Page images
PDF
EPUB

An Act To regulate the employment of child labor in the District of Columbia.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That no child under fourteen years of age shall be employed or permitted to work in the District of Columbia in any factory, workshop, mercantile establishment, store, business office, telegraph or telephone office, restaurant, hotel, apartment house, club, theater, bowling alley, laundry, bootblack stand, or in the distribution or transmission of merchandise or messages. No such child shall be employed in any work performed for wages or other compensation, to whomsoever payable, during the hours when the public schools of the District of Columbia are in session, nor before the hour of six o'clock in the morning or after the hour of seven o'clock in the evening: Provided, That the provisions of this section shall not apply to children employed in the service of the Senate: And provided further, That the judge of the juvenile court of said District may, upon the application of the parent, guardian, or next friend of said child, issue a permit for the employment of any child between the ages of twelve and fourteen years at any occupation or employment not in his judgment dangerous or injurious to the health or morals of such child, upon evidence satisfactory to him that the labor of such child is necessary for its support, or for the assistance of a disabled, ill, or invalid father or mother, or for the support in whole or in part of a younger brother or sister or a widowed mother. Such permits shall be issued for a definite time, but they shall be revocable at the discretion of the judge by whom they are issued or by his successor in office. Hearings for granting and revoking permits shall be held upon such notice and under such rules and regulations as the judge of said court shall prescribe.

SEC. 2. That no child under sixteen years of age shall be employed or permitted to work in the District of Columbia in any of the establishments named in section one, unless the person or corporation employing him procures and keeps on file and accessible to the inspectors authorized by this Act and the truant officers of the District of Columbia an age and schooling certificate, and keeps two complete lists of all such children employed therein, one on file and one conspicuously posted near the principal entrance of the building in which such children are employed.

SEC. 3. That an age and schooling certificate shall be approved only by the superintendent of public schools, or by a person authorized by him in writing, who shall . have authority to administer the oath provided for therein, but no fee shall be charged therefor.

SEC. 4. That no age and schooling certificate shall be approved unless satisfactory evidence is furnished by

duly attested transcript of the certificate of birth or baptism of such child, or other religious record, or the register of birth or the affidavit of the parent or guardian or custodian of a child, which affidavit shall be required, however, only in case such last-mentioned transcript of the certificate of birth be not procured and filed, showing the place and date of birth of such child, which affidavit must be taken before the officer issuing the employment certificate, who is hereby authorized and required to administer such oath, and who shall not demand or receive a fee therefor.

SEC. 5. That the age and schooling certificate of a child under sixteen years of age shall be in the following form:

AGE AND SCHOOLING CERTIFICATE.

This certifies that I am the (father, mother, guardian, or custodian) of (name of child) and that (he or she) was born at in the county (name of county, if known) on the (day and year of birth)

(name of town or city)

old.

and State (or country) and is now (number of years and months) Signature of (father, mother, guardian, or custodian). (Date.)

There personally appeared before me the above-named (name of person signing) and made oath that the foregoing certificate by (him or her) signed is true to the best of (his or her) knowledge and belief. I hereby approve the foregoing certificate of (name of child) -; complexion (fair or dark), -; hair (color), having no sufficient reason to doubt that (he or she) is of the age therein certified, I hereby certify that (he or she) can read at sight and can write legibly simple sentences in the English language, and that (he or she) has reached the normal development of a child of (his or her) age, and is in sound health and is physically able to perform the work which (he or she) intends to do, and that (he or she) has regularly attended the public schools, or a school equivalent thereto, for not less than one hundred and thirty days during the school year previous to applying for such school record, or during the year previous to applying for such school record, and has received during such period instruction in reading, spelling, writing, and arithmetic.

This certificate belongs to (name of child in whose behalf it is drawn) and is to be surrendered to (him or her) whenever (he or she) leaves the service of the corporation or employer holding the same, but if not claimed by said child within thirty days from such time it shall be returned to the superintendent of schools.

(Signature of person authorized to approve and sign, with official character of authority.)

(Date.)

A duplicate of each age and schooling certificate shall be filled out and kept on file by the superintendent of public schools. Any explanatory matter may be printed with such certificate, in the discretion of said superintendent: Provided, That in exceptional cases the judge of the juvenile court, upon the recommendation of the superintendent of public schools, or the person authorized to act for him, may, in writing, waive the necessity of the schooling certificate provided for in this Act, and in such cases the age certificate shall entitle the holder to be employed without a violation of this Act.

SEC. 6. That whoever employs a child or permits a child to be employed in violation of sections one, two,

eight, or nine of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, for such offense, be fined not more than fifty dollars; and whoever continues to employ any child in violation of any of said sections of this Act, after being notified by an inspector authorized by this Act, or a truant officer of the District of Columbia, shall for every day thereafter that such employment continues be fined not more than twenty dollars. A failure to produce to an inspector authorized by this Act, or a truant officer of the District of Columbia, any age or schooling certificate or list required by this Act shall be prima facie evidence of illegal employment of any person whose age and schooling certificate is not produced or whose name is not listed. Any corporation or employer retaining any age and schooling certificate in violation of section five of this Act shall be fined not more than twenty dollars. Every person authorized to sign the certificate prescribed by section five of this Act who knowingly certifies to any materially false statement therein shall be fined not more than fifty dollars.

SEC. 7. That the inspectors authorized by this act and the truant officers of the District of Columbia shall visit the establishments named in section one and ascertain whether any minors are employed therein contrary to the provisions of this Act, and they shall report any cases of such illegal employment to the superintendent of public schools and the corporation counsel of the District of Columbia. The inspectors authorized by this Act and the truant officers of the District of Columbia shall require that the age and schooling certificates and lists provided for in this Act of minors employed in the establishments named in section one shall be produced for their inspection.

