Page:EB1922 - Volume 31.djvu/710

670 1914

1915

1916

1917

1918

1919

1920

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Boys

Girls

Jan..

4,889

9,921

5.215

9,552

6,552

8,230

8,568

8,502

26,406

25,770

16,605

1 1, 680

Feb..

4,189

9,051

5,388

9,566

5,943

8,399

8,713

8,869

33,493

35,805

13,786

11,588

March

3,887

8,435

5-164

9,031

5,894

8,679

7-696

8,102

35,123

36,814

10,446

10,714

April.

3,998

9,490

5,574

8,779

6,245

8,098

8,412

8,888

33,176

37,575

13,021

11,288

May.

3425

7,873

5,956

9,040

7,052

9,350

8,232

8,382

28,497

31,318

12,177

11,630

June.

3,729

8,086

5454

7,970

6,925

9,36o

7,946

8,144

18,130

18,070

10,635

J0.574

uly. ..

4,546

8,065

6,263

8,481

6,808

9,272

7,574

7.323

H,746

14,259

11,728

11,236

Aug..

9,571

9,532

5,u6

8,664

6,667

7,9oo

6,632

8,246

7,453

6,704

16,836

13,975

16,481

'4,459

Sept..

9,363

12,100

4,439

8,065

6,053

7,917

7,024

9,384

8,049

8 ,08 1

14,148

12,815

17,428

17,324

Oct. .. .

6,695

11,282

4,666

8,449

6,274

8,015

7.030

8,327

7,491

7,689

16,486

14,592

17,222

18,407

Nov..

5,496 10.298

4,337

8,993

5,52i

8,097

7,627

8,546

6,391

5,906

17,772

I2,5H

21,386

22,555

Dec..

4.096 8.243

3,8i3

7,540

4,845

6,682

7.251

7,725

11,714

8,754

12,063

9.023

21,418

23,911

NOTE. The comparison above is affected by the fact that the juvenile age limit was raised at the end of 1918 from 17 to 18.

considerable number of juvenile workers would be unemployed, and the payment of out-of-work donations was made conditional upon regular attendance at the centres. Attendance at a centre was accepted in lieu of attendance at an employment exchange as proof of unemployment, and arrangements were made to inform boys and girls at the centres of any suitable opportunities of employment which might occur. Twenty-eight centres were open at the begin- ning of Jan. 1919, and they were attended by over 3,000 boys and girls. A month later the number of centres had increased to 1 16 and the number of daily attendances to more than 13,500. There was a steady increase in the provision made up to the middle of April, when there were 215 centres open. The largest number of atten- dances was reached at the beginning of April, when the number was nearly 24,700. The attendances fell off from that date with the gradual absorption of boys and girls in industry and as the result of a strict review by juvenile employment committees of claims to grants of extended out-of-work donation. The scheme was wound up with the termination of the payment of out-of-work donation to civilians in Nov. 1919. The local education authorities undertook a difficult task in opening the centres. They found much difficulty in obtaining suitable teachers, and it was not easy to devise a satis- factory curriculum for the fluctuating attendance of boys and girls of all ages from 15 to 18. As a rule it was sought to make each day's teaching self-contained. The subjects taught included, for boys, drawing, practical measurements, workshop calculation, building construction, woodwork, physical exercises and organized games; and for girls, needlework, practical arithmetic, first aid, cookery, hygiene, home nursing, games, gymnastics, dancing and singing. At most centres there were also lectures on historical, literary, scien- tific or industrial subjects. It was only in rare cases that definite vocational training was attempted. The experiment met with a very considerable measure of success. The boys and girls who attended the centres accepted readily the necessary discipline, and responded very well to the instruction given. There can be no doubt that the centres were of much value in carrying very many juvenile workers over a difficult period.

The appended table shows the course of juvenile unemployment as recorded at the employment exchanges in the United Kingdom from Nov. 1918 (the Armistice) to the end of 1920.

