CHILD LABOR.

One of the most gratifying results of the work of this Bureau during the past two years has been the practical elimination of child labor in this State and the laying of a firm foundation for the enforcement of the child labor laws, with a view to prevent this evil from ever obtaining a foothold in California. Every child under the age of sixteen years that is working is doing so under a legal permit, with the possible exception of a few cases in isolated places that the officers of the Bureau have not had the opportunity to reach.

The number of children to whom permits have been issued has been kept down to a very small figure, and the Bureau has made it a point to see that those children legally employed are not engaged in any capacity that might prove injurious to their health or morals.

Even though we have the child labor situation well in hand, we cannot afford to relax our vigilance, for it is the general tendency of employers of child labor to become careless and gradually slip back into the old ways, and furthermore with the opening of the Panama Canal we will have to guard against the employment of the children of immigrants, for to-day our greatest trouble lies with the children of foreigners.

When we undertook the enforcement of the child labor laws we realized that it was necessary to lay out a general plan of action. This plan contained the four courses that we determined were necessary to make the laws effective and which are:

First-A systematic and uniform issuing of certificates and permits, by a designated person, which person shall be responsible for the proper issuance and obliged to keep accurate record thereof.

Second A coöperation of all the members of the school departments, juvenile court and probation officers, attendance and truant officers with the Bureau in carrying out the provisions of the law.

Third-A wide publicity, so that the employer is ever reminded of his liability, and the public of their responsibility to observe and report · violations.

Fourth-An inspection, at short intervals, of all establishments that are apt to employ children. With this general plan the Bureau undertook the work of making the child labor law of this State something more than an ornament in the statute book.

The first thing we did was to make an inspection of about one thousand establishments in the cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles and Oakland, as a preliminary survey. During these inspections we found that many children were at work without permits, but the important fact disclosed was that most of the permits on file in the various establishments had been issued in violation of the law, while

many had expired as long as five years before and did not belong to children then employed.

We found that it had been the custom for teachers and principals to issue age and schooling certificates indiscriminately, without regard to the age or schooling requirements. Often the certificates had been handed to the children in blank and were filled out by their parents and never returned to the school for verification or recording. We also found several blank certificates on file with employers, and in one instance we ran across a certificate in which the age and schooling requirements were certified to by the corner grocer.

In the course of these inspections we gathered up over 3,000 certificates and permits which had expired or had been illegally issued. If we found children of the legal age holding an improper certificate or permit we compelled the employer to obtain a new one, and if the children were under the legal age we sent them back to school.

This preliminary investigation convinced us that the greatest fault lay with the persons issuing certificates and further that there were too many permitted to issue them, and that no proper records were kept. We, therefore, proceeded to place a strict interpretation upon section 3 of the child labor law, and insisted that only one person in each city or school district be permitted to issue an age and schooling certificate. We then prepared and had printed all the certificates and permits required under the provisions of the act and had these certificates numbered in original and duplicate. The certificates and permits were then sent to all persons in the State entitled to issue them and a record was kept in our office of their numbers, so that in the event of our finding a certificate improperly issued we could determine who was at fault.

Blanks were also prepared on which the persons issuing certificates were obliged to report to the Bureau the record of each certificate issued. The same was done in the case of the Juvenile Court Permits, which are issued by the judge of the Juvenile Court to children between the ages of twelve and fifteen years when one of the parents is incapeitated by illness from supporting the children. The record of these permits is kept by the probation officer.

A pamphlet containing all the laws pertaining to the employment of children was compiled and a circular of instruction prepared. These were then mailed to all persons authorized to issue certificates or permits:

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.

STATE OF CALIFORNIA.

948 MARKET STREET. SAN FRANCISCO.

Circular No. 1-Child Labor Law.

At the recent session of the legislature many changes were made in the Child Labor Law. This circular has been issued for the purpose of bringing these changes before the persons who have to deal with this law, in order to aid in its enforcement by establishing a systematic policy and to state interpretations placed upon the law and the policy of this office in the enforcement of same. The principal nges are as follows:

The Juvenile Court Permit will hereafter be granted to children between the ages of twelve and fifteen years instead of between the ages of twelve and fourteen years. These permits will be issued by the judge of the juvenile court of the county, or where there is no juvenile court, then by a judge of the Superior Court. applicants for these permits should be referred to the Probation Officer.

All

The Age and Schooling Certificate will be granted to children between the ages of fifteen and sixteen years instead of between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years. These certificates will be issued by a city superintendent of schools or by a person designated by him in cities having a superintendent of schools, and in. other places by a person authorized by the local school trustees. Principals or superintendents of schools of recognized standing have the right to approve age and schooling certificates, but we recommend that they refer all applicants to the persons designated by the public school officials. We request that the city superintendent of schools and the local school boards immediately designate a person within their jurisdiction to issue age and schooling certificates and to furnish this office with the names of persons so designated. The persons so designated must not issue a certificate unless the child presents a written request from a prospective employer of such child that an age and schooling certificate be granted to such child.

The Vacation Permit will be granted to children over twelve years of age to work during the regular vacation of the public schools. These permits will be issued by the principal or vice-principal of the school, or secretary of the board of school trustees, or board of education of the school which such child has attended during the term next preceding such vacation.

The Supreme Court in its décision on the Child Labor Law construes the vacation of the public schools and attendance during the term next preceding such vacation as follows:

"Its true meaning is that the permit is to be given by the principal of the school which the child has attended-whether the school is public or privatebut that it can extend only to the time of the public school vacation."

"The amendment of March 20, 1905, extends the time of such compulsory attendance so as to embrace the whole period of the public school session. Therefore, if the parents, guardians, or custodians of a child choose to send it to a private school it must attend thereon at least during the time the public schools are in session. A permit may be obtained for it to work during the vacation of the public schools if its interests or necessities so require, without subjecting it to conditions substantially different from those affecting children attending the public schools."

The Attorney General, in an opinion furnished this office, states that Saturdays are not "regular vacations" within the meaning of the law.

No permit of any kind is required for any minor employed at agricultural, horticultural, or viticultural, or domestic labor, during the time the public schools are not in session, or during other than school hours. Horticultural includes the curing and drying, but not the canning, of all varieties of fruit.

A new section-designated section 3a-was added to the Child Labor Law providing that no child under sixteen years of age shall, while the public schools are in session, be and remain idle and unemployed for a period longer than two weeks, but must enroll and attend school, and provides for a notification by the employer to the proper authorities when the child leaves his employ.

The officers and agents of this Bureau will recognize as valid, all certificates issued under the provisions of the Child Labor Law prior to its amendment. The amendments became effective June 13, 1911.

Th's office has prepared and printed the necessary permits and certificates and will furnish them to persons authorized to issue same. Age and schooling certificates and vacation permits will be sent to city superintendents of schools for use in cities, and to county superintendents of schools for distribution throughout the county. Juvenile court permits will be sent to the probation officers of each county. We trust that you will coöperate with this Bureau and thus obtain the best results in carrying out the provisions of the Child Labor Law.

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS.

JOHN P. MCLAUGHLIN,

Commissioner.

The second step was to send copies of the laws and instruction to the various school departments, probation and attendance officers. We also held several conferences with them and made personal visits to as many as possible, all with a view to obtain their coöperation.

In seeking a wide publicity we sent copies and digests of the laws pertaining to employment of children to the principal newspapers through the State and requested that they be published. We also delivered copies of the law to the thousands of employers in the larger centers of industry.

After these first three steps had been covered and enough time had elapsed to put them into effect, we began a thorough inspection of establishments in the cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San José, Stockton, San Diego, and then branched out to as many other places as time and funds would permit.

In the course of this second investigation a record was taken of the name and age of every child found working, together with the number of the certificate under which he or she was permitted to be employed. Several violations were found, but they were for the most part only technical and were immediately corrected.

That our work has been successful we leave to the public to judge from the following figures:

Total number of establishments inspected_

Total number of employees

Total number of children under 16 years.

Percentage of children to total number of employees---.

5,123 148,549

1,331

0.9 per cent

The number of children under 16 years of age, therefore, constituted less than 1 per cent of the total number of persons employed. A further analysis of our figures shows as follows:

Children between 15 and 16 years working under an age and schooling certificate

1,071

Children between 12 and 15 years working under a juvenile court permit (which is only issued for a temporary period).

260

1,331

Total

Of the children between the ages of 15 and 16 years, 761 were boys and 400 girls, while of those between the ages of 12 and 15 years, 207 were boys and only 53 girls. Retail establishments employed 55.4 per cent of all the children under 16 years of age. Wholesale establishments employed 6 per cent and manufacturing establishments 37.7 per cent.

If the enforcement of the child labor law has been effective, the results must show in one place in particular and that is in the public schools. Let us now look for this effect in the enrollment and attendance in the last year and compare it with former years:

NOTE.-Figures in detail are given in chapter on Child Labor Statistics.

1909

1910 1911

1912

Enrollment Primary and Grammar Schools, State of California.

Average Daily Attendance Primary and Grammar Schools, State of California.

During the year ending June 30, 1912, the enrollment in the primary and grammar schools of the State increased 22,290 as compared with an increase of 12,294 during the preceding year. The per cent of increase during 1912 was 6.7 per cent as compared with 3.8 per cent during 1911, 3.2 per cent during 1910 and 4.4 per cent during 1909. The average daily attendance in these schools increased 17,083 in 1912 as against 11,081 in 1911. The per cent of increase during 1912 was 6.5 per cent as compared with 4.4 per cent during 1911, 3.1 per cent during 1910 and 5.3 per cent during 1909.

That publicity has had its effect is shown by the number of complaints. filed in the Bureau by the public. During the fiscal year ending June 30. 1912, 150 complaints were filed and investigated by the officers of the Bureau.

Child Labor Complaints Filed in Bureau and Investigated During Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1912.