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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Boy Labour and Apprenticeship, by Reginald
+Arthur Bray
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Boy Labour and Apprenticeship
+
+
+Author: Reginald Arthur Bray
+
+
+
+Release Date: March 28, 2012  [eBook #39291]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOY LABOUR AND APPRENTICESHIP***
+
+
+E-text prepared by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+(http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by
+Internet Archive (http://archive.org)
+
+
+
+Note: Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      http://archive.org/details/boylabourapprent00brayuoft
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+      Characters enclosed by curly braces are superscripted
+      (example: iii{d})
+
+
+
+
+
+BOY LABOUR AND APPRENTICESHIP
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SOME PRESS OPINIONS
+
+Times.--"The problem already felt acutely in London and in large towns has
+now appeared even in the country town and village, and to those who still
+doubt its extent or seriousness we commend this most instructive work."
+
+Morning Post.--"An important book on an important subject."
+
+Daily News.--"Mr. Bray's book is as full of counsel as of instruction, and
+it should be in the hands of every student of one of the most serious of
+social problems."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+BOY LABOUR AND APPRENTICESHIP
+
+by
+
+REGINALD A. BRAY L.C.C.
+
+Author of "The Town Child"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Second Impression
+
+London
+Constable & Co. Ltd.
+1912
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+We are beginning to realize clearly that all is not well with the youth of
+this country. From all sides complaints of neglect, and the evils of
+neglect, are thronging in. Boys as they leave school are casting off the
+shackles of parental control, and, with no intervening period of youth,
+are assuming the full independence of the adult. The old apprenticeship
+system is falling into disuse, and methods of industrial training are at
+once unsatisfactory and, for the majority, difficult to obtain. Boys in
+increasing numbers are entering occupations where they learn nothing and
+forget all they have previously learned, and in which they can see no
+prospects of employment when manhood is reached. As a consequence, there
+is a general drift into the army of unskilled labour, and later into the
+ranks of the unemployed. All expert opinion is unanimous in voicing these
+complaints. The Report of the Poor Law Commission, Majority and Minority
+alike, with its volumes of special inquiries and evidence, is one long
+testimony to the gravity of the evils which are the consequence of
+neglected youth.
+
+Further, we are coming to understand that the period of adolescence forms
+a critical epoch in the development of the lad. "The forces of sin and
+those of virtue never struggle so hotly for possession of the youthful
+soul." [1] And the boy too often is left to fight out this struggle without
+assistance, and even without advice. The conditions of modern life are
+increasingly hard on youth. "Never has youth," says Mr. Stanley Hall, the
+greatest living authority on adolescence, "been exposed to such dangers of
+both perversion and arrest as in our land and day. Increasing urban life,
+with its temptations, prematurities, sedentary occupations, and passive
+stimuli, just when an active objective life is most needed; early
+emancipation and a lessening sense for both duty and discipline; the haste
+to know and do all befitting man's estate before its time; the mad rush
+for sudden wealth, and the reckless fashions set by its gilded youth----"
+all in increasing degree imperil the passage to manhood.
+
+And, lastly, we are compelled to confess that an evil which is at once a
+grave and a growing evil is one which demands immediate attention. It is
+not a problem that can be laid on the shelf for that convenient season
+which never arrives, when legislators have nothing else to think about.
+There is urgent need for reform in the near future, unless we would see a
+further degeneration of the youth of the country.
+
+The object of this volume is altogether practical--to show what reforms
+are necessary to prevent the growth of the evil by laying the foundation
+of a new and true apprenticeship system. But to achieve this object it is
+necessary first to explain how the problem was dealt with in days gone by,
+when life was more stable and industrial conditions less complex; and,
+secondly, to understand in detail the characteristic features of the
+question as it presents itself to-day. Only with the experience of the
+past and the present to guide us can we face the future with any hope of
+controlling its destinies.
+
+As "she" is mentioned nowhere else in the volume, it seems desirable to
+say a word here about the girl. This book is, indeed, concerned with boys
+alone, but, with a few changes in details, all that is written about
+conditions, and all that is recommended in the way of reforms, is equally
+applicable in her case also.
+
+I have endeavoured, even at the risk of being termed unduly dogmatic, to
+make my proposals for reform as definite as possible. I have done so in
+the cause of clearness. But if I fail to carry my readers with me all the
+way, I shall be well content if only I have succeeded in starting them on
+a pilgrimage in quest of the new apprenticeship system.
+
+REGINALD A. BRAY.
+
+  ADDINGTON SQUARE,
+    CAMBERWELL, S.E.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                        PAGE
+
+  PREFACE                                                  v
+
+  CHAPTER I
+
+  THE ESSENTIALS OF APPRENTICESHIP                         1
+
+
+  CHAPTER II
+
+  THE OLD APPRENTICESHIP                                   4
+
+      I. The Age of the Gilds                              4
+     II. The Statute of Apprentices                       11
+    III. The Industrial Revolution                        20
+
+
+  CHAPTER III
+
+  THE AGE OF RECONSTRUCTION                               26
+
+
+  CHAPTER IV
+
+  THE GUARDIANSHIP OF THE STATE                           36
+
+      I. State Supervision                                36
+         § 1. State Regulation                            37
+           (_a_) Prohibition of Employment                41
+           (_b_) Limitation of Hours                      43
+           (_c_) Protection of Health                     52
+         § 2. State Enterprise                            59
+     II. State Training                                   62
+           (_a_) The Elementary School                    63
+           (_b_) The Continuation School                  65
+    III. State Provision of an Opening                    70
+
+
+  CHAPTER V
+
+  APPRENTICESHIP OF TO-DAY                                75
+
+      I. The Contribution of the State                    76
+         § 1. State Regulation                            76
+         § 2. State Enterprise                            83
+         § 3. Summary                                     88
+     II. The Contribution of Philanthropy                 89
+    III. The Contribution of the Home                     92
+         § 1. The Boy of School Age                       96
+         § 2. The Boy after School Days                  100
+     IV. The Contribution of the Workshop                103
+         § 1. London                                     104
+           (_a_) The Employment of School-Children       105
+           (_b_) The Entry to a Trade                    113
+           (_c_) The Passage to Manhood                  142
+           (_d_) Summary                                 149
+         § 2. Other Towns                                151
+           (_a_) The Employment of School-Children       151
+           (_b_) The Entry to a Trade                    155
+           (_c_) The Passage to Manhood                  160
+         § 3. Rural Districts                            161
+      V. The Break-up of Apprenticeship                  165
+
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+
+  THE NEW APPRENTICESHIP                                 176
+
+      I. Supervision                                     191
+           (_a_) The Raising of the School Age           192
+           (_b_) The Prohibition of Child Labour         195
+           (_c_) The New Half-Time System                197
+           (_d_) The Parents' Point of View              202
+     II. Training                                        207
+    III. The Provision of an Opening                     221
+     IV. General Conclusions                             231
+
+
+  LIST OF AUTHORITIES                                    241
+
+
+  INDEX                                                  245
+
+
+
+
+BOY LABOUR AND APPRENTICESHIP
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE ESSENTIALS OF APPRENTICESHIP
+
+
+Originally the term "apprenticeship" was employed to signify not merely
+the practical training in the mysteries of a trade, but also that wider
+training of character and intelligence on which depends the real
+efficiency of the craftsman. Apprenticeship was regarded as a preparation
+for life, and not only as a preparation for the workshop. It is in this
+sense that the word is used throughout the present volume.
+
+In a volume concerned with any branch of social reform, and consequently
+likely to arouse differences of opinion, it is always desirable to start
+on good terms with the reader. This can best be done by beginning with
+assumptions the truth of which no one is likely to call in question. In
+dealing with the problem of boy labour and apprenticeship, it is not
+difficult to venture on certain statements which will receive the
+unqualified approval of all.
+
+An apprenticeship system worthy of the name must satisfy three conditions.
+First, it must provide for the adequate supervision of boys until they
+reach at least the age of eighteen. Before that age a lad is not fit to be
+his own master, and should remain at least to some extent under the
+control of elder persons. Such supervision must have respect both to his
+conduct and to his physical development. Secondly, an apprenticeship
+system must offer full opportunities of training, both general and
+special--the training of the citizen and the training of the worker. And,
+lastly, it must lead forward to some opening in the ranks of adult labour,
+for which definite preparation has been made, and in which good character
+may find reasonable prospects of permanent employment. Supervision,
+training, the provision of a suitable opening--these must be regarded as
+the three essentials of an apprenticeship system. How they may be assured
+is, no doubt, a problem which invites controversy; that they ought to be
+assured will be allowed by all.
+
+Further, it is perhaps allowable to assume that an apprenticeship system
+must not be regarded merely as a means of entering a skilled trade. We
+must not think of it as an organization reserved for a comparatively small
+section of the community: all must be brought within the sphere of its
+influence. All boys alike need supervision; all boys alike require some
+training; all boys alike should see before them, as manhood approaches,
+the prospects of an opening in some form of occupation where diligence and
+aptitude may receive its due reward. And all alike must one day play
+their part in the complex life of the State. We want some to be skilled
+workers; we want all to be intelligent and well-conducted citizens.
+Apprenticeship, then, using the word in its widest sense, must be
+universal. Here again, it is hoped, the reader may express his agreement.
+
+In what follows an attempt is made to examine the old apprenticeship
+system, to criticize apprenticeship as it exists to-day, and so to lead on
+to proposals which will pave the way for the coming of the new and real
+apprenticeship system of to-morrow. Throughout, the industrial
+organization will be judged by bringing it to the test of the principles
+just laid down. An apprenticeship system must be universal; it must make
+proper provision for three essentials--supervision, training, opening.
+Where these are wanting, in whole or in part, the youth of the nation
+must, in a more or less degree, suffer irreparable loss.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE OLD APPRENTICESHIP
+
+
+Prior to the nineteenth century and the beginning of factory legislation
+the conditions of boy labour were determined in and through the industrial
+organization of the times. Of this organization, so far as the youthful
+worker was concerned, the indentured apprenticeship system formed the most
+characteristic feature. The history of the apprenticeship system falls
+into three periods. In the first the gilds were the predominant factor; in
+the second the State, by prescribing a seven years' apprenticeship,
+insured the continuance of the system; in the third the industrial
+revolution and the triumph of _laissez-faire_ ushered in the age of decay
+and dissolution.
+
+
+I.
+
+THE AGE OF THE GILDS.
+
+During the Early and Middle Ages the gilds constituted the central feature
+of the industrial organization. The merchant gilds began to come into
+existence in the second half of the eleventh century.[2] They were
+societies formed for the purpose of obtaining the exclusive privilege of
+carrying on trades. Later they became either identified with the municipal
+body, or a specialized department of that authority. The craft gilds
+appeared about a century later, and were associations of artisans engaged
+in a particular industry. It is not necessary here to enter on a
+discussion of the complex relations between these two kinds of gilds. The
+subject is obscure, but, so far as concerns the regulation of boy labour,
+the general facts are unquestioned.
+
+Either by obtaining a royal charter of their own or by using the authority
+of the municipality, the gilds were enabled to prescribe, down to the most
+minute details, the conditions under which the trades of the district were
+carried on. The control was essentially of a local character, varying from
+place to place; it was, moreover, a control with, for all practical
+purposes, the full force of the law at its back. "The towns and even the
+villages had their gilds, and it is certain that these gilds were the
+agencies by which the common interests of labour were protected." [3]
+
+The gild organization included three classes of person--the apprentice,
+the journeyman, and the master.
+
+_The Apprentice._--The apprentice paid the master a premium, and was
+indentured to him for a period of years, usually seven. He lived in his
+master's house, and received from him, in addition to board and clothing,
+wages on a low and rising scale. The master engaged to teach him his
+trade, and the boy promised to serve his master honestly and obediently.
+The following is a typical example of a fifteenth-century indenture:[4]
+
+"This indenture made the xviii of September the year of the reign of King
+Edward the iiiith the xxth between John Gare of Saint Mary Cray in the
+county of Kent, cordwainer on that oon partie and Walter Byse, son of John
+Byse sumtyme of Wimelton, in the same county, fuller on that other partie,
+Witnesseth that the saide Walter hath covenanted with the saide John Gare
+for the time of vii yeres, and that the saide John Gare shall find the
+saide Walter mete and drink and clothing during the saide time as to the
+saide Walter shall be according. Also the saide John Gare shall teche the
+saide Walter his craft, as he may and can, and also the saide John Gare
+shall give him the first yere of the said vii yeres iii{d} in money and
+the second yere vi{d} and so after the rate of iii{d} to an yere, and the
+last yere of the saide vii yeres the saide John Gare shall give unto the
+said Walter x shillings of money. And the saide Walter shall will and
+truly keep his occupacyon and do such things as the saide John shall bid
+him do, as unto the saide Walter shall be lawful and lefull, and the saide
+Walter shall be none ale goer neyther to no rebeld nor sporte during the
+saide vii yeres without the licence of the saide John. In witness whereof
+the parties aforesaide chaungeably have put their seales this daye and
+yere abovesaide."
+
+_The Journeyman._--At the expiration of the identureship the apprentice
+became a journeyman. The change of status, beyond bringing with it a rise
+in wages, made no great difference to the youth. He usually continued to
+work for his master, and not infrequently remained a lodger in his house.
+To some extent the master was still responsible for the good conduct of
+his journeymen. Various regulations forbade the master to entice away the
+journeymen of others and the journeymen to combine against the masters.
+
+_The Master._--By a somewhat similar process of growth and without any
+sudden break in social status, the journeyman became a master. Between
+journeyman and master there were no class distinctions. Both worked at
+their craft; and, in an age preceding the era of capitalistic production
+on a large scale, the need of capital to start business on his own account
+presented no difficulties which could not easily be overcome by any
+intelligent journeyman.
+
+Period of apprenticeship, hours and conditions of work, wages and
+premiums, were all rigidly determined by the rules of the gild. Through
+its officers the gild visited the workshops, inspected the articles in
+process of manufacture, satisfied themselves as to their quality,
+prescribed methods of production, were empowered to confiscate tools not
+sanctioned by the regulations, and settled all disputes between the three
+classes of persons concerned. Masters, journeymen, and apprentices alike
+benefited by an organization which was created and controlled in their
+common interests; while the general public were well served in the system
+of expert inspection which guaranteed the quality of the goods supplied.
+The gild, in short, was "the representation of the interests, not of one
+class alone, but of the three distinct and somewhat antagonistic elements
+of modern society--the capitalist _entrepreneur_, the manual worker, and
+the consumer at large." [5]
+
+From the point of view of the boy's training the system presented unique
+advantages. To the age of twenty-one, and sometimes twenty-four, he was
+under control. Living in the same house as his master, that control was
+paternal in character, inspired by a living and individual interest in his
+welfare. He received a thorough training in the trade to which he was
+indentured. Finally, when apprenticeship was over, he found ready-made for
+himself an opening that led upwards from the journeyman to the small
+master. Under this system there was no boy his own master from an early
+age, no master irresponsible for the conduct of his boys outside the
+workshops, and no blind alley of boy employment that closed with boyhood
+and ended in the sink of unskilled labour.
+
+It its best days the gilds represented something more than a privileged
+trade organization. The close connection between the gilds and the
+municipality guarded the interests of the public. "The city authorities
+looked to the wardens of each craft to keep the men under their charge in
+order; and thus for every public scandal, or underhand attempt to cheat,
+someone was responsible, and the responsibility could, generally speaking,
+be brought home to the right person." [6] Further, there was no sharp
+barrier between trade and trade. It is true that no one could enter a
+trade without being apprenticed, but the person who had served his seven
+years' apprenticeship in any one trade became free to follow all trades
+within the city.[7] The gild system represented therefore something very
+different from the individualist methods of modern times. There was in a
+real sense, at any rate in each town, a trade organization under no
+inconsiderable amount of collective control.
+
+But the organization of the gild was suited only to the conditions of a
+more or less primitive society. For a country rising rapidly to a front
+place in the commercial world it was ill adapted. Increasing trade brought
+wealth and a desire for wealth; and with wealth came power to those who
+possessed it. The richer members of the gild gained the upper hand in the
+administration of its affairs and oppressed the poorer.[8] The gild was no
+longer an association of equals; and the weaker went to the wall.
+Competition turned the methods of production in the direction of cheapness
+rather than good quality; and the supervisory functions of the gild
+disappeared. In general the whole system, rigid and inelastic, became a
+heavy drag on the industrial organization. The members had paid for their
+privileges in money and a long apprenticeship, and bitterly resented the
+appearance of intruders not hall-marked by the gild. With shortsighted
+policy, the gilds limited admissions by exacting high entrance-fees, and
+strove to secure the maximum of benefits for the smallest possible number.
+
+No longer an association of equals, united by common interests and a
+common outlook; no longer a guarantee of excellence in matters of
+craftmanship; no longer the guardian of the interests of the general
+public, but a narrow sect claiming exclusive privileges--the gilds, rent
+by strife and envy within, and regarded with open hostility by those
+outside, drifted slowly towards that inevitable end which awaits those who
+seek to sacrifice the needs of all on the altar of the selfish desires of
+the few. "In the sixteenth century," says Dr. Cunningham, "the gilds had
+in many cases so entirely lost their original character that they had not
+only ceased to serve useful purposes, but their ill-judged interference
+drove workmen to leave the towns and establish themselves in villages
+where the gilds had no jurisdiction." [9] They received their death-blow in
+the year 1547, through the legislation directed against the property of
+the semi-religious bodies. With the decay of the gilds and their final
+dissolution passed the ancient system which had for centuries regulated
+the conditions of boy labour. So far as the boy was concerned the system
+was founded on three principles: It recognized his need for prolonged
+control and supervision, and made provision for the need by securing for
+him, through his master, an interest at once individual and paternal. It
+recognized the need for a thorough training in the mysteries of the craft;
+and it recognized the need that, at the close of this training, the lad
+should find opening out for him a career for which he had been specially
+prepared. And it made provision for these needs by its scheme of
+inspection and control carried on by those responsible for the common
+interests of the trade. In short, the gild organization, in its earlier
+and flourishing days, may justly be regarded as satisfying the conditions
+of a true apprenticeship system.
+
+
+II.
+
+THE STATUTE OF APPRENTICES.
+
+If the gild system was dead, the principles for which it stood and made
+provision continued to be as important as ever. Nor under the industrial
+conditions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries did there appear to
+be any practical difficulty in the way of enforcement. The small master
+remained, and with him remained the possibility of an effective
+apprenticeship system. Regulated by custom or by the municipal authority,
+apprenticeship lost nothing of its old vitality. Indeed, with the increase
+of trade and the increasing profits derived from trade, it became more
+popular than ever. None the less, signs are not wanting that people were
+conscious of faults in the industrial organization. Into the statute book
+of the period creep frequent allusions to intruders who had entered the
+trade other than through the door of apprenticeship. There was nothing new
+in these complaints; they existed even in the best days of the gilds. "We
+seem at a very early time," says Mrs. Green, "to detect behind the gild
+system a growing class of 'uncovenanted labour,' which the policy of the
+employers constantly tended to foster, their aim being on the one hand to
+limit the number of privileged serving-men, and on the other to increase
+the supply of uncovenanted labour." [10] But with the decay of the
+supervisory functions of the gild these complaints became more frequent.
+
+The condition of this "uncovenanted labour" has always been the unsolved
+problem in any apprenticeship system. If uncovenanted labour is allowed to
+enter a trade on the same terms as those who have served an
+apprenticeship, the latter have clearly a grievance. They have paid for
+their privilege in premium and long service at low wages, and not
+unnaturally demand some assured recompense in return. If, on the other
+hand, uncovenanted labour is rigidly excluded, there is no method of
+rapidly increasing the supply of workers in times of expanding trade. From
+this dilemma there is but one way of escape. All boys, irrespective of the
+trades they follow, must pass through a system of apprenticeship before
+they are permitted to earn the wages of a man. Two conditions are
+necessary to success. First, all boys without exception must serve an
+apprenticeship; secondly, having served this apprenticeship, they must not
+in their employment be restricted to the trade to which they have been
+indentured.
+
+As already shown, the gilds, at any rate in certain districts, allowed a
+person who had served an apprenticeship in one trade to be free of all the
+trades of the town. The gilds satisfied the second condition, and in their
+earlier days, when they included the majority of the population, they
+satisfied to a large extent the second condition as well. To satisfy the
+first condition was clearly, as will appear later, the intention of the
+Statute of Apprentices.
+
+But apart from the problem of uncovenanted labour, the disappearance of
+the controlling influence of the gilds left many anomalies. Here
+apprenticeship was regulated by custom, here by charter, and there left
+undetermined. In one place a certain period of service was exacted, in
+another place a different period. Finally, in the minds of the leaders of
+the day there was firmly fixed the belief that, as trade was becoming the
+life-blood of the nation, there was need of a general and consolidating
+Act giving the force of law to what was often only a floating custom
+applicable in a certain district.
+
+In the reign of Elizabeth these growing feelings of discontent found voice
+in an Act which marks an epoch in industrial legislation. It is usually
+known as the Statute of Artificers and Apprentices. After reciting the
+confusion that existed in previous legislation, the preamble continues:
+
+"So if the substance of as many of the said Laws as are meet to be
+continued shall be digested and reduced into one sole law and Statute, and
+in the same an uniform Order prescribed and limited concerning the Wages
+and other Orders for Apprentices, Servants and Labourers, there is good
+hope that it will come to pass, that the same law (being duly executed)
+should banish Idleness, advance Husbandry, and yield unto the hired
+person, both in the time of Scarcity and in the time of Plenty, a
+conventient Proportion of Wages." [11]
+
+We are here concerned with the Act only so far as it affects the
+conditions of boy labour. The principal regulations are the following:
+
+"No person shall retain a servant in their services (_i.e._, in employment
+for which apprenticeship was required) under one whole Year." [12]
+Husbandmen may take apprentices "from the age of 10 until 21 at least," or
+till twenty-four by agreement.[13] Householders in towns may "have and
+retain the son of any Freeman not occupying Husbandry nor being a Labourer
+... to serve and be bound as an Apprentice, after the Custom and Order of
+the City of London, for seven years at the least so as the Term and years
+of such Apprentice do not expire or determine after such Apprentice shall
+be of the Age of twenty-four Years at the least." [14] "None may use any
+manual occupacyon unless he hath been apprenticed to the same as
+above." [15] "If a person be required by any Householder to be an
+Apprentice and refuse he may be brought before a justice of the peace who
+is empourred to commit him unto Ward, there to remain until he be
+contented, and will be bounden to serve as an Apprentice should
+serve." [16]
+
+The Elizabethan Poor Law gave additional powers with regard to the
+compulsory apprenticing of those likely to fall into evil ways, and made
+it lawful for churchwardens and overseers "to bind any such children as
+aforesaid to be Apprentices, when they shall see convenient, till such Man
+child shall come to the age of four-and-twenty yeares." [17]
+
+Taken together, these two Acts gave to public authorities large powers of
+control over the growing boy. They did not, indeed, provide that everyone
+should be apprenticed, but in the majority of occupations no one could be
+employed unless he had served his time. Nor did they allow a person who
+had been apprenticed to one trade to work at another. But they applied the
+system of compulsory apprenticeship to all parts of the country, and they
+made provision for the proper care, by way of apprenticeship, of neglected
+children. People of the time were clearly of one mind in their desire to
+supervise, through the State, the training of the youth. "Contemporary
+opinion held that it was neither good for society nor trade that the young
+man should enjoy any independence. 'Until a man grows unto the age of
+xxiii yeares he for the moste parte, thoughe not alwayes, is wilde,
+withoute Judgment, and not of sufficient experience to govern himself. Nor
+(many tymes) grown unto the full or perfect knowledge of the arte or
+occupation that he professed.'" [18]
+
+As to the general effect of the far-reaching Statute of Apprentices, it is
+not possible to do better than quote Dr. Cunningham: "A proof of the
+wisdom of the measure seems to lie in the fact that we have no complaints
+as to these restrictions in the Act or proposals for amending the clauses,
+but that, on the contrary, there was, on more than one occasion, a demand
+that it should be rigorously enforced, so that the industrial system of
+the country should be really reduced to order." [19] For more than two
+centuries, without amendment, the Act remained in force; and while it
+lasted it provided at least the possibility for the adequate training and
+supervision of the youth of the country.
+
+These two centuries constitute the second stage in the history of boy
+labour regulation. From a superficial point of view there appears no
+essential difference between this period and the preceding. In the first
+apprenticeship was enforced through the action of the gilds, in the second
+by special legislative enactment. In either case apprenticeship was, for
+all practical purposes, compulsory; but here the similarity ends.
+
+Under the régime of the gilds apprenticeship was enforced, but in addition
+its conditions were determined by a careful system of regulation. The
+gild, an association representing the three classes concerned--masters,
+journeymen, apprentices--supervised the industrial organization in the
+interests of all alike. In the best days of the gilds the trade, as a
+whole, inspected the workshops; the trade, as a whole, watched over the
+training of the youth; the trade, as a whole, so fixed the number of those
+entering, that at the conclusion of the apprenticeship there was room in
+the ranks of the skilled artisan for those who had learned their craft.
+
+During the disintegration of the gilds, this second factor gradually
+disappeared. The Statute of Apprentices did indeed make apprenticeship
+compulsory, but provided no efficient system of regulation. Measures were
+frequently advocated and occasionally embodied in Acts for determining the
+proportion of apprentices to journeymen, but never proved effective. We
+see gradually emerging the struggle between the conflicting interests of
+those engaged in production. A seven years' apprenticeship, enforced by
+law, gave the employers a source of cheap labour, and we begin to hear
+complaints that the number of apprentices was unduly multiplied and that
+boys were taking the place of men. To what extent this practice prevailed
+it is not easy to ascertain; but there is no question that, at any rate
+among one class of apprentice--the pauper apprentice--abuses were grave
+and frequent.
+
+The whole story of the pauper apprentice forms an ugly episode in the
+industrial history of the period. The Statute Book is punctuated with
+frequent allusion to his unfortunate lot, coupled with proposals for
+reform, for the most part ineffective. As already mentioned, the overseers
+had large powers of compulsorily apprenticing the children of the poor. A
+sum was paid to the employer, the lad handed over, and no steps taken to
+guard his well-being or guarantee his training. It was inevitable that
+under conditions such as these abuses should occur. The employer found
+himself provided with a continual supply of lads, bound to serve him until
+the age of twenty-one, or sometimes twenty-four; he was not troubled by
+visits of inspectors; he could use them as he pleased. The luckless
+apprentices were herded together in overcrowded and insanitary dwellings;
+they were overworked and underfed; they learned no trade, and were
+regarded as a cheap form of unskilled labour. If they misbehaved
+themselves the justices of the peace would punish them; if they ran away
+the law would see to it that they were returned to their masters; if they
+complained of ill-treatment there was no one to substantiate the charge.
+Whole trades seemed to have flourished by exploiting the parish
+apprentices; and not infrequently the overseer, himself an employer, made
+a comfortable profit out of their misfortunes.[20] In his "History of the
+Poor Law" Sir G. Nicholls summarizes the legislation on the subject.[21]
+With the rapid increase in the number of paupers at the close of the
+eighteenth century these evils multiplied, and to an increasing extent
+engaged the public attention.
+
+If one class of apprentice was thus exploited, it is difficult to resist
+the conclusion that, in a less degree, others suffered in a similar way.
+Compulsory apprenticeship, without effective regulation, brought with it
+the danger of compulsory servitude. The State was conscious of the danger,
+and duties of supervision were laid on the justices of the peace. The
+State was likewise conscious of the value of apprenticeship, and gave much
+attention to the subject. A Commission of Charles I. dealt with the
+problem, while an Act of James I. was concerned with the misuse of
+apprenticeship charities, which led to children being brought up in
+idleness, "to their utter overthrow and the great prejudice of the
+commonwealth." [22] But legislation proved incapable of preventing evils
+which increased rapidly as the years went by. From the standpoint of the
+boy the second period, whose characteristic was compulsion without
+supervision, was distinctly inferior to the first, when the gilds
+regulated the affairs of the trade for the common good. But if the
+apprenticeship system was weakening and abuses on the increase, an
+effective training was always possible. The small master still remained,
+there was still the call for the all-round craftsman, and the huge changes
+in methods of production, that were destined to appear later, still lay in
+the mists of the future.
+
+
+III.
+
+THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.
+
+It was the invention of the steam-engine and the consequent introduction
+of machinery that ushered in the period of the industrial revolution. In
+the trades affected the consequences were immediate, profound, and
+disastrous for boys, journeymen, and small masters alike. "On the whole,
+machinery rendered it possible in many departments of industry to
+substitute unskilled for skilled labour." [23] In branches of certain
+trades boys took the place of men. "Under the new conditions (of
+calico-printing) boys could be employed in what had been hitherto the work
+of men; so that, in the introduction of machinery, complaints began to be
+made by the journeymen as to the undue multiplication of apprentices.
+There was one shop in Lancashire where fifty-five apprentices had been
+working at one time and only two journeymen; it was obvious that under
+such circumstances the man who had served his time had very little hope of
+obtaining employment." [24] A system of compulsory apprenticeship, under
+such conditions, was exploited for the benefit of the employer, and led
+inevitably to the injury of the boy. The latter was bound and could not
+escape, while the former could readily find an excuse for discharging an
+apprentice. Further, with the growing division of labour and the
+separation of boys' work from men's work, training became less easy. The
+boy was kept to a single operation, and when his time was up found no
+further call for his services. The position of the workmen in the trade
+appeared desperate. Owing to the competition of boys and the decrease in
+the demand for his skill, wages were rapidly falling, and at the same time
+the price of corn was rising by leaps and bounds. The small master, unable
+to compete with the cheapness of the machine-made goods, fared as badly as
+the journeyman. Both appealed to Parliament for redress, "usually
+demanding the prohibition of the new machines, the enforcement of a seven
+years' apprenticeship, or the maintenance of the old limitation of the
+number of boys to be taught by each employer." [25]
+
+But appeals of this kind fell on deaf ears. The spirit of the age was
+against interference, and opposition to all form of regulation was rapidly
+growing. The Statute of Apprentices was disliked by the large employers,
+and an eager agitation began for its repeal. Though obsolescent, it was
+still sufficiently alive to be troublesome. A seven years' apprenticeship,
+it was argued, was unnecessarily long; weaving, for example, could be
+learnt in two or three years. A Commission was appointed to consider the
+question, and the large employers pointed out "that the new processes
+could be learnt in a few months instead of seven years; and that the
+restriction of the old master craftsman to two or three apprentices apiece
+was out of the question with the new buyers of labour on a large
+scale." [26] In the House of Commons "Mr. Sergeant Onslow urged the repeal
+of the Act, and remarked that 'the reign of Elizabeth was not one in which
+sound principles of commerce were known.' The true principles of commerce
+(said another M.P.) appeared at that time to be misunderstood, and the Act
+in question proved the truth of this assertion. The persons most competent
+to form regulations with respect to trade were the master manufacturer,
+whose interest it was to have goods of the best fabric, and no legislative
+enactment could ever effect so much in producing that result as the merely
+leaving things to their own courses and operations." [27] The skilled
+craftsmen, on the other hand, petitioned in favour of compulsory
+apprenticeship. But in the growing enthusiasm for the theory whose sole
+tenet lay in the belief that the haven of prosperity lay in the mid-ocean
+of uncontrolled liberty, all pleas in favour of regulation were treated
+with contempt. The famous Chalmers, speaking of the Statute of
+Apprentices, declared that "this law, so far as it requires
+apprenticeship, ought to be repealed, because its tendency is to abolish
+and to prevent competition among workmen." [28]
+
+In the year 1814 the Statute of Apprentices was repealed;[29] and with its
+repeal the State washed its hands of all responsibility for the well-being
+of the youth of the land. Henceforth things were to be left "to their own
+courses and operations." It is no doubt true that there remained the
+"Health and Morals of Apprentices Act," passed in 1802; this Act
+prescribed certain conditions as to hours of work and sanitation. But the
+Act in itself was utterly "ineffective," [30] and for all practical
+purposes employers were unfettered in their use or misuse of children.
+
+There remained one more blow to be struck before the condition of the boy
+touched the lowest level of misery reached in the whole history of this
+country; and it was soon struck with that relentless vigour which marked
+the actions of the reformer in those times.
+
+After the repeal of the Statute of Apprentices there was for the lad no
+sort of legal guarantee of training, no kind of State supervision over his
+conduct; he could work how and when it pleased him or his parents. But the
+Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 made it necessary for him to work how and
+when it pleased his employer, and took from him all possibility of
+effective choice. This Act abolished the allowance system in aid of wages.
+Salutary and even necessary as some reform of the kind was, in the
+particular way in which it was carried out it fell with crushing force on
+the unfortunate children. Hitherto parents could receive so much per child
+out of the rates; from henceforth this was to be illegal. Wages indeed
+rose, but rose slowly and in patches. The earnings of the child were
+required to make existence even possible for the family. A foreign and
+impartial student of English affairs has made this truth abundantly clear:
+"Even granted that the labourer himself now needed no allowance, what had
+he in place of the allowance for his family and the out-of-work relief?
+Something in place of these he must have, for even labourers' families
+must live.... What was the way out? The labourer must sell more labour
+power; and since his own was already sold, he must put that of his family
+upon the market. This was how the problem of the married man was
+solved.... We have already seen that the expansion of the gang system took
+place mainly after 1834; it appears that the exploitation of child-labour
+and women's labour is the main characteristic of the period between the
+Poor Law and the Education Acts. When Dr. Kay was examined before the
+Lords' Committee on the Poor Law Amendment Act, he described the
+astonishment of travellers at the number of women and children working in
+the fields, and traced their increased employment to the Poor Law. In his
+own words: 'The extent of employment for women and children has most
+wonderfully increased since the Poor Law came into operation. It has had
+that effect by rendering it necessary that the children should be so
+employed in order to adjust the wages to the wants of the family....' And
+a country clergyman gave expression to similar views in 1843: 'By these
+allowances their children were not then obliged, as now, to work for their
+subsistence. Their time was at their own disposal; and then they were
+sent more regularly to the schools. But since the new Poor Law this has
+been reversed.'" [31]
+
+Those persons who nowadays talk genially of the ease with which the new
+Poor Law was enforced, would do well to remember that the ease was
+purchased at the high price of the physical and moral deterioration of the
+children. Chalmers had got his way, there was now free competition among
+the workmen; and free competition among the workmen meant then, as it has
+always meant since, the unregulated slavery of the weak.
+
+With the repeal of the Statute of Apprentices and the passing of the Poor
+Law Amendment Act, the old apprenticeship system came to an end. No longer
+capable of being controlled in the common interests of the trade and the
+community, no longer capable of being enforced by statutory enactment, the
+apprenticeship system in its ancient form, though it might linger among
+certain industries, was destined slowly to disappear. We may regret its
+disappearance, as the vanishing of a fragment of an old-world life; but
+repinings are idle unless directed toward the search for some substitute
+adequate to the needs of the present.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE AGE OF RECONSTRUCTION
+
+
+The last chapter closed on the darkest scene in the long history of child
+labour in this country. Of the three factors essential to a true
+apprenticeship, not one was found or its need even recognized in the wild
+riot of the industrial revolution. Of public or organized supervision of
+the youth of the land there was not a trace. The controlling influence of
+the gild system had long since disappeared; the powers of regulation that
+lay in the Statute of Apprentices and the Elizabethan Poor Law had been
+withdrawn; free and unrestricted traffic in the use of children was the
+watchword of the age. Babies of four and five years worked alongside the
+adult and for the same number of hours; there were persons of intelligence
+who saw in this gain extracted from infants not the least of the triumphs
+of the day. Children's lives were often a mere alternation of two kinds of
+darkness--the darkness of night giving place to the darkness of the mine.
+Boys and girls were hired out in troops to a taskmaster, herded in barns
+regardless of the claims of health and decency, and driven in gangs into
+the fields of the farmer. Whether in the mine or the factory or on the
+farm, the present profits of the employer, and not the future welfare of
+the race, were alone considered. Industrial training throughout the new
+manufacturing districts was treated with open contempt. A person, the
+masters urged, could learn the trade in a few months; while as for the
+provision of an opening that would lead from the work of the youth to the
+work of the adult, it was not to be imagined that a subject of this
+complexity should receive attention at a time when the narrow circuit of
+the prosperous factory set a limit to the horizon of men's thoughts. In
+short, over the whole field of industry the desire for immediate success
+dominated the larger, but more remote, interests of the future.
+
+What was most significant of the times was not the flood of misery that
+swept over the country so much as the spirit of complacent satisfaction
+with which it was regarded. That the industrial revolution was in the
+cause of progress, the reform of the Poor Law essential, and the decay of
+the old apprenticeship system inevitable, men of intelligence could not
+fail to recognize; but they might also have recognized that the profound
+transformation of the whole social and industrial structure involved could
+not take place without widespread suffering and demoralization. Men of the
+day did see these things, but saw them with unconcern. Progress involved
+change, and change demanded its toll of pain; but it was not the duty of
+the State to ease the passage or to yield to the outcry of what they
+looked on as the silly sentimentalist.
+
+The general view of contemporary opinion finds itself reflected in the
+Whig and Radical journals. In 1819 the _Edinburgh Review_ declared: "After
+all, we must own that it was quite right to throw out the Bill for
+prohibiting the sweeping of chimneys by boys--because humanity is a modern
+invention; and there are many chimneys in old houses that cannot possibly
+be swept in any other manner;" while the Radical paper, the _Gorgon_, was
+also inclined to sneer at the House of Commons for "its ostentatious
+display of humanity in dealing with trivialities like the slave trade,
+climbing-boys, and the condition of children in factories." [32] The above
+represents the orthodox opinion of the time. The age was the age of the
+triumph of the individualist. His was the gospel that inspired the
+economist; his were the maxims which guided the legislator; his were the
+principles that were realized in the practice of the manufacturer. For one
+brief moment in the history of the world's progress the individualist was
+supreme; and then the world reeled back in horror from the hell of sin and
+misery he had created. Even in the early days there were not wanting
+voices to protest against the theory that in the balance-sheet of the
+trader was to be found the final test of national righteousness. As far
+back as the year 1801 Mr. Justice Grose, in sentencing an employer for
+overworking and maltreating an apprentice, declared: "Should the
+manufacturers insist that without these children they could not
+advantageously follow their trade, and the overseers say that without
+such opportunity they could not get rid of these children, he should say
+to the one, that trade must not for the thirst of lucre be followed, but
+at once, for the sake of society, be abandoned; and to the other, it is a
+crime to put out these children, who have no friend to see justice done,
+to incur deformity and promote consumption or other disease. This
+obviously leads to their destruction--not to their support." [33] And in
+the year 1802 was passed the "Health and Morals of Apprentices Act," an
+Act important not for its results, which were insignificant, but as a
+protest against the gospel of individualism, and as the first of the long
+series of Factory Acts which heralded the dawn of a new age.
+
+This new age, which reaches down to the present time, and of which the end
+is not yet, was an age of reconstruction. It represented an attempt,
+unconscious for the most part, to reinstate in a changed form the
+principles which underlay the old apprenticeship system. It is true that
+throughout the whole period indentured apprenticeship was in process of
+gradual decay, and is now become almost a negligible factor in the
+industrial world; but it is no less true that from its ruins was slowly
+rising an organization destined to prove a fitting and even a superior
+substitute. The final stage of development lies still in the future; the
+adjustments required to meet the complex needs of modern industry are
+innumerable; and we are only beginning to see the outlines of a new
+apprenticeship system towards which we have been drifting for nearly a
+century. To tell in detail the history of these long years of slow
+progress would be foreign to the purpose of this book; but certain
+characteristics, which mark the process of change, are sufficiently
+germane to the discussions of to-day to justify consideration.
+
+In the first place, the forces which repeatedly faced and beat down the
+resistance of those who stood for unregulated industry were not the forces
+of economic analysis; few forces that make for great changes are the
+product of such unimpassioned reason. Factory and kindred legislation were
+throughout the triumph of sentiment, and not the victory of logic. During
+the course of the nineteenth century men became slowly more sensitive to
+the fact of suffering, less tolerant of its continued existence. The
+Liberal essayist was historically correct when he said contemptuously that
+humanity was a modern invention. In earlier days little heed was paid to
+the physical well-being of the individual journeyman or apprentice. If the
+gilds forbade the carrying on of a craft by night, it was because the dim
+gloom of ancient illuminants meant bad work, and not because protracted
+toil made unhealthy workmen. When the State concerned itself with hours of
+employment, it was to prescribe a minimum, and not to fix a maximum; to
+keep a man busy, and therefore out of mischief, was deemed more important
+than to allow him leisure for thought or recreation.
+
+In this new sentiment of humanity lay the motive power which drove
+Parliament on to spasmodic acts of factory legislation. The sentiment was
+at once a source of weakness and a source of strength. It was a source of
+weakness because sentiment is essentially local in its sphere of
+influence. It does not search out the objects on which its favours are
+lavished; they must be brought by others to its very doors and repeatedly
+thrust over the threshold till entrance is forced. It lacks the breadth,
+the insight, and the calm of that imaginative reason which is now slowly
+taking its place. In the case of suffering, for example, it troubles
+itself not at all about the more remote causes of suffering or the more
+remote sufferer, but surges round some particular sufferer or some
+particular grievance, existing here and now.[34] Sentiment, at any rate
+the British type of sentiment, is not touched by abstractions; visions of
+humanity in the throes of travail leave it unmoved; appeals to the
+ultimate principles of justice fail to produce even a throb of sympathetic
+interest; it is only the concrete--the oppressed child or the widowed
+mother--that lets loose the flood. For the more profound solution of
+social problems such sentiment is useless, but for the attack of specific
+evils, especially where the opposition is well organized, it displays
+amazing stubbornness and resource. Its strength lies in its unreason;
+argument is of no avail; here are certain cases of suffering it will not
+tolerate; a remedy must be found and Parliament must find it; there will
+be no peace until something is done.
+
+It was in this way that regulation of child labour began, and indeed has
+continued down to the present time. The result is patchy, and the removal
+of evils partial and unsystematic. There has been, for example, no serious
+attempt made to set up a minimum standard of conditions under which alone
+children shall be employed; least of all has the State endeavoured to
+formulate a new apprenticeship system, adapted to the needs of modern
+industry. Much indeed has been done in both directions; but much more
+remains for the future to carry through before we can hope to read in the
+efficiency of the race the sign-mark of our success. The first
+characteristic, then, of the age of reconstruction is to be found in the
+predominating influence of sentiment.
+
+The second characteristic is seen in the triumph of the idealist over the
+combined forces of the doctrinaire and the practical man. Every proposal
+for regulating child labour was fought on the same lines; there were the
+same arguments and the same replies. The individualist urged that State
+interference was in itself an evil, that, though the consequences might be
+delayed and the immediate effect even beneficial, you might rest assured
+that in the long-run your sin would find you out. The wealthy citizen
+declared that if boys might not climb his chimneys, his chimneys must go
+unswept; the manufacturer predicted certain ruin to his trade if he were
+forbidden to use children as seemed best to him; while all united in
+urging that if the children were not at work they would be doing something
+worse, and pointed out the obvious cruelty of depriving half-starved
+parents of the scanty earnings of their half-starved offspring.
+
+To all these and similar objections the idealist, with his clearer vision
+of the reality of things, and firm in his faith that the prosperity of a
+people could never be the final outcome of allowing an obvious wrong, made
+response. He sympathized with the individualist for the dreary pessimism
+of a creed which could see the future alone coloured with hope if heralded
+by the sobs of suffering children. The wealthy citizen he bade roughly
+burn his house and build another sooner than sacrifice the lives of boys
+to the needs of his chimneys. While as for the manufacturer, he told him,
+as Mr. Justice Grose had told him earlier, that, if his engines needed
+children as fuel, his was a trade the country was best rid of. To those
+employers who pleaded the small wages of the parents he suggested the grim
+and crude and obvious remedy of paying those parents more. And the
+idealist, with the sentiment of the British public to back him, won the
+day.
+
+But if sentiment gave the idealist his victory, it was the future that
+brought him a full justification. His sin after many years is yet seeking
+him; the wealthy citizen found other and innocent means of cleansing his
+chimneys; the manufacturer placidly adapted himself to the new conditions,
+and his trade flourished exceedingly; the wages of parents rose rapidly,
+and what small measure of health and happiness that has come to the
+children of the poor during the last century has come to them through the
+defeat and the defiance of the individualist.
+
+A hundred years have rolled by, and yet to all new regulation the same old
+objections are raised by the individualist. But his day is gone, and with
+his day he also is going. A few, indeed, are left, interesting survivals
+of the early Victorian age. But for the great majority of the population
+regulation has no fears; they welcome and invite it. And, further, not
+only are they willing to forbid unsatisfactory conditions of employment,
+they are also ready to spend public money to secure a proper environment
+and a suitable training for children. What they will not tolerate is the
+continued existence of unnecessary suffering; and they are coming more and
+more to realize that a vast mass of the suffering of to-day is
+unnecessary. Principles, even though openly professed, will not look
+suffering in the face and pass on.[35] Humanity is no longer a modern
+invention, it has become the guiding spirit of the age.
+
+Thus we can face the morning of the twentieth century in a spirit of hope.
+We may look for more consistent support and less strenuous opposition than
+in the past. We may in consequence think out and introduce schemes of a
+more far-reaching character. Empirical patching will give place to
+reconstruction on a large scale. In other words, the sentiment of the
+nineteenth century, wayward and uncertain in its method of action, and at
+its best troubling itself about a remedy for actual suffering, will be
+superseded by the imaginative reason of the twentieth, which looks rather
+to prevention than to cure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE GUARDIANSHIP OF THE STATE
+
+
+The age of reconstruction is not complete, and for the moment we are left
+with the products of sentiment as revealed in the tangled and piecemeal
+legislation respecting boy labour. Before making new proposals, it is
+desirable to survey the existing laws on the subject, in order to discover
+to what extent the State acts as the guardian of the child by making
+provision for the three essential factors of a true apprenticeship
+system--supervision, training, opening. The present chapter will be
+concerned with a description of the statutory machinery; in the next the
+value of the machinery will be tested by examining its results in actual
+experience.
+
+
+I.
+
+STATE SUPERVISION.
+
+Supervision is the first essential of an apprenticeship system. A boy must
+remain under adequate control, as regards his conduct and physical
+development, until the age of eighteen is reached; before then he is too
+young to be allowed safely to become his own master. What part does the
+State, as guardian, play in this work of supervision? This volume is
+concerned with the answer to the question only so far as that answer has a
+direct bearing on the general problem of boy labour. A statement, for
+example, of the criminal law, of the law relating to public health, or of
+the poor law, lies outside its scope.
+
+The guardianship of the State, in respect of supervision, is of two kinds.
+On the one hand the State appears as the guardian of the boy by
+restricting his employment, or by forbidding it under certain specified
+unfavourable conditions--State regulation; on the other hand--as, for
+example, in its system of education--it assumes a more active rôle, and
+itself provides for the boy some of the discipline and training he
+requires--State enterprise.
+
+§ 1. STATE REGULATION.
+
+The State, by regulation, may protect the boy in three ways--
+
+1. _Prohibition._--The State may protect the boy by forbidding his
+employment below a certain age or in certain classes of industry.
+
+2. _Limitation of Hours._--The State may protect the boy by fixing a limit
+to the number of hours during which he may be employed.
+
+3. _Health and Safety._--The State may protect the boy by enforcing
+certain regulations as regards sanitation in the workshop or the proper
+guarding of machinery, or may require a medical certificate to show that
+the boy is physically fit for the occupation in which he is engaged.
+
+We shall best understand the measure of protection afforded the boy by the
+State by classifying the statutory regulations under these three headings
+rather than by taking the individual Acts and analyzing them separately.
+The principal Acts concerned are the following:
+
+The Factory and Workshop Act, 1901.
+
+Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act, 1872.
+
+Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887.
+
+Mines (Prohibition of Child Labour Underground) Act, 1900.
+
+The Shop Hours Act, 1892.
+
+The Employment of Children Act, 1903.
+
+The Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 1894.
+
+Children Act, 1908.
+
+And the various Acts relating to compulsory attendance at school--
+
+Elementary Education Act, 1876.
+
+Elementary Education Act, 1880.
+
+Elementary Education (School Attendance) Act, 1893.
+
+And the Act amending this last Act, 1899.
+
+To make what follows clearer, and to avoid repetition, it is desirable to
+add a few remarks about two of these Acts.
+
+The Factory and Workshop Act is concerned with the conditions of
+employment in premises "wherein labour is exercised by way of trade or for
+purposes of gain in or incidental to any of the following
+purposes--namely:
+
+    "(i.) The making of an article or part of any article; or
+
+    "(ii.) The altering, repairing, ornamenting, or finishing of any
+    article; or
+
+    "(iii.) The adapting for sale of an article." [36]
+
+Premises in which such operations are carried on are divided into these
+four classes:
+
+1. _Textile factories_, where mechanical power is used in connection with
+the manufacture of cotton, wool, hair, silk, flax, hemp, jute, or other
+like material;
+
+2. _Non-textile factories_, where mechanical power is used in connection
+with the manufacture of articles other than those included in (1), and, in
+addition, certain industries, such as "print works," or lucifer-match
+works, whether mechanical power is or is not employed;[37]
+
+3. _Workshops_ where articles are manufactured without the aid of
+mechanical power; and--
+
+4. _Domestic workshops or factories_, where a private house or room is, by
+reason of the work carried on there, a factory or a workshop, where
+mechanical power is not used, and in which the only persons employed are
+members of the same family dwelling there.[37]
+
+The Act also has a limited reference to laundries, docks, buildings in
+course of construction and repair, and railways.[39]
+
+Certain definitions are important in the interpretation of the
+regulations. The expression "child" means a person under the age of
+fourteen, who is not exempt from attendance at school.[40] The expression
+"young person" means a person who has ceased to be a child, and is under
+the age of eighteen.[41] These expressions will be used with this
+significance in the remainder of this chapter, unless the contrary is
+stated.
+
+The authority for the enforcement of the Factory and Workshop Act is in
+general the Home Office, acting through its inspectors. In certain cases,
+which will be mentioned later, the duty of enforcement is imposed on one
+or other of the locally elected bodies.
+
+The regulations comprised in the Employment of Children Act are in part of
+general application, in part dependent on by-laws made by the local
+authority, and approved by the Home Secretary. The local authority, for
+the enforcement of the Act and for the making of by-laws, is, in the case
+of London, exclusive of the City, for which the Common Council is the
+authority, the London County Council; in the case of a municipal borough
+with a population according to the census of 1901 of over 10,000, the
+Borough Council; in the case of any other urban district with a population
+of over 20,000, the District Council; in the case of the remainder of
+England and Wales, the County Council.[42]
+
+These are the chief Acts through which are regulated the conditions of boy
+labour. Each in a more or less degree is concerned with prohibition,
+limitation of hours, and health regulations. It now remains to examine the
+extent of the protection provided.
+
+_(a) Prohibition of Employment._
+
+There is no law forbidding children below a certain age to work for wages.
+In default of local by-laws, it is still legal to employ children of any
+age, however young, in a large number of occupations. Prohibition takes
+the form of forbidding the employment of children in certain trades
+regarded as specially dangerous to health or demoralizing to character.
+
+1. It is illegal to employ children or young persons "in the part of a
+factory or workshop in which there is carried on the process of silvering
+mirrors by the mercurial process or the process of making white lead." [43]
+And the Secretary of State has power to extend this prohibition to other
+dangerous trades.[44]
+
+2. It is illegal to employ underground in any mine boys under the age of
+thirteen,[45] and no boy under the age of twelve may be employed
+above-ground in connection with any mine.[46]
+
+3. A child may not be employed "in the part of a factory or workshop in
+which there is carried on any grinding in the metal trade, or the dipping
+of lucifer-matches." [47]
+
+4. A child under the age of eleven may not be employed in
+street-trading--_i.e._, in "the hawking of newspapers, matches, flowers,
+and other articles, playing, singing, or performing for profit,
+shoe-blacking, or any like occupation carried on in streets or public
+places." [48]
+
+5. In theatres and shows, children under seven may not be employed at all,
+and children under eleven can only be employed on a licence granted by a
+magistrate.[49]
+
+Omitting ways of earning money, as by begging, which cannot properly be
+regarded as forms of employment, and ancient Acts, such as the Chimney
+Sweepers Act of 1840, which prohibited the apprenticing of children under
+the age of sixteen to the trade of the sweep, or the Agricultural Gangs
+Act, 1867, which forbade the employment of children under eight in an
+agricultural gang--Acts which have now little practical importance--the
+regulations outlined above comprise the whole of the regulations which
+prohibit throughout the country the employment of boys in certain forms of
+occupation. For any extension of prohibition we must look to the by-laws
+which may, but need not, be made by local authorities under the provisions
+of the Employment of Children Act.
+
+Under this Act the local authority may make by-laws prescribing for all
+children below the age which employment is illegal, and may prohibit
+absolutely, or may permit, subject to conditions, the employment of
+children under the age of fourteen in any specified occupation.[50] The
+by-laws may likewise prohibit or allow, under conditions, "street trading"
+by persons under the age of sixteen.[51] But in either case the by-laws,
+before becoming operative, must be confirmed, after an inquiry is held, by
+the Home Secretary.[52]
+
+As an example of prohibition through by-laws made under this Act, the case
+of London outside the City may be cited. The by-laws of the London County
+Council forbid the employment of all children under the age of eleven, the
+employment of children under the age of fourteen as "lather boys" in
+barbers' shops, and the employment of boys under the age of sixteen in
+"street trading," unless they wear on the arm a badge provided by the
+Council.
+
+_(b) Limitation of Hours._
+
+There is no law limiting for all children or for all young persons the
+number of hours which may be worked. It is still legal in the majority of
+occupations to employ young persons, and in default of by-laws
+school-children on days when the schools are closed, for a number of
+hours restricted only by the length of the day. As with prohibition, so
+the matter stands with the limitation of hours. Glaring evils, just
+because they glared, have from time to time been dealt with by
+legislation; other evils no less serious have been ignored merely because
+they have not chanced to attract attention. The result of this piecemeal
+legislation and enactment by by-laws is a chaos of intricate regulations,
+applicable to persons of different age and different sex, varying from
+trade to trade and from place to place. I am, fortunately, concerned here
+only with the male sex, and shall begin with the boy young person, and
+then proceed to the boy child.
+
+_The Young Person._--Far the most important, because the most detailed and
+the most comprehensive, of the Acts dealing with the limitation of hours
+is the Factory and Workshops Act. Under this Act the hours of employment
+are restricted by specifying the hours during which alone employment may
+be carried on. No employment is allowed on Sundays except in the case of
+Jewish factories closed on Saturday, or of certain industries specially
+sanctioned for the purpose by the Home Secretary.
+
+In textile factories,[53] the period of employment for young persons is
+from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., or from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with two hours for meals,
+and on Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 11.30 a.m., with half an hour for
+meals.[54] In non-textile factories and workshops the chief difference
+lies in the fact that the interval for meals is half an hour shorter,
+while on Saturdays employment is permitted between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m., with
+half an hour for meals.[55] In domestic factories and workshops the hours
+of employment are from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., with four and a half hours for
+meals, and on Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., with two and a half hours
+for meals.[56]
+
+Overtime is in general prohibited.[57] Employment inside and outside a
+factory or workshop in the business of the factory or workshop is
+prohibited, except during the recognized period, on any day on which the
+young person is employed inside the factory or workshop both before and
+after the dinner-hour.[58] Thus the maximum number of hours in a week,
+including meal-times, during which a young person may be employed is, in
+textile factories, 65-1/2; in non-textile factories and workshops, 68; in
+domestic factories and workshops, 85; or, excluding meal-times, the hours
+in the three classes are 55, 60, and 60 respectively.
+
+The Act applies only to those employed in factories and workshops. It has
+limited application to certain other trades, but the application is
+unimportant in connection with boy labour. To the regulations quoted there
+are numerous exceptions, and the Home Secretary has large discretionary
+powers.[59]
+
+A young person may not be employed "in or about a shop" for a longer
+period than seventy-four hours, including meal-times, in any one week.
+Further, an employer may not knowingly employ a young person who has
+already on the same day been employed in a factory or workshop, if such
+employment makes the total number of hours worked more than the full time
+a young person is permitted to work in a factory or workshop.[60]
+
+By-laws may be made limiting the hours of employment of young persons
+under the age of sixteen engaged in "street trading." [61] The by-laws of
+the London County Council forbid the employment of such persons "before 7
+a.m. or after 9 p.m., or for more than eight hours in any day, when
+employed under the immediate direction and supervision of an adult person
+having charge of a street stall or barrow; before 7 a.m. or after 8 p.m.
+when employed in any other form of street trading."
+
+With the exception of the regulations outlined above, there is no limit to
+the number of hours during which young persons may legally be employed.
+
+_Children._--The most important Acts regulating the hours of employment
+for children are the Acts which enforce attendance at school. They limit
+hours, not by fixing a maximum number of hours during which children may
+be employed, but by pursuing the far more effective plan of seeing that
+the children are in school, and therefore not in the workshop, during part
+of the day.
+
+Taken together, these Acts provide that children shall be at school, and
+consequently not at work, at all times when the schools are opened until
+the age of twelve is reached. There is one exception to this regulation:
+children may, under a special by-law of the local education authority, be
+employed in agriculture at the age of eleven, provided that they attend
+school 250 times a year up to the age of thirteen. This exception is of
+small importance, as "the number of children who are exempt under this
+special by-law seems to be very small, not exceeding apparently 400 in the
+whole country." [62]
+
+Between the ages of twelve and fourteen attendance is compulsory, subject
+to a complex scheme of partial or total exemptions, depending on the
+by-laws of the local education authority. It rests, for instance, with
+each local education authority to decide "whether, as regards children
+between twelve and fourteen, they will grant full-time or half-time
+exemption, or both, and upon what conditions of attendance or attainments,
+always subject, of course, to the fact that the by-laws must be approved
+by the Board of Education, and must not clash with any Act regulating the
+employment of children." [63] For all practical purposes, it is possible
+for the local education authority, if they think fit, to insist on such a
+standard of attainment to be reached before exemption is allowed that,
+with a few exceptions, relatively insignificant, children are compelled to
+attend school until the age of fourteen. It is important to remember that
+these Acts limit the employment of children only during times when the
+schools are opened. As a general rule, the hours of attendance are
+between 9 and 12 in the morning, and between 2 and 4.30 in the afternoon;
+while the schools are open on five days a week during some forty-four
+weeks in the year. During holidays, and on Saturdays and Sundays, so far
+as these Acts are concerned, there is no limit to the numbers of hours a
+child may work.
+
+A further limit is put on the hours children may work by the Employment of
+Children Act, 1903. A child under fourteen may not be employed between 9
+p.m. and 6 a.m. This provision is subject to variation by local
+by-laws.[64] Local by-laws may prescribe for children under fourteen:
+(_a_) The hours between which employment is illegal; (_b_) the number of
+daily and weekly hours beyond which employment is illegal; and (_c_) may
+permit, subject to conditions, the employment of children in any specified
+occupation.[65]
+
+Under this Act the by-laws of the London County Council provide that a
+child liable to attend school shall not be employed on days when the
+school is open for more than three and a half hours a day, nor--
+
+    (_a_) Between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.;
+
+    (_b_) Before 6.30 a.m. or after 9 p.m.;
+
+and on days when the school is not open--
+
+    (_a_) Before 6.30 a.m. or after 9 p.m.;
+
+    (_b_) For more than eight hours in any one day.
+
+On Sundays a child shall not be employed except between the hours of 7
+a.m. and 1 p.m. for a period not exceeding three hours. A child liable to
+attend school shall not be employed for more than twenty hours in any week
+when the school is open on more than two days, or for more than thirty
+hours in any week when the school is open on two days only or less.
+
+Additional limitations are imposed on the number of hours during which
+children may be employed by the Factory and Workshop Act. A child between
+"twelve and thirteen, who has reached the standard for total or partial
+exemption under the Elementary Education Acts, and consequently may be
+employed, must still, if employed in a factory or workshop, attend school
+in accordance with the requirements of the Factory Act. So must a child of
+thirteen who has not obtained a certificate entitling him to be employed
+as a young person." [66] The famous half-time system is not, as sometimes
+supposed, a special privilege allowed to workshops and factories. It is
+permissible in all forms of occupation in a practically unrestricted
+shape. In factories and workshops the conditions are subject to definite
+regulations. It is, however, only in factories and workshops, and, indeed,
+only in certain trades among these, that the half-time system has much
+practical importance. The general regulations, subject, however, to
+certain variations, are as follows:[67] Employment must be either in
+morning and afternoon sets, or on alternate days The morning set begins
+at 6 a.m. or 7 a.m., and ends--
+
+    (_a_) At one o'clock in the afternoon; or
+
+    (_b_) If the dinner-hour begins before one o'clock, at the beginning
+    of dinner-time; or
+
+    (_c_) If the dinner-time does not begin before 2 p.m. at noon.
+
+The afternoon set begins either--
+
+    (_a_) At 1 p.m.
+
+    (_b_) At any later hour at which the dinner-time terminates; or
+
+    (_c_) If the dinner-hour does not begin before 2 p.m., and the morning
+    set ends at noon, at noon--
+
+and ends at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m.
+
+On Saturdays the period of employment is the same as for young persons--6
+a.m. to 11.30 a.m.--but a child shall not be employed on two successive
+Saturdays, nor on Saturday in any week if on any other days in the same
+week his period of employment has exceeded five and a half hours.
+
+A child must not be employed in two successive periods of seven days in
+the morning set, nor in two successive periods of seven days in an
+afternoon set.
+
+On the alternate day system, the period of employment is the same as for a
+young person--_i.e._, from 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. or 7 p.m., with two
+hours for meals; and on Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 11.30 a.m., with half an
+hour for meals. Under this system a child may not be employed on two
+successive days, nor on the same day in two successive weeks.
+
+Under all the systems a child may not be employed continuously for more
+than four and a half hours without an interval of half an hour for
+meals.[68] Nor must a child be employed on any one day on the business of
+the factory or workshops both inside and outside the factory or
+workshop.[69]
+
+This system of regulation refers to textile factories, but these include
+the vast majority of half-timers. The regulations with regard to
+non-textile factories and workshops are less rigorous; and in the case of
+domestic workshops and factories there is additional relaxation of the
+rules.
+
+The parent or guardian of the half-timer is responsible for the child's
+attendance at school. As an additional precaution against truancy, the
+employer may not employ the child unless each Monday the child has
+obtained from the school a certificate of attendance during the past
+week.[70]
+
+If we take into account the hours worked in the factory and the hours
+spent in school, we shall find that the half-timer's week of strenuous
+effort is a long and a weary one. "Taking one week with another, the
+employment of the half-timer is for twenty-eight and a quarter hours a
+week in a textile factory, and thirty in a non-textile factory or
+workshop; and as he is in school for thirteen or fourteen hours, his total
+week in school and factory is from forty to forty-four hours." [71]
+
+In view of proposals made later, I have thought desirable to insert in
+detail the half-time regulations, in order to show how, in the actual
+carrying out of industrial operations, a half-time system can be put into
+effect.
+
+_(c) Protection of Health._
+
+There is no law prescribing in all cases the conditions as to buildings,
+sanitary arrangements, and safety, under which alone children and young
+persons may be employed. There is no law requiring in all cases a medical
+certificate from children and young persons to show that they are
+physically suited for the employment in which they are engaged.
+
+It is no doubt true that the buildings in which juveniles are employed
+come, in respect of sanitation, drainage, and water-supply, under the
+general Public Health Acts. It is no doubt a fact that local building
+by-laws occasionally insist on means of escape in case of fire in premises
+where more than a certain number of persons are employed. It is likewise
+part of the law of the land that, if a lad in the course of his work meets
+with a fatal accident, twelve just men and a coroner must sit on the dead
+body and investigate the cause.
+
+But, apart from such regulations, which are not confined to the employment
+of juveniles, or, indeed, to employment generally, it is only in special
+forms of occupation that there are required additional precautions
+designed to protect the health and safety of the workers. Elaborate rules
+prescribe the conditions which must be observed in the management of a
+railway or a mine. The Shop Hours Act requires that seats should be
+provided for shop assistants. Such Acts have in practice only a limited
+application in the case of children and young persons, who do not to any
+large extent come into the classes affected.
+
+Here, as in regard to the regulation of hours, the chief Act of importance
+is the Factory and Workshop Act. This Act makes careful provision, so far
+as premises are concerned, for the health of the workers, juveniles and
+adults alike. Whether the provisions are in practice always enforced is a
+matter open to some doubt.
+
+In the case of factories,[72] the outside walls, ceilings, passages, and
+staircases must be painted every seven years, and washed every fourteen
+months; and in general the premises must be kept clean and free from
+effluvia, and the floors properly drained. Ventilation must be adequate,
+and all gases, dust, and other impurities generated in the course of work
+rendered, so far as is practicable, innocuous to health. In certain cases
+the inspector may insist on the provision of ventilating fans.
+Overcrowding is prevented by requiring a minimum space in each room of 250
+cubic feet for each person, or during overtime of 400 cubic feet. A
+reasonable temperature must be maintained in each room in which any person
+is employed. There must be sufficient and suitable supply of sanitary
+conveniences. In textile factories a limit is set on the amount of
+atmospheric humidity. In certain dangerous or poisonous trades additional
+precautions are required. The Secretary of State has large powers of
+imposing additional regulations on the one hand, and of granting
+exemptions on the other. The authority for enforcing the regulations in
+factories is the inspector acting through the Home Office.
+
+The regulations applicable to workshops do not differ very materially from
+those imposed on factories, but the enforcing authority is different. The
+authority in the case of workshops is the district or the borough
+council--_i.e._, the public health authority. The medical officer of
+health and the inspector of nuisances have for this purpose the power of
+factory inspectors. A breach of the law on the subject is declared to be a
+nuisance, and may be dealt with summarily under the Public Health Acts.
+The district or borough council are compelled to keep a register of the
+workshops within their area; and the medical officer of health is required
+to report annually to the council on the administration of the Factory
+Acts in the workshops and workplaces in the district. A copy of this
+report must be sent to the Secretary of State, who remains the supreme
+authority, and in certain cases of default may authorize a factory
+inspector to take the necessary steps for enforcing these provisions, and
+recover the expenses from the defaulting council.
+
+An attempt is also made to regulate the sanitary conditions under which
+out-workers are employed. Where provisions are made by the Secretary of
+State, the employers concerned are made responsible for the condition of
+the places in which his out-workers carry on work. The employer must keep
+lists of out-workers. The district council, in cases where the place is
+injurious to the health of the out-workers, may take steps to have the
+evil remedied or the employment stopped.
+
+The Act requires machinery to be properly fenced, and special precautions
+to be taken in cleaning machinery in motion. Children may not clean any
+part of machinery in motion, or any place under such machinery other than
+a overhead gearing. Children and young persons may not be allowed to work
+between the fixed and traversing parts of a self-acting machine while the
+machine is in motion.
+
+When there occurs in a factory or workshop any accident which either (_a_)
+causes loss of life to a person employed in the factory or workshop, or
+(_b_) causes to a person employed in the factory or workshop such bodily
+injury as to prevent him on any one of the three working days after the
+occurrence of the accident from being employed for five hours on his
+ordinary work, written notice shall forthwith be sent to the inspector for
+the district.
+
+In the case of new factories erected since January 1, 1892, and of new
+workshops erected since January 1, 1896, in which more than forty persons
+are employed, a certificate must be obtained from the local authority for
+building by-laws, stating that reasonable provision for escape has been
+made in case of fire. With regard to older factories and workshops, the
+local authority must satisfy itself that reasonable means of escape are
+provided. From these regulations it will be seen that precautions guarding
+the health of boys are taken in the case of factories and workshops. There
+are rules, there is an enforcing and inspecting authority, and there is
+required a report in all cases of serious accident. But, with one
+exception, no steps are taken to test the adequacy of the precautions by a
+periodic medical examination of children and young persons, or to prevent
+the employment of certain individuals who are physically unfit for the
+work.
+
+The exception is important, and observes attention, because it indicates a
+possible line of reform. "In a factory a young person under the age of
+sixteen, or a child, must not be employed ... unless the occupier of the
+factory has obtained a certificate, in the prescribed form, of the fitness
+of the young person or child for employment in that factory. When a child
+becomes a young person, a fresh certificate of fitness must be
+obtained." [73] A certifying surgeon is appointed for each district. "He
+must certify that the person named in the certificate is of the age
+therein specified, and has been personally examined by him, and is not
+incapacitated by disease or bodily infirmity for working daily for the
+time allowed by law in the factory." [74] "The certificate may be qualified
+by conditions as to the work on which a child or young person is fit to be
+employed," and the employer must observe such conditions.[75] The surgeon
+has power to examine any process in which the child or young person is
+employed.[76] A factory inspector who is of opinion that any young person
+or child is unsuited on the ground of health for the employment on which
+he is engaged may order his dismissal, unless the certifying surgeon,
+after examination, shall again certify him as fit.[77]
+
+This provision only applies to young persons under the age of sixteen, and
+to children. It does not, moreover, apply to workshops. In the case of
+workshops, the employer may obtain, if he thinks fit, a certificate from
+the certifying surgeon.[78] The Secretary of State has, however, power to
+extend the regulation to certain classes of workshops, if he considers the
+extension desirable.[79]
+
+In these cases, and these cases alone, is it necessary to call in the
+doctor to certify the physical fitness of the boy for the employment in
+which he is engaged. But under the Employment of Children Act, 1903, taken
+in conjunction with the Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907,
+it is possible to extend considerably the system of medical tests. Under
+the first of these Acts, which applies to children under the age of
+fourteen--
+
+"Sect. 3 (4). A child shall not be employed to lift, carry, or move
+anything so heavy as to be likely to cause injury to the child.
+
+"(5) A child shall not be employed in any occupation likely to be
+injurious to his life, limb, health, or education, regard being had to his
+physical condition.
+
+"(6) If the local authority send a certificate to the employer saying that
+certain employment will injure the child, the certificate shall be
+admissible as evidence in any subsequent proceedings against the employer
+in respect of the employment of the child."
+
+If the child has left school--and under certain conditions a child can
+leave school at the age of twelve--it is not easy to see how the local
+authority can enforce these provisions. But with children attending
+school, whole or part time, circumstances are different. Medical
+inspection of school-children is now compulsory, and it is within the
+power of the education authority to inspect any such children.[80] They
+are therefore at liberty to examine any children known to be at work, and
+any certificate of "unfitness" sent to an employer would probably be
+effective.
+
+Further, under the Employment of Children Act, Sects. 1 and 2, a local
+authority may make by-laws permitting, subject to conditions, the
+employment of children under the age of fourteen in any specified
+occupation; and in the case of "street trading" the age is extended to
+sixteen. It would be possible therefore, subject to the approval of the
+Secretary of State, to make by-laws requiring a medical certificate of
+fitness in certain forms of occupation in which children under the age of
+fourteen are engaged.
+
+§ 2. STATE ENTERPRISE.
+
+In the preceding sections the State has played a passive part in the
+supervision of the boy. It has contented itself with giving orders to
+others, and with taking some more or less inadequate steps to see that its
+commands are obeyed, but has directly done nothing itself. We are now to
+see the State assuming duties of its own, and appearing as the active
+guardian of the child. Individual or voluntary effort having failed, it
+has been driven, at first reluctantly, but later with increasing
+readiness, to fill the gap.
+
+The State has now made itself directly responsible for providing schools
+for the children of the nation. The schools play an important part in the
+supervision of character. Attendance at school may be either compulsory or
+voluntary. The law of compulsory attendance has already been stated.[81]
+As a rule children must attend school till they reach the age of twelve,
+and under local by-laws can in general be retained till they reach the age
+of fourteen. In certain cases, important from the point of view of
+discipline, the period of compulsory attendance can be prolonged. Children
+under fourteen found begging, or wandering without home, or under the care
+of a criminal or drunken guardian, or in general living in surroundings
+likely to lead to crime, may be brought before a magistrate and sent to an
+industrial school.[82] Here they are boarded and lodged, and may be kept
+there up to the age of sixteen, after which time the managers of the
+school have duties of supervision for a further period of two years, with
+power of recall if desirable. Children who are truants or are convicted of
+criminal offences can be treated in the same way.
+
+For the majority of boys State guardianship is confined to the years of
+compulsory attendance. But a considerable number continue their education
+in various ways, and so remain under some sort of supervision. Children
+may remain at the elementary school till the close of the school year in
+which they attain the age of fifteen. The education authority has power to
+provide and aid secondary and trade schools, and to make these
+institutions accessible by means of scholarships; and secondary schools,
+if in receipt of grants from the Board of Education, must in general
+reserve a quarter of the places for pupils whose parents cannot afford to
+pay fees. The education authority has power to provide evening
+continuation classes for those who desire to avail themselves of the
+opportunities thus afforded. Those who choose to attend these places of
+higher education continue in some degree under the supervision of the
+State.
+
+But the supervision of the State through its schools is not confined to
+the supervision of conduct. The education authority now exercises
+important duties in connection with the health of the children in the
+elementary schools. It is now obligatory on every education authority to
+inspect medically all children on their admission to school, and at such
+other times as may be prescribed by the Board of Education.[83] In their
+original memorandum to education authorities the Board of Education
+required these inspections--on admission to school, and at the ages of
+seven and ten.[84] These regulations have not at present been enforced,
+but the London County Council has now adopted a scheme which practically
+embodies them. The local education authority is empowered, with the
+consent of the Board of Education, to make arrangement for attending to
+the health of the children.[85] Medical inspection is compulsory, medical
+treatment optional. Further, the local education authority may draw on the
+rates to feed school-children, whether their parents are destitute or not,
+provided it is satisfied that the children, for lack of food, are unable
+to profit by the instruction given.[86]
+
+Finally, the local education authority may receive into its day industrial
+schools children at the request of their parents, who must pay towards the
+expense such sum as may be fixed by the Secretary of State.[87]
+
+It will be seen that, acting through the local education authorities, the
+State has now assumed large duties in connection with the supervision of
+children. To submit to the discipline of the schools the vast majority of
+the children of the county; to examine medically all children in these
+schools; to feed the necessitous children, and to treat medically the
+ailing children in the elementary schools; to remove and provide for until
+the age of sixteen unfortunate children exposed to an unfavourable
+environment--these are powers which constitute no small measure of State
+enterprise.
+
+
+II.
+
+STATE TRAINING.
+
+Training that shall fit a boy for a trade is of two kinds, general and
+special. The first must develop those mental qualities of alertness,
+intelligence, and adaptability required in all forms of occupation; the
+second must give definite instruction in the principles and practice of
+some particular industry or branch of industries. For the first provision
+is made in the elementary school system, with its powers of compelling
+attendance. For the second we must look to the various types of
+continuation school. Here, under existing conditions, the State can only
+offer facilities; it cannot enforce attendance.[88]
+
+Since the passing of the Education Act, 1902 and 1903, progress has been
+marked in both directions. The old "voluntary" schools, whose rolls
+contained the names of half the scholars in the country, and whose limited
+funds constituted an impassable barrier to all advance, are now maintained
+out of the rates; and the gap between non-provided and council schools is
+closing up. The breaking up of the small School Boards and the
+establishment of larger authorities controlling all forms of education
+have made for efficiency, while the merging of educational matters in the
+general municipal work is insuring that practical criticism of his schemes
+which the educationalist always resents but always requires.
+
+_(a) The Elementary School._
+
+It is obvious that, with the variety of children every school contains and
+their tender age, no definite trade training can be given in the
+elementary school. On the other hand, we have advanced far beyond the old
+educational ideal of providing a common and uniform type of instruction in
+the common school. Types of school are being multiplied to meet the needs
+of different kinds of pupils. Provision has long since been supplied for
+the mentally and physically defective, and serious attempts are now being
+made to break up and classify that huge group which includes the so-called
+normal child. In addition to the varying types of elementary school which
+are in process of being adapted to the differing needs of the locality,
+and the different classes of child, we have, under the elementary school
+system, what is known as the "higher elementary school." Originally a
+school specializing in science and of little value, it is tending to
+become, under the more recent regulations of the Board of Education, a
+school where a definite bias, either in the direction of commerce or
+industry, is given to the curriculum. It is true that the number of
+schools called "higher elementary" shows little signs of increase.[89]
+This is due to the rigid and inflexible rules of the Board of Education,
+which seem expressly designed to kill, and not to encourage, the
+experiment. But while the name is being dropped, the thing is being
+preserved and multiplied. London, for example, has recently adopted a
+scheme for the development of sixty of these types of school, to be called
+"central schools." The curriculum of each school is determined after
+taking into account the industrial needs of the neighbourhood in which it
+is placed. The education given is general in character, but the selection
+of subjects has special reference to some profession or group of trades.
+Broadly speaking, there are two general types of school, the commercial
+and the industrial. The industrial type is already subdivided into the
+woodwork and the engineering type, and further subdivisions will gradually
+be formed. In these schools no attempt will be made to teach a trade, but
+such subjects are included in the curriculum as will be found useful in
+the trade. In the woodwork type, for example, in addition to a
+considerable amount of time devoted to practical instruction in woodwork,
+special attention is given to the kinds of arithmetic and drawing required
+by the intelligent carpenter. An elaborate scheme for picking out between
+the ages of eleven and twelve the children suitable for these different
+kinds of school has been drawn up. A four years' course of instruction is
+provided for. In order to induce the poorer parents to allow their
+children to remain beyond the age of compulsory attendance, the education
+committee offers bursaries, thereby exercising that negative form of
+compulsion technically known as a bribe. Other education authorities are
+establishing schools with similar aims. The experiments are recent, and
+mark an important and new development. Two advantages are anticipated.
+First, the variety in the types of school and the careful selection of
+scholars will promote intelligence by providing that particular kind of
+educational nutriment best adapted for encouraging the growth of a
+particular order of mind. Secondly, by guiding the interests of boys in
+the direction of various occupations, it is hoped that on leaving school
+these interests will lead the boys to enter those occupations for which to
+some extent they have been prepared, and in which they are most likely to
+succeed. The elementary schools, as a body, will thus become a kind of
+sorting-house for the different trades, and be freed from that charge, to
+some extent justified, of catering only for the lower ranks of the
+clerical profession.
+
+_(b) The Continuation School._
+
+It is becoming year by year more generally recognized that a system of
+education which comes to an end somewhere about the age of fourteen is
+incomplete and profoundly unsatisfactory. Without attendance at a
+continuation school of some kind, a boy rapidly loses much of the effect
+of his previous education, and at the same time is deprived of all
+opportunity of enjoying the advantages of a more specialized training. To
+meet this need a complex system of continuation school has grown up. It
+lacks, however, the element of compulsion, except that negative form
+already alluded to--the bribe of a scholarship. Looking at the machinery
+as a whole, it may be admitted that the State does afford considerable
+opportunity to those anxious to continue their general education, or to
+obtain some specific form of technical instruction. Whether sufficient use
+is made of this opportunity is a question that must be answered in the
+following chapter. But taking the machinery as a whole, and as it exists
+under the best education authorities, the machinery does touch to some
+extent the principal trades and professions.[90]
+
+1. Provision is gradually being made for those likely to succeed in the
+higher branches of industry and commerce. The number of secondary schools
+is being increased, their quality improved, and their types varied.
+Technical institutes providing day and evening classes of an advanced
+character are being rapidly multiplied. University instruction, aided out
+of public funds, is becoming more plentiful and efficient, and, whether
+during the day or in the evening, is year by year offering larger
+opportunities to students. Progress is especially marked in the faculties
+of economics and technology. Scholarship systems, more or less
+incomplete, make access to these institutions possible for the poorer
+classes of the community. The trend of development seems to suggest that a
+system of organization, calculated to provide training for the highest
+positions in the industrial and commercial world, is developing along the
+following lines:
+
+Between the ages of eleven and twelve the brightest children will be
+transferred from the elementary to the secondary school. The secondary
+school will provide a course of instruction extending to the age of
+eighteen. Broadly speaking, there will be three types of secondary school,
+the first giving a general and literary education, the second specializing
+in commerce, and the third in some branch of science and technology. At
+the age of eighteen the suitable students will be removed to the
+University, where they will receive a three or four years' course of
+instruction suitable to the profession they are intending to enter. It is
+probable that at the age of fourteen there will be an additional, though
+smaller, transfer of children from the elementary schools, in order that
+provision may be made for those who have slipped through the meshes of the
+scholarship net at the first casting. Scholarships with liberal
+maintenance grants will make readily accessible to all who are fit the
+advantages of a prolonged education. Evening classes, leading even to a
+degree, will remain for those who, for one reason or another, have failed
+to obtain in their earlier years the advanced instruction they now
+require.
+
+An organization of this kind is not at present found anywhere in its
+complete form, but it is sufficiently complete in certain directions to be
+considered here, where we are concerned with attainments, and not reserved
+for a later chapter, where we shall be examining new paths of progress.
+
+2. For those likely later to fill the position of foreman, or to become
+the best kind of artisan, the day trade school is provided. The boys enter
+the trade school on leaving the elementary school about the age of
+fourteen or fifteen, and go through a two and sometimes a three years'
+course of instruction. These schools continue the education of the boy,
+with special reference to the trade concerned, and at the same time devote
+a large amount of time to supplying an all-round training in the various
+skilled operations the trade requires. They are essentially practical in
+character, and this practical character is often assured by a committee of
+employers, who visit the school and criticize the methods of instruction.
+
+3. For those already apprenticed to, or engaged in, the trade two forms of
+instruction are provided. The most satisfactory are the classes attended
+during the day. Attendance at such times can only be secured by inducing
+the employers to allow their lads time off during working hours. In some
+cases the element of compulsion is introduced by the employers, who make
+attendance at such classes a condition of employment. The other form of
+instruction is provided during the evening at a technical institute. In
+either case the instruction is of a practical nature, and designed to
+supplement the training of the workshop.
+
+4. For those who have entered, or desire to enter, the lower walks of
+commerce, or the civil or municipal service, there is the evening school
+of a commercial type, usually held in the building of an elementary
+school.
+
+5. Of the boys who, engaged in unskilled work during the day, are anxious
+to continue their general education or to improve their position, the
+evening school again supplies the need. Some practical work is done in the
+woodwork or metal centres, but the limited equipment of the elementary
+school stands in the way of any advanced technical instruction. If we omit
+the commercial classes, already mentioned, attendance at an evening school
+often means little more than attendance once a week at a class where
+instruction is given in a single subject, and not infrequently the
+recreative element is predominant. Recently, and with considerable
+success, the "course" system has been introduced. Here the students,
+instead of being present at a single class once a week, attend on several
+evenings during the week, and go through a course of instruction in
+several subjects connected together and leading up to some definite goal.
+
+If to these various types of continuation school we add the large number
+of lectures on numerous subjects, we shall see that the State through its
+schools supplies a considerable amount of technical instruction. It would
+be false to say that the boys receive all the training that they need, but
+it would not be beyond the mark to assert that in the case of many
+education authorities they are afforded all, and not infrequently more
+than all, the opportunities for which they ask. It is the demand, and not
+the supply, that is deficient.
+
+
+III.
+
+STATE PROVISION OF AN OPENING.
+
+Until the year 1910 the provision of openings in suitable occupations was
+not considered among the duties of the State. It is true that here and
+there, usually in co-operation with voluntary associations, an education
+committee made some attempt to place out in trades the boys about to leave
+school. But any expenditure in this direction was illegal, and under no
+circumstances was it possible to do anything for those who had already
+left school. But in the year 1910 the State, without premeditation, has
+found itself committed to the duty of finding openings for children and
+juveniles. The revolution was upon us before we had seen the signs of its
+approach.
+
+This assumption of a new duty was the unforeseen result of the
+establishment of Labour Exchanges. The Act of 1909 thought nothing, said
+nothing, about juveniles. It was passed as a measure intended to deal with
+the problem of adult unemployment. Now, there is no problem of
+unemployment in connection with boys and youths; the demand of employers
+for this kind of labour appears insatiable. Nevertheless, no sooner were
+Labour Exchanges opened, than the question of juveniles came to the
+front. Employers asked for juveniles, and the managers of the local Labour
+Exchange, eager to meet the wishes of the employer, searched for and found
+juveniles. Enthusiastic about his work, and prompted by the laudable
+desire to show large returns of vacancies filled, it did not occur to him
+that the problem of the juvenile and the problem of the adult had little
+in common. He was not permitted to remain long in this condition of
+primitive ignorance. Questions were asked in the House, letters were
+written to the papers, deputations waited on the President of the Board of
+Trade, all complaining that the Labour Exchange was becoming an engine for
+the exploitation of boy labour. In the case of adults, no bargain as to
+conditions was struck with the employer; the man had to make his own
+terms. But the boy could not make his own terms, and public opinion had
+for some years been uneasy about the increasing employment of boys in
+occupations restricted to boys, and leading to no permanent situation when
+the years of manhood were reached. Returns showed that it was largely into
+situations of this character that lads were being thrust by the Labour
+Exchange. The Board of Trade rapidly realized the evil, and set itself to
+work to repair the unforeseen mistake. It wisely decided to grapple
+seriously with the problem, and did not, as it might well have done,
+restrict the Labour Exchange to adults.
+
+It determined to appoint Advisory Committees to deal with juveniles. In
+London the following machinery is in process of being established: There
+is a Central Advisory Committee, consisting of six members nominated by
+the Board of Trade, six by the London County Council, and six by the
+committee of employers and trade unionists, who advise the Board of Trade
+on questions of adult employment. The duty of this Central Committee is to
+advise the Board of Trade as to the appointment of the local Advisory
+Committees, which will be formed to control the juvenile department in
+connection with each of the London Labour Exchanges. It will also be the
+duty of the Central Advisory Committee to advise generally on questions
+affecting the employment of juveniles. Though the duties of this committee
+are nominally advisory, its work will in practice become administrative in
+character. Here then is an organization which in course of time will
+probably have to deal with the problem of finding suitable occupations for
+the child and juvenile population of London. Similar bodies are being
+formed in other towns. As will appear later, this is one of the most
+important social questions of the day. How these committees will do their
+work only the future can show. But if the Board of Trade act liberally in
+matters of expenditure, there is no cause for despondency, and we may well
+hope that, by the purest of accidents, we are on the threshold of a new
+era in the history of industrial organization. Chance is not always blind,
+and some of its wild castings hit the mark.
+
+Such, in broad outline, have been the achievements of the State during the
+age of reconstruction, so far as concerns the problem of boy labour and
+apprenticeship. Guided by sentiment, partial and limited in the sphere of
+its operations, the State has yet drifted far from the moorings of
+_laissez-faire_, and is destined to drift farther as the years go by.
+
+How far the intricate machinery, slowly pieced together during the last
+three-quarters of a century, is successful when judged by results, what
+are its more serious defects, and what should be the lines of future
+advance, before the establishment of a real apprenticeship system, it will
+be the object of the following chapters to explain. But one truth should
+now be abundantly clear: of the three essential factors of that system,
+not one has been altogether neglected by the State, and in certain
+departments its guardianship has been widely extended. In the department
+of supervision it has, through its schools, created an organization to
+watch over and to control the conduct of all its children; it has recently
+recognized through the same agency its duty to provide for them at least
+the elements of physical well-being; and through numerous Acts it has
+endeavoured to insure for the boy worker a minimum standard--low, indeed,
+but still real--of proper conditions of employment. In the department of
+training it has covered the land with a network of educational
+institutions, which offer to all the possibilities of nearly every kind of
+instruction. While, as regards the provision of an opening, it has
+realized the urgency of the problem, and has taken the first steps to
+supply the deficiency. These are all, in spite of many shortcomings, solid
+achievements, hopeful in the present, and more hopeful for the promise
+they bring of a larger measure of State guardianship in the years that are
+to come.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+APPRENTICESHIP OF TO-DAY
+
+
+A true apprenticeship system, as already explained, must satisfy three
+conditions: It must guarantee the adequate supervision of the youth of the
+country as regards physical and moral development until the age of
+eighteen at least is reached; it must supply means of effective training,
+both general and specialized; and, finally, it must provide to those about
+to cross the threshold of manhood an opening in some form of occupation
+for which definite preparation has been given. The efficiency of the
+industrial organization of to-day must be judged by the extent to which
+these three conditions are satisfied.
+
+To what extent does the apprenticeship of to-day satisfy the conditions of
+a true apprenticeship system? To answer this question we must look far
+beyond the narrow limits of indentured apprenticeship as it still exists.
+It touches only a fringe, and a vanishing fringe, of the problem. Life for
+the youth has grown more complex since the passing of the old organization
+of the gilds; its success or failure is the outcome of the interplay of
+numerous forces. Four factors contribute, in a more or less degree, to the
+result. There is the contribution of the State--the last chapter was
+concerned with the description of the machinery which has slowly been set
+up during the age of reconstruction--we have yet to test its influence in
+the actual working; there is the contribution of philanthropic enterprise,
+as represented in the religious bodies, the clubs, the apprenticeship
+associations, and skilled employment committees; there is the contribution
+of the home, with its discipline and training; and, finally, there is the
+contribution of the workshop, using this term to include all forms of
+occupation, with the methods of entry and the organization for securing a
+supply of labour. Only when we have taken into account the effects of
+these four factors can we pass judgment on the apprenticeship of to-day.
+
+
+I.
+
+THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE STATE.
+
+In estimating the contribution of the State towards apprenticeship of
+to-day, it will be convenient, as in the last chapter, to trace the effect
+of this influence in two sections, the one devoted to a survey of the
+results of State regulation, and the other to an examination of the
+achievements of State enterprise.
+
+§ 1. STATE REGULATION.
+
+In its scheme of regulation the State has aimed, broadly speaking, at
+securing three results. It has endeavoured to prevent boys from being
+overworked or wrongly worked; it has sought to guard them from being
+engaged in demoralizing forms of employment; and it has striven to secure
+satisfactory conditions within the walls of the workshop.
+
+The third task presents the fewest difficulties. Medical science is
+sufficiently advanced to prescribe the conditions as to ventilation,
+heating, sanitation, and cubic contents essential to the health of the
+boys. The sad catalogue of accidents is sufficiently long to show where
+danger, through inadequately guarded machinery, is probable. To enforce
+the necessary regulations is comparatively easy. There must be a suitable
+number of inspectors, and these inspectors must be specially trained for
+their work. Neither condition is at present fulfilled. The staff of
+inspectors is much too small, and the inspectors themselves frequently
+lack the requisite technical qualifications.
+
+In the work of guarding boys from being engaged in occupations
+demoralizing to character, the State has only recently taken the first
+steps. The Employment of Children Act prohibits street trading under
+certain conditions. As will appear later in this chapter, there are a
+large number of occupations where regulation is much required. Indeed, it
+is a comparatively new idea that the nature of the employment of the boy
+may have a profound influence on the well-being of the man.
+
+In the department of regulation the most elaborate machinery has grown up
+around the attempts of the State to prevent boys from being overworked or
+wrongly worked. The difficulties in the way of success have been two.
+There has been the difficulty in getting the necessary law passed. In this
+respect it is enough to mention that the "half-time" system, in spite of
+practically universal condemnation, is still permitted, to show the almost
+insurmountable obstacles presented by vested interests. There is next the
+difficulty of enforcing the law. It is often urged that it is idle to
+place on the statute-book laws which can easily be evaded. Too much weight
+must not, however, be given to this argument. There is a moral effect in
+the passing of every law. The fact that the State has condemned certain
+modes of action is an important factor in the formation of public opinion.
+Many people realize for the first time that the evils which are the result
+of conduct hitherto regarded as harmless, because not regarded at all, are
+sufficiently serious to call for State interference. The law may not have
+its full effect; it will without doubt have some effect.
+
+The question of enforcement is, however, of vital importance, and it is
+well to consider the limits of the power of enforcement.
+
+The best method of restricting the hours of employment is to see that the
+boy is somewhere else during part of the working day. The half-time
+system, which insured that the boy should spend half his time in school,
+was established, not primarily with a view to his education, but to
+prevent him from being overworked. It has, moreover, from its point of
+view, been completely successful, and has in practice been enforced
+without difficulty. The various laws relating to compulsory attendance at
+school have exercised an influence more potent in the work of limiting
+the hours of employment than all the other elaborate regulations on the
+subject. If we see to it that a boy is in school, he cannot at the same
+time be found in the factory. The machinery for enforcing attendance now
+runs without difficulty, and its action is uniform and comprehensive.
+
+The next method of restricting employment is the method of prohibition.
+Here, again, enforcement presents no serious difficulty. If we forbid
+children under a certain age to work for wages or to take part in certain
+forms of occupation, it is enough to find them so engaged at any one
+moment to secure a conviction.
+
+The third method, which seeks to prevent boys from being overworked by
+setting a limit on the number of hours during which they may be employed,
+is almost impossible to carry out. The Shop Hours Act is frequently
+infringed, and only the most rigid system of inspection can get evidence
+of cases of infringement. Yet even here detection is comparatively easy. A
+watch can be kept on the number of hours during which a shop is open, and
+if this exceed the legal limit we have a fair presumption that the shop
+assistants are over-employed. But in the case of children we cannot draw
+this conclusion. We are supposing their hours are more limited than in the
+case of the adults, and the mere fact that the shop is open during a
+longer period affords no proof that the child is there all the day on all
+days of the week. To enforce regulations of this kind we must set a watch
+on the individual child, and on a large scale this is impracticable.
+
+In judging of the results of State regulation, as described in the
+preceding chapter, we may assume that the regulations are enforced--or at
+any rate are enforceable--where employment is prohibited, or where
+attendance at school is required, but that regulations which entail the
+counting of hours have little effect in preventing overwork except by the
+indirect method of forming public opinion. Further, when we are seeking a
+path of reform, we must take the road of prohibition or alternative
+attendance at school.
+
+Leaving general considerations, and coming to details, it may be said
+that, so far as children under the age of fourteen are concerned, the
+system of State regulation, though a little cumbersome, covers a
+considerable part of the field, provided always that local education
+authorities make full use of the powers conferred by the Education Acts,
+the School Attendance Acts, the Children Act, and the Employment of
+Children Act, and provided also that the Board of Education and the Home
+Office render full and cordial support. Unfortunately, these provisos are
+very far from being fulfilled. More than 58 per cent. of the population,
+for example, live in districts where the attendance by-laws allow of
+conditional exemption at the age of twelve.
+
+It is true that in nearly half the cases a fairly high standard of
+attainment is required from the children, but with the remainder no higher
+standard is required than that reached by the normal child at the age of
+twelve.[91] Or, again, in connection with the Employment of Children Act,
+out of seventy-four county boroughs, fifty have made by-laws in reference
+to street trading, but large towns, like Leeds, Nottingham, or Salford,
+have made none. Out of 191 smaller boroughs and urban districts, only
+forty-one have made by-laws; and out of the sixty-two administrative
+counties, other than London and Middlesex, only one.[92] It may fairly be
+assumed that, where no by-laws relating to street trading exist, little is
+done to enforce the other provisions of the Act.
+
+As regards young persons, if we exclude the Acts relating to mines, which
+affect a comparatively small number of lads, the Shop Hours Act, with its
+mild provisions of seats for assistants and a maximum week of seventy-four
+hours, the only Act which can be said to exert a large measure of
+supervision is the Factory and Workshop Act. Assuming that the system of
+regulation there found is adequate, and adequately enforced--both
+assumptions far from being fulfilled in practice--there remain the young
+persons who do not come within its provisions. The number of these is very
+large. In the next chapter figures are given relating to the occupations
+of London children on leaving school and between the ages of fifteen and
+twenty. A study of these tables will show that not more than at most a
+third of the young persons are brought within the scope of the Factory
+and Workshop Act. A large proportion of the lads engaged in the building
+trades, and practically the whole of those employed in shops, in
+transport, in commerce, and in general labour, are excluded. In their case
+there is no State supervision to regulate the conditions of their work.
+
+Coming to concrete examples, the van-boy may in all kinds of weather spend
+a dozen hours a day lolling on the tail of a cart, idle for much of his
+time, and for the remainder holding the horses outside a public-house, or
+lifting weights too heavy for his strength. The errand-boy, none too well
+clad or shod, may, delivering parcels and messages, trudge through the
+cold and rain over long leagues of streets during long stretches of the
+week. The office-boy may be cooped up in a dark and ill-ventilated office
+during most of the hours of daylight. The shop-boy may stand ten, twelve,
+or on Saturdays fifteen hours of the twenty-four in the street or in the
+shop, with one eye on the goods and the other on a penny novelette. And
+there is no public authority to say whether the conditions of his
+employment are satisfactory, no power to have him medically inspected, no
+possible guarantee to insure that when he passes the threshold of early
+manhood the vigour and the brightness of youth shall not have given way to
+the feeble health and the torpor of old age. Unquestionably, we owe much
+to sentiment for the evils it has denounced and remedied, but we owe also
+to the régime of sentiment the fact that some two-thirds of the young
+persons in the country are engaged in occupations carried on without
+regulation and unvisited by any inspector of the State.
+
+§ 2. STATE ENTERPRISE.
+
+The most signal example of State enterprise in the realm of boy labour is
+to be found in that huge organization of schools, elementary and
+continuation, which now cover the country, and whose efficiency is rapidly
+increasing. The organization has already been described; it remains to
+summarize briefly its principal effects. First, the boys attend school
+with astonishing regularity. An average percentage of attendances during
+the year of ninety-five, and even more, is become common. Truancy is rare,
+and growing rarer. The truant schools are being gradually emptied, and
+several have been closed. This result is no doubt in part due to the
+increased fine for non-attendance, and the pressure thus placed on the
+parent. But excellent attendance implies much more than the elimination of
+the truant; it means that, after making allowance for absences due to
+illness and other sufficient causes, the boy attends school with perfect
+regularity and punctuality at all times when the schools are opened. Now,
+this ideal is in the case of the vast majority of boys attained. The
+result must be attributed to the influence of the teachers over the boy.
+Prosecution of the parent may cure gross irregularity, but perfect
+attendance can only be secured by enlisting the co-operation of the boy.
+The first effect of the school, then, is seen in the almost unqualified
+regularity and punctuality of the attendance. If we reflect on the home
+conditions of many of the boys, we shall be compelled to pay a high
+tribute of praise to the work of the teacher. The second achievement lies
+in the admirable order maintained within the walls of the school. Ready
+obedience is the rule, and not the exception. This is in general not the
+result of a system of harsh discipline--corporal punishment is decreasing
+at once in severity and in frequency--it is due to the personal influence
+of the teacher. In the third place, a spirit of industry and active
+attention pervades the work of the school. In discussing with the
+authorities of secondary schools the career of the children who have won
+scholarships from the elementary schools, I have more than once been told
+that the chief characteristic of these scholars lies in their patient and
+strenuous diligence. In this respect they serve as an admirable example to
+the fee-paying pupils. It is true that the scholars are picked children,
+but ability and diligence are, as experience shows, by no means
+inseparable companions. Here, again, we see the effect of the school.
+Finally, the schools are institutions which make for character in the best
+sense of the word. The moral training is gradually freeing itself from the
+"do and don't" of the home, and is beginning to reach the higher level of
+morality where the command is "to be this, not that." A standard of school
+honour is being sought for, and sometimes attained. To take a single
+example. In what is perhaps the poorest school in all London, set in the
+most squalid and vice-haunted region, it has been made a matter of honour
+with the boys who are receiving school dinners to come to the headmaster
+as soon as the home circumstances temporarily improve and say: "I don't
+want a dinner this morning, because father has got a day's work."
+
+Habits of regularity, obedience, and industry, and the cultivation of a
+sense of honour--these are the chief results of State supervision carried
+out by means of the schools. Two questions require an answer: Do these
+qualities, found within the precincts of the school, overflow and affect
+the conduct of the boys outside the school? Do they last when school-days
+are over, and the boys gone out to work? With regard to the first, there
+is good reason to believe that they do overflow. The school training does
+influence the conduct of the boys outside. No one who has watched a
+zealous headmaster replace an ancient and inefficient teacher of the old
+type can fail to have observed a striking change in the behaviour of the
+boys as seen in the street and in the home. With regard to the second
+question, we must reply that undoubtedly in many cases the qualities
+gradually disappear. When we come, as we shall do shortly, to the survey
+of the conditions of boy labour, we shall not be surprised at this
+unfortunate truth. It would be difficult to imagine any form of training
+that would be permanent when all discipline is relaxed or entirely
+discontinued at the most critical period of the development of the boy.
+
+The elementary school is now made responsible for the supervision of the
+health of the children. Medical inspection of all children is now
+compulsory, while medical treatment is made legal. The education authority
+may also draw on the rates to provide meals for necessitous children. It
+is too soon to estimate the effect of these new powers, but if they are
+used with wise generosity they should exercise a profound influence on the
+health of the rising generation.
+
+But however beneficent may be the influence of the elementary school, it
+comes to an end abruptly at the age of fourteen, and often a year or two
+earlier. Up to the age of leaving school, the boy is carefully guarded by
+the State, and then, with no transitional stage, he becomes a man, and, so
+far as the State is concerned, all control is withdrawn. Two or three per
+cent., with the help of scholarships, may pass annually to the secondary
+school, where State supervision is continued. Not more than 30 per cent.
+of those who leave the elementary school attend an evening school,[93] and
+even if they do there is no medical inspection in such places, and little
+effective discipline is possible for boys attending evening school on two
+or three nights a week. The remaining two-thirds disappear from the sight
+of the State, which henceforth renounces all responsibility for their
+supervision.
+
+We have next to regard the schools as training-grounds for the workmen of
+the future. We ought not to look to the elementary schools to provide any
+definite preparation for a trade. Unfortunately, through no fault of
+their own, and because of the industrial development of the day, the
+schools are turning out in thousands lads completely equipped for a
+certain class of occupation. We have already seen that the most signal
+triumph of the schools is to be found in the habits of regularity,
+intelligence, and obedience, which they impress on the boys. Now, these
+qualities are essential to success in all walks of life; but for one form
+of employment alone are they all that is required. This form of employment
+includes those occupations in which boys and boys only are engaged, and
+where the boys are discharged as soon as they become men. The
+messenger-boy, the shop-boy, the van-boy, and even the boy who attends to
+some machine which monotonously performs a single operation--the boy who
+comes into one of these classes need take with him nothing but the three
+recommendations of regularity, obedience, and intelligence. We shall trace
+later the disastrous effects of these forms of employment. It is not
+without significance that the rapid increase in the number of boys so
+engaged has synchronized with the rapid improvement in the system of
+elementary education. It is something of a tragedy that the most signal
+triumph of the schools should be, perhaps, the cause of their most signal
+failure.
+
+Definite training must be looked for in the continuation school. It is
+unnecessary to add much to what has been said in the last chapter; the
+State offers opportunity, but with its existing powers can do little more.
+Speaking generally, for the child of comparatively well-to-do parents,
+for the clever child, for the child of unusual energy and physical vigour,
+these opportunities can be enjoyed; but for the remainder--and that the
+great majority--they are useless, because beyond the reach of ordinary
+endeavour.
+
+Of State enterprise in the provision of an opening it is too early to
+speak; the juvenile branch of the Labour Exchange is only creeping into
+existence. In the next chapter an attempt will be made to explain how best
+can be realized the possibilities which lie latent in these institutions.
+
+§ 3. SUMMARY.
+
+We are now in a position to summarize the achievements and the defects of
+the contribution of the State towards the creation of a true
+apprenticeship system. Its machinery of regulation has removed the worst
+abuses of child labour, and in certain departments of industry protects,
+with some degree of success, the health of the young persons engaged. Its
+enterprise in the field of education is providing supervision over the
+health and conduct of the boy till he reaches the age of fourteen, while
+for the young person it offers opportunities of longer supervision and
+technical training.
+
+If much has been done, much more remains undone. Regulation still leaves
+rampant many of the evils of child labour. Some two-thirds of the boys as
+they leave school enter occupations where regulation hardly exists. State
+enterprise for all practical purposes exerts no supervision over lads
+between the ages of fourteen and eighteen--the most important epoch of
+their lives. Technical training, and even the continuance of general
+education, are possible only for a favoured few, and for the present there
+is no State provision of an opening.
+
+These are grave defects, and apprenticeship of to-day stands condemned
+unless it can be shown that one or other of the remaining factors supply
+what the State has failed to give.
+
+
+II.
+
+THE CONTRIBUTION OF PHILANTHROPY.
+
+The second of the general forces, as distinguished from the individual and
+special influences of the home and the workshop, which may make some
+contribution towards the apprenticeship of to-day must be sought among the
+varied religious and philanthropic associations. While we could not expect
+from these bodies any assistance in the work of technical training, we
+might hope to find in their midst conditions which make for the better
+supervision and control of the lads who have left school.
+
+Beginning with the more distinctly religious associations, we find among
+them practical unanimity of opinion. One and all confess sadly that they
+are unable to keep in touch with the boys after they have gone out to
+work. For the tens of thousands of schoolboys who attend Sunday-school
+there are only hundreds of lads on the roll of Bible-classes. The sudden
+change from the status of schoolboy to the status of wage-earner, which
+for the majority severed all connection with the education authority, has
+even more decisively brought to an end the supervision of church and
+chapel.
+
+The miscellaneous associations represented by clubs, lads' brigades, boy
+scouts, and the like, have all been called into existence for the express
+purpose of exerting some measure of control over that transition period of
+life which separates the boy from the man. How many lads between the ages
+of fourteen and eighteen come within the sphere of influence it is not
+possible to say with any exactness. The Twentieth Century League estimated
+in 1903 that in London about 27,780 boys were connected with institutions
+of this character, and we shall see later that there are in London about
+120,000 boys between the ages of fourteen and eighteen.
+
+It would be no less difficult to weigh the value of the work done.
+Existing as they do on a voluntary basis, and free from all element of
+compulsion, such supervision as they exert must take the form of tactful
+guidance. Their success or failure depends less on the machinery and more
+on the personal qualities of the manager. The wide and admirable influence
+of the best clubs is the triumph, not of the system, but of the
+exceptional individual. Exceptional individuals are, it must be
+remembered, exceptional, and an organization which depends on their
+presence is necessarily limited in the extent of its operations. We cannot
+therefore look to these associations to meet adequately the call for
+supervision.
+
+Of recent years numerous associations have been formed with the object of
+providing suitable openings for boys. There are two sides to their work.
+On the one hand, situations are found, terms made with employers as to
+wages and training, and steps taken to see that these terms are carried
+out. On the other hand, periodic visits are paid to the boy in his home,
+advice given as to attendance at evening schools, and friendly relations
+established between boy and visitor. In general, these bodies are
+concerned with placing out lads in skilled trades, though here and there
+some attempts have been made to attack the better parts of the unskilled
+labour market. Work of this character entails the expenditure of much time
+and money, and requires for the negotiation with employers considerable
+technical qualifications. Experience has shown that a staff of volunteers
+cannot alone perform the necessary duties, and paid officers have been
+appointed. The cost necessarily limits the expansion of the organization.
+Out of the 30,000 boys who annually leave the elementary schools of
+London, it is probable that not more than 2 per cent. come under the
+influence of these associations. On the other hand, if the sphere of their
+operations is limited, within that sphere it has achieved very
+considerable success. They have been pioneers in a new movement, have
+fully justified their existence, and must now look to the State to
+continue on a larger scale, but on the same general lines, the work that
+they have begun. Unlike most volunteers, these employment committees
+welcome this transfer, and are now readily placing their services at the
+disposal of the Board of Trade through its juvenile Labour Exchange.
+
+This brief survey of the contribution of philanthropic enterprise to the
+apprenticeship of to-day reveals one obvious conclusion: the associations
+only touch a fringe of the problem, and in no way exert any comprehensive
+measure of control over the lads between the ages of fourteen and
+eighteen. Their number, their variety, and their enthusiasm, indicate the
+urgent need of supervision rather than supervision successfully achieved.
+We cannot look to them to supplement in any large degree the defects in
+the scheme of State guardianship, or the more grave defects which will
+appear when the conditions of home and workshop have been passed in
+review.
+
+
+III.
+
+THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE HOME.
+
+What contribution does the home make to the solution of the apprenticeship
+question? We cannot, indeed, expect to find within the walls of the home
+provision made for the general education of the boy, or the specialized
+training of the youth; but it is not unnatural to look to the parent to
+exercise supervision over his children till manhood is reached, and
+likewise to offer to the boy leaving school advice and material assistance
+in the selection of a trade. We are still inclined to regard the family as
+the one relic of the patriarchal system that has retained a vigorous
+vitality through all the ages; we are still apt to see in the home a
+small world, edged off from the large world outside, self-centred,
+self-ruled, and enjoying all the advantages of a benevolent despotism.
+
+To what extent is this general assumption justified by the results of
+actual experience? The question is of profound importance, and has not
+received the attention it deserves from those who have written on boy
+labour. If we can take it for granted that in the normal home we have the
+means of controlling the boy and the growing lad up till the age of
+eighteen, we have a solid foundation on which to rest the new
+apprenticeship. Abnormal homes may need attention; but if the problem of
+supervision is solved for the majority, if there is an authority to which
+the boy submits himself as a matter of course, to add training and to
+organize openings are tasks which should present no serious difficulty.
+
+Can we look to the home to provide this fundamental basis of a true
+apprenticeship system? To answer this question we must study the homes
+themselves. A few years ago I devoted a large amount of time to the
+collection of material touching the character of family life in towns. The
+results were published in an essay entitled "The Boy and the Family." [94]
+I may perhaps be allowed to summarize the conclusions there established.
+
+Home varies from home; each may be said to have its own individuality, but
+each has much in common. To give definiteness to the problem, I
+endeavoured to class the homes under three types. In the main, type
+number one referred to the inhabitants of one and two room tenements; type
+number two embraced the families possessing three rooms; while the third
+type included those persons fortunate enough to rent more than three
+rooms. The size of the home proved a rough, though the best attainable,
+method of classifying the characteristics of the inmates.
+
+Supervision has been interpreted to mean two things--supervision of health
+and supervision of conduct.
+
+So far as the supervision of health is concerned, it is probable that very
+few of the parents belonging to the three types possess the necessary
+knowledge to carry out this duty. Among all classes of the community
+ignorance on matters affecting the hygiene of the home is almost
+universal. But even if knowledge were present, the resources at the
+disposal of large numbers would prove inadequate to make that knowledge
+effective. With type number one overcrowding is the rule; with type number
+two it is common; and only in the third type do we reach conditions of
+housing favourable to health.
+
+The experience derived from medical inspection of school-children and the
+administration of the Provision of Meals Act has revealed the deplorable
+condition of large numbers of children when left to the unaided care of
+their parents. The returns of necessitous children fed, which are
+published weekly in the minutes of the London County Council, showed that
+during the winter of 1909-10 at the time of most acute distress, about 9
+per cent. of the children in the schools were receiving meals. A careful
+inquiry, the most elaborate of its kind, made into the home circumstances
+of the necessitous children in certain schools showed that the number of
+children actually fed was probably below, and certainly not above, the
+number who required meals. The same inquiry, with its lurid pictures of
+squalor and distress, proved how small was the prospect of health for many
+of those children, even though they were fed at school. It may be regarded
+as a conclusive demonstration of the call for more searching regulation on
+the part of the State.[95] It is probable, however, that the need for food
+is far larger than that represented by the number of children actually
+fed. Several inquiries, such as those carried out by Mr. Charles Booth in
+London, and Mr. Rowntree in York, indicate that the effective income of
+nearly a third of the population is too small to supply in adequate
+quantity even the bare necessities of existence.
+
+Medical inspection is now revealing the number of children suffering from
+definite ailments, and urgently requiring medical treatment, which they
+have hitherto been unable, in a large proportion of cases, to obtain. It
+would appear that some 10 per cent. suffer from defective vision, about 1
+per cent. from discharging ears, about the same number from ringworm,
+while at least a third are suffering in health from the result of
+decaying teeth.[96]
+
+Everywhere we have abundant evidence to show that, from want of
+supervision, or of the effective means of supervision in the home, large
+numbers of children are growing up ill-clad, ill-nourished, and suffering
+from definite diseases, all alike leading to inefficient manhood.
+
+The second department of supervision is concerned with the supervision of
+character. Can we rest satisfied that the parents exercise over the
+growing lads that salutary control all growing lads require? The question
+is of profound importance, if, as all agree, character is the condition of
+success when the first steps are taken in the industrial world. It is
+necessary to distinguish between the boy attending school and the boy
+exempt from compulsory attendance. In what follows I shall draw largely on
+my essay in "Studies of Boy Life." The conclusions are derived from the
+experience of many years' residence in a poor part of London, and have
+been tested by a careful inquiry among ministers of religion,
+school-teachers, rent-collectors, and others with special knowledge of the
+subject.
+
+§ 1. THE BOY OF SCHOOL AGE.
+
+If the parents are to control the boys, the boys must come much under the
+personal influence of the parents; in other words, rulers and ruled must
+meet frequently. Now, in all three types of family the father exercises
+little direct control over the children. If of good character, he is
+either out at work or out looking for work during five days of the week,
+and sees the children only in the evening. On Saturday afternoons and on
+Sundays he is at home; but a week-end visitor cannot be the dominant
+factor in domestic affairs. If control is exercised, it must be exercised
+by the mother. To trace her influence, it is necessary to picture the kind
+of life led by each type. I quote from my essay:
+
+"So far as the first type is considered, it is not easy to say when the
+children and parents meet.... The general order of events is something as
+follows: If it is one of the days on which he elects to work, the father
+rises about five o'clock, finds his own breakfast, and then quits the
+house. Some two or three hours later the school-children get out of bed,
+wash their faces, take a slice of bread and dripping, and go out.
+Sometimes the mother rises at that time and gets the breakfast, but in
+most cases remains in bed. At nine the boys go to school. At noon school
+is over, and the boys, after amusing themselves in the playground or
+street for an hour, go home to get some food. The mother meanwhile has
+risen, dressed the smaller children, performed the irreducible minimum of
+domestic work, and then left the house to gossip with a neighbour, or earn
+a few pence by charing. On rare occasions she may cook the children some
+dinner, but as a rule they get what food they can find, and eat it in the
+streets. Sometimes they receive a halfpenny to buy their own meal at a
+fried-fish shop. The boys then return to school, escape at half-past four,
+possibly go home to tea, and then once more turn for amusement to the
+streets. There they remain until it is dark, and often in summer till dawn
+begins to break, when at length they seek their dwelling and go to bed. In
+many cases the boys do not find their way back to their own houses, but
+take up their quarters for the night in the house of some friend.
+Sometimes they do not sleep in a house at all. In one case of which I have
+heard three boys spent a fortnight in a wash-house on the top of some
+blocks. There they lived an independent existence, getting their food and
+attending school regularly all the while. Later on, being discovered by a
+policeman, they were sent to their respective families.... Week follows
+week with little variation to mark the march of time. As brief a fragment
+of the boy's life as is possible is spent within the common dwelling,
+which offers him no occupation, and is entirely devoid of interest or
+attraction. The mother does not demand his presence indoors, while he
+himself has no wish to be there. The street, and not the house, ought
+probably to be regarded as the home or meeting-place of the family." [97]
+
+Supervision under circumstances of this kind must be an almost negligible
+factor in the life of the home. Let us now come to the second type. I
+quote again:
+
+"In the second type, as already mentioned, the family usually occupies
+three rooms. At first sight the conditions found in the former type seem
+to prevail here also. Indeed, as a matter of fact, the boys spend hardly
+more time at home than those just considered. Out of school hours they are
+either in the street or employed in some form of paid work.... School,
+street, meals, and bed alternate with one another here in much the same
+way as they did in the first type. But while the facts remain for the most
+part unchanged, their setting and colouring are very different. Another
+atmosphere seems to pervade the whole life; some sense of order and
+regularity begins to manifest itself; meals are at fixed hours; and the
+boys are expected home and sent to bed at more or less definite times.
+They return to their own tenements, and do not spend the night with some
+of their neighbours. As will appear later, home interests begin to
+develop; and if the boys spend their leisure in the streets, this is due
+more to their own choice than to the wish of their parents.... The mother
+does not display the utter indifference to the state of the dwelling or
+the habits of the children conspicuous in the first type. Some sort of
+ideal of home she seems to possess, but to obtain this ideal is beyond her
+power. She has the look of one who feels that things are wrong, and yet
+can see no remedy. She notes, for example, the evil influence the street
+exerts on the characters of her boys, but does not know how to preserve
+them from its overwhelming attractions." [98]
+
+"The chief difference, then, between the first and second type lies not so
+much in a different kind of life as in a certain change of atmosphere that
+pervades and transforms the common existence. In the third type this
+change of atmosphere becomes more conspicuous. A great part of the boy's
+time is, indeed, still spent outside the dwelling-place, but the life at
+home begins to assume larger proportions. There is more order and quiet in
+the house--a condition which reacts favourably on the boys. They are no
+longer seen hanging about the streets, loafing at the corners, or shouting
+noisily in the gutters. Though much out of doors, they go farther afield,
+and visit parks or museums; while, if they stay near home, they will
+usually be discovered in the school playground. In the evening many of
+them are indoors, and have various occupations, of which, perhaps, reading
+is the chief." [99]
+
+In type number one, then, there is, for all practical purposes, a complete
+absence of supervision. In the second type there is a desire for
+supervision, but the narrowness of the house accommodation thrusts the
+boys into the streets. In the third type alone are the conditions
+favourable to supervision.
+
+§ 2. THE BOY AFTER SCHOOL DAYS.
+
+If the boy while at school is under little parental control, it is not to
+be expected that this control will be tightened when school days are over.
+With the first type of family there was no supervision before, and there
+is no more afterwards. The boy is self-supporting, and troubles little
+about the home, and the home troubles little about him. There is a partial
+exception in the case of the coster. Here the boy may become one of the
+regular working members of the establishment, and remains with his father;
+but the discipline is of a rude and ready sort.
+
+With the second type of family the boy's earnings are of great importance
+to the family, and the mother does her best to keep him at home. Any
+exercise of discipline is avoided, lest the lad should take his earnings
+and go elsewhere. He is rather in the position of a favoured lodger, whose
+presence is valuable to the home, and who must be treated well for fear he
+should give notice.
+
+In the third type of family, the boy, with growing years, passes out of
+the control of the mother, and is resentful of any restraint exerted by a
+woman. What supervision he enjoys comes from the father. The two do not
+meet often; father and son are seldom employed together, and the long
+distance that frequently separates home and work places the boy beyond the
+reach of parental control during the greater portion of the week.
+
+Such in broad outline, rendered jagged, no doubt, by numerous exceptions,
+is the quantity and the quality of the supervision exercised by the town
+parent over the town boy. Even with the highest type no high standard is
+reached, while with the lower we cannot contemplate the picture with any
+degree of satisfaction. Speaking generally, the city-bred youth is
+growing up in a state of unrestrained liberty; and what makes the problem
+more serious is the fact that all evidence goes to show that this
+disquieting phenomenon is not an accident, but the direct product of the
+social and industrial conditions of the times. Towns are growing larger,
+and with the growth of towns the whole conditions of family life are being
+transformed. The old patriarchal system is gone; the father is no longer
+an autocratic ruler in his small world. The family, so to say, has become
+democratized; we have in it an association of equals in authority. Now,
+the most ardent advocates of the extension of the suffrage have always
+limited their demands to an appeal for adult suffrage; they have never
+clamoured for children to be given a vote. Yet this, for all effective
+purposes, is what happens in the home in the case of the boy as soon as he
+has left school. The status of wage-earner has brought with it the status
+of manhood, and his earnings have conferred on him immunity from control
+and the right to be consulted in the politics of the home. Another fact,
+not sufficiently recognized, tends to break down the patriarchal system.
+With the steady improvement in the State schools, the boy is usually
+better educated than the father; the father knows this, and the boy knows
+it too.
+
+It is idle, therefore, to look for any large amount of parental control
+over the boy who has left school. We must face realities, however
+unpleasant these realities may happen to be; and one of the realities of
+the time is the independence of the lad. What is equally significant is
+the suddenness with which this independence comes. Until the age of
+fourteen he has remained under a carefully designed system of State
+supervision, exerted by the school authorities; while in a large number of
+cases the discipline of the home has been an important factor in his
+existence. At the age of fourteen, as a general rule, the control of
+school and home end together. The lad goes to bed a boy; he wakes as a
+man. There should therefore be little cause for surprise if the habits of
+the school and home are rapidly sloughed off in the new life of
+irresponsible freedom.
+
+Whether, therefore, we look to the State, to philanthropic enterprise, or
+to the home, we find no satisfactory guarantee for the supervision of the
+youth of the country. We have yet to search for this supervision in the
+workshop; but if it is absent there, we shall be faced with the
+disquieting phenomenon of the boy at the age of fourteen enjoying the full
+and complete independence of the adult.
+
+
+IV.
+
+THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE WORKSHOP.
+
+Having examined three out of the four factors which contribute to the
+apprenticeship of to-day, and found them all inadequate, we must now turn
+to the workshop in the hope that we shall discover there conditions more
+favourable to the well-being of the youth of the country. If, however,
+this last factor prove defective, the apprenticeship of to-day will stand
+condemned, and the case for drastic reform will become unanswerable. It
+will therefore be desirable to devote considerable space to this, the
+central feature of the problem of boy labour.
+
+In what follows it is proposed first to make a detailed study of
+conditions in London, and then to present a general picture of the state
+of boy labour in other parts of the country. London has been selected for
+a detailed study because in a peculiar degree it represents the extreme
+type of urbanization. There is also the advantage that in the case of
+London the material required for the examination has to a large extent
+been collected. The investigations of Mr. Charles Booth, the publications
+and inquiries on the subject carried out by the London County Council, Mr.
+Cyril Jackson's report on boy labour presented to the Poor Law Commission,
+and numerous other writings, have provided for the study of London a mass
+of information which, though not in all respects exhaustive, is more
+complete than can be found elsewhere.
+
+§ 1. LONDON.
+
+A study of the problem of boy labour in London involves the study of three
+questions. First we have to consider the case of the children who, while
+still attending school, are employed for wages. Next we must devote
+special attention to the boys as they leave school and distribute
+themselves among the different occupations. Finally, we must watch the
+later career of those lads, and in particular endeavour to ascertain in
+what way and with what results is made the difficult passage from the
+status of the youth to the status of the man.
+
+_(a) The Employment of School-Children._
+
+In London the half-time system is not permitted. The standard of
+attainment for total exemption has been made sufficiently high to prevent
+the great majority of boys from leaving school till the age of fourteen is
+reached. It is, however, a fact that improved methods of instruction and
+more rapid promotion from class to class are tending to lower the age at
+which it is possible to obtain a Labour Certificate. How far this
+opportunity is used it is not easy to say; but in certain schools,
+situated in the poorer districts, it is alleged that there is a growing
+tendency for the brighter children to claim exemption in this way. The
+regularity of attendance is admirable, the average attendance in boys'
+schools exceeding 90 per cent. We may therefore assume that, if the boys
+work for wages, they must work at times when the schools are not opened.
+
+To what extent are boys employed while still liable to attend school? In
+1899 a return was obtained throughout the elementary schools of England
+and Wales of the number of children so employed. In London, in the case of
+boys, the figures were 21,755.[100] The tables also give the ages of the
+children, but boys and girls are not separated. If, however, we assume
+that the number of children of each sex at each age is proportionate to
+the total number of children of each sex at all ages, we find that 78 per
+cent. of the boys were eleven and upwards, and 22 per cent. under eleven.
+The number of boys of eleven and upwards would be about 17,000. There are
+in the elementary schools about 70,000 boys eleven years of age and
+upwards, so that about 24 per cent. of these boys are employed. In other
+words, nearly a quarter of the boys in the elementary schools above the
+age of eleven were employed at the time of the return. The actual number
+of boys who are employed during the course of their school career would be
+considerably larger, as they would not all be employed at the same moment.
+The return is more than ten years old, but, with the exception of the
+children under eleven, it is improbable that there has been much change.
