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THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO DALLAS
ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED
LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LID.
,
TORONTO

Rural Childhood
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
t
An Inquiry by the
NATIONAL CHILD LABOR COMMITTEE
Based Upon Conditions in West Virginia
Under the direction of
EDWARD N. CLOPPER, PH.D.
Photographic Illustrations by Lewis W. Hine
New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1922
All rights reserved
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
COPYRIGHT, 1922,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and printed. Published March, 1922.
Wahr
7405
Educ.
6-5-1922
gen
(
Press of
J. J. Little & Ives Company
New York, U. S. A.
PREFATORY NOTE
This volume is offered to the public in the hope that it
will serve a double purpose: First, to present to its readers
a graphic picture of rural life in America, thus bringing
to the general public a realization of the needs of country
children; and second, to trace the cause of conditions and
suggest a definite and practical outline of preventive and
remedial policies.
The authors of the several chapters have made their
studies and formulated their conclusions in accordance with
what Professor A. J. Todd has called "the scientific spirit
in social work,” yet have portrayed with a warm human sym-
pathy life as it is actually lived in many parts of rural
America.
OWEN R. LOVEJOY
General Secretary
NATIONAL CHILD LABOR COMMITTEE.
December 17, 1921.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER
THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN AND STANDARDS
FOR THEIR WELFARE . Edward N. Clopper
I
.
CHAPTER I
THE RURAL HOME
Charles E. Gibbons
I2
CHAPTER II
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS Walter W. Armentrout
52
CHAPTER III
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE Gertrude H. Folks
94
CHAPTER IV
RURAL RECREATION
. Raymond G. Fuller 140
CHAPTER V
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY, NEGLECT
AND DELINQUENCY
Sara A. Brown 165
CHAPTER VI
TAXATION AND THE CHILD . .Hettie L. Hazlett 238
CHAPTER VII
THE CHILD AND THE STATE .
W. H. Swift 261
APPENDIX
339
INDEX
341
xpii
401028
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Rural Childhood
Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
.
Club Girls Demonstrating at Fair .
18
Home Activity of 16-year-old Club Girl
18
Another 16-year-old Girl with no Outside Interests 18
The Teacher and One Lone Pupil in School in Beet-
District
54
The Same School After Harvesting Is Over
54
"An Eleven-year-old-All-around Farmer"
54
Boy on Mowing Machine Which Cut Off His Hand
54
County Agent Advising Negro Boy
72
Club Member Showing Wool at Fair
72
Typical One-room Rural School
Interior of School Above
Consolidated School in the Heart of the Country .
118
The Consolidation Makes Possible Modern Equipment 118
With a Live Leader Playground Equipment Is an Es-
sential.
142
The Country Is Not Without Natural Recreational
Facilities
142
"Be It Ever So Humble"
262
What Will This Country Boy Do with His Heritage? 262
Bad Roads Are an Obstacle to Economic and Social
Development
262
96
96
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER
Edward N. Clopper
The fundamental purpose of child welfare work is to
prolong the period of childhood. Nothing constructive can
be done for children unless the time in which to do it is
assured, and the time to serve children is in childhood. So
success in all efforts in behalf of boys and girls depends first
of all upon the element of time--upon the certainty of child-
hood.
But it is not enough to have childhood-it must be made
secure to all children, whatever their state or station. This
can be accomplished through the taking of proper measures.
They must be saved from disease, cured of deformity if any
exist, and given health and vigor; for health nowadays can
to a great extent be arranged for in advance. They must
be protected from exploitation in any form. They must not
be abused. And they must be drawn away from tendencies
toward crime. These are protective measures.
If they are poor their suffering must be relieved, the while
our social forces strive to banish poverty. If they are
neglected or destitute or afflicted they must be given care
such as we should all give to our own. This is charity-
and a fig for those who would disparage the word.
And they must all be schooled and trained and guided.
These are educative measures.
Above all, let them play; for play is the means to growth
and refreshment. This is both creative and recreative.
Protective, educative, recreational, and charitable work
this is what we must rely upon to keep the canker of age
out of childhood. There is no more pathetic sight than a
I
2
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
child grown old, or a sadder loss than the loss of childhood.
And the responsibility is ours—this we must never forget.
Have we made the way smooth for every child ? It is a
commonplace that a great deal has been done and that a
great deal remains to be done. But what has been done has
been done largely for the boys and girls of our cities-
country children have been comparatively neglected. Per-
haps we should be nearer the truth if we said that country
children have been looked upon as most fortunately situated
and therefore not in need of laws or the service of agencies,
simply because they were country children; at any rate it
has been generally assumed that the measures so far devised
for the sake of urban children were necessarily just as good
for rural children and would reach them in some way or
other just as well. The country child has not had equal
standing with the city child in the consideration of child
welfare matters; his place has so far been in the background
of programs drawn up and acted upon in the social interest.
This volume throws down the gauntlet to all who hold
the view that rural child life is safe and needs no care from
the state. It reveals a situation which challenges the sober
thought of the people generally. The rural child is not get-
ting a square deal—there can be no doubt of this in any
one's mind after having read the following chapters.
An eleven-year-old orphan boy, living with foster parents
in the country, saw some candy, oranges, and chewing-gum
in a railroad freight depot and wanted them. At night he
broke in, got them, and hid them under a porch; then he
told a railroad policeman where they were. He was ar-
rested, lodged in jail for one night and then taken to an
almshouse for detention, charged with felony and bound
over to the grand jury.
A fourteen-year-old girl and her three younger sisters
were deserted and left alone in a mountain cabin last winter
by their father. Their mother had been dead a year. Food
and fuel gave out and a heavy snow fell. They trudged
over the mountain to a friend's cabin, only to find it empty,
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER
در
and then for three weeks they tramped about, stopping here
and there, hunting a home. At last they were shipped to
the sheriff who turned them over to the probation officer and
private homes were found for them. They are now attend-
ing school for the first time.
In a certain rural community three families of children
were found, not one of whom was attending or was even
enrolled in school, and neither the local teacher nor any one
in authority was aware of the fact. At another place the
parents of four children aged 15, 12, 10, and 8 years, keep
them out of school to help with the farm work; not one of
them has been to school this year and not one has got beyond
the first grade, although they are not dull. Why should we
be astonished at the extent of illiteracy among us? It is
what we should expect as a logical sequence. A coal mine
operator told me that last summer he hired 144 native-
born white men living near his property and only II of them
could sign the pay-roll.
Two boys, aged 12 and 14 years, operate a farm of 140
acres while their father works in a mine. Another twelve-
year-old boy runs a tractor on the farm where he lives, and
disks a twenty-acre field unaided.
How general are these conditions? Are they representa-
tive of what may be found in rural districts throughout the
land ? No one is prepared to answer.
No one knows the full extent of child dependency or
delinquency or defectiveness in the country; no public or
private agency reaches it as it should be reached. Unfortu-
nate rural children are largely left to chance care. Poor
relief is administered with a view to the sparing of expense
rather than to the needs of the beneficiaries. Children are
placed out anywhere by anybody through agreement or con-
tract or indentures or "just for accommodation"; county
authorities commonly place them in almshouses with old men
and women and the mentally deficient, or in the care of
guardians, or haphazard in private homes, or bind them out
under the apprenticeship law.
4
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
Poor housing, lack of the simplest sanitary devices, failure
to observe even elementary health precautions, extra labor
made necessary by the absence of conveniences common in
cities, lack of recreational life, wretched schooling facilities
and poor quality of teachers, burdens prematurely placed
upon children in farm- and house-work, the undeveloped
social sense of rural folk, and their disinclination to work
together for the common good—these are the drawbacks of
country life. A better day is coming for the country child, but
it will not be ushered in through the cities—country people
must bring about its dawn themselves, and they can do it if
they will but look at the child's needs from the viewpoint
of the child instead of from their own and then take the
action, partly individual and partly joint, that common sense
dictates. They who would be saved must save themselves.
It is the object of this volume to point out some of the
needs of rural children as indicated by the findings it sets
forth; if it arouses the interest of rural men and women
and stimulates local achievement in the quest for happiness,
its authors will be richly rewarded for their labors. The
study of conditions in West Virginia upon which the report
is based, was made possible by a number of public-spirited
citizens of the state whose enthusiasm for the work and
generous contributions toward its expenses have sustained
the enterprise throughout.
The reader will note that in several of the chapters cer-
tain subjects are discussed which seem to belong properly to
other chapters. For instance, the chapter on “The Rural
Home" discusses recreation and also school attendance
although these are the subjects of other chapters; similarly,
the chapter on "Child Labor" also discusses these subjects,
and it may seem at first glance that this is merely repetition.
The purpose of such treatment by several contributors, how-
ever, is to present these subjects from different viewpoints,
as they arise in the discussion of the general subject treated
in each chapter. The chapter on school attendance presents
the life of the child from the viewpoint of the school; the
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER
5
chapter on the rural home presents it from the viewpoint of
the home—and so with the other chapters, each treats the
child from the viewpoint of its special subject. Necessarily
there is some repetition, but wherever it occurs it has a
peculiar value in that it corroborates the findings from a dif-
ferent angle. The advantage of a study of this kind is
that it affords the opportunity to approach the consideration
of factors entering into a child's life from several quarters,
not merely from one alone. Thus it presents a picture more
complete and more understandable.
It is more than a study of conditions found within a
given area or peculiar to any locality—it is a consideration
of problems arising wherever attempts are made to raise
rural child life to a higher plane. The discussion in each
chapter is based upon the experience of its author in dealing
with child welfare matters in many parts of the United
States, and has for a background a knowledge of conditions
reaching far beyond the confines of the state where the
field work of this inquiry was done. It is hoped that it
will be of general interest, for this reason.
In pursuing their work in behalf of children during the
past several years, the authors of this volume have tried to
keep in mind the rights of the child and the duties of the
state as well as of the parents. These have not always been
clear and definite, and different opinions on this or that
point have sometimes been confusing, but nevertheless there
has been substantial agreement upon essentials. In the
course of this study they undertook to set down on paper
their views as to the rights of children and proper standards
for their care in order that these might serve as a criterion
by which conditions determining the well-being of children
could be measured. These views appear in the following
statement. The authors of this volume submit them with a
lively sense of their limitations but believing that they may
be useful in revealing both the spirit in which this inquiry
has been made and the convictions of a group of social
workers as to the needs of children everywhere.
THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN
AND
STANDARDS FOR THEIR WELFARE
RIGHTS
Every child has the right to a normal childhood. The
enjoyment of the following rights is essential to a normal
childhood :
I. The right to be born in honor and sound in body and
mind; to protection from disease; and to the pro-
motion of health.
II. The right to care, food, shelter, and clothing.
III. The right to education and training sufficient to de-
velop fully his capacity for knowledge and achieve-
ment.
IV. The right to play and recreation; and to the com-
panionship of his fellows.
V. The right to be safeguarded from neglect, abuse,
exploitation, and other injustice.
The agency which society depends upon primarily for
securing to the child the foregoing rights is the private
family home. A private family home is the residing
together, as a social unit, of the child and both or either of
his parents or foster parents.
It is the function of the state to guarantee to every child
the enjoyment of these rights and to coöperate with the
home in providing facilities whereby he may enjoy them.
It is the right of either parent to have, jointly and equally
with the other, the control and custody of his child; and
each parent is responsible for providing fully for his child.
:6
RIGHTS AND STANDARDS
7
A court record shall be made of every transfer of the guard-
ianship of a child.
An illegitimate child is the child of the mother only, but
it is the duty of the father, when so declared by law, to
support the child in every respect as if born in wedlock.
STANDARDS
a.
In order to protect the child in the enjoyment of his rights
under modern conditions, the following standards are
necessary :
Concerning Right I-
No marriage should be performed without a license
having been issued therefor. In order to qualify for a
license the male should be at least eighteen and the female
at least sixteen years of age, and both should show that they
are sound in mind and free from venereal disease.
b. No woman should be employed within four weeks
before, or within eight weeks after, confinement.
c. Complete and reliable vital statistics should be gath-
ered, recorded, preserved, and published by the public
authorities.
d. Medical advice and nursing service should be made
available to all mothers during pregnancy, at confinement,
and thereafter.
e. Every child under eighteen years of age, whether
at home, at school, or at work, should undergo at least
annually a health examination. Treatment for the remedy-
ing of defects or other handicaps to health should be sup-
plied to every child needing it. Facilities for the care and
treatment of such children in hospitals, through nursing
service, or otherwise, should be provided.
f. Every child of compulsory school attendance age
should be given mental tests. Care, treatment, and training
of mentally deficient children should be provided for.
