FOOTNOTES:

[6] Unfortunately, the law expressly excludes in its provisions for relief families with alien fathers.

XIX
CHILD WAGE-EARNERS

Children are the most important assets of a nation.

While every one, individually, would admit this statement, it is not easy to persuade the government that the protection and development of child life cannot be left safely to private initiative, any more than can animal or plant life; that, in addition to the protection of the individual family, children need the fostering care of the organized government. For many years, the government, both State and National, has dealt generously with the agricultural interests of the country. When disease has broken out among either animals or plants, it has had its experts ready to send out at a moment’s notice to any part of the country. It has spent vast sums of money to investigate and eradicate boll-weevil in cotton, and hoof-and-mouth disease among cattle, and to develop a better strain in many animals and plants, but it is only very recently that it has been willing to investigate the needs of the children of the nation.

The appropriations of the Federal government for animal life, in 1915, were over $5,000,000; for child life, $164,000. In 1917, an additional appropriation of $150,000 was made for the enforcement of the Federal Child Labor Law.

Federal Child Labor Law: For fourteen years, the National Child Labor Committee has tried to get laws passed which would limit the hours of work for children, the kind of work they might do, and the age at which they might be put to work. Discouraged by the State by State method, the committee inaugurated a campaign for a Federal child labor law, and after three years of effort succeeded in getting it passed.

Men have an eight-hour day in many States. Women have an eight-hour day in a few States. Until the Federal bill was passed, children of tender years in a number of States could be employed almost unlimited hours and all night.

At the time the bill was passed three States permitted children under fourteen to work ten and eleven hours a day, and two States permitted them to work at night. Nineteen mining States permitted children under sixteen to work in mines.

Nine States permitted children under sixteen to do night work. In three Southern States, one-fifth of all the cotton-mill workers, in 1913, were children less than sixteen years of age.

The Federal Child Labor Bill, which went into effect September 1, 1917, was declared unconstitutional by a United States District Court in North Carolina, and is now before the Supreme Court of the United States. This law prohibits the interstate commerce of articles which children have helped to make. It does not control the labor of children in local occupations. Street trades, messenger service, agricultural work, and housework are not touched by it. This law is a great step in advance for the protection of children, but there are still 1,859,000 children, from ten to sixteen years old, at work in the United States whom the Federal law does not touch.

New York State Laws: For many years New York State has been building up a code of protection for the children of the State. Children under sixteen years of age are not permitted to work unless they have a special permit, and they must have completed the sixth grade in school. A physical examination of the child is required to see that he is able to stand the strain of the industry in which he is about to engage, and proof of age is required. To sell newspapers, boys from twelve to fourteen must have a permit and a badge. Boys of fourteen and fifteen are required to have badges if they have a prescribed route for the delivery of newspapers, but not if they are selling for themselves. Children under sixteen are not allowed to work more than eight hours a day. To enforce these laws adequately, many inspectors are needed and unceasing vigilance on the part of the public. While the provisions of the law concerning newsboys are very clear, and are generally obeyed in New York City, they are seldom enforced elsewhere in the State.

To allow children to enter the industrial world at an early age, without preparation, and with no guidance as to the sort of work for which they are best fitted, is unfair to them. The boy or girl who gets a job at fourteen, without any vocational training, is apt to remain an unskilled worker all his or her life. The range of occupations open to such children is small. The largest number of boys who go to work at an early age become delivery boys, errand or wagon boys, or newsboys. There is little chance among these employments for real training or for any future advancement.

A careful study, by the National Child Labor Committee, of certain cases brought into the Children’s Court, has established the fact that a large proportion of the boys and girls who come into the court come from the ranks of child workers. This investigation has also proved the need of adequate vocational guidance. The present school course gives little help in this direction to children who are leaving school at fourteen or fifteen, and parents are often as ignorant of industrial conditions as the children. After a few years in an occupation that offers no opportunity for development, the boy or girl who went to work so young is often left stranded, not only untrained, but demoralized.