+Similar figures may be deduced from the Report of the Interdepartmental
+Committee on the Employment of School-Children, 1901.[101]
+
+With regard to the number of hours worked, Miss Adler's evidence is
+selected, and typical schools show that 56 per cent. were employed for
+more than twenty hours a week, while 14 per cent. were employed
+thirty-five hours or upwards.[102] In individual cases the figures were
+much higher. "Thus a boy of eleven years of age, for four shillings a
+week, was employed for forty-three and three-quarter hours in carrying
+parcels from a chemist's shop, and, except on Sundays, was practically
+every moment of his life at school or at work from seven in the morning
+till nine o'clock at night. Another boy, aged thirteen, worked fifty-two
+hours a week, being employed by a moulding company, and attending a
+theatre for five evenings a week and for half a day on Wednesday for a
+_matinée_--for the last, however, playing truant from school." [103] The
+following graphic account taken from a school composition, and obtained
+under circumstances which guarantee its essential accuracy, shows the
+amount of work which may be compressed into a single day. It refers to
+Saturday:
+
+"I first got up from bed about half-past six, and put my clothes on and
+had a wash. Then I went to work at B.'s, and swept out his shop, and then
+I did the window out. But after I done the window I had my breakfast and
+went in the shop again. I started taking out orders that came in. While I
+was taking the orders out, Mr. B. went to the Borough market for some
+potatoes, cabbages, and some onions; but when he came home I had to unload
+his van. After I unloaded his van, he went for some coal, which he sells
+at one and sixpence a hundredweight, but he got two tons of coal in. Then
+we had dinner about one o'clock. When we had our dinner, I had a rest till
+about four o'clock, when I had tea. When I had my tea I had to go and chop
+some wood, when it was time to shut up the shop. I had my supper and went
+home, and went to bed, and the time was about twelve o'clock." [104] It
+will be seen that, with the exception of a break in the middle of the day,
+the boy was on duty for nearly three-quarters of the twenty-four hours,
+and for part of the time was engaged in heavy manual labour.
+
+What effect does employment have on the physical condition of children
+under the age of fourteen? "That excessive employment is injurious alike
+to the education and to the health of the children is hardly in question.
+It was testified to by witness after witness, many of them in no way
+likely to be influenced by merely theoretical objections to child
+labour." [105] On the other hand, most of the witnesses that appeared
+before the Interdepartmental Committee were of opinion that "moderate
+work" was in many cases not only not injurious, but "positively
+beneficial." [106] It is not easy to understand what is meant by the last
+statement. If some form of employment is beneficial, then the 76 per cent.
+who are not so employed suffer, and steps should be taken to encourage
+them to work. It is doubtful whether the witnesses would have accepted
+this conclusion, from which, on their own assumptions, there is really no
+escape. The difficulty lay in drawing the line. "Most of the witnesses
+seemed to suggest that twenty hours might be fixed as the maximum weekly
+limit; but, on the other hand, we found some cases where less than twenty
+hours a week, if concentrated in one or two days, or if done at night,
+must be injurious." [107]
+
+But the evidence of most value on the subject is to be found in a Report
+of the Medical Officer of the London County Council.[108] About 400 boys
+employed outside school hours were examined. The following table, with
+defects in percentages, was obtained as the result:[109]
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                  | Actual |Fatigue|       |Severe|            |Severe|
+  |Hours worked      | Number |Signs. |Anćmia.|Nerve |Deformities.|Heart |
+  |  Weekly.         |of Boys.|       |       |Signs.|            |Signs.|
+  |------------------|--------|-------|-------|------|------------|------|
+  |All schoolboys of |        |       |       |      |            |      |
+  |  district workers|        |       |       |      |            |      |
+  |  and non-workers |  3,700 |  --   |  25   |  24  |      8     |   8  |
+  |Working 20 hours  |        |       |       |      |            |      |
+  |  or less         |    163 |  50   |  34   |  28  |     15     |  11  |
+  |Working 20 to 30  |        |       |       |      |            |      |
+  |  hours           |     86 |  81   |  47   |  44  |     21     |  15  |
+  |Working over 30   |        |       |       |      |            |      |
+  |  hours           |     95 |  83   |  45   |  50  |     22     |  21  |
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+It will be seen that the defects rise rapidly with increase in the hours
+of work; while, even in the case of those working less than twenty hours,
+there is a serious deviation from the average. The fact that 50 per cent.
+of those working less than twenty hours should exhibit signs of fatigue,
+even where no permanent physical evil results, must seriously affect the
+value of the school instruction. In every case the workers compare
+unfavourably with the average for the whole of the workers and
+non-workers. We cannot view with satisfaction the truth that, even in
+those employed with moderation, deformities and severe heart signs should
+be nearly 50 per cent. above the average. The medical officer adds other
+conclusions no less disquieting. "Working eight hours on Saturday is as
+inimical as thirty hours during the week, and working through the
+dinner-hour appears particularly productive of anćmia," [110] "Retardation
+in school work was noted in 209 out of these 330 boys, 86 being one
+standard, 83 two standards, 37 three standards, and 3 four standards
+behind that corresponding to their age." [111] As his final conclusion the
+medical officer states: "We must set up as an ideal the suppression of
+child labour below twelve years of age, and during school life regulate it
+to twenty hours weekly, and a maximum of five hours on any one day." [112]
+The figures, however, would seem to go far in justifying the more drastic
+remedy of complete prohibition.
+
+It is, however, fair to mention that the Report of the Interdepartmental
+Committee, and also the Report of the Medical Officer, refer to a state of
+affairs prior to the passing of the Employment of Children Act. Under this
+Act, as explained in the last chapter,[113] employment of children under
+the age of eleven is forbidden, while the by-laws of the Council place
+restrictions on the number of hours children may work, and the times of
+day during which such work may be carried on. It is too soon to judge of
+the extent to which these restrictions can be enforced. During the first
+year of effective operation in London there were, in respect of boys under
+the age of sixteen, 13,461 cases of infringement. Prohibition under a
+certain age or during certain times of the day is comparatively easy to
+enforce; but limitation of hours, as experience of the Shop Act shows, is
+extremely difficult to enforce, and peculiarly difficult where, as with
+school-children, persons are not employed regularly, but work irregularly
+at times when the schools are not open. To get evidence sufficient to
+justify convictions is almost impossible, except in a few outrageous
+cases.
+
+What, if any, effect does the employment of school-children have on the
+general question of the preparation for a trade? Into this general
+question the Interdepartmental Committee did not enter. They did indeed
+regard certain forms of occupation as injurious, while they pronounced as
+beneficial employment in moderation. But this statement has apparently
+reference only to matters of health, and not to the relation of employment
+during school days to employment afterwards. The question is of great
+importance, as habits, in respect of work for wages, formed by the boy
+cling persistently to the youth. It is necessary, therefore, to pay some
+attention to the characteristics of the work which schoolboys undertake.
+In London 90 per cent. of the work would be included in the three
+following classes: (1) Shops--errand-running and delivery of parcels,
+milk, newspapers, and watching the goods spread on the counters outside
+the shops; (2) domestic--knife and boot cleaning, and occasionally
+baby-minding; and (3) street employment--hawking of newspapers, matches,
+and flowers, organ-grinding, and the like. Now, none of these forms of
+occupation provide any trade-training, or offer an opening with
+satisfactory prospects, to the boy as he leaves school. On the other hand,
+this class of work has distinctly injurious effects. First, it is
+employment of a casual character. Affected as it is, on the one hand, by
+attendance at school, and on the other by Saturdays and holidays, it is
+essentially irregular as regards hours. Secondly, it is easy to obtain,
+and consequently lightly undertaken and lightly dropped. Where another
+situation can be obtained at will, there is no demand on the worker to
+display the qualities that make for permanence of employment. Thirdly, it
+is work in which youths as well as boys are engaged; in other words, it
+does provide an opening to the boy as he leaves school--an opening which
+he is likely to accept, because it is the most obvious, but at the same
+time an opening in one of those forms of occupation entrance into which we
+should, as will appear later, do our utmost to discourage. It is
+singularly unfortunate that a boy's first association with any kind of
+paid employment should be of this nature. And, finally, it is at least
+open to grave doubt whether that sense of independence of home which comes
+with the consciousness of earning wages should begin at as early an age
+as twelve or thirteen.
+
+It would not be easy to imagine a more unsatisfactory form of preparation
+for a trade than that provided by the kind of work carried out by
+wage-earning children. If we add to this demoralizing influence the
+injurious effect on health and education, the case for total prohibition
+of boy labour during school-days becomes very strong.
+
+_(b) The Entry to a Trade._
+
+The great majority of boys remain at the elementary school till they
+attain the age of fourteen; it is no less true that the vast majority
+cease attendance as soon as that age is reached. The period of the next
+four years--that is, from fourteen to eighteen--forms the most critical
+time of their career. It is during these four years that the boy must, if
+ever, have taken the first steps towards learning a trade. During this
+interval his physical strength must mature, his character take on itself a
+more or less permanent set, and the question whether his education shall
+represent something more than a faint shadow of early impressions be
+finally determined. In short, it is during these four years that the
+future citizen is made or marred.
+
+The previous survey, whether of the factors which contribute to the
+apprenticeship of to-day, or of the evils which are found among
+wage-earning school-children, does not guarantee a favourable start in the
+world of whole-time employment. Each year about 30,000 boys leave school
+at the age of fourteen to take up some form of work. These figures do not
+agree with the Census returns, because the latter include all London boys
+in all classes of society, whether at school or at work. Here we are
+concerned only with the boys of fourteen who leave the elementary school
+with the intention of earning their own living. Between the ages of
+fourteen and eighteen there will therefore be 120,000 boys. It is the
+careers of these 120,000 boys that we must now try to follow.
+
+What are the first occupations selected by these 120,000 boys? During the
+last few years the London County Council has endeavoured to find an answer
+to this question. Each head-master of an elementary school is required
+annually to fill up a form in respect of each boy who has left the school
+during the preceding twelve months. The information asked for is
+"occupation of parent," "occupation of boy," "whether skilled or
+unskilled," or "whether a place of higher education is attended." Returns
+have been received and summarized for the years 1906-07 and 1907-08. The
+first return was incomplete, but the second included the vast majority of
+those who left. Below is given the summary for the two years:
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                         | Skilled.| Unskilled.|  Higher  |
+  |                         |         |           |Education.|
+  |-------------------------|---------|-----------|----------|
+  | Number                  | 8,662   |   15,910  | 1,524    |
+  | Percentage              |  33ˇ2   |     61ˇ0  |   5ˇ8    |
+  | Percentage, 1906-07     |  28ˇ5   |     67ˇ9  |   3ˇ6    |
+  +----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+It will be seen that, including those who went to some higher form of
+education, little more than a third of the boys left school to enter a
+skilled trade.[114]
+
+TABLE I.
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                                |      Number.     |   Percentage.    |
+  |       Class of Occupation.     |------------------|------------------|
+  |                                | Parent. |  Boy.  | Parent. |  Boy.  |
+  |--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
+  |Trades and industries           |   615   |   347  |  40ˇ87  |  18ˇ74 |
+  |Domestic offices or services    |    23   |    46  |   1ˇ52  |   2ˇ48 |
+  |Transport (including messengers,|         |        |         |        |
+  |  errand-boys, van-boys, etc.)  |   191   |   829  |  12ˇ69  |  44ˇ76 |
+  |Shopkeepers, shop-assistants,   |         |        |         |        |
+  |  and dealers                   |   137   |   133  |   9ˇ10  |   7ˇ18 |
+  |Commercial occupations          |    61   |   141  |   4ˇ05  |   7ˇ61 |
+  |General labour                  |   436   |   215  |  28ˇ98  |  11ˇ61 |
+  |Professional occupations and    |         |        |         |        |
+  |  their subordinate services    |    11   |     5  |   0ˇ73  |   0ˇ27 |
+  |General or local government     |    26   |     6  |   1ˇ73  |   0ˇ32 |
+  |Defence of the country          |     5   |     1  |   0ˇ33  |   0ˇ06 |
+  |Higher education                |    --   |    27  |     --  |   1ˇ45 |
+  |Unemployed                      |    --   |   102  |     --  |   5ˇ52 |
+  |--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
+  |          Total                 | 1,505   | 1,852  | 100ˇ00  | 100ˇ00 |
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+It is unfortunate that no full analysis has been made of these returns.
+The value of the information which would have thus been obtained was not
+supposed to justify the labour and expenditure involved in such an
+analysis. I have, however, roughly analyzed nearly 4,000 cases, and
+endeavoured to classify the occupations, in accordance with the table
+founded on the Census return which will be given later.[115] I selected
+for this purpose typical districts in London. Table I. includes returns
+from all the schools in the electoral areas of Bermondsey, North
+Camberwell, and Walworth; it represents a typical miscellaneous
+working-class district. Table II. includes the electoral areas of Dulwich
+and Lewisham; it may be regarded as typical of suburban villadom so far as
+its inhabitants send their children to the elementary schools. Table III.
+includes the electoral areas of Whitechapel and St. George's-in-the-East,
+districts distinguished by the presence of a large number of small trades
+and sweated industries. Table IV. includes the collective results of the
+three preceding tables, and may be taken as fairly typical of London as a
+whole. It was necessary to exclude the returns of a few schools as
+incomplete, indefinite, or obviously inaccurate. Parent stands for
+occupation of parent, boy for occupation of boy. The two do not quite
+correspond, as in a certain number of instances the occupation of the
+parent was unknown. I have included the telegraph-boys under "Transport,"
+as for my purpose this classification was the more suitable.
+
+TABLE II.
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                                |       Number.    |    Percentage.   |
+  |       Class of Occupation.     |------------------|------------------|
+  |                                | Parent. |  Boy.  | Parent. |  Boy.  |
+  |--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
+  |Trades and industries           |    347  |    151 |   35ˇ57 |  14ˇ86 |
+  |Domestic offices or services    |     14  |     27 |    1ˇ45 |   2ˇ64 |
+  |Transport (including messengers,|         |        |         |        |
+  |  errand-boys, van-boys, etc.)  |     70  |    350 |    7ˇ24 |  34ˇ31 |
+  |Shopkeepers, shop-assistants,   |         |        |         |        |
+  |  and dealers                   |    100  |    126 |   10ˇ34 |  12ˇ35 |
+  |Commercial occupations          |    180  |    157 |   18ˇ61 |  15ˇ38 |
+  |General labour                  |    144  |     54 |   14ˇ89 |   5ˇ29 |
+  |Professional occupations and    |         |        |         |        |
+  |  their subordinate services    |     47  |      2 |    4ˇ86 |   0ˇ19 |
+  |General or local government     |     66  |      9 |    6ˇ83 |   0ˇ88 |
+  |Defence of the country          |      2  |      5 |    0ˇ21 |   0ˇ48 |
+  |Higher education                |     --  |     76 |      -- |   7ˇ45 |
+  |Unemployed                      |     --  |     63 |      -- |   6ˇ17 |
+  |--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
+  |           Total                |    967  |  1,020 |  100ˇ00 | 100ˇ00 |
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+TABLE III.
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                                |       Number.    |     Percentage.  |
+  |      Class of Occupation.      |------------------|------------------|
+  |                                | Parent. |  Boy.  | Parent. |  Boy.  |
+  |--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
+  |Trades and industries           |   349   |   305  |  51ˇ09  |  41ˇ84 |
+  |Domestic offices or services    |    25   |    18  |   3ˇ66  |   2ˇ47 |
+  |Transport (including messengers,|         |        |         |        |
+  |  errand-boys, van-boys, etc.)  |    72   |   189  |  10ˇ54  |  25ˇ93 |
+  |Shopkeepers, shop-assistants,   |         |        |         |        |
+  |  and dealers                   |    91   |    48  |  13ˇ33  |   6ˇ58 |
+  |Commercial occupations          |    11   |    39  |   1ˇ61  |   5ˇ35 |
+  |General labour                  |   116   |    63  |  16ˇ99  |   8ˇ64 |
+  |Professional occupations        |         |        |         |        |
+  |  and their subordinate services|    10   |     3  |   1ˇ46  |   0ˇ41 |
+  |General or local government     |     8   |    --  |   1ˇ17  |     -- |
+  |Defence of the country          |     1   |    --  |   0ˇ15  |     -- |
+  |Higher education                |    --   |     7  |     --  |   0ˇ96 |
+  |Unemployed                      |    --   |    57  |     --  |   7ˇ82 |
+  |--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
+  |        Total                   |   683   |   729  | 100ˇ00  | 100ˇ00 |
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+TABLE IV.
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                                |      Number.     |   Percentage.    |
+  |      Class of Occupation.      |------------------|------------------|
+  |                                | Parent. |  Boy.  | Parent. |  Boy.  |
+  |--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
+  |Trades and industries           |  1,308  |   803  |  41ˇ46  |  22ˇ31 |
+  |Domestic offices or services    |     62  |    91  |   1ˇ97  |   2ˇ53 |
+  |Transport (including messengers,|         |        |         |        |
+  |  errand-boys, van-boys, etc.)  |    333  | 1,368  |  10ˇ55  |  38ˇ00 |
+  |Shopkeepers, shop-assistants,   |         |        |         |        |
+  |  and dealers                   |    328  |   307  |  10ˇ39  |   8ˇ52 |
+  |Commercial occupations          |    252  |   337  |   7ˇ98  |   9ˇ36 |
+  |General labour                  |    696  |   332  |  22ˇ06  |   9ˇ22 |
+  |Professional occupations and    |         |        |         |        |
+  |  their subordinate services    |     68  |    10  |   2ˇ16  |   0ˇ28 |
+  |General or local government     |    100  |    15  |   3ˇ17  |   0ˇ41 |
+  |Defence of the country          |      8  |     6  |   0ˇ26  |   0ˇ16 |
+  |Higher education                |     --  |   110  |     --  |   3ˇ05 |
+  |Unemployed                      |     --  |   222  |     --  |   6ˇ16 |
+  |--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
+  |Total                           |  3,155  | 3,601  | 100ˇ00  | 100ˇ00 |
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+In the interpretation of these tables certain facts must be borne in mind.
+None of the parents are returned as unemployed; this is because the trade
+of the parent was asked for, and no account was taken as to whether he was
+or was not employed. Secondly, the occupations are somewhat vaguely
+described; this in particular is true of the term "labourer." More exact
+information would no doubt have removed the parent from the class "general
+labour," and placed him in the class "transport," and occasionally in the
+classes "domestic servant" or "shop-assistant." Thirdly, the
+messenger-boys are included partly under "transport" and partly under
+"shop-assistants," the boy being termed sometimes an errand-boy and
+sometimes a shop-boy. The term "office-boy," which appears frequently in
+the returns, is vague. I have classed the office-boy as an errand-boy
+unless the school return places him in the column "skilled employment,"
+when I have included him under the heading "commercial occupation."
+
+Making allowance for a certain inevitable inaccuracy which belongs to
+returns of this kind, we have a general picture, accurate in all
+essentials, of the distribution of boys among the various forms of
+occupation immediately after leaving the elementary school. The columns
+which refer to the trade of the parents, and indicate therefore the
+distribution of the parents among the various forms of occupation, are of
+considerable value. If we take Table IV., which may be regarded as typical
+of London as a whole, and compare the last two columns, we shall at once
+notice the striking difference that marks the distribution of boys and of
+adults among the several kinds of employment. In "trades and industries,"
+41 per cent. of parents are engaged, and only 22 per cent. of boys; 38 per
+cent. of the boys are engaged in "transport," and only 10 per cent. of
+parents. This fact carries with it a conclusion of great importance--son
+and father can seldom work together. If, for example, 10 per cent. of the
+parents are included under "transport," and 38 per cent. of the boys, it
+is clear that little more than a quarter of such boys can be employed in
+company with their parents. The actual facts, as revealed by an
+examination of the individual returns, are much stronger, and demonstrate
+the extreme rareness of father and son following the same occupation. In
+the case of "trades and industries" the trade of father and son is not
+infrequently the same; this is in particular true of "tailoring" trades of
+the East End, included in Table III., where the proportion of adults to
+boys are as fifty-one to forty-two. In suburban villadom, pictured in
+Table III., the clerk is often father to the clerk, while the son of a
+shopkeeper occasionally assists his parents in the shop. The coster habit
+likewise runs in families. But with these exceptions father and son do not
+work together. In consequence, in his first situation the boy is cut
+adrift from the home and its control, such as it is. He has not his father
+by his side to note and guide his conduct; and if he enters a skilled
+trade, he lacks the personal interest of the parent to guarantee his
+satisfactory training. We have already seen that the school supervision is
+at an end; in consequence, the only disciplinary influence left is the
+influence of the employer. The character of the employment and the nature
+of the supervision of the master become, therefore, of supreme importance
+to the well-being of the boy. It is consequently necessary to examine in
+some detail the distinguishing features of the various kinds of
+occupation. They are usually roughly classed as skilled or unskilled,
+according as they do or do not lead to a form of employment which requires
+specialized skill or specialized intelligence.
+
+THE UNSKILLED TRADES.--Practically the whole of the unskilled trades are
+included under the terms "domestic service," "transport," "shop," and
+"general labour," and the great majority of the boys who select these
+occupations may be said to select an unskilled trade. In Table I., a
+typical working-class district, it will be seen that 66 per cent. of the
+boys who leave the elementary schools come within this class. In Table
+II., a suburban area, the figures are 55 per cent.; but a considerable
+proportion of those included under "shops" appear to be employed in the
+shops of their parents, and to be learning the business. In Table III.,
+representing the small East End trades, the figures are 44 per cent.; but,
+judged by wages and conditions of employment, the majority of the 42 per
+cent. included under trades should be transferred to the class of
+unskilled work. For all the districts, as a whole typical of London, Table
+IV. shows the figures to be 58ˇ27 per cent. The figures quoted above
+ignore the boys returned as unemployed and unknown, the number of these
+for all London being 6 per cent. They are boys waiting for something to
+turn up; what will turn up it is impossible to predict. But it is safe to
+say that a considerable portion will drift into unskilled work.
+
+The unskilled trades fall into three classes. The first and smallest is
+included under "domestic service." Under this head are found boys in
+barbers' shops, page-boys, club-boys, boot and knife boys. Employment in a
+barber's shop is notoriously unhealthy;[116] a barber's shop is also
+supposed to be not infrequently the resort of the betting fraternity. The
+fortunes of the page and club boy await the zeal of an investigator; the
+knife and boot boy soon passes to some other occupation. Of the three
+classes, domestic service is the least important and the soonest left by
+the boy.
+
+The second class, included under "transport" and "shopkeepers," is far the
+largest and the most important. In all London some 47 per cent. of the
+boys are found here; or, if we add a half of the 6 per cent. returned as
+unemployed, we may say that half the boys who leave the elementary schools
+belong to this class. It is necessary to take "transport" and
+"shopkeepers" together, because it is impossible to tell whether a
+"shop-boy" is merely an errand-boy, or a boy on the road to become a
+properly trained shop-assistant. It is probable, however, that only a
+small number could be regarded as future shop-assistants.
+
+Ignoring these exceptions, we have to follow the fortunes of 50 per cent.
+of the boys leaving school--in other words, of 15,000 persons. Their forms
+of employment have much in common. In the first place, they are what is
+known as "blind-alley" occupations--they lead nowhere. Boys only are
+engaged, and when the boys become men they are cast adrift. Sometimes they
+are absorbed in the adult service, but more usually, if they have not
+already left, are given notice, and must at the age of eighteen seek out
+some new way of earning a living. The report of Mr. Cyril Jackson makes
+this fact abundantly clear.[117] "The industrial biographies received," he
+says, "show clearly that there is generally a time of transition when boys
+have to seek new occupations, for which they have little aptitude." [118]
+Or again: "There appears to be no doubt that the restlessness of many of
+the boys doing more or less unskilled work obscures from some employers
+the fact that they are using a greater number of boys than can ever be
+employed in connection with their trade as men. The employers who have
+filled up forms often state that they 'never discharge a boy who is
+willing to stay,' or 'that boys are only discharged for misconduct,' when
+it is evident from the figures appearing in the same form that there must
+be a considerable proportion of the boys passing out of the trade each
+year.... That many employers, on the other hand, do in fact discharge a
+considerable proportion of their boys because they have no room for them
+as men--or, to express the same thing in the form in which it presents
+itself to the masters, because they cannot afford to offer men's wages--is
+shown in the short accounts of the trades in the Appendix." [119] It is
+needless to labour the point further, as everyone familiar with the
+conditions of boy work give evidence to the same effect.
+
+The second characteristic of these trades is that they are mainly
+concerned with fetching or carrying something--messages, letters, parcels.
+It is characteristic of that stage of civilization at which we have
+arrived that we want to save ourselves trouble, or to save ourselves time.
+Boys are the instruments we use. "Here we are, all of us," says a modern
+writer, "demanding an endless number of tiny jobs to be done on our
+behalf. Every year multiplies these demands, increasing the pace at which
+the jobs can be done, and the number of them that can be crowded into the
+time. We learn to expect more and more conveniences at our elbow by which
+communication can be made, business transacted, messages despatched,
+parcels transferred, news brought up to date, transit hastened, things of
+all kinds put under our hand. We touch buttons, press knobs, ring bells,
+whisper down telephones, keep wires throbbing with our desires, bustle and
+hustle the world along. And all this in the end means _boys_. Boys are
+what we set moving. Boys are the material in which we deal. Boys are our
+tools. Every wire has a boy at the end of it." [120]
+
+This tendency to demand the services of boys has spread through all
+classes of society. To take a single example of quite recent growth: It is
+becoming less and less common for the housewife to bring the results of
+her marketing home herself; a boy delivers the goods instead. Go into any
+shop, even in the poorest part of the town, and make a few purchases; the
+shopman will probably offer to send them home for you. There is something
+flattering and pleasant in the offer; it is one of the new products of
+competition to multiply conveniences instead of cutting prices. The demand
+for boys is rapidly increasing; and while the demand is increasing, the
+supply of boys has diminished. The raising of the school age, the improved
+attendance, and the decrease of truancy, have all removed from the labour
+market an immense number of boys. "The Census figures show that there has
+been a steady diminution of boys employed under fifteen during the last
+quarter of a century." [121] The Labour Exchanges testify to the same
+effect, the managers frequently saying: "There is an unsatisfied demand
+for juvenile labour of an unskilled type." [122] This growing demand has
+two effects. First, as it becomes increasingly easier for boys to obtain
+situations, there is less and less inducement for them to show such
+industry and good conduct as are necessary to retain their places.
+Dismissal has no terrors; it means, if they please, a few days' holiday,
+or, if they prefer it, a new employer can be at once discovered. It
+becomes therefore difficult for an employer to exercise over the boys the
+discipline they need; if he attempt to do so, he will soon find himself
+without boys. Lads change situations for the mere sake of change, to see
+what happens. "I have known," says Mr. J. G. Cloete, "boys who, within
+three years of leaving school, have been employed in as many as seventeen
+different occupations." [123] The second consequence of the increased
+demand for boys in these kinds of occupations is a rise in wages. The
+earnings of these boys are considerably higher than those obtained by a
+boy who enters a skilled trade. "The casual and low-skilled employments
+give higher wages in the early years in order to attract the boys." [124]
+With boys choosing, as they do, their own occupations, high wages at the
+outset are more attractive than low wages with the prospect of learning a
+trade.
+
+The third characteristic these occupations have in common lies in certain
+general conditions of employment. Hours are long; at the same time, the
+boy is often idle for long periods, waiting for messages to come in and
+parcels to go out. Shop-boys and telegraph-boys are kept hanging about
+with nothing to do. The office-boy in a small office is often the whole
+staff, and is left alone for hours when his master is out, and "spends his
+time either in vacancy, in mischievous expeditions along the corridor, or
+in reading trash of a bloodthirsty nature." [125] The boy has often heavy
+goods to carry long distances, and overtaxes his strength. Either there
+is too much idleness or too much work; these are the alternatives. In
+neither case is there the possibility of much supervision.
+
+The fourth characteristic has not received the attention it deserves.
+These forms of occupation, though unskilled in the sense that the boy
+receives no training in his present place of business, nevertheless demand
+qualities of a high standard. The boy must be regular, obedient, and,
+above all, intelligent. A dull boy as a messenger is liable to make stupid
+and irritating mistakes. The stories of district messengers carrying
+letters unaided over the Continent show that the boys possess no ordinary
+intelligence. Now, we have already seen that these are the qualities which
+are in a peculiar degree the product of the elementary schools. The
+schools turn out innumerable boys of this kind. It is not, perhaps, a mere
+coincidence that the increasing use of boys in occupations which call for
+alertness of mind has gone on side by side with improvements in the
+educational system. The State has spent much money on these boys. A boy
+who starts to attend school at the age of three and leaves at fourteen has
+had spent on him a sum of money which, if invested year by year at 4 per
+cent., and left to accumulate till the time for leaving school comes,
+would amount to nearly Ł100. Each year in the 30,000 boys who leave school
+Ł3,000,000 of State-created value is turned adrift. The State has
+therefore a right to demand that this capital sum of Ł100 invested in the
+boy shall not be squandered by the employer. He ought to give back at the
+age of eighteen at least as valuable an article as he received four years
+earlier.
+
+This consideration leads to the last characteristic distinguishing these
+occupations. They lead to nothing, and when the boy reaches the end, he
+is, in the majority of cases, distinctly inferior in every way to what he
+was three or four years before. Evidence in favour of this assertion is
+overwhelming. "At the present time, at the age of eighteen, after a four
+years' course of employment, whose chief characteristics are the long
+hours, the lack of supervision, and the total absence of any educational
+influence, the lad is a distinctly less valuable article in the labour
+market than he was when he left school four years previously. His only
+asset is represented by greater physical strength, accompanied probably by
+a marked decrease in general health and vigour. He has lost the
+intelligence and aptitude of the boy, and remains a clumsy and
+unintelligent man, fitted for nothing but unskilled labour, and likely to
+become sooner or later one of the unemployed." [126] "There seems little
+doubt that the boy labour is used up for industrial purposes, and that
+they are left less capable members of the community, with little prospect
+of good work when they become adults." [127] "The most hopeless position is
+that of the errand-boy at a small shop in a poor neighbourhood; his
+prospects are absolutely nil." [128] "The chart prepared from the forms
+filled in by boys who entered life as errand-boys shows that the small
+proportion who find steady and skilled employment afterwards have ceased
+to be errand-boys very early; the vast majority become workers in
+low-skill trades, or general and casual labourers." [129] "Mr. Courtney
+Terell, who has been making inquiries from the Passmore Edwards
+Settlement, writes: 'I feel confident ... that the messenger work produced
+a definite effect on the boys, as will the continual performance of any
+one of a definite function which admits of no improvement, and that this
+has unfitted them for other work.'" [130] "The injury done to these boys is
+not that they are compelled as men to devote themselves to low-skilled
+labour, but that from the more or less specialized nature of the work
+which has employed this boyhood, they are unfitted to become good
+low-skilled labourers." [131]
+
+It is impossible to resist the mass of evidence of this kind which might
+easily be increased indefinitely. The boy gains nothing from this form of
+employment and loses much. He loses the results of his training in the
+elementary school; the habits of obedience, regularity, and industry are
+dead; the bright intelligence is dulled, and with the coming of dulness
+goes the power of learning. He loses his prospects; his future is the
+future of the unskilled labourer--the unskilled labourer, robbed of that
+grit and alertness which alone secure for unskilled labour the adequate
+reward of permanent employment at a steady wage. His loss is the loss of
+the community, which is compelled later to relieve him and his family, and
+perhaps in the end find a home for him in the workhouse. And in thinking
+of this deterioration, and of that hopeless future which that
+deterioration involves, we must never forget that it is not a mere handful
+of lads who suffer in this way, but that half the boys who leave the
+elementary school start on this dreary journey, and, so starting, bid fare
+to reach that dreary end.
+
+Reckoned in money, the State has spent a million and a half on these boys,
+and but little comes back to the State or remains with the boy. If it has
+gone anywhere, and it probably has, then it has gone into the pockets of
+the employers who have sucked out of the boys their value, and then cast
+them aside as worthless refuse, a sort of slag or waste product of their
+works, for which neither they nor anyone else can find a use. In saying
+this there is no desire to censure unfairly the employers. They are
+undoubtedly to blame, because thoughtlessness and ignorance in persons of
+their position are always blameworthy; but there is nothing deliberate in
+their actions, and they are largely unconscious of the harm they are
+doing. There is no active cruelty, and often much rude and ready kindness.
+The boys to them are merely instruments in the machinery of their
+business, for the moment the cheapest instruments that can be found, to be
+used until a new and better supply takes the place of those who are used
+up. They are ignorant of the consequences of their conduct, and, as their
+evidence shows, generally imagine that the boys who leave find suitable
+jobs. It is only of late years that numerous investigators and managers of
+boys' clubs have revealed the grave results of this thoughtlessness.
+Employers who generally enjoy a good reputation as employers are often the
+worst offenders. Indeed, the most flagrant example of this exploitation of
+boy labour is to be found in the Imperial Government and the Municipal
+Service. Mr. Cyril Jackson has in his report devoted much space to the
+telegraph-boys in the service of the Post Office. "The boys come from very
+good homes, and are often the pick of the family. They are examined
+medically, and bring characters." [132] A mere fraction are absorbed in the
+adult service. "It appears as if the Post Office is one of the least
+promising occupations into which a boy can enter. The better boys go into
+it, and it is very depressing to see from our returns how very few of the
+very large number discharged at sixteen or seventeen get into as good
+employment as their good social standing and general standard of education
+should have guaranteed for them." [133] "Everyone of experience seems to
+agree that these telegraph-messengers who are discharged exemplify in a
+very striking way the evils of a parasitic trade." [134] Yet these things
+had been going on for years in a service like that of the Post Office,
+which is subject to much criticism by its employees, and yet no attention
+had been called to the evil. Unfortunately, boys have no votes, and do not
+form trade unions. Other Government departments and the Municipal Service
+seem no less ignorant and no less worthy of blame. A short time back the
+Education Committee called the attention of the London County Council to
+the misuse of its boy labour, and now the Council allows its boys, weekly,
+six hours "off" during working hours, and provides classes which they are
+compelled to attend. At the same time it has nominated one of its officers
+to look after the interests of these boys, and to guide them into useful
+occupations.
+
+If the public service is thus guilty, we must not be surprised that
+private employers are not conscious of wrongdoing in their use of boys.
+The evil is now revealed; there can be no further excuse for ignorance.
+How to deal adequately with the problem must be left to the consideration
+of the next chapter.
+
+The third division of the unskilled occupations comes under the head
+"General Labour." Some 9 per cent. of the boys as they leave school fall
+into this class. This is a nondescript class not clearly defined in the
+returns. Probably a considerable proportion should be brought into the
+preceding class, but there are evidently a large number who could not be
+disposed of in this way. Boys employed in warehouses, in gardens and
+parks, boys in small places assisting the master in the lighter forms of
+labour, boys accompanying their fathers and joining in his work--these
+come into this division. The returns are not sufficiently explicit to
+yield materials for a critical examination; but one or two conclusions can
+be derived from their examination. It will be seen that 22 per cent. of
+the parents, as compared with 9 per cent. of boys, are recorded as being
+general labourers. There is here no excess of boys; there should not be
+the same difficulty in boys finding openings in the adult service as in
+those occupations where boys can claim a practical monopoly. Boys have
+always taken some part in labouring work, and so passed to the better
+class of unskilled labour. Boys in warehouses, for example, frequently
+find there permanent situations. Further, the proportion of parents to
+sons would indicate the possibility of the two being employed together,
+and the boy thus remaining under the supervision of his father. An
+examination of individual returns justifies this conclusion. On the other
+hand, it is to be remembered that the hours of employment are frequently
+very long, and the work arduous and ill suited to the strength of a
+growing lad, and in no way regulated by legislation. Taken as a whole, it
+is probable that the boys who enter this kind of occupation, though
+without opportunity of continuing their education, are not in as forlorn a
+condition as those in the previous class. But the whole question is
+obscure, and it is difficult, without fuller information, to test the
+nature of their training.
+
+THE SKILLED OCCUPATIONS.--The skilled occupations fall into two
+classes--those where manual skill is required, and those concerned with
+commercial and clerical operations. The former are included under "Trades
+and Industries," and the latter under "Commercial Occupations,"
+"Professional Occupations," and "Local Government."
+
+1. _Trades and Industries._--From the tables printed on pp. 115-118, it
+will be seen that under this heading there are in Table I., the type of a
+working-class district, 41 per cent. of parents and 19 per cent. of boys;
+in Table II., the type of a suburban district, the figures are 36 and 15
+respectively; in Table III., the type of the small trader of the East End,
+51 and 42; while in Table IV., the type of London as a whole, the
+percentage is in the case of fathers 41, and in the case of boys 22. We
+have now to consider the prospects as regards supervision, training and
+opening which these trades offer to the boys who enter.
+
+Table III., with its percentage of 51 parents and 42 boys engaged in
+trades and industries, presents a pleasing appearance, but the bulk of the
+trades concerned belong to the tailoring and other industries where
+sweating is rife, where the skill required is of a low order, and the
+wages small and often below the level of bare subsistence. The boys learn
+something, are frequently employed with their fathers, and have a more or
+less permanent outlook, though within the horizon of that outlook is
+seldom included the vision of a living wage. They in general do not form
+part of the class which finds its way into the ranks of that miscellaneous
+unskilled labour whose chief characteristic is casual employment.
+
+Ignoring this table, and taking the table for all London, we find again
+the great disproportion of boys and parents. There are two ways in which
+the boys may learn. They may become indentured apprentices, or, engaged
+only by the week, though sometimes still termed apprentices, they may
+enter the workshop, and take what chance is afforded them of "picking up"
+the mysteries of the trade.
+
+_(a) Indentured Apprenticeship._--Apprenticeship is of little importance
+in London; the system is rapidly becoming obsolete. Whether this is
+desirable is a matter of opinion; that it is a fact cannot be gainsaid.
+All evidence is unanimous in support of this conclusion. In 1906 a special
+committee was appointed by the London County Council to make inquiries
+into the question, and, after careful investigation, reported that "in
+London the old system of indentured apprenticeship has for many years been
+falling into decay. In the majority of the industries it has almost
+entirely disappeared; in others it is occasionally found existing in a
+haphazard and highly unsatisfactory manner; while in only a few trades can
+it be said to be the commonly recognized way of entering the
+profession." [135] There are in London various charities, with an income of
+about Ł24,000 a year, which, in accordance with the terms of their trusts,
+might be used for purposes of apprenticeship; "but not more than a third
+of the income has been devoted to this purpose." "The fact that so small a
+fraction of the income has been devoted to apprenticeship indicates that
+the trustees have not found it an easy task to find candidates anxious to
+be indentured to one of the skilled trades." [136] "The recurring note,"
+says Mr. Charles Booth, "throughout the whole of the industrial volumes of
+the present inquiry is that the system of apprenticeship is either dead or
+dying." [137] The numerous letters to the Press, the wealth of speeches on
+the matter, the sundry public meetings presided over by all manner of
+persons, from the Lord Mayor downwards, all voice the same opinion. It is
+needless to labour the question; we may take it as an accepted fact that
+in London indentured apprenticeship is obsolescent, and the system itself
+of negligible value as a factor in the training of youths in the process
+of skilled trades.
+
+_(b) Picking up a Trade._--Here a boy enters a workshop, and takes his
+chance of learning the trade from watching and assisting the men. The
+employer is under no agreement to give him instruction--least of all, to
+make an all-round craftsman of him. The boy rarely acquires more than a
+certain dexterity in the performance of a single operation; and, however
+proficient he may become in that operation, his general intelligence and
+skill suffer from a narrow and exclusive specialization. The system and
+consequences are dealt with at length in the Report of the London County
+Council already mentioned. The importance of the problem must be the
+justification for a long quotation:
+
+"The high wages a lad can earn as an errand-boy ... are more attractive
+than the low wages associated with an industrial training. Earning looms
+larger in his imagination than the laborious and less remunerative
+learning.... Even if, on leaving school, he obtains employment in a
+workshop, his prospects may not be materially improved. As an errand-boy
+running in and out of the workshop, if possessed of aptitude and
+sharpness, he may in a haphazard fashion pick up a smattering of the
+trade. If he is taken into the shop as a learner, he has little chance of
+getting an all-round training. He is frequently out of work, and even when
+employed seldom learns more than a single operation. The Advisory
+Committee of the London County Council Shoreditch Technical Institute[138]
+recently held an exhaustive inquiry on the subject, and some of the
+conclusions are so germane to the present question that they merit
+quotation. 'It is thus possible,' they write, 'for a boy to be at one
+branch of a trade for a few months only, and when bad trade intervenes he
+is thrown out of employment, and frequently finds himself at twenty years
+of age without a definite knowledge of any craft whatever, and he swells
+the ranks of the unemployed. We have it on the authority of foremen,
+employers, apprentices, and parents, that very little opportunity exists,
+even in big houses, for a boy to learn his trade thoroughly; indeed, we
+have had students who have been in a workshop as apprentices for three or
+four years who could not make a small drawer, and in many cases who could
+not square up true or make the usual joints; and in the woodworking trade
+their knowledge of drawing when they come to us is practically _nil_. It
+is a rare thing to find a young workman who can attack any branch of his
+trade successfully. It frequently occurs that, in consequence of extensive
+subdivision of labour and excessive competition, a man or boy is set to do
+one thing--_e.g._, music-stools, overmantels, chair-legs, sideboards--all
+the time. It is true the man or boy becomes skilled in one direction, but
+correspondingly narrow in a true appreciation of his trade. It is also a
+frequent occurrence that a master who has a job on hand which is slightly
+out of the usual run finds it impossible to put it in the hands of his
+usual staff. Moreover, when work of delicate design and construction has
+to be made from specified drawings, it is extremely difficult to obtain
+men who can proceed with the work on their own responsibility. Not only do
+these remarks apply to the woodcrafts generally, but they apply with equal
+force to such work as upholstery (both stuffing and drapery), to
+metal-work, and to carving. In connection with the latter subject, it is a
+rare thing indeed for carvers to design a carcass in the rough, and then
+to see whether the proposed carved portion is in harmony with the
+whole--whether the said carving be too much in relief, too flat, too
+expansive, or altogether out of character with the general work. It is
+notorious that good polishers and furniture decorators are exceedingly
+rare, and many a high-class manufacturer has his goods spoiled on account
+of bad polish and decorative treatment.'" [139] It must be remembered that
+this last quoted opinion is not the opinion of the amateur, but the
+informed opinion of representative employers.
+
+The woodwork and furniture trades are not peculiar in the characteristic
+of inadequate training. "We have reason to believe," continues the Report,
+"that if a similar inquiry were made into other trades, the same
+unsatisfactory picture would be disclosed. Either the training is
+one-sided, or there is no training at all. The consequences are
+sufficiently obvious. The skilled trades are, we fear, recruited in the
+main by immigrants outside London. In many trades the Londoner is at a
+discount. Acquainted as he is with but one or two operations of his
+industry, if he loses his situation, it is only with the greatest of
+difficulty that he can find another. Mr. Charles Booth states that 'with
+carpenters and joiners, brick-layers, carriage builders, engineers,
+smiths, and saddlers, the percentages of heads of families born out of
+London range from 51 to 59,' An inquiry made of the Technical Board of the
+London County Council on the Building Trades in 1858 showed that '41
+typical firms in various branches of the building trades having 12,000
+employés had only 80 apprentices and 143 learners, instead of 1,600, which
+would have been the normal proportion.' The same Report mentions that
+'among the foremen and operatives who have come before us, not one stated
+that he was born or trained in London.' In these trades the better
+positions go inevitably to the country-bred man, with his all-round
+training. In the docks alone does the Londoner hold his own. An inquiry
+there showed that among the dock-labourers proper more than 72 per cent.
+were born in London--a result not calculated to excite any very solid
+satisfaction. These facts should arouse serious apprehension concerning
+the future of the London-bred citizen. We cannot view with equanimity his
+relegation to lower positions, while the better places are given to
+better-trained immigrants. We are not prepared to admit that the Londoner
+is, on the average, inherently inferior either in intelligence or manual
+dexterity to his country-born neighbour." [140]
+
+These quotations indicate clearly the general aspects of the situation.
+They show the small prospects boys enjoy who enter a skilled trade in
+London. Parents are not blind to the condition of affairs, and it is not
+unnatural on their part to allow the boys to go out as errand-boys, where
+at least the immediate earnings are larger and the hope of advancement not
+much more discouraging.
+
+2. _Clerical and Commercial Occupations._--Including under this head
+commercial and professional occupations, and general or local government,
+we find in Table I., the type of a working-class district, 6-1/2 per cent.
+of parents and 8 per cent. of boys; in Table II., the type of the suburbs,
+30 per cent. of parents, and 16-1/2 per cent. of boys; in Table III.,
+typical of the East End, 4 per cent. of parents, and 6 per cent. of boys;
+in Table IV., typical of London as a whole, 13 per cent. of parents, and
+10 per cent. of boys. In the school returns no boy was placed under these
+headings unless he appeared in the column "Skilled Work." In judging of
+these results it must be borne in mind that the better positions fall to
+those who have had at least a secondary education. Nevertheless, clever
+boys, who attend evening schools, have some prospects of advancement. One
+feature in the returns was the large number of boys who were apparently
+employed with their fathers. In many instances boys obtain their positions
+as the result of examination. This is true of several banks, assurance
+companies, railway companies, and is becoming the general practice in the
+Civil and Municipal Service. Many of these examinations are within the
+standard of attainment reached by the cleverer boys in the elementary
+schools. The boys at their place of employment are taught sufficient to
+enable them to do the work allotted them. This is often of a specialized
+character; and without further education they cannot expect to escape from
+the lowest ranks of clerks. If well conducted, they can probably obtain a
+permanent position when manhood is reached, or, at any rate, are not
+discharged because they have become men. Change in the methods of
+business, or failure of the concern, may entail dismissal; and after
+dismissal a new position is not easily obtained. But the lower ranks of
+the clerical profession are ill paid, and the need to present a good
+appearance makes serious inroads on the meagre stipend. Unless the boy
+continues his education and means to rise, his outlook is not very
+encouraging. He has, however, the advantage of supervision, of relatively
+short hours, and enjoys the possibilities of attendance at evening
+schools. In spite of what is often said to the contrary, taking things as
+they are, he has the best prospects of those included in the returns. The
+fact that so large a proportion of boys coming from the suburbs is found
+in this class would seem to indicate that the more thoughtful parents
+share this opinion.
+
+_(c) The Passage to Manhood._
+
+The tables quoted on pp. 115-118, and founded on school returns, refer
+only to the first occupations of boys as they leave school. It is
+unfortunate that no figures exist which trace year by year the later
+careers of the boys. All persons, however, who have any intimate knowledge
+of the subject agree that the boys repeatedly move in an almost aimless
+fashion from one situation to another.
+
+The census returns indicate in a general way the distribution, among the
+trades and occupations, of persons of various ages. They do not, however,
+give us a yearly survey; and after the age fourteen to fifteen we are
+compelled to rest content with figures which cover periods of five years.
+The following table is taken from a table printed in a Report to the
+Education Committee of the London County Council, made by a special
+committee appointed to deal with the apprenticeship question; it is
+founded on the 1901 census return:[141]
+
+OCCUPATIONS OF BOYS AND MEN.
+
+PERCENTAGES.
+
+  +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |Class of Occupation.         |  Age   |   Age   |   Age   |   Age   |
+  |                             | 14-15. |  15-20. |  20-45. |  45-65. |
+  |-----------------------------|--------|---------|---------|---------|
+  |Trades and industries        |  14ˇ74 |   31ˇ54 |   35ˇ76 |   38ˇ85 |
+  |Domestic offices or services |   1ˇ75 |    3ˇ29 |    3ˇ55 |    3ˇ35 |
+  |Transport (including         |        |         |         |         |
+  |  messengers, errand-boys,   |        |         |         |         |
+  |  van-boys, etc.)            |  27ˇ65 |   19ˇ49 |   16ˇ04 |   14ˇ19 |
+  |Shopkeepers, shop-assistants,|        |         |         |         |
+  |  and dealers                |   6ˇ03 |   12ˇ52 |   14ˇ51 |    9ˇ23 |
+  |Commercial occupations       |   4ˇ61 |   11ˇ50 |    9ˇ55 |   12ˇ40 |
+  |General labour               |   1ˇ46 |    5ˇ53 |    8ˇ46 |    7ˇ02 |
+  |Professional occupations and |        |         |         |         |
+  |  their subordinate services |   0ˇ73 |    2ˇ00 |    4ˇ55 |    5ˇ08 |
+  |General or local government  |        |         |         |         |
+  |  of the country (including  |        |         |         |         |
+  |  telegraph-boys)            |   3ˇ01 |    2ˇ53 |    3ˇ70 |    2ˇ24 |
+  |Defence of the country       |   0ˇ15 |    1ˇ77 |    1ˇ40 |    0ˇ62 |
+  |Without specified occupation |        |         |         |         |
+  |  or unoccupied (including   |        |         |         |         |
+  |  boys at school)            |  39ˇ87 |    9ˇ83 |    2ˇ48 |    7ˇ02 |
+  |-----------------------------|--------|---------|---------|---------|
+  |Total number analyzed        | 41,889 | 208,921 | 869,466 | 313,949 |
+  +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+In comparing this table with the tables founded on the school returns, it
+must be borne in mind that this table is not confined to persons who have
+passed through the elementary schools, but refers to all the inhabitants
+of London.
+
+The most striking feature in the table is the marked difference in the
+distribution of occupations at the age of fourteen to fifteen, and at
+other ages. The third column, which includes persons between the ages of
+twenty and forty-five, covers the period of a man's greatest vigour, and
+may be regarded as the normal or stable distribution. Comparing the first
+and the third column, it becomes obvious that the first year, at least,
+after leaving school is a year of uncertainty and aimless wandering. The
+boys have not definitely chosen any particular occupation as their life's
+work. How long is spent in this state of unprofitable drifting the census
+returns do not show as the following years are not separated. But the fact
+that the distribution in the second column differs materially from the
+normal distribution of the third column would seem to indicate that this
+period stretches some distance into the years that lie between the ages of
+fifteen and twenty.
+
+In default of this general information, we must fall back on special
+investigations; and here the facts are drawn from too narrow a circle of
+inquiry to be regarded as altogether typical. In his report to the Poor
+Law Commission, Mr. Cyril Jackson gives an instructive table[142] (see p.
+145). It is founded on biographies of boys obtained from boys' clubs,
+schoolmasters, and managers of schools.
+
+I have omitted the ages that follow, as the number of boys concerned was
+too few to justify any conclusions. The rapid diminution in the number of
+boys when the age of eighteen is reached impairs the value of the last
+two columns. In general, the districts from which the boys are drawn are
+poor; but the fact that the boys come into relation with various
+organizations, and were no doubt assisted by them, should lead us to
+believe that the picture presented errs, if anything, by being too
+favourable. The steady increase in the trades, and the equally steady
+decrease in the number of van-boys, Post Office boys, errand and shop boys
+during the first three years is instructive. Trades, skilled and
+low-skilled, reckoned in percentages, have risen from 39ˇ4 to 50ˇ9, while
+the messenger class has fallen from 40ˇ1 to 23ˇ8. The changes in the
+earlier years are the most significant, and little stability of occupation
+is reached before the age of eighteen. The age of fourteen evidently
+represents the year of greatest indecision and maximum drift.
+
+PERCENTAGE OF BOYS IN VARIOUS GROUPS OF OCCUPATIONS AT EACH AGE.
+
+  +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |  Occupations.   |Age 14.|Age 15.|Age 16.|Age 17.|Age 18.|Age 19.|
+  |-----------------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
+  |Skilled trades   |  11ˇ2 |  14ˇ0 |  16ˇ8 |  17ˇ8 |  18ˇ0 |  16ˇ3 |
+  |Clerks           |  14ˇ6 |  15ˇ0 |  16ˇ4 |  15ˇ2 |  15ˇ4 |  14ˇ3 |
+  |Low-skilled      |  28ˇ2 |  32ˇ8 |  34ˇ1 |  33ˇ9 |  32ˇ5 |  34ˇ1 |
+  |Carmen           |   0ˇ6 |   0ˇ2 |   0ˇ6 |   2ˇ6 |   4ˇ5 |   5ˇ1 |
+  |Van-boys         |   8ˇ2 |   6ˇ6 |   5ˇ2 |   4ˇ9 |   2ˇ8 |   1ˇ2 |
+  |Post Office      |   1ˇ4 |   1ˇ4 |   0ˇ2 |   0ˇ2 |   0ˇ3 |   1ˇ2 |
+  |Errand and shop  |       |       |       |       |       |       |
+  |  boys           |  30ˇ5 |  22ˇ0 |  18ˇ4 |  15ˇ0 |  12ˇ6 |  10ˇ3 |
+  |General and      |       |       |       |       |       |       |
+  |  casual labour  |   5ˇ3 |   7ˇ0 |   6ˇ7 |   6ˇ9 |   6ˇ4 |   8ˇ7 |
+  |Army             |    -- |   0ˇ6 |   0ˇ6 |   1ˇ1 |   3ˇ6 |   4ˇ0 |
+  |At sea           |   0ˇ2 |   0ˇ4 |   0ˇ8 |   1ˇ5 |   2ˇ8 |   3ˇ5 |
+  |Emigrants        |    -- |    -- |   0ˇ2 |   0ˇ4 |   0ˇ8 |   1ˇ2 |
+  |-----------------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
+  |Total No. of boys|   485 |   500 |   474 |   448 |   356 |   252 |
+  |Unemployed       |     1 |     2 |     1 |    13 |    22 |    22 |
+  +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+In other parts of his report Mr. Jackson has endeavoured to follow the
+history of boys who have begun life as errand-boys or as van-boys. "From
+the forms returned," he writes, "it seems clear that the theory that boys
+can become errand-boys for a year or two, and then enter skilled trades,
+cannot be maintained. Very few boys can pick up skill after a year or two
+of merely errand-boy work." [143] Or again: "The chart prepared from the
+forms filled in by boys who entered life as errand-boys shows the small
+proportion who find any steady and skilled employment afterwards, and
+those have ceased to be errand-boys very early. The vast majority become
+workers in low-skilled trades or general and casual labourers." [144] Of
+all the "blind-alley" occupations, that of the van-boy appears the most
+deplorable. "The life of the van-boy is a rough and somewhat lazy one.
+They have long hours, spells of idleness, and considerable opportunities
+of pilfering and drinking." [145] "The chart shows that it is a very low
+grade of occupation, and that very few boys who begin as van-boys get into
+skilled trades--a far lower percentage, in fact, than errand-boys." [146]
+
+The second point to be noted in the table founded on the census returns is
+the large number--nearly 40 per cent.--of boys of the age of fourteen
+returned as without specified occupation or unoccupied (including boys at
+school). There are in the elementary schools about 5,000 boys between the
+age of fourteen and fifteen, and probably about the same number in
+secondary schools. Converted into percentages, this 40 per cent. would be
+broken up into 24 per cent. at school and 16 per cent. without specified
+occupation. The last figure is high, and justifies the conclusion, not
+only that the boys of fourteen wander from occupation to occupation, but
+that they also are frequently doing nothing. The habit of shifting from
+situation to situation necessarily involves considerable periods of
+unemployment. Thus early in their career the boys become accustomed to the
+evils of casual labour.
+
+We can arrive at the same conclusion by approaching the problem from a
+somewhat different point of view. If in some trades we discover an excess
+of boys, and in others an excess of men, it is clear that there must be
+shocks and shiftings in the passage from youth to manhood. In London the
+number of lads between the ages of fourteen and twenty is 17ˇ5 per cent.
+of the number of males between the ages of fourteen and sixty-five. If,
+therefore, we find the proportion of lads to total males engaged in any
+trade, reckoned in percentages, differs much from 17ˇ5, either lads must
+at some time pass out of the trade or men come in. On the other hand, in a
+trade where this percentage is approximately 17ˇ5 boys who enter have, at
+any rate, the chance of finding employment as men. In this sense we may
+regard the distribution of lads and men in a trade as normal when this
+percentage lies between 15 and 20; less than normal when it drops below
+15; more than normal when it rises above 20. The following table may be
+taken as an example of trades in which considerable numbers of persons are
+engaged:
+
+  +---------------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                           |  Number in   |  Number in   |           |
+  |        Trade.             |1,000 of Males|1,000 of Males|Percentage.|
+  |                           | Aged 14-20.  | Aged 14-65.  |           |
+  |---------------------------|--------------|--------------|-----------|
+  |LESS THAN NORMAL:          |              |              |           |
+  |  Building trades          |     13ˇ2     |     144ˇ2    |    9ˇ1    |
+  |  Skin, leather, etc.      |      2ˇ6     |       8ˇ5    |   14ˇ1    |
+  |  Food, tobacco, drink,    |              |              |           |
+  |    and lodging            |     19ˇ9     |     135ˇ2    |   14ˇ8    |
+  |  General labour           |     15ˇ0     |     111ˇ1    |   13ˇ5    |
+  |  General or local         |              |              |           |
+  |    government             |      6ˇ5     |      45ˇ8    |   14ˇ3    |
+  |  Professional             |      4ˇ8     |      62ˇ2    |    7ˇ8    |
+  |NORMAL:                    |              |              |           |
+  |  Domestic services        |      7ˇ8     |      51ˇ7    |   15ˇ1    |
+  |  Commercial occupations   |     25ˇ9     |     131ˇ1    |   19ˇ8    |
+  |  Metals, machines, etc.   |     14ˇ4     |      92ˇ7    |   15ˇ5    |
+  |  Precious metals          |      6ˇ6     |      36ˇ5    |   18ˇ2    |
+  |  Furniture, etc.          |      9ˇ3     |      59ˇ5    |   15ˇ7    |
+  |  Textile fabrics          |      4ˇ1     |      23ˇ5    |   17ˇ3    |
+  |MORE THAN NORMAL:          |              |              |           |
+  |  National Government      |              |              |           |
+  |    (messengers, etc.)     |      3ˇ9     |      13ˇ5    |   29ˇ2    |
+  |  Clerks, office-boys, etc.|     23ˇ1     |      83ˇ0    |   27ˇ8    |
+  |  Transport, errand-boys,  |              |              |           |
+  |    etc.                   |     52ˇ3     |     236ˇ3    |   22ˇ1    |
+  |  Printers                 |      7ˇ1     |      34ˇ1    |   20ˇ7    |
+  +---------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+If we could have taken the period fourteen to eighteen instead of fourteen
+to twenty, these tables would have been even more striking than they are.
+But, even as they are, they are sufficient to enforce the lesson that
+between the occupation of the boy and the occupation of the man there is a
+gulf fixed. The one does not lead naturally to the other. When the boy
+becomes a man he does not find provided for him a natural opening; with
+more or less pains, he is driven to force a way in trades for which he has
+received no definite preparation, and in which diligence and good
+character do not afford any guarantee of success.
+
+_(d) Summary._
+
+Before proceeding to examine the conditions of boy labour in other parts
+of the country, it will be desirable to summarize the results for London,
+and so to determine how far the essentials of a true apprenticeship system
+are found in that city.
+
+_Supervision._--The boy should be under adequate supervision until he
+reaches the age of at least eighteen. In London, so far as the majority
+are concerned, all State supervision ends at fourteen. When the boy goes
+out to work what measure of supervision was previously found in the home
+comes to an end; it is beyond the power of parents to exert any real
+control over the boy. He is his own master, finds his employment for
+himself, and leaves it when he thinks fit. Philanthropic enterprise
+touches a fringe, and a fringe only, of the boys; their growing sense of
+independence resents restraint. The story of the workshop points the same
+moral. Personal relations between boy and employer are seldom possible;
+and where the demand for the services of boys is unlimited and
+unsatisfied, attempts to enforce discipline fail, because, sooner than
+submit, the boy seeks another situation.
+
+_Training._--For the unskilled labourer of the future London provides no
+training. The schools do, indeed, turn out in the boys ready made and
+completely finished articles for boy-work and "blind-alley" occupations,
+and three or four years of such employment destroy the most-marked results
+of elementary education. The skilled workman of the future finds in the
+workshop small chance of gaining that all-round training which will make
+of him a man, and not a machine. Technical education for the minority is
+successful, but without power to compel attendance and limit the hours of
+boy-labour it is only the few who can avail themselves of the
+opportunities offered.
+
+_Opening._--Boys' work is separated from man's work, and there is no broad
+highway leading from the one to the other. The lad of eighteen is
+compelled to make a new beginning just when new beginnings are most
+difficult. His power of learning is gone from him, and in the unskilled
+labour market alone does he see any prospect of earning immediate wages.
+The State Labour Exchange is an infant which has yet to justify its
+creation.
+
+In London the provision of supervision, of training, of an opening, is
+alike defective, and beyond the age of fourteen for the majority of boys
+can hardly be said to exist at all; and, what is most serious, we are face
+to face with a state of affairs where there is no sign of improvement, and
+where all tendencies indicate for the future an accelerated rate of
+progressive failure. In short, London cannot claim even the beginnings of
+a real apprenticeship system.
+
+§ 2. OTHER TOWNS.
+
+Among the cities London does not stand alone in its conditions of boy
+labour. It may indeed be regarded as the most extreme example of
+urbanization, but it is nothing more; it is a normal type, not an
+exception or monstrous exaggeration. As the capital of the Empire and the
+seat of government, it has its own characteristics, but so likewise has
+every other town. But dominating all these local variations and giving
+uniformity to the conditions of boy labour in our cities, remain the
+common features of the industrial development of to-day. This, at any
+rate, is the unanimous testimony of all those investigators--and they have
+been many--who have studied the problem.
+
+I shall not, therefore, make any attempt to apply to other towns the
+detailed method of investigation I have endeavoured to employ in the case
+of London. It will be enough to show that the general conditions are the
+same. What differences exist are differences of degree, and not
+differences of kind.
+
+_(a) The Employment of School-Children._
+
+The investigations of the Interdepartmental Committee has proved beyond
+doubt that throughout the country it is common for children, while still
+attending school, to work long hours for wages. One or two quotations
+will be sufficient to justify this statement. The Report declares "that,
+as the door has been closed to their employment in factories and workshops
+and during school-hours, there has been a tendency, which many witnesses
+believe to be an increasing one, towards their employment in other
+occupations before morning school, between school-hours, in the evening,
+and on Saturdays and Sundays. Provided they make eight or ten attendances
+every week, they may be employed (with a few exceptions, and these little
+enforced) in the streets, in the fields, in shops, or at home, for the
+longest possible hours, and on the hardest and most irksome work, without
+any limit or regulation." [147] Evidence abounded to show that such
+possibilities of overwork were frequently realized. Examples have already
+been quoted in the case of London, and it is unnecessary here to go over
+the same ground again.
+
+That legislation, as at present enforced, has done little to cure the evil
+of overwork may be seen from the reports of school medical officers. Some
+of these are quoted in the Annual Report for 1909 of the Chief Medical
+Officer of the Board of Education. The school medical officers were not
+asked to report specially on the problem, but their inspection of
+school-children revealed the magnitude of the evil.
+
+"Several school medical officers report on the question of child labour
+during 1909. Dr. Thresh (school medical officer, Essex) places on record
+the serious extent to which children are employed out of school-hours in
+the Grays and Tilbury districts, and gives many individual examples. Dr.
+Forbes (school medical officer, Brighton) gives some interesting
+particulars from a statement prepared by the Inspector under the
+Employment of and Cruelty to Children Acts. In this area the head-teachers
+furnish regularly lists of children known by them to be employed out of
+school-hours. Among these children it was found that 39, 25, and 22 per
+cent. were illegally employed during 1907, 1908, and 1909 respectively.
+Dr. Clarke (school medical officer, Walthamstow) found that 19 per cent.
+of the boys examined were employed out of school-hours, of whom 19 per
+cent. worked an average of eleven hours per week; 32 per cent. worked ten
+hours and over on Saturdays; 20 per cent. worked twenty hours or over
+during school-days. A full analysis of all children known to be employed
+out of school-hours at Yeovil is made by Dr. Page (school medical
+officer), who found that 22 per cent. of all children eight years of age
+and upwards were so employed, and of these 40 per cent. worked for twenty
+hours and upwards per week. Dr. Hope (school medical officer of Liverpool)
+produces evidence to show how usefully medical inspection may be linked up
+with the arrangements made to put into force by-laws relating to the
+employment of children. Thus, all cases where there was reason to suppose
+that the by-laws were being infringed were reported to the Sanitary
+Department. These children cases numbered 308 during the year, and a table
+is given showing in what manner they were dealt with. At Leamington, 119
+boys and 30 girls were reported by Dr. Burnet as employed in a
+wage-earning capacity either before or after school-hours, and 90 boys and
+11 girls both before and after school-hours. Of these, 63 children were of
+subnormal nutrition, 22 were suffering from anćmia, 2 from phthisis, 8
+from heart disease, and 25 had enlarged tonsils. Several of these children
+were quite unfit for such employment, and the subject is deserving of a
+thorough investigation with a view to adopting protective measures where
+necessary. At Southport, 131 leaving boys (32ˇ7 per cent.) were found to
+be doing unskilled or casual work, and in Oldham 179 of the children
+inspected were similarly engaged." [148]
+
+As in London, so in other parts of the country, school-children work for
+long hours, and no adequate means exist at present to prevent the evil. As
+in London, so in other parts of the country, signs of serious physical
+weakness are the common accompaniments of this employment, and the health
+of the rising generation is injured. As in London, so in other parts of
+the country, the forms of employment in which children are engaged are
+uneducational, and tend to lead children, when school-days are over, into
+the "blind-alley" occupations.
+
+Besides these children, there are about 38,000 "half-timers." [149] It is
+needless here to dilate on the evils of the half-time system, which allows
+children who have reached the age of twelve to spend half the day in the
+factory and workshop. It is condemned by all qualified to pass on it an
+impartial judgment. Its continuance reflects little credit on the humanity
+of those employers and those trade unions who have repeatedly opposed its
+abolition.
+
+_(b) The Entry to a Trade._
+
+The survey of conditions of juvenile employment in London made clear
+certain facts. There was the growing demand for boys in what has been
+called "blind-alley" occupations, and the demoralizing effect of such
+work. There was the difficulty of obtaining adequate training for those
+who had entered a skilled trade. There was a general lack of supervision
+in the workshop. And, finally, there was no easy passage from youth to
+manhood. It is impossible to read the Report of the Poor Law Commission
+and the volumes of evidence, or to study the various investigations into
+the conditions of sundry towns, without being convinced that London is in
+no way peculiar. The chief difficulty in approaching the problem lies in
+the selection of the all too numerous witnesses.
+
+The Report of the Poor Law Commission probably provides the best summary
+of the mass of evidence on the subject. Both Reports--Majority and
+Minority--alike realize the gravity of the problem, not for London alone,
+but for the whole of the country. "The problem," says the Majority Report,
+"owes its rise in the main to the enormous growth of cities as
+distributive centres, giving innumerable openings for errand-boys,
+milk-boys, office and shop boys, bookstall-boys, van, lorry, and trace
+boys, street-sellers, etc. In nearly all these occupations the training
+received leads to nothing; and the occupations themselves are, in most
+cases, destructive to healthy development, owing to long hours, long
+periods of standing, walking, or mere waiting, and, morally, are wholly
+demoralizing." [150] Or, again: "The almost universal experience is that in
+large towns boys, owing to carelessness or selfishness on the part of the
+parents, or their own want of knowledge and thought--for the parents very
+often have little voice in the matter--plunge haphazard, immediately on
+leaving school, into occupations in which there is no future, where they
+earn wages sufficiently high to make them independent of parental control
+and disinclined for the lower wages of apprenticeship, and whence, if they
+remain, they are extruded when they grow to manhood." [151] Or, to go to
+the Minority Report: "There are the rivet-boys in shipyards and boiler
+shops, the 'oil-cans' in the nut and bolt department, the 'boy-minders' of
+automatic machines, the 'drawers-off' of sawmills, and the 'layers-on' of
+printing works, and scores of other varieties of boys whose occupations
+presently come to an end." [152] Or, again: "In towns like Glasgow,
+Liverpool, Bristol, Newcastle, the proportions of van-boys, etc., are as
+large as in London." [153] Employers do not always conceal the fact: "In
+the words of a frank employer, they (the boys) are not taught; they are
+made to work continuously at their own little temporary trades." [154] If
+we desire actual figures of those engaged in one class of the
+"blind-alley" occupations--messengers--Mr. Jackson tells us that "under
+fourteen years of age there are no less than 32,536 (23ˇ5 per cent. of
+those occupied under that age), while there are 41,659 aged fourteen, and
+54,592 from fifteen to nineteen years of age inclusive, of which it is
+probable that the bulk are under seventeen years of age." [155] Writing of
+Norwich, the same writer says: "There seems little doubt that the boy
+labour is used up for industrial purposes, and that they are left less
+capable members of the community, with little prospect of good work when
+they become adults." [156]
+
+Apart from the Report of the Poor Law Commission, individual writers of
+wide and varied experience outside London have voiced the same view. "It
+has never been so easy," writes Dr. Sadler, "as it is in England to-day,
+for a boy of thirteen or fourteen to find some kind of virtually unskilled
+work, involving long hours of deteriorating routine, in which there is
+little mental or moral discipline, but for which are offered wages that
+for the time seem high, and flatter his sense of being independent of
+school discipline and of home restraint." [157] And the same writer
+continues: "Certain forms of industry, which make large use of boys and
+girls who have recently left the elementary schools, are in part (except
+where the employers make special efforts to meet their responsibility)
+parasitic in character, and get more than they ought, and more than their
+promoters realize that they are getting, of the physical and moral capital
+of the rising generation." [158]
+
+The Rev. Spencer J. Gibb, who has devoted special attention to the
+problem, writes: "The characteristic evils of boy work invade office work
+in a peculiarly subtle and dangerous form. In every city small offices are
+to be found in which the whole of the business, such as it is, is carried
+on by the master himself, who has frequently to be absent from his
+one-roomed office. The office-boy, who constitutes the entire staff, is
+meanwhile left in charge. He has probably nothing to do, and spends his
+time either in vacancy, in mischievous expeditions along the corridor, or
+in reading trash of a bloodthirsty nature." [159] Under such conditions
+supervision and control are negligible factors in the training of the
+workshop. It seems unnecessary to multiply examples; all persons of
+experience lament the increasing employment of boys in "blind-alley"
+occupations, and deplore the general lack of supervision.
+
+The question of the skilled trades has received less attention, and there
+is much need of such a careful inquiry in various towns as had been made
+by Mr. Tawney in the case of Glasgow. Writing of the woodwork trades in
+that town, he says: "There is no regular training system; a boy learns
+incidentally, and is only shifted from one machine to another when the
+shop needs it.... One of its employés was the best producer of wooden
+rings in his town, but could not make a wage at turning a table-leg," and
+adds that, "with the exception of a few old men who were trained under the
+apprenticeship system, the foremen are the only men with all-round
+skill." [160] While of the engineering trades he says: "On entering the
+works the lad who is going to be a fitter goes straight to the fitting
+shop and learns nothing else; a lad who is going to be a turner goes to
+the machine shop and does not learn fitting." [161] Specialization is
+pushed even farther, and lads are kept to a single machine. Drilling,
+milling, slotting, punching, band-sawing, or screwing machines can be used
+after a few days' training, and this is all the experience a boy gets.
+And, speaking generally of Glasgow firms, Mr. Tawney says: "Boys are kept,
+as a rule, in their own departments. They are not taught; they are made to
+work." These facts were obtained as the result of a careful inquiry among
+100 firms in Glasgow.
+
+Glasgow, then, repeats the story of London; and there is good reason to
+believe that other towns, if submitted to a similar examination, would
+demonstrate the fact of the inadequacy of the workshop training of to-day.
+Apprenticeship, according to numerous witnesses, is everywhere decaying,
+and there is nothing except the technical school rising to take its place;
+and under existing conditions the technical school can touch only a fringe
+of the problem.
+
+_(c) The Passage to Manhood._
+
+The evidence of the last few pages, relating to the increase in the number
+of "blind-alley" occupations and to the inadequate training of the
+workshop, would show that, as in London, so likewise in other towns, there
+is no easy passage from the work of the youth to the work of the man.
+There is a break in the continuity of the service somewhere about the age
+of eighteen. New openings have then to be searched for, and new beginnings
+made, when the habits of learning have disappeared, even if the
+opportunities for it presented themselves.
+
+It would seem superfluous to repeat for other towns the statistical
+evidence in support of this statement which was given in the case of
+London. "Blind-alley" occupations and troubled passage to manhood
+necessarily go together. Mr. Tawney's researches in Glasgow indicate
+clearly the difficulties of this transition period. A single quotation
+must suffice: "A district secretary of the Amalgamated Society of
+Engineers says of a world-famous firm which employs several thousand men
+making a particular kind of domestic machine: 'It is a reception home for
+young bakers and grocers. Boys go to it from other occupations to do one
+small part of the machine.... When they leave they are not competent
+engineers, and find it difficult to get work elsewhere.'" [162] Detailed
+figures for the country as a whole in respect of certain trades may be
+found in Mr. Jackson's Report on Boy Labour. All evidence, from
+wheresoever collected, goes to show the existence of the break between the
+work of the boy and the work of the man.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is trusted that sufficient evidence has been produced to prove
+conclusively that the conditions of boy labour in London do not differ
+essentially from the conditions of boy labour in other towns. The evidence
+could have been multiplied indefinitely and, what is most striking, among
+the mass of witnesses forthcoming there is none found to venture a
+contrary opinion. We may take it, then, as a well-established fact that in
+other towns besides London, supervision, training, and the provision of an
+opening are alike gravely and progressively defective. In other words,
+among the urban districts of the country no true apprenticeship system
+exists or is in course of creation.
+
+§ 3. RURAL DISTRICTS.
+
+No comprehensive inquiry has been made into the conditions of boy labour
+in rural districts and small towns. A few studies of individual villages
+exist--as, for example, "Life in an English Village," by Miss Maude
+Davies--but these are not sufficiently numerous to justify any general
+conclusions. The return on Children Working for Wages, made to the House
+of Commons in 1899, gives certain statistics. From the returns on pages 21
+and 23 we see that for England and Wales some 5ˇ2 per cent. of children
+above Standard I. were working for wages. The percentage for boys alone
+would be 8ˇ5 per cent., or for boys eleven years and upwards about 17 per
+cent., compared with 24 per cent. for London alone. These figures would
+seem to show that, while common, work among school-children over the
+country as a whole does not quite reach the London level. So far as can be
+gathered from the returns, it is in towns that the employment of
+school-children is most frequent, though in rural districts it is frequent
+enough to constitute a grave evil.
+
+The same return gives the occupation of children as they leave school. On
+page 163 is the summary.
+
+The table is incomplete: "In London the proportion of children is no less
+than 94 per cent.; in the group of large urban districts, 72 per cent.;
+while in the rest of England and Wales, including the rural districts and
+small towns, the percentage sinks to 47." [163] Without a careful analysis,
+such as only local knowledge could supply, it would be dangerous to give
+much weight to the return. It does, however, appear from the summary that
+"blind-alley" occupations bear a close relation to urbanization, and that
+the two increase together. Or looking at the question from another point
+of view, a boy in rural districts enjoys greater opportunities of
+continuity of employment in the passage from youth to manhood than he does
+in the towns.
+
+OCCUPATIONS OF BOYS ON LEAVING SCHOOL IN (1) LONDON, (2) LARGE URBAN AND
+MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS, AND (3) RURAL AND SMALL URBAN DISTRICTS OF
+ENGLAND AND WALES.[164]
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                      |               |Large Urban and|  Rural and    |
+  |    Occupation.       |    London.    | Manufacturing | Small Urban   |
+  |                      |               |  Districts.   |  Districts.   |
+  |----------------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|
+  |                      |   No.  |   %  |   No.  |   %  |   No.  |   %  |
+  |Agriculture           |    101 |   -- |    730 |    2 | 17,950 |   26 |
+  |Building              |    787 |    3 |  1,973 |    4 |  3,744 |    5 |
+  |Woodworking           |    905 |    4 |    591 |    1 |    661 |    1 |
+  |Metal, engineering,   |        |      |        |      |        |      |
+  |  and shipbuilding    |    949 |    4 |  4,090 |    8 |  3,119 |    4 |
+  |Mining and quarrying  |     -- |   -- |  1,584 |    3 |  6,510 |    9 |
+  |Textile               |     49 |   -- |  6,046 |   13 |  5,522 |    8 |
+  |Clothing              |    665 |    3 |  1,634 |    3 |  1,612 |    2 |
+  |Printing and allied   |        |      |        |      |        |      |
+  |  trades              |  1,121 |    4 |    868 |    2 |    680 |    1 |
+  |Clerical              |  2,060 |    8 |  5,666 |   12 |  2,727 |    4 |
+  |In shops              |  3,584 |   14 |  6,084 |   13 |  7,045 |   10 |
+  |Errand, cart, boat,   |        |      |        |      |        |      |
+  |  etc., boy           | 10,283 |   40 | 10,496 |   22 |  9,917 |   14 |
+  |Newsboy and street    |        |      |        |      |        |      |
+  |  vendor              |    964 |    4 |  1,472 |    3 |  1,223 |    2 |
+  |Teaching              |    120 |   -- |    430 |    1 |    557 |    1 |
+  |Domestic service      |    301 |    1 |    173 |   -- |  1,090 |    2 |
+  |Miscellaneous and     |        |      |        |      |        |      |
+  |  indefinite          |  2,256 |    9 |  4,159 |    9 |  4,817 |    7 |
+  |----------------------+--------|------|--------|------|--------|------|
+  |   Total occupied     | 24,145 |   94 | 45,996 |   96 | 67,174 |   96 |
+  |No reported occupation|  1,623 |    6 |  2,097 |    4 |  2,765 |    4 |
+  |----------------------|--------|------|--------|------|--------|------|
+  |     Grand total      | 25,768 |  100 | 48,093 |  100 | 69,939 |  100 |
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+There is good reason to believe that the prospects of an all-round
+training are more favourable in a village than in a town. The fact,
+already mentioned, that immigrants from rural districts obtain the better
+positions in London trades, especially in the building trades, would seem
+to justify this conclusion. There is also the general consideration that
+rural districts are always nearly a century behind the industrial
+development of the towns, and represent therefore an older condition of
+affairs. Workshops are smaller, the gulf between man and employer less
+impassable, and the old paternal relation between boy and master more
+possible of attainment. We may therefore assume, without much risk of
+error, that training is better in rural districts than in towns.
+
+On the other hand, while it is true that in industrial progress the
+villages lag behind the towns, they still follow them, though at an
+interval. Machine-made goods, especially in the woodwork trades, are in
+villages replacing the hand-made goods, and the demand for manual
+dexterity is to this extent decreasing. It would also seem to be true that
+the old indentured apprenticeship is falling into disuse. In the Wiltshire
+village of Corsley, for example, while apprenticeship occupied a prominent
+position in the past, in the story of to-day it passes almost without
+mention. In Miss Davies's[165] study of the occupations of the inhabitants
+of that village, only one apprentice is mentioned. It is also a fact that
+those who are concerned with the administration of local charities for
+apprenticeship are finding increasing difficulty in discovering masters
+who are willing to take boys as indentured apprentices, even for a
+premium, and boys who are desirous of being indentured.
+
+We may, perhaps, therefore assume that, while the conditions of boy labour
+are more favourable in rural districts than they are in towns, the old
+machinery of training is falling into disuse, and no adequate substitute
+is taking its place.
+
+
+V.
+
+THE BREAK-UP OF APPRENTICESHIP.
+
+The survey of the elements that make up the apprenticeship of to-day is
+now complete. Each of the factors which contribute to the result--the
+State, Philanthropy, the Home, the Workshop--has been examined, and their
+influence appraised. It is therefore possible to pass judgment on the
+system, and, by realizing the present situation in all its relations, to
+understand clearly the nature and the extent of the problems which call
+for solution in the immediate future.
+
+The period of apprenticeship has been shown to divide itself naturally
+into two parts. There are the years during which the boy is at school,
+ending somewhere about the age of fourteen. For the right use of these
+years we have seen that the State is beginning to accept full
+responsibility. Whether we have been concerned with the conduct, the
+physical welfare, or the training of the child, we have found collective
+enterprise assuming new duties, and carrying them out with a growing
+enthusiasm. Nor can we have remained blind to the large measure of success
+achieved. If defects here and there mar the result, they are clearly the
+defects that belong to all experiments in the early stages, and are
+obviously not the ineradicable faults of a worn-out system. In short, so
+far as regards the earlier years of the apprenticeship of to-day, there is
+no cause for despondency. Progress is the distinguishing characteristic of
+this first period; the boy is the centre of influences increasing in
+number, and deliberately planned to promote his well-being. One
+disquieting phenomenon that calls for attention is the large mass of
+school-children working long hours. Health is undermined, the effect of
+education impaired; while the occupations, essentially of the
+"blind-alley" type, encourage an unfortunate taste for this form of
+employment. Further, the various local authorities, especially in rural
+districts, have been very lax in using the powers conferred by the
+Employment of Children Act.
+
+The second stage of apprenticeship covers the years between the ages of
+fourteen and eighteen. In our survey of this period we have been unable to
+find much cause for satisfaction. The State no longer recognizes its
+responsibility for the well-being of all its youth; it is content to offer
+opportunities of training to those who are able and willing to avail
+themselves of these advantages, and these last form only a small minority
+of the whole. The success of evening schools, technical institutes, and
+other places of higher education, so far as concerns those who come within
+that sphere of influence, only adds to our regret that that sphere of
+influence is so narrowly restricted. The majority, at least two-thirds, of
+the boys pass out of the control of the State, and for the completion of
+their apprenticeship we must look in other directions. Our search in these
+other directions has met with little reward; we have found everywhere
+failure, and, what is worse, failure that is rapidly progressive. Nowhere
+on a large scale can we discover provision made for the supervision and
+training of juveniles; from all sides we receive a tumult of complaint
+that things have gone astray. Philanthropic enterprise, whether
+represented by the religious bodies or lads' clubs, laments the lack of
+control over the boys, and frankly confesses its inability to deal
+satisfactorily with more than a small minority. The testimony of the home
+is the same; parents complain of the growing independence of their
+children, and to a large extent have ceased to attempt to exert any
+restraint over the conduct of their sons. Under the stress of modern
+industrial conditions and accentuated urbanization, the old patriarchal
+system of the family has broken down; the home represents an association
+of equals, in which, perhaps, the young can claim a predominant influence.
+
+When we pass to the workshop, in the hope of reaching law and order and
+constructive thought, it is only to be confronted with the most signal
+example of an organization which defies every principle of a true
+apprenticeship system. That the boy of to-day is the workman of to-morrow
+is a thought that suggests itself to only a few of the most enlightened
+employers. To the many he is merely a cheap instrument of production to be
+used up, and then scrapped as waste machinery. He is kept at "his own
+little temporary task"; and, to make things worse, he is in so much demand
+that discipline cannot keep him very steadily even to this, or his
+services will be withdrawn. With the separation of man's work from boy's
+work there is no easy passage from youth to manhood. With the minute
+subdivision of operations, there is small chance of a lad in a skilled
+trade becoming a master of his craft.
+
+Apart from the small amount of medical inspection required by the Factory
+and Workshop Act, no attempt is made to insure that the growing lad is
+physically fit for the work in which he is engaged. His health is the
+concern of no one till its breakdown brings him under the Poor Law or
+thrusts him into the ranks of the unemployable. Undisciplined, with health
+and training neglected, the lad of eighteen tends to find himself more and
+more left without prospects, and a person for whom no one in particular
+has any particular use. In short, our survey of the problem of the
+apprenticeship of to-day shows conclusively that we have, in the true
+sense of the word, no apprenticeship system. The old apprenticeship system
+has broken up, and there is nothing come to take its place.
+
+It would be incredible if serious consequences did not accompany this
+complete break-up of the apprenticeship system; and it needs but little
+search to discover evils of far-reaching significance. There is first the
+evil of an uncontrolled youth. A child at the age of fourteen is not
+fitted to enjoy the independence of an adult. This statement is a truism,
+but there is tragedy in the fact that society of to-day confers, as we
+have seen, this irresponsible freedom, in a more or less unqualified form,
+on the majority of boys when they leave the elementary schools. In the
+hooligan of the streets or in the youthful criminal we have the most
+striking example of the fruits of an undisciplined boy. The report of the
+Commissioners of Prisons for the year ending March 31, 1908, makes this
+clear. Writing of the Borstal Association, they say: "In this admirable
+report" (the report, that is, of the Borstal Association), "which should
+be studied by all who are interested in the causes of crime, after
+specifying many circumstances which induce the criminal habit, they refer
+in particular to the absence of any system of control or organization for
+the employment of the young, as one of the principal causes of
+wrong-doing. 'When a boy leaves school the hands of organization and
+compulsion are lifted from his shoulders. If he is the son of very poor
+parents, his father has no influence, nor, indeed, a spare hour, to find
+work for him; he must find it for himself; generally he does find a job,
+and if it does not land him into a dead alley at eighteen he is fortunate,
+or he drifts, and the tidy scholar becomes a ragged and defiant corner
+loafer. Over 80 per cent. of our charges admit that they were not at work
+when they got into trouble,'" [166] The Poor Law Commission calls attention
+to the evil effects of certain forms of employment which the boys choose
+because of the freedom they give."'Street-selling, for example,' says the
+Chief Constable of Sheffield, 'makes the boys thieves.' 'News-boys and
+street-sellers,' says Mr. Cyril Jackson, 'are practically all gamblers.'
+'Of 1,454 youths between fourteen and twenty-one charged in Glasgow during
+1906 with theft and other offences inferring dishonesty, 1,208, or 83ˇ7
+per cent., came from the class of messengers, street-traders, etc.,' says
+Mr. Tawney." [167] And it would be easy to multiply indefinitely examples
+of this kind. It must not, of course, be assumed that all boys become
+hooligans or criminals, but all do suffer from the want of control and the
+need of a more disciplined life. Hooliganism is merely an extreme type of
+a disease which in a milder form fastens upon the boys who are allowed
+unrestrained liberty. The disease is the disease of restlessness--the
+restlessness of the town, the dislike of regularity, the joy in change for
+change's sake, and the habit of roving from place to place.
+
+This disease, with the lack of proper technical training, leads on to
+unemployment when the age of manhood is reached. Unemployment is not the
+fate of the old only; it is becoming common among the young. "The
+percentage of men under thirty years of age qualified for assistance
+under the Unemployed Workmen Act, 1905, was:[168]
+
+  +------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                 |Up to March 31, 1906.|Twelve Months ending|
+  |                 |                     |  March 31, 1907.   |
+  |-----------------|---------------------|--------------------|
+  | London          |       23ˇ9          |       27ˇ4         |
+  | Whole of England|       27ˇ3          |       30ˇ2"        |
+  +------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+"It has become clear," says a manager of boys' clubs with a very wide
+experience, "to all students of the labour problem that a wrong choice of
+their first work--or, rather, no choice at all, but a drift into it--is
+responsible for the presence of considerable numbers of young men amongst
+the unemployed." [169] The Reports of the Poor Law Commission, Majority and
+Minority alike, repeatedly voice the same opinion. "The great prominence
+given to boy labour, not only in our evidence, but in the various reports
+of our special investigators, leads us to the opinion that this is perhaps
+the most serious of the phenomena which we have encountered in our study
+of unemployment. The difficulty of getting boys absorbed, through gradual
+and systematic training, in the skilled trades is great enough; but when
+to this are added the temptations, outside the organized industries, to
+enter at an early age into occupations which are not themselves skilled
+and give no opportunity for acquiring skill, it seems clear that we are
+faced by a far greater problem than that of finding employment for adults
+who have fallen behind in the race for efficiency--namely, that the growth
+of large cities has brought with it an enormous increase in occupations
+that are making directly for unemployment in the future." [170] The
+Minority Report is equally emphatic. "There is no subject," it says, "as
+to which we have received so much and such conclusive evidence as upon the
+extent to which thousands of boys, from lack of any sort of training for
+industrial occupations, grow up, almost inevitably, so as to become
+chronically unemployed or under-employed, and presently to recruit the
+ranks of the unemployable. In Glasgow nearly 20 per cent. of the labourers
+in distress are under twenty-five, and one-half of them are under
+thirty-five." [171] Or again: "It has been demonstrated beyond dispute that
+one of the features of the manner in which we have chosen to let the
+nation's industry be organized is that an increasing number of boys are
+employed in occupations which are either uneducative (in the sense of
+producing no increase of efficiency and intelligence) or unpromising (in
+the sense of leading to no permanent occupation during adult life);
+secondly, that there is a constant tendency for certain industrial
+functions to be transferred from men to boys, especially when changes in
+the processes of manufacture or in the organization of industry are taking
+place rapidly. The resulting difficulty is the double one of the
+over-employment of boys and the under-employment of men." [172]
+
+It is hoped that the present chapter may have made clear the various steps
+in this unfortunate process of industrial development. First, we have the
+qualities which are the result of the school training--qualities of
+regularity, obedience, and intelligence--qualities required, indeed, in
+all forms of work, but supplying a complete technical outfit alone for the
+"blind-alley" occupations. The boys leave school, having had expended on
+them in each case a capital sum of public money of about one hundred
+pounds. They are valuable assets, and employers have discovered the fact,
+and adjusted their methods of production or distribution to make full use
+of this new and valuable supply. High wages attract the boy, who makes his
+own choice, and earning is regarded as more attractive than the laborious
+and less remunerative learning.
+
+This leads on to the second stage, the "blind-alley" occupation or the
+skilled trade where there is no real training. Four years of this kind of
+work dissipate the effects of elementary education. Too often weakened
+physically by long hours of employment, demoralized by the life of freedom
+and the fatal facility in obtaining a second job when fancy has made him
+throw up the first, robbed by disuse of the power to learn even if the
+inclination were present, he is, at the age of eighteen, a distinctly less
+valuable asset in the labour market than he was four years before. The
+hundred pounds investment of public money intended for life has been
+squandered in youth; the employer has possessed himself of it; and when
+the boy asks the wages of a man, he is informed that his services are no
+longer wanted, and told to transfer them elsewhere.
+
+Then comes the final stage of degeneration--unemployment or
+under-employment. The habit, acquired through four years of constant
+practice, of throwing up a job on the smallest pretext, remains with the
+lad of eighteen, but the facility of finding another is no longer his. The
+intensity of the demand for men varies almost inversely with the intensity
+of the demand for boys; the two are competitors in the same labour market,
+and of the two the boy is the cheaper and the more efficient instrument of
+production. Further, habits of boyhood have too often bred a liking for
+casual employment, with its frequent holidays. Here, also, the employers
+are willing to oblige him; they find it convenient to have at their beck
+and call a reserve of labour which can be drawn upon when business is
+brisk, and discharged in times of slackness. Finally, if he desires
+regular employment, it is none too easy to discover a suitable opening.
+The sphere of his usefulness is small; he has for sale a certain amount of
+animal strength, none too well developed, but has little else to offer. He
+can push and he can pull indifferently well, but in the world of industry
+there is not, as is supposed sometimes, an unlimited demand for pulling
+and pushing. And all the time he is faced with the fact that recruits to
+the army of pushing and pulling are coming from all sides. Men skilled in
+the performance of a single operation, and robbed of their well-paid
+employment by a new invention; men from decaying trades and incapable
+through lack of training of adapting themselves to fresh conditions; men a
+little past the vigour of manhood; men discharged for misconduct; men who
+have lost their work through the bankruptcy of a company or the death of a
+master--all alike, when everything fails them, turn in desperation to
+pulling and pushing; and meanwhile machines of novel design decrease year
+by year the demand for pulling and pushing.
+
+All these effects, with innumerable variations, are the result of a wrong
+start, and of the neglect during the years that lie between the ages of
+fourteen and eighteen. Want of supervision, want of technical training,
+want of an opening for which special preparation has been given--these are
+the three great and characteristic evils of the present industrial
+situation. Taken together, they are a negation of all apprenticeship in
+the true sense of the word. During the course of the last few years we
+have at least learned to know the cause of our suffering, and to know the
+cause is at least the first step in the path of prevention. And, further,
+we have begun to see rising from the ruins of the old stabilities of life
+and the ancient order of industrial organization an edifice--small,
+indeed, at the moment, but bearing the mark of constructive thought,
+because reared by the growing power of collective enterprise; and, knowing
+this, we can turn in a spirit of hope to the task of creating a new
+apprenticeship system.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE NEW APPRENTICESHIP
+
+
+In the present chapter we must endeavour to find some remedy for the evils
+disclosed in the preceding pages. The old apprenticeship system has broken
+up, and there is nothing come to take its place. In consequence, the youth
+of the country is to a large and growing extent passing through the years
+of adolescence without supervision, without technical training, without
+prospects of an opening when manhood is reached. These are defects in the
+industrial organization so obvious that they are now attracting general
+attention, so grave that there is need of immediate and comprehensive
+measures of reform.
+
+In what direction is the remedy to be looked for? From what quarter may we
+expect the new apprenticeship to come? The survey of the conditions of boy
+labour, contained in an earlier portion of this volume, has disclosed two
+forces at work in the training of the youth of the country. The one force
+is destructive in its action; the other constructive. Reform obviously
+lies in the repression of the former and in the encouragement of the
+latter; there is no other alternative.
+
+The force of destruction has been found throughout associated with the
+characteristic phenomena of the industrial revolution. The accentuated
+spirit of competition, the increasing use of capital and machinery, with
+the consequential development of large undertakings, and the rapid changes
+in methods of production to meet new demands or to make use of new
+inventions, have all alike been hostile to the well-being of the boy. The
+system, created by what may be called the natural growth of modern
+business organization, has been a system which has, in one form or
+another, continually attempted to exploit child labour. Under this system
+children, in days gone by, were driven to the mine and to the factory, or
+herded in gangs in the fields and barns of the farm, and even at the
+present time are allowed to perform tasks far beyond their strength. Under
+this system we have watched the slow and continuous decay of indentured
+apprenticeship, the steady decrease of facilities for obtaining an
+all-round training in the workshop, and the ever-broadening gulf
+separating youth from manhood in the sphere of industry. As a result of
+this system we have seen the hand of control lifted from the shoulder of
+youth, and have noted lads, under the wayward guidance of an irresponsible
+freedom, drifting into the path of crime and disorder. We are driven to
+believe that it is the young who swell the armies of unemployment, and
+have realized with sudden dismay that, young though they are, they are yet
+too old to break the set habits of an unfortunate past. And we are
+beginning to perceive clearly that these phenomena, of ill omen, are not a
+mere accident, but an integral part of the industrial organization; and
+to understand that, in spite of numerous superficial changes, the system,
+born of the revolution of a hundred years ago, has not altered in
+essentials, and now, as then, threatens with destruction the youth of the
+land.
+
+That system has never enjoyed full freedom of development, but the limits
+set on its power for evil have not come from within; they have come from
+without, and been imposed on the employers by the legislative action of
+the State. It is the State which has throughout the period supplied the
+second or regulative and constructive force in the training of the youth
+of the country. It has forbidden the employment of boys in some
+occupations, and in others limited the hours of employment. Acting without
+any clearly defined plan, but striking at the evils, which gusts of
+popular opinion denounced and refused to tolerate, it has yet made
+impossible the worst abuses of child labour. It has, however, long since
+passed beyond the realm of mere veto, and has these many years entered the
+sphere of constructive reform. The scheme of compulsory education, the
+provision of opportunities for technical instruction, and the powers,
+recently conferred on local education authorities, to attend to the
+physical condition of school-children, are all signal examples of the
+beneficent influence of the second force.
+
+We are left, then, with these two forces--the force of destruction and the
+force of construction; and the fate of the youth turns on the issue of the
+struggle between the two. They are not, indeed, the only forces concerned
+in the problem of boy labour, but, compared with their influence, all
+others sink into insignificance. The State and the industrial system both
+possess the characteristic of universality, and no other organization can
+make the same claim. Philanthropic and religious associations have always
+been found to protest against the abuses of child labour, but their
+protest only became generally effective when the State gave to it the
+force of law. Philanthropic and religious associations have been pioneers
+in the field of education, but the advantages were offered to all only
+when the State stepped in and assumed the responsibility. Individual
+employers have always been found to offer to their lads humane conditions
+of work and full opportunities of training, but these remained the
+privileges of a few, and it was only through State interference that the
+many obtained their share. As pointing the way to reform, these other
+agencies have been, and are, of priceless value to the community, but as
+themselves the instrument they have invariably proved a failure. We are
+left, then, with two forces which alone need to be taken into account--the
+industrial organization and the State. For the creation of the new
+apprenticeship system either the industrial organization must reform
+itself, or the State must reform the industrial organization: there is no
+third alternative.
+
+Let us begin with the first alternative, and ask ourselves whether there
+is any reasonable hope of reform from within the industrial organization.
+The experience of the past is uniformly hostile to any such expectation.
+In the history of the last hundred years there is no single exception to
+the rule that all general improvements in the conditions of boy labour
+have come from without, and not been carried out from within. The
+experience of the present repeats in an even more emphatic way the
+experience of the past. It is impossible to point to one single example of
+an industrial reform now in course of development, and affecting on a
+large and beneficent scale the prospects or the training of the boy. It
+would be easy to cite a hundred instances of the contrary process. The
+whole of the last chapter is nothing but a detailed summary of the
+progressive defects of the industrial system, and its attempts to exploit
+in its own interests the value of boy labour. We saw how, by the
+multiplication of "blind-alley" occupations, the industrial system
+contrived to lay hold on and use up most of the products of an improved
+elementary education initiated by the State. Past and present experience
+are in accord; we cannot look for reform from within.
+
+It is necessary to guard against a possible misinterpretation. There is no
+thought here of blaming the employer. The fight lies not between boy and
+employer, but between the force of the State and the force of competition,
+using the last word to denote the most marked characteristic of the
+industrial revolution. The employer is in general as much a victim of the
+process as the boy. He cannot be justly blamed for what he cannot be
+fairly expected to prevent. The exigencies of competition drive him to
+select the cheapest methods of production at the moment. If these methods
+involve the exploitation of the boy, it is unfortunate for the boy, but
+the employer has no other alternative. To produce as cheaply as his
+neighbours is the one condition of success; more remote considerations
+cannot enter into a business undertaking. Those well-intentioned persons,
+with a smattering of ill-digested science and a system of economics far
+removed from all practical realities, who talk amiably of the interests of
+employers and their boys, as future workmen, being identical, confuse the
+good of the present generation with the good of the generation that comes
+after. It is undoubtedly a fact that any system which injures the workers
+will in the long-run injure the trade of the country, but this is true
+only in the long-run, and the run is often very long. Now, survival in
+business is determined in the immediate future. The heavy charges on fixed
+capital, the interest on outstanding loans, the weekly wages bill, and the
+long tale of daily outgoings, make it impossible for the employer to
+follow proper methods of training in the hope that the new generation of
+workers will, by their added efficiency, recoup him for his expenditure.
+To last till that time he must live through the interval, must obtain that
+contract to-day, this order to-morrow, and must get it at a profit--in
+other words, he must choose the cheapest method of production here and
+now; there and next year will be too late. It will be no inducement to him
+to reflect that his methods would in the long-run prove the best, if he
+knows that he cannot stay the course. Competition is of to-day; it takes
+no account of the happenings of to-morrow. Those who in the struggle
+cannot survive this year will not live to reap the harvest of future
+years. Agreement among employers on such questions has been found
+impossible; the temptation to win by evasion an illicit success proves too
+strong for the majority. Those who pursue the better methods disappear;
+those who pursue the worse survive to propagate their kind. There is valid
+in the world of business a law somewhat analogous to Gresham's law in
+matters of currency; the bad pushes out and replaces the good. There is a
+real struggle between the interests of one generation and the next. The
+employer must concern himself with the things of his own day; it is for
+the State, whose life is ageless, to guard the welfare of those who are to
+come. By insisting on the methods that are good in the long-run, by
+forbidding those which are good only in the immediate present, it places
+all employers on the same level, and enables the best of them to do what
+was before impossible. It does not thereby interfere with competition; it
+merely changes the direction of competition by guiding it into less
+injurious channels. But the secret of success, as demonstrated by the
+experience of more than a century, must be sought in the enactment of
+general regulations, which will apply to all employers, and not be looked
+for in what is sometimes termed the spirit of growing enlightenment.
+Unless it can be shown that the immediate interest of the employer is one
+with the proposed reform, nothing really effective can be done by moral
+suasion; while, if the two are in accord, moral suasion is superfluous.
+It can hardly be supposed that the contemplative outsider should know the
+business of the employers better than they do themselves. The mere fact of
+calling to our aid the power of moral suasion should be enough to show
+that enlightened self-interest will not suffice; we do not appeal to a
+man's conscience when we can appeal to his pocket. If, then, reform and
+the immediate interest are not in accord, consent on the part of one
+employer means risk of failure in a world where salvation depends on very
+small margins of profit.
+
+It is, therefore, for the most part labour lost to devote time to the
+consideration of reforms which do not rest on the basis of legal
+obligation, and we might at once turn to considerations of State control
+and State enterprise if it were not for the fact that in the minds of many
+there still remains a hope of the coming of salvation from another
+direction. They advocate the revival of the old indentured apprenticeship
+system, and believe that they have only to explain the situation
+adequately to the employer for him to realize that his interests lie in
+its revival. This belief assumes, as already mentioned, that the outsider
+knows the business of the employer better than he does himself--a
+tolerably large assumption. We might drop the matter with this criticism,
+but a re-examination of the old apprenticeship system, in the light of the
+industrial revolution and of the proposals for its revival, will help us
+on our journey towards the goal of the new apprenticeship. Such
+examination will show, first, the conditions which a true apprenticeship
+must fulfil; and, secondly, that those who hark back upon the past for
+their ideals of reform are conscious that the past must change its dress
+before it can hope to commend itself to the critical taste of the present.
+
+Now, in its best form, as was shown in the second chapter of this book,
+the old apprenticeship system was a success. It did afford means of
+adequate supervision over the youth of the country; it did supply them
+with technical training; and it did provide an opening in an occupation
+for which special preparation had been made. But a closer examination of
+the problem showed that success depended on the satisfaction of three
+conditions: First, it was essential for the apprentice to live with his
+master, or at any rate that the relations between the two should be of a
+paternal character; the second essential was the universality of the small
+workshop, with the facilities it gave for an all-round training; and,
+thirdly, an essential part of the system was the existence of the gild,
+which represented masters and men alike, and in the interests of all
+inspected and controlled the methods of the workshop. With the dissolution
+of the gilds we saw the first weakening of the apprenticeship system.
+There was now no authority guarding the interests of the trade as a whole;
+compulsory apprenticeship was often used as a means of supplying the
+employer with cheap and enforced labour, for whose future he had no
+responsibility. With the advent of the industrial revolution we watched
+the steady disappearance of the small workshop. Training became difficult,
+and often impossible. With both masters and men formal apprenticeship lost
+favour, and the system entered on its second stage of decay. With the
+multiplication of "blind-alley" occupations, with the growing cleavage
+between man's work and boy's work, and with division of labour pushed to
+its utmost extreme, came, as has been proved, the break-up of the
+apprenticeship system.
+
+Now, there is nothing in the signs of the times to herald the approach of
+a new industrial revolution and a return to the old order of the Middle
+Ages. Machines and machine methods have come to stay, and must stay if the
+varied needs of the huge populations of to-day are to be satisfied. The
+more serious advocates of the revival of indentured apprenticeship admit
+this fact, and fully realize that modifications of the system are
+necessary. They suggest that committees of volunteers should assume
+certain of the functions of the gild; they should exercise a kindly
+supervision over the boy in his home, and take steps to insure that the
+conditions of the indenture are observed by the employer. Secondly, they
+propose that the one-sided training of the workshop should be supplemented
+by technical classes provided by the education authority and supervised by
+an advisory committee of representatives of the trade. Finally, they urge
+that these proposals, so far from being visionary, have actually been
+realized in practice with complete success. Why may not we look for a
+general extension of these methods?
+
+The answer is tolerably obvious. The experiments have undoubtedly been
+successful. They have shown the steadying influence exerted over the boy
+by an indenture; they have shown the advantages that come from friendly
+visiting at the home or the workshop; they have shown the value of
+technical classes and trade schools supervised by representatives of the
+trade. But what they have not shown is that the experiment, while resting
+on a purely voluntary basis, admits of indefinite expansion. Indeed, the
+fact that the co-operation of the education authority is invoked, in order
+to provide technical instruction that shall supplement the training of the
+workshop, is sufficient evidence that we cannot dispense altogether with
+the assistance of the State. But much more remains to be said against the
+possibility of indefinite extension. Take the case of indentures. It is
+true that some employers can be found willing to receive indentured
+apprentices, and some boys willing to be indentured. But this does not
+affect the general rule that the conditions of the modern workshop do not
+allow of the use of apprentices, whose training is enforceable at law, or
+discount what is a matter of common observation--that neither employers
+nor boys like to bind themselves together for a period of years.
+Indentures may be an excellent plan for curbing the independence of the
+boy, but it does not, unfortunately, follow that the boys who most want
+curbing will be the boys who will accept this fretting restraint. What
+happens in practice is that a select number of boys willing to submit to
+control are brought into relations with a select number of employers
+willing to be troubled with boys. This is good as far as it goes, but it
+goes no way in the direction of providing supervision for the boys who
+most need it. Or take again the question of supplementing in the technical
+institute the training of the workshop. Experience here and in other
+countries shows conclusively that technical instruction, to be really
+effective, must be given during the daytime, when the lad is fresh, and
+not during the evening, when he is wearied out by the day's work. But,
+ignoring the necessarily limited number of cases in which boys are able to
+forgo earning altogether, instruction during the day is possible only
+where employers allow their apprentices time off during the day to attend
+classes. It is true that some few employers have given this permission,
+but their number is strictly limited. In the hope of extending the
+principle, the London County Council recently carried out an elaborate
+inquiry among employers, but with very small results. "If we compare,"
+says the report, "the magnitude of the elaborate inquiry carried out by
+the principals of polytechnics and technical institutes, by the skilled
+employment committees, and by the Council itself, with the extent of the
+success attained, we are bound to admit that the results are of the most
+meagre dimensions. There appears no prospect of inducing employers on any
+large scale to co-operate with us in the establishment of a satisfactory
+system of 'part-time' classes." [173] Extension on a large scale and on a
+voluntary basis is impossible.
+
+But, neglecting the question of possibilities, is the revival of an
+indentured apprenticeship, as a method of learning certain trades, in
+itself a thing to be desired? There remains one difficulty that has never
+satisfactorily been surmounted. If indentured apprenticeship is the door
+leading to a skilled trade, there will be a movement in the trade to close
+all other doors. Those who have paid a premium, or at any rate served
+their time for low wages, cannot be expected to allow without complaint
+vacancies in the trade to be filled by men who have not passed through a
+similar period of servitude. If the door is closed, there is no way of
+recruiting the trade in times of expanding business. But, in general,
+prohibition has not proved practical, and other ways of entry are
+discovered, and as these ways are easier, it is only natural that people
+should tend to choose the easier path. Indentured apprenticeship has never
+escaped from this dilemma; either the trade is closed to strangers when
+there is no means of expansion, or the trade is open when there is no
+inducement to be apprenticed. The change in modern industry, with its
+tendency to break down the barriers between trade and trade, only
+accentuates the acuteness of the dilemma.
+
+Finally, assuming indentured apprenticeship to be both practical and
+desirable, would it provide a solution for the problem of boy labour? It
+is obvious that it would only touch a fringe of the question. We have
+already seen that some two-thirds of the children, as they leave the
+elementary school, enter a form of occupation which leads only to
+unskilled labour, and even for that provides no adequate training. An
+apprenticeship system would not affect these two-thirds. A boy cannot be
+apprenticed as an errand-boy, or in one of those workshops where
+practically only boys are engaged. Not only is this class the most
+important in respect of numbers; it is also the class most urgently in
+need of control. It is here that degeneration and demoralization are most
+marked, while it is here that indentured apprenticeship offers not even a
+shadow of a remedy. A system which ignores the majority, even if it
+provided for the favoured few, cannot be regarded as affording a possible
+solution of the problem of boy labour.
+
+We cannot, therefore, look to the revival of apprenticeship, even when
+supplemented by technical training, to carry us far on the road of reform.
+It would, however, be a mistake to under-rate the lessons of the
+experiments. They have shown the value of indentures as a means of
+controlling the boy; they have shown the value of sympathetic supervision;
+and they have shown the value of the technical school in widening the
+inadequate training of the workshop. The defects of the experiment lay in
+the necessary limitations of the case. Remove the limitations, and you
+remove the defects. We want universal indentures, universal supervision,
+universal training. To guard against the dangers of creating a privileged
+class through the establishment of an apprenticeship system we must see to
+it that all alike serve a period of apprenticeship. Obviously, we cannot
+apprentice all boys to employers; we must, therefore, apprentice all boys
+to the State. There is nothing new in this proposal. Already, through the
+law of compulsory attendance at school, all boys are so apprenticed
+between the ages of five and fourteen. What is necessary is an extension
+of the period of an already existing apprenticeship system.
+
+In the search of a means of preventing an evil, the most difficult task is
+always to exclude the inadequate and the irrelevant. When all paths of
+advance, with one exception, have been blocked, there is no longer any
+choice or risk of losing one's way. We have now seen that all ways, except
+the way of collective control and collective enterprise, fail to reach the
+desired goal, and, having exhausted all other alternatives, must fall back
+upon the State. Some do this willingly, some reluctantly, but all, with a
+few exceptions that may be disregarded, appeal to the State when they are
+convinced that help can be looked for from no other source. We are now in
+that position, and must frankly face the situation.
+
+Failing assistance in any other direction, we must call on the State to
+organize a new apprenticeship system. Such a system must make due
+provision for supervision, training, and an opening. It remains to be
+considered how these three essentials can be secured.
+
+
+I
+
+SUPERVISION.
+
+A boy must be under some sort of supervision until he reaches at least the
+age of eighteen. Such supervision must have respect to his physical
+well-being as well as to his conduct. Neither the home, nor philanthropy,
+nor the workshop can be looked for to provide this supervision. They have
+all failed, and that failure is progressive. The State remains as our only
+hope. The State has not failed; it has made impossible the worst abuses of
+child labour, and through its educational system has been an influence for
+good in the moral and physical development of the children. Its success
+has been great, and that success has been progressive. Where it has
+failed, it has failed because its supervision has been withdrawn too soon.
+The remedy is obvious: we must extend the sphere of State supervision.
+Three reforms are urgently necessary: (1) The raising of the age of
+compulsory attendance to fifteen; (2) the complete prohibition of the
+employment of school-children for wages; and (3) the compulsory attendance
+of lads between the ages of fifteen and eighteen at some place of
+education for at least half the working day. With regard to these
+proposals, it may be said that all three are supported by the Minority
+Report of the Poor Law Commission and by the labour organizations which
+have in general expressed their approval of that Report. (1) and (3) are
+the recommendations of the Report of the Education Committee of the London
+County Council, adopted unanimously by that body in February, 1909; while
+(1) and (3) also received a qualified approval from the Majority Report of
+the Poor Law Commission, and from the Report of the Consultative Committee
+of the Board of Education on Continuation Schools. They have, therefore,
+behind them a strong backing of expert opinion.
+
+_(a) The Raising of the School Age._
+
+More than ten years have elapsed since Parliament last raised the age of
+compulsory attendance. There is almost universal agreement that the time
+has come for adding another year. The discipline of the school is
+successful while it lasts, but fails in permanent effect because it is
+withdrawn too soon. In the last chapter we saw from the study of the
+census tables that for at least the first year after school the boys have
+settled down to no very fixed employment. Many of the skilled trades do
+not take learners and apprentices before the age of fifteen. "It is
+clear," say the Education Committee of the London County Council, "that
+the year after leaving school--the year, that is, between the ages of
+fourteen and fifteen--is for the children concerned a year of uncertainty.
+Nearly half are returned as without specified occupation. No doubt a large
+proportion of the number are attending some place of education, but it is
+no less true that a considerable number are not classified, because for
+the time being they are doing nothing. They have thrown up one situation
+and are looking out for another. In this respect we must remember that it
+is a common practice--at any rate, so far as the poorer section of the
+community is concerned--for the children, and not their parents, to select
+for themselves the form of occupation and find for themselves situations.
+The children are too young to choose wisely, and, as a natural
+consequence, shift from place to place until they discover something that
+suits their taste or ability. It would be difficult to imagine a more
+unsatisfactory method of training. Till the age of fourteen they are
+carefully looked after in school; at the age of fourteen they are set free
+from all forms of discipline, and become practically their own masters. We
+must not, therefore, be surprised that under such conditions the effect of
+the school training is transient, and the large amount of money spent on
+their education to a great extent wasted." [174] And, summing up the whole
+case for the raising of the school age, the Education Committee say: "The
+advantages of keeping children at school until the age of fifteen are many
+and obvious. They receive an extra year's instruction at a time when they
+are most apt to learn; they are kept for another year under discipline
+just at the period when it is easiest to influence permanently the
+development of character. With the extension they escape the year of
+aimless drifting from occupation to occupation, and, when called on to
+choose a profession, they will have a year's extra experience to help
+them in the choice. We may hope that under these new conditions the
+tendency to follow the line of greatest initial wages will decrease, and
+be replaced by a tendency to consider as of paramount importance prospects
+of training and hope of future advancement." [175]
+
+In raising the school age we should take the opportunity of getting rid of
+certain anomalies which now exist. While for the vast majority of children
+in London and many other places attendance is compulsory up to the age of
+fourteen, exemption is possible at the age of twelve and thirteen for a
+small minority. In certain parts of the country large numbers of children
+are allowed to leave before the age of fourteen. It is unfortunate that it
+is the cleverest children who are entitled to this earlier exemption. We
+are here looking at the problem of apprenticeship from the standpoint of
+supervision, and in the case of supervision age and not mental attainment
+must be the determining principle. The bright precocious boy of twelve or
+thirteen is precisely the boy who stands most in need of control. Morally
+and physically he is likely to suffer from the effects of premature
+freedom. The sleepy dullard, who is kept at school until fourteen, could
+be freed from discipline at an earlier age, with less risk of serious
+harm. In raising, then, the age of compulsory attendance to fifteen, we
+must abolish the privileges of exemption and the powers of local option,
+and enact that all children shall attend school full time until they reach
+the age of fifteen.
+
+_(b) The Prohibition of Child Labour._
+
+Much space has in this volume been devoted to the task of demonstrating
+the extent and the evils of child labour. It has been shown that anything
+except the very lightest employment is physically injurious. It has been
+made clear that the work in which children are engaged is frequently
+demoralizing, while it never paves the way to entering a skilled trade
+when school is left. They are essentially "blind-alley" occupations.
+Further, we have seen good reason to believe that the habit of earning
+money and the precocious sense of independence so encouraged are not in
+the best interests of order and discipline. We note the evil in its worst
+form under the "half-time" system. "The half-timers," we are told, "become
+clever at repartee and in the use of 'mannish' phrases, which sound clever
+when they dare use them. They lose their childish habits ... some of the
+boys commence to smoke and to use bad language." [176] Finally, it has been
+proved that limitation of the hours of employment in the case of
+school-children is in practice impossible; there is no ready way of
+detecting breaches of the law. We are, therefore, driven to the conclusion
+that, unless the evils are to remain--and this is not tolerable--we must
+prohibit altogether the employment for wages of children liable to attend
+school full time.
+
+Various objections are made to the proposal. We are told by many of the
+witnesses who appeared before the Interdepartmental Committee on
+Wage-earning Children that a little light work was good for boys; it kept
+them out of mischief. Ignoring the difficulties of insuring that the work
+shall be little and light, they do not seem to make out their case. In
+London, as has been shown, not more than a quarter of the boys during the
+course of their school time are ever engaged seriously in paid employment.
+If, therefore, the work was beneficial, we should expect to find in the
+after-career of the 25 per cent. evidence of the advantages they have
+enjoyed, and in the case of the 75 per cent. signs of failure due to their
+less fortunate training. But all experience points in the opposite
+direction. It is the 25 per cent. who drift most generally into the
+"blind-alley" occupations; it is from this 25 per cent. that the majority
+of hooligans and youthful criminals are recruited.
+
+It is also argued that there are certain tasks which only children can
+perform, because they occupy only a small portion of the day. Papers must
+be delivered and milk left at people's houses. But in Germany much of this
+work is done by old men,[177] and even in this country the "knocker-up" in
+the morning is not a child, but an old man. Employers in the textile
+trades declared that it is only by beginning young that children can
+acquire the necessary quickness and deftness of touch. But as these trades
+absorb in the adult service only a small proportion of the children
+engaged, and seeing that in many instances the half-time system has been
+dropped as uneconomic, there does not seem much force in this objection.
+Moreover, it cannot be beyond the power of manual training in the schools
+to provide a fitting and less injurious substitute.
+
+The arguments in favour of the continued employment of school-children are
+the arguments of the old world, and the new world is becoming a little
+tired of the arguments of these old-world people. The time has come to
+make a stand, and insist that for all children there shall be insured the
+blessings of childhood. The first step in this direction lies in making it
+impossible for them to enter the ranks of the wage-earners as long as
+their names remain on the roll of the elementary school.
+
+_(c) The New Half-Time System._
+
+The proposals for raising the school age and for prohibiting child labour
+during that period will do much to strengthen the system of supervision.
+Another year of school discipline; another year of medical inspection and
+medical treatment; protection during another year from the evil effects of
+overwork and from the demoralization due to "blind-alley" occupations and
+premature earning--these reforms will bring us some way on our journey
+towards the new apprenticeship, but they will not bring us the whole way.
+There remain the three years which lie between the ages of fifteen and
+eighteen, and include the greater part of the period of adolescence--in
+some respects the most important period in the development of a human
+being. It is during these years that character begins to take its
+permanent set; it is during these years that, with the coming of puberty,
+there is most risk of ugly and dangerous outbreaks; it is during these
+years that physical health demands the most careful attention; and it is
+during these years that, with the exception of the failures of
+civilization--the physically, the mentally, and the morally
+defective--there is no real supervision or, under existing conditions, any
+hope of securing it.
+
+To allow irresponsible freedom during these years is to court disaster; to
+give it suddenly and in an unqualified degree, as it is given now when the
+school career is brought to an abrupt end, is to follow a course condemned
+by all educationalists. No parent, even the most thoughtless, among the
+well-to-do classes would think of treating his son in this fashion. His
+whole scheme of education is founded on the principle of a slow and
+gradual loosening of the bonds of discipline. The close supervision of the
+private school is replaced by the larger liberty of the public school,
+which in turn opens into the greater but still restricted freedom of the
+University.
+
+Freedom must come slowly. We want a bridge between the elementary school
+of the boy and the full-time workshop of the man. Such a bridge would be
+created by the establishment of the proposed half-time system. For half
+the day--or at any rate, for half his time--the lad between the ages of
+fifteen and eighteen would be compelled to attend a place of education,
+and only during the remaining half be permitted to undertake employment
+for wages. The advantages of this proposal are many. First, the influence
+of the school would be retained for an additional three years, and under
+the half-time system the freedom of the youthful wage-earner would find a
+suitable limitation in the half-time control of the school. Secondly, we
+should have the opportunity of another three years' medical inspection and
+medical treatment. With supervision over the health of the community
+continued until the age of eighteen we might fairly anticipate a rapid
+improvement in the physical efficiency of the worker. In particular, we
+should be able to detect, in a way now impossible, the effects of various
+forms of employment on those engaged in them. Inspection under the
+provisions of the Factory and Workshops Act, as has been shown, is too
+limited in character to do more than pick out a few young persons
+obviously unfit for the occupation they have selected; but, with the
+education authority responsible for the health of juveniles, and using to
+the full extent its powers to provide preventive measures or to veto in
+the case of certain individuals certain forms of work, we should have gone
+far to secure that no one should enter on or remain in a trade for which
+he was physically unfit. Thirdly, as already shown, a half-time system is
+the only really effective way of limiting the hours of juvenile
+employment. If the lad is compelled to be elsewhere than in the workshop
+for half his time, we have an automatic check on excessive work. Other
+advantages of this system will appear when we come to deal with questions
+of training and the provision of an opening.
+
+The half-time system should be made compulsory throughout the country; it
+ought not to be left to local option to decide. The local rating authority
+naturally wishes to encourage the establishment of workshops and factories
+within its area, and would be unwilling to adopt Acts which might prove a
+deterrent. It would be a most unsatisfactory state of affairs for
+employers to evade the spirit of the law by moving into districts where
+the law was not enforced. It is a little unfortunate that the Education
+(Scotland) Act, 1908, which allows a limited amount of compulsion in
+connection with continuation schools, is founded on the principle of local
+option. The recommendations of the Consultative Committee of the Board of
+Education are vitiated in a similar way. Local option can never be really
+successful. It will elect to act only where there is least opposition from
+employers--in other words, where action is least necessary; and it will do
+nothing where boy labour is most exploited and regulation most urgently
+required. In one direction alone can local option be allowed with
+advantage. It may be permitted to decide on the precise kind or kinds of
+half-time to be enforced within their area. Boys might attend school on
+the half-day system or on the alternate day system. Or, again, they might
+spend three days in the workshop and three days in the school, or under
+certain circumstances devote six months of the year to the workshop and
+the remaining six months to the school. It would be desirable to allow the
+local authority considerable liberty in their methods of adapting the
+half-time system to the special needs of the trades of the district,
+provided always that a true half-time system was established.
+
+There is no serious difficulty in the way of compelling attendance at the
+half-time school. It would be enforced just as attendance at the
+elementary school is enforced, and by the same officers. Further, no
+employer would be permitted to employ a boy between the ages of fifteen
+and eighteen who could not show satisfactory evidence of attendance at
+school. Or if, as may be the case, it is found desirable to permit boys to
+be engaged only by means of the Labour Exchange, the Labour Exchange
+itself would prove a most effective way of enforcing attendance.
+
+There is nothing new or impracticable in the principle of the proposal.
+Compulsory attendance at continuation schools can be required in Scotland.
+Such attendance is compulsory in parts of Germany and Switzerland.[178] It
+is exacted by certain employers in this country from their apprentices.
+Further, the fact that for many years the half-time system has been in use
+in the case of many important industries, and tens of thousands of
+children so employed, demonstrates clearly enough that there is nothing
+impossible in the application of a half-time system to juveniles. It
+would, no doubt, cause some inconvenience, and some employers might
+dispense with the services of juveniles; but no more difficulty would
+arise than has arisen when any fresh regulations have been imposed; and we
+should see, as we have always done in the past, the employers who
+predicted inevitable ruin before the event, as soon as the proposal became
+law adapt themselves, with that placid content and admirable success which
+they have always displayed after the event, to the new condition of
+affairs.
+
+_(d) The Parents' Point of View._
+
+The three proposals just made have one characteristic in common-they all
+directly set a limit to the employment of children and young persons. It
+is possible that some readers may regard them from another point of view,
+and say that in limiting employment they seriously diminish the income of
+the family. Will the poor parent, whose lot is pitiable enough as things
+are, be able to stand the loss?
+
+In considering this, the parents' point of view, we must guard against
+being caught in the noose of a vicious circle. We must not perpetuate an
+evil in order to mitigate its present effects. Many, probably most, of
+those parents whose income hovers about the margin of possible existence
+are in this pitiful position because their own childhood has been
+neglected. As children, they have been overworked, and they are now
+physically unfit for regular employment; as children, they have been
+allowed to go uncontrolled and untrained, and now, as men, they are paying
+a heavy tax for the earnings of their boyhood. They receive little because
+they are worth little; their work is precarious because the sphere of
+their usefulness is small. We must not allow their children to live as
+_they_ lived when children, and so pass on to the next generation the
+taint of inefficiency and its consequent wages of starvation merely
+because to-day wages of starvation need to be supplemented. We can never
+hope to overtake and pass an evil if we always cast it in front of us. The
+one clear message to the reformer of to-day is that he should look to
+prevention, and not merely to cure; and the one clear hope of a nation's
+future lies in insuring to every youth, as he crosses the threshold of
+manhood, the fullest realization of that development whose promise was his
+at birth. It might be well worth while for a country lavishly to endow
+poverty for a generation in order to free itself once for all from its
+fatal infection. But there is no reason to believe that we must resort to
+this drastic measure because there is no reason to believe that the
+proposed restrictions of child labour will in any way injure the parents.
+
+Take first the earnings of school-children. There is very little reason to
+believe that they often make any effective contribution to the income of
+the home. They are irregular, they are small, and very frequently the
+boys retain them as pocket-money. Where they are large, as in the case of
+children employed during the pantomime season, they often form a
+convenient excuse for the parent to go idle for a time. The only large
+exception to this rule is the case of the widow. Here, indeed, the
+earnings do usually find their way home, materially increase the miserable
+pittance allowed by the guardians, and must be regarded as a tax levied on
+children in aid of the ratepayer. Humanity and a reformed Poor Law may be
+trusted to remove the tax.
+
+Take next the raising of the school age to fifteen. The age has not been
+raised for more than ten years, and when it was last raised it was raised
+without friction and without complaint on the part of the parent. We
+might, perhaps, have expected that the percentage of attendance would have
+decreased because of the difficulty of enforcing it on the children of
+poverty-stricken parents. This has not been the experience; indeed, the
+last decade has been remarkable for the rapid rise in that percentage.