8
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
g A full-time public health unit under the supervision
of the state health department should be created in every
county or subdivision of the population not too large for
efficient administration, in order to promote the health of
the community and of its individual members.
h. It is the business of the nation as well as of the
state to safeguard and to promote the health of the child;
therefore both federal and state aid should be granted to
carry out health programs.
i. Training for physical development, the cultivation
of health habits, and instruction in hygiene should be a
feature of all school work.
a.
Concerning Right II—
It is the duty of every home to supply these neces-
saries and it is the province of the state to see that this duty
is performed. Social effort should be directed toward
enabling every home to meet this responsibility; in so far
as any home is unable to do so but is otherwise suitable for
the child, it should receive from private or public sources
sufficient aid to make possible the fulfilment of these obli-
gations.
b. A home life as nearly normal as possible should
be secured to every handicapped child, however unfortu-
nately circumstanced; but if the best interests of such child
or of society should require it either temporarily or perma-
nently, special care and training adapted to his needs should
be provided in an appropriate institution.
All such rehabilitation and relief work and special
care should be under the supervision of the state.
C.
Concerning Right III
a. Adequate school facilities should be made available
to every child irrespective of race or color.
RIGHTS AND STANDARDS
9
C.
b. Every child between the ages of 7 and 18 years
should be required to attend the public school where he
resides for the entire time such school is in session; pro-
vided, however, that this do not apply to
(1) such child attending private or parochial school
or other public school approved by the state educational
authorities;
(2) such child if he has completed the courses of
study offered by the public school where he resides; or to
(3) a child between the ages of 16 and 18 years who
has completed the eighth grade and is lawfully at work.
Children between the ages of 16 and 18 years who
have not completed high-school and are lawfully at work
should be required to attend continuation schools for at least
eight hours a week, and such schools should be established
in every community where 15 or more such children are at
work; provided, however, that this requirement does not
apply to such children if engaged in club- or project-work
carried on jointly by the state and federal governments or if
in attendance upon instruction on the co-operative plan when
approved by the state educational authorities.
d. Special instruction should be provided for the men-
tally or physically handicapped; and special opportunities for
advancement should be afforded every child in accordance
with his ability.
Provision should be made in every county, town,
and city for attendance officers whose duties should be to
take the school census, to make and to keep up-to-date a com-
plete and accurate list of all children of school age within
their jurisdiction, to enforce the school attendance law, and
to issue work permits.
f. The minimum term of every school, whether urban
or rural, should be nine months.
g. In order to insure the adequacy of school facilities
and to equalise educational opportunities, federal as well as
state aid should be granted to the public schools.
e.
IO
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
h. The unit for rural school administration should be
that political subdivision (in most states the county) which
is best adapted to insure the progressive development of the
schools, including consolidation and the enforcement of at-
tendance laws.
i. The courses of study of public schools should be suf-
ficiently varied to satisfy the educational needs of all chil-
dren.
j. Vocational guidance should be afforded all children
at work as well as those at school who intend to go to work.
Concerning Right IV-
a. Wholesome play and recreation should be fostered
by the home, the school, the church, and the community.
Local initiative, talent, and leadership should be everywhere
encouraged and utilised.
b. Public provision should be made for suitable recre-
ational means, such as parks, playgrounds, social centers,
concerts, swimming-pools, etc., including the recreational
features of libraries, farm club work, athletics, festivals,
exhibitions, and lectures.
Trained leaders for the promotion and oversight
of play and recreation should be supplied.
d. Commercial amusements and public gatherings for
recreational purposes should be subject to regulation and
supervision by public authorities.
Concerning Right V-
a. Juvenile courts should be created for the protection
of neglected, abused, and delinquent children; and every such
child under 18 years of age should be under the jurisdiction
of the juvenile court unless the judge should transfer his
case to some other court for hearing.
b. The probation system is essential and upon the
character of its service the juvenile court stands or falls.
Laws should be enacted and means provided for
protecting the person and property of every child.
C.
C.
RIGHTS AND STANDARDS
II
e.
d. Apprenticeship and the binding out of children
should be abolished.
No child under 16 years of age should be employed
at gainful occupations, except as noted below. No child
between 16 and 18 years of age should be employed unless a
regular work permit has been issued to his employer by
public school authorities upon proof that
(1) he is 16 years of age or over;
(2) he has satisfactorily completed the eighth grade
of the public schools or its equivalent;
(3) he is physically fit for the work contemplated, as
certified to by a public health- or school-physician; and that
(4) he has the assurance of lawful work, as certi-
fied to by his prospective employer.
The employment of children between 14 and 18 years of
age may be permitted during the vacation period of the
public schools upon the issuance of vacation permits, no
educational qualification being required; and also on Satur-
days and for not more than three hours daily after school
hours during the school term upon the issuance of special
permits, provided the child's standing in school be satisfac-
tory and the work suitable.
f. Dangerous occupations should be forbidden to all
children under 18 years of age.
g. Employment in messenger service should be for-
bidden to girls under 21 years of age at any time, and to
boys under 21 years of age at night.
h. Children between 14 and 18 years of age should not
be employed at gainful occupations more than 8 hours a
day or forty-four hours a week or before seven a. m. or
after six p. m. of any day.
i. State child labor laws should be enforced both by
state officers and by local officers under the supervision of
state labor authorities and in coöperation with federal offi-
cers enforcing the federal child labor tax law.
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
CHAPTER I
THE RURAL HOME
Charles E. Gibbons
THE HOME is the most fundamental of all institutions.
Society has created family life in a home for the perpetua-
tion of the race. Therefore since it is into the home that
children are born, the responsibility of providing for them
health, education, recreation, care, food, comfort, clothing,
and shelter rests upon the home. Some of these things are
provided for outside the home but only through agreement
by the majority of families. It is only by virtue of such
agreement that the state or community has any power what-
ever. The delegation of power to other agencies, however,
in no way lessens the value of the individual home.
Nature has decreed how children shall be brought into
the world. Fundamentally their welfare depends upon the
working of natural laws, but it is the duty of society to
search out these laws and combine them so as to eliminate
the loss of time and avoid the waste that always follows if
natural law is left to work alone. Society must see that the
conditions under which children are born and live throughout
childhood will make for those standards of life which experi-
ence has shown to be best.
Keeping the conditions under which rural children are
growing up steadily in mind, an attempt is made to answer
such questions as the following: What constitutes a rural
family? How many children are there? What becomes
of them when they grow up? What kind of work does the
family do? What are the sources and amounts of income?
12
THE RURAL HOME
13
What does the farm contribute to the family table? What
kind of a house does the family have? Are the doors and
windows screened? What is the equipment of the house?
What is the water supply? What are the chances for
schooling and recreation? What kind of reading material
has the family? In a word, are the conditions such as to
insure the proper development of all children born in the
open country and to attract and hold the numbers and types
of children necessary to guarantee the national food supply
as well as to develop a happy, prosperous, intelligently edu-
cated, and contented rural citizenry?
The presentation of facts in this report is based on a
study of conditions in West Virginia. While the state lies
wholly in the mountain area of Appalachia yet in all proba-
bility it offers as great a variety of types and conditions of
farming as any other state in the Union. There are to be
found broad and narrow valleys, gently rolling land, hilly
and steep rocky lands, with all degrees of fertility.
The people of this section are sometimes referred to as
Southern Highlanders but the application of this term does
not set them off as a class separate and distinct from any
other group found in rural sections. There are to be found
here, as elsewhere, rich and poor, industrious and shiftless,
good farmers and poor farmers, and educated and unedu-
cated. Some communities are progressive others are stag-
nant.
While the state ranks high in the production of coal, oil,
sand, other minerals, and timber, yet agriculture is an im-
portant industry. Much of the land is too rough and steep
for cultivation, but where the timber has been taken off, the
fertile soil makes excellent grazing land. General grain
and livestock raising are the prevailing types of farming.
In some sections tobacco, potatoes, tomatoes, and melons are
grown extensively, but in no instance is the cultivation so
exclusive as to make a one-crop system. Fruits are grown
over the entire state, and in the eastern panhandle,
especially, they are grown on an extensive commercial scale.
14
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
According to the census of 1920, a little over 62 per cent
of the area of the state is in farms and these farms average
109.6 acres each. A great part of the remaining land is
held in large tracts by mining and lumber companies. In
this study the average size of owners' farms was found to
be 115.9 acres and of tenants' farms 81.5 acres.
So far as
the size of the farm is concerned, there is not much differ-
ence between the average for the state as a whole and that
of the families visited in this study.
Tenancy has come to be an important factor in our system
of farming. Its main purpose is to serve as a stepping-stone
to ownership. It should be the means of earning enough
money to buy a farm, and at the same time giving the family
the experience and knowledge necessary to handle it suc-
cessfully. Tenancy should operate primarily for the benefit
of the tenants. In some sections of the country, especially
in the cash-crop regions, its purpose is being defeated, for it
operates to make ownership by the owners secure, but does
not give tenants a chance to buy land. In these areas ten-
ancy is high and rapidly on the increase, but in West Vir-
ginia it is only 16.2 per cent according to the 1920 census
and this is a decrease of 4.3 per cent under 1910. Of all
the farms visited in this study 13.4 per cent were operated
by tenants. Tenancy is working in a normal way under
conditions that are normal, according to the findings of this
study, but it must be remembered that this study shows con-
ditions in a relatively good year, probably much above the
average as seasons go.
Eleven communities in. as many counties, scattered
throughout the state, were studied. Considerable care was
used in selecting these so that each would stand out in refer-
ence to some particular phase of agriculture. The number
is large enough and the types of farming sufficiently varied
to give a fairly comprehensive understanding of conditions.
The communities are Edray in Pocahontas County, Gandee-
ville in Roane, Grangeville in Marion, Sinks Grove in Mon-
roe, Three Churches in Hampshire, Inwood in Berkeley,
THE RURAL HOME
15
West Hamlin in Lincoln, Willow Grove in Jackson, St.
Andrews in Jefferson, Webster Springs in Webster, and
Berkeley Springs in Morgan. In all except the last two, the
information makes a complete community study—that is, all
the families, averaging about sixty in number in each com-
munity, surrounding a small trading center, were visited.
In Webster County the families are contiguous along two
rivers and in Morgan County along two roads. Seven fam-
ilies of still another community were visited in Jefferson
County.
A total of 657 families were visited, divided as follows:
owners 486, tenants 75, and laborers 96. The information
is tabulated for these groups for each community and for
all communities. A schedule was taken to each home and
the facts secured from the family itself. Not a single
family refused to give the information requested. The
schedules were filled by the writer and Mr. Armentrout, who
lived for the time being in each community, residing with
some family, attending church services and Sunday School,
helping with the farm work, and otherwise fitting into the
life of the people. Splendid co-operation was given by Mr.
Nat T. Frame, Director of the Division of Extension, and
his assistants, particularly in selecting the communities and
in preparing the questionnaire.
Rural life takes on many forms, and types of agriculture
are not the only factors influencing it. Mineral, industrial
and urban developments are having an increasingly impor-
tant bearing upon the home life of rural children. Through-
out this study we have kept in mind all these influences.
West Virginia furnishes the illustrative material necessary
to a general understanding of rural home life because all
these factors are here found in a limited area.
Ownership is the prevailing form of land tenure. Sixty-
eight and five-tenths per cent of the owners' acreage has been
bought and the remainder inherited. Nearly 63 per cent of
the owner families have come into possession of their land
by purchase only, slightly more than 16 per cent by in-
16
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
heritance unly and nearly 21 per cent by both purchase and
inheritance. The average period of ownership by purchase
is 14.8 years and by inheritance 19.4 years. The owners
are not a shifting population but have a fixed abode a suf-
ficient length of time to make possible a real community
development. Besides, they are not burdened with the
heavy expense and loss from breakage that moving neces-
sarily entails.
For tenants the average number of years on one farm is
4.1 years. As compared with owners the time is very much
shorter, but when compared with the time that tenants in
one-crop communities spend on one farm, it is a very much
longer period.