There is need also of making parents understand that better opportunities are open to children who have had education beyond the elementary grades.

Street Trades of all kinds are regarded by social experts as unsafe for children. Some authorities recommend the absolute prohibition of all street trading for boys under seventeen. These trades, including selling newspapers, appeal to boys because they like the excitement of street life, and the spending-money which they give them.

A judge of the Detroit Juvenile Court says, “At least fifty per cent. of the boys brought into the juvenile court are newsboys.” An old newsboy, when asked what night work on the streets had done for him, said: “When I was a kid, it wasn’t like it is now. They didn’t have no midnight edition—I always had to be home by eight o’clock. When I got to selling at night I started in high school, but when it came time for the first examination, I said, ‘Oh, I’ll just quit. I’d rather be out on the streets, anyway.’” In Baltimore it is estimated that 45 per cent. of all the children in the near-by reform school have been street workers.

Investigations have proved the theory is false that a child is usually put to work “to support a widowed mother.” More often the child in a street trade is found to come from a home where there is no need of his work, and in these trades the earnings of children are very small. In a recent investigation, in Seattle, the earnings of newsboys were found in 46 per cent. of the cases of the elementary school paper-sellers to be less than $5 a month.

The night messenger service is known to be a demoralizing occupation, unfit for any small boy, and in New York it is prohibited to all boys under twenty-one. The same protection of the law is now needed for girls.

Many parents do not realize the serious results of letting their children go to work too young, or the bad effects of over-work on them. The tendency of over-fatigue is to break down the moral resistance. The release from supervision which is brought about by their wage-earning, and the danger of their having money of their own to spend, added to the interruption of their education, cannot help but have a demoralizing effect on them.

Rural Child Workers are quite as common as city workers, but they are not so often wage-earners. Their labor is usually taken by parents as a matter of course, and they are not paid. Farming and housework are two occupations which engage many children, and there is almost a complete absence of laws regulating them.

A distinction should be made between the farmer lad who does “chores” night and morning, and the boy who is kept out of school most of the year to be a farm-hand; and between the girl who helps her mother out of school hours, and the girl who is kept at work in a canning-factory, and goes from one to another as fruits and vegetables ripen; but neither the chores nor the housework should be allowed to interfere with the regularity of school attendance. The boy who is kept at farm labor, without education, and the girl who is kept at work in the canning industry at the expense of her schooling, are as much in the ranks of child laborers as the cotton-mill workers, and they suffer in the same way from lack of training for a useful future.

Experiments have been made in combining the work that the boy does night and morning on the farm, with the school work. Under proper guidance, the chores that the boy has to do at home can be made a means of education. For example: a pupil who assists at home in the milking might be required to keep a daily record of each cow, with the fluctuations in the yield of milk, due to weather and food. This combining of the necessary home work with the instruction of the school has been made a success in some of the Western States, where county superintendents supervise the home-school work and make it of the greatest possible educational value.

Rural school terms are usually shorter than city terms, and irregular attendance is more frequent. Only 68 per cent. of the pupils enrolled in rural schools attend daily, while in cities the percentage is 80. The absences of girls are caused largely by housework.

The results of child labor in the country are seen in the high percentage of rejections from military service on account of physical defects in men from rural districts, and the larger percentage of illiteracy in country communities compared with that in cities. Better and more adequate education for the thousands of children on the farms of the State is one of our immediate needs.

It is the right of every child to be given enough education to give him a good start in life. The child-labor problem is largely a school problem. Keep the children in school, and there will be no child labor.

War and Children: The war has brought a new demand for the labor of children, and new evidence of the serious consequences of using this labor. In England and France, juvenile delinquency due to the breaking down of educational facilities, and the exploitation of children in shops and factories, has increased to a point where both nations are aroused by a new national danger. To meet the sudden great need for munitions, and the speeding up of all industry, children of all ages, and women of all classes, went into the factories. In England, it is estimated that 200,000 children from eleven to thirteen years of age left school to go to work. Abnormally high wages were paid them. With fathers at the front and mothers away from home in munition factories, these children roamed the streets after their work was done, with pockets filled with money to spend, and no one to exercise a restraining hand.