Education Act, 1918. The sections of the Education Act, 1918, which extend the ages at which education is compulsory, have the important effect upon juvenile employment of withdrawing, either wholly or in part, large classes of juvenile workers from industry. Thus [Section 9 (l)] children are to remain at the elementary schools until the end of the school term during which they reach an age at which they become entitled to leave school. This has the effect of raising the ages of school attendance by about 8 weeks upon an aver- age. Section 8 (l) prohibits any exemption from school attendance before the age of 14, and Section 8 (2) permits local education author- ities to increase this age to 15, with power to grant exemption be- tween the ages of 14 and 15 in approved cases. These provisions were to operate at a date or dates to be determined by the Board of Education, but not before the formal termination of the war [Sec- tion 52 (3)]. Thirdly, by Section 10 continued education after the age of 14 is made compulsory during a minimum of 280 hours in the course of a year. This obligation rests upon children who become _I4 after the " appointed day " for the commencement of the scheme in each area until they reach the age of 16 during the first seven years of the scheme and up to the age of 18 thereafter. Provision is made [Section 10 (6)] for such suspension of employment as will en- able boys and girls who are required to attend at continuation schools to do so without undue physical and mental strain.

At the beginning of 1921, the Board of Education had named appointed days for the purposes of Section 10 in respect of the areas of the local education authorities in London, Birmingham, Rugby, Stratford-on-Avon and West Ham; but it had become temporarily necessary to refrain, in the interests of economy, from bringing the Section into operation elsewhere. (J. S. Nc.)

II. UNITED STATES. Well-developed tendencies with ref- erence to child labour legislation and reliance by employers on

the employment of children in the United States were in rupted by the conditions created by the World War. census of manufactures of 1914 showed that during the ye before that date the number of children employed in manufact ing was decreasing. The serious industrial depression which followed the outbreak of the war brought a sharp decrease in the number of children employed in 1914, amounting to one-fifth of the number employed in 1913 in St. Louis and New York City, one-fourth in Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y., about one-third in Bridgeport, Conn., nearly one-half in Baltimore, and two-thirds in Manchester, N.H., a textile centre. By the latter part of 1915 the effect of foreign orders for war goods was beginning to make itself felt, and an unprecedented rise in the number of employed children followed. ' Except for isolated places affect by peculiar conditions, the increase in the number legally work in 1916 over the number so employed in 1915 was ve large, especially in centres where children had not been employ before. Reports to the U.S. Children's Bureau of the number work permits issued showed that this increase was as high 167% in Toledo, O.; 145% in Springfield, Mass.; 92%inBosi and 63 % in Indianapolis.

After the United States entered the war, the rising cost living, the absence of older members of the family on milita: duty, high wages offered by employers to children because of labour shortage, and a restlessness on the part of the child: themselves led many under 16 years of age to leave school f< work. Available statistics show that in most places the peak i the employment of children was reached in 1918. The shutti down of war industries and the return of soldiers resulted in temporary decline in the numbers in 1919, to be followed in 19 by an increase in 18 out of 29 cities reporting to the U.S. C dren's Bureau numbers of work permits issued. The end of 19 saw a sharp decline as the result of the industrial depressio It should be noted that the figures given above are based on t number of work permits issued to children, and indicate therefo: an increase in the number of children legally employed. E dence is not lacking that there was difficulty in the enforceme of child labour legislation during the war period and that consequence the number of children illegally employed duri that time probably also increased.

In the field of legislation the most important development the public demand for national control, which led to the fir Federal child labour law, which went into effect Sept. 1917. Th Act prohibited the shipment in interstate or foreign commerce the product of any mine or quarry in which children under 16 were employed, and the products of any mill, cannery, factory, work- shop or manufacturing establishment in which children under 14 were employed or children between 14 and 16 were employed mo than 8 hours a day, or 6 days a week, or before 6 A.M. or after 7 f.n This law was attacked as unconstitutional before it went into effect, and about nine months later (June 3 1918) the U.S. Supreme Cour held, by a vote of 5 to 4, that it-did not constitute a valid exercise r Congress's constitutional authority to regulate foreign and intei state commerce. A child labour tax clause was then inserted in th Revenue Act of 1918. It placed a 10% tax on the net incomes i establishments employing children of the ages and for the hour specified in the Act of Sept. I 1917. This law in June 1921 wa before the U.S. Supreme Court for decision as to its constitu tionality. In view of the fact that the Court has been in the hab of construing liberally the taxing power of Congress, friends of th measure expected its constitutionality to be upheld. In the child