December 5, 1909
CAMPAIGN TO RESCUE
CHILDREN FROM WORK.
COMPLAINT MADE THAT STORE
EMPLOYS TWO, 4 YEARS OLD.
Picture Shows Where Girls, Under
16, Play and Sing and Will Be In-
vestigated by Dr. Mathias,
Chief Probation Officer.
Parents who permit their children to sing in picture shows in violation of the law, or to participate in any entertainment for which they receive pay, according to Dr. E. L. Mathias, chief probation officer, will be prosecuted in the juvenile court.
Heretofore prosecution of child labor cases has been almost entirely on the initiative of the local and state factory inspectors. But complaints have been made recently to the juvenile officers that the practice has not been entirely stopped. An investigation is to be made to find out whether the parents and theaters are obeying the law.
The law forbids children under 14 years of age to engage in any "gainful occupation." Children under 16 can not work for wages without first receiving a permit from the local factory inspector.
This does not forbid parents to allow their children to participate in church entertainments and the like, where they receive no pay.
COMPLAINT AGAINST STORE.
Complaint was made yesterday of a large department store, which is giving a Santa Claus entertainment. Two children, 4 years of age, take minor parts and their parents are paid for their time. With W. J. Morgan, factory inspector, a juvenile officer yesterday went to the store to investigate the complaint, and will report Monday in juvenile court to Judge E. E. Porterfield.
Several picture shows are reported to have employed girls under 16 years of age, without official permits, to play the piano and sing. These cases are to be investigated immediately.
"The child labor law, if anything, is not severe enough," said Dr. Mathias. "It should not only require children to remain in school until they have reached a certain age, but it should keep them in school until they have passed through the graded school into the high school.
"The trouble with the present law is that it is founded on the law of averages. The average boy or girl completes the grammar school at 14 years of age. But think of those who do not go beyond the third or fourth grade. Many children have not reached the high school at 14.
SHOULD HELP ABNORMAL.
"If there is any change in this law it should be re-framed for the benefit of the abnormal, or the child below the average. Every child should be compelled to stay in school until he or she had reached the high school. The child might be 16 or 18 years of age before he is graduated and permitted to go to work, but he would be a much better citizen than if allowed to quit at 14.
"Take for instance the foreigners who are rapidly migrating to Kansas City and other American towns. Many of them have been brought up to believe that a wife or a child is an asset, the same as the old slave holders used to think. Hardly before the child is able to walk and talk the father puts it to work. The boy gets a place in a shoe-shining parlor or holding the horse of some delivery man. The pay is $1 or $2 a week, which is given the parent.
"These foreigners average about one child a year. The more children, they know, the greater their income. If it were not for the child labor laws, these children would be permitted to grow up in ignorance, and their little bodies stunted from doing heavy work before they had gained physical strength."
Labels: children, Dr Mathias, employment, immigrants, Judge Porterfield, juvenile court, theater
