Administration of Child Labor Laws (PT. 3)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917 Excerpt: ...The plan in use in Rochester of penalizing the child by making him wait a week unless he can bring a statement from the employer to the effect that he lost the certificate or that he wishes to employ the child at once is probably quite as effective and more just. In this connection it should be noted that additional protection against the misuse of duplicate certificates is provided by the method in use in New York City and Buffalo of having such certificates clearly labeled as duplicates. But the problem of duplicate certificates can not bo completely solved so long as certificates are given to the children instead of directly to their employers. The office procedure itself seems in some places to be unnecessarily complicated and confusing. In the Manhattan office, for example, the child frequently is obliged to be interviewed by as many as four people, and sometimes more, and often he is interviewed several times by the same person; the office is not so arranged as to make the order of these interviews clear and simple; the child does not reach the clerk who has power to accept or reject documents until the very end; he goes through all the rest of the procedure before the literacy test is given; and the forms, particularly different forms for transcribing various kinds of evidence of age, and the many stamps in use seem unnecessarily numerous and complicated. Even when the child brings all requisites, he and his parent may be in the office over an hour before the certificate is issued. The very fact that an average of 75 applicants present themselves daily at the Manhattan office shows the need for as simple and systematic a procedure as is consistent with absolute assurance that the legal requirements have been fulfilled in every case. That in Buffalo t...