Chapter VI: The Work Impulses of Youth

Since August, 1914, there have been presented to us new aspects of the relation of children to industry. Up to that time the only consideration for those who had the welfare of children at heart was the child himself; but with the war, the welfare of the child became tied up with the problem of the welfare of the country and its demands for service on the whole population. The endeavor to adjust these two in nice balance has resulted in experimental legislation or in action without legislation, both of which have often been of no genuine or lasting benefit to either interest concerned.

In America, in the first half of 1917, many of our states appeared to be following the lead of England in abrogating the compulsory-attendance law, urging the same reason for permitting children within school age to work in fields and factories. Everyone is familiar with the facts presented by farmer and industrial employer. In sections whose activity has been stimulated by the production of war products, such as Bridgeport, Connecticut, other industries and mercantile establishments have found it impossible to run as usual owing to the presence of munition plants, which attract an abnormal number of workers.

Not only is neighborhood business affected by the presence of war industries, but the farm shortage is aggravated; for the supply of intermittent labor, the kind demanded for berry picking, harvesting, and canning, is not forthcoming when the workers are offered steady employment in munition and textile plants. In 1917 many small canneries were threatened with the prospect of closing and letting the adjacent crops spoil in the fields; hence their call for schoolboys to assist them in cultivating and harvesting. This resulted in an unprecedented rush of children between 14 and 16 to obtain employment certificates, and a clamor from those below 14 to be allowed to leave school and go to work.

With the nation and the state urging farmers and food producers to make every exertion to increase the food supply, legislatures must render assistance in solving the labor-shortage problem. It need hardly be pointed out that the farmer cannot be expected to plant additional acres unless he is reasonably sure that it will be possible for him to have his acres cultivated and harvested.

England as early as September 1, 1914, was feeling the shortage created by the numbers of men enlisting, and every Local Education Authority was being besought by farmers and manufacturers to obtain modifications of the law which, generally speaking, held children in school up to 14 years. An order of the Board of Education to the Local Education Authority in Northamptonshire, answering such a plea, stated:

While the Board of Education have no power to give any general
directions overriding the ordinary law with regard to school
attendance and the employment of children,...a Local Education
Authority is under no obligation to take proceedings in respect of
nonattendance of a child at school if they are satisfied that there
is a reasonable excuse for nonattendance.

The "reasonable excuse" was found in the overpowering clamor of farmers and munition makers who were suffering from lack of workers, as in Staffordshire, where the petition sent to the Education Authority by the bolt-and-nut manufacturers at Darlaston stated that owing to the enlistment of men in various branches of his Majesty's forces and because of the fact that the firms concerned were largely engaged on work of great urgency for the naval and military services, "it was desirable, in order to prevent delay in the execution of this work, that the school-attendance by-laws should be relaxed for the duration of the war so as to permit of the employment of boys over the age of 13 years."[4]

It cannot be stated too strongly that England has realized too late the practical impossibility of recovery for school of the children thus released, and the dangers to the nation of allowing the junior population to go into industry without supervision. There will be introduced into our legislatures in 1918 and later many bills which will parallel English action, and the various states must watch carefully to see that in their zealous attempts to increase food or necessary manufactured supplies they do not create and sanction disastrous conditions for the health and morals of the young.

Now action in regard to our schools may be of several types. First, there may be passed laws which abrogate the existing compulsory-attendance law; such legislation would be that permitting children below compulsory school age to leave school. Second, it is possible to have the existing laws interpreted so as to excuse absence from school, as in North Dakota, where the attorney-general in an open letter to school officers, April, 1917, interprets the section of the school law exempting children from school attendance in cases of necessity to apply to children of school age actually engaged in tilling the soil. A third type of action is that which suspends the compulsory-attendance law under certain conditions; such a law is the so-called "Brown Bill," chapter 689 of the Laws of 1917, New York legislature, to which reference will be made later. Action may also be taken in regard to shortening or lengthening the established school year, shifting vacations, and changing hours of session. For instance, the Bureau of Education at Washington has suggested keeping school open twelve months, and this advice may be taken in some localities; it is possible, also, that a continuation of the demand for agricultural labor of students may result in a different allotment of vacations in the apple- and peach-growing sections, so that students employed in harvesting may lose a minimum of school attendance.

[4] Quoted from correspondence of the Board of Education to the Local Education Authority in Northamptonshire.