THE RURAL FAMILY
A home here means the living of a child or children with
one or both parents, a guardian, a relative, or foster parents.
Some homes may be broken by the death of one or both
parents, or otherwise. Let us now take up the several fac-
tors relating to the character of the home, beginning with
the ages of the family heads.
PARENTS. Those who own their farms are the oldest, the
fathers averaging 50.1 years and the mothers 45.7 years; la-
borers are next, the fathers being 41.7 years and the mothers
37.1 years; and tenants youngest, the fathers being 39.8
years and the mothers 34.8 years. The number of years
between the ages of fathers and mothers varies but little in
the different groups, being respectively 4.4, 4.6 and 5.0
years. The terms "owner" and "tenant" are self-explana-
tory; a rural laborer's family lives in the open country but
does not own or cultivate any land for itself--it supports
itself through its labor for others.
Farmers ordinarily pass successively from laborers to
tenants, and then to owners. This process takes place
whenever the accumulation of capital in the one stage is
sufficient to meet the requirements to operate in the next.
THE RURAL HOME
17
This would mean, then, that owners should be the oldest,
tenants next, and laborers the youngest. The findings show
the process to be normal except that laborers are older than
tenants; the reason is that the laborers in these communities
are not strictly a farm labor group but should be more prop-
erly classed as industrial laborers. In all probability the
majority of them will never become farm tenants or owners
but will remain a permanent industrial group in the country.
About 7 per cent of owner, 11 per cent of tenant and 12
per cent of laborer couples have no children of their own,
of relatives or of strangers.
CHILDREN AT HOME. Information concerning the number
of children per family was under two headings-children
at home and children away from home. For each of these
groups sex and marital conditions are given in the following
age groups: 1-6 years (pre-school age), 7-15 years (com-
pulsory school age), 16-21 years, and over 21 years. In
the 657 homes visited there is a total of 1,935 children at
home of whom 82 are grandchildren, and 61 either more
distantly or not at all related.
Owner couples have 72 children of pre-school age, 1.19
of compulsory school age, .51 from 16-21 years, and .45 over
21 years of age, or a total of 2.87 children per family of
whom 1.49 are boys and 1.38, girls.
Tenant couples have 1.25 children of pre-school age, 1.66
of compulsory school age, .61 from 16-21 years, and .13
over 21 years of age, or a total of 3.71 per family of whom
2.0 are boys and 1.71, girls.
Laborer couples have .98 children of pre-school age, 1.25
of compulsory school age, -36 from 16-21 years, and .13 over
21 years of age, or a total of 2.71 per family of whom 1.53
are boys and 1.18, girls.
One-fourth of all the owners' children at home are of pre-
school age and one-third each of tenants' and laborers', but
tenants have nearly 74 per cent more children in this age
group than owners have, and 27 per cent more than laborers
have.
18
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
The children of compulsory school age form the largest
group for each class of family. The number makes up 41
per cent of owners' children and 45 per cent each of laborers'
and tenants', but here again tenants have actually more
children than either owners or laborers, having respectively
40 and 35 per cent more.
As to children at home who are 16 years of age and over,
owners have .96, tenants .94, and laborers .49 per family on
the average. In this age group ten, one, and three, respec-
tively, per hundred are married and live at home. These
children above 16 years of age are old enough to contribute
something at least towards their maintenance.
The important thing to consider here is the number of
children under 16 years of age, of whom tenants have 2.9.1,
laborers 2.21 and owners 1.91 per family. It is in this
period that the rights of childhood must be made secure.
Theirs is the right to grow up healthy and strong, to get the
essentials of an education, and to play. The economic func-
tions of the home rest entirely upon the parents until their
children have passed the period of childhood and under no
circumstances except in an emergency to save a crop should
such young children be compelled to help assume the burden
of making a living. Children should learn to work but the
primary purpose of the work they do should be educational
and disciplinary, not productive. From the figures just pre-
sented it is evident that because of the number of children in
their families, tenants have most difficulty, laborers next, and
owners least, in insuring childhood its rights; but tenant
parents are the youngest of the three groups and owner
parents the oldest, and for this reason tenant parents should
be able to assume the heaviest tasks in caring for children.
While they by reason of their ages, are able to work the
hardest to make childhood safe, yet they need more money
than the other groups to accomplish this because they have
more children. If income alone is considered, then tenant
parents should have the highest return, laborers next, and
owners least. However, the order is just the reverse the

Demonstrations
Boys & GIRLSTEAM
Club girls with county agent demonstrating to visitors at the fair how
team work makes for efficiency in canning their products
2
Home activity of 16-year-old Another 16-year-old girl with no
girl, Four-H Club member, outside interests. Her "leisure
engaged in a sewing project time” is spent in caring for
competition
younger brothers and sisters
THE RURAL HOME
19
findings show that owners have the highest return, laborers
next, and tenants the least. Income will be taken up follow-
ing the discussion of work, since work is the chief means
by which income is obtained.
CHILDREN AWAY FROM HOME. The number of children
under 16 years of age away from home is practically negligi-
ble, being only .03 for owners, .07 for tenants, and .05 for
laborers per family. The number 16-21 years of age-27,
.16, and .07 respectively—is not large. Those over 21 years
of age average 1.43 for owner, .45 for tenant, and .42 for
laborer families.
For owners, the total number of children away from home
averages 1.73 per family. The number of girls is slightly
greater than that of boys. Three-fourths of the boys and
85 per cent of the girls are married.
For tenants, the total number of children away from home
averages per family .68. The number of girls is .41 and
boys, .27. Only 45 per cent of the boys are married as
against 80 per cent of the girls.
For laborers, the average is .54 of whom .30 are boys and
.24 girls. Seventy per cent of the boys and two-thirds of the
girls are married.
This makes the total number of children living per fam-
ily, for owners 4.60, for tenants 4.39 and for laborers only
3.25.
CHILDREN DEAD. In these same families owners have lost
by death an average of .86 children, tenants.56, and laborers
.74. Of children dead, 68 per cent of the owners', 80 per
cent of the tenants' and 70 per cent of the laborers' died
before they reached five years of age but the difference in
the average number of deaths under five years of age—for
owners .59, tenants .43, and laborers .52—is not strikingly
great. The great majority of the deaths of children in each
class of family occurred under five years of age.
The average ages of owner, laborer, and tenant mothers
are respectively, 45.7, 37.1, and 34.8 years and these mothers
have borne respectively 5.46, 3.99, and 4.95 children. The
20
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
indications are that the tenant mother will have borne as
many children as the owner mother has borne when she
reaches the age of 45 but that the laborer mother will not
have borne as many as either of the others by that time.
The laborer mother is now 2.3 years older than the tenant
mother and has borne an average of .96 children less.
WORK
Work is an obligation placed upon all parents, for with-
out it there can be no production; without production there
can be no income in the vast majority of families; and with-
out income none of the essentials of life. This applies to
families regardless of where they live. What kind of work
does the rural family do? For convenience of discussion let
us divide its work into two classes/farm work and other
work.
FARM WORK. The preparation of the soil, planting, culti-
vating and harvesting of crops and the care of live stock
are, of course, the most important forms of work of the
countryside in the regions studied. The character of the
work varies in accordance with the type of farming and the
kind of tenure that is, whether the workers are owners,
tenants, or laborers.
General grain farming is the most important type and corn
the chief crop for both owners and tenants. In this study,
86 per cent of the owners and all but one of the tenants
raised corn, averaging per family 246 bushels for the former
and 637 bushels for the latter; owners averaged 33 bushels
per acre and tenants 36 bushels. The next most universally
grown crop is potatoes, averaging 65 bushels per owner
family and 83 bushels per tenant family. Hay and wheat
are next in importance; the acreage per family and the yield
per acre for each of these two is greater for tenants than
for owners. Some communities emphasize special crops
such as fruit, potatoes, tomatoes or tobacco, but in no in-
stance is their cultivation so exclusive as to make a one-crop
system. General grain crops are grown in all these com-
THE RURAL HOME
21
munities. In the fruit sections the orchards are practically
all handled by owners or their salaried managers, with hired
labor, leaving the grain farming to be carried on by tenants.
Live-stock farming is the next most important type. In
some sections where the land is too rough for general grain
farming, sheep and cattle are grazed, and in others where
the land permits the raising of some feed stuffs, dairying is
carried on. According to the figures, owners on the whole
are slightly more interested in live-stock farming than ten-
ants are (see table in appendix). There are very few
tenants engaged in live-stock farming, particularly where it
is of the grazing type. On the other hand, tenants in grain
farming communities average more live stock except sheep
and “other cattle" than owners do, but the difference is not
sufficient to offset the greater number of sheep and "other
cattle” which both grain and live-stock owners have and
which are the important factors in live-stock farming.
The work of the grain farmer is undoubtedly more irk-
some than that of the live-stock farmer. The operators
of steep hillside farms must do the greater part of their
work by hand while those on the more level farms can use
labor-saving machinery.
Farm laborers are most numerous in orcharding com-
munities. In fact, in none but orcharding communities can
the laborers really be called farm laborers. In live-stock
communities laborers are engaged a part of the year upon
general farm work, while in grain farming communities they
do farm work only if there is no other work available. In
some communities they have practically ceased to do any
farm work
OTHER WORK. It has quite generally been thought that
residence in the open country necessarily meant a farming
life but the findings in this study show clearly that not only
are there many people living in the open country who do
no farm work at all but also that much of the time of farm
people themselves is spent in work other than farm work,
both skilled and unskilled.
Skilled Work. In this field country dwellers work as
22
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
machinists, blacksmiths, carpenters, brickmasons, miners, oil
workers, sawyers, engineers, firemen, teachers, surveyors,
doctors, veterinarians, bookkeepers, contractors, merchants,
bankers, auto repairmen, and public officials. Skilled work-
ers may be grouped into two classes—those who own and
operate a business or practise a profession, and those who
work for some one else. The latter are for the most part
employed in large industrial operations such as mines, quar-
ries, oil and gas fields, and timber cutting. An increasingly
large number of all these skilled workers do nothing but fol-
low their trade or profession. Many in each group own
farm land, but those in the first class usually rent out their
farms or handle them with hired labor, while those in the
latter operate their own farms in season and follow their
trade during the rest of the year. In all except orcharding
communities there is more or less time when the services
of the family are not needed for the crops, hence other than
farm work can be taken up. It would be an ideal situation
for the farmers to have opportunities for other kinds of
work when the farm demands had been met but unfortu-
nately business interests have little consideration for agri-
cultural interests—the tendency is for such outside business
to absorb an increasingly large amount of the farmer's time.
In two communities this development has gone so far that
farming has become decidedly a side issue and the land is
reverting to its original state, and in two other communities
this tendency is well marked. In none of these four com-
munities are there any tenants at all. The importance of
the food supply is so great that good farm land ought not
to be permitted to grow up in weeds and brush. One of the
biggest questions in the country to-day is, can agriculture
and industry be adjusted to each other without injustice to
either?
Unskilled Work. In so far as numbers are concerned
there are many more owners doing unskilled work than
skilled work. This is for the most part in and about mines,
quarries, oil and gas fields, timber camps, and public works,
THE RURAL HOME
23
especially road building. The effect of this work upon the
business of farming is not so bad as that of the skilled work
because the wages are not so high and the workers are not
so likely to continue in it, if their crops need attention.
Tenants work away from the farm slightly less than do
owners. Since tenancy is generally found in purely agri-
cultural communities, there is not the opportunity for tenants
to become skilled workers unless they go away from their
homes and this, as a rule, they will not do because of the
expense of going back and forth. They can not operate a
business or practise a profession and at the same time work
the land, consequently their alternative is unskilled work
when not farming. Road building or other public work is
especially attractive, and has certainly been a boon to many
tenants. In industrialized rural communities they have
ceased to be tenants and are now the industrial laborers.
For those who neither own nor rent land, farm work is
only incidental in the case of all except those who follow
orcharding. This has given rise to a new class called indus-
trial laborers. About one-fourth are skilled workers and
practically all of them, both skilled and unskilled, work in
industrial enterprises. Most of them own an acre or so of
land, the house in which they live and a few live stock. Of
the 96 laborer families visited, 85 per cent had chickens, 43
per cent a cow, and 68 per cent one or more hogs. These
people have fairly continuous employment and can and do
live reasonably well.
