer. The State child-labor inspector visits the issuing office periodically and examines the papers filed for all certificates issued since the last visit was made. I f any discrepancies are found in the filing of the necessary papers or in the description o f the evidence on which the certificates were issued, these certificates are canceled and the issuing officer requested to reissue them correctly. A ll records are marked “ correct or “ incorrect ” by the inspector. In this way many irregularities have been discovered and remedied. In making routine inspections, the inspectors check all certificates found in the possession o f the employers. The inspector makes his round o f inspection, questioning each child found employed concerning his correct age and what documentary evidence o f age he may have at home. Then a visit is made to the home of the child to examine this https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AST© PRO BLEM S. 43 evidence or any other paper which may establish his correct age. I f no documentary evidence o f age is found at the home, any clue to evidence such as the name o f the attending physician, the ages of subsequent children, the place and date o f marriage, i f the child was the first born, the schools attended, and many other such clues, are followed up by the inspector. Often parents will confess that the child is younger than has been stated on the affidavit when it is found that the inspectors, through investigation, are likely to dis cover the correct age. When a better type o f evidence is found than that on which the certificate is issued, the certificate is canceled by the inspector and withdrawn from the establishment, and a notice o f cancellation left in its place. The canceled certificate is returned to the issuing offi cer, with instructions to reissue on the new evidence which the inspector has found. I f the child is proved to be under age, the cer tificate is canceled and returned with a statement o f the evidence. Even with the handicap o f few or no birth records, which makes much additional work for the inspectors, we have been reasonably successful in enforcing an age standard in Alabama. I f persistence is used, it is astonishing how often something can be found which will prove the correct age o f a child whose parents insist that there is not one single bit o f evidence in existence. Personally, I have found a very small number o f children whose ages I was entirely unable to establish. To this end I have visited attending physicians and searched their books for records o f obstetrical cases; I have visited probate courts and found marriage licenses which would prove that i f Johnnie was horn in the year given by his parents he was certainly born out o f wedlock, which revelation has usually brought a satisfactory confession o f the correct age fr o m the parents • I have searched for photographs o f children taken in infancy which had been presented to some friend or relative, with the children’s names and ages written on the backs; I have examined baby cups engraved with names and dates o f birth o f children; and Í recall once having traveled 50 miles to visit a cemetery to read the date o f death given on the tombstone o f a certain deceased husband whose widow stated that he had died six months before the birth of her child. Only a few weeks ago I found a very young-looking boy working in a cotton mill, who held an age certificate issued on a parent’s affidavit, and giving his age as 16 years. When I visited the mother she said that She had no evidence o f his age. I visited the attending physician, but found that he had no record o f the case. When I visited the mother again I asked her how she was able to remember the date o f her son’s birth, as she had kept no record o f it. She said that he was born on Sunday, and that that morning a https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 44 E M P L O Y M E N T CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE---- cyclone had blown away a barn which belonged to a neighbor, who was at church at that time, and that the church service had been dis missed on account o f the storm. I called on the owner o f the barn which had been blown away, but he could not remember the exact year o f the storm. Next, I visited the clerk o f the church and asked to examine the minutes to see if any record had been made concerning the dismissing o f services on a certain occasion on account of a storm. 1 found that such a record had been made in August, 1906. This proved the boy to be under 16, and therefore not entitled to work more than eight hours a day.' Bearing in mind such experiences I have the following as a m otto: That ‘ where plenty of diligence is used there is usually a way to find out a child’s correct age, despite the fact that there are few birth records for the children who are now entering employment in Alabama. D IS C U S S IO N . Mr; E d w a r d B. S p e r r y , Chief Attendance Officer, Board o f Edu cation, Jersey C ity, N. J. In New Jersey the applicant for an age and schooling certificate must produce one of the following proofs of age, in the order named: A birth certificate issued by a registrar o f vital statistics; a baptismal certificate; a passport (if o f foreign birth) ; or such other documentary evidence o f age as may meet the approval o f the supervisor o f exemption certificates. In many places it is difficult to obtain a birth certificate. The records of vital statistics have been kept fairly thoroughly in Jersey City in later years, but previously errors and omissions sometimes occurred. A child applying to the registrar o f vital statistics for a birth certificate, if his birth has not been recorded, is given a letter to that effect, also a blank form to be filled in by the physician or midwife who attended the mother at his birth. When this certificate giving the required data is presented to the registrar, it is recorded and a birth certificate issued to the child. One o f the parents must make an affidavit as-to the truth of the statements contained in the birth certificate or other proof o f age. I f none o f the documentary proofs o f age previously mentioned can be obtained, the supervisor of exemption certificates may take the affidavit o f the parent as to the date and place of birth o f the child. This affidavit, supplemented by a certificate of a medical in spector employed by the board o f education that the child has the physical development o f a normal child 14 years o f age, may be accepted as evidence o f age. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AND PROBLEM S. 45 The New Jersey law requires that a copy of the age and schooling certificate, together with the documentary evidence, o f age, be mailed to the commissioner o f labor for his approval. The office o f the commissioner o f labor is in the statehouse at Trenton, where are also the State records of vital statistics and the records o f the immigration department, both easily accessible for comparison should he question any evidence o f age submitted for his approval. I do not believe that any scheme has been devised that the human mind can not circumvent. This belief seems to be held by many parents and children, judging from the amount o f falsifying and subterfuge indulged in by those attempting to gain that to which they are not legally entitled. The altering of the year on a birth certificate to make the age appear greater is a common practice, with which you are all familiar. There is a practice among the Italians o f giving the Christian name o f a deceased child to his successor if o f the same sex. The attempt is made, frequently successfully, o f submitting the birth certificate o f the deceased child as evidence of age for his successor. Our knowledge o f the family history, or in formation furnished by neighbors, acquaintances, and sometimes relatives of the family, has in certain cases enabled us to avert such attempts at imposture. When documentary evidence o f age can not be obtained and the affidavit o f the parent is taken as to a child’s age, many times we are morally certain that perjury is being committed, but it is very difficult o f proof. ■While many excellent plans for the welfare of children have been put into operation, none will prove satisfactory unless a sufficient number o f well-qualified officers are employed to execute them. An ideal attendance officer will be the friend, aid, and counselor of his constituents. When he reaches that standing he will be the recipient of warnings and o f information that may prove of great assistance in the performance o f his duties. Miss E t h e l M. J o h n s o n . We have several problems here in Massachusetts in connection with establishing proof of the age o f working children. One o f these is that although the Massachusetts law, in common with the laws of most of the other States, requires as the evidence o f age upon which an employment certificate may be issued a birth certificate, a baptismal certificate, a passport