CHILD LABOR As the age for compulsory education has moved up and the enforcement of attendance laws has become fairly general, the relation of schooling to child labor has assumed considerable importance. A child has to be either in school or on some job. Much work is sometimes necessary to bring the child into adjustment with either one of these environments. Education has the prime responsibility to see that pupils are either in school or at work, whereas the labor or welfare departments have prime responsibility to see that the conditions of work are suitable for youth. There is, however, considerable overlapping in these responsibilities. Idaho and South Carolina are the only States in which there are no accounting procedures to determine whether youth should be in school or at work. No employment certificates are issued in these States. In most States the employment certificates are issued by city or county superintendents of schools or other school personnel designated by them or by the local boards of education. In a few of these States other officials may also issue employment certificates. For example, employment certificates may be issued in Washington by superior court judges. In 7 States, various State officials or local labor representatives are the issuing officers. In Connecticut the State department of education. issues the certificates. In North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, the local labor board representatives issue work permits. The law in these States does not rule out the possibility that school officials may be appointed as the labor department representatives. In Mississippi the employment certificate is simply an affidavit as to the age of the child and his school status signed and sworn to by the parent and the superintendent of schools. Employment certificates are in general of four different types. One type is that furnished children who desire to work before and/or after school and on Saturdays. These permits are often restricted to the so-called "street trades." A second type of employment certificate is the vacation work permit which allows children to work during the summer while school is not in session. A third type-the most commonis one which gives the child permission to work during regular school hours. In some States the child may still have to attend continuation school for a specified number of hours per week. The fourth type is an age certificate which the child, who has attained an age at which he does not need an employment certificate, uses to show employers when he is seeking a job. Evidence of age (43 States) and of education (29 States) are among the items most often required for the issuance of employment certificates to pupils. A somewhat smaller number of States require evidence of physical fitness for work (25 States) and a direct offer of employment (20 States). The personal appearance of the parent or guardian is necessary in 8 States. The items on the employment certificates are, in general, prescribed by the State department of education or the labor or welfare department, under a law delegating this responsibility. These items are related, naturally, to the bases used for issuing employment certificates discussed above. The items in terms of number of States requiring the items on the employment certificates are in order of frequency as follows: The enforcement of child-labor laws insofar as they pertain to hours. of labor, conditions of labor, and types of work is generally in the hands of the labor or welfare department of the State. The schools usually cooperate with the labor department in checking on the violations of the compulsory school law through the employment of children. The law usually directs the attendance officers to make complaints and prosecute cases where the compulsory school law is concerned. Violations of the labor laws not concerned with violation of the compulsory school law are invariably a responsibility of the labor or welfare departments of the States. Both school representatives and labor department representatives usually have the power to inspect factories, offices, and other places where children might be employed and to examine the employment rolls. Authority issuing permits TABLE III Summary of Certain Items for Child Labor, by State for full-time employment Conditions governing the issuance of a permit for full-time employment include Authority enforcing child-labor law Both 1 Approval of issuance of work permits rests with State agency for labor. 2 State education agency issues work permits. 3 Approval of the issuance of work permits rests with State Department of Education. No State provision for issuance of work permits. Local authorities have control of the employment of minors. 5 The minimum age for employment is 14. The Judge of the Superior Court also issues work permits. 7 In new New Orleans the factory inspector is the issuing officer. 8 For children 14-16 years of age permits are issued jointly by the State Commissioner of Education and the Commissioner of Labor. The permits for those beyond school age are issued by the local school committees. No State provisions for the issuance of work permits. 10 County Judge issues work permits. 11 Work permits are issued by the State Commissioner of Industries upon information obtained by him from the local Superintendents of Schools, through the State Commissioner of Education. Wisconsin. TRENDS AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE SCHOOL CENSUS GROWTH IN STATE FUNCTIONS THE SCHOOL CENSUS had its origin in the necessity for determining the educational needs of the local school district. It was a local responsibility imposed by the State through action of its legislative body. About the only State prescriptions were the age-span and the time for making the enumeration. Practices developing under such independence were frequently unsatisfactory for local use, incompatible with interests of other school districts, and unreliable for use on a State-wide basis. This fact, together with the growing participation of the State in planning and supporting the programs of all the schools in the State, has developed a trend toward greatly increasing the function of the State in the control and direction of the procedures to be followed in taking the school census. While practices vary greatly among the States, there are sufficient examples of the extension of State authority over the census to indicate a trend-especially in States where State participation in providing local educational programs is comparatively largetoward the enactment of legislation that prescribes in more specific terms the procedures to be followed and/or gives authority to the State educational agency to increase its power over what the census shall include and how the enumeration shall be made. As a result, the census items are, in some States, being broadened to include the listing of persons of specified ages having physical defects that seriously handicap them. Such persons are classified and reported to the proper State authorities according to the kinds of handicaps they have. Illiterates are also listed and so reported. State authorities are also making more specific the standards for qualifications of enumerators and at the same time raising them. The States are determining more than previously the appointment of enumerators. The procedures to be followed in making the enumeration are largely prescribed by State authority. Amendments to the census between enumeration periods are sometimes |