Farm work is by all odds the most important kind of work
that rural children do. The younger ones are generally
excluded from industrial work as found in the country.
Nevertheless industry indirectly is placing a heavy burden
on the children by using so much of the time of their parents.
This applies to the children of both skilled and unskilled
owner parents, particularly the former. It is manifestly
unfair to the children because not only is the work of run-
ning the farm too heavy but also the responsibility too great.
The condition is especially aggravated in the sand-mining
24
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
communities where the men work all day in the mines and
the women and children do the farm work.
The children of tenants, of course, help with the farm
work. While their parents are more given to grain-farm
work, yet the children have a greater opportunity to work
along with them. Thus the greater responsibility placed
upon owner children corresponds to the greater amount of
work tenant children do.
In the grain-farming communities the children of laborers
may work with their parents or hire out independently. In
the communities where special crops are grown there are
ample opportunities for them to be employed. They are
extensively used in the picking and packing of fruit. In
rural communities where parents are at work in industrial
enterprises, their children are largely confined to a life of
idleness.
INCOME
Income is the end sought by means of work. A deter-
mining factor of great importance in any home is the amount
of money it receives. An inadequate income means that
some of the essentials of childhood must be neglected but
it does not follow that an adequate income necessarily means
for children good health, good education, good means of
recreation, beautiful and well-equipped houses, adequate
protection of water supply, suitable methods of sewage dis-
posal, and plenty of reading matter. In both the adequately
and inadequately financed homes, rural parents do not have
very definite knowledge of what the needs of childhood
are. Until very recently the slogan for rural development
has been "Give the farmer more money and he will take care
of himself.” Accordingly energies were bent towards find-
ing ways and means to increase production. Rotation,
legumes, diversified crops and better live stock were the
things emphasized. These things are not to be decried, for
they have had and are still having very beneficial effects.
THE RURAL HOME
25
Where farmers are following this advice, their incomes have
undoubtedly been increased. Diversification is tending to
stabilize and make possible a more even distribution of
income throughout the entire year. The failure of a crop
in a many-crop system does not mean so great a loss as in
a one-crop system. It is not sufficient to enable the farmer
to earn more money, for the happiness and well-being of his
family depends upon the use he makes of his increase. It is
true he can not use more money unless more is earned but
experience is showing that he must be taught how to use his
money intelligently. To illustrate: the farmer's knowledge
of health is largely negative. If he or a member of his
family falls ill he will call a doctor and do everything in
his power to effect a cure. It has not occurred to him that
the shallow, unprotected well, or the open spring or river
from which he gets his drinking water may be the cause of
the illness. As a rule he sees no danger in the open privy-
in many instances having no privy of any kind-or in the
lack of screens on doors and windows. A fly is simply a
nuisance at meal time, or it may disturb his rest if per-
chance he takes a nap at the noon hour while the horses feed.
Kinds, amounts and varieties of food are little thought of as
having any bearing on health. The importance of milk in
the diet of children is not understood and its absence has
no particular significance to the average rural parent.
The farmer's income is perhaps more variable than that of
any other group of workers because it depends on the
amount he produces and the sale price. The latter is deter-
mined by the law of supply and demand, influenced, of
course, by the effectiveness of his marketing methods. In
this study the gross income consists of two parts--farm
income and supplementary income.
The farm income is the total amount of money received
from the sale of crops and live stock; and supplementary
income is the amount received from the sale of such items
as timber, lumber, posts, coal, oil and gas (including rent-
als), meat and flour, merchandise, and from land rentals,
26
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
ance.
skilled and unskilled labor and from some miscellaneous
items such as profit on keeping boarders, pensions, etc.
Under expenses is included the amount spent for labor,
repairs, feed, seed, fertilizer, stock, rentals, and miscellane-
ous items which means only the amount spent for barrels,
crates, boxes and spraying materials among orchard farmers.
Farm income less expenses plus supplementary income is
the net income. This term as used in this report is not a net
income in its generally accepted sense because all the items
that enter into a real net income have not been taken into
consideration. The important items not considered are
interest on investment, taxes, permanent repairs, and insur-
These would affect the income of owners more than
that of tenants or laborers. It was impossible to get all of
these items because of the limits of time and the large num-
ber of families visited. Furthermore it would serve the
purpose of the study no better to have all of these items in.
Here the net income simply means the amount of money
rural families have for all purposes from the sale of crops
and live stock after the afore-mentioned expenses have been
taken out, and from the supplementary sources previously
indicated.
The average net income for owners' families is $1,000,
for laborer families $756, and for tenant families $736.
Keeping in mind that the tenant family consists of 3.71
children, the owner 2.87 and the laborer 2.71, we find, by
adding two adults to each family, that tenants have per
person $129, laborers $160, and owners $205 per year.
Owners have a greater unaccounted-for farm expense com-
ing out of this than either of the other groups. So the dif-
ference in the annual family income is not so striking as at
first appears, although owners have the highest, laborers
next, and tenants the lowest. When the food the farm con-
tributes to the family table is also taken into consideration
it would seem that the country child ought not to fare badly,
but it should be borne in mind that this study relates to a
period when prices were high and it is to be questioned
THE RURAL HOME
27
whether the average income from year to year would be as
great.
For owners, farm sources provide 52 per cent of the net
income and supplementary sources 48 per cent. For
tenants, the per cents are 63 and 37, and for laborers 3 and
97, respectively. Of the owners' farm income 54 per cent
comes from live stock and 46 per cent from crops. The
tenants' percentages are 56 and 44, and the laborers' 97 and
3, respectively.
Owners' supplementary income is made up 24 per cent
from skilled labor, 41 per cent from unskilled labor, and 35
per cent from the other supplementary items. Tenants have
less than one per cent of their supplementary income from
skilled labor, 83 per cent from unskilled labor, and 16 per
cent from the other supplementary items. The laborers
have 32 per cent from skilled labor, 61 per cent from un-
skilled and 7 per cent from the other items.
These figures show that tenants depend a little more upon
the farm for their income than owners do, the per cents
being 63 and 52 respectively. Live-stock farming, including
poultry raising and dairying, is for both owners and tenants
a little more profitable than grain farming, as indicated by
the return, but live-stock farming furnishes practically all
of the laborers' farm income which in the main is derived
from the sale of chickens, eggs and butter. The meagre
farm income which the laborers have simply serves to illus-
trate how little this group of country dwellers depend upon
their own activities as farmers to raise things which can be
turned into money, thereby supplementing their regular
income. They live in the country but are not interested in
farming.
It is in the method of obtaining the supplementary income
that there is considerable difference among owners, tenants
and laborers. The amount for each group is $481, $273, and
$735 respectively. Nearly one-fourth of the owners' and one-
third of the laborers' amounts come from skilled labor,
whereas the tenants have less than one per cent from this
28
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
source.
The laborers' income from skilled work is more
than twice as much as that of the owners'. The unskilled
labor incomes are $197, $226 and $448, being 41, 83 and 61
per cents of the total supplementary incomes of owners,
tenants and laborers respectively. The other items in the
supplementary income amount to more than three times as
much for owners as for either tenants or laborers. For
owners this amount is derived, in the main, from the sale of
lumber, oil and gas, merchandising, and land rentals,
whereas for tenants it is derived from merchandising, sale of
meat and flour, and miscellaneous items such as honey and
furs, and as profit on keeping boarders.
HOUSING AND SANITATION
The income for any given year does not necessarily deter-
mine the kinds and sizes of rural houses, their state of
repair, whether they are screened, what the home atmos-
phere is, what the water supply is, or whether each family
has a toilet, but it can be taken as indicative of what the
possibilities are in reference to all these things for tenants,
owners and laborers.
The responsibility for furnishing these things rests almost
wholly upon the owners. They must furnish them not only
for themselves, but also for tenants and for all laborers
except those who own their homes. Since this is the case,
the question arises whether they do better for themselves
than for tenants and laborers.
Houses. The prevailing type of house is the so-called
frame, commonly referred to as the “Jenny Lind.” It is
not a framed house in the true sense of the word, for the
timbers are not notched and mortised together but are
simply nailed in place. This makes the process of building
easier, simpler and cheaper but the building is not as sub-
stantial as it would be were it framed. Some are plastered
inside and others simply boarded up with plain smooth pine
lumber. The majority, even the modern ones, are built
THE RURAL HOME
29
with the open fireplace which is the chief means of heating.
Eighty-six per cent of owners', 80 per cent of tenants' and
78 per cent of laborers' homes are of this type.
The log house is next in importance. These are old
houses, having been built many years ago when sawed lum-
ber was not so easy to get. In the majority the logs have
been hewn out with broadax and adz, although some are
seen in which the rough timbers without any dressing have
been used. The ends of the logs are notched so as to reduce
the size of the cracks. The chinks are filled in with wooden
wedges and covered over with plaster which is often referred
to as “dobbin." The houses are usually unfinished inside
and all have the traditional fireplace. The very nature of
their construction makes it impossible to modernize them
and they are, for the most part, uncomfortable and unsani-
tary. Eleven per cent of the owners, 19 per cent of the
tenants, and 17 per cent of the laborers occupy this kind of
house.
In addition to the above, nine owner families had "both
log and frame" houses; four, brick houses and one, a stone
house. One tenant family and one laborer family each live
in a brick house and four laborer families in stucco houses.
Of greater importance than the kind of house is the
number of rooms. Owners' houses average 5.84 rooms,
tenants' 5.77, and laborers' 4.79. Stating this in terms of
the number of rooms per person, we find that owners have
1.20, tenants 1.or, and laborers 1.02.
In order to get some idea of the home atmosphere, the
writer made an effort to classify the general appearance of
the homes as good, fair or poor. On this basis owners had
213 good, 153 fair and 119 poor; tenants 25 good, 27 fair
and 22 poor ; laborers 30 good, 40 fair, and 26 poor. Sim-
ilarly the state of repair was tabulated for the three groups
as follows: owners, good 235, fair 144 and poor 106; ten-
ants, good 24, fair 29, and poor 21 ; laborers, good 30, fair
45 and poor 21.
One-half of owner houses are screened and partly
30
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
screened, while 47 per cent of tenant and 39 per cent of
laborer houses are so equipped.
Twenty per cent each of owner and tenant and 24 per
cent of laborer families have no toilets or privies of any kind.
WATER SUPPLY
Ten per cent of owner houses have water in them-
for the most part this means in the kitchen only,—while
only one tenant and four laborer families report this con-
venience. The prevailing source of water supply is the well,
averaging less than 50 feet deep. The wells are of two
types-dug and bored,—and are about equally divided.
Dug Wells. These are usually about five feet across and
quite shallow. The walls are of brick or rough stone, laid
up loosely without cement or other binding material. No
stone or brick is placed in the bottom and the top is fre-
quently uncovered. From some the water is drawn by hand
with a bucket attached to the end of a rope; from others,
by means of a pump; and from still others by means of a
windlass with its traditional moss-covered bucket. These
wells, often located at the spot where the prongs of the
forked peach twig would turn down-a sure indication to
some ignorant and superstitious pioneers that water was to
be found there and there only—are frequently located far
from the houses. They are the heritage of the past, unsan-
itary and a positive menace to the health of rural people.
Bored Wells. The bored well is slowly superseding the dug
well. Its bore is from five to eight inches across and its
depth-usually to the rock-is much greater than that of the
dug well. The hole is cased up with metal casing. In the
majority, the water is drawn by means of a pump, although
not infrequently by hand or a windlass. When the top is
properly covered the bored well ought to furnish a reason-
ably sanitary water supply. Forty-eight per cent of owner,
42 per cent of tenant, and 33 per cent of laborer homes have
wells either bored or dug.
Springs. Next in importance is the spring which in the
THE RURAL HOME
31
country is liberally interpreted. A spring may be a fountain
of water springing out of the ground; or a tiny stream with
an underground source somewhere above, coming down the
side of the hill or mountain; or a small stream commonly
referred to as a branch, fed by many of these tiny streams;
or a creek; and cases were found in which a river was
referred to as a spring. This so-called spring water may or
may not be safe. All depends upon the opportunities for
pollution. Generally speaking, it may be said that the
farther the families are from the source—the real spring-
the greater the pollution. Since very few families get their
water supply from real springs, so-called spring water is to
be condemned as unsanitary. Thirty-seven per cent of
owner, 28 per cent of tenant and 46 per cent of laborer fam-
ilies reported the use of springs.
