VIII

RECENT STATISTICS OF CHILD LABOR IN

IOWA 60

THE United States Census of 1910 presents certain facts in regard to child labor in the State of Iowa which are of significance when compared to the situation in 1900. The figures are as follows:

These figures indicate a decrease both in the number and the proportion of children between the ages of ten and fifteen years engaged in gainful occupations in Iowa during the decade from 1900 to 1910. This decrease should be compared with the increase in the total number employed in each of the two years 1900 and 1910. Thus:

These figures 61 show a decrease of 5,025, while the total increased 36,909.

Iowa can not fairly be compared with the great industrial States of the East nor with the cotton-producing States of the South; but it can be set over against its neighbors Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebras

ka, and Missouri- as follows:

Comparing the percent of males and females between 10 and 15 years of age gainfully employed in the six States above named, the figures are as follows:

These figures 62 show that in the percentage of males employed between ten and fifteen years of age, Iowa

Iowa

Females 3.4 percent

Nebraska

Females 3.5 percent

Missouri

Females 4.4 percent

stands in the fourth place in 1910, while in 1900 it occupied the third place. In regard to females of the same ages it occupies the second place in 1910, while in 1900 it stood in the first place. There has, therefore, been a falling-off in rank as among neighboring States during the ten years although there has been an improvement in the actual situation in the State during the same period.

Illinois, an industrial State, has risen from fourth place to second place, in a comparison based upon the employment of males between ten and fifteen years of age. Minnesota has held first place in both years; while Nebraska has fallen from second to third place. Illinois remains at the bottom of the list in 1910, in a comparison based upon the employment of females between ten and fifteen years of age. Nebraska has risen from second place to first place. Minnesota has risen from fifth place in 1900 to third place in 1910.

These comparisons suggest that Iowa's position as regards child labor is neither very bad nor very good - a situation that invites careful consideration and the strengthening of safeguards wherever possible.

IX

NEW LEGISLATION NEEDED IN IOWA

THE principal defects of the child labor law in Iowa were pointed out by the Secretary of the National Committee in a letter urging action during the session of 1913. He emphasized especially the need of (1) the adoption of the eight-hour day for all children under sixteen instead of the present ten-hour law, (2) the prohibition of the night messenger service in the case of persons under twentyone years after ten P. M., (3) the removal of the exemption of husking sheds and other processes connected with canning before excesses like those found in New York develop, and (4) the adoption of street trade regulations forbidding such employment to boys under twelve and to girls under sixteen. As has already been indicated, an unsuccessful effort was made to enact several of these provisions during the session of 1913.

A revision and extension of existing legislation along these lines is now due in this State to guard against the development of conditions that have been found to exist in other States. Not only ought the child labor law to be strengthened, but provisions for school attendance and for vocational education should be extended. Prohibitions are not sufficient: there should be positive action to develop opportunities for the advantageous use of the time forbidden to be devoted to labor.

Among the additional changes that should be made in the Iowa child labor legislation are the following:

1. School attendance should be required for the entire school year throughout the State, and not be left optional with school authorities in the larger communities as at present. The smaller communities need this requirement as much as the others. The shorter school year in those communities would still leave them with poorer educational opportunities. There is great difficulty in enforcing either the child labor law or the school attendance law when the requirement is far less than the school year. Children had better be at work than on the street or engaged in misdirected play.

2. School attendance should be required to the age of sixteen, unless the child has completed a certain grade and meets certain physical and mental requirements — at least the burden of proof should be placed upon the parent or guardian who urges employment under sixteen years.

3. Provision should be made in the public schools for vocational education so that parents and children may feel that the extended period is worth while. Cultural and vocational aims should both be recognized in place of the present excessive emphasis upon culture.

4. Scholarships should be provided for the children of needy families. These, like the provision of meals or lunches when necessary, are essential to make our system of popular education really free and effective. The school board should be authorized to grant such scholarships from their funds in cases of need as is provided in the States of Ohio, Oklahoma, and Michigan. Why should there not be a system of scholarships for elementary and secondary schools as well as for colleges and universities? Furthermore, it is a false economy for the community to allow the burden of the support of a family to fall upon a boy or girl under sixteen.

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