Streets are unlighted, the police force has been decreased, churches, schools, and settlement work are interrupted. Is it any wonder that since the war began juvenile delinquency has increased 46 per cent. in Edinburgh, 56 per cent. in Manchester, and thefts 50 per cent.?

The same demand for child labor has begun to be manifest in this country. The United States is being called on to feed the world, and to make supplies of all kinds for our allies, besides the tremendous need of supplies for our own armies. Millions of men are being drawn from the ranks of producers, and have become consumers. The world is consuming and destroying on a scale never known before in history. The demand for more and more labor is becoming ever more insistent.

In spite of the warnings which have come to us from England and France, of the necessity of guarding against the exploitation of our children during the war, New York State was one of the first to try to break down the restrictions built up during many years of the past with such infinite labor.

The Brown bills, which passed the Legislature last winter, were a frank attempt to utilize the labor of children. They made it possible, at the discretion of the State Labor Commission, to abrogate every law that has been passed in New York State to safeguard its children. One bill would have made it possible to utilize the labor of children unlimited hours, seven days in the week, including night labor. This was vetoed by the Governor. The other, which makes possible the suspension of the compulsory education law, in order that children may work on the farms, has become a law. Other attempts will undoubtedly be made to exploit children.

It will require unceasing vigilance on the part of the people of the State to see that measures detrimental to children shall not be successful. Attempts are being made to remove the limit of hours, and to abolish the requirement that children between fourteen and sixteen shall have working papers. Such measures mean that the physical examination now required would not be made, and that the necessity of furnishing proof of the age of the applicant would be eliminated. The first would permit weak, sickly children to go to work in the factories, and the second would encourage the employment of children under fourteen.

The need for increased labor is a real one, and as long as the war lasts it will continue to grow. But the nation that exploits its children while at war is bleeding at both ends. It is the province of women to watch over and guard all children. Now that they have the vote, the responsibility has been put directly on them, and they have the power to meet it.

Because of the tremendous cost of war in human life itself, it becomes doubly important to safeguard human life at its source, and that is our job.

Note.—The material used in this chapter is largely taken from publications of the National Child Labor Committee.

XX
PUBLIC CHARITIES

The public institutions of the State are grouped under three heads: the State Commission in Lunacy, the Prison Commission, and the State Board of Charities.

The State Board of Charities, which has general supervision of the charitable institutions of the State, consists of twelve members, of whom nine must be appointed as commissioners from the nine judicial districts of the State, and three from New York City. The law prescribes otherwise no qualifications for membership on this board. (A recent innovation has been made in the appointment of a woman on the board.) The commissioners serve without salary, but each one is paid his expenses and $10 for each day’s attendance at meetings, not to exceed $500 a year.

Partly State, Partly Private: Some charitable institutions in the State are wholly controlled by the State or one of its subdivisions; others are controlled by private corporations, but are maintained either wholly, or in part, by State funds. There are over six hundred and forty charitable institutions which receive money from the State. There are still other institutions which are entirely supported by private funds. The State Board of Charities has not the authority at present to inspect organized charities which do not receive public money, so there are many institutions which are without the protection of State inspection, and the total amount of dependency in the State is not known officially.

Duties of the Board: Besides its duties of inspection and general supervision of charitable institutions, the board has the control of the incorporation of charitable institutions, and must approve of an application for a certificate of incorporation before it can be granted. It also issues licenses for medical dispensaries, and makes rules and regulations under which they must work.

The Powers of the Board Are Limited, as the carrying out of its recommendations often depends on action by the State Legislature, and especially on the amount of the appropriations granted for the work. The powers originally given the board have also been greatly impaired by the action of the Legislature from time to time in creating other agencies, which have resulted in a duplication of work and an overlapping of authority. There is much complaint of institutions being overrun by official visitors, and inspectors with conflicting authority, who are said to interfere with the work of the institutions without accomplishing adequate results.