or other official or religious record, it permits the acceptance, where these are not available, o f the record o f the school which the child first attended in the Commonwealth, without corroborative evi dence. In other States, when the school record is accepted additional evidence is usually required, such as a physician’s certificate. It has been found to be very unsatisfactory to accept the school record alone as evidence of age, as this record is not always correct. In https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 46 E M P L O Y M E N T CERTIFICATE ISSU A N CE— some cases the date of birth has teen set back so that the child appears older than he really is, and in others it has been set forward. An effort to strengthen this provision o f the law has teen made by trying to secure an amendment providing that where the school record is the only available evidence it must be accompanied by a signed statement from the school physician who has examined the child to the effect that in his opinion the child is at least 14 years o f age. The present law authorizes accepting the certificate from the school physician when all other forms of evidence, including the school record, are not available. The proposal referred to would therefore combine these two existing forms o f evidence. This provision was included as part o f a measure intended to establish a more satisfactory system of health certification o f children enter ing industry. Another problem which we have and one that is found, I think, in other States, is establishing proof of age o f working children over 16. We require employment certificates and consequently proof of age for all children 14 to 16 years o f age who are gainfully employed. We require educational certificates for children 16 to 21 years of age in certain specified occupations. For the children in these occupa tions, therefore, definite evidence o f age is available. Certificates are not required, however, for all the occupations in which minors of this age are employed. They,are not required for farm labor or for domestic service. They are not required for all the occupations in which the employment o f minors under 18 is restricted. Under the Massachusetts law the employment o f minors under 18 is prohibited in occupations where there is a serious health or safety or moral hazard. Where certificates are not required it is difficult to ascertain the age o f minors employed in these occupations in order to determine whether the law is being obeyed. Sometimes a boy who is husky looking and large for his age will claim that he is 18 when he applies for work, although in reality he is only 17. I f he is em ployed at a prohibited process, proof must be established that he is under 18 before action can be taken by the labor department. I f there were some provision for recording the ages o f all children who are employed in restricted occupations, it would be of great assistance. I should be interested in hearing from people in other States who have had experience with these problems. [A n inquiry was made by an unidentified speaker with regard to whether effort was being made anywhere to have the child’s age estab lished when he first entered school.] Miss C a m p b e l l . In Ohio, Akron is requiring a birth certificate on the child’s entrance into school. The cumulative record card in Cin cinnati is a similar attempt. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AND PRO BLEM S. 47 Miss S u s a n G i n n , D irector, Boston Placement Bureau. In Boston they are requiring it. In 1910, the school committee made a ruling to the effect that a child must produce a birth certificate upon en trance to school. In 1911, the city registrar received the indorsement of the school committee in his plan to publish, in book form, a list of all children born in Boston during that year. A copy o f this book was sent to each school, and to the certificating office and to the de partment o f vocational guidance. These books have been published continuously to 1918, so that children now entering the kindergarten or elementary schools are listed in these books, and the school authori ties accept this listing in place o f the birth certificate. This prevents the delay due to the rush at the city registrar’s office at either the beginning or the close of the school year. Children born outside of Boston must still produce their birth certificates. A State law re quires every physician or hospital medical officer to report the birth o f every child in cases o f which he has charge. This must be done within 48. hours after such birth. Any physician or such officer vio lating any provision of the section above referred to shall forfeit not more than $25. Miss M i n o r . New York has been doing that for seven years now, requiring the birth certificate if one is on file 5 if not, some other evi dence. We are finding it o f great value. I would like to emphasizealso the advantage o f penalizing with large fines the physicians who fail to record births. It was found in New York City some years ago that the percentage o f unrecorded births was very, very high, and a campaign was made by the department o f health against all men in the profession who failed to register births. The registration is now very high. S a r a S . G a r w i c k , Employment Certificate Issuing Officer, Spring field, III. The State o f Illinois has not been admitted to the birthregistration area.1 The doctors in Springfield now are more careful about registering births than formerly. This year we took a school census from birth to 2 1 years o f age and expect to check the births of children under 5 years with the records o f the city registrar. In this way we hope to eliminate some o f our birth-record problems. The State o f Illinois is issuing certificates of registration of birth for children born since January 1,1922. Our enumerators took a sample certificate, and in homes where babies had been born since January 1 explained to the mother that if the baby’s birth had been registered she should have one o f these certificates. W e have been issuing “ let ters o f age ” for children 16 years of age and over, and have been trying to get the business firms and factories to cooperate with us. A number o f them will not employ minors unless they have a birth 1 Illinois has since been admitted to the United States birth-registration area. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 48 E M P L O Y M E N T CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE- certificate or a “ letter of age” from this department. One factory ■which employs a large number o f persons last December sent us about 40 proofs o f age for minors in its employ. We found about 10 of this number to be incorrect records, and since that time the factory will not employ any minor without a letter from this de partment. T H E E N F O R C E M E N T O F A N E D U C A T IO N A L S T A N D A R D . J e a n ie Y . M in o b , Acting Secretary, New York Child Labor Committee. Under the New York law there are three educational standards with which the official charged with the issuing o f employment certificates has to deal: ( 1 ) A child must have completed the work o f a prescribed grade, as evidenced by his school-record certificate; ( 2 ) he must have attended school a definite number of days during a limited period preceding his application for an employment certifi cate; and (3) he must satisfy the officer issuing the employment cer tificate of his ability to read and write correctly simple sentences in the English language. The minimum standards adopted by the Federal Children’s Bu reau make the completion o f the eighth grade or graduation from grammar school a requirement for release from school and the issuance o f an employment certificate. This standard does not seem unreasonably high if one bears in mind that the usual legal minimum working age is 14 and that the average child graduates at approxi mately 14 years of age. Yet only 11 States—Indiana, Kansas, Minne sota, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Wash ington, and Wisconsin—have as yet adopted this standard; and one of these, New York, requires completion of the eighth grade only for 14-year-old children, permitting children of 15 to obtain certificates at the completion o f the sixth grade.1 Two States— California and Ohio—require the completion o f the seventh grade; 9—Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia—-the completion of the sixth; 5—Arizona, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey—the completion o f the fifth; 2—Alabama and Arkansas—the completion o f the fourth; while 16 States are still without any requirement as to the com pletion o f any grade whatever. The three remaining States, Idaho, Mississippi, and Wyoming, have not yet adopted the use o f work per mits. When discussions concerning the further limitation o f child labor are under way, the question always arises as to the relative desira bility o f accomplishing the end sought by raising the age limit or by increasing the educational qualifications. Both methods have their advantages and tjieir difficulties, the most insuperable diffi culty at present being the inability o f the schools to house the chil« 1 Nebraska, Utah, Washington, and Vermont permit exemptions. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis standards a n d p r o b le m s . 49 dren who would by either method be held in school. But a physical obstacle of this nature can and will be overcome if public opinion and public purse combine, and the richest and most powerful country in the world can not afford to deny its children the advantages which make for citizenship. The second educational standard, i. e., that the child must have attended a certain number o f days at school during the year pre ceding his application for an employment certificate, is apparently recognized by only a few States. South Carolina requires regular attendance during the u current year ” ; Oklahoma, attendance for a “ full term ” ; Arizona and Oregon, for 160 days; the District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York, attendance for 130 days; North Dakota, attendance for 120 days; Michigan and Utah, 100 days; Georgia, 12 weeks; Florida, 60 days; New Hamp shire, 300 half days. In the 10-month school year the 130-days requirement which has been adopted by the greater number of States certainly can not be considered excessive; and if we consider the purpose o f this par ticular requirement, namely, to insure regular attendance during a period o f time when the child, being o f working age, would other wise probably be absent quite frequently in search of work, it can readily be seen that to oblige him to present a record showing regu lar attendance during a period immediately preceding his applica tion for an employment certificate puts a premium on such attend ance and is a distinct deterrent to truancy. New York gives alter native periods during which this 130 days may be included; the child must have attended 130 days either during the year preceding his fourteenth birthday or during the year preceding his applica tion for an employment certificate, or 130 days preceding the date o f his graduation. The third alternative period was added last year. This triplicate provision is not recommended, as it affords an opportunity for a child who has gone to school regularly for 130 days during the year preceding his fourteenth birthday to remain away entirely for the following year, and then at 15 years o f age to present this record o f attendance and obtain an employment cer tificate therewith. The most effective means of utilizing this re quirement as a real preventive measure is to make the 130 days’ attendance compulsory during the 12 months immediately preceding the child’s application for an employment certificate. We come now to the third and most controversial point o f the educational requirements for employment certificates, namely, that provision which authorizes or requires the issuing officer to give a literacy test to the applicant and, as it is usually phrased, to certify that the child has personally appeared before him and been exam https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 50 EM PLOYM ENT CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE— • ined and is able to read and write correctly simple sentences in the English language. Eight States and one district have intrusted this power to the issuing officer: Delaware, District o f Columbia, Indi ana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Da kota, and Utah. This attempted check on illiteracy is generally regarded by school principals as totally unnecessary, as they consider the school-record certificate sufficient evidence of the fact that the child has- completed the required school grade. This attitude on the part of the prin cipals is not unreasonable, and would be warranted if the schoolrecord certificate which evidences the attainment by John Smith o f the sixth, seventh, or eighth grade, as the case may be, were really a guaranty that John had actually completed the work o f the preceding grades. But is it ? Consider the evil—apparently consid ered a necessary one—of forced promotions by means of which our friend John, having failed to complete the work o f any grade, might yet in his fourteenth or fifteenth year lawfully become possessor o f a school-record certificate which would contain a statement that John was at this time in the grade required for the issuance of an em ployment certificate. Or suppose that John, disorderly in school, frequently an absentee, effective in his relation to the elass only by his persistence in lowering its record, desires to leave school to go to work—is the unfortunate teacher who has been burdened with John for at least a term likely to impede his exit, or will she wish him Godspeed and sign a school-record certificate crediting John with the work which, as a member o f that class, he might reasonably have been expected to do—but did not do ? No method of closing truancy cases is better known to or more widely followed by many attendance officers than the issuance o f employment certificates. For these and for ‘many other reasons the special check known as the literacy test seems advisable, and its results fully warrant its application. In one year (1912), in the offices o f the New York City Board of Health, 239 children were refused employment certificates because unable to write correctly the simplest English sentences. The following samples of sentences, actually dictated and misspelled as quoted, will serve to illustrate what may easily happen in any issuing office where this test is applied: s . S.— There are lets o f girls here. “ There are loind girl;” This box is green. “ This lox is bring.” J. G.— I have a black and white, suit. “ I have a block shout.” “ I have a black and wite shout.” https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AND PRO BLEM S. 51 L. 0 .— I have a pair of new shoes. “ I have a pair of noo shore.” H. G.— I have a gold ring. “ I have a glold reng.” J* S.— I would like to go to school. “ I would like to go to shool-scoohl.” Monday was a very warm day. “ Monday was a veair Worm day.” M. S.— I have a gold ring. “ i ave a gold reng.” The children whose misspelled sentences are given above include both native and foreign born. Most o f the 239 children came from our public schools—a large minority from the parochial schools. The cases were piling up so rapidly that a conference between the issuing authorities and the city superintendent o f schools resulted in weekly reference to the latter official o f the names, ages, addresses, schools attended, and grades in school o f all children refused during the preceding week for “ insufficient education.” On his part the city superintendent at once ordered a special examination given to all children who thereafter applied for school-record certificates. On receipt o f the data concerning a child who had failed to pass the literacy test at the board o f health, the city superintendent sent immediately to the principal o f the school attended by the child, asking the nature o f the examination given by the principal before issuing the school-record certificate, and the passing mark o f the child. This was frequently accompanied by a request that the prin cipal send in the examination paper. The practice was not extended to parochial schools. By degrees this procedure resulted in cutting down these refusals to an irreducible minimum so far as publicschool children were concerned, and in 1914 only 16 children were refused for this cause. The type o f examination outlined for this purpose was, moreover, a decided check on the deplorable system o f pushing children rapidly through grades by means o f special classes, maintained solely for the purpose o f enabling groups o f children, mostly the backward ones, to qualify more quickly for employment certificates. In these classes attention was focused solely on the absolute requirements for certification; and in some in stances class teachers have based the spelling lessons on sentences known to be customarily used for the literacy test by the employment certificating officer. To conclude: With respect to the grade requirements, the writer ventures to suggest that one method o f controlling the evil of forced promotions is to have a record o f each child’s annual or semiannual examination forwarded to the central office, together with the passing mark o f the child and any further information concerning the child s school work which the superintendent mav https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 52 E M P L O Y M E N T CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE— desire. By keeping these in sequence the superintendent o f schools will have a continuous record o f the child’s grade work and may at his discretion require the child either to repeat grades or to be transferred to a course offering a more diversified curriculum, better suited to the real needs of the