Cisterns. The remainder of the families (15 per cent
owner, 30 per cent tenant and 21 per cent laborer) used cis-
terns. The nature of the construction of cisterns makes
possible the keeping out of seepage pollution, but since there
are no filters the water may become contaminated, especially
if the gutters and downspouts are not properly cared for
As a rule, springs are farthest from the house and dug
wells somewhat closer. Bored wells and cisterns are near
the house. Owner families carried their drinking water an
average of 61 yards, tenants 38 yards, and laborers III
yards. Their toilets are located 83 yards, 76 yards and 104
yards respectively from the water supply.
In summing up the findings in reference to the houses and
their outward equipment, it is evident that owner children,
taken as a whole, have the best homes, tenant children
probably next, and laborer children worst, but there is no
strikingly great difference between the best and the worst.
The difference seems to be about what the difference in their
incomes would lead one to expect. There is considerable
variation among the different types of communities, but
where there is a high or low standard for one class of occu-
pants, it is about equally as high or low for the others.
One can not travel far, however, in the open country and
32
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
not be impressed with the great differences in the outward
appearance of the homes as compared with city homes. So
far as the kind of house and the number of rooms per person
is concerned, there is probably not a great deal of differ-
ence. At least one room per person can hardly be said to
be a crowded condition. The first striking difference that
meets the eye is the general appearance of the house and
its surroundingsma thing that cannot be satisfactorily re-
duced to figures. The country is for the most part endowed
with natural beauty not only in the formation of its hills
and valleys, its brooks, creeks and rivers, but also in its
wild life-its birds, trees, flowers, and animals both domestic
and wild. There is scarcely a farm of any size in the state
that does not have some spot from which can be enjoyed a
fine view, a sunrise, a sunset, a clump of trees, a patch of
flowers, a creek, a river,--something beautiful. Yet these
are not the spots on which rural people build their houses.
They choose sites without consideration of the beautiful. If
perchance the building spot should have a tree or other ob-
ject of natural beauty, it is more than likely that sooner or
later it will be lost through wanton destruction, carelessness,
or neglect. Many houses have no fences around them, no
flowers, no lawns, or if they do they are not kept up. Often-
times the houses are in a bad state of repair and unpainted,
the yards are littered with trash and the barn lots cluttered
with machinery. Why this condition? Simply because
rural people have little, or no, knowledge of, or appreciation
for beauty. In fact, they rather look upon city people's use
of beauty as a fad. They will tell you they have no time for
such things as mowing the lawn, caring for the flowers,
cleaning up and painting; but the real reason is they see
nothing to be gained by doing these things. Too often the
country boy knows only the most common of the wild flow-
ers, birds and trees. He knows nothing of the life history
of flowers and trees, and if he runs across a new one he
does not know how to find its name. The history and
habits of birds he does not know at all. He knows the wild
THE RURAL HOME
33
animals somewhat better because their bodies are good to
eat or their pelts will bring a handsome price. A squirrel
or a quail is not an object of beauty but something to kill.
The pity of it all is that practically nothing is being done to
better the situation and this is an important factor in creating
a dislike for country life.
The second striking point of difference between country
and city homes is in the matter of sanitation. Less than
half of the country houses are screened or even partly
screened. During the hot summer days it is impossible to
keep all the doors and windows closed and it is not uncom-
mon to find the houses filled with swarms of flies. Espe-
cially are they to be found in the kitchen where the food is
prepared and, in the majority of rural homes, served and
eaten. Frequently one member of the family will wait and
with a long stick to the end of which are fastened small
narrow strips of paper, keep the flies off the table so the
others can eat. The relationship between flies and ill health
is unknown to the average rural person. They do not de-
stroy the breeding places of flies. On the other hand,
through their neglect and carelessness, the best possible sort
of conditions under which they may breed and thrive are
provided : on the back porch or near the back door may be
found the slop pail half filled with the kitchen garbage;
the manure piles are uncovered and mudholes and hog-
wallows are allowed to exist.
More than one in five of all the rural homes visited had
no toilets of any kind, and nearly all the privies are a serious
menace to health. Lime or other disinfectant is generally
not used and as a rule the buildings are so constructed as
not to meet a minimum standard of decency. They are
not screened but open to flies, chickens and rodents. Their
location for the most part is ill-considered; very often they
are so situated that drainage will carry the pollution into
the water supply or towards the house.
The water supply is a serious problem for country people.
In the early days when inhabitants were few and far be-
34
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
tween it did not make much difference how a family dis-
posed of its sewage. Now there are many more people
in the country, which of necessity means they must live
closer together, but they are still disposing of sewage with
utter disregard of what effect it may have, not only upon
the health of their own families, but also upon that of their
neighbors. The water got from the so-called springs—the
branches, creeks and rivers and from the dug wells is
especially dangerous. Often people get their drinking water
from the very streams in which their own hogs are wallow-
ing. Many wells are open for every kind of pollution to
enter. Why this condition? Here again we must answer,
they do not know. Rural people, no more than any other
group of people, are derelict in their duty, or indifferent to
the welfare of others, once they know, but the value of
sanitation they do not know. Health to them means to get
well if sickness overtakes them but the prevention of illness
by sanitary measures is little understood and almost un-
known to the average rural family. Education is the only
solution and they must be taught in terms of dollars and
cents just as city people have been taught. Until then coun-
try children can not have the chance for health that is rightly
theirs.
FOODS
Since it is the business of the farmer to produce food-
stuffs, the opinion has quite generally been held that he
never lacks a generous supply of wholesome foods. In
order to ascertain the situation, information was got as to
the production and consumption of meats, four, meal,
chickens, eggs, potatoes, and canned fruit and vegetables.
Meat. The most important item in the meat diet is pork.
For the most part this is raised, fattened and killed on the
farm. Butchering time comes once a year, usually in the
fall after the cool weather sets in. The hams, shoulders and
sides are cured and form the bulk of the meat supply,
throughout the year. The lean trimmings from the hams,
THE RURAL HOME
35
shoulders and bony "offalins" are made into sausage and the
fat rendered into lard. Country ham, however, is not always
as succulent as popularly believed.
The average annual consumption by owners is 708 pounds,
of which 49 pounds are bought; by tenants 736 pounds, of
which 52 pounds are bought; and by laborers 528 pounds, of
which 108 pounds are bought.
Chickens. The consumption of chickens and other fowls
is next in importance. Their greatest use is in the late sum-
mer and early fall, the time when the pork supply is running
low or gone. However, the use of chickens as food in the
country is not so great as is generally thought. The mar-
ket price largely determines the number rural families use,
for when the price is high the fowls are sold and not eaten.
Owners used during the year an average of 31, tenants 30,
and laborers 19.
Beef. Very little beef or other meats beside pork are used
in the country. A few families fatten and kill a beef and
then sell a part to their neighbors. This must be done dur-
ing the winter months as no satisfactory method has been
found for its preservation, except refrigeration, and this
country people do not have. By means of a little education,
however, they could be shown how to put up cheaply, and
care for properly, enough ice to supply their needs during
the summer. In some communities where the roads are
passable, local butchers from the towns and villages are be-
ginning to go out into the country with supplies of fresh
meats. Owners use annually on an average 46 pounds of
beef of which 18 pounds are bought; tenants 28 pounds of
which one-half is bought; and laborers 42 pounds of which
39 pounds are bought.
Bread Stuffs. Wheat flour is the chief item used in mak-
ing bread. In the early days people who raised wheat took
it to a mill and had it ground into flour. With the coming
of cheap transportation an increasingly large number sold
their wheat and bought the patented flours, but the present
high freight rates are tending to reverse this and people
36
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
are again going to the mill with their grist. Only two-fifths,
each, of owners and tenants, and none of the laborers, raise
wheat for flour. Owners consume annually on an average
1,053 pounds of flour of which 55 per cent is bought, ten-
ants 1,106 pounds of which 43 per cent is bought, and labor-
ers 982 pounds, all of which is bought.
Corn. This is next in importance in furnishing the bread
supply. Hot corn bread is usually served at noon and fre-
quently at the evening meal. Owners use an average of
nine bushels, tenants ten bushels, and laborers four bushels.
Potatoes. A very important part of the diet of rural
people is potatoes. It is not uncommon to find them served
three times a day. There are only two owner, two tenant,
and one laborer families that raised no potatoes at all.
Owner and tenant families each consume on an average 21
bushels and laborers 17 bushels. In some communities
sweet potatoes are raised and used extensively but consid-
ering the average for all families they are of small conse-
quence.
Eggs and Milk. The consumption of eggs throughout the
year is not great. The tendency is to discontinue their
use and sell them instead when the price goes up, although
all families who have chickens use more or less eggs during
the year. During the low price periods, however, they use
so many that they become “tired” of them, as they say.
Owners use an average of 47 dozen a year, tenants 43
dozen, and laborers 30 dozen.
The consumption of milk is an extremely hard factor to
estimate. If a family likes milk they use it; if not, it is
fed to the pigs. The number of milch cows—2.8 for own-
ers, 2.6 for tenants, and .6 for laborers-would seem to
indicate that there is a plenteous supply of milk for all
except possibly the laborers; but even here a cow for every
two families ought to supply enough milk for at least the
children. One difficulty, however, is that the cows are
usually dry in the winter.
Fruits and Vegetables Canned. The state is wonderfully
THE RURAL HOME
37
provided with fruit of all kinds, both cultivated and wild.
There is no excuse for any family to be without an adequate
supply both in and out of season. Owners put up an aver-
age of 177 quarts of fruit, tenants 182 quarts, and laborers
112 quarts. Nearly every home has a garden although in
many the supply of vegetables is not sufficient, and lacks
variety. Owners canned an average of 50 quarts, tenants
64 quarts, and laborers 41 quarts.
By stating these different items of food in terms of the
average annual consumption per person, we find that own-
ers use 145 pounds of pork, 12 pounds of beef, 216 pounds
of flour, a little over 6 chickens, about 10 dozen eggs, 4.3
bushels of potatoes, about 2 bushels of meal, 36 quarts of
fruit, and 10 quarts of vegetables. Tenants use annually
per person, 129 pounds of pork, 5 pounds of beef, 194
pounds of flour, about 5 chickens, a little over 7 Jozen eggs,
less than 4 bushels of potatoes, about 2 bushels of meal, 32
quarts of fruit, and 11 quarts of vegetables. Laborers use
on an average per person 112 pounds of pork, 9 rounds of
beef, 201 pounds of flour, 4 chickens, a little over 6 dozen
eggs, 3.6 bushels of potatoes, less than one bushel of meal,
23 quarts of fruit, and about 9 quarts of vegetables.
From these figures it is clear that the farm does not con-
tribute as much to the laborer's table as it does to either the
owner's or the tenant's table. On the whole country people
probably have as much to eat as city people but the diet is
not so well balanced, simply because farm women do not
know the dietetic value of foods. Much of the farmer's
work is hard and a correspondingly heavy diet is needed but
their food is usually as heavy on days they do not work as
it is when working hard. Furthermore, there is practically
no difference in the food served to children and to adults.
Children are fed anything and as much as they want.
The cooking is another factor that tends to make the
rural diet unhealthful. Most of the food is fried in large
quantities of grease. Many farm women do not know how
to vary the method of cooking or prepare inviting dishes.
38
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
Farm people hurry through their meals and do not get any
real enjoyment out of eating. The etiquette of the farm is
to eat as quickly as possible and leave the table.
RECREATION
What do these 657 families do in their leisure time? An
attempt was made to learn whether parents and children
attend at least once during the year certain activities such
as club meetings, picnics, parties, dances, athletic meets, pub-
lic meetings; belong to fraternal orders; take trips' away on
the train; whether they have pianos or organs, other musical
instruments, telephones, or automobiles; and the extent of
their reading. In the following discussion attendance of
parents means that of one or both parents, and of children,
that of one or more of the children in the family. The
inquiry is on a family rather than on an individual basis.
Clubs. One hundred and thirty-six owner parents belong
to or attend agricultural clubs, farm bureaus, or similar or-
ganizations, while the children in 58 such families belong to
the boys' and girls' agricultural clubs. Among tenants there
are only nine parents and three children attending or belong-
ing to such clubs and among laborers the corresponding
figures are four and five.