The powers of the board have been especially curtailed since the office of Fiscal Supervisor of State Charities was created in 1902. When decisions are to be made concerning appropriations for State charities, in making up the legislative budget, the Fiscal Supervisor is consulted to the exclusion of the State Board. In reality the Fiscal Supervisor has far greater powers than the State Board of Charities, as no appropriations can be made unless approved by him. His effort is to keep down appropriations wherever possible, and he does not come in direct personal touch with the needs of the work.

The power to fix salaries and establish positions has been given to the Salary Classification Commission, and to locate new buildings to the Commission on Sites, Grounds, and Buildings.

The general dissatisfaction with the confused and conflicting authority, which had come with different legislative enactments, led to the appointment in 1916, of a commissioner to investigate State charities and to report to the Governor, with recommendations of changes he deemed advisable.

Among the changes recommended were:

(1) That instead of an unpaid board of twelve members, appointed from the judicial districts, there should be a board of nine, of whom one should be a woman; three members should be paid and should give all their time to the work, one of the three to be president of the board, one the chairman of a bureau for mental deficiency, and the third, chairman of a bureau for dependent children; the six unpaid members were to be specialists in the special classes of work which is supervised by the board.

The present State Board of Charities objects to this change on the ground that a board so organized would become political. They also feel that the appointments should continue to be made from the judicial districts, in order that every part of the State should have a resident member of the State Board.

The report further recommended: (2) Prompt provision for defective delinquents; (3) a careful revision of the State charities and poor law; (4) that power should be given the State Board to inspect private charitable institutions; (5) the creation of a new bureau for dependent children; (6) the abolition of the office of Fiscal Supervisor of Charities, in order that recommendations for appropriations should come directly from the State Board of Charities; (7) the abolition of other conflicting authorities, and restoring the authority of the State Board.

None of these recommendations have been acted upon as yet.

The State institutions that are under the State are the following: State Agricultural and Industrial School, Industry; Syracuse State Institution for Feeble-minded Children, Syracuse; New York State School for the Blind, Batavia; Thomas Indian School, Iroquois; State Custodial Asylum for Feeble-minded Women, Newark; New York State Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home, Bath; New York State Training School for Girls, Hudson; Western House of Refuge for Women, Albion; New York State Reformatory for Women, Bedford Hills; Rome Custodial State Asylum, Rome; Craig Colony for Epileptics, Sonyea; New York State Woman’s Relief Corps Home, Oxford; New York State Hospital for the Care of Crippled and Deformed Children, West Haverstraw; New York State Hospital for the Treatment of Incipient Pulmonary Tuberculosis, Raybrook; New York State Training School for Boys, established by law in 1904, not yet ready to receive inmates; Letchworth Village for Feeble-minded, Rockland County; and authorized in 1911-12, but not yet open: The State Industrial Farm Colony, Green Haven; and the State Reformatory for Misdemeanants.

Private institutions supported mainly by State appropriations are: New York Institution for the Instruction of Deaf and Dumb; New York Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents in the City of New York; New York Institute for the Education of the Blind; Institutions for Deaf Mutes in New York City, Buffalo, Westchester, Rome, Rochester; Malone and Albany Home Schools for the Oral Instruction of the Deaf.

County and City Institutions: County and city almshouses are under the supervision of the State Board of Charities, and also the recently established county sanatoria for tuberculosis, of which there are about thirty. The small number of patients in these county hospitals for tuberculosis makes it impossible for some of them to give as expert and efficient care as a larger and better equipped hospital might offer.[7]

The Department of State and Alien Poor, of the State Board of Charities, has the supervision of the State poor, and of alien and Indian dependents. It also has the power to transfer aliens, or non-residents, who have become public charges, to their home county or State, or, in co-operation with the United States Immigration authorities, to return them to their home countries. This department has saved the State large sums of money.

In 1916, 810 persons were returned to their homes in other States or countries, by this department, of whom 250 were alien poor.