SEC. 8. That no minor under sixteen years of age shall be employed, permitted, or suffered to work in any of the establishments named in section one more than eight hours in any one day, or before the hour of six o'clock antemeridian, or after the hour of seven o'clock postmeridian, and in no case shall the number of hours exceed forty-eight in a week.

SEC. 9. That every employer shall post in a conspicuous place in every room where such persons are employed a printed notice, stating the number of hours required of them on each day of the week, the hours of commencing and stopping work, and the hours when the time or times allowed for dinner or for other meals begin and end. The printed form of such notice shall be furnished by the inspectors authorized by this Act and the truant officers of the District of Columbia, and the employment of any such person for a longer time in any day than that so stated shall be deemed a violation of this section.

SEC. 10. That the Commissioners of the District of Columbia are hereby authorized to appoint two inspectors to carry out the purposes of this Act, at a compensation

not exceeding one thousand two hundred dollars each per

annum.

SEC. 11. That no male child under ten, and no girl under sixteen years of age shall exercise the trade of bootblacking, or sell or expose or offer for sale any newspapers, magazines, periodicals, or goods, wares, or merchandise of any description whatsoever, upon the streets, roads, or highways, or in any public place within the District of Columbia.

SEC. 12. That from and after July first, nineteen hundred and eight, no male child under sixteen years shall exercise the trade of bootblacking or sell or expose or offer for sale any newspapers, magazines, periodicals or goods, ware or merchandise of any description whatsoever upon the streets, roads, or highways, or in any public place within the District of Columbia unless a permit and badge as hereinafter provided shall have been issued to him by the superintendent of public schools of the District of Columbia, or by a person authorized by him in writing for that purpose upon the application of the parent, guardian, or other person having the custody of the child desiring such a permit and badge, or in case said child has no parent, guardian, or custodian, then on the application of his next friend, being an adult.

SEC. 13. That such permit and badge shall be issued free of charge to the applicant, but shall not be issued until an age and schooling certificate shall have been issued as provided in this Act.

SEC. 14. Such permit shall state the date and place of birth of the child, the name and address of its parent, guardian, custodian, or next friend, as the case may be, and describe the color of hair and eyes, the height and weight, and any distinguishing facial mark of such child, and shall further state that the age and schooling certificate has been duly examined and filed, and that the child named in such permit has appeared before the officer issuing the permit. The badge furnished by the officer issuing the permit shall bear on its face a number corresponding to the number of the permit and the name of the child. Every such permit, and every such badge on its reverse side, shall be signed in the presence of the officer issuing the same by the child in whose name it is issued. The badge provided for herein shall be worn conspicuously at all times by such child while so working, and all such permits and badges shall expire annually on the first day of January. The color of the badge shall be changed each year. No child to whom such permit and badge are issued shall transfer the same to any other person, nor be engaged in the District of Columbia in any of the trades or occupations mentioned in this section without having conspicuously upon his person such badge, and he shall exhibit the same upon demand to any police or truant officer or to the inspectors in this Act provided for.

SEC. 15. That no child to whom a permit and badge are issued as provided for in the preceding sections shall sell or expose or offer for sale any newspapers, magazines, or periodicals or goods, wares, or merchandise of any description whatever after ten o'clock in the evening or before six o'clock in the morning.

SEC. 16. That nothing in this Act contained shall apply to the employment of any child in a theatrical exhibition, provided the written consent of one of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia is first obtained. Such consent shall specify the name of the child, its age, the names and residence of its parents or guardians, together with the place and character of the exhibition.

SEC. 17. That the juvenile court of the District of Columbia is hereby given jurisdiction in all cases arising under this Act.

Approved, May 28, 1908 (35 Stat., Part I, p. 420).

EXCISE LAWS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. [PUBLIC NO. 120.]

An Act Regulating the sale of intoxicating liquors in the District of

Columbia.

R. S. D. C., 435;
Manion

V.

6

Roop v. Doug

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives Previous law of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Comp. Stat., 342; no person shall sell, offer for sale, or keep for sale, or traffic commrs., in, barter, or exchange for goods, in the District of Colum- Mackey, 409; bia, any intoxicating liquor, except as hereinafter pro- lass, 19 D. C., 99. vided; but this shall not apply to sales made by a person under a provision of law requiring him to sell personal property, nor to sales by the maker, brewer, or distiller thereof not to be drunk on the premises. Wherever the term "intoxicating liquors" is used in this act, it shall be Amended by sec. 7, par. 36, act deemed to include whisky, brandy, rum, gin, wine, ale, of Congress apporter, beer, and all other fermented and distilled liquors. 1902. See p. 455. proved July SEC. 2. That there shall be, and there is hereby, con- Amended by stituted an excise board for the District of Columbia, sec. 15, act of Congress approved which shall consist of the three Commissioners of the Aug. 14, 1894. See District, and the duty of which shall be to take up and PP. 451. consider all applications for license to sell intoxicating liquors and take action on such applications, and the action of said board shall be final and conclusive, and only on the granting by said board of a license to an applicant to sell intoxicating liquor shall the assessor 11 D. C. App.. issue a license to such applicant; and said board shall Richards, 33 D. make such rules and regulations for carrying into effect C. App., 410; D. this act as they may deem requisite and proper. And D.C.App.,327. said board shall make an annual report to Congress, setting forth the number of applications for license both favorably and unfavorably acted on, the number of persons convicted for violation of this statute, and the amount of fines collected and uncollected.

Liberal construction.

Lauer v. D. C.,

457; Stevens

v.

C. v. DeWalt, 31

« PreviousContinue »