Picnics. A picnic is considered to mean any sociable,
supper or other gathering of this kind in public places.
Among owners the attendance of parents is 159 and of
children 155; among tenants, parents 26 and children 29;
among laborers, parents 34 and children 31.
Parties. This is construed to mean any social gathering
or entertainment in the home. Following is the attendance:
among owners, parents 80 and children 123; among tenants,
parents 6 and children 17; among laborers, parents 14 and
children 13.
Dances. The extent of dancing is limited. It occurs for
the most part in the home. For owners the report of attend-
ance at dances is, parents 18 and children 26; for tenants,
THE RURAL HOME
39
parents I and children 2; for laborers, parents 8 and chil-
dren 6.
Athletics. These consist largely of local baseball games.
The attendance is: among owners, parents 47 and children
60; among tenants, parents 7 and children 9; among laborers,
parents 2 and children 7
Public Meetings. These are considered recreation only
in so far as they provide some place to go. They are usually
for a political speech, a lecture or an agricultural discussion.
Attendance among owners is, parents 194 and children 133;
among tenants, parents 20 and children 13; among laborers,
parents 38 and children 20.
Fraternal Orders. Practically all of the more important
and nationally known fraternal orders are found in the coun-
try. A few orders are local. One hundred and nine owner,
19 tenant, and 20 laborer parents belong to lodges.
Church and Sunday School Attendance. Following is the
record of attendance among owners at church, parents 324
and children 310; and at Sunday School, parents 269 and
children 287; among tenants at church, parents 35 and chil-
dren 43, and at Sunday School, parents 29 and children 40;
among laborers at church, parents 55 and children 53, and
at Sunday School, parents 44 and children 49.
Thus it will be seen that the attendance of parents at
public meetings and at picnics is greater than at all the other
forms combined and that the percentages of owners, tenants,
and laborers attending these two forms together are about
equal. For owners and tenants, attendance at dances is
least, the percentages being respectively four and one, while
for laborers it is eight. The percentages of laborers attend-
ing athletic meets and clubs are both lower than the percent-
ages of them attending dances.
For children, picnics are of most importance. One-third
each of owner and laborer and two-fifths of tenant families
reported their children attending this form of recreation
from one to a dozen times a year. Public meetings come
next, the percentage of owners' children being 28, of ten-
40
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
ants' 17, and of laborers' 21. Parties are third in impor-
tance. Dances are attended proportionally more by labor-
ers' children than by either of the other groups.
An interesting fact is that the number of owner parents
(on the family basis) attending agricultural clubs is 2/3
times as great as the number of children attending boys'
and girls' clubs. In the case of tenant parents it is three
times as great as that of the children, whereas in the case
of the laborer parents it is slightly less than that of the
children.
The general average of attendance at these forms of recre-
ation is slightly better for parents than for children. For
parents the order is : owners, laborers, tenants; and for chil-
dren: owners, tenants, laborers. The striking fact is, how-
ever, that not one of these forms mentioned was attended
even once during the year by more than 40 per cent of either
parents or children. This, of course, does not show how
many never attend any of these things at all but there can
be no doubt that the number is large. One man, when asked
what he did for recreation, said, "Mister, I ain't got no time
for such things, and if I did have time I wouldn't go to 'em
'cause I don't believe in 'em." This attitude is what makes so
much of rural recreation negative rather than positive. It is
why we find so many young folks loafing at the village cross-
roads "all dressed up and nowhere to go.” These two ele-
ments lack of time and disbelief in amusements-are two
important factors in making country life dull and uninterest-
ing. Both are illusions. In the early days when the farmer
was self-sufficient, when he made his own shoes, his own
clothing, ground his own corn and wheat, and did all his own
work by hand, there was perhaps some excuse for saying
he had no time for anything but the job of making a living,
but in these days of the division of labor, he can not say
he does not have the time necessary for the recreation of
himself and family. The reason he clings to this belief is
because he always has something to do and there is an old
saying that the farmer's work is never done, but good man-
THE RURAL HOME
41
agement and proper planning ahead would enable him to do
his work in season. As to the second point-disbelief—it is
the result of the teachings of ignorant country preachers
who have constantly fought all forms of recreation without
setting up a substitute. Why the church has so persistently
failed to recognize the advantage to be gained in having
people play and have a good time together except under
its auspices is difficult to understand. Certainly the making
of people happy here ought not to interfere with their hap-
piness hereafter.
Trips. A person is considered as having taken a trip if
he got on the train and went beyond the local trading center.
Usually this means farther away than the county seat. Fol-
lowing is the record for individuals: owners, fathers 119,
mothers 85, and children 85; tenants, fathers 22, mothers 16,
and children 16; laborers, fathers 12, mothers to and chil-
dren 8. Visiting is an important form of recreation.
While there is considerable of it among friends and rela-
tives locally and the usual weekly trip to the county seat,
especially by the men folks, yet less than 25 per cent get on
the train and go away for a visit. Country people travel
but little and hence do not enjoy the advantages that come
from a change of scenery, from seeing new things, and from
contact with new ideas.
Musical Instruments, Automobiles, and Telephones.
Following is the record in percentages of owners, tenants,
and laborers, respectively, having pianos or organs: 48, 26,
and 21 ; other musical instruments 31, 35, and 32; telephones
55, 42, and 25; automobiles 23, 16, and 23.
Slightly less than one-half of the owners, one-fourth of
the tenants, and one-fifth of the laborers have pianos or
organs, and only about one-third each of the groups have
some other kind of musical instrument. Since music is
essential to the enjoyment of so many kinds of recreation,
it is evident that a great many families cannot have them
in their own homes. A little less than one-fourth each of
owners and laborers have automobiles while only one in six
42
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
tenants has one. The automobile has come to be a leading
factor in rural recreation; its effect is both good and bad-
good because it enables people to go long distances quickly
and cheaply—bad because it is causing rural people to limit
their recreation to the commercialized forms found in towns
and cities. Commercial recreation as such is not necessarily
to be condemned, but when people become addicted to it,
especially to the movies, they tend to lose the ability to pro-
vide their own “good times.” The country is so rich in the
material needed to make life pleasant and happy that there
is no excuse for failure to make use of it. Rural people
need stimulation and direction in this field.
Reading Matter. Following is the average number of
books, newspapers, and magazines per family, and the per-
centages of families in the different groups having none:
books: owners 46, tenants 17, and laborers 21; the percent-
ages having none, II, 15, and 21 respectively; dailies: own-
ers .26, tenants .30, and laborers .27; the percentages having
none are 76, 74, and 75; weekly newspapers: owners 1.06,
tenants .58, and laborers .40; the percentages having none,
31, 61, and 73; farm papers: owners 1.24, tenants 1.13, and
laborers .65; the percentages having none, 36, 43, and 60;
current magazines : owners 1.07, tenants .70, and laborers
.48; the percentages having none, 52, 60, and 73.
The striking thing in reference to reading material is
that so many families do not have books, papers and maga-
zines. Of owner families one in nine has no books at all,
of tenants one in seven, and of laborers one in five. Three-
fourths of all families have no daily newspapers. Owner
families average a little more than one weekly-usually the
county paper-and only about one-third of them have no
such paper. Among tenants there is a little more than one
county paper for every two families, and a little less than
one for every two laborer families, but three-fifths of the
former and about three-fourths of the latter have none at
all. Owners and tenants each have more than one farm
paper per family, while the laborers have a little more than
THE RURAL HOME
43
one for every two families. Somewhat over one-third of
the owners, slightly inore than two-fifths of the tenants,
and three-fifths of the laborers have no reading matter about
farm problems. Owners average better than one current
magazine to the family, but over half of the families have
none. Among tenants there are seven magazines for every
ten families but three-fifths of them have none, and among
laborers there is about one magazine for every two families,
but nearly three-fourths take none.
Some country people read, but a large majority do not.
Reading is both educational and recreational. To read for
pleasure, the surroundings must be comfortable, and poorly-
lighted, cold, unventilated, or fly-ridden houses are not com-
fortable. Furthermore reading is a habit but they have not
acquired it. Much time that could be spent in profitable as
well as pleasurable reading is spent in sheer idleness. Of
course it must be recognized that the first essential in read-
ing is the ability to read and we may raise the question, how
much educational training do country people have?
EDUCATION
As to owners, information was obtained for 421 fathers
and 416 mothers; 13.7 per cent of the former and 12.9 per
cent of the latter can not read or write. Of owners who
can read and write 54.8 per cent of the fathers and 53.0 per
cent of the mothers did not complete more than the fifth
grade at school and only 7.4 per cent of such fathers and 5.5
per cent of such mothers went beyond the eighth grade. In
only one of the II communities visited were no illiterate
owners found.
As to tenants, information was obtained for 68 fathers and
65 mothers; 22.1 per cent of the fathers and 7.7 per cent of
the mothers can not read or write. Of those who can read
and write, 64.1 per cent of the fathers and 58.3 per cent of
the mothers did not go beyond the fifth grade, while only
44
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
three fathers and four mothers out of the total number had
any training beyond the eighth grade.
As to laborers, information was obtained for 89 fathers and
89 mothers; 20.2 per cent of the fathers and 18 per cent of the
mothers can not read or write. Of those who can read and
write, 54.9 per cent of the fathers and 54.8 per cent of the
mothers completed no more than the fifth grade, while only
four fathers and four mothers have had any training beyond
the eighth grade.
These figures speak for themselves. No wonder the habit
of reading has not been formed when nearly 16 per cent of
all the fathers and over 13 per cent of all the mothers can
not read nor write. Furthermore, of all parents visited,
nearly 63 per cent of the fathers and 60 per cent of the
mothers have not had any educational training beyond the
fifth grade; and less than six per cent of all the fathers and
only about five per cent of all the mothers completed more
than the eighth grade.
Our educational leaders are wont to point with pride to
the schoolhouses every two or three miles apart, and boast
of an educational opportunity for every child; but educa-
tional training, and schoolhouses with a six or seven month
term are not synonymous. While rural people generally
have a feeling of complacency—at times and places even of
indifference-yet they are not to be censured so severely
for this attitude. Since education is a matter of stimulation,
the responsibility must rest squarely on the shoulders of the
educational leaders. No doubt they too have too much of the
feeling that anything will do for country people.
In rural education, to apply Cleveland's words, we are
faced by a condition, not a theory. One of the first con-
ditions that must be removed is the unfavorable attitude of
country people towards school attendance. Of the 274
owner families with children of compulsory school age, 93,
or a little over one-third, said they did not send their children
to school regularly. Irregular attendance is here construed
to mean continuous absence from school for a period of two
THE RURAL HOME
45
weeks or more during the school term. Among the 53
tenant families with children of compulsory school age, 25 or
nearly one-half said they did not send their children to
school regularly; and among the 59 laborer families, 28 or
nearly one-half. This is a severe indictment of compulsory
attendance law enforcement in the open country.
Why do these parents keep their children home from
school? Forty-one per cent of the owners, 72 per cent of
the tenants, and 53 per cent of the laborers give work as an
excuse. Possibly some of this may be necessary. It seems
reasonable to say that country children of compulsory school
age should never be kept home to work, except in an emer-
gency to save a crop, and then only when there is no adult
hired labor available. The net incomes found in this study
-$1,000 for owners, $736 for tenants, and $756 for labor-
ers--are sufficiently large to hire adult labor if it is avail-
able. Even if it is not available, there would hardly be any
emergency period so long as to keep children away from
school for two weeks or more at a time. No doubt much
of the time children are kept at home to work is spent in
profitable employment but the keeping of them at home is
due too often to a whim of their parents rather than to any
real emergency. Parents, of course, think they need their
children to help, but not knowing the value of an education,
they see no reason for sending their children to school when
there is work to be done.
Sickness is the second most important cause given by
parents for keeping children out of school. Twenty-seven
per cent of owner, 20 per cent of tenant, and 25 per cent of
laborer parents give this excuse. No doubt there is a great
deal of sickness necessitating children staying home from
school; but greater than sickness itself is the fear of sickness.
An epidemic breaks out in a community and immediately
parents keep their children at home.. Whether sickness is a
real or imaginary cause, its importance is none the less great.