+There is not a scrap of evidence to show that the last raising of the
+school age caused even temporary suffering on a large scale. Never was a
+large reform carried out with greater ease. There is no reason to believe
+that, if we raised the age again, that favourable experience would not be
+repeated.
+
+We come now to the new half-time system. The earnings of boys between
+fifteen and eighteen years are considerable. To diminish them by one-half,
+it is urged, would be to adopt a course which would prove intolerable to
+the poor parent. Now, in the first place, though it is true that the lads
+could be employed for only half the time they were before, it by no means
+follows that they would only receive half the present money. We have
+already seen that the demand for boys far outruns the supply. The
+half-time system would halve the supply, and, though some employers might
+cease to use boys, the demand would certainly not be halved. The demand
+for boys would then considerably exceed the demand of to-day. The rate of
+wages would, in consequence, rise. The boys would no doubt earn less, but
+certainly more than half of what they now earn. In the next place, it must
+be remembered that the parent rarely receives the whole of the boy's
+earnings even during the first year, and each year the proportion of wages
+that comes to the home grows less. At the age of seventeen it is seldom
+that more than half finds its way into the family exchequer. The boy keeps
+the rest, and, as we have already seen, the large amount of money he has
+to spend on himself is by no means an unmixed benefit. The parent cannot
+usually get from the boy much more than is required to keep him; indeed,
+he is afraid to enlarge his demand lest the boy, who is economically
+independent, should leave home. But under the half-time system, though he
+may earn his keep, he will rarely earn enough to support himself outside
+the family. In addition, the fact of being compelled to attend school will
+be a healthy reminder that he is not yet a man, and so check the growing
+spirit of independence. Home influence and parental authority will thus
+be strengthened, and the father will be able to exact a much larger share
+than before of the boy's earnings. Now, if the earnings are not diminished
+by so much as half, and if at the same time the parent obtain an increased
+proportion, it is by no means clear that the home affairs will suffer.
+Among the poorest families, where home discipline ceases altogether when
+the boy leaves school, it is quite possible that the financial position of
+the parent will be improved rather than worsened.
+
+But we have not yet taken into account what is, perhaps, the most
+important consideration. The three proposals under discussion will
+undoubtedly largely diminish the amount of work performed by boys, but
+will not diminish the amount of work that requires to be done. Somebody
+must take up the tasks formerly allotted to boys, and, if boys fail, men
+must fill their place. Now, the work was given to boys because, to give it
+to men would cost more. In future, the work will be given to men, and more
+money will be paid for it than before. In other words, the increased
+earnings of men will more than make up for the diminished earnings of
+boys, and much more than compensate for the loss, because, as we have
+seen, only a portion of the boys' earnings ever reach the home. Or we may
+look at the question from another point of view, and say that the
+decreased use of boys will mean an increase in the demand for men, and,
+consequently, an increase in the wages of men. The Minority Report of the
+Poor Law Commission arrives at these three proposals by starting from the
+opposite point of view, and advocates their adoption not primarily for
+the good of the boys, but for the good of their parents. In the task of
+decasualizing labour, they are met with the difficulty that a considerable
+number of men will in the process be thrown out of employment altogether.
+Work must be found for them, and the easiest and the best way to find it
+is shown to be the withdrawal from the labour market of persons, like
+children, who ought not either to be employed at all or to be employed for
+such long hours as at present. Hence arises the suggestion of a rigid
+limitation of boy labour. It is much in favour of these proposals that
+they are the outcome of an elaborate analysis which in the one case begins
+with the man, and in the other with the child. We may take it, then, as
+clear that, from the parents' point of view, there is nothing to hinder us
+in raising the school age to fifteen, prohibiting the employment of
+school-children, and instituting a new half-time system.
+
+
+II.
+
+TRAINING.
+
+The second essential in an apprenticeship system worthy the name is the
+provision of adequate training. The word "training" is used in its
+broadest sense to include preparation, not only for the life of the
+workman, but for the life of the citizen as well. In the preceding chapter
+we have seen that the scholarship schemes, connecting the elementary
+school with the University, and rapidly increasing throughout the country,
+are offering opportunities of training for those likely to rise high in
+the professional, the commercial, and the industrial world. It is probable
+that sufficient attention has not as yet been given to the supply of the
+most advanced kind of technological instruction, but the fault is being
+remedied, and the defect is due rather to lack of knowledge than to lack
+of will; and it is the instruction, and not the facilities of access to
+it, that is wanting.
+
+What we are concerned with in this chapter is the training of those
+destined to fill the posts of foremen and managers of small undertakings,
+of the skilled workmen of the future, and of those never likely to rise
+above the ranks of unskilled labour. We are also concerned with those who
+will occupy corresponding positions in the commercial world. It has
+already been shown that the training of these persons is one-sided and
+inadequate, and, in the case of the majority, can hardly be said to exist
+at all. On the other hand, we have seen good reason to believe that the
+technical school can be, if not a complete substitute for the workshop, at
+any rate a necessary and fitting supplement. The day has gone by when it
+was necessary to argue at length the uses of technical instruction.
+Employers in this country, as they have long since done on the Continent
+and in America, recognize the advantages. Yearly, whether by compelling
+the lads in their service to attend the technical school, or forming
+themselves into committees to advise as to the most desirable methods of
+teaching, they are displaying a keener interest in the question, and a
+fuller faith in the possibilities of practical training given outside the
+walls of the workshop.
+
+The defect of existing arrangements has been shown to lie in their
+limitation. For the majority technical instruction has been unsatisfactory
+or impossible of access. We must show in the present chapter how all may
+enjoy the advantages of training; but before doing so we must consider, a
+little more closely than has been done before, the kind of training
+required by the petty officers and the rank and file of the industrial
+army.
+
+In much of the preceding discussion it has been assumed that what the man
+wants is an all-round training. This is undoubtedly a fact, but by an
+all-round training is not necessarily meant a training that will produce a
+craftsman of the old school, equally capable of turning his hand
+successfully to any of the operations with which his trade is concerned.
+Except in rural districts, in a few of the artistic crafts, and in certain
+branches of repairing work, a man of this kind is not generally required.
+It seems probable that the industrial tendencies of to-day are making
+decreasing demands for purely manual skill. The Report of the Poor Law
+Commission contains a valuable discussion of the question, and sums up the
+conclusions in the following passage: "The general trend of our answers
+was that the 'skill' of modern industry is scarcely comparable with the
+skill of labour in the past. One might say that, within twenty years, with
+the universal employment of machinery and the excessive subdivision and
+specialization of its use, the character of the productive process has
+quite changed. There is a growing demand for higher intelligence on the
+part of the few; a large and probably growing demand for specialized
+machine-minders; and, unhappily, a relegation of those who cannot adapt
+themselves to a quite inferior, if not worse paid, position. If, then, the
+'skill' which we might have looked for and desired is what might be called
+'craftsmanship,' we must conclude that the demand for skill is, on the
+whole, declining. The all-round ability which used honourably to mark out
+the mechanic is no longer in demand, so much as the work of the highly
+specialized machine-minder." [179] But if there seems a less demand for
+all-round skill, there appears to be an increasing demand for trained
+intelligence. "In the greater industries employing adult male labour,
+'machinery' does not in the least resemble the long lines of revolving
+spindles one sees in a cotton mill. In the machine tools of an engineering
+shop there is comparatively little of such automatism, and, even where the
+machines are automatic, single men are put in charge of a number of
+machines, and the setting and supervising of these is work probably
+demanding a higher level of intelligence than ever before. 'I should say
+the skilled men require even more skill than they did,' says Mr. Barnes,
+'because of the finer work and more intricate machinery.... Side by side
+with automatic machines there has come about more intricate and highly
+complicated machinery.' 'The semi-skilled of to-day,' says Sir Benjamin C.
+Brown, 'is in many cases as good as the skilled was a quarter of a
+century ago.'" [180] Or, as another witness puts it: "The tendency of
+machinery is always to cause a substitution of intelligence for dexterity,
+the person who was in effect a machine by reason of his dexterity giving
+place to one who could understand a direct and mechanical process." [181]
+There seems also good reason to believe that the demand for intelligence
+outruns the supply.
+
+In the workmen, usually classed as skilled, the employer requires
+intelligence, but he wants something more; he wants trustworthiness, and
+frequently a certain highly specialized manual dexterity. The training of
+the workshop can supply the third of these qualifications; it cannot,
+however, supply the other two, which are in the main the products of
+education. But between the second and the third there is a certain
+antagonism. Monotony in the workshop does not cultivate intelligence; it
+is actively hostile to such growth. Unless there is a well-trained
+intelligence to begin with, the continual performance of a single task
+will reduce the man to the level of a mere machine. Now, the employer does
+not want a mere machine; if he did, in these days of inventive genius, he
+would soon discover something more reliable in the way of machines than
+flesh and blood. He wants a machine with intelligence; he must therefore
+have a man. But the intelligence must rest on a broad basis of education,
+or the machine element will prove too much for it. This is the reason of
+the statement, found so often in evidence on technical training given by
+enlightened employers, that what is mostly required is a good general
+education.
+
+Now we are coming to see that a general education does not imply a certain
+specific syllabus of instruction; it may be the result of the most varied
+kinds of instruction. We have ceased to take the narrow view that it
+consists only in book-learning and aptness with the pen. We have
+recognized that manual training may rightly play a large part in any
+system of education, and for the full development of certain types of mind
+is absolutely indispensable. Consequently, though the employer does not
+need the man of all-round skill, there is no reason why the workman should
+not acquire a general use of the tools employed in his trade. Whatever it
+may be to the employer, the possession of a certain amount of all-round
+skill is not a matter of indifference to the workman. If he can boast
+skill in a single operation alone, the bridge that lifts him above the
+gulf of unskilled labour is very fragile. A change in demand or a new
+invention may any day render his specialized skill useless, and
+precipitate him into that gulf whence is no escape. But this is not the
+case with the man who has received an all-round training. Thrust out of
+one branch of the trade, he can, if intelligent, comparatively easily find
+an opening in another. The all-round skill, though not required in the
+workshop, is necessary to the man if his position in the skilled labour
+market is to be secure. In a sense, the measure of his all-round skill is
+the measure of the stability of his industrial status. Further, the
+possession of all-round skill is a necessary condition of the possession
+of intelligence. It gives a man a clearer insight into the significance of
+his trade, and robs monotony of some part of its soul-killing power. Pure
+specialization is hostile to intelligence; the man who can only do one
+thing cannot do that one thing well. Finally, from these skilled workmen
+must be chosen the foremen and small managers, and these people must
+possess the wider knowledge and a more varied skill. To a large extent at
+the present time they are not recruited from the large workshop; they come
+from the country district, where this all-round skill can still be
+acquired. But, as we have seen, this supply is not inexhaustible, and
+there are signs that the methods of the industrial revolution are invading
+the village. Unless, therefore, we are prepared to see a scarcity of
+trained foremen in the future, we must to-day aim at producing the skilled
+workman, who is at once intelligent and possesses a general knowledge of
+the tools of his trade.
+
+"We do not to-day," says Sir Christopher Furness, "want men who are
+all-round at building marine engines; we do need men who are all-round
+mechanical engineers--men who can apply the principles of their craft to
+any form of machinery that may be called for. That is a class of training
+which cannot be achieved by any system of apprenticeship, and is
+essentially a matter which the governing authority must handle if this
+country is to maintain its position in the industrial world." [182] "The
+characteristics," says the Consultative Committee, "that employers most
+value and most deplore the lack of would appear to be general handiness
+(which is really to a large extent a mental quality), adaptability and
+alertness, habits of observation--and the power to express the thing
+observed--accuracy, resourcefulness, the ability to grapple with new
+unfamiliar conditions, the habit of applying one's mind and one's
+knowledge to what one has to do." [183] It is clear that within the narrow
+sphere of the workshop an all-round training of this kind can never be
+secured.
+
+We must look, then, to the elementary schools supplemented by the
+technical institute, to insure to the workmen an all-round intelligence
+and a general knowledge of the use of tools employed in his trade. For
+commerce, intelligence and an all-round training are no less necessary.
+"You produce a better clerk," it has been said, "if the boy takes an
+industrial rather than a commercial course." There is therefore no
+conflict of interest between what the employer wants and what the workman
+wants. The employer wants intelligence, and cannot get it from a workman
+who does not possess a general knowledge of his trade. The workman wants
+an all-round knowledge of his trade because without it his position as a
+skilled artisan is precarious and at the mercy of every new invention or
+change in fashion.
+
+We have hitherto spoken as if all were skilled workmen, and as though the
+unskilled labourer did not exist. Now, there are at the present time huge
+armies of men that can by no stretch of imagination be regarded as skilled
+at anything; but it is by no means clear that it is desirable for this
+huge army to continue as such. It is generally assumed that the
+performance of so-called unskilled work requires no training and makes no
+demand on skill. This is a grave mistake; let anyone, without previous
+experience, try a day's digging in his garden, and he will realize the
+fact. But it is not merely a question of manual training and practice; the
+unskilled labourer, to be efficient, needs intelligence. Skilled and
+unskilled work call for, in this age of machines, more intelligence than
+was wanted in the past. Almost everyone nowadays uses a machine of some
+sort; and there can be no question that in such use there is a serious
+lack of intelligence. The unskilled labour engaged with machinery is
+almost always inadequate and unsatisfactory. The agricultural labourer,
+for example, has to manage machines whose complex mechanism is far beyond
+his ill-trained intelligence to comprehend. The same may be said of the
+general run of machine-minders. Breakdowns, stoppages, and accidents are
+the costly consequences of their defect. Of all forms of labour, the
+unskilled labour of to-day is probably the most expensive to the employer.
+The labourer is worth, as a rule, little more than he receives, and, not
+infrequently, a good deal less. The preservation of stupidity is among the
+most foolish and most expensive of modern luxuries. What the employer
+wants is the intelligent unskilled labourer, and such a class must be the
+product, not of the workshop, but of the schools. The training to be
+provided would be very similar to that required by the skilled workman.
+
+From the point of view of the employer, we require more intelligence in
+the unskilled labourer; from the point of view of the community and the
+man himself, the need is even more urgent. We must not forget the man in
+the labourer. He is not for all his time an unskilled labourer; he is the
+autocrat of the home, the father of a family, and, as a voter, one of the
+rulers of the Empire. These last functions belong essentially to the
+highly skilled class of work. Uneducated parents are a danger to their
+children, and so to the future prosperity of the nation; the illiterate
+voters a peril to the safety of the State. Finally, the man himself, with
+a wider outlook on the world, and with a life richer in interests, and so
+with more opportunities of healthy enjoyment, would be a happier and a
+better citizen. The shame of modern civilization and the abiding menace to
+its security lie in the miserable horde of stupid, unintelligent, and
+uninterested labourers who are good for nothing except the exercise of
+mere brute strength and indulgence in mere animal pleasures, and not very
+much good even for this.
+
+Looking, then, at the problem of the training of skilled and unskilled
+workmen alike, whether from the point of view of man or master, we see
+that the great essential is the possession of a large measure of
+intelligence. With the continual changes in the methods of industry, men
+must be capable of changing too; they must be capable of readily adapting
+themselves to new conditions, and not become petrified in a rigid and
+inflexible mould. Intelligence, properly developed, means adaptability. If
+we could secure this, the problem of dealing with the unemployed would be
+comparatively easy of solution. The inextricable tangle of to-day lies in
+the hopeless task of securing employment at a living wage for men who are
+not worth it. Let each man be made good for something, and it will not be
+beyond the range of wise statesmanship to find that good thing for him to
+do.
+
+How is the necessary training to be provided? The answer to this question
+need not detain us long. We have already seen that elementary and
+technical education can solve the problem in the case of those who have
+been able to avail themselves of the opportunities offered. The only
+outstanding difficulty was the difficulty of insuring ready access to all;
+and this has been surmounted in the proposals of the last section. The
+raising of the school age to fifteen, the prohibition of the employment of
+school-children, and the new half-time system, give facilities for
+education never before enjoyed.
+
+The boy will remain at the elementary school till the age of fifteen, and
+there will be no employment outside school hours to undermine his health
+and render him unfit to profit by the instruction given. We have already
+noticed the transformation of the elementary school now going on, and the
+multiplication of various types of school. The process will continue, and
+the results following the raising of the school age will be increased in
+value. The school will, in the first place, be regarded as a
+sorting-house, in which the different kinds of ability are discovered and
+classified. It will next be an institution where proper provision is made
+to insure that each kind of ability shall have the fullest opportunity of
+development. The only meaning of a general education is the discovery and
+the cultivation of the special interests of the individual.
+
+When the boy leaves the elementary school his interests and ability will
+guide him to search for employment where they will have most scope. How
+this opening is to be found is a question that will be discussed in the
+next section. Let us take the boy who enters a skilled trade--say a branch
+of the woodwork industry--and follow his fortunes. He can be employed in
+the workshop for only half the day; during the remainder he must attend
+the half-time school. We have hitherto looked at this half-time school as
+a means of exercising supervision over conduct and physical development;
+we must now regard it as a place of technical instruction. There must,
+therefore, be various types of schools corresponding to the different
+groups of trades. The boy who enters a woodwork trade will attend a school
+designed to meet the needs of that industry. At his place of employment he
+will no doubt be kept to a narrow range of operations, and in their
+performance will acquire that dexterity which only workshop experience can
+give. In the half-time school he will receive the training necessary to
+make of him an intelligent and all-round workman. Here his ordinary
+education will be continued; instruction in drawing, in mensuration, and
+in science--all specially adapted to the requirements of his trade--will
+be provided; and, lastly, in the school workshop he will acquire skill in
+the general use of the woodwork tools. If it is urged that it will be
+difficult to find room in the curriculum for such varied training, it must
+be remembered that the subjects of instruction will all have formed part
+of the curriculum of the elementary school, with a bias in the direction
+of the woodwork industry. The boy will remain at the school for three
+years, and at the age of eighteen we shall have at least laid the
+foundation of those qualities required by the employer for success in the
+workshop and by the workman for success in life.
+
+Let us take now the case of a boy who, on leaving school, finds employment
+in some occupation which does not lead to a skilled trade, and provides no
+educational training. Let us suppose he becomes an errand-boy. We cannot
+prevent lads of fifteen and upwards from being employed in such
+occupations, however undesirable, but we can at least guard against the
+more serious evils which are now the result. The boy will only be employed
+for half the day; he also must attend a half-time school. At this school
+he will continue his ordinary education; manual training will be provided
+to make him clever with his hands, while special attention will be devoted
+to his physical development. He will not, of course, be taught a definite
+trade, but will learn the general use of tools. How far, then, schools
+may be specialized, into different types it must be left for the future to
+decide. We have hitherto never seriously considered the training of the
+unskilled labourer, and much pioneer work of an experimental character
+remains to be done. At the age of eighteen the lad, like his brother in
+the skilled trade, will be a valuable asset in the labour market. We shall
+have created what we have not got now, and what we much need--a race of
+intelligent and adaptable unskilled labourers.
+
+There are certain other advantages which the half-time system can claim.
+First, the training of the workshop and the training of the school are
+carried on at the same time; instruction and practice go hand in hand.
+Secondly, only those boys will in general be taught a skilled trade in the
+schools who have already entered a skilled trade. This removes an
+objection often felt by Trade Unionists to what they term a multiplication
+through the schools of half-skilled workmen. Thirdly, we have in it a
+system of universal apprenticeship. All boys will have been learners, and
+worked for the same period at low wages. There will, therefore, be no
+obstacle of a privileged class to make difficulties in the way of those
+entering a trade who have not passed through the normal course of
+preparation for it. Fitness for the work will be, as it should be, the
+sole qualification.
+
+Looked at in a general way, the half-time schools will be called on to
+play a double part. They must train the man in the interests of the
+community and in the interests of the trade. From the employer's
+standpoint these schools must be essentially places of practical
+instruction in close touch with the workshop. Already, under existing
+conditions, employers and representatives of the trade have been found
+willing to form advisory committees to visit the schools, criticize the
+teaching, and make suggestions for increasing its value. The principle
+must be extended; only in this way shall we get the expert inspection
+necessary to secure real efficiency. On the other hand, the education
+authority, the representative of the community, will manage the schools,
+and make them training-grounds of true citizenship. Under this double
+system of control, wisely administered, we shall not lose the man in the
+worker or the worker in the man; the interests of the individual and the
+interests of the employer will alike be safeguarded. In a real sense, and
+in fashion adapted to modern requirements, we shall have brought back the
+best traditions of the old apprenticeship system in which the gild,
+standing at once for the community and for the trade, watched over the
+training of the youth of the nation.
+
+
+III.
+
+THE PROVISION OF AN OPENING.
+
+The third and last essential of an apprenticeship system is the provision
+of an opening. In the last chapter we have seen the aimless drift of boys
+as they leave school into "blind-alley" occupations; we have watched them
+rapidly slough off the effects of the school training; and we have found
+them a few years later left stranded without prospects; and we have been
+driven to confess that this process of waste and demoralization is not a
+passing phase, but an integral part of the industrial development in its
+present unregulated condition. Boys, parents, employers are alike impotent
+to cure the evil; once again we are compelled to look to the State for
+help. The State must guide the choice of boys as they leave school. It
+must assist them during the period of adolescence to find better forms of
+employment, or at any rate to retain and increase the value of the school
+training, and it must bridge the gulf that now separates the work of the
+lad from the work of the man.
+
+Already the necessary organization is in process of formation. We have
+seen how the establishment of Labour Exchanges for adults has, quite
+unexpectedly, led to the creation of special departments for juveniles. It
+is singularly fortunate that this accident has led naturally to the Board
+of Trade being regarded as the proper authority to carry out the work. It
+is, however, a fact that Parliament has recently passed an Act which gives
+power to education authorities to spend money for this purpose. It may do
+no harm for education authorities to be able, without fear of surcharge,
+to spend money in co-operating with the Board of Trade, but it would be
+disastrous if they came to think themselves the responsible authority for
+the undertaking. One of the chief objects of the machinery is the bridging
+of the gulf between youth and manhood. We should not enter on this
+difficult task with much hope of success if we perpetuated the distinction
+by making the Board of Trade responsible for the work of adults, and the
+education authorities responsible for the work of juveniles. Further, we
+are coming to see that questions of employment are questions which must be
+dealt with by a national, and not a local, body. Only a national
+authority, with its knowledge of the conditions over the whole country,
+could be in a position to estimate the prospects in any trade, or to
+decide as to the right proportions of boys to men. Next, the unit of area
+for employment bears no relation to the unit of area for educational
+purposes. Towns are separated from the adjoining districts. The unit of
+area for London employment, for example, is not the administrative county,
+but Greater London, and in Greater London there are more than thirty
+education authorities. If these are not in agreement--and when are thirty
+local authorities in agreement?--no system of regulation would be
+effective. If, let us say, the London County Council, in order to
+discourage the employment of van-boys, declined to supply them through
+their Exchange, their action would be without result if the adjoining
+districts did not follow suit, while it is impossible to conceive a more
+chaotic organization than one which would allow employers in the City to
+be canvassed for openings by thirty independent bodies.
+
+For these and many other reasons the Board of Trade must be regarded as
+the dominant authority for the organization of the Juvenile Labour
+Exchange. On the other hand, there must be close co-operation between the
+Labour Exchange and the education authority. The Board of Trade has
+recognized the importance of this co-operation, and is making full
+provision for it in the machinery it is setting up. It is forming local
+advisory committees in connection with each Labour Exchange, and is making
+them practically responsible for the control of the juvenile department.
+On this committee are appointed persons nominated by the Board of Trade on
+the one hand, and on the other by the education authority. The committee
+thus represents the two branches of the organization. These committees are
+only just coming into existence, and it is too early to judge of their
+success. The problem is one of immediate practical importance; it is,
+therefore, desirable to consider a little in detail the principles that
+should guide them in their work. For the same reason it is desirable to
+ignore for the moment the proposals made in the preceding sections, to
+take things as they are, and to show what can be achieved under existing
+conditions.
+
+The work of the Juvenile Labour Exchange divides itself naturally into a
+number of different parts or stages. The first stage is concerned with the
+boy while still at school. Some months before he is likely to leave he
+must be seen with the view of inducing him to make use of the Labour
+Exchange to obtain employment. A form will be filled up showing his
+position in the school, and any particular ability he may have displayed,
+recording the state of his health as revealed by medical inspection, and
+indicating any particular desire as to occupation expressed by himself or
+his parents. The interview and the filling up of the form will be
+undertaken by someone connected with the school organization--a teacher,
+or probably a volunteer. The institution of care committees for each
+school in connection with medical treatment, and the supply of meals to
+necessitous children, has enlisted the services of a large number of
+volunteers who would probably be found willing to make themselves
+responsible for this part of the work. The form, when filled up, will be
+sent to the Labour Exchange, where, if thought desirable, arrangements
+will be made by certain members of the advisory committee, in company with
+the secretary, to interview the boy and his parents.
+
+The next part of the work is connected with the finding of vacancies.
+Either the employer will notify the Exchange of forthcoming vacancies or
+vacancies be obtained by canvassing employers. In either case it will be
+necessary to ascertain exactly the nature and the prospects of the
+employment. For this work expert knowledge is essential, and it will
+devolve almost entirely on the secretary or other paid officers of the
+Exchange. Having found boys wanting employers and employers wanting boys,
+it will be the duty of the advisory committee to bring the two parties
+together.
+
+The second stage in the work begins as soon as the boy has obtained
+employment. It will be desirable, if possible, to secure periodic
+reports, either by interview or by letter, from the employer, who in the
+majority of cases would no doubt be willing to give the information asked
+for. We should then know how the boy is getting on at his work from the
+employer's point of view. We must also know how he is getting on from his
+own point of view. For this and other reasons it is absolutely essential
+to keep in touch with the boy in his home. A tactful person, paying
+periodic visits to the home and seeing the boy, would soon learn what
+prospects the employment offered, what progress he was making, and would
+be able to advise him as to what evening classes he should attend, and to
+help him in those many ways in which a boy can be helped when first he
+goes out to work. In this way a large amount of valuable though
+unostentatious supervision would be kept over the boy. The persons most
+capable of doing this home-visiting are volunteers. In many cases the
+member of the school case committee who originally interviewed the boy
+would undertake the duty of supervision; in other cases we might get the
+assistance of the manager of a boys' club or other similar institution of
+which the boy was a member; but in all cases the advisory committee must
+make provision for supervision in the home. The reports from the home and
+the reports from the employer would be filed at the Exchange. They will
+enable the advisory committee to follow the career of every boy placed
+out, and at the same time gradually furnish a mass of detailed information
+respecting the employers of the district.
+
+To what kind of employers or to what classes of employment shall we send
+boys? To all who ask, or to only selected number? Experience will no doubt
+show that there are certain employers of such a kind that under no
+circumstances ought we to trust them with boys. The number of such will be
+very small, and presents no serious difficulty. We should not supply boys
+until we had a guarantee that the conditions offered were improved. The
+question of the class of employment requires more careful consideration.
+There is a danger into which the advisory committee may easily fall.
+Recognizing the evils of "blind-alley" occupations, they may be inclined
+to refuse to send boys to such forms of employment, and only recommend
+boys to places where there is a prospect of learning a trade. Such a
+policy would be a fatal one. We should not thereby discourage
+"blind-alley" occupations, employers would get their boys as they have got
+them in the past, and the only result would be that we should lose all
+control over the boys, be unable to move them later to better situations,
+and so leave the problem not only unsolved, but, for want of knowledge,
+without possibility of solution. We ought not in the Labour Exchange to
+bar out any form of employment unless we are prepared to make that
+employment illegal by Act of Parliament. Street-selling might fairly come
+within that category, and no doubt other forms of employment will later be
+brought within the same class. But to bring them within that class,
+accurate information as to evil effects must be collected in order to
+stiffen public opinion, and if we wash our hands from the outset of all
+responsibility for such trades, we shall never have that accurate
+information. The first step in the way of regulation is that accurate
+knowledge which a detailed supervision of the boys placed out alone can
+give. There will, however, always be a temptation for the Exchange to
+confine its activities to the skilled trades, and let the others go. In
+Munich, for example, we find the education authority devoting much
+attention to the apprenticeship section of the work, while "unskilled
+labourers appear to be left to the Labour Exchange, and they receive,
+therefore, no advice in selecting their work." [184] The same tendency is
+seen in this country among the various voluntary associations for
+obtaining employment for boys. They have concentrated almost exclusively
+on the skilled trades. The results, expressed in figures or percentages,
+are pleasing, but altogether misleading. They ignore the large residuum
+which drifts without advice and without supervision into the less
+favourable openings, and in matters of social reform it is the large
+residuums that count. It is always nice to get a nice place for a nice boy
+that we know; but if we do no more, there is no reason to believe that our
+action is of any advantage to the community at large. The nice places
+always are filled, and not infrequently the only effect of interference is
+that A., who is known, gets the job instead of the unknown B. The Labour
+Exchange must resist this temptation. It should aim at inducing all
+employers to obtain their supply of boy labour from the Exchange; its
+influence will then be at a maximum.
+
+The mere establishment of a Juvenile Labour Exchange cannot create
+favourable openings; it cannot in itself alter the direction of the demand
+for labour. It might, therefore, be asked what is the use of an exchange
+for boys who can already find employment of a sort more easily than is
+good for them? First, there are the advantages of supervision and the
+opportunities for friendly advice and sympathy; secondly, there is the
+task of collecting accurate information which will lead up to legislative
+action, and the system of regulation which is ultimately inevitable;
+thirdly, while not closing the door to the "blind-alley" occupations,
+there is no need for the advisory committees to press them on the parent.
+They would, on the contrary, point out the evils, and suggest either that
+the opening should be refused or accepted only as a temporary expedient.
+The object should be to induce the parent to refuse situations which did
+not afford any prospects of learning or allow time off to attend a
+continuation school. The "blind-alley" occupations would disappear
+to-morrow if parents stubbornly refused to permit their boys to fill them.
+For the moment, moreover, the advantage is all on the side of the parent,
+as the demand for boys outruns the supply. But neither individual parent
+nor individual boy can take advantage of this fact; they have not the
+knowledge or the opportunity to make their voices effectively heard. There
+is no trade union of parents or trade union of boys, or, indeed, can be,
+in the "blind-alley" occupations. Collective bargaining must be done for
+them, and the advisory committee must be its instrument. They must first
+create the opinion among the parents, and then give effect to it through
+the Exchange. If employers found that, so long as they refused to offer
+better conditions, they were either unable to get boys or only got the
+least satisfactory boys, there would be a strong inducement for them to
+change their ways. Finally, there is the reverse of this system of
+educating the parents--the educating of the employers. There is already
+growing up a feeling among employers that if they cannot give the boys
+employment as men they might at least offer them opportunities of
+continuing their education. At a conference held in 1910 between agencies
+interested in the welfare of boys and employers of labour, under the
+presidency of the Chairman of the London Chamber of Commerce, the
+following resolutions were unanimously adopted: "That the London Chamber
+of Commerce be asked to consider the advisability of establishing a
+register of its members who would be willing to engage or apprentice boys
+with a view to the co-operation of the Chamber with the various
+institutions interested in the welfare of boys." "That employers of labour
+be recommended, by reducing the present hours of labour or otherwise, to
+give such facilities as may be possible consistently with the requirements
+of their business to enable boys and youths to obtain technical
+instruction." Judicious canvassing among a certain class of employers
+may, therefore, lead to most beneficent results. It should also be borne
+in mind that in London and other towns into which there is a large
+immigration of adult labour, there is room for new openings leading on to
+skilled trades.
+
+While much can unquestionably be done under existing conditions to improve
+and supervise the conditions of boy labour by means of the Juvenile Labour
+Exchange, it is certain that sooner or later there will be need of
+regulation by Act of Parliament. Probably the best course would be to give
+the Board of Trade power in the case of certain occupations to limit at
+their discretion the employment of boys to boys engaged at the Exchange.
+If in addition the proposals made in the previous sections were to become
+law, we should be in a very strong position to launch the youth on the
+ocean of manhood with all the prospects of a successful voyage.
+
+
+IV.
+
+GENERAL CONCLUSIONS.
+
+At the end of a long and rather complex discussion it is desirable to
+attempt some general summary of what has already been achieved and of the
+proposals necessary for the creation of a true apprenticeship system. It
+will make for clearness if we take a boy and follow his career through its
+various stages.
+
+At the age of five or thereabouts he will enter the elementary school. It
+is to be hoped that the reorganization of the public health services and
+the more careful attention devoted to the period of infancy may send him
+to the school free from those physical defects so common now, and healthy
+within the limits of nature. Here he will begin his education. Improved
+methods of teaching will make for increased intelligence and the growth of
+numerous interests, while physical exercises, medical inspection and
+treatment, added to the supply of wholesome food to the necessitous, will
+promote the healthy development of his body.
+
+At the age of eleven comes an important epoch in his career. It is then
+that, if found suitable, he will, with the help of a scholarship, be sent
+to the secondary school, and thence be led along a broad road to the
+University. Failing the winning of a scholarship, he will, if he display
+any special aptitude, be drafted off to a central school with a commercial
+or industrial bias. Failing, again, the proof of any exceptional ability,
+he will remain in the ordinary school. In either case he will continue at
+school till the age of fifteen, will be forbidden to work for wages
+outside school hours, and will throughout be periodically examined by the
+school doctor.
+
+With the approach to the age of fifteen begins the second important epoch
+in his career. Some time before the day of leaving school arrives he will
+have been interviewed by a friendly volunteer, who, with the help of the
+school record and medical register, will be able to decide for what form
+of employment he is best suited. In the meanwhile the Labour Exchange will
+have found for him a suitable opening, or, failing this, a temporary
+situation pending a more satisfactory and permanent position. If he gain a
+place in a skilled trade, the half-time school, which he must attend for
+the next three years, will add to the training of the workshop that
+all-round training, whose result is intelligence and adaptability,
+required to make of him an efficient artisan. If he is destined to fill
+the ranks of unskilled labour, he will likewise attend a half-time school
+carefully designed to enable him to play a useful part in the world of
+life. In both cases he will remain for half-time under the supervision of
+the education authority; in both cases periodic medical inspection will
+watch over his physical development, and if it show him physically unfit
+for the work he has undertaken, he will be found employment more suitable
+to his strength; in both cases the advisory committee of the Labour
+Exchange will receive reports from the home, the school, and the employer,
+and these reports will enable them to discover whether the occupation and
+the training are well adapted to foster his natural abilities. For three
+years, while at work, he will also remain at school; for three years his
+training will be guided by employers who will see to it that it turns out
+the efficient workman, and by the education authority, which, acting in
+the interests of the community, will see that it makes for the efficient
+citizen.
+
+In process of time, with the gradual accumulation of experience, and with
+the knowledge of the Board of Trade behind it, the advisory committee will
+be able to adjust the supply of boys in course of special training to
+meet the demands of special trades, and even if some unforeseen
+transformation of industry upsets the calculations, there should be no
+insurmountable difficulty of disposing of lads at the age of eighteen who
+are at once well conducted, physically fit, and intelligent.
+
+We come back to the position from which we started in the
+introduction--the need of securing for the youth of the country adequate
+supervision up to the age of at least eighteen, appropriate training
+during that period, and at its conclusion the provision of an opening in
+some occupation for which special preparation has been given. We have seen
+that for at any rate a large section of the people these conditions were
+satisfied during the best days of the gilds, and that they were satisfied
+in direct proportion to the extent to which the gilds stood for the common
+interests. With the decay and disappearance of the gilds the training of
+the youth became a matter of individual bargaining between parent and
+employer. No authority, standing for the common good, superintended the
+process. Apprenticeship might be enforced; its efficiency could not be
+guaranteed. Further, the existence of apprenticeship tended to create a
+privileged class who resented the intrusion of those who entered a trade
+by other means. With the coming of the industrial revolution, training
+itself became more difficult. The large workshop and the division of
+labour were unfavourable to apprenticeship. Employers wanted to use boys,
+and not to train them. Rapid progress of invention continually discounted
+the value of acquired manual skill, and parents could not see at the
+conclusion of the apprenticeship any prospect of a favourable opening in a
+skilled trade; while the gradual break-up of the system of supervision
+bred a spirit of independence among boys which rendered them disinclined
+to bind themselves for a period of years. Finally, competition, with the
+urgent need of surviving the struggle of to-day, made it hard for
+employers to prepare for the future by providing for the training of the
+future workmen. The industrial system gave no guarantee for the efficiency
+of the next generation of workers. The old apprenticeship system had
+broken down.
+
+But in the period of general disintegration there was slowly
+developing--at first unconsciously, and later with more clearly directed
+effort--an organization which made for constructive reform. It was called
+into being as a last resort, and to save the country from the ruin which
+was threatened by the exploitation of children. Competition demanded the
+sacrifice of to-morrow to-day; the State, whose interests belong to all
+time, was driven to forbid the sacrifice. Competition demanded that
+children of tender years should labour in the mines and the factories, and
+under conditions that made all health a mockery; the State insisted on a
+minimum standard of health and safety for its children. The standard, low
+at first, has steadily been raised. Thus has grown up the regulation of
+child labour and the Acts relating to factories and workshops. Competition
+cared nothing for the education of the children; it wanted to use them up
+and cast them on the waste-heap. The State, recognizing the dangers of an
+uneducated people, established by slow degrees a system of universal
+education. So the struggle between the two has gone on, the State only
+interfering as a last resort and in despair of other means to stop the
+evil. Throughout its action has been generally beneficial, but the
+benefits have been limited because that action has been partial and
+patchy. Much of the expenditure, for example, on education has been wasted
+just because the education came to an end too soon. The time had come for
+a more comprehensive study of the situation that should indicate the
+faults of the existing system.
+
+Such a study has been attempted in the present volume. The task has been
+comparatively easy, because the evils are generally admitted. What has not
+hitherto been recognized sufficiently is the fact that these evils are
+growing, and not in course of removal. The various factors in the process
+have been examined, and, ignoring the State, they are clearly inadequate,
+and progressively inadequate, to the task of solving the problem. As a
+last resort the State remains. If the principles underlying the training
+of youth are admitted, if out of the various possible forces concerned all
+with one exception have been proved defective, then we must put our hopes
+in the one exception. We must enlarge the sphere of influence of the
+State. How this should be done has been shown in the present chapter.
+
+The principles underlying the proposals have all been drawn from
+experience, and are founded on the apprenticeship system, but applied with
+modifications suitable to changed conditions. Under the gild system there
+were three interests concerned and conjoined--the interests of the master,
+the interest of journeyman and apprentice, and the interest of the
+community. Since the gilds have gone these interests have become separate
+and increasingly antagonistic. For the successful training of the youth of
+the country the claims of these clashing interests must again be brought
+together and reconciled. Ultimately and in the long-run they are
+identical; it is only competition, with its dimmed and narrow vision, that
+made the cleavage. It is hoped that the proposals outlined in this chapter
+will point the road towards a final peace. Let us, in conclusion, bring
+them to the test of the three essentials for which a true apprenticeship
+system must make adequate provision.
+
+There must be supervision--supervision of conduct, supervision of health.
+Under the new apprenticeship system the State will be the ultimate
+authority for the supervision of conduct. Till the age of fifteen the boy
+will remain subject to the control of the schools. Long experience has
+demonstrated the beneficent influence exercised by the teachers over the
+children even under present conditions, when the school career is brought
+to an end at the age of thirteen or fourteen. There is, therefore, nothing
+wild in the expectation that, with compulsory attendance extended to the
+age of fifteen, we shall receive richer and more lasting fruits. For the
+next three years, the critical period of a boy's life, with its first
+experience of the workshop and the sense of independence which comes with
+earning wages, the supervision of the State will only in part be
+withdrawn. During these years he will be compelled to attend the half-time
+school, and so continue under the control of the education authority. Nor
+is this all. The advisory committee of the Labour Exchange will advise him
+in the choice of employment, assist him to obtain it, and generally watch
+over his career. Thus, helped on his journey and surrounded with wise and
+friendly influences, he will approach the threshold of manhood with such
+promise of success as good habits and an ordered life may bring.
+
+The State, likewise, will be responsible for the supervision of the boy's
+health. Periodic medical inspection will watch and aid his physical
+development. We have not yet learned to appreciate the full value of this
+periodic inspection; it is, however, destined to become the most powerful
+instrument of reform. The ill-nourished child, the delicate child, the
+child in the early stages of phthisis, the child of negligent parents, the
+child from the overcrowded or insanitary home--all these, the future
+weaklings of the nation, we know them now only when the evil has too often
+outrun the possibility of a cure and it is too late. Under the new
+conditions we shall detect the evil in its first beginning, while there is
+yet hope. Medical inspection is also the key to the situation after the
+boy goes out to work, and for three years he will remain under its
+control. At the present time we only dimly realize the disastrous effects
+that come to a boy from the choice of an occupation ill-suited to his
+strength. We forbid a few forms of work, attempt for the most part
+ineffectively to limit the hours of employment in a few others, but in our
+clumsy fashion legislate as a rule for the normal child, and it is the
+abnormal child that suffers most. Under the new conditions there will be
+no work for children under the age of fifteen, while for the three
+following years medical inspection will enable us to legislate for the
+individual boy, taking into account his physical characteristics. Not only
+shall we be able to help a boy to avoid making a wrong choice, but we
+shall be able to remove him as soon as medical inspection shows him unfit
+for the work. Thus, to the age of eighteen the State has its finger on the
+pulse of the youth.
+
+Secondly, there must be an adequate provision of training, special and
+general, accessible to all. Here, again, we are building on the firm rock
+of solid experience. The elementary schools have proved themselves to be
+schools for the cultivation of intelligence. With a year or two added to
+the school life; with the relief from that distracting influence which
+comes from wage-earning while at school; with the improved methods of
+teaching and a clearer differentiation of types of school to suit varying
+types of mind--reforms already under way--we may fairly hope for a general
+rise in the intelligence of the boys. The half-time school, with its three
+years' course, will supply the more specialized training required in the
+different trades and occupations, while committees of employers will
+provide the expert criticism essential to success.
+
+Finally, there must be the provision of an opening in some form of
+employment for which special preparation has been given. The Labour
+Exchange, the juvenile branch worked in close co-operation with the adult
+section, will supply the opening, while the technical training will give
+good guarantee for the adequacy of the preparation. The Elementary School,
+the Half-time School, the Education Authority, and the Advisory Committee,
+all acting together, will insure a safe passage from youth to manhood.
+
+The new apprenticeship system is more complex than the old--it lacks
+something of the picturesqueness of the Middle Ages--but it finds its
+compensation in an organization at once more flexible and more
+comprehensive, and therefore better suited to stand the shock of those
+huge changes in methods of production and methods of living which have
+been the ungainly offspring of the industrial revolution.
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF AUTHORITIES
+
+
+I
+
+PARLIAMENTARY AND MUNICIPAL PUBLICATIONS
+
+Elementary Schools (Children Working for Wages), Parts I. and II.,
+Parliamentary Return. 1899.
+
+Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on the Employment of
+School-Children. 1901.
+
+Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Children Act,
+1903. 1910.
+
+Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and the Relief of
+Distress. 1909.
+
+Report by Mr. Cyril Jackson on Boy Labour. 1909.
+
+Report of the Commissioners of Prisons for the year ending March 31, 1908.
+
+Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for the year
+1909.
+
+Report of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education on Higher
+Elementary Schools. 1906.
+
+Report of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education on
+Attendance, Compulsory or Otherwise, at Continuation Schools. 2 vols.,
+1909.
+
+Report on the By-Laws made by the London County Council under the
+Employment of Children Act, 1903, by Chester Jones. 1906.
+
+London County Council Report of the Medical Officer (Education) for the
+year 1906.
+
+London County Council Report of the Medical Officer (Education) for the
+year 1909.
+
+London County Council: Medical Treatment of Children attending Elementary
+Schools--Report of Education Committee. 1909.
+
+London County Council: Home Circumstances of Necessitous Children in
+Twelve Selected Schools. 1909.
+
+London County Council: The Apprenticeship Question. 1906.
+
+London County Council: Report of the Higher Education Sub-Committee on
+Apprenticeship: Agenda of Education Committee, February 24, 1909, pp.
+412-425.
+
+London County Council: Technical Education Board Report on the Building
+Trades. 1899.
+
+London County Council: Report by Miss Durham, Inspector of Women's
+Technical Classes on Juvenile Labour in Germany. 1910.
+
+London County Council: Report by Mr. R. Blair (Education Officer) on
+Organization of Education in London. P. S. King and Son, Westminster.
+
+County Council of Middlesex: Report by Mr. A. J. Bird (Inspector of
+Schools) on Employment Bureaux for Children of School-leaving Age.
+
+Urban District Council of Finchley: Annual Report of the Medical Officer
+of Health, including the Report to the Education Committee for the year
+1908.
+
+Gloucestershire Education Committee: Report of the Minor Committee to
+consider Certain Proposals for the Creation of an Apprenticeship Fund and
+a Labour Bureau. 1907.
+
+
+II
+
+AUTHORS
+
+ABRAHAM AND DAVIES: Factories and Workshops. 1902.
+
+ABRAM, A.: Social Life in the Fifteenth Century. 1909.
+
+ALDEN, MARGARET: Child Life and Labour.
+
+ASHLEY, W. J.: Introduction to English Economic History. 1888.
+
+BEVERIDGE, W. H.: Unemployment. 1909.
+
+BLACK, CLEMENTINA: Sweated Industry. 1907.
+
+BLAIR, R.: Some Features of American Education. 1904.
+
+BOOTH, CHARLES: Life and Labour of the People, 9 vols. 1896.
+
+BRAY, REGINALD A.: The Apprenticeship Question, in _Economic Journal_,
+September, 1909.
+
+BRAY, REGINALD A.: The Town Child. 1907.
+
+CHRISTIAN SOCIAL UNION: Report on the Employment of Boys in the London
+Area. 1910.
+
+Continuation Schools in England and Elsewhere, edited by M. E. SADLER.
+1907.
+
+CREASEY, CLARENCE H.: Technical Education in Evening Schools. 1905.
+
+CROWLEY, RALPH H.: Hygiene of School Life. 1909.
+
+CUNINGHAM, W.: Growth of English Industry and Commerce: Early and Middle
+Ages. 1905.
+
+CUNINGHAM, W.: Growth of English Industry and Commerce: Modern Times, 2
+vols. 1903.
+
+DAVIES, MAUDE F.: Life in an English Village. 1909.
+
+FRERE, MARGARET: Children's Care Committees. 1909.
+
+GIBB, THE REV. SPENCER J.: The Problem of Boy Work. 1906.
+
+GIBB, THE REV. SPENCER J.: Boy Work and Unemployment. C.S.U. Pamphlet.
+
+GORDON, OGILVIE: Handbook of Employments. 1908.
+
+GREEN, J. R.: History of the English Peoples, vols. i. and iv. 1896.
+
+GREEN, MRS. J. R.: Town Life in the Fifteenth Century, 2 vols. 1894.
+
+HALL, G. STANLEY: Adolescence, 2 vols.
+
+HASBACH, W.: History of the English Agricultural Labourer. 1908.
+
+HAWKINS, C. B.: Norwich: A Social Study. 1910.
+
+HAYWARD, F. H.: Day and Evening Schools. 1910.
+
+HOGARTH, A. H.: Medical Inspection of Schools. 1909.
+
+HUTCHINS AND HARRISON: A History of Factory Legislation. 1907.
+
+JACKSON, CYRIL: Unemployment and Trade Unions. 1910.
+
+JEBB, EGLANTYNE: Cambridge: A Brief Study in Social Questions. 1906.
+
+KEELING, FREDERIC: The Labour Exchange in Relation to Boy and Girl Labour.
+1910.
+
+KIRKMAN, GRAY B.: A History of English Philanthropy. 1905.
+
+KIRKMAN, GRAY B.: Philanthropy and the State.
+
+KNOWLES, G. W.: Junior Labour Exchanges. 1910.
+
+MACMILLAN, MARGARET: Labour and Childhood. 1907.
+
+MOSELEY: Educational Committee Report. 1904.
+
+NICHOLLS, SIR G.: History of the English Poor Law. 1898.
+
+ROGERS, J. E. T.: Six Centuries of Work and Wages. 1884.
+
+ROWNTREE, B. S.: Poverty: A Study of Town Life. 1901.
+
+RUSSELL, C. E. B.: Manchester Boys. 1905.
+
+RUSSELL AND RIGBY: The Making of the Criminal. 1906.
+
+RUSSELL AND RIGBY: Working Lads' Clubs. 1908.
+
+SHADWELL, ARTHUR: Industrial Efficiency. 1909.
+
+Studies of Boy Life in our Cities, edited by E. J. URWICK. 1904.
+
+TAWNEY, R. H.: The Economics of Boy Labour, in _Economic Journal_,
+December, 1909.
+
+Trades for London: Boys. Compiled by the Apprenticeship and Skilled
+Employment Committee. 1908.
+
+Trades for London: Girls. Compiled by the Apprenticeship and Skilled
+Employment Committee. 1909.
+
+TUCKWELL AND SMITH: The Workers' Handbook. 1908.
+
+WEBB, SIDNEY AND BEATRICE: History of Trade Unionism. 1907.
+
+WEBB, SIDNEY AND BEATRICE: Industrial Democracy, 2 vols. 1897.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  Abraham and Davies, 45, 49, 53
+
+  Abram, A., 9
+
+  Adler, Miss, 106
+
+  Adolescence, vi, 176, 198
+
+  Agricultural Gangs Act, 42
+
+  Apprentices, statute of, 13-15;
+    effect, 16, 17;
+    pauper, 15, 17-19;
+    repeal, 22
+
+  Apprenticeship, break-up of, 165-175
+
+    charities, 19;
+      decay, 25, 135, 164, 165-175, 177;
+      difficulties of, 12, 188;
+      essentials, 43, 237;
+      indentured, 5, 135, 187-189;
+      meaning, 1;
+      under gilds, 4-11, 234, 237;
+      under industrial revolution, 26-29;
+      under statute, 11-19;
+      universal, 3, 13, 189
+
+    of to-day: contribution of home, 92-103;
+      of philanthropy, 89-92;
+      of State, 73-74, 76-89;
+      of workshop, 103-165
+
+    the new: Juvenile Labour Exchange, 231-231;
+      new half-time, 191, 197-202;
+      prohibition of employment, 191, 195-197;
+      raising school age, 191-195, 217;
+      summary, 231-240
+
+  Ashby, W. J., 4
+
+  Attendance at school, Acts relating to, 38, 46-48;
+    percentage of, 83, 106, 105
+
+
+  Blair, R., 86
+
+  "Blind-alley" occupations, 87, 112, 123-130, 145, 157, 158, 163,
+        169-172, 180, 227
+
+  Board of Education, 61, 64
+
+  Board of Trade, 71, 72, 223, 233
+
+  Booth, C., 95, 104, 136, 139
+
+  Borstal Association, 169
+
+  Boy labour: difficulties of regulation, 79, 80;
+    effects of regulation, 77-82, 88, 89
+
+    half-time, 49-52, 78, 197-202, 204, 205
+
+    health and safety, 52-58, 77, 197-202
+
+    limitation of hours, 43-52, 197-202
+
+    prohibition of, 41-43, 195-197, 203, 204
+
+    regulation under gilds, 7-11, 234, 237;
+      under industrial revolution, 20-25;
+      under statute, 13, 14
+
+  Boys: clubs, 90;
+    errand, 82, 112, 119, 129, 145;
+    lather, 43;
+    office, 119, 126, 158;
+    shop, 122, 126, 128, 145;
+    telegraph, 126, 131, 145;
+    van, 82, 119, 145
+
+  Boys: employment of, at school, 103-113, 151-155;
+    on leaving school, 114-119, 163;
+    entering manhood, 143
+
+    unemployed, 119;
+      under London County Council, 132
+
+  Bursaries, 65
+
+
+  Chamber of Commerce, 230
+
+  Chapman, Professor, 211
+
+  Child, definition of, 40
+
+  Children Act, 38, 59, 61, 80
+
+  Children, employment of. _See_ Boys
+
+  Chimney Sweepers Act, 42
+
+  Cloete, J. G., 126, 129
+
+  Coal Mines Regulation Act, 38, 42
+
+  Competition, 177, 235
+
+  Cuningham, W., 4, 6, 10, 16, 20, 22, 28
+
+
+  Davies, Miss Maude, 161, 164
+
+  Distribution of trades, 115-118, 142-149, 163;
+    normal, 147-149
+
+  Durham, Miss, 196, 228
+
+
+  _Economic Journal_, 116, 159
+
+  Education Acts, 1902-03, 62
+
+    Administrative Provisions Act, 1907, 58, 60, 61
+
+    Provision of Meals Act, 61
+
+  Employment of children. _See_ Boys
+
+  Employment of Children Act, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 46, 48, 57, 58, 77, 80,
+        81, 111, 166
+
+
+  Factory legislation, causes of, 30
+
+  Factory and Workshops Act, 38, 168;
+    authority for enforcement, 40, 51;
+    definitions, 39-41;
+    effects of, 77, 81, 82, 88;
+    half-time, 49-51;
+    health and safety, 52-56;
+    limitation of hours, 43-52;
+    prohibition of employment, 41, 42
+
+  Furness, Sir Christopher, 213
+
+
+  Gibb, Spencer J., 124, 158
+
+  Gilds, 4-11, 234, 237
+
+  Girls, vii
+
+  Green, Mrs. J. R., 12
+
+
+  Half-time system, 49-51, 78, 197-203, 204-205
+
+  Hall, G. Stanley, vi
+
+  Hasbach, W., 25
+
+  Health and Morals of Apprentices Act, 17, 18, 23, 29
+
+  Hutchins and Harrison, 23, 29
+
+
+  Idealist, triumph of, 28
+
+  Indenture, old, 6
+
+  Individualist, triumph of, 32-34
+
+  Industrial revolution, 20-26;
+    effects of, 26-29, 173-175;
+    characteristics, 177-185
+
+    schools, 61
+
+
+  Jackson, Cyril. _See_ Report on Boy Labour
+
+
+  Labour Exchange, 70, 125;
+    Juvenile, 71, 72, 83, 201, 221-231, 232-240
+
+  Lather-boy. _See_ Boys
+
+  London, employment of school-children, 105-113;
+    entry to a trade, 113-142;
+    passage to manhood, 142-151
+
+
+  Medical certificate, 56, 57, 58
+
+    inspection, 58, 60, 61, 85, 86, 94, 168, 197, 231, 232, 233, 238,
+        239
+
+  Messenger-boy. _See_ Boys
+
+  Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act, 38
+
+  Mines (Prohibition of Child Labour Underground) Act, 38, 41
+
+
+  Necessitous children, 94, 95
+
+  Nicholls, Sir G., 18
+
+
+  Occupations, clerical, 140-142;
+    distribution of, 115-120, 143, 142-149, 163;
+    skilled, 132-140;
+    unskilled, 112, 121-133
+
+  Office-boy. _See_ Boys
+
+  Opening. _See_ Provision of
+
+
+  Poor Law, Elizabethan, 15;
+    Amendment Act, 23-26;
+    Report of Royal Commission. _See_ Reports
+
+  Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 38, 42
+
+  Provision of opening, need for, 2;
+    Labour Exchange, 70-72, 221-231, 240;
+    under gilds, 8-11;
+    under industrial revolution, 20-26
+
+
+  Report of Board of Education, 64
+
+    of Commissioners for Prisons, 169
+
+    of Consultative Committee on Continuation School, 47, 81, 154, 192,
+        201
+
+    of Consultative Committee on Higher Elementary Schools, 214
+
+    of Departmental Committee on Employment of Children Act, 81, 125
+
+    of Interdepartmental Committee on Employment of Children, 51, 110, 152
+
+    of London County Council on Apprenticeship, 66, 115, 128, 135, 136,
+        139, 140, 143, 187, 192, 194
+
+    of Medical Officer, Board of Education, 152, 174
+
+    of Medical Officer (Education) of London County Council, 96, 109, 110
+
+  Report of Poor Law Commission, 31, 104, 155, 156, 172, 191, 192, 206,
+        209, 210, 211, 213
+
+  Report on Boy Labour, by Mr. Cyril Jackson, 104, 123, 124, 125, 128,
+        129, 131, 144, 145, 146, 156, 157
+
+    on Home Circumstances of Necessitous Children, 95
+
+  Rogers, J. E. Thorold, 5
+
+  Rural Districts, 161-165
+
+
+  Sadler, M. E., 157, 171, 195
+
+  Scholarships, 66-68, 86, 232
+
+  School: age, 46-48, 192-195;
+    central, 64, 65;
+    elementary, 46, 47, 63-65, 83-86, 218, 224, 231;
+    evening, 60, 67, 69, 86;
+    industrial, 59, 61;
+    part-time, 68, 132, 187, 218-221, 231;
+    secondary, 60, 67, 86, 232;
+    Sunday, 89;
+    technical and trade, 60, 66, 68, 208
+
+  Scott-Holland, Canon, 124
+
+  Shop-boy. _See_ Boys
+
+  Shop Hours Act, 38, 46, 79, 81
+
+  Skilled Employment Committees, 91, 92, 185
+
+  Supervision, need for, 2;
+    under gilds, 8-11;
+    under statute, 13-15;
+    under industrial revolution, 20-26;
+    by State regulation, 37-58;
+    by State enterprise, 59-70;
+    effects of State, 76-88;
+    by philanthropy, 89-92;
+    in home, 92-103;
+    in workshop, 125;
+    in London, summary, 149, 150;
+    general summary, 165-168;
+    under new apprenticeship, 191-202, 221-231, 237, 238
+
+
+  Tawney, R. L., 159, 160
+
+  Technical instruction. _See_ Schools
+
+  Trades, distribution of, 115-120, 142-149, 163;
+    picking up, 136-140;
+    skilled, 133-142, 208-214, 218, 239;
+    unskilled, 112, 121-133, 155-160, 165-175, 208, 215, 216, 219, 239
+
+  Training, need for, 2;
+    under gilds, 9-12;
+    under statute, 13, 14;
+    under industrial revolution, 20-27;
+    in single operation, 21, 137-139;
+    in elementary schools, 63-65;
+    in continuation schools, 65-70;
+    in workshops, 111-113, 121-142, 165-175;
+    in new apprenticeships, 207-221, 233
+
+
+  Van-boy. _See_ Boys
+
+
+  Webb, Sidney and Beatrice, 8, 21, 22
+
+
+  Young person, 40, 44-46, 81, 83
+
+
+THE END
+
+BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+
+[1] G. Stanley Hall, "Adolescence," vol. ii., p. 83.
+
+[2] See, for a general description of gilds, "Economic History," by W. J.
+Ashby; "Growth of English History and Commerce: Early and Middle Ages." by
+W. Cunningham.
+
+[3] J. E. Thorold Rogers, "Six Centuries of Work and Wages," p. 566.
+
+[4] Quoted, Cunningham, pp. 349-350.
+
+[5] Sidney and Beatrice Webb, "A History of Trade Unionism," p. 17.
+
+[6] Cunningham, p. 460.
+
+[7] _Ibid._, p. 345.
+
+[8] A. Abiam, "Social England in the Fifteenth Century," p. 118.
+
+[9] Cunningham, p. 509.
+
+[10] Mrs. J. R. Green, "Town Life in the Fifteenth Century," vol. ii., p.
+102.
+
+[11] 5 Elizabeth, Cap. iv.
+
+[12] Sect. 3.
+
+[13] Sect. 25.
+
+[14] Sect. 26.
+
+[15] Sect. 31.
+
+[16] 5 Elizabeth, Cap. iv., Sect. 35.
+
+[17] 43 Elizabeth, Cap. ii., Sect. 5. Similar powers had been given to
+Justices of the Peace in earlier Acts (see 27 Henry VIII., Cap. xxv.; Edw.
+VI., Cap. iii.)
+
+[18] W. Cunningham, "Growth of English Industry and Commerce in Modern
+Times," pp. 29-30.
+
+[19] _Ibid._, p. 33.
+
+[20] See 3 Chas. I., Cap. v.
+
+[21] Sir G. Nicholls, "History of the Poor Law," vol. ii., p. 223 _et
+seq._ 1898.
+
+[22] James I., Cap. iii.
+
+[23] Cunningham, p. 615.
+
+[24] _Ibid._, pp. 640-641.
+
+[25] Sidney and Beatrice Webb, "History of Trade Unionism," p. 47.
+
+[26] Sidney and Beatrice Webb, "History of Trade Unionism," p. 47.
+
+[27] Cunningham, p. 660.
+
+[28] _Ibid._
+
+[29] 54 George III., Cap. xcvi.
+
+[30] Hutchins and Harrison, "History of Factory Legislation," p. 16.
+
+[31] Herr W. Hasbach, "A History of the English Agricultural Labourer,"
+pp. 224, 225.
+
+[32] Quoted by Cunningham, "Growth of Industry and Commerce in Modern
+Times," p. 776.
+
+[33] Quoted by B. L. Hutchins and A. Harrison, in "A History of Factory
+Legislation," p. 15.
+
+[34] In the Report of the Poor Law Commission we have an interesting
+example side by side of the two forces that make for reform. The Majority
+Report is altogether the work of sentiment. The proposed variation in the
+terminology applicable to those in receipt of relief, the loosening of the
+deterrent system, the advocacy of the more generous treatment of the young
+and the sick, the general neglect to consider remote causes, and the total
+absence of any consistent principle, can be explained in no other way. Its
+cold reception by the British Constitutional Association--that body of
+people who still hold aloft the tattered banners of the individualist--is
+but another proof that sentiment, and not the _a priori_ assumptions of
+the old school, is the guiding spirit. In the Minority Report we see
+everywhere the mark of the imaginative reason--that reason which, starting
+with facts and not with theories, strives to picture the long chain of
+cause and effect which leads up to the sufferer, and finally, seeing the
+whole process in its true proportions, strikes at the evil where it begins
+and can be prevented, and not where it ends, when only a more or less
+modified failure can be looked for.
+
+[35] A striking instance of this is supplied by the Municipal Reform Party
+on the London County Council. Opposed in principle to feeding or treating
+medically children at the cost of the rates, they have yet been compelled
+to do both these things. And they have been compelled to take action, not
+by the pressure of public opinion--the public opinion of their own side
+generally condemned them for forsaking their principles--but by the sheer
+inability of members to learn, week after week, that hungry children were
+unfed and sick children left without treatment.
+
+[36] See Part X. of the Act. Needless to say, the decision as to what
+kinds of industry come within these definitions has exercised the
+ingenuity of the lawyer. In one case (Law _v._ Graham), for example, Lord
+Alverstone, Chief Justice, expressed the opinion that bottling beer is not
+within paragraph (i.) or paragraph (ii.) above; that by a somewhat
+strained construction it might be said to be within paragraph (iii.), as
+being an adapting of an article for sale, but that the powers used in
+washing the bottles was not "in aid of the process of bottling."
+
+[37] For complete list of such industries, see Sch. VI. of the Act.
+
+[38] See Part VI. of the Act for details and exceptions.
+
+[39] Sects. 103, 104, 105, 106.
+
+[40] Sects. 71 and 156.
+
+[41] Sect. 156.
+
+[42] Sect. 13.
+
+[43] Factory and Workshop Act, Sect. 77.
+
+[44] Sect. 99.
+
+[45] Mines Act, 1900, Sect. 1.
+
+[46] Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887, Sect. 7.
+
+[47] Factory and Workshops Act, Sect. 77.
+
+[48] Employment of Children Act, Sects. 3 and 13.
+
+[49] Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 1894, Sect. 3.
+
+[50] Sect. 1.
+
+[51] Sect. 2.
+
+[52] Sect. 4.
+
+[53] For definitions, see p. 39.
+
+[54] Sect. 24.
+
+[55] Sect. 26.
+
+[56] Sect. 111.
+
+[57] Sects. 51, 53.
+
+[58] Sects. 31, 46.
+
+[59] The best detailed account of the Act is found in "The Law Relating to
+Factories and Workshops," by Abraham and Davies.
+
+[60] Shop Hours Act, Sect. 3.
+
+[61] Employment of Children Act, Sect. 2.
+
+[62] Report of the Consultative Committee on Continuation Schools, vol.
+i., p. 22.
+
+[63] _Ibid._, vol. i., p. 21.
+
+[64] Employment of Children Act, Sect. 3 (1).
+
+[65] Sect. 1.
+
+[66] Abraham and Davies, "The Law Relating to Factories and Workshops,"
+fourth edition, p. 41.
+
+[67] Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, Sect. 25.
+
+[68] Sect. 25.
+
+[69] Sects. 31 and 46.
+
+[70] Sect. 69.
+
+[71] Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on the Employment of
+School-Children, p. 12.
+
+[72] The summary of the provisions that follow is founded on "The Law
+Relating to Factories and Workshops," by Abraham and Davies, chap. ii.
+
+[73] Factory and Workshop Act, Sect. 63, (1) and (2).
+
+[74] Sect. 64 (4).
+
+[75] Sect. 64 (5).
+
+[76] Sect. 64 (6).
+
+[77] Sect. 67.
+
+[78] Sect. 65.
+
+[79] Sect. 66.
+
+[80] Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907, Sect. 13.
+
+[81] See pp. 46-48.
+
+[82] Children Act, 1908, Sect. 58.
+
+[83] Education (Administration Provisions) Act, 1907, Sect. 13.
+
+[84] Board of Education Circular 576, Sect. 12.
+
+[85] Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907, Sect. 13.
+
+[86] Education (Provision of Meals) Act, 1906, Sect. 3.
+
+[87] Children Act, Sect. 77.
+
+[88] I am here speaking of England; in Scotland there are limited powers
+of enforcing attendance.
+
+[89] Report of Board of Education, 1908-09, p. 110.
+
+[90] For a more detailed account of the machinery considered desirable,
+see the Report of the London County Council on "The Apprenticeship
+Question."
+
+[91] See Report of the Consultative Committee on Continuation Schools, p.
+22.
+
+[92] Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Children
+Act, pp. 6, 7.
+
+[93] "The Organization of Education in London," by R. Blair, Education
+Officer to the London County Council, p. 29.
+
+[94] "Studies of Boy Life in Our Cities," edited by E. J. Urwick. Dent and
+Co.
+
+[95] "Home Circumstances of Necessitous Children in Twelve Selected
+Schools." Report of the London County Council.
+
+[96] See "Medical Treatment of Children attending Elementary Schools," in
+Report of the Medical Officer (Education) of the London County Council for
+the year 1909. See also Report of the Medical Officer of the Board of
+Education for 1909.
+
+[97] "Studies of Boy Life," pp. 22-25 _passim_.
+
+[98] "Studies of Boy Life," pp. 26-28 _passim_.
+
+[99] "Studies of Boy Life," p. 32.
+
+[100] Elementary Schools (Children Working for Wages) Parliamentary Return,
+1899, p. 32.
+
+[101] Report on Employment of School-Children, p. 8.
+
+[102] _Ibid._, p. 9.
+
+[103] Report on the Employment of School-Children, p. 9.
+
+[104] Quoted from "Studies of Boy Life," p. 24.
+
+[105] Report on Employment of School-Children, p. 10.
+
+[106] _Ibid._, p. 11.
+
+[107] Report on Employment of School-Children, p. 11.
+
+[108] Report of the Education Committee submitting the Report of the
+Medical Officer (Education) for the year 1906. P. S. King and Son.
+
+[109] Report of Medical Officer, p. 22.
+
+[110] Report of the Medical Officer (Education) 1906, p. 23.
+
+[111] _Ibid._, p. 23.
+
+[112] _Ibid._, p. 24.
+
+[113] See p. 43.
+
+[114] Report on the Apprenticeship Question, Minutes of the Education
+Committee of the London County Council for February 24, 1909, p. 414.
+
+[115] The substance of what follows appeared in an article published in
+the _Economic Journal_ for September, 1909, and is reproduced by the kind
+permission of the Editor.
+
+[116] L.C.C. Report of Medical Officer (Education), 1906, p. 23, showed
+that this was the most injurious form of work in which school-children
+were engaged.
+
+[117] Report of Mr. Cyril Jackson on Boy Labour, prepared for the Poor Law
+Commission.
+
+[118] Report on Boy Labour, p. 7.
+
+[119] Report on Boy Labour, pp. 7 and 8.
+
+[120] Canon Scott Holland, Introduction to "The Problem of Boy Work," by
+the Rev. Spencer J. Gibb.
+
+[121] Report on Boy Labour, p. 4.
+
+[122] Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Children
+Act, 1903, 1910, p. 14.
+
+[123] "Studies of Boy Life," p. 111.
+
+[124] Cyril Jackson, Report on Boy Labour, p. 14.
+
+[125] The Rev. Spencer J. Gibb, "The Problem of Boy Work," p. 33.
+
+[126] Report on the Apprenticeship Question, Minutes of the Education
+Committee of the London County Council, February 24, 1909, p. 424.
+
+[127] Report on Boy Labour, p. 27.
+
+[128] Mr. Cloete, in "Studies of Boy Life," p. 125.
+
+[129] Report on Boy Labour, p. 20.
+
+[130] _Ibid._, p. 20.
+
+[131] _Ibid._, p. 26.
+
+[132] Report on Boy Labour, p. 17.
+
+[133] _Ibid._, p. 16.
+
+[134] _Ibid._, p. 17.
+
+[135] Report on the Apprenticeship Question, p. 1. London County Council
+Publications. P. S. King and Son.
+
+[136] Report on the Apprenticeship Question, p. 2.
+
+[137] Charles Booth, "Life and Labour of the People," vol. ix., p. 222.
+
+[138] This Advisory Committee contains representatives of the chief
+woodwork industries of the district.
+
+[139] Report on the Apprenticeship Question, p. 4.
+
+[140] Report on the Apprenticeship Question, p. 4.
+
+[141] Minutes of the Education Committee, February 24, 1909, p. 415.
+
+[142] Report on Boy Labour, p. 47.
+
+[143] Report on Boy Labour, p. 20.
+
+[144] _Ibid._, p. 20.
+
+[145] _Ibid._, p. 22.
+
+[146] _Ibid._, p. 23.
+
+[147] Report on Employment of School-Children, p. 5.
+
+[148] Report of Chief Medical Officer of Board of Education for 1909, pp.
+80-81, _note_.
+
+[149] Report of Consultation Committee on Continuation Schools, p. 206.
+
+[150] Majority Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 325.
+
+[151] _Ibid._, p. 325.
+
+[152] Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 1166.
+
+[153] _Ibid._, p. 1166.
+
+[154] Minority Report on the Poor Law Commission, p. 1166.
+
+[155] Report on Boy Labour, p. 5.
+
+[156] _Ibid._, p. 27.
+
+[157] M. E. Sadler, "Continuation Schools," Preface, p. xii.
+
+[158] M. E. Sadler, "Continuation Schools," Preface, p. xiii.
+
+[159] The Rev. Spencer J. Gibb, "The Problem of Boy Work," p. 33.
+
+[160] _Economic Journal_, December, 1909, p. 522.
+
+[161] _Ibid._, p. 522.
+
+[162] _Economic Journal_, December, 1909, p. 532.
+
+[163] Elementary Schools (Children Working for Wages) Act, Part (2),
+Return for England and Wales, 1899, p. iv.
+
+[164] Elementary Schools (Children Working for Wages) Act, Part (2),
+Return for England and Wales, 1899., p. vii.
+
+[165] M. F. Davies, "Life in an English Village," chap. x.
+
+[166] Report of the Commissioners of Prisons for the year ending March 31,
+1908, p. 14.
+
+[167] Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 325.
+
+[168] _Morning Post_, January 3, 1909, letter from Professor M. E. Sadler.
+
+[169] Russell and Rigby, "Working Lads' Club," p. 286.
+
+[170] Majority Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 326.
+
+[171] Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 1165.
+
+[172] _Ibid._, p. 1166.
+
+[173] Minutes of the Education Committee, February 24, 1909, p. 422.
+
+[174] Minutes of the Education Committee, February 24, 1909, p. 416.
+
+[175] Minutes of the Education Committee, February 24, 1909, p. 416.
+
+[176] M. E. Sadler, "Continuation Schools," p. 334.
+
+[177] "Berlin, though growing luxurious, is not yet as spendthrift of
+young life as is London. The newspaper-boy and the street-trader are
+unknown" (Report to the London County Council, by Miss Durham, p. 3).
+
+[178] See Report of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education
+on Continuation Schools, chap. x.
+
+[179] Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 346.
+
+[180] Report of the Poor Law Commission, pp. 346-347.
+
+[181] _Ibid._, Professor Chapman, footnote, p. 346.
+
+[182] Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 351.
+
+[183] Report of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education in
+Higher Elementary Schools, p. 7.
+
+[184] Report by Miss Durham to the London County Council on Juvenile
+Labour in Germany, p. 7.
+
+
+
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Boy Labour and Apprenticeship, by Reginald
+Arthur Bray</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Boy Labour and Apprenticeship</p>
+<p>Author: Reginald Arthur Bray</p>
+<p>Release Date: March 28, 2012  [eBook #39291]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOY LABOUR AND APPRENTICESHIP***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>E-text prepared by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br />
+    from page images generously made available by<br />
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+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10">
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">
+      Note:
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+    <td>
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      <a href="http://archive.org/details/boylabourapprent00brayuoft">
+      http://archive.org/details/boylabourapprent00brayuoft</a>
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+</table>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1>BOY LABOUR<br />
+AND APPRENTICESHIP</h1>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="verts">
+<p class="center"><span class="large">SOME PRESS OPINIONS</span></p>
+
+<p><b>Times.</b>&mdash;&#8220;The problem already felt acutely in London and in large towns has
+now appeared even in the country town and village, and to those who still
+doubt its extent or seriousness we commend this most instructive work.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><b>Morning Post.</b>&mdash;&#8220;An important book on an important subject.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><b>Daily News.</b>&mdash;&#8220;Mr. Bray&#8217;s book is as full of counsel as of instruction, and
+it should be in the hands of every student of one of the most serious of
+social problems.&#8221;</p></div>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="giant">BOY LABOUR AND<br />APPRENTICESHIP</span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><small>BY</small><br />
+<span class="large">REGINALD A. BRAY L.C.C.</span><br />
+<small>AUTHOR OF &#8220;THE TOWN CHILD&#8221;</small></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><i>SECOND IMPRESSION</i></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">LONDON<br />CONSTABLE &amp; CO. LTD.<br />1912</p>
+
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p>
+<h2>PREFACE</h2>
+
+
+<p>We are beginning to realize clearly that all is not well with the youth of
+this country. From all sides complaints of neglect, and the evils of
+neglect, are thronging in. Boys as they leave school are casting off the
+shackles of parental control, and, with no intervening period of youth,
+are assuming the full independence of the adult. The old apprenticeship
+system is falling into disuse, and methods of industrial training are at
+once unsatisfactory and, for the majority, difficult to obtain. Boys in
+increasing numbers are entering occupations where they learn nothing and
+forget all they have previously learned, and in which they can see no
+prospects of employment when manhood is reached. As a consequence, there
+is a general drift into the army of unskilled labour, and later into the
+ranks of the unemployed. All expert opinion is unanimous in voicing these
+complaints. The Report of the Poor Law Commission, Majority and Minority
+alike, with its volumes of special inquiries and evidence, is one long
+testimony to the gravity of the evils which are the consequence of
+neglected youth.</p>
+
+<p>Further, we are coming to understand that the period of adolescence forms
+a critical epoch in the development<span class="pagenum">[Pg vi]</span> of the lad. &#8220;The forces of sin and
+those of virtue never struggle so hotly for possession of the youthful
+soul.&#8221;<a name='fna_1' id='fna_1' href='#f_1'><small>[1]</small></a> And the boy too often is left to fight out this struggle without
+assistance, and even without advice. The conditions of modern life are
+increasingly hard on youth. &#8220;Never has youth,&#8221; says Mr. Stanley Hall, the
+greatest living authority on adolescence, &#8220;been exposed to such dangers of
+both perversion and arrest as in our land and day. Increasing urban life,
+with its temptations, prematurities, sedentary occupations, and passive
+stimuli, just when an active objective life is most needed; early
+emancipation and a lessening sense for both duty and discipline; the haste
+to know and do all befitting man&#8217;s estate before its time; the mad rush
+for sudden wealth, and the reckless fashions set by its gilded youth&mdash;&mdash;&#8221;
+all in increasing degree imperil the passage to manhood.</p>
+
+<p>And, lastly, we are compelled to confess that an evil which is at once a
+grave and a growing evil is one which demands immediate attention. It is
+not a problem that can be laid on the shelf for that convenient season
+which never arrives, when legislators have nothing else to think about.
+There is urgent need for reform in the near future, unless we would see a
+further degeneration of the youth of the country.</p>
+
+<p>The object of this volume is altogether practical&mdash;to show what reforms
+are necessary to prevent the growth of the evil by laying the foundation
+of a new and true<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span> apprenticeship system. But to achieve this object it is
+necessary first to explain how the problem was dealt with in days gone by,
+when life was more stable and industrial conditions less complex; and,
+secondly, to understand in detail the characteristic features of the
+question as it presents itself to-day. Only with the experience of the
+past and the present to guide us can we face the future with any hope of
+controlling its destinies.</p>
+
+<p>As &#8220;she&#8221; is mentioned nowhere else in the volume, it seems desirable to
+say a word here about the girl. This book is, indeed, concerned with boys
+alone, but, with a few changes in details, all that is written about
+conditions, and all that is recommended in the way of reforms, is equally
+applicable in her case also.</p>
+
+<p>I have endeavoured, even at the risk of being termed unduly dogmatic, to
+make my proposals for reform as definite as possible. I have done so in
+the cause of clearness. But if I fail to carry my readers with me all the
+way, I shall be well content if only I have succeeded in starting them on
+a pilgrimage in quest of the new apprenticeship system.</p>
+
+<p><span style="margin-left: 4em;">REGINALD A. BRAY.</span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Addington Square</span>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="smcap">Camberwell, S.E.</span></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg viii]</span></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg ix]</span></p>
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table">
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Preface</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_v">v</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Essentials of Apprenticeship</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Old Apprenticeship</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_4">4</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">I. The Age of the Gilds</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_4">4</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent"><span style="margin-left: .25em;">II. The Statute of Apprentices</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent">III. The Industrial Revolution</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Age of Reconstruction</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Guardianship of the State</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">I. State Supervision</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent2">&sect; 1. State Regulation</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent3">(<i>a</i>) Prohibition of Employment</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent3">(<i>b</i>) Limitation of Hours</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent3">(<i>c</i>) Protection of Health</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent2"><span class="pagenum">[Pg x]</span>&sect; 2. State Enterprise</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent"><span style="margin-left: .25em;">II. State Training</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent3">(<i>a</i>) The Elementary School</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent3">(<i>b</i>) The Continuation School</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent">III.State Provision of an Opening</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Apprenticeship of To-Day</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">I. The Contribution of the State</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent2">&sect; 1. State Regulation</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent2">&sect; 2. State Enterprise</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent2">&sect; 3. Summary</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent"><span style="margin-left: .25em;">II. The Contribution of Philanthropy</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent">III. The Contribution of the Home</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent2">&sect; 1. The Boy of School Age</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent2">&sect; 2. The Boy after School Days</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent">IV. The Contribution of the Workshop</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_103">103</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent2">&sect; 1. London</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent3">(<i>a</i>) The Employment of School-Children</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent3">(<i>b</i>) The Entry to a Trade</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent3">(<i>c</i>) The Passage to Manhood</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent3">(<i>d</i>) Summary</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent2">&sect; 2. Other Towns</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent3">(<i>a</i>) The Employment of School-Children</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent3">(<i>b</i>) The Entry to a Trade</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent3">(<i>c</i>) The Passage to Manhood</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent2">&sect; 3. Rural Districts</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">V. The Break-up of Apprenticeship</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;<span class="pagenum">[Pg xi]</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">The New Apprenticeship</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_176">176</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">I. Supervision</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_191">191</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent3">(<i>a</i>) The Raising of the School Age</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent3">(<i>b</i>) The Prohibition of Child Labour</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent3">(<i>c</i>) The New Half-Time System</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent3">(<i>d</i>) The Parents&#8217; Point of View</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_202">202</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent"><span style="margin-left: .25em;">II. Training</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_207">207</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent">III. The Provision of an Opening</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="dent">IV. General Conclusions</td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_231">231</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">List of Authorities</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_241">241</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap">Index</span></td>
+    <td align="right"><a href="#Page_245">245</a></td></tr></table>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><span class="giant">BOY LABOUR AND APPRENTICESHIP</span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+<p class="title">THE ESSENTIALS OF APPRENTICESHIP</p>
+
+<p>Originally the term &#8220;apprenticeship&#8221; was employed to signify not merely
+the practical training in the mysteries of a trade, but also that wider
+training of character and intelligence on which depends the real
+efficiency of the craftsman. Apprenticeship was regarded as a preparation
+for life, and not only as a preparation for the workshop. It is in this
+sense that the word is used throughout the present volume.</p>
+
+<p>In a volume concerned with any branch of social reform, and consequently
+likely to arouse differences of opinion, it is always desirable to start
+on good terms with the reader. This can best be done by beginning with
+assumptions the truth of which no one is likely to call in question. In
+dealing with the problem of boy labour and apprenticeship, it is not
+difficult to venture on certain statements which will receive the
+unqualified approval of all.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>An apprenticeship system worthy of the name must satisfy three conditions.
+First, it must provide for the adequate supervision of boys until they
+reach at least the age of eighteen. Before that age a lad is not fit to be
+his own master, and should remain at least to some extent under the
+control of elder persons. Such supervision must have respect both to his
+conduct and to his physical development. Secondly, an apprenticeship
+system must offer full opportunities of training, both general and
+special&mdash;the training of the citizen and the training of the worker. And,
+lastly, it must lead forward to some opening in the ranks of adult labour,
+for which definite preparation has been made, and in which good character
+may find reasonable prospects of permanent employment. Supervision,
+training, the provision of a suitable opening&mdash;these must be regarded as
+the three essentials of an apprenticeship system. How they may be assured
+is, no doubt, a problem which invites controversy; that they ought to be
+assured will be allowed by all.</p>
+
+<p>Further, it is perhaps allowable to assume that an apprenticeship system
+must not be regarded merely as a means of entering a skilled trade. We
+must not think of it as an organization reserved for a comparatively small
+section of the community: all must be brought within the sphere of its
+influence. All boys alike need supervision; all boys alike require some
+training; all boys alike should see before them, as manhood approaches,
+the prospects of an opening in some form of occupation where diligence and
+aptitude may receive its due reward.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> And all alike must one day play
+their part in the complex life of the State. We want some to be skilled
+workers; we want all to be intelligent and well-conducted citizens.
+Apprenticeship, then, using the word in its widest sense, must be
+universal. Here again, it is hoped, the reader may express his agreement.</p>
+
+<p>In what follows an attempt is made to examine the old apprenticeship
+system, to criticize apprenticeship as it exists to-day, and so to lead on
+to proposals which will pave the way for the coming of the new and real
+apprenticeship system of to-morrow. Throughout, the industrial
+organization will be judged by bringing it to the test of the principles
+just laid down. An apprenticeship system must be universal; it must make
+proper provision for three essentials&mdash;supervision, training, opening.
+Where these are wanting, in whole or in part, the youth of the nation
+must, in a more or less degree, suffer irreparable loss.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+<p class="title">THE OLD APPRENTICESHIP</p>
+
+<p>Prior to the nineteenth century and the beginning of factory legislation
+the conditions of boy labour were determined in and through the industrial
+organization of the times. Of this organization, so far as the youthful
+worker was concerned, the indentured apprenticeship system formed the most
+characteristic feature. The history of the apprenticeship system falls
+into three periods. In the first the gilds were the predominant factor; in
+the second the State, by prescribing a seven years&#8217; apprenticeship,
+insured the continuance of the system; in the third the industrial
+revolution and the triumph of <i>laissez-faire</i> ushered in the age of decay
+and dissolution.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">I.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Age of the Gilds.</span></p>
+
+<p>During the Early and Middle Ages the gilds constituted the central feature
+of the industrial organization. The merchant gilds began to come into
+existence in the second half of the eleventh century.<a name='fna_2' id='fna_2' href='#f_2'><small>[2]</small></a> They were
+societies formed for the purpose of obtaining the exclusive privilege of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>
+carrying on trades. Later they became either identified with the municipal
+body, or a specialized department of that authority. The craft gilds
+appeared about a century later, and were associations of artisans engaged
+in a particular industry. It is not necessary here to enter on a
+discussion of the complex relations between these two kinds of gilds. The
+subject is obscure, but, so far as concerns the regulation of boy labour,
+the general facts are unquestioned.</p>
+
+<p>Either by obtaining a royal charter of their own or by using the authority
+of the municipality, the gilds were enabled to prescribe, down to the most
+minute details, the conditions under which the trades of the district were
+carried on. The control was essentially of a local character, varying from
+place to place; it was, moreover, a control with, for all practical
+purposes, the full force of the law at its back. &#8220;The towns and even the
+villages had their gilds, and it is certain that these gilds were the
+agencies by which the common interests of labour were protected.&#8221;<a name='fna_3' id='fna_3' href='#f_3'><small>[3]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>The gild organization included three classes of person&mdash;the apprentice,
+the journeyman, and the master.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Apprentice.</i>&mdash;The apprentice paid the master a premium, and was
+indentured to him for a period of years, usually seven. He lived in his
+master&#8217;s house, and received from him, in addition to board and clothing,
+wages on a low and rising scale. The master engaged to teach<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> him his
+trade, and the boy promised to serve his master honestly and obediently.
+The following is a typical example of a fifteenth-century indenture:<a name='fna_4' id='fna_4' href='#f_4'><small>[4]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>&#8220;This indenture made the xviii of September the year of the reign of King
+Edward the iiiith the xxth between John Gare of Saint Mary Cray in the
+county of Kent, cordwainer on that oon partie and Walter Byse, son of John
+Byse sumtyme of Wimelton, in the same county, fuller on that other partie,
+Witnesseth that the saide Walter hath covenanted with the saide John Gare
+for the time of vii yeres, and that the saide John Gare shall find the
+saide Walter mete and drink and clothing during the saide time as to the
+saide Walter shall be according. Also the saide John Gare shall teche the
+saide Walter his craft, as he may and can, and also the saide John Gare
+shall give him the first yere of the said vii yeres iii<sup>d</sup> in money and
+the second yere vi<sup>d</sup> and so after the rate of iii<sup>d</sup> to an yere, and the
+last yere of the saide vii yeres the saide John Gare shall give unto the
+said Walter x shillings of money. And the saide Walter shall will and
+truly keep his occupacyon and do such things as the saide John shall bid
+him do, as unto the saide Walter shall be lawful and lefull, and the saide
+Walter shall be none ale goer neyther to no rebeld nor sporte during the
+saide vii yeres without the licence of the saide John. In witness whereof
+the parties aforesaide chaungeably have put their seales this daye and
+yere abovesaide.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><i>The Journeyman.</i>&mdash;At the expiration of the identureship<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> the apprentice
+became a journeyman. The change of status, beyond bringing with it a rise
+in wages, made no great difference to the youth. He usually continued to
+work for his master, and not infrequently remained a lodger in his house.
+To some extent the master was still responsible for the good conduct of
+his journeymen. Various regulations forbade the master to entice away the
+journeymen of others and the journeymen to combine against the masters.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Master.</i>&mdash;By a somewhat similar process of growth and without any
+sudden break in social status, the journeyman became a master. Between
+journeyman and master there were no class distinctions. Both worked at
+their craft; and, in an age preceding the era of capitalistic production
+on a large scale, the need of capital to start business on his own account
+presented no difficulties which could not easily be overcome by any
+intelligent journeyman.</p>
+
+<p>Period of apprenticeship, hours and conditions of work, wages and
+premiums, were all rigidly determined by the rules of the gild. Through
+its officers the gild visited the workshops, inspected the articles in
+process of manufacture, satisfied themselves as to their quality,
+prescribed methods of production, were empowered to confiscate tools not
+sanctioned by the regulations, and settled all disputes between the three
+classes of persons concerned. Masters, journeymen, and apprentices alike
+benefited by an organization which was created and controlled in their
+common interests; while the general public were well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> served in the system
+of expert inspection which guaranteed the quality of the goods supplied.
+The gild, in short, was &#8220;the representation of the interests, not of one
+class alone, but of the three distinct and somewhat antagonistic elements
+of modern society&mdash;the capitalist <i>entrepreneur</i>, the manual worker, and
+the consumer at large.&#8221;<a name='fna_5' id='fna_5' href='#f_5'><small>[5]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>From the point of view of the boy&#8217;s training the system presented unique
+advantages. To the age of twenty-one, and sometimes twenty-four, he was
+under control. Living in the same house as his master, that control was
+paternal in character, inspired by a living and individual interest in his
+welfare. He received a thorough training in the trade to which he was
+indentured. Finally, when apprenticeship was over, he found ready-made for
+himself an opening that led upwards from the journeyman to the small
+master. Under this system there was no boy his own master from an early
+age, no master irresponsible for the conduct of his boys outside the
+workshops, and no blind alley of boy employment that closed with boyhood
+and ended in the sink of unskilled labour.</p>
+
+<p>It its best days the gilds represented something more than a privileged
+trade organization. The close connection between the gilds and the
+municipality guarded the interests of the public. &#8220;The city authorities
+looked to the wardens of each craft to keep the men under their charge in
+order; and thus for every public scandal, or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> underhand attempt to cheat,
+someone was responsible, and the responsibility could, generally speaking,
+be brought home to the right person.&#8221;<a name='fna_6' id='fna_6' href='#f_6'><small>[6]</small></a> Further, there was no sharp
+barrier between trade and trade. It is true that no one could enter a
+trade without being apprenticed, but the person who had served his seven
+years&#8217; apprenticeship in any one trade became free to follow all trades
+within the city.<a name='fna_7' id='fna_7' href='#f_7'><small>[7]</small></a> The gild system represented therefore something very
+different from the individualist methods of modern times. There was in a
+real sense, at any rate in each town, a trade organization under no
+inconsiderable amount of collective control.</p>
+
+<p>But the organization of the gild was suited only to the conditions of a
+more or less primitive society. For a country rising rapidly to a front
+place in the commercial world it was ill adapted. Increasing trade brought
+wealth and a desire for wealth; and with wealth came power to those who
+possessed it. The richer members of the gild gained the upper hand in the
+administration of its affairs and oppressed the poorer.<a name='fna_8' id='fna_8' href='#f_8'><small>[8]</small></a> The gild was no
+longer an association of equals; and the weaker went to the wall.
+Competition turned the methods of production in the direction of cheapness
+rather than good quality; and the supervisory functions of the gild
+disappeared. In general the whole system, rigid and inelastic, became a
+heavy drag on the industrial organization. The <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>members had paid for their
+privileges in money and a long apprenticeship, and bitterly resented the
+appearance of intruders not hall-marked by the gild. With shortsighted
+policy, the gilds limited admissions by exacting high entrance-fees, and
+strove to secure the maximum of benefits for the smallest possible number.</p>
+
+<p>No longer an association of equals, united by common interests and a
+common outlook; no longer a guarantee of excellence in matters of
+craftmanship; no longer the guardian of the interests of the general
+public, but a narrow sect claiming exclusive privileges&mdash;the gilds, rent
+by strife and envy within, and regarded with open hostility by those
+outside, drifted slowly towards that inevitable end which awaits those who
+seek to sacrifice the needs of all on the altar of the selfish desires of
+the few. &#8220;In the sixteenth century,&#8221; says Dr. Cunningham, &#8220;the gilds had
+in many cases so entirely lost their original character that they had not
+only ceased to serve useful purposes, but their ill-judged interference
+drove workmen to leave the towns and establish themselves in villages
+where the gilds had no jurisdiction.&#8221;<a name='fna_9' id='fna_9' href='#f_9'><small>[9]</small></a> They received their death-blow in
+the year 1547, through the legislation directed against the property of
+the semi-religious bodies. With the decay of the gilds and their final
+dissolution passed the ancient system which had for centuries regulated
+the conditions of boy labour. So far as the boy was concerned the system
+was founded on three principles: It recognized his need for prolonged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>
+control and supervision, and made provision for the need by securing for
+him, through his master, an interest at once individual and paternal. It
+recognized the need for a thorough training in the mysteries of the craft;
+and it recognized the need that, at the close of this training, the lad
+should find opening out for him a career for which he had been specially
+prepared. And it made provision for these needs by its scheme of
+inspection and control carried on by those responsible for the common
+interests of the trade. In short, the gild organization, in its earlier
+and flourishing days, may justly be regarded as satisfying the conditions
+of a true apprenticeship system.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">II.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Statute of Apprentices.</span></p>
+
+<p>If the gild system was dead, the principles for which it stood and made
+provision continued to be as important as ever. Nor under the industrial
+conditions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries did there appear to
+be any practical difficulty in the way of enforcement. The small master
+remained, and with him remained the possibility of an effective
+apprenticeship system. Regulated by custom or by the municipal authority,
+apprenticeship lost nothing of its old vitality. Indeed, with the increase
+of trade and the increasing profits derived from trade, it became more
+popular than ever. None the less, signs are not wanting that people were
+conscious of faults in the industrial organization. Into the statute book
+of the period creep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> frequent allusions to intruders who had entered the
+trade other than through the door of apprenticeship. There was nothing new
+in these complaints; they existed even in the best days of the gilds. &#8220;We
+seem at a very early time,&#8221; says Mrs. Green, &#8220;to detect behind the gild
+system a growing class of &#8216;uncovenanted labour,&#8217; which the policy of the
+employers constantly tended to foster, their aim being on the one hand to
+limit the number of privileged serving-men, and on the other to increase
+the supply of uncovenanted labour.&#8221;<a name='fna_10' id='fna_10' href='#f_10'><small>[10]</small></a> But with the decay of the
+supervisory functions of the gild these complaints became more frequent.</p>
+
+<p>The condition of this &#8220;uncovenanted labour&#8221; has always been the unsolved
+problem in any apprenticeship system. If uncovenanted labour is allowed to
+enter a trade on the same terms as those who have served an
+apprenticeship, the latter have clearly a grievance. They have paid for
+their privilege in premium and long service at low wages, and not
+unnaturally demand some assured recompense in return. If, on the other
+hand, uncovenanted labour is rigidly excluded, there is no method of
+rapidly increasing the supply of workers in times of expanding trade. From
+this dilemma there is but one way of escape. All boys, irrespective of the
+trades they follow, must pass through a system of apprenticeship before
+they are permitted to earn the wages of a man. Two conditions are
+necessary to success. First, all boys<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> without exception must serve an
+apprenticeship; secondly, having served this apprenticeship, they must not
+in their employment be restricted to the trade to which they have been
+indentured.</p>
+
+<p>As already shown, the gilds, at any rate in certain districts, allowed a
+person who had served an apprenticeship in one trade to be free of all the
+trades of the town. The gilds satisfied the second condition, and in their
+earlier days, when they included the majority of the population, they
+satisfied to a large extent the second condition as well. To satisfy the
+first condition was clearly, as will appear later, the intention of the
+Statute of Apprentices.</p>
+
+<p>But apart from the problem of uncovenanted labour, the disappearance of
+the controlling influence of the gilds left many anomalies. Here
+apprenticeship was regulated by custom, here by charter, and there left
+undetermined. In one place a certain period of service was exacted, in
+another place a different period. Finally, in the minds of the leaders of
+the day there was firmly fixed the belief that, as trade was becoming the
+life-blood of the nation, there was need of a general and consolidating
+Act giving the force of law to what was often only a floating custom
+applicable in a certain district.</p>
+
+<p>In the reign of Elizabeth these growing feelings of discontent found voice
+in an Act which marks an epoch in industrial legislation. It is usually
+known as the Statute of Artificers and Apprentices. After reciting the
+confusion that existed in previous legislation, the preamble continues:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>&#8220;So if the substance of as many of the said Laws as are meet to be
+continued shall be digested and reduced into one sole law and Statute, and
+in the same an uniform Order prescribed and limited concerning the Wages
+and other Orders for Apprentices, Servants and Labourers, there is good
+hope that it will come to pass, that the same law (being duly executed)
+should banish Idleness, advance Husbandry, and yield unto the hired
+person, both in the time of Scarcity and in the time of Plenty, a
+conventient Proportion of Wages.&#8221;<a name='fna_11' id='fna_11' href='#f_11'><small>[11]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>We are here concerned with the Act only so far as it affects the
+conditions of boy labour. The principal regulations are the following:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;No person shall retain a servant in their services (<i>i.e.</i>, in employment
+for which apprenticeship was required) under one whole Year.&#8221;<a name='fna_12' id='fna_12' href='#f_12'><small>[12]</small></a>
+Husbandmen may take apprentices &#8220;from the age of 10 until 21 at least,&#8221; or
+till twenty-four by agreement.<a name='fna_13' id='fna_13' href='#f_13'><small>[13]</small></a> Householders in towns may &#8220;have and
+retain the son of any Freeman not occupying Husbandry nor being a Labourer
+... to serve and be bound as an Apprentice, after the Custom and Order of
+the City of London, for seven years at the least so as the Term and years
+of such Apprentice do not expire or determine after such Apprentice shall
+be of the Age of twenty-four Years at the least.&#8221;<a name='fna_14' id='fna_14' href='#f_14'><small>[14]</small></a> &#8220;None may use any
+manual occupacyon unless he hath been apprenticed to the same as
+above.&#8221;<a name='fna_15' id='fna_15' href='#f_15'><small>[15]</small></a> &#8220;If a person be required by any Householder<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> to be an
+Apprentice and refuse he may be brought before a justice of the peace who
+is empourred to commit him unto Ward, there to remain until he be
+contented, and will be bounden to serve as an Apprentice should
+serve.&#8221;<a name='fna_16' id='fna_16' href='#f_16'><small>[16]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>The Elizabethan Poor Law gave additional powers with regard to the
+compulsory apprenticing of those likely to fall into evil ways, and made
+it lawful for churchwardens and overseers &#8220;to bind any such children as
+aforesaid to be Apprentices, when they shall see convenient, till such Man
+child shall come to the age of four-and-twenty yeares.&#8221;<a name='fna_17' id='fna_17' href='#f_17'><small>[17]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>Taken together, these two Acts gave to public authorities large powers of
+control over the growing boy. They did not, indeed, provide that everyone
+should be apprenticed, but in the majority of occupations no one could be
+employed unless he had served his time. Nor did they allow a person who
+had been apprenticed to one trade to work at another. But they applied the
+system of compulsory apprenticeship to all parts of the country, and they
+made provision for the proper care, by way of apprenticeship, of neglected
+children. People of the time were clearly of one mind in their desire to
+supervise, through the State, the training of the youth. &#8220;Contemporary
+opinion held that it was neither good for society nor trade that the young
+man should enjoy any independence. &#8216;Until a man grows unto the age of
+xxiii<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> yeares he for the moste parte, thoughe not alwayes, is wilde,
+withoute Judgment, and not of sufficient experience to govern himself. Nor
+(many tymes) grown unto the full or perfect knowledge of the arte or
+occupation that he professed.&#8217;&#8221;<a name='fna_18' id='fna_18' href='#f_18'><small>[18]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>As to the general effect of the far-reaching Statute of Apprentices, it is
+not possible to do better than quote Dr. Cunningham: &#8220;A proof of the
+wisdom of the measure seems to lie in the fact that we have no complaints
+as to these restrictions in the Act or proposals for amending the clauses,
+but that, on the contrary, there was, on more than one occasion, a demand
+that it should be rigorously enforced, so that the industrial system of
+the country should be really reduced to order.&#8221;<a name='fna_19' id='fna_19' href='#f_19'><small>[19]</small></a> For more than two
+centuries, without amendment, the Act remained in force; and while it
+lasted it provided at least the possibility for the adequate training and
+supervision of the youth of the country.</p>
+
+<p>These two centuries constitute the second stage in the history of boy
+labour regulation. From a superficial point of view there appears no
+essential difference between this period and the preceding. In the first
+apprenticeship was enforced through the action of the gilds, in the second
+by special legislative enactment. In either case apprenticeship was, for
+all practical purposes, compulsory; but here the similarity ends.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>Under the r&eacute;gime of the gilds apprenticeship was enforced, but in addition
+its conditions were determined by a careful system of regulation. The
+gild, an association representing the three classes concerned&mdash;masters,
+journeymen, apprentices&mdash;supervised the industrial organization in the
+interests of all alike. In the best days of the gilds the trade, as a
+whole, inspected the workshops; the trade, as a whole, watched over the
+training of the youth; the trade, as a whole, so fixed the number of those
+entering, that at the conclusion of the apprenticeship there was room in
+the ranks of the skilled artisan for those who had learned their craft.</p>
+
+<p>During the disintegration of the gilds, this second factor gradually
+disappeared. The Statute of Apprentices did indeed make apprenticeship
+compulsory, but provided no efficient system of regulation. Measures were
+frequently advocated and occasionally embodied in Acts for determining the
+proportion of apprentices to journeymen, but never proved effective. We
+see gradually emerging the struggle between the conflicting interests of
+those engaged in production. A seven years&#8217; apprenticeship, enforced by
+law, gave the employers a source of cheap labour, and we begin to hear
+complaints that the number of apprentices was unduly multiplied and that
+boys were taking the place of men. To what extent this practice prevailed
+it is not easy to ascertain; but there is no question that, at any rate
+among one class of apprentice&mdash;the pauper apprentice&mdash;abuses were grave
+and frequent.</p>
+
+<p>The whole story of the pauper apprentice forms an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> ugly episode in the
+industrial history of the period. The Statute Book is punctuated with
+frequent allusion to his unfortunate lot, coupled with proposals for
+reform, for the most part ineffective. As already mentioned, the overseers
+had large powers of compulsorily apprenticing the children of the poor. A
+sum was paid to the employer, the lad handed over, and no steps taken to
+guard his well-being or guarantee his training. It was inevitable that
+under conditions such as these abuses should occur. The employer found
+himself provided with a continual supply of lads, bound to serve him until
+the age of twenty-one, or sometimes twenty-four; he was not troubled by
+visits of inspectors; he could use them as he pleased. The luckless
+apprentices were herded together in overcrowded and insanitary dwellings;
+they were overworked and underfed; they learned no trade, and were
+regarded as a cheap form of unskilled labour. If they misbehaved
+themselves the justices of the peace would punish them; if they ran away
+the law would see to it that they were returned to their masters; if they
+complained of ill-treatment there was no one to substantiate the charge.
+Whole trades seemed to have flourished by exploiting the parish
+apprentices; and not infrequently the overseer, himself an employer, made
+a comfortable profit out of their misfortunes.<a name='fna_20' id='fna_20' href='#f_20'><small>[20]</small></a> In his &#8220;History of the
+Poor Law&#8221; Sir G. Nicholls summarizes the legislation on the subject.<a name='fna_21' id='fna_21' href='#f_21'><small>[21]</small></a>
+With the rapid increase<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> in the number of paupers at the close of the
+eighteenth century these evils multiplied, and to an increasing extent
+engaged the public attention.</p>
+
+<p>If one class of apprentice was thus exploited, it is difficult to resist
+the conclusion that, in a less degree, others suffered in a similar way.
+Compulsory apprenticeship, without effective regulation, brought with it
+the danger of compulsory servitude. The State was conscious of the danger,
+and duties of supervision were laid on the justices of the peace. The
+State was likewise conscious of the value of apprenticeship, and gave much
+attention to the subject. A Commission of Charles I. dealt with the
+problem, while an Act of James I. was concerned with the misuse of
+apprenticeship charities, which led to children being brought up in
+idleness, &#8220;to their utter overthrow and the great prejudice of the
+commonwealth.&#8221;<a name='fna_22' id='fna_22' href='#f_22'><small>[22]</small></a> But legislation proved incapable of preventing evils
+which increased rapidly as the years went by. From the standpoint of the
+boy the second period, whose characteristic was compulsion without
+supervision, was distinctly inferior to the first, when the gilds
+regulated the affairs of the trade for the common good. But if the
+apprenticeship system was weakening and abuses on the increase, an
+effective training was always possible. The small master still remained,
+there was still the call for the all-round craftsman, and the huge changes
+in methods of production, that were destined to appear later, still lay in
+the mists of the future.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center">III.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Industrial Revolution.</span></p>
+
+<p>It was the invention of the steam-engine and the consequent introduction
+of machinery that ushered in the period of the industrial revolution. In
+the trades affected the consequences were immediate, profound, and
+disastrous for boys, journeymen, and small masters alike. &#8220;On the whole,
+machinery rendered it possible in many departments of industry to
+substitute unskilled for skilled labour.&#8221;<a name='fna_23' id='fna_23' href='#f_23'><small>[23]</small></a> In branches of certain
+trades boys took the place of men. &#8220;Under the new conditions (of
+calico-printing) boys could be employed in what had been hitherto the work
+of men; so that, in the introduction of machinery, complaints began to be
+made by the journeymen as to the undue multiplication of apprentices.
+There was one shop in Lancashire where fifty-five apprentices had been
+working at one time and only two journeymen; it was obvious that under
+such circumstances the man who had served his time had very little hope of
+obtaining employment.&#8221;<a name='fna_24' id='fna_24' href='#f_24'><small>[24]</small></a> A system of compulsory apprenticeship, under
+such conditions, was exploited for the benefit of the employer, and led
+inevitably to the injury of the boy. The latter was bound and could not
+escape, while the former could readily find an excuse for discharging an
+apprentice. Further, with the growing division of labour and the
+separation of boys&#8217; work<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> from men&#8217;s work, training became less easy. The
+boy was kept to a single operation, and when his time was up found no
+further call for his services. The position of the workmen in the trade
+appeared desperate. Owing to the competition of boys and the decrease in
+the demand for his skill, wages were rapidly falling, and at the same time
+the price of corn was rising by leaps and bounds. The small master, unable
+to compete with the cheapness of the machine-made goods, fared as badly as
+the journeyman. Both appealed to Parliament for redress, &#8220;usually
+demanding the prohibition of the new machines, the enforcement of a seven
+years&#8217; apprenticeship, or the maintenance of the old limitation of the
+number of boys to be taught by each employer.&#8221;<a name='fna_25' id='fna_25' href='#f_25'><small>[25]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>But appeals of this kind fell on deaf ears. The spirit of the age was
+against interference, and opposition to all form of regulation was rapidly
+growing. The Statute of Apprentices was disliked by the large employers,
+and an eager agitation began for its repeal. Though obsolescent, it was
+still sufficiently alive to be troublesome. A seven years&#8217; apprenticeship,
+it was argued, was unnecessarily long; weaving, for example, could be
+learnt in two or three years. A Commission was appointed to consider the
+question, and the large employers pointed out &#8220;that the new processes
+could be learnt in a few months instead of seven years; and that the
+restriction of the old master craftsman to two or three apprentices apiece
+was out of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> the question with the new buyers of labour on a large
+scale.&#8221;<a name='fna_26' id='fna_26' href='#f_26'><small>[26]</small></a> In the House of Commons &#8220;Mr. Sergeant Onslow urged the repeal
+of the Act, and remarked that &#8216;the reign of Elizabeth was not one in which
+sound principles of commerce were known.&#8217; The true principles of commerce
+(said another M.P.) appeared at that time to be misunderstood, and the Act
+in question proved the truth of this assertion. The persons most competent
+to form regulations with respect to trade were the master manufacturer,
+whose interest it was to have goods of the best fabric, and no legislative
+enactment could ever effect so much in producing that result as the merely
+leaving things to their own courses and operations.&#8221;<a name='fna_27' id='fna_27' href='#f_27'><small>[27]</small></a> The skilled
+craftsmen, on the other hand, petitioned in favour of compulsory
+apprenticeship. But in the growing enthusiasm for the theory whose sole
+tenet lay in the belief that the haven of prosperity lay in the mid-ocean
+of uncontrolled liberty, all pleas in favour of regulation were treated
+with contempt. The famous Chalmers, speaking of the Statute of
+Apprentices, declared that &#8220;this law, so far as it requires
+apprenticeship, ought to be repealed, because its tendency is to abolish
+and to prevent competition among workmen.&#8221;<a name='fna_28' id='fna_28' href='#f_28'><small>[28]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>In the year 1814 the Statute of Apprentices was repealed;<a name='fna_29' id='fna_29' href='#f_29'><small>[29]</small></a> and with its
+repeal the State washed its hands of all responsibility for the well-being
+of the youth of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> land. Henceforth things were to be left &#8220;to their own
+courses and operations.&#8221; It is no doubt true that there remained the
+&#8220;Health and Morals of Apprentices Act,&#8221; passed in 1802; this Act
+prescribed certain conditions as to hours of work and sanitation. But the
+Act in itself was utterly &#8220;ineffective,&#8221;<a name='fna_30' id='fna_30' href='#f_30'><small>[30]</small></a> and for all practical
+purposes employers were unfettered in their use or misuse of children.</p>
+
+<p>There remained one more blow to be struck before the condition of the boy
+touched the lowest level of misery reached in the whole history of this
+country; and it was soon struck with that relentless vigour which marked
+the actions of the reformer in those times.</p>
+
+<p>After the repeal of the Statute of Apprentices there was for the lad no
+sort of legal guarantee of training, no kind of State supervision over his
+conduct; he could work how and when it pleased him or his parents. But the
+Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 made it necessary for him to work how and
+when it pleased his employer, and took from him all possibility of
+effective choice. This Act abolished the allowance system in aid of wages.
+Salutary and even necessary as some reform of the kind was, in the
+particular way in which it was carried out it fell with crushing force on
+the unfortunate children. Hitherto parents could receive so much per child
+out of the rates; from henceforth this was to be illegal. Wages indeed
+rose, but rose slowly and in patches. The earnings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> of the child were
+required to make existence even possible for the family. A foreign and
+impartial student of English affairs has made this truth abundantly clear:
+&#8220;Even granted that the labourer himself now needed no allowance, what had
+he in place of the allowance for his family and the out-of-work relief?
+Something in place of these he must have, for even labourers&#8217; families
+must live.... What was the way out? The labourer must sell more labour
+power; and since his own was already sold, he must put that of his family
+upon the market. This was how the problem of the married man was
+solved.... We have already seen that the expansion of the gang system took
+place mainly after 1834; it appears that the exploitation of child-labour
+and women&#8217;s labour is the main characteristic of the period between the
+Poor Law and the Education Acts. When Dr. Kay was examined before the
+Lords&#8217; Committee on the Poor Law Amendment Act, he described the
+astonishment of travellers at the number of women and children working in
+the fields, and traced their increased employment to the Poor Law. In his
+own words: &#8216;The extent of employment for women and children has most
+wonderfully increased since the Poor Law came into operation. It has had
+that effect by rendering it necessary that the children should be so
+employed in order to adjust the wages to the wants of the family....&#8217; And
+a country clergyman gave expression to similar views in 1843: &#8216;By these
+allowances their children were not then obliged, as now, to work for their
+subsistence. Their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> time was at their own disposal; and then they were
+sent more regularly to the schools. But since the new Poor Law this has
+been reversed.&#8217;&#8221;<a name='fna_31' id='fna_31' href='#f_31'><small>[31]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>Those persons who nowadays talk genially of the ease with which the new
+Poor Law was enforced, would do well to remember that the ease was
+purchased at the high price of the physical and moral deterioration of the
+children. Chalmers had got his way, there was now free competition among
+the workmen; and free competition among the workmen meant then, as it has
+always meant since, the unregulated slavery of the weak.</p>
+
+<p>With the repeal of the Statute of Apprentices and the passing of the Poor
+Law Amendment Act, the old apprenticeship system came to an end. No longer
+capable of being controlled in the common interests of the trade and the
+community, no longer capable of being enforced by statutory enactment, the
+apprenticeship system in its ancient form, though it might linger among
+certain industries, was destined slowly to disappear. We may regret its
+disappearance, as the vanishing of a fragment of an old-world life; but
+repinings are idle unless directed toward the search for some substitute
+adequate to the needs of the present.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+<p class="title">THE AGE OF RECONSTRUCTION</p>
+
+<p>The last chapter closed on the darkest scene in the long history of child
+labour in this country. Of the three factors essential to a true
+apprenticeship, not one was found or its need even recognized in the wild
+riot of the industrial revolution. Of public or organized supervision of
+the youth of the land there was not a trace. The controlling influence of
+the gild system had long since disappeared; the powers of regulation that
+lay in the Statute of Apprentices and the Elizabethan Poor Law had been
+withdrawn; free and unrestricted traffic in the use of children was the
+watchword of the age. Babies of four and five years worked alongside the
+adult and for the same number of hours; there were persons of intelligence
+who saw in this gain extracted from infants not the least of the triumphs
+of the day. Children&#8217;s lives were often a mere alternation of two kinds of
+darkness&mdash;the darkness of night giving place to the darkness of the mine.
+Boys and girls were hired out in troops to a taskmaster, herded in barns
+regardless of the claims of health and decency, and driven in gangs into
+the fields of the farmer. Whether in the mine or the factory or on the
+farm, the present<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> profits of the employer, and not the future welfare of
+the race, were alone considered. Industrial training throughout the new
+manufacturing districts was treated with open contempt. A person, the
+masters urged, could learn the trade in a few months; while as for the
+provision of an opening that would lead from the work of the youth to the
+work of the adult, it was not to be imagined that a subject of this
+complexity should receive attention at a time when the narrow circuit of
+the prosperous factory set a limit to the horizon of men&#8217;s thoughts. In
+short, over the whole field of industry the desire for immediate success
+dominated the larger, but more remote, interests of the future.</p>
+
+<p>What was most significant of the times was not the flood of misery that
+swept over the country so much as the spirit of complacent satisfaction
+with which it was regarded. That the industrial revolution was in the
+cause of progress, the reform of the Poor Law essential, and the decay of
+the old apprenticeship system inevitable, men of intelligence could not
+fail to recognize; but they might also have recognized that the profound
+transformation of the whole social and industrial structure involved could
+not take place without widespread suffering and demoralization. Men of the
+day did see these things, but saw them with unconcern. Progress involved
+change, and change demanded its toll of pain; but it was not the duty of
+the State to ease the passage or to yield to the outcry of what they
+looked on as the silly sentimentalist.</p>
+
+<p>The general view of contemporary opinion finds itself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> reflected in the
+Whig and Radical journals. In 1819 the <i>Edinburgh Review</i> declared: &#8220;After
+all, we must own that it was quite right to throw out the Bill for
+prohibiting the sweeping of chimneys by boys&mdash;because humanity is a modern
+invention; and there are many chimneys in old houses that cannot possibly
+be swept in any other manner;&#8221; while the Radical paper, the <i>Gorgon</i>, was
+also inclined to sneer at the House of Commons for &#8220;its ostentatious
+display of humanity in dealing with trivialities like the slave trade,
+climbing-boys, and the condition of children in factories.&#8221;<a name='fna_32' id='fna_32' href='#f_32'><small>[32]</small></a> The above
+represents the orthodox opinion of the time. The age was the age of the
+triumph of the individualist. His was the gospel that inspired the
+economist; his were the maxims which guided the legislator; his were the
+principles that were realized in the practice of the manufacturer. For one
+brief moment in the history of the world&#8217;s progress the individualist was
+supreme; and then the world reeled back in horror from the hell of sin and
+misery he had created. Even in the early days there were not wanting
+voices to protest against the theory that in the balance-sheet of the
+trader was to be found the final test of national righteousness. As far
+back as the year 1801 Mr. Justice Grose, in sentencing an employer for
+overworking and maltreating an apprentice, declared: &#8220;Should the
+manufacturers insist that without these children they could not
+advantageously follow their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> trade, and the overseers say that without
+such opportunity they could not get rid of these children, he should say
+to the one, that trade must not for the thirst of lucre be followed, but
+at once, for the sake of society, be abandoned; and to the other, it is a
+crime to put out these children, who have no friend to see justice done,
+to incur deformity and promote consumption or other disease. This
+obviously leads to their destruction&mdash;not to their support.&#8221;<a name='fna_33' id='fna_33' href='#f_33'><small>[33]</small></a> And in
+the year 1802 was passed the &#8220;Health and Morals of Apprentices Act,&#8221; an
+Act important not for its results, which were insignificant, but as a
+protest against the gospel of individualism, and as the first of the long
+series of Factory Acts which heralded the dawn of a new age.</p>
+
+<p>This new age, which reaches down to the present time, and of which the end
+is not yet, was an age of reconstruction. It represented an attempt,
+unconscious for the most part, to reinstate in a changed form the
+principles which underlay the old apprenticeship system. It is true that
+throughout the whole period indentured apprenticeship was in process of
+gradual decay, and is now become almost a negligible factor in the
+industrial world; but it is no less true that from its ruins was slowly
+rising an organization destined to prove a fitting and even a superior
+substitute. The final stage of development lies still in the future; the
+adjustments required to meet the complex needs of modern industry are
+innumerable; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> we are only beginning to see the outlines of a new
+apprenticeship system towards which we have been drifting for nearly a
+century. To tell in detail the history of these long years of slow
+progress would be foreign to the purpose of this book; but certain
+characteristics, which mark the process of change, are sufficiently
+germane to the discussions of to-day to justify consideration.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place, the forces which repeatedly faced and beat down the
+resistance of those who stood for unregulated industry were not the forces
+of economic analysis; few forces that make for great changes are the
+product of such unimpassioned reason. Factory and kindred legislation were
+throughout the triumph of sentiment, and not the victory of logic. During
+the course of the nineteenth century men became slowly more sensitive to
+the fact of suffering, less tolerant of its continued existence. The
+Liberal essayist was historically correct when he said contemptuously that
+humanity was a modern invention. In earlier days little heed was paid to
+the physical well-being of the individual journeyman or apprentice. If the
+gilds forbade the carrying on of a craft by night, it was because the dim
+gloom of ancient illuminants meant bad work, and not because protracted
+toil made unhealthy workmen. When the State concerned itself with hours of
+employment, it was to prescribe a minimum, and not to fix a maximum; to
+keep a man busy, and therefore out of mischief, was deemed more important
+than to allow him leisure for thought or recreation.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>In this new sentiment of humanity lay the motive power which drove
+Parliament on to spasmodic acts of factory legislation. The sentiment was
+at once a source of weakness and a source of strength. It was a source of
+weakness because sentiment is essentially local in its sphere of
+influence. It does not search out the objects on which its favours are
+lavished; they must be brought by others to its very doors and repeatedly
+thrust over the threshold till entrance is forced. It lacks the breadth,
+the insight, and the calm of that imaginative reason which is now slowly
+taking its place. In the case of suffering, for example, it troubles
+itself not at all about the more remote causes of suffering or the more
+remote sufferer, but surges round some particular sufferer or some
+particular grievance, existing here and now.<a name='fna_34' id='fna_34' href='#f_34'><small>[34]</small></a> Sentiment,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> at any rate
+the British type of sentiment, is not touched by abstractions; visions of
+humanity in the throes of travail leave it unmoved; appeals to the
+ultimate principles of justice fail to produce even a throb of sympathetic
+interest; it is only the concrete&mdash;the oppressed child or the widowed
+mother&mdash;that lets loose the flood. For the more profound solution of
+social problems such sentiment is useless, but for the attack of specific
+evils, especially where the opposition is well organized, it displays
+amazing stubbornness and resource. Its strength lies in its unreason;
+argument is of no avail; here are certain cases of suffering it will not
+tolerate; a remedy must be found and Parliament must find it; there will
+be no peace until something is done.</p>
+
+<p>It was in this way that regulation of child labour began, and indeed has
+continued down to the present time. The result is patchy, and the removal
+of evils partial and unsystematic. There has been, for example, no serious
+attempt made to set up a minimum standard of conditions under which alone
+children shall be employed; least of all has the State endeavoured to
+formulate a new apprenticeship system, adapted to the needs of modern
+industry. Much indeed has been done in both directions; but much more
+remains for the future to carry through before we can hope to read in the
+efficiency of the race the sign-mark of our success. The first
+characteristic, then, of the age of reconstruction is to be found in the
+predominating influence of sentiment.</p>
+
+<p>The second characteristic is seen in the triumph of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> idealist over the
+combined forces of the doctrinaire and the practical man. Every proposal
+for regulating child labour was fought on the same lines; there were the
+same arguments and the same replies. The individualist urged that State
+interference was in itself an evil, that, though the consequences might be
+delayed and the immediate effect even beneficial, you might rest assured
+that in the long-run your sin would find you out. The wealthy citizen
+declared that if boys might not climb his chimneys, his chimneys must go
+unswept; the manufacturer predicted certain ruin to his trade if he were
+forbidden to use children as seemed best to him; while all united in
+urging that if the children were not at work they would be doing something
+worse, and pointed out the obvious cruelty of depriving half-starved
+parents of the scanty earnings of their half-starved offspring.</p>
+
+<p>To all these and similar objections the idealist, with his clearer vision
+of the reality of things, and firm in his faith that the prosperity of a
+people could never be the final outcome of allowing an obvious wrong, made
+response. He sympathized with the individualist for the dreary pessimism
+of a creed which could see the future alone coloured with hope if heralded
+by the sobs of suffering children. The wealthy citizen he bade roughly
+burn his house and build another sooner than sacrifice the lives of boys
+to the needs of his chimneys. While as for the manufacturer, he told him,
+as Mr. Justice Grose had told him earlier, that, if his engines needed
+children as fuel, his was a trade the country was best rid of. To<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> those
+employers who pleaded the small wages of the parents he suggested the grim
+and crude and obvious remedy of paying those parents more. And the
+idealist, with the sentiment of the British public to back him, won the
+day.</p>
+
+<p>But if sentiment gave the idealist his victory, it was the future that
+brought him a full justification. His sin after many years is yet seeking
+him; the wealthy citizen found other and innocent means of cleansing his
+chimneys; the manufacturer placidly adapted himself to the new conditions,
+and his trade flourished exceedingly; the wages of parents rose rapidly,
+and what small measure of health and happiness that has come to the
+children of the poor during the last century has come to them through the
+defeat and the defiance of the individualist.</p>
+
+<p>A hundred years have rolled by, and yet to all new regulation the same old
+objections are raised by the individualist. But his day is gone, and with
+his day he also is going. A few, indeed, are left, interesting survivals
+of the early Victorian age. But for the great majority of the population
+regulation has no fears; they welcome and invite it. And, further, not
+only are they willing to forbid unsatisfactory conditions of employment,
+they are also ready to spend public money to secure a proper environment
+and a suitable training for children. What they will not tolerate is the
+continued existence of unnecessary suffering; and they are coming more and
+more to realize that a vast mass of the suffering of to-day is
+unnecessary. Principles, even though openly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>professed, will not look
+suffering in the face and pass on.<a name='fna_35' id='fna_35' href='#f_35'><small>[35]</small></a> Humanity is no longer a modern
+invention, it has become the guiding spirit of the age.</p>
+
+<p>Thus we can face the morning of the twentieth century in a spirit of hope.
+We may look for more consistent support and less strenuous opposition than
+in the past. We may in consequence think out and introduce schemes of a
+more far-reaching character. Empirical patching will give place to
+reconstruction on a large scale. In other words, the sentiment of the
+nineteenth century, wayward and uncertain in its method of action, and at
+its best troubling itself about a remedy for actual suffering, will be
+superseded by the imaginative reason of the twentieth, which looks rather
+to prevention than to cure.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+<p class="title">THE GUARDIANSHIP OF THE STATE</p>
+
+<p>The age of reconstruction is not complete, and for the moment we are left
+with the products of sentiment as revealed in the tangled and piecemeal
+legislation respecting boy labour. Before making new proposals, it is
+desirable to survey the existing laws on the subject, in order to discover
+to what extent the State acts as the guardian of the child by making
+provision for the three essential factors of a true apprenticeship
+system&mdash;supervision, training, opening. The present chapter will be
+concerned with a description of the statutory machinery; in the next the
+value of the machinery will be tested by examining its results in actual
+experience.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">I.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">State Supervision.</span></p>
+
+<p>Supervision is the first essential of an apprenticeship system. A boy must
+remain under adequate control, as regards his conduct and physical
+development, until the age of eighteen is reached; before then he is too
+young to be allowed safely to become his own master. What<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> part does the
+State, as guardian, play in this work of supervision? This volume is
+concerned with the answer to the question only so far as that answer has a
+direct bearing on the general problem of boy labour. A statement, for
+example, of the criminal law, of the law relating to public health, or of
+the poor law, lies outside its scope.</p>
+
+<p>The guardianship of the State, in respect of supervision, is of two kinds.