Events moved very rapidly in the spring of 1917. We were called upon by national and state governments, by chambers of commerce and boards of trade, by bankers and railroads, to raise crops. We were told that America must be the pantry for all Europe and that, do the best that we might, we should not do overmuch. Obviously, with such authority back of a movement for increased agricultural production, it did not take very long for state boards of agriculture and state departments of education to respond, to say nothing about the propaganda set forth by settlements, women's clubs, the Y.M.C.A., the Boy Scouts, the National Security League, the Women's Patriotic Service League, and a score of other organizations, that put a psychological persuasion into the situation which was hard for school authorities and school children to resist.

The following data relative to the action of a number of the states were compiled by the National Child Labor Committee. In general the data showed no provision made for supervision, for physical examination, for wages, or for definition of "passing grade." In some instances there were even no age limitations.

_California._ During continuance of state of war, state board
of education with approval of governor may reduce school term to
six months when necessary "for the planting or harvesting of crops
or for other agricultural or horticultural purposes."

_Indiana._ Letter from state superintendent of public
instruction to county superintendents, April 10, 1917, saying in
part: "It is my wish and order that you permit such high-school
girls and boys, and also such eighth-grade girls and boys as may
care to engage in Home Projects work looking toward the increase
of our agricultural output, to engage in such work and to receive
therefor full credit on the school records, provided this work
is done to the satisfaction of the county agent and the county
superintendent."

Plan formulated later by principals and state superintendents
for supervising, certifying, and accrediting such work did
something to stop a general exodus, but came too late to do much
good.

_Illinois._ State superintendent wrote to local
superintendents, April 10, advising that all boys eligible for
working certificates be excused from school May 1 and receive a
working certificate upon assurance that they have employment on a
farm or in a garden, credit to be given for work upon guarantee
that summer months have been spent in farming or gardening.

_Kansas._ State board of education advised local school
officials, April 17, that it would "approve granting a full year's
credit to pupils who have passing grade and who find it necessary
to withdraw from school before the end of the school year either to
enlist in the military service or actually to engage directly in
food production."

_Maine._ Boys 16 and over excused from school attendance, June
1 to October 31, for work on farms under supervision of Y.M.C.A.
official. (See chapter on "Farm Cadets.")

_Maryland._ Superintendent of schools, Baltimore County, in
open letter to school officials, May 11, authorizes the employment
on farms of "boys and girls who are old enough to be of real
productive value." On days when not so employed they are required
to attend school. Children over 13 who have attended school one
hundred days during the year may be employed without permits;
those who have not attended one hundred days must have permits.
Children under 13 must have a permit, "which should not be issued
to a child who is too immature to do work for which the permit is
asked." Permits issued for twenty days or less may be renewed upon
application of parent.

Similar plan was discussed by state board of education but not
approved on ground that it might lead to abrogation of the laws on
child-labor and school-attendance.

_Missouri._ State superintendent of public schools wrote to
local officials April 13, suggesting that they "excuse at once from
high school all boys over 14 years of age who will go to farms and
work. Give them full credit for their year's work at the end of the
school year, with the standing they have at present. Have the boy
who gets the credit give evidence satisfactory to you as to his
work on the farm. Include boys who live in the country and boys who
will go to the farm to work. Extend the same privilege to girls
where you deem it advisable."

_New York._ (Referred to later in this chapter.)

_North Dakota._ Attorney-general in open letter to school
officers, April, 1917, interprets section of school law exempting
children from school attendance in cases of necessity to apply to
children of school age actually engaged in tilling the soil.

State superintendent of schools in open letter to school
officials, April, 1917, recommends that schools should not open
earlier than October 1, with a spring vacation of four or five
weeks, and that the school be kept open through June and July
when there is less and cheaper farm work to do. "This would make
available, and with a minimum loss of school time, some 5000 of the
older boys at a time when labor is scarce and wages are high."

_Pennsylvania._ State board of education, April 19, issued
circular letter stating that farm and garden work should be
considered valid excuse for absence from school, and for children
12 and over in good standing such work should be credited in lieu
of school attendance.

_New Jersey._ State board of education sent out a circular
letter to superintendents and principals in which it was stated
that credit towards graduation might be given in place of school
work during the time a pupil was actually engaged in farm work as
a member of the Junior Industrial Army, or while called out in the
service of the state or of the nation as a member of its organized
military forces. (Boys and girls over fourteen years of age are
allowed to enroll in the Industrial Army in the agricultural or
home-garden or the girls' service division.)

Possibly no great harm was done by the action of these state officials and state boards. Yet the action affords food for thought; and perhaps the best way to bring about reflection is to pass immediately, without comment, to a quotation taken from the London _Times_ of July 19, 1917,--a quotation which gives a picture of the end of the road on which some of us in this country started in the spring of 1917.

The reply, last week, of Herbert A. L. Fisher, Minister of
Education, to a deputation of the Committee on Wage-earning
Children was sympathetic and not merely a common-form shelving of
the issue. The deputation asked for legislation restricting the
labor of school children out of school hours. The extent of the
evil was indicated by the deputation, but it is doubtful if even
the educational public know how widespread and deleterious it is.
On October 5, 1915, we pointed out that nearly half a million
children between the ages of 12 and 14 years were receiving no
education, or no education worth having, and that all of these
were at work which led nowhither at the very age when their moral
and physical development was at stake. Since then the conditions
which we condemned have passed from bad to worse. Many thousands
of children under the age of 12, under the ages of even 10 and 11,
are at work, and willingly at work, since the younger the child,
the more readily it responds to the demand for helpfulness. Mr.
Fisher cannot but realize the evil of this exploitation of young
children by parents and tradesmen. It is an evil affecting not only
the efficiency of school life but our whole economic system. There
never was an economic need for this child labor, and the Board of
Education admitted in their circular to local authorities last week
that there is no economic need in rural districts for such labor
even now. This circular was a letter from the National Service
Department and dealt with the pressure on education authorities
in rural areas to release boys and girls under 12 for service on
the land. The letter definitely states that, in view of the labor
released from the army and the number of women now available, "it
would appear that there should be no necessity for such a serious
interruption as is contemplated of the education of the nation's
children."

This should suffice to determine the policy of the
rural-education authorities. But the position in towns is even more
urgent, and Mr. Fisher and the government might give additional
powers to local authorities to deal with the labor of children in
full-time school attendance. It was certainly a mistake in the
legislation of 1913 to make it possible for the street trading of
such children to receive official recognition. But street trading
is not the chief cause of anxiety. Another is the employment of
little children by shopkeepers and distributing agencies before
school, in the dinner interval, and after school. The local
authorities should be empowered to forbid all employment for wages
of children under 12 and to restrict within very narrow limits the
employment of children at school under 14.

Naturally Mr. Fisher must not overburden or imperil his bill,
or interfere with the labor necessary for the war. He cannot be
expected to change the face of England in a moment. But he can
strike deep without disturbing the organization of society. He can
transform from below by ameliorating the conditions of very young
children. The country is ready now for changes that seemed Utopian
two years ago. By means of nursery schools the nation is dealing at
last with the raw material that is to be the England of to-morrow.
The same principle should be followed in the case of children
between the ages of 6 and 12 years. The physical welfare of these
children is of the first importance. Yet between these ages
thousands, through the carrying of heavy weights and other means of
over-strain, are receiving life-long physical injury. All efforts
for educational reform are being balked by their employment. The
elaborate scheme of the Half-Time Council, which was reported in
our last issue, depends, as indeed practically all of the reform
schemes and Mr. Fisher's own proposals depend, on the physical
efficiency of the children. The deputation asked that provision
should be made for the education of children abnormally employed
during the war.

Out of all the literature which has been put forth on the relationship of children to industry in war time it would appear that Dr. Claxton, United States Commissioner of Education, most adequately states the fundamental principles, in his circular letter to the educational authorities of the country issued in June, 1917. Portions of his letter bear directly upon employment of children in time of war. Other portions are closely related to statements in other chapters. It is well worth quoting in full:

It is of the utmost importance that there shall be no lowering
in the efficiency of our systems of education. Schools and other
agencies of education must be maintained at whatever necessary
cost and against all hurtful interference with their regular work
except as may be necessary for the national defense, which is, of
course, our immediate task and must be kept constantly in mind and
have right of way everywhere and at all times. From the beginning
of our participation in the war we should avoid the mistakes which
some other countries have made to their hurt and which they are now
trying to correct.

If the war should be long and severe, there will be great
need in its later days for many young men and women of scientific
knowledge, training, and skill; and it may then be much more
difficult than it is now to support our schools, to spare our
children and youth from other service, and to permit them to attend
school. Therefore no school should close its doors now or shorten
its term unnecessarily. All young men and women in college should
remain and use their time to the very best advantage, except
such as may find it necessary to leave for immediate profitable
employment in some productive occupation or for the acceptance
of some position in some branch of the military service, which
position cannot be so well filled by anyone else. All children in
the elementary schools and as nearly as possible all high-school
pupils should remain in school through the entire session.

When the war is over, whether within a few months or after
many years, there will be such demands upon this country for men
and women of scientific knowledge, technical skill, and general
culture as have never before come to any country. The world must
be rebuilt. This country must play a far more important part than
it has in the past in agriculture, manufacturing, and commerce,
and also in the things of cultural life--art, literature, music,
scientific discovery.