This too must be dealt with as a condition--a condition
which urban leaders of education have met and are well on
46
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
the way to solving-but for country children the problem las
scarcely been recognized.
The third most important cause is what may be called in-
difference. Under this head were included all other excuses
given by parents, which could not be considered valid.
Twenty-three per cent of owners', four per cent of tenants',
and 21 per cent of laborers' excuses are classed as indif-
ference. It must be recognized that the element of indiffer-
ence enters into both work and sickness excuses but to what
extent can not be told except by a careful consideration of
each case on its merits. This is the work of the truancy
officer. To the average rural parent, truancy is not staying
home from school to work, or from the fear of sickness, or
for any other reason, but is playing hookey from school.
The enforcement of the attendance laws is left largely in the
hands of local people. Often there is a close relationship
by blood or marriage between those whose duty it is to
enforce the law and those against whom the law must be
enforced. It is impossible to expect officers so situated rig-
idly to enforce the law. The ties of kinship and friendship
and also unwillingness to stir up trouble in the neighbor-
hood, all seriously interfere with enforcement. Often the
officer himself is a flagrant violator of the law. The right
to educational training has not yet been fully secured to
country children.
We have discussed the conditions surrounding children in
657 rural families. To what extent, if any, are these con-
ditions responsible for the movement of children away from
the farm?
In the 486 owner families there were 844 children, or 37.2
per cent of the total number of children living, who have left
home. Twenty-nine per cent of them are farming, nearly
three-fourths being on farms in the communities where
they were born and reared. Fourteen per cent are doing
unskilled work, the majority in the communities where they
live. Another 14 per cent are skilled workers in mines,
quarries, timber and oil fields. Nearly 7 per cent are
THE RURAL HOME
47
engaged in clerical and sales work. Nine per cent are
physicians, ministers, dentists, druggists, veterinarians, sur-
veyors, lawyers, teachers and nurses, most of whom have
had at least a high school education. Eleven per cent are
engaged in trades, professions or businesses which require
a period of apprenticeship, or actual experience in carrying
them on. These are all skilled workers, some more so than
others. They include such mechanical workers as black-
smiths, locksmiths, machinists, auto repairmen, molders,
bridge and steam plant workers; such building trades workers
as carpenters, brickmasons, painters, and plasterers; such
transportation workers as engineers, firemen, brakemen,
conductors, motormen, and linemen; and such others as coop-
ers, jewelers, opticians, bankers, merchants, tailors, milliners,
millers, barbers, and brokers. Eight per cent are such semi-
skilled workers as fishermen, telephone operators, domestic
servants, mail service employees, chauffeurs, teamsters, hotel,
restaurant and boarding house keepers, janitors, and factory
workers. Four per cent are classed as miscellaneous, in-
cluding those in the army and navy, county officials and
students in school or college; in this group also are a few
children living away from home for one reason or another,
who are too young to be classed as workers. The jobs of
6 per cent of the total number are unknown.
The 75 tenant families have only 51 children, or 15.5 per
cent of their total number of living children, away from
honie. Using the same work classification as for owners,
we find that slightly less than 9 per cent are engaged in
farm work. About 22 per cent are in unskilled work and
about 25 per cent in skilled work. Less than 2 per cent
are engaged, each in clerical and sales work, and in trades,
professions or businesses with apprenticeship or experience
requirements. Less than 4 per cent are in professions
which have an educational requirement. About 10 per cent
have semi-skilled positions and a little less than 12 per cent
are classed as miscellaneous, and 14 per cent as unknown.
The 96 laborer families have 52 children, or 16.6 per cent
48
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
of their total number of living children, who are away from
home. Fifteen per cent are engaged in farm work and 19
per cent each in unskilled work and in skilled work. There
are only 2 per cent in clerical and sales work, while none
are found in those professions which have an educational
requirement. Fifteen per cent are engaged in trades, pro-
fessions or businesses which have an apprenticeship or ex-
perience requirement, and slightly less than 10 per cent have
semi-skilled positions. About 10 per cent are classed, each,
as miscellaneous and unknown.
While the number of tenant and laborer children is small
---perhaps too small for safe deductions—yet the indications
are that relatively fewer of them are staying on the farms
than are owner children. Proportionally more of the ten-
ant and laborer children are going into unskilled, semi-
skilled and local skilled work about mines, quarries, timber
and oil fields than owner children are, but practically none of
the former are entering the professions that have educational
requirements. In those trades, professions or businesses
which have an apprenticeship or experience requirement, the
percentage of laborer children exceeds that of owners' but
for tenants' it is almost nil.
Naturally the query arises, why did these children leave
the home farm? This has been the subject of a great deal
of alarming comment, particularly by urban writers.
Many have pictured the wholesale desertion of the farms,
and have attempted to show that the national food supply
was being endangered, simply because children were leaving
The danger to the national food supply is, however, none
the less real. The food supply depends partly upon the land,
partly upon the number of people there are to till it,
and partly upon the methods used. Farming, in order to
attract and hold workers, must be a profitable business and
experience has shown that in order to make it profitable the
minimum size of the general grain farm must be something
like 100 acres. This minimum, of course, is determined by
the type of farming. Modern machinery and better
methods are tending to increase rather than decrease the size
THE RURAL HOME
49
of the farm in order to insure greatest productivity as well
as greatest profits. In this study, the average size of own-
ers' farms is found to be about 116 acres.
The average
number of children at home in owners' families is 2.87. If
all these children remain on the land, and then their chil-
dren's children remain, and so on, it is evident that through
division by inheritance it would be only a few generations
before each farmer would have only a small parcel of land
and this would be continually decreasing in size from gen-
eration to generation. Reclamation of cut-over timber and
swamp lands will provide some new farms but this is of
small consequence. Since the frontier, which provided the
outlet for many farm children who wanted to be farmers,
no longer exists, there is no alternative but for many chil-
dren of farm parentage to go into other lines of work.
There is simply not room for all of them on the land. Fur-
thermore, there ought always to be for those children who
so desire, the opportunity to take other occupations.
Farming is not a closed life in which all should be con-
demned to follow in the footsteps of their parents. Chil-
dren should have the right to exercise freely their choice
and to do the kinds of work for which they are best fitted.
While it is conceivable that the food supply could be
endangered by wholesale desertion of the farms yet there is
no evidence of such danger at the present time. It does not
lie in mere numbers leaving but is to be found in the leaving
of the best, brightest, and most intelligent. These are going
not so much because of the pull that other occupations have
for them but because of the bad conditions on the farms.
They want to get away from these things rather than into
something else. This movement is tending to leave the
weaker and more indifferent ones on the farms. It is the
quality of those leaving rather than their quantity that makes
this migration serious. Let us review briefly the conditions
found among the 657 families visited in this study.
First. Young folks realize that they can not make much
more than a living on the farms. Particularly is this true
of tenants and laborers whose families are large and the
50
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
chance of inheritance correspondingly small. Not only is
the work hard and the hours long but also, and of more im-
portance, the return is uncertain in amount and irregular in
coming in. The income of the parents—$1,000 for owners,
$756 for laborers, and $736 for tenants—while probably
large enough to insure all the necessaries of the family, is
nevertheless so low there is practically no margin left for
anything else. Since the majority of farm children have no
direct interest, either in the form of wages or of some share
in the crops or live stock, they have the feeling that all they
are getting out of life is simply their board and keep. They
see how hard is the struggle of their parents, and as they
picture themselves going through this same process, they
begin to want to get away from it.
Second. The ugly and unattractive surroundings of so
many country homes cause children to become dissatisfied
with farm life. If country boys and girls go to towns and
cities and see beautiful, well kept lawns, neatly painted
houses, and attractive surroundings, and then return to un-
painted, unattractive houses, surrounded by yards grown up
in weeds, it is not surprising that their pride is not stimu-
lated. The mere fact that children live in the country does
not give them the ability to appreciate the beauties of nature.
City children long for the camp, the swimming hole, the
long hike, and the opportunity to study birds, trees, and flow-
ers, more than country children do. The indifference of
many rural children to these things is hard to understand.
Third. The unsanitary conditions surrounding life on the
farm are also of great importance. This is undoubtedly one
of the leading causes of so much ill health in the country.
Where so many homes have no protection of the water sup-
ply, where more than 20 per cent have no toilet facilities
whatever and where more than half have no screen protec-
tion against flies, no other result can be expected but ill
health. If there is added to this the unwholesomeness, poor
quality, and lack of variety of the food supply, the charge
of unhealthfulness in the country becomes a challenge.
THE RURAL HOME
51
Fourth. Children leave the farm because of poor educa-
tional opportunities. Not only is the quality of instruction
poor, the teachers poorly trained and paid, and the build-
ings poorly equipped, but the attitude of parents towards the
school and their children's attendance is such as to deny
many of the children even the meager advantages provided.
It matters not whether the poor schools have brought about
an unfavorable attitude on the part of parents or vice versa,
the result is the same-country children are not getting the
educational training to which they are entitled.
Fifth. Children leave the farm because they long for a
good time. To them so much of country activity is dull and
unattractive. They want to be happy and to enjoy them-
selves. They want somewhere to go, something to do.
Since they have not been trained to take the facilities and
equipment at hand and make a good time for themselves,
they spend a great deal of their leisure in idleness. Their
recreation is negative rather than positive. What they want
is action rather than inaction.
There is not one of these conditions that can not be
made right. They should not be made right for country
people but should be made right by them under the leadership
of those who know the rural problem from the rural point
of view. The rank and file of country people are not
conscious of the unwholesome condition surrounding their
lives on the farm. It is only the more intelligent, the more
aggressive who see and know, and they are the ones who
leave for the cities. In their leaving is the most serious loss.
Agriculture must be put on such a business basis and on such
a living basis as to attract and hold a reasonable number of
the brightest and best minds. Until farming is made more
profitable and unwholesome living conditions corrected, rural
sections will continue to send their strongest and best youths
into other walks of life. Not only the great industry of
agriculture but also the national food supply will not be safe
until country people are prosperous, healthy, intelligently
educated, happy and contented.
CHAPTER II
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
Walter W. Armentrout
AGRICULTURAL child labor is the commonest and yet the
least known form of child employment. Industrial child
labor has absorbed the thought and attention of reformers in
this field, probably because we live in an era predominantly
industrial. The nation, the several states, and even many of
our cities have consequently passed laws regulating indus-
trial child labor but have left untouched the vaster field of
farm work. The industrial laborers have been more
obvious, because found in groups in establishments where
they could be easily observed, and this grouping has also
made easier the regulation of their work and the study of
their conditions. Now that we have the industrial laborers
fairly well protected by law at least, although the law may
be but indifferently enforced, it is time for us to direct atten-
tion also to a larger group of working children, a group
about which there are reports of serious exploitation. Ru-
mors come from all sections of the country concerning the
overwork of farm children, but careful study of the facts
has so far not been made. Some say this problem is more
serious than that of the industrial child laborer, while
others see in it no cause for uneasiness; still others say that
rural people are so individualistic that nothing could be done
in the matter anyway. This study is an attempt to ascertain
in part what the actual conditions are.
For several decades the number of children engaged in
agricultural pursuits has been on the increase. Between
the years 1880 and 1900 the number very nearly doubled,
52
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
53
and between 1900 and 1910 increased by approximately one-
half. Unfortunately the occupational data of the United
States census for 1920 are not yet available. In all proba-
bility they will show a decrease in the number of agricul-
tural child workers, since this census was taken in January,
when comparatively little work was being done on the farms,
whereas that of 1910 was taken in April when farm work
was generally under way. A census taken in January can
not possibly show conditions as to agricultural labor. Of
the total number of children 10 to 15 years of age reported
by the 1910 United States census as bread winners, 1,431,254
or 71.9 per cent were engaged in agricultural pursuits. Of
this number 260,195 were reported as "farm laborers work-
ing out”—that is, on farms away from home. The number
of children of these ages reported as engaged in work other
than agriculture was 558,971. From these figures it is seen
that in 1910 there were almost three times as many in agri-
cultural pursuits, and half as many "working out," as there
were in all other occupations. In so far then as numbers
are an indication of the existence of a problem, here is a
field worthy of study.