child than that in which he has shown marked disability. This record presupposes, of course, that every superintendent is looking forward to the time, or has already reachedTt, when he may be afEorded the means to devise and install a curriculum which shall be flexible in character. As to the requirement of a specific number o f days’ attendance immediately preceding the application for an employment certificate, the advantage o f thus putting a premium on the regular attendance o f a child is so obvious that no recommendation is necessary. The requirement that the issuing officer be authorized to ad minister a literacy test which shall be broader in scope than a mere test o f ability to read and write English correctly, is strongly rec ommended. Kesulting as it did in New York in the plan of having every child, irrespective of the character of his school work, take a uniform examination if he desired to leave school and go to work, it has held hundreds o f these children in school, as the examination brought out clearly the fact that the fundamental educational quali fications were in many cases distinctly lacking and that further training along specific lines was essential. It is, of course, obvi ously unnecessary to apply this test to graduates of the elementary school; but it should be applied to all others, and changed often enough to prevent the children from becoming thoroughly familiar with it and transmitting the information to other children about to apply for employment certificates. This has been done so often in New York that the warning is not a vain one, but founded on actual experience. One child, for instance, recited fluently 18 o f the 20 sentences which had been in use by the issuing officer for a period o f two weeks. The test is advocated not as a check on school officials, but as a measure further safeguarding the interests o f the child and preventing him from entering industry so handicapped that he will inevitably be swept into the industrial maelstrom and eventually be drawn under. When Thomas Jefferson said, “ I f a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be,” it was gospel truth; and James Buchanan rammed this truth home when he wrote that “ Education lies at the very root o f all our institutions; it is the foundation upon which alone they can repose in safety. ‘ Shall the people be educated ’ ? is a question not o f mere policy, but it is a question o f life and death, upon which the existence o f our present form of government de pends.” https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AND PROBLEMS"; 53 D IS C U S S IO N , i Mr. J o h n A. P a r k e r , Chief Attendance Officer, School Depart ment, Springfield, Mass. In Massachusetts there is a clause in the law which allows a superintendent o f schools, in issuing an employ ment certificate, to waive the requirement of the school record when ever he thinks it will be for the best interest of the child to do so. This, o f course, nullifies the educational requirement. There is an other clause in the law which permits the issuing of a certificate to any child who has attended school for seven years, regardless of his grade, if the superintendent o f schools is o f the opinion that the child is unable to complete the sixth grade. To keep children who will never be able to do the work of the sixth grade in a regular day school seems to me to be training them in the habit o f failure. A child who never gets in school the incentive given by success is going.to be a failure the rest o f his life. Voca tional schools established under the Smith-Hughes Act do not supply the need for the instruction o f children who can not attain the com pletion o f the sixth grade, since they receive only pupils who have completed the sixth grade. Special classes do not answer the need, because they do not have the proper equipment, the t r a in in g is not sufficiently thorough, and being in the same buildings with the regu lar day schools the classrooms are dubbed “ dunce rooms ” by the other pupils, with a consequent feeling of failure and loss of selfrespect by the children attending these classes. Continuation schools, I think, have resulted partly through the work o f attendance officers in forcing back into the regular day schools children who had been employed but who were out of work. These children did not fit into the system and were a nuisance. I f all children were obliged to continue school attendance until they were 16 years of age, the schools in self-defense would have to adapt the curriculum to care for motor-minded children. The continuation schools have the equipment to help children already employed. Why should their usefulness not be extended to prepare children for employment ? T H E E N F O R C E M E N T O F A P H Y S IC A L S T A N D A R D . Dr. W ade W e ig h t , Director, Industrial Clinic, Massachusetts General H os pital, and Consultant in Industrial Hygiene, Massachusetts Department of Labor and Industries. Children seeking employment certificates are,,in most communities, supposed to satisfy certain requirements regarding age, education,5 and physical fitness. The age and educational attainments of chil dren are usually matters of record. Evidence of physical fitness, https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis ,54 E M P L O Y M E N T CERTIFICATE ISSU A N CE---- broadly speaking, must be sought at the time of certification if it is to be obtained. In the greater number of certificating offices, though not in all, responsibility for the determination o f the physical condition o f applicants is placed upon physicians. While this delegation o f authority by governmental agencies to persons medically trained commends itself as reasonable and wise, it is doubtful if evidence could be found to indicate that the judgment o f laymen in matters pertaining to the physical state o f children is in any important degree inferior -to that of examining physicians as manifested in their achievements in this field throughout the country, except in a small number o f certificating offices. Many o f the difficulties which beset the problem o f medical cer tification o f children for employment are traceable to a cause which is accountable for a host of other woes o f society. It is the incomprehensible faculty of the public for considering almost any doctor an able doctor, for obscuring the frailties of the medical pro fession with a veil of mysticism, a garment so flattering that the doctors seemingly gladly bear with it. Men quick to anger over the shortcomings o f an automobile service station are meekly tolerant of the in competencies o f their physicians. They forget that State \ registration confers upon a physician the right to practice medicine but does not endow him with wisdom. The enforcement of standards o f physical fitness is dependent primarily upon medical personnel and secondly upon the standards to be enforced. Unless it should be certain, in any State or munici pality, that all or a large majority o f the physicians in a community could be trusted to make a thorough examination and to interpret the findings intelligently and accurately, it is apparent that the examinations should be made by selected individuals. It is not practically possible to obtain universally trustworthy medical opinions under conditions such as prevail in Massachusetts, where a child applying for working papers may be examined by the physician of his choice. Neither is it practically possible to obtain even reasonably uniformly reliable opinions from all physicians who may be appointed as examiners unless they are obliged to conduct examinations according to established standards o f procedure and under some central supervision. The examination o f supposedly healthy individuals is not so simple a task as may be imagined. Neither is it an undertaking which stirs the imagination o f most physicians. Few doctors are interested in incipient disease and probably many are incapable of recognizing it, for it is not a matter o f much concern to medical schools, and doctors’ offices are visited by sick persons, rarely by those who consider them selves well. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AND PRO BLEM S. m :If the purpose of various State laws through provisions relating to the physical qualifications of children seeking employment is to assess -truly the physical conditions of children, without doubt medi cal examinations must he made by suitably qualified physicians appointed for the purpose. Quite as essential as the appointment o f such examiners is provision for their proper compensation and, should the appointees he already public officials, consideration o f the time required for the discharge -of ¡this ¡additional duty. It is futile to expect that professional services o f a high -order w ill be reordered without suitable recompense, except under very unusual circumstances. It is equally futile ?t© hope that husy school physi cians or public-health officers can assume large new responsibilities without a portion or all ¡of their work suffering. Whenever possible, there should be appointed to examine children applying for employment certificates physicians who are interested in such work and who have had ¡some definite training in this held. I f specially trained men can not be obtained, there should be sought physicians o f unquestionably high professional and ethical standards. In certain States medical -examiners are required to determine the physical fitness o f applicants in relation to specific occupations. It is thus assumed that the examiner has some knowledge o f many trade processes and of the demands they make on those engaged in them. It is possible for a physician practicing in a small industrial town to have some knowledge o f most o f the processes carried on in the local industrial restaMishments. In large industrial centers, and ¡especially in those having varied industries, it is beyond the range off possibility that ¡any physician should be sufficiently well acquainted with manufacturing processes to warrant invariable un considered acceptance o f his opinion regarding the fitness o f a child for a specific form o f employment. JSTot only are there many kinds o f jobs, but jobs o f ¡similar designation may differ greatly in different establishments, and with the job, the attendant health hazards. Even within a single large establishment the forms o f work are so numerous that many industrial physicians in wel-beonducted plant medical departments, men deeply concerned with selective placement o f labor japplieamts, do not after physical examination recommend the employment o f personnel fo r specified tasks. Upon the basis o f physical examinations ¡applicants are graded ¡according to a code ; A, fo r example, may be used to indicate persons o f excellent condi tion, fit for any employment within the establishment ; B, those with minor -defects demanding some consideration in placement ; -C, those who must be carefully placed with regard for physical condition; and D, those rejected as unfit for employment at any work within the establishment. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 56 E M P L O Y M E N T CERTIFICATE ISSU AN CE---- Selective placement is urgently needed in industry, and it is to the common interest of: the work and the worker. It should entail consideration o f both physical and mental qualifications o f the labor candidate in relation to the requirements o f the prospective work. Selective placement, however, implies a study o f the job at least as intensive as that o f the man who is to have the job. While much has been accomplished in the field of work analysis, much remains undone. Numerous summarized job analyses present as requisites an imposing array o f the cardinal virtues coupled with a few loose generalities regarding desirable physical characteristics. It may be that an errand boy in a factory should be intelligent, industrious, honest, and o f ordinary muscular strength, but it may also be that he should be able to walk 15 miles a day, climb scores o f flights of stairs, and carry certain weights, without collapse. Though it is highly desirable that certifying physicians possess as exact information regarding industrial processes as may be pos sible, it must be remembered that an examiner is essentially a physi cian who can not have encyclopedic knowledge of industry. A few certifying centers have established close working relations between the office o f the medical examiners and that o f a placement bureau. It is an admirable arrangement, if not the only one so far developed which can assure proper utilization in connection with the placement o f children of the findings o f physical examinations. The standards of physical fitness set forth in various laws relating to certification for employment are for the most part the same in substance, if not in wording. Adjectives are notorious legal stum bling blocks, and some nouns are as troublesome. The individuals who drafted legislation requiring as prerequisite to certification a physician’s statement that a child is o f normal development, in sound health, and physically fit to engage in specified work probably meant well. It is regrettable that they did not supplement the legislative drafts with precise definitions o f normal development, sound health, and physical fitness. It may have been their intent that the terms should be loosely interpreted, in which event the spirit o f the law may be said truly to have descended now upon most o f our certifi cating offices. There is observable a tendency among many people to attach un due significance to a thorough physical examination. The making o f a physical examination requires but a few minutes of a doctor’s time, but the interpretation of his findings may call upon the sup port of centuries of medical experience. Seasonable uniformity o f judgment is not possible unless the technique of examination and of weighing the significance of the observed facts is to some degree standardized. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AND PRO BLEM S. 57 The world would be a healthier, happier place if more people would periodically submit to a medical overhauling, but they should exer cise some discrimination in selecting their physicians. It is not wise to act precipitately upon the advice of a physician whose standards o f judgment are uncertain. Many a man has gone to his doctor, been examined, and then rushed out and bought an abandoned farm, or gone to Los Angeles, or committed suicide, or taken a trip to Europe, only to learn later that the doctor’s dictum was but an opin ion and that the opinion happened to be wrong. A physical examination should be in keeping with the purpose which it is to serve. I f a labor boss wished to move a heavy timber and o f his gang he had available a big Lithuanian and a little Ital ian, he would probably conduct a hasty physical examination of the two without medical assistance and tell the Lithuanian to get under the timber. Economy o f time and personnel require that the tech-, nique o f the physical examination of children seeking working per mits be no more elaborate than is necessary in consideration o f the purpose for which the examination is made. It may be assumed that the immediate purpose o f the legal requirements concerning ^medical certification is to exclude from the working world children incapable o f engaging in the work o f their choice and thus to offer opportunity for furthering the development and health o f the physically sub normal. In general, the laws do not provide for discriminating place ment or for benign coercion toward the correction o f defects. When a child presents himself as an applicant for an employment certificate any one o f several things may happen. He may be granted: a certificate conditionally or unconditionally, in which event he goes to work legally. He may be refused a certificate, in which event he may go to work illegally or return to school or loaf. He has only to wait out the brief period during which the question o f his employment is a matter o f concern to the State and may then enter industry with few administrative restrictions placed upon his activities. The children who apply for working papers are all o f them going to work eventually, excepting only those with serious and rapidly progressive disease. The most that an examining physician can do for a subnormal child is wisely or unwisely to defer the day when the child may take his place, albeit a poor place, in the working world. This issue is not immediately con cerned with that o f the determination o f a proper minimum age for leaving school, which is another story. The reports o f many certificating offices show that over half the children examined are sufficiently defective to be recorded as such and that about one-third o f the total number examined present defects which are considered to warrant temporary or permanent refusal o f certificates. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 58 E M P L O Y M E N T CERTIFICATE ISSU A N C E — The impelling desire to obtain prompt employment may lead a defective child or his parents to seek such remedial or corrective treat ment as may be indicated. The correction o f physical defects observed in the course o f examinations o f children wishing to obtain employ ment certificates is an important service, but not a prime function, o f certificating offices. It is not authorized by law, and expenditures incident to the rendering of the service are probably technically without justification unless the work is in the hands o f a school medical department. Each year many thousands of physically subnormal children are granted certificates without delay. They may be advised to secure corrective treatment, but i t is a reasonable presumption that few follow the advice. A smaller number obtain provisional certificates or are informed that no certificate will be issued until after needed medical treatment has been obtained. Motivated by the child’s desire to work or his parents’ intent to have him work much is thus accom plished that previously, during school years, was impossible of achievement. It is o f the utmost importance, however, that it be clearly recog nized that this accomplishment is a tardy effort to compensate for the shortcomings o f school medical inspection service. It is a desirable and creditable thing that a certificating office should guide a child aged 14 years in securing dental care. It would have been better for the child i f school physicians had secured for him similar treatment when he was 9 years old. Tonsillectomy as a condition o f employ ment may be sound certifieating-office practice, but tonsillectomy as a condition o f freedom from rheumatic heart disease is better school medical practice. A study o f the defects presented by the children examined as appli cants for working papers must lead to the conclusion that efforts to restore the children identified as subnormal to reasonably good health must be relatively ill rewarded. Defects of teeth and vision, cardiac disease, certain orthopedic conditions, and many other abnormalities observed seldom admit of other than palliative treatment. To secure for these children even at an eleventh hour the best assurance of maximum physical efficiency is a task well worth doing, but it is work which should be done long before the children reach certificating offices. School medical inspection and follow-up work in few i f any com munities are so conducted as to reduce very materially the incidence o f subnormal children among those who eventually pass from pri mary schools to work. Statistical data collected during a study re cently made for the Children’s Bureau indicate that the relative frequency o f physical defectives is approximately the same from early grammar-school grades, through grammar school, in certificating https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AND PROBLEMS. 59 offices, End in the findings o f the examinations of men drafted during the W orld War. Even in communities where school medical work is carried on thor oughly and conscientiously, it is difficult to secure requisite care for substandard pupils. Neither the children nor their parents can be forced to seek treatment for any but very exceptional defects. The children are apprehensive o f medical attention; and parents may be uncomprehending or resentful o f what they consider criticism and interference, or may be eagerly cooperative but unable to do much for their children because of economic limitations. The advance of health standards o f children, and o f adults as well, must be determined by the state o f enlightenment o f the public re garding health and disease, for it is now in murky obscurity. Mean while, the citizens o f this country, being a liberty-loving people, still cherish their inalienable right to be as sick as they please. I f school medical inspection were conducted with ideal thorough ness, when a child presented himself as an applicant for an employ ment certificate it would be necessary only to review the school medical record, briefly determine the child’s freedom from any acute disease, and then decide upon the basis o f die evidence in hand. Such a course o f action is warranted in few if any certificating offices. A t the present time the greatest value o f the medical exam ination made as prerequisite to the issuance o f an employment cer tificate lies in its revelation o f the inadequacies o f existing mp.cba.ni«m for the care o f the health o f children o f school and presehool age in both public schools and those conducted under private auspices. The products o f educational machinery are seldom subjected to final inspections and trials before they leave the shop. It is suggested that this procedure be compared with that of any successful commercial manufacturing organization. The examination prior to certification for employment serves an other useful purpose in affording a basis for comparison with the findings o f subsequent examinations which may or may not dis close evidences o f deterioration in health. Without such a basis of judgment no sound conclusions can be drawn regarding the physical effects o f early employment upon immature persons. Whatever the purpose and benefits o f the examination may be, in many States it must be made, and upon the basis o f direct ob servations an opinion must be delivered regarding each child’s development, health, and fitness for a specified form o f employment. The examining physician must either guess that his opinion is right or know that it is right. Without standards o f judgment he is obliged to guess. The guess o f a well-trained, conscientious man o f experience is a very trustworthy opinion, but it is o f less value than https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 60 E M P L O Y M E N T CERTIFICATE ISSU AN CE----- the opinion o f the same man based upon the application of sound criteria. Provisional standards o f development exist and are widely used, in the main as points o f departure. There is need o f intensive re search in the problem o f the normal development o f children from birth to full maturity. New standards will be forthcoming, more nearly absolute than those now available. They may rest upon con sideration o f age, height, and weight, or may ignore the age or be patterned after Dreyer’s formula or Pirquet’s pelidisi or be alto gether different. Meanwhile such tables as those o f Doctor W ood may serve a very useful purpose and should be employed. They do at least dignify the doctor’s guess. Soundness o f health can be estimated only by weighing the prob able importance o f observed deviations from normality. There aré few universally accepted conventions regarding normal limitations. A slight murmur which one physician interprets as significant of organic heart ,disease may be considered negligible by trained cardiolists. The significance o f albuminuria, o f minor degrees o f scoliosis, o f certain pulmonary findings, are all matters to be determined in accordance with the best medical practice. There.is a rapidly growing demand among examiners in cer tificating offices for standards of normal limits for physical findings. Until such standards appear the best gauge is the opinion o f a well-trained physician. Even when good standards o f normality become available they can not supplant careful physical examina tions and sound medical judgments. . They will be useful tools— they will not do the work. No hospital or dispensary or private practitioner of medicine can do good work without medical records. Neither can reasonably thorough, systematic medical examination o f applicants for employ ment certificates be carried on without records. They are essential for all comparative studies and to the conduct o f efficient supervision; They should be as simple as may be consistent with their purpose. A detailed form such as that published by the Children’s Bureau may be too elaborate for use in some offices restricted as to personnel, but much printing on a form may mean little writing. The central filing o f copies o f all examination records may greatly facilitate supervision, but it must be productive of needless labor and expense unless the supervising authorities are prepared to analyze intelli gently the statistical data thus rendered available. The effective enforcement of physical standards requires that applicants for employment certificates be examined by carefully selected physicians appointed for the purpose, working with proper compensation and with sufficient allowances of time. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AND PROBLEMS. 61 The essential purpose of the examinations is to prevent the em ployment o f substandard children at work which would probably prove detrimental to health. The incidental benefits of the exami nations are found in the presentation of a last opportunity for the institution of educational and remedial measures, o f a check upon the achievements o f school and preschool medical work, and o f a basis for an estimation o f changes in the physical state o f children during early working years. Standards of procedure and limits o f normality are required to assure reasonable uniformity o f judgment throughout a State or the entire country. Though an examining physician should be broadly informed re garding trade processes, it is suggested that final decisions concern ing the placement o f children in specific jobs should be the responsi bility o f persons more intimately acquainted with working conditions. The study o f this important phase of the public health is a rela tively new thing. Physicians and laymen, working under adverse conditions, have accomplished much. Many medical certificating officers display a truly inspiring enthusiasm and interest in the medical and social problems there presented in such great numbers. The achievements o f these officers can be matched by those of many more if State and municipal authorities will offer guidance and support. D IS C U S S IO N . Dr. E m m a M a c k a y A ppel , Chief Medical Examiner, Employment Certificate Bureau, Chicago Board o f Education. Nearly everyone has emphasized the necessity o f checking the legality of papers pre sented by children appearing for a working certificate. It has been our experience that it is often well to check up on children. I re member one little boy who failed to pass the physical examination and was very indignant. He substituted a friend who he thought would pass, and was equally furious when he discovered that the friend had been held for enlarged and infected tonsils. In Doctor Wright’s paper he emphasized the qualifications of examining physicians. This is most important. In the Chicago office we have found that the successful medical examiners develop the ability to check up their physical findings and observations quickly. It is essential that the examiners be well trained medically, be thoroughly competent diagnosticians, and have some knowledge of industrial conditions, but above all they must be sensitive to the social and economic environment of the child. They should have ability to classify children intelligently as to the type of work possible for each and they must be able to keep up their interest in https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 62 EM PLOYM ENT CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE---- spite of the large number of children who present themselves for medical examination. It is practically impossible for physicians to do accurate work unless they are in constant touch with the industrial situation and with the different types o f jobs in which children are employed. We have one factory in Chicago where the work is altogether piece work. For some time the industrial studies division of our bureau, o f which Miss Davis spoke yesterday, has been trying to have this establishment comply with the law and provide chairs for the work ers. After a good deal o f effort this was accomplished and children were again allowed to work there. Later it was found that the children were changing their jobs because the work was too hard. Another investigation was made, and it was found that although the children were provided with seats they could not use them and make any money, as standing was required in order to speed up on the piecework, and only a child of more than ordinary strength was able to stand at this work all day. Because of this one child suffered a severe occupational neurosis and was obliged to give up work entirely. In addition to the correction of physical defects, it is essential to follow up the child in industry with careful examination after each job. Our procedure in follow-up work may best be illustrated by the case of a boy who was originally refused a certificate be cause of malnutrition. He was sent by us to Arden Shore, our openair school for boys, where he improved very much. On account o f the poverty o f his family he was allowed to go to work when he was in fairly good physical condition, though not up to normal. Shortly after this we had a spell o f very hot weather during which he over worked. For two weeks he was unable to sleep at night and worked very hard all day, finally collapsing with a nervous condition that was not diagnosed by the family physician who was called in. He was ill at home under the care o f this physician for two weeks, when he returned to our office. It was found that he had a well-marked case o f chorea. He was in the hospital for six weeks, in the con valescent home for six weeks, and at Arden Shore for four months before he was again able to go to work. This is only one o f the many instances o f children who require more than just the prelimi nary examination to make them fit and keep them fit for their jobs. T H E E N F O R C E M E N T O F A " B E ST IN T E R E S T S ” O R “ N E C E S S I T Y ” STAN D ARD . D r . E . J. L ic k x e y , Assistant Superintendent of Schools and Director o f Com pulsory Attendance and Child W elfare Department, Los Angeles, Calif. Since the subject of the enforcement of a “ necessity ” requirement for going to work was brought out so well in Mr. Lederle’s paper https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis STANDARDS AJKTD PROBLEMS. 63 yesterday, I should like to devote part o f my time to touching upon some o f the general phases o f the child-labor problem in California. It differs from that of other States in several ways. First, we have very few factories. The two serious problems we have in the held o f child labor are: First, agriculture; and second, children working in the production o f motion pictures. The latter is a special con dition that exists in southern California, and is a serious problem to those interested in the enforcement o f the child labor laws. In California children o f any age may work in the production of motion pictures provided they secure permits. About 75 per cent o f all the permits issued are issued for work in that one industry. It is the largest industry in point o f investment in all the Southwest. The figures are stupendous. It represents a different problem to the child-welfare workers, for several reasons. In the first place, children go to work in motion pictures for reasons that are quite different for the most part from the reasons that are usually given for chil dren going into industry. A ll the parents are obsessed with the idea that their children are all potential stars. That is the first and chief reason they want these children to go to work. Usually the mother or the father who wants the boy or girl to work in the production o f motion pictures is governed by the tremendous idea that he has in his family a little Mary Pickford or a little Charley Chaplin or a little Douglas Fairbanks, and all that is necessary is that some kindhearted official issue a permit in order that this undiscovered genius o f the silver screen may not be lost to the general public. The juvenile stars o f the motion-picture screen have almost all been given their first permits in the issuing office at Los Angeles. We have had such stars as Jackie Coogan, Wesley Barry, Mildred Harris, Mary Osborn (known as Little Mary Sunshine), and many others. The second reason arises from the fact that so many o f the children have fathers or mothers engaged in the industry and they are going to live in this motion-picture world, the children are going to grow up in it and that will be their occupation. So they say: wOur chil dren are going to follow this line of work, why shouldn’t they begin early ? Why shouldn’t they start in when they are children ? ” There is a tremendous demand, so the motion-picture people tell us, all over the country for juvenile pictures. The third and the smallest group o f parents is composed o f those who want their children to work for the money it brings in to them; those who are not willing to work themselves but hope that their children may earn fabulous sums as motion-picture stars. It is interesting to note that the very brightest children are the ones who do work in the production o f motion pictures. There is no place for the dull boy or girl in this work. You can readily see that it requires brightness even on the part o f the very small chil https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 64 EM PLOYMENT CERTIFICATE IS S U A N C E - dren. Those who work regularly are very small in number; 95 per cent of all the children who work in the production of motion pic-' tures are intermittent workers. The law of California provides for very little supervision of this work, but by administrative means the board of education has under taken to give these children some educational advantages ; so we require every child under the age o f 16 to be under the personal supervision of a teacher or tutor who has. the qualifications o f a public-school teacher. A ll these children must spend part of each day with these teachers, and the teachers are paid by the movingpicture industry but work under the supervision of the department of compulsory education, to which they report daily. The cost o f the education o f these children is a justifiable charge on the industry. • The question has come up many times as to the effect of this work on the child’s education. What does it do and what is the result o f working in motion pictures, particularly in the cases of the large number who work 5 or 6, 8 or 10 , 50 or 60 days a year? All who are familiar with school work know that two weeks’ nonattendance is serious if it is consecutive; four weeks is almost fatal. We re quire every teacher to send to the department of compulsory educa-, tion at the end of each term a duplicate report card of every child who works in motion pictures for 5 days or more, and check them carefully. When we started this system we thought it would pre vent those who were failing in their school work from going into moving pictures, but to our great surprise the average child who worked in motion pictures was doing better work in school than the children who were not working. You can see how that is; the brightest and the best children are taken out of school; they would get along anyway. They are not the retarded or backward children ; they are the brightest. '<f But the work has some undesirable results. Probably the greatest evil is the fact that these children live in an unreal world; not the unreal world of fairyland, not the unreal world of the stories we tell children, which is normal and natural, but they live in an unreal world like little old people. |f I f you have ever seen motion pictures made, you will realize what I mean. On the screen you see the picture o f the Coliseum at Rome or some old cathedral. That is taken from some small set repre sented by the size of an average room. A ll the rest is skeleton work. It looks impressive on the screen, but the set and the surroundings are often cheap and tawdry. These children are living in an unreal world; they become sophisticated very early; they become blasé. They are not really children; they are really little old men and women who have grown old prematurely. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis stan dar ds a n d pr o b le m s . .65 The California law, except as it applies to agriculture and motion pictures, requires a child to meet the following conditions, approxi mately, before he can go to w ork: He must be 15 years of age and have completed the seventh grade; but if he is 14 and through the eighth grade, i f his services are needed for the family’s support he may be granted an employment certificate. We determine the matter o f economic need by cooperating with the outdoor relief department of the county charities. We require any person who applies for an employment certificate for a child on the basis o f economic need to go to the outdoor relief department o f the county charities and submit to the same investigation that is required o f all persons seeking public relief. The investigator sub mits to the issuing office a detailed confidential report. We have found that the economic need does not exist except in a very few cases. Our experience has demonstrated that the majority o f children who are excused from school in the State o f California on the plea o f economic need do not take their money to their families; they spend it on themselves, the greater part o f it, and the small percent age that is given to the family does not help materially. Practically it does not work out as a reason for children leaving school. Only when the best interest of the child is the basis for issuing the permit is the law satisfactory. I f there is not an intelligent issuing officer, sympathetic, with vision, who knows something o f social conditions and who has some conception o f the value o f conservation o f child life, the statutes will be o f no avail. In Los Angeles no permit is issued, regardless o f family conditions, unless the attendance officer o f the district in which the child resides and the principal o f the school which the child attends agree that the child should be allowed to work. We perhaps rely more upon the judgment o f the attendance officers than we otherwise would because o f the type o f attendance officers which we have. In California the attendance officer or assistant supervisor o f attendance must possess a high-school teacher’s certificate. As a result, out o f 20 attendance officers 15 are university graduates, and all of them are looking forward to promotion in the school work. One o f them has just been appointed principal of a junior high school. However, the one place where we do most unsatisfactory work in -California is the follow-up work. We do so little for the boy or girl who leaves school. We are willing to spend any amount o f money on children so long as we can keep them in school, from the kindergarten until they get a degree from the State university, if they will only stay in school. But the ones who most need the care o f society are the ones who are forced out into industry. The minute https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 66 EM PLOYM ENT CERTIFICATE ISSUANCE---- they go we let them shift for themselves. What an idiotic practice it i s ! We are willing to spend so much money on them while they are kept in school, and so little when they leave school. We subscribe to the program and the ideals o f the Children’s Bu reau. We expect not only to approximate those ideals but ultimately to reach them in the enforcement of the child labor laws in Cali fornia. D IS C U S S IO N . Miss M inor . May I say with reference to the paper on physical standards that that has been a question very much at issue in New York City. There was a time when but 5 children out of 5,000 were refused certificates for incapacity. Then Dr. Josephine Baker took hold of the situation as head o f the bureau of child hygiene. Since then refusals for physical incapacity have increased amazingly. Two years ago about 2,000 were refused outright and 5,000 or 6,000 had their papers withheld for remediable defects. Over 85 per cent o f those children subsequently had those defects corrected and re ceived employment certificates. The remainder o f this number were turned over to the New York child labor committee for follow-up work and we cleared up all except 87 cases, showing that the defects are correctable and that these cases can be handled despite the pro tests o f the parents, who claimed that the clinical facilities were insufficient and that the cost was too high. We found that the obsta cle was very largely a desire on the part o f the child to avoid the dentist’s chair. The only safe thing to do is to certify a child as physically sound and able to do any work in which he may lawfully be employed. Mr. W. M. D e n i s o n , Director, Bureau o f A ttendance, State Depart ment of PubUe Instruction, Pennsylvania. I was very much inter ested in the discussion this afternoon; especially was I struck by the statement made by Miss Minor that it was necessary to have a literacy test in order to determine the educational standards for employment certificates. It seems to me that the teachers of public schools should he honest enough and conscientious enough to be trusted in their pro motion o f children through the grades, and that a child who has completed the work o f the grades specified and has the teacher’s certificate to that effect ought to be able to read and write the English language intelligently and correctly. 1 I f Miss Minor’s statement is true, and I shall accept it as abso lutely true, it seems to me it is an indictment o f the teachers o f New York State. I f it is true in New York it is probably true in Penn sylvania. We are going to know, since you have raised the question. Another point brought out was about the age standard. I believe that one of the speakers this afternoon said that in the State in which she lives the census enumeration was made to include all https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis stan dar ds a n d p r o b l e m s . 67 children from 1 to 21. I believe that we should do this and that chil dren should be required to present an accurate and authentic evidence o f age when they enter school. Philadelphia this year is requiring every child that enters school to provide evidence o f age at entrance to school. The question o f certificating children in rural communities in agricultural work has just been touched upon. Yet nothing has been definitely said about this subject this afternoon. Miss C am pbell . Madam Chairman, may I express to the Chil dren’s Bureau my personal appreciation for calling these conferences, which have been o f great practical value and o f unusual interest. I am asking this appreciation to be indorsed by those here assem bled as a group. May we not also present a request to the Children’s Bureau that a similar conference be called each year at whatever time and place seems feasible to the bureau? Personally I should like to express my appreciation to the Children’s Bureau for calling this meeting, and I should like to ask, if it is proper, that we present a resolution that we should again be called together. Mr. L e d e r l e . I feel that I have received much benefit from this conference and that I owe a debt o f gratitude to the bureau for v calling the meeting. I offer a motion at the present time that the Children’s Bureau be extended a vote of thanks from the assembly for calling this meeting and that we request that another meeting be called at an early date. [The motion was seconded, and upon a vote being taken it was carried unanimously.] Mr. D e n n is o n . I would like to make another motion, namely, that the Children’s Bureau be asked to include in their next program a paper as to the control o f street trades. [The motion was seconded, and upon a vote being taken it was carried unanimously.] The meeting adjourned. o https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis A C O A L -M IN IN G C A M P IN R A L EIG H COUNTY, W. V A
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