hair and eyes, his height, weight, and any distinguishing facial marks. While the child is employed the certificate must be kept on file by the employer in the place of employment and must be shown on demand to inspectors of the department of labor or to attendance. officers, but when the employment ceases the employer merely gives the certificate back to the child. He is not required to notify any public authority either that he has employed the child or that the child's employment has ended. 2 In addition to keeping employment certificates, every employer covered by the New York labor law-i. e., operating a factory anywhere in the State or conducting, in a city or village with a population of 3,000 or more, a mercantile or other establishment mentioned in the labor law-must keep a register containing the name, address, birthplace, and age of every child under 16 employed in his establishment. This register, like the certificate, is open to inspection by agents of the department of labor and by attendance officers.* The other important provisions relating to child labor, in the enforcement of which employment certificates may be used as evidence of age of certain children to whom the law applies, establish in New York decidedly higher standards than in Connecticut. Whereas in Connecticut children under 16 are permitted to work 10 hours a day, in New York they are permitted to work only 8 hours a day for not more than 6 days a week, such hours to be between 8 a. m. and 5 p. m. in factories and between 8 a. m. and 6 p. m. in mercantile establishments.5 The list of dangerous occupations and industries in which children under 16 are forbidden to engage is also much longer and more complete in New York than in Connecticut. So far as the administration of the employment-certificate law is concerned, however, the most important difference between Connecticut and New York is that in the former one State agency and in the latter two local agencies and two State agencies are concerned in its enforcement. The centralization of administrative power in Connecticut and its diffusion in New York have far-reaching consequences throughout the employment-certificate systems of the two States. The Federal census statistics of child labor in New York State in 1910 show 35,757 boys and 24,485 girls; in all, 60,242 children 14 and 15 years of age engaged in gainful occupations. Of these, 10,641 children were engaged in agricultural pursuits and in domestic 1 Labor Law, secs. 71, 72, 163, and 164. For the text of these sections see pp. 120, 122, 124. * Labor Law, secs. 70, 76, 162, and 167; Education Law, sec. 633. For the text of these sections see pp. 120, 122, 124, 128. Labor Law, secs. 76 and 167. For the text of these sections see pp. 122, 124. 4 Labor Law, secs. 76 and 167; Education Law, sec. 633. For the text of these sections see pp. 122, 124, 128. 5 Labor Law, secs. 77 (as amended by 1912, ch. 539, and by 1913, ch. 465) and 161 (as amended by 1914, ch. 331, and by 1915, ch. 386). Labor Law, sec. 93 (as amended by 1910, ch. 107, and by 1913, ch. 464); Penal Law, sec. 485. and personal service. Of the 5,623 classified as in the latter group, 4.395 were servants and the remaining 1,228 were in occupations covered by the law at that time as well as by the law of 1915, with the exception of those in barber shops and shoe-polishing establishments. More than half of the working children of the State in 1910 were in the city of New York, where 37,235 boys and girls 14 and 15 years of age were engaged in gainful occupations. The three first-class cities, New York City, Buffalo, and Rochester, moreover, contained together 42.109 working children of this age group, more than two-thirds of all those in the State. During the year ended September 30, 1914, 42,468 certificates were issued in New York State. The table following gives certain data for New York City in regard to employment certificates for the year ended December 31, 1915. Employment certificates, New York City, year ended December 31, 1915. Fewer certificates were issued in 1914 than in 1913 because of the fact that an amendment to the law effective September, 1913, added completion of the sixth grade to the former requirement-ability to 1 Statistical report of division of employment certificates of the bureau of child hygiene, department of health, New York City, for the year ended Dec. 31, 1915. pass an educational test. In New York City 33,192 certificates were granted during the year 1914 and 1,390 were temporarily or permanently refused, whereas, in 1913, 41,507 were granted and 2,185 were refused. In Buffalo 2,900 certificates were granted during 1914 and 753 temporarily or permanently refused-a decrease from 3,993 granted and an increase from 642 refused during 1913. In Rochester 1,429 certificates were issued during 1914 and 883 were temporarily and 2 permanently refused, as against 1,947 granted and 1,469 refused during 1913. Because of differences in both the application of the law and the organization of the issuing offices in cities of different classes, the administration of the employment-certificate law of New York State was studied in several cities of each class, as well as in cities with diverse industries employing large groups of children, so that the conditions discussed might be fairly representative of those throughout the State. The first-class cities-New York City, Rochester, and Buffalo were all visited. Those of the second class visited were Albany, the capital of the State; Troy, a manufacturing city north. of Albany, near the junction of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers; and Utica and Syracuse, in the central part of the State. Those of the third class were Little Falls, in the central part of the State; Cohoes, near Troy; and Tonawanda, near Buffalo. In addition the village of Victory Mills, northeast of Albany, was visited. The methods used in New York City were first studied and have been used, so far as possible, as the basis of comparison in discussing the methods in Buffalo and Rochester and in the second-class cities. In the third-class cities the procedure was found to be so varied that, when necessary, each has been described separately. In all these places except Little Falls, Tonawanda, and Victory Mills the descriptions are based on actual observation of procedure, as well as on statements of officials. The field studies upon which this report is based were completed in May, 1915, and except when otherwise indicated the conditions existing at that time furnish the basis both for the description of facts and for the conclusions. GENERAL ADMINISTRATION. In New York State the administration of laws relating to the employment of children from 14 to 16 years of age is in the hands of four agencies the local health departments or health officers, who issue employment certificates and who in small cities and towns are authorized to inspect mercantile establishments; the local boards of education or public-school authorities, who issue school records and enforce the compulsory school-attendance law; the State department 1 Labor Law, secs. 73 and 165; Education Law, sec. 630, subsec. 