There is no reason to believe that this number is decreas-
ing, except as families in the country become fewer, for there
has been no general effort toward preventing or even dis-
couraging child labor on farms. In fact in blanket laws
dealing with child employment, children engaged in agricul-
tural pursuits are specifically exempted. It has been
assumed that a child with a home in the country, where he
lives under the care of his parents, is ideally situated. Con-
ditions, now beginning to be recognized as harmful to chil-
dren and even to adults, have been pictured as most attrac-
tive in song, story, verse, and from the platform, so that
those away from this field have not suspected the truth, and
those living in it are so close to the problem that they have
not seen it. But students of rural life to-day are convinced
that a rural home alone is not sufficient to assure the child
a proper opportunity for development and education.
54
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
A business which cannot give a living wage to its work-
ers, or one which depends on the cheap labor of children for
its success, has no right to exist. If our present system of
agriculture depends on the labor of our children for its
success, then this system has no right to exist. The person
who exploits a child in agriculture is no better, and has no
more valid excuse for so doing, than one who exploits a
child in industry. We will not stand for child exploitation
in industry, nor will we stand for it in agriculture if we
find it there. Is it there? This study tries to answer the
question.
Before any relief could be brought to the industrial child
it was necessary to study the kind of work he did, the condi-
tions under which he worked, and how this work and these
conditions were affecting his physical, mental, moral, and
social development. It is necessary, also, to know these
things about the rural child in order to decide whether
or not the work he does is suited to his strength and needs.
If not suitable, it is not safe to assume that the problem can
be solved by the same methods as have been applied in cities.
Careful investigations must be made and, above all, they
must be free from the bias of the urban state of mind.
The opportunity came to make a study of child labor on
farms in West Virginia, which has a great variety of soils,
land conformation, and agricultural and horticultural inter-
ests and conditions. We wish to acknowledge the valuable
assistance of the Division of Extension in selecting such
communities as would give a fair picture of general con-
ditions and in furnishing valuable data on enrolment, etc., in
club work. We are grateful also to the county agricultural,
home demonstration, and club agents, stationed in some of
the counties visited, for locating the communities and for
the contacts with farmers which our acquaintance with them
afforded. This study was made in the late winter and spring
months of 1921. Five communities in which boys and girls
club work has been organized for from two to five years, and
five other communities representing different kinds of farm-

1
2
4
This
1. The teacher and one lone pupil in school in the 2. The same school after harvesting is over.
beet-district of Colorado. This photograph was is typical of schools in beet, cotton, and tobacco
taken five weeks after school began
growing sections
3 An II-year-old "all-round" farmer, who is stay- 4. A boy, 12, seated on the mowing machine which
ing out of school to cultivate peas
cut off his hand.
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
55
ing, were visited. Some time was spent in as many homes
as possible in each community. The homes were not se-
lected in advance, but visited as encountered in going about
the communities. A schedule of questions relating to the
life and work of each child in a family was used and
answers noted as given both by the parent and the child.
Exact records were obtained for 259 children, 8 to 16 years
of age inclusive, in 142 homes. In addition, while assisting
in the studies which form the basis of the chapters on
“The Rural Home" and "Rural School Attendance," chil-
dren in 300 other homes and in 26 rural schools in other com-
munities were observed. Altogether children in 26 counties
were visited. The figures which will be quoted, however,
are only for those children visited in the 10 communities
mentioned first.
KINDS OF WORK AT WHICH CHILDREN CAN BE EMPLOYED ON
VARIOUS TYPES OF FARMS
Speak of a child working in industry and no definite idea
of the work he is doing is conveyed. The same is true of
the child in agriculture. The type of farming determines
the work he may do in agriculture to somewhat the same
extent as the type of industry determines the work he may
do in industry. For this reason it is important to consider
the types of farming and the opportunity each one offers
for the employment of children.
In the most widespread type, called general farming, the
crops are corn, small grain, hay, and truck for home con-
sumption. It is divided into two sub-types, according to the
method of disposing of the crops; if the grain and hay are
marketed as such, the sub-type is called general grain farm-
ing, but if sufficient live stock is kept so that the major
portion of the crops is consumed, it is called general live
stock farming. Both these sub-types vary somewhat; for
example, grain farming may become so specialized that only
two or three kinds of grain are grown, and the general live
56
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
stock farm may become a highly specialized one in which
the feed grown on the place is supplemented by purchased
feed. This latter sub-type may vary again so that the live
stock are grazed only, and are marketed before feeding
time.
Dairy farming, while similar in many respects to live-
stock farming, has some distinct features. A dairy herd
must receive better care than butcher animals, the milking
must be done, and the marketing of dairy products requires
work of a kind quite different from that required for the
disposal of other farm products.
In the one-crop type of farming the major operations cen-
ter around one cultivatable crop. The kind of crop depends
on the section of the country, the soil, and the climate.
Chief among such crops are cotton, tobacco, potatoes, sugar
beets, and onions.
The truck- and market-garden type of farming, found
especially near centers of population, is the intensive culture
of vegetables for immediate consumption. The acreage of
individual farms devoted to this type is comparatively small,
and a great amount of hand work is required.
Horticultural farming may be divided into four main
types: Orcharding, berry growing, grape growing, and
citrus-fruit growing.
These types in a very general way cover the field of agri-
culture. Each offers a distinct kind of work at which chil-
dren may be employed, in addition to the tasks common to
all. We shall now mention briefly the kinds of work
peculiar to each type, and the ages at which children can be
employed at this work to the farmer's profit, leaving for a
later discussion the actual conditions found.
On the general grain farm only the larger children, usually
those from 14 years upwards, can be used to any advantage
in preparing the soil for spring planting. This first main
crop in the spring is corn, and when this is planted with a
drill or check planter only those children who are large
enough to operate such an implement can be used, but where
the grain is dropped by hand and covered with a hoe, as
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
57
it is in many of the rougher sections of the country, very
small children can be used. Young children can be used
everywhere for thinning (pulling out the corn) and hoeing.
Hoeing is the most common work for the small child and
the hoeing season may extend over a period of three months.
A child of from 10 years upwards can cultivate corn with a
single walking plow, but it takes an older and stronger one
to operate a two-horse, or single-row, cultivator. On this
type of farm, harvesting of small grain is the next major
operation. With modern harvesting machinery only the
larger children can be employed to advantage, but the smaller
ones can collect bundles and help with the shocking. The
harvest lasts only a short season, and the care with which
the grain must be handled requires the work of adults.
When bundles are hauled to the barn or thresher small chil-
dren can pack on the wagon, or even pitch bundles onto the
wagon or into the thresher. The hay harvest offers greater
opportunity for the employment of children. A small child,
perhaps not younger than eleven or twelve years, can drive
a mowing machine, a rake, a tedder, a loader, or a horse to
the hay fork; can fork hay into a cock, can pitch it onto the
wagon; can mow with a scythe in the fence corners and
around stumps; can rake the windrows with a hand rake;
can pack it on the wagon or in the hay mow or stack. This
harvest lasts for a longer season and requires less careful
handling than does the small grain. Where corn is cut and
shocked in the field small children can be employed also.
The husking of standing corn and of corn in the shock, and
shredding afford employment for the larger ones only. In
the preparation of land for the sowing of small grain there
is not much work for a child unless he is large enough to
handle a team with a disc harrow, or to drive a tractor. At
seeding time he can carry seed or fertilizer from the wagon
to the drill. Seeding should be completed and corn stored
by the last of December and on this type of farm the child
should find no further employment with the crops until the
spring planting begins again.
The general live-stock farm offers these same opportuni-
58
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
>
ties for employment and, in addition, feeding, watering, and
bedding the stock, and handling the manure.
The dairy farm offers all the work found on a live-stock
farm and, in addition, milking, churning, cleaning utensils,
caring for and marketing the dairy products.
The work on a one-crop farm depends somewhat on the
kind of crop grown. In cotton farming any child large
enough to handle a mule and single plow can be used for
the preparation of land for planting. The same child can
run a cotton planter, and a still smaller one can drop and
cover the seeds with a hoe. Following the planting come
the thinning and the long hoeing season. A very small child
can use a hoe, pull a cotton plant, or pull the fiber from the
cotton boll, hence he can find employment from planting
time through the picking season which may not be over
till the late winter.
The acreage of tobacco on a farm is comparatively small.
The adult usually finds time for preparing the soil, but chil-
dren can be used in making the hills, in dropping the ferti-
lizer and the plants, and in setting the plants. Then comes
the hoeing, the worming, and suckering, at which children
from seven years old upwards can be used. In harvesting
tobacco small children can carry and hold sticks, but only
the larger ones can cut the tobacco, hang it on the scaffold,
hand it off, and tie it. This may not be finished till late
winter.
The method of raising potatoes depends to a great extent
on the acreage devoted to the crop. Where there is a large
acreage the potatoes are planted, cultivated and harvested
with machinery, but where the acreage is small, most of the
work is done by hand and with simple tools. In the former
case a child would not ordinarily find employment, but in the
latter a child from ten or twelve years old upwards can be
used at dropping seed, covering with a hoe, cutting weeds
and hoeing the crop, and when they are plowed out with
a single plow, children who are very young can pick up the
potatoes, placing them in baskets. This is a crop in the
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
59
raising of which machinery can be used to good advantage,
and where it is the main crop such machinery is ordinarily
provided and much work that children can do is eliminated.
Sugar-beet growing carries with it many operations at
which children can be used, each extending over a consider-
able period of time. A great deal of the thinning is done by
hand and small children can do this, as well as the hoeing and
pulling of the beets. It takes a great deal of hand work to
make this crop, each individual operation is easy, and chil-
dren can be used throughout the season.
Onion farming requires work of a similar nature to sugar-
beet farming, and in these same operations of thinning,
hoeing, and pulling children can be used.
In market gardening most of the work must also be done
by hand. The plants must be set, weeds pulled and cut with
a hoe, and vegetables and truck harvested and prepared for
market. The work continues throughout the season and
children can be used for all the hand operations. Their use-
fulness depends on the care they exercise in their work, but
in most of it they can be used to as much advantage as an
adult.
Aside from piling brush after pruning, a child ca
not be
used much in orcharding before picking time. The picking
must be done by hand and a child under 10 years cannot
do much of this. The pickers can also pack the fruit. The
season for this work depends on the kind of orchard--that
is, on the kinds of fruit grown-but in most cases it is short.
While citrus-fruit growing is different in many respects,
the work at which a child can be used is similar, in the
main, to that in orcharding.
The work for which children are in demand in berry
growing is the picking of the berries. This requires no
special skill or care and very small chilldren can "make good
hands.” Besides this the plants must be weeded and culti-
vated as are many other farm crops.
Aside from the cutting of weeds and the cultivation of
the vines, vineyarding offers two distinct types of work for
60
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
children. In the spring they can tie the vines to the wires
and in the late summer they can pick the grapes.
The
bunches are cut off by means of a sharp knife, placed in a
large basket, and carried to barrels. This method of har-
vesting may vary in different sections but it is essentially the
same everywhere. A very small child cannot do this work
satisfactorily, for grapes require careful handling if they are
to reach market in salable condition. The tying season lasts
only two or three weeks but the picking season may be con-
tinuous over two months.
THE ATTITUDE OF PARENTS AND OF THE STATE TOWARD THE
WORK CHILDREN DO
In the beginning of our agricultural developmen. it was
necessary that every member of the family be a producer
to his greatest capacity. Families lived far apart, seasonal
help was scarce, and the labor of the whole family was
necessary to save the crop. The family that did not pro-
duce to its utmost was looked upon as a drag on the com-
munity. A child who spent his time in play was not only of
no benefit but was thought to be on his way to ruin. Work
kept adults out of mischief, so why was it not good for the
child? Rural folk are slow to change from old to new
ideas. Many children are still compelled by their parents
to work, not from necessity, but because they honestly be-
lieve that work is the only thing worth while for them.
They are prejudiced against play, recreation, and social life,
and cannot see the value of an education if it interferes with
their immediate needs, so they often require children to work
to keep them out of "divilment.” On the other hand, there
is still severe economic pressure on many rural homes
which, without relief from other sources, demands the undi-
vided attention of every member of the family.
The parent's conception of his relation to his child is
another factor influencing the kind and amount of work
the child does. The popular conception in the rural mind
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
61
is that the child is indebted to the parent for bringing him
into this world, that it is the child's duty to make every sac-
rifice for the parent, that where the interests of the child and
the parent conflict, those of the former should always be
sacrificