CHILD LABOR
The subject of Child Labor is one of the vital questions of to-day, and every woman should study and know the conditions, particularly in her own State. Begin with an introductory paper on child labor in the mills of England in the nineteenth century. Read from Mrs. Browning's "Cry of the Children."
Study the present conditions in America; the mining, canning, glass-blowing, and factory work occupations, particularly in the South; the tenement-house trades, such as nut-shelling and the making of artificial flowers. Discuss the many evils to which the children are exposed, the lack of rest and exercise, the unsanitary surroundings. Study the street trades; boot-blacking, newspaper selling, peddling, and the work of the messenger boy; also that of the child on the stage, the conditions under which he must work; the legislation governing these, and the enforcement of the laws.
Take up the causes of child labor, the poverty, and the need to increase the family income; the employer's attitude toward child labor; the indifference to school. Discuss, How can the school obtain and hold the child? and the vital importance of education. Find out whether the compulsory education law is enforced in your own locality. Speak of the teaching of trades in schools; industrial education by the State; the economic value of education. Read and discuss the state laws on child labor. Are they enforced? Should public opinion against child labor be aroused? Read the reports of exhibitions: Could the club have some sort of an exhibit?
I—THE FAR-REACHING EFFECTS
The effects of child labor are of far-reaching importance. Read the statistics of accident and disease, the stunting of growth, the effect on the child's mentality and morals from articles in Survey. What percentage of child criminals come from the laboring classes? The effect of child labor on the home should be discussed, its tendency to disintegrate; note the physical deterioration, and the unfitness for parenthood in the child who has labored, the loss of vital force in the children mentally and physically in the following generations, and the lowering of standards of American citizenship which must follow.
On each point have readings from pamphlets published by the National Child Labor Committee, 105 East Twenty-second Street, New York City, which will be sent to any one who writes and asks for them. The following will be especially helpful: Child Employing Industries, Child Labor, Child Problems, Child Workers of the Nation, Compulsory Education in the South.
The Survey has quantities of articles on all the topics. In addition, read from these books:
"Child Labor in City Streets," E. N. Clopper. (Macmillan.) "The Cry of the Children," Mrs. B. Van Vorst. (Moffat, Yard.) "Solution of the Child Labor Problem," S. Nearing. (Moffat, Yard.) "The Children in the Shadow," E. K. Coulter. (McBride, Nast & Co.) "Through the Mill," F. K. Brown. (Pilgrim Press, Boston.) "Juvenile Offenders," W. D. Morrison. (Appleton.)