Thirty States Now Say-"Thou Shalt Not Rob a Child of His Childhood."Owen R. Lovejoy, General Secretary of the NationalChild Labor Committee, Tells How Seven Yearsof Work by That Body Has Lessened Bur¬dens Borne by Thousands of Little Ones.

{{TV T() nothing interesting ever hap-|^«V^ pened t«. me.',1

-*- ^ Tims Owen P. Lovejoy« theman who left a church pulpit "to get Intotl e ministry." «s be expressed it, dismissedhimself from consideration.Me saw nothing dramatic In exchanging a

comfortable city parsonage for the s«iuaii«if-urioundings of a grimy mining town.That the lessons so learned bad been im¬pressed upon legislatures and wrought intolas seemed to him the thing of moment.

"No one ¡s Interested in me. My per«sonallty Is of no f«**nsequence. It'a mywork that Is Important." With that hewaved «side Impatiently his Interviewer's

Ini; 11 himself, and

these bables. No mill work now, duringschool days, for children under fourteen.There was a tiny, curly haired girl in a

group of Cleveland hosiery workers whoshould be playing with her dolls or doingkindergarten lessons. "I raveli and picksup." was her sole excuse for existence.Now Ohio Is busy with her case. A com¬

mission was appointe«! this last year toframe a children's code, and it is hopediUCh incidents will soon he impossibleIfere was a picture of a little six-year-

old In a North Carolina mill, where hismother and sister worked. He was begin¬ning to "help." According to custom.

-¦ would soon be regularly at work. NorthCarolina was stirred a little this last year,

NIGHT SHIFT IN A GLASS HOUSE.

¡ ówett B. LOVrSJÖY ~*

QENE71HL. SECRETAüY OF THENATIONAL CHILD LHBOB COMMITTEE

Man Who "Left a Pulpit to Get Into the Minis¬try" Says New York's Laws on This Matter,Though far from Perfect, Are Better ThanThose in Many Other Commonwealths.

likes to go round de bne where de sportsbang out. \>o. Tenderloin frr mine everytime- Dat's where dey spills de coin."Questioned as to his work, br replied:'

"Oh, 'most everything, before you calle«!the I took a drunk guy lu.me. Lot: o' niceladies that ain't got escorts caOa me to see

'ein home. Lots o' ladies that ain't nicen> ta me to run around an' buy drinks an"drugs fer 'em. i carrlee lots o' notes f> r

spor's an' Kir!'. Once I was door boy to!an evenln' reception at a swell joint. OncejI waited on table.hut never agin' Vonoughts seen me Blindo1 ewell hash! Lot»o' nights nurses calls me t.< escort them.When the boss goes away from one housem de watchman. A yens tried to buy me

a score of other Incidents equally »IgnlfWcant."ES far as the work itself |* concra«-*.*.

he said, "it teaches nothing. Instead «***being sa avenue to higher Industrio! oppoatunlUes, tne night mesa*-n**sr eervfes is ablind all. v, leaving the boy st the end ofone or flye ySOTS as un'b-veloped a« when

m, having in the meantime absorbedMa years, sapped his energy, blunted hisaentiUhUes and ahattered b¡» ideals."As for as New York « Itv and statn are

Concerned the worst of this evil has beensbotlshed in the Legislatura this year. Thelaw just pasned provides that In Hies efthe tlrst or seeond «lass no person underthe age of twenty-one chalí be employed

OFF FOR THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT AT 10 O'CLOCK AT NIGHT.

TOO SHORT TO REACH THEIR WORK, THEY HAVE TO CLIMB.COMMON SCENE IN THE COTTON MILLS.

» enl asm inlt .¦ aubject on which all bis rer

.¦

Thirty -'

Ing thItioi ne . n'a must Im

porlthe poo Tl pen the bam

I.ab.>r Commltte«

t"il :. iwn.of t'n-^ magnitud.

of hi ecrctary t eaenteany allusion to bis own personality. Leaninu i« rward on hisjsti attltude, ment llv«in ;¦

m the at

J i. j

ng til«- social and political bi t one« utilize ai ird oui

matet ial resoe"H Intelllgei

natural physical resources create:. i .aI w< alth. in n\

.

Of to-day.ord of the

M that the Americanare n tdy to rally I

which, throughout the nation, shall cuar¬to «rvery child m oppor-to play and grow ai

"In my Judgment, child labor will be: lized atai

|.i'i'. ment r quicker l y tli tlon of men and a omen

by continuing to regard women as

' i. glslatlvc

Uty lachildren,

Intelligent,b i their

' deal Inferiority sub-ti.r m t< ¦. do not threaten

The« the convict v, hlch11 oik.

a || lie ir. Bulm of

nee. He listv it te«] to ever; day n«

Y« s. I>

i 11 enthusiasm la held ..

Icial temp« ran

ould« red man, I.!, . :.... has nothing

rea m 1111y.A Utol ible In the Jel blackj The hit andj . :.

Ol a

i ha a iii thai combines dreama \\iiii

¦ .n He comes Of atock that i. the

only had rj mpath foi h«,1 lui

Ui<.....

. dry statistics tallath« d oui of the pllcol n porta n

onfusion

m a Toi.¦ moth«

m-. Inv«

'] .-,

r-.,

bul all Ehe did was to r«?duce the number.f allow« d working hours per week fromsixty-six to sixty for children und..¦:.

pen.Tiny boys were found in Ocorgia cotton

mills, so small that they had to climb half

v.ay ui» to their machines and cling therev. 1th their hare toes.

They were all vivid human docuno Mr. Lovejoy.Important signs of the

and he made hla caller sec it thatway, too.

lb- thinks the work of t'.is year is en-

couraging, though mu« h is left to do. Inatatea children under fourteen :¦

i! .... ve(] at gruelling work when theyI*ast year pul an «'lid

lo that in seven stat«--. Fiíte« n wa madetl <. limit In two states. Many ofif.'s work ten and twelve hours a day.

eight-hour «lay was established inthree atatea last .»«ar fur all children pto dxteen. Seven otii.-r states paeaed laws

ng, more or less, the houra ol childen itat« i besides the District <>f

umbla have now established the eight«day for little ones.

'I «ommlttee found night work ode of.tatest evils of child labor. As the

result of its work in this direction Call-It« l last year the employ-

met t at night of all minors under eighteen.Right ether states passed similar laws.n/11 rlxteen es the age limit.Marked Improvements in laws affecting

ihildren In dangerous occupations have|.c< n made. Ten states during tiie

snatched their little citizens from the paib.i crippling machinery, death dealing ex-

end ' er similar p<THE DEN OF THE TERRIBLE NINEWHERE n£$í?E.NCrER 30YS OFTEN

LO-SS, R WHOLE HONTH S... WAQtS IN "Ä NICHT.

wi'i'iim1

LEO, 48 INCH« H.CH EIGHT YEARS OLD. PICKING VP BOBBINS IN COTTON MILL "SHUCKING« OYSTERS. THE H ARDSHELLS TEAR CHILDISH FINGERS. BUT HELP IS

AT 15 CENTS A DAY. bt,AKUt.

I,

Mi i-li will i,< .. h p.

|H|. ¦! II- t III»

of ihe j .¦ in, i

..I

I . III 10

»orld 11 i,-pt ...

li

'

|i Un .i

In one p '"ah«

.I .. Hi"

... -. ¦.. Iks < luna. Non 4

i ve a l »m« oi poki »

bun« i> "

,. »>..¦. Inqud ict that«. the nlghl force «or

.« i

«- »HoiI Jim idmitti '«, i Ukei do «oik. 1,

,.v,., i foi m of dei ravit) lie easilyred , .aid of opium far the iom-

,¿. lit lie U«"<1 the drug i

,h ti- declared N per eenl of th«.Hi|i ihr M-mphts me«n">n«er r,r>\ ¦ a'»! at

nigh) me from the disorderly housea To

theae »inking Incident» Mj. Lo\eJoy added,

THEY NEVER HAVE BEEN CHILDREN. NOTHING AHEAD BUT WORKIN THE MINES.

.gter let him in once, but I was too wtse. Acop was watchln* me round de corner.