+On the one hand the State appears as the guardian of the boy by
+restricting his employment, or by forbidding it under certain specified
+unfavourable conditions&mdash;State regulation; on the other hand&mdash;as, for
+example, in its system of education&mdash;it assumes a more active r&ocirc;le, and
+itself provides for the boy some of the discipline and training he
+requires&mdash;State enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">&sect; 1. STATE REGULATION.</p>
+
+<p>The State, by regulation, may protect the boy in three ways&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>Prohibition.</i>&mdash;The State may protect the boy by forbidding his
+employment below a certain age or in certain classes of industry.</p>
+
+<p>2. <i>Limitation of Hours.</i>&mdash;The State may protect the boy by fixing a limit
+to the number of hours during which he may be employed.</p>
+
+<p>3. <i>Health and Safety.</i>&mdash;The State may protect the boy by enforcing
+certain regulations as regards sanitation in the workshop or the proper
+guarding of machinery, or may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> require a medical certificate to show that
+the boy is physically fit for the occupation in which he is engaged.</p>
+
+<p>We shall best understand the measure of protection afforded the boy by the
+State by classifying the statutory regulations under these three headings
+rather than by taking the individual Acts and analyzing them separately.
+The principal Acts concerned are the following:</p>
+
+<p>The Factory and Workshop Act, 1901.</p>
+
+<p>Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act, 1872.</p>
+
+<p>Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887.</p>
+
+<p>Mines (Prohibition of Child Labour Underground) Act, 1900.</p>
+
+<p>The Shop Hours Act, 1892.</p>
+
+<p>The Employment of Children Act, 1903.</p>
+
+<p>The Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 1894.</p>
+
+<p>Children Act, 1908.</p>
+
+<p>And the various Acts relating to compulsory attendance at school&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Elementary Education Act, 1876.</p>
+
+<p>Elementary Education Act, 1880.</p>
+
+<p>Elementary Education (School Attendance) Act, 1893.</p>
+
+<p>And the Act amending this last Act, 1899.</p>
+
+<p>To make what follows clearer, and to avoid repetition, it is desirable to
+add a few remarks about two of these Acts.</p>
+
+<p>The Factory and Workshop Act is concerned with the conditions of
+employment in premises &#8220;wherein labour is exercised by way of trade or for
+purposes of gain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> in or incidental to any of the following
+purposes&mdash;namely:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&#8220;(i.) The making of an article or part of any article; or</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;(ii.) The altering, repairing, ornamenting, or finishing of any
+article; or</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;(iii.) The adapting for sale of an article.&#8221;<a name='fna_36' id='fna_36' href='#f_36'><small>[36]</small></a></p></div>
+
+<p>Premises in which such operations are carried on are divided into these
+four classes:</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>Textile factories</i>, where mechanical power is used in connection with
+the manufacture of cotton, wool, hair, silk, flax, hemp, jute, or other
+like material;</p>
+
+<p>2. <i>Non-textile factories</i>, where mechanical power is used in connection
+with the manufacture of articles other than those included in (1), and, in
+addition, certain industries, such as &#8220;print works,&#8221; or lucifer-match
+works, whether mechanical power is or is not employed;<a name='fna_37' id='fna_37' href='#f_37'><small>[37]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>3. <i>Workshops</i> where articles are manufactured without the aid of
+mechanical power; and&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>4. <i>Domestic workshops or factories</i>, where a private house or room is, by
+reason of the work carried on there,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> a factory or a workshop, where
+mechanical power is not used, and in which the only persons employed are
+members of the same family dwelling there.<a name='fna_38' id='fna_38' href='#f_38'><small>[38]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>The Act also has a limited reference to laundries, docks, buildings in
+course of construction and repair, and railways.<a name='fna_39' id='fna_39' href='#f_39'><small>[39]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>Certain definitions are important in the interpretation of the
+regulations. The expression &#8220;child&#8221; means a person under the age of
+fourteen, who is not exempt from attendance at school.<a name='fna_40' id='fna_40' href='#f_40'><small>[40]</small></a> The expression
+&#8220;young person&#8221; means a person who has ceased to be a child, and is under
+the age of eighteen.<a name='fna_41' id='fna_41' href='#f_41'><small>[41]</small></a> These expressions will be used with this
+significance in the remainder of this chapter, unless the contrary is
+stated.</p>
+
+<p>The authority for the enforcement of the Factory and Workshop Act is in
+general the Home Office, acting through its inspectors. In certain cases,
+which will be mentioned later, the duty of enforcement is imposed on one
+or other of the locally elected bodies.</p>
+
+<p>The regulations comprised in the Employment of Children Act are in part of
+general application, in part dependent on by-laws made by the local
+authority, and approved by the Home Secretary. The local authority, for
+the enforcement of the Act and for the making of by-laws, is, in the case
+of London, exclusive of the City, for which the Common Council is the
+authority, the London County Council; in the case of a municipal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> borough
+with a population according to the census of 1901 of over 10,000, the
+Borough Council; in the case of any other urban district with a population
+of over 20,000, the District Council; in the case of the remainder of
+England and Wales, the County Council.<a name='fna_42' id='fna_42' href='#f_42'><small>[42]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>These are the chief Acts through which are regulated the conditions of boy
+labour. Each in a more or less degree is concerned with prohibition,
+limitation of hours, and health regulations. It now remains to examine the
+extent of the protection provided.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">(<i>a</i>) <i>Prohibition of Employment.</i></p>
+
+<p>There is no law forbidding children below a certain age to work for wages.
+In default of local by-laws, it is still legal to employ children of any
+age, however young, in a large number of occupations. Prohibition takes
+the form of forbidding the employment of children in certain trades
+regarded as specially dangerous to health or demoralizing to character.</p>
+
+<p>1. It is illegal to employ children or young persons &#8220;in the part of a
+factory or workshop in which there is carried on the process of silvering
+mirrors by the mercurial process or the process of making white lead.&#8221;<a name='fna_43' id='fna_43' href='#f_43'><small>[43]</small></a>
+And the Secretary of State has power to extend this prohibition to other
+dangerous trades.<a name='fna_44' id='fna_44' href='#f_44'><small>[44]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>2. It is illegal to employ underground in any mine boys under the age of
+thirteen,<a name='fna_45' id='fna_45' href='#f_45'><small>[45]</small></a> and no boy under the age of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> twelve may be employed
+above-ground in connection with any mine.<a name='fna_46' id='fna_46' href='#f_46'><small>[46]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>3. A child may not be employed &#8220;in the part of a factory or workshop in
+which there is carried on any grinding in the metal trade, or the dipping
+of lucifer-matches.&#8221;<a name='fna_47' id='fna_47' href='#f_47'><small>[47]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>4. A child under the age of eleven may not be employed in
+street-trading&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, in &#8220;the hawking of newspapers, matches, flowers,
+and other articles, playing, singing, or performing for profit,
+shoe-blacking, or any like occupation carried on in streets or public
+places.&#8221;<a name='fna_48' id='fna_48' href='#f_48'><small>[48]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>5. In theatres and shows, children under seven may not be employed at all,
+and children under eleven can only be employed on a licence granted by a
+magistrate.<a name='fna_49' id='fna_49' href='#f_49'><small>[49]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>Omitting ways of earning money, as by begging, which cannot properly be
+regarded as forms of employment, and ancient Acts, such as the Chimney
+Sweepers Act of 1840, which prohibited the apprenticing of children under
+the age of sixteen to the trade of the sweep, or the Agricultural Gangs
+Act, 1867, which forbade the employment of children under eight in an
+agricultural gang&mdash;Acts which have now little practical importance&mdash;the
+regulations outlined above comprise the whole of the regulations which
+prohibit throughout the country the employment of boys in certain forms of
+occupation. For any extension of prohibition we must look to the by-laws<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>
+which may, but need not, be made by local authorities under the provisions
+of the Employment of Children Act.</p>
+
+<p>Under this Act the local authority may make by-laws prescribing for all
+children below the age which employment is illegal, and may prohibit
+absolutely, or may permit, subject to conditions, the employment of
+children under the age of fourteen in any specified occupation.<a name='fna_50' id='fna_50' href='#f_50'><small>[50]</small></a> The
+by-laws may likewise prohibit or allow, under conditions, &#8220;street trading&#8221;
+by persons under the age of sixteen.<a name='fna_51' id='fna_51' href='#f_51'><small>[51]</small></a> But in either case the by-laws,
+before becoming operative, must be confirmed, after an inquiry is held, by
+the Home Secretary.<a name='fna_52' id='fna_52' href='#f_52'><small>[52]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>As an example of prohibition through by-laws made under this Act, the case
+of London outside the City may be cited. The by-laws of the London County
+Council forbid the employment of all children under the age of eleven, the
+employment of children under the age of fourteen as &#8220;lather boys&#8221; in
+barbers&#8217; shops, and the employment of boys under the age of sixteen in
+&#8220;street trading,&#8221; unless they wear on the arm a badge provided by the
+Council.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">(<i>b</i>) <i>Limitation of Hours.</i></p>
+
+<p>There is no law limiting for all children or for all young persons the
+number of hours which may be worked. It is still legal in the majority of
+occupations to employ young persons, and in default of by-laws
+school-children on days when the schools are closed, for a number of
+hours<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> restricted only by the length of the day. As with prohibition, so
+the matter stands with the limitation of hours. Glaring evils, just
+because they glared, have from time to time been dealt with by
+legislation; other evils no less serious have been ignored merely because
+they have not chanced to attract attention. The result of this piecemeal
+legislation and enactment by by-laws is a chaos of intricate regulations,
+applicable to persons of different age and different sex, varying from
+trade to trade and from place to place. I am, fortunately, concerned here
+only with the male sex, and shall begin with the boy young person, and
+then proceed to the boy child.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Young Person.</i>&mdash;Far the most important, because the most detailed and
+the most comprehensive, of the Acts dealing with the limitation of hours
+is the Factory and Workshops Act. Under this Act the hours of employment
+are restricted by specifying the hours during which alone employment may
+be carried on. No employment is allowed on Sundays except in the case of
+Jewish factories closed on Saturday, or of certain industries specially
+sanctioned for the purpose by the Home Secretary.</p>
+
+<p>In textile factories,<a name='fna_53' id='fna_53' href='#f_53'><small>[53]</small></a> the period of employment for young persons is
+from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., or from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with two hours for meals,
+and on Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 11.30 a.m., with half an hour for
+meals.<a name='fna_54' id='fna_54' href='#f_54'><small>[54]</small></a> In non-textile factories and workshops the chief difference
+lies in the fact that the interval for meals is half an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> hour shorter,
+while on Saturdays employment is permitted between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m., with
+half an hour for meals.<a name='fna_55' id='fna_55' href='#f_55'><small>[55]</small></a> In domestic factories and workshops the hours
+of employment are from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., with four and a half hours for
+meals, and on Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., with two and a half hours
+for meals.<a name='fna_56' id='fna_56' href='#f_56'><small>[56]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>Overtime is in general prohibited.<a name='fna_57' id='fna_57' href='#f_57'><small>[57]</small></a> Employment inside and outside a
+factory or workshop in the business of the factory or workshop is
+prohibited, except during the recognized period, on any day on which the
+young person is employed inside the factory or workshop both before and
+after the dinner-hour.<a name='fna_58' id='fna_58' href='#f_58'><small>[58]</small></a> Thus the maximum number of hours in a week,
+including meal-times, during which a young person may be employed is, in
+textile factories, 65&#189;; in non-textile factories and workshops, 68; in
+domestic factories and workshops, 85; or, excluding meal-times, the hours
+in the three classes are 55, 60, and 60 respectively.</p>
+
+<p>The Act applies only to those employed in factories and workshops. It has
+limited application to certain other trades, but the application is
+unimportant in connection with boy labour. To the regulations quoted there
+are numerous exceptions, and the Home Secretary has large discretionary
+powers.<a name='fna_59' id='fna_59' href='#f_59'><small>[59]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>A young person may not be employed &#8220;in or about a shop&#8221; for a longer
+period than seventy-four hours, including meal-times, in any one week.
+Further, an <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>employer may not knowingly employ a young person who has
+already on the same day been employed in a factory or workshop, if such
+employment makes the total number of hours worked more than the full time
+a young person is permitted to work in a factory or workshop.<a name='fna_60' id='fna_60' href='#f_60'><small>[60]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>By-laws may be made limiting the hours of employment of young persons
+under the age of sixteen engaged in &#8220;street trading.&#8221;<a name='fna_61' id='fna_61' href='#f_61'><small>[61]</small></a> The by-laws of
+the London County Council forbid the employment of such persons &#8220;before 7
+a.m. or after 9 p.m., or for more than eight hours in any day, when
+employed under the immediate direction and supervision of an adult person
+having charge of a street stall or barrow; before 7 a.m. or after 8 p.m.
+when employed in any other form of street trading.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>With the exception of the regulations outlined above, there is no limit to
+the number of hours during which young persons may legally be employed.</p>
+
+<p><i>Children.</i>&mdash;The most important Acts regulating the hours of employment
+for children are the Acts which enforce attendance at school. They limit
+hours, not by fixing a maximum number of hours during which children may
+be employed, but by pursuing the far more effective plan of seeing that
+the children are in school, and therefore not in the workshop, during part
+of the day.</p>
+
+<p>Taken together, these Acts provide that children shall be at school, and
+consequently not at work, at all times when the schools are opened until
+the age of twelve is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> reached. There is one exception to this regulation:
+children may, under a special by-law of the local education authority, be
+employed in agriculture at the age of eleven, provided that they attend
+school 250 times a year up to the age of thirteen. This exception is of
+small importance, as &#8220;the number of children who are exempt under this
+special by-law seems to be very small, not exceeding apparently 400 in the
+whole country.&#8221;<a name='fna_62' id='fna_62' href='#f_62'><small>[62]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>Between the ages of twelve and fourteen attendance is compulsory, subject
+to a complex scheme of partial or total exemptions, depending on the
+by-laws of the local education authority. It rests, for instance, with
+each local education authority to decide &#8220;whether, as regards children
+between twelve and fourteen, they will grant full-time or half-time
+exemption, or both, and upon what conditions of attendance or attainments,
+always subject, of course, to the fact that the by-laws must be approved
+by the Board of Education, and must not clash with any Act regulating the
+employment of children.&#8221;<a name='fna_63' id='fna_63' href='#f_63'><small>[63]</small></a> For all practical purposes, it is possible
+for the local education authority, if they think fit, to insist on such a
+standard of attainment to be reached before exemption is allowed that,
+with a few exceptions, relatively insignificant, children are compelled to
+attend school until the age of fourteen. It is important to remember that
+these Acts limit the employment of children only during times when the
+schools are opened. As a general rule, the hours<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> of attendance are
+between 9 and 12 in the morning, and between 2 and 4.30 in the afternoon;
+while the schools are open on five days a week during some forty-four
+weeks in the year. During holidays, and on Saturdays and Sundays, so far
+as these Acts are concerned, there is no limit to the numbers of hours a
+child may work.</p>
+
+<p>A further limit is put on the hours children may work by the Employment of
+Children Act, 1903. A child under fourteen may not be employed between 9
+p.m. and 6 a.m. This provision is subject to variation by local
+by-laws.<a name='fna_64' id='fna_64' href='#f_64'><small>[64]</small></a> Local by-laws may prescribe for children under fourteen:
+(<i>a</i>) The hours between which employment is illegal; (<i>b</i>) the number of
+daily and weekly hours beyond which employment is illegal; and (<i>c</i>) may
+permit, subject to conditions, the employment of children in any specified
+occupation.<a name='fna_65' id='fna_65' href='#f_65'><small>[65]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>Under this Act the by-laws of the London County Council provide that a
+child liable to attend school shall not be employed on days when the
+school is open for more than three and a half hours a day, nor&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>(<i>a</i>) Between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.;</p>
+
+<p>(<i>b</i>) Before 6.30 a.m. or after 9 p.m.;</p></div>
+
+<p>and on days when the school is not open&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>(<i>a</i>) Before 6.30 a.m. or after 9 p.m.;</p>
+
+<p>(<i>b</i>) For more than eight hours in any one day.</p></div>
+
+<p>On Sundays a child shall not be employed except between the hours of 7
+a.m. and 1 p.m. for a period not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> exceeding three hours. A child liable to
+attend school shall not be employed for more than twenty hours in any week
+when the school is open on more than two days, or for more than thirty
+hours in any week when the school is open on two days only or less.</p>
+
+<p>Additional limitations are imposed on the number of hours during which
+children may be employed by the Factory and Workshop Act. A child between
+&#8220;twelve and thirteen, who has reached the standard for total or partial
+exemption under the Elementary Education Acts, and consequently may be
+employed, must still, if employed in a factory or workshop, attend school
+in accordance with the requirements of the Factory Act. So must a child of
+thirteen who has not obtained a certificate entitling him to be employed
+as a young person.&#8221;<a name='fna_66' id='fna_66' href='#f_66'><small>[66]</small></a> The famous half-time system is not, as sometimes
+supposed, a special privilege allowed to workshops and factories. It is
+permissible in all forms of occupation in a practically unrestricted
+shape. In factories and workshops the conditions are subject to definite
+regulations. It is, however, only in factories and workshops, and, indeed,
+only in certain trades among these, that the half-time system has much
+practical importance. The general regulations, subject, however, to
+certain variations, are as follows:<a name='fna_67' id='fna_67' href='#f_67'><small>[67]</small></a> Employment must be either in
+morning and afternoon sets, or on alternate days<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> The morning set begins
+at 6 a.m. or 7 a.m., and ends&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>(<i>a</i>) At one o&#8217;clock in the afternoon; or</p>
+
+<p>(<i>b</i>) If the dinner-hour begins before one o&#8217;clock, at the beginning
+of dinner-time; or</p>
+
+<p>(<i>c</i>) If the dinner-time does not begin before 2 p.m. at noon.</p></div>
+
+<p>The afternoon set begins either&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>(<i>a</i>) At 1 p.m.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>b</i>) At any later hour at which the dinner-time terminates; or</p>
+
+<p>(<i>c</i>) If the dinner-hour does not begin before 2 p.m., and the morning
+set ends at noon, at noon&mdash;</p></div>
+
+<p>and ends at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m.</p>
+
+<p>On Saturdays the period of employment is the same as for young persons&mdash;6
+a.m. to 11.30 a.m.&mdash;but a child shall not be employed on two successive
+Saturdays, nor on Saturday in any week if on any other days in the same
+week his period of employment has exceeded five and a half hours.</p>
+
+<p>A child must not be employed in two successive periods of seven days in
+the morning set, nor in two successive periods of seven days in an
+afternoon set.</p>
+
+<p>On the alternate day system, the period of employment is the same as for a
+young person&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, from 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. or 7 p.m., with two
+hours for meals; and on Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 11.30 a.m., with half an
+hour for meals. Under this system a child may not be employed on two
+successive days, nor on the same day in two successive weeks.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>Under all the systems a child may not be employed continuously for more
+than four and a half hours without an interval of half an hour for
+meals.<a name='fna_68' id='fna_68' href='#f_68'><small>[68]</small></a> Nor must a child be employed on any one day on the business of
+the factory or workshops both inside and outside the factory or
+workshop.<a name='fna_69' id='fna_69' href='#f_69'><small>[69]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>This system of regulation refers to textile factories, but these include
+the vast majority of half-timers. The regulations with regard to
+non-textile factories and workshops are less rigorous; and in the case of
+domestic workshops and factories there is additional relaxation of the
+rules.</p>
+
+<p>The parent or guardian of the half-timer is responsible for the child&#8217;s
+attendance at school. As an additional precaution against truancy, the
+employer may not employ the child unless each Monday the child has
+obtained from the school a certificate of attendance during the past
+week.<a name='fna_70' id='fna_70' href='#f_70'><small>[70]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>If we take into account the hours worked in the factory and the hours
+spent in school, we shall find that the half-timer&#8217;s week of strenuous
+effort is a long and a weary one. &#8220;Taking one week with another, the
+employment of the half-timer is for twenty-eight and a quarter hours a
+week in a textile factory, and thirty in a non-textile factory or
+workshop; and as he is in school for thirteen or fourteen hours, his total
+week in school and factory is from forty to forty-four hours.&#8221;<a name='fna_71' id='fna_71' href='#f_71'><small>[71]</small></a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>In view of proposals made later, I have thought desirable to insert in
+detail the half-time regulations, in order to show how, in the actual
+carrying out of industrial operations, a half-time system can be put into
+effect.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">(<i>c</i>) <i>Protection of Health.</i></p>
+
+<p>There is no law prescribing in all cases the conditions as to buildings,
+sanitary arrangements, and safety, under which alone children and young
+persons may be employed. There is no law requiring in all cases a medical
+certificate from children and young persons to show that they are
+physically suited for the employment in which they are engaged.</p>
+
+<p>It is no doubt true that the buildings in which juveniles are employed
+come, in respect of sanitation, drainage, and water-supply, under the
+general Public Health Acts. It is no doubt a fact that local building
+by-laws occasionally insist on means of escape in case of fire in premises
+where more than a certain number of persons are employed. It is likewise
+part of the law of the land that, if a lad in the course of his work meets
+with a fatal accident, twelve just men and a coroner must sit on the dead
+body and investigate the cause.</p>
+
+<p>But, apart from such regulations, which are not confined to the employment
+of juveniles, or, indeed, to employment generally, it is only in special
+forms of occupation that there are required additional precautions
+designed to protect the health and safety of the workers. Elaborate rules
+prescribe the conditions which must be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> observed in the management of a
+railway or a mine. The Shop Hours Act requires that seats should be
+provided for shop assistants. Such Acts have in practice only a limited
+application in the case of children and young persons, who do not to any
+large extent come into the classes affected.</p>
+
+<p>Here, as in regard to the regulation of hours, the chief Act of importance
+is the Factory and Workshop Act. This Act makes careful provision, so far
+as premises are concerned, for the health of the workers, juveniles and
+adults alike. Whether the provisions are in practice always enforced is a
+matter open to some doubt.</p>
+
+<p>In the case of factories,<a name='fna_72' id='fna_72' href='#f_72'><small>[72]</small></a> the outside walls, ceilings, passages, and
+staircases must be painted every seven years, and washed every fourteen
+months; and in general the premises must be kept clean and free from
+effluvia, and the floors properly drained. Ventilation must be adequate,
+and all gases, dust, and other impurities generated in the course of work
+rendered, so far as is practicable, innocuous to health. In certain cases
+the inspector may insist on the provision of ventilating fans.
+Overcrowding is prevented by requiring a minimum space in each room of 250
+cubic feet for each person, or during overtime of 400 cubic feet. A
+reasonable temperature must be maintained in each room in which any person
+is employed. There must be sufficient and suitable supply of sanitary
+conveniences. In textile factories a limit is set on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> amount of
+atmospheric humidity. In certain dangerous or poisonous trades additional
+precautions are required. The Secretary of State has large powers of
+imposing additional regulations on the one hand, and of granting
+exemptions on the other. The authority for enforcing the regulations in
+factories is the inspector acting through the Home Office.</p>
+
+<p>The regulations applicable to workshops do not differ very materially from
+those imposed on factories, but the enforcing authority is different. The
+authority in the case of workshops is the district or the borough
+council&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, the public health authority. The medical officer of
+health and the inspector of nuisances have for this purpose the power of
+factory inspectors. A breach of the law on the subject is declared to be a
+nuisance, and may be dealt with summarily under the Public Health Acts.
+The district or borough council are compelled to keep a register of the
+workshops within their area; and the medical officer of health is required
+to report annually to the council on the administration of the Factory
+Acts in the workshops and workplaces in the district. A copy of this
+report must be sent to the Secretary of State, who remains the supreme
+authority, and in certain cases of default may authorize a factory
+inspector to take the necessary steps for enforcing these provisions, and
+recover the expenses from the defaulting council.</p>
+
+<p>An attempt is also made to regulate the sanitary conditions under which
+out-workers are employed. Where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> provisions are made by the Secretary of
+State, the employers concerned are made responsible for the condition of
+the places in which his out-workers carry on work. The employer must keep
+lists of out-workers. The district council, in cases where the place is
+injurious to the health of the out-workers, may take steps to have the
+evil remedied or the employment stopped.</p>
+
+<p>The Act requires machinery to be properly fenced, and special precautions
+to be taken in cleaning machinery in motion. Children may not clean any
+part of machinery in motion, or any place under such machinery other than
+a overhead gearing. Children and young persons may not be allowed to work
+between the fixed and traversing parts of a self-acting machine while the
+machine is in motion.</p>
+
+<p>When there occurs in a factory or workshop any accident which either (<i>a</i>)
+causes loss of life to a person employed in the factory or workshop, or
+(<i>b</i>) causes to a person employed in the factory or workshop such bodily
+injury as to prevent him on any one of the three working days after the
+occurrence of the accident from being employed for five hours on his
+ordinary work, written notice shall forthwith be sent to the inspector for
+the district.</p>
+
+<p>In the case of new factories erected since January 1, 1892, and of new
+workshops erected since January 1, 1896, in which more than forty persons
+are employed, a certificate must be obtained from the local authority for
+building by-laws, stating that reasonable provision for escape has been
+made in case of fire. With regard to older factories and workshops, the
+local authority must<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> satisfy itself that reasonable means of escape are
+provided. From these regulations it will be seen that precautions guarding
+the health of boys are taken in the case of factories and workshops. There
+are rules, there is an enforcing and inspecting authority, and there is
+required a report in all cases of serious accident. But, with one
+exception, no steps are taken to test the adequacy of the precautions by a
+periodic medical examination of children and young persons, or to prevent
+the employment of certain individuals who are physically unfit for the
+work.</p>
+
+<p>The exception is important, and observes attention, because it indicates a
+possible line of reform. &#8220;In a factory a young person under the age of
+sixteen, or a child, must not be employed ... unless the occupier of the
+factory has obtained a certificate, in the prescribed form, of the fitness
+of the young person or child for employment in that factory. When a child
+becomes a young person, a fresh certificate of fitness must be
+obtained.&#8221;<a name='fna_73' id='fna_73' href='#f_73'><small>[73]</small></a> A certifying surgeon is appointed for each district. &#8220;He
+must certify that the person named in the certificate is of the age
+therein specified, and has been personally examined by him, and is not
+incapacitated by disease or bodily infirmity for working daily for the
+time allowed by law in the factory.&#8221;<a name='fna_74' id='fna_74' href='#f_74'><small>[74]</small></a> &#8220;The certificate may be qualified
+by conditions as to the work on which a child or young person is fit to be
+employed,&#8221; and the employer must observe such conditions.<a name='fna_75' id='fna_75' href='#f_75'><small>[75]</small></a> The surgeon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>
+has power to examine any process in which the child or young person is
+employed.<a name='fna_76' id='fna_76' href='#f_76'><small>[76]</small></a> A factory inspector who is of opinion that any young person
+or child is unsuited on the ground of health for the employment on which
+he is engaged may order his dismissal, unless the certifying surgeon,
+after examination, shall again certify him as fit.<a name='fna_77' id='fna_77' href='#f_77'><small>[77]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>This provision only applies to young persons under the age of sixteen, and
+to children. It does not, moreover, apply to workshops. In the case of
+workshops, the employer may obtain, if he thinks fit, a certificate from
+the certifying surgeon.<a name='fna_78' id='fna_78' href='#f_78'><small>[78]</small></a> The Secretary of State has, however, power to
+extend the regulation to certain classes of workshops, if he considers the
+extension desirable.<a name='fna_79' id='fna_79' href='#f_79'><small>[79]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>In these cases, and these cases alone, is it necessary to call in the
+doctor to certify the physical fitness of the boy for the employment in
+which he is engaged. But under the Employment of Children Act, 1903, taken
+in conjunction with the Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907,
+it is possible to extend considerably the system of medical tests. Under
+the first of these Acts, which applies to children under the age of
+fourteen&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Sect. 3 (4). A child shall not be employed to lift, carry, or move
+anything so heavy as to be likely to cause injury to the child.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;(5) A child shall not be employed in any occupation likely to be
+injurious to his life, limb, health, or education, regard being had to his
+physical condition.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>&#8220;(6) If the local authority send a certificate to the employer saying that
+certain employment will injure the child, the certificate shall be
+admissible as evidence in any subsequent proceedings against the employer
+in respect of the employment of the child.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>If the child has left school&mdash;and under certain conditions a child can
+leave school at the age of twelve&mdash;it is not easy to see how the local
+authority can enforce these provisions. But with children attending
+school, whole or part time, circumstances are different. Medical
+inspection of school-children is now compulsory, and it is within the
+power of the education authority to inspect any such children.<a name='fna_80' id='fna_80' href='#f_80'><small>[80]</small></a> They
+are therefore at liberty to examine any children known to be at work, and
+any certificate of &#8220;unfitness&#8221; sent to an employer would probably be
+effective.</p>
+
+<p>Further, under the Employment of Children Act, Sects. 1 and 2, a local
+authority may make by-laws permitting, subject to conditions, the
+employment of children under the age of fourteen in any specified
+occupation; and in the case of &#8220;street trading&#8221; the age is extended to
+sixteen. It would be possible therefore, subject to the approval of the
+Secretary of State, to make by-laws requiring a medical certificate of
+fitness in certain forms of occupation in which children under the age of
+fourteen are engaged.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center">&sect; 2. STATE ENTERPRISE.</p>
+
+<p>In the preceding sections the State has played a passive part in the
+supervision of the boy. It has contented itself with giving orders to
+others, and with taking some more or less inadequate steps to see that its
+commands are obeyed, but has directly done nothing itself. We are now to
+see the State assuming duties of its own, and appearing as the active
+guardian of the child. Individual or voluntary effort having failed, it
+has been driven, at first reluctantly, but later with increasing
+readiness, to fill the gap.</p>
+
+<p>The State has now made itself directly responsible for providing schools
+for the children of the nation. The schools play an important part in the
+supervision of character. Attendance at school may be either compulsory or
+voluntary. The law of compulsory attendance has already been stated.<a name='fna_81' id='fna_81' href='#f_81'><small>[81]</small></a>
+As a rule children must attend school till they reach the age of twelve,
+and under local by-laws can in general be retained till they reach the age
+of fourteen. In certain cases, important from the point of view of
+discipline, the period of compulsory attendance can be prolonged. Children
+under fourteen found begging, or wandering without home, or under the care
+of a criminal or drunken guardian, or in general living in surroundings
+likely to lead to crime, may be brought before a magistrate and sent to an
+industrial school.<a name='fna_82' id='fna_82' href='#f_82'><small>[82]</small></a> Here they are boarded and lodged, and may be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> kept
+there up to the age of sixteen, after which time the managers of the
+school have duties of supervision for a further period of two years, with
+power of recall if desirable. Children who are truants or are convicted of
+criminal offences can be treated in the same way.</p>
+
+<p>For the majority of boys State guardianship is confined to the years of
+compulsory attendance. But a considerable number continue their education
+in various ways, and so remain under some sort of supervision. Children
+may remain at the elementary school till the close of the school year in
+which they attain the age of fifteen. The education authority has power to
+provide and aid secondary and trade schools, and to make these
+institutions accessible by means of scholarships; and secondary schools,
+if in receipt of grants from the Board of Education, must in general
+reserve a quarter of the places for pupils whose parents cannot afford to
+pay fees. The education authority has power to provide evening
+continuation classes for those who desire to avail themselves of the
+opportunities thus afforded. Those who choose to attend these places of
+higher education continue in some degree under the supervision of the
+State.</p>
+
+<p>But the supervision of the State through its schools is not confined to
+the supervision of conduct. The education authority now exercises
+important duties in connection with the health of the children in the
+elementary schools. It is now obligatory on every education authority to
+inspect medically all children on their <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>admission to school, and at such
+other times as may be prescribed by the Board of Education.<a name='fna_83' id='fna_83' href='#f_83'><small>[83]</small></a> In their
+original memorandum to education authorities the Board of Education
+required these inspections&mdash;on admission to school, and at the ages of
+seven and ten.<a name='fna_84' id='fna_84' href='#f_84'><small>[84]</small></a> These regulations have not at present been enforced,
+but the London County Council has now adopted a scheme which practically
+embodies them. The local education authority is empowered, with the
+consent of the Board of Education, to make arrangement for attending to
+the health of the children.<a name='fna_85' id='fna_85' href='#f_85'><small>[85]</small></a> Medical inspection is compulsory, medical
+treatment optional. Further, the local education authority may draw on the
+rates to feed school-children, whether their parents are destitute or not,
+provided it is satisfied that the children, for lack of food, are unable
+to profit by the instruction given.<a name='fna_86' id='fna_86' href='#f_86'><small>[86]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>Finally, the local education authority may receive into its day industrial
+schools children at the request of their parents, who must pay towards the
+expense such sum as may be fixed by the Secretary of State.<a name='fna_87' id='fna_87' href='#f_87'><small>[87]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>It will be seen that, acting through the local education authorities, the
+State has now assumed large duties in connection with the supervision of
+children. To submit to the discipline of the schools the vast majority of
+the children of the county; to examine medically all children<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> in these
+schools; to feed the necessitous children, and to treat medically the
+ailing children in the elementary schools; to remove and provide for until
+the age of sixteen unfortunate children exposed to an unfavourable
+environment&mdash;these are powers which constitute no small measure of State
+enterprise.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">II.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">State Training.</span></p>
+
+<p>Training that shall fit a boy for a trade is of two kinds, general and
+special. The first must develop those mental qualities of alertness,
+intelligence, and adaptability required in all forms of occupation; the
+second must give definite instruction in the principles and practice of
+some particular industry or branch of industries. For the first provision
+is made in the elementary school system, with its powers of compelling
+attendance. For the second we must look to the various types of
+continuation school. Here, under existing conditions, the State can only
+offer facilities; it cannot enforce attendance.<a name='fna_88' id='fna_88' href='#f_88'><small>[88]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>Since the passing of the Education Act, 1902 and 1903, progress has been
+marked in both directions. The old &#8220;voluntary&#8221; schools, whose rolls
+contained the names of half the scholars in the country, and whose limited
+funds constituted an impassable barrier to all advance, are now maintained
+out of the rates; and the gap between <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>non-provided and council schools is
+closing up. The breaking up of the small School Boards and the
+establishment of larger authorities controlling all forms of education
+have made for efficiency, while the merging of educational matters in the
+general municipal work is insuring that practical criticism of his schemes
+which the educationalist always resents but always requires.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">(<i>a</i>) <i>The Elementary School.</i></p>
+
+<p>It is obvious that, with the variety of children every school contains and
+their tender age, no definite trade training can be given in the
+elementary school. On the other hand, we have advanced far beyond the old
+educational ideal of providing a common and uniform type of instruction in
+the common school. Types of school are being multiplied to meet the needs
+of different kinds of pupils. Provision has long since been supplied for
+the mentally and physically defective, and serious attempts are now being
+made to break up and classify that huge group which includes the so-called
+normal child. In addition to the varying types of elementary school which
+are in process of being adapted to the differing needs of the locality,
+and the different classes of child, we have, under the elementary school
+system, what is known as the &#8220;higher elementary school.&#8221; Originally a
+school specializing in science and of little value, it is tending to
+become, under the more recent regulations of the Board of Education, a
+school where a definite bias, either in the direction of commerce or
+industry, is given<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> to the curriculum. It is true that the number of
+schools called &#8220;higher elementary&#8221; shows little signs of increase.<a name='fna_89' id='fna_89' href='#f_89'><small>[89]</small></a>
+This is due to the rigid and inflexible rules of the Board of Education,
+which seem expressly designed to kill, and not to encourage, the
+experiment. But while the name is being dropped, the thing is being
+preserved and multiplied. London, for example, has recently adopted a
+scheme for the development of sixty of these types of school, to be called
+&#8220;central schools.&#8221; The curriculum of each school is determined after
+taking into account the industrial needs of the neighbourhood in which it
+is placed. The education given is general in character, but the selection
+of subjects has special reference to some profession or group of trades.
+Broadly speaking, there are two general types of school, the commercial
+and the industrial. The industrial type is already subdivided into the
+woodwork and the engineering type, and further subdivisions will gradually
+be formed. In these schools no attempt will be made to teach a trade, but
+such subjects are included in the curriculum as will be found useful in
+the trade. In the woodwork type, for example, in addition to a
+considerable amount of time devoted to practical instruction in woodwork,
+special attention is given to the kinds of arithmetic and drawing required
+by the intelligent carpenter. An elaborate scheme for picking out between
+the ages of eleven and twelve the children suitable for these different
+kinds of school has been drawn up. A four years&#8217;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> course of instruction is
+provided for. In order to induce the poorer parents to allow their
+children to remain beyond the age of compulsory attendance, the education
+committee offers bursaries, thereby exercising that negative form of
+compulsion technically known as a bribe. Other education authorities are
+establishing schools with similar aims. The experiments are recent, and
+mark an important and new development. Two advantages are anticipated.
+First, the variety in the types of school and the careful selection of
+scholars will promote intelligence by providing that particular kind of
+educational nutriment best adapted for encouraging the growth of a
+particular order of mind. Secondly, by guiding the interests of boys in
+the direction of various occupations, it is hoped that on leaving school
+these interests will lead the boys to enter those occupations for which to
+some extent they have been prepared, and in which they are most likely to
+succeed. The elementary schools, as a body, will thus become a kind of
+sorting-house for the different trades, and be freed from that charge, to
+some extent justified, of catering only for the lower ranks of the
+clerical profession.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">(<i>b</i>) <i>The Continuation School.</i></p>
+
+<p>It is becoming year by year more generally recognized that a system of
+education which comes to an end somewhere about the age of fourteen is
+incomplete and profoundly unsatisfactory. Without attendance at a
+continuation school of some kind, a boy rapidly loses much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> of the effect
+of his previous education, and at the same time is deprived of all
+opportunity of enjoying the advantages of a more specialized training. To
+meet this need a complex system of continuation school has grown up. It
+lacks, however, the element of compulsion, except that negative form
+already alluded to&mdash;the bribe of a scholarship. Looking at the machinery
+as a whole, it may be admitted that the State does afford considerable
+opportunity to those anxious to continue their general education, or to
+obtain some specific form of technical instruction. Whether sufficient use
+is made of this opportunity is a question that must be answered in the
+following chapter. But taking the machinery as a whole, and as it exists
+under the best education authorities, the machinery does touch to some
+extent the principal trades and professions.<a name='fna_90' id='fna_90' href='#f_90'><small>[90]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>1. Provision is gradually being made for those likely to succeed in the
+higher branches of industry and commerce. The number of secondary schools
+is being increased, their quality improved, and their types varied.
+Technical institutes providing day and evening classes of an advanced
+character are being rapidly multiplied. University instruction, aided out
+of public funds, is becoming more plentiful and efficient, and, whether
+during the day or in the evening, is year by year offering larger
+opportunities to students. Progress is especially marked in the faculties
+of economics and technology. Scholarship<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> systems, more or less
+incomplete, make access to these institutions possible for the poorer
+classes of the community. The trend of development seems to suggest that a
+system of organization, calculated to provide training for the highest
+positions in the industrial and commercial world, is developing along the
+following lines:</p>
+
+<p>Between the ages of eleven and twelve the brightest children will be
+transferred from the elementary to the secondary school. The secondary
+school will provide a course of instruction extending to the age of
+eighteen. Broadly speaking, there will be three types of secondary school,
+the first giving a general and literary education, the second specializing
+in commerce, and the third in some branch of science and technology. At
+the age of eighteen the suitable students will be removed to the
+University, where they will receive a three or four years&#8217; course of
+instruction suitable to the profession they are intending to enter. It is
+probable that at the age of fourteen there will be an additional, though
+smaller, transfer of children from the elementary schools, in order that
+provision may be made for those who have slipped through the meshes of the
+scholarship net at the first casting. Scholarships with liberal
+maintenance grants will make readily accessible to all who are fit the
+advantages of a prolonged education. Evening classes, leading even to a
+degree, will remain for those who, for one reason or another, have failed
+to obtain in their earlier years the advanced instruction they now
+require.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>An organization of this kind is not at present found anywhere in its
+complete form, but it is sufficiently complete in certain directions to be
+considered here, where we are concerned with attainments, and not reserved
+for a later chapter, where we shall be examining new paths of progress.</p>
+
+<p>2. For those likely later to fill the position of foreman, or to become
+the best kind of artisan, the day trade school is provided. The boys enter
+the trade school on leaving the elementary school about the age of
+fourteen or fifteen, and go through a two and sometimes a three years&#8217;
+course of instruction. These schools continue the education of the boy,
+with special reference to the trade concerned, and at the same time devote
+a large amount of time to supplying an all-round training in the various
+skilled operations the trade requires. They are essentially practical in
+character, and this practical character is often assured by a committee of
+employers, who visit the school and criticize the methods of instruction.</p>
+
+<p>3. For those already apprenticed to, or engaged in, the trade two forms of
+instruction are provided. The most satisfactory are the classes attended
+during the day. Attendance at such times can only be secured by inducing
+the employers to allow their lads time off during working hours. In some
+cases the element of compulsion is introduced by the employers, who make
+attendance at such classes a condition of employment. The other form of
+instruction is provided during the evening at a technical institute. In
+either case the instruction is of a practical<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> nature, and designed to
+supplement the training of the workshop.</p>
+
+<p>4. For those who have entered, or desire to enter, the lower walks of
+commerce, or the civil or municipal service, there is the evening school
+of a commercial type, usually held in the building of an elementary
+school.</p>
+
+<p>5. Of the boys who, engaged in unskilled work during the day, are anxious
+to continue their general education or to improve their position, the
+evening school again supplies the need. Some practical work is done in the
+woodwork or metal centres, but the limited equipment of the elementary
+school stands in the way of any advanced technical instruction. If we omit
+the commercial classes, already mentioned, attendance at an evening school
+often means little more than attendance once a week at a class where
+instruction is given in a single subject, and not infrequently the
+recreative element is predominant. Recently, and with considerable
+success, the &#8220;course&#8221; system has been introduced. Here the students,
+instead of being present at a single class once a week, attend on several
+evenings during the week, and go through a course of instruction in
+several subjects connected together and leading up to some definite goal.</p>
+
+<p>If to these various types of continuation school we add the large number
+of lectures on numerous subjects, we shall see that the State through its
+schools supplies a considerable amount of technical instruction. It would
+be false to say that the boys receive all the training that they need, but
+it would not be beyond the mark to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> assert that in the case of many
+education authorities they are afforded all, and not infrequently more
+than all, the opportunities for which they ask. It is the demand, and not
+the supply, that is deficient.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">III.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">State Provision of an Opening.</span></p>
+
+<p>Until the year 1910 the provision of openings in suitable occupations was
+not considered among the duties of the State. It is true that here and
+there, usually in co-operation with voluntary associations, an education
+committee made some attempt to place out in trades the boys about to leave
+school. But any expenditure in this direction was illegal, and under no
+circumstances was it possible to do anything for those who had already
+left school. But in the year 1910 the State, without premeditation, has
+found itself committed to the duty of finding openings for children and
+juveniles. The revolution was upon us before we had seen the signs of its
+approach.</p>
+
+<p>This assumption of a new duty was the unforeseen result of the
+establishment of Labour Exchanges. The Act of 1909 thought nothing, said
+nothing, about juveniles. It was passed as a measure intended to deal with
+the problem of adult unemployment. Now, there is no problem of
+unemployment in connection with boys and youths; the demand of employers
+for this kind of labour appears insatiable. Nevertheless, no sooner were
+Labour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> Exchanges opened, than the question of juveniles came to the
+front. Employers asked for juveniles, and the managers of the local Labour
+Exchange, eager to meet the wishes of the employer, searched for and found
+juveniles. Enthusiastic about his work, and prompted by the laudable
+desire to show large returns of vacancies filled, it did not occur to him
+that the problem of the juvenile and the problem of the adult had little
+in common. He was not permitted to remain long in this condition of
+primitive ignorance. Questions were asked in the House, letters were
+written to the papers, deputations waited on the President of the Board of
+Trade, all complaining that the Labour Exchange was becoming an engine for
+the exploitation of boy labour. In the case of adults, no bargain as to
+conditions was struck with the employer; the man had to make his own
+terms. But the boy could not make his own terms, and public opinion had
+for some years been uneasy about the increasing employment of boys in
+occupations restricted to boys, and leading to no permanent situation when
+the years of manhood were reached. Returns showed that it was largely into
+situations of this character that lads were being thrust by the Labour
+Exchange. The Board of Trade rapidly realized the evil, and set itself to
+work to repair the unforeseen mistake. It wisely decided to grapple
+seriously with the problem, and did not, as it might well have done,
+restrict the Labour Exchange to adults.</p>
+
+<p>It determined to appoint Advisory Committees to deal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> with juveniles. In
+London the following machinery is in process of being established: There
+is a Central Advisory Committee, consisting of six members nominated by
+the Board of Trade, six by the London County Council, and six by the
+committee of employers and trade unionists, who advise the Board of Trade
+on questions of adult employment. The duty of this Central Committee is to
+advise the Board of Trade as to the appointment of the local Advisory
+Committees, which will be formed to control the juvenile department in
+connection with each of the London Labour Exchanges. It will also be the
+duty of the Central Advisory Committee to advise generally on questions
+affecting the employment of juveniles. Though the duties of this committee
+are nominally advisory, its work will in practice become administrative in
+character. Here then is an organization which in course of time will
+probably have to deal with the problem of finding suitable occupations for
+the child and juvenile population of London. Similar bodies are being
+formed in other towns. As will appear later, this is one of the most
+important social questions of the day. How these committees will do their
+work only the future can show. But if the Board of Trade act liberally in
+matters of expenditure, there is no cause for despondency, and we may well
+hope that, by the purest of accidents, we are on the threshold of a new
+era in the history of industrial organization. Chance is not always blind,
+and some of its wild castings hit the mark.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>Such, in broad outline, have been the achievements of the State during the
+age of reconstruction, so far as concerns the problem of boy labour and
+apprenticeship. Guided by sentiment, partial and limited in the sphere of
+its operations, the State has yet drifted far from the moorings of
+<i>laissez-faire</i>, and is destined to drift farther as the years go by.</p>
+
+<p>How far the intricate machinery, slowly pieced together during the last
+three-quarters of a century, is successful when judged by results, what
+are its more serious defects, and what should be the lines of future
+advance, before the establishment of a real apprenticeship system, it will
+be the object of the following chapters to explain. But one truth should
+now be abundantly clear: of the three essential factors of that system,
+not one has been altogether neglected by the State, and in certain
+departments its guardianship has been widely extended. In the department
+of supervision it has, through its schools, created an organization to
+watch over and to control the conduct of all its children; it has recently
+recognized through the same agency its duty to provide for them at least
+the elements of physical well-being; and through numerous Acts it has
+endeavoured to insure for the boy worker a minimum standard&mdash;low, indeed,
+but still real&mdash;of proper conditions of employment. In the department of
+training it has covered the land with a network of educational
+institutions, which offer to all the possibilities of nearly every kind of
+instruction. While, as regards the provision of an opening, it has
+realized the urgency of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> problem, and has taken the first steps to
+supply the deficiency. These are all, in spite of many shortcomings, solid
+achievements, hopeful in the present, and more hopeful for the promise
+they bring of a larger measure of State guardianship in the years that are
+to come.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+<p class="title">APPRENTICESHIP OF TO-DAY</p>
+
+<p>A true apprenticeship system, as already explained, must satisfy three
+conditions: It must guarantee the adequate supervision of the youth of the
+country as regards physical and moral development until the age of
+eighteen at least is reached; it must supply means of effective training,
+both general and specialized; and, finally, it must provide to those about
+to cross the threshold of manhood an opening in some form of occupation
+for which definite preparation has been given. The efficiency of the
+industrial organization of to-day must be judged by the extent to which
+these three conditions are satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>To what extent does the apprenticeship of to-day satisfy the conditions of
+a true apprenticeship system? To answer this question we must look far
+beyond the narrow limits of indentured apprenticeship as it still exists.
+It touches only a fringe, and a vanishing fringe, of the problem. Life for
+the youth has grown more complex since the passing of the old organization
+of the gilds; its success or failure is the outcome of the interplay of
+numerous forces. Four factors contribute, in a more or less degree, to the
+result. There is the contribution of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> the State&mdash;the last chapter was
+concerned with the description of the machinery which has slowly been set
+up during the age of reconstruction&mdash;we have yet to test its influence in
+the actual working; there is the contribution of philanthropic enterprise,
+as represented in the religious bodies, the clubs, the apprenticeship
+associations, and skilled employment committees; there is the contribution
+of the home, with its discipline and training; and, finally, there is the
+contribution of the workshop, using this term to include all forms of
+occupation, with the methods of entry and the organization for securing a
+supply of labour. Only when we have taken into account the effects of
+these four factors can we pass judgment on the apprenticeship of to-day.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">I.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Contribution of the State.</span></p>
+
+<p>In estimating the contribution of the State towards apprenticeship of
+to-day, it will be convenient, as in the last chapter, to trace the effect
+of this influence in two sections, the one devoted to a survey of the
+results of State regulation, and the other to an examination of the
+achievements of State enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">&sect; 1. STATE REGULATION.</p>
+
+<p>In its scheme of regulation the State has aimed, broadly speaking, at
+securing three results. It has endeavoured to prevent boys from being
+overworked or wrongly worked; it has sought to guard them from being
+engaged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> in demoralizing forms of employment; and it has striven to secure
+satisfactory conditions within the walls of the workshop.</p>
+
+<p>The third task presents the fewest difficulties. Medical science is
+sufficiently advanced to prescribe the conditions as to ventilation,
+heating, sanitation, and cubic contents essential to the health of the
+boys. The sad catalogue of accidents is sufficiently long to show where
+danger, through inadequately guarded machinery, is probable. To enforce
+the necessary regulations is comparatively easy. There must be a suitable
+number of inspectors, and these inspectors must be specially trained for
+their work. Neither condition is at present fulfilled. The staff of
+inspectors is much too small, and the inspectors themselves frequently
+lack the requisite technical qualifications.</p>
+
+<p>In the work of guarding boys from being engaged in occupations
+demoralizing to character, the State has only recently taken the first
+steps. The Employment of Children Act prohibits street trading under
+certain conditions. As will appear later in this chapter, there are a
+large number of occupations where regulation is much required. Indeed, it
+is a comparatively new idea that the nature of the employment of the boy
+may have a profound influence on the well-being of the man.</p>
+
+<p>In the department of regulation the most elaborate machinery has grown up
+around the attempts of the State to prevent boys from being overworked or
+wrongly worked. The difficulties in the way of success have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> two.
+There has been the difficulty in getting the necessary law passed. In this
+respect it is enough to mention that the &#8220;half-time&#8221; system, in spite of
+practically universal condemnation, is still permitted, to show the almost
+insurmountable obstacles presented by vested interests. There is next the
+difficulty of enforcing the law. It is often urged that it is idle to
+place on the statute-book laws which can easily be evaded. Too much weight
+must not, however, be given to this argument. There is a moral effect in
+the passing of every law. The fact that the State has condemned certain
+modes of action is an important factor in the formation of public opinion.
+Many people realize for the first time that the evils which are the result
+of conduct hitherto regarded as harmless, because not regarded at all, are
+sufficiently serious to call for State interference. The law may not have
+its full effect; it will without doubt have some effect.</p>
+
+<p>The question of enforcement is, however, of vital importance, and it is
+well to consider the limits of the power of enforcement.</p>
+
+<p>The best method of restricting the hours of employment is to see that the
+boy is somewhere else during part of the working day. The half-time
+system, which insured that the boy should spend half his time in school,
+was established, not primarily with a view to his education, but to
+prevent him from being overworked. It has, moreover, from its point of
+view, been completely successful, and has in practice been enforced
+without difficulty. The various laws relating to compulsory attendance at
+school<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> have exercised an influence more potent in the work of limiting
+the hours of employment than all the other elaborate regulations on the
+subject. If we see to it that a boy is in school, he cannot at the same
+time be found in the factory. The machinery for enforcing attendance now
+runs without difficulty, and its action is uniform and comprehensive.</p>
+
+<p>The next method of restricting employment is the method of prohibition.
+Here, again, enforcement presents no serious difficulty. If we forbid
+children under a certain age to work for wages or to take part in certain
+forms of occupation, it is enough to find them so engaged at any one
+moment to secure a conviction.</p>
+
+<p>The third method, which seeks to prevent boys from being overworked by
+setting a limit on the number of hours during which they may be employed,
+is almost impossible to carry out. The Shop Hours Act is frequently
+infringed, and only the most rigid system of inspection can get evidence
+of cases of infringement. Yet even here detection is comparatively easy. A
+watch can be kept on the number of hours during which a shop is open, and
+if this exceed the legal limit we have a fair presumption that the shop
+assistants are over-employed. But in the case of children we cannot draw
+this conclusion. We are supposing their hours are more limited than in the
+case of the adults, and the mere fact that the shop is open during a
+longer period affords no proof that the child is there all the day on all
+days of the week. To enforce regulations of this kind we must set a watch
+on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> individual child, and on a large scale this is impracticable.</p>
+
+<p>In judging of the results of State regulation, as described in the
+preceding chapter, we may assume that the regulations are enforced&mdash;or at
+any rate are enforceable&mdash;where employment is prohibited, or where
+attendance at school is required, but that regulations which entail the
+counting of hours have little effect in preventing overwork except by the
+indirect method of forming public opinion. Further, when we are seeking a
+path of reform, we must take the road of prohibition or alternative
+attendance at school.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving general considerations, and coming to details, it may be said
+that, so far as children under the age of fourteen are concerned, the
+system of State regulation, though a little cumbersome, covers a
+considerable part of the field, provided always that local education
+authorities make full use of the powers conferred by the Education Acts,
+the School Attendance Acts, the Children Act, and the Employment of
+Children Act, and provided also that the Board of Education and the Home
+Office render full and cordial support. Unfortunately, these provisos are
+very far from being fulfilled. More than 58 per cent. of the population,
+for example, live in districts where the attendance by-laws allow of
+conditional exemption at the age of twelve.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that in nearly half the cases a fairly high standard of
+attainment is required from the children, but with the remainder no higher
+standard is required than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> that reached by the normal child at the age of
+twelve.<a name='fna_91' id='fna_91' href='#f_91'><small>[91]</small></a> Or, again, in connection with the Employment of Children Act,
+out of seventy-four county boroughs, fifty have made by-laws in reference
+to street trading, but large towns, like Leeds, Nottingham, or Salford,
+have made none. Out of 191 smaller boroughs and urban districts, only
+forty-one have made by-laws; and out of the sixty-two administrative
+counties, other than London and Middlesex, only one.<a name='fna_92' id='fna_92' href='#f_92'><small>[92]</small></a> It may fairly be
+assumed that, where no by-laws relating to street trading exist, little is
+done to enforce the other provisions of the Act.</p>
+
+<p>As regards young persons, if we exclude the Acts relating to mines, which
+affect a comparatively small number of lads, the Shop Hours Act, with its
+mild provisions of seats for assistants and a maximum week of seventy-four
+hours, the only Act which can be said to exert a large measure of
+supervision is the Factory and Workshop Act. Assuming that the system of
+regulation there found is adequate, and adequately enforced&mdash;both
+assumptions far from being fulfilled in practice&mdash;there remain the young
+persons who do not come within its provisions. The number of these is very
+large. In the next chapter figures are given relating to the occupations
+of London children on leaving school and between the ages of fifteen and
+twenty. A study of these tables will show that not more than at most a
+third of the young<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> persons are brought within the scope of the Factory
+and Workshop Act. A large proportion of the lads engaged in the building
+trades, and practically the whole of those employed in shops, in
+transport, in commerce, and in general labour, are excluded. In their case
+there is no State supervision to regulate the conditions of their work.</p>
+
+<p>Coming to concrete examples, the van-boy may in all kinds of weather spend
+a dozen hours a day lolling on the tail of a cart, idle for much of his
+time, and for the remainder holding the horses outside a public-house, or
+lifting weights too heavy for his strength. The errand-boy, none too well
+clad or shod, may, delivering parcels and messages, trudge through the
+cold and rain over long leagues of streets during long stretches of the
+week. The office-boy may be cooped up in a dark and ill-ventilated office
+during most of the hours of daylight. The shop-boy may stand ten, twelve,
+or on Saturdays fifteen hours of the twenty-four in the street or in the
+shop, with one eye on the goods and the other on a penny novelette. And
+there is no public authority to say whether the conditions of his
+employment are satisfactory, no power to have him medically inspected, no
+possible guarantee to insure that when he passes the threshold of early
+manhood the vigour and the brightness of youth shall not have given way to
+the feeble health and the torpor of old age. Unquestionably, we owe much
+to sentiment for the evils it has denounced and remedied, but we owe also
+to the r&eacute;gime of sentiment the fact that some two-thirds of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> the young
+persons in the country are engaged in occupations carried on without
+regulation and unvisited by any inspector of the State.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">&sect; 2. STATE ENTERPRISE.</p>
+
+<p>The most signal example of State enterprise in the realm of boy labour is
+to be found in that huge organization of schools, elementary and
+continuation, which now cover the country, and whose efficiency is rapidly
+increasing. The organization has already been described; it remains to
+summarize briefly its principal effects. First, the boys attend school
+with astonishing regularity. An average percentage of attendances during
+the year of ninety-five, and even more, is become common. Truancy is rare,
+and growing rarer. The truant schools are being gradually emptied, and
+several have been closed. This result is no doubt in part due to the
+increased fine for non-attendance, and the pressure thus placed on the
+parent. But excellent attendance implies much more than the elimination of
+the truant; it means that, after making allowance for absences due to
+illness and other sufficient causes, the boy attends school with perfect
+regularity and punctuality at all times when the schools are opened. Now,
+this ideal is in the case of the vast majority of boys attained. The
+result must be attributed to the influence of the teachers over the boy.
+Prosecution of the parent may cure gross irregularity, but perfect
+attendance can only be secured by enlisting the co-operation of the boy.
+The first effect of the school, then, is seen in the almost unqualified
+regularity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> and punctuality of the attendance. If we reflect on the home
+conditions of many of the boys, we shall be compelled to pay a high
+tribute of praise to the work of the teacher. The second achievement lies
+in the admirable order maintained within the walls of the school. Ready
+obedience is the rule, and not the exception. This is in general not the
+result of a system of harsh discipline&mdash;corporal punishment is decreasing
+at once in severity and in frequency&mdash;it is due to the personal influence
+of the teacher. In the third place, a spirit of industry and active
+attention pervades the work of the school. In discussing with the
+authorities of secondary schools the career of the children who have won
+scholarships from the elementary schools, I have more than once been told
+that the chief characteristic of these scholars lies in their patient and
+strenuous diligence. In this respect they serve as an admirable example to
+the fee-paying pupils. It is true that the scholars are picked children,
+but ability and diligence are, as experience shows, by no means
+inseparable companions. Here, again, we see the effect of the school.
+Finally, the schools are institutions which make for character in the best
+sense of the word. The moral training is gradually freeing itself from the
+&#8220;do and don&#8217;t&#8221; of the home, and is beginning to reach the higher level of
+morality where the command is &#8220;to be this, not that.&#8221; A standard of school
+honour is being sought for, and sometimes attained. To take a single
+example. In what is perhaps the poorest school in all London, set in the
+most squalid and vice-haunted region, it has been made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> a matter of honour
+with the boys who are receiving school dinners to come to the headmaster
+as soon as the home circumstances temporarily improve and say: &#8220;I don&#8217;t
+want a dinner this morning, because father has got a day&#8217;s work.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Habits of regularity, obedience, and industry, and the cultivation of a
+sense of honour&mdash;these are the chief results of State supervision carried
+out by means of the schools. Two questions require an answer: Do these
+qualities, found within the precincts of the school, overflow and affect
+the conduct of the boys outside the school? Do they last when school-days
+are over, and the boys gone out to work? With regard to the first, there
+is good reason to believe that they do overflow. The school training does
+influence the conduct of the boys outside. No one who has watched a
+zealous headmaster replace an ancient and inefficient teacher of the old
+type can fail to have observed a striking change in the behaviour of the
+boys as seen in the street and in the home. With regard to the second
+question, we must reply that undoubtedly in many cases the qualities
+gradually disappear. When we come, as we shall do shortly, to the survey
+of the conditions of boy labour, we shall not be surprised at this
+unfortunate truth. It would be difficult to imagine any form of training
+that would be permanent when all discipline is relaxed or entirely
+discontinued at the most critical period of the development of the boy.</p>
+
+<p>The elementary school is now made responsible for the supervision of the
+health of the children. Medical inspection<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> of all children is now
+compulsory, while medical treatment is made legal. The education authority
+may also draw on the rates to provide meals for necessitous children. It
+is too soon to estimate the effect of these new powers, but if they are
+used with wise generosity they should exercise a profound influence on the
+health of the rising generation.</p>
+
+<p>But however beneficent may be the influence of the elementary school, it
+comes to an end abruptly at the age of fourteen, and often a year or two
+earlier. Up to the age of leaving school, the boy is carefully guarded by
+the State, and then, with no transitional stage, he becomes a man, and, so
+far as the State is concerned, all control is withdrawn. Two or three per
+cent., with the help of scholarships, may pass annually to the secondary
+school, where State supervision is continued. Not more than 30 per cent.
+of those who leave the elementary school attend an evening school,<a name='fna_93' id='fna_93' href='#f_93'><small>[93]</small></a> and
+even if they do there is no medical inspection in such places, and little
+effective discipline is possible for boys attending evening school on two
+or three nights a week. The remaining two-thirds disappear from the sight
+of the State, which henceforth renounces all responsibility for their
+supervision.</p>
+
+<p>We have next to regard the schools as training-grounds for the workmen of
+the future. We ought not to look to the elementary schools to provide any
+definite preparation for a trade. Unfortunately, through no fault of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>
+their own, and because of the industrial development of the day, the
+schools are turning out in thousands lads completely equipped for a
+certain class of occupation. We have already seen that the most signal
+triumph of the schools is to be found in the habits of regularity,
+intelligence, and obedience, which they impress on the boys. Now, these
+qualities are essential to success in all walks of life; but for one form
+of employment alone are they all that is required. This form of employment
+includes those occupations in which boys and boys only are engaged, and
+where the boys are discharged as soon as they become men. The
+messenger-boy, the shop-boy, the van-boy, and even the boy who attends to
+some machine which monotonously performs a single operation&mdash;the boy who
+comes into one of these classes need take with him nothing but the three
+recommendations of regularity, obedience, and intelligence. We shall trace
+later the disastrous effects of these forms of employment. It is not
+without significance that the rapid increase in the number of boys so
+engaged has synchronized with the rapid improvement in the system of
+elementary education. It is something of a tragedy that the most signal
+triumph of the schools should be, perhaps, the cause of their most signal
+failure.</p>
+
+<p>Definite training must be looked for in the continuation school. It is
+unnecessary to add much to what has been said in the last chapter; the
+State offers opportunity, but with its existing powers can do little more.
+Speaking generally, for the child of comparatively well-to-do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> parents,
+for the clever child, for the child of unusual energy and physical vigour,
+these opportunities can be enjoyed; but for the remainder&mdash;and that the
+great majority&mdash;they are useless, because beyond the reach of ordinary
+endeavour.</p>
+
+<p>Of State enterprise in the provision of an opening it is too early to
+speak; the juvenile branch of the Labour Exchange is only creeping into
+existence. In the next chapter an attempt will be made to explain how best
+can be realized the possibilities which lie latent in these institutions.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">&sect; 3. SUMMARY.</p>
+
+<p>We are now in a position to summarize the achievements and the defects of
+the contribution of the State towards the creation of a true
+apprenticeship system. Its machinery of regulation has removed the worst
+abuses of child labour, and in certain departments of industry protects,
+with some degree of success, the health of the young persons engaged. Its
+enterprise in the field of education is providing supervision over the
+health and conduct of the boy till he reaches the age of fourteen, while
+for the young person it offers opportunities of longer supervision and
+technical training.</p>
+
+<p>If much has been done, much more remains undone. Regulation still leaves
+rampant many of the evils of child labour. Some two-thirds of the boys as
+they leave school enter occupations where regulation hardly exists. State
+enterprise for all practical purposes exerts no <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>supervision over lads
+between the ages of fourteen and eighteen&mdash;the most important epoch of
+their lives. Technical training, and even the continuance of general
+education, are possible only for a favoured few, and for the present there
+is no State provision of an opening.</p>
+
+<p>These are grave defects, and apprenticeship of to-day stands condemned
+unless it can be shown that one or other of the remaining factors supply
+what the State has failed to give.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">II.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Contribution of Philanthropy.</span></p>
+
+<p>The second of the general forces, as distinguished from the individual and
+special influences of the home and the workshop, which may make some
+contribution towards the apprenticeship of to-day must be sought among the
+varied religious and philanthropic associations. While we could not expect
+from these bodies any assistance in the work of technical training, we
+might hope to find in their midst conditions which make for the better
+supervision and control of the lads who have left school.</p>
+
+<p>Beginning with the more distinctly religious associations, we find among
+them practical unanimity of opinion. One and all confess sadly that they
+are unable to keep in touch with the boys after they have gone out to
+work. For the tens of thousands of schoolboys who attend Sunday-school
+there are only hundreds of lads on the roll of Bible-classes. The sudden
+change from the status<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> of schoolboy to the status of wage-earner, which
+for the majority severed all connection with the education authority, has
+even more decisively brought to an end the supervision of church and
+chapel.</p>
+
+<p>The miscellaneous associations represented by clubs, lads&#8217; brigades, boy
+scouts, and the like, have all been called into existence for the express
+purpose of exerting some measure of control over that transition period of
+life which separates the boy from the man. How many lads between the ages
+of fourteen and eighteen come within the sphere of influence it is not
+possible to say with any exactness. The Twentieth Century League estimated
+in 1903 that in London about 27,780 boys were connected with institutions
+of this character, and we shall see later that there are in London about
+120,000 boys between the ages of fourteen and eighteen.</p>
+
+<p>It would be no less difficult to weigh the value of the work done.
+Existing as they do on a voluntary basis, and free from all element of
+compulsion, such supervision as they exert must take the form of tactful
+guidance. Their success or failure depends less on the machinery and more
+on the personal qualities of the manager. The wide and admirable influence
+of the best clubs is the triumph, not of the system, but of the
+exceptional individual. Exceptional individuals are, it must be
+remembered, exceptional, and an organization which depends on their
+presence is necessarily limited in the extent of its operations. We cannot
+therefore look to these associations to meet adequately the call for
+supervision.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>Of recent years numerous associations have been formed with the object of
+providing suitable openings for boys. There are two sides to their work.
+On the one hand, situations are found, terms made with employers as to
+wages and training, and steps taken to see that these terms are carried
+out. On the other hand, periodic visits are paid to the boy in his home,
+advice given as to attendance at evening schools, and friendly relations
+established between boy and visitor. In general, these bodies are
+concerned with placing out lads in skilled trades, though here and there
+some attempts have been made to attack the better parts of the unskilled
+labour market. Work of this character entails the expenditure of much time
+and money, and requires for the negotiation with employers considerable
+technical qualifications. Experience has shown that a staff of volunteers
+cannot alone perform the necessary duties, and paid officers have been
+appointed. The cost necessarily limits the expansion of the organization.
+Out of the 30,000 boys who annually leave the elementary schools of
+London, it is probable that not more than 2 per cent. come under the
+influence of these associations. On the other hand, if the sphere of their
+operations is limited, within that sphere it has achieved very
+considerable success. They have been pioneers in a new movement, have
+fully justified their existence, and must now look to the State to
+continue on a larger scale, but on the same general lines, the work that
+they have begun. Unlike most volunteers, these employment committees
+welcome this transfer, and are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> now readily placing their services at the
+disposal of the Board of Trade through its juvenile Labour Exchange.</p>
+
+<p>This brief survey of the contribution of philanthropic enterprise to the
+apprenticeship of to-day reveals one obvious conclusion: the associations
+only touch a fringe of the problem, and in no way exert any comprehensive
+measure of control over the lads between the ages of fourteen and
+eighteen. Their number, their variety, and their enthusiasm, indicate the
+urgent need of supervision rather than supervision successfully achieved.
+We cannot look to them to supplement in any large degree the defects in
+the scheme of State guardianship, or the more grave defects which will
+appear when the conditions of home and workshop have been passed in
+review.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">III.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Contribution of the Home.</span></p>
+
+<p>What contribution does the home make to the solution of the apprenticeship
+question? We cannot, indeed, expect to find within the walls of the home
+provision made for the general education of the boy, or the specialized
+training of the youth; but it is not unnatural to look to the parent to
+exercise supervision over his children till manhood is reached, and
+likewise to offer to the boy leaving school advice and material assistance
+in the selection of a trade. We are still inclined to regard the family as
+the one relic of the patriarchal system that has retained a vigorous
+vitality through all the ages; we are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> still apt to see in the home a
+small world, edged off from the large world outside, self-centred,
+self-ruled, and enjoying all the advantages of a benevolent despotism.</p>
+
+<p>To what extent is this general assumption justified by the results of
+actual experience? The question is of profound importance, and has not
+received the attention it deserves from those who have written on boy
+labour. If we can take it for granted that in the normal home we have the
+means of controlling the boy and the growing lad up till the age of
+eighteen, we have a solid foundation on which to rest the new
+apprenticeship. Abnormal homes may need attention; but if the problem of
+supervision is solved for the majority, if there is an authority to which
+the boy submits himself as a matter of course, to add training and to
+organize openings are tasks which should present no serious difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>Can we look to the home to provide this fundamental basis of a true
+apprenticeship system? To answer this question we must study the homes
+themselves. A few years ago I devoted a large amount of time to the
+collection of material touching the character of family life in towns. The
+results were published in an essay entitled &#8220;The Boy and the Family.&#8221;<a name='fna_94' id='fna_94' href='#f_94'><small>[94]</small></a>
+I may perhaps be allowed to summarize the conclusions there established.</p>
+
+<p>Home varies from home; each may be said to have its own individuality, but
+each has much in common. To give definiteness to the problem, I
+endeavoured to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> class the homes under three types. In the main, type
+number one referred to the inhabitants of one and two room tenements; type
+number two embraced the families possessing three rooms; while the third
+type included those persons fortunate enough to rent more than three
+rooms. The size of the home proved a rough, though the best attainable,
+method of classifying the characteristics of the inmates.</p>
+
+<p>Supervision has been interpreted to mean two things&mdash;supervision of health
+and supervision of conduct.</p>
+
+<p>So far as the supervision of health is concerned, it is probable that very
+few of the parents belonging to the three types possess the necessary
+knowledge to carry out this duty. Among all classes of the community
+ignorance on matters affecting the hygiene of the home is almost
+universal. But even if knowledge were present, the resources at the
+disposal of large numbers would prove inadequate to make that knowledge
+effective. With type number one overcrowding is the rule; with type number
+two it is common; and only in the third type do we reach conditions of
+housing favourable to health.</p>
+
+<p>The experience derived from medical inspection of school-children and the
+administration of the Provision of Meals Act has revealed the deplorable
+condition of large numbers of children when left to the unaided care of
+their parents. The returns of necessitous children fed, which are
+published weekly in the minutes of the London County Council, showed that
+during the winter of 1909-10<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> at the time of most acute distress, about 9
+per cent. of the children in the schools were receiving meals. A careful
+inquiry, the most elaborate of its kind, made into the home circumstances
+of the necessitous children in certain schools showed that the number of
+children actually fed was probably below, and certainly not above, the
+number who required meals. The same inquiry, with its lurid pictures of
+squalor and distress, proved how small was the prospect of health for many
+of those children, even though they were fed at school. It may be regarded
+as a conclusive demonstration of the call for more searching regulation on
+the part of the State.<a name='fna_95' id='fna_95' href='#f_95'><small>[95]</small></a> It is probable, however, that the need for food
+is far larger than that represented by the number of children actually
+fed. Several inquiries, such as those carried out by Mr. Charles Booth in
+London, and Mr. Rowntree in York, indicate that the effective income of
+nearly a third of the population is too small to supply in adequate
+quantity even the bare necessities of existence.</p>
+
+<p>Medical inspection is now revealing the number of children suffering from
+definite ailments, and urgently requiring medical treatment, which they
+have hitherto been unable, in a large proportion of cases, to obtain. It
+would appear that some 10 per cent. suffer from defective vision, about 1
+per cent. from discharging ears, about the same number from ringworm,
+while at least a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> third are suffering in health from the result of
+decaying teeth.<a name='fna_96' id='fna_96' href='#f_96'><small>[96]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>Everywhere we have abundant evidence to show that, from want of
+supervision, or of the effective means of supervision in the home, large
+numbers of children are growing up ill-clad, ill-nourished, and suffering
+from definite diseases, all alike leading to inefficient manhood.</p>
+
+<p>The second department of supervision is concerned with the supervision of
+character. Can we rest satisfied that the parents exercise over the
+growing lads that salutary control all growing lads require? The question
+is of profound importance, if, as all agree, character is the condition of
+success when the first steps are taken in the industrial world. It is
+necessary to distinguish between the boy attending school and the boy
+exempt from compulsory attendance. In what follows I shall draw largely on
+my essay in &#8220;Studies of Boy Life.&#8221; The conclusions are derived from the
+experience of many years&#8217; residence in a poor part of London, and have
+been tested by a careful inquiry among ministers of religion,
+school-teachers, rent-collectors, and others with special knowledge of the
+subject.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">&sect; 1. THE BOY OF SCHOOL AGE.</p>
+
+<p>If the parents are to control the boys, the boys must come much under the
+personal influence of the parents;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> in other words, rulers and ruled must
+meet frequently. Now, in all three types of family the father exercises
+little direct control over the children. If of good character, he is
+either out at work or out looking for work during five days of the week,
+and sees the children only in the evening. On Saturday afternoons and on
+Sundays he is at home; but a week-end visitor cannot be the dominant
+factor in domestic affairs. If control is exercised, it must be exercised
+by the mother. To trace her influence, it is necessary to picture the kind
+of life led by each type. I quote from my essay:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;So far as the first type is considered, it is not easy to say when the
+children and parents meet.... The general order of events is something as
+follows: If it is one of the days on which he elects to work, the father
+rises about five o&#8217;clock, finds his own breakfast, and then quits the
+house. Some two or three hours later the school-children get out of bed,
+wash their faces, take a slice of bread and dripping, and go out.
+Sometimes the mother rises at that time and gets the breakfast, but in
+most cases remains in bed. At nine the boys go to school. At noon school
+is over, and the boys, after amusing themselves in the playground or
+street for an hour, go home to get some food. The mother meanwhile has
+risen, dressed the smaller children, performed the irreducible minimum of
+domestic work, and then left the house to gossip with a neighbour, or earn
+a few pence by charing. On rare occasions she may cook the children some
+dinner, but as a rule they get what food they can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> find, and eat it in the
+streets. Sometimes they receive a halfpenny to buy their own meal at a
+fried-fish shop. The boys then return to school, escape at half-past four,
+possibly go home to tea, and then once more turn for amusement to the
+streets. There they remain until it is dark, and often in summer till dawn
+begins to break, when at length they seek their dwelling and go to bed. In
+many cases the boys do not find their way back to their own houses, but
+take up their quarters for the night in the house of some friend.
+Sometimes they do not sleep in a house at all. In one case of which I have
+heard three boys spent a fortnight in a wash-house on the top of some
+blocks. There they lived an independent existence, getting their food and
+attending school regularly all the while. Later on, being discovered by a
+policeman, they were sent to their respective families.... Week follows
+week with little variation to mark the march of time. As brief a fragment
+of the boy&#8217;s life as is possible is spent within the common dwelling,
+which offers him no occupation, and is entirely devoid of interest or
+attraction. The mother does not demand his presence indoors, while he
+himself has no wish to be there. The street, and not the house, ought
+probably to be regarded as the home or meeting-place of the family.&#8221;<a name='fna_97' id='fna_97' href='#f_97'><small>[97]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>Supervision under circumstances of this kind must be an almost negligible
+factor in the life of the home. Let us now come to the second type. I
+quote again:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>&#8220;In the second type, as already mentioned, the family usually occupies
+three rooms. At first sight the conditions found in the former type seem
+to prevail here also. Indeed, as a matter of fact, the boys spend hardly
+more time at home than those just considered. Out of school hours they are
+either in the street or employed in some form of paid work.... School,
+street, meals, and bed alternate with one another here in much the same
+way as they did in the first type. But while the facts remain for the most
+part unchanged, their setting and colouring are very different. Another
+atmosphere seems to pervade the whole life; some sense of order and
+regularity begins to manifest itself; meals are at fixed hours; and the
+boys are expected home and sent to bed at more or less definite times.
+They return to their own tenements, and do not spend the night with some
+of their neighbours. As will appear later, home interests begin to
+develop; and if the boys spend their leisure in the streets, this is due
+more to their own choice than to the wish of their parents.... The mother
+does not display the utter indifference to the state of the dwelling or
+the habits of the children conspicuous in the first type. Some sort of
+ideal of home she seems to possess, but to obtain this ideal is beyond her
+power. She has the look of one who feels that things are wrong, and yet
+can see no remedy. She notes, for example, the evil influence the street
+exerts on the characters of her boys, but does not know how to preserve
+them from its overwhelming attractions.&#8221;<a name='fna_98' id='fna_98' href='#f_98'><small>[98]</small></a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>&#8220;The chief difference, then, between the first and second type lies not so
+much in a different kind of life as in a certain change of atmosphere that
+pervades and transforms the common existence. In the third type this
+change of atmosphere becomes more conspicuous. A great part of the boy&#8217;s
+time is, indeed, still spent outside the dwelling-place, but the life at
+home begins to assume larger proportions. There is more order and quiet in
+the house&mdash;a condition which reacts favourably on the boys. They are no
+longer seen hanging about the streets, loafing at the corners, or shouting
+noisily in the gutters. Though much out of doors, they go farther afield,
+and visit parks or museums; while, if they stay near home, they will
+usually be discovered in the school playground. In the evening many of
+them are indoors, and have various occupations, of which, perhaps, reading
+is the chief.&#8221;<a name='fna_99' id='fna_99' href='#f_99'><small>[99]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>In type number one, then, there is, for all practical purposes, a complete
+absence of supervision. In the second type there is a desire for
+supervision, but the narrowness of the house accommodation thrusts the
+boys into the streets. In the third type alone are the conditions
+favourable to supervision.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">&sect; 2. THE BOY AFTER SCHOOL DAYS.</p>
+
+<p>If the boy while at school is under little parental control, it is not to
+be expected that this control will be tightened when school days are over.
+With the first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> type of family there was no supervision before, and there
+is no more afterwards. The boy is self-supporting, and troubles little
+about the home, and the home troubles little about him. There is a partial
+exception in the case of the coster. Here the boy may become one of the
+regular working members of the establishment, and remains with his father;
+but the discipline is of a rude and ready sort.</p>
+
+<p>With the second type of family the boy&#8217;s earnings are of great importance
+to the family, and the mother does her best to keep him at home. Any
+exercise of discipline is avoided, lest the lad should take his earnings
+and go elsewhere. He is rather in the position of a favoured lodger, whose
+presence is valuable to the home, and who must be treated well for fear he
+should give notice.</p>
+
+<p>In the third type of family, the boy, with growing years, passes out of
+the control of the mother, and is resentful of any restraint exerted by a
+woman. What supervision he enjoys comes from the father. The two do not
+meet often; father and son are seldom employed together, and the long
+distance that frequently separates home and work places the boy beyond the
+reach of parental control during the greater portion of the week.</p>
+
+<p>Such in broad outline, rendered jagged, no doubt, by numerous exceptions,
+is the quantity and the quality of the supervision exercised by the town
+parent over the town boy. Even with the highest type no high standard is
+reached, while with the lower we cannot contemplate the picture with any
+degree of satisfaction. Speaking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> generally, the city-bred youth is
+growing up in a state of unrestrained liberty; and what makes the problem
+more serious is the fact that all evidence goes to show that this
+disquieting phenomenon is not an accident, but the direct product of the
+social and industrial conditions of the times. Towns are growing larger,
+and with the growth of towns the whole conditions of family life are being
+transformed. The old patriarchal system is gone; the father is no longer
+an autocratic ruler in his small world. The family, so to say, has become
+democratized; we have in it an association of equals in authority. Now,
+the most ardent advocates of the extension of the suffrage have always
+limited their demands to an appeal for adult suffrage; they have never
+clamoured for children to be given a vote. Yet this, for all effective
+purposes, is what happens in the home in the case of the boy as soon as he
+has left school. The status of wage-earner has brought with it the status
+of manhood, and his earnings have conferred on him immunity from control
+and the right to be consulted in the politics of the home. Another fact,
+not sufficiently recognized, tends to break down the patriarchal system.
+With the steady improvement in the State schools, the boy is usually
+better educated than the father; the father knows this, and the boy knows
+it too.</p>
+
+<p>It is idle, therefore, to look for any large amount of parental control
+over the boy who has left school. We must face realities, however
+unpleasant these realities may happen to be; and one of the realities of
+the time is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> the independence of the lad. What is equally significant is
+the suddenness with which this independence comes. Until the age of
+fourteen he has remained under a carefully designed system of State
+supervision, exerted by the school authorities; while in a large number of
+cases the discipline of the home has been an important factor in his
+existence. At the age of fourteen, as a general rule, the control of
+school and home end together. The lad goes to bed a boy; he wakes as a
+man. There should therefore be little cause for surprise if the habits of
+the school and home are rapidly sloughed off in the new life of
+irresponsible freedom.</p>
+
+<p>Whether, therefore, we look to the State, to philanthropic enterprise, or
+to the home, we find no satisfactory guarantee for the supervision of the
+youth of the country. We have yet to search for this supervision in the
+workshop; but if it is absent there, we shall be faced with the
+disquieting phenomenon of the boy at the age of fourteen enjoying the full
+and complete independence of the adult.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">IV.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Contribution of the Workshop.</span></p>
+
+<p>Having examined three out of the four factors which contribute to the
+apprenticeship of to-day, and found them all inadequate, we must now turn
+to the workshop in the hope that we shall discover there conditions more
+favourable to the well-being of the youth of the country. If, however,
+this last factor prove defective, the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>apprenticeship of to-day will stand
+condemned, and the case for drastic reform will become unanswerable. It
+will therefore be desirable to devote considerable space to this, the
+central feature of the problem of boy labour.</p>
+
+<p>In what follows it is proposed first to make a detailed study of
+conditions in London, and then to present a general picture of the state
+of boy labour in other parts of the country. London has been selected for
+a detailed study because in a peculiar degree it represents the extreme
+type of urbanization. There is also the advantage that in the case of
+London the material required for the examination has to a large extent
+been collected. The investigations of Mr. Charles Booth, the publications
+and inquiries on the subject carried out by the London County Council, Mr.
+Cyril Jackson&#8217;s report on boy labour presented to the Poor Law Commission,
+and numerous other writings, have provided for the study of London a mass
+of information which, though not in all respects exhaustive, is more
+complete than can be found elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">&sect; 1. LONDON.</p>
+
+<p>A study of the problem of boy labour in London involves the study of three
+questions. First we have to consider the case of the children who, while
+still attending school, are employed for wages. Next we must devote
+special attention to the boys as they leave school and distribute
+themselves among the different occupations. Finally, we must watch the
+later career of those lads,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> and in particular endeavour to ascertain in
+what way and with what results is made the difficult passage from the
+status of the youth to the status of the man.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">(<i>a</i>) <i>The Employment of School-Children.</i></p>
+
+<p>In London the half-time system is not permitted. The standard of
+attainment for total exemption has been made sufficiently high to prevent
+the great majority of boys from leaving school till the age of fourteen is
+reached. It is, however, a fact that improved methods of instruction and
+more rapid promotion from class to class are tending to lower the age at
+which it is possible to obtain a Labour Certificate. How far this
+opportunity is used it is not easy to say; but in certain schools,
+situated in the poorer districts, it is alleged that there is a growing
+tendency for the brighter children to claim exemption in this way. The
+regularity of attendance is admirable, the average attendance in boys&#8217;
+schools exceeding 90 per cent. We may therefore assume that, if the boys
+work for wages, they must work at times when the schools are not opened.</p>
+
+<p>To what extent are boys employed while still liable to attend school? In
+1899 a return was obtained throughout the elementary schools of England
+and Wales of the number of children so employed. In London, in the case of
+boys, the figures were 21,755.<a name='fna_100' id='fna_100' href='#f_100'><small>[100]</small></a> The tables also give the ages of the
+children, but boys and girls are not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> separated. If, however, we assume
+that the number of children of each sex at each age is proportionate to
+the total number of children of each sex at all ages, we find that 78 per
+cent. of the boys were eleven and upwards, and 22 per cent. under eleven.
+The number of boys of eleven and upwards would be about 17,000. There are
+in the elementary schools about 70,000 boys eleven years of age and
+upwards, so that about 24 per cent. of these boys are employed. In other
+words, nearly a quarter of the boys in the elementary schools above the
+age of eleven were employed at the time of the return. The actual number
+of boys who are employed during the course of their school career would be
+considerably larger, as they would not all be employed at the same moment.
+The return is more than ten years old, but, with the exception of the
+children under eleven, it is improbable that there has been much change.
+Similar figures may be deduced from the Report of the Interdepartmental
+Committee on the Employment of School-Children, 1901.<a name='fna_101' id='fna_101' href='#f_101'><small>[101]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>With regard to the number of hours worked, Miss Adler&#8217;s evidence is
+selected, and typical schools show that 56 per cent. were employed for
+more than twenty hours a week, while 14 per cent. were employed
+thirty-five hours or upwards.<a name='fna_102' id='fna_102' href='#f_102'><small>[102]</small></a> In individual cases the figures were
+much higher. &#8220;Thus a boy of eleven years of age, for four shillings a
+week, was employed for forty-three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> and three-quarter hours in carrying
+parcels from a chemist&#8217;s shop, and, except on Sundays, was practically
+every moment of his life at school or at work from seven in the morning
+till nine o&#8217;clock at night. Another boy, aged thirteen, worked fifty-two
+hours a week, being employed by a moulding company, and attending a
+theatre for five evenings a week and for half a day on Wednesday for a
+<i>matin&eacute;e</i>&mdash;for the last, however, playing truant from school.&#8221;<a name='fna_103' id='fna_103' href='#f_103'><small>[103]</small></a> The
+following graphic account taken from a school composition, and obtained
+under circumstances which guarantee its essential accuracy, shows the
+amount of work which may be compressed into a single day. It refers to
+Saturday:</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;I first got up from bed about half-past six, and put my clothes on and
+had a wash. Then I went to work at B.&#8217;s, and swept out his shop, and then
+I did the window out. But after I done the window I had my breakfast and
+went in the shop again. I started taking out orders that came in. While I
+was taking the orders out, Mr. B. went to the Borough market for some
+potatoes, cabbages, and some onions; but when he came home I had to unload
+his van. After I unloaded his van, he went for some coal, which he sells
+at one and sixpence a hundredweight, but he got two tons of coal in. Then
+we had dinner about one o&#8217;clock. When we had our dinner, I had a rest till
+about four o&#8217;clock, when I had tea. When I had my tea I had to go and chop
+some wood, when it was time to shut up the shop. I had my supper and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> went
+home, and went to bed, and the time was about twelve o&#8217;clock.&#8221;<a name='fna_104' id='fna_104' href='#f_104'><small>[104]</small></a> It
+will be seen that, with the exception of a break in the middle of the day,
+the boy was on duty for nearly three-quarters of the twenty-four hours,
+and for part of the time was engaged in heavy manual labour.</p>
+
+<p>What effect does employment have on the physical condition of children
+under the age of fourteen? &#8220;That excessive employment is injurious alike
+to the education and to the health of the children is hardly in question.
+It was testified to by witness after witness, many of them in no way
+likely to be influenced by merely theoretical objections to child
+labour.&#8221;<a name='fna_105' id='fna_105' href='#f_105'><small>[105]</small></a> On the other hand, most of the witnesses that appeared
+before the Interdepartmental Committee were of opinion that &#8220;moderate
+work&#8221; was in many cases not only not injurious, but &#8220;positively
+beneficial.&#8221;<a name='fna_106' id='fna_106' href='#f_106'><small>[106]</small></a> It is not easy to understand what is meant by the last
+statement. If some form of employment is beneficial, then the 76 per cent.
+who are not so employed suffer, and steps should be taken to encourage
+them to work. It is doubtful whether the witnesses would have accepted
+this conclusion, from which, on their own assumptions, there is really no
+escape. The difficulty lay in drawing the line. &#8220;Most of the witnesses
+seemed to suggest that twenty hours might be fixed as the maximum weekly
+limit; but, on the other hand, we found some cases where less than twenty
+hours a week, if <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>concentrated in one or two days, or if done at night,
+must be injurious.&#8221;<a name='fna_107' id='fna_107' href='#f_107'><small>[107]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>But the evidence of most value on the subject is to be found in a Report
+of the Medical Officer of the London County Council.<a name='fna_108' id='fna_108' href='#f_108'><small>[108]</small></a> About 400 boys
+employed outside school hours were examined. The following table, with
+defects in percentages, was obtained as the result:<a name='fna_109' id='fna_109' href='#f_109'><small>[109]</small></a></p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="table">
+<tr><td align="center" class="btlr">Hours worked Weekly.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">Actual<br />Number<br />of Boys.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">Fatigue<br />Signs.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">An&aelig;mia.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">Severe<br />Nerve<br />Signs.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">Deformities.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">Severe<br />Heart<br />Signs.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="btlr">All schoolboys of district<br /><span style="margin-left: 1em;">workers and non-workers</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">3,700</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">25</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">24</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">8</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">8</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Working 20 hours or less</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">163</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">50</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">34</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">28</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">15</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">11</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Working 20 to 30 hours</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">86</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">81</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">47</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">44</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">21</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">15</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bblr">Working over 30 hours</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">95</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">83</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">45</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">50</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">22</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">21</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>It will be seen that the defects rise rapidly with increase in the hours
+of work; while, even in the case of those working less than twenty hours,
+there is a serious deviation from the average. The fact that 50 per cent.
+of those working less than twenty hours should exhibit signs of fatigue,
+even where no permanent physical evil results, must seriously affect the
+value of the school<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> instruction. In every case the workers compare
+unfavourably with the average for the whole of the workers and
+non-workers. We cannot view with satisfaction the truth that, even in
+those employed with moderation, deformities and severe heart signs should
+be nearly 50 per cent. above the average. The medical officer adds other
+conclusions no less disquieting. &#8220;Working eight hours on Saturday is as
+inimical as thirty hours during the week, and working through the
+dinner-hour appears particularly productive of an&aelig;mia,&#8221;<a name='fna_110' id='fna_110' href='#f_110'><small>[110]</small></a> &#8220;Retardation
+in school work was noted in 209 out of these 330 boys, 86 being one
+standard, 83 two standards, 37 three standards, and 3 four standards
+behind that corresponding to their age.&#8221;<a name='fna_111' id='fna_111' href='#f_111'><small>[111]</small></a> As his final conclusion the
+medical officer states: &#8220;We must set up as an ideal the suppression of
+child labour below twelve years of age, and during school life regulate it
+to twenty hours weekly, and a maximum of five hours on any one day.&#8221;<a name='fna_112' id='fna_112' href='#f_112'><small>[112]</small></a>
+The figures, however, would seem to go far in justifying the more drastic
+remedy of complete prohibition.</p>
+
+<p>It is, however, fair to mention that the Report of the Interdepartmental
+Committee, and also the Report of the Medical Officer, refer to a state of
+affairs prior to the passing of the Employment of Children Act. Under this
+Act, as explained in the last chapter,<a name='fna_113' id='fna_113' href='#f_113'><small>[113]</small></a> employment of children under
+the age of eleven is forbidden, while the by-laws of the Council place
+restrictions on the number<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> of hours children may work, and the times of
+day during which such work may be carried on. It is too soon to judge of
+the extent to which these restrictions can be enforced. During the first
+year of effective operation in London there were, in respect of boys under
+the age of sixteen, 13,461 cases of infringement. Prohibition under a
+certain age or during certain times of the day is comparatively easy to
+enforce; but limitation of hours, as experience of the Shop Act shows, is
+extremely difficult to enforce, and peculiarly difficult where, as with
+school-children, persons are not employed regularly, but work irregularly
+at times when the schools are not open. To get evidence sufficient to
+justify convictions is almost impossible, except in a few outrageous
+cases.</p>
+
+<p>What, if any, effect does the employment of school-children have on the
+general question of the preparation for a trade? Into this general
+question the Interdepartmental Committee did not enter. They did indeed
+regard certain forms of occupation as injurious, while they pronounced as
+beneficial employment in moderation. But this statement has apparently
+reference only to matters of health, and not to the relation of employment
+during school days to employment afterwards. The question is of great
+importance, as habits, in respect of work for wages, formed by the boy
+cling persistently to the youth. It is necessary, therefore, to pay some
+attention to the characteristics of the work which schoolboys undertake.
+In London 90 per cent. of the work<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> would be included in the three
+following classes: (1) Shops&mdash;errand-running and delivery of parcels,
+milk, newspapers, and watching the goods spread on the counters outside
+the shops; (2) domestic&mdash;knife and boot cleaning, and occasionally
+baby-minding; and (3) street employment&mdash;hawking of newspapers, matches,
+and flowers, organ-grinding, and the like. Now, none of these forms of
+occupation provide any trade-training, or offer an opening with
+satisfactory prospects, to the boy as he leaves school. On the other hand,
+this class of work has distinctly injurious effects. First, it is
+employment of a casual character. Affected as it is, on the one hand, by
+attendance at school, and on the other by Saturdays and holidays, it is
+essentially irregular as regards hours. Secondly, it is easy to obtain,
+and consequently lightly undertaken and lightly dropped. Where another
+situation can be obtained at will, there is no demand on the worker to
+display the qualities that make for permanence of employment. Thirdly, it
+is work in which youths as well as boys are engaged; in other words, it
+does provide an opening to the boy as he leaves school&mdash;an opening which
+he is likely to accept, because it is the most obvious, but at the same
+time an opening in one of those forms of occupation entrance into which we
+should, as will appear later, do our utmost to discourage. It is
+singularly unfortunate that a boy&#8217;s first association with any kind of
+paid employment should be of this nature. And, finally, it is at least
+open to grave doubt whether that sense of independence of home which comes
+with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> the consciousness of earning wages should begin at as early an age
+as twelve or thirteen.</p>
+
+<p>It would not be easy to imagine a more unsatisfactory form of preparation
+for a trade than that provided by the kind of work carried out by
+wage-earning children. If we add to this demoralizing influence the
+injurious effect on health and education, the case for total prohibition
+of boy labour during school-days becomes very strong.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">(<i>b</i>) <i>The Entry to a Trade.</i></p>
+
+<p>The great majority of boys remain at the elementary school till they
+attain the age of fourteen; it is no less true that the vast majority
+cease attendance as soon as that age is reached. The period of the next
+four years&mdash;that is, from fourteen to eighteen&mdash;forms the most critical
+time of their career. It is during these four years that the boy must, if
+ever, have taken the first steps towards learning a trade. During this
+interval his physical strength must mature, his character take on itself a
+more or less permanent set, and the question whether his education shall
+represent something more than a faint shadow of early impressions be
+finally determined. In short, it is during these four years that the
+future citizen is made or marred.</p>
+
+<p>The previous survey, whether of the factors which contribute to the
+apprenticeship of to-day, or of the evils which are found among
+wage-earning school-children, does not guarantee a favourable start in the
+world of whole-time employment. Each year about 30,000 boys<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> leave school
+at the age of fourteen to take up some form of work. These figures do not
+agree with the Census returns, because the latter include all London boys
+in all classes of society, whether at school or at work. Here we are
+concerned only with the boys of fourteen who leave the elementary school
+with the intention of earning their own living. Between the ages of
+fourteen and eighteen there will therefore be 120,000 boys. It is the
+careers of these 120,000 boys that we must now try to follow.</p>
+
+<p>What are the first occupations selected by these 120,000 boys? During the
+last few years the London County Council has endeavoured to find an answer
+to this question. Each head-master of an elementary school is required
+annually to fill up a form in respect of each boy who has left the school
+during the preceding twelve months. The information asked for is
+&#8220;occupation of parent,&#8221; &#8220;occupation of boy,&#8221; &#8220;whether skilled or
+unskilled,&#8221; or &#8220;whether a place of higher education is attended.&#8221; Returns
+have been received and summarized for the years 1906-07 and 1907-08. The
+first return was incomplete, but the second included the vast majority of
+those who left. Below is given the summary for the two years:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="table">
+<tr><td class="btlr">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Skilled.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Unskilled.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Higher<br />Education.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="btlr">Number</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">8,662</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">15,910</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">1,524</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Percentage</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">33&middot;2</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">61&middot;0</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">5&middot;8</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bblr">Percentage, 1906-07</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">28&middot;5</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">67&middot;9</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">3&middot;6</span></td></tr></table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>It will be seen that, including those who went to some higher form of
+education, little more than a third of the boys left school to enter a
+skilled trade.<a name='fna_114' id='fna_114' href='#f_114'><small>[114]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Table I.</span></p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="table">
+<tr><td rowspan="2" align="center" class="btlr">Class of Occupation.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr" colspan="2">Number.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr" colspan="2">Percentage.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center" class="btr">Parent.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">Boy.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">Parent.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">Boy.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="btlr">Trades and industries</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">615</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">347</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .25em;">40&middot;87</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">18&middot;74</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Domestic offices or services</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">23</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">46</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">1&middot;52</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">2&middot;48</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Transport (including messengers, errand-boys, van-boys, etc.)</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">191</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">829</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .25em;">12&middot;69</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">44&middot;76</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Shopkeepers, shop-assistants, and dealers</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">137</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">133</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">9&middot;10</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">7&middot;18</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Commercial occupations</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">61</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">141</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">4&middot;05</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">7&middot;61</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">General labour</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">436</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">215</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .25em;">28&middot;98</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">11&middot;61</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Professional occupations and their subordinate services</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">11</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">5</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">0&middot;73</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">0&middot;27</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">General or local government</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">26</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">6</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">1&middot;73</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">0&middot;32</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Defence of the country</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">5</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">1</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">0&middot;33</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">0&middot;06</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Higher education</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">27</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">1&middot;45</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bblr">Unemployed</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">102</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">5&middot;52</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bblr"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Total</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">1,505</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">1,852</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">100&middot;00</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">100&middot;00</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>It is unfortunate that no full analysis has been made of these returns.
+The value of the information which would have thus been obtained was not
+supposed to justify the labour and expenditure involved in such an
+analysis. I have, however, roughly analyzed nearly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> 4,000 cases, and
+endeavoured to classify the occupations, in accordance with the table
+founded on the Census return which will be given later.<a name='fna_115' id='fna_115' href='#f_115'><small>[115]</small></a> I selected
+for this purpose typical districts in London. Table I. includes returns
+from all the schools in the electoral areas of Bermondsey, North
+Camberwell, and Walworth; it represents a typical miscellaneous
+working-class district. Table II. includes the electoral areas of Dulwich
+and Lewisham; it may be regarded as typical of suburban villadom so far as
+its inhabitants send their children to the elementary schools. Table III.
+includes the electoral areas of Whitechapel and St. George&#8217;s-in-the-East,
+districts distinguished by the presence of a large number of small trades
+and sweated industries. Table IV. includes the collective results of the
+three preceding tables, and may be taken as fairly typical of London as a
+whole. It was necessary to exclude the returns of a few schools as
+incomplete, indefinite, or obviously inaccurate. Parent stands for
+occupation of parent, boy for occupation of boy. The two do not quite
+correspond, as in a certain number of instances the occupation of the
+parent was unknown. I have included the telegraph-boys under &#8220;Transport,&#8221;
+as for my purpose this classification was the more suitable.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Table II.</span></p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="table">
+<tr><td rowspan="2" align="center" class="btlr">Class of Occupation.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr" colspan="2">Number.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr" colspan="2">Percentage.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center" class="btr">Parent.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">Boy.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">Parent.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">Boy.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="btlr">Trades and industries</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">347</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">151</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">35&middot;57</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">14&middot;86</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Domestic offices or services</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">14</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">27</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">1&middot;45</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">2&middot;64</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Transport (including messengers, errand-boys, van-boys, etc.)</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">70</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">350</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">7&middot;24</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">34&middot;31</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Shopkeepers, shop-assistants, and dealers</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">100</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">126</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">10&middot;34</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">12&middot;35</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Commercial occupations</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">180</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">157</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">18&middot;61</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">15&middot;38</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">General labour</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">144</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">54</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">14&middot;89</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">5&middot;29</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Professional occupations and their subordinate services</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">47</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">2</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">4&middot;86</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">0&middot;19</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">General or local government</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">66</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">9</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">6&middot;83</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">0&middot;88</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Defence of the country</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">2</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">5</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">0&middot;21</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">0&middot;48</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Higher education</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">76</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">7&middot;45</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bblr">Unemployed</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">63</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">6&middot;17</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bblr"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Total</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">967</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">1,020</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">100&middot;00</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">100&middot;00</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>&nbsp;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Table III.</span></p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="table">
+<tr><td rowspan="2" align="center" class="btlr">Class of Occupation.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr" colspan="2">Number.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr" colspan="2">Percentage.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center" class="btr">Parent.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">Boy.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">Parent.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">Boy.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="btlr">Trades and industries</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">349</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">305</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">51&middot;09</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">41&middot;84</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Domestic offices or services</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">25</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">18</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">3&middot;66</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">2&middot;47</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Transport (including messengers, errand-boys, van-boys, etc.)</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">72</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">189</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">10&middot;54</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">25&middot;93</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Shopkeepers, shop-assistants, and dealers</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">91</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">48</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">13&middot;33</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">6&middot;58</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Commercial occupations</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">11</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">39</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">1&middot;61</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">5&middot;35</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">General labour</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">116</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">63</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">16&middot;99</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">8&middot;64</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Professional occupations and their subordinate services</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">10</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">3</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">1&middot;46</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">0&middot;41</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">General or local government</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">8</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">1&middot;17</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">&mdash;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Defence of the country</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">1</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">0&middot;15</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">&mdash;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Higher education</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">7</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">0&middot;96</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bblr">Unemployed</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">57</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">7&middot;82</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bblr"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Total</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">683</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">729</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">100&middot;00</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">100&middot;00</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>&nbsp;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Table IV.</span></p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="table">
+<tr><td rowspan="2" align="center" class="btlr">Class of Occupation.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr" colspan="2">Number.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr" colspan="2">Percentage.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center" class="btr">Parent.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">Boy.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">Parent.</td>
+    <td align="center" class="btr">Boy.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="btlr">Trades and industries</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">1,308</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">803</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">41&middot;46</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">22&middot;31</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Domestic offices or services</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">62</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">91</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">1&middot;97</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">2&middot;53</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Transport (including messengers, errand-boys, van-boys, etc.)</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">333</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">1,368</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">10&middot;55</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">38&middot;00</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Shopkeepers, shop-assistants, and dealers</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">328</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">307</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">10&middot;39</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">8&middot;52</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Commercial occupations</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">252</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">337</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">7&middot;98</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">9&middot;36</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">General labour</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">696</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">332</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">22&middot;06</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">9&middot;22</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Professional occupations and their subordinate services</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">68</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">10</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">2&middot;16</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">0&middot;28</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">General or local government</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">100</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">15</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">3&middot;17</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">0&middot;41</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Defence of the country</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">8</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">6</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">0&middot;26</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">0&middot;16</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Higher education</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">110</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">3&middot;05</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bblr">Unemployed</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .75em;">222</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">6&middot;16</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bblr"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Total</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">3,155</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">3,601</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">100&middot;00</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">100&middot;00</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>In the interpretation of these tables certain facts must be borne in mind.
+None of the parents are returned as unemployed; this is because the trade
+of the parent was asked for, and no account was taken as to whether he was
+or was not employed. Secondly, the occupations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> are somewhat vaguely
+described; this in particular is true of the term &#8220;labourer.&#8221; More exact
+information would no doubt have removed the parent from the class &#8220;general
+labour,&#8221; and placed him in the class &#8220;transport,&#8221; and occasionally in the
+classes &#8220;domestic servant&#8221; or &#8220;shop-assistant.&#8221; Thirdly, the
+messenger-boys are included partly under &#8220;transport&#8221; and partly under
+&#8220;shop-assistants,&#8221; the boy being termed sometimes an errand-boy and
+sometimes a shop-boy. The term &#8220;office-boy,&#8221; which appears frequently in
+the returns, is vague. I have classed the office-boy as an errand-boy
+unless the school return places him in the column &#8220;skilled employment,&#8221;
+when I have included him under the heading &#8220;commercial occupation.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>Making allowance for a certain inevitable inaccuracy which belongs to
+returns of this kind, we have a general picture, accurate in all
+essentials, of the distribution of boys among the various forms of
+occupation immediately after leaving the elementary school. The columns
+which refer to the trade of the parents, and indicate therefore the
+distribution of the parents among the various forms of occupation, are of
+considerable value. If we take Table IV., which may be regarded as typical
+of London as a whole, and compare the last two columns, we shall at once
+notice the striking difference that marks the distribution of boys and of
+adults among the several kinds of employment. In &#8220;trades and industries,&#8221;
+41 per cent. of parents are engaged, and only 22 per cent. of boys; 38 per
+cent. of the boys are engaged in &#8220;transport,&#8221;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> and only 10 per cent. of
+parents. This fact carries with it a conclusion of great importance&mdash;son
+and father can seldom work together. If, for example, 10 per cent. of the
+parents are included under &#8220;transport,&#8221; and 38 per cent. of the boys, it
+is clear that little more than a quarter of such boys can be employed in
+company with their parents. The actual facts, as revealed by an
+examination of the individual returns, are much stronger, and demonstrate
+the extreme rareness of father and son following the same occupation. In
+the case of &#8220;trades and industries&#8221; the trade of father and son is not
+infrequently the same; this is in particular true of &#8220;tailoring&#8221; trades of
+the East End, included in Table III., where the proportion of adults to
+boys are as fifty-one to forty-two. In suburban villadom, pictured in
+Table III., the clerk is often father to the clerk, while the son of a
+shopkeeper occasionally assists his parents in the shop. The coster habit
+likewise runs in families. But with these exceptions father and son do not
+work together. In consequence, in his first situation the boy is cut
+adrift from the home and its control, such as it is. He has not his father
+by his side to note and guide his conduct; and if he enters a skilled
+trade, he lacks the personal interest of the parent to guarantee his
+satisfactory training. We have already seen that the school supervision is
+at an end; in consequence, the only disciplinary influence left is the
+influence of the employer. The character of the employment and the nature
+of the supervision of the master become, therefore, of supreme importance
+to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> the well-being of the boy. It is consequently necessary to examine in
+some detail the distinguishing features of the various kinds of
+occupation. They are usually roughly classed as skilled or unskilled,
+according as they do or do not lead to a form of employment which requires
+specialized skill or specialized intelligence.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Unskilled Trades.</span>&mdash;Practically the whole of the unskilled trades are
+included under the terms &#8220;domestic service,&#8221; &#8220;transport,&#8221; &#8220;shop,&#8221; and
+&#8220;general labour,&#8221; and the great majority of the boys who select these
+occupations may be said to select an unskilled trade. In Table I., a
+typical working-class district, it will be seen that 66 per cent. of the
+boys who leave the elementary schools come within this class. In Table
+II., a suburban area, the figures are 55 per cent.; but a considerable
+proportion of those included under &#8220;shops&#8221; appear to be employed in the
+shops of their parents, and to be learning the business. In Table III.,
+representing the small East End trades, the figures are 44 per cent.; but,
+judged by wages and conditions of employment, the majority of the 42 per
+cent. included under trades should be transferred to the class of
+unskilled work. For all the districts, as a whole typical of London, Table
+IV. shows the figures to be 58&middot;27 per cent. The figures quoted above
+ignore the boys returned as unemployed and unknown, the number of these
+for all London being 6 per cent. They are boys waiting for something to
+turn up; what will turn up it is impossible to predict. But it is safe to
+say that a considerable portion will drift into unskilled work.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>The unskilled trades fall into three classes. The first and smallest is
+included under &#8220;domestic service.&#8221; Under this head are found boys in
+barbers&#8217; shops, page-boys, club-boys, boot and knife boys. Employment in a
+barber&#8217;s shop is notoriously unhealthy;<a name='fna_116' id='fna_116' href='#f_116'><small>[116]</small></a> a barber&#8217;s shop is also
+supposed to be not infrequently the resort of the betting fraternity. The
+fortunes of the page and club boy await the zeal of an investigator; the
+knife and boot boy soon passes to some other occupation. Of the three
+classes, domestic service is the least important and the soonest left by
+the boy.</p>
+
+<p>The second class, included under &#8220;transport&#8221; and &#8220;shopkeepers,&#8221; is far the
+largest and the most important. In all London some 47 per cent. of the
+boys are found here; or, if we add a half of the 6 per cent. returned as
+unemployed, we may say that half the boys who leave the elementary schools
+belong to this class. It is necessary to take &#8220;transport&#8221; and
+&#8220;shopkeepers&#8221; together, because it is impossible to tell whether a
+&#8220;shop-boy&#8221; is merely an errand-boy, or a boy on the road to become a
+properly trained shop-assistant. It is probable, however, that only a
+small number could be regarded as future shop-assistants.</p>
+
+<p>Ignoring these exceptions, we have to follow the fortunes of 50 per cent.
+of the boys leaving school&mdash;in other words, of 15,000 persons. Their forms
+of employment have much in common. In the first place, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> are what is
+known as &#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations&mdash;they lead nowhere. Boys only are
+engaged, and when the boys become men they are cast adrift. Sometimes they
+are absorbed in the adult service, but more usually, if they have not
+already left, are given notice, and must at the age of eighteen seek out
+some new way of earning a living. The report of Mr. Cyril Jackson makes
+this fact abundantly clear.<a name='fna_117' id='fna_117' href='#f_117'><small>[117]</small></a> &#8220;The industrial biographies received,&#8221; he
+says, &#8220;show clearly that there is generally a time of transition when boys
+have to seek new occupations, for which they have little aptitude.&#8221;<a name='fna_118' id='fna_118' href='#f_118'><small>[118]</small></a>
+Or again: &#8220;There appears to be no doubt that the restlessness of many of
+the boys doing more or less unskilled work obscures from some employers
+the fact that they are using a greater number of boys than can ever be
+employed in connection with their trade as men. The employers who have
+filled up forms often state that they &#8216;never discharge a boy who is
+willing to stay,&#8217; or &#8216;that boys are only discharged for misconduct,&#8217; when
+it is evident from the figures appearing in the same form that there must
+be a considerable proportion of the boys passing out of the trade each
+year.... That many employers, on the other hand, do in fact discharge a
+considerable proportion of their boys because they have no room for them
+as men&mdash;or, to express the same thing in the form in which it presents
+itself to the masters, because they cannot afford to offer men&#8217;s wages&mdash;is
+shown in the short<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> accounts of the trades in the Appendix.&#8221;<a name='fna_119' id='fna_119' href='#f_119'><small>[119]</small></a> It is
+needless to labour the point further, as everyone familiar with the
+conditions of boy work give evidence to the same effect.</p>
+
+<p>The second characteristic of these trades is that they are mainly
+concerned with fetching or carrying something&mdash;messages, letters, parcels.
+It is characteristic of that stage of civilization at which we have
+arrived that we want to save ourselves trouble, or to save ourselves time.
+Boys are the instruments we use. &#8220;Here we are, all of us,&#8221; says a modern
+writer, &#8220;demanding an endless number of tiny jobs to be done on our
+behalf. Every year multiplies these demands, increasing the pace at which
+the jobs can be done, and the number of them that can be crowded into the
+time. We learn to expect more and more conveniences at our elbow by which
+communication can be made, business transacted, messages despatched,
+parcels transferred, news brought up to date, transit hastened, things of
+all kinds put under our hand. We touch buttons, press knobs, ring bells,
+whisper down telephones, keep wires throbbing with our desires, bustle and
+hustle the world along. And all this in the end means <i>boys</i>. Boys are
+what we set moving. Boys are the material in which we deal. Boys are our
+tools. Every wire has a boy at the end of it.&#8221;<a name='fna_120' id='fna_120' href='#f_120'><small>[120]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>This tendency to demand the services of boys has spread through all
+classes of society. To take a single example of quite recent growth: It is
+becoming less and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> less common for the housewife to bring the results of
+her marketing home herself; a boy delivers the goods instead. Go into any
+shop, even in the poorest part of the town, and make a few purchases; the
+shopman will probably offer to send them home for you. There is something
+flattering and pleasant in the offer; it is one of the new products of
+competition to multiply conveniences instead of cutting prices. The demand
+for boys is rapidly increasing; and while the demand is increasing, the
+supply of boys has diminished. The raising of the school age, the improved
+attendance, and the decrease of truancy, have all removed from the labour
+market an immense number of boys. &#8220;The Census figures show that there has
+been a steady diminution of boys employed under fifteen during the last
+quarter of a century.&#8221;<a name='fna_121' id='fna_121' href='#f_121'><small>[121]</small></a> The Labour Exchanges testify to the same
+effect, the managers frequently saying: &#8220;There is an unsatisfied demand
+for juvenile labour of an unskilled type.&#8221;<a name='fna_122' id='fna_122' href='#f_122'><small>[122]</small></a> This growing demand has
+two effects. First, as it becomes increasingly easier for boys to obtain
+situations, there is less and less inducement for them to show such
+industry and good conduct as are necessary to retain their places.
+Dismissal has no terrors; it means, if they please, a few days&#8217; holiday,
+or, if they prefer it, a new employer can be at once discovered. It
+becomes therefore difficult for an employer to exercise over the boys the
+discipline they need; if he attempt to do so, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> will soon find himself
+without boys. Lads change situations for the mere sake of change, to see
+what happens. &#8220;I have known,&#8221; says Mr. J. G. Cloete, &#8220;boys who, within
+three years of leaving school, have been employed in as many as seventeen
+different occupations.&#8221;<a name='fna_123' id='fna_123' href='#f_123'><small>[123]</small></a> The second consequence of the increased
+demand for boys in these kinds of occupations is a rise in wages. The
+earnings of these boys are considerably higher than those obtained by a
+boy who enters a skilled trade. &#8220;The casual and low-skilled employments
+give higher wages in the early years in order to attract the boys.&#8221;<a name='fna_124' id='fna_124' href='#f_124'><small>[124]</small></a>
+With boys choosing, as they do, their own occupations, high wages at the
+outset are more attractive than low wages with the prospect of learning a
+trade.</p>
+
+<p>The third characteristic these occupations have in common lies in certain
+general conditions of employment. Hours are long; at the same time, the
+boy is often idle for long periods, waiting for messages to come in and
+parcels to go out. Shop-boys and telegraph-boys are kept hanging about
+with nothing to do. The office-boy in a small office is often the whole
+staff, and is left alone for hours when his master is out, and &#8220;spends his
+time either in vacancy, in mischievous expeditions along the corridor, or
+in reading trash of a bloodthirsty nature.&#8221;<a name='fna_125' id='fna_125' href='#f_125'><small>[125]</small></a> The boy has often heavy
+goods to carry long distances, and overtaxes his strength. Either<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> there
+is too much idleness or too much work; these are the alternatives. In
+neither case is there the possibility of much supervision.</p>
+
+<p>The fourth characteristic has not received the attention it deserves.
+These forms of occupation, though unskilled in the sense that the boy
+receives no training in his present place of business, nevertheless demand
+qualities of a high standard. The boy must be regular, obedient, and,
+above all, intelligent. A dull boy as a messenger is liable to make stupid
+and irritating mistakes. The stories of district messengers carrying
+letters unaided over the Continent show that the boys possess no ordinary
+intelligence. Now, we have already seen that these are the qualities which
+are in a peculiar degree the product of the elementary schools. The
+schools turn out innumerable boys of this kind. It is not, perhaps, a mere
+coincidence that the increasing use of boys in occupations which call for
+alertness of mind has gone on side by side with improvements in the
+educational system. The State has spent much money on these boys. A boy
+who starts to attend school at the age of three and leaves at fourteen has
+had spent on him a sum of money which, if invested year by year at 4 per
+cent., and left to accumulate till the time for leaving school comes,
+would amount to nearly &pound;100. Each year in the 30,000 boys who leave school
+&pound;3,000,000 of State-created value is turned adrift. The State has
+therefore a right to demand that this capital sum of &pound;100 invested in the
+boy shall not be squandered by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> employer. He ought to give back at the
+age of eighteen at least as valuable an article as he received four years
+earlier.</p>
+
+<p>This consideration leads to the last characteristic distinguishing these
+occupations. They lead to nothing, and when the boy reaches the end, he
+is, in the majority of cases, distinctly inferior in every way to what he
+was three or four years before. Evidence in favour of this assertion is
+overwhelming. &#8220;At the present time, at the age of eighteen, after a four
+years&#8217; course of employment, whose chief characteristics are the long
+hours, the lack of supervision, and the total absence of any educational
+influence, the lad is a distinctly less valuable article in the labour
+market than he was when he left school four years previously. His only
+asset is represented by greater physical strength, accompanied probably by
+a marked decrease in general health and vigour. He has lost the
+intelligence and aptitude of the boy, and remains a clumsy and
+unintelligent man, fitted for nothing but unskilled labour, and likely to
+become sooner or later one of the unemployed.&#8221;<a name='fna_126' id='fna_126' href='#f_126'><small>[126]</small></a> &#8220;There seems little
+doubt that the boy labour is used up for industrial purposes, and that
+they are left less capable members of the community, with little prospect
+of good work when they become adults.&#8221;<a name='fna_127' id='fna_127' href='#f_127'><small>[127]</small></a> &#8220;The most hopeless position is
+that of the errand-boy at a small shop in a poor neighbourhood;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> his
+prospects are absolutely nil.&#8221;<a name='fna_128' id='fna_128' href='#f_128'><small>[128]</small></a> &#8220;The chart prepared from the forms
+filled in by boys who entered life as errand-boys shows that the small
+proportion who find steady and skilled employment afterwards have ceased
+to be errand-boys very early; the vast majority become workers in
+low-skill trades, or general and casual labourers.&#8221;<a name='fna_129' id='fna_129' href='#f_129'><small>[129]</small></a> &#8220;Mr. Courtney
+Terell, who has been making inquiries from the Passmore Edwards
+Settlement, writes: &#8216;I feel confident ... that the messenger work produced
+a definite effect on the boys, as will the continual performance of any
+one of a definite function which admits of no improvement, and that this
+has unfitted them for other work.&#8217;&#8221;<a name='fna_130' id='fna_130' href='#f_130'><small>[130]</small></a> &#8220;The injury done to these boys is
+not that they are compelled as men to devote themselves to low-skilled
+labour, but that from the more or less specialized nature of the work
+which has employed this boyhood, they are unfitted to become good
+low-skilled labourers.&#8221;<a name='fna_131' id='fna_131' href='#f_131'><small>[131]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to resist the mass of evidence of this kind which might
+easily be increased indefinitely. The boy gains nothing from this form of
+employment and loses much. He loses the results of his training in the
+elementary school; the habits of obedience, regularity, and industry are
+dead; the bright intelligence is dulled, and with the coming of dulness
+goes the power of learning. He loses his prospects; his future is the
+future of the unskilled labourer&mdash;the unskilled labourer, robbed of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> that
+grit and alertness which alone secure for unskilled labour the adequate
+reward of permanent employment at a steady wage. His loss is the loss of
+the community, which is compelled later to relieve him and his family, and
+perhaps in the end find a home for him in the workhouse. And in thinking
+of this deterioration, and of that hopeless future which that
+deterioration involves, we must never forget that it is not a mere handful
+of lads who suffer in this way, but that half the boys who leave the
+elementary school start on this dreary journey, and, so starting, bid fare
+to reach that dreary end.</p>
+
+<p>Reckoned in money, the State has spent a million and a half on these boys,
+and but little comes back to the State or remains with the boy. If it has
+gone anywhere, and it probably has, then it has gone into the pockets of
+the employers who have sucked out of the boys their value, and then cast
+them aside as worthless refuse, a sort of slag or waste product of their
+works, for which neither they nor anyone else can find a use. In saying
+this there is no desire to censure unfairly the employers. They are
+undoubtedly to blame, because thoughtlessness and ignorance in persons of
+their position are always blameworthy; but there is nothing deliberate in
+their actions, and they are largely unconscious of the harm they are
+doing. There is no active cruelty, and often much rude and ready kindness.
+The boys to them are merely instruments in the machinery of their
+business, for the moment the cheapest instruments that can be found, to be
+used until a new and better supply takes the place of those who are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> used
+up. They are ignorant of the consequences of their conduct, and, as their
+evidence shows, generally imagine that the boys who leave find suitable
+jobs. It is only of late years that numerous investigators and managers of
+boys&#8217; clubs have revealed the grave results of this thoughtlessness.
+Employers who generally enjoy a good reputation as employers are often the
+worst offenders. Indeed, the most flagrant example of this exploitation of
+boy labour is to be found in the Imperial Government and the Municipal
+Service. Mr. Cyril Jackson has in his report devoted much space to the
+telegraph-boys in the service of the Post Office. &#8220;The boys come from very
+good homes, and are often the pick of the family. They are examined
+medically, and bring characters.&#8221;<a name='fna_132' id='fna_132' href='#f_132'><small>[132]</small></a> A mere fraction are absorbed in the
+adult service. &#8220;It appears as if the Post Office is one of the least
+promising occupations into which a boy can enter. The better boys go into
+it, and it is very depressing to see from our returns how very few of the
+very large number discharged at sixteen or seventeen get into as good
+employment as their good social standing and general standard of education
+should have guaranteed for them.&#8221;<a name='fna_133' id='fna_133' href='#f_133'><small>[133]</small></a> &#8220;Everyone of experience seems to
+agree that these telegraph-messengers who are discharged exemplify in a
+very striking way the evils of a parasitic trade.&#8221;<a name='fna_134' id='fna_134' href='#f_134'><small>[134]</small></a> Yet these things
+had been going on for years in a service like that of the Post Office,
+which is subject to much criticism by its employees,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> and yet no attention
+had been called to the evil. Unfortunately, boys have no votes, and do not
+form trade unions. Other Government departments and the Municipal Service
+seem no less ignorant and no less worthy of blame. A short time back the
+Education Committee called the attention of the London County Council to
+the misuse of its boy labour, and now the Council allows its boys, weekly,
+six hours &#8220;off&#8221; during working hours, and provides classes which they are
+compelled to attend. At the same time it has nominated one of its officers
+to look after the interests of these boys, and to guide them into useful
+occupations.</p>
+
+<p>If the public service is thus guilty, we must not be surprised that
+private employers are not conscious of wrongdoing in their use of boys.
+The evil is now revealed; there can be no further excuse for ignorance.
+How to deal adequately with the problem must be left to the consideration
+of the next chapter.</p>
+
+<p>The third division of the unskilled occupations comes under the head
+&#8220;General Labour.&#8221; Some 9 per cent. of the boys as they leave school fall
+into this class. This is a nondescript class not clearly defined in the
+returns. Probably a considerable proportion should be brought into the
+preceding class, but there are evidently a large number who could not be
+disposed of in this way. Boys employed in warehouses, in gardens and
+parks, boys in small places assisting the master in the lighter forms of
+labour, boys accompanying their fathers and joining in his work&mdash;these
+come into this division. The returns are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> not sufficiently explicit to
+yield materials for a critical examination; but one or two conclusions can
+be derived from their examination. It will be seen that 22 per cent. of
+the parents, as compared with 9 per cent. of boys, are recorded as being
+general labourers. There is here no excess of boys; there should not be
+the same difficulty in boys finding openings in the adult service as in
+those occupations where boys can claim a practical monopoly. Boys have
+always taken some part in labouring work, and so passed to the better
+class of unskilled labour. Boys in warehouses, for example, frequently
+find there permanent situations. Further, the proportion of parents to
+sons would indicate the possibility of the two being employed together,
+and the boy thus remaining under the supervision of his father. An
+examination of individual returns justifies this conclusion. On the other
+hand, it is to be remembered that the hours of employment are frequently
+very long, and the work arduous and ill suited to the strength of a
+growing lad, and in no way regulated by legislation. Taken as a whole, it
+is probable that the boys who enter this kind of occupation, though
+without opportunity of continuing their education, are not in as forlorn a
+condition as those in the previous class. But the whole question is
+obscure, and it is difficult, without fuller information, to test the
+nature of their training.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Skilled Occupations.</span>&mdash;The skilled occupations fall into two
+classes&mdash;those where manual skill is required, and those concerned with
+commercial and clerical operations. The former are included under &#8220;Trades
+and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> Industries,&#8221; and the latter under &#8220;Commercial Occupations,&#8221;
+&#8220;Professional Occupations,&#8221; and &#8220;Local Government.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>Trades and Industries.</i>&mdash;From the tables printed on pp. 115-118, it
+will be seen that under this heading there are in Table I., the type of a
+working-class district, 41 per cent. of parents and 19 per cent. of boys;
+in Table II., the type of a suburban district, the figures are 36 and 15
+respectively; in Table III., the type of the small trader of the East End,
+51 and 42; while in Table IV., the type of London as a whole, the
+percentage is in the case of fathers 41, and in the case of boys 22. We
+have now to consider the prospects as regards supervision, training and
+opening which these trades offer to the boys who enter.</p>
+
+<p>Table III., with its percentage of 51 parents and 42 boys engaged in
+trades and industries, presents a pleasing appearance, but the bulk of the
+trades concerned belong to the tailoring and other industries where
+sweating is rife, where the skill required is of a low order, and the
+wages small and often below the level of bare subsistence. The boys learn
+something, are frequently employed with their fathers, and have a more or
+less permanent outlook, though within the horizon of that outlook is
+seldom included the vision of a living wage. They in general do not form
+part of the class which finds its way into the ranks of that miscellaneous
+unskilled labour whose chief characteristic is casual employment.</p>
+
+<p>Ignoring this table, and taking the table for all London,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> we find again
+the great disproportion of boys and parents. There are two ways in which
+the boys may learn. They may become indentured apprentices, or, engaged
+only by the week, though sometimes still termed apprentices, they may
+enter the workshop, and take what chance is afforded them of &#8220;picking up&#8221;
+the mysteries of the trade.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>a</i>) <i>Indentured Apprenticeship.</i>&mdash;Apprenticeship is of little importance
+in London; the system is rapidly becoming obsolete. Whether this is
+desirable is a matter of opinion; that it is a fact cannot be gainsaid.