1. For the text of these sections see pp. 122, 124, 127. of education, which has general supervision over the enforcement of the compulsory-education law throughout the State and may withhold one-half of the State appropriation from any school district which fails to enforce school attendance; and the State industrial commission, which, through inspectors of the department of labor, of which it is the head, enforces the provisions of the labor law, and supervises the issuance of employment certificates. Three forms to be used in the administration of the employmentcertificate system are specified in the labor law: The school-record blank, the physical-examination blank,3 and the employment-certificate blank. The law provides that in cities of the first and second classes the school-record and employment-certificate blanks shall be approved by the industrial commission; that in other cities and in towns and villages these forms shall be prepared and furnished by the industrial commission; and that no school record or employment certificate other than those approved or furnished by the industrial commission shall be used. The industrial commission, however, has supervision only over the form and not over the accuracy of the statements contained in the school record. Although the industrial commission approves the form, the preparation of the school-record blank has been left to the State department of education, which provides a model conforming to the law. Upon 'this model the forms furnished by local authorities are supposed to be based. In New York City the department of education provides school-record blanks to public schools and to parochial schools if desired; the department of health furnishes them to parochial schools and to children from other cities applying without them. In Buffalo the department of health, and in Utica and Cohoes the board of education, furnishes them to all schools, public and parochial. In all the other places visited the State department of education furnishes the forms. In Syracuse the blanks are available at the bureau of health, and in the other places at the office of the superintendent of schools. The form used for the record of the physical examination must be furnished by the State industrial commission to the local departments of health and is, therefore, uniform throughout the State. The form of an employment certificate must be approved by the industrial commission; the contents are specified in the law. In 1913, when the labor law was amended to provide that "no employment certificates other than those approved or furnished by the 1 Education Law, sec. 636. For the text of this section see p. 128. See p. 43. Form 2a, p. 134. Labor Law, secs. 75 and 166. For the text of these sections see pp. 122, 124. commissioner of labor [industrial commission]" should be used, instructions and a model form of certificate were sent to every issuing officer in the State. The department of labor furnishes blank employment certificates free to any issuing officer, and officers furnishing their own are supposed to base them on the model adopted by the department. All the first and second class cities in the State furnish their own forms. The third-class cities visited use the form furnished by the department of labor. LOCAL DEPARTMENTS OF HEALTH. Under the labor law the local departments of health have two important duties-the issuance of employment certificates and the enforcement of the law relating to the inspection of mercantile establishments in places, other than first and second class cities, having a population of 3,000 or more. Although the responsibility for issuing employment certificates rests upon the "commissioner of health or the executive officer of the board or department of health," this "board, department, or commissioner" may designate some other officer of the board or department of health to issue certificates. Frequently, indeed, a clerk employed by the department of health is designated as the issuing officer. The physical examination, however, must always be made by "a medical officer of the department or board of health.”2 * The exact apportionment of the work of issuing certificates depends in part upon the way in which the department of health is organized. The organization of departments of health differs widely in cities of different classes and even in those of the same class. In New York City the department is under the direction of a board of health consisting of the commissioner of health (who is also president of the board and executive officer of the department of health), the police commissioner, and the health officer of the port. The first two are appointed by the mayor and the last by the governor of the State. The department comprises eight bureaus, one of which, the bureau of child hygiene, includes as one of its seven divisions the division of employment certificates. In Buffalo the department of health is under the direction of a board consisting of the mayor, the president of the board of public works, and the health commissioner. One of the ten bureaus of this department is the bureau of child hygiene, a division of which issues employment certificates. In Rochester a commissioner of public safety appoints the health officer, and these two officers in conjunction have all the powers and perform all the duties which in New York City and Buffalo are vested in the board 1 Labor Law, secs. 75 and 166. For the text of these sections see pp. 122, 124. |