"It's on de day shift we gets de bughou?"jobs. One afternoon 1 went .0 a depart¬ment store an' bought some 1 nderwear forS woman. Then I hooked up her dr«?ss andsh" wont «'allin', while I minded de baby.liully gee! I wheeled a sick guy morningsfer a while. Kvery day there was flowers,boose and candy to buy."And this combination of diplomat, confi¬

dential agent and general utility man for$2."» a month!

l.est the reader suspect that Jim was

"stringing" his patron, it may be said thatthe committee's work»'rs found bis state¬

ments no exaggeration of what goes on

constantly.One ex-messenger, asked by an investi¬

gator as to his expolien e, said:

"I was a messenger about two and a halfyears. At the end of that time I couldn'tfind a decent job that would pay a man to

take. I'm twenty now, but I cant find any¬

thing. I haven't any trade, and while kind

p. ople are always offering me jobs none

of them pays more than $4 a week."When asked how he came to quit,

"Fired!" he said, laconically. "That's the

way most of the boya quit. I was caughtdrunk on duty''Ons mustn't get the Idea that Now fork

has this evil all to Itself. Investigation bythe committee in four cities of Tennessee.us well as in many other cities of theNorth and South, showed everywhere jpractically the same conditions.In Memphis a nineteen-year-old boy, with

two aliases, began his career as a messen-

ger at ten. He confessed an aoQaafatanca

I or permitted to work as a messenger be«fore S In the morning or after 10 in th«evening.Mr. Lovejoy la especially gratified by the

outcome of th» work in this direction."By thií new law,'' ha said, *'a standard

' by the Empire »«täte for all otherstates and. with the accumulated evidence

'in the poaacaalon of the National childLabor Committee, will be adequate to forcet i»- same standard of protection through¬out the Union.Imbed. tiiiM campaign, which was begun

in New Voik only a year ago, has already»borre fruit In «leven other states whichhave passed messenger sen loa laws mors

or less stringent daring this banner year.But while conditions in New York Stats

are thus In many respe, ts gratifying, Mr.naiders them far from ideal. For

half a dozen years New Yorkers have com¬

placently regarded their state as the leaderin child labor legislation. Tenement manu-

f. 'tortea In the big cities and the canningfactories of the western part of the state

ere still New York's unmitigated curse. Inthe living .ms of the tenement familytha Kien-i variety of industries is carriedon. Weary children with their worn tnotn-. i., eke out an existence in filthy surround¬ings. Some make violets at the rate of 144for four cents, and then» is no law lnterter-

!i arork after school. Saturdays, Sun¬days i far into the Bight. Manufacturingclothing, w Mowing ostrich plumes, makinghuman hair products, millinery, children«dresses, men's scarfs, lace, embroidery,

gaiters, ¦helling nuts, fashioning paper1 ags, arding buttons and attaching pen¬cils i.» dance «aids are som» of the actlvl-tiei of tl a tenements.Buch work has moat pernicious lnflu-

enoca II tends to demoralize whateverstandard Of living has existed, the mealsand the proper cere <>t children are neg-Iscted. Mort- thsn that, ;t la .«. menace t»

public health. Frequently work Is goingon in looms in which the worker or some

member of the household li sick with con¬

tagion.- disecas One observer report» thata tuin, »finisher visitad bad a little boy gag»fortng from whooping cough and spreading

on over the garments on which it¦ \.o«ki:ig with it- mother.In another cuse a childs head a.id face

were covered With I lOathaoOM rash, th«m her constantly «topped her work of tin-Ishlng trousers .»n.i caressingly ran herhands o\.r this eruption, and then, withoutwashing them, continued hsr arark.ASfcad Ah.it was the matter with tl.«

child, she could onlv sa) that bCT dm lortOld her it «reg some "ketch.i disease."LTndeKssdlng S«ed overwork In bad air,

together with dirty habits, make these vhll-dlcli mögt susceptible I«» tuberculosis andother "ketchn dlaeassa," which the wearerof articles mad-» by them i» likely to con«

tract Mote than »ixty articles not men¬

tioned In the present law relating to munu-

factoring in the tenements are now mad« !there As DO líense is necessary to work Jon theso things, conditions surrounding '

their manufacture may b<- Indescribablyhad. for the little workers and the generalpublic

N.-\ei theless, many conalder th» Ne««York Slate laws In tills reapect modelsih» conditions in the canneries of N«w

Yoik Slate hs\e improved m«icrt In the lastyear. Hurln« th» seuon of l»U g bout on«-

«veatlaued es (mirth page, ,