+All evidence is unanimous in support of this conclusion. In 1906 a special
+committee was appointed by the London County Council to make inquiries
+into the question, and, after careful investigation, reported that &#8220;in
+London the old system of indentured apprenticeship has for many years been
+falling into decay. In the majority of the industries it has almost
+entirely disappeared; in others it is occasionally found existing in a
+haphazard and highly unsatisfactory manner; while in only a few trades can
+it be said to be the commonly recognized way of entering the
+profession.&#8221;<a name='fna_135' id='fna_135' href='#f_135'><small>[135]</small></a> There are in London various charities, with an income of
+about &pound;24,000 a year, which, in accordance with the terms of their trusts,
+might be used for purposes of apprenticeship; &#8220;but not more than a third
+of the income has been devoted to this purpose.&#8221; &#8220;The fact that so small a
+fraction of the income has been devoted to apprenticeship indicates that
+the trustees have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> not found it an easy task to find candidates anxious to
+be indentured to one of the skilled trades.&#8221;<a name='fna_136' id='fna_136' href='#f_136'><small>[136]</small></a> &#8220;The recurring note,&#8221;
+says Mr. Charles Booth, &#8220;throughout the whole of the industrial volumes of
+the present inquiry is that the system of apprenticeship is either dead or
+dying.&#8221;<a name='fna_137' id='fna_137' href='#f_137'><small>[137]</small></a> The numerous letters to the Press, the wealth of speeches on
+the matter, the sundry public meetings presided over by all manner of
+persons, from the Lord Mayor downwards, all voice the same opinion. It is
+needless to labour the question; we may take it as an accepted fact that
+in London indentured apprenticeship is obsolescent, and the system itself
+of negligible value as a factor in the training of youths in the process
+of skilled trades.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>b</i>) <i>Picking up a Trade.</i>&mdash;Here a boy enters a workshop, and takes his
+chance of learning the trade from watching and assisting the men. The
+employer is under no agreement to give him instruction&mdash;least of all, to
+make an all-round craftsman of him. The boy rarely acquires more than a
+certain dexterity in the performance of a single operation; and, however
+proficient he may become in that operation, his general intelligence and
+skill suffer from a narrow and exclusive specialization. The system and
+consequences are dealt with at length in the Report of the London County
+Council already mentioned. The importance of the problem must be the
+justification for a long quotation:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>&#8220;The high wages a lad can earn as an errand-boy ... are more attractive
+than the low wages associated with an industrial training. Earning looms
+larger in his imagination than the laborious and less remunerative
+learning.... Even if, on leaving school, he obtains employment in a
+workshop, his prospects may not be materially improved. As an errand-boy
+running in and out of the workshop, if possessed of aptitude and
+sharpness, he may in a haphazard fashion pick up a smattering of the
+trade. If he is taken into the shop as a learner, he has little chance of
+getting an all-round training. He is frequently out of work, and even when
+employed seldom learns more than a single operation. The Advisory
+Committee of the London County Council Shoreditch Technical Institute<a name='fna_138' id='fna_138' href='#f_138'><small>[138]</small></a>
+recently held an exhaustive inquiry on the subject, and some of the
+conclusions are so germane to the present question that they merit
+quotation. &#8216;It is thus possible,&#8217; they write, &#8216;for a boy to be at one
+branch of a trade for a few months only, and when bad trade intervenes he
+is thrown out of employment, and frequently finds himself at twenty years
+of age without a definite knowledge of any craft whatever, and he swells
+the ranks of the unemployed. We have it on the authority of foremen,
+employers, apprentices, and parents, that very little opportunity exists,
+even in big houses, for a boy to learn his trade thoroughly; indeed, we
+have had students who have been in a workshop as apprentices<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> for three or
+four years who could not make a small drawer, and in many cases who could
+not square up true or make the usual joints; and in the woodworking trade
+their knowledge of drawing when they come to us is practically <i>nil</i>. It
+is a rare thing to find a young workman who can attack any branch of his
+trade successfully. It frequently occurs that, in consequence of extensive
+subdivision of labour and excessive competition, a man or boy is set to do
+one thing&mdash;<i>e.g.</i>, music-stools, overmantels, chair-legs, sideboards&mdash;all
+the time. It is true the man or boy becomes skilled in one direction, but
+correspondingly narrow in a true appreciation of his trade. It is also a
+frequent occurrence that a master who has a job on hand which is slightly
+out of the usual run finds it impossible to put it in the hands of his
+usual staff. Moreover, when work of delicate design and construction has
+to be made from specified drawings, it is extremely difficult to obtain
+men who can proceed with the work on their own responsibility. Not only do
+these remarks apply to the woodcrafts generally, but they apply with equal
+force to such work as upholstery (both stuffing and drapery), to
+metal-work, and to carving. In connection with the latter subject, it is a
+rare thing indeed for carvers to design a carcass in the rough, and then
+to see whether the proposed carved portion is in harmony with the
+whole&mdash;whether the said carving be too much in relief, too flat, too
+expansive, or altogether out of character with the general work. It is
+notorious that good polishers and furniture decorators are exceedingly
+rare, and many a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> high-class manufacturer has his goods spoiled on account
+of bad polish and decorative treatment.&#8217;&#8221;<a name='fna_139' id='fna_139' href='#f_139'><small>[139]</small></a> It must be remembered that
+this last quoted opinion is not the opinion of the amateur, but the
+informed opinion of representative employers.</p>
+
+<p>The woodwork and furniture trades are not peculiar in the characteristic
+of inadequate training. &#8220;We have reason to believe,&#8221; continues the Report,
+&#8220;that if a similar inquiry were made into other trades, the same
+unsatisfactory picture would be disclosed. Either the training is
+one-sided, or there is no training at all. The consequences are
+sufficiently obvious. The skilled trades are, we fear, recruited in the
+main by immigrants outside London. In many trades the Londoner is at a
+discount. Acquainted as he is with but one or two operations of his
+industry, if he loses his situation, it is only with the greatest of
+difficulty that he can find another. Mr. Charles Booth states that &#8216;with
+carpenters and joiners, brick-layers, carriage builders, engineers,
+smiths, and saddlers, the percentages of heads of families born out of
+London range from 51 to 59,&#8217; An inquiry made of the Technical Board of the
+London County Council on the Building Trades in 1858 showed that &#8216;41
+typical firms in various branches of the building trades having 12,000
+employ&eacute;s had only 80 apprentices and 143 learners, instead of 1,600, which
+would have been the normal proportion.&#8217; The same Report mentions that
+&#8216;among the foremen and operatives who have come before us, not one stated
+that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> he was born or trained in London.&#8217; In these trades the better
+positions go inevitably to the country-bred man, with his all-round
+training. In the docks alone does the Londoner hold his own. An inquiry
+there showed that among the dock-labourers proper more than 72 per cent.
+were born in London&mdash;a result not calculated to excite any very solid
+satisfaction. These facts should arouse serious apprehension concerning
+the future of the London-bred citizen. We cannot view with equanimity his
+relegation to lower positions, while the better places are given to
+better-trained immigrants. We are not prepared to admit that the Londoner
+is, on the average, inherently inferior either in intelligence or manual
+dexterity to his country-born neighbour.&#8221;<a name='fna_140' id='fna_140' href='#f_140'><small>[140]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>These quotations indicate clearly the general aspects of the situation.
+They show the small prospects boys enjoy who enter a skilled trade in
+London. Parents are not blind to the condition of affairs, and it is not
+unnatural on their part to allow the boys to go out as errand-boys, where
+at least the immediate earnings are larger and the hope of advancement not
+much more discouraging.</p>
+
+<p>2. <i>Clerical and Commercial Occupations.</i>&mdash;Including under this head
+commercial and professional occupations, and general or local government,
+we find in Table I., the type of a working-class district, 6&#189; per cent.
+of parents and 8 per cent. of boys; in Table II., the type of the suburbs,
+30 per cent. of parents, and 16&#189; per cent. of boys;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> in Table III.,
+typical of the East End, 4 per cent. of parents, and 6 per cent. of boys;
+in Table IV., typical of London as a whole, 13 per cent. of parents, and
+10 per cent. of boys. In the school returns no boy was placed under these
+headings unless he appeared in the column &#8220;Skilled Work.&#8221; In judging of
+these results it must be borne in mind that the better positions fall to
+those who have had at least a secondary education. Nevertheless, clever
+boys, who attend evening schools, have some prospects of advancement. One
+feature in the returns was the large number of boys who were apparently
+employed with their fathers. In many instances boys obtain their positions
+as the result of examination. This is true of several banks, assurance
+companies, railway companies, and is becoming the general practice in the
+Civil and Municipal Service. Many of these examinations are within the
+standard of attainment reached by the cleverer boys in the elementary
+schools. The boys at their place of employment are taught sufficient to
+enable them to do the work allotted them. This is often of a specialized
+character; and without further education they cannot expect to escape from
+the lowest ranks of clerks. If well conducted, they can probably obtain a
+permanent position when manhood is reached, or, at any rate, are not
+discharged because they have become men. Change in the methods of
+business, or failure of the concern, may entail dismissal; and after
+dismissal a new position is not easily obtained. But the lower ranks of
+the clerical profession are ill paid, and the need to present a good
+appearance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> makes serious inroads on the meagre stipend. Unless the boy
+continues his education and means to rise, his outlook is not very
+encouraging. He has, however, the advantage of supervision, of relatively
+short hours, and enjoys the possibilities of attendance at evening
+schools. In spite of what is often said to the contrary, taking things as
+they are, he has the best prospects of those included in the returns. The
+fact that so large a proportion of boys coming from the suburbs is found
+in this class would seem to indicate that the more thoughtful parents
+share this opinion.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">(<i>c</i>) <i>The Passage to Manhood.</i></p>
+
+<p>The tables quoted on pp. 115-118, and founded on school returns, refer
+only to the first occupations of boys as they leave school. It is
+unfortunate that no figures exist which trace year by year the later
+careers of the boys. All persons, however, who have any intimate knowledge
+of the subject agree that the boys repeatedly move in an almost aimless
+fashion from one situation to another.</p>
+
+<p>The census returns indicate in a general way the distribution, among the
+trades and occupations, of persons of various ages. They do not, however,
+give us a yearly survey; and after the age fourteen to fifteen we are
+compelled to rest content with figures which cover periods of five years.
+The following table is taken from a table printed in a Report to the
+Education Committee of the London County Council, made by a special
+committee<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> appointed to deal with the apprenticeship question; it is
+founded on the 1901 census return:<a name='fna_141' id='fna_141' href='#f_141'><small>[141]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">OCCUPATIONS OF BOYS AND MEN.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Percentages.</span></p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="table">
+<tr><td class="btlr" align="center">Class of Occupation.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Age<br />14-15.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Age<br />15-20.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Age<br />20-45.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Age<br />45-65.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="btlr">Trades and industries</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">14&middot;74</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">31&middot;54</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">35&middot;76</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">38&middot;85</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Domestic offices or services</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1&middot;75</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">3&middot;29</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">3&middot;55</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">3&middot;35</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Transport (including messengers, errand-boys, van-boys, etc.)</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">27&middot;65</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">19&middot;49</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">16&middot;04</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">14&middot;19</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Shopkeepers, shop-assistants, and dealers</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">6&middot;03</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">12&middot;52</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">14&middot;51</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">9&middot;23</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Commercial occupations</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">4&middot;61</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">11&middot;50</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">9&middot;55</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">12&middot;40</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">General labour</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1&middot;46</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">5&middot;53</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">8&middot;46</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">7&middot;02</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Professional occupations and their subordinate services</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">0&middot;73</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">2&middot;00</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">4&middot;55</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">5&middot;08</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">General or local government of the country (including telegraph-boys)</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">3&middot;01</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">2&middot;53</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">3&middot;70</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">2&middot;24</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Defence of the country</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">0&middot;15</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1&middot;77</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1&middot;40</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">0&middot;62</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bblr">Without specified occupation or unoccupied (including boys at school)</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">39&middot;87</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">9&middot;8</span>3</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">2&middot;48</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">7&middot;02</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bblr"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Total number analyzed</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">41,889</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">208,921</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">869,466</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">313,949</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>In comparing this table with the tables founded on the school returns, it
+must be borne in mind that this table is not confined to persons who have
+passed through the elementary schools, but refers to all the inhabitants
+of London.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>The most striking feature in the table is the marked difference in the
+distribution of occupations at the age of fourteen to fifteen, and at
+other ages. The third column, which includes persons between the ages of
+twenty and forty-five, covers the period of a man&#8217;s greatest vigour, and
+may be regarded as the normal or stable distribution. Comparing the first
+and the third column, it becomes obvious that the first year, at least,
+after leaving school is a year of uncertainty and aimless wandering. The
+boys have not definitely chosen any particular occupation as their life&#8217;s
+work. How long is spent in this state of unprofitable drifting the census
+returns do not show as the following years are not separated. But the fact
+that the distribution in the second column differs materially from the
+normal distribution of the third column would seem to indicate that this
+period stretches some distance into the years that lie between the ages of
+fifteen and twenty.</p>
+
+<p>In default of this general information, we must fall back on special
+investigations; and here the facts are drawn from too narrow a circle of
+inquiry to be regarded as altogether typical. In his report to the Poor
+Law Commission, Mr. Cyril Jackson gives an instructive table<a name='fna_142' id='fna_142' href='#f_142'><small>[142]</small></a>
+(see <a href="#Page_145">p. 145</a>). It is founded on biographies of boys obtained from boys&#8217; clubs,
+schoolmasters, and managers of schools.</p>
+
+<p>I have omitted the ages that follow, as the number of boys concerned was
+too few to justify any conclusions. The rapid diminution in the number of
+boys when the age of eighteen is reached impairs the value of the last<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>
+two columns. In general, the districts from which the boys are drawn are
+poor; but the fact that the boys come into relation with various
+organizations, and were no doubt assisted by them, should lead us to
+believe that the picture presented errs, if anything, by being too
+favourable. The steady increase in the trades, and the equally steady
+decrease in the number of van-boys, Post Office boys, errand and shop boys
+during the first three years is instructive. Trades, skilled and
+low-skilled, reckoned in percentages, have risen from 39&middot;4 to 50&middot;9, while
+the messenger class has fallen from 40&middot;1 to 23&middot;8. The changes in the
+earlier years are the most significant, and little stability of occupation
+is reached before the age of eighteen. The age of fourteen evidently
+represents the year of greatest indecision and maximum drift.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">PERCENTAGE OF BOYS IN VARIOUS GROUPS OF OCCUPATIONS AT EACH AGE.</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="table">
+<tr><td class="btlr" align="center">Occupations.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Age 14.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Age 15.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Age 16.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Age 17.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Age 18.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Age 19.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="btlr">Skilled trades</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">11&middot;2</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">14&middot;0</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">16&middot;8</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">17&middot;8</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">18&middot;0</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">16&middot;3</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Clerks</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">14&middot;6</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">15&middot;0</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">16&middot;4</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">15&middot;2</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">15&middot;4</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">14&middot;3</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Low-skilled</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">28&middot;2</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">32&middot;8</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">34&middot;1</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">33&middot;9</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">32&middot;5</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">34&middot;1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Carmen</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">0&middot;6</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">0&middot;2</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">0&middot;6</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">2&middot;6</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">4&middot;5</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">5&middot;1</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Van-boys</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">8&middot;2</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">6&middot;6</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">5&middot;2</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">4&middot;9</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">2&middot;8</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1&middot;2</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Post Office</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1&middot;4</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1&middot;4</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">0&middot;2</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">0&middot;2</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">0&middot;3</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1&middot;2</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Errand and shop boys</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">30&middot;5</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">22&middot;0</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">18&middot;4</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">15&middot;0</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">12&middot;6</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">10&middot;3</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">General and casual labour</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">5&middot;3</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">7&middot;0</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">6&middot;7</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">6&middot;9</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">6&middot;4</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">8&middot;7</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Army</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">0&middot;6</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">0&middot;6</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1&middot;1</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">3&middot;6</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">4&middot;0</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">At sea</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">0&middot;2</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">0&middot;4</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">0&middot;8</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1&middot;5</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">2&middot;8</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">3&middot;5</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Emigrants</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">&mdash;</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">0&middot;2</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">0&middot;4</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">0&middot;8</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1&middot;2</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="btlr">Total No. of boys</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">485</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">500</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">474</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">448</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">356</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">252</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bblr">Unemployed</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">1</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">2</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">1</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">13</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">22</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">22</span></td></tr></table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>In other parts of his report Mr. Jackson has endeavoured to follow the
+history of boys who have begun life as errand-boys or as van-boys. &#8220;From
+the forms returned,&#8221; he writes, &#8220;it seems clear that the theory that boys
+can become errand-boys for a year or two, and then enter skilled trades,
+cannot be maintained. Very few boys can pick up skill after a year or two
+of merely errand-boy work.&#8221;<a name='fna_143' id='fna_143' href='#f_143'><small>[143]</small></a> Or again: &#8220;The chart prepared from the
+forms filled in by boys who entered life as errand-boys shows the small
+proportion who find any steady and skilled employment afterwards, and
+those have ceased to be errand-boys very early. The vast majority become
+workers in low-skilled trades or general and casual labourers.&#8221;<a name='fna_144' id='fna_144' href='#f_144'><small>[144]</small></a> Of
+all the &#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations, that of the van-boy appears the most
+deplorable. &#8220;The life of the van-boy is a rough and somewhat lazy one.
+They have long hours, spells of idleness, and considerable opportunities
+of pilfering and drinking.&#8221;<a name='fna_145' id='fna_145' href='#f_145'><small>[145]</small></a> &#8220;The chart shows that it is a very low
+grade of occupation, and that very few boys who begin as van-boys get into
+skilled trades&mdash;a far lower percentage, in fact, than errand-boys.&#8221;<a name='fna_146' id='fna_146' href='#f_146'><small>[146]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>The second point to be noted in the table founded on the census returns is
+the large number&mdash;nearly 40 per cent.&mdash;of boys of the age of fourteen
+returned as without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> specified occupation or unoccupied (including boys at
+school). There are in the elementary schools about 5,000 boys between the
+age of fourteen and fifteen, and probably about the same number in
+secondary schools. Converted into percentages, this 40 per cent. would be
+broken up into 24 per cent. at school and 16 per cent. without specified
+occupation. The last figure is high, and justifies the conclusion, not
+only that the boys of fourteen wander from occupation to occupation, but
+that they also are frequently doing nothing. The habit of shifting from
+situation to situation necessarily involves considerable periods of
+unemployment. Thus early in their career the boys become accustomed to the
+evils of casual labour.</p>
+
+<p>We can arrive at the same conclusion by approaching the problem from a
+somewhat different point of view. If in some trades we discover an excess
+of boys, and in others an excess of men, it is clear that there must be
+shocks and shiftings in the passage from youth to manhood. In London the
+number of lads between the ages of fourteen and twenty is 17&middot;5 per cent.
+of the number of males between the ages of fourteen and sixty-five. If,
+therefore, we find the proportion of lads to total males engaged in any
+trade, reckoned in percentages, differs much from 17&middot;5, either lads must
+at some time pass out of the trade or men come in. On the other hand, in a
+trade where this percentage is approximately 17&middot;5 boys who enter have, at
+any rate, the chance of finding employment as men. In this sense we may
+regard the distribution of lads and men in a trade as normal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> when this
+percentage lies between 15 and 20; less than normal when it drops below
+15; more than normal when it rises above 20. The following table may be
+taken as an example of trades in which considerable numbers of persons are
+engaged:</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="table">
+<tr><td class="btlr" align="center">Trade.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Number in<br />1,000 of Males<br />Aged 14-20.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Number in<br />1,000 of Males<br />Aged 14-65.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Number in<br />Percentage.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="btlr"><span class="smcap">Less than Normal</span>:</td>
+    <td class="btr">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="btr">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="btr">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Building trades</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">13&middot;2</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: -.5em;">144&middot;2</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">9&middot;1</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Skin, leather, etc.</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">2&middot;6</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">8&middot;5</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">14&middot;1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Food, tobacco, drink, and lodging</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">19&middot;9</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: -.5em;">135&middot;2</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">14&middot;8</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">General labour</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">15&middot;0</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: -.5em;">111&middot;1</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">13&middot;5</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">General or local government</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">6&middot;5</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">45&middot;8</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">14&middot;3</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Professional</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">4&middot;8</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">62&middot;2</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">7&middot;8</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr"><span class="smcap">Normal</span>:</td>
+    <td class="br">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="br">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="br">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Domestic services</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">7&middot;8</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">51&middot;7</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">15&middot;1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Commercial occupations</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">25&middot;9</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: -.5em;">131&middot;1</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">19&middot;8</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Metals, machines, etc.</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">14&middot;4</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">92&middot;7</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">15&middot;5</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Precious metals</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">6&middot;6</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">36&middot;5</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">18&middot;2</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Furniture, etc.</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">9&middot;3</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">59&middot;5</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">15&middot;7</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Textile fabrics</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">4&middot;1</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">23&middot;5</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">17&middot;3</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr"><span class="smcap">More than Normal</span>:</td>
+    <td class="br">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="br">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="br">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">National Government (messengers, etc.)</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">3&middot;9</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">13&middot;5</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">29&middot;2</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clerks, office-boys, etc.</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">23&middot;1</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">83&middot;0</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">27&middot;8</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Transport, errand-boys, etc.</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">52&middot;3</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: -.5em;">236&middot;3</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">22&middot;1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bblr"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Printers</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">7&middot;1</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">34&middot;1</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">20&middot;7</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>If we could have taken the period fourteen to eighteen instead of fourteen
+to twenty, these tables would have been even more striking than they are.
+But, even as they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> are, they are sufficient to enforce the lesson that
+between the occupation of the boy and the occupation of the man there is a
+gulf fixed. The one does not lead naturally to the other. When the boy
+becomes a man he does not find provided for him a natural opening; with
+more or less pains, he is driven to force a way in trades for which he has
+received no definite preparation, and in which diligence and good
+character do not afford any guarantee of success.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">(<i>d</i>) <i>Summary.</i></p>
+
+<p>Before proceeding to examine the conditions of boy labour in other parts
+of the country, it will be desirable to summarize the results for London,
+and so to determine how far the essentials of a true apprenticeship system
+are found in that city.</p>
+
+<p><i>Supervision.</i>&mdash;The boy should be under adequate supervision until he
+reaches the age of at least eighteen. In London, so far as the majority
+are concerned, all State supervision ends at fourteen. When the boy goes
+out to work what measure of supervision was previously found in the home
+comes to an end; it is beyond the power of parents to exert any real
+control over the boy. He is his own master, finds his employment for
+himself, and leaves it when he thinks fit. Philanthropic enterprise
+touches a fringe, and a fringe only, of the boys; their growing sense of
+independence resents restraint. The story of the workshop points the same
+moral. Personal relations between boy and employer are seldom possible;
+and where the demand for the services of boys is unlimited<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> and
+unsatisfied, attempts to enforce discipline fail, because, sooner than
+submit, the boy seeks another situation.</p>
+
+<p><i>Training.</i>&mdash;For the unskilled labourer of the future London provides no
+training. The schools do, indeed, turn out in the boys ready made and
+completely finished articles for boy-work and &#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations,
+and three or four years of such employment destroy the most-marked results
+of elementary education. The skilled workman of the future finds in the
+workshop small chance of gaining that all-round training which will make
+of him a man, and not a machine. Technical education for the minority is
+successful, but without power to compel attendance and limit the hours of
+boy-labour it is only the few who can avail themselves of the
+opportunities offered.</p>
+
+<p><i>Opening.</i>&mdash;Boys&#8217; work is separated from man&#8217;s work, and there is no broad
+highway leading from the one to the other. The lad of eighteen is
+compelled to make a new beginning just when new beginnings are most
+difficult. His power of learning is gone from him, and in the unskilled
+labour market alone does he see any prospect of earning immediate wages.
+The State Labour Exchange is an infant which has yet to justify its
+creation.</p>
+
+<p>In London the provision of supervision, of training, of an opening, is
+alike defective, and beyond the age of fourteen for the majority of boys
+can hardly be said to exist at all; and, what is most serious, we are face
+to face with a state of affairs where there is no sign of improvement, and
+where all tendencies indicate for the future<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> an accelerated rate of
+progressive failure. In short, London cannot claim even the beginnings of
+a real apprenticeship system.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">&sect; 2. OTHER TOWNS.</p>
+
+<p>Among the cities London does not stand alone in its conditions of boy
+labour. It may indeed be regarded as the most extreme example of
+urbanization, but it is nothing more; it is a normal type, not an
+exception or monstrous exaggeration. As the capital of the Empire and the
+seat of government, it has its own characteristics, but so likewise has
+every other town. But dominating all these local variations and giving
+uniformity to the conditions of boy labour in our cities, remain the
+common features of the industrial development of to-day. This, at any
+rate, is the unanimous testimony of all those investigators&mdash;and they have
+been many&mdash;who have studied the problem.</p>
+
+<p>I shall not, therefore, make any attempt to apply to other towns the
+detailed method of investigation I have endeavoured to employ in the case
+of London. It will be enough to show that the general conditions are the
+same. What differences exist are differences of degree, and not
+differences of kind.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">(<i>a</i>) <i>The Employment of School-Children.</i></p>
+
+<p>The investigations of the Interdepartmental Committee has proved beyond
+doubt that throughout the country it is common for children, while still
+attending school, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> work long hours for wages. One or two quotations
+will be sufficient to justify this statement. The Report declares &#8220;that,
+as the door has been closed to their employment in factories and workshops
+and during school-hours, there has been a tendency, which many witnesses
+believe to be an increasing one, towards their employment in other
+occupations before morning school, between school-hours, in the evening,
+and on Saturdays and Sundays. Provided they make eight or ten attendances
+every week, they may be employed (with a few exceptions, and these little
+enforced) in the streets, in the fields, in shops, or at home, for the
+longest possible hours, and on the hardest and most irksome work, without
+any limit or regulation.&#8221;<a name='fna_147' id='fna_147' href='#f_147'><small>[147]</small></a> Evidence abounded to show that such
+possibilities of overwork were frequently realized. Examples have already
+been quoted in the case of London, and it is unnecessary here to go over
+the same ground again.</p>
+
+<p>That legislation, as at present enforced, has done little to cure the evil
+of overwork may be seen from the reports of school medical officers. Some
+of these are quoted in the Annual Report for 1909 of the Chief Medical
+Officer of the Board of Education. The school medical officers were not
+asked to report specially on the problem, but their inspection of
+school-children revealed the magnitude of the evil.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;Several school medical officers report on the question of child labour
+during 1909. Dr. Thresh (school medical officer, Essex) places on record
+the serious extent to which children are employed out of school-hours in
+the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> Grays and Tilbury districts, and gives many individual examples. Dr.
+Forbes (school medical officer, Brighton) gives some interesting
+particulars from a statement prepared by the Inspector under the
+Employment of and Cruelty to Children Acts. In this area the head-teachers
+furnish regularly lists of children known by them to be employed out of
+school-hours. Among these children it was found that 39, 25, and 22 per
+cent. were illegally employed during 1907, 1908, and 1909 respectively.
+Dr. Clarke (school medical officer, Walthamstow) found that 19 per cent.
+of the boys examined were employed out of school-hours, of whom 19 per
+cent. worked an average of eleven hours per week; 32 per cent. worked ten
+hours and over on Saturdays; 20 per cent. worked twenty hours or over
+during school-days. A full analysis of all children known to be employed
+out of school-hours at Yeovil is made by Dr. Page (school medical
+officer), who found that 22 per cent. of all children eight years of age
+and upwards were so employed, and of these 40 per cent. worked for twenty
+hours and upwards per week. Dr. Hope (school medical officer of Liverpool)
+produces evidence to show how usefully medical inspection may be linked up
+with the arrangements made to put into force by-laws relating to the
+employment of children. Thus, all cases where there was reason to suppose
+that the by-laws were being infringed were reported to the Sanitary
+Department. These children cases numbered 308 during the year, and a table
+is given showing in what manner they were dealt with. At Leamington, 119
+boys and 30<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> girls were reported by Dr. Burnet as employed in a
+wage-earning capacity either before or after school-hours, and 90 boys and
+11 girls both before and after school-hours. Of these, 63 children were of
+subnormal nutrition, 22 were suffering from an&aelig;mia, 2 from phthisis, 8
+from heart disease, and 25 had enlarged tonsils. Several of these children
+were quite unfit for such employment, and the subject is deserving of a
+thorough investigation with a view to adopting protective measures where
+necessary. At Southport, 131 leaving boys (32&middot;7 per cent.) were found to
+be doing unskilled or casual work, and in Oldham 179 of the children
+inspected were similarly engaged.&#8221;<a name='fna_148' id='fna_148' href='#f_148'><small>[148]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>As in London, so in other parts of the country, school-children work for
+long hours, and no adequate means exist at present to prevent the evil. As
+in London, so in other parts of the country, signs of serious physical
+weakness are the common accompaniments of this employment, and the health
+of the rising generation is injured. As in London, so in other parts of
+the country, the forms of employment in which children are engaged are
+uneducational, and tend to lead children, when school-days are over, into
+the &#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations.</p>
+
+<p>Besides these children, there are about 38,000 &#8220;half-timers.&#8221;<a name='fna_149' id='fna_149' href='#f_149'><small>[149]</small></a> It is
+needless here to dilate on the evils of the half-time system, which allows
+children who have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> reached the age of twelve to spend half the day in the
+factory and workshop. It is condemned by all qualified to pass on it an
+impartial judgment. Its continuance reflects little credit on the humanity
+of those employers and those trade unions who have repeatedly opposed its
+abolition.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">(<i>b</i>) <i>The Entry to a Trade.</i></p>
+
+<p>The survey of conditions of juvenile employment in London made clear
+certain facts. There was the growing demand for boys in what has been
+called &#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations, and the demoralizing effect of such
+work. There was the difficulty of obtaining adequate training for those
+who had entered a skilled trade. There was a general lack of supervision
+in the workshop. And, finally, there was no easy passage from youth to
+manhood. It is impossible to read the Report of the Poor Law Commission
+and the volumes of evidence, or to study the various investigations into
+the conditions of sundry towns, without being convinced that London is in
+no way peculiar. The chief difficulty in approaching the problem lies in
+the selection of the all too numerous witnesses.</p>
+
+<p>The Report of the Poor Law Commission probably provides the best summary
+of the mass of evidence on the subject. Both Reports&mdash;Majority and
+Minority&mdash;alike realize the gravity of the problem, not for London alone,
+but for the whole of the country. &#8220;The problem,&#8221; says the Majority Report,
+&#8220;owes its rise in the main to the enormous growth of cities as
+distributive centres, giving innumerable openings for errand-boys,
+milk-boys, office and shop<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> boys, bookstall-boys, van, lorry, and trace
+boys, street-sellers, etc. In nearly all these occupations the training
+received leads to nothing; and the occupations themselves are, in most
+cases, destructive to healthy development, owing to long hours, long
+periods of standing, walking, or mere waiting, and, morally, are wholly
+demoralizing.&#8221;<a name='fna_150' id='fna_150' href='#f_150'><small>[150]</small></a> Or, again: &#8220;The almost universal experience is that in
+large towns boys, owing to carelessness or selfishness on the part of the
+parents, or their own want of knowledge and thought&mdash;for the parents very
+often have little voice in the matter&mdash;plunge haphazard, immediately on
+leaving school, into occupations in which there is no future, where they
+earn wages sufficiently high to make them independent of parental control
+and disinclined for the lower wages of apprenticeship, and whence, if they
+remain, they are extruded when they grow to manhood.&#8221;<a name='fna_151' id='fna_151' href='#f_151'><small>[151]</small></a> Or, to go to
+the Minority Report: &#8220;There are the rivet-boys in shipyards and boiler
+shops, the &#8216;oil-cans&#8217; in the nut and bolt department, the &#8216;boy-minders&#8217; of
+automatic machines, the &#8216;drawers-off&#8217; of sawmills, and the &#8216;layers-on&#8217; of
+printing works, and scores of other varieties of boys whose occupations
+presently come to an end.&#8221;<a name='fna_152' id='fna_152' href='#f_152'><small>[152]</small></a> Or, again: &#8220;In towns like Glasgow,
+Liverpool, Bristol, Newcastle, the proportions of van-boys, etc., are as
+large as in London.&#8221;<a name='fna_153' id='fna_153' href='#f_153'><small>[153]</small></a> Employers do not always conceal the fact: &#8220;In
+the words of a frank employer, they (the boys) are not taught; they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> are
+made to work continuously at their own little temporary trades.&#8221;<a name='fna_154' id='fna_154' href='#f_154'><small>[154]</small></a> If
+we desire actual figures of those engaged in one class of the
+&#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations&mdash;messengers&mdash;Mr. Jackson tells us that &#8220;under
+fourteen years of age there are no less than 32,536 (23&middot;5 per cent. of
+those occupied under that age), while there are 41,659 aged fourteen, and
+54,592 from fifteen to nineteen years of age inclusive, of which it is
+probable that the bulk are under seventeen years of age.&#8221;<a name='fna_155' id='fna_155' href='#f_155'><small>[155]</small></a> Writing of
+Norwich, the same writer says: &#8220;There seems little doubt that the boy
+labour is used up for industrial purposes, and that they are left less
+capable members of the community, with little prospect of good work when
+they become adults.&#8221;<a name='fna_156' id='fna_156' href='#f_156'><small>[156]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>Apart from the Report of the Poor Law Commission, individual writers of
+wide and varied experience outside London have voiced the same view. &#8220;It
+has never been so easy,&#8221; writes Dr. Sadler, &#8220;as it is in England to-day,
+for a boy of thirteen or fourteen to find some kind of virtually unskilled
+work, involving long hours of deteriorating routine, in which there is
+little mental or moral discipline, but for which are offered wages that
+for the time seem high, and flatter his sense of being independent of
+school discipline and of home restraint.&#8221;<a name='fna_157' id='fna_157' href='#f_157'><small>[157]</small></a> And the same writer
+continues: &#8220;Certain forms of industry, which make large use of boys and
+girls who have recently left the elementary schools, are in part (except
+where the employers make special efforts to meet their <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>responsibility)
+parasitic in character, and get more than they ought, and more than their
+promoters realize that they are getting, of the physical and moral capital
+of the rising generation.&#8221;<a name='fna_158' id='fna_158' href='#f_158'><small>[158]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>The Rev. Spencer J. Gibb, who has devoted special attention to the
+problem, writes: &#8220;The characteristic evils of boy work invade office work
+in a peculiarly subtle and dangerous form. In every city small offices are
+to be found in which the whole of the business, such as it is, is carried
+on by the master himself, who has frequently to be absent from his
+one-roomed office. The office-boy, who constitutes the entire staff, is
+meanwhile left in charge. He has probably nothing to do, and spends his
+time either in vacancy, in mischievous expeditions along the corridor, or
+in reading trash of a bloodthirsty nature.&#8221;<a name='fna_159' id='fna_159' href='#f_159'><small>[159]</small></a> Under such conditions
+supervision and control are negligible factors in the training of the
+workshop. It seems unnecessary to multiply examples; all persons of
+experience lament the increasing employment of boys in &#8220;blind-alley&#8221;
+occupations, and deplore the general lack of supervision.</p>
+
+<p>The question of the skilled trades has received less attention, and there
+is much need of such a careful inquiry in various towns as had been made
+by Mr. Tawney in the case of Glasgow. Writing of the woodwork trades in
+that town, he says: &#8220;There is no regular training system; a boy learns
+incidentally, and is only shifted from one machine to another when the
+shop needs it....<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> One of its employ&eacute;s was the best producer of wooden
+rings in his town, but could not make a wage at turning a table-leg,&#8221; and
+adds that, &#8220;with the exception of a few old men who were trained under the
+apprenticeship system, the foremen are the only men with all-round
+skill.&#8221;<a name='fna_160' id='fna_160' href='#f_160'><small>[160]</small></a> While of the engineering trades he says: &#8220;On entering the
+works the lad who is going to be a fitter goes straight to the fitting
+shop and learns nothing else; a lad who is going to be a turner goes to
+the machine shop and does not learn fitting.&#8221;<a name='fna_161' id='fna_161' href='#f_161'><small>[161]</small></a> Specialization is
+pushed even farther, and lads are kept to a single machine. Drilling,
+milling, slotting, punching, band-sawing, or screwing machines can be used
+after a few days&#8217; training, and this is all the experience a boy gets.
+And, speaking generally of Glasgow firms, Mr. Tawney says: &#8220;Boys are kept,
+as a rule, in their own departments. They are not taught; they are made to
+work.&#8221; These facts were obtained as the result of a careful inquiry among
+100 firms in Glasgow.</p>
+
+<p>Glasgow, then, repeats the story of London; and there is good reason to
+believe that other towns, if submitted to a similar examination, would
+demonstrate the fact of the inadequacy of the workshop training of to-day.
+Apprenticeship, according to numerous witnesses, is everywhere decaying,
+and there is nothing except the technical school rising to take its place;
+and under existing conditions the technical school can touch only a fringe
+of the problem.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center">(<i>c</i>) <i>The Passage to Manhood.</i></p>
+
+<p>The evidence of the last few pages, relating to the increase in the number
+of &#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations and to the inadequate training of the
+workshop, would show that, as in London, so likewise in other towns, there
+is no easy passage from the work of the youth to the work of the man.
+There is a break in the continuity of the service somewhere about the age
+of eighteen. New openings have then to be searched for, and new beginnings
+made, when the habits of learning have disappeared, even if the
+opportunities for it presented themselves.</p>
+
+<p>It would seem superfluous to repeat for other towns the statistical
+evidence in support of this statement which was given in the case of
+London. &#8220;Blind-alley&#8221; occupations and troubled passage to manhood
+necessarily go together. Mr. Tawney&#8217;s researches in Glasgow indicate
+clearly the difficulties of this transition period. A single quotation
+must suffice: &#8220;A district secretary of the Amalgamated Society of
+Engineers says of a world-famous firm which employs several thousand men
+making a particular kind of domestic machine: &#8216;It is a reception home for
+young bakers and grocers. Boys go to it from other occupations to do one
+small part of the machine.... When they leave they are not competent
+engineers, and find it difficult to get work elsewhere.&#8217;&#8221;<a name='fna_162' id='fna_162' href='#f_162'><small>[162]</small></a> Detailed
+figures for the country as a whole in respect of certain trades may be
+found in Mr. Jackson&#8217;s Report on Boy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> Labour. All evidence, from
+wheresoever collected, goes to show the existence of the break between the
+work of the boy and the work of the man.</p>
+
+
+<p><br />It is trusted that sufficient evidence has been produced to prove
+conclusively that the conditions of boy labour in London do not differ
+essentially from the conditions of boy labour in other towns. The evidence
+could have been multiplied indefinitely and, what is most striking, among
+the mass of witnesses forthcoming there is none found to venture a
+contrary opinion. We may take it, then, as a well-established fact that in
+other towns besides London, supervision, training, and the provision of an
+opening are alike gravely and progressively defective. In other words,
+among the urban districts of the country no true apprenticeship system
+exists or is in course of creation.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">&sect; 3. RURAL DISTRICTS.</p>
+
+<p>No comprehensive inquiry has been made into the conditions of boy labour
+in rural districts and small towns. A few studies of individual villages
+exist&mdash;as, for example, &#8220;Life in an English Village,&#8221; by Miss Maude
+Davies&mdash;but these are not sufficiently numerous to justify any general
+conclusions. The return on Children Working for Wages, made to the House
+of Commons in 1899, gives certain statistics. From the returns on pages 21
+and 23 we see that for England and Wales some 5&middot;2 per cent. of children
+above Standard I. were working for wages.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> The percentage for boys alone
+would be 8&middot;5 per cent., or for boys eleven years and upwards about 17 per
+cent., compared with 24 per cent. for London alone. These figures would
+seem to show that, while common, work among school-children over the
+country as a whole does not quite reach the London level. So far as can be
+gathered from the returns, it is in towns that the employment of
+school-children is most frequent, though in rural districts it is frequent
+enough to constitute a grave evil.</p>
+
+<p>The same return gives the occupation of children as they leave school. On
+page 163 is the summary.</p>
+
+<p>The table is incomplete: &#8220;In London the proportion of children is no less
+than 94 per cent.; in the group of large urban districts, 72 per cent.;
+while in the rest of England and Wales, including the rural districts and
+small towns, the percentage sinks to 47.&#8221;<a name='fna_163' id='fna_163' href='#f_163'><small>[163]</small></a> Without a careful analysis,
+such as only local knowledge could supply, it would be dangerous to give
+much weight to the return. It does, however, appear from the summary that
+&#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations bear a close relation to urbanization, and that
+the two increase together. Or looking at the question from another point
+of view, a boy in rural districts enjoys greater opportunities of
+continuity of employment in the passage from youth to manhood than he does
+in the towns.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p>
+<div class="note"><p class="hang">OCCUPATIONS OF BOYS ON LEAVING SCHOOL IN (1) LONDON, (2) LARGE URBAN AND
+MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS, AND (3) RURAL AND SMALL URBAN DISTRICTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.<a name='fna_164' id='fna_164' href='#f_164'><small>[164]</small></a></p></div>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="table">
+<tr><td class="btlr" align="center">Occupation.</td>
+    <td colspan="2" class="btr" align="center">London.</td>
+    <td colspan="2" class="btr" align="center">Large Urban and<br />Manufacturing<br />Districts.</td>
+    <td colspan="2" class="btr" align="center">Rural and<br />Small Urban<br />Districts.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="btlr">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">No.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">%</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">No.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">%</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">No.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">%</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Agriculture</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">101</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">&mdash;</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">730</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">2</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">17,950</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">26</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Building</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">787</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">3</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1,973</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">4</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">3,744</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">5</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Woodworking</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">905</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">4</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">591</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">1</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">661</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">1</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Metal, engineering, and shipbuilding</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">949</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">4</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">4,090</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">8</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">3,119</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">4</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Mining and quarrying</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">&mdash;</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">&mdash;</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1,584</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">3</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">6,510</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">9</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Textile</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">49</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">&mdash;</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">6,046</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">13</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">5,522</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">8</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Clothing</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">665</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">3</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1,634</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">3</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1,612</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">2</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Printing and allied trades</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1,121</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">4</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">868</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">2</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">680</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">1</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Clerical</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">2,060</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">8</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">5,666</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">12</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">2,727</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">4</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">In shops</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">3,584</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">14</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">6,084</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">13</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">7,045</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">10</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Errand, cart, boat, etc., boy</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">10,283</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">40</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center">10,496</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">22</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">9,917</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">14</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Newsboy and street vendor</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">964</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">4</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1,472</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">3</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1,223</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">2</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Teaching</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">120</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">&mdash;</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">430</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">1</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">557</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">1</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Domestic service</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">301</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">1</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">173</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">&mdash;</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1,090</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">2</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="blr">Miscellaneous and indefinite</td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">2,256</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">9</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">4,159</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">9</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">4,817</span></td>
+    <td class="br" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">7</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="btlr"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Total occupied</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">24,145</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">94</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">45,996</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">96</span></td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">67,174</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">96</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bblr">No reported occupation</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">1,623</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">6</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">2,097</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">4</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">2,765</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">4</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bblr"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Grand total</span></td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">25,768</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">100</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">48,093</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">100</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">69,939</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">100</td></tr></table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>There is good reason to believe that the prospects of an all-round
+training are more favourable in a village than in a town. The fact,
+already mentioned, that immigrants from rural districts obtain the better
+positions in London trades, especially in the building trades, would seem
+to justify this conclusion. There is also the general consideration that
+rural districts are always nearly a century behind the industrial
+development of the towns, and represent therefore an older condition of
+affairs. Workshops are smaller, the gulf between man and employer less
+impassable, and the old paternal relation between boy and master more
+possible of attainment. We may therefore assume, without much risk of
+error, that training is better in rural districts than in towns.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, while it is true that in industrial progress the
+villages lag behind the towns, they still follow them, though at an
+interval. Machine-made goods, especially in the woodwork trades, are in
+villages replacing the hand-made goods, and the demand for manual
+dexterity is to this extent decreasing. It would also seem to be true that
+the old indentured apprenticeship is falling into disuse. In the Wiltshire
+village of Corsley, for example, while apprenticeship occupied a prominent
+position in the past, in the story of to-day it passes almost without
+mention. In Miss Davies&#8217;s<a name='fna_165' id='fna_165' href='#f_165'><small>[165]</small></a> study of the occupations of the inhabitants
+of that village, only one apprentice is mentioned. It is also a fact that
+those who are concerned with the administration of local charities<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> for
+apprenticeship are finding increasing difficulty in discovering masters
+who are willing to take boys as indentured apprentices, even for a
+premium, and boys who are desirous of being indentured.</p>
+
+<p>We may, perhaps, therefore assume that, while the conditions of boy labour
+are more favourable in rural districts than they are in towns, the old
+machinery of training is falling into disuse, and no adequate substitute
+is taking its place.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">V.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Break-up of Apprenticeship.</span></p>
+
+<p>The survey of the elements that make up the apprenticeship of to-day is
+now complete. Each of the factors which contribute to the result&mdash;the
+State, Philanthropy, the Home, the Workshop&mdash;has been examined, and their
+influence appraised. It is therefore possible to pass judgment on the
+system, and, by realizing the present situation in all its relations, to
+understand clearly the nature and the extent of the problems which call
+for solution in the immediate future.</p>
+
+<p>The period of apprenticeship has been shown to divide itself naturally
+into two parts. There are the years during which the boy is at school,
+ending somewhere about the age of fourteen. For the right use of these
+years we have seen that the State is beginning to accept full
+responsibility. Whether we have been concerned with the conduct, the
+physical welfare, or the training of the child,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> we have found collective
+enterprise assuming new duties, and carrying them out with a growing
+enthusiasm. Nor can we have remained blind to the large measure of success
+achieved. If defects here and there mar the result, they are clearly the
+defects that belong to all experiments in the early stages, and are
+obviously not the ineradicable faults of a worn-out system. In short, so
+far as regards the earlier years of the apprenticeship of to-day, there is
+no cause for despondency. Progress is the distinguishing characteristic of
+this first period; the boy is the centre of influences increasing in
+number, and deliberately planned to promote his well-being. One
+disquieting phenomenon that calls for attention is the large mass of
+school-children working long hours. Health is undermined, the effect of
+education impaired; while the occupations, essentially of the
+&#8220;blind-alley&#8221; type, encourage an unfortunate taste for this form of
+employment. Further, the various local authorities, especially in rural
+districts, have been very lax in using the powers conferred by the
+Employment of Children Act.</p>
+
+<p>The second stage of apprenticeship covers the years between the ages of
+fourteen and eighteen. In our survey of this period we have been unable to
+find much cause for satisfaction. The State no longer recognizes its
+responsibility for the well-being of all its youth; it is content to offer
+opportunities of training to those who are able and willing to avail
+themselves of these advantages, and these last form only a small minority
+of the whole. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> success of evening schools, technical institutes, and
+other places of higher education, so far as concerns those who come within
+that sphere of influence, only adds to our regret that that sphere of
+influence is so narrowly restricted. The majority, at least two-thirds, of
+the boys pass out of the control of the State, and for the completion of
+their apprenticeship we must look in other directions. Our search in these
+other directions has met with little reward; we have found everywhere
+failure, and, what is worse, failure that is rapidly progressive. Nowhere
+on a large scale can we discover provision made for the supervision and
+training of juveniles; from all sides we receive a tumult of complaint
+that things have gone astray. Philanthropic enterprise, whether
+represented by the religious bodies or lads&#8217; clubs, laments the lack of
+control over the boys, and frankly confesses its inability to deal
+satisfactorily with more than a small minority. The testimony of the home
+is the same; parents complain of the growing independence of their
+children, and to a large extent have ceased to attempt to exert any
+restraint over the conduct of their sons. Under the stress of modern
+industrial conditions and accentuated urbanization, the old patriarchal
+system of the family has broken down; the home represents an association
+of equals, in which, perhaps, the young can claim a predominant influence.</p>
+
+<p>When we pass to the workshop, in the hope of reaching law and order and
+constructive thought, it is only to be confronted with the most signal
+example of an organization<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> which defies every principle of a true
+apprenticeship system. That the boy of to-day is the workman of to-morrow
+is a thought that suggests itself to only a few of the most enlightened
+employers. To the many he is merely a cheap instrument of production to be
+used up, and then scrapped as waste machinery. He is kept at &#8220;his own
+little temporary task&#8221;; and, to make things worse, he is in so much demand
+that discipline cannot keep him very steadily even to this, or his
+services will be withdrawn. With the separation of man&#8217;s work from boy&#8217;s
+work there is no easy passage from youth to manhood. With the minute
+subdivision of operations, there is small chance of a lad in a skilled
+trade becoming a master of his craft.</p>
+
+<p>Apart from the small amount of medical inspection required by the Factory
+and Workshop Act, no attempt is made to insure that the growing lad is
+physically fit for the work in which he is engaged. His health is the
+concern of no one till its breakdown brings him under the Poor Law or
+thrusts him into the ranks of the unemployable. Undisciplined, with health
+and training neglected, the lad of eighteen tends to find himself more and
+more left without prospects, and a person for whom no one in particular
+has any particular use. In short, our survey of the problem of the
+apprenticeship of to-day shows conclusively that we have, in the true
+sense of the word, no apprenticeship system. The old apprenticeship system
+has broken up, and there is nothing come to take its place.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>It would be incredible if serious consequences did not accompany this
+complete break-up of the apprenticeship system; and it needs but little
+search to discover evils of far-reaching significance. There is first the
+evil of an uncontrolled youth. A child at the age of fourteen is not
+fitted to enjoy the independence of an adult. This statement is a truism,
+but there is tragedy in the fact that society of to-day confers, as we
+have seen, this irresponsible freedom, in a more or less unqualified form,
+on the majority of boys when they leave the elementary schools. In the
+hooligan of the streets or in the youthful criminal we have the most
+striking example of the fruits of an undisciplined boy. The report of the
+Commissioners of Prisons for the year ending March 31, 1908, makes this
+clear. Writing of the Borstal Association, they say: &#8220;In this admirable
+report&#8221; (the report, that is, of the Borstal Association), &#8220;which should
+be studied by all who are interested in the causes of crime, after
+specifying many circumstances which induce the criminal habit, they refer
+in particular to the absence of any system of control or organization for
+the employment of the young, as one of the principal causes of
+wrong-doing. &#8216;When a boy leaves school the hands of organization and
+compulsion are lifted from his shoulders. If he is the son of very poor
+parents, his father has no influence, nor, indeed, a spare hour, to find
+work for him; he must find it for himself; generally he does find a job,
+and if it does not land him into a dead alley at eighteen he is fortunate,
+or he drifts, and the tidy scholar becomes a ragged and defiant corner
+loafer. Over 80<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> per cent. of our charges admit that they were not at work
+when they got into trouble,&#8217;&#8221;<a name='fna_166' id='fna_166' href='#f_166'><small>[166]</small></a> The Poor Law Commission calls attention
+to the evil effects of certain forms of employment which the boys choose
+because of the freedom they give.&#8220;&#8216;Street-selling, for example,&#8217; says the
+Chief Constable of Sheffield, &#8216;makes the boys thieves.&#8217; &#8216;News-boys and
+street-sellers,&#8217; says Mr. Cyril Jackson, &#8216;are practically all gamblers.&#8217;
+&#8216;Of 1,454 youths between fourteen and twenty-one charged in Glasgow during
+1906 with theft and other offences inferring dishonesty, 1,208, or 83&middot;7
+per cent., came from the class of messengers, street-traders, etc.,&#8217; says
+Mr. Tawney.&#8221;<a name='fna_167' id='fna_167' href='#f_167'><small>[167]</small></a> And it would be easy to multiply indefinitely examples
+of this kind. It must not, of course, be assumed that all boys become
+hooligans or criminals, but all do suffer from the want of control and the
+need of a more disciplined life. Hooliganism is merely an extreme type of
+a disease which in a milder form fastens upon the boys who are allowed
+unrestrained liberty. The disease is the disease of restlessness&mdash;the
+restlessness of the town, the dislike of regularity, the joy in change for
+change&#8217;s sake, and the habit of roving from place to place.</p>
+
+<p>This disease, with the lack of proper technical training, leads on to
+unemployment when the age of manhood is reached. Unemployment is not the
+fate of the old only; it is becoming common among the young. &#8220;The
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>percentage of men under thirty years of age qualified for assistance
+under the Unemployed Workmen Act, 1905, was:<a name='fna_168' id='fna_168' href='#f_168'><small>[168]</small></a></p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="table">
+<tr><td class="btlr">&nbsp;</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Up to March 31, 1906.</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">Twelve Months ending<br />March 31, 1907.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="btlr">London</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">23&middot;9</td>
+    <td class="btr" align="center">27&middot;4</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bblr">Whole of England</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">27&middot;3</td>
+    <td class="bbr" align="center">30&middot;2&#8221;</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>&#8220;It has become clear,&#8221; says a manager of boys&#8217; clubs with a very wide
+experience, &#8220;to all students of the labour problem that a wrong choice of
+their first work&mdash;or, rather, no choice at all, but a drift into it&mdash;is
+responsible for the presence of considerable numbers of young men amongst
+the unemployed.&#8221;<a name='fna_169' id='fna_169' href='#f_169'><small>[169]</small></a> The Reports of the Poor Law Commission, Majority and
+Minority alike, repeatedly voice the same opinion. &#8220;The great prominence
+given to boy labour, not only in our evidence, but in the various reports
+of our special investigators, leads us to the opinion that this is perhaps
+the most serious of the phenomena which we have encountered in our study
+of unemployment. The difficulty of getting boys absorbed, through gradual
+and systematic training, in the skilled trades is great enough; but when
+to this are added the temptations, outside the organized industries, to
+enter at an early age into occupations which are not themselves skilled
+and give no opportunity for acquiring skill, it seems clear that we are
+faced by a far greater problem than that of finding employment for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> adults
+who have fallen behind in the race for efficiency&mdash;namely, that the growth
+of large cities has brought with it an enormous increase in occupations
+that are making directly for unemployment in the future.&#8221;<a name='fna_170' id='fna_170' href='#f_170'><small>[170]</small></a> The
+Minority Report is equally emphatic. &#8220;There is no subject,&#8221; it says, &#8220;as
+to which we have received so much and such conclusive evidence as upon the
+extent to which thousands of boys, from lack of any sort of training for
+industrial occupations, grow up, almost inevitably, so as to become
+chronically unemployed or under-employed, and presently to recruit the
+ranks of the unemployable. In Glasgow nearly 20 per cent. of the labourers
+in distress are under twenty-five, and one-half of them are under
+thirty-five.&#8221;<a name='fna_171' id='fna_171' href='#f_171'><small>[171]</small></a> Or again: &#8220;It has been demonstrated beyond dispute that
+one of the features of the manner in which we have chosen to let the
+nation&#8217;s industry be organized is that an increasing number of boys are
+employed in occupations which are either uneducative (in the sense of
+producing no increase of efficiency and intelligence) or unpromising (in
+the sense of leading to no permanent occupation during adult life);
+secondly, that there is a constant tendency for certain industrial
+functions to be transferred from men to boys, especially when changes in
+the processes of manufacture or in the organization of industry are taking
+place rapidly. The resulting difficulty is the double one of the
+over-employment of boys and the under-employment of men.&#8221;<a name='fna_172' id='fna_172' href='#f_172'><small>[172]</small></a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>It is hoped that the present chapter may have made clear the various steps
+in this unfortunate process of industrial development. First, we have the
+qualities which are the result of the school training&mdash;qualities of
+regularity, obedience, and intelligence&mdash;qualities required, indeed, in
+all forms of work, but supplying a complete technical outfit alone for the
+&#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations. The boys leave school, having had expended on
+them in each case a capital sum of public money of about one hundred
+pounds. They are valuable assets, and employers have discovered the fact,
+and adjusted their methods of production or distribution to make full use
+of this new and valuable supply. High wages attract the boy, who makes his
+own choice, and earning is regarded as more attractive than the laborious
+and less remunerative learning.</p>
+
+<p>This leads on to the second stage, the &#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupation or the
+skilled trade where there is no real training. Four years of this kind of
+work dissipate the effects of elementary education. Too often weakened
+physically by long hours of employment, demoralized by the life of freedom
+and the fatal facility in obtaining a second job when fancy has made him
+throw up the first, robbed by disuse of the power to learn even if the
+inclination were present, he is, at the age of eighteen, a distinctly less
+valuable asset in the labour market than he was four years before. The
+hundred pounds investment of public money intended for life has been
+squandered in youth; the employer has possessed himself of it; and when
+the boy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> asks the wages of a man, he is informed that his services are no
+longer wanted, and told to transfer them elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>Then comes the final stage of degeneration&mdash;unemployment or
+under-employment. The habit, acquired through four years of constant
+practice, of throwing up a job on the smallest pretext, remains with the
+lad of eighteen, but the facility of finding another is no longer his. The
+intensity of the demand for men varies almost inversely with the intensity
+of the demand for boys; the two are competitors in the same labour market,
+and of the two the boy is the cheaper and the more efficient instrument of
+production. Further, habits of boyhood have too often bred a liking for
+casual employment, with its frequent holidays. Here, also, the employers
+are willing to oblige him; they find it convenient to have at their beck
+and call a reserve of labour which can be drawn upon when business is
+brisk, and discharged in times of slackness. Finally, if he desires
+regular employment, it is none too easy to discover a suitable opening.
+The sphere of his usefulness is small; he has for sale a certain amount of
+animal strength, none too well developed, but has little else to offer. He
+can push and he can pull indifferently well, but in the world of industry
+there is not, as is supposed sometimes, an unlimited demand for pulling
+and pushing. And all the time he is faced with the fact that recruits to
+the army of pushing and pulling are coming from all sides. Men skilled in
+the performance of a single operation, and robbed of their well-paid
+employment by a new invention; men from decaying trades<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> and incapable
+through lack of training of adapting themselves to fresh conditions; men a
+little past the vigour of manhood; men discharged for misconduct; men who
+have lost their work through the bankruptcy of a company or the death of a
+master&mdash;all alike, when everything fails them, turn in desperation to
+pulling and pushing; and meanwhile machines of novel design decrease year
+by year the demand for pulling and pushing.</p>
+
+<p>All these effects, with innumerable variations, are the result of a wrong
+start, and of the neglect during the years that lie between the ages of
+fourteen and eighteen. Want of supervision, want of technical training,
+want of an opening for which special preparation has been given&mdash;these are
+the three great and characteristic evils of the present industrial
+situation. Taken together, they are a negation of all apprenticeship in
+the true sense of the word. During the course of the last few years we
+have at least learned to know the cause of our suffering, and to know the
+cause is at least the first step in the path of prevention. And, further,
+we have begun to see rising from the ruins of the old stabilities of life
+and the ancient order of industrial organization an edifice&mdash;small,
+indeed, at the moment, but bearing the mark of constructive thought,
+because reared by the growing power of collective enterprise; and, knowing
+this, we can turn in a spirit of hope to the task of creating a new
+apprenticeship system.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+<p class="title">THE NEW APPRENTICESHIP</p>
+
+<p>In the present chapter we must endeavour to find some remedy for the evils
+disclosed in the preceding pages. The old apprenticeship system has broken
+up, and there is nothing come to take its place. In consequence, the youth
+of the country is to a large and growing extent passing through the years
+of adolescence without supervision, without technical training, without
+prospects of an opening when manhood is reached. These are defects in the
+industrial organization so obvious that they are now attracting general
+attention, so grave that there is need of immediate and comprehensive
+measures of reform.</p>
+
+<p>In what direction is the remedy to be looked for? From what quarter may we
+expect the new apprenticeship to come? The survey of the conditions of boy
+labour, contained in an earlier portion of this volume, has disclosed two
+forces at work in the training of the youth of the country. The one force
+is destructive in its action; the other constructive. Reform obviously
+lies in the repression of the former and in the encouragement of the
+latter; there is no other alternative.</p>
+
+<p>The force of destruction has been found throughout<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> associated with the
+characteristic phenomena of the industrial revolution. The accentuated
+spirit of competition, the increasing use of capital and machinery, with
+the consequential development of large undertakings, and the rapid changes
+in methods of production to meet new demands or to make use of new
+inventions, have all alike been hostile to the well-being of the boy. The
+system, created by what may be called the natural growth of modern
+business organization, has been a system which has, in one form or
+another, continually attempted to exploit child labour. Under this system
+children, in days gone by, were driven to the mine and to the factory, or
+herded in gangs in the fields and barns of the farm, and even at the
+present time are allowed to perform tasks far beyond their strength. Under
+this system we have watched the slow and continuous decay of indentured
+apprenticeship, the steady decrease of facilities for obtaining an
+all-round training in the workshop, and the ever-broadening gulf
+separating youth from manhood in the sphere of industry. As a result of
+this system we have seen the hand of control lifted from the shoulder of
+youth, and have noted lads, under the wayward guidance of an irresponsible
+freedom, drifting into the path of crime and disorder. We are driven to
+believe that it is the young who swell the armies of unemployment, and
+have realized with sudden dismay that, young though they are, they are yet
+too old to break the set habits of an unfortunate past. And we are
+beginning to perceive clearly that these phenomena, of ill omen, are not a
+mere accident,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> but an integral part of the industrial organization; and
+to understand that, in spite of numerous superficial changes, the system,
+born of the revolution of a hundred years ago, has not altered in
+essentials, and now, as then, threatens with destruction the youth of the
+land.</p>
+
+<p>That system has never enjoyed full freedom of development, but the limits
+set on its power for evil have not come from within; they have come from
+without, and been imposed on the employers by the legislative action of
+the State. It is the State which has throughout the period supplied the
+second or regulative and constructive force in the training of the youth
+of the country. It has forbidden the employment of boys in some
+occupations, and in others limited the hours of employment. Acting without
+any clearly defined plan, but striking at the evils, which gusts of
+popular opinion denounced and refused to tolerate, it has yet made
+impossible the worst abuses of child labour. It has, however, long since
+passed beyond the realm of mere veto, and has these many years entered the
+sphere of constructive reform. The scheme of compulsory education, the
+provision of opportunities for technical instruction, and the powers,
+recently conferred on local education authorities, to attend to the
+physical condition of school-children, are all signal examples of the
+beneficent influence of the second force.</p>
+
+<p>We are left, then, with these two forces&mdash;the force of destruction and the
+force of construction; and the fate of the youth turns on the issue of the
+struggle between the two. They are not, indeed, the only forces concerned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>
+in the problem of boy labour, but, compared with their influence, all
+others sink into insignificance. The State and the industrial system both
+possess the characteristic of universality, and no other organization can
+make the same claim. Philanthropic and religious associations have always
+been found to protest against the abuses of child labour, but their
+protest only became generally effective when the State gave to it the
+force of law. Philanthropic and religious associations have been pioneers
+in the field of education, but the advantages were offered to all only
+when the State stepped in and assumed the responsibility. Individual
+employers have always been found to offer to their lads humane conditions
+of work and full opportunities of training, but these remained the
+privileges of a few, and it was only through State interference that the
+many obtained their share. As pointing the way to reform, these other
+agencies have been, and are, of priceless value to the community, but as
+themselves the instrument they have invariably proved a failure. We are
+left, then, with two forces which alone need to be taken into account&mdash;the
+industrial organization and the State. For the creation of the new
+apprenticeship system either the industrial organization must reform
+itself, or the State must reform the industrial organization: there is no
+third alternative.</p>
+
+<p>Let us begin with the first alternative, and ask ourselves whether there
+is any reasonable hope of reform from within the industrial organization.
+The experience of the past is uniformly hostile to any such expectation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>
+In the history of the last hundred years there is no single exception to
+the rule that all general improvements in the conditions of boy labour
+have come from without, and not been carried out from within. The
+experience of the present repeats in an even more emphatic way the
+experience of the past. It is impossible to point to one single example of
+an industrial reform now in course of development, and affecting on a
+large and beneficent scale the prospects or the training of the boy. It
+would be easy to cite a hundred instances of the contrary process. The
+whole of the last chapter is nothing but a detailed summary of the
+progressive defects of the industrial system, and its attempts to exploit
+in its own interests the value of boy labour. We saw how, by the
+multiplication of &#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations, the industrial system
+contrived to lay hold on and use up most of the products of an improved
+elementary education initiated by the State. Past and present experience
+are in accord; we cannot look for reform from within.</p>
+
+<p>It is necessary to guard against a possible misinterpretation. There is no
+thought here of blaming the employer. The fight lies not between boy and
+employer, but between the force of the State and the force of competition,
+using the last word to denote the most marked characteristic of the
+industrial revolution. The employer is in general as much a victim of the
+process as the boy. He cannot be justly blamed for what he cannot be
+fairly expected to prevent. The exigencies of competition drive him to
+select the cheapest methods of production at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> moment. If these methods
+involve the exploitation of the boy, it is unfortunate for the boy, but
+the employer has no other alternative. To produce as cheaply as his
+neighbours is the one condition of success; more remote considerations
+cannot enter into a business undertaking. Those well-intentioned persons,
+with a smattering of ill-digested science and a system of economics far
+removed from all practical realities, who talk amiably of the interests of
+employers and their boys, as future workmen, being identical, confuse the
+good of the present generation with the good of the generation that comes
+after. It is undoubtedly a fact that any system which injures the workers
+will in the long-run injure the trade of the country, but this is true
+only in the long-run, and the run is often very long. Now, survival in
+business is determined in the immediate future. The heavy charges on fixed
+capital, the interest on outstanding loans, the weekly wages bill, and the
+long tale of daily outgoings, make it impossible for the employer to
+follow proper methods of training in the hope that the new generation of
+workers will, by their added efficiency, recoup him for his expenditure.
+To last till that time he must live through the interval, must obtain that
+contract to-day, this order to-morrow, and must get it at a profit&mdash;in
+other words, he must choose the cheapest method of production here and
+now; there and next year will be too late. It will be no inducement to him
+to reflect that his methods would in the long-run prove the best, if he
+knows that he cannot stay the course. Competition is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> of to-day; it takes
+no account of the happenings of to-morrow. Those who in the struggle
+cannot survive this year will not live to reap the harvest of future
+years. Agreement among employers on such questions has been found
+impossible; the temptation to win by evasion an illicit success proves too
+strong for the majority. Those who pursue the better methods disappear;
+those who pursue the worse survive to propagate their kind. There is valid
+in the world of business a law somewhat analogous to Gresham&#8217;s law in
+matters of currency; the bad pushes out and replaces the good. There is a
+real struggle between the interests of one generation and the next. The
+employer must concern himself with the things of his own day; it is for
+the State, whose life is ageless, to guard the welfare of those who are to
+come. By insisting on the methods that are good in the long-run, by
+forbidding those which are good only in the immediate present, it places
+all employers on the same level, and enables the best of them to do what
+was before impossible. It does not thereby interfere with competition; it
+merely changes the direction of competition by guiding it into less
+injurious channels. But the secret of success, as demonstrated by the
+experience of more than a century, must be sought in the enactment of
+general regulations, which will apply to all employers, and not be looked
+for in what is sometimes termed the spirit of growing enlightenment.
+Unless it can be shown that the immediate interest of the employer is one
+with the proposed reform, nothing really effective can be done by moral
+suasion;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> while, if the two are in accord, moral suasion is superfluous.
+It can hardly be supposed that the contemplative outsider should know the
+business of the employers better than they do themselves. The mere fact of
+calling to our aid the power of moral suasion should be enough to show
+that enlightened self-interest will not suffice; we do not appeal to a
+man&#8217;s conscience when we can appeal to his pocket. If, then, reform and
+the immediate interest are not in accord, consent on the part of one
+employer means risk of failure in a world where salvation depends on very
+small margins of profit.</p>
+
+<p>It is, therefore, for the most part labour lost to devote time to the
+consideration of reforms which do not rest on the basis of legal
+obligation, and we might at once turn to considerations of State control
+and State enterprise if it were not for the fact that in the minds of many
+there still remains a hope of the coming of salvation from another
+direction. They advocate the revival of the old indentured apprenticeship
+system, and believe that they have only to explain the situation
+adequately to the employer for him to realize that his interests lie in
+its revival. This belief assumes, as already mentioned, that the outsider
+knows the business of the employer better than he does himself&mdash;a
+tolerably large assumption. We might drop the matter with this criticism,
+but a re-examination of the old apprenticeship system, in the light of the
+industrial revolution and of the proposals for its revival, will help us
+on our journey towards the goal of the new apprenticeship. Such
+examination will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> show, first, the conditions which a true apprenticeship
+must fulfil; and, secondly, that those who hark back upon the past for
+their ideals of reform are conscious that the past must change its dress
+before it can hope to commend itself to the critical taste of the present.</p>
+
+<p>Now, in its best form, as was shown in the second chapter of this book,
+the old apprenticeship system was a success. It did afford means of
+adequate supervision over the youth of the country; it did supply them
+with technical training; and it did provide an opening in an occupation
+for which special preparation had been made. But a closer examination of
+the problem showed that success depended on the satisfaction of three
+conditions: First, it was essential for the apprentice to live with his
+master, or at any rate that the relations between the two should be of a
+paternal character; the second essential was the universality of the small
+workshop, with the facilities it gave for an all-round training; and,
+thirdly, an essential part of the system was the existence of the gild,
+which represented masters and men alike, and in the interests of all
+inspected and controlled the methods of the workshop. With the dissolution
+of the gilds we saw the first weakening of the apprenticeship system.
+There was now no authority guarding the interests of the trade as a whole;
+compulsory apprenticeship was often used as a means of supplying the
+employer with cheap and enforced labour, for whose future he had no
+responsibility. With the advent of the industrial revolution<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> we watched
+the steady disappearance of the small workshop. Training became difficult,
+and often impossible. With both masters and men formal apprenticeship lost
+favour, and the system entered on its second stage of decay. With the
+multiplication of &#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations, with the growing cleavage
+between man&#8217;s work and boy&#8217;s work, and with division of labour pushed to
+its utmost extreme, came, as has been proved, the break-up of the
+apprenticeship system.</p>
+
+<p>Now, there is nothing in the signs of the times to herald the approach of
+a new industrial revolution and a return to the old order of the Middle
+Ages. Machines and machine methods have come to stay, and must stay if the
+varied needs of the huge populations of to-day are to be satisfied. The
+more serious advocates of the revival of indentured apprenticeship admit
+this fact, and fully realize that modifications of the system are
+necessary. They suggest that committees of volunteers should assume
+certain of the functions of the gild; they should exercise a kindly
+supervision over the boy in his home, and take steps to insure that the
+conditions of the indenture are observed by the employer. Secondly, they
+propose that the one-sided training of the workshop should be supplemented
+by technical classes provided by the education authority and supervised by
+an advisory committee of representatives of the trade. Finally, they urge
+that these proposals, so far from being visionary, have actually been
+realized in practice with complete success.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> Why may not we look for a
+general extension of these methods?</p>
+
+<p>The answer is tolerably obvious. The experiments have undoubtedly been
+successful. They have shown the steadying influence exerted over the boy
+by an indenture; they have shown the advantages that come from friendly
+visiting at the home or the workshop; they have shown the value of
+technical classes and trade schools supervised by representatives of the
+trade. But what they have not shown is that the experiment, while resting
+on a purely voluntary basis, admits of indefinite expansion. Indeed, the
+fact that the co-operation of the education authority is invoked, in order
+to provide technical instruction that shall supplement the training of the
+workshop, is sufficient evidence that we cannot dispense altogether with
+the assistance of the State. But much more remains to be said against the
+possibility of indefinite extension. Take the case of indentures. It is
+true that some employers can be found willing to receive indentured
+apprentices, and some boys willing to be indentured. But this does not
+affect the general rule that the conditions of the modern workshop do not
+allow of the use of apprentices, whose training is enforceable at law, or
+discount what is a matter of common observation&mdash;that neither employers
+nor boys like to bind themselves together for a period of years.
+Indentures may be an excellent plan for curbing the independence of the
+boy, but it does not, unfortunately, follow that the boys who most want
+curbing will be the boys<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> who will accept this fretting restraint. What
+happens in practice is that a select number of boys willing to submit to
+control are brought into relations with a select number of employers
+willing to be troubled with boys. This is good as far as it goes, but it
+goes no way in the direction of providing supervision for the boys who
+most need it. Or take again the question of supplementing in the technical
+institute the training of the workshop. Experience here and in other
+countries shows conclusively that technical instruction, to be really
+effective, must be given during the daytime, when the lad is fresh, and
+not during the evening, when he is wearied out by the day&#8217;s work. But,
+ignoring the necessarily limited number of cases in which boys are able to
+forgo earning altogether, instruction during the day is possible only
+where employers allow their apprentices time off during the day to attend
+classes. It is true that some few employers have given this permission,
+but their number is strictly limited. In the hope of extending the
+principle, the London County Council recently carried out an elaborate
+inquiry among employers, but with very small results. &#8220;If we compare,&#8221;
+says the report, &#8220;the magnitude of the elaborate inquiry carried out by
+the principals of polytechnics and technical institutes, by the skilled
+employment committees, and by the Council itself, with the extent of the
+success attained, we are bound to admit that the results are of the most
+meagre dimensions. There appears no prospect of inducing employers on any
+large scale to co-operate with us in the establishment of a satisfactory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>
+system of &#8216;part-time&#8217; classes.&#8221;<a name='fna_173' id='fna_173' href='#f_173'><small>[173]</small></a> Extension on a large scale and on a
+voluntary basis is impossible.</p>
+
+<p>But, neglecting the question of possibilities, is the revival of an
+indentured apprenticeship, as a method of learning certain trades, in
+itself a thing to be desired? There remains one difficulty that has never
+satisfactorily been surmounted. If indentured apprenticeship is the door
+leading to a skilled trade, there will be a movement in the trade to close
+all other doors. Those who have paid a premium, or at any rate served
+their time for low wages, cannot be expected to allow without complaint
+vacancies in the trade to be filled by men who have not passed through a
+similar period of servitude. If the door is closed, there is no way of
+recruiting the trade in times of expanding business. But, in general,
+prohibition has not proved practical, and other ways of entry are
+discovered, and as these ways are easier, it is only natural that people
+should tend to choose the easier path. Indentured apprenticeship has never
+escaped from this dilemma; either the trade is closed to strangers when
+there is no means of expansion, or the trade is open when there is no
+inducement to be apprenticed. The change in modern industry, with its
+tendency to break down the barriers between trade and trade, only
+accentuates the acuteness of the dilemma.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, assuming indentured apprenticeship to be both practical and
+desirable, would it provide a solution for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> the problem of boy labour? It
+is obvious that it would only touch a fringe of the question. We have
+already seen that some two-thirds of the children, as they leave the
+elementary school, enter a form of occupation which leads only to
+unskilled labour, and even for that provides no adequate training. An
+apprenticeship system would not affect these two-thirds. A boy cannot be
+apprenticed as an errand-boy, or in one of those workshops where
+practically only boys are engaged. Not only is this class the most
+important in respect of numbers; it is also the class most urgently in
+need of control. It is here that degeneration and demoralization are most
+marked, while it is here that indentured apprenticeship offers not even a
+shadow of a remedy. A system which ignores the majority, even if it
+provided for the favoured few, cannot be regarded as affording a possible
+solution of the problem of boy labour.</p>
+
+<p>We cannot, therefore, look to the revival of apprenticeship, even when
+supplemented by technical training, to carry us far on the road of reform.
+It would, however, be a mistake to under-rate the lessons of the
+experiments. They have shown the value of indentures as a means of
+controlling the boy; they have shown the value of sympathetic supervision;
+and they have shown the value of the technical school in widening the
+inadequate training of the workshop. The defects of the experiment lay in
+the necessary limitations of the case. Remove the limitations, and you
+remove the defects. We want universal indentures, universal supervision,
+universal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> training. To guard against the dangers of creating a privileged
+class through the establishment of an apprenticeship system we must see to
+it that all alike serve a period of apprenticeship. Obviously, we cannot
+apprentice all boys to employers; we must, therefore, apprentice all boys
+to the State. There is nothing new in this proposal. Already, through the
+law of compulsory attendance at school, all boys are so apprenticed
+between the ages of five and fourteen. What is necessary is an extension
+of the period of an already existing apprenticeship system.</p>
+
+<p>In the search of a means of preventing an evil, the most difficult task is
+always to exclude the inadequate and the irrelevant. When all paths of
+advance, with one exception, have been blocked, there is no longer any
+choice or risk of losing one&#8217;s way. We have now seen that all ways, except
+the way of collective control and collective enterprise, fail to reach the
+desired goal, and, having exhausted all other alternatives, must fall back
+upon the State. Some do this willingly, some reluctantly, but all, with a
+few exceptions that may be disregarded, appeal to the State when they are
+convinced that help can be looked for from no other source. We are now in
+that position, and must frankly face the situation.</p>
+
+<p>Failing assistance in any other direction, we must call on the State to
+organize a new apprenticeship system. Such a system must make due
+provision for supervision, training, and an opening. It remains to be
+considered how these three essentials can be secured.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center">I</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Supervision.</span></p>
+
+<p>A boy must be under some sort of supervision until he reaches at least the
+age of eighteen. Such supervision must have respect to his physical
+well-being as well as to his conduct. Neither the home, nor philanthropy,
+nor the workshop can be looked for to provide this supervision. They have
+all failed, and that failure is progressive. The State remains as our only
+hope. The State has not failed; it has made impossible the worst abuses of
+child labour, and through its educational system has been an influence for
+good in the moral and physical development of the children. Its success
+has been great, and that success has been progressive. Where it has
+failed, it has failed because its supervision has been withdrawn too soon.
+The remedy is obvious: we must extend the sphere of State supervision.
+Three reforms are urgently necessary: (1) The raising of the age of
+compulsory attendance to fifteen; (2) the complete prohibition of the
+employment of school-children for wages; and (3) the compulsory attendance
+of lads between the ages of fifteen and eighteen at some place of
+education for at least half the working day. With regard to these
+proposals, it may be said that all three are supported by the Minority
+Report of the Poor Law Commission and by the labour organizations which
+have in general expressed their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> approval of that Report. (1) and (3) are
+the recommendations of the Report of the Education Committee of the London
+County Council, adopted unanimously by that body in February, 1909; while
+(1) and (3) also received a qualified approval from the Majority Report of
+the Poor Law Commission, and from the Report of the Consultative Committee
+of the Board of Education on Continuation Schools. They have, therefore,
+behind them a strong backing of expert opinion.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">(<i>a</i>) <i>The Raising of the School Age.</i></p>
+
+<p>More than ten years have elapsed since Parliament last raised the age of
+compulsory attendance. There is almost universal agreement that the time
+has come for adding another year. The discipline of the school is
+successful while it lasts, but fails in permanent effect because it is
+withdrawn too soon. In the last chapter we saw from the study of the
+census tables that for at least the first year after school the boys have
+settled down to no very fixed employment. Many of the skilled trades do
+not take learners and apprentices before the age of fifteen. &#8220;It is
+clear,&#8221; say the Education Committee of the London County Council, &#8220;that
+the year after leaving school&mdash;the year, that is, between the ages of
+fourteen and fifteen&mdash;is for the children concerned a year of uncertainty.
+Nearly half are returned as without specified occupation. No doubt a large
+proportion of the number are attending some place of education, but it is
+no less true that a considerable number are not classified, because for
+the time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> being they are doing nothing. They have thrown up one situation
+and are looking out for another. In this respect we must remember that it
+is a common practice&mdash;at any rate, so far as the poorer section of the
+community is concerned&mdash;for the children, and not their parents, to select
+for themselves the form of occupation and find for themselves situations.
+The children are too young to choose wisely, and, as a natural
+consequence, shift from place to place until they discover something that
+suits their taste or ability. It would be difficult to imagine a more
+unsatisfactory method of training. Till the age of fourteen they are
+carefully looked after in school; at the age of fourteen they are set free
+from all forms of discipline, and become practically their own masters. We
+must not, therefore, be surprised that under such conditions the effect of
+the school training is transient, and the large amount of money spent on
+their education to a great extent wasted.&#8221;<a name='fna_174' id='fna_174' href='#f_174'><small>[174]</small></a> And, summing up the whole
+case for the raising of the school age, the Education Committee say: &#8220;The
+advantages of keeping children at school until the age of fifteen are many
+and obvious. They receive an extra year&#8217;s instruction at a time when they
+are most apt to learn; they are kept for another year under discipline
+just at the period when it is easiest to influence permanently the
+development of character. With the extension they escape the year of
+aimless drifting from occupation to occupation, and, when called on to
+choose a profession, they will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> have a year&#8217;s extra experience to help
+them in the choice. We may hope that under these new conditions the
+tendency to follow the line of greatest initial wages will decrease, and
+be replaced by a tendency to consider as of paramount importance prospects
+of training and hope of future advancement.&#8221;<a name='fna_175' id='fna_175' href='#f_175'><small>[175]</small></a></p>
+
+<p>In raising the school age we should take the opportunity of getting rid of
+certain anomalies which now exist. While for the vast majority of children
+in London and many other places attendance is compulsory up to the age of
+fourteen, exemption is possible at the age of twelve and thirteen for a
+small minority. In certain parts of the country large numbers of children
+are allowed to leave before the age of fourteen. It is unfortunate that it
+is the cleverest children who are entitled to this earlier exemption. We
+are here looking at the problem of apprenticeship from the standpoint of
+supervision, and in the case of supervision age and not mental attainment
+must be the determining principle. The bright precocious boy of twelve or
+thirteen is precisely the boy who stands most in need of control. Morally
+and physically he is likely to suffer from the effects of premature
+freedom. The sleepy dullard, who is kept at school until fourteen, could
+be freed from discipline at an earlier age, with less risk of serious
+harm. In raising, then, the age of compulsory attendance to fifteen, we
+must abolish the privileges of exemption<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> and the powers of local option,
+and enact that all children shall attend school full time until they reach
+the age of fifteen.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">(<i>b</i>) <i>The Prohibition of Child Labour.</i></p>
+
+<p>Much space has in this volume been devoted to the task of demonstrating
+the extent and the evils of child labour. It has been shown that anything
+except the very lightest employment is physically injurious. It has been
+made clear that the work in which children are engaged is frequently
+demoralizing, while it never paves the way to entering a skilled trade
+when school is left. They are essentially &#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations.
+Further, we have seen good reason to believe that the habit of earning
+money and the precocious sense of independence so encouraged are not in
+the best interests of order and discipline. We note the evil in its worst
+form under the &#8220;half-time&#8221; system. &#8220;The half-timers,&#8221; we are told, &#8220;become
+clever at repartee and in the use of &#8216;mannish&#8217; phrases, which sound clever
+when they dare use them. They lose their childish habits ... some of the
+boys commence to smoke and to use bad language.&#8221;<a name='fna_176' id='fna_176' href='#f_176'><small>[176]</small></a> Finally, it has been
+proved that limitation of the hours of employment in the case of
+school-children is in practice impossible; there is no ready way of
+detecting breaches of the law. We are, therefore, driven to the conclusion
+that, unless the evils are to remain&mdash;and this is not tolerable&mdash;we must
+prohibit altogether the employment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> for wages of children liable to attend
+school full time.</p>
+
+<p>Various objections are made to the proposal. We are told by many of the
+witnesses who appeared before the Interdepartmental Committee on
+Wage-earning Children that a little light work was good for boys; it kept
+them out of mischief. Ignoring the difficulties of insuring that the work
+shall be little and light, they do not seem to make out their case. In
+London, as has been shown, not more than a quarter of the boys during the
+course of their school time are ever engaged seriously in paid employment.
+If, therefore, the work was beneficial, we should expect to find in the
+after-career of the 25 per cent. evidence of the advantages they have
+enjoyed, and in the case of the 75 per cent. signs of failure due to their
+less fortunate training. But all experience points in the opposite
+direction. It is the 25 per cent. who drift most generally into the
+&#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations; it is from this 25 per cent. that the majority
+of hooligans and youthful criminals are recruited.</p>
+
+<p>It is also argued that there are certain tasks which only children can
+perform, because they occupy only a small portion of the day. Papers must
+be delivered and milk left at people&#8217;s houses. But in Germany much of this
+work is done by old men,<a name='fna_177' id='fna_177' href='#f_177'><small>[177]</small></a> and even in this country the &#8220;knocker-up&#8221; in
+the morning is not a child, but an old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> man. Employers in the textile
+trades declared that it is only by beginning young that children can
+acquire the necessary quickness and deftness of touch. But as these trades
+absorb in the adult service only a small proportion of the children
+engaged, and seeing that in many instances the half-time system has been
+dropped as uneconomic, there does not seem much force in this objection.
+Moreover, it cannot be beyond the power of manual training in the schools
+to provide a fitting and less injurious substitute.</p>
+
+<p>The arguments in favour of the continued employment of school-children are
+the arguments of the old world, and the new world is becoming a little
+tired of the arguments of these old-world people. The time has come to
+make a stand, and insist that for all children there shall be insured the
+blessings of childhood. The first step in this direction lies in making it
+impossible for them to enter the ranks of the wage-earners as long as
+their names remain on the roll of the elementary school.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">(<i>c</i>) <i>The New Half-Time System.</i></p>
+
+<p>The proposals for raising the school age and for prohibiting child labour
+during that period will do much to strengthen the system of supervision.
+Another year of school discipline; another year of medical inspection and
+medical treatment; protection during another year from the evil effects of
+overwork and from the demoralization due to &#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations and
+premature earning&mdash;these reforms will bring us some way on our journey<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>
+towards the new apprenticeship, but they will not bring us the whole way.
+There remain the three years which lie between the ages of fifteen and
+eighteen, and include the greater part of the period of adolescence&mdash;in
+some respects the most important period in the development of a human
+being. It is during these years that character begins to take its
+permanent set; it is during these years that, with the coming of puberty,
+there is most risk of ugly and dangerous outbreaks; it is during these
+years that physical health demands the most careful attention; and it is
+during these years that, with the exception of the failures of
+civilization&mdash;the physically, the mentally, and the morally
+defective&mdash;there is no real supervision or, under existing conditions, any
+hope of securing it.</p>
+
+<p>To allow irresponsible freedom during these years is to court disaster; to
+give it suddenly and in an unqualified degree, as it is given now when the
+school career is brought to an abrupt end, is to follow a course condemned
+by all educationalists. No parent, even the most thoughtless, among the
+well-to-do classes would think of treating his son in this fashion. His
+whole scheme of education is founded on the principle of a slow and
+gradual loosening of the bonds of discipline. The close supervision of the
+private school is replaced by the larger liberty of the public school,
+which in turn opens into the greater but still restricted freedom of the
+University.</p>
+
+<p>Freedom must come slowly. We want a bridge between the elementary school
+of the boy and the full-time workshop of the man. Such a bridge would be
+created<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> by the establishment of the proposed half-time system. For half
+the day&mdash;or at any rate, for half his time&mdash;the lad between the ages of
+fifteen and eighteen would be compelled to attend a place of education,
+and only during the remaining half be permitted to undertake employment
+for wages. The advantages of this proposal are many. First, the influence
+of the school would be retained for an additional three years, and under
+the half-time system the freedom of the youthful wage-earner would find a
+suitable limitation in the half-time control of the school. Secondly, we
+should have the opportunity of another three years&#8217; medical inspection and
+medical treatment. With supervision over the health of the community
+continued until the age of eighteen we might fairly anticipate a rapid
+improvement in the physical efficiency of the worker. In particular, we
+should be able to detect, in a way now impossible, the effects of various
+forms of employment on those engaged in them. Inspection under the
+provisions of the Factory and Workshops Act, as has been shown, is too
+limited in character to do more than pick out a few young persons
+obviously unfit for the occupation they have selected; but, with the
+education authority responsible for the health of juveniles, and using to
+the full extent its powers to provide preventive measures or to veto in
+the case of certain individuals certain forms of work, we should have gone
+far to secure that no one should enter on or remain in a trade for which
+he was physically unfit. Thirdly, as already shown, a half-time system is
+the only really effective way of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> limiting the hours of juvenile
+employment. If the lad is compelled to be elsewhere than in the workshop
+for half his time, we have an automatic check on excessive work. Other
+advantages of this system will appear when we come to deal with questions
+of training and the provision of an opening.</p>
+
+<p>The half-time system should be made compulsory throughout the country; it
+ought not to be left to local option to decide. The local rating authority
+naturally wishes to encourage the establishment of workshops and factories
+within its area, and would be unwilling to adopt Acts which might prove a
+deterrent. It would be a most unsatisfactory state of affairs for
+employers to evade the spirit of the law by moving into districts where
+the law was not enforced. It is a little unfortunate that the Education
+(Scotland) Act, 1908, which allows a limited amount of compulsion in
+connection with continuation schools, is founded on the principle of local
+option. The recommendations of the Consultative Committee of the Board of
+Education are vitiated in a similar way. Local option can never be really
+successful. It will elect to act only where there is least opposition from
+employers&mdash;in other words, where action is least necessary; and it will do
+nothing where boy labour is most exploited and regulation most urgently
+required. In one direction alone can local option be allowed with
+advantage. It may be permitted to decide on the precise kind or kinds of
+half-time to be enforced within their area. Boys might attend school on
+the half-day system or on the alternate day<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> system. Or, again, they might
+spend three days in the workshop and three days in the school, or under
+certain circumstances devote six months of the year to the workshop and
+the remaining six months to the school. It would be desirable to allow the
+local authority considerable liberty in their methods of adapting the
+half-time system to the special needs of the trades of the district,
+provided always that a true half-time system was established.</p>
+
+<p>There is no serious difficulty in the way of compelling attendance at the
+half-time school. It would be enforced just as attendance at the
+elementary school is enforced, and by the same officers. Further, no
+employer would be permitted to employ a boy between the ages of fifteen
+and eighteen who could not show satisfactory evidence of attendance at
+school. Or if, as may be the case, it is found desirable to permit boys to
+be engaged only by means of the Labour Exchange, the Labour Exchange
+itself would prove a most effective way of enforcing attendance.</p>
+
+<p>There is nothing new or impracticable in the principle of the proposal.
+Compulsory attendance at continuation schools can be required in Scotland.
+Such attendance is compulsory in parts of Germany and Switzerland.<a name='fna_178' id='fna_178' href='#f_178'><small>[178]</small></a> It
+is exacted by certain employers in this country from their apprentices.
+Further, the fact that for many years the half-time system has been in use
+in the case of many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> important industries, and tens of thousands of
+children so employed, demonstrates clearly enough that there is nothing
+impossible in the application of a half-time system to juveniles. It
+would, no doubt, cause some inconvenience, and some employers might
+dispense with the services of juveniles; but no more difficulty would
+arise than has arisen when any fresh regulations have been imposed; and we
+should see, as we have always done in the past, the employers who
+predicted inevitable ruin before the event, as soon as the proposal became
+law adapt themselves, with that placid content and admirable success which
+they have always displayed after the event, to the new condition of
+affairs.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">(<i>d</i>) <i>The Parents&#8217; Point of View.</i></p>
+
+<p>The three proposals just made have one characteristic in common-they all
+directly set a limit to the employment of children and young persons. It
+is possible that some readers may regard them from another point of view,
+and say that in limiting employment they seriously diminish the income of
+the family. Will the poor parent, whose lot is pitiable enough as things
+are, be able to stand the loss?</p>
+
+<p>In considering this, the parents&#8217; point of view, we must guard against
+being caught in the noose of a vicious circle. We must not perpetuate an
+evil in order to mitigate its present effects. Many, probably most, of
+those parents whose income hovers about the margin of possible existence
+are in this pitiful position because their own childhood<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> has been
+neglected. As children, they have been overworked, and they are now
+physically unfit for regular employment; as children, they have been
+allowed to go uncontrolled and untrained, and now, as men, they are paying
+a heavy tax for the earnings of their boyhood. They receive little because
+they are worth little; their work is precarious because the sphere of
+their usefulness is small. We must not allow their children to live as
+<i>they</i> lived when children, and so pass on to the next generation the
+taint of inefficiency and its consequent wages of starvation merely
+because to-day wages of starvation need to be supplemented. We can never
+hope to overtake and pass an evil if we always cast it in front of us. The
+one clear message to the reformer of to-day is that he should look to
+prevention, and not merely to cure; and the one clear hope of a nation&#8217;s
+future lies in insuring to every youth, as he crosses the threshold of
+manhood, the fullest realization of that development whose promise was his
+at birth. It might be well worth while for a country lavishly to endow
+poverty for a generation in order to free itself once for all from its
+fatal infection. But there is no reason to believe that we must resort to
+this drastic measure because there is no reason to believe that the
+proposed restrictions of child labour will in any way injure the parents.</p>
+
+<p>Take first the earnings of school-children. There is very little reason to
+believe that they often make any effective contribution to the income of
+the home. They are irregular, they are small, and very frequently the
+boys<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> retain them as pocket-money. Where they are large, as in the case of
+children employed during the pantomime season, they often form a
+convenient excuse for the parent to go idle for a time. The only large
+exception to this rule is the case of the widow. Here, indeed, the
+earnings do usually find their way home, materially increase the miserable
+pittance allowed by the guardians, and must be regarded as a tax levied on
+children in aid of the ratepayer. Humanity and a reformed Poor Law may be
+trusted to remove the tax.</p>
+
+<p>Take next the raising of the school age to fifteen. The age has not been
+raised for more than ten years, and when it was last raised it was raised
+without friction and without complaint on the part of the parent. We
+might, perhaps, have expected that the percentage of attendance would have
+decreased because of the difficulty of enforcing it on the children of
+poverty-stricken parents. This has not been the experience; indeed, the
+last decade has been remarkable for the rapid rise in that percentage.
+There is not a scrap of evidence to show that the last raising of the
+school age caused even temporary suffering on a large scale. Never was a
+large reform carried out with greater ease. There is no reason to believe
+that, if we raised the age again, that favourable experience would not be
+repeated.</p>
+
+<p>We come now to the new half-time system. The earnings of boys between
+fifteen and eighteen years are considerable. To diminish them by one-half,
+it is urged, would be to adopt a course which would prove intolerable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> to
+the poor parent. Now, in the first place, though it is true that the lads
+could be employed for only half the time they were before, it by no means
+follows that they would only receive half the present money. We have
+already seen that the demand for boys far outruns the supply. The
+half-time system would halve the supply, and, though some employers might
+cease to use boys, the demand would certainly not be halved. The demand
+for boys would then considerably exceed the demand of to-day. The rate of
+wages would, in consequence, rise. The boys would no doubt earn less, but
+certainly more than half of what they now earn. In the next place, it must
+be remembered that the parent rarely receives the whole of the boy&#8217;s
+earnings even during the first year, and each year the proportion of wages
+that comes to the home grows less. At the age of seventeen it is seldom
+that more than half finds its way into the family exchequer. The boy keeps
+the rest, and, as we have already seen, the large amount of money he has
+to spend on himself is by no means an unmixed benefit. The parent cannot
+usually get from the boy much more than is required to keep him; indeed,
+he is afraid to enlarge his demand lest the boy, who is economically
+independent, should leave home. But under the half-time system, though he
+may earn his keep, he will rarely earn enough to support himself outside
+the family. In addition, the fact of being compelled to attend school will
+be a healthy reminder that he is not yet a man, and so check the growing
+spirit of independence. Home influence and parental authority will thus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>
+be strengthened, and the father will be able to exact a much larger share
+than before of the boy&#8217;s earnings. Now, if the earnings are not diminished
+by so much as half, and if at the same time the parent obtain an increased
+proportion, it is by no means clear that the home affairs will suffer.
+Among the poorest families, where home discipline ceases altogether when
+the boy leaves school, it is quite possible that the financial position of
+the parent will be improved rather than worsened.</p>
+
+<p>But we have not yet taken into account what is, perhaps, the most
+important consideration. The three proposals under discussion will
+undoubtedly largely diminish the amount of work performed by boys, but
+will not diminish the amount of work that requires to be done. Somebody
+must take up the tasks formerly allotted to boys, and, if boys fail, men
+must fill their place. Now, the work was given to boys because, to give it
+to men would cost more. In future, the work will be given to men, and more
+money will be paid for it than before. In other words, the increased
+earnings of men will more than make up for the diminished earnings of
+boys, and much more than compensate for the loss, because, as we have
+seen, only a portion of the boys&#8217; earnings ever reach the home. Or we may
+look at the question from another point of view, and say that the
+decreased use of boys will mean an increase in the demand for men, and,
+consequently, an increase in the wages of men. The Minority Report of the
+Poor Law Commission arrives at these three proposals by starting from the
+opposite point of view, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> advocates their adoption not primarily for
+the good of the boys, but for the good of their parents. In the task of
+decasualizing labour, they are met with the difficulty that a considerable
+number of men will in the process be thrown out of employment altogether.
+Work must be found for them, and the easiest and the best way to find it
+is shown to be the withdrawal from the labour market of persons, like
+children, who ought not either to be employed at all or to be employed for
+such long hours as at present. Hence arises the suggestion of a rigid
+limitation of boy labour. It is much in favour of these proposals that
+they are the outcome of an elaborate analysis which in the one case begins
+with the man, and in the other with the child. We may take it, then, as
+clear that, from the parents&#8217; point of view, there is nothing to hinder us
+in raising the school age to fifteen, prohibiting the employment of
+school-children, and instituting a new half-time system.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">II.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Training.</span></p>
+
+<p>The second essential in an apprenticeship system worthy the name is the
+provision of adequate training. The word &#8220;training&#8221; is used in its
+broadest sense to include preparation, not only for the life of the
+workman, but for the life of the citizen as well. In the preceding chapter
+we have seen that the scholarship schemes, connecting the elementary
+school with the University, and rapidly increasing throughout the country,
+are offering<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> opportunities of training for those likely to rise high in
+the professional, the commercial, and the industrial world. It is probable
+that sufficient attention has not as yet been given to the supply of the
+most advanced kind of technological instruction, but the fault is being
+remedied, and the defect is due rather to lack of knowledge than to lack
+of will; and it is the instruction, and not the facilities of access to
+it, that is wanting.</p>
+
+<p>What we are concerned with in this chapter is the training of those
+destined to fill the posts of foremen and managers of small undertakings,
+of the skilled workmen of the future, and of those never likely to rise
+above the ranks of unskilled labour. We are also concerned with those who
+will occupy corresponding positions in the commercial world. It has
+already been shown that the training of these persons is one-sided and
+inadequate, and, in the case of the majority, can hardly be said to exist
+at all. On the other hand, we have seen good reason to believe that the
+technical school can be, if not a complete substitute for the workshop, at
+any rate a necessary and fitting supplement. The day has gone by when it
+was necessary to argue at length the uses of technical instruction.
+Employers in this country, as they have long since done on the Continent
+and in America, recognize the advantages. Yearly, whether by compelling
+the lads in their service to attend the technical school, or forming
+themselves into committees to advise as to the most desirable methods of
+teaching, they are displaying a keener interest in the question, and a
+fuller faith in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> possibilities of practical training given outside the
+walls of the workshop.</p>
+
+<p>The defect of existing arrangements has been shown to lie in their
+limitation. For the majority technical instruction has been unsatisfactory
+or impossible of access. We must show in the present chapter how all may
+enjoy the advantages of training; but before doing so we must consider, a
+little more closely than has been done before, the kind of training
+required by the petty officers and the rank and file of the industrial
+army.</p>
+
+<p>In much of the preceding discussion it has been assumed that what the man
+wants is an all-round training. This is undoubtedly a fact, but by an
+all-round training is not necessarily meant a training that will produce a
+craftsman of the old school, equally capable of turning his hand
+successfully to any of the operations with which his trade is concerned.
+Except in rural districts, in a few of the artistic crafts, and in certain
+branches of repairing work, a man of this kind is not generally required.
+It seems probable that the industrial tendencies of to-day are making
+decreasing demands for purely manual skill. The Report of the Poor Law
+Commission contains a valuable discussion of the question, and sums up the
+conclusions in the following passage: &#8220;The general trend of our answers
+was that the &#8216;skill&#8217; of modern industry is scarcely comparable with the
+skill of labour in the past. One might say that, within twenty years, with
+the universal employment of machinery and the excessive subdivision and
+specialization of its use, the character of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> productive process has
+quite changed. There is a growing demand for higher intelligence on the
+part of the few; a large and probably growing demand for specialized
+machine-minders; and, unhappily, a relegation of those who cannot adapt
+themselves to a quite inferior, if not worse paid, position. If, then, the
+&#8216;skill&#8217; which we might have looked for and desired is what might be called
+&#8216;craftsmanship,&#8217; we must conclude that the demand for skill is, on the
+whole, declining. The all-round ability which used honourably to mark out
+the mechanic is no longer in demand, so much as the work of the highly
+specialized machine-minder.&#8221;<a name='fna_179' id='fna_179' href='#f_179'><small>[179]</small></a> But if there seems a less demand for
+all-round skill, there appears to be an increasing demand for trained
+intelligence. &#8220;In the greater industries employing adult male labour,
+&#8216;machinery&#8217; does not in the least resemble the long lines of revolving
+spindles one sees in a cotton mill. In the machine tools of an engineering
+shop there is comparatively little of such automatism, and, even where the
+machines are automatic, single men are put in charge of a number of
+machines, and the setting and supervising of these is work probably
+demanding a higher level of intelligence than ever before. &#8216;I should say
+the skilled men require even more skill than they did,&#8217; says Mr. Barnes,
+&#8216;because of the finer work and more intricate machinery.... Side by side
+with automatic machines there has come about more intricate and highly
+complicated machinery.&#8217; &#8216;The semi-skilled of to-day,&#8217; says Sir Benjamin C.
+Brown,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> &#8216;is in many cases as good as the skilled was a quarter of a
+century ago.&#8217;&#8221;<a name='fna_180' id='fna_180' href='#f_180'><small>[180]</small></a> Or, as another witness puts it: &#8220;The tendency of
+machinery is always to cause a substitution of intelligence for dexterity,
+the person who was in effect a machine by reason of his dexterity giving
+place to one who could understand a direct and mechanical process.&#8221;<a name='fna_181' id='fna_181' href='#f_181'><small>[181]</small></a>
+There seems also good reason to believe that the demand for intelligence
+outruns the supply.</p>
+
+<p>In the workmen, usually classed as skilled, the employer requires
+intelligence, but he wants something more; he wants trustworthiness, and
+frequently a certain highly specialized manual dexterity. The training of
+the workshop can supply the third of these qualifications; it cannot,
+however, supply the other two, which are in the main the products of
+education. But between the second and the third there is a certain
+antagonism. Monotony in the workshop does not cultivate intelligence; it
+is actively hostile to such growth. Unless there is a well-trained
+intelligence to begin with, the continual performance of a single task
+will reduce the man to the level of a mere machine. Now, the employer does
+not want a mere machine; if he did, in these days of inventive genius, he
+would soon discover something more reliable in the way of machines than
+flesh and blood. He wants a machine with intelligence; he must therefore
+have a man. But the intelligence must rest on a broad basis of education,
+or the machine element will prove too much for it. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> is the reason of
+the statement, found so often in evidence on technical training given by
+enlightened employers, that what is mostly required is a good general
+education.</p>
+
+<p>Now we are coming to see that a general education does not imply a certain
+specific syllabus of instruction; it may be the result of the most varied
+kinds of instruction. We have ceased to take the narrow view that it
+consists only in book-learning and aptness with the pen. We have
+recognized that manual training may rightly play a large part in any
+system of education, and for the full development of certain types of mind
+is absolutely indispensable. Consequently, though the employer does not
+need the man of all-round skill, there is no reason why the workman should
+not acquire a general use of the tools employed in his trade. Whatever it
+may be to the employer, the possession of a certain amount of all-round
+skill is not a matter of indifference to the workman. If he can boast
+skill in a single operation alone, the bridge that lifts him above the
+gulf of unskilled labour is very fragile. A change in demand or a new
+invention may any day render his specialized skill useless, and
+precipitate him into that gulf whence is no escape. But this is not the
+case with the man who has received an all-round training. Thrust out of
+one branch of the trade, he can, if intelligent, comparatively easily find
+an opening in another. The all-round skill, though not required in the
+workshop, is necessary to the man if his position in the skilled labour
+market is to be secure. In a sense, the measure of his all-round skill is
+the measure of the stability of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> industrial status. Further, the
+possession of all-round skill is a necessary condition of the possession
+of intelligence. It gives a man a clearer insight into the significance of
+his trade, and robs monotony of some part of its soul-killing power. Pure
+specialization is hostile to intelligence; the man who can only do one
+thing cannot do that one thing well. Finally, from these skilled workmen
+must be chosen the foremen and small managers, and these people must
+possess the wider knowledge and a more varied skill. To a large extent at
+the present time they are not recruited from the large workshop; they come
+from the country district, where this all-round skill can still be
+acquired. But, as we have seen, this supply is not inexhaustible, and
+there are signs that the methods of the industrial revolution are invading
+the village. Unless, therefore, we are prepared to see a scarcity of
+trained foremen in the future, we must to-day aim at producing the skilled
+workman, who is at once intelligent and possesses a general knowledge of
+the tools of his trade.</p>
+
+<p>&#8220;We do not to-day,&#8221; says Sir Christopher Furness, &#8220;want men who are
+all-round at building marine engines; we do need men who are all-round
+mechanical engineers&mdash;men who can apply the principles of their craft to
+any form of machinery that may be called for. That is a class of training
+which cannot be achieved by any system of apprenticeship, and is
+essentially a matter which the governing authority must handle if this
+country is to maintain its position in the industrial world.&#8221;<a name='fna_182' id='fna_182' href='#f_182'><small>[182]</small></a> &#8220;The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>
+characteristics,&#8221; says the Consultative Committee, &#8220;that employers most
+value and most deplore the lack of would appear to be general handiness
+(which is really to a large extent a mental quality), adaptability and
+alertness, habits of observation&mdash;and the power to express the thing
+observed&mdash;accuracy, resourcefulness, the ability to grapple with new
+unfamiliar conditions, the habit of applying one&#8217;s mind and one&#8217;s
+knowledge to what one has to do.&#8221;<a name='fna_183' id='fna_183' href='#f_183'><small>[183]</small></a> It is clear that within the narrow
+sphere of the workshop an all-round training of this kind can never be
+secured.</p>
+
+<p>We must look, then, to the elementary schools supplemented by the
+technical institute, to insure to the workmen an all-round intelligence
+and a general knowledge of the use of tools employed in his trade. For
+commerce, intelligence and an all-round training are no less necessary.
+&#8220;You produce a better clerk,&#8221; it has been said, &#8220;if the boy takes an
+industrial rather than a commercial course.&#8221; There is therefore no
+conflict of interest between what the employer wants and what the workman
+wants. The employer wants intelligence, and cannot get it from a workman
+who does not possess a general knowledge of his trade. The workman wants
+an all-round knowledge of his trade because without it his position as a
+skilled artisan is precarious and at the mercy of every new invention or
+change in fashion.</p>
+
+<p>We have hitherto spoken as if all were skilled workmen,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> and as though the
+unskilled labourer did not exist. Now, there are at the present time huge
+armies of men that can by no stretch of imagination be regarded as skilled
+at anything; but it is by no means clear that it is desirable for this
+huge army to continue as such. It is generally assumed that the
+performance of so-called unskilled work requires no training and makes no
+demand on skill. This is a grave mistake; let anyone, without previous
+experience, try a day&#8217;s digging in his garden, and he will realize the
+fact. But it is not merely a question of manual training and practice; the
+unskilled labourer, to be efficient, needs intelligence. Skilled and
+unskilled work call for, in this age of machines, more intelligence than
+was wanted in the past. Almost everyone nowadays uses a machine of some
+sort; and there can be no question that in such use there is a serious
+lack of intelligence. The unskilled labour engaged with machinery is
+almost always inadequate and unsatisfactory. The agricultural labourer,
+for example, has to manage machines whose complex mechanism is far beyond
+his ill-trained intelligence to comprehend. The same may be said of the
+general run of machine-minders. Breakdowns, stoppages, and accidents are
+the costly consequences of their defect. Of all forms of labour, the
+unskilled labour of to-day is probably the most expensive to the employer.
+The labourer is worth, as a rule, little more than he receives, and, not
+infrequently, a good deal less. The preservation of stupidity is among the
+most foolish and most expensive of modern luxuries. What the employer
+wants<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> is the intelligent unskilled labourer, and such a class must be the
+product, not of the workshop, but of the schools. The training to be
+provided would be very similar to that required by the skilled workman.</p>
+
+<p>From the point of view of the employer, we require more intelligence in
+the unskilled labourer; from the point of view of the community and the
+man himself, the need is even more urgent. We must not forget the man in
+the labourer. He is not for all his time an unskilled labourer; he is the
+autocrat of the home, the father of a family, and, as a voter, one of the
+rulers of the Empire. These last functions belong essentially to the
+highly skilled class of work. Uneducated parents are a danger to their
+children, and so to the future prosperity of the nation; the illiterate
+voters a peril to the safety of the State. Finally, the man himself, with
+a wider outlook on the world, and with a life richer in interests, and so
+with more opportunities of healthy enjoyment, would be a happier and a
+better citizen. The shame of modern civilization and the abiding menace to
+its security lie in the miserable horde of stupid, unintelligent, and
+uninterested labourers who are good for nothing except the exercise of
+mere brute strength and indulgence in mere animal pleasures, and not very
+much good even for this.</p>
+
+<p>Looking, then, at the problem of the training of skilled and unskilled
+workmen alike, whether from the point of view of man or master, we see
+that the great essential is the possession of a large measure of
+intelligence. With the continual changes in the methods of industry, men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>
+must be capable of changing too; they must be capable of readily adapting
+themselves to new conditions, and not become petrified in a rigid and
+inflexible mould. Intelligence, properly developed, means adaptability. If
+we could secure this, the problem of dealing with the unemployed would be
+comparatively easy of solution. The inextricable tangle of to-day lies in
+the hopeless task of securing employment at a living wage for men who are
+not worth it. Let each man be made good for something, and it will not be
+beyond the range of wise statesmanship to find that good thing for him to
+do.</p>
+
+<p>How is the necessary training to be provided? The answer to this question
+need not detain us long. We have already seen that elementary and
+technical education can solve the problem in the case of those who have
+been able to avail themselves of the opportunities offered. The only
+outstanding difficulty was the difficulty of insuring ready access to all;
+and this has been surmounted in the proposals of the last section. The
+raising of the school age to fifteen, the prohibition of the employment of
+school-children, and the new half-time system, give facilities for
+education never before enjoyed.</p>
+
+<p>The boy will remain at the elementary school till the age of fifteen, and
+there will be no employment outside school hours to undermine his health
+and render him unfit to profit by the instruction given. We have already
+noticed the transformation of the elementary school now going on, and the
+multiplication of various types of school. The process will continue, and
+the results <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>following the raising of the school age will be increased in
+value. The school will, in the first place, be regarded as a
+sorting-house, in which the different kinds of ability are discovered and
+classified. It will next be an institution where proper provision is made
+to insure that each kind of ability shall have the fullest opportunity of
+development. The only meaning of a general education is the discovery and
+the cultivation of the special interests of the individual.</p>
+
+<p>When the boy leaves the elementary school his interests and ability will
+guide him to search for employment where they will have most scope. How
+this opening is to be found is a question that will be discussed in the
+next section. Let us take the boy who enters a skilled trade&mdash;say a branch
+of the woodwork industry&mdash;and follow his fortunes. He can be employed in
+the workshop for only half the day; during the remainder he must attend
+the half-time school. We have hitherto looked at this half-time school as
+a means of exercising supervision over conduct and physical development;
+we must now regard it as a place of technical instruction. There must,
+therefore, be various types of schools corresponding to the different
+groups of trades. The boy who enters a woodwork trade will attend a school
+designed to meet the needs of that industry. At his place of employment he
+will no doubt be kept to a narrow range of operations, and in their
+performance will acquire that dexterity which only workshop experience can
+give. In the half-time school he will receive the training necessary to
+make<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> of him an intelligent and all-round workman. Here his ordinary
+education will be continued; instruction in drawing, in mensuration, and
+in science&mdash;all specially adapted to the requirements of his trade&mdash;will
+be provided; and, lastly, in the school workshop he will acquire skill in
+the general use of the woodwork tools. If it is urged that it will be
+difficult to find room in the curriculum for such varied training, it must
+be remembered that the subjects of instruction will all have formed part
+of the curriculum of the elementary school, with a bias in the direction
+of the woodwork industry. The boy will remain at the school for three
+years, and at the age of eighteen we shall have at least laid the
+foundation of those qualities required by the employer for success in the
+workshop and by the workman for success in life.</p>
+
+<p>Let us take now the case of a boy who, on leaving school, finds employment
+in some occupation which does not lead to a skilled trade, and provides no
+educational training. Let us suppose he becomes an errand-boy. We cannot
+prevent lads of fifteen and upwards from being employed in such
+occupations, however undesirable, but we can at least guard against the
+more serious evils which are now the result. The boy will only be employed
+for half the day; he also must attend a half-time school. At this school
+he will continue his ordinary education; manual training will be provided
+to make him clever with his hands, while special attention will be devoted
+to his physical development. He will not, of course, be taught a definite
+trade, but will learn the general use of tools.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> How far, then, schools
+may be specialized, into different types it must be left for the future to
+decide. We have hitherto never seriously considered the training of the
+unskilled labourer, and much pioneer work of an experimental character
+remains to be done. At the age of eighteen the lad, like his brother in
+the skilled trade, will be a valuable asset in the labour market. We shall
+have created what we have not got now, and what we much need&mdash;a race of
+intelligent and adaptable unskilled labourers.</p>
+
+<p>There are certain other advantages which the half-time system can claim.
+First, the training of the workshop and the training of the school are
+carried on at the same time; instruction and practice go hand in hand.
+Secondly, only those boys will in general be taught a skilled trade in the
+schools who have already entered a skilled trade. This removes an
+objection often felt by Trade Unionists to what they term a multiplication
+through the schools of half-skilled workmen. Thirdly, we have in it a
+system of universal apprenticeship. All boys will have been learners, and
+worked for the same period at low wages. There will, therefore, be no
+obstacle of a privileged class to make difficulties in the way of those
+entering a trade who have not passed through the normal course of
+preparation for it. Fitness for the work will be, as it should be, the
+sole qualification.</p>
+
+<p>Looked at in a general way, the half-time schools will be called on to
+play a double part. They must train the man in the interests of the
+community and in the interests<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> of the trade. From the employer&#8217;s
+standpoint these schools must be essentially places of practical
+instruction in close touch with the workshop. Already, under existing
+conditions, employers and representatives of the trade have been found
+willing to form advisory committees to visit the schools, criticize the
+teaching, and make suggestions for increasing its value. The principle
+must be extended; only in this way shall we get the expert inspection
+necessary to secure real efficiency. On the other hand, the education
+authority, the representative of the community, will manage the schools,
+and make them training-grounds of true citizenship. Under this double
+system of control, wisely administered, we shall not lose the man in the
+worker or the worker in the man; the interests of the individual and the
+interests of the employer will alike be safeguarded. In a real sense, and
+in fashion adapted to modern requirements, we shall have brought back the
+best traditions of the old apprenticeship system in which the gild,
+standing at once for the community and for the trade, watched over the
+training of the youth of the nation.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">III.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The Provision of an Opening.</span></p>
+
+<p>The third and last essential of an apprenticeship system is the provision
+of an opening. In the last chapter we have seen the aimless drift of boys
+as they leave school into &#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations; we have watched them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>
+rapidly slough off the effects of the school training; and we have found
+them a few years later left stranded without prospects; and we have been
+driven to confess that this process of waste and demoralization is not a
+passing phase, but an integral part of the industrial development in its
+present unregulated condition. Boys, parents, employers are alike impotent
+to cure the evil; once again we are compelled to look to the State for
+help. The State must guide the choice of boys as they leave school. It
+must assist them during the period of adolescence to find better forms of
+employment, or at any rate to retain and increase the value of the school
+training, and it must bridge the gulf that now separates the work of the
+lad from the work of the man.</p>
+
+<p>Already the necessary organization is in process of formation. We have
+seen how the establishment of Labour Exchanges for adults has, quite
+unexpectedly, led to the creation of special departments for juveniles. It
+is singularly fortunate that this accident has led naturally to the Board
+of Trade being regarded as the proper authority to carry out the work. It
+is, however, a fact that Parliament has recently passed an Act which gives
+power to education authorities to spend money for this purpose. It may do
+no harm for education authorities to be able, without fear of surcharge,
+to spend money in co-operating with the Board of Trade, but it would be
+disastrous if they came to think themselves the responsible authority for
+the undertaking. One of the chief objects of the machinery is the bridging
+of the gulf<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> between youth and manhood. We should not enter on this
+difficult task with much hope of success if we perpetuated the distinction
+by making the Board of Trade responsible for the work of adults, and the
+education authorities responsible for the work of juveniles. Further, we
+are coming to see that questions of employment are questions which must be
+dealt with by a national, and not a local, body. Only a national
+authority, with its knowledge of the conditions over the whole country,
+could be in a position to estimate the prospects in any trade, or to
+decide as to the right proportions of boys to men. Next, the unit of area
+for employment bears no relation to the unit of area for educational
+purposes. Towns are separated from the adjoining districts. The unit of
+area for London employment, for example, is not the administrative county,
+but Greater London, and in Greater London there are more than thirty
+education authorities. If these are not in agreement&mdash;and when are thirty
+local authorities in agreement?&mdash;no system of regulation would be
+effective. If, let us say, the London County Council, in order to
+discourage the employment of van-boys, declined to supply them through
+their Exchange, their action would be without result if the adjoining
+districts did not follow suit, while it is impossible to conceive a more
+chaotic organization than one which would allow employers in the City to
+be canvassed for openings by thirty independent bodies.</p>
+
+<p>For these and many other reasons the Board of Trade<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> must be regarded as
+the dominant authority for the organization of the Juvenile Labour
+Exchange. On the other hand, there must be close co-operation between the
+Labour Exchange and the education authority. The Board of Trade has
+recognized the importance of this co-operation, and is making full
+provision for it in the machinery it is setting up. It is forming local
+advisory committees in connection with each Labour Exchange, and is making
+them practically responsible for the control of the juvenile department.
+On this committee are appointed persons nominated by the Board of Trade on
+the one hand, and on the other by the education authority. The committee
+thus represents the two branches of the organization. These committees are
+only just coming into existence, and it is too early to judge of their
+success. The problem is one of immediate practical importance; it is,
+therefore, desirable to consider a little in detail the principles that
+should guide them in their work. For the same reason it is desirable to
+ignore for the moment the proposals made in the preceding sections, to
+take things as they are, and to show what can be achieved under existing
+conditions.</p>
+
+<p>The work of the Juvenile Labour Exchange divides itself naturally into a
+number of different parts or stages. The first stage is concerned with the
+boy while still at school. Some months before he is likely to leave he
+must be seen with the view of inducing him to make use of the Labour
+Exchange to obtain employment. A form will be filled up showing his
+position in the school, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> any particular ability he may have displayed,
+recording the state of his health as revealed by medical inspection, and
+indicating any particular desire as to occupation expressed by himself or
+his parents. The interview and the filling up of the form will be
+undertaken by someone connected with the school organization&mdash;a teacher,
+or probably a volunteer. The institution of care committees for each
+school in connection with medical treatment, and the supply of meals to
+necessitous children, has enlisted the services of a large number of
+volunteers who would probably be found willing to make themselves
+responsible for this part of the work. The form, when filled up, will be
+sent to the Labour Exchange, where, if thought desirable, arrangements
+will be made by certain members of the advisory committee, in company with
+the secretary, to interview the boy and his parents.</p>
+
+<p>The next part of the work is connected with the finding of vacancies.
+Either the employer will notify the Exchange of forthcoming vacancies or
+vacancies be obtained by canvassing employers. In either case it will be
+necessary to ascertain exactly the nature and the prospects of the
+employment. For this work expert knowledge is essential, and it will
+devolve almost entirely on the secretary or other paid officers of the
+Exchange. Having found boys wanting employers and employers wanting boys,
+it will be the duty of the advisory committee to bring the two parties
+together.</p>
+
+<p>The second stage in the work begins as soon as the boy has obtained
+employment. It will be desirable, if <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>possible, to secure periodic
+reports, either by interview or by letter, from the employer, who in the
+majority of cases would no doubt be willing to give the information asked
+for. We should then know how the boy is getting on at his work from the
+employer&#8217;s point of view. We must also know how he is getting on from his
+own point of view. For this and other reasons it is absolutely essential
+to keep in touch with the boy in his home. A tactful person, paying
+periodic visits to the home and seeing the boy, would soon learn what
+prospects the employment offered, what progress he was making, and would
+be able to advise him as to what evening classes he should attend, and to
+help him in those many ways in which a boy can be helped when first he
+goes out to work. In this way a large amount of valuable though
+unostentatious supervision would be kept over the boy. The persons most
+capable of doing this home-visiting are volunteers. In many cases the
+member of the school case committee who originally interviewed the boy
+would undertake the duty of supervision; in other cases we might get the
+assistance of the manager of a boys&#8217; club or other similar institution of
+which the boy was a member; but in all cases the advisory committee must
+make provision for supervision in the home. The reports from the home and
+the reports from the employer would be filed at the Exchange. They will
+enable the advisory committee to follow the career of every boy placed
+out, and at the same time gradually furnish a mass of detailed information
+respecting the employers of the district.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>To what kind of employers or to what classes of employment shall we send
+boys? To all who ask, or to only selected number? Experience will no doubt
+show that there are certain employers of such a kind that under no
+circumstances ought we to trust them with boys. The number of such will be
+very small, and presents no serious difficulty. We should not supply boys
+until we had a guarantee that the conditions offered were improved. The
+question of the class of employment requires more careful consideration.
+There is a danger into which the advisory committee may easily fall.
+Recognizing the evils of &#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations, they may be inclined
+to refuse to send boys to such forms of employment, and only recommend
+boys to places where there is a prospect of learning a trade. Such a
+policy would be a fatal one. We should not thereby discourage
+&#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations, employers would get their boys as they have got
+them in the past, and the only result would be that we should lose all
+control over the boys, be unable to move them later to better situations,
+and so leave the problem not only unsolved, but, for want of knowledge,
+without possibility of solution. We ought not in the Labour Exchange to
+bar out any form of employment unless we are prepared to make that
+employment illegal by Act of Parliament. Street-selling might fairly come
+within that category, and no doubt other forms of employment will later be
+brought within the same class. But to bring them within that class,
+accurate information as to evil effects must be collected in order to
+stiffen public opinion, and if we wash<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> our hands from the outset of all
+responsibility for such trades, we shall never have that accurate
+information. The first step in the way of regulation is that accurate
+knowledge which a detailed supervision of the boys placed out alone can
+give. There will, however, always be a temptation for the Exchange to
+confine its activities to the skilled trades, and let the others go. In
+Munich, for example, we find the education authority devoting much
+attention to the apprenticeship section of the work, while &#8220;unskilled
+labourers appear to be left to the Labour Exchange, and they receive,
+therefore, no advice in selecting their work.&#8221;<a name='fna_184' id='fna_184' href='#f_184'><small>[184]</small></a> The same tendency is
+seen in this country among the various voluntary associations for
+obtaining employment for boys. They have concentrated almost exclusively
+on the skilled trades. The results, expressed in figures or percentages,
+are pleasing, but altogether misleading. They ignore the large residuum
+which drifts without advice and without supervision into the less
+favourable openings, and in matters of social reform it is the large
+residuums that count. It is always nice to get a nice place for a nice boy
+that we know; but if we do no more, there is no reason to believe that our
+action is of any advantage to the community at large. The nice places
+always are filled, and not infrequently the only effect of interference is
+that A., who is known, gets the job instead of the unknown B. The Labour
+Exchange must resist this temptation. It should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> aim at inducing all
+employers to obtain their supply of boy labour from the Exchange; its
+influence will then be at a maximum.</p>
+
+<p>The mere establishment of a Juvenile Labour Exchange cannot create
+favourable openings; it cannot in itself alter the direction of the demand
+for labour. It might, therefore, be asked what is the use of an exchange
+for boys who can already find employment of a sort more easily than is
+good for them? First, there are the advantages of supervision and the
+opportunities for friendly advice and sympathy; secondly, there is the
+task of collecting accurate information which will lead up to legislative
+action, and the system of regulation which is ultimately inevitable;
+thirdly, while not closing the door to the &#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations,
+there is no need for the advisory committees to press them on the parent.
