United States Congressional Serial Set

This study of the legal regulation of child labor covers the six continental European nations of most importance and of the greatest interest for the United States-Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. (") After Great Britain, these are the chief industrial countries of Europe. They have all recognized the existence of a "child-labor problem." All have attempted to solve that problem by means of legislation restricting the gainful employment of children and by providing a corps of officials whose special task it is to secure compliance with the terms of this legislation. The experience of the German Empire and of the Swiss Confederation is of peculiar interest, because these countries exhibit a division of legislative and administrative powers between the central government and a series of local governments which bears a striking resemblance to the federal system of the United States.

The first object of the investigation was to determine the law upon the subject to make a statement of the prevailing legal limitations upon child labor. This was not so simple a matter as it may seem. Not only are the prevailing limitations upon child labor usually scattered in several laws, but the laws themselves often constitute merely a framework which must be filled out by means of numerous decrees, ordinances, police regulations, and other legislative or administrative measures. These measures, moreover, sometimes constitute a relaxation of the general rules laid down by statute; when, for instance, the administrative authorities are given far-reaching powers to set up "exceptions" to and "exemptions" from the operation of the laws, and exercise this power in such a manner and on such a scale as partially to abrogate the law. Sometimes, on the other hand, these administrative measures may become tantamount to a much stricter regulation of child labor than appears on the face of the law.

Bulletin No. 80 of the Bureau of Labor (January, 1909) contains an article entitled "Woman and child wage-earners in Great Britain."

The second purpose of the investigation was to learn what provisions have been made to secure the observance of the measures regulating the gainful employment of children. The experience of all nations that have experimented with labor laws furnishes abundant testimony-if such testimony were needed-to the fact that it is one thing to pass a child-labor law and quite another and a different thing to secure the enforcement of that law. A new law is easily inscribed upon the statute books of a nation, but old and firmly established practices in economic life are not so readily set aside. It is, in fact, less difficult to enact an excellent child-labor law than to enforce successfully a moderately good child-labor law. For this reason it was felt that a mere statement of the enacted regulations concerning the employment of children possesses little more than an academic interest, and needs to be supplemented and vitalized by a description of the agencies which have been provided to carry out these regulations in the world of business. Inasmuch as these agencies consist mainly of "labor" inspectors or "factory" inspectors and their collaborators, the organization and work of these officials fall naturally within the scope of the investigation.

But no matter how numerous and well-chosen the inspectors, and no matter how zealous and efficient they may be in the detection of violations of the labor laws, their work will be of little avail unless offenders against the laws are promptly and adequately punished. Hence, wherever possible, information has been collected with regard to the frequency and severity of punishment inflicted by the courts upon violators of the labor laws, particularly violators of the provisions that concern children.

Any study of the regulation of child labor by law, no matter how superficial it may be, leads inevitably to the conclusion that the problem of child labor can not successfully be solved without taking into account its connection with the problem of education. The school laws and the labor laws stand, or should stand, in the closest possible relationship. Moreover, the regulation of certain forms of child. labor is practically impossible without systematic cooperation between the labor inspectors and the school authorities. This aspect of the problem has therefore not been entirely overlooked in the present investigation.

Finally, wherever reliable and recent data were available with regard to the extent of child labor in the countries concerned and with regard to its effects upon the children themselves, a summary of this information has been added. (")

a The entire investigation was carried on during the first half of the year 1909. For this reason the latest available statistics were usually for the year 1908, and in some cases for the year 1907. Here and there, however, information of more recent date was inserted while the proof sheets were being read.

AUSTRIA.

EARLIER CHILD-LABOR LEGISLATION.

During the eighteenth century the Austrian Government encouraged the employment of children as one of the means of developing the industries of the Empire. Statesmen of the mercantile school, as well as theoretical economists of the period, held that industrial development and prosperity depend in part upon a large supply of cheap labor and that such labor is readily furnished by children, women, and the aged. The noted economist, Justi, in his treatise on Manufactures and Factories (a) contended that the "genius" of manufactures can be developed only by encouraging the industrial employment of young children. According to Justi:

In countries that exhibit a special genius for commerce and manufactures, children are taught labor and industry in their earliest years. In Holland and England one sees children between 4 and 6 years performing all kinds of work suited to their age; in nations that lack the genius of business affairs, they grow up in play and idleness. Undoubtedly it should be the duty of teachers in churches and schools, as well as parents, to admonish and teach the children that labor alone leads to happiness in civil society. All children should learn in their youth to be industrious, to acquire the habit of work and to love it. * * * There are hundreds of kinds of labor that children 5 and 6 years old are capable of performing, and by means of which work may be made natural for them and prevent them from ever becoming idlers. (')

This argument for child labor sounded somewhat less convincing when employed by factory owners like the Stockerau manufacturer, Gabriel Metsch, who declared that he had built his mill "out of love for the general welfare and to exterminate the disgraceful habit of idleness that is shockingly prevalent among our children." (")

The Government made special efforts to require regular productive labor of the inmates of orphan asylums and homes for soldiers' children, on the ground that children should not only be taught habits of industry but that they should also contribute to the cost of maintaining these institutions. It must be admitted, however, that the financial consideration was not always the more important, for the Government did not hesitate to make expenditures for the purpose of encouraging child labor. Thus, for instance, an imperial order under date of October 19, 1764, provided that "girls learning to

Justi: Vollständige Abhandlung von denen Manufakturen und Fabriken. 2te Ausgabe, Berlin, 1780.

Idem, Vol. I, p. 181; and also Die Grundfeste zu der Macht und der Glückseligkeit der Staaten, etc., Vol. I, p. 697, and Vol. II, p. 117. Königsberg and Leipzig. 1760.

Quoted by Ludwig von Mises, "Zur Geschichte der österreichischen Fabrikgesetzgebung." in Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft, Sozialpolitik und Verwaltung, vol. 14, p. 211.

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