Russia and China are awakening to new life and are on the
eve of great industrial development. They will ask of us steel,
engines, and cars for railroads, agricultural implements, and
machinery for industrial plants. They will also ask for men to
install these and to direct much of their development in every
line. England, France, Italy, and the central empires have thrown
into battle a very large per cent of their educated and trained
men, including most of the young professors and instructors in
their universities, colleges, and _gymnasia_, _lycées_, and public
schools. Their colleges and universities are almost empty. The
young men who would under normal conditions be receiving the
education and training necessary to prepare them for leadership in
the future development of these countries are fighting and dying
in the trenches. All these countries must needs go through a long
period of reconstruction, industrially and in many other respects.
Our own trained men and women should be able and ready to render
every possible assistance. It should be remembered that the number
of students in our universities, colleges, normal schools, and
technical schools is very small as compared with the total number
of persons of producing age--little more than one half of 1 per
cent. The majority of these students are young men and women who
are becoming more mature and fit for service. The older of the
60,000,000 men and women of producing age are growing more unfit
and are passing beyond the age of service. It should also be
remembered that the more mature the young men who volunteer for
service in the army, the more valuable their services will be.

Therefore a right conception of patriotism should induce
all students who cannot render some immediate service of great
value to remain in college, concentrate their energies on their
college work, and thus be all the more ready and fit when their
services may be needed either for war or for the important work of
reconstruction and development in our own and other countries when
the war shall have ended.

All schools, of whatever grade, should remain open with their
full quota of officers and teachers. The salaries of teachers
should not be lowered in this time of unusual high cost of living.
When possible, salaries should be increased in proportion to the
services rendered. Since the people will be taxed heavily by the
federal government for the payment of the expenses of the war,
teachers should be willing to continue to do their work, and do it
as well as they can, as a patriotic service, even if their salaries
cannot now be increased. All equipment necessary for the best
use of the time of teachers and students should be provided, as
should all necessary increase of room, but costly building should
not be undertaken now while the prices of building material are
excessively high and while there are urgent and unfilled demands
for labor in industries pertaining directly and immediately to the
national defense. Schools should be continued in full efficiency,
but in most instances costly building may well be postponed.

During school hours and out of school, on mornings, afternoons,
Saturdays, and during vacation all older children and youth should
be encouraged and directed to do as much useful productive work
as they can without interfering with their more important school
duties. This productive work should be so directed as to give it
the highest possible value, both economically and educationally.
For children and youth in schools of all grades there will be need
of more effective moral training, and provision should be made for
this. While the war for the safety of democracy is in progress, and
when it is over, there will be greater need for effective machinery
for the promotion of intelligent discussion of the principles of
democracy and all that pertains to the public welfare of local
communities, counties, states, and the nation. To this end every
schoolhouse should be made a community center and civic forum with
frequent meetings for the discussion of matters of public interest
and for social intercourse.

One phrase in Commissioner Claxton's letter is especially significant. It is _This productive work should be so directed as to give it the highest possible value_, _both economically and educationally_. In this whole question of children and industry in war time, we are brought face to face with several facts. The first is that industry, both agricultural and manufacturing, will demand the services of children. Second, that organizations like state and national child-labor committees, which have fought for the welfare and development of American children, will continue to oppose all attempts to break down the school system through relaxation of the enforcement of compulsory-education laws, or to break down the labor laws either by giving young children special permits to work or by exempting certain establishments from the laws limiting hours of labor. Third, that the children themselves will desire to work rather than go to school. The comparatively high wages which will exist during a war emergency will call them as can no course of study. Fourth, that families whose earning member or members are off to war, and who feel in addition the higher cost of living, will look upon their children as being a possible added source of income. And fifth, that school authorities will thus stand amidst half a dozen fires. Some will back against the wall and say: "I don't believe in closing the schools," "Under no conditions will the child-labor laws in this state be relaxed," "The war hysteria makes me enforce child-labor laws more vigorously than ever," "Children have plenty of time to garden after school." Others will, under pressure, lose their heads, and shut their eyes to the fact that children are working illegally. Some may seek for a "reasonable excuse," and they can find plenty of such excuses by referring to the action in England. Still others will go on peacefully without thought or action one way or the other. But the rest, and it is to be hoped that their numbers are legion, will try to discover some means of making this emergency count in an educational way. Here are some of the factors which enter into the situation.

In the first place, children like to work, that is, outside of school, and these work impulses of youth ought to be organized to contribute to the educative process. It is readily enough granted that they have not been in the past. In fact, these work impulses have been exploited for private gain. Now, on account of the war, they are aroused to a high pitch, and we ought to be able to organize them in connection with the new work opportunities for higher economic efficiency as well as for higher social efficiency.

In the second place, it is doubtful whether we can much longer continue the policy of increasing the regular attendance of youth at school without giving some consideration to the educative value of labor. The educative process taken in its largest sense goes on for twenty-four hours a day. It concerns health, character, mental capacity, citizenship, and useful work. To most people the educative process merely centers around the schoolhouse, and such think of education in terms of schooling. To them, to increase the number of years that youth is obliged to go to school is to increase the number of years given over directly to the educative process. But the child goes to school for about five hours a day for five days in the week for about thirty-six weeks in the year, and in this time he deals largely with books; and many find it a reasonable excuse, because they are "going to school" and "getting an education," to avoid any useful work. Now some kinds of work are wholesome and educative. Most farm work comes in the class of useful and profitable employment. When the hours are not too long and the factories and stores are sanitary and the pay is reasonable, work in these places may be profitable to youth. Because this is not always the case is no reason why we should not attempt to make it so.

It would seem that educators now occupy a strategic position from which they may exert a tremendous influence in the direction of standardizing the work of juveniles in terms of the deepest social significance, and a good start in this direction may be made in meeting the war emergency. The subject is so large and the previous discussion of it so limited that we have not very much background on which to work, and it is not advisable at this time to do more than merely hint at some possible procedures.

First, why not have the rural schools for children up to 12 years of age open early in September and close the first of August, and make provision for stopping the school work of the youngest children during the winter months in those parts of the country where it is difficult for them to reach school? Why not organize classes in dandelion digging, berry picking, currant picking, and even, once in a while, weeding, by having a series of field and harvesting days under the direction of the school teacher with the coöperation of the parents? Why not have able-bodied boys in these rural schools released from book work in April and remain out of school until the first of November, and then require them to attend school faithfully for six days a week during the rest of the year? Why not have the boys between 14 and 16 drop out of school in June and July to pick small fruits and berries and to work in vegetable gardens? Under certain conditions, in regions where such service can be used,--which is not often,--they might stay out in September to pick fruits and gather small crops.

Of course it is to be expected that the answer to all of these questions will be a most emphatic No. Yet they have not been set up primarily because the farmer tells us that he needs labor, but rather because it is felt that boys need labor; that is, useful labor.

Second, why not devise in cities a scheme of part-time education for youths between 14 and 18 years of age who will be needed in the war emergency in factories and stores, as well as for youths who need useful labor as a part of the educative process? If the war falls heavily upon us in America, we shall find that these children will go anyway. We shall find that the male teachers who teach them will be drafted. We may even find--although it is hoped not--that the school buildings will be taken over for military purposes. But I am not thinking particularly of war needs. I am thinking of child needs. England proposes to reintroduce into the school system children who are now abnormally employed in the war. It further proposes to develop out of its war experience, on a large scale, the part-time and continuation-school idea. It is reported that in France a part-time and continuation-school bill will be introduced in 1918.

Now why not take hold of this whole matter of juvenile employment in a constructive way? As long as war is upon us we have better opportunity than ever of passing through the legislature part-time and continuation-school measures. We have at the same time, out of all the experience of England, every opportunity to formulate laws for the employment of juveniles in a way which will not break down the educative process, but will rather build it up; and above everything else we ought to enforce strictly all child-labor and compulsory-education laws which we have on the statute books. We may modify them, if we will, to meet war emergencies, if it appears absolutely necessary, but better than that, we may reconstruct them in the interests of the educative value of labor when combined with proper rules and regulations relative to the employment of children.

Furthermore, why not find some way of bringing agriculture into the educative process of the city boy? Would it not be a good idea to establish country branches for city schools, providing for the older boys a winter course of study in the science of agriculture, together with the ordinary academic branches of secondary-school education, followed in the spring by practice in an agricultural training camp? Later on in the season they would go out to work individually or in groups for farmers. (See chapter on "Farm Cadets.") The older of these boys would make admirable assistant teachers and supervisors for the younger group of 14-year-old to 15-year-old boys who would be sent to these camps after schools had closed. We cannot much longer avoid the question of bringing agriculture to the city boy or, rather, taking the city boy to agriculture; and the past summer's experience with city boys working on farms brought forcibly to our attention the advantages of a closer relationship between city children and country life.

Mention has been made of the modification in 1917 of the school-attendance law of New York State. Three sections of the act by which these modifications were made are quoted in full, as they represent legislative action as well as discretionary powers of the state educational official.