+They would, on the contrary, point out the evils, and suggest either that
+the opening should be refused or accepted only as a temporary expedient.
+The object should be to induce the parent to refuse situations which did
+not afford any prospects of learning or allow time off to attend a
+continuation school. The &#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations would disappear
+to-morrow if parents stubbornly refused to permit their boys to fill them.
+For the moment, moreover, the advantage is all on the side of the parent,
+as the demand for boys outruns the supply. But neither individual parent
+nor individual boy can take advantage of this fact; they have not the
+knowledge or the opportunity to make their voices effectively heard. There
+is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> no trade union of parents or trade union of boys, or, indeed, can be,
+in the &#8220;blind-alley&#8221; occupations. Collective bargaining must be done for
+them, and the advisory committee must be its instrument. They must first
+create the opinion among the parents, and then give effect to it through
+the Exchange. If employers found that, so long as they refused to offer
+better conditions, they were either unable to get boys or only got the
+least satisfactory boys, there would be a strong inducement for them to
+change their ways. Finally, there is the reverse of this system of
+educating the parents&mdash;the educating of the employers. There is already
+growing up a feeling among employers that if they cannot give the boys
+employment as men they might at least offer them opportunities of
+continuing their education. At a conference held in 1910 between agencies
+interested in the welfare of boys and employers of labour, under the
+presidency of the Chairman of the London Chamber of Commerce, the
+following resolutions were unanimously adopted: &#8220;That the London Chamber
+of Commerce be asked to consider the advisability of establishing a
+register of its members who would be willing to engage or apprentice boys
+with a view to the co-operation of the Chamber with the various
+institutions interested in the welfare of boys.&#8221; &#8220;That employers of labour
+be recommended, by reducing the present hours of labour or otherwise, to
+give such facilities as may be possible consistently with the requirements
+of their business to enable boys and youths to obtain technical
+instruction.&#8221; Judicious canvassing among a certain class of employers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>
+may, therefore, lead to most beneficent results. It should also be borne
+in mind that in London and other towns into which there is a large
+immigration of adult labour, there is room for new openings leading on to
+skilled trades.</p>
+
+<p>While much can unquestionably be done under existing conditions to improve
+and supervise the conditions of boy labour by means of the Juvenile Labour
+Exchange, it is certain that sooner or later there will be need of
+regulation by Act of Parliament. Probably the best course would be to give
+the Board of Trade power in the case of certain occupations to limit at
+their discretion the employment of boys to boys engaged at the Exchange.
+If in addition the proposals made in the previous sections were to become
+law, we should be in a very strong position to launch the youth on the
+ocean of manhood with all the prospects of a successful voyage.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">IV.</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">General Conclusions.</span></p>
+
+<p>At the end of a long and rather complex discussion it is desirable to
+attempt some general summary of what has already been achieved and of the
+proposals necessary for the creation of a true apprenticeship system. It
+will make for clearness if we take a boy and follow his career through its
+various stages.</p>
+
+<p>At the age of five or thereabouts he will enter the elementary school. It
+is to be hoped that the reorganization<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> of the public health services and
+the more careful attention devoted to the period of infancy may send him
+to the school free from those physical defects so common now, and healthy
+within the limits of nature. Here he will begin his education. Improved
+methods of teaching will make for increased intelligence and the growth of
+numerous interests, while physical exercises, medical inspection and
+treatment, added to the supply of wholesome food to the necessitous, will
+promote the healthy development of his body.</p>
+
+<p>At the age of eleven comes an important epoch in his career. It is then
+that, if found suitable, he will, with the help of a scholarship, be sent
+to the secondary school, and thence be led along a broad road to the
+University. Failing the winning of a scholarship, he will, if he display
+any special aptitude, be drafted off to a central school with a commercial
+or industrial bias. Failing, again, the proof of any exceptional ability,
+he will remain in the ordinary school. In either case he will continue at
+school till the age of fifteen, will be forbidden to work for wages
+outside school hours, and will throughout be periodically examined by the
+school doctor.</p>
+
+<p>With the approach to the age of fifteen begins the second important epoch
+in his career. Some time before the day of leaving school arrives he will
+have been interviewed by a friendly volunteer, who, with the help of the
+school record and medical register, will be able to decide for what form
+of employment he is best suited. In the meanwhile the Labour Exchange will
+have found for him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> a suitable opening, or, failing this, a temporary
+situation pending a more satisfactory and permanent position. If he gain a
+place in a skilled trade, the half-time school, which he must attend for
+the next three years, will add to the training of the workshop that
+all-round training, whose result is intelligence and adaptability,
+required to make of him an efficient artisan. If he is destined to fill
+the ranks of unskilled labour, he will likewise attend a half-time school
+carefully designed to enable him to play a useful part in the world of
+life. In both cases he will remain for half-time under the supervision of
+the education authority; in both cases periodic medical inspection will
+watch over his physical development, and if it show him physically unfit
+for the work he has undertaken, he will be found employment more suitable
+to his strength; in both cases the advisory committee of the Labour
+Exchange will receive reports from the home, the school, and the employer,
+and these reports will enable them to discover whether the occupation and
+the training are well adapted to foster his natural abilities. For three
+years, while at work, he will also remain at school; for three years his
+training will be guided by employers who will see to it that it turns out
+the efficient workman, and by the education authority, which, acting in
+the interests of the community, will see that it makes for the efficient
+citizen.</p>
+
+<p>In process of time, with the gradual accumulation of experience, and with
+the knowledge of the Board of Trade behind it, the advisory committee will
+be able to adjust<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> the supply of boys in course of special training to
+meet the demands of special trades, and even if some unforeseen
+transformation of industry upsets the calculations, there should be no
+insurmountable difficulty of disposing of lads at the age of eighteen who
+are at once well conducted, physically fit, and intelligent.</p>
+
+<p>We come back to the position from which we started in the
+introduction&mdash;the need of securing for the youth of the country adequate
+supervision up to the age of at least eighteen, appropriate training
+during that period, and at its conclusion the provision of an opening in
+some occupation for which special preparation has been given. We have seen
+that for at any rate a large section of the people these conditions were
+satisfied during the best days of the gilds, and that they were satisfied
+in direct proportion to the extent to which the gilds stood for the common
+interests. With the decay and disappearance of the gilds the training of
+the youth became a matter of individual bargaining between parent and
+employer. No authority, standing for the common good, superintended the
+process. Apprenticeship might be enforced; its efficiency could not be
+guaranteed. Further, the existence of apprenticeship tended to create a
+privileged class who resented the intrusion of those who entered a trade
+by other means. With the coming of the industrial revolution, training
+itself became more difficult. The large workshop and the division of
+labour were unfavourable to apprenticeship. Employers wanted to use boys,
+and not to train them. Rapid progress of invention <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>continually discounted
+the value of acquired manual skill, and parents could not see at the
+conclusion of the apprenticeship any prospect of a favourable opening in a
+skilled trade; while the gradual break-up of the system of supervision
+bred a spirit of independence among boys which rendered them disinclined
+to bind themselves for a period of years. Finally, competition, with the
+urgent need of surviving the struggle of to-day, made it hard for
+employers to prepare for the future by providing for the training of the
+future workmen. The industrial system gave no guarantee for the efficiency
+of the next generation of workers. The old apprenticeship system had
+broken down.</p>
+
+<p>But in the period of general disintegration there was slowly
+developing&mdash;at first unconsciously, and later with more clearly directed
+effort&mdash;an organization which made for constructive reform. It was called
+into being as a last resort, and to save the country from the ruin which
+was threatened by the exploitation of children. Competition demanded the
+sacrifice of to-morrow to-day; the State, whose interests belong to all
+time, was driven to forbid the sacrifice. Competition demanded that
+children of tender years should labour in the mines and the factories, and
+under conditions that made all health a mockery; the State insisted on a
+minimum standard of health and safety for its children. The standard, low
+at first, has steadily been raised. Thus has grown up the regulation of
+child labour and the Acts relating to factories and workshops. Competition
+cared nothing for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> education of the children; it wanted to use them up
+and cast them on the waste-heap. The State, recognizing the dangers of an
+uneducated people, established by slow degrees a system of universal
+education. So the struggle between the two has gone on, the State only
+interfering as a last resort and in despair of other means to stop the
+evil. Throughout its action has been generally beneficial, but the
+benefits have been limited because that action has been partial and
+patchy. Much of the expenditure, for example, on education has been wasted
+just because the education came to an end too soon. The time had come for
+a more comprehensive study of the situation that should indicate the
+faults of the existing system.</p>
+
+<p>Such a study has been attempted in the present volume. The task has been
+comparatively easy, because the evils are generally admitted. What has not
+hitherto been recognized sufficiently is the fact that these evils are
+growing, and not in course of removal. The various factors in the process
+have been examined, and, ignoring the State, they are clearly inadequate,
+and progressively inadequate, to the task of solving the problem. As a
+last resort the State remains. If the principles underlying the training
+of youth are admitted, if out of the various possible forces concerned all
+with one exception have been proved defective, then we must put our hopes
+in the one exception. We must enlarge the sphere of influence of the
+State. How this should be done has been shown in the present chapter.</p>
+
+<p>The principles underlying the proposals have all been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> drawn from
+experience, and are founded on the apprenticeship system, but applied with
+modifications suitable to changed conditions. Under the gild system there
+were three interests concerned and conjoined&mdash;the interests of the master,
+the interest of journeyman and apprentice, and the interest of the
+community. Since the gilds have gone these interests have become separate
+and increasingly antagonistic. For the successful training of the youth of
+the country the claims of these clashing interests must again be brought
+together and reconciled. Ultimately and in the long-run they are
+identical; it is only competition, with its dimmed and narrow vision, that
+made the cleavage. It is hoped that the proposals outlined in this chapter
+will point the road towards a final peace. Let us, in conclusion, bring
+them to the test of the three essentials for which a true apprenticeship
+system must make adequate provision.</p>
+
+<p>There must be supervision&mdash;supervision of conduct, supervision of health.
+Under the new apprenticeship system the State will be the ultimate
+authority for the supervision of conduct. Till the age of fifteen the boy
+will remain subject to the control of the schools. Long experience has
+demonstrated the beneficent influence exercised by the teachers over the
+children even under present conditions, when the school career is brought
+to an end at the age of thirteen or fourteen. There is, therefore, nothing
+wild in the expectation that, with compulsory attendance extended to the
+age of fifteen, we shall receive richer and more lasting fruits. For the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>
+next three years, the critical period of a boy&#8217;s life, with its first
+experience of the workshop and the sense of independence which comes with
+earning wages, the supervision of the State will only in part be
+withdrawn. During these years he will be compelled to attend the half-time
+school, and so continue under the control of the education authority. Nor
+is this all. The advisory committee of the Labour Exchange will advise him
+in the choice of employment, assist him to obtain it, and generally watch
+over his career. Thus, helped on his journey and surrounded with wise and
+friendly influences, he will approach the threshold of manhood with such
+promise of success as good habits and an ordered life may bring.</p>
+
+<p>The State, likewise, will be responsible for the supervision of the boy&#8217;s
+health. Periodic medical inspection will watch and aid his physical
+development. We have not yet learned to appreciate the full value of this
+periodic inspection; it is, however, destined to become the most powerful
+instrument of reform. The ill-nourished child, the delicate child, the
+child in the early stages of phthisis, the child of negligent parents, the
+child from the overcrowded or insanitary home&mdash;all these, the future
+weaklings of the nation, we know them now only when the evil has too often
+outrun the possibility of a cure and it is too late. Under the new
+conditions we shall detect the evil in its first beginning, while there is
+yet hope. Medical inspection is also the key to the situation after the
+boy goes out to work, and for three years he will remain under its
+control. At the present time we only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> dimly realize the disastrous effects
+that come to a boy from the choice of an occupation ill-suited to his
+strength. We forbid a few forms of work, attempt for the most part
+ineffectively to limit the hours of employment in a few others, but in our
+clumsy fashion legislate as a rule for the normal child, and it is the
+abnormal child that suffers most. Under the new conditions there will be
+no work for children under the age of fifteen, while for the three
+following years medical inspection will enable us to legislate for the
+individual boy, taking into account his physical characteristics. Not only
+shall we be able to help a boy to avoid making a wrong choice, but we
+shall be able to remove him as soon as medical inspection shows him unfit
+for the work. Thus, to the age of eighteen the State has its finger on the
+pulse of the youth.</p>
+
+<p>Secondly, there must be an adequate provision of training, special and
+general, accessible to all. Here, again, we are building on the firm rock
+of solid experience. The elementary schools have proved themselves to be
+schools for the cultivation of intelligence. With a year or two added to
+the school life; with the relief from that distracting influence which
+comes from wage-earning while at school; with the improved methods of
+teaching and a clearer differentiation of types of school to suit varying
+types of mind&mdash;reforms already under way&mdash;we may fairly hope for a general
+rise in the intelligence of the boys. The half-time school, with its three
+years&#8217; course, will supply the more specialized training required in the
+different trades and occupations, while committees of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> employers will
+provide the expert criticism essential to success.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, there must be the provision of an opening in some form of
+employment for which special preparation has been given. The Labour
+Exchange, the juvenile branch worked in close co-operation with the adult
+section, will supply the opening, while the technical training will give
+good guarantee for the adequacy of the preparation. The Elementary School,
+the Half-time School, the Education Authority, and the Advisory Committee,
+all acting together, will insure a safe passage from youth to manhood.</p>
+
+<p>The new apprenticeship system is more complex than the old&mdash;it lacks
+something of the picturesqueness of the Middle Ages&mdash;but it finds its
+compensation in an organization at once more flexible and more
+comprehensive, and therefore better suited to stand the shock of those
+huge changes in methods of production and methods of living which have
+been the ungainly offspring of the industrial revolution.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p>
+<h2>LIST OF AUTHORITIES</h2>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">I</p>
+<p class="center">PARLIAMENTARY AND MUNICIPAL PUBLICATIONS</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Elementary Schools (Children Working for Wages), Parts I. and II.,
+Parliamentary Return. 1899.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on the Employment of
+School-Children. 1901.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Children Act,
+1903. 1910.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and the Relief of
+Distress. 1909.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Report by Mr. Cyril Jackson on Boy Labour. 1909.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Report of the Commissioners of Prisons for the year ending March 31, 1908.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for the year
+1909.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Report of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education on Higher
+Elementary Schools. 1906.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Report of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education on
+Attendance, Compulsory or Otherwise, at Continuation Schools. 2 vols.,
+1909.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Report on the By-Laws made by the London County Council under the
+Employment of Children Act, 1903, by Chester Jones. 1906.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">London County Council Report of the Medical Officer (Education) for the
+year 1906.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">London County Council Report of the Medical Officer (Education) for the
+year 1909.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="hang">London County Council: Medical Treatment of Children attending Elementary
+Schools&mdash;Report of Education Committee. 1909.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">London County Council: Home Circumstances of Necessitous Children in
+Twelve Selected Schools. 1909.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">London County Council: The Apprenticeship Question. 1906.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">London County Council: Report of the Higher Education Sub-Committee on
+Apprenticeship: Agenda of Education Committee, February 24, 1909, pp.
+412-425.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">London County Council: Technical Education Board Report on the Building
+Trades. 1899.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">London County Council: Report by Miss Durham, Inspector of Women&#8217;s
+Technical Classes on Juvenile Labour in Germany. 1910.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">London County Council: Report by Mr. R. Blair (Education Officer) on
+Organization of Education in London. P. S. King and Son, Westminster.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">County Council of Middlesex: Report by Mr. A. J. Bird (Inspector of
+Schools) on Employment Bureaux for Children of School-leaving Age.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Urban District Council of Finchley: Annual Report of the Medical Officer
+of Health, including the Report to the Education Committee for the year
+1908.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Gloucestershire Education Committee: Report of the Minor Committee to
+consider Certain Proposals for the Creation of an Apprenticeship Fund and
+a Labour Bureau. 1907.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">II</p>
+<p class="center">AUTHORS</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Abraham and Davies</span>: Factories and Workshops. 1902.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Abram, A.</span>: Social Life in the Fifteenth Century. 1909.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Alden, Margaret</span>: Child Life and Labour.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Ashley, W. J.</span>: Introduction to English Economic History. 1888.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Beveridge, W. H.</span>: Unemployment. 1909.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Black, Clementina</span>: Sweated Industry. 1907.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Blair, R.</span>: Some Features of American Education. 1904.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Booth, Charles</span>: Life and Labour of the People, 9 vols. 1896.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Bray, Reginald A.</span>: The Apprenticeship Question, in <i>Economic Journal</i>,
+September, 1909.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Bray, Reginald A.</span>: The Town Child. 1907.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Christian Social Union</span>: Report on the Employment of Boys in the London
+Area. 1910.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Continuation Schools in England and Elsewhere, edited by <span class="smcap">M. E. Sadler</span>.
+1907.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Creasey, Clarence H.</span>: Technical Education in Evening Schools. 1905.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Crowley, Ralph H.</span>: Hygiene of School Life. 1909.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Cuningham, W.</span>: Growth of English Industry and Commerce: Early and Middle
+Ages. 1905.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Cuningham, W.</span>: Growth of English Industry and Commerce: Modern Times, 2
+vols. 1903.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Davies, Maude F.</span>: Life in an English Village. 1909.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Frere, Margaret</span>: Children&#8217;s Care Committees. 1909.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Gibb, The Rev. Spencer J.</span>: The Problem of Boy Work. 1906.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Gibb, The Rev. Spencer J.</span>: Boy Work and Unemployment. C.S.U. Pamphlet.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Gordon, Ogilvie</span>: Handbook of Employments. 1908.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Green, J. R.</span>: History of the English Peoples, vols. i. and iv. 1896.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Green, Mrs. J. R.</span>: Town Life in the Fifteenth Century, 2 vols. 1894.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Hall, G. Stanley</span>: Adolescence, 2 vols.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Hasbach, W.</span>: History of the English Agricultural Labourer. 1908.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Hawkins, C. B.</span>: Norwich: A Social Study. 1910.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Hayward, F. H.</span>: Day and Evening Schools. 1910.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Hogarth, A. H.</span>: Medical Inspection of Schools. 1909.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Hutchins and Harrison</span>: A History of Factory Legislation. 1907.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Jackson, Cyril</span>: Unemployment and Trade Unions. 1910.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Jebb, Eglantyne</span>: Cambridge: A Brief Study in Social Questions. 1906.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Keeling, Frederic</span>: The Labour Exchange in Relation to Boy and Girl Labour.
+1910.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Kirkman, Gray B.</span>: A History of English Philanthropy. 1905.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Kirkman, Gray B.</span>: Philanthropy and the State.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Knowles, G. W.</span>: Junior Labour Exchanges. 1910.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Macmillan, Margaret</span>: Labour and Childhood. 1907.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Moseley</span>: Educational Committee Report. 1904.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Nicholls, Sir G.</span>: History of the English Poor Law. 1898.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Rogers, J. E. T.</span>: Six Centuries of Work and Wages. 1884.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Rowntree, B. S.</span>: Poverty: A Study of Town Life. 1901.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Russell, C. E. B.</span>: Manchester Boys. 1905.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Russell and Rigby</span>: The Making of the Criminal. 1906.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Russell and Rigby</span>: Working Lads&#8217; Clubs. 1908.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Shadwell, Arthur</span>: Industrial Efficiency. 1909.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Studies of Boy Life in our Cities, edited by <span class="smcap">E. J. Urwick</span>. 1904.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Tawney, R. H.</span>: The Economics of Boy Labour, in <i>Economic Journal</i>,
+December, 1909.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Trades for London: Boys. Compiled by the Apprenticeship and Skilled
+Employment Committee. 1908.</p>
+
+<p class="hang">Trades for London: Girls. Compiled by the Apprenticeship and Skilled
+Employment Committee. 1909.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Tuckwell and Smith</span>: The Workers&#8217; Handbook. 1908.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Webb, Sidney and Beatrice</span>: History of Trade Unionism. 1907.</p>
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Webb, Sidney and Beatrice</span>: Industrial Democracy, 2 vols. 1897.</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p>
+<h2>INDEX</h2>
+
+
+<p class="index">
+Abraham and Davies, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a><br />
+<br />
+Abram, A., <a href="#Page_9">9</a><br />
+<br />
+Adler, Miss, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br />
+<br />
+Adolescence, vi, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a><br />
+<br />
+Agricultural Gangs Act, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br />
+<br />
+Apprentices, statute of, <a href="#Page_13">13-15</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pauper, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17-19</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">repeal, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Apprenticeship, break-up of, <a href="#Page_165">165-175</a><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">charities, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">decay, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165-175</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">difficulties of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">essentials, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">indentured, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187-189</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">meaning, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">under gilds, <a href="#Page_4">4-11</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">under industrial revolution, <a href="#Page_26">26-29</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">under statute, <a href="#Page_11">11-19</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">universal, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of to-day: contribution of home, <a href="#Page_92">92-103</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of philanthropy, <a href="#Page_89">89-92</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of State, <a href="#Page_73">73-74</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76-89</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">of workshop, <a href="#Page_103">103-165</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the new: Juvenile Labour Exchange, <a href="#Page_231">231-231</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">new half-time, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197-202</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">prohibition of employment, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195-197</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">raising school age, <a href="#Page_191">191-195</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">summary, <a href="#Page_231">231-240</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Ashby, W. J., <a href="#Page_4">4</a><br />
+<br />
+Attendance at school, Acts relating to, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46-48</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">percentage of, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Blair, R., <a href="#Page_86">86</a><br />
+<br />
+&#8220;Blind-alley&#8221; occupations, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123-130</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169-172</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a><br />
+<br />
+Board of Education, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a><br />
+<br />
+Board of Trade, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a><br />
+<br />
+Booth, C., <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a><br />
+<br />
+Borstal Association, <a href="#Page_169">169</a><br />
+<br />
+Boy labour: difficulties of regulation, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effects of regulation, <a href="#Page_77">77-82</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">half-time, <a href="#Page_49">49-52</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197-202</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">health and safety, <a href="#Page_52">52-58</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197-202</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">limitation of hours, <a href="#Page_43">43-52</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197-202</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prohibition of, <a href="#Page_41">41-43</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195-197</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">regulation under gilds, <a href="#Page_7">7-11</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">under industrial revolution, <a href="#Page_20">20-25</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">under statute, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></span><br />
+<br /><a name="boys" id="boys"></a>
+Boys: clubs, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">errand, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lather, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">office, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shop, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">telegraph, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">van, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span><br />
+Boys: employment of, at school, <a href="#Page_103">103-113</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151-155</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on leaving school, <a href="#Page_114">114-119</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">entering manhood, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unemployed, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">under London County Council, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Bursaries, <a href="#Page_65">65</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Chamber of Commerce, <a href="#Page_230">230</a><br />
+<br />
+Chapman, Professor, <a href="#Page_211">211</a><br />
+<br />
+Child, definition of, <a href="#Page_40">40</a><br />
+<br />
+Children Act, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a><br />
+<br />
+Children, employment of. <i>See</i> <a href="#boys">Boys</a><br />
+<br />
+Chimney Sweepers Act, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br />
+<br />
+Cloete, J. G., <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a><br />
+<br />
+Coal Mines Regulation Act, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br />
+<br />
+Competition, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a><br />
+<br />
+Cuningham, W., <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Davies, Miss Maude, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a><br />
+<br />
+Distribution of trades, <a href="#Page_115">115-118</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142-149</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">normal, <a href="#Page_147">147-149</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Durham, Miss, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<i>Economic Journal</i>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a><br />
+<br />
+Education Acts, 1902-03, <a href="#Page_62">62</a><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Administrative Provisions Act, 1907, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Provision of Meals Act, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Employment of children. <i>See</i> <a href="#boys">Boys</a><br />
+<br />
+Employment of Children Act, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Factory legislation, causes of, <a href="#Page_30">30</a><br />
+<br />
+Factory and Workshops Act, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">authority for enforcement, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">definitions, <a href="#Page_39">39-41</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effects of, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">half-time, <a href="#Page_49">49-51</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">health and safety, <a href="#Page_52">52-56</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">limitation of hours, <a href="#Page_43">43-52</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prohibition of employment, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Furness, Sir Christopher, <a href="#Page_213">213</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Gibb, Spencer J., <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a><br />
+<br />
+Gilds, <a href="#Page_4">4-11</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a><br />
+<br />
+Girls, <a href="#Page_vii">vii</a><br />
+<br />
+Green, Mrs. J. R., <a href="#Page_12">12</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Half-time system, <a href="#Page_49">49-51</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197-203</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204-205</a><br />
+<br />
+Hall, G. Stanley, vi<br />
+<br />
+Hasbach, W., <a href="#Page_25">25</a><br />
+<br />
+Health and Morals of Apprentices Act, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+Hutchins and Harrison, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Idealist, triumph of, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><br />
+<br />
+Indenture, old, <a href="#Page_6">6</a><br />
+<br />
+Individualist, triumph of, <a href="#Page_32">32-34</a><br />
+<br />
+Industrial revolution, <a href="#Page_20">20-26</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effects of, <a href="#Page_26">26-29</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173-175</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">characteristics, <a href="#Page_177">177-185</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">schools, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Jackson, Cyril. <i>See</i> <a href="#report">Report on Boy Labour</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Labour Exchange, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Juvenile, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221-231</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232-240</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Lather-boy. <i>See</i> <a href="#boys">Boys</a><br />
+<br />
+London, employment of school-children, <a href="#Page_105">105-113</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">entry to a trade, <a href="#Page_113">113-142</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">passage to manhood, <a href="#Page_142">142-151</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Medical certificate, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inspection, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Messenger-boy. <i>See</i> <a href="#boys">Boys</a><br />
+<br />
+Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act, <a href="#Page_38">38</a><br />
+<br />
+Mines (Prohibition of Child Labour Underground) Act, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Necessitous children, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a><br />
+<br />
+Nicholls, Sir G., <a href="#Page_18">18</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Occupations, clerical, <a href="#Page_140">140-142</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">distribution of, <a href="#Page_115">115-120</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142-149</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">skilled, <a href="#Page_132">132-140</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unskilled, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121-133</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Office-boy. <i>See</i> <a href="#boys">Boys</a><br />
+<br />
+Opening. <i>See</i> <a href="#provision">Provision of</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Poor Law, Elizabethan, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Amendment Act, <a href="#Page_23">23-26</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Report of Royal Commission. <i>See</i> <a href="#reports">Reports</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br />
+<br /><a name="provision" id="provision"></a>
+Provision of opening, need for, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Labour Exchange, <a href="#Page_70">70-72</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221-231</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under gilds, <a href="#Page_8">8-11</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under industrial revolution, <a href="#Page_20">20-26</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br /><a name="reports" id="reports"></a>
+Report of Board of Education, <a href="#Page_64">64</a><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Commissioners for Prisons, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Consultative Committee on Continuation School, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Consultative Committee on Higher Elementary Schools, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Departmental Committee on Employment of Children Act, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Interdepartmental Committee on Employment of Children, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of London County Council on Apprenticeship, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Medical Officer, Board of Education, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Medical Officer (Education) of London County Council, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Report of Poor Law Commission, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a><br />
+<br /><a name="report" id="report"></a>
+Report on Boy Labour, by Mr. Cyril Jackson, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Home Circumstances of Necessitous Children, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Rogers, J. E. Thorold, <a href="#Page_5">5</a><br />
+<br />
+Rural Districts, <a href="#Page_161">161-165</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Sadler, M. E., <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a><br />
+<br />
+Scholarships, <a href="#Page_66">66-68</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a><br />
+<br /><a name="school" id="school"></a>
+School: age, <a href="#Page_46">46-48</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192-195</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">central, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">elementary, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63-65</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83-86</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evening, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">industrial, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">part-time, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218-221</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">secondary, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sunday, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">technical and trade, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Scott-Holland, Canon, <a href="#Page_124">124</a><br />
+<br />
+Shop-boy. <i>See</i> <a href="#boys">Boys</a><br />
+<br />
+Shop Hours Act, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a><br />
+<br />
+Skilled Employment Committees, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a><br />
+<br />
+Supervision, need for, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under gilds, <a href="#Page_8">8-11</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under statute, <a href="#Page_13">13-15</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under industrial revolution, <a href="#Page_20">20-26</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by State regulation, <a href="#Page_37">37-58</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by State enterprise, <a href="#Page_59">59-70</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effects of State, <a href="#Page_76">76-88</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by philanthropy, <a href="#Page_89">89-92</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in home, <a href="#Page_92">92-103</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in workshop, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in London, summary, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general summary, <a href="#Page_165">165-168</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under new apprenticeship, <a href="#Page_191">191-202</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221-231</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Tawney, R. L., <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a><br />
+<br />
+Technical instruction. <i>See</i> <a href="#school">Schools</a><br />
+<br />
+Trades, distribution of, <a href="#Page_115">115-120</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142-149</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">picking up, <a href="#Page_136">136-140</a>;</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">skilled, <a href="#Page_133">133-142</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208-214</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unskilled, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121-133</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155-160</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165-175</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></span><br />
+<br />
+Training, need for, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under gilds, <a href="#Page_9">9-12</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under statute, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under industrial revolution, <a href="#Page_20">20-27</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in single operation, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137-139</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in elementary schools, <a href="#Page_63">63-65</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in continuation schools, <a href="#Page_65">65-70</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in workshops, <a href="#Page_111">111-113</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121-142</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165-175</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in new apprenticeships, <a href="#Page_207">207-221</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Van-boy. <i>See</i> <a href="#boys">Boys</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Webb, Sidney and Beatrice, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Young person, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44-46</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">THE END</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="center">BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD</p>
+
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr style="width: 50%;" />
+<p><strong>Footnotes:</strong></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_1' id='f_1' href='#fna_1'>[1]</a> G. Stanley Hall, &#8220;Adolescence,&#8221; vol. ii., p. 83.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_2' id='f_2' href='#fna_2'>[2]</a> See, for a general description of gilds, &#8220;Economic History,&#8221; by W. J.
+Ashby; &#8220;Growth of English History and Commerce: Early and Middle Ages.&#8221; by
+W. Cunningham.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_3' id='f_3' href='#fna_3'>[3]</a> J. E. Thorold Rogers, &#8220;Six Centuries of Work and Wages,&#8221; p. 566.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_4' id='f_4' href='#fna_4'>[4]</a> Quoted, Cunningham, pp. 349-350.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_5' id='f_5' href='#fna_5'>[5]</a> Sidney and Beatrice Webb, &#8220;A History of Trade Unionism,&#8221; p. 17.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_6' id='f_6' href='#fna_6'>[6]</a> Cunningham, p. 460.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_7' id='f_7' href='#fna_7'>[7]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 345.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_8' id='f_8' href='#fna_8'>[8]</a> A. Abiam, &#8220;Social England in the Fifteenth Century,&#8221; p. 118.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_9' id='f_9' href='#fna_9'>[9]</a> Cunningham, p. 509.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_10' id='f_10' href='#fna_10'>[10]</a> Mrs. J. R. Green, &#8220;Town Life in the Fifteenth Century,&#8221; vol. ii., p.
+102.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_11' id='f_11' href='#fna_11'>[11]</a> 5 Elizabeth, Cap. iv.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_12' id='f_12' href='#fna_12'>[12]</a> Sect. 3.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_13' id='f_13' href='#fna_13'>[13]</a> Sect. 25.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_14' id='f_14' href='#fna_14'>[14]</a> Sect. 26.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_15' id='f_15' href='#fna_15'>[15]</a> Sect. 31.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_16' id='f_16' href='#fna_16'>[16]</a> 5 Elizabeth, Cap. iv., Sect. 35.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_17' id='f_17' href='#fna_17'>[17]</a> 43 Elizabeth, Cap. ii., Sect. 5. Similar powers had been given to
+Justices of the Peace in earlier Acts (see 27 Henry VIII., Cap. xxv.; Edw.
+VI., Cap. iii.)</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_18' id='f_18' href='#fna_18'>[18]</a> W. Cunningham, &#8220;Growth of English Industry and Commerce in Modern
+Times,&#8221; pp. 29-30.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_19' id='f_19' href='#fna_19'>[19]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 33.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_20' id='f_20' href='#fna_20'>[20]</a> See 3 Chas. I., Cap. v.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_21' id='f_21' href='#fna_21'>[21]</a> Sir G. Nicholls, &#8220;History of the Poor Law,&#8221; vol. ii., p. 223 <i>et
+seq.</i> 1898.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_22' id='f_22' href='#fna_22'>[22]</a> James I., Cap. iii.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_23' id='f_23' href='#fna_23'>[23]</a> Cunningham, p. 615.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_24' id='f_24' href='#fna_24'>[24]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, pp. 640-641.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_25' id='f_25' href='#fna_25'>[25]</a> Sidney and Beatrice Webb, &#8220;History of Trade Unionism,&#8221; p. 47.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_26' id='f_26' href='#fna_26'>[26]</a> Sidney and Beatrice Webb, &#8220;History of Trade Unionism,&#8221; p. 47.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_27' id='f_27' href='#fna_27'>[27]</a> Cunningham, p. 660.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_28' id='f_28' href='#fna_28'>[28]</a> <i>Ibid.</i></p>
+
+<p><a name='f_29' id='f_29' href='#fna_29'>[29]</a> 54 George III., Cap. xcvi.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_30' id='f_30' href='#fna_30'>[30]</a> Hutchins and Harrison, &#8220;History of Factory Legislation,&#8221; p. 16.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_31' id='f_31' href='#fna_31'>[31]</a> Herr W. Hasbach, &#8220;A History of the English Agricultural Labourer,&#8221;
+pp. 224, 225.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_32' id='f_32' href='#fna_32'>[32]</a> Quoted by Cunningham, &#8220;Growth of Industry and Commerce in Modern
+Times,&#8221; p. 776.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_33' id='f_33' href='#fna_33'>[33]</a> Quoted by B. L. Hutchins and A. Harrison, in &#8220;A History of Factory
+Legislation,&#8221; p. 15.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_34' id='f_34' href='#fna_34'>[34]</a> In the Report of the Poor Law Commission we have an interesting
+example side by side of the two forces that make for reform. The Majority
+Report is altogether the work of sentiment. The proposed variation in the
+terminology applicable to those in receipt of relief, the loosening of the
+deterrent system, the advocacy of the more generous treatment of the young
+and the sick, the general neglect to consider remote causes, and the total
+absence of any consistent principle, can be explained in no other way. Its
+cold reception by the British Constitutional Association&mdash;that body of
+people who still hold aloft the tattered banners of the individualist&mdash;is
+but another proof that sentiment, and not the <i>a priori</i> assumptions of
+the old school, is the guiding spirit. In the Minority Report we see
+everywhere the mark of the imaginative reason&mdash;that reason which, starting
+with facts and not with theories, strives to picture the long chain of
+cause and effect which leads up to the sufferer, and finally, seeing the
+whole process in its true proportions, strikes at the evil where it begins
+and can be prevented, and not where it ends, when only a more or less
+modified failure can be looked for.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_35' id='f_35' href='#fna_35'>[35]</a> A striking instance of this is supplied by the Municipal Reform Party
+on the London County Council. Opposed in principle to feeding or treating
+medically children at the cost of the rates, they have yet been compelled
+to do both these things. And they have been compelled to take action, not
+by the pressure of public opinion&mdash;the public opinion of their own side
+generally condemned them for forsaking their principles&mdash;but by the sheer
+inability of members to learn, week after week, that hungry children were
+unfed and sick children left without treatment.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_36' id='f_36' href='#fna_36'>[36]</a> See Part X. of the Act. Needless to say, the decision as to what
+kinds of industry come within these definitions has exercised the
+ingenuity of the lawyer. In one case (Law <i>v.</i> Graham), for example, Lord
+Alverstone, Chief Justice, expressed the opinion that bottling beer is not
+within paragraph (i.) or paragraph (ii.) above; that by a somewhat
+strained construction it might be said to be within paragraph (iii.), as
+being an adapting of an article for sale, but that the powers used in
+washing the bottles was not &#8220;in aid of the process of bottling.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_37' id='f_37' href='#fna_37'>[37]</a> For complete list of such industries, see Sch. VI. of the Act.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_38' id='f_38' href='#fna_38'>[38]</a> See Part VI. of the Act for details and exceptions.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_39' id='f_39' href='#fna_39'>[39]</a> Sects. 103, 104, 105, 106.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_40' id='f_40' href='#fna_40'>[40]</a> Sects. 71 and 156.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_41' id='f_41' href='#fna_41'>[41]</a> Sect. 156.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_42' id='f_42' href='#fna_42'>[42]</a> Sect. 13.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_43' id='f_43' href='#fna_43'>[43]</a> Factory and Workshop Act, Sect. 77.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_44' id='f_44' href='#fna_44'>[44]</a> Sect. 99.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_45' id='f_45' href='#fna_45'>[45]</a> Mines Act, 1900, Sect. 1.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_46' id='f_46' href='#fna_46'>[46]</a> Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887, Sect. 7.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_47' id='f_47' href='#fna_47'>[47]</a> Factory and Workshops Act, Sect. 77.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_48' id='f_48' href='#fna_48'>[48]</a> Employment of Children Act, Sects. 3 and 13.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_49' id='f_49' href='#fna_49'>[49]</a> Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 1894, Sect. 3.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_50' id='f_50' href='#fna_50'>[50]</a> Sect. 1.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_51' id='f_51' href='#fna_51'>[51]</a> Sect. 2.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_52' id='f_52' href='#fna_52'>[52]</a> Sect. 4.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_53' id='f_53' href='#fna_53'>[53]</a> For definitions, see <a href="#Page_39">p. 39</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_54' id='f_54' href='#fna_54'>[54]</a> Sect. 24.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_55' id='f_55' href='#fna_55'>[55]</a> Sect. 26.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_56' id='f_56' href='#fna_56'>[56]</a> Sect. 111.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_57' id='f_57' href='#fna_57'>[57]</a> Sects. 51, 53.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_58' id='f_58' href='#fna_58'>[58]</a> Sects. 31, 46.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_59' id='f_59' href='#fna_59'>[59]</a> The best detailed account of the Act is found in &#8220;The Law Relating to
+Factories and Workshops,&#8221; by Abraham and Davies.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_60' id='f_60' href='#fna_60'>[60]</a> Shop Hours Act, Sect. 3.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_61' id='f_61' href='#fna_61'>[61]</a> Employment of Children Act, Sect. 2.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_62' id='f_62' href='#fna_62'>[62]</a> Report of the Consultative Committee on Continuation Schools, vol.
+i., p. 22.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_63' id='f_63' href='#fna_63'>[63]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, vol. i., p. 21.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_64' id='f_64' href='#fna_64'>[64]</a> Employment of Children Act, Sect. 3 (1).</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_65' id='f_65' href='#fna_65'>[65]</a> Sect. 1.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_66' id='f_66' href='#fna_66'>[66]</a> Abraham and Davies, &#8220;The Law Relating to Factories and Workshops,&#8221;
+fourth edition, p. 41.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_67' id='f_67' href='#fna_67'>[67]</a> Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, Sect. 25.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_68' id='f_68' href='#fna_68'>[68]</a> Sect. 25.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_69' id='f_69' href='#fna_69'>[69]</a> Sects. 31 and 46.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_70' id='f_70' href='#fna_70'>[70]</a> Sect. 69.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_71' id='f_71' href='#fna_71'>[71]</a> Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on the Employment of
+School-Children, p. 12.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_72' id='f_72' href='#fna_72'>[72]</a> The summary of the provisions that follow is founded on &#8220;The Law
+Relating to Factories and Workshops,&#8221; by Abraham and Davies, chap. ii.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_73' id='f_73' href='#fna_73'>[73]</a> Factory and Workshop Act, Sect. 63, (1) and (2).</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_74' id='f_74' href='#fna_74'>[74]</a> Sect. 64 (4).</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_75' id='f_75' href='#fna_75'>[75]</a> Sect. 64 (5).</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_76' id='f_76' href='#fna_76'>[76]</a> Sect. 64 (6).</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_77' id='f_77' href='#fna_77'>[77]</a> Sect. 67.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_78' id='f_78' href='#fna_78'>[78]</a> Sect. 65.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_79' id='f_79' href='#fna_79'>[79]</a> Sect. 66.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_80' id='f_80' href='#fna_80'>[80]</a> Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907, Sect. 13.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_81' id='f_81' href='#fna_81'>[81]</a> See <a href="#Page_46">pp. 46-48</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_82' id='f_82' href='#fna_82'>[82]</a> Children Act, 1908, Sect. 58.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_83' id='f_83' href='#fna_83'>[83]</a> Education (Administration Provisions) Act, 1907, Sect. 13.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_84' id='f_84' href='#fna_84'>[84]</a> Board of Education Circular 576, Sect. 12.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_85' id='f_85' href='#fna_85'>[85]</a> Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907, Sect. 13.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_86' id='f_86' href='#fna_86'>[86]</a> Education (Provision of Meals) Act, 1906, Sect. 3.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_87' id='f_87' href='#fna_87'>[87]</a> Children Act, Sect. 77.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_88' id='f_88' href='#fna_88'>[88]</a> I am here speaking of England; in Scotland there are limited powers
+of enforcing attendance.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_89' id='f_89' href='#fna_89'>[89]</a> Report of Board of Education, 1908-09, p. 110.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_90' id='f_90' href='#fna_90'>[90]</a> For a more detailed account of the machinery considered desirable,
+see the Report of the London County Council on &#8220;The Apprenticeship
+Question.&#8221;</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_91' id='f_91' href='#fna_91'>[91]</a> See Report of the Consultative Committee on Continuation Schools, p.
+22.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_92' id='f_92' href='#fna_92'>[92]</a> Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Children
+Act, pp. 6, 7.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_93' id='f_93' href='#fna_93'>[93]</a> &#8220;The Organization of Education in London,&#8221; by R. Blair, Education
+Officer to the London County Council, p. 29.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_94' id='f_94' href='#fna_94'>[94]</a> &#8220;Studies of Boy Life in Our Cities,&#8221; edited by E. J. Urwick. Dent and
+Co.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_95' id='f_95' href='#fna_95'>[95]</a> &#8220;Home Circumstances of Necessitous Children in Twelve Selected
+Schools.&#8221; Report of the London County Council.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_96' id='f_96' href='#fna_96'>[96]</a> See &#8220;Medical Treatment of Children attending Elementary Schools,&#8221; in
+Report of the Medical Officer (Education) of the London County Council for
+the year 1909. See also Report of the Medical Officer of the Board of
+Education for 1909.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_97' id='f_97' href='#fna_97'>[97]</a> &#8220;Studies of Boy Life,&#8221; pp. 22-25 <i>passim</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_98' id='f_98' href='#fna_98'>[98]</a> &#8220;Studies of Boy Life,&#8221; pp. 26-28 <i>passim</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_99' id='f_99' href='#fna_99'>[99]</a> &#8220;Studies of Boy Life,&#8221; p. 32.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_100' id='f_100' href='#fna_100'>[100]</a> Elementary Schools (Children Working for Wages) Parliamentary Return,
+1899, p. 32.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_101' id='f_101' href='#fna_101'>[101]</a> Report on Employment of School-Children, p. 8.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_102' id='f_102' href='#fna_102'>[102]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 9.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_103' id='f_103' href='#fna_103'>[103]</a> Report on the Employment of School-Children, p. 9.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_104' id='f_104' href='#fna_104'>[104]</a> Quoted from &#8220;Studies of Boy Life,&#8221; p. 24.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_105' id='f_105' href='#fna_105'>[105]</a> Report on Employment of School-Children, p. 10.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_106' id='f_106' href='#fna_106'>[106]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 11.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_107' id='f_107' href='#fna_107'>[107]</a> Report on Employment of School-Children, p. 11.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_108' id='f_108' href='#fna_108'>[108]</a> Report of the Education Committee submitting the Report of the
+Medical Officer (Education) for the year 1906. P. S. King and Son.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_109' id='f_109' href='#fna_109'>[109]</a> Report of Medical Officer, p. 22.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_110' id='f_110' href='#fna_110'>[110]</a> Report of the Medical Officer (Education) 1906, p. 23.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_111' id='f_111' href='#fna_111'>[111]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 23.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_112' id='f_112' href='#fna_112'>[112]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 24.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_113' id='f_113' href='#fna_113'>[113]</a> See <a href="#Page_43">p. 43</a>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_114' id='f_114' href='#fna_114'>[114]</a> Report on the Apprenticeship Question, Minutes of the Education
+Committee of the London County Council for February 24, 1909, p. 414.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_115' id='f_115' href='#fna_115'>[115]</a> The substance of what follows appeared in an article published in
+the <i>Economic Journal</i> for September, 1909, and is reproduced by the kind
+permission of the Editor.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_116' id='f_116' href='#fna_116'>[116]</a> L.C.C. Report of Medical Officer (Education), 1906, p. 23, showed
+that this was the most injurious form of work in which school-children
+were engaged.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_117' id='f_117' href='#fna_117'>[117]</a> Report of Mr. Cyril Jackson on Boy Labour, prepared for the Poor Law
+Commission.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_118' id='f_118' href='#fna_118'>[118]</a> Report on Boy Labour, p. 7.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_119' id='f_119' href='#fna_119'>[119]</a> Report on Boy Labour, pp. 7 and 8.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_120' id='f_120' href='#fna_120'>[120]</a> Canon Scott Holland, Introduction to &#8220;The Problem of Boy Work,&#8221; by
+the Rev. Spencer J. Gibb.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_121' id='f_121' href='#fna_121'>[121]</a> Report on Boy Labour, p. 4.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_122' id='f_122' href='#fna_122'>[122]</a> Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Children
+Act, 1903, 1910, p. 14.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_123' id='f_123' href='#fna_123'>[123]</a> &#8220;Studies of Boy Life,&#8221; p. 111.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_124' id='f_124' href='#fna_124'>[124]</a> Cyril Jackson, Report on Boy Labour, p. 14.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_125' id='f_125' href='#fna_125'>[125]</a> The Rev. Spencer J. Gibb, &#8220;The Problem of Boy Work,&#8221; p. 33.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_126' id='f_126' href='#fna_126'>[126]</a> Report on the Apprenticeship Question, Minutes of the Education
+Committee of the London County Council, February 24, 1909, p. 424.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_127' id='f_127' href='#fna_127'>[127]</a> Report on Boy Labour, p. 27.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_128' id='f_128' href='#fna_128'>[128]</a> Mr. Cloete, in &#8220;Studies of Boy Life,&#8221; p. 125.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_129' id='f_129' href='#fna_129'>[129]</a> Report on Boy Labour, p. 20.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_130' id='f_130' href='#fna_130'>[130]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 20.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_131' id='f_131' href='#fna_131'>[131]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 26.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_132' id='f_132' href='#fna_132'>[132]</a> Report on Boy Labour, p. 17.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_133' id='f_133' href='#fna_133'>[133]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 16.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_134' id='f_134' href='#fna_134'>[134]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 17.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_135' id='f_135' href='#fna_135'>[135]</a> Report on the Apprenticeship Question, p. 1. London County Council
+Publications. P. S. King and Son.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_136' id='f_136' href='#fna_136'>[136]</a> Report on the Apprenticeship Question, p. 2.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_137' id='f_137' href='#fna_137'>[137]</a> Charles Booth, &#8220;Life and Labour of the People,&#8221; vol. ix., p. 222.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_138' id='f_138' href='#fna_138'>[138]</a> This Advisory Committee contains representatives of the chief
+woodwork industries of the district.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_139' id='f_139' href='#fna_139'>[139]</a> Report on the Apprenticeship Question, p. 4.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_140' id='f_140' href='#fna_140'>[140]</a> Report on the Apprenticeship Question, p. 4.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_141' id='f_141' href='#fna_141'>[141]</a> Minutes of the Education Committee, February 24, 1909, p. 415.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_142' id='f_142' href='#fna_142'>[142]</a> Report on Boy Labour, p. 47.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_143' id='f_143' href='#fna_143'>[143]</a> Report on Boy Labour, p. 20.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_144' id='f_144' href='#fna_144'>[144]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 20.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_145' id='f_145' href='#fna_145'>[145]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 22.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_146' id='f_146' href='#fna_146'>[146]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 23.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_147' id='f_147' href='#fna_147'>[147]</a> Report on Employment of School-Children, p. 5.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_148' id='f_148' href='#fna_148'>[148]</a> Report of Chief Medical Officer of Board of Education for 1909, pp.
+80-81, <i>note</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_149' id='f_149' href='#fna_149'>[149]</a> Report of Consultation Committee on Continuation Schools, p. 206.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_150' id='f_150' href='#fna_150'>[150]</a> Majority Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 325.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_151' id='f_151' href='#fna_151'>[151]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 325.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_152' id='f_152' href='#fna_152'>[152]</a> Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 1166.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_153' id='f_153' href='#fna_153'>[153]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 1166.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_154' id='f_154' href='#fna_154'>[154]</a> Minority Report on the Poor Law Commission, p. 1166.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_155' id='f_155' href='#fna_155'>[155]</a> Report on Boy Labour, p. 5.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_156' id='f_156' href='#fna_156'>[156]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 27.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_157' id='f_157' href='#fna_157'>[157]</a> M. E. Sadler, &#8220;Continuation Schools,&#8221; Preface, p. xii.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_158' id='f_158' href='#fna_158'>[158]</a> M. E. Sadler, &#8220;Continuation Schools,&#8221; Preface, p. xiii.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_159' id='f_159' href='#fna_159'>[159]</a> The Rev. Spencer J. Gibb, &#8220;The Problem of Boy Work,&#8221; p. 33.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_160' id='f_160' href='#fna_160'>[160]</a> <i>Economic Journal</i>, December, 1909, p. 522.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_161' id='f_161' href='#fna_161'>[161]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 522.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_162' id='f_162' href='#fna_162'>[162]</a> <i>Economic Journal</i>, December, 1909, p. 532.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_163' id='f_163' href='#fna_163'>[163]</a> Elementary Schools (Children Working for Wages) Act, Part (2),
+Return for England and Wales, 1899, p. iv.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_164' id='f_164' href='#fna_164'>[164]</a> Elementary Schools (Children Working for Wages) Act, Part (2),
+Return for England and Wales, 1899., p. vii.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_165' id='f_165' href='#fna_165'>[165]</a> M. F. Davies, &#8220;Life in an English Village,&#8221; chap. x.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_166' id='f_166' href='#fna_166'>[166]</a> Report of the Commissioners of Prisons for the year ending March 31,
+1908, p. 14.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_167' id='f_167' href='#fna_167'>[167]</a> Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 325.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_168' id='f_168' href='#fna_168'>[168]</a> <i>Morning Post</i>, January 3, 1909, letter from Professor M. E. Sadler.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_169' id='f_169' href='#fna_169'>[169]</a> Russell and Rigby, &#8220;Working Lads&#8217; Club,&#8221; p. 286.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_170' id='f_170' href='#fna_170'>[170]</a> Majority Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 326.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_171' id='f_171' href='#fna_171'>[171]</a> Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 1165.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_172' id='f_172' href='#fna_172'>[172]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 1166.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_173' id='f_173' href='#fna_173'>[173]</a> Minutes of the Education Committee, February 24, 1909, p. 422.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_174' id='f_174' href='#fna_174'>[174]</a> Minutes of the Education Committee, February 24, 1909, p. 416.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_175' id='f_175' href='#fna_175'>[175]</a> Minutes of the Education Committee, February 24, 1909, p. 416.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_176' id='f_176' href='#fna_176'>[176]</a> M. E. Sadler, &#8220;Continuation Schools,&#8221; p. 334.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_177' id='f_177' href='#fna_177'>[177]</a> &#8220;Berlin, though growing luxurious, is not yet as spendthrift of
+young life as is London. The newspaper-boy and the street-trader are
+unknown&#8221; (Report to the London County Council, by Miss Durham, p. 3).</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_178' id='f_178' href='#fna_178'>[178]</a> See Report of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education
+on Continuation Schools, chap. x.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_179' id='f_179' href='#fna_179'>[179]</a> Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 346.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_180' id='f_180' href='#fna_180'>[180]</a> Report of the Poor Law Commission, pp. 346-347.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_181' id='f_181' href='#fna_181'>[181]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Professor Chapman, footnote, p. 346.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_182' id='f_182' href='#fna_182'>[182]</a> Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 351.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_183' id='f_183' href='#fna_183'>[183]</a> Report of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education in
+Higher Elementary Schools, p. 7.</p>
+
+<p><a name='f_184' id='f_184' href='#fna_184'>[184]</a> Report by Miss Durham to the London County Council on Juvenile
+Labour in Germany, p. 7.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOY LABOUR AND APPRENTICESHIP***</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Boy Labour and Apprenticeship, by Reginald
+Arthur Bray
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Boy Labour and Apprenticeship
+
+
+Author: Reginald Arthur Bray
+
+
+
+Release Date: March 28, 2012  [eBook #39291]
+
+Language: English
+
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+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOY LABOUR AND APPRENTICESHIP***
+
+
+E-text prepared by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+(http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by
+Internet Archive (http://archive.org)
+
+
+
+Note: Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive. See
+      http://archive.org/details/boylabourapprent00brayuoft
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+      Characters enclosed by curly braces are superscripted
+      (example: iii{d})
+
+
+
+
+
+BOY LABOUR AND APPRENTICESHIP
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+SOME PRESS OPINIONS
+
+Times.--"The problem already felt acutely in London and in large towns has
+now appeared even in the country town and village, and to those who still
+doubt its extent or seriousness we commend this most instructive work."
+
+Morning Post.--"An important book on an important subject."
+
+Daily News.--"Mr. Bray's book is as full of counsel as of instruction, and
+it should be in the hands of every student of one of the most serious of
+social problems."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+BOY LABOUR AND APPRENTICESHIP
+
+by
+
+REGINALD A. BRAY L.C.C.
+
+Author of "The Town Child"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Second Impression
+
+London
+Constable & Co. Ltd.
+1912
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+We are beginning to realize clearly that all is not well with the youth of
+this country. From all sides complaints of neglect, and the evils of
+neglect, are thronging in. Boys as they leave school are casting off the
+shackles of parental control, and, with no intervening period of youth,
+are assuming the full independence of the adult. The old apprenticeship
+system is falling into disuse, and methods of industrial training are at
+once unsatisfactory and, for the majority, difficult to obtain. Boys in
+increasing numbers are entering occupations where they learn nothing and
+forget all they have previously learned, and in which they can see no
+prospects of employment when manhood is reached. As a consequence, there
+is a general drift into the army of unskilled labour, and later into the
+ranks of the unemployed. All expert opinion is unanimous in voicing these
+complaints. The Report of the Poor Law Commission, Majority and Minority
+alike, with its volumes of special inquiries and evidence, is one long
+testimony to the gravity of the evils which are the consequence of
+neglected youth.
+
+Further, we are coming to understand that the period of adolescence forms
+a critical epoch in the development of the lad. "The forces of sin and
+those of virtue never struggle so hotly for possession of the youthful
+soul." [1] And the boy too often is left to fight out this struggle without
+assistance, and even without advice. The conditions of modern life are
+increasingly hard on youth. "Never has youth," says Mr. Stanley Hall, the
+greatest living authority on adolescence, "been exposed to such dangers of
+both perversion and arrest as in our land and day. Increasing urban life,
+with its temptations, prematurities, sedentary occupations, and passive
+stimuli, just when an active objective life is most needed; early
+emancipation and a lessening sense for both duty and discipline; the haste
+to know and do all befitting man's estate before its time; the mad rush
+for sudden wealth, and the reckless fashions set by its gilded youth----"
+all in increasing degree imperil the passage to manhood.
+
+And, lastly, we are compelled to confess that an evil which is at once a
+grave and a growing evil is one which demands immediate attention. It is
+not a problem that can be laid on the shelf for that convenient season
+which never arrives, when legislators have nothing else to think about.
+There is urgent need for reform in the near future, unless we would see a
+further degeneration of the youth of the country.
+
+The object of this volume is altogether practical--to show what reforms
+are necessary to prevent the growth of the evil by laying the foundation
+of a new and true apprenticeship system. But to achieve this object it is
+necessary first to explain how the problem was dealt with in days gone by,
+when life was more stable and industrial conditions less complex; and,
+secondly, to understand in detail the characteristic features of the
+question as it presents itself to-day. Only with the experience of the
+past and the present to guide us can we face the future with any hope of
+controlling its destinies.
+
+As "she" is mentioned nowhere else in the volume, it seems desirable to
+say a word here about the girl. This book is, indeed, concerned with boys
+alone, but, with a few changes in details, all that is written about
+conditions, and all that is recommended in the way of reforms, is equally
+applicable in her case also.
+
+I have endeavoured, even at the risk of being termed unduly dogmatic, to
+make my proposals for reform as definite as possible. I have done so in
+the cause of clearness. But if I fail to carry my readers with me all the
+way, I shall be well content if only I have succeeded in starting them on
+a pilgrimage in quest of the new apprenticeship system.
+
+REGINALD A. BRAY.
+
+  ADDINGTON SQUARE,
+    CAMBERWELL, S.E.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                        PAGE
+
+  PREFACE                                                  v
+
+  CHAPTER I
+
+  THE ESSENTIALS OF APPRENTICESHIP                         1
+
+
+  CHAPTER II
+
+  THE OLD APPRENTICESHIP                                   4
+
+      I. The Age of the Gilds                              4
+     II. The Statute of Apprentices                       11
+    III. The Industrial Revolution                        20
+
+
+  CHAPTER III
+
+  THE AGE OF RECONSTRUCTION                               26
+
+
+  CHAPTER IV
+
+  THE GUARDIANSHIP OF THE STATE                           36
+
+      I. State Supervision                                36
+         Sec. 1. State Regulation                         37
+           (_a_) Prohibition of Employment                41
+           (_b_) Limitation of Hours                      43
+           (_c_) Protection of Health                     52
+         Sec. 2. State Enterprise                         59
+     II. State Training                                   62
+           (_a_) The Elementary School                    63
+           (_b_) The Continuation School                  65
+    III. State Provision of an Opening                    70
+
+
+  CHAPTER V
+
+  APPRENTICESHIP OF TO-DAY                                75
+
+      I. The Contribution of the State                    76
+         Sec. 1. State Regulation                         76
+         Sec. 2. State Enterprise                         83
+         Sec. 3. Summary                                  88
+     II. The Contribution of Philanthropy                 89
+    III. The Contribution of the Home                     92
+         Sec. 1. The Boy of School Age                    96
+         Sec. 2. The Boy after School Days               100
+     IV. The Contribution of the Workshop                103
+         Sec. 1. London                                  104
+           (_a_) The Employment of School-Children       105
+           (_b_) The Entry to a Trade                    113
+           (_c_) The Passage to Manhood                  142
+           (_d_) Summary                                 149
+         Sec. 2. Other Towns                             151
+           (_a_) The Employment of School-Children       151
+           (_b_) The Entry to a Trade                    155
+           (_c_) The Passage to Manhood                  160
+         Sec. 3. Rural Districts                         161
+      V. The Break-up of Apprenticeship                  165
+
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+
+  THE NEW APPRENTICESHIP                                 176
+
+      I. Supervision                                     191
+           (_a_) The Raising of the School Age           192
+           (_b_) The Prohibition of Child Labour         195
+           (_c_) The New Half-Time System                197
+           (_d_) The Parents' Point of View              202
+     II. Training                                        207
+    III. The Provision of an Opening                     221
+     IV. General Conclusions                             231
+
+
+  LIST OF AUTHORITIES                                    241
+
+
+  INDEX                                                  245
+
+
+
+
+BOY LABOUR AND APPRENTICESHIP
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE ESSENTIALS OF APPRENTICESHIP
+
+
+Originally the term "apprenticeship" was employed to signify not merely
+the practical training in the mysteries of a trade, but also that wider
+training of character and intelligence on which depends the real
+efficiency of the craftsman. Apprenticeship was regarded as a preparation
+for life, and not only as a preparation for the workshop. It is in this
+sense that the word is used throughout the present volume.
+
+In a volume concerned with any branch of social reform, and consequently
+likely to arouse differences of opinion, it is always desirable to start
+on good terms with the reader. This can best be done by beginning with
+assumptions the truth of which no one is likely to call in question. In
+dealing with the problem of boy labour and apprenticeship, it is not
+difficult to venture on certain statements which will receive the
+unqualified approval of all.
+
+An apprenticeship system worthy of the name must satisfy three conditions.
+First, it must provide for the adequate supervision of boys until they
+reach at least the age of eighteen. Before that age a lad is not fit to be
+his own master, and should remain at least to some extent under the
+control of elder persons. Such supervision must have respect both to his
+conduct and to his physical development. Secondly, an apprenticeship
+system must offer full opportunities of training, both general and
+special--the training of the citizen and the training of the worker. And,
+lastly, it must lead forward to some opening in the ranks of adult labour,
+for which definite preparation has been made, and in which good character
+may find reasonable prospects of permanent employment. Supervision,
+training, the provision of a suitable opening--these must be regarded as
+the three essentials of an apprenticeship system. How they may be assured
+is, no doubt, a problem which invites controversy; that they ought to be
+assured will be allowed by all.
+
+Further, it is perhaps allowable to assume that an apprenticeship system
+must not be regarded merely as a means of entering a skilled trade. We
+must not think of it as an organization reserved for a comparatively small
+section of the community: all must be brought within the sphere of its
+influence. All boys alike need supervision; all boys alike require some
+training; all boys alike should see before them, as manhood approaches,
+the prospects of an opening in some form of occupation where diligence and
+aptitude may receive its due reward. And all alike must one day play
+their part in the complex life of the State. We want some to be skilled
+workers; we want all to be intelligent and well-conducted citizens.
+Apprenticeship, then, using the word in its widest sense, must be
+universal. Here again, it is hoped, the reader may express his agreement.
+
+In what follows an attempt is made to examine the old apprenticeship
+system, to criticize apprenticeship as it exists to-day, and so to lead on
+to proposals which will pave the way for the coming of the new and real
+apprenticeship system of to-morrow. Throughout, the industrial
+organization will be judged by bringing it to the test of the principles
+just laid down. An apprenticeship system must be universal; it must make
+proper provision for three essentials--supervision, training, opening.
+Where these are wanting, in whole or in part, the youth of the nation
+must, in a more or less degree, suffer irreparable loss.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE OLD APPRENTICESHIP
+
+
+Prior to the nineteenth century and the beginning of factory legislation
+the conditions of boy labour were determined in and through the industrial
+organization of the times. Of this organization, so far as the youthful
+worker was concerned, the indentured apprenticeship system formed the most
+characteristic feature. The history of the apprenticeship system falls
+into three periods. In the first the gilds were the predominant factor; in
+the second the State, by prescribing a seven years' apprenticeship,
+insured the continuance of the system; in the third the industrial
+revolution and the triumph of _laissez-faire_ ushered in the age of decay
+and dissolution.
+
+
+I.
+
+THE AGE OF THE GILDS.
+
+During the Early and Middle Ages the gilds constituted the central feature
+of the industrial organization. The merchant gilds began to come into
+existence in the second half of the eleventh century.[2] They were
+societies formed for the purpose of obtaining the exclusive privilege of
+carrying on trades. Later they became either identified with the municipal
+body, or a specialized department of that authority. The craft gilds
+appeared about a century later, and were associations of artisans engaged
+in a particular industry. It is not necessary here to enter on a
+discussion of the complex relations between these two kinds of gilds. The
+subject is obscure, but, so far as concerns the regulation of boy labour,
+the general facts are unquestioned.
+
+Either by obtaining a royal charter of their own or by using the authority
+of the municipality, the gilds were enabled to prescribe, down to the most
+minute details, the conditions under which the trades of the district were
+carried on. The control was essentially of a local character, varying from
+place to place; it was, moreover, a control with, for all practical
+purposes, the full force of the law at its back. "The towns and even the
+villages had their gilds, and it is certain that these gilds were the
+agencies by which the common interests of labour were protected." [3]
+
+The gild organization included three classes of person--the apprentice,
+the journeyman, and the master.
+
+_The Apprentice._--The apprentice paid the master a premium, and was
+indentured to him for a period of years, usually seven. He lived in his
+master's house, and received from him, in addition to board and clothing,
+wages on a low and rising scale. The master engaged to teach him his
+trade, and the boy promised to serve his master honestly and obediently.
+The following is a typical example of a fifteenth-century indenture:[4]
+
+"This indenture made the xviii of September the year of the reign of King
+Edward the iiiith the xxth between John Gare of Saint Mary Cray in the
+county of Kent, cordwainer on that oon partie and Walter Byse, son of John
+Byse sumtyme of Wimelton, in the same county, fuller on that other partie,
+Witnesseth that the saide Walter hath covenanted with the saide John Gare
+for the time of vii yeres, and that the saide John Gare shall find the
+saide Walter mete and drink and clothing during the saide time as to the
+saide Walter shall be according. Also the saide John Gare shall teche the
+saide Walter his craft, as he may and can, and also the saide John Gare
+shall give him the first yere of the said vii yeres iii{d} in money and
+the second yere vi{d} and so after the rate of iii{d} to an yere, and the
+last yere of the saide vii yeres the saide John Gare shall give unto the
+said Walter x shillings of money. And the saide Walter shall will and
+truly keep his occupacyon and do such things as the saide John shall bid
+him do, as unto the saide Walter shall be lawful and lefull, and the saide
+Walter shall be none ale goer neyther to no rebeld nor sporte during the
+saide vii yeres without the licence of the saide John. In witness whereof
+the parties aforesaide chaungeably have put their seales this daye and
+yere abovesaide."
+
+_The Journeyman._--At the expiration of the identureship the apprentice
+became a journeyman. The change of status, beyond bringing with it a rise
+in wages, made no great difference to the youth. He usually continued to
+work for his master, and not infrequently remained a lodger in his house.
+To some extent the master was still responsible for the good conduct of
+his journeymen. Various regulations forbade the master to entice away the
+journeymen of others and the journeymen to combine against the masters.
+
+_The Master._--By a somewhat similar process of growth and without any
+sudden break in social status, the journeyman became a master. Between
+journeyman and master there were no class distinctions. Both worked at
+their craft; and, in an age preceding the era of capitalistic production
+on a large scale, the need of capital to start business on his own account
+presented no difficulties which could not easily be overcome by any
+intelligent journeyman.
+
+Period of apprenticeship, hours and conditions of work, wages and
+premiums, were all rigidly determined by the rules of the gild. Through
+its officers the gild visited the workshops, inspected the articles in
+process of manufacture, satisfied themselves as to their quality,
+prescribed methods of production, were empowered to confiscate tools not
+sanctioned by the regulations, and settled all disputes between the three
+classes of persons concerned. Masters, journeymen, and apprentices alike
+benefited by an organization which was created and controlled in their
+common interests; while the general public were well served in the system
+of expert inspection which guaranteed the quality of the goods supplied.
+The gild, in short, was "the representation of the interests, not of one
+class alone, but of the three distinct and somewhat antagonistic elements
+of modern society--the capitalist _entrepreneur_, the manual worker, and
+the consumer at large." [5]
+
+From the point of view of the boy's training the system presented unique
+advantages. To the age of twenty-one, and sometimes twenty-four, he was
+under control. Living in the same house as his master, that control was
+paternal in character, inspired by a living and individual interest in his
+welfare. He received a thorough training in the trade to which he was
+indentured. Finally, when apprenticeship was over, he found ready-made for
+himself an opening that led upwards from the journeyman to the small
+master. Under this system there was no boy his own master from an early
+age, no master irresponsible for the conduct of his boys outside the
+workshops, and no blind alley of boy employment that closed with boyhood
+and ended in the sink of unskilled labour.
+
+It its best days the gilds represented something more than a privileged
+trade organization. The close connection between the gilds and the
+municipality guarded the interests of the public. "The city authorities
+looked to the wardens of each craft to keep the men under their charge in
+order; and thus for every public scandal, or underhand attempt to cheat,
+someone was responsible, and the responsibility could, generally speaking,
+be brought home to the right person." [6] Further, there was no sharp
+barrier between trade and trade. It is true that no one could enter a
+trade without being apprenticed, but the person who had served his seven
+years' apprenticeship in any one trade became free to follow all trades
+within the city.[7] The gild system represented therefore something very
+different from the individualist methods of modern times. There was in a
+real sense, at any rate in each town, a trade organization under no
+inconsiderable amount of collective control.
+
+But the organization of the gild was suited only to the conditions of a
+more or less primitive society. For a country rising rapidly to a front
+place in the commercial world it was ill adapted. Increasing trade brought
+wealth and a desire for wealth; and with wealth came power to those who
+possessed it. The richer members of the gild gained the upper hand in the
+administration of its affairs and oppressed the poorer.[8] The gild was no
+longer an association of equals; and the weaker went to the wall.
+Competition turned the methods of production in the direction of cheapness
+rather than good quality; and the supervisory functions of the gild
+disappeared. In general the whole system, rigid and inelastic, became a
+heavy drag on the industrial organization. The members had paid for their
+privileges in money and a long apprenticeship, and bitterly resented the
+appearance of intruders not hall-marked by the gild. With shortsighted
+policy, the gilds limited admissions by exacting high entrance-fees, and
+strove to secure the maximum of benefits for the smallest possible number.
+
+No longer an association of equals, united by common interests and a
+common outlook; no longer a guarantee of excellence in matters of
+craftmanship; no longer the guardian of the interests of the general
+public, but a narrow sect claiming exclusive privileges--the gilds, rent
+by strife and envy within, and regarded with open hostility by those
+outside, drifted slowly towards that inevitable end which awaits those who
+seek to sacrifice the needs of all on the altar of the selfish desires of
+the few. "In the sixteenth century," says Dr. Cunningham, "the gilds had
+in many cases so entirely lost their original character that they had not
+only ceased to serve useful purposes, but their ill-judged interference
+drove workmen to leave the towns and establish themselves in villages
+where the gilds had no jurisdiction." [9] They received their death-blow in
+the year 1547, through the legislation directed against the property of
+the semi-religious bodies. With the decay of the gilds and their final
+dissolution passed the ancient system which had for centuries regulated
+the conditions of boy labour. So far as the boy was concerned the system
+was founded on three principles: It recognized his need for prolonged
+control and supervision, and made provision for the need by securing for
+him, through his master, an interest at once individual and paternal. It
+recognized the need for a thorough training in the mysteries of the craft;
+and it recognized the need that, at the close of this training, the lad
+should find opening out for him a career for which he had been specially
+prepared. And it made provision for these needs by its scheme of
+inspection and control carried on by those responsible for the common
+interests of the trade. In short, the gild organization, in its earlier
+and flourishing days, may justly be regarded as satisfying the conditions
+of a true apprenticeship system.
+
+
+II.
+
+THE STATUTE OF APPRENTICES.
+
+If the gild system was dead, the principles for which it stood and made
+provision continued to be as important as ever. Nor under the industrial
+conditions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries did there appear to
+be any practical difficulty in the way of enforcement. The small master
+remained, and with him remained the possibility of an effective
+apprenticeship system. Regulated by custom or by the municipal authority,
+apprenticeship lost nothing of its old vitality. Indeed, with the increase
+of trade and the increasing profits derived from trade, it became more
+popular than ever. None the less, signs are not wanting that people were
+conscious of faults in the industrial organization. Into the statute book
+of the period creep frequent allusions to intruders who had entered the
+trade other than through the door of apprenticeship. There was nothing new
+in these complaints; they existed even in the best days of the gilds. "We
+seem at a very early time," says Mrs. Green, "to detect behind the gild
+system a growing class of 'uncovenanted labour,' which the policy of the
+employers constantly tended to foster, their aim being on the one hand to
+limit the number of privileged serving-men, and on the other to increase
+the supply of uncovenanted labour." [10] But with the decay of the
+supervisory functions of the gild these complaints became more frequent.
+
+The condition of this "uncovenanted labour" has always been the unsolved
+problem in any apprenticeship system. If uncovenanted labour is allowed to
+enter a trade on the same terms as those who have served an
+apprenticeship, the latter have clearly a grievance. They have paid for
+their privilege in premium and long service at low wages, and not
+unnaturally demand some assured recompense in return. If, on the other
+hand, uncovenanted labour is rigidly excluded, there is no method of
+rapidly increasing the supply of workers in times of expanding trade. From
+this dilemma there is but one way of escape. All boys, irrespective of the
+trades they follow, must pass through a system of apprenticeship before
+they are permitted to earn the wages of a man. Two conditions are
+necessary to success. First, all boys without exception must serve an
+apprenticeship; secondly, having served this apprenticeship, they must not
+in their employment be restricted to the trade to which they have been
+indentured.
+
+As already shown, the gilds, at any rate in certain districts, allowed a
+person who had served an apprenticeship in one trade to be free of all the
+trades of the town. The gilds satisfied the second condition, and in their
+earlier days, when they included the majority of the population, they
+satisfied to a large extent the second condition as well. To satisfy the
+first condition was clearly, as will appear later, the intention of the
+Statute of Apprentices.
+
+But apart from the problem of uncovenanted labour, the disappearance of
+the controlling influence of the gilds left many anomalies. Here
+apprenticeship was regulated by custom, here by charter, and there left
+undetermined. In one place a certain period of service was exacted, in
+another place a different period. Finally, in the minds of the leaders of
+the day there was firmly fixed the belief that, as trade was becoming the
+life-blood of the nation, there was need of a general and consolidating
+Act giving the force of law to what was often only a floating custom
+applicable in a certain district.
+
+In the reign of Elizabeth these growing feelings of discontent found voice
+in an Act which marks an epoch in industrial legislation. It is usually
+known as the Statute of Artificers and Apprentices. After reciting the
+confusion that existed in previous legislation, the preamble continues:
+
+"So if the substance of as many of the said Laws as are meet to be
+continued shall be digested and reduced into one sole law and Statute, and
+in the same an uniform Order prescribed and limited concerning the Wages
+and other Orders for Apprentices, Servants and Labourers, there is good
+hope that it will come to pass, that the same law (being duly executed)
+should banish Idleness, advance Husbandry, and yield unto the hired
+person, both in the time of Scarcity and in the time of Plenty, a
+conventient Proportion of Wages." [11]
+
+We are here concerned with the Act only so far as it affects the
+conditions of boy labour. The principal regulations are the following:
+
+"No person shall retain a servant in their services (_i.e._, in employment
+for which apprenticeship was required) under one whole Year." [12]
+Husbandmen may take apprentices "from the age of 10 until 21 at least," or
+till twenty-four by agreement.[13] Householders in towns may "have and
+retain the son of any Freeman not occupying Husbandry nor being a Labourer
+... to serve and be bound as an Apprentice, after the Custom and Order of
+the City of London, for seven years at the least so as the Term and years
+of such Apprentice do not expire or determine after such Apprentice shall
+be of the Age of twenty-four Years at the least." [14] "None may use any
+manual occupacyon unless he hath been apprenticed to the same as
+above." [15] "If a person be required by any Householder to be an
+Apprentice and refuse he may be brought before a justice of the peace who
+is empourred to commit him unto Ward, there to remain until he be
+contented, and will be bounden to serve as an Apprentice should
+serve." [16]
+
+The Elizabethan Poor Law gave additional powers with regard to the
+compulsory apprenticing of those likely to fall into evil ways, and made
+it lawful for churchwardens and overseers "to bind any such children as
+aforesaid to be Apprentices, when they shall see convenient, till such Man
+child shall come to the age of four-and-twenty yeares." [17]
+
+Taken together, these two Acts gave to public authorities large powers of
+control over the growing boy. They did not, indeed, provide that everyone
+should be apprenticed, but in the majority of occupations no one could be
+employed unless he had served his time. Nor did they allow a person who
+had been apprenticed to one trade to work at another. But they applied the
+system of compulsory apprenticeship to all parts of the country, and they
+made provision for the proper care, by way of apprenticeship, of neglected
+children. People of the time were clearly of one mind in their desire to
+supervise, through the State, the training of the youth. "Contemporary
+opinion held that it was neither good for society nor trade that the young
+man should enjoy any independence. 'Until a man grows unto the age of
+xxiii yeares he for the moste parte, thoughe not alwayes, is wilde,
+withoute Judgment, and not of sufficient experience to govern himself. Nor
+(many tymes) grown unto the full or perfect knowledge of the arte or
+occupation that he professed.'" [18]
+
+As to the general effect of the far-reaching Statute of Apprentices, it is
+not possible to do better than quote Dr. Cunningham: "A proof of the
+wisdom of the measure seems to lie in the fact that we have no complaints
+as to these restrictions in the Act or proposals for amending the clauses,
+but that, on the contrary, there was, on more than one occasion, a demand
+that it should be rigorously enforced, so that the industrial system of
+the country should be really reduced to order." [19] For more than two
+centuries, without amendment, the Act remained in force; and while it
+lasted it provided at least the possibility for the adequate training and
+supervision of the youth of the country.
+
+These two centuries constitute the second stage in the history of boy
+labour regulation. From a superficial point of view there appears no
+essential difference between this period and the preceding. In the first
+apprenticeship was enforced through the action of the gilds, in the second
+by special legislative enactment. In either case apprenticeship was, for
+all practical purposes, compulsory; but here the similarity ends.
+
+Under the regime of the gilds apprenticeship was enforced, but in addition
+its conditions were determined by a careful system of regulation. The
+gild, an association representing the three classes concerned--masters,
+journeymen, apprentices--supervised the industrial organization in the
+interests of all alike. In the best days of the gilds the trade, as a
+whole, inspected the workshops; the trade, as a whole, watched over the
+training of the youth; the trade, as a whole, so fixed the number of those
+entering, that at the conclusion of the apprenticeship there was room in
+the ranks of the skilled artisan for those who had learned their craft.
+
+During the disintegration of the gilds, this second factor gradually
+disappeared. The Statute of Apprentices did indeed make apprenticeship
+compulsory, but provided no efficient system of regulation. Measures were
+frequently advocated and occasionally embodied in Acts for determining the
+proportion of apprentices to journeymen, but never proved effective. We
+see gradually emerging the struggle between the conflicting interests of
+those engaged in production. A seven years' apprenticeship, enforced by
+law, gave the employers a source of cheap labour, and we begin to hear
+complaints that the number of apprentices was unduly multiplied and that
+boys were taking the place of men. To what extent this practice prevailed
+it is not easy to ascertain; but there is no question that, at any rate
+among one class of apprentice--the pauper apprentice--abuses were grave
+and frequent.
+
+The whole story of the pauper apprentice forms an ugly episode in the
+industrial history of the period. The Statute Book is punctuated with
+frequent allusion to his unfortunate lot, coupled with proposals for
+reform, for the most part ineffective. As already mentioned, the overseers
+had large powers of compulsorily apprenticing the children of the poor. A
+sum was paid to the employer, the lad handed over, and no steps taken to
+guard his well-being or guarantee his training. It was inevitable that
+under conditions such as these abuses should occur. The employer found
+himself provided with a continual supply of lads, bound to serve him until
+the age of twenty-one, or sometimes twenty-four; he was not troubled by
+visits of inspectors; he could use them as he pleased. The luckless
+apprentices were herded together in overcrowded and insanitary dwellings;
+they were overworked and underfed; they learned no trade, and were
+regarded as a cheap form of unskilled labour. If they misbehaved
+themselves the justices of the peace would punish them; if they ran away
+the law would see to it that they were returned to their masters; if they
+complained of ill-treatment there was no one to substantiate the charge.
+Whole trades seemed to have flourished by exploiting the parish
+apprentices; and not infrequently the overseer, himself an employer, made
+a comfortable profit out of their misfortunes.[20] In his "History of the
+Poor Law" Sir G. Nicholls summarizes the legislation on the subject.[21]
+With the rapid increase in the number of paupers at the close of the
+eighteenth century these evils multiplied, and to an increasing extent
+engaged the public attention.
+
+If one class of apprentice was thus exploited, it is difficult to resist
+the conclusion that, in a less degree, others suffered in a similar way.
+Compulsory apprenticeship, without effective regulation, brought with it
+the danger of compulsory servitude. The State was conscious of the danger,
+and duties of supervision were laid on the justices of the peace. The
+State was likewise conscious of the value of apprenticeship, and gave much
+attention to the subject. A Commission of Charles I. dealt with the
+problem, while an Act of James I. was concerned with the misuse of
+apprenticeship charities, which led to children being brought up in
+idleness, "to their utter overthrow and the great prejudice of the
+commonwealth." [22] But legislation proved incapable of preventing evils
+which increased rapidly as the years went by. From the standpoint of the
+boy the second period, whose characteristic was compulsion without
+supervision, was distinctly inferior to the first, when the gilds
+regulated the affairs of the trade for the common good. But if the
+apprenticeship system was weakening and abuses on the increase, an
+effective training was always possible. The small master still remained,
+there was still the call for the all-round craftsman, and the huge changes
+in methods of production, that were destined to appear later, still lay in
+the mists of the future.
+
+
+III.
+
+THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.
+
+It was the invention of the steam-engine and the consequent introduction
+of machinery that ushered in the period of the industrial revolution. In
+the trades affected the consequences were immediate, profound, and
+disastrous for boys, journeymen, and small masters alike. "On the whole,
+machinery rendered it possible in many departments of industry to
+substitute unskilled for skilled labour." [23] In branches of certain
+trades boys took the place of men. "Under the new conditions (of
+calico-printing) boys could be employed in what had been hitherto the work
+of men; so that, in the introduction of machinery, complaints began to be
+made by the journeymen as to the undue multiplication of apprentices.
+There was one shop in Lancashire where fifty-five apprentices had been
+working at one time and only two journeymen; it was obvious that under
+such circumstances the man who had served his time had very little hope of
+obtaining employment." [24] A system of compulsory apprenticeship, under
+such conditions, was exploited for the benefit of the employer, and led
+inevitably to the injury of the boy. The latter was bound and could not
+escape, while the former could readily find an excuse for discharging an
+apprentice. Further, with the growing division of labour and the
+separation of boys' work from men's work, training became less easy. The
+boy was kept to a single operation, and when his time was up found no
+further call for his services. The position of the workmen in the trade
+appeared desperate. Owing to the competition of boys and the decrease in
+the demand for his skill, wages were rapidly falling, and at the same time
+the price of corn was rising by leaps and bounds. The small master, unable
+to compete with the cheapness of the machine-made goods, fared as badly as
+the journeyman. Both appealed to Parliament for redress, "usually
+demanding the prohibition of the new machines, the enforcement of a seven
+years' apprenticeship, or the maintenance of the old limitation of the
+number of boys to be taught by each employer." [25]
+
+But appeals of this kind fell on deaf ears. The spirit of the age was
+against interference, and opposition to all form of regulation was rapidly
+growing. The Statute of Apprentices was disliked by the large employers,
+and an eager agitation began for its repeal. Though obsolescent, it was
+still sufficiently alive to be troublesome. A seven years' apprenticeship,
+it was argued, was unnecessarily long; weaving, for example, could be
+learnt in two or three years. A Commission was appointed to consider the
+question, and the large employers pointed out "that the new processes
+could be learnt in a few months instead of seven years; and that the
+restriction of the old master craftsman to two or three apprentices apiece
+was out of the question with the new buyers of labour on a large
+scale." [26] In the House of Commons "Mr. Sergeant Onslow urged the repeal
+of the Act, and remarked that 'the reign of Elizabeth was not one in which
+sound principles of commerce were known.' The true principles of commerce
+(said another M.P.) appeared at that time to be misunderstood, and the Act
+in question proved the truth of this assertion. The persons most competent
+to form regulations with respect to trade were the master manufacturer,
+whose interest it was to have goods of the best fabric, and no legislative
+enactment could ever effect so much in producing that result as the merely
+leaving things to their own courses and operations." [27] The skilled
+craftsmen, on the other hand, petitioned in favour of compulsory
+apprenticeship. But in the growing enthusiasm for the theory whose sole
+tenet lay in the belief that the haven of prosperity lay in the mid-ocean
+of uncontrolled liberty, all pleas in favour of regulation were treated
+with contempt. The famous Chalmers, speaking of the Statute of
+Apprentices, declared that "this law, so far as it requires
+apprenticeship, ought to be repealed, because its tendency is to abolish
+and to prevent competition among workmen." [28]
+
+In the year 1814 the Statute of Apprentices was repealed;[29] and with its
+repeal the State washed its hands of all responsibility for the well-being
+of the youth of the land. Henceforth things were to be left "to their own
+courses and operations." It is no doubt true that there remained the
+"Health and Morals of Apprentices Act," passed in 1802; this Act
+prescribed certain conditions as to hours of work and sanitation. But the
+Act in itself was utterly "ineffective," [30] and for all practical
+purposes employers were unfettered in their use or misuse of children.
+
+There remained one more blow to be struck before the condition of the boy
+touched the lowest level of misery reached in the whole history of this
+country; and it was soon struck with that relentless vigour which marked
+the actions of the reformer in those times.
+
+After the repeal of the Statute of Apprentices there was for the lad no
+sort of legal guarantee of training, no kind of State supervision over his
+conduct; he could work how and when it pleased him or his parents. But the
+Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 made it necessary for him to work how and
+when it pleased his employer, and took from him all possibility of
+effective choice. This Act abolished the allowance system in aid of wages.
+Salutary and even necessary as some reform of the kind was, in the
+particular way in which it was carried out it fell with crushing force on
+the unfortunate children. Hitherto parents could receive so much per child
+out of the rates; from henceforth this was to be illegal. Wages indeed
+rose, but rose slowly and in patches. The earnings of the child were
+required to make existence even possible for the family. A foreign and
+impartial student of English affairs has made this truth abundantly clear:
+"Even granted that the labourer himself now needed no allowance, what had
+he in place of the allowance for his family and the out-of-work relief?
+Something in place of these he must have, for even labourers' families
+must live.... What was the way out? The labourer must sell more labour
+power; and since his own was already sold, he must put that of his family
+upon the market. This was how the problem of the married man was
+solved.... We have already seen that the expansion of the gang system took
+place mainly after 1834; it appears that the exploitation of child-labour
+and women's labour is the main characteristic of the period between the
+Poor Law and the Education Acts. When Dr. Kay was examined before the
+Lords' Committee on the Poor Law Amendment Act, he described the
+astonishment of travellers at the number of women and children working in
+the fields, and traced their increased employment to the Poor Law. In his
+own words: 'The extent of employment for women and children has most
+wonderfully increased since the Poor Law came into operation. It has had
+that effect by rendering it necessary that the children should be so
+employed in order to adjust the wages to the wants of the family....' And
+a country clergyman gave expression to similar views in 1843: 'By these
+allowances their children were not then obliged, as now, to work for their
+subsistence. Their time was at their own disposal; and then they were
+sent more regularly to the schools. But since the new Poor Law this has
+been reversed.'" [31]
+
+Those persons who nowadays talk genially of the ease with which the new
+Poor Law was enforced, would do well to remember that the ease was
+purchased at the high price of the physical and moral deterioration of the
+children. Chalmers had got his way, there was now free competition among
+the workmen; and free competition among the workmen meant then, as it has
+always meant since, the unregulated slavery of the weak.
+
+With the repeal of the Statute of Apprentices and the passing of the Poor
+Law Amendment Act, the old apprenticeship system came to an end. No longer
+capable of being controlled in the common interests of the trade and the
+community, no longer capable of being enforced by statutory enactment, the
+apprenticeship system in its ancient form, though it might linger among
+certain industries, was destined slowly to disappear. We may regret its
+disappearance, as the vanishing of a fragment of an old-world life; but
+repinings are idle unless directed toward the search for some substitute
+adequate to the needs of the present.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE AGE OF RECONSTRUCTION
+
+
+The last chapter closed on the darkest scene in the long history of child
+labour in this country. Of the three factors essential to a true
+apprenticeship, not one was found or its need even recognized in the wild
+riot of the industrial revolution. Of public or organized supervision of
+the youth of the land there was not a trace. The controlling influence of
+the gild system had long since disappeared; the powers of regulation that
+lay in the Statute of Apprentices and the Elizabethan Poor Law had been
+withdrawn; free and unrestricted traffic in the use of children was the
+watchword of the age. Babies of four and five years worked alongside the
+adult and for the same number of hours; there were persons of intelligence
+who saw in this gain extracted from infants not the least of the triumphs
+of the day. Children's lives were often a mere alternation of two kinds of
+darkness--the darkness of night giving place to the darkness of the mine.
+Boys and girls were hired out in troops to a taskmaster, herded in barns
+regardless of the claims of health and decency, and driven in gangs into
+the fields of the farmer. Whether in the mine or the factory or on the
+farm, the present profits of the employer, and not the future welfare of
+the race, were alone considered. Industrial training throughout the new
+manufacturing districts was treated with open contempt. A person, the
+masters urged, could learn the trade in a few months; while as for the
+provision of an opening that would lead from the work of the youth to the
+work of the adult, it was not to be imagined that a subject of this
+complexity should receive attention at a time when the narrow circuit of
+the prosperous factory set a limit to the horizon of men's thoughts. In
+short, over the whole field of industry the desire for immediate success
+dominated the larger, but more remote, interests of the future.
+
+What was most significant of the times was not the flood of misery that
+swept over the country so much as the spirit of complacent satisfaction
+with which it was regarded. That the industrial revolution was in the
+cause of progress, the reform of the Poor Law essential, and the decay of
+the old apprenticeship system inevitable, men of intelligence could not
+fail to recognize; but they might also have recognized that the profound
+transformation of the whole social and industrial structure involved could
+not take place without widespread suffering and demoralization. Men of the
+day did see these things, but saw them with unconcern. Progress involved
+change, and change demanded its toll of pain; but it was not the duty of
+the State to ease the passage or to yield to the outcry of what they
+looked on as the silly sentimentalist.
+
+The general view of contemporary opinion finds itself reflected in the
+Whig and Radical journals. In 1819 the _Edinburgh Review_ declared: "After
+all, we must own that it was quite right to throw out the Bill for
+prohibiting the sweeping of chimneys by boys--because humanity is a modern
+invention; and there are many chimneys in old houses that cannot possibly
+be swept in any other manner;" while the Radical paper, the _Gorgon_, was
+also inclined to sneer at the House of Commons for "its ostentatious
+display of humanity in dealing with trivialities like the slave trade,
+climbing-boys, and the condition of children in factories." [32] The above
+represents the orthodox opinion of the time. The age was the age of the
+triumph of the individualist. His was the gospel that inspired the
+economist; his were the maxims which guided the legislator; his were the
+principles that were realized in the practice of the manufacturer. For one
+brief moment in the history of the world's progress the individualist was
+supreme; and then the world reeled back in horror from the hell of sin and
+misery he had created. Even in the early days there were not wanting
+voices to protest against the theory that in the balance-sheet of the
+trader was to be found the final test of national righteousness. As far
+back as the year 1801 Mr. Justice Grose, in sentencing an employer for
+overworking and maltreating an apprentice, declared: "Should the
+manufacturers insist that without these children they could not
+advantageously follow their trade, and the overseers say that without
+such opportunity they could not get rid of these children, he should say
+to the one, that trade must not for the thirst of lucre be followed, but
+at once, for the sake of society, be abandoned; and to the other, it is a
+crime to put out these children, who have no friend to see justice done,
+to incur deformity and promote consumption or other disease. This
+obviously leads to their destruction--not to their support." [33] And in
+the year 1802 was passed the "Health and Morals of Apprentices Act," an
+Act important not for its results, which were insignificant, but as a
+protest against the gospel of individualism, and as the first of the long
+series of Factory Acts which heralded the dawn of a new age.
+
+This new age, which reaches down to the present time, and of which the end
+is not yet, was an age of reconstruction. It represented an attempt,
+unconscious for the most part, to reinstate in a changed form the
+principles which underlay the old apprenticeship system. It is true that
+throughout the whole period indentured apprenticeship was in process of
+gradual decay, and is now become almost a negligible factor in the
+industrial world; but it is no less true that from its ruins was slowly
+rising an organization destined to prove a fitting and even a superior
+substitute. The final stage of development lies still in the future; the
+adjustments required to meet the complex needs of modern industry are
+innumerable; and we are only beginning to see the outlines of a new
+apprenticeship system towards which we have been drifting for nearly a
+century. To tell in detail the history of these long years of slow
+progress would be foreign to the purpose of this book; but certain
+characteristics, which mark the process of change, are sufficiently
+germane to the discussions of to-day to justify consideration.
+
+In the first place, the forces which repeatedly faced and beat down the
+resistance of those who stood for unregulated industry were not the forces
+of economic analysis; few forces that make for great changes are the
+product of such unimpassioned reason. Factory and kindred legislation were
+throughout the triumph of sentiment, and not the victory of logic. During
+the course of the nineteenth century men became slowly more sensitive to
+the fact of suffering, less tolerant of its continued existence. The
+Liberal essayist was historically correct when he said contemptuously that
+humanity was a modern invention. In earlier days little heed was paid to
+the physical well-being of the individual journeyman or apprentice. If the
+gilds forbade the carrying on of a craft by night, it was because the dim
+gloom of ancient illuminants meant bad work, and not because protracted
+toil made unhealthy workmen. When the State concerned itself with hours of
+employment, it was to prescribe a minimum, and not to fix a maximum; to
+keep a man busy, and therefore out of mischief, was deemed more important
+than to allow him leisure for thought or recreation.
+
+In this new sentiment of humanity lay the motive power which drove
+Parliament on to spasmodic acts of factory legislation. The sentiment was
+at once a source of weakness and a source of strength. It was a source of
+weakness because sentiment is essentially local in its sphere of
+influence. It does not search out the objects on which its favours are
+lavished; they must be brought by others to its very doors and repeatedly
+thrust over the threshold till entrance is forced. It lacks the breadth,
+the insight, and the calm of that imaginative reason which is now slowly
+taking its place. In the case of suffering, for example, it troubles
+itself not at all about the more remote causes of suffering or the more
+remote sufferer, but surges round some particular sufferer or some
+particular grievance, existing here and now.[34] Sentiment, at any rate
+the British type of sentiment, is not touched by abstractions; visions of
+humanity in the throes of travail leave it unmoved; appeals to the
+ultimate principles of justice fail to produce even a throb of sympathetic
+interest; it is only the concrete--the oppressed child or the widowed
+mother--that lets loose the flood. For the more profound solution of
+social problems such sentiment is useless, but for the attack of specific
+evils, especially where the opposition is well organized, it displays
+amazing stubbornness and resource. Its strength lies in its unreason;
+argument is of no avail; here are certain cases of suffering it will not
+tolerate; a remedy must be found and Parliament must find it; there will
+be no peace until something is done.
+
+It was in this way that regulation of child labour began, and indeed has
+continued down to the present time. The result is patchy, and the removal
+of evils partial and unsystematic. There has been, for example, no serious
+attempt made to set up a minimum standard of conditions under which alone
+children shall be employed; least of all has the State endeavoured to
+formulate a new apprenticeship system, adapted to the needs of modern
+industry. Much indeed has been done in both directions; but much more
+remains for the future to carry through before we can hope to read in the
+efficiency of the race the sign-mark of our success. The first
+characteristic, then, of the age of reconstruction is to be found in the
+predominating influence of sentiment.
+
+The second characteristic is seen in the triumph of the idealist over the
+combined forces of the doctrinaire and the practical man. Every proposal
+for regulating child labour was fought on the same lines; there were the
+same arguments and the same replies. The individualist urged that State
+interference was in itself an evil, that, though the consequences might be
+delayed and the immediate effect even beneficial, you might rest assured
+that in the long-run your sin would find you out. The wealthy citizen
+declared that if boys might not climb his chimneys, his chimneys must go
+unswept; the manufacturer predicted certain ruin to his trade if he were
+forbidden to use children as seemed best to him; while all united in
+urging that if the children were not at work they would be doing something
+worse, and pointed out the obvious cruelty of depriving half-starved
+parents of the scanty earnings of their half-starved offspring.
+
+To all these and similar objections the idealist, with his clearer vision
+of the reality of things, and firm in his faith that the prosperity of a
+people could never be the final outcome of allowing an obvious wrong, made
+response. He sympathized with the individualist for the dreary pessimism
+of a creed which could see the future alone coloured with hope if heralded
+by the sobs of suffering children. The wealthy citizen he bade roughly
+burn his house and build another sooner than sacrifice the lives of boys
+to the needs of his chimneys. While as for the manufacturer, he told him,
+as Mr. Justice Grose had told him earlier, that, if his engines needed
+children as fuel, his was a trade the country was best rid of. To those
+employers who pleaded the small wages of the parents he suggested the grim
+and crude and obvious remedy of paying those parents more. And the
+idealist, with the sentiment of the British public to back him, won the
+day.
+
+But if sentiment gave the idealist his victory, it was the future that
+brought him a full justification. His sin after many years is yet seeking
+him; the wealthy citizen found other and innocent means of cleansing his
+chimneys; the manufacturer placidly adapted himself to the new conditions,
+and his trade flourished exceedingly; the wages of parents rose rapidly,
+and what small measure of health and happiness that has come to the
+children of the poor during the last century has come to them through the
+defeat and the defiance of the individualist.
+
+A hundred years have rolled by, and yet to all new regulation the same old
+objections are raised by the individualist. But his day is gone, and with
+his day he also is going. A few, indeed, are left, interesting survivals
+of the early Victorian age. But for the great majority of the population
+regulation has no fears; they welcome and invite it. And, further, not
+only are they willing to forbid unsatisfactory conditions of employment,
+they are also ready to spend public money to secure a proper environment
+and a suitable training for children. What they will not tolerate is the
+continued existence of unnecessary suffering; and they are coming more and
+more to realize that a vast mass of the suffering of to-day is
+unnecessary. Principles, even though openly professed, will not look
+suffering in the face and pass on.[35] Humanity is no longer a modern
+invention, it has become the guiding spirit of the age.
+
+Thus we can face the morning of the twentieth century in a spirit of hope.
+We may look for more consistent support and less strenuous opposition than
+in the past. We may in consequence think out and introduce schemes of a
+more far-reaching character. Empirical patching will give place to
+reconstruction on a large scale. In other words, the sentiment of the
+nineteenth century, wayward and uncertain in its method of action, and at
+its best troubling itself about a remedy for actual suffering, will be
+superseded by the imaginative reason of the twentieth, which looks rather
+to prevention than to cure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE GUARDIANSHIP OF THE STATE
+
+
+The age of reconstruction is not complete, and for the moment we are left
+with the products of sentiment as revealed in the tangled and piecemeal
+legislation respecting boy labour. Before making new proposals, it is
+desirable to survey the existing laws on the subject, in order to discover
+to what extent the State acts as the guardian of the child by making
+provision for the three essential factors of a true apprenticeship
+system--supervision, training, opening. The present chapter will be
+concerned with a description of the statutory machinery; in the next the
+value of the machinery will be tested by examining its results in actual
+experience.
+
+
+I.
+
+STATE SUPERVISION.
+
+Supervision is the first essential of an apprenticeship system. A boy must
+remain under adequate control, as regards his conduct and physical
+development, until the age of eighteen is reached; before then he is too
+young to be allowed safely to become his own master. What part does the
+State, as guardian, play in this work of supervision? This volume is
+concerned with the answer to the question only so far as that answer has a
+direct bearing on the general problem of boy labour. A statement, for
+example, of the criminal law, of the law relating to public health, or of
+the poor law, lies outside its scope.
+
+The guardianship of the State, in respect of supervision, is of two kinds.
+On the one hand the State appears as the guardian of the boy by
+restricting his employment, or by forbidding it under certain specified
+unfavourable conditions--State regulation; on the other hand--as, for
+example, in its system of education--it assumes a more active role, and
+itself provides for the boy some of the discipline and training he
+requires--State enterprise.
+
+Sec. 1. STATE REGULATION.
+
+The State, by regulation, may protect the boy in three ways--
+
+1. _Prohibition._--The State may protect the boy by forbidding his
+employment below a certain age or in certain classes of industry.
+
+2. _Limitation of Hours._--The State may protect the boy by fixing a limit
+to the number of hours during which he may be employed.
+
+3. _Health and Safety._--The State may protect the boy by enforcing
+certain regulations as regards sanitation in the workshop or the proper
+guarding of machinery, or may require a medical certificate to show that
+the boy is physically fit for the occupation in which he is engaged.
+
+We shall best understand the measure of protection afforded the boy by the
+State by classifying the statutory regulations under these three headings
+rather than by taking the individual Acts and analyzing them separately.
+The principal Acts concerned are the following:
+
+The Factory and Workshop Act, 1901.
+
+Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act, 1872.
+
+Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887.
+
+Mines (Prohibition of Child Labour Underground) Act, 1900.
+
+The Shop Hours Act, 1892.
+
+The Employment of Children Act, 1903.
+
+The Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 1894.
+
+Children Act, 1908.
+
+And the various Acts relating to compulsory attendance at school--
+
+Elementary Education Act, 1876.
+
+Elementary Education Act, 1880.
+
+Elementary Education (School Attendance) Act, 1893.
+
+And the Act amending this last Act, 1899.
+
+To make what follows clearer, and to avoid repetition, it is desirable to
+add a few remarks about two of these Acts.
+
+The Factory and Workshop Act is concerned with the conditions of
+employment in premises "wherein labour is exercised by way of trade or for
+purposes of gain in or incidental to any of the following
+purposes--namely:
+
+    "(i.) The making of an article or part of any article; or
+
+    "(ii.) The altering, repairing, ornamenting, or finishing of any
+    article; or
+
+    "(iii.) The adapting for sale of an article." [36]
+
+Premises in which such operations are carried on are divided into these
+four classes:
+
+1. _Textile factories_, where mechanical power is used in connection with
+the manufacture of cotton, wool, hair, silk, flax, hemp, jute, or other
+like material;
+
+2. _Non-textile factories_, where mechanical power is used in connection
+with the manufacture of articles other than those included in (1), and, in
+addition, certain industries, such as "print works," or lucifer-match
+works, whether mechanical power is or is not employed;[37]
+
+3. _Workshops_ where articles are manufactured without the aid of
+mechanical power; and--
+
+4. _Domestic workshops or factories_, where a private house or room is, by
+reason of the work carried on there, a factory or a workshop, where
+mechanical power is not used, and in which the only persons employed are
+members of the same family dwelling there.[37]
+
+The Act also has a limited reference to laundries, docks, buildings in
+course of construction and repair, and railways.[39]
+
+Certain definitions are important in the interpretation of the
+regulations. The expression "child" means a person under the age of
+fourteen, who is not exempt from attendance at school.[40] The expression
+"young person" means a person who has ceased to be a child, and is under
+the age of eighteen.[41] These expressions will be used with this
+significance in the remainder of this chapter, unless the contrary is
+stated.
+
+The authority for the enforcement of the Factory and Workshop Act is in
+general the Home Office, acting through its inspectors. In certain cases,
+which will be mentioned later, the duty of enforcement is imposed on one
+or other of the locally elected bodies.
+
+The regulations comprised in the Employment of Children Act are in part of
+general application, in part dependent on by-laws made by the local
+authority, and approved by the Home Secretary. The local authority, for
+the enforcement of the Act and for the making of by-laws, is, in the case
+of London, exclusive of the City, for which the Common Council is the
+authority, the London County Council; in the case of a municipal borough
+with a population according to the census of 1901 of over 10,000, the
+Borough Council; in the case of any other urban district with a population
+of over 20,000, the District Council; in the case of the remainder of
+England and Wales, the County Council.[42]
+
+These are the chief Acts through which are regulated the conditions of boy
+labour. Each in a more or less degree is concerned with prohibition,
+limitation of hours, and health regulations. It now remains to examine the
+extent of the protection provided.
+
+_(a) Prohibition of Employment._
+
+There is no law forbidding children below a certain age to work for wages.
+In default of local by-laws, it is still legal to employ children of any
+age, however young, in a large number of occupations. Prohibition takes
+the form of forbidding the employment of children in certain trades
+regarded as specially dangerous to health or demoralizing to character.
+
+1. It is illegal to employ children or young persons "in the part of a
+factory or workshop in which there is carried on the process of silvering
+mirrors by the mercurial process or the process of making white lead." [43]
+And the Secretary of State has power to extend this prohibition to other
+dangerous trades.[44]
+
+2. It is illegal to employ underground in any mine boys under the age of
+thirteen,[45] and no boy under the age of twelve may be employed
+above-ground in connection with any mine.[46]
+
+3. A child may not be employed "in the part of a factory or workshop in
+which there is carried on any grinding in the metal trade, or the dipping
+of lucifer-matches." [47]
+
+4. A child under the age of eleven may not be employed in
+street-trading--_i.e._, in "the hawking of newspapers, matches, flowers,
+and other articles, playing, singing, or performing for profit,
+shoe-blacking, or any like occupation carried on in streets or public
+places." [48]
+
+5. In theatres and shows, children under seven may not be employed at all,
+and children under eleven can only be employed on a licence granted by a
+magistrate.[49]
+
+Omitting ways of earning money, as by begging, which cannot properly be
+regarded as forms of employment, and ancient Acts, such as the Chimney
+Sweepers Act of 1840, which prohibited the apprenticing of children under
+the age of sixteen to the trade of the sweep, or the Agricultural Gangs
+Act, 1867, which forbade the employment of children under eight in an
+agricultural gang--Acts which have now little practical importance--the
+regulations outlined above comprise the whole of the regulations which
+prohibit throughout the country the employment of boys in certain forms of
+occupation. For any extension of prohibition we must look to the by-laws
+which may, but need not, be made by local authorities under the provisions
+of the Employment of Children Act.
+
+Under this Act the local authority may make by-laws prescribing for all
+children below the age which employment is illegal, and may prohibit
+absolutely, or may permit, subject to conditions, the employment of
+children under the age of fourteen in any specified occupation.[50] The
+by-laws may likewise prohibit or allow, under conditions, "street trading"
+by persons under the age of sixteen.[51] But in either case the by-laws,
+before becoming operative, must be confirmed, after an inquiry is held, by
+the Home Secretary.[52]
+
+As an example of prohibition through by-laws made under this Act, the case
+of London outside the City may be cited. The by-laws of the London County
+Council forbid the employment of all children under the age of eleven, the
+employment of children under the age of fourteen as "lather boys" in
+barbers' shops, and the employment of boys under the age of sixteen in
+"street trading," unless they wear on the arm a badge provided by the
+Council.
+
+_(b) Limitation of Hours._
+
+There is no law limiting for all children or for all young persons the
+number of hours which may be worked. It is still legal in the majority of
+occupations to employ young persons, and in default of by-laws
+school-children on days when the schools are closed, for a number of
+hours restricted only by the length of the day. As with prohibition, so
+the matter stands with the limitation of hours. Glaring evils, just
+because they glared, have from time to time been dealt with by
+legislation; other evils no less serious have been ignored merely because
+they have not chanced to attract attention. The result of this piecemeal
+legislation and enactment by by-laws is a chaos of intricate regulations,
+applicable to persons of different age and different sex, varying from
+trade to trade and from place to place. I am, fortunately, concerned here
+only with the male sex, and shall begin with the boy young person, and
+then proceed to the boy child.
+
+_The Young Person._--Far the most important, because the most detailed and
+the most comprehensive, of the Acts dealing with the limitation of hours
+is the Factory and Workshops Act. Under this Act the hours of employment
+are restricted by specifying the hours during which alone employment may
+be carried on. No employment is allowed on Sundays except in the case of
+Jewish factories closed on Saturday, or of certain industries specially
+sanctioned for the purpose by the Home Secretary.
+
+In textile factories,[53] the period of employment for young persons is
+from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., or from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with two hours for meals,
+and on Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 11.30 a.m., with half an hour for
+meals.[54] In non-textile factories and workshops the chief difference
+lies in the fact that the interval for meals is half an hour shorter,
+while on Saturdays employment is permitted between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m., with
+half an hour for meals.[55] In domestic factories and workshops the hours
+of employment are from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., with four and a half hours for
+meals, and on Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., with two and a half hours
+for meals.[56]
+
+Overtime is in general prohibited.[57] Employment inside and outside a
+factory or workshop in the business of the factory or workshop is
+prohibited, except during the recognized period, on any day on which the
+young person is employed inside the factory or workshop both before and
+after the dinner-hour.[58] Thus the maximum number of hours in a week,
+including meal-times, during which a young person may be employed is, in
+textile factories, 65-1/2; in non-textile factories and workshops, 68; in
+domestic factories and workshops, 85; or, excluding meal-times, the hours
+in the three classes are 55, 60, and 60 respectively.
+
+The Act applies only to those employed in factories and workshops. It has
+limited application to certain other trades, but the application is
+unimportant in connection with boy labour. To the regulations quoted there
+are numerous exceptions, and the Home Secretary has large discretionary
+powers.[59]
+
+A young person may not be employed "in or about a shop" for a longer
+period than seventy-four hours, including meal-times, in any one week.
+Further, an employer may not knowingly employ a young person who has
+already on the same day been employed in a factory or workshop, if such
+employment makes the total number of hours worked more than the full time
+a young person is permitted to work in a factory or workshop.[60]
+
+By-laws may be made limiting the hours of employment of young persons
+under the age of sixteen engaged in "street trading." [61] The by-laws of
+the London County Council forbid the employment of such persons "before 7
+a.m. or after 9 p.m., or for more than eight hours in any day, when
+employed under the immediate direction and supervision of an adult person
+having charge of a street stall or barrow; before 7 a.m. or after 8 p.m.
+when employed in any other form of street trading."
+
+With the exception of the regulations outlined above, there is no limit to
+the number of hours during which young persons may legally be employed.
+
+_Children._--The most important Acts regulating the hours of employment
+for children are the Acts which enforce attendance at school. They limit
+hours, not by fixing a maximum number of hours during which children may
+be employed, but by pursuing the far more effective plan of seeing that
+the children are in school, and therefore not in the workshop, during part
+of the day.
+
+Taken together, these Acts provide that children shall be at school, and
+consequently not at work, at all times when the schools are opened until
+the age of twelve is reached. There is one exception to this regulation:
+children may, under a special by-law of the local education authority, be
+employed in agriculture at the age of eleven, provided that they attend
+school 250 times a year up to the age of thirteen. This exception is of
+small importance, as "the number of children who are exempt under this
+special by-law seems to be very small, not exceeding apparently 400 in the
+whole country." [62]
+
+Between the ages of twelve and fourteen attendance is compulsory, subject
+to a complex scheme of partial or total exemptions, depending on the
+by-laws of the local education authority. It rests, for instance, with
+each local education authority to decide "whether, as regards children
+between twelve and fourteen, they will grant full-time or half-time
+exemption, or both, and upon what conditions of attendance or attainments,
+always subject, of course, to the fact that the by-laws must be approved
+by the Board of Education, and must not clash with any Act regulating the
+employment of children." [63] For all practical purposes, it is possible
+for the local education authority, if they think fit, to insist on such a
+standard of attainment to be reached before exemption is allowed that,
+with a few exceptions, relatively insignificant, children are compelled to
+attend school until the age of fourteen. It is important to remember that
+these Acts limit the employment of children only during times when the
+schools are opened. As a general rule, the hours of attendance are
+between 9 and 12 in the morning, and between 2 and 4.30 in the afternoon;
+while the schools are open on five days a week during some forty-four
+weeks in the year. During holidays, and on Saturdays and Sundays, so far
+as these Acts are concerned, there is no limit to the numbers of hours a
+child may work.
+
+A further limit is put on the hours children may work by the Employment of
+Children Act, 1903. A child under fourteen may not be employed between 9
+p.m. and 6 a.m. This provision is subject to variation by local
+by-laws.[64] Local by-laws may prescribe for children under fourteen:
+(_a_) The hours between which employment is illegal; (_b_) the number of
+daily and weekly hours beyond which employment is illegal; and (_c_) may
+permit, subject to conditions, the employment of children in any specified
+occupation.[65]
+
+Under this Act the by-laws of the London County Council provide that a
+child liable to attend school shall not be employed on days when the
+school is open for more than three and a half hours a day, nor--
+
+    (_a_) Between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.;
+
+    (_b_) Before 6.30 a.m. or after 9 p.m.;
+
+and on days when the school is not open--
+
+    (_a_) Before 6.30 a.m. or after 9 p.m.;
+
+    (_b_) For more than eight hours in any one day.
+
+On Sundays a child shall not be employed except between the hours of 7
+a.m. and 1 p.m. for a period not exceeding three hours. A child liable to
+attend school shall not be employed for more than twenty hours in any week
+when the school is open on more than two days, or for more than thirty
+hours in any week when the school is open on two days only or less.
+
+Additional limitations are imposed on the number of hours during which
+children may be employed by the Factory and Workshop Act. A child between
+"twelve and thirteen, who has reached the standard for total or partial
+exemption under the Elementary Education Acts, and consequently may be
+employed, must still, if employed in a factory or workshop, attend school
+in accordance with the requirements of the Factory Act. So must a child of
+thirteen who has not obtained a certificate entitling him to be employed
+as a young person." [66] The famous half-time system is not, as sometimes
+supposed, a special privilege allowed to workshops and factories. It is
+permissible in all forms of occupation in a practically unrestricted
+shape. In factories and workshops the conditions are subject to definite
+regulations. It is, however, only in factories and workshops, and, indeed,
+only in certain trades among these, that the half-time system has much
+practical importance. The general regulations, subject, however, to
+certain variations, are as follows:[67] Employment must be either in
+morning and afternoon sets, or on alternate days The morning set begins
+at 6 a.m. or 7 a.m., and ends--
+
+    (_a_) At one o'clock in the afternoon; or
+
+    (_b_) If the dinner-hour begins before one o'clock, at the beginning
+    of dinner-time; or
+
+    (_c_) If the dinner-time does not begin before 2 p.m. at noon.
+
+The afternoon set begins either--
+
+    (_a_) At 1 p.m.
+
+    (_b_) At any later hour at which the dinner-time terminates; or
+
+    (_c_) If the dinner-hour does not begin before 2 p.m., and the morning
+    set ends at noon, at noon--
+
+and ends at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m.
+
+On Saturdays the period of employment is the same as for young persons--6
+a.m. to 11.30 a.m.--but a child shall not be employed on two successive
+Saturdays, nor on Saturday in any week if on any other days in the same
+week his period of employment has exceeded five and a half hours.
+
+A child must not be employed in two successive periods of seven days in
+the morning set, nor in two successive periods of seven days in an
+afternoon set.
+
+On the alternate day system, the period of employment is the same as for a
+young person--_i.e._, from 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. or 7 p.m., with two
+hours for meals; and on Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 11.30 a.m., with half an
+hour for meals. Under this system a child may not be employed on two
+successive days, nor on the same day in two successive weeks.
+
+Under all the systems a child may not be employed continuously for more
+than four and a half hours without an interval of half an hour for
+meals.[68] Nor must a child be employed on any one day on the business of
+the factory or workshops both inside and outside the factory or
+workshop.[69]
+
+This system of regulation refers to textile factories, but these include
+the vast majority of half-timers. The regulations with regard to
+non-textile factories and workshops are less rigorous; and in the case of
+domestic workshops and factories there is additional relaxation of the
+rules.
+
+The parent or guardian of the half-timer is responsible for the child's
+attendance at school. As an additional precaution against truancy, the
+employer may not employ the child unless each Monday the child has
+obtained from the school a certificate of attendance during the past
+week.[70]
+
+If we take into account the hours worked in the factory and the hours
+spent in school, we shall find that the half-timer's week of strenuous
+effort is a long and a weary one. "Taking one week with another, the
+employment of the half-timer is for twenty-eight and a quarter hours a
+week in a textile factory, and thirty in a non-textile factory or
+workshop; and as he is in school for thirteen or fourteen hours, his total
+week in school and factory is from forty to forty-four hours." [71]
+
+In view of proposals made later, I have thought desirable to insert in
+detail the half-time regulations, in order to show how, in the actual
+carrying out of industrial operations, a half-time system can be put into
+effect.
+
+_(c) Protection of Health._
+
+There is no law prescribing in all cases the conditions as to buildings,
+sanitary arrangements, and safety, under which alone children and young
+persons may be employed. There is no law requiring in all cases a medical
+certificate from children and young persons to show that they are
+physically suited for the employment in which they are engaged.
+
+It is no doubt true that the buildings in which juveniles are employed
+come, in respect of sanitation, drainage, and water-supply, under the
+general Public Health Acts. It is no doubt a fact that local building
+by-laws occasionally insist on means of escape in case of fire in premises
+where more than a certain number of persons are employed. It is likewise
+part of the law of the land that, if a lad in the course of his work meets
+with a fatal accident, twelve just men and a coroner must sit on the dead
+body and investigate the cause.
+
+But, apart from such regulations, which are not confined to the employment
+of juveniles, or, indeed, to employment generally, it is only in special
+forms of occupation that there are required additional precautions
+designed to protect the health and safety of the workers. Elaborate rules
+prescribe the conditions which must be observed in the management of a
+railway or a mine. The Shop Hours Act requires that seats should be
+provided for shop assistants. Such Acts have in practice only a limited
+application in the case of children and young persons, who do not to any
+large extent come into the classes affected.
+
+Here, as in regard to the regulation of hours, the chief Act of importance
+is the Factory and Workshop Act. This Act makes careful provision, so far
+as premises are concerned, for the health of the workers, juveniles and
+adults alike. Whether the provisions are in practice always enforced is a
+matter open to some doubt.
+
+In the case of factories,[72] the outside walls, ceilings, passages, and
+staircases must be painted every seven years, and washed every fourteen
+months; and in general the premises must be kept clean and free from
+effluvia, and the floors properly drained. Ventilation must be adequate,
+and all gases, dust, and other impurities generated in the course of work
+rendered, so far as is practicable, innocuous to health. In certain cases
+the inspector may insist on the provision of ventilating fans.
+Overcrowding is prevented by requiring a minimum space in each room of 250
+cubic feet for each person, or during overtime of 400 cubic feet. A
+reasonable temperature must be maintained in each room in which any person
+is employed. There must be sufficient and suitable supply of sanitary
+conveniences. In textile factories a limit is set on the amount of
+atmospheric humidity. In certain dangerous or poisonous trades additional
+precautions are required. The Secretary of State has large powers of
+imposing additional regulations on the one hand, and of granting
+exemptions on the other. The authority for enforcing the regulations in
+factories is the inspector acting through the Home Office.
+
+The regulations applicable to workshops do not differ very materially from
+those imposed on factories, but the enforcing authority is different. The
+authority in the case of workshops is the district or the borough
+council--_i.e._, the public health authority. The medical officer of
+health and the inspector of nuisances have for this purpose the power of
+factory inspectors. A breach of the law on the subject is declared to be a
+nuisance, and may be dealt with summarily under the Public Health Acts.
+The district or borough council are compelled to keep a register of the
+workshops within their area; and the medical officer of health is required
+to report annually to the council on the administration of the Factory
+Acts in the workshops and workplaces in the district. A copy of this
+report must be sent to the Secretary of State, who remains the supreme
+authority, and in certain cases of default may authorize a factory
+inspector to take the necessary steps for enforcing these provisions, and
+recover the expenses from the defaulting council.
+
+An attempt is also made to regulate the sanitary conditions under which
+out-workers are employed. Where provisions are made by the Secretary of
+State, the employers concerned are made responsible for the condition of
+the places in which his out-workers carry on work. The employer must keep
+lists of out-workers. The district council, in cases where the place is
+injurious to the health of the out-workers, may take steps to have the
+evil remedied or the employment stopped.
+
+The Act requires machinery to be properly fenced, and special precautions
+to be taken in cleaning machinery in motion. Children may not clean any
+part of machinery in motion, or any place under such machinery other than
+a overhead gearing. Children and young persons may not be allowed to work
+between the fixed and traversing parts of a self-acting machine while the
+machine is in motion.
+
+When there occurs in a factory or workshop any accident which either (_a_)
+causes loss of life to a person employed in the factory or workshop, or
+(_b_) causes to a person employed in the factory or workshop such bodily
+injury as to prevent him on any one of the three working days after the
+occurrence of the accident from being employed for five hours on his
+ordinary work, written notice shall forthwith be sent to the inspector for
+the district.
+
+In the case of new factories erected since January 1, 1892, and of new
+workshops erected since January 1, 1896, in which more than forty persons
+are employed, a certificate must be obtained from the local authority for
+building by-laws, stating that reasonable provision for escape has been
+made in case of fire. With regard to older factories and workshops, the
+local authority must satisfy itself that reasonable means of escape are
+provided. From these regulations it will be seen that precautions guarding
+the health of boys are taken in the case of factories and workshops. There
+are rules, there is an enforcing and inspecting authority, and there is
+required a report in all cases of serious accident. But, with one
+exception, no steps are taken to test the adequacy of the precautions by a
+periodic medical examination of children and young persons, or to prevent
+the employment of certain individuals who are physically unfit for the
+work.
+
+The exception is important, and observes attention, because it indicates a
+possible line of reform. "In a factory a young person under the age of
+sixteen, or a child, must not be employed ... unless the occupier of the
+factory has obtained a certificate, in the prescribed form, of the fitness
+of the young person or child for employment in that factory. When a child
+becomes a young person, a fresh certificate of fitness must be
+obtained." [73] A certifying surgeon is appointed for each district. "He
+must certify that the person named in the certificate is of the age
+therein specified, and has been personally examined by him, and is not
+incapacitated by disease or bodily infirmity for working daily for the
+time allowed by law in the factory." [74] "The certificate may be qualified
+by conditions as to the work on which a child or young person is fit to be
+employed," and the employer must observe such conditions.[75] The surgeon
+has power to examine any process in which the child or young person is
+employed.[76] A factory inspector who is of opinion that any young person
+or child is unsuited on the ground of health for the employment on which
+he is engaged may order his dismissal, unless the certifying surgeon,
+after examination, shall again certify him as fit.[77]
+
+This provision only applies to young persons under the age of sixteen, and
+to children. It does not, moreover, apply to workshops. In the case of
+workshops, the employer may obtain, if he thinks fit, a certificate from
+the certifying surgeon.[78] The Secretary of State has, however, power to
+extend the regulation to certain classes of workshops, if he considers the
+extension desirable.[79]
+
+In these cases, and these cases alone, is it necessary to call in the
+doctor to certify the physical fitness of the boy for the employment in
+which he is engaged. But under the Employment of Children Act, 1903, taken
+in conjunction with the Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907,
+it is possible to extend considerably the system of medical tests. Under
+the first of these Acts, which applies to children under the age of
+fourteen--
+
+"Sect. 3 (4). A child shall not be employed to lift, carry, or move
+anything so heavy as to be likely to cause injury to the child.
+
+"(5) A child shall not be employed in any occupation likely to be
+injurious to his life, limb, health, or education, regard being had to his
+physical condition.
+
+"(6) If the local authority send a certificate to the employer saying that
+certain employment will injure the child, the certificate shall be
+admissible as evidence in any subsequent proceedings against the employer
+in respect of the employment of the child."
+
+If the child has left school--and under certain conditions a child can
+leave school at the age of twelve--it is not easy to see how the local
+authority can enforce these provisions. But with children attending
+school, whole or part time, circumstances are different. Medical
+inspection of school-children is now compulsory, and it is within the
+power of the education authority to inspect any such children.[80] They
+are therefore at liberty to examine any children known to be at work, and
+any certificate of "unfitness" sent to an employer would probably be
+effective.
+
+Further, under the Employment of Children Act, Sects. 1 and 2, a local
+authority may make by-laws permitting, subject to conditions, the
+employment of children under the age of fourteen in any specified
+occupation; and in the case of "street trading" the age is extended to
+sixteen. It would be possible therefore, subject to the approval of the
+Secretary of State, to make by-laws requiring a medical certificate of
+fitness in certain forms of occupation in which children under the age of
+fourteen are engaged.
+
+Sec. 2. STATE ENTERPRISE.