Local Boards of Managers: Each State charitable and reformatory institution is administered and controlled by a board of local managers, appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. These boards usually consist of seven persons who serve without pay, for their expenses only. There are some women on these local boards, but not nearly as many as there might be, considering the number of institutions which have women in their charge.

The superintendents of State institutions are all carefully selected from the civil service lists.

The employees of these institutions form a difficult problem. The old conception of an attendant for a public institution was exceedingly low; the standard is still far from good. The salaries paid are insufficient to attract intelligent service.

The Department of Inspection: There are over six hundred institutions in the State which come under the Department of Inspection. To handle them there are eight inspectors, and one superintendent of inspection.

Almshouses are inspected and graded in three classes. Of the counties that were reported in 1917 as first class in both administration and plant are: Allegany, Chautauqua, Genesee, Jefferson, Lewis, Monroe, Niagara, Saratoga, Schenectady, and Wayne counties. Those second class in both administration and plant were: Dutchess, Herkimer, Madison, Rockland, Schoharie, and Ulster counties. The only one third class in both plant and administration was in Sullivan County.

Provision for the Feeble-minded is the greatest present need of the charities of the State. Mental defectives are at large all over the State, and they are found in all institutions. They are a source of trouble in the public schools, and are a constant danger to the State.

It is estimated that there are not less than 30,000 of these unfortunates. The State institutions have room for about 5,700, but they are actually caring for 6,700. For years efforts have been made to get the Legislature to make adequate provision for their segregation. The report of one institution for feeble-minded women says, “nine of the women admitted were married and had given birth to thirty-seven children; twenty-six of those admitted had borne forty-three illegitimate children; making a total of eighty children born to those unfortunate women.”

Letchworth Village, in Rockland County, a plot of 2,000 acres, was planned to provide for 2,500 to 3,000 feeble-minded. It was established in 1907, and in 1916 still had a capacity of only 330.

The failure of the State to complete a project it had undertaken is shown also in the New York State Training School for Boys at Yorktown Heights. This was planned to be a reformatory of the modern cottage type to take the place of the very old one on Randall’s Island, and was greatly needed for delinquent boys. After twelve years of delay, and after $800,000 had been appropriated by the State and most of it expended, this project has been abandoned. The reason given for the final decision to abandon the site, was the possible contamination of the Croton water supply by the institution. With modern methods of sewage disposal it seems as if it would have been possible to guard against this danger. It would have been easier to insure proper treatment of the sewage from such an institution than from the towns and villages which exist in the Croton watershed. The State Board of Charities recommends now an appropriation of $150,000 for a new site and plans.

Recommendations of the State Board: Intelligent handling of the problem of dependency must deal with causes. Probably the major part could be done away with if the State would adopt adequate preventive measures. The board recommends as an aid to this end: (1) Industrial insurance; (2) better housing, including the destruction of the worst congested areas in cities, and the prevention of further congestion; (3) vocational training for children; (4) improved labor laws, restricting the hours of labor, and compensation for accidents to employees; (5) adequate pensions to widowed mothers.

They also recommend: That further provision be made for tuberculosis, which the records of the State Health Department show is increasing; that the office of County Superintendent of the Poor should be appointive and be included in the Civil Service. The frequent changing of poor-law officials, and their lack of knowledge of the subject, are drawbacks in the discharge of their duties.

The State Commission in Lunacy has charge of the hospitals for the insane. All the insane come under the direct charge of the State. This is a salaried commission consisting of three members. There are local boards of managers for these insane asylums as for the other charitable institutions, and a majority of the members of these local boards are required to visit the hospitals at least once a month for inspection.[8]

The State Prison Commission, like the State Board of Charities, is an unpaid board, but the Superintendent of Prisons is a State official with a salary.

There has been for years a provision of the State law which gives one scale of salaries for men employed in these institutions and a lower one for women.

Pay of Stenographers (male)$70-80a month
”    ”  (female)50-68”
Chief Supervisors (male)55-68”
”    ”  (female)50-62”

Since women have been given the vote, it is probable that this law will be changed and equal pay given for equal work.