CHILD LABOR.

California has a most excellent Compulsory Education Law. This act to enforce the educational rights of children was passed at the session of the legislature of 1903, and was amended at the sessions of 1905 and 1907. It is very broad and comprehensive. The age limitations are fixed at 8 and 14 years. This act confers power on various boards of education and boards of trustees of school districts, provides a penalty for failure to send a child to school, provides for the appointment of attendance officers and investigations, for the establishment of parental schools and for the commitment of truant children thereto. Later amendments provide for a method of procedure for establishing these schools, and also for the establishing of joint parental schools. The enforcement of this law rests solely with the various school authorities of the State.

In 1905 a new Child Labor Law was enacted, raising the age at which children may be employed from 12 to 14 years; placing restrictions on all minors under 18 years as regards number of hours employed, and requiring certificates of all minors between 14 and 16 years; prohibiting all minors under the age of 16 from working after 10 o'clock p. m. in most occupations, and requiring school attendance of all illiterate minors up to 16 years of age.

The Child Labor Law was placed under this Bureau for enforcement, and the school authorities are made responsible for certification. It was declared constitutional by our State Supreme Court in a unanimous decision by that body. All the necessary form blanks to carry the law into effect are furnished by this Bureau for the entire State.

In 1907 the Child Labor Law was amended, the general effect being to make the act more comprehensive, and granting power to attendance officers to investigate violations. An amendment was also added definng the meaning of horticulture.

Both of these acts in full, with their amendments passed at the various sessions of the legislature, together with the decisions of the Supreme Court, will be found in this volume in the chapter devoted to

laws.

The Child Labor Law is in reality a corollary of the Compulsory Education Law, as it carries the protection afforded the child, both as to its physical welfare and educational rights, to the age of 16.

During the period covered by this report, this Bureau has carried on an extensive correspondence with the school authorities throughout the State, with a view to urging upon them the vital necessity of a hearty coöperation on their part with the Bureau, looking toward the enforcement of the Child Labor Law. Their attention has also been called to the enforcement of the Compulsory Education Law. It has been urged upon them by this Bureau that the strict enforcement of this act would in itself, in a large measure, solve the problem of the Child Labor Law. It has also been especially urged upon them that, with our very limited force, and with many other duties in addition to the enforcement of this law to perform, we must in a large measure rely upon their aid and assistance in the enforcement of the Child Labor Law. This Bureau could well utilize the entire available force in the enforcement of this act, in the city of San Francisco, let alone the entire State of California, comprising, as it does, 158,000 square miles.

In the gathering of statistics relative to wages, hours of labor, etc., and in the enforcement of sanitary laws regulating factories and workshops, the agents of this Bureau have visited upwards of two thousand different establishments in the various sections of the State. While making these investigations they have made special note and kept a careful watch for violations of the Child Labor Law. In addition to this, the Bureau has devoted as much time as could be possibly spared from other duties.

The heads of commercial and industrial enterprises employing children show a desire and willingness to comply with the provisions, but their subordinates, having in charge the employment of help, in many instances show a proneness to laxity, and unless constant supervision is maintained, soon fail to heed the law. The Bureau has especially urged that extreme caution and vigilance should be exercised in the issuance of age and schooling certificates. That to make the law effective, this point should be kept in mind, that they should discourage as much as possible the tendency to issue permits to illiterate minors. This is only applicable in large centers having a night school system.

It has been the experience of the officers of this Bureau that some employers of child labor have not a very high ideal of the truth, and parents and guardians desiring to obtain certificates in order to enable minors to work are not affected with an overdose of conscientiousness. Extreme caution and vigilance must be constantly exercised to detect evasions. A large percentage of children who labor are not as well developed physically, or as well nurtured, as those who, through force of circumstances, are not compelled to work.

The Bureau has urged upon the school authorities that in the issuance of certificates, if there is a doubt as to the age of a child, that the

benefit of the doubt be given to the law rather than to the individual. This is especially necessary where persons applying for permits to enable minors to work are unable to present the necessary corroborative evidence and have nothing but their own statements as to the age of the minor for whom the application is made. It is in cases of this kind where extreme caution is necessary.

The Bureau has also urged upon the employers of labor that they also exercise extreme care when employing minors. That in all instances where there is a doubt as to the age of a child that it be required to obtain the necessary credentials from the school authorities. This then enables the school department to pass upon the educational qualifications of the child.

The Bureau has also noted in many instances that permits were granted to minors that were wholly unnecessary. If the proper investigations had been made it would have been found that the child was seeking work because of its own desire rather than of necessity; that the home conditions of the family did not necessitate the labor of the child. As an illustration: In one county in the State of California there were issued to illiterate minors during one fiscal year, 160 certificates; this out of a total of 522, or about 30.0 per cent. This was an increase of 9.0 per cent over the preceding fiscal year. Of this total of 160 illiterate minors, 126 were issued to both sexes under the age of 15 years. While the State at large shows, for the fiscal year 1906-07, 4.0 per cent, increasing to 10.5 per cent during the fiscal year of 1907-08, excluding returns from this county, the percentage of certificates granted to illiterate minors for the fiscal year 1906-07 for the State at large falls to less than 1.0 per cent, rising to 2.8 per cent in the fiscal year 1907-08. This is traceable in a large measure to the existence in that county of one industrial enterprise. Forty per cent of all the employes of this establishment are minors under 18 years. Of this 40.0 per cent, 60.0 per cent are under 16 years of age.