+
+In the preceding sections the State has played a passive part in the
+supervision of the boy. It has contented itself with giving orders to
+others, and with taking some more or less inadequate steps to see that its
+commands are obeyed, but has directly done nothing itself. We are now to
+see the State assuming duties of its own, and appearing as the active
+guardian of the child. Individual or voluntary effort having failed, it
+has been driven, at first reluctantly, but later with increasing
+readiness, to fill the gap.
+
+The State has now made itself directly responsible for providing schools
+for the children of the nation. The schools play an important part in the
+supervision of character. Attendance at school may be either compulsory or
+voluntary. The law of compulsory attendance has already been stated.[81]
+As a rule children must attend school till they reach the age of twelve,
+and under local by-laws can in general be retained till they reach the age
+of fourteen. In certain cases, important from the point of view of
+discipline, the period of compulsory attendance can be prolonged. Children
+under fourteen found begging, or wandering without home, or under the care
+of a criminal or drunken guardian, or in general living in surroundings
+likely to lead to crime, may be brought before a magistrate and sent to an
+industrial school.[82] Here they are boarded and lodged, and may be kept
+there up to the age of sixteen, after which time the managers of the
+school have duties of supervision for a further period of two years, with
+power of recall if desirable. Children who are truants or are convicted of
+criminal offences can be treated in the same way.
+
+For the majority of boys State guardianship is confined to the years of
+compulsory attendance. But a considerable number continue their education
+in various ways, and so remain under some sort of supervision. Children
+may remain at the elementary school till the close of the school year in
+which they attain the age of fifteen. The education authority has power to
+provide and aid secondary and trade schools, and to make these
+institutions accessible by means of scholarships; and secondary schools,
+if in receipt of grants from the Board of Education, must in general
+reserve a quarter of the places for pupils whose parents cannot afford to
+pay fees. The education authority has power to provide evening
+continuation classes for those who desire to avail themselves of the
+opportunities thus afforded. Those who choose to attend these places of
+higher education continue in some degree under the supervision of the
+State.
+
+But the supervision of the State through its schools is not confined to
+the supervision of conduct. The education authority now exercises
+important duties in connection with the health of the children in the
+elementary schools. It is now obligatory on every education authority to
+inspect medically all children on their admission to school, and at such
+other times as may be prescribed by the Board of Education.[83] In their
+original memorandum to education authorities the Board of Education
+required these inspections--on admission to school, and at the ages of
+seven and ten.[84] These regulations have not at present been enforced,
+but the London County Council has now adopted a scheme which practically
+embodies them. The local education authority is empowered, with the
+consent of the Board of Education, to make arrangement for attending to
+the health of the children.[85] Medical inspection is compulsory, medical
+treatment optional. Further, the local education authority may draw on the
+rates to feed school-children, whether their parents are destitute or not,
+provided it is satisfied that the children, for lack of food, are unable
+to profit by the instruction given.[86]
+
+Finally, the local education authority may receive into its day industrial
+schools children at the request of their parents, who must pay towards the
+expense such sum as may be fixed by the Secretary of State.[87]
+
+It will be seen that, acting through the local education authorities, the
+State has now assumed large duties in connection with the supervision of
+children. To submit to the discipline of the schools the vast majority of
+the children of the county; to examine medically all children in these
+schools; to feed the necessitous children, and to treat medically the
+ailing children in the elementary schools; to remove and provide for until
+the age of sixteen unfortunate children exposed to an unfavourable
+environment--these are powers which constitute no small measure of State
+enterprise.
+
+
+II.
+
+STATE TRAINING.
+
+Training that shall fit a boy for a trade is of two kinds, general and
+special. The first must develop those mental qualities of alertness,
+intelligence, and adaptability required in all forms of occupation; the
+second must give definite instruction in the principles and practice of
+some particular industry or branch of industries. For the first provision
+is made in the elementary school system, with its powers of compelling
+attendance. For the second we must look to the various types of
+continuation school. Here, under existing conditions, the State can only
+offer facilities; it cannot enforce attendance.[88]
+
+Since the passing of the Education Act, 1902 and 1903, progress has been
+marked in both directions. The old "voluntary" schools, whose rolls
+contained the names of half the scholars in the country, and whose limited
+funds constituted an impassable barrier to all advance, are now maintained
+out of the rates; and the gap between non-provided and council schools is
+closing up. The breaking up of the small School Boards and the
+establishment of larger authorities controlling all forms of education
+have made for efficiency, while the merging of educational matters in the
+general municipal work is insuring that practical criticism of his schemes
+which the educationalist always resents but always requires.
+
+_(a) The Elementary School._
+
+It is obvious that, with the variety of children every school contains and
+their tender age, no definite trade training can be given in the
+elementary school. On the other hand, we have advanced far beyond the old
+educational ideal of providing a common and uniform type of instruction in
+the common school. Types of school are being multiplied to meet the needs
+of different kinds of pupils. Provision has long since been supplied for
+the mentally and physically defective, and serious attempts are now being
+made to break up and classify that huge group which includes the so-called
+normal child. In addition to the varying types of elementary school which
+are in process of being adapted to the differing needs of the locality,
+and the different classes of child, we have, under the elementary school
+system, what is known as the "higher elementary school." Originally a
+school specializing in science and of little value, it is tending to
+become, under the more recent regulations of the Board of Education, a
+school where a definite bias, either in the direction of commerce or
+industry, is given to the curriculum. It is true that the number of
+schools called "higher elementary" shows little signs of increase.[89]
+This is due to the rigid and inflexible rules of the Board of Education,
+which seem expressly designed to kill, and not to encourage, the
+experiment. But while the name is being dropped, the thing is being
+preserved and multiplied. London, for example, has recently adopted a
+scheme for the development of sixty of these types of school, to be called
+"central schools." The curriculum of each school is determined after
+taking into account the industrial needs of the neighbourhood in which it
+is placed. The education given is general in character, but the selection
+of subjects has special reference to some profession or group of trades.
+Broadly speaking, there are two general types of school, the commercial
+and the industrial. The industrial type is already subdivided into the
+woodwork and the engineering type, and further subdivisions will gradually
+be formed. In these schools no attempt will be made to teach a trade, but
+such subjects are included in the curriculum as will be found useful in
+the trade. In the woodwork type, for example, in addition to a
+considerable amount of time devoted to practical instruction in woodwork,
+special attention is given to the kinds of arithmetic and drawing required
+by the intelligent carpenter. An elaborate scheme for picking out between
+the ages of eleven and twelve the children suitable for these different
+kinds of school has been drawn up. A four years' course of instruction is
+provided for. In order to induce the poorer parents to allow their
+children to remain beyond the age of compulsory attendance, the education
+committee offers bursaries, thereby exercising that negative form of
+compulsion technically known as a bribe. Other education authorities are
+establishing schools with similar aims. The experiments are recent, and
+mark an important and new development. Two advantages are anticipated.
+First, the variety in the types of school and the careful selection of
+scholars will promote intelligence by providing that particular kind of
+educational nutriment best adapted for encouraging the growth of a
+particular order of mind. Secondly, by guiding the interests of boys in
+the direction of various occupations, it is hoped that on leaving school
+these interests will lead the boys to enter those occupations for which to
+some extent they have been prepared, and in which they are most likely to
+succeed. The elementary schools, as a body, will thus become a kind of
+sorting-house for the different trades, and be freed from that charge, to
+some extent justified, of catering only for the lower ranks of the
+clerical profession.
+
+_(b) The Continuation School._
+
+It is becoming year by year more generally recognized that a system of
+education which comes to an end somewhere about the age of fourteen is
+incomplete and profoundly unsatisfactory. Without attendance at a
+continuation school of some kind, a boy rapidly loses much of the effect
+of his previous education, and at the same time is deprived of all
+opportunity of enjoying the advantages of a more specialized training. To
+meet this need a complex system of continuation school has grown up. It
+lacks, however, the element of compulsion, except that negative form
+already alluded to--the bribe of a scholarship. Looking at the machinery
+as a whole, it may be admitted that the State does afford considerable
+opportunity to those anxious to continue their general education, or to
+obtain some specific form of technical instruction. Whether sufficient use
+is made of this opportunity is a question that must be answered in the
+following chapter. But taking the machinery as a whole, and as it exists
+under the best education authorities, the machinery does touch to some
+extent the principal trades and professions.[90]
+
+1. Provision is gradually being made for those likely to succeed in the
+higher branches of industry and commerce. The number of secondary schools
+is being increased, their quality improved, and their types varied.
+Technical institutes providing day and evening classes of an advanced
+character are being rapidly multiplied. University instruction, aided out
+of public funds, is becoming more plentiful and efficient, and, whether
+during the day or in the evening, is year by year offering larger
+opportunities to students. Progress is especially marked in the faculties
+of economics and technology. Scholarship systems, more or less
+incomplete, make access to these institutions possible for the poorer
+classes of the community. The trend of development seems to suggest that a
+system of organization, calculated to provide training for the highest
+positions in the industrial and commercial world, is developing along the
+following lines:
+
+Between the ages of eleven and twelve the brightest children will be
+transferred from the elementary to the secondary school. The secondary
+school will provide a course of instruction extending to the age of
+eighteen. Broadly speaking, there will be three types of secondary school,
+the first giving a general and literary education, the second specializing
+in commerce, and the third in some branch of science and technology. At
+the age of eighteen the suitable students will be removed to the
+University, where they will receive a three or four years' course of
+instruction suitable to the profession they are intending to enter. It is
+probable that at the age of fourteen there will be an additional, though
+smaller, transfer of children from the elementary schools, in order that
+provision may be made for those who have slipped through the meshes of the
+scholarship net at the first casting. Scholarships with liberal
+maintenance grants will make readily accessible to all who are fit the
+advantages of a prolonged education. Evening classes, leading even to a
+degree, will remain for those who, for one reason or another, have failed
+to obtain in their earlier years the advanced instruction they now
+require.
+
+An organization of this kind is not at present found anywhere in its
+complete form, but it is sufficiently complete in certain directions to be
+considered here, where we are concerned with attainments, and not reserved
+for a later chapter, where we shall be examining new paths of progress.
+
+2. For those likely later to fill the position of foreman, or to become
+the best kind of artisan, the day trade school is provided. The boys enter
+the trade school on leaving the elementary school about the age of
+fourteen or fifteen, and go through a two and sometimes a three years'
+course of instruction. These schools continue the education of the boy,
+with special reference to the trade concerned, and at the same time devote
+a large amount of time to supplying an all-round training in the various
+skilled operations the trade requires. They are essentially practical in
+character, and this practical character is often assured by a committee of
+employers, who visit the school and criticize the methods of instruction.
+
+3. For those already apprenticed to, or engaged in, the trade two forms of
+instruction are provided. The most satisfactory are the classes attended
+during the day. Attendance at such times can only be secured by inducing
+the employers to allow their lads time off during working hours. In some
+cases the element of compulsion is introduced by the employers, who make
+attendance at such classes a condition of employment. The other form of
+instruction is provided during the evening at a technical institute. In
+either case the instruction is of a practical nature, and designed to
+supplement the training of the workshop.
+
+4. For those who have entered, or desire to enter, the lower walks of
+commerce, or the civil or municipal service, there is the evening school
+of a commercial type, usually held in the building of an elementary
+school.
+
+5. Of the boys who, engaged in unskilled work during the day, are anxious
+to continue their general education or to improve their position, the
+evening school again supplies the need. Some practical work is done in the
+woodwork or metal centres, but the limited equipment of the elementary
+school stands in the way of any advanced technical instruction. If we omit
+the commercial classes, already mentioned, attendance at an evening school
+often means little more than attendance once a week at a class where
+instruction is given in a single subject, and not infrequently the
+recreative element is predominant. Recently, and with considerable
+success, the "course" system has been introduced. Here the students,
+instead of being present at a single class once a week, attend on several
+evenings during the week, and go through a course of instruction in
+several subjects connected together and leading up to some definite goal.
+
+If to these various types of continuation school we add the large number
+of lectures on numerous subjects, we shall see that the State through its
+schools supplies a considerable amount of technical instruction. It would
+be false to say that the boys receive all the training that they need, but
+it would not be beyond the mark to assert that in the case of many
+education authorities they are afforded all, and not infrequently more
+than all, the opportunities for which they ask. It is the demand, and not
+the supply, that is deficient.
+
+
+III.
+
+STATE PROVISION OF AN OPENING.
+
+Until the year 1910 the provision of openings in suitable occupations was
+not considered among the duties of the State. It is true that here and
+there, usually in co-operation with voluntary associations, an education
+committee made some attempt to place out in trades the boys about to leave
+school. But any expenditure in this direction was illegal, and under no
+circumstances was it possible to do anything for those who had already
+left school. But in the year 1910 the State, without premeditation, has
+found itself committed to the duty of finding openings for children and
+juveniles. The revolution was upon us before we had seen the signs of its
+approach.
+
+This assumption of a new duty was the unforeseen result of the
+establishment of Labour Exchanges. The Act of 1909 thought nothing, said
+nothing, about juveniles. It was passed as a measure intended to deal with
+the problem of adult unemployment. Now, there is no problem of
+unemployment in connection with boys and youths; the demand of employers
+for this kind of labour appears insatiable. Nevertheless, no sooner were
+Labour Exchanges opened, than the question of juveniles came to the
+front. Employers asked for juveniles, and the managers of the local Labour
+Exchange, eager to meet the wishes of the employer, searched for and found
+juveniles. Enthusiastic about his work, and prompted by the laudable
+desire to show large returns of vacancies filled, it did not occur to him
+that the problem of the juvenile and the problem of the adult had little
+in common. He was not permitted to remain long in this condition of
+primitive ignorance. Questions were asked in the House, letters were
+written to the papers, deputations waited on the President of the Board of
+Trade, all complaining that the Labour Exchange was becoming an engine for
+the exploitation of boy labour. In the case of adults, no bargain as to
+conditions was struck with the employer; the man had to make his own
+terms. But the boy could not make his own terms, and public opinion had
+for some years been uneasy about the increasing employment of boys in
+occupations restricted to boys, and leading to no permanent situation when
+the years of manhood were reached. Returns showed that it was largely into
+situations of this character that lads were being thrust by the Labour
+Exchange. The Board of Trade rapidly realized the evil, and set itself to
+work to repair the unforeseen mistake. It wisely decided to grapple
+seriously with the problem, and did not, as it might well have done,
+restrict the Labour Exchange to adults.
+
+It determined to appoint Advisory Committees to deal with juveniles. In
+London the following machinery is in process of being established: There
+is a Central Advisory Committee, consisting of six members nominated by
+the Board of Trade, six by the London County Council, and six by the
+committee of employers and trade unionists, who advise the Board of Trade
+on questions of adult employment. The duty of this Central Committee is to
+advise the Board of Trade as to the appointment of the local Advisory
+Committees, which will be formed to control the juvenile department in
+connection with each of the London Labour Exchanges. It will also be the
+duty of the Central Advisory Committee to advise generally on questions
+affecting the employment of juveniles. Though the duties of this committee
+are nominally advisory, its work will in practice become administrative in
+character. Here then is an organization which in course of time will
+probably have to deal with the problem of finding suitable occupations for
+the child and juvenile population of London. Similar bodies are being
+formed in other towns. As will appear later, this is one of the most
+important social questions of the day. How these committees will do their
+work only the future can show. But if the Board of Trade act liberally in
+matters of expenditure, there is no cause for despondency, and we may well
+hope that, by the purest of accidents, we are on the threshold of a new
+era in the history of industrial organization. Chance is not always blind,
+and some of its wild castings hit the mark.
+
+Such, in broad outline, have been the achievements of the State during the
+age of reconstruction, so far as concerns the problem of boy labour and
+apprenticeship. Guided by sentiment, partial and limited in the sphere of
+its operations, the State has yet drifted far from the moorings of
+_laissez-faire_, and is destined to drift farther as the years go by.
+
+How far the intricate machinery, slowly pieced together during the last
+three-quarters of a century, is successful when judged by results, what
+are its more serious defects, and what should be the lines of future
+advance, before the establishment of a real apprenticeship system, it will
+be the object of the following chapters to explain. But one truth should
+now be abundantly clear: of the three essential factors of that system,
+not one has been altogether neglected by the State, and in certain
+departments its guardianship has been widely extended. In the department
+of supervision it has, through its schools, created an organization to
+watch over and to control the conduct of all its children; it has recently
+recognized through the same agency its duty to provide for them at least
+the elements of physical well-being; and through numerous Acts it has
+endeavoured to insure for the boy worker a minimum standard--low, indeed,
+but still real--of proper conditions of employment. In the department of
+training it has covered the land with a network of educational
+institutions, which offer to all the possibilities of nearly every kind of
+instruction. While, as regards the provision of an opening, it has
+realized the urgency of the problem, and has taken the first steps to
+supply the deficiency. These are all, in spite of many shortcomings, solid
+achievements, hopeful in the present, and more hopeful for the promise
+they bring of a larger measure of State guardianship in the years that are
+to come.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+APPRENTICESHIP OF TO-DAY
+
+
+A true apprenticeship system, as already explained, must satisfy three
+conditions: It must guarantee the adequate supervision of the youth of the
+country as regards physical and moral development until the age of
+eighteen at least is reached; it must supply means of effective training,
+both general and specialized; and, finally, it must provide to those about
+to cross the threshold of manhood an opening in some form of occupation
+for which definite preparation has been given. The efficiency of the
+industrial organization of to-day must be judged by the extent to which
+these three conditions are satisfied.
+
+To what extent does the apprenticeship of to-day satisfy the conditions of
+a true apprenticeship system? To answer this question we must look far
+beyond the narrow limits of indentured apprenticeship as it still exists.
+It touches only a fringe, and a vanishing fringe, of the problem. Life for
+the youth has grown more complex since the passing of the old organization
+of the gilds; its success or failure is the outcome of the interplay of
+numerous forces. Four factors contribute, in a more or less degree, to the
+result. There is the contribution of the State--the last chapter was
+concerned with the description of the machinery which has slowly been set
+up during the age of reconstruction--we have yet to test its influence in
+the actual working; there is the contribution of philanthropic enterprise,
+as represented in the religious bodies, the clubs, the apprenticeship
+associations, and skilled employment committees; there is the contribution
+of the home, with its discipline and training; and, finally, there is the
+contribution of the workshop, using this term to include all forms of
+occupation, with the methods of entry and the organization for securing a
+supply of labour. Only when we have taken into account the effects of
+these four factors can we pass judgment on the apprenticeship of to-day.
+
+
+I.
+
+THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE STATE.
+
+In estimating the contribution of the State towards apprenticeship of
+to-day, it will be convenient, as in the last chapter, to trace the effect
+of this influence in two sections, the one devoted to a survey of the
+results of State regulation, and the other to an examination of the
+achievements of State enterprise.
+
+Sec. 1. STATE REGULATION.
+
+In its scheme of regulation the State has aimed, broadly speaking, at
+securing three results. It has endeavoured to prevent boys from being
+overworked or wrongly worked; it has sought to guard them from being
+engaged in demoralizing forms of employment; and it has striven to secure
+satisfactory conditions within the walls of the workshop.
+
+The third task presents the fewest difficulties. Medical science is
+sufficiently advanced to prescribe the conditions as to ventilation,
+heating, sanitation, and cubic contents essential to the health of the
+boys. The sad catalogue of accidents is sufficiently long to show where
+danger, through inadequately guarded machinery, is probable. To enforce
+the necessary regulations is comparatively easy. There must be a suitable
+number of inspectors, and these inspectors must be specially trained for
+their work. Neither condition is at present fulfilled. The staff of
+inspectors is much too small, and the inspectors themselves frequently
+lack the requisite technical qualifications.
+
+In the work of guarding boys from being engaged in occupations
+demoralizing to character, the State has only recently taken the first
+steps. The Employment of Children Act prohibits street trading under
+certain conditions. As will appear later in this chapter, there are a
+large number of occupations where regulation is much required. Indeed, it
+is a comparatively new idea that the nature of the employment of the boy
+may have a profound influence on the well-being of the man.
+
+In the department of regulation the most elaborate machinery has grown up
+around the attempts of the State to prevent boys from being overworked or
+wrongly worked. The difficulties in the way of success have been two.
+There has been the difficulty in getting the necessary law passed. In this
+respect it is enough to mention that the "half-time" system, in spite of
+practically universal condemnation, is still permitted, to show the almost
+insurmountable obstacles presented by vested interests. There is next the
+difficulty of enforcing the law. It is often urged that it is idle to
+place on the statute-book laws which can easily be evaded. Too much weight
+must not, however, be given to this argument. There is a moral effect in
+the passing of every law. The fact that the State has condemned certain
+modes of action is an important factor in the formation of public opinion.
+Many people realize for the first time that the evils which are the result
+of conduct hitherto regarded as harmless, because not regarded at all, are
+sufficiently serious to call for State interference. The law may not have
+its full effect; it will without doubt have some effect.
+
+The question of enforcement is, however, of vital importance, and it is
+well to consider the limits of the power of enforcement.
+
+The best method of restricting the hours of employment is to see that the
+boy is somewhere else during part of the working day. The half-time
+system, which insured that the boy should spend half his time in school,
+was established, not primarily with a view to his education, but to
+prevent him from being overworked. It has, moreover, from its point of
+view, been completely successful, and has in practice been enforced
+without difficulty. The various laws relating to compulsory attendance at
+school have exercised an influence more potent in the work of limiting
+the hours of employment than all the other elaborate regulations on the
+subject. If we see to it that a boy is in school, he cannot at the same
+time be found in the factory. The machinery for enforcing attendance now
+runs without difficulty, and its action is uniform and comprehensive.
+
+The next method of restricting employment is the method of prohibition.
+Here, again, enforcement presents no serious difficulty. If we forbid
+children under a certain age to work for wages or to take part in certain
+forms of occupation, it is enough to find them so engaged at any one
+moment to secure a conviction.
+
+The third method, which seeks to prevent boys from being overworked by
+setting a limit on the number of hours during which they may be employed,
+is almost impossible to carry out. The Shop Hours Act is frequently
+infringed, and only the most rigid system of inspection can get evidence
+of cases of infringement. Yet even here detection is comparatively easy. A
+watch can be kept on the number of hours during which a shop is open, and
+if this exceed the legal limit we have a fair presumption that the shop
+assistants are over-employed. But in the case of children we cannot draw
+this conclusion. We are supposing their hours are more limited than in the
+case of the adults, and the mere fact that the shop is open during a
+longer period affords no proof that the child is there all the day on all
+days of the week. To enforce regulations of this kind we must set a watch
+on the individual child, and on a large scale this is impracticable.
+
+In judging of the results of State regulation, as described in the
+preceding chapter, we may assume that the regulations are enforced--or at
+any rate are enforceable--where employment is prohibited, or where
+attendance at school is required, but that regulations which entail the
+counting of hours have little effect in preventing overwork except by the
+indirect method of forming public opinion. Further, when we are seeking a
+path of reform, we must take the road of prohibition or alternative
+attendance at school.
+
+Leaving general considerations, and coming to details, it may be said
+that, so far as children under the age of fourteen are concerned, the
+system of State regulation, though a little cumbersome, covers a
+considerable part of the field, provided always that local education
+authorities make full use of the powers conferred by the Education Acts,
+the School Attendance Acts, the Children Act, and the Employment of
+Children Act, and provided also that the Board of Education and the Home
+Office render full and cordial support. Unfortunately, these provisos are
+very far from being fulfilled. More than 58 per cent. of the population,
+for example, live in districts where the attendance by-laws allow of
+conditional exemption at the age of twelve.
+
+It is true that in nearly half the cases a fairly high standard of
+attainment is required from the children, but with the remainder no higher
+standard is required than that reached by the normal child at the age of
+twelve.[91] Or, again, in connection with the Employment of Children Act,
+out of seventy-four county boroughs, fifty have made by-laws in reference
+to street trading, but large towns, like Leeds, Nottingham, or Salford,
+have made none. Out of 191 smaller boroughs and urban districts, only
+forty-one have made by-laws; and out of the sixty-two administrative
+counties, other than London and Middlesex, only one.[92] It may fairly be
+assumed that, where no by-laws relating to street trading exist, little is
+done to enforce the other provisions of the Act.
+
+As regards young persons, if we exclude the Acts relating to mines, which
+affect a comparatively small number of lads, the Shop Hours Act, with its
+mild provisions of seats for assistants and a maximum week of seventy-four
+hours, the only Act which can be said to exert a large measure of
+supervision is the Factory and Workshop Act. Assuming that the system of
+regulation there found is adequate, and adequately enforced--both
+assumptions far from being fulfilled in practice--there remain the young
+persons who do not come within its provisions. The number of these is very
+large. In the next chapter figures are given relating to the occupations
+of London children on leaving school and between the ages of fifteen and
+twenty. A study of these tables will show that not more than at most a
+third of the young persons are brought within the scope of the Factory
+and Workshop Act. A large proportion of the lads engaged in the building
+trades, and practically the whole of those employed in shops, in
+transport, in commerce, and in general labour, are excluded. In their case
+there is no State supervision to regulate the conditions of their work.
+
+Coming to concrete examples, the van-boy may in all kinds of weather spend
+a dozen hours a day lolling on the tail of a cart, idle for much of his
+time, and for the remainder holding the horses outside a public-house, or
+lifting weights too heavy for his strength. The errand-boy, none too well
+clad or shod, may, delivering parcels and messages, trudge through the
+cold and rain over long leagues of streets during long stretches of the
+week. The office-boy may be cooped up in a dark and ill-ventilated office
+during most of the hours of daylight. The shop-boy may stand ten, twelve,
+or on Saturdays fifteen hours of the twenty-four in the street or in the
+shop, with one eye on the goods and the other on a penny novelette. And
+there is no public authority to say whether the conditions of his
+employment are satisfactory, no power to have him medically inspected, no
+possible guarantee to insure that when he passes the threshold of early
+manhood the vigour and the brightness of youth shall not have given way to
+the feeble health and the torpor of old age. Unquestionably, we owe much
+to sentiment for the evils it has denounced and remedied, but we owe also
+to the regime of sentiment the fact that some two-thirds of the young
+persons in the country are engaged in occupations carried on without
+regulation and unvisited by any inspector of the State.
+
+Sec. 2. STATE ENTERPRISE.
+
+The most signal example of State enterprise in the realm of boy labour is
+to be found in that huge organization of schools, elementary and
+continuation, which now cover the country, and whose efficiency is rapidly
+increasing. The organization has already been described; it remains to
+summarize briefly its principal effects. First, the boys attend school
+with astonishing regularity. An average percentage of attendances during
+the year of ninety-five, and even more, is become common. Truancy is rare,
+and growing rarer. The truant schools are being gradually emptied, and
+several have been closed. This result is no doubt in part due to the
+increased fine for non-attendance, and the pressure thus placed on the
+parent. But excellent attendance implies much more than the elimination of
+the truant; it means that, after making allowance for absences due to
+illness and other sufficient causes, the boy attends school with perfect
+regularity and punctuality at all times when the schools are opened. Now,
+this ideal is in the case of the vast majority of boys attained. The
+result must be attributed to the influence of the teachers over the boy.
+Prosecution of the parent may cure gross irregularity, but perfect
+attendance can only be secured by enlisting the co-operation of the boy.
+The first effect of the school, then, is seen in the almost unqualified
+regularity and punctuality of the attendance. If we reflect on the home
+conditions of many of the boys, we shall be compelled to pay a high
+tribute of praise to the work of the teacher. The second achievement lies
+in the admirable order maintained within the walls of the school. Ready
+obedience is the rule, and not the exception. This is in general not the
+result of a system of harsh discipline--corporal punishment is decreasing
+at once in severity and in frequency--it is due to the personal influence
+of the teacher. In the third place, a spirit of industry and active
+attention pervades the work of the school. In discussing with the
+authorities of secondary schools the career of the children who have won
+scholarships from the elementary schools, I have more than once been told
+that the chief characteristic of these scholars lies in their patient and
+strenuous diligence. In this respect they serve as an admirable example to
+the fee-paying pupils. It is true that the scholars are picked children,
+but ability and diligence are, as experience shows, by no means
+inseparable companions. Here, again, we see the effect of the school.
+Finally, the schools are institutions which make for character in the best
+sense of the word. The moral training is gradually freeing itself from the
+"do and don't" of the home, and is beginning to reach the higher level of
+morality where the command is "to be this, not that." A standard of school
+honour is being sought for, and sometimes attained. To take a single
+example. In what is perhaps the poorest school in all London, set in the
+most squalid and vice-haunted region, it has been made a matter of honour
+with the boys who are receiving school dinners to come to the headmaster
+as soon as the home circumstances temporarily improve and say: "I don't
+want a dinner this morning, because father has got a day's work."
+
+Habits of regularity, obedience, and industry, and the cultivation of a
+sense of honour--these are the chief results of State supervision carried
+out by means of the schools. Two questions require an answer: Do these
+qualities, found within the precincts of the school, overflow and affect
+the conduct of the boys outside the school? Do they last when school-days
+are over, and the boys gone out to work? With regard to the first, there
+is good reason to believe that they do overflow. The school training does
+influence the conduct of the boys outside. No one who has watched a
+zealous headmaster replace an ancient and inefficient teacher of the old
+type can fail to have observed a striking change in the behaviour of the
+boys as seen in the street and in the home. With regard to the second
+question, we must reply that undoubtedly in many cases the qualities
+gradually disappear. When we come, as we shall do shortly, to the survey
+of the conditions of boy labour, we shall not be surprised at this
+unfortunate truth. It would be difficult to imagine any form of training
+that would be permanent when all discipline is relaxed or entirely
+discontinued at the most critical period of the development of the boy.
+
+The elementary school is now made responsible for the supervision of the
+health of the children. Medical inspection of all children is now
+compulsory, while medical treatment is made legal. The education authority
+may also draw on the rates to provide meals for necessitous children. It
+is too soon to estimate the effect of these new powers, but if they are
+used with wise generosity they should exercise a profound influence on the
+health of the rising generation.
+
+But however beneficent may be the influence of the elementary school, it
+comes to an end abruptly at the age of fourteen, and often a year or two
+earlier. Up to the age of leaving school, the boy is carefully guarded by
+the State, and then, with no transitional stage, he becomes a man, and, so
+far as the State is concerned, all control is withdrawn. Two or three per
+cent., with the help of scholarships, may pass annually to the secondary
+school, where State supervision is continued. Not more than 30 per cent.
+of those who leave the elementary school attend an evening school,[93] and
+even if they do there is no medical inspection in such places, and little
+effective discipline is possible for boys attending evening school on two
+or three nights a week. The remaining two-thirds disappear from the sight
+of the State, which henceforth renounces all responsibility for their
+supervision.
+
+We have next to regard the schools as training-grounds for the workmen of
+the future. We ought not to look to the elementary schools to provide any
+definite preparation for a trade. Unfortunately, through no fault of
+their own, and because of the industrial development of the day, the
+schools are turning out in thousands lads completely equipped for a
+certain class of occupation. We have already seen that the most signal
+triumph of the schools is to be found in the habits of regularity,
+intelligence, and obedience, which they impress on the boys. Now, these
+qualities are essential to success in all walks of life; but for one form
+of employment alone are they all that is required. This form of employment
+includes those occupations in which boys and boys only are engaged, and
+where the boys are discharged as soon as they become men. The
+messenger-boy, the shop-boy, the van-boy, and even the boy who attends to
+some machine which monotonously performs a single operation--the boy who
+comes into one of these classes need take with him nothing but the three
+recommendations of regularity, obedience, and intelligence. We shall trace
+later the disastrous effects of these forms of employment. It is not
+without significance that the rapid increase in the number of boys so
+engaged has synchronized with the rapid improvement in the system of
+elementary education. It is something of a tragedy that the most signal
+triumph of the schools should be, perhaps, the cause of their most signal
+failure.
+
+Definite training must be looked for in the continuation school. It is
+unnecessary to add much to what has been said in the last chapter; the
+State offers opportunity, but with its existing powers can do little more.
+Speaking generally, for the child of comparatively well-to-do parents,
+for the clever child, for the child of unusual energy and physical vigour,
+these opportunities can be enjoyed; but for the remainder--and that the
+great majority--they are useless, because beyond the reach of ordinary
+endeavour.
+
+Of State enterprise in the provision of an opening it is too early to
+speak; the juvenile branch of the Labour Exchange is only creeping into
+existence. In the next chapter an attempt will be made to explain how best
+can be realized the possibilities which lie latent in these institutions.
+
+Sec. 3. SUMMARY.
+
+We are now in a position to summarize the achievements and the defects of
+the contribution of the State towards the creation of a true
+apprenticeship system. Its machinery of regulation has removed the worst
+abuses of child labour, and in certain departments of industry protects,
+with some degree of success, the health of the young persons engaged. Its
+enterprise in the field of education is providing supervision over the
+health and conduct of the boy till he reaches the age of fourteen, while
+for the young person it offers opportunities of longer supervision and
+technical training.
+
+If much has been done, much more remains undone. Regulation still leaves
+rampant many of the evils of child labour. Some two-thirds of the boys as
+they leave school enter occupations where regulation hardly exists. State
+enterprise for all practical purposes exerts no supervision over lads
+between the ages of fourteen and eighteen--the most important epoch of
+their lives. Technical training, and even the continuance of general
+education, are possible only for a favoured few, and for the present there
+is no State provision of an opening.
+
+These are grave defects, and apprenticeship of to-day stands condemned
+unless it can be shown that one or other of the remaining factors supply
+what the State has failed to give.
+
+
+II.
+
+THE CONTRIBUTION OF PHILANTHROPY.
+
+The second of the general forces, as distinguished from the individual and
+special influences of the home and the workshop, which may make some
+contribution towards the apprenticeship of to-day must be sought among the
+varied religious and philanthropic associations. While we could not expect
+from these bodies any assistance in the work of technical training, we
+might hope to find in their midst conditions which make for the better
+supervision and control of the lads who have left school.
+
+Beginning with the more distinctly religious associations, we find among
+them practical unanimity of opinion. One and all confess sadly that they
+are unable to keep in touch with the boys after they have gone out to
+work. For the tens of thousands of schoolboys who attend Sunday-school
+there are only hundreds of lads on the roll of Bible-classes. The sudden
+change from the status of schoolboy to the status of wage-earner, which
+for the majority severed all connection with the education authority, has
+even more decisively brought to an end the supervision of church and
+chapel.
+
+The miscellaneous associations represented by clubs, lads' brigades, boy
+scouts, and the like, have all been called into existence for the express
+purpose of exerting some measure of control over that transition period of
+life which separates the boy from the man. How many lads between the ages
+of fourteen and eighteen come within the sphere of influence it is not
+possible to say with any exactness. The Twentieth Century League estimated
+in 1903 that in London about 27,780 boys were connected with institutions
+of this character, and we shall see later that there are in London about
+120,000 boys between the ages of fourteen and eighteen.
+
+It would be no less difficult to weigh the value of the work done.
+Existing as they do on a voluntary basis, and free from all element of
+compulsion, such supervision as they exert must take the form of tactful
+guidance. Their success or failure depends less on the machinery and more
+on the personal qualities of the manager. The wide and admirable influence
+of the best clubs is the triumph, not of the system, but of the
+exceptional individual. Exceptional individuals are, it must be
+remembered, exceptional, and an organization which depends on their
+presence is necessarily limited in the extent of its operations. We cannot
+therefore look to these associations to meet adequately the call for
+supervision.
+
+Of recent years numerous associations have been formed with the object of
+providing suitable openings for boys. There are two sides to their work.
+On the one hand, situations are found, terms made with employers as to
+wages and training, and steps taken to see that these terms are carried
+out. On the other hand, periodic visits are paid to the boy in his home,
+advice given as to attendance at evening schools, and friendly relations
+established between boy and visitor. In general, these bodies are
+concerned with placing out lads in skilled trades, though here and there
+some attempts have been made to attack the better parts of the unskilled
+labour market. Work of this character entails the expenditure of much time
+and money, and requires for the negotiation with employers considerable
+technical qualifications. Experience has shown that a staff of volunteers
+cannot alone perform the necessary duties, and paid officers have been
+appointed. The cost necessarily limits the expansion of the organization.
+Out of the 30,000 boys who annually leave the elementary schools of
+London, it is probable that not more than 2 per cent. come under the
+influence of these associations. On the other hand, if the sphere of their
+operations is limited, within that sphere it has achieved very
+considerable success. They have been pioneers in a new movement, have
+fully justified their existence, and must now look to the State to
+continue on a larger scale, but on the same general lines, the work that
+they have begun. Unlike most volunteers, these employment committees
+welcome this transfer, and are now readily placing their services at the
+disposal of the Board of Trade through its juvenile Labour Exchange.
+
+This brief survey of the contribution of philanthropic enterprise to the
+apprenticeship of to-day reveals one obvious conclusion: the associations
+only touch a fringe of the problem, and in no way exert any comprehensive
+measure of control over the lads between the ages of fourteen and
+eighteen. Their number, their variety, and their enthusiasm, indicate the
+urgent need of supervision rather than supervision successfully achieved.
+We cannot look to them to supplement in any large degree the defects in
+the scheme of State guardianship, or the more grave defects which will
+appear when the conditions of home and workshop have been passed in
+review.
+
+
+III.
+
+THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE HOME.
+
+What contribution does the home make to the solution of the apprenticeship
+question? We cannot, indeed, expect to find within the walls of the home
+provision made for the general education of the boy, or the specialized
+training of the youth; but it is not unnatural to look to the parent to
+exercise supervision over his children till manhood is reached, and
+likewise to offer to the boy leaving school advice and material assistance
+in the selection of a trade. We are still inclined to regard the family as
+the one relic of the patriarchal system that has retained a vigorous
+vitality through all the ages; we are still apt to see in the home a
+small world, edged off from the large world outside, self-centred,
+self-ruled, and enjoying all the advantages of a benevolent despotism.
+
+To what extent is this general assumption justified by the results of
+actual experience? The question is of profound importance, and has not
+received the attention it deserves from those who have written on boy
+labour. If we can take it for granted that in the normal home we have the
+means of controlling the boy and the growing lad up till the age of
+eighteen, we have a solid foundation on which to rest the new
+apprenticeship. Abnormal homes may need attention; but if the problem of
+supervision is solved for the majority, if there is an authority to which
+the boy submits himself as a matter of course, to add training and to
+organize openings are tasks which should present no serious difficulty.
+
+Can we look to the home to provide this fundamental basis of a true
+apprenticeship system? To answer this question we must study the homes
+themselves. A few years ago I devoted a large amount of time to the
+collection of material touching the character of family life in towns. The
+results were published in an essay entitled "The Boy and the Family." [94]
+I may perhaps be allowed to summarize the conclusions there established.
+
+Home varies from home; each may be said to have its own individuality, but
+each has much in common. To give definiteness to the problem, I
+endeavoured to class the homes under three types. In the main, type
+number one referred to the inhabitants of one and two room tenements; type
+number two embraced the families possessing three rooms; while the third
+type included those persons fortunate enough to rent more than three
+rooms. The size of the home proved a rough, though the best attainable,
+method of classifying the characteristics of the inmates.
+
+Supervision has been interpreted to mean two things--supervision of health
+and supervision of conduct.
+
+So far as the supervision of health is concerned, it is probable that very
+few of the parents belonging to the three types possess the necessary
+knowledge to carry out this duty. Among all classes of the community
+ignorance on matters affecting the hygiene of the home is almost
+universal. But even if knowledge were present, the resources at the
+disposal of large numbers would prove inadequate to make that knowledge
+effective. With type number one overcrowding is the rule; with type number
+two it is common; and only in the third type do we reach conditions of
+housing favourable to health.
+
+The experience derived from medical inspection of school-children and the
+administration of the Provision of Meals Act has revealed the deplorable
+condition of large numbers of children when left to the unaided care of
+their parents. The returns of necessitous children fed, which are
+published weekly in the minutes of the London County Council, showed that
+during the winter of 1909-10 at the time of most acute distress, about 9
+per cent. of the children in the schools were receiving meals. A careful
+inquiry, the most elaborate of its kind, made into the home circumstances
+of the necessitous children in certain schools showed that the number of
+children actually fed was probably below, and certainly not above, the
+number who required meals. The same inquiry, with its lurid pictures of
+squalor and distress, proved how small was the prospect of health for many
+of those children, even though they were fed at school. It may be regarded
+as a conclusive demonstration of the call for more searching regulation on
+the part of the State.[95] It is probable, however, that the need for food
+is far larger than that represented by the number of children actually
+fed. Several inquiries, such as those carried out by Mr. Charles Booth in
+London, and Mr. Rowntree in York, indicate that the effective income of
+nearly a third of the population is too small to supply in adequate
+quantity even the bare necessities of existence.
+
+Medical inspection is now revealing the number of children suffering from
+definite ailments, and urgently requiring medical treatment, which they
+have hitherto been unable, in a large proportion of cases, to obtain. It
+would appear that some 10 per cent. suffer from defective vision, about 1
+per cent. from discharging ears, about the same number from ringworm,
+while at least a third are suffering in health from the result of
+decaying teeth.[96]
+
+Everywhere we have abundant evidence to show that, from want of
+supervision, or of the effective means of supervision in the home, large
+numbers of children are growing up ill-clad, ill-nourished, and suffering
+from definite diseases, all alike leading to inefficient manhood.
+
+The second department of supervision is concerned with the supervision of
+character. Can we rest satisfied that the parents exercise over the
+growing lads that salutary control all growing lads require? The question
+is of profound importance, if, as all agree, character is the condition of
+success when the first steps are taken in the industrial world. It is
+necessary to distinguish between the boy attending school and the boy
+exempt from compulsory attendance. In what follows I shall draw largely on
+my essay in "Studies of Boy Life." The conclusions are derived from the
+experience of many years' residence in a poor part of London, and have
+been tested by a careful inquiry among ministers of religion,
+school-teachers, rent-collectors, and others with special knowledge of the
+subject.
+
+Sec. 1. THE BOY OF SCHOOL AGE.
+
+If the parents are to control the boys, the boys must come much under the
+personal influence of the parents; in other words, rulers and ruled must
+meet frequently. Now, in all three types of family the father exercises
+little direct control over the children. If of good character, he is
+either out at work or out looking for work during five days of the week,
+and sees the children only in the evening. On Saturday afternoons and on
+Sundays he is at home; but a week-end visitor cannot be the dominant
+factor in domestic affairs. If control is exercised, it must be exercised
+by the mother. To trace her influence, it is necessary to picture the kind
+of life led by each type. I quote from my essay:
+
+"So far as the first type is considered, it is not easy to say when the
+children and parents meet.... The general order of events is something as
+follows: If it is one of the days on which he elects to work, the father
+rises about five o'clock, finds his own breakfast, and then quits the
+house. Some two or three hours later the school-children get out of bed,
+wash their faces, take a slice of bread and dripping, and go out.
+Sometimes the mother rises at that time and gets the breakfast, but in
+most cases remains in bed. At nine the boys go to school. At noon school
+is over, and the boys, after amusing themselves in the playground or
+street for an hour, go home to get some food. The mother meanwhile has
+risen, dressed the smaller children, performed the irreducible minimum of
+domestic work, and then left the house to gossip with a neighbour, or earn
+a few pence by charing. On rare occasions she may cook the children some
+dinner, but as a rule they get what food they can find, and eat it in the
+streets. Sometimes they receive a halfpenny to buy their own meal at a
+fried-fish shop. The boys then return to school, escape at half-past four,
+possibly go home to tea, and then once more turn for amusement to the
+streets. There they remain until it is dark, and often in summer till dawn
+begins to break, when at length they seek their dwelling and go to bed. In
+many cases the boys do not find their way back to their own houses, but
+take up their quarters for the night in the house of some friend.
+Sometimes they do not sleep in a house at all. In one case of which I have
+heard three boys spent a fortnight in a wash-house on the top of some
+blocks. There they lived an independent existence, getting their food and
+attending school regularly all the while. Later on, being discovered by a
+policeman, they were sent to their respective families.... Week follows
+week with little variation to mark the march of time. As brief a fragment
+of the boy's life as is possible is spent within the common dwelling,
+which offers him no occupation, and is entirely devoid of interest or
+attraction. The mother does not demand his presence indoors, while he
+himself has no wish to be there. The street, and not the house, ought
+probably to be regarded as the home or meeting-place of the family." [97]
+
+Supervision under circumstances of this kind must be an almost negligible
+factor in the life of the home. Let us now come to the second type. I
+quote again:
+
+"In the second type, as already mentioned, the family usually occupies
+three rooms. At first sight the conditions found in the former type seem
+to prevail here also. Indeed, as a matter of fact, the boys spend hardly
+more time at home than those just considered. Out of school hours they are
+either in the street or employed in some form of paid work.... School,
+street, meals, and bed alternate with one another here in much the same
+way as they did in the first type. But while the facts remain for the most
+part unchanged, their setting and colouring are very different. Another
+atmosphere seems to pervade the whole life; some sense of order and
+regularity begins to manifest itself; meals are at fixed hours; and the
+boys are expected home and sent to bed at more or less definite times.
+They return to their own tenements, and do not spend the night with some
+of their neighbours. As will appear later, home interests begin to
+develop; and if the boys spend their leisure in the streets, this is due
+more to their own choice than to the wish of their parents.... The mother
+does not display the utter indifference to the state of the dwelling or
+the habits of the children conspicuous in the first type. Some sort of
+ideal of home she seems to possess, but to obtain this ideal is beyond her
+power. She has the look of one who feels that things are wrong, and yet
+can see no remedy. She notes, for example, the evil influence the street
+exerts on the characters of her boys, but does not know how to preserve
+them from its overwhelming attractions." [98]
+
+"The chief difference, then, between the first and second type lies not so
+much in a different kind of life as in a certain change of atmosphere that
+pervades and transforms the common existence. In the third type this
+change of atmosphere becomes more conspicuous. A great part of the boy's
+time is, indeed, still spent outside the dwelling-place, but the life at
+home begins to assume larger proportions. There is more order and quiet in
+the house--a condition which reacts favourably on the boys. They are no
+longer seen hanging about the streets, loafing at the corners, or shouting
+noisily in the gutters. Though much out of doors, they go farther afield,
+and visit parks or museums; while, if they stay near home, they will
+usually be discovered in the school playground. In the evening many of
+them are indoors, and have various occupations, of which, perhaps, reading
+is the chief." [99]
+
+In type number one, then, there is, for all practical purposes, a complete
+absence of supervision. In the second type there is a desire for
+supervision, but the narrowness of the house accommodation thrusts the
+boys into the streets. In the third type alone are the conditions
+favourable to supervision.
+
+Sec. 2. THE BOY AFTER SCHOOL DAYS.
+
+If the boy while at school is under little parental control, it is not to
+be expected that this control will be tightened when school days are over.
+With the first type of family there was no supervision before, and there
+is no more afterwards. The boy is self-supporting, and troubles little
+about the home, and the home troubles little about him. There is a partial
+exception in the case of the coster. Here the boy may become one of the
+regular working members of the establishment, and remains with his father;
+but the discipline is of a rude and ready sort.
+
+With the second type of family the boy's earnings are of great importance
+to the family, and the mother does her best to keep him at home. Any
+exercise of discipline is avoided, lest the lad should take his earnings
+and go elsewhere. He is rather in the position of a favoured lodger, whose
+presence is valuable to the home, and who must be treated well for fear he
+should give notice.
+
+In the third type of family, the boy, with growing years, passes out of
+the control of the mother, and is resentful of any restraint exerted by a
+woman. What supervision he enjoys comes from the father. The two do not
+meet often; father and son are seldom employed together, and the long
+distance that frequently separates home and work places the boy beyond the
+reach of parental control during the greater portion of the week.
+
+Such in broad outline, rendered jagged, no doubt, by numerous exceptions,
+is the quantity and the quality of the supervision exercised by the town
+parent over the town boy. Even with the highest type no high standard is
+reached, while with the lower we cannot contemplate the picture with any
+degree of satisfaction. Speaking generally, the city-bred youth is
+growing up in a state of unrestrained liberty; and what makes the problem
+more serious is the fact that all evidence goes to show that this
+disquieting phenomenon is not an accident, but the direct product of the
+social and industrial conditions of the times. Towns are growing larger,
+and with the growth of towns the whole conditions of family life are being
+transformed. The old patriarchal system is gone; the father is no longer
+an autocratic ruler in his small world. The family, so to say, has become
+democratized; we have in it an association of equals in authority. Now,
+the most ardent advocates of the extension of the suffrage have always
+limited their demands to an appeal for adult suffrage; they have never
+clamoured for children to be given a vote. Yet this, for all effective
+purposes, is what happens in the home in the case of the boy as soon as he
+has left school. The status of wage-earner has brought with it the status
+of manhood, and his earnings have conferred on him immunity from control
+and the right to be consulted in the politics of the home. Another fact,
+not sufficiently recognized, tends to break down the patriarchal system.
+With the steady improvement in the State schools, the boy is usually
+better educated than the father; the father knows this, and the boy knows
+it too.
+
+It is idle, therefore, to look for any large amount of parental control
+over the boy who has left school. We must face realities, however
+unpleasant these realities may happen to be; and one of the realities of
+the time is the independence of the lad. What is equally significant is
+the suddenness with which this independence comes. Until the age of
+fourteen he has remained under a carefully designed system of State
+supervision, exerted by the school authorities; while in a large number of
+cases the discipline of the home has been an important factor in his
+existence. At the age of fourteen, as a general rule, the control of
+school and home end together. The lad goes to bed a boy; he wakes as a
+man. There should therefore be little cause for surprise if the habits of
+the school and home are rapidly sloughed off in the new life of
+irresponsible freedom.
+
+Whether, therefore, we look to the State, to philanthropic enterprise, or
+to the home, we find no satisfactory guarantee for the supervision of the
+youth of the country. We have yet to search for this supervision in the
+workshop; but if it is absent there, we shall be faced with the
+disquieting phenomenon of the boy at the age of fourteen enjoying the full
+and complete independence of the adult.
+
+
+IV.
+
+THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE WORKSHOP.
+
+Having examined three out of the four factors which contribute to the
+apprenticeship of to-day, and found them all inadequate, we must now turn
+to the workshop in the hope that we shall discover there conditions more
+favourable to the well-being of the youth of the country. If, however,
+this last factor prove defective, the apprenticeship of to-day will stand
+condemned, and the case for drastic reform will become unanswerable. It
+will therefore be desirable to devote considerable space to this, the
+central feature of the problem of boy labour.
+
+In what follows it is proposed first to make a detailed study of
+conditions in London, and then to present a general picture of the state
+of boy labour in other parts of the country. London has been selected for
+a detailed study because in a peculiar degree it represents the extreme
+type of urbanization. There is also the advantage that in the case of
+London the material required for the examination has to a large extent
+been collected. The investigations of Mr. Charles Booth, the publications
+and inquiries on the subject carried out by the London County Council, Mr.
+Cyril Jackson's report on boy labour presented to the Poor Law Commission,
+and numerous other writings, have provided for the study of London a mass
+of information which, though not in all respects exhaustive, is more
+complete than can be found elsewhere.
+
+Sec. 1. LONDON.
+
+A study of the problem of boy labour in London involves the study of three
+questions. First we have to consider the case of the children who, while
+still attending school, are employed for wages. Next we must devote
+special attention to the boys as they leave school and distribute
+themselves among the different occupations. Finally, we must watch the
+later career of those lads, and in particular endeavour to ascertain in
+what way and with what results is made the difficult passage from the
+status of the youth to the status of the man.
+
+_(a) The Employment of School-Children._
+
+In London the half-time system is not permitted. The standard of
+attainment for total exemption has been made sufficiently high to prevent
+the great majority of boys from leaving school till the age of fourteen is
+reached. It is, however, a fact that improved methods of instruction and
+more rapid promotion from class to class are tending to lower the age at
+which it is possible to obtain a Labour Certificate. How far this
+opportunity is used it is not easy to say; but in certain schools,
+situated in the poorer districts, it is alleged that there is a growing
+tendency for the brighter children to claim exemption in this way. The
+regularity of attendance is admirable, the average attendance in boys'
+schools exceeding 90 per cent. We may therefore assume that, if the boys
+work for wages, they must work at times when the schools are not opened.
+
+To what extent are boys employed while still liable to attend school? In
+1899 a return was obtained throughout the elementary schools of England
+and Wales of the number of children so employed. In London, in the case of
+boys, the figures were 21,755.[100] The tables also give the ages of the
+children, but boys and girls are not separated. If, however, we assume
+that the number of children of each sex at each age is proportionate to
+the total number of children of each sex at all ages, we find that 78 per
+cent. of the boys were eleven and upwards, and 22 per cent. under eleven.
+The number of boys of eleven and upwards would be about 17,000. There are
+in the elementary schools about 70,000 boys eleven years of age and
+upwards, so that about 24 per cent. of these boys are employed. In other
+words, nearly a quarter of the boys in the elementary schools above the
+age of eleven were employed at the time of the return. The actual number
+of boys who are employed during the course of their school career would be
+considerably larger, as they would not all be employed at the same moment.
+The return is more than ten years old, but, with the exception of the
+children under eleven, it is improbable that there has been much change.
+Similar figures may be deduced from the Report of the Interdepartmental
+Committee on the Employment of School-Children, 1901.[101]
+
+With regard to the number of hours worked, Miss Adler's evidence is
+selected, and typical schools show that 56 per cent. were employed for
+more than twenty hours a week, while 14 per cent. were employed
+thirty-five hours or upwards.[102] In individual cases the figures were
+much higher. "Thus a boy of eleven years of age, for four shillings a
+week, was employed for forty-three and three-quarter hours in carrying
+parcels from a chemist's shop, and, except on Sundays, was practically
+every moment of his life at school or at work from seven in the morning
+till nine o'clock at night. Another boy, aged thirteen, worked fifty-two
+hours a week, being employed by a moulding company, and attending a
+theatre for five evenings a week and for half a day on Wednesday for a
+_matinee_--for the last, however, playing truant from school." [103] The
+following graphic account taken from a school composition, and obtained
+under circumstances which guarantee its essential accuracy, shows the
+amount of work which may be compressed into a single day. It refers to
+Saturday:
+
+"I first got up from bed about half-past six, and put my clothes on and
+had a wash. Then I went to work at B.'s, and swept out his shop, and then
+I did the window out. But after I done the window I had my breakfast and
+went in the shop again. I started taking out orders that came in. While I
+was taking the orders out, Mr. B. went to the Borough market for some
+potatoes, cabbages, and some onions; but when he came home I had to unload
+his van. After I unloaded his van, he went for some coal, which he sells
+at one and sixpence a hundredweight, but he got two tons of coal in. Then
+we had dinner about one o'clock. When we had our dinner, I had a rest till
+about four o'clock, when I had tea. When I had my tea I had to go and chop
+some wood, when it was time to shut up the shop. I had my supper and went
+home, and went to bed, and the time was about twelve o'clock." [104] It
+will be seen that, with the exception of a break in the middle of the day,
+the boy was on duty for nearly three-quarters of the twenty-four hours,
+and for part of the time was engaged in heavy manual labour.
+
+What effect does employment have on the physical condition of children
+under the age of fourteen? "That excessive employment is injurious alike
+to the education and to the health of the children is hardly in question.
+It was testified to by witness after witness, many of them in no way
+likely to be influenced by merely theoretical objections to child
+labour." [105] On the other hand, most of the witnesses that appeared
+before the Interdepartmental Committee were of opinion that "moderate
+work" was in many cases not only not injurious, but "positively
+beneficial." [106] It is not easy to understand what is meant by the last
+statement. If some form of employment is beneficial, then the 76 per cent.
+who are not so employed suffer, and steps should be taken to encourage
+them to work. It is doubtful whether the witnesses would have accepted
+this conclusion, from which, on their own assumptions, there is really no
+escape. The difficulty lay in drawing the line. "Most of the witnesses
+seemed to suggest that twenty hours might be fixed as the maximum weekly
+limit; but, on the other hand, we found some cases where less than twenty
+hours a week, if concentrated in one or two days, or if done at night,
+must be injurious." [107]
+
+But the evidence of most value on the subject is to be found in a Report
+of the Medical Officer of the London County Council.[108] About 400 boys
+employed outside school hours were examined. The following table, with
+defects in percentages, was obtained as the result:[109]
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                  | Actual |Fatigue|       |Severe|            |Severe|
+  |Hours worked      | Number |Signs. |Anaemia.|Nerve |Deformities.|Heart |
+  |  Weekly.         |of Boys.|       |       |Signs.|            |Signs.|
+  |------------------|--------|-------|-------|------|------------|------|
+  |All schoolboys of |        |       |       |      |            |      |
+  |  district workers|        |       |       |      |            |      |
+  |  and non-workers |  3,700 |  --   |  25   |  24  |      8     |   8  |
+  |Working 20 hours  |        |       |       |      |            |      |
+  |  or less         |    163 |  50   |  34   |  28  |     15     |  11  |
+  |Working 20 to 30  |        |       |       |      |            |      |
+  |  hours           |     86 |  81   |  47   |  44  |     21     |  15  |
+  |Working over 30   |        |       |       |      |            |      |
+  |  hours           |     95 |  83   |  45   |  50  |     22     |  21  |
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+It will be seen that the defects rise rapidly with increase in the hours
+of work; while, even in the case of those working less than twenty hours,
+there is a serious deviation from the average. The fact that 50 per cent.
+of those working less than twenty hours should exhibit signs of fatigue,
+even where no permanent physical evil results, must seriously affect the
+value of the school instruction. In every case the workers compare
+unfavourably with the average for the whole of the workers and
+non-workers. We cannot view with satisfaction the truth that, even in
+those employed with moderation, deformities and severe heart signs should
+be nearly 50 per cent. above the average. The medical officer adds other
+conclusions no less disquieting. "Working eight hours on Saturday is as
+inimical as thirty hours during the week, and working through the
+dinner-hour appears particularly productive of anaemia," [110] "Retardation
+in school work was noted in 209 out of these 330 boys, 86 being one
+standard, 83 two standards, 37 three standards, and 3 four standards
+behind that corresponding to their age." [111] As his final conclusion the
+medical officer states: "We must set up as an ideal the suppression of
+child labour below twelve years of age, and during school life regulate it
+to twenty hours weekly, and a maximum of five hours on any one day." [112]
+The figures, however, would seem to go far in justifying the more drastic
+remedy of complete prohibition.
+
+It is, however, fair to mention that the Report of the Interdepartmental
+Committee, and also the Report of the Medical Officer, refer to a state of
+affairs prior to the passing of the Employment of Children Act. Under this
+Act, as explained in the last chapter,[113] employment of children under
+the age of eleven is forbidden, while the by-laws of the Council place
+restrictions on the number of hours children may work, and the times of
+day during which such work may be carried on. It is too soon to judge of
+the extent to which these restrictions can be enforced. During the first
+year of effective operation in London there were, in respect of boys under
+the age of sixteen, 13,461 cases of infringement. Prohibition under a
+certain age or during certain times of the day is comparatively easy to
+enforce; but limitation of hours, as experience of the Shop Act shows, is
+extremely difficult to enforce, and peculiarly difficult where, as with
+school-children, persons are not employed regularly, but work irregularly
+at times when the schools are not open. To get evidence sufficient to
+justify convictions is almost impossible, except in a few outrageous
+cases.
+
+What, if any, effect does the employment of school-children have on the
+general question of the preparation for a trade? Into this general
+question the Interdepartmental Committee did not enter. They did indeed
+regard certain forms of occupation as injurious, while they pronounced as
+beneficial employment in moderation. But this statement has apparently
+reference only to matters of health, and not to the relation of employment
+during school days to employment afterwards. The question is of great
+importance, as habits, in respect of work for wages, formed by the boy
+cling persistently to the youth. It is necessary, therefore, to pay some
+attention to the characteristics of the work which schoolboys undertake.
+In London 90 per cent. of the work would be included in the three
+following classes: (1) Shops--errand-running and delivery of parcels,
+milk, newspapers, and watching the goods spread on the counters outside
+the shops; (2) domestic--knife and boot cleaning, and occasionally
+baby-minding; and (3) street employment--hawking of newspapers, matches,
+and flowers, organ-grinding, and the like. Now, none of these forms of
+occupation provide any trade-training, or offer an opening with
+satisfactory prospects, to the boy as he leaves school. On the other hand,
+this class of work has distinctly injurious effects. First, it is
+employment of a casual character. Affected as it is, on the one hand, by
+attendance at school, and on the other by Saturdays and holidays, it is
+essentially irregular as regards hours. Secondly, it is easy to obtain,
+and consequently lightly undertaken and lightly dropped. Where another
+situation can be obtained at will, there is no demand on the worker to
+display the qualities that make for permanence of employment. Thirdly, it
+is work in which youths as well as boys are engaged; in other words, it
+does provide an opening to the boy as he leaves school--an opening which
+he is likely to accept, because it is the most obvious, but at the same
+time an opening in one of those forms of occupation entrance into which we
+should, as will appear later, do our utmost to discourage. It is
+singularly unfortunate that a boy's first association with any kind of
+paid employment should be of this nature. And, finally, it is at least
+open to grave doubt whether that sense of independence of home which comes
+with the consciousness of earning wages should begin at as early an age
+as twelve or thirteen.
+
+It would not be easy to imagine a more unsatisfactory form of preparation
+for a trade than that provided by the kind of work carried out by
+wage-earning children. If we add to this demoralizing influence the
+injurious effect on health and education, the case for total prohibition
+of boy labour during school-days becomes very strong.
+
+_(b) The Entry to a Trade._
+
+The great majority of boys remain at the elementary school till they
+attain the age of fourteen; it is no less true that the vast majority
+cease attendance as soon as that age is reached. The period of the next
+four years--that is, from fourteen to eighteen--forms the most critical
+time of their career. It is during these four years that the boy must, if
+ever, have taken the first steps towards learning a trade. During this
+interval his physical strength must mature, his character take on itself a
+more or less permanent set, and the question whether his education shall
+represent something more than a faint shadow of early impressions be
+finally determined. In short, it is during these four years that the
+future citizen is made or marred.
+
+The previous survey, whether of the factors which contribute to the
+apprenticeship of to-day, or of the evils which are found among
+wage-earning school-children, does not guarantee a favourable start in the
+world of whole-time employment. Each year about 30,000 boys leave school
+at the age of fourteen to take up some form of work. These figures do not
+agree with the Census returns, because the latter include all London boys
+in all classes of society, whether at school or at work. Here we are
+concerned only with the boys of fourteen who leave the elementary school
+with the intention of earning their own living. Between the ages of
+fourteen and eighteen there will therefore be 120,000 boys. It is the
+careers of these 120,000 boys that we must now try to follow.
+
+What are the first occupations selected by these 120,000 boys? During the
+last few years the London County Council has endeavoured to find an answer
+to this question. Each head-master of an elementary school is required
+annually to fill up a form in respect of each boy who has left the school
+during the preceding twelve months. The information asked for is
+"occupation of parent," "occupation of boy," "whether skilled or
+unskilled," or "whether a place of higher education is attended." Returns
+have been received and summarized for the years 1906-07 and 1907-08. The
+first return was incomplete, but the second included the vast majority of
+those who left. Below is given the summary for the two years:
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                         | Skilled.| Unskilled.|  Higher  |
+  |                         |         |           |Education.|
+  |-------------------------|---------|-----------|----------|
+  | Number                  | 8,662   |   15,910  | 1,524    |
+  | Percentage              |  33.2   |     61.0  |   5.8    |
+  | Percentage, 1906-07     |  28.5   |     67.9  |   3.6    |
+  +----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+It will be seen that, including those who went to some higher form of
+education, little more than a third of the boys left school to enter a
+skilled trade.[114]
+
+TABLE I.
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                                |      Number.     |   Percentage.    |
+  |       Class of Occupation.     |------------------|------------------|
+  |                                | Parent. |  Boy.  | Parent. |  Boy.  |
+  |--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
+  |Trades and industries           |   615   |   347  |  40.87  |  18.74 |
+  |Domestic offices or services    |    23   |    46  |   1.52  |   2.48 |
+  |Transport (including messengers,|         |        |         |        |
+  |  errand-boys, van-boys, etc.)  |   191   |   829  |  12.69  |  44.76 |
+  |Shopkeepers, shop-assistants,   |         |        |         |        |
+  |  and dealers                   |   137   |   133  |   9.10  |   7.18 |
+  |Commercial occupations          |    61   |   141  |   4.05  |   7.61 |
+  |General labour                  |   436   |   215  |  28.98  |  11.61 |
+  |Professional occupations and    |         |        |         |        |
+  |  their subordinate services    |    11   |     5  |   0.73  |   0.27 |
+  |General or local government     |    26   |     6  |   1.73  |   0.32 |
+  |Defence of the country          |     5   |     1  |   0.33  |   0.06 |
+  |Higher education                |    --   |    27  |     --  |   1.45 |
+  |Unemployed                      |    --   |   102  |     --  |   5.52 |
+  |--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
+  |          Total                 | 1,505   | 1,852  | 100.00  | 100.00 |
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+It is unfortunate that no full analysis has been made of these returns.
+The value of the information which would have thus been obtained was not
+supposed to justify the labour and expenditure involved in such an
+analysis. I have, however, roughly analyzed nearly 4,000 cases, and
+endeavoured to classify the occupations, in accordance with the table
+founded on the Census return which will be given later.[115] I selected
+for this purpose typical districts in London. Table I. includes returns
+from all the schools in the electoral areas of Bermondsey, North
+Camberwell, and Walworth; it represents a typical miscellaneous
+working-class district. Table II. includes the electoral areas of Dulwich
+and Lewisham; it may be regarded as typical of suburban villadom so far as
+its inhabitants send their children to the elementary schools. Table III.
+includes the electoral areas of Whitechapel and St. George's-in-the-East,
+districts distinguished by the presence of a large number of small trades
+and sweated industries. Table IV. includes the collective results of the
+three preceding tables, and may be taken as fairly typical of London as a
+whole. It was necessary to exclude the returns of a few schools as
+incomplete, indefinite, or obviously inaccurate. Parent stands for
+occupation of parent, boy for occupation of boy. The two do not quite
+correspond, as in a certain number of instances the occupation of the
+parent was unknown. I have included the telegraph-boys under "Transport,"
+as for my purpose this classification was the more suitable.
+
+TABLE II.
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                                |       Number.    |    Percentage.   |
+  |       Class of Occupation.     |------------------|------------------|
+  |                                | Parent. |  Boy.  | Parent. |  Boy.  |
+  |--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
+  |Trades and industries           |    347  |    151 |   35.57 |  14.86 |
+  |Domestic offices or services    |     14  |     27 |    1.45 |   2.64 |
+  |Transport (including messengers,|         |        |         |        |
+  |  errand-boys, van-boys, etc.)  |     70  |    350 |    7.24 |  34.31 |
+  |Shopkeepers, shop-assistants,   |         |        |         |        |
+  |  and dealers                   |    100  |    126 |   10.34 |  12.35 |
+  |Commercial occupations          |    180  |    157 |   18.61 |  15.38 |
+  |General labour                  |    144  |     54 |   14.89 |   5.29 |
+  |Professional occupations and    |         |        |         |        |
+  |  their subordinate services    |     47  |      2 |    4.86 |   0.19 |
+  |General or local government     |     66  |      9 |    6.83 |   0.88 |
+  |Defence of the country          |      2  |      5 |    0.21 |   0.48 |
+  |Higher education                |     --  |     76 |      -- |   7.45 |
+  |Unemployed                      |     --  |     63 |      -- |   6.17 |
+  |--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
+  |           Total                |    967  |  1,020 |  100.00 | 100.00 |
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+TABLE III.
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                                |       Number.    |     Percentage.  |
+  |      Class of Occupation.      |------------------|------------------|
+  |                                | Parent. |  Boy.  | Parent. |  Boy.  |
+  |--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
+  |Trades and industries           |   349   |   305  |  51.09  |  41.84 |
+  |Domestic offices or services    |    25   |    18  |   3.66  |   2.47 |
+  |Transport (including messengers,|         |        |         |        |
+  |  errand-boys, van-boys, etc.)  |    72   |   189  |  10.54  |  25.93 |
+  |Shopkeepers, shop-assistants,   |         |        |         |        |
+  |  and dealers                   |    91   |    48  |  13.33  |   6.58 |
+  |Commercial occupations          |    11   |    39  |   1.61  |   5.35 |
+  |General labour                  |   116   |    63  |  16.99  |   8.64 |
+  |Professional occupations        |         |        |         |        |
+  |  and their subordinate services|    10   |     3  |   1.46  |   0.41 |
+  |General or local government     |     8   |    --  |   1.17  |     -- |
+  |Defence of the country          |     1   |    --  |   0.15  |     -- |
+  |Higher education                |    --   |     7  |     --  |   0.96 |
+  |Unemployed                      |    --   |    57  |     --  |   7.82 |
+  |--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
+  |        Total                   |   683   |   729  | 100.00  | 100.00 |
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+TABLE IV.
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                                |      Number.     |   Percentage.    |
+  |      Class of Occupation.      |------------------|------------------|
+  |                                | Parent. |  Boy.  | Parent. |  Boy.  |
+  |--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
+  |Trades and industries           |  1,308  |   803  |  41.46  |  22.31 |
+  |Domestic offices or services    |     62  |    91  |   1.97  |   2.53 |
+  |Transport (including messengers,|         |        |         |        |
+  |  errand-boys, van-boys, etc.)  |    333  | 1,368  |  10.55  |  38.00 |
+  |Shopkeepers, shop-assistants,   |         |        |         |        |
+  |  and dealers                   |    328  |   307  |  10.39  |   8.52 |
+  |Commercial occupations          |    252  |   337  |   7.98  |   9.36 |
+  |General labour                  |    696  |   332  |  22.06  |   9.22 |
+  |Professional occupations and    |         |        |         |        |
+  |  their subordinate services    |     68  |    10  |   2.16  |   0.28 |
+  |General or local government     |    100  |    15  |   3.17  |   0.41 |
+  |Defence of the country          |      8  |     6  |   0.26  |   0.16 |
+  |Higher education                |     --  |   110  |     --  |   3.05 |
+  |Unemployed                      |     --  |   222  |     --  |   6.16 |
+  |--------------------------------|---------|--------|---------|--------|
+  |Total                           |  3,155  | 3,601  | 100.00  | 100.00 |
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+In the interpretation of these tables certain facts must be borne in mind.
+None of the parents are returned as unemployed; this is because the trade
+of the parent was asked for, and no account was taken as to whether he was
+or was not employed. Secondly, the occupations are somewhat vaguely
+described; this in particular is true of the term "labourer." More exact
+information would no doubt have removed the parent from the class "general
+labour," and placed him in the class "transport," and occasionally in the
+classes "domestic servant" or "shop-assistant." Thirdly, the
+messenger-boys are included partly under "transport" and partly under
+"shop-assistants," the boy being termed sometimes an errand-boy and
+sometimes a shop-boy. The term "office-boy," which appears frequently in
+the returns, is vague. I have classed the office-boy as an errand-boy
+unless the school return places him in the column "skilled employment,"
+when I have included him under the heading "commercial occupation."
+
+Making allowance for a certain inevitable inaccuracy which belongs to
+returns of this kind, we have a general picture, accurate in all
+essentials, of the distribution of boys among the various forms of
+occupation immediately after leaving the elementary school. The columns
+which refer to the trade of the parents, and indicate therefore the
+distribution of the parents among the various forms of occupation, are of
+considerable value. If we take Table IV., which may be regarded as typical
+of London as a whole, and compare the last two columns, we shall at once
+notice the striking difference that marks the distribution of boys and of
+adults among the several kinds of employment. In "trades and industries,"
+41 per cent. of parents are engaged, and only 22 per cent. of boys; 38 per
+cent. of the boys are engaged in "transport," and only 10 per cent. of
+parents. This fact carries with it a conclusion of great importance--son
+and father can seldom work together. If, for example, 10 per cent. of the
+parents are included under "transport," and 38 per cent. of the boys, it
+is clear that little more than a quarter of such boys can be employed in
+company with their parents. The actual facts, as revealed by an
+examination of the individual returns, are much stronger, and demonstrate
+the extreme rareness of father and son following the same occupation. In
+the case of "trades and industries" the trade of father and son is not
+infrequently the same; this is in particular true of "tailoring" trades of
+the East End, included in Table III., where the proportion of adults to
+boys are as fifty-one to forty-two. In suburban villadom, pictured in
+Table III., the clerk is often father to the clerk, while the son of a
+shopkeeper occasionally assists his parents in the shop. The coster habit
+likewise runs in families. But with these exceptions father and son do not
+work together. In consequence, in his first situation the boy is cut
+adrift from the home and its control, such as it is. He has not his father
+by his side to note and guide his conduct; and if he enters a skilled
+trade, he lacks the personal interest of the parent to guarantee his
+satisfactory training. We have already seen that the school supervision is
+at an end; in consequence, the only disciplinary influence left is the
+influence of the employer. The character of the employment and the nature
+of the supervision of the master become, therefore, of supreme importance
+to the well-being of the boy. It is consequently necessary to examine in
+some detail the distinguishing features of the various kinds of
+occupation. They are usually roughly classed as skilled or unskilled,
+according as they do or do not lead to a form of employment which requires
+specialized skill or specialized intelligence.
+
+THE UNSKILLED TRADES.--Practically the whole of the unskilled trades are
+included under the terms "domestic service," "transport," "shop," and
+"general labour," and the great majority of the boys who select these
+occupations may be said to select an unskilled trade. In Table I., a
+typical working-class district, it will be seen that 66 per cent. of the
+boys who leave the elementary schools come within this class. In Table
+II., a suburban area, the figures are 55 per cent.; but a considerable
+proportion of those included under "shops" appear to be employed in the
+shops of their parents, and to be learning the business. In Table III.,
+representing the small East End trades, the figures are 44 per cent.; but,
+judged by wages and conditions of employment, the majority of the 42 per
+cent. included under trades should be transferred to the class of
+unskilled work. For all the districts, as a whole typical of London, Table
+IV. shows the figures to be 58.27 per cent. The figures quoted above
+ignore the boys returned as unemployed and unknown, the number of these
+for all London being 6 per cent. They are boys waiting for something to
+turn up; what will turn up it is impossible to predict. But it is safe to
+say that a considerable portion will drift into unskilled work.
+
+The unskilled trades fall into three classes. The first and smallest is
+included under "domestic service." Under this head are found boys in
+barbers' shops, page-boys, club-boys, boot and knife boys. Employment in a
+barber's shop is notoriously unhealthy;[116] a barber's shop is also
+supposed to be not infrequently the resort of the betting fraternity. The
+fortunes of the page and club boy await the zeal of an investigator; the
+knife and boot boy soon passes to some other occupation. Of the three
+classes, domestic service is the least important and the soonest left by
+the boy.
+
+The second class, included under "transport" and "shopkeepers," is far the
+largest and the most important. In all London some 47 per cent. of the
+boys are found here; or, if we add a half of the 6 per cent. returned as
+unemployed, we may say that half the boys who leave the elementary schools
+belong to this class. It is necessary to take "transport" and
+"shopkeepers" together, because it is impossible to tell whether a
+"shop-boy" is merely an errand-boy, or a boy on the road to become a
+properly trained shop-assistant. It is probable, however, that only a
+small number could be regarded as future shop-assistants.
+
+Ignoring these exceptions, we have to follow the fortunes of 50 per cent.
+of the boys leaving school--in other words, of 15,000 persons. Their forms
+of employment have much in common. In the first place, they are what is
+known as "blind-alley" occupations--they lead nowhere. Boys only are
+engaged, and when the boys become men they are cast adrift. Sometimes they
+are absorbed in the adult service, but more usually, if they have not
+already left, are given notice, and must at the age of eighteen seek out
+some new way of earning a living. The report of Mr. Cyril Jackson makes
+this fact abundantly clear.[117] "The industrial biographies received," he
+says, "show clearly that there is generally a time of transition when boys
+have to seek new occupations, for which they have little aptitude." [118]
+Or again: "There appears to be no doubt that the restlessness of many of
+the boys doing more or less unskilled work obscures from some employers
+the fact that they are using a greater number of boys than can ever be
+employed in connection with their trade as men. The employers who have
+filled up forms often state that they 'never discharge a boy who is
+willing to stay,' or 'that boys are only discharged for misconduct,' when
+it is evident from the figures appearing in the same form that there must
+be a considerable proportion of the boys passing out of the trade each
+year.... That many employers, on the other hand, do in fact discharge a
+considerable proportion of their boys because they have no room for them
+as men--or, to express the same thing in the form in which it presents
+itself to the masters, because they cannot afford to offer men's wages--is
+shown in the short accounts of the trades in the Appendix." [119] It is
+needless to labour the point further, as everyone familiar with the
+conditions of boy work give evidence to the same effect.
+
+The second characteristic of these trades is that they are mainly
+concerned with fetching or carrying something--messages, letters, parcels.
+It is characteristic of that stage of civilization at which we have
+arrived that we want to save ourselves trouble, or to save ourselves time.
+Boys are the instruments we use. "Here we are, all of us," says a modern
+writer, "demanding an endless number of tiny jobs to be done on our
+behalf. Every year multiplies these demands, increasing the pace at which
+the jobs can be done, and the number of them that can be crowded into the
+time. We learn to expect more and more conveniences at our elbow by which
+communication can be made, business transacted, messages despatched,
+parcels transferred, news brought up to date, transit hastened, things of
+all kinds put under our hand. We touch buttons, press knobs, ring bells,
+whisper down telephones, keep wires throbbing with our desires, bustle and
+hustle the world along. And all this in the end means _boys_. Boys are
+what we set moving. Boys are the material in which we deal. Boys are our
+tools. Every wire has a boy at the end of it." [120]
+
+This tendency to demand the services of boys has spread through all
+classes of society. To take a single example of quite recent growth: It is
+becoming less and less common for the housewife to bring the results of
+her marketing home herself; a boy delivers the goods instead. Go into any
+shop, even in the poorest part of the town, and make a few purchases; the
+shopman will probably offer to send them home for you. There is something
+flattering and pleasant in the offer; it is one of the new products of
+competition to multiply conveniences instead of cutting prices. The demand
+for boys is rapidly increasing; and while the demand is increasing, the
+supply of boys has diminished. The raising of the school age, the improved
+attendance, and the decrease of truancy, have all removed from the labour
+market an immense number of boys. "The Census figures show that there has
+been a steady diminution of boys employed under fifteen during the last
+quarter of a century." [121] The Labour Exchanges testify to the same
+effect, the managers frequently saying: "There is an unsatisfied demand
+for juvenile labour of an unskilled type." [122] This growing demand has
+two effects. First, as it becomes increasingly easier for boys to obtain
+situations, there is less and less inducement for them to show such
+industry and good conduct as are necessary to retain their places.
+Dismissal has no terrors; it means, if they please, a few days' holiday,
+or, if they prefer it, a new employer can be at once discovered. It
+becomes therefore difficult for an employer to exercise over the boys the
+discipline they need; if he attempt to do so, he will soon find himself
+without boys. Lads change situations for the mere sake of change, to see
+what happens. "I have known," says Mr. J. G. Cloete, "boys who, within
+three years of leaving school, have been employed in as many as seventeen
+different occupations." [123] The second consequence of the increased
+demand for boys in these kinds of occupations is a rise in wages. The
+earnings of these boys are considerably higher than those obtained by a
+boy who enters a skilled trade. "The casual and low-skilled employments
+give higher wages in the early years in order to attract the boys." [124]
+With boys choosing, as they do, their own occupations, high wages at the
+outset are more attractive than low wages with the prospect of learning a
+trade.
+
+The third characteristic these occupations have in common lies in certain
+general conditions of employment. Hours are long; at the same time, the
+boy is often idle for long periods, waiting for messages to come in and
+parcels to go out. Shop-boys and telegraph-boys are kept hanging about
+with nothing to do. The office-boy in a small office is often the whole
+staff, and is left alone for hours when his master is out, and "spends his
+time either in vacancy, in mischievous expeditions along the corridor, or
+in reading trash of a bloodthirsty nature." [125] The boy has often heavy
+goods to carry long distances, and overtaxes his strength. Either there
+is too much idleness or too much work; these are the alternatives. In
+neither case is there the possibility of much supervision.
+
+The fourth characteristic has not received the attention it deserves.
+These forms of occupation, though unskilled in the sense that the boy
+receives no training in his present place of business, nevertheless demand
+qualities of a high standard. The boy must be regular, obedient, and,
+above all, intelligent. A dull boy as a messenger is liable to make stupid
+and irritating mistakes. The stories of district messengers carrying
+letters unaided over the Continent show that the boys possess no ordinary
+intelligence. Now, we have already seen that these are the qualities which
+are in a peculiar degree the product of the elementary schools. The
+schools turn out innumerable boys of this kind. It is not, perhaps, a mere
+coincidence that the increasing use of boys in occupations which call for
+alertness of mind has gone on side by side with improvements in the
+educational system. The State has spent much money on these boys. A boy
+who starts to attend school at the age of three and leaves at fourteen has
+had spent on him a sum of money which, if invested year by year at 4 per
+cent., and left to accumulate till the time for leaving school comes,
+would amount to nearly L100. Each year in the 30,000 boys who leave school
+L3,000,000 of State-created value is turned adrift. The State has
+therefore a right to demand that this capital sum of L100 invested in the
+boy shall not be squandered by the employer. He ought to give back at the
+age of eighteen at least as valuable an article as he received four years
+earlier.
+
+This consideration leads to the last characteristic distinguishing these
+occupations. They lead to nothing, and when the boy reaches the end, he
+is, in the majority of cases, distinctly inferior in every way to what he
+was three or four years before. Evidence in favour of this assertion is
+overwhelming. "At the present time, at the age of eighteen, after a four
+years' course of employment, whose chief characteristics are the long
+hours, the lack of supervision, and the total absence of any educational
+influence, the lad is a distinctly less valuable article in the labour
+market than he was when he left school four years previously. His only
+asset is represented by greater physical strength, accompanied probably by
+a marked decrease in general health and vigour. He has lost the
+intelligence and aptitude of the boy, and remains a clumsy and
+unintelligent man, fitted for nothing but unskilled labour, and likely to
+become sooner or later one of the unemployed." [126] "There seems little
+doubt that the boy labour is used up for industrial purposes, and that
+they are left less capable members of the community, with little prospect
+of good work when they become adults." [127] "The most hopeless position is
+that of the errand-boy at a small shop in a poor neighbourhood; his
+prospects are absolutely nil." [128] "The chart prepared from the forms
+filled in by boys who entered life as errand-boys shows that the small
+proportion who find steady and skilled employment afterwards have ceased
+to be errand-boys very early; the vast majority become workers in
+low-skill trades, or general and casual labourers." [129] "Mr. Courtney
+Terell, who has been making inquiries from the Passmore Edwards
+Settlement, writes: 'I feel confident ... that the messenger work produced
+a definite effect on the boys, as will the continual performance of any
+one of a definite function which admits of no improvement, and that this
+has unfitted them for other work.'" [130] "The injury done to these boys is
+not that they are compelled as men to devote themselves to low-skilled
+labour, but that from the more or less specialized nature of the work
+which has employed this boyhood, they are unfitted to become good
+low-skilled labourers." [131]
+
+It is impossible to resist the mass of evidence of this kind which might
+easily be increased indefinitely. The boy gains nothing from this form of
+employment and loses much. He loses the results of his training in the
+elementary school; the habits of obedience, regularity, and industry are
+dead; the bright intelligence is dulled, and with the coming of dulness
+goes the power of learning. He loses his prospects; his future is the
+future of the unskilled labourer--the unskilled labourer, robbed of that
+grit and alertness which alone secure for unskilled labour the adequate
+reward of permanent employment at a steady wage. His loss is the loss of
+the community, which is compelled later to relieve him and his family, and
+perhaps in the end find a home for him in the workhouse. And in thinking
+of this deterioration, and of that hopeless future which that
+deterioration involves, we must never forget that it is not a mere handful
+of lads who suffer in this way, but that half the boys who leave the
+elementary school start on this dreary journey, and, so starting, bid fare
+to reach that dreary end.
+
+Reckoned in money, the State has spent a million and a half on these boys,
+and but little comes back to the State or remains with the boy. If it has
+gone anywhere, and it probably has, then it has gone into the pockets of
+the employers who have sucked out of the boys their value, and then cast
+them aside as worthless refuse, a sort of slag or waste product of their
+works, for which neither they nor anyone else can find a use. In saying
+this there is no desire to censure unfairly the employers. They are
+undoubtedly to blame, because thoughtlessness and ignorance in persons of
+their position are always blameworthy; but there is nothing deliberate in
+their actions, and they are largely unconscious of the harm they are
+doing. There is no active cruelty, and often much rude and ready kindness.
+The boys to them are merely instruments in the machinery of their
+business, for the moment the cheapest instruments that can be found, to be
+used until a new and better supply takes the place of those who are used
+up. They are ignorant of the consequences of their conduct, and, as their
+evidence shows, generally imagine that the boys who leave find suitable
+jobs. It is only of late years that numerous investigators and managers of
+boys' clubs have revealed the grave results of this thoughtlessness.
+Employers who generally enjoy a good reputation as employers are often the
+worst offenders. Indeed, the most flagrant example of this exploitation of
+boy labour is to be found in the Imperial Government and the Municipal
+Service. Mr. Cyril Jackson has in his report devoted much space to the
+telegraph-boys in the service of the Post Office. "The boys come from very
+good homes, and are often the pick of the family. They are examined
+medically, and bring characters." [132] A mere fraction are absorbed in the
+adult service. "It appears as if the Post Office is one of the least
+promising occupations into which a boy can enter. The better boys go into
+it, and it is very depressing to see from our returns how very few of the
+very large number discharged at sixteen or seventeen get into as good
+employment as their good social standing and general standard of education
+should have guaranteed for them." [133] "Everyone of experience seems to
+agree that these telegraph-messengers who are discharged exemplify in a
+very striking way the evils of a parasitic trade." [134] Yet these things
+had been going on for years in a service like that of the Post Office,
+which is subject to much criticism by its employees, and yet no attention
+had been called to the evil. Unfortunately, boys have no votes, and do not
+form trade unions. Other Government departments and the Municipal Service
+seem no less ignorant and no less worthy of blame. A short time back the
+Education Committee called the attention of the London County Council to
+the misuse of its boy labour, and now the Council allows its boys, weekly,
+six hours "off" during working hours, and provides classes which they are
+compelled to attend. At the same time it has nominated one of its officers
+to look after the interests of these boys, and to guide them into useful
+occupations.
+
+If the public service is thus guilty, we must not be surprised that
+private employers are not conscious of wrongdoing in their use of boys.
+The evil is now revealed; there can be no further excuse for ignorance.
+How to deal adequately with the problem must be left to the consideration
+of the next chapter.
+
+The third division of the unskilled occupations comes under the head
+"General Labour." Some 9 per cent. of the boys as they leave school fall
+into this class. This is a nondescript class not clearly defined in the
+returns. Probably a considerable proportion should be brought into the
+preceding class, but there are evidently a large number who could not be
+disposed of in this way. Boys employed in warehouses, in gardens and
+parks, boys in small places assisting the master in the lighter forms of
+labour, boys accompanying their fathers and joining in his work--these
+come into this division. The returns are not sufficiently explicit to
+yield materials for a critical examination; but one or two conclusions can
+be derived from their examination. It will be seen that 22 per cent. of
+the parents, as compared with 9 per cent. of boys, are recorded as being
+general labourers. There is here no excess of boys; there should not be
+the same difficulty in boys finding openings in the adult service as in
+those occupations where boys can claim a practical monopoly. Boys have
+always taken some part in labouring work, and so passed to the better
+class of unskilled labour. Boys in warehouses, for example, frequently
+find there permanent situations. Further, the proportion of parents to
+sons would indicate the possibility of the two being employed together,
+and the boy thus remaining under the supervision of his father. An
+examination of individual returns justifies this conclusion. On the other
+hand, it is to be remembered that the hours of employment are frequently
+very long, and the work arduous and ill suited to the strength of a
+growing lad, and in no way regulated by legislation. Taken as a whole, it
+is probable that the boys who enter this kind of occupation, though
+without opportunity of continuing their education, are not in as forlorn a
+condition as those in the previous class. But the whole question is
+obscure, and it is difficult, without fuller information, to test the
+nature of their training.
+
+THE SKILLED OCCUPATIONS.--The skilled occupations fall into two
+classes--those where manual skill is required, and those concerned with
+commercial and clerical operations. The former are included under "Trades
+and Industries," and the latter under "Commercial Occupations,"
+"Professional Occupations," and "Local Government."
+
+1. _Trades and Industries._--From the tables printed on pp. 115-118, it
+will be seen that under this heading there are in Table I., the type of a
+working-class district, 41 per cent. of parents and 19 per cent. of boys;
+in Table II., the type of a suburban district, the figures are 36 and 15
+respectively; in Table III., the type of the small trader of the East End,
+51 and 42; while in Table IV., the type of London as a whole, the
+percentage is in the case of fathers 41, and in the case of boys 22. We
+have now to consider the prospects as regards supervision, training and
+opening which these trades offer to the boys who enter.
+
+Table III., with its percentage of 51 parents and 42 boys engaged in
+trades and industries, presents a pleasing appearance, but the bulk of the
+trades concerned belong to the tailoring and other industries where
+sweating is rife, where the skill required is of a low order, and the
+wages small and often below the level of bare subsistence. The boys learn
+something, are frequently employed with their fathers, and have a more or
+less permanent outlook, though within the horizon of that outlook is
+seldom included the vision of a living wage. They in general do not form
+part of the class which finds its way into the ranks of that miscellaneous
+unskilled labour whose chief characteristic is casual employment.
+
+Ignoring this table, and taking the table for all London, we find again
+the great disproportion of boys and parents. There are two ways in which
+the boys may learn. They may become indentured apprentices, or, engaged
+only by the week, though sometimes still termed apprentices, they may
+enter the workshop, and take what chance is afforded them of "picking up"
+the mysteries of the trade.
+
+_(a) Indentured Apprenticeship._--Apprenticeship is of little importance
+in London; the system is rapidly becoming obsolete. Whether this is
+desirable is a matter of opinion; that it is a fact cannot be gainsaid.
+All evidence is unanimous in support of this conclusion. In 1906 a special
+committee was appointed by the London County Council to make inquiries
+into the question, and, after careful investigation, reported that "in
+London the old system of indentured apprenticeship has for many years been
+falling into decay. In the majority of the industries it has almost
+entirely disappeared; in others it is occasionally found existing in a
+haphazard and highly unsatisfactory manner; while in only a few trades can
+it be said to be the commonly recognized way of entering the
+profession." [135] There are in London various charities, with an income of
+about L24,000 a year, which, in accordance with the terms of their trusts,
+might be used for purposes of apprenticeship; "but not more than a third
+of the income has been devoted to this purpose." "The fact that so small a
+fraction of the income has been devoted to apprenticeship indicates that
+the trustees have not found it an easy task to find candidates anxious to
+be indentured to one of the skilled trades." [136] "The recurring note,"
+says Mr. Charles Booth, "throughout the whole of the industrial volumes of
+the present inquiry is that the system of apprenticeship is either dead or
+dying." [137] The numerous letters to the Press, the wealth of speeches on
+the matter, the sundry public meetings presided over by all manner of
+persons, from the Lord Mayor downwards, all voice the same opinion. It is
+needless to labour the question; we may take it as an accepted fact that
+in London indentured apprenticeship is obsolescent, and the system itself
+of negligible value as a factor in the training of youths in the process
+of skilled trades.
+
+_(b) Picking up a Trade._--Here a boy enters a workshop, and takes his
+chance of learning the trade from watching and assisting the men. The
+employer is under no agreement to give him instruction--least of all, to
+make an all-round craftsman of him. The boy rarely acquires more than a
+certain dexterity in the performance of a single operation; and, however
+proficient he may become in that operation, his general intelligence and
+skill suffer from a narrow and exclusive specialization. The system and
+consequences are dealt with at length in the Report of the London County
+Council already mentioned. The importance of the problem must be the
+justification for a long quotation:
+
+"The high wages a lad can earn as an errand-boy ... are more attractive
+than the low wages associated with an industrial training. Earning looms
+larger in his imagination than the laborious and less remunerative
+learning.... Even if, on leaving school, he obtains employment in a
+workshop, his prospects may not be materially improved. As an errand-boy
+running in and out of the workshop, if possessed of aptitude and
+sharpness, he may in a haphazard fashion pick up a smattering of the
+trade. If he is taken into the shop as a learner, he has little chance of
+getting an all-round training. He is frequently out of work, and even when
+employed seldom learns more than a single operation. The Advisory
+Committee of the London County Council Shoreditch Technical Institute[138]
+recently held an exhaustive inquiry on the subject, and some of the
+conclusions are so germane to the present question that they merit
+quotation. 'It is thus possible,' they write, 'for a boy to be at one
+branch of a trade for a few months only, and when bad trade intervenes he
+is thrown out of employment, and frequently finds himself at twenty years
+of age without a definite knowledge of any craft whatever, and he swells
+the ranks of the unemployed. We have it on the authority of foremen,
+employers, apprentices, and parents, that very little opportunity exists,
+even in big houses, for a boy to learn his trade thoroughly; indeed, we
+have had students who have been in a workshop as apprentices for three or
+four years who could not make a small drawer, and in many cases who could
+not square up true or make the usual joints; and in the woodworking trade
+their knowledge of drawing when they come to us is practically _nil_. It
+is a rare thing to find a young workman who can attack any branch of his
+trade successfully. It frequently occurs that, in consequence of extensive
+subdivision of labour and excessive competition, a man or boy is set to do
+one thing--_e.g._, music-stools, overmantels, chair-legs, sideboards--all
+the time. It is true the man or boy becomes skilled in one direction, but
+correspondingly narrow in a true appreciation of his trade. It is also a
+frequent occurrence that a master who has a job on hand which is slightly
+out of the usual run finds it impossible to put it in the hands of his
+usual staff. Moreover, when work of delicate design and construction has
+to be made from specified drawings, it is extremely difficult to obtain
+men who can proceed with the work on their own responsibility. Not only do
+these remarks apply to the woodcrafts generally, but they apply with equal
+force to such work as upholstery (both stuffing and drapery), to
+metal-work, and to carving. In connection with the latter subject, it is a
+rare thing indeed for carvers to design a carcass in the rough, and then
+to see whether the proposed carved portion is in harmony with the
+whole--whether the said carving be too much in relief, too flat, too
+expansive, or altogether out of character with the general work. It is
+notorious that good polishers and furniture decorators are exceedingly
+rare, and many a high-class manufacturer has his goods spoiled on account
+of bad polish and decorative treatment.'" [139] It must be remembered that
+this last quoted opinion is not the opinion of the amateur, but the
+informed opinion of representative employers.
+
+The woodwork and furniture trades are not peculiar in the characteristic
+of inadequate training. "We have reason to believe," continues the Report,
+"that if a similar inquiry were made into other trades, the same
+unsatisfactory picture would be disclosed. Either the training is
+one-sided, or there is no training at all. The consequences are
+sufficiently obvious. The skilled trades are, we fear, recruited in the
+main by immigrants outside London. In many trades the Londoner is at a
+discount. Acquainted as he is with but one or two operations of his
+industry, if he loses his situation, it is only with the greatest of
+difficulty that he can find another. Mr. Charles Booth states that 'with
+carpenters and joiners, brick-layers, carriage builders, engineers,
+smiths, and saddlers, the percentages of heads of families born out of
+London range from 51 to 59,' An inquiry made of the Technical Board of the
+London County Council on the Building Trades in 1858 showed that '41
+typical firms in various branches of the building trades having 12,000
+employes had only 80 apprentices and 143 learners, instead of 1,600, which
+would have been the normal proportion.' The same Report mentions that
+'among the foremen and operatives who have come before us, not one stated
+that he was born or trained in London.' In these trades the better
+positions go inevitably to the country-bred man, with his all-round
+training. In the docks alone does the Londoner hold his own. An inquiry
+there showed that among the dock-labourers proper more than 72 per cent.
+were born in London--a result not calculated to excite any very solid
+satisfaction. These facts should arouse serious apprehension concerning
+the future of the London-bred citizen. We cannot view with equanimity his
+relegation to lower positions, while the better places are given to
+better-trained immigrants. We are not prepared to admit that the Londoner
+is, on the average, inherently inferior either in intelligence or manual
+dexterity to his country-born neighbour." [140]
+
+These quotations indicate clearly the general aspects of the situation.
+They show the small prospects boys enjoy who enter a skilled trade in
+London. Parents are not blind to the condition of affairs, and it is not
+unnatural on their part to allow the boys to go out as errand-boys, where
+at least the immediate earnings are larger and the hope of advancement not
+much more discouraging.
+
+2. _Clerical and Commercial Occupations._--Including under this head
+commercial and professional occupations, and general or local government,
+we find in Table I., the type of a working-class district, 6-1/2 per cent.
+of parents and 8 per cent. of boys; in Table II., the type of the suburbs,
+30 per cent. of parents, and 16-1/2 per cent. of boys; in Table III.,
+typical of the East End, 4 per cent. of parents, and 6 per cent. of boys;
+in Table IV., typical of London as a whole, 13 per cent. of parents, and
+10 per cent. of boys. In the school returns no boy was placed under these
+headings unless he appeared in the column "Skilled Work." In judging of
+these results it must be borne in mind that the better positions fall to
+those who have had at least a secondary education. Nevertheless, clever
+boys, who attend evening schools, have some prospects of advancement. One
+feature in the returns was the large number of boys who were apparently
+employed with their fathers. In many instances boys obtain their positions
+as the result of examination. This is true of several banks, assurance
+companies, railway companies, and is becoming the general practice in the
+Civil and Municipal Service. Many of these examinations are within the
+standard of attainment reached by the cleverer boys in the elementary
+schools. The boys at their place of employment are taught sufficient to
+enable them to do the work allotted them. This is often of a specialized
+character; and without further education they cannot expect to escape from
+the lowest ranks of clerks. If well conducted, they can probably obtain a
+permanent position when manhood is reached, or, at any rate, are not
+discharged because they have become men. Change in the methods of
+business, or failure of the concern, may entail dismissal; and after
+dismissal a new position is not easily obtained. But the lower ranks of
+the clerical profession are ill paid, and the need to present a good
+appearance makes serious inroads on the meagre stipend. Unless the boy
+continues his education and means to rise, his outlook is not very
+encouraging. He has, however, the advantage of supervision, of relatively
+short hours, and enjoys the possibilities of attendance at evening
+schools. In spite of what is often said to the contrary, taking things as
+they are, he has the best prospects of those included in the returns. The
+fact that so large a proportion of boys coming from the suburbs is found
+in this class would seem to indicate that the more thoughtful parents
+share this opinion.
+
+_(c) The Passage to Manhood._
+
+The tables quoted on pp. 115-118, and founded on school returns, refer
+only to the first occupations of boys as they leave school. It is
+unfortunate that no figures exist which trace year by year the later
+careers of the boys. All persons, however, who have any intimate knowledge
+of the subject agree that the boys repeatedly move in an almost aimless
+fashion from one situation to another.
+
+The census returns indicate in a general way the distribution, among the
+trades and occupations, of persons of various ages. They do not, however,
+give us a yearly survey; and after the age fourteen to fifteen we are
+compelled to rest content with figures which cover periods of five years.
+The following table is taken from a table printed in a Report to the
+Education Committee of the London County Council, made by a special
+committee appointed to deal with the apprenticeship question; it is
+founded on the 1901 census return:[141]
+
+OCCUPATIONS OF BOYS AND MEN.
+
+PERCENTAGES.
+
+  +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |Class of Occupation.         |  Age   |   Age   |   Age   |   Age   |
+  |                             | 14-15. |  15-20. |  20-45. |  45-65. |
+  |-----------------------------|--------|---------|---------|---------|
+  |Trades and industries        |  14.74 |   31.54 |   35.76 |   38.85 |
+  |Domestic offices or services |   1.75 |    3.29 |    3.55 |    3.35 |
+  |Transport (including         |        |         |         |         |
+  |  messengers, errand-boys,   |        |         |         |         |
+  |  van-boys, etc.)            |  27.65 |   19.49 |   16.04 |   14.19 |
+  |Shopkeepers, shop-assistants,|        |         |         |         |
+  |  and dealers                |   6.03 |   12.52 |   14.51 |    9.23 |
+  |Commercial occupations       |   4.61 |   11.50 |    9.55 |   12.40 |
+  |General labour               |   1.46 |    5.53 |    8.46 |    7.02 |
+  |Professional occupations and |        |         |         |         |
+  |  their subordinate services |   0.73 |    2.00 |    4.55 |    5.08 |
+  |General or local government  |        |         |         |         |
+  |  of the country (including  |        |         |         |         |
+  |  telegraph-boys)            |   3.01 |    2.53 |    3.70 |    2.24 |
+  |Defence of the country       |   0.15 |    1.77 |    1.40 |    0.62 |
+  |Without specified occupation |        |         |         |         |
+  |  or unoccupied (including   |        |         |         |         |
+  |  boys at school)            |  39.87 |    9.83 |    2.48 |    7.02 |
+  |-----------------------------|--------|---------|---------|---------|
+  |Total number analyzed        | 41,889 | 208,921 | 869,466 | 313,949 |
+  +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+In comparing this table with the tables founded on the school returns, it
+must be borne in mind that this table is not confined to persons who have
+passed through the elementary schools, but refers to all the inhabitants
+of London.
+
+The most striking feature in the table is the marked difference in the
+distribution of occupations at the age of fourteen to fifteen, and at
+other ages. The third column, which includes persons between the ages of
+twenty and forty-five, covers the period of a man's greatest vigour, and
+may be regarded as the normal or stable distribution. Comparing the first
+and the third column, it becomes obvious that the first year, at least,
+after leaving school is a year of uncertainty and aimless wandering. The
+boys have not definitely chosen any particular occupation as their life's
+work. How long is spent in this state of unprofitable drifting the census
+returns do not show as the following years are not separated. But the fact
+that the distribution in the second column differs materially from the
+normal distribution of the third column would seem to indicate that this
+period stretches some distance into the years that lie between the ages of
+fifteen and twenty.
+
+In default of this general information, we must fall back on special
+investigations; and here the facts are drawn from too narrow a circle of
+inquiry to be regarded as altogether typical. In his report to the Poor
+Law Commission, Mr. Cyril Jackson gives an instructive table[142] (see p.
+145). It is founded on biographies of boys obtained from boys' clubs,
+schoolmasters, and managers of schools.
+
+I have omitted the ages that follow, as the number of boys concerned was
+too few to justify any conclusions. The rapid diminution in the number of
+boys when the age of eighteen is reached impairs the value of the last
+two columns. In general, the districts from which the boys are drawn are
+poor; but the fact that the boys come into relation with various
+organizations, and were no doubt assisted by them, should lead us to
+believe that the picture presented errs, if anything, by being too
+favourable. The steady increase in the trades, and the equally steady
+decrease in the number of van-boys, Post Office boys, errand and shop boys
+during the first three years is instructive. Trades, skilled and
+low-skilled, reckoned in percentages, have risen from 39.4 to 50.9, while
+the messenger class has fallen from 40.1 to 23.8. The changes in the
+earlier years are the most significant, and little stability of occupation
+is reached before the age of eighteen. The age of fourteen evidently
+represents the year of greatest indecision and maximum drift.
+
+PERCENTAGE OF BOYS IN VARIOUS GROUPS OF OCCUPATIONS AT EACH AGE.
+
+  +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |  Occupations.   |Age 14.|Age 15.|Age 16.|Age 17.|Age 18.|Age 19.|
+  |-----------------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
+  |Skilled trades   |  11.2 |  14.0 |  16.8 |  17.8 |  18.0 |  16.3 |
+  |Clerks           |  14.6 |  15.0 |  16.4 |  15.2 |  15.4 |  14.3 |
+  |Low-skilled      |  28.2 |  32.8 |  34.1 |  33.9 |  32.5 |  34.1 |
+  |Carmen           |   0.6 |   0.2 |   0.6 |   2.6 |   4.5 |   5.1 |
+  |Van-boys         |   8.2 |   6.6 |   5.2 |   4.9 |   2.8 |   1.2 |
+  |Post Office      |   1.4 |   1.4 |   0.2 |   0.2 |   0.3 |   1.2 |
+  |Errand and shop  |       |       |       |       |       |       |
+  |  boys           |  30.5 |  22.0 |  18.4 |  15.0 |  12.6 |  10.3 |
+  |General and      |       |       |       |       |       |       |
+  |  casual labour  |   5.3 |   7.0 |   6.7 |   6.9 |   6.4 |   8.7 |
+  |Army             |    -- |   0.6 |   0.6 |   1.1 |   3.6 |   4.0 |
+  |At sea           |   0.2 |   0.4 |   0.8 |   1.5 |   2.8 |   3.5 |
+  |Emigrants        |    -- |    -- |   0.2 |   0.4 |   0.8 |   1.2 |
+  |-----------------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
+  |Total No. of boys|   485 |   500 |   474 |   448 |   356 |   252 |
+  |Unemployed       |     1 |     2 |     1 |    13 |    22 |    22 |
+  +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+In other parts of his report Mr. Jackson has endeavoured to follow the
+history of boys who have begun life as errand-boys or as van-boys. "From
+the forms returned," he writes, "it seems clear that the theory that boys
+can become errand-boys for a year or two, and then enter skilled trades,
+cannot be maintained. Very few boys can pick up skill after a year or two
+of merely errand-boy work." [143] Or again: "The chart prepared from the
+forms filled in by boys who entered life as errand-boys shows the small
+proportion who find any steady and skilled employment afterwards, and
+those have ceased to be errand-boys very early. The vast majority become
+workers in low-skilled trades or general and casual labourers." [144] Of
+all the "blind-alley" occupations, that of the van-boy appears the most
+deplorable. "The life of the van-boy is a rough and somewhat lazy one.
+They have long hours, spells of idleness, and considerable opportunities
+of pilfering and drinking." [145] "The chart shows that it is a very low
+grade of occupation, and that very few boys who begin as van-boys get into
+skilled trades--a far lower percentage, in fact, than errand-boys." [146]
+
+The second point to be noted in the table founded on the census returns is
+the large number--nearly 40 per cent.--of boys of the age of fourteen
+returned as without specified occupation or unoccupied (including boys at
+school). There are in the elementary schools about 5,000 boys between the
+age of fourteen and fifteen, and probably about the same number in
+secondary schools. Converted into percentages, this 40 per cent. would be
+broken up into 24 per cent. at school and 16 per cent. without specified
+occupation. The last figure is high, and justifies the conclusion, not
+only that the boys of fourteen wander from occupation to occupation, but
+that they also are frequently doing nothing. The habit of shifting from
+situation to situation necessarily involves considerable periods of
+unemployment. Thus early in their career the boys become accustomed to the
+evils of casual labour.
+
+We can arrive at the same conclusion by approaching the problem from a
+somewhat different point of view. If in some trades we discover an excess
+of boys, and in others an excess of men, it is clear that there must be
+shocks and shiftings in the passage from youth to manhood. In London the
+number of lads between the ages of fourteen and twenty is 17.5 per cent.
+of the number of males between the ages of fourteen and sixty-five. If,
+therefore, we find the proportion of lads to total males engaged in any
+trade, reckoned in percentages, differs much from 17.5, either lads must
+at some time pass out of the trade or men come in. On the other hand, in a
+trade where this percentage is approximately 17.5 boys who enter have, at
+any rate, the chance of finding employment as men. In this sense we may
+regard the distribution of lads and men in a trade as normal when this
+percentage lies between 15 and 20; less than normal when it drops below
+15; more than normal when it rises above 20. The following table may be
+taken as an example of trades in which considerable numbers of persons are
+engaged:
+
+  +---------------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                           |  Number in   |  Number in   |           |
+  |        Trade.             |1,000 of Males|1,000 of Males|Percentage.|
+  |                           | Aged 14-20.  | Aged 14-65.  |           |
+  |---------------------------|--------------|--------------|-----------|
+  |LESS THAN NORMAL:          |              |              |           |
+  |  Building trades          |     13.2     |     144.2    |    9.1    |
+  |  Skin, leather, etc.      |      2.6     |       8.5    |   14.1    |
+  |  Food, tobacco, drink,    |              |              |           |
+  |    and lodging            |     19.9     |     135.2    |   14.8    |
+  |  General labour           |     15.0     |     111.1    |   13.5    |
+  |  General or local         |              |              |           |
+  |    government             |      6.5     |      45.8    |   14.3    |
+  |  Professional             |      4.8     |      62.2    |    7.8    |
+  |NORMAL:                    |              |              |           |
+  |  Domestic services        |      7.8     |      51.7    |   15.1    |
+  |  Commercial occupations   |     25.9     |     131.1    |   19.8    |
+  |  Metals, machines, etc.   |     14.4     |      92.7    |   15.5    |
+  |  Precious metals          |      6.6     |      36.5    |   18.2    |
+  |  Furniture, etc.          |      9.3     |      59.5    |   15.7    |
+  |  Textile fabrics          |      4.1     |      23.5    |   17.3    |
+  |MORE THAN NORMAL:          |              |              |           |
+  |  National Government      |              |              |           |
+  |    (messengers, etc.)     |      3.9     |      13.5    |   29.2    |
+  |  Clerks, office-boys, etc.|     23.1     |      83.0    |   27.8    |
+  |  Transport, errand-boys,  |              |              |           |
+  |    etc.                   |     52.3     |     236.3    |   22.1    |
+  |  Printers                 |      7.1     |      34.1    |   20.7    |
+  +---------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+If we could have taken the period fourteen to eighteen instead of fourteen
+to twenty, these tables would have been even more striking than they are.
+But, even as they are, they are sufficient to enforce the lesson that
+between the occupation of the boy and the occupation of the man there is a
+gulf fixed. The one does not lead naturally to the other. When the boy
+becomes a man he does not find provided for him a natural opening; with
+more or less pains, he is driven to force a way in trades for which he has
+received no definite preparation, and in which diligence and good
+character do not afford any guarantee of success.
+
+_(d) Summary._
+
+Before proceeding to examine the conditions of boy labour in other parts
+of the country, it will be desirable to summarize the results for London,
+and so to determine how far the essentials of a true apprenticeship system
+are found in that city.
+
+_Supervision._--The boy should be under adequate supervision until he
+reaches the age of at least eighteen. In London, so far as the majority
+are concerned, all State supervision ends at fourteen. When the boy goes
+out to work what measure of supervision was previously found in the home
+comes to an end; it is beyond the power of parents to exert any real
+control over the boy. He is his own master, finds his employment for
+himself, and leaves it when he thinks fit. Philanthropic enterprise
+touches a fringe, and a fringe only, of the boys; their growing sense of
+independence resents restraint. The story of the workshop points the same
+moral. Personal relations between boy and employer are seldom possible;
+and where the demand for the services of boys is unlimited and
+unsatisfied, attempts to enforce discipline fail, because, sooner than
+submit, the boy seeks another situation.
+
+_Training._--For the unskilled labourer of the future London provides no
+training. The schools do, indeed, turn out in the boys ready made and
+completely finished articles for boy-work and "blind-alley" occupations,
+and three or four years of such employment destroy the most-marked results
+of elementary education. The skilled workman of the future finds in the
+workshop small chance of gaining that all-round training which will make
+of him a man, and not a machine. Technical education for the minority is
+successful, but without power to compel attendance and limit the hours of
+boy-labour it is only the few who can avail themselves of the
+opportunities offered.
+
+_Opening._--Boys' work is separated from man's work, and there is no broad
+highway leading from the one to the other. The lad of eighteen is
+compelled to make a new beginning just when new beginnings are most
+difficult. His power of learning is gone from him, and in the unskilled
+labour market alone does he see any prospect of earning immediate wages.
+The State Labour Exchange is an infant which has yet to justify its
+creation.
+
+In London the provision of supervision, of training, of an opening, is
+alike defective, and beyond the age of fourteen for the majority of boys
+can hardly be said to exist at all; and, what is most serious, we are face
+to face with a state of affairs where there is no sign of improvement, and
+where all tendencies indicate for the future an accelerated rate of
+progressive failure. In short, London cannot claim even the beginnings of
+a real apprenticeship system.
+
+Sec. 2. OTHER TOWNS.
+
+Among the cities London does not stand alone in its conditions of boy
+labour. It may indeed be regarded as the most extreme example of
+urbanization, but it is nothing more; it is a normal type, not an
+exception or monstrous exaggeration. As the capital of the Empire and the
+seat of government, it has its own characteristics, but so likewise has
+every other town. But dominating all these local variations and giving
+uniformity to the conditions of boy labour in our cities, remain the
+common features of the industrial development of to-day. This, at any
+rate, is the unanimous testimony of all those investigators--and they have
+been many--who have studied the problem.
+
+I shall not, therefore, make any attempt to apply to other towns the
+detailed method of investigation I have endeavoured to employ in the case
+of London. It will be enough to show that the general conditions are the
+same. What differences exist are differences of degree, and not
+differences of kind.
+
+_(a) The Employment of School-Children._
+
+The investigations of the Interdepartmental Committee has proved beyond
+doubt that throughout the country it is common for children, while still
+attending school, to work long hours for wages. One or two quotations
+will be sufficient to justify this statement. The Report declares "that,
+as the door has been closed to their employment in factories and workshops
+and during school-hours, there has been a tendency, which many witnesses
+believe to be an increasing one, towards their employment in other
+occupations before morning school, between school-hours, in the evening,
+and on Saturdays and Sundays. Provided they make eight or ten attendances
+every week, they may be employed (with a few exceptions, and these little
+enforced) in the streets, in the fields, in shops, or at home, for the
+longest possible hours, and on the hardest and most irksome work, without
+any limit or regulation." [147] Evidence abounded to show that such
+possibilities of overwork were frequently realized. Examples have already
+been quoted in the case of London, and it is unnecessary here to go over
+the same ground again.
+
+That legislation, as at present enforced, has done little to cure the evil
+of overwork may be seen from the reports of school medical officers. Some
+of these are quoted in the Annual Report for 1909 of the Chief Medical
+Officer of the Board of Education. The school medical officers were not
+asked to report specially on the problem, but their inspection of
+school-children revealed the magnitude of the evil.
+
+"Several school medical officers report on the question of child labour
+during 1909. Dr. Thresh (school medical officer, Essex) places on record
+the serious extent to which children are employed out of school-hours in
+the Grays and Tilbury districts, and gives many individual examples. Dr.
+Forbes (school medical officer, Brighton) gives some interesting
+particulars from a statement prepared by the Inspector under the
+Employment of and Cruelty to Children Acts. In this area the head-teachers
+furnish regularly lists of children known by them to be employed out of
+school-hours. Among these children it was found that 39, 25, and 22 per
+cent. were illegally employed during 1907, 1908, and 1909 respectively.
+Dr. Clarke (school medical officer, Walthamstow) found that 19 per cent.
+of the boys examined were employed out of school-hours, of whom 19 per
+cent. worked an average of eleven hours per week; 32 per cent. worked ten
+hours and over on Saturdays; 20 per cent. worked twenty hours or over
+during school-days. A full analysis of all children known to be employed
+out of school-hours at Yeovil is made by Dr. Page (school medical
+officer), who found that 22 per cent. of all children eight years of age
+and upwards were so employed, and of these 40 per cent. worked for twenty
+hours and upwards per week. Dr. Hope (school medical officer of Liverpool)
+produces evidence to show how usefully medical inspection may be linked up
+with the arrangements made to put into force by-laws relating to the
+employment of children. Thus, all cases where there was reason to suppose
+that the by-laws were being infringed were reported to the Sanitary
+Department. These children cases numbered 308 during the year, and a table
+is given showing in what manner they were dealt with. At Leamington, 119
+boys and 30 girls were reported by Dr. Burnet as employed in a
+wage-earning capacity either before or after school-hours, and 90 boys and
+11 girls both before and after school-hours. Of these, 63 children were of
+subnormal nutrition, 22 were suffering from anaemia, 2 from phthisis, 8
+from heart disease, and 25 had enlarged tonsils. Several of these children
+were quite unfit for such employment, and the subject is deserving of a
+thorough investigation with a view to adopting protective measures where
+necessary. At Southport, 131 leaving boys (32.7 per cent.) were found to
+be doing unskilled or casual work, and in Oldham 179 of the children
+inspected were similarly engaged." [148]
+
+As in London, so in other parts of the country, school-children work for
+long hours, and no adequate means exist at present to prevent the evil. As
+in London, so in other parts of the country, signs of serious physical
+weakness are the common accompaniments of this employment, and the health
+of the rising generation is injured. As in London, so in other parts of
+the country, the forms of employment in which children are engaged are
+uneducational, and tend to lead children, when school-days are over, into
+the "blind-alley" occupations.
+
+Besides these children, there are about 38,000 "half-timers." [149] It is
+needless here to dilate on the evils of the half-time system, which allows
+children who have reached the age of twelve to spend half the day in the
+factory and workshop. It is condemned by all qualified to pass on it an
+impartial judgment. Its continuance reflects little credit on the humanity
+of those employers and those trade unions who have repeatedly opposed its
+abolition.
+
+_(b) The Entry to a Trade._
+
+The survey of conditions of juvenile employment in London made clear
+certain facts. There was the growing demand for boys in what has been
+called "blind-alley" occupations, and the demoralizing effect of such
+work. There was the difficulty of obtaining adequate training for those
+who had entered a skilled trade. There was a general lack of supervision
+in the workshop. And, finally, there was no easy passage from youth to
+manhood. It is impossible to read the Report of the Poor Law Commission
+and the volumes of evidence, or to study the various investigations into
+the conditions of sundry towns, without being convinced that London is in
+no way peculiar. The chief difficulty in approaching the problem lies in
+the selection of the all too numerous witnesses.
+
+The Report of the Poor Law Commission probably provides the best summary
+of the mass of evidence on the subject. Both Reports--Majority and
+Minority--alike realize the gravity of the problem, not for London alone,
+but for the whole of the country. "The problem," says the Majority Report,
+"owes its rise in the main to the enormous growth of cities as
+distributive centres, giving innumerable openings for errand-boys,
+milk-boys, office and shop boys, bookstall-boys, van, lorry, and trace
+boys, street-sellers, etc. In nearly all these occupations the training
+received leads to nothing; and the occupations themselves are, in most
+cases, destructive to healthy development, owing to long hours, long
+periods of standing, walking, or mere waiting, and, morally, are wholly
+demoralizing." [150] Or, again: "The almost universal experience is that in
+large towns boys, owing to carelessness or selfishness on the part of the
+parents, or their own want of knowledge and thought--for the parents very
+often have little voice in the matter--plunge haphazard, immediately on
+leaving school, into occupations in which there is no future, where they
+earn wages sufficiently high to make them independent of parental control
+and disinclined for the lower wages of apprenticeship, and whence, if they
+remain, they are extruded when they grow to manhood." [151] Or, to go to
+the Minority Report: "There are the rivet-boys in shipyards and boiler
+shops, the 'oil-cans' in the nut and bolt department, the 'boy-minders' of
+automatic machines, the 'drawers-off' of sawmills, and the 'layers-on' of
+printing works, and scores of other varieties of boys whose occupations
+presently come to an end." [152] Or, again: "In towns like Glasgow,
+Liverpool, Bristol, Newcastle, the proportions of van-boys, etc., are as
+large as in London." [153] Employers do not always conceal the fact: "In
+the words of a frank employer, they (the boys) are not taught; they are
+made to work continuously at their own little temporary trades." [154] If
+we desire actual figures of those engaged in one class of the
+"blind-alley" occupations--messengers--Mr. Jackson tells us that "under
+fourteen years of age there are no less than 32,536 (23.5 per cent. of
+those occupied under that age), while there are 41,659 aged fourteen, and
+54,592 from fifteen to nineteen years of age inclusive, of which it is
+probable that the bulk are under seventeen years of age." [155] Writing of
+Norwich, the same writer says: "There seems little doubt that the boy
+labour is used up for industrial purposes, and that they are left less
+capable members of the community, with little prospect of good work when
+they become adults." [156]
+
+Apart from the Report of the Poor Law Commission, individual writers of
+wide and varied experience outside London have voiced the same view. "It
+has never been so easy," writes Dr. Sadler, "as it is in England to-day,
+for a boy of thirteen or fourteen to find some kind of virtually unskilled
+work, involving long hours of deteriorating routine, in which there is
+little mental or moral discipline, but for which are offered wages that
+for the time seem high, and flatter his sense of being independent of
+school discipline and of home restraint." [157] And the same writer
+continues: "Certain forms of industry, which make large use of boys and
+girls who have recently left the elementary schools, are in part (except
+where the employers make special efforts to meet their responsibility)
+parasitic in character, and get more than they ought, and more than their
+promoters realize that they are getting, of the physical and moral capital
+of the rising generation." [158]
+
+The Rev. Spencer J. Gibb, who has devoted special attention to the
+problem, writes: "The characteristic evils of boy work invade office work
+in a peculiarly subtle and dangerous form. In every city small offices are
+to be found in which the whole of the business, such as it is, is carried
+on by the master himself, who has frequently to be absent from his
+one-roomed office. The office-boy, who constitutes the entire staff, is
+meanwhile left in charge. He has probably nothing to do, and spends his
+time either in vacancy, in mischievous expeditions along the corridor, or
+in reading trash of a bloodthirsty nature." [159] Under such conditions
+supervision and control are negligible factors in the training of the
+workshop. It seems unnecessary to multiply examples; all persons of
+experience lament the increasing employment of boys in "blind-alley"
+occupations, and deplore the general lack of supervision.
+
+The question of the skilled trades has received less attention, and there
+is much need of such a careful inquiry in various towns as had been made
+by Mr. Tawney in the case of Glasgow. Writing of the woodwork trades in
+that town, he says: "There is no regular training system; a boy learns
+incidentally, and is only shifted from one machine to another when the
+shop needs it.... One of its employes was the best producer of wooden
+rings in his town, but could not make a wage at turning a table-leg," and
+adds that, "with the exception of a few old men who were trained under the
+apprenticeship system, the foremen are the only men with all-round
+skill." [160] While of the engineering trades he says: "On entering the
+works the lad who is going to be a fitter goes straight to the fitting
+shop and learns nothing else; a lad who is going to be a turner goes to
+the machine shop and does not learn fitting." [161] Specialization is
+pushed even farther, and lads are kept to a single machine. Drilling,
+milling, slotting, punching, band-sawing, or screwing machines can be used
+after a few days' training, and this is all the experience a boy gets.
+And, speaking generally of Glasgow firms, Mr. Tawney says: "Boys are kept,
+as a rule, in their own departments. They are not taught; they are made to
+work." These facts were obtained as the result of a careful inquiry among
+100 firms in Glasgow.
+
+Glasgow, then, repeats the story of London; and there is good reason to
+believe that other towns, if submitted to a similar examination, would
+demonstrate the fact of the inadequacy of the workshop training of to-day.
+Apprenticeship, according to numerous witnesses, is everywhere decaying,
+and there is nothing except the technical school rising to take its place;
+and under existing conditions the technical school can touch only a fringe
+of the problem.
+
+_(c) The Passage to Manhood._
+
+The evidence of the last few pages, relating to the increase in the number
+of "blind-alley" occupations and to the inadequate training of the
+workshop, would show that, as in London, so likewise in other towns, there
+is no easy passage from the work of the youth to the work of the man.
+There is a break in the continuity of the service somewhere about the age
+of eighteen. New openings have then to be searched for, and new beginnings
+made, when the habits of learning have disappeared, even if the
+opportunities for it presented themselves.
+
+It would seem superfluous to repeat for other towns the statistical
+evidence in support of this statement which was given in the case of
+London. "Blind-alley" occupations and troubled passage to manhood
+necessarily go together. Mr. Tawney's researches in Glasgow indicate
+clearly the difficulties of this transition period. A single quotation
+must suffice: "A district secretary of the Amalgamated Society of
+Engineers says of a world-famous firm which employs several thousand men
+making a particular kind of domestic machine: 'It is a reception home for
+young bakers and grocers. Boys go to it from other occupations to do one
+small part of the machine.... When they leave they are not competent
+engineers, and find it difficult to get work elsewhere.'" [162] Detailed
+figures for the country as a whole in respect of certain trades may be
+found in Mr. Jackson's Report on Boy Labour. All evidence, from
+wheresoever collected, goes to show the existence of the break between the
+work of the boy and the work of the man.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is trusted that sufficient evidence has been produced to prove
+conclusively that the conditions of boy labour in London do not differ
+essentially from the conditions of boy labour in other towns. The evidence
+could have been multiplied indefinitely and, what is most striking, among
+the mass of witnesses forthcoming there is none found to venture a
+contrary opinion. We may take it, then, as a well-established fact that in
+other towns besides London, supervision, training, and the provision of an
+opening are alike gravely and progressively defective. In other words,
+among the urban districts of the country no true apprenticeship system
+exists or is in course of creation.
+
+Sec. 3. RURAL DISTRICTS.
+
+No comprehensive inquiry has been made into the conditions of boy labour
+in rural districts and small towns. A few studies of individual villages
+exist--as, for example, "Life in an English Village," by Miss Maude
+Davies--but these are not sufficiently numerous to justify any general
+conclusions. The return on Children Working for Wages, made to the House
+of Commons in 1899, gives certain statistics. From the returns on pages 21
+and 23 we see that for England and Wales some 5.2 per cent. of children
+above Standard I. were working for wages. The percentage for boys alone
+would be 8.5 per cent., or for boys eleven years and upwards about 17 per
+cent., compared with 24 per cent. for London alone. These figures would
+seem to show that, while common, work among school-children over the
+country as a whole does not quite reach the London level. So far as can be
+gathered from the returns, it is in towns that the employment of
+school-children is most frequent, though in rural districts it is frequent
+enough to constitute a grave evil.
+
+The same return gives the occupation of children as they leave school. On
+page 163 is the summary.
+
+The table is incomplete: "In London the proportion of children is no less
+than 94 per cent.; in the group of large urban districts, 72 per cent.;
+while in the rest of England and Wales, including the rural districts and
+small towns, the percentage sinks to 47." [163] Without a careful analysis,
+such as only local knowledge could supply, it would be dangerous to give
+much weight to the return. It does, however, appear from the summary that
+"blind-alley" occupations bear a close relation to urbanization, and that
+the two increase together. Or looking at the question from another point
+of view, a boy in rural districts enjoys greater opportunities of
+continuity of employment in the passage from youth to manhood than he does
+in the towns.
+
+OCCUPATIONS OF BOYS ON LEAVING SCHOOL IN (1) LONDON, (2) LARGE URBAN AND
+MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS, AND (3) RURAL AND SMALL URBAN DISTRICTS OF
+ENGLAND AND WALES.[164]
+
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                      |               |Large Urban and|  Rural and    |
+  |    Occupation.       |    London.    | Manufacturing | Small Urban   |
+  |                      |               |  Districts.   |  Districts.   |
+  |----------------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|
+  |                      |   No.  |   %  |   No.  |   %  |   No.  |   %  |
+  |Agriculture           |    101 |   -- |    730 |    2 | 17,950 |   26 |
+  |Building              |    787 |    3 |  1,973 |    4 |  3,744 |    5 |
+  |Woodworking           |    905 |    4 |    591 |    1 |    661 |    1 |
+  |Metal, engineering,   |        |      |        |      |        |      |
+  |  and shipbuilding    |    949 |    4 |  4,090 |    8 |  3,119 |    4 |
+  |Mining and quarrying  |     -- |   -- |  1,584 |    3 |  6,510 |    9 |
+  |Textile               |     49 |   -- |  6,046 |   13 |  5,522 |    8 |
+  |Clothing              |    665 |    3 |  1,634 |    3 |  1,612 |    2 |
+  |Printing and allied   |        |      |        |      |        |      |
+  |  trades              |  1,121 |    4 |    868 |    2 |    680 |    1 |
+  |Clerical              |  2,060 |    8 |  5,666 |   12 |  2,727 |    4 |
+  |In shops              |  3,584 |   14 |  6,084 |   13 |  7,045 |   10 |
+  |Errand, cart, boat,   |        |      |        |      |        |      |
+  |  etc., boy           | 10,283 |   40 | 10,496 |   22 |  9,917 |   14 |
+  |Newsboy and street    |        |      |        |      |        |      |
+  |  vendor              |    964 |    4 |  1,472 |    3 |  1,223 |    2 |
+  |Teaching              |    120 |   -- |    430 |    1 |    557 |    1 |
+  |Domestic service      |    301 |    1 |    173 |   -- |  1,090 |    2 |
+  |Miscellaneous and     |        |      |        |      |        |      |
+  |  indefinite          |  2,256 |    9 |  4,159 |    9 |  4,817 |    7 |
+  |----------------------+--------|------|--------|------|--------|------|
+  |   Total occupied     | 24,145 |   94 | 45,996 |   96 | 67,174 |   96 |
+  |No reported occupation|  1,623 |    6 |  2,097 |    4 |  2,765 |    4 |
+  |----------------------|--------|------|--------|------|--------|------|
+  |     Grand total      | 25,768 |  100 | 48,093 |  100 | 69,939 |  100 |
+  +----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+There is good reason to believe that the prospects of an all-round
+training are more favourable in a village than in a town. The fact,
+already mentioned, that immigrants from rural districts obtain the better
+positions in London trades, especially in the building trades, would seem
+to justify this conclusion. There is also the general consideration that
+rural districts are always nearly a century behind the industrial
+development of the towns, and represent therefore an older condition of
+affairs. Workshops are smaller, the gulf between man and employer less
+impassable, and the old paternal relation between boy and master more
+possible of attainment. We may therefore assume, without much risk of
+error, that training is better in rural districts than in towns.
+
+On the other hand, while it is true that in industrial progress the
+villages lag behind the towns, they still follow them, though at an
+interval. Machine-made goods, especially in the woodwork trades, are in
+villages replacing the hand-made goods, and the demand for manual
+dexterity is to this extent decreasing. It would also seem to be true that
+the old indentured apprenticeship is falling into disuse. In the Wiltshire
+village of Corsley, for example, while apprenticeship occupied a prominent
+position in the past, in the story of to-day it passes almost without
+mention. In Miss Davies's[165] study of the occupations of the inhabitants
+of that village, only one apprentice is mentioned. It is also a fact that
+those who are concerned with the administration of local charities for
+apprenticeship are finding increasing difficulty in discovering masters
+who are willing to take boys as indentured apprentices, even for a
+premium, and boys who are desirous of being indentured.
+
+We may, perhaps, therefore assume that, while the conditions of boy labour
+are more favourable in rural districts than they are in towns, the old
+machinery of training is falling into disuse, and no adequate substitute
+is taking its place.
+
+
+V.
+
+THE BREAK-UP OF APPRENTICESHIP.
+
+The survey of the elements that make up the apprenticeship of to-day is
+now complete. Each of the factors which contribute to the result--the
+State, Philanthropy, the Home, the Workshop--has been examined, and their
+influence appraised. It is therefore possible to pass judgment on the
+system, and, by realizing the present situation in all its relations, to
+understand clearly the nature and the extent of the problems which call
+for solution in the immediate future.
+
+The period of apprenticeship has been shown to divide itself naturally
+into two parts. There are the years during which the boy is at school,
+ending somewhere about the age of fourteen. For the right use of these
+years we have seen that the State is beginning to accept full
+responsibility. Whether we have been concerned with the conduct, the
+physical welfare, or the training of the child, we have found collective
+enterprise assuming new duties, and carrying them out with a growing
+enthusiasm. Nor can we have remained blind to the large measure of success
+achieved. If defects here and there mar the result, they are clearly the
+defects that belong to all experiments in the early stages, and are
+obviously not the ineradicable faults of a worn-out system. In short, so
+far as regards the earlier years of the apprenticeship of to-day, there is
+no cause for despondency. Progress is the distinguishing characteristic of
+this first period; the boy is the centre of influences increasing in
+number, and deliberately planned to promote his well-being. One
+disquieting phenomenon that calls for attention is the large mass of
+school-children working long hours. Health is undermined, the effect of
+education impaired; while the occupations, essentially of the
+"blind-alley" type, encourage an unfortunate taste for this form of
+employment. Further, the various local authorities, especially in rural
+districts, have been very lax in using the powers conferred by the
+Employment of Children Act.
+
+The second stage of apprenticeship covers the years between the ages of
+fourteen and eighteen. In our survey of this period we have been unable to
+find much cause for satisfaction. The State no longer recognizes its
+responsibility for the well-being of all its youth; it is content to offer
+opportunities of training to those who are able and willing to avail
+themselves of these advantages, and these last form only a small minority
+of the whole. The success of evening schools, technical institutes, and
+other places of higher education, so far as concerns those who come within
+that sphere of influence, only adds to our regret that that sphere of
+influence is so narrowly restricted. The majority, at least two-thirds, of
+the boys pass out of the control of the State, and for the completion of
+their apprenticeship we must look in other directions. Our search in these
+other directions has met with little reward; we have found everywhere
+failure, and, what is worse, failure that is rapidly progressive. Nowhere
+on a large scale can we discover provision made for the supervision and
+training of juveniles; from all sides we receive a tumult of complaint
+that things have gone astray. Philanthropic enterprise, whether
+represented by the religious bodies or lads' clubs, laments the lack of
+control over the boys, and frankly confesses its inability to deal
+satisfactorily with more than a small minority. The testimony of the home
+is the same; parents complain of the growing independence of their
+children, and to a large extent have ceased to attempt to exert any
+restraint over the conduct of their sons. Under the stress of modern
+industrial conditions and accentuated urbanization, the old patriarchal
+system of the family has broken down; the home represents an association
+of equals, in which, perhaps, the young can claim a predominant influence.
+
+When we pass to the workshop, in the hope of reaching law and order and
+constructive thought, it is only to be confronted with the most signal
+example of an organization which defies every principle of a true
+apprenticeship system. That the boy of to-day is the workman of to-morrow
+is a thought that suggests itself to only a few of the most enlightened
+employers. To the many he is merely a cheap instrument of production to be
+used up, and then scrapped as waste machinery. He is kept at "his own
+little temporary task"; and, to make things worse, he is in so much demand
+that discipline cannot keep him very steadily even to this, or his
+services will be withdrawn. With the separation of man's work from boy's
+work there is no easy passage from youth to manhood. With the minute
+subdivision of operations, there is small chance of a lad in a skilled
+trade becoming a master of his craft.
+
+Apart from the small amount of medical inspection required by the Factory
+and Workshop Act, no attempt is made to insure that the growing lad is
+physically fit for the work in which he is engaged. His health is the
+concern of no one till its breakdown brings him under the Poor Law or
+thrusts him into the ranks of the unemployable. Undisciplined, with health
+and training neglected, the lad of eighteen tends to find himself more and
+more left without prospects, and a person for whom no one in particular
+has any particular use. In short, our survey of the problem of the
+apprenticeship of to-day shows conclusively that we have, in the true
+sense of the word, no apprenticeship system. The old apprenticeship system
+has broken up, and there is nothing come to take its place.
+
+It would be incredible if serious consequences did not accompany this
+complete break-up of the apprenticeship system; and it needs but little
+search to discover evils of far-reaching significance. There is first the
+evil of an uncontrolled youth. A child at the age of fourteen is not
+fitted to enjoy the independence of an adult. This statement is a truism,
+but there is tragedy in the fact that society of to-day confers, as we
+have seen, this irresponsible freedom, in a more or less unqualified form,
+on the majority of boys when they leave the elementary schools. In the
+hooligan of the streets or in the youthful criminal we have the most
+striking example of the fruits of an undisciplined boy. The report of the
+Commissioners of Prisons for the year ending March 31, 1908, makes this
+clear. Writing of the Borstal Association, they say: "In this admirable
+report" (the report, that is, of the Borstal Association), "which should
+be studied by all who are interested in the causes of crime, after
+specifying many circumstances which induce the criminal habit, they refer
+in particular to the absence of any system of control or organization for
+the employment of the young, as one of the principal causes of
+wrong-doing. 'When a boy leaves school the hands of organization and
+compulsion are lifted from his shoulders. If he is the son of very poor
+parents, his father has no influence, nor, indeed, a spare hour, to find
+work for him; he must find it for himself; generally he does find a job,
+and if it does not land him into a dead alley at eighteen he is fortunate,
+or he drifts, and the tidy scholar becomes a ragged and defiant corner
+loafer. Over 80 per cent. of our charges admit that they were not at work
+when they got into trouble,'" [166] The Poor Law Commission calls attention
+to the evil effects of certain forms of employment which the boys choose
+because of the freedom they give."'Street-selling, for example,' says the
+Chief Constable of Sheffield, 'makes the boys thieves.' 'News-boys and
+street-sellers,' says Mr. Cyril Jackson, 'are practically all gamblers.'
+'Of 1,454 youths between fourteen and twenty-one charged in Glasgow during
+1906 with theft and other offences inferring dishonesty, 1,208, or 83.7
+per cent., came from the class of messengers, street-traders, etc.,' says
+Mr. Tawney." [167] And it would be easy to multiply indefinitely examples
+of this kind. It must not, of course, be assumed that all boys become
+hooligans or criminals, but all do suffer from the want of control and the
+need of a more disciplined life. Hooliganism is merely an extreme type of
+a disease which in a milder form fastens upon the boys who are allowed
+unrestrained liberty. The disease is the disease of restlessness--the
+restlessness of the town, the dislike of regularity, the joy in change for
+change's sake, and the habit of roving from place to place.
+
+This disease, with the lack of proper technical training, leads on to
+unemployment when the age of manhood is reached. Unemployment is not the
+fate of the old only; it is becoming common among the young. "The
+percentage of men under thirty years of age qualified for assistance
+under the Unemployed Workmen Act, 1905, was:[168]
+
+  +------------------------------------------------------------+
+  |                 |Up to March 31, 1906.|Twelve Months ending|
+  |                 |                     |  March 31, 1907.   |
+  |-----------------|---------------------|--------------------|
+  | London          |       23.9          |       27.4         |
+  | Whole of England|       27.3          |       30.2"        |
+  +------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+"It has become clear," says a manager of boys' clubs with a very wide
+experience, "to all students of the labour problem that a wrong choice of
+their first work--or, rather, no choice at all, but a drift into it--is
+responsible for the presence of considerable numbers of young men amongst
+the unemployed." [169] The Reports of the Poor Law Commission, Majority and
+Minority alike, repeatedly voice the same opinion. "The great prominence
+given to boy labour, not only in our evidence, but in the various reports
+of our special investigators, leads us to the opinion that this is perhaps
+the most serious of the phenomena which we have encountered in our study
+of unemployment. The difficulty of getting boys absorbed, through gradual
+and systematic training, in the skilled trades is great enough; but when
+to this are added the temptations, outside the organized industries, to
+enter at an early age into occupations which are not themselves skilled
+and give no opportunity for acquiring skill, it seems clear that we are
+faced by a far greater problem than that of finding employment for adults
+who have fallen behind in the race for efficiency--namely, that the growth
+of large cities has brought with it an enormous increase in occupations
+that are making directly for unemployment in the future." [170] The
+Minority Report is equally emphatic. "There is no subject," it says, "as
+to which we have received so much and such conclusive evidence as upon the
+extent to which thousands of boys, from lack of any sort of training for
+industrial occupations, grow up, almost inevitably, so as to become
+chronically unemployed or under-employed, and presently to recruit the
+ranks of the unemployable. In Glasgow nearly 20 per cent. of the labourers
+in distress are under twenty-five, and one-half of them are under
+thirty-five." [171] Or again: "It has been demonstrated beyond dispute that
+one of the features of the manner in which we have chosen to let the
+nation's industry be organized is that an increasing number of boys are
+employed in occupations which are either uneducative (in the sense of
+producing no increase of efficiency and intelligence) or unpromising (in
+the sense of leading to no permanent occupation during adult life);
+secondly, that there is a constant tendency for certain industrial
+functions to be transferred from men to boys, especially when changes in
+the processes of manufacture or in the organization of industry are taking
+place rapidly. The resulting difficulty is the double one of the
+over-employment of boys and the under-employment of men." [172]
+
+It is hoped that the present chapter may have made clear the various steps
+in this unfortunate process of industrial development. First, we have the
+qualities which are the result of the school training--qualities of
+regularity, obedience, and intelligence--qualities required, indeed, in
+all forms of work, but supplying a complete technical outfit alone for the
+"blind-alley" occupations. The boys leave school, having had expended on
+them in each case a capital sum of public money of about one hundred
+pounds. They are valuable assets, and employers have discovered the fact,
+and adjusted their methods of production or distribution to make full use
+of this new and valuable supply. High wages attract the boy, who makes his
+own choice, and earning is regarded as more attractive than the laborious
+and less remunerative learning.
+
+This leads on to the second stage, the "blind-alley" occupation or the
+skilled trade where there is no real training. Four years of this kind of
+work dissipate the effects of elementary education. Too often weakened
+physically by long hours of employment, demoralized by the life of freedom
+and the fatal facility in obtaining a second job when fancy has made him
+throw up the first, robbed by disuse of the power to learn even if the
+inclination were present, he is, at the age of eighteen, a distinctly less
+valuable asset in the labour market than he was four years before. The
+hundred pounds investment of public money intended for life has been
+squandered in youth; the employer has possessed himself of it; and when
+the boy asks the wages of a man, he is informed that his services are no
+longer wanted, and told to transfer them elsewhere.
+
+Then comes the final stage of degeneration--unemployment or
+under-employment. The habit, acquired through four years of constant
+practice, of throwing up a job on the smallest pretext, remains with the
+lad of eighteen, but the facility of finding another is no longer his. The
+intensity of the demand for men varies almost inversely with the intensity
+of the demand for boys; the two are competitors in the same labour market,
+and of the two the boy is the cheaper and the more efficient instrument of
+production. Further, habits of boyhood have too often bred a liking for
+casual employment, with its frequent holidays. Here, also, the employers
+are willing to oblige him; they find it convenient to have at their beck
+and call a reserve of labour which can be drawn upon when business is
+brisk, and discharged in times of slackness. Finally, if he desires
+regular employment, it is none too easy to discover a suitable opening.
+The sphere of his usefulness is small; he has for sale a certain amount of
+animal strength, none too well developed, but has little else to offer. He
+can push and he can pull indifferently well, but in the world of industry
+there is not, as is supposed sometimes, an unlimited demand for pulling
+and pushing. And all the time he is faced with the fact that recruits to
+the army of pushing and pulling are coming from all sides. Men skilled in
+the performance of a single operation, and robbed of their well-paid
+employment by a new invention; men from decaying trades and incapable
+through lack of training of adapting themselves to fresh conditions; men a
+little past the vigour of manhood; men discharged for misconduct; men who
+have lost their work through the bankruptcy of a company or the death of a
+master--all alike, when everything fails them, turn in desperation to
+pulling and pushing; and meanwhile machines of novel design decrease year
+by year the demand for pulling and pushing.
+
+All these effects, with innumerable variations, are the result of a wrong
+start, and of the neglect during the years that lie between the ages of
+fourteen and eighteen. Want of supervision, want of technical training,
+want of an opening for which special preparation has been given--these are
+the three great and characteristic evils of the present industrial
+situation. Taken together, they are a negation of all apprenticeship in
+the true sense of the word. During the course of the last few years we
+have at least learned to know the cause of our suffering, and to know the
+cause is at least the first step in the path of prevention. And, further,
+we have begun to see rising from the ruins of the old stabilities of life
+and the ancient order of industrial organization an edifice--small,
+indeed, at the moment, but bearing the mark of constructive thought,
+because reared by the growing power of collective enterprise; and, knowing
+this, we can turn in a spirit of hope to the task of creating a new
+apprenticeship system.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE NEW APPRENTICESHIP
+
+
+In the present chapter we must endeavour to find some remedy for the evils
+disclosed in the preceding pages. The old apprenticeship system has broken
+up, and there is nothing come to take its place. In consequence, the youth
+of the country is to a large and growing extent passing through the years
+of adolescence without supervision, without technical training, without
+prospects of an opening when manhood is reached. These are defects in the
+industrial organization so obvious that they are now attracting general
+attention, so grave that there is need of immediate and comprehensive
+measures of reform.
+
+In what direction is the remedy to be looked for? From what quarter may we
+expect the new apprenticeship to come? The survey of the conditions of boy
+labour, contained in an earlier portion of this volume, has disclosed two
+forces at work in the training of the youth of the country. The one force
+is destructive in its action; the other constructive. Reform obviously
+lies in the repression of the former and in the encouragement of the
+latter; there is no other alternative.
+
+The force of destruction has been found throughout associated with the
+characteristic phenomena of the industrial revolution. The accentuated
+spirit of competition, the increasing use of capital and machinery, with
+the consequential development of large undertakings, and the rapid changes
+in methods of production to meet new demands or to make use of new
+inventions, have all alike been hostile to the well-being of the boy. The
+system, created by what may be called the natural growth of modern
+business organization, has been a system which has, in one form or
+another, continually attempted to exploit child labour. Under this system
+children, in days gone by, were driven to the mine and to the factory, or
+herded in gangs in the fields and barns of the farm, and even at the
+present time are allowed to perform tasks far beyond their strength. Under
+this system we have watched the slow and continuous decay of indentured
+apprenticeship, the steady decrease of facilities for obtaining an
+all-round training in the workshop, and the ever-broadening gulf
+separating youth from manhood in the sphere of industry. As a result of
+this system we have seen the hand of control lifted from the shoulder of
+youth, and have noted lads, under the wayward guidance of an irresponsible
+freedom, drifting into the path of crime and disorder. We are driven to
+believe that it is the young who swell the armies of unemployment, and
+have realized with sudden dismay that, young though they are, they are yet
+too old to break the set habits of an unfortunate past. And we are
+beginning to perceive clearly that these phenomena, of ill omen, are not a
+mere accident, but an integral part of the industrial organization; and
+to understand that, in spite of numerous superficial changes, the system,
+born of the revolution of a hundred years ago, has not altered in
+essentials, and now, as then, threatens with destruction the youth of the
+land.
+
+That system has never enjoyed full freedom of development, but the limits
+set on its power for evil have not come from within; they have come from
+without, and been imposed on the employers by the legislative action of
+the State. It is the State which has throughout the period supplied the
+second or regulative and constructive force in the training of the youth
+of the country. It has forbidden the employment of boys in some
+occupations, and in others limited the hours of employment. Acting without
+any clearly defined plan, but striking at the evils, which gusts of
+popular opinion denounced and refused to tolerate, it has yet made
+impossible the worst abuses of child labour. It has, however, long since
+passed beyond the realm of mere veto, and has these many years entered the
+sphere of constructive reform. The scheme of compulsory education, the
+provision of opportunities for technical instruction, and the powers,
+recently conferred on local education authorities, to attend to the
+physical condition of school-children, are all signal examples of the
+beneficent influence of the second force.
+
+We are left, then, with these two forces--the force of destruction and the
+force of construction; and the fate of the youth turns on the issue of the
+struggle between the two. They are not, indeed, the only forces concerned
+in the problem of boy labour, but, compared with their influence, all
+others sink into insignificance. The State and the industrial system both
+possess the characteristic of universality, and no other organization can
+make the same claim. Philanthropic and religious associations have always
+been found to protest against the abuses of child labour, but their
+protest only became generally effective when the State gave to it the
+force of law. Philanthropic and religious associations have been pioneers
+in the field of education, but the advantages were offered to all only
+when the State stepped in and assumed the responsibility. Individual
+employers have always been found to offer to their lads humane conditions
+of work and full opportunities of training, but these remained the
+privileges of a few, and it was only through State interference that the
+many obtained their share. As pointing the way to reform, these other
+agencies have been, and are, of priceless value to the community, but as
+themselves the instrument they have invariably proved a failure. We are
+left, then, with two forces which alone need to be taken into account--the
+industrial organization and the State. For the creation of the new
+apprenticeship system either the industrial organization must reform
+itself, or the State must reform the industrial organization: there is no
+third alternative.
+
+Let us begin with the first alternative, and ask ourselves whether there
+is any reasonable hope of reform from within the industrial organization.
+The experience of the past is uniformly hostile to any such expectation.
+In the history of the last hundred years there is no single exception to
+the rule that all general improvements in the conditions of boy labour
+have come from without, and not been carried out from within. The
+experience of the present repeats in an even more emphatic way the
+experience of the past. It is impossible to point to one single example of
+an industrial reform now in course of development, and affecting on a
+large and beneficent scale the prospects or the training of the boy. It
+would be easy to cite a hundred instances of the contrary process. The
+whole of the last chapter is nothing but a detailed summary of the
+progressive defects of the industrial system, and its attempts to exploit
+in its own interests the value of boy labour. We saw how, by the
+multiplication of "blind-alley" occupations, the industrial system
+contrived to lay hold on and use up most of the products of an improved
+elementary education initiated by the State. Past and present experience
+are in accord; we cannot look for reform from within.
+
+It is necessary to guard against a possible misinterpretation. There is no
+thought here of blaming the employer. The fight lies not between boy and
+employer, but between the force of the State and the force of competition,
+using the last word to denote the most marked characteristic of the
+industrial revolution. The employer is in general as much a victim of the
+process as the boy. He cannot be justly blamed for what he cannot be
+fairly expected to prevent. The exigencies of competition drive him to
+select the cheapest methods of production at the moment. If these methods
+involve the exploitation of the boy, it is unfortunate for the boy, but
+the employer has no other alternative. To produce as cheaply as his
+neighbours is the one condition of success; more remote considerations
+cannot enter into a business undertaking. Those well-intentioned persons,
+with a smattering of ill-digested science and a system of economics far
+removed from all practical realities, who talk amiably of the interests of
+employers and their boys, as future workmen, being identical, confuse the
+good of the present generation with the good of the generation that comes
+after. It is undoubtedly a fact that any system which injures the workers
+will in the long-run injure the trade of the country, but this is true
+only in the long-run, and the run is often very long. Now, survival in
+business is determined in the immediate future. The heavy charges on fixed
+capital, the interest on outstanding loans, the weekly wages bill, and the
+long tale of daily outgoings, make it impossible for the employer to
+follow proper methods of training in the hope that the new generation of
+workers will, by their added efficiency, recoup him for his expenditure.
+To last till that time he must live through the interval, must obtain that
+contract to-day, this order to-morrow, and must get it at a profit--in
+other words, he must choose the cheapest method of production here and
+now; there and next year will be too late. It will be no inducement to him
+to reflect that his methods would in the long-run prove the best, if he
+knows that he cannot stay the course. Competition is of to-day; it takes
+no account of the happenings of to-morrow. Those who in the struggle
+cannot survive this year will not live to reap the harvest of future
+years. Agreement among employers on such questions has been found
+impossible; the temptation to win by evasion an illicit success proves too
+strong for the majority. Those who pursue the better methods disappear;
+those who pursue the worse survive to propagate their kind. There is valid
+in the world of business a law somewhat analogous to Gresham's law in
+matters of currency; the bad pushes out and replaces the good. There is a
+real struggle between the interests of one generation and the next. The
+employer must concern himself with the things of his own day; it is for
+the State, whose life is ageless, to guard the welfare of those who are to
+come. By insisting on the methods that are good in the long-run, by
+forbidding those which are good only in the immediate present, it places
+all employers on the same level, and enables the best of them to do what
+was before impossible. It does not thereby interfere with competition; it
+merely changes the direction of competition by guiding it into less
+injurious channels. But the secret of success, as demonstrated by the
+experience of more than a century, must be sought in the enactment of
+general regulations, which will apply to all employers, and not be looked
+for in what is sometimes termed the spirit of growing enlightenment.
+Unless it can be shown that the immediate interest of the employer is one
+with the proposed reform, nothing really effective can be done by moral
+suasion; while, if the two are in accord, moral suasion is superfluous.
+It can hardly be supposed that the contemplative outsider should know the
+business of the employers better than they do themselves. The mere fact of
+calling to our aid the power of moral suasion should be enough to show
+that enlightened self-interest will not suffice; we do not appeal to a
+man's conscience when we can appeal to his pocket. If, then, reform and
+the immediate interest are not in accord, consent on the part of one
+employer means risk of failure in a world where salvation depends on very
+small margins of profit.
+
+It is, therefore, for the most part labour lost to devote time to the
+consideration of reforms which do not rest on the basis of legal
+obligation, and we might at once turn to considerations of State control
+and State enterprise if it were not for the fact that in the minds of many
+there still remains a hope of the coming of salvation from another
+direction. They advocate the revival of the old indentured apprenticeship
+system, and believe that they have only to explain the situation
+adequately to the employer for him to realize that his interests lie in
+its revival. This belief assumes, as already mentioned, that the outsider
+knows the business of the employer better than he does himself--a
+tolerably large assumption. We might drop the matter with this criticism,
+but a re-examination of the old apprenticeship system, in the light of the
+industrial revolution and of the proposals for its revival, will help us
+on our journey towards the goal of the new apprenticeship. Such
+examination will show, first, the conditions which a true apprenticeship
+must fulfil; and, secondly, that those who hark back upon the past for
+their ideals of reform are conscious that the past must change its dress
+before it can hope to commend itself to the critical taste of the present.
+
+Now, in its best form, as was shown in the second chapter of this book,
+the old apprenticeship system was a success. It did afford means of
+adequate supervision over the youth of the country; it did supply them
+with technical training; and it did provide an opening in an occupation
+for which special preparation had been made. But a closer examination of
+the problem showed that success depended on the satisfaction of three
+conditions: First, it was essential for the apprentice to live with his
+master, or at any rate that the relations between the two should be of a
+paternal character; the second essential was the universality of the small
+workshop, with the facilities it gave for an all-round training; and,
+thirdly, an essential part of the system was the existence of the gild,
+which represented masters and men alike, and in the interests of all
+inspected and controlled the methods of the workshop. With the dissolution
+of the gilds we saw the first weakening of the apprenticeship system.
+There was now no authority guarding the interests of the trade as a whole;
+compulsory apprenticeship was often used as a means of supplying the
+employer with cheap and enforced labour, for whose future he had no
+responsibility. With the advent of the industrial revolution we watched
+the steady disappearance of the small workshop. Training became difficult,
+and often impossible. With both masters and men formal apprenticeship lost
+favour, and the system entered on its second stage of decay. With the
+multiplication of "blind-alley" occupations, with the growing cleavage
+between man's work and boy's work, and with division of labour pushed to
+its utmost extreme, came, as has been proved, the break-up of the
+apprenticeship system.
+
+Now, there is nothing in the signs of the times to herald the approach of
+a new industrial revolution and a return to the old order of the Middle
+Ages. Machines and machine methods have come to stay, and must stay if the
+varied needs of the huge populations of to-day are to be satisfied. The
+more serious advocates of the revival of indentured apprenticeship admit
+this fact, and fully realize that modifications of the system are
+necessary. They suggest that committees of volunteers should assume
+certain of the functions of the gild; they should exercise a kindly
+supervision over the boy in his home, and take steps to insure that the
+conditions of the indenture are observed by the employer. Secondly, they
+propose that the one-sided training of the workshop should be supplemented
+by technical classes provided by the education authority and supervised by
+an advisory committee of representatives of the trade. Finally, they urge
+that these proposals, so far from being visionary, have actually been
+realized in practice with complete success. Why may not we look for a
+general extension of these methods?
+
+The answer is tolerably obvious. The experiments have undoubtedly been
+successful. They have shown the steadying influence exerted over the boy
+by an indenture; they have shown the advantages that come from friendly
+visiting at the home or the workshop; they have shown the value of
+technical classes and trade schools supervised by representatives of the
+trade. But what they have not shown is that the experiment, while resting
+on a purely voluntary basis, admits of indefinite expansion. Indeed, the
+fact that the co-operation of the education authority is invoked, in order
+to provide technical instruction that shall supplement the training of the
+workshop, is sufficient evidence that we cannot dispense altogether with
+the assistance of the State. But much more remains to be said against the
+possibility of indefinite extension. Take the case of indentures. It is
+true that some employers can be found willing to receive indentured
+apprentices, and some boys willing to be indentured. But this does not
+affect the general rule that the conditions of the modern workshop do not
+allow of the use of apprentices, whose training is enforceable at law, or
+discount what is a matter of common observation--that neither employers
+nor boys like to bind themselves together for a period of years.
+Indentures may be an excellent plan for curbing the independence of the
+boy, but it does not, unfortunately, follow that the boys who most want
+curbing will be the boys who will accept this fretting restraint. What
+happens in practice is that a select number of boys willing to submit to
+control are brought into relations with a select number of employers
+willing to be troubled with boys. This is good as far as it goes, but it
+goes no way in the direction of providing supervision for the boys who
+most need it. Or take again the question of supplementing in the technical
+institute the training of the workshop. Experience here and in other
+countries shows conclusively that technical instruction, to be really
+effective, must be given during the daytime, when the lad is fresh, and
+not during the evening, when he is wearied out by the day's work. But,
+ignoring the necessarily limited number of cases in which boys are able to
+forgo earning altogether, instruction during the day is possible only
+where employers allow their apprentices time off during the day to attend
+classes. It is true that some few employers have given this permission,
+but their number is strictly limited. In the hope of extending the
+principle, the London County Council recently carried out an elaborate
+inquiry among employers, but with very small results. "If we compare,"
+says the report, "the magnitude of the elaborate inquiry carried out by
+the principals of polytechnics and technical institutes, by the skilled
+employment committees, and by the Council itself, with the extent of the
+success attained, we are bound to admit that the results are of the most
+meagre dimensions. There appears no prospect of inducing employers on any
+large scale to co-operate with us in the establishment of a satisfactory
+system of 'part-time' classes." [173] Extension on a large scale and on a
+voluntary basis is impossible.
+
+But, neglecting the question of possibilities, is the revival of an
+indentured apprenticeship, as a method of learning certain trades, in
+itself a thing to be desired? There remains one difficulty that has never
+satisfactorily been surmounted. If indentured apprenticeship is the door
+leading to a skilled trade, there will be a movement in the trade to close
+all other doors. Those who have paid a premium, or at any rate served
+their time for low wages, cannot be expected to allow without complaint
+vacancies in the trade to be filled by men who have not passed through a
+similar period of servitude. If the door is closed, there is no way of
+recruiting the trade in times of expanding business. But, in general,
+prohibition has not proved practical, and other ways of entry are
+discovered, and as these ways are easier, it is only natural that people
+should tend to choose the easier path. Indentured apprenticeship has never
+escaped from this dilemma; either the trade is closed to strangers when
+there is no means of expansion, or the trade is open when there is no
+inducement to be apprenticed. The change in modern industry, with its
+tendency to break down the barriers between trade and trade, only
+accentuates the acuteness of the dilemma.
+
+Finally, assuming indentured apprenticeship to be both practical and
+desirable, would it provide a solution for the problem of boy labour? It
+is obvious that it would only touch a fringe of the question. We have
+already seen that some two-thirds of the children, as they leave the
+elementary school, enter a form of occupation which leads only to
+unskilled labour, and even for that provides no adequate training. An
+apprenticeship system would not affect these two-thirds. A boy cannot be
+apprenticed as an errand-boy, or in one of those workshops where
+practically only boys are engaged. Not only is this class the most
+important in respect of numbers; it is also the class most urgently in
+need of control. It is here that degeneration and demoralization are most
+marked, while it is here that indentured apprenticeship offers not even a
+shadow of a remedy. A system which ignores the majority, even if it
+provided for the favoured few, cannot be regarded as affording a possible
+solution of the problem of boy labour.
+
+We cannot, therefore, look to the revival of apprenticeship, even when
+supplemented by technical training, to carry us far on the road of reform.
+It would, however, be a mistake to under-rate the lessons of the
+experiments. They have shown the value of indentures as a means of
+controlling the boy; they have shown the value of sympathetic supervision;
+and they have shown the value of the technical school in widening the
+inadequate training of the workshop. The defects of the experiment lay in
+the necessary limitations of the case. Remove the limitations, and you
+remove the defects. We want universal indentures, universal supervision,
+universal training. To guard against the dangers of creating a privileged
+class through the establishment of an apprenticeship system we must see to
+it that all alike serve a period of apprenticeship. Obviously, we cannot
+apprentice all boys to employers; we must, therefore, apprentice all boys
+to the State. There is nothing new in this proposal. Already, through the
+law of compulsory attendance at school, all boys are so apprenticed
+between the ages of five and fourteen. What is necessary is an extension
+of the period of an already existing apprenticeship system.
+
+In the search of a means of preventing an evil, the most difficult task is
+always to exclude the inadequate and the irrelevant. When all paths of
+advance, with one exception, have been blocked, there is no longer any
+choice or risk of losing one's way. We have now seen that all ways, except
+the way of collective control and collective enterprise, fail to reach the
+desired goal, and, having exhausted all other alternatives, must fall back
+upon the State. Some do this willingly, some reluctantly, but all, with a
+few exceptions that may be disregarded, appeal to the State when they are
+convinced that help can be looked for from no other source. We are now in
+that position, and must frankly face the situation.
+
+Failing assistance in any other direction, we must call on the State to
+organize a new apprenticeship system. Such a system must make due
+provision for supervision, training, and an opening. It remains to be
+considered how these three essentials can be secured.
+
+
+I
+
+SUPERVISION.
+
+A boy must be under some sort of supervision until he reaches at least the
+age of eighteen. Such supervision must have respect to his physical
+well-being as well as to his conduct. Neither the home, nor philanthropy,
+nor the workshop can be looked for to provide this supervision. They have
+all failed, and that failure is progressive. The State remains as our only
+hope. The State has not failed; it has made impossible the worst abuses of
+child labour, and through its educational system has been an influence for
+good in the moral and physical development of the children. Its success
+has been great, and that success has been progressive. Where it has
+failed, it has failed because its supervision has been withdrawn too soon.
+The remedy is obvious: we must extend the sphere of State supervision.
+Three reforms are urgently necessary: (1) The raising of the age of
+compulsory attendance to fifteen; (2) the complete prohibition of the
+employment of school-children for wages; and (3) the compulsory attendance
+of lads between the ages of fifteen and eighteen at some place of
+education for at least half the working day. With regard to these
+proposals, it may be said that all three are supported by the Minority
+Report of the Poor Law Commission and by the labour organizations which
+have in general expressed their approval of that Report. (1) and (3) are
+the recommendations of the Report of the Education Committee of the London
+County Council, adopted unanimously by that body in February, 1909; while
+(1) and (3) also received a qualified approval from the Majority Report of
+the Poor Law Commission, and from the Report of the Consultative Committee
+of the Board of Education on Continuation Schools. They have, therefore,
+behind them a strong backing of expert opinion.
+
+_(a) The Raising of the School Age._
+
+More than ten years have elapsed since Parliament last raised the age of
+compulsory attendance. There is almost universal agreement that the time
+has come for adding another year. The discipline of the school is
+successful while it lasts, but fails in permanent effect because it is
+withdrawn too soon. In the last chapter we saw from the study of the
+census tables that for at least the first year after school the boys have
+settled down to no very fixed employment. Many of the skilled trades do
+not take learners and apprentices before the age of fifteen. "It is
+clear," say the Education Committee of the London County Council, "that
+the year after leaving school--the year, that is, between the ages of
+fourteen and fifteen--is for the children concerned a year of uncertainty.
+Nearly half are returned as without specified occupation. No doubt a large
+proportion of the number are attending some place of education, but it is
+no less true that a considerable number are not classified, because for
+the time being they are doing nothing. They have thrown up one situation
+and are looking out for another. In this respect we must remember that it
+is a common practice--at any rate, so far as the poorer section of the
+community is concerned--for the children, and not their parents, to select
+for themselves the form of occupation and find for themselves situations.
+The children are too young to choose wisely, and, as a natural
+consequence, shift from place to place until they discover something that
+suits their taste or ability. It would be difficult to imagine a more
+unsatisfactory method of training. Till the age of fourteen they are
+carefully looked after in school; at the age of fourteen they are set free
+from all forms of discipline, and become practically their own masters. We
+must not, therefore, be surprised that under such conditions the effect of
+the school training is transient, and the large amount of money spent on
+their education to a great extent wasted." [174] And, summing up the whole
+case for the raising of the school age, the Education Committee say: "The
+advantages of keeping children at school until the age of fifteen are many
+and obvious. They receive an extra year's instruction at a time when they
+are most apt to learn; they are kept for another year under discipline
+just at the period when it is easiest to influence permanently the
+development of character. With the extension they escape the year of
+aimless drifting from occupation to occupation, and, when called on to
+choose a profession, they will have a year's extra experience to help
+them in the choice. We may hope that under these new conditions the
+tendency to follow the line of greatest initial wages will decrease, and
+be replaced by a tendency to consider as of paramount importance prospects
+of training and hope of future advancement." [175]
+
+In raising the school age we should take the opportunity of getting rid of
+certain anomalies which now exist. While for the vast majority of children
+in London and many other places attendance is compulsory up to the age of
+fourteen, exemption is possible at the age of twelve and thirteen for a
+small minority. In certain parts of the country large numbers of children
+are allowed to leave before the age of fourteen. It is unfortunate that it
+is the cleverest children who are entitled to this earlier exemption. We
+are here looking at the problem of apprenticeship from the standpoint of
+supervision, and in the case of supervision age and not mental attainment
+must be the determining principle. The bright precocious boy of twelve or
+thirteen is precisely the boy who stands most in need of control. Morally
+and physically he is likely to suffer from the effects of premature
+freedom. The sleepy dullard, who is kept at school until fourteen, could
+be freed from discipline at an earlier age, with less risk of serious
+harm. In raising, then, the age of compulsory attendance to fifteen, we
+must abolish the privileges of exemption and the powers of local option,
+and enact that all children shall attend school full time until they reach
+the age of fifteen.
+
+_(b) The Prohibition of Child Labour._
+
+Much space has in this volume been devoted to the task of demonstrating
+the extent and the evils of child labour. It has been shown that anything
+except the very lightest employment is physically injurious. It has been
+made clear that the work in which children are engaged is frequently
+demoralizing, while it never paves the way to entering a skilled trade
+when school is left. They are essentially "blind-alley" occupations.
+Further, we have seen good reason to believe that the habit of earning
+money and the precocious sense of independence so encouraged are not in
+the best interests of order and discipline. We note the evil in its worst
+form under the "half-time" system. "The half-timers," we are told, "become
+clever at repartee and in the use of 'mannish' phrases, which sound clever
+when they dare use them. They lose their childish habits ... some of the
+boys commence to smoke and to use bad language." [176] Finally, it has been
+proved that limitation of the hours of employment in the case of
+school-children is in practice impossible; there is no ready way of
+detecting breaches of the law. We are, therefore, driven to the conclusion
+that, unless the evils are to remain--and this is not tolerable--we must
+prohibit altogether the employment for wages of children liable to attend
+school full time.
+
+Various objections are made to the proposal. We are told by many of the
+witnesses who appeared before the Interdepartmental Committee on
+Wage-earning Children that a little light work was good for boys; it kept
+them out of mischief. Ignoring the difficulties of insuring that the work
+shall be little and light, they do not seem to make out their case. In
+London, as has been shown, not more than a quarter of the boys during the
+course of their school time are ever engaged seriously in paid employment.
+If, therefore, the work was beneficial, we should expect to find in the
+after-career of the 25 per cent. evidence of the advantages they have
+enjoyed, and in the case of the 75 per cent. signs of failure due to their
+less fortunate training. But all experience points in the opposite
+direction. It is the 25 per cent. who drift most generally into the
+"blind-alley" occupations; it is from this 25 per cent. that the majority
+of hooligans and youthful criminals are recruited.
+
+It is also argued that there are certain tasks which only children can
+perform, because they occupy only a small portion of the day. Papers must
+be delivered and milk left at people's houses. But in Germany much of this
+work is done by old men,[177] and even in this country the "knocker-up" in
+the morning is not a child, but an old man. Employers in the textile
+trades declared that it is only by beginning young that children can
+acquire the necessary quickness and deftness of touch. But as these trades
+absorb in the adult service only a small proportion of the children
+engaged, and seeing that in many instances the half-time system has been
+dropped as uneconomic, there does not seem much force in this objection.
+Moreover, it cannot be beyond the power of manual training in the schools
+to provide a fitting and less injurious substitute.
+
+The arguments in favour of the continued employment of school-children are
+the arguments of the old world, and the new world is becoming a little
+tired of the arguments of these old-world people. The time has come to
+make a stand, and insist that for all children there shall be insured the
+blessings of childhood. The first step in this direction lies in making it
+impossible for them to enter the ranks of the wage-earners as long as
+their names remain on the roll of the elementary school.
+
+_(c) The New Half-Time System._
+
+The proposals for raising the school age and for prohibiting child labour
+during that period will do much to strengthen the system of supervision.
+Another year of school discipline; another year of medical inspection and
+medical treatment; protection during another year from the evil effects of
+overwork and from the demoralization due to "blind-alley" occupations and
+premature earning--these reforms will bring us some way on our journey
+towards the new apprenticeship, but they will not bring us the whole way.
+There remain the three years which lie between the ages of fifteen and
+eighteen, and include the greater part of the period of adolescence--in
+some respects the most important period in the development of a human
+being. It is during these years that character begins to take its
+permanent set; it is during these years that, with the coming of puberty,
+there is most risk of ugly and dangerous outbreaks; it is during these
+years that physical health demands the most careful attention; and it is
+during these years that, with the exception of the failures of
+civilization--the physically, the mentally, and the morally
+defective--there is no real supervision or, under existing conditions, any
+hope of securing it.
+
+To allow irresponsible freedom during these years is to court disaster; to
+give it suddenly and in an unqualified degree, as it is given now when the
+school career is brought to an abrupt end, is to follow a course condemned
+by all educationalists. No parent, even the most thoughtless, among the
+well-to-do classes would think of treating his son in this fashion. His
+whole scheme of education is founded on the principle of a slow and
+gradual loosening of the bonds of discipline. The close supervision of the
+private school is replaced by the larger liberty of the public school,
+which in turn opens into the greater but still restricted freedom of the
+University.
+
+Freedom must come slowly. We want a bridge between the elementary school
+of the boy and the full-time workshop of the man. Such a bridge would be
+created by the establishment of the proposed half-time system. For half
+the day--or at any rate, for half his time--the lad between the ages of
+fifteen and eighteen would be compelled to attend a place of education,
+and only during the remaining half be permitted to undertake employment
+for wages. The advantages of this proposal are many. First, the influence
+of the school would be retained for an additional three years, and under
+the half-time system the freedom of the youthful wage-earner would find a
+suitable limitation in the half-time control of the school. Secondly, we
+should have the opportunity of another three years' medical inspection and
+medical treatment. With supervision over the health of the community
+continued until the age of eighteen we might fairly anticipate a rapid
+improvement in the physical efficiency of the worker. In particular, we
+should be able to detect, in a way now impossible, the effects of various
+forms of employment on those engaged in them. Inspection under the
+provisions of the Factory and Workshops Act, as has been shown, is too
+limited in character to do more than pick out a few young persons
+obviously unfit for the occupation they have selected; but, with the
+education authority responsible for the health of juveniles, and using to
+the full extent its powers to provide preventive measures or to veto in
+the case of certain individuals certain forms of work, we should have gone
+far to secure that no one should enter on or remain in a trade for which
+he was physically unfit. Thirdly, as already shown, a half-time system is
+the only really effective way of limiting the hours of juvenile
+employment. If the lad is compelled to be elsewhere than in the workshop
+for half his time, we have an automatic check on excessive work. Other
+advantages of this system will appear when we come to deal with questions
+of training and the provision of an opening.
+
+The half-time system should be made compulsory throughout the country; it
+ought not to be left to local option to decide. The local rating authority
+naturally wishes to encourage the establishment of workshops and factories
+within its area, and would be unwilling to adopt Acts which might prove a
+deterrent. It would be a most unsatisfactory state of affairs for
+employers to evade the spirit of the law by moving into districts where
+the law was not enforced. It is a little unfortunate that the Education
+(Scotland) Act, 1908, which allows a limited amount of compulsion in
+connection with continuation schools, is founded on the principle of local
+option. The recommendations of the Consultative Committee of the Board of
+Education are vitiated in a similar way. Local option can never be really
+successful. It will elect to act only where there is least opposition from
+employers--in other words, where action is least necessary; and it will do
+nothing where boy labour is most exploited and regulation most urgently
+required. In one direction alone can local option be allowed with
+advantage. It may be permitted to decide on the precise kind or kinds of
+half-time to be enforced within their area. Boys might attend school on
+the half-day system or on the alternate day system. Or, again, they might
+spend three days in the workshop and three days in the school, or under
+certain circumstances devote six months of the year to the workshop and
+the remaining six months to the school. It would be desirable to allow the
+local authority considerable liberty in their methods of adapting the
+half-time system to the special needs of the trades of the district,
+provided always that a true half-time system was established.
+
+There is no serious difficulty in the way of compelling attendance at the
+half-time school. It would be enforced just as attendance at the
+elementary school is enforced, and by the same officers. Further, no
+employer would be permitted to employ a boy between the ages of fifteen
+and eighteen who could not show satisfactory evidence of attendance at
+school. Or if, as may be the case, it is found desirable to permit boys to
+be engaged only by means of the Labour Exchange, the Labour Exchange
+itself would prove a most effective way of enforcing attendance.
+
+There is nothing new or impracticable in the principle of the proposal.
+Compulsory attendance at continuation schools can be required in Scotland.
+Such attendance is compulsory in parts of Germany and Switzerland.[178] It
+is exacted by certain employers in this country from their apprentices.
+Further, the fact that for many years the half-time system has been in use
+in the case of many important industries, and tens of thousands of
+children so employed, demonstrates clearly enough that there is nothing
+impossible in the application of a half-time system to juveniles. It
+would, no doubt, cause some inconvenience, and some employers might
+dispense with the services of juveniles; but no more difficulty would
+arise than has arisen when any fresh regulations have been imposed; and we
+should see, as we have always done in the past, the employers who
+predicted inevitable ruin before the event, as soon as the proposal became
+law adapt themselves, with that placid content and admirable success which
+they have always displayed after the event, to the new condition of
+affairs.
+
+_(d) The Parents' Point of View._
+
+The three proposals just made have one characteristic in common-they all
+directly set a limit to the employment of children and young persons. It
+is possible that some readers may regard them from another point of view,
+and say that in limiting employment they seriously diminish the income of
+the family. Will the poor parent, whose lot is pitiable enough as things
+are, be able to stand the loss?
+
+In considering this, the parents' point of view, we must guard against
+being caught in the noose of a vicious circle. We must not perpetuate an
+evil in order to mitigate its present effects. Many, probably most, of
+those parents whose income hovers about the margin of possible existence
+are in this pitiful position because their own childhood has been
+neglected. As children, they have been overworked, and they are now
+physically unfit for regular employment; as children, they have been
+allowed to go uncontrolled and untrained, and now, as men, they are paying
+a heavy tax for the earnings of their boyhood. They receive little because
+they are worth little; their work is precarious because the sphere of
+their usefulness is small. We must not allow their children to live as
+_they_ lived when children, and so pass on to the next generation the
+taint of inefficiency and its consequent wages of starvation merely
+because to-day wages of starvation need to be supplemented. We can never
+hope to overtake and pass an evil if we always cast it in front of us. The
+one clear message to the reformer of to-day is that he should look to
+prevention, and not merely to cure; and the one clear hope of a nation's
+future lies in insuring to every youth, as he crosses the threshold of
+manhood, the fullest realization of that development whose promise was his
+at birth. It might be well worth while for a country lavishly to endow
+poverty for a generation in order to free itself once for all from its
+fatal infection. But there is no reason to believe that we must resort to
+this drastic measure because there is no reason to believe that the
+proposed restrictions of child labour will in any way injure the parents.
+
+Take first the earnings of school-children. There is very little reason to
+believe that they often make any effective contribution to the income of
+the home. They are irregular, they are small, and very frequently the
+boys retain them as pocket-money. Where they are large, as in the case of
+children employed during the pantomime season, they often form a
+convenient excuse for the parent to go idle for a time. The only large
+exception to this rule is the case of the widow. Here, indeed, the
+earnings do usually find their way home, materially increase the miserable
+pittance allowed by the guardians, and must be regarded as a tax levied on
+children in aid of the ratepayer. Humanity and a reformed Poor Law may be
+trusted to remove the tax.
+
+Take next the raising of the school age to fifteen. The age has not been
+raised for more than ten years, and when it was last raised it was raised
+without friction and without complaint on the part of the parent. We
+might, perhaps, have expected that the percentage of attendance would have
+decreased because of the difficulty of enforcing it on the children of
+poverty-stricken parents. This has not been the experience; indeed, the
+last decade has been remarkable for the rapid rise in that percentage.
+There is not a scrap of evidence to show that the last raising of the
+school age caused even temporary suffering on a large scale. Never was a
+large reform carried out with greater ease. There is no reason to believe
+that, if we raised the age again, that favourable experience would not be
+repeated.
+
+We come now to the new half-time system. The earnings of boys between
+fifteen and eighteen years are considerable. To diminish them by one-half,
+it is urged, would be to adopt a course which would prove intolerable to
+the poor parent. Now, in the first place, though it is true that the lads
+could be employed for only half the time they were before, it by no means
+follows that they would only receive half the present money. We have
+already seen that the demand for boys far outruns the supply. The
+half-time system would halve the supply, and, though some employers might
+cease to use boys, the demand would certainly not be halved. The demand
+for boys would then considerably exceed the demand of to-day. The rate of
+wages would, in consequence, rise. The boys would no doubt earn less, but
+certainly more than half of what they now earn. In the next place, it must
+be remembered that the parent rarely receives the whole of the boy's
+earnings even during the first year, and each year the proportion of wages
+that comes to the home grows less. At the age of seventeen it is seldom
+that more than half finds its way into the family exchequer. The boy keeps
+the rest, and, as we have already seen, the large amount of money he has
+to spend on himself is by no means an unmixed benefit. The parent cannot
+usually get from the boy much more than is required to keep him; indeed,
+he is afraid to enlarge his demand lest the boy, who is economically
+independent, should leave home. But under the half-time system, though he
+may earn his keep, he will rarely earn enough to support himself outside
+the family. In addition, the fact of being compelled to attend school will
+be a healthy reminder that he is not yet a man, and so check the growing
+spirit of independence. Home influence and parental authority will thus
+be strengthened, and the father will be able to exact a much larger share
+than before of the boy's earnings. Now, if the earnings are not diminished
+by so much as half, and if at the same time the parent obtain an increased
+proportion, it is by no means clear that the home affairs will suffer.
+Among the poorest families, where home discipline ceases altogether when
+the boy leaves school, it is quite possible that the financial position of
+the parent will be improved rather than worsened.
+
+But we have not yet taken into account what is, perhaps, the most
+important consideration. The three proposals under discussion will
+undoubtedly largely diminish the amount of work performed by boys, but
+will not diminish the amount of work that requires to be done. Somebody
+must take up the tasks formerly allotted to boys, and, if boys fail, men
+must fill their place. Now, the work was given to boys because, to give it
+to men would cost more. In future, the work will be given to men, and more
+money will be paid for it than before. In other words, the increased
+earnings of men will more than make up for the diminished earnings of
+boys, and much more than compensate for the loss, because, as we have
+seen, only a portion of the boys' earnings ever reach the home. Or we may
+look at the question from another point of view, and say that the
+decreased use of boys will mean an increase in the demand for men, and,
+consequently, an increase in the wages of men. The Minority Report of the
+Poor Law Commission arrives at these three proposals by starting from the
+opposite point of view, and advocates their adoption not primarily for
+the good of the boys, but for the good of their parents. In the task of
+decasualizing labour, they are met with the difficulty that a considerable
+number of men will in the process be thrown out of employment altogether.
+Work must be found for them, and the easiest and the best way to find it
+is shown to be the withdrawal from the labour market of persons, like
+children, who ought not either to be employed at all or to be employed for
+such long hours as at present. Hence arises the suggestion of a rigid
+limitation of boy labour. It is much in favour of these proposals that
+they are the outcome of an elaborate analysis which in the one case begins
+with the man, and in the other with the child. We may take it, then, as
+clear that, from the parents' point of view, there is nothing to hinder us
+in raising the school age to fifteen, prohibiting the employment of
+school-children, and instituting a new half-time system.
+
+
+II.
+
+TRAINING.
+
+The second essential in an apprenticeship system worthy the name is the
+provision of adequate training. The word "training" is used in its
+broadest sense to include preparation, not only for the life of the
+workman, but for the life of the citizen as well. In the preceding chapter
+we have seen that the scholarship schemes, connecting the elementary
+school with the University, and rapidly increasing throughout the country,
+are offering opportunities of training for those likely to rise high in
+the professional, the commercial, and the industrial world. It is probable
+that sufficient attention has not as yet been given to the supply of the
+most advanced kind of technological instruction, but the fault is being
+remedied, and the defect is due rather to lack of knowledge than to lack
+of will; and it is the instruction, and not the facilities of access to
+it, that is wanting.
+
+What we are concerned with in this chapter is the training of those
+destined to fill the posts of foremen and managers of small undertakings,
+of the skilled workmen of the future, and of those never likely to rise
+above the ranks of unskilled labour. We are also concerned with those who
+will occupy corresponding positions in the commercial world. It has
+already been shown that the training of these persons is one-sided and
+inadequate, and, in the case of the majority, can hardly be said to exist
+at all. On the other hand, we have seen good reason to believe that the
+technical school can be, if not a complete substitute for the workshop, at
+any rate a necessary and fitting supplement. The day has gone by when it
+was necessary to argue at length the uses of technical instruction.
+Employers in this country, as they have long since done on the Continent
+and in America, recognize the advantages. Yearly, whether by compelling
+the lads in their service to attend the technical school, or forming
+themselves into committees to advise as to the most desirable methods of
+teaching, they are displaying a keener interest in the question, and a
+fuller faith in the possibilities of practical training given outside the
+walls of the workshop.
+
+The defect of existing arrangements has been shown to lie in their
+limitation. For the majority technical instruction has been unsatisfactory
+or impossible of access. We must show in the present chapter how all may
+enjoy the advantages of training; but before doing so we must consider, a
+little more closely than has been done before, the kind of training
+required by the petty officers and the rank and file of the industrial
+army.
+
+In much of the preceding discussion it has been assumed that what the man
+wants is an all-round training. This is undoubtedly a fact, but by an
+all-round training is not necessarily meant a training that will produce a
+craftsman of the old school, equally capable of turning his hand
+successfully to any of the operations with which his trade is concerned.
+Except in rural districts, in a few of the artistic crafts, and in certain
+branches of repairing work, a man of this kind is not generally required.
+It seems probable that the industrial tendencies of to-day are making
+decreasing demands for purely manual skill. The Report of the Poor Law
+Commission contains a valuable discussion of the question, and sums up the
+conclusions in the following passage: "The general trend of our answers
+was that the 'skill' of modern industry is scarcely comparable with the
+skill of labour in the past. One might say that, within twenty years, with
+the universal employment of machinery and the excessive subdivision and
+specialization of its use, the character of the productive process has
+quite changed. There is a growing demand for higher intelligence on the
+part of the few; a large and probably growing demand for specialized
+machine-minders; and, unhappily, a relegation of those who cannot adapt
+themselves to a quite inferior, if not worse paid, position. If, then, the
+'skill' which we might have looked for and desired is what might be called
+'craftsmanship,' we must conclude that the demand for skill is, on the
+whole, declining. The all-round ability which used honourably to mark out
+the mechanic is no longer in demand, so much as the work of the highly
+specialized machine-minder." [179] But if there seems a less demand for
+all-round skill, there appears to be an increasing demand for trained
+intelligence. "In the greater industries employing adult male labour,
+'machinery' does not in the least resemble the long lines of revolving
+spindles one sees in a cotton mill. In the machine tools of an engineering
+shop there is comparatively little of such automatism, and, even where the
+machines are automatic, single men are put in charge of a number of
+machines, and the setting and supervising of these is work probably
+demanding a higher level of intelligence than ever before. 'I should say
+the skilled men require even more skill than they did,' says Mr. Barnes,
+'because of the finer work and more intricate machinery.... Side by side
+with automatic machines there has come about more intricate and highly
+complicated machinery.' 'The semi-skilled of to-day,' says Sir Benjamin C.
+Brown, 'is in many cases as good as the skilled was a quarter of a
+century ago.'" [180] Or, as another witness puts it: "The tendency of
+machinery is always to cause a substitution of intelligence for dexterity,
+the person who was in effect a machine by reason of his dexterity giving
+place to one who could understand a direct and mechanical process." [181]
+There seems also good reason to believe that the demand for intelligence
+outruns the supply.
+
+In the workmen, usually classed as skilled, the employer requires
+intelligence, but he wants something more; he wants trustworthiness, and
+frequently a certain highly specialized manual dexterity. The training of
+the workshop can supply the third of these qualifications; it cannot,
+however, supply the other two, which are in the main the products of
+education. But between the second and the third there is a certain
+antagonism. Monotony in the workshop does not cultivate intelligence; it
+is actively hostile to such growth. Unless there is a well-trained
+intelligence to begin with, the continual performance of a single task
+will reduce the man to the level of a mere machine. Now, the employer does
+not want a mere machine; if he did, in these days of inventive genius, he
+would soon discover something more reliable in the way of machines than
+flesh and blood. He wants a machine with intelligence; he must therefore
+have a man. But the intelligence must rest on a broad basis of education,
+or the machine element will prove too much for it. This is the reason of
+the statement, found so often in evidence on technical training given by
+enlightened employers, that what is mostly required is a good general
+education.
+
+Now we are coming to see that a general education does not imply a certain
+specific syllabus of instruction; it may be the result of the most varied
+kinds of instruction. We have ceased to take the narrow view that it
+consists only in book-learning and aptness with the pen. We have
+recognized that manual training may rightly play a large part in any
+system of education, and for the full development of certain types of mind
+is absolutely indispensable. Consequently, though the employer does not
+need the man of all-round skill, there is no reason why the workman should
+not acquire a general use of the tools employed in his trade. Whatever it
+may be to the employer, the possession of a certain amount of all-round
+skill is not a matter of indifference to the workman. If he can boast
+skill in a single operation alone, the bridge that lifts him above the
+gulf of unskilled labour is very fragile. A change in demand or a new
+invention may any day render his specialized skill useless, and
+precipitate him into that gulf whence is no escape. But this is not the
+case with the man who has received an all-round training. Thrust out of
+one branch of the trade, he can, if intelligent, comparatively easily find
+an opening in another. The all-round skill, though not required in the
+workshop, is necessary to the man if his position in the skilled labour
+market is to be secure. In a sense, the measure of his all-round skill is
+the measure of the stability of his industrial status. Further, the
+possession of all-round skill is a necessary condition of the possession
+of intelligence. It gives a man a clearer insight into the significance of
+his trade, and robs monotony of some part of its soul-killing power. Pure
+specialization is hostile to intelligence; the man who can only do one
+thing cannot do that one thing well. Finally, from these skilled workmen
+must be chosen the foremen and small managers, and these people must
+possess the wider knowledge and a more varied skill. To a large extent at
+the present time they are not recruited from the large workshop; they come
+from the country district, where this all-round skill can still be
+acquired. But, as we have seen, this supply is not inexhaustible, and
+there are signs that the methods of the industrial revolution are invading
+the village. Unless, therefore, we are prepared to see a scarcity of
+trained foremen in the future, we must to-day aim at producing the skilled
+workman, who is at once intelligent and possesses a general knowledge of
+the tools of his trade.
+
+"We do not to-day," says Sir Christopher Furness, "want men who are
+all-round at building marine engines; we do need men who are all-round
+mechanical engineers--men who can apply the principles of their craft to
+any form of machinery that may be called for. That is a class of training
+which cannot be achieved by any system of apprenticeship, and is
+essentially a matter which the governing authority must handle if this
+country is to maintain its position in the industrial world." [182] "The
+characteristics," says the Consultative Committee, "that employers most
+value and most deplore the lack of would appear to be general handiness
+(which is really to a large extent a mental quality), adaptability and
+alertness, habits of observation--and the power to express the thing
+observed--accuracy, resourcefulness, the ability to grapple with new
+unfamiliar conditions, the habit of applying one's mind and one's
+knowledge to what one has to do." [183] It is clear that within the narrow
+sphere of the workshop an all-round training of this kind can never be
+secured.
+
+We must look, then, to the elementary schools supplemented by the
+technical institute, to insure to the workmen an all-round intelligence
+and a general knowledge of the use of tools employed in his trade. For
+commerce, intelligence and an all-round training are no less necessary.
+"You produce a better clerk," it has been said, "if the boy takes an
+industrial rather than a commercial course." There is therefore no
+conflict of interest between what the employer wants and what the workman
+wants. The employer wants intelligence, and cannot get it from a workman
+who does not possess a general knowledge of his trade. The workman wants
+an all-round knowledge of his trade because without it his position as a
+skilled artisan is precarious and at the mercy of every new invention or
+change in fashion.
+
+We have hitherto spoken as if all were skilled workmen, and as though the
+unskilled labourer did not exist. Now, there are at the present time huge
+armies of men that can by no stretch of imagination be regarded as skilled
+at anything; but it is by no means clear that it is desirable for this
+huge army to continue as such. It is generally assumed that the
+performance of so-called unskilled work requires no training and makes no
+demand on skill. This is a grave mistake; let anyone, without previous
+experience, try a day's digging in his garden, and he will realize the
+fact. But it is not merely a question of manual training and practice; the
+unskilled labourer, to be efficient, needs intelligence. Skilled and
+unskilled work call for, in this age of machines, more intelligence than
+was wanted in the past. Almost everyone nowadays uses a machine of some
+sort; and there can be no question that in such use there is a serious
+lack of intelligence. The unskilled labour engaged with machinery is
+almost always inadequate and unsatisfactory. The agricultural labourer,
+for example, has to manage machines whose complex mechanism is far beyond
+his ill-trained intelligence to comprehend. The same may be said of the
+general run of machine-minders. Breakdowns, stoppages, and accidents are
+the costly consequences of their defect. Of all forms of labour, the
+unskilled labour of to-day is probably the most expensive to the employer.
+The labourer is worth, as a rule, little more than he receives, and, not
+infrequently, a good deal less. The preservation of stupidity is among the
+most foolish and most expensive of modern luxuries. What the employer
+wants is the intelligent unskilled labourer, and such a class must be the
+product, not of the workshop, but of the schools. The training to be
+provided would be very similar to that required by the skilled workman.
+
+From the point of view of the employer, we require more intelligence in
+the unskilled labourer; from the point of view of the community and the
+man himself, the need is even more urgent. We must not forget the man in
+the labourer. He is not for all his time an unskilled labourer; he is the
+autocrat of the home, the father of a family, and, as a voter, one of the
+rulers of the Empire. These last functions belong essentially to the
+highly skilled class of work. Uneducated parents are a danger to their
+children, and so to the future prosperity of the nation; the illiterate
+voters a peril to the safety of the State. Finally, the man himself, with
+a wider outlook on the world, and with a life richer in interests, and so
+with more opportunities of healthy enjoyment, would be a happier and a
+better citizen. The shame of modern civilization and the abiding menace to
+its security lie in the miserable horde of stupid, unintelligent, and
+uninterested labourers who are good for nothing except the exercise of
+mere brute strength and indulgence in mere animal pleasures, and not very
+much good even for this.
+
+Looking, then, at the problem of the training of skilled and unskilled
+workmen alike, whether from the point of view of man or master, we see
+that the great essential is the possession of a large measure of
+intelligence. With the continual changes in the methods of industry, men
+must be capable of changing too; they must be capable of readily adapting
+themselves to new conditions, and not become petrified in a rigid and
+inflexible mould. Intelligence, properly developed, means adaptability. If
+we could secure this, the problem of dealing with the unemployed would be
+comparatively easy of solution. The inextricable tangle of to-day lies in
+the hopeless task of securing employment at a living wage for men who are
+not worth it. Let each man be made good for something, and it will not be
+beyond the range of wise statesmanship to find that good thing for him to
+do.
+
+How is the necessary training to be provided? The answer to this question
+need not detain us long. We have already seen that elementary and
+technical education can solve the problem in the case of those who have
+been able to avail themselves of the opportunities offered. The only
+outstanding difficulty was the difficulty of insuring ready access to all;
+and this has been surmounted in the proposals of the last section. The
+raising of the school age to fifteen, the prohibition of the employment of
+school-children, and the new half-time system, give facilities for
+education never before enjoyed.
+
+The boy will remain at the elementary school till the age of fifteen, and
+there will be no employment outside school hours to undermine his health
+and render him unfit to profit by the instruction given. We have already
+noticed the transformation of the elementary school now going on, and the
+multiplication of various types of school. The process will continue, and
+the results following the raising of the school age will be increased in
+value. The school will, in the first place, be regarded as a
+sorting-house, in which the different kinds of ability are discovered and
+classified. It will next be an institution where proper provision is made
+to insure that each kind of ability shall have the fullest opportunity of
+development. The only meaning of a general education is the discovery and
+the cultivation of the special interests of the individual.
+
+When the boy leaves the elementary school his interests and ability will
+guide him to search for employment where they will have most scope. How
+this opening is to be found is a question that will be discussed in the
+next section. Let us take the boy who enters a skilled trade--say a branch
+of the woodwork industry--and follow his fortunes. He can be employed in
+the workshop for only half the day; during the remainder he must attend
+the half-time school. We have hitherto looked at this half-time school as
+a means of exercising supervision over conduct and physical development;
+we must now regard it as a place of technical instruction. There must,
+therefore, be various types of schools corresponding to the different
+groups of trades. The boy who enters a woodwork trade will attend a school
+designed to meet the needs of that industry. At his place of employment he
+will no doubt be kept to a narrow range of operations, and in their
+performance will acquire that dexterity which only workshop experience can
+give. In the half-time school he will receive the training necessary to
+make of him an intelligent and all-round workman. Here his ordinary
+education will be continued; instruction in drawing, in mensuration, and
+in science--all specially adapted to the requirements of his trade--will
+be provided; and, lastly, in the school workshop he will acquire skill in
+the general use of the woodwork tools. If it is urged that it will be
+difficult to find room in the curriculum for such varied training, it must
+be remembered that the subjects of instruction will all have formed part
+of the curriculum of the elementary school, with a bias in the direction
+of the woodwork industry. The boy will remain at the school for three
+years, and at the age of eighteen we shall have at least laid the
+foundation of those qualities required by the employer for success in the
+workshop and by the workman for success in life.
+
+Let us take now the case of a boy who, on leaving school, finds employment
+in some occupation which does not lead to a skilled trade, and provides no
+educational training. Let us suppose he becomes an errand-boy. We cannot
+prevent lads of fifteen and upwards from being employed in such
+occupations, however undesirable, but we can at least guard against the
+more serious evils which are now the result. The boy will only be employed
+for half the day; he also must attend a half-time school. At this school
+he will continue his ordinary education; manual training will be provided
+to make him clever with his hands, while special attention will be devoted
+to his physical development. He will not, of course, be taught a definite
+trade, but will learn the general use of tools. How far, then, schools
+may be specialized, into different types it must be left for the future to
+decide. We have hitherto never seriously considered the training of the
+unskilled labourer, and much pioneer work of an experimental character
+remains to be done. At the age of eighteen the lad, like his brother in
+the skilled trade, will be a valuable asset in the labour market. We shall
+have created what we have not got now, and what we much need--a race of
+intelligent and adaptable unskilled labourers.
+
+There are certain other advantages which the half-time system can claim.
+First, the training of the workshop and the training of the school are
+carried on at the same time; instruction and practice go hand in hand.
+Secondly, only those boys will in general be taught a skilled trade in the
+schools who have already entered a skilled trade. This removes an
+objection often felt by Trade Unionists to what they term a multiplication
+through the schools of half-skilled workmen. Thirdly, we have in it a
+system of universal apprenticeship. All boys will have been learners, and
+worked for the same period at low wages. There will, therefore, be no
+obstacle of a privileged class to make difficulties in the way of those
+entering a trade who have not passed through the normal course of
+preparation for it. Fitness for the work will be, as it should be, the
+sole qualification.
+
+Looked at in a general way, the half-time schools will be called on to
+play a double part. They must train the man in the interests of the
+community and in the interests of the trade. From the employer's
+standpoint these schools must be essentially places of practical
+instruction in close touch with the workshop. Already, under existing
+conditions, employers and representatives of the trade have been found
+willing to form advisory committees to visit the schools, criticize the
+teaching, and make suggestions for increasing its value. The principle
+must be extended; only in this way shall we get the expert inspection
+necessary to secure real efficiency. On the other hand, the education
+authority, the representative of the community, will manage the schools,
+and make them training-grounds of true citizenship. Under this double
+system of control, wisely administered, we shall not lose the man in the
+worker or the worker in the man; the interests of the individual and the
+interests of the employer will alike be safeguarded. In a real sense, and
+in fashion adapted to modern requirements, we shall have brought back the
+best traditions of the old apprenticeship system in which the gild,
+standing at once for the community and for the trade, watched over the
+training of the youth of the nation.
+
+
+III.
+
+THE PROVISION OF AN OPENING.
+
+The third and last essential of an apprenticeship system is the provision
+of an opening. In the last chapter we have seen the aimless drift of boys
+as they leave school into "blind-alley" occupations; we have watched them
+rapidly slough off the effects of the school training; and we have found
+them a few years later left stranded without prospects; and we have been
+driven to confess that this process of waste and demoralization is not a
+passing phase, but an integral part of the industrial development in its
+present unregulated condition. Boys, parents, employers are alike impotent
+to cure the evil; once again we are compelled to look to the State for
+help. The State must guide the choice of boys as they leave school. It
+must assist them during the period of adolescence to find better forms of
+employment, or at any rate to retain and increase the value of the school
+training, and it must bridge the gulf that now separates the work of the
+lad from the work of the man.
+
+Already the necessary organization is in process of formation. We have
+seen how the establishment of Labour Exchanges for adults has, quite
+unexpectedly, led to the creation of special departments for juveniles. It
+is singularly fortunate that this accident has led naturally to the Board
+of Trade being regarded as the proper authority to carry out the work. It
+is, however, a fact that Parliament has recently passed an Act which gives
+power to education authorities to spend money for this purpose. It may do
+no harm for education authorities to be able, without fear of surcharge,
+to spend money in co-operating with the Board of Trade, but it would be
+disastrous if they came to think themselves the responsible authority for
+the undertaking. One of the chief objects of the machinery is the bridging
+of the gulf between youth and manhood. We should not enter on this
+difficult task with much hope of success if we perpetuated the distinction
+by making the Board of Trade responsible for the work of adults, and the
+education authorities responsible for the work of juveniles. Further, we
+are coming to see that questions of employment are questions which must be
+dealt with by a national, and not a local, body. Only a national
+authority, with its knowledge of the conditions over the whole country,
+could be in a position to estimate the prospects in any trade, or to
+decide as to the right proportions of boys to men. Next, the unit of area
+for employment bears no relation to the unit of area for educational
+purposes. Towns are separated from the adjoining districts. The unit of
+area for London employment, for example, is not the administrative county,
+but Greater London, and in Greater London there are more than thirty
+education authorities. If these are not in agreement--and when are thirty
+local authorities in agreement?--no system of regulation would be
+effective. If, let us say, the London County Council, in order to
+discourage the employment of van-boys, declined to supply them through
+their Exchange, their action would be without result if the adjoining
+districts did not follow suit, while it is impossible to conceive a more
+chaotic organization than one which would allow employers in the City to
+be canvassed for openings by thirty independent bodies.
+
+For these and many other reasons the Board of Trade must be regarded as
+the dominant authority for the organization of the Juvenile Labour
+Exchange. On the other hand, there must be close co-operation between the
+Labour Exchange and the education authority. The Board of Trade has
+recognized the importance of this co-operation, and is making full
+provision for it in the machinery it is setting up. It is forming local
+advisory committees in connection with each Labour Exchange, and is making
+them practically responsible for the control of the juvenile department.
+On this committee are appointed persons nominated by the Board of Trade on
+the one hand, and on the other by the education authority. The committee
+thus represents the two branches of the organization. These committees are
+only just coming into existence, and it is too early to judge of their
+success. The problem is one of immediate practical importance; it is,
+therefore, desirable to consider a little in detail the principles that
+should guide them in their work. For the same reason it is desirable to
+ignore for the moment the proposals made in the preceding sections, to
+take things as they are, and to show what can be achieved under existing
+conditions.
+
+The work of the Juvenile Labour Exchange divides itself naturally into a
+number of different parts or stages. The first stage is concerned with the
+boy while still at school. Some months before he is likely to leave he
+must be seen with the view of inducing him to make use of the Labour
+Exchange to obtain employment. A form will be filled up showing his
+position in the school, and any particular ability he may have displayed,
+recording the state of his health as revealed by medical inspection, and
+indicating any particular desire as to occupation expressed by himself or
+his parents. The interview and the filling up of the form will be
+undertaken by someone connected with the school organization--a teacher,
+or probably a volunteer. The institution of care committees for each
+school in connection with medical treatment, and the supply of meals to
+necessitous children, has enlisted the services of a large number of
+volunteers who would probably be found willing to make themselves
+responsible for this part of the work. The form, when filled up, will be
+sent to the Labour Exchange, where, if thought desirable, arrangements
+will be made by certain members of the advisory committee, in company with
+the secretary, to interview the boy and his parents.
+
+The next part of the work is connected with the finding of vacancies.
+Either the employer will notify the Exchange of forthcoming vacancies or
+vacancies be obtained by canvassing employers. In either case it will be
+necessary to ascertain exactly the nature and the prospects of the
+employment. For this work expert knowledge is essential, and it will
+devolve almost entirely on the secretary or other paid officers of the
+Exchange. Having found boys wanting employers and employers wanting boys,
+it will be the duty of the advisory committee to bring the two parties
+together.
+
+The second stage in the work begins as soon as the boy has obtained
+employment. It will be desirable, if possible, to secure periodic
+reports, either by interview or by letter, from the employer, who in the
+majority of cases would no doubt be willing to give the information asked
+for. We should then know how the boy is getting on at his work from the
+employer's point of view. We must also know how he is getting on from his
+own point of view. For this and other reasons it is absolutely essential
+to keep in touch with the boy in his home. A tactful person, paying
+periodic visits to the home and seeing the boy, would soon learn what
+prospects the employment offered, what progress he was making, and would
+be able to advise him as to what evening classes he should attend, and to
+help him in those many ways in which a boy can be helped when first he
+goes out to work. In this way a large amount of valuable though
+unostentatious supervision would be kept over the boy. The persons most
+capable of doing this home-visiting are volunteers. In many cases the
+member of the school case committee who originally interviewed the boy
+would undertake the duty of supervision; in other cases we might get the
+assistance of the manager of a boys' club or other similar institution of
+which the boy was a member; but in all cases the advisory committee must
+make provision for supervision in the home. The reports from the home and
+the reports from the employer would be filed at the Exchange. They will
+enable the advisory committee to follow the career of every boy placed
+out, and at the same time gradually furnish a mass of detailed information
+respecting the employers of the district.
+
+To what kind of employers or to what classes of employment shall we send
+boys? To all who ask, or to only selected number? Experience will no doubt
+show that there are certain employers of such a kind that under no
+circumstances ought we to trust them with boys. The number of such will be
+very small, and presents no serious difficulty. We should not supply boys
+until we had a guarantee that the conditions offered were improved. The
+question of the class of employment requires more careful consideration.
+There is a danger into which the advisory committee may easily fall.
+Recognizing the evils of "blind-alley" occupations, they may be inclined
+to refuse to send boys to such forms of employment, and only recommend
+boys to places where there is a prospect of learning a trade. Such a
+policy would be a fatal one. We should not thereby discourage
+"blind-alley" occupations, employers would get their boys as they have got
+them in the past, and the only result would be that we should lose all
+control over the boys, be unable to move them later to better situations,
+and so leave the problem not only unsolved, but, for want of knowledge,
+without possibility of solution. We ought not in the Labour Exchange to
+bar out any form of employment unless we are prepared to make that
+employment illegal by Act of Parliament. Street-selling might fairly come
+within that category, and no doubt other forms of employment will later be
+brought within the same class. But to bring them within that class,
+accurate information as to evil effects must be collected in order to
+stiffen public opinion, and if we wash our hands from the outset of all
+responsibility for such trades, we shall never have that accurate
+information. The first step in the way of regulation is that accurate
+knowledge which a detailed supervision of the boys placed out alone can
+give. There will, however, always be a temptation for the Exchange to
+confine its activities to the skilled trades, and let the others go. In
+Munich, for example, we find the education authority devoting much
+attention to the apprenticeship section of the work, while "unskilled
+labourers appear to be left to the Labour Exchange, and they receive,
+therefore, no advice in selecting their work." [184] The same tendency is
+seen in this country among the various voluntary associations for
+obtaining employment for boys. They have concentrated almost exclusively
+on the skilled trades. The results, expressed in figures or percentages,
+are pleasing, but altogether misleading. They ignore the large residuum
+which drifts without advice and without supervision into the less
+favourable openings, and in matters of social reform it is the large
+residuums that count. It is always nice to get a nice place for a nice boy
+that we know; but if we do no more, there is no reason to believe that our
+action is of any advantage to the community at large. The nice places
+always are filled, and not infrequently the only effect of interference is
+that A., who is known, gets the job instead of the unknown B. The Labour
+Exchange must resist this temptation. It should aim at inducing all
+employers to obtain their supply of boy labour from the Exchange; its
+influence will then be at a maximum.
+
+The mere establishment of a Juvenile Labour Exchange cannot create
+favourable openings; it cannot in itself alter the direction of the demand
+for labour. It might, therefore, be asked what is the use of an exchange
+for boys who can already find employment of a sort more easily than is
+good for them? First, there are the advantages of supervision and the
+opportunities for friendly advice and sympathy; secondly, there is the
+task of collecting accurate information which will lead up to legislative
+action, and the system of regulation which is ultimately inevitable;
+thirdly, while not closing the door to the "blind-alley" occupations,
+there is no need for the advisory committees to press them on the parent.
+They would, on the contrary, point out the evils, and suggest either that
+the opening should be refused or accepted only as a temporary expedient.
+The object should be to induce the parent to refuse situations which did
+not afford any prospects of learning or allow time off to attend a
+continuation school. The "blind-alley" occupations would disappear
+to-morrow if parents stubbornly refused to permit their boys to fill them.
+For the moment, moreover, the advantage is all on the side of the parent,
+as the demand for boys outruns the supply. But neither individual parent
+nor individual boy can take advantage of this fact; they have not the
+knowledge or the opportunity to make their voices effectively heard. There
+is no trade union of parents or trade union of boys, or, indeed, can be,
+in the "blind-alley" occupations. Collective bargaining must be done for
+them, and the advisory committee must be its instrument. They must first
+create the opinion among the parents, and then give effect to it through
+the Exchange. If employers found that, so long as they refused to offer
+better conditions, they were either unable to get boys or only got the
+least satisfactory boys, there would be a strong inducement for them to
+change their ways. Finally, there is the reverse of this system of
+educating the parents--the educating of the employers. There is already
+growing up a feeling among employers that if they cannot give the boys
+employment as men they might at least offer them opportunities of
+continuing their education. At a conference held in 1910 between agencies
+interested in the welfare of boys and employers of labour, under the
+presidency of the Chairman of the London Chamber of Commerce, the
+following resolutions were unanimously adopted: "That the London Chamber
+of Commerce be asked to consider the advisability of establishing a
+register of its members who would be willing to engage or apprentice boys
+with a view to the co-operation of the Chamber with the various
+institutions interested in the welfare of boys." "That employers of labour
+be recommended, by reducing the present hours of labour or otherwise, to
+give such facilities as may be possible consistently with the requirements
+of their business to enable boys and youths to obtain technical
+instruction." Judicious canvassing among a certain class of employers
+may, therefore, lead to most beneficent results. It should also be borne
+in mind that in London and other towns into which there is a large
+immigration of adult labour, there is room for new openings leading on to
+skilled trades.
+
+While much can unquestionably be done under existing conditions to improve
+and supervise the conditions of boy labour by means of the Juvenile Labour
+Exchange, it is certain that sooner or later there will be need of
+regulation by Act of Parliament. Probably the best course would be to give
+the Board of Trade power in the case of certain occupations to limit at
+their discretion the employment of boys to boys engaged at the Exchange.
+If in addition the proposals made in the previous sections were to become
+law, we should be in a very strong position to launch the youth on the
+ocean of manhood with all the prospects of a successful voyage.
+
+
+IV.
+
+GENERAL CONCLUSIONS.
+
+At the end of a long and rather complex discussion it is desirable to
+attempt some general summary of what has already been achieved and of the
+proposals necessary for the creation of a true apprenticeship system. It
+will make for clearness if we take a boy and follow his career through its
+various stages.
+
+At the age of five or thereabouts he will enter the elementary school. It
+is to be hoped that the reorganization of the public health services and
+the more careful attention devoted to the period of infancy may send him
+to the school free from those physical defects so common now, and healthy
+within the limits of nature. Here he will begin his education. Improved
+methods of teaching will make for increased intelligence and the growth of
+numerous interests, while physical exercises, medical inspection and
+treatment, added to the supply of wholesome food to the necessitous, will
+promote the healthy development of his body.
+
+At the age of eleven comes an important epoch in his career. It is then
+that, if found suitable, he will, with the help of a scholarship, be sent
+to the secondary school, and thence be led along a broad road to the
+University. Failing the winning of a scholarship, he will, if he display
+any special aptitude, be drafted off to a central school with a commercial
+or industrial bias. Failing, again, the proof of any exceptional ability,
+he will remain in the ordinary school. In either case he will continue at
+school till the age of fifteen, will be forbidden to work for wages
+outside school hours, and will throughout be periodically examined by the
+school doctor.
+
+With the approach to the age of fifteen begins the second important epoch
+in his career. Some time before the day of leaving school arrives he will
+have been interviewed by a friendly volunteer, who, with the help of the
+school record and medical register, will be able to decide for what form
+of employment he is best suited. In the meanwhile the Labour Exchange will
+have found for him a suitable opening, or, failing this, a temporary
+situation pending a more satisfactory and permanent position. If he gain a
+place in a skilled trade, the half-time school, which he must attend for
+the next three years, will add to the training of the workshop that
+all-round training, whose result is intelligence and adaptability,
+required to make of him an efficient artisan. If he is destined to fill
+the ranks of unskilled labour, he will likewise attend a half-time school
+carefully designed to enable him to play a useful part in the world of
+life. In both cases he will remain for half-time under the supervision of
+the education authority; in both cases periodic medical inspection will
+watch over his physical development, and if it show him physically unfit
+for the work he has undertaken, he will be found employment more suitable
+to his strength; in both cases the advisory committee of the Labour
+Exchange will receive reports from the home, the school, and the employer,
+and these reports will enable them to discover whether the occupation and
+the training are well adapted to foster his natural abilities. For three
+years, while at work, he will also remain at school; for three years his
+training will be guided by employers who will see to it that it turns out
+the efficient workman, and by the education authority, which, acting in
+the interests of the community, will see that it makes for the efficient
+citizen.
+
+In process of time, with the gradual accumulation of experience, and with
+the knowledge of the Board of Trade behind it, the advisory committee will
+be able to adjust the supply of boys in course of special training to
+meet the demands of special trades, and even if some unforeseen
+transformation of industry upsets the calculations, there should be no
+insurmountable difficulty of disposing of lads at the age of eighteen who
+are at once well conducted, physically fit, and intelligent.
+
+We come back to the position from which we started in the
+introduction--the need of securing for the youth of the country adequate
+supervision up to the age of at least eighteen, appropriate training
+during that period, and at its conclusion the provision of an opening in
+some occupation for which special preparation has been given. We have seen
+that for at any rate a large section of the people these conditions were
+satisfied during the best days of the gilds, and that they were satisfied
+in direct proportion to the extent to which the gilds stood for the common
+interests. With the decay and disappearance of the gilds the training of
+the youth became a matter of individual bargaining between parent and
+employer. No authority, standing for the common good, superintended the
+process. Apprenticeship might be enforced; its efficiency could not be
+guaranteed. Further, the existence of apprenticeship tended to create a
+privileged class who resented the intrusion of those who entered a trade
+by other means. With the coming of the industrial revolution, training
+itself became more difficult. The large workshop and the division of
+labour were unfavourable to apprenticeship. Employers wanted to use boys,
+and not to train them. Rapid progress of invention continually discounted
+the value of acquired manual skill, and parents could not see at the
+conclusion of the apprenticeship any prospect of a favourable opening in a
+skilled trade; while the gradual break-up of the system of supervision
+bred a spirit of independence among boys which rendered them disinclined
+to bind themselves for a period of years. Finally, competition, with the
+urgent need of surviving the struggle of to-day, made it hard for
+employers to prepare for the future by providing for the training of the
+future workmen. The industrial system gave no guarantee for the efficiency
+of the next generation of workers. The old apprenticeship system had
+broken down.
+
+But in the period of general disintegration there was slowly
+developing--at first unconsciously, and later with more clearly directed
+effort--an organization which made for constructive reform. It was called
+into being as a last resort, and to save the country from the ruin which
+was threatened by the exploitation of children. Competition demanded the
+sacrifice of to-morrow to-day; the State, whose interests belong to all
+time, was driven to forbid the sacrifice. Competition demanded that
+children of tender years should labour in the mines and the factories, and
+under conditions that made all health a mockery; the State insisted on a
+minimum standard of health and safety for its children. The standard, low
+at first, has steadily been raised. Thus has grown up the regulation of
+child labour and the Acts relating to factories and workshops. Competition
+cared nothing for the education of the children; it wanted to use them up
+and cast them on the waste-heap. The State, recognizing the dangers of an
+uneducated people, established by slow degrees a system of universal
+education. So the struggle between the two has gone on, the State only
+interfering as a last resort and in despair of other means to stop the
+evil. Throughout its action has been generally beneficial, but the
+benefits have been limited because that action has been partial and
+patchy. Much of the expenditure, for example, on education has been wasted
+just because the education came to an end too soon. The time had come for
+a more comprehensive study of the situation that should indicate the
+faults of the existing system.
+
+Such a study has been attempted in the present volume. The task has been
+comparatively easy, because the evils are generally admitted. What has not
+hitherto been recognized sufficiently is the fact that these evils are
+growing, and not in course of removal. The various factors in the process
+have been examined, and, ignoring the State, they are clearly inadequate,
+and progressively inadequate, to the task of solving the problem. As a
+last resort the State remains. If the principles underlying the training
+of youth are admitted, if out of the various possible forces concerned all
+with one exception have been proved defective, then we must put our hopes
+in the one exception. We must enlarge the sphere of influence of the
+State. How this should be done has been shown in the present chapter.
+
+The principles underlying the proposals have all been drawn from
+experience, and are founded on the apprenticeship system, but applied with
+modifications suitable to changed conditions. Under the gild system there
+were three interests concerned and conjoined--the interests of the master,
+the interest of journeyman and apprentice, and the interest of the
+community. Since the gilds have gone these interests have become separate
+and increasingly antagonistic. For the successful training of the youth of
+the country the claims of these clashing interests must again be brought
+together and reconciled. Ultimately and in the long-run they are
+identical; it is only competition, with its dimmed and narrow vision, that
+made the cleavage. It is hoped that the proposals outlined in this chapter
+will point the road towards a final peace. Let us, in conclusion, bring
+them to the test of the three essentials for which a true apprenticeship
+system must make adequate provision.
+
+There must be supervision--supervision of conduct, supervision of health.
+Under the new apprenticeship system the State will be the ultimate
+authority for the supervision of conduct. Till the age of fifteen the boy
+will remain subject to the control of the schools. Long experience has
+demonstrated the beneficent influence exercised by the teachers over the
+children even under present conditions, when the school career is brought
+to an end at the age of thirteen or fourteen. There is, therefore, nothing
+wild in the expectation that, with compulsory attendance extended to the
+age of fifteen, we shall receive richer and more lasting fruits. For the
+next three years, the critical period of a boy's life, with its first
+experience of the workshop and the sense of independence which comes with
+earning wages, the supervision of the State will only in part be
+withdrawn. During these years he will be compelled to attend the half-time
+school, and so continue under the control of the education authority. Nor
+is this all. The advisory committee of the Labour Exchange will advise him
+in the choice of employment, assist him to obtain it, and generally watch
+over his career. Thus, helped on his journey and surrounded with wise and
+friendly influences, he will approach the threshold of manhood with such
+promise of success as good habits and an ordered life may bring.
+
+The State, likewise, will be responsible for the supervision of the boy's
+health. Periodic medical inspection will watch and aid his physical
+development. We have not yet learned to appreciate the full value of this
+periodic inspection; it is, however, destined to become the most powerful
+instrument of reform. The ill-nourished child, the delicate child, the
+child in the early stages of phthisis, the child of negligent parents, the
+child from the overcrowded or insanitary home--all these, the future
+weaklings of the nation, we know them now only when the evil has too often
+outrun the possibility of a cure and it is too late. Under the new
+conditions we shall detect the evil in its first beginning, while there is
+yet hope. Medical inspection is also the key to the situation after the
+boy goes out to work, and for three years he will remain under its
+control. At the present time we only dimly realize the disastrous effects
+that come to a boy from the choice of an occupation ill-suited to his
+strength. We forbid a few forms of work, attempt for the most part
+ineffectively to limit the hours of employment in a few others, but in our
+clumsy fashion legislate as a rule for the normal child, and it is the
+abnormal child that suffers most. Under the new conditions there will be
+no work for children under the age of fifteen, while for the three
+following years medical inspection will enable us to legislate for the
+individual boy, taking into account his physical characteristics. Not only
+shall we be able to help a boy to avoid making a wrong choice, but we
+shall be able to remove him as soon as medical inspection shows him unfit
+for the work. Thus, to the age of eighteen the State has its finger on the
+pulse of the youth.
+
+Secondly, there must be an adequate provision of training, special and
+general, accessible to all. Here, again, we are building on the firm rock
+of solid experience. The elementary schools have proved themselves to be
+schools for the cultivation of intelligence. With a year or two added to
+the school life; with the relief from that distracting influence which
+comes from wage-earning while at school; with the improved methods of
+teaching and a clearer differentiation of types of school to suit varying
+types of mind--reforms already under way--we may fairly hope for a general
+rise in the intelligence of the boys. The half-time school, with its three
+years' course, will supply the more specialized training required in the
+different trades and occupations, while committees of employers will
+provide the expert criticism essential to success.
+
+Finally, there must be the provision of an opening in some form of
+employment for which special preparation has been given. The Labour
+Exchange, the juvenile branch worked in close co-operation with the adult
+section, will supply the opening, while the technical training will give
+good guarantee for the adequacy of the preparation. The Elementary School,
+the Half-time School, the Education Authority, and the Advisory Committee,
+all acting together, will insure a safe passage from youth to manhood.
+
+The new apprenticeship system is more complex than the old--it lacks
+something of the picturesqueness of the Middle Ages--but it finds its
+compensation in an organization at once more flexible and more
+comprehensive, and therefore better suited to stand the shock of those
+huge changes in methods of production and methods of living which have
+been the ungainly offspring of the industrial revolution.
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF AUTHORITIES
+
+
+I
+
+PARLIAMENTARY AND MUNICIPAL PUBLICATIONS
+
+Elementary Schools (Children Working for Wages), Parts I. and II.,
+Parliamentary Return. 1899.
+
+Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on the Employment of
+School-Children. 1901.
+
+Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Children Act,
+1903. 1910.
+
+Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and the Relief of
+Distress. 1909.
+
+Report by Mr. Cyril Jackson on Boy Labour. 1909.
+
+Report of the Commissioners of Prisons for the year ending March 31, 1908.
+
+Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for the year
+1909.
+
+Report of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education on Higher
+Elementary Schools. 1906.
+
+Report of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education on
+Attendance, Compulsory or Otherwise, at Continuation Schools. 2 vols.,
+1909.
+
+Report on the By-Laws made by the London County Council under the
+Employment of Children Act, 1903, by Chester Jones. 1906.
+
+London County Council Report of the Medical Officer (Education) for the
+year 1906.
+
+London County Council Report of the Medical Officer (Education) for the
+year 1909.
+
+London County Council: Medical Treatment of Children attending Elementary
+Schools--Report of Education Committee. 1909.
+
+London County Council: Home Circumstances of Necessitous Children in
+Twelve Selected Schools. 1909.
+
+London County Council: The Apprenticeship Question. 1906.
+
+London County Council: Report of the Higher Education Sub-Committee on
+Apprenticeship: Agenda of Education Committee, February 24, 1909, pp.
+412-425.
+
+London County Council: Technical Education Board Report on the Building
+Trades. 1899.
+
+London County Council: Report by Miss Durham, Inspector of Women's
+Technical Classes on Juvenile Labour in Germany. 1910.
+
+London County Council: Report by Mr. R. Blair (Education Officer) on
+Organization of Education in London. P. S. King and Son, Westminster.
+
+County Council of Middlesex: Report by Mr. A. J. Bird (Inspector of
+Schools) on Employment Bureaux for Children of School-leaving Age.
+
+Urban District Council of Finchley: Annual Report of the Medical Officer
+of Health, including the Report to the Education Committee for the year
+1908.
+
+Gloucestershire Education Committee: Report of the Minor Committee to
+consider Certain Proposals for the Creation of an Apprenticeship Fund and
+a Labour Bureau. 1907.
+
+
+II
+
+AUTHORS
+
+ABRAHAM AND DAVIES: Factories and Workshops. 1902.
+
+ABRAM, A.: Social Life in the Fifteenth Century. 1909.
+
+ALDEN, MARGARET: Child Life and Labour.
+
+ASHLEY, W. J.: Introduction to English Economic History. 1888.
+
+BEVERIDGE, W. H.: Unemployment. 1909.
+
+BLACK, CLEMENTINA: Sweated Industry. 1907.
+
+BLAIR, R.: Some Features of American Education. 1904.
+
+BOOTH, CHARLES: Life and Labour of the People, 9 vols. 1896.
+
+BRAY, REGINALD A.: The Apprenticeship Question, in _Economic Journal_,
+September, 1909.
+
+BRAY, REGINALD A.: The Town Child. 1907.
+
+CHRISTIAN SOCIAL UNION: Report on the Employment of Boys in the London
+Area. 1910.
+
+Continuation Schools in England and Elsewhere, edited by M. E. SADLER.
+1907.
+
+CREASEY, CLARENCE H.: Technical Education in Evening Schools. 1905.
+
+CROWLEY, RALPH H.: Hygiene of School Life. 1909.
+
+CUNINGHAM, W.: Growth of English Industry and Commerce: Early and Middle
+Ages. 1905.
+
+CUNINGHAM, W.: Growth of English Industry and Commerce: Modern Times, 2
+vols. 1903.
+
+DAVIES, MAUDE F.: Life in an English Village. 1909.
+
+FRERE, MARGARET: Children's Care Committees. 1909.
+
+GIBB, THE REV. SPENCER J.: The Problem of Boy Work. 1906.
+
+GIBB, THE REV. SPENCER J.: Boy Work and Unemployment. C.S.U. Pamphlet.
+
+GORDON, OGILVIE: Handbook of Employments. 1908.
+
+GREEN, J. R.: History of the English Peoples, vols. i. and iv. 1896.
+
+GREEN, MRS. J. R.: Town Life in the Fifteenth Century, 2 vols. 1894.
+
+HALL, G. STANLEY: Adolescence, 2 vols.
+
+HASBACH, W.: History of the English Agricultural Labourer. 1908.
+
+HAWKINS, C. B.: Norwich: A Social Study. 1910.
+
+HAYWARD, F. H.: Day and Evening Schools. 1910.
+
+HOGARTH, A. H.: Medical Inspection of Schools. 1909.
+
+HUTCHINS AND HARRISON: A History of Factory Legislation. 1907.
+
+JACKSON, CYRIL: Unemployment and Trade Unions. 1910.
+
+JEBB, EGLANTYNE: Cambridge: A Brief Study in Social Questions. 1906.
+
+KEELING, FREDERIC: The Labour Exchange in Relation to Boy and Girl Labour.
+1910.
+
+KIRKMAN, GRAY B.: A History of English Philanthropy. 1905.
+
+KIRKMAN, GRAY B.: Philanthropy and the State.
+
+KNOWLES, G. W.: Junior Labour Exchanges. 1910.
+
+MACMILLAN, MARGARET: Labour and Childhood. 1907.
+
+MOSELEY: Educational Committee Report. 1904.
+
+NICHOLLS, SIR G.: History of the English Poor Law. 1898.
+
+ROGERS, J. E. T.: Six Centuries of Work and Wages. 1884.
+
+ROWNTREE, B. S.: Poverty: A Study of Town Life. 1901.
+
+RUSSELL, C. E. B.: Manchester Boys. 1905.
+
+RUSSELL AND RIGBY: The Making of the Criminal. 1906.
+
+RUSSELL AND RIGBY: Working Lads' Clubs. 1908.
+
+SHADWELL, ARTHUR: Industrial Efficiency. 1909.
+
+Studies of Boy Life in our Cities, edited by E. J. URWICK. 1904.
+
+TAWNEY, R. H.: The Economics of Boy Labour, in _Economic Journal_,
+December, 1909.
+
+Trades for London: Boys. Compiled by the Apprenticeship and Skilled
+Employment Committee. 1908.
+
+Trades for London: Girls. Compiled by the Apprenticeship and Skilled
+Employment Committee. 1909.
+
+TUCKWELL AND SMITH: The Workers' Handbook. 1908.
+
+WEBB, SIDNEY AND BEATRICE: History of Trade Unionism. 1907.
+
+WEBB, SIDNEY AND BEATRICE: Industrial Democracy, 2 vols. 1897.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+  Abraham and Davies, 45, 49, 53
+
+  Abram, A., 9
+
+  Adler, Miss, 106
+
+  Adolescence, vi, 176, 198
+
+  Agricultural Gangs Act, 42
+
+  Apprentices, statute of, 13-15;
+    effect, 16, 17;
+    pauper, 15, 17-19;
+    repeal, 22
+
+  Apprenticeship, break-up of, 165-175
+
+    charities, 19;
+      decay, 25, 135, 164, 165-175, 177;
+      difficulties of, 12, 188;
+      essentials, 43, 237;
+      indentured, 5, 135, 187-189;
+      meaning, 1;
+      under gilds, 4-11, 234, 237;
+      under industrial revolution, 26-29;
+      under statute, 11-19;
+      universal, 3, 13, 189
+
+    of to-day: contribution of home, 92-103;
+      of philanthropy, 89-92;
+      of State, 73-74, 76-89;
+      of workshop, 103-165
+
+    the new: Juvenile Labour Exchange, 231-231;
+      new half-time, 191, 197-202;
+      prohibition of employment, 191, 195-197;
+      raising school age, 191-195, 217;
+      summary, 231-240
+
+  Ashby, W. J., 4
+
+  Attendance at school, Acts relating to, 38, 46-48;
+    percentage of, 83, 106, 105
+
+
+  Blair, R., 86
+
+  "Blind-alley" occupations, 87, 112, 123-130, 145, 157, 158, 163,
+        169-172, 180, 227
+
+  Board of Education, 61, 64
+
+  Board of Trade, 71, 72, 223, 233
+
+  Booth, C., 95, 104, 136, 139
+
+  Borstal Association, 169
+
+  Boy labour: difficulties of regulation, 79, 80;
+    effects of regulation, 77-82, 88, 89
+
+    half-time, 49-52, 78, 197-202, 204, 205
+
+    health and safety, 52-58, 77, 197-202
+
+    limitation of hours, 43-52, 197-202
+
+    prohibition of, 41-43, 195-197, 203, 204
+
+    regulation under gilds, 7-11, 234, 237;
+      under industrial revolution, 20-25;
+      under statute, 13, 14
+
+  Boys: clubs, 90;
+    errand, 82, 112, 119, 129, 145;
+    lather, 43;
+    office, 119, 126, 158;
+    shop, 122, 126, 128, 145;
+    telegraph, 126, 131, 145;
+    van, 82, 119, 145
+
+  Boys: employment of, at school, 103-113, 151-155;
+    on leaving school, 114-119, 163;
+    entering manhood, 143
+
+    unemployed, 119;
+      under London County Council, 132
+
+  Bursaries, 65
+
+
+  Chamber of Commerce, 230
+
+  Chapman, Professor, 211
+
+  Child, definition of, 40
+
+  Children Act, 38, 59, 61, 80
+
+  Children, employment of. _See_ Boys
+
+  Chimney Sweepers Act, 42
+
+  Cloete, J. G., 126, 129
+
+  Coal Mines Regulation Act, 38, 42
+
+  Competition, 177, 235
+
+  Cuningham, W., 4, 6, 10, 16, 20, 22, 28
+
+
+  Davies, Miss Maude, 161, 164
+
+  Distribution of trades, 115-118, 142-149, 163;
+    normal, 147-149
+
+  Durham, Miss, 196, 228
+
+
+  _Economic Journal_, 116, 159
+
+  Education Acts, 1902-03, 62
+
+    Administrative Provisions Act, 1907, 58, 60, 61
+
+    Provision of Meals Act, 61
+
+  Employment of children. _See_ Boys
+
+  Employment of Children Act, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 46, 48, 57, 58, 77, 80,
+        81, 111, 166
+
+
+  Factory legislation, causes of, 30
+
+  Factory and Workshops Act, 38, 168;
+    authority for enforcement, 40, 51;
+    definitions, 39-41;
+    effects of, 77, 81, 82, 88;
+    half-time, 49-51;
+    health and safety, 52-56;
+    limitation of hours, 43-52;
+    prohibition of employment, 41, 42
+
+  Furness, Sir Christopher, 213
+
+
+  Gibb, Spencer J., 124, 158
+
+  Gilds, 4-11, 234, 237
+
+  Girls, vii
+
+  Green, Mrs. J. R., 12
+
+
+  Half-time system, 49-51, 78, 197-203, 204-205
+
+  Hall, G. Stanley, vi
+
+  Hasbach, W., 25
+
+  Health and Morals of Apprentices Act, 17, 18, 23, 29
+
+  Hutchins and Harrison, 23, 29
+
+
+  Idealist, triumph of, 28
+
+  Indenture, old, 6
+
+  Individualist, triumph of, 32-34
+
+  Industrial revolution, 20-26;
+    effects of, 26-29, 173-175;
+    characteristics, 177-185
+
+    schools, 61
+
+
+  Jackson, Cyril. _See_ Report on Boy Labour
+
+
+  Labour Exchange, 70, 125;
+    Juvenile, 71, 72, 83, 201, 221-231, 232-240
+
+  Lather-boy. _See_ Boys
+
+  London, employment of school-children, 105-113;
+    entry to a trade, 113-142;
+    passage to manhood, 142-151
+
+
+  Medical certificate, 56, 57, 58
+
+    inspection, 58, 60, 61, 85, 86, 94, 168, 197, 231, 232, 233, 238,
+        239
+
+  Messenger-boy. _See_ Boys
+
+  Metalliferous Mines Regulation Act, 38
+
+  Mines (Prohibition of Child Labour Underground) Act, 38, 41
+
+
+  Necessitous children, 94, 95
+
+  Nicholls, Sir G., 18
+
+
+  Occupations, clerical, 140-142;
+    distribution of, 115-120, 143, 142-149, 163;
+    skilled, 132-140;
+    unskilled, 112, 121-133
+
+  Office-boy. _See_ Boys
+
+  Opening. _See_ Provision of
+
+
+  Poor Law, Elizabethan, 15;
+    Amendment Act, 23-26;
+    Report of Royal Commission. _See_ Reports
+
+  Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 38, 42
+
+  Provision of opening, need for, 2;
+    Labour Exchange, 70-72, 221-231, 240;
+    under gilds, 8-11;
+    under industrial revolution, 20-26
+
+
+  Report of Board of Education, 64
+
+    of Commissioners for Prisons, 169
+
+    of Consultative Committee on Continuation School, 47, 81, 154, 192,
+        201
+
+    of Consultative Committee on Higher Elementary Schools, 214
+
+    of Departmental Committee on Employment of Children Act, 81, 125
+
+    of Interdepartmental Committee on Employment of Children, 51, 110, 152
+
+    of London County Council on Apprenticeship, 66, 115, 128, 135, 136,
+        139, 140, 143, 187, 192, 194
+
+    of Medical Officer, Board of Education, 152, 174
+
+    of Medical Officer (Education) of London County Council, 96, 109, 110
+
+  Report of Poor Law Commission, 31, 104, 155, 156, 172, 191, 192, 206,
+        209, 210, 211, 213
+
+  Report on Boy Labour, by Mr. Cyril Jackson, 104, 123, 124, 125, 128,
+        129, 131, 144, 145, 146, 156, 157
+
+    on Home Circumstances of Necessitous Children, 95
+
+  Rogers, J. E. Thorold, 5
+
+  Rural Districts, 161-165
+
+
+  Sadler, M. E., 157, 171, 195
+
+  Scholarships, 66-68, 86, 232
+
+  School: age, 46-48, 192-195;
+    central, 64, 65;
+    elementary, 46, 47, 63-65, 83-86, 218, 224, 231;
+    evening, 60, 67, 69, 86;
+    industrial, 59, 61;
+    part-time, 68, 132, 187, 218-221, 231;
+    secondary, 60, 67, 86, 232;
+    Sunday, 89;
+    technical and trade, 60, 66, 68, 208
+
+  Scott-Holland, Canon, 124
+
+  Shop-boy. _See_ Boys
+
+  Shop Hours Act, 38, 46, 79, 81
+
+  Skilled Employment Committees, 91, 92, 185
+
+  Supervision, need for, 2;
+    under gilds, 8-11;
+    under statute, 13-15;
+    under industrial revolution, 20-26;
+    by State regulation, 37-58;
+    by State enterprise, 59-70;
+    effects of State, 76-88;
+    by philanthropy, 89-92;
+    in home, 92-103;
+    in workshop, 125;
+    in London, summary, 149, 150;
+    general summary, 165-168;
+    under new apprenticeship, 191-202, 221-231, 237, 238
+
+
+  Tawney, R. L., 159, 160
+
+  Technical instruction. _See_ Schools
+
+  Trades, distribution of, 115-120, 142-149, 163;
+    picking up, 136-140;
+    skilled, 133-142, 208-214, 218, 239;
+    unskilled, 112, 121-133, 155-160, 165-175, 208, 215, 216, 219, 239
+
+  Training, need for, 2;
+    under gilds, 9-12;
+    under statute, 13, 14;
+    under industrial revolution, 20-27;
+    in single operation, 21, 137-139;
+    in elementary schools, 63-65;
+    in continuation schools, 65-70;
+    in workshops, 111-113, 121-142, 165-175;
+    in new apprenticeships, 207-221, 233
+
+
+  Van-boy. _See_ Boys
+
+
+  Webb, Sidney and Beatrice, 8, 21, 22
+
+
+  Young person, 40, 44-46, 81, 83
+
+
+THE END
+
+BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+
+[1] G. Stanley Hall, "Adolescence," vol. ii., p. 83.
+
+[2] See, for a general description of gilds, "Economic History," by W. J.
+Ashby; "Growth of English History and Commerce: Early and Middle Ages." by
+W. Cunningham.
+
+[3] J. E. Thorold Rogers, "Six Centuries of Work and Wages," p. 566.
+
+[4] Quoted, Cunningham, pp. 349-350.
+
+[5] Sidney and Beatrice Webb, "A History of Trade Unionism," p. 17.
+
+[6] Cunningham, p. 460.
+
+[7] _Ibid._, p. 345.
+
+[8] A. Abiam, "Social England in the Fifteenth Century," p. 118.
+
+[9] Cunningham, p. 509.
+
+[10] Mrs. J. R. Green, "Town Life in the Fifteenth Century," vol. ii., p.
+102.
+
+[11] 5 Elizabeth, Cap. iv.
+
+[12] Sect. 3.
+
+[13] Sect. 25.
+
+[14] Sect. 26.
+
+[15] Sect. 31.
+
+[16] 5 Elizabeth, Cap. iv., Sect. 35.
+
+[17] 43 Elizabeth, Cap. ii., Sect. 5. Similar powers had been given to
+Justices of the Peace in earlier Acts (see 27 Henry VIII., Cap. xxv.; Edw.
+VI., Cap. iii.)
+
+[18] W. Cunningham, "Growth of English Industry and Commerce in Modern
+Times," pp. 29-30.
+
+[19] _Ibid._, p. 33.
+
+[20] See 3 Chas. I., Cap. v.
+
+[21] Sir G. Nicholls, "History of the Poor Law," vol. ii., p. 223 _et
+seq._ 1898.
+
+[22] James I., Cap. iii.
+
+[23] Cunningham, p. 615.
+
+[24] _Ibid._, pp. 640-641.
+
+[25] Sidney and Beatrice Webb, "History of Trade Unionism," p. 47.
+
+[26] Sidney and Beatrice Webb, "History of Trade Unionism," p. 47.
+
+[27] Cunningham, p. 660.
+
+[28] _Ibid._
+
+[29] 54 George III., Cap. xcvi.
+
+[30] Hutchins and Harrison, "History of Factory Legislation," p. 16.
+
+[31] Herr W. Hasbach, "A History of the English Agricultural Labourer,"
+pp. 224, 225.
+
+[32] Quoted by Cunningham, "Growth of Industry and Commerce in Modern
+Times," p. 776.
+
+[33] Quoted by B. L. Hutchins and A. Harrison, in "A History of Factory
+Legislation," p. 15.
+
+[34] In the Report of the Poor Law Commission we have an interesting
+example side by side of the two forces that make for reform. The Majority
+Report is altogether the work of sentiment. The proposed variation in the
+terminology applicable to those in receipt of relief, the loosening of the
+deterrent system, the advocacy of the more generous treatment of the young
+and the sick, the general neglect to consider remote causes, and the total
+absence of any consistent principle, can be explained in no other way. Its
+cold reception by the British Constitutional Association--that body of
+people who still hold aloft the tattered banners of the individualist--is
+but another proof that sentiment, and not the _a priori_ assumptions of
+the old school, is the guiding spirit. In the Minority Report we see
+everywhere the mark of the imaginative reason--that reason which, starting
+with facts and not with theories, strives to picture the long chain of
+cause and effect which leads up to the sufferer, and finally, seeing the
+whole process in its true proportions, strikes at the evil where it begins
+and can be prevented, and not where it ends, when only a more or less
+modified failure can be looked for.
+
+[35] A striking instance of this is supplied by the Municipal Reform Party
+on the London County Council. Opposed in principle to feeding or treating
+medically children at the cost of the rates, they have yet been compelled
+to do both these things. And they have been compelled to take action, not
+by the pressure of public opinion--the public opinion of their own side
+generally condemned them for forsaking their principles--but by the sheer
+inability of members to learn, week after week, that hungry children were
+unfed and sick children left without treatment.
+
+[36] See Part X. of the Act. Needless to say, the decision as to what
+kinds of industry come within these definitions has exercised the
+ingenuity of the lawyer. In one case (Law _v._ Graham), for example, Lord
+Alverstone, Chief Justice, expressed the opinion that bottling beer is not
+within paragraph (i.) or paragraph (ii.) above; that by a somewhat
+strained construction it might be said to be within paragraph (iii.), as
+being an adapting of an article for sale, but that the powers used in
+washing the bottles was not "in aid of the process of bottling."
+
+[37] For complete list of such industries, see Sch. VI. of the Act.
+
+[38] See Part VI. of the Act for details and exceptions.
+
+[39] Sects. 103, 104, 105, 106.
+
+[40] Sects. 71 and 156.
+
+[41] Sect. 156.
+
+[42] Sect. 13.
+
+[43] Factory and Workshop Act, Sect. 77.
+
+[44] Sect. 99.
+
+[45] Mines Act, 1900, Sect. 1.
+
+[46] Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887, Sect. 7.
+
+[47] Factory and Workshops Act, Sect. 77.
+
+[48] Employment of Children Act, Sects. 3 and 13.
+
+[49] Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 1894, Sect. 3.
+
+[50] Sect. 1.
+
+[51] Sect. 2.
+
+[52] Sect. 4.
+
+[53] For definitions, see p. 39.
+
+[54] Sect. 24.
+
+[55] Sect. 26.
+
+[56] Sect. 111.
+
+[57] Sects. 51, 53.
+
+[58] Sects. 31, 46.
+
+[59] The best detailed account of the Act is found in "The Law Relating to
+Factories and Workshops," by Abraham and Davies.
+
+[60] Shop Hours Act, Sect. 3.
+
+[61] Employment of Children Act, Sect. 2.
+
+[62] Report of the Consultative Committee on Continuation Schools, vol.
+i., p. 22.
+
+[63] _Ibid._, vol. i., p. 21.
+
+[64] Employment of Children Act, Sect. 3 (1).
+
+[65] Sect. 1.
+
+[66] Abraham and Davies, "The Law Relating to Factories and Workshops,"
+fourth edition, p. 41.
+
+[67] Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, Sect. 25.
+
+[68] Sect. 25.
+
+[69] Sects. 31 and 46.
+
+[70] Sect. 69.
+
+[71] Report of the Interdepartmental Committee on the Employment of
+School-Children, p. 12.
+
+[72] The summary of the provisions that follow is founded on "The Law
+Relating to Factories and Workshops," by Abraham and Davies, chap. ii.
+
+[73] Factory and Workshop Act, Sect. 63, (1) and (2).
+
+[74] Sect. 64 (4).
+
+[75] Sect. 64 (5).
+
+[76] Sect. 64 (6).
+
+[77] Sect. 67.
+
+[78] Sect. 65.
+
+[79] Sect. 66.
+
+[80] Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907, Sect. 13.
+
+[81] See pp. 46-48.
+
+[82] Children Act, 1908, Sect. 58.
+
+[83] Education (Administration Provisions) Act, 1907, Sect. 13.
+
+[84] Board of Education Circular 576, Sect. 12.
+
+[85] Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907, Sect. 13.
+
+[86] Education (Provision of Meals) Act, 1906, Sect. 3.
+
+[87] Children Act, Sect. 77.
+
+[88] I am here speaking of England; in Scotland there are limited powers
+of enforcing attendance.
+
+[89] Report of Board of Education, 1908-09, p. 110.
+
+[90] For a more detailed account of the machinery considered desirable,
+see the Report of the London County Council on "The Apprenticeship
+Question."
+
+[91] See Report of the Consultative Committee on Continuation Schools, p.
+22.
+
+[92] Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Children
+Act, pp. 6, 7.
+
+[93] "The Organization of Education in London," by R. Blair, Education
+Officer to the London County Council, p. 29.
+
+[94] "Studies of Boy Life in Our Cities," edited by E. J. Urwick. Dent and
+Co.
+
+[95] "Home Circumstances of Necessitous Children in Twelve Selected
+Schools." Report of the London County Council.
+
+[96] See "Medical Treatment of Children attending Elementary Schools," in
+Report of the Medical Officer (Education) of the London County Council for
+the year 1909. See also Report of the Medical Officer of the Board of
+Education for 1909.
+
+[97] "Studies of Boy Life," pp. 22-25 _passim_.
+
+[98] "Studies of Boy Life," pp. 26-28 _passim_.
+
+[99] "Studies of Boy Life," p. 32.
+
+[100] Elementary Schools (Children Working for Wages) Parliamentary Return,
+1899, p. 32.
+
+[101] Report on Employment of School-Children, p. 8.
+
+[102] _Ibid._, p. 9.
+
+[103] Report on the Employment of School-Children, p. 9.
+
+[104] Quoted from "Studies of Boy Life," p. 24.
+
+[105] Report on Employment of School-Children, p. 10.
+
+[106] _Ibid._, p. 11.
+
+[107] Report on Employment of School-Children, p. 11.
+
+[108] Report of the Education Committee submitting the Report of the
+Medical Officer (Education) for the year 1906. P. S. King and Son.
+
+[109] Report of Medical Officer, p. 22.
+
+[110] Report of the Medical Officer (Education) 1906, p. 23.
+
+[111] _Ibid._, p. 23.
+
+[112] _Ibid._, p. 24.
+
+[113] See p. 43.
+
+[114] Report on the Apprenticeship Question, Minutes of the Education
+Committee of the London County Council for February 24, 1909, p. 414.
+
+[115] The substance of what follows appeared in an article published in
+the _Economic Journal_ for September, 1909, and is reproduced by the kind
+permission of the Editor.
+
+[116] L.C.C. Report of Medical Officer (Education), 1906, p. 23, showed
+that this was the most injurious form of work in which school-children
+were engaged.
+
+[117] Report of Mr. Cyril Jackson on Boy Labour, prepared for the Poor Law
+Commission.
+
+[118] Report on Boy Labour, p. 7.
+
+[119] Report on Boy Labour, pp. 7 and 8.
+
+[120] Canon Scott Holland, Introduction to "The Problem of Boy Work," by
+the Rev. Spencer J. Gibb.
+
+[121] Report on Boy Labour, p. 4.
+
+[122] Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Children
+Act, 1903, 1910, p. 14.
+
+[123] "Studies of Boy Life," p. 111.
+
+[124] Cyril Jackson, Report on Boy Labour, p. 14.
+
+[125] The Rev. Spencer J. Gibb, "The Problem of Boy Work," p. 33.
+
+[126] Report on the Apprenticeship Question, Minutes of the Education
+Committee of the London County Council, February 24, 1909, p. 424.
+
+[127] Report on Boy Labour, p. 27.
+
+[128] Mr. Cloete, in "Studies of Boy Life," p. 125.
+
+[129] Report on Boy Labour, p. 20.
+
+[130] _Ibid._, p. 20.
+
+[131] _Ibid._, p. 26.
+
+[132] Report on Boy Labour, p. 17.
+
+[133] _Ibid._, p. 16.
+
+[134] _Ibid._, p. 17.
+
+[135] Report on the Apprenticeship Question, p. 1. London County Council
+Publications. P. S. King and Son.
+
+[136] Report on the Apprenticeship Question, p. 2.
+
+[137] Charles Booth, "Life and Labour of the People," vol. ix., p. 222.
+
+[138] This Advisory Committee contains representatives of the chief
+woodwork industries of the district.
+
+[139] Report on the Apprenticeship Question, p. 4.
+
+[140] Report on the Apprenticeship Question, p. 4.
+
+[141] Minutes of the Education Committee, February 24, 1909, p. 415.
+
+[142] Report on Boy Labour, p. 47.
+
+[143] Report on Boy Labour, p. 20.
+
+[144] _Ibid._, p. 20.
+
+[145] _Ibid._, p. 22.
+
+[146] _Ibid._, p. 23.
+
+[147] Report on Employment of School-Children, p. 5.
+
+[148] Report of Chief Medical Officer of Board of Education for 1909, pp.
+80-81, _note_.
+
+[149] Report of Consultation Committee on Continuation Schools, p. 206.
+
+[150] Majority Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 325.
+
+[151] _Ibid._, p. 325.
+
+[152] Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 1166.
+
+[153] _Ibid._, p. 1166.
+
+[154] Minority Report on the Poor Law Commission, p. 1166.
+
+[155] Report on Boy Labour, p. 5.
+
+[156] _Ibid._, p. 27.
+
+[157] M. E. Sadler, "Continuation Schools," Preface, p. xii.
+
+[158] M. E. Sadler, "Continuation Schools," Preface, p. xiii.
+
+[159] The Rev. Spencer J. Gibb, "The Problem of Boy Work," p. 33.
+
+[160] _Economic Journal_, December, 1909, p. 522.
+
+[161] _Ibid._, p. 522.
+
+[162] _Economic Journal_, December, 1909, p. 532.
+
+[163] Elementary Schools (Children Working for Wages) Act, Part (2),
+Return for England and Wales, 1899, p. iv.
+
+[164] Elementary Schools (Children Working for Wages) Act, Part (2),
+Return for England and Wales, 1899., p. vii.
+
+[165] M. F. Davies, "Life in an English Village," chap. x.
+
+[166] Report of the Commissioners of Prisons for the year ending March 31,
+1908, p. 14.
+
+[167] Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 325.
+
+[168] _Morning Post_, January 3, 1909, letter from Professor M. E. Sadler.
+
+[169] Russell and Rigby, "Working Lads' Club," p. 286.
+
+[170] Majority Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 326.
+
+[171] Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 1165.
+
+[172] _Ibid._, p. 1166.
+
+[173] Minutes of the Education Committee, February 24, 1909, p. 422.
+
+[174] Minutes of the Education Committee, February 24, 1909, p. 416.
+
+[175] Minutes of the Education Committee, February 24, 1909, p. 416.
+
+[176] M. E. Sadler, "Continuation Schools," p. 334.
+
+[177] "Berlin, though growing luxurious, is not yet as spendthrift of
+young life as is London. The newspaper-boy and the street-trader are
+unknown" (Report to the London County Council, by Miss Durham, p. 3).
+
+[178] See Report of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education
+on Continuation Schools, chap. x.
+
+[179] Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 346.
+
+[180] Report of the Poor Law Commission, pp. 346-347.
+
+[181] _Ibid._, Professor Chapman, footnote, p. 346.
+
+[182] Report of the Poor Law Commission, p. 351.
+
+[183] Report of the Consultative Committee of the Board of Education in
+Higher Elementary Schools, p. 7.
+
+[184] Report by Miss Durham to the London County Council on Juvenile
+Labour in Germany, p. 7.
+
+
+
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