We are satisfied that many of the younger minors working in this industrial plant are, in our opinion, under the minimum age limit, and that their certificates were obtained by their parents by misrepresentation, and if more care and caution had been exercised by the officials the number of these certificates issued could be materially reduced. This shows that any cessation of care in the issuance of these certificates will result in nullifying the effect of the minimum age limit provisions of this law, and would be equal, in fact, to the strict enforcement of a law with a much lesser minimum age limit.

While we know that in many instances in Eastern States employing child labor largely, that by the introduction of labor saving devices and modern machinery in the handling of commodities the number of

children employed has been materially reduced, we are not certain that if like industries are started in this State, or the industry above referred to, or similar ones, are increased in numbers, that regard for the physical welfare of the child would outweigh the monetary outlay necessary for the initial start. Or, that the cupidity of the parent, in his desire to profit by the wages earned by the child, will be less than it is now. Rigid investigations, therefore, and with the proper spirit behind them, not merely perfunctory, will bring the success desired. We also believe that it is, in a large measure, a campaign of educating the employing public.

The Bureau has had printed and widely distributed a pamphlet containing laws affecting labor and coming under this department for supervision and enforcement, and containing the Child Labor Law in full.

In the enforcement of the Child Labor Law we have followed the course of warning those found violating, and only in extreme cases has the Bureau resorted to the courts, and where it was found that drastic Ineasures were necessary for a salutary effect for respect of this act. We have been compelled to follow this policy largely from expediency. The time consumed in prosecution is very great, and likewise the cost. especially at points distant from San Francisco, where there is added to the wages of the officers of the Bureau the cost of their maintenance, and also railroad and other incidental expenses. We have also been handicapped by lack of police powers. This, together, with the many other duties of the Bureau, has made this policy necessary. We hope that in the future, with an increased appropriation, we will be able to have stationed throughout the State permanently special agents, who will not only be able to perform many duties connected with this office, but will also be in a position to give more attention to this law, and, if necessary, to prosecute. The school authorities in certain sections of the State have aided materially by independent prosecutions of their own.

With a view to ascertaining the number of age and schooling certificates issued by the various school authorities of the different counties of the State, the Bureau entered into correspondence with the county superintendents, and obtained from those officials a complete statement. showing the number of age and schooling certificates issued to literate. and illiterate minors-male and female, between 14 and 15, and 15 and 16 years. Complete returns were had for the fiscal year 1906-07, and for 1907-08, with the exception of three counties.

This is presented in tabulated form. It will be noted by these tables that many of the counties in their returns show the issuance of no certificates. We are satisfied that in many of these counties minors coming within the provisions of the law are at work without the necessary cre

dentials. Labor performed by minors in canneries and packing houses, and during the long vacation periods of the schools, is not looked upon by the school authorities as seemingly in need of any restrictions. Many of the industrial enterprises employing largely minor help covering these periods of vacation have been known to work them long hours, and, in some instances, greatly in excess of the limit fixed by the Child Labor Law. A strict supervision is necessary in order to enforce compliance in this regard. The general sentiment in the interior of the State is, that the child is not a factor in labor there, but only in the larger cities of the State is it believed to exist.

Work by the different school authorities in the interior of the State in connection with the enforcement of this law, is confined generally to the period covered by the sessions of the public schools. At the commencement of the vacation period, as a rule, this work practically ceases. Some of the larger cities support a parental school. This has developed in a number of instances into a system. In some sections of the State most excellent work is being done toward enforcing the provisions of the Compulsory Education Law. Excellent work is being done by the officers of the Juvenile Courts of the various counties. We take great pleasure in commending the work of the Juvenile Court and the Probation Officer of the city of San Francisco, in that great care has been exercised in the issuance of permits to minors under 14 years to work. A table has been prepared, which shows in detail for the fiscal years 1906-07 and 1907-08, the number of permits issued, the age, period of duration, and occupation. We have been unable to obtain this data from all the counties of the State, and are, therefore, unable to present it in tabulated form.

We are also showing in the chapter under social statistics, through the kindness of Mr. J. C. Astredo, Probation Officer of San Francisco, tables in detail of the number of dependency and delinquency cases investigated by that office.

There are no serious problems in child labor in this State. Those presented for solution will readily yield to the proper treatment. The child is not the factor in this State that it is in many of the Eastern, Central, and Southern States, our manufacturing industries not being as extensive or as numerous. The ratio of the numbers of minors to adults employed, using both classes of labor, is lower in this State than in many of the more populous states. It is hoped that even with the growth and development of our manufacturing activity, child labor, or the exploitation of labor of children, will not become the serious menace to social life or reach the acute stage that it has in many of our sister states.

With the strict enforcement of our excellent compulsory education and child labor laws, we will be able to control and regulate the employment of children, direct their growth and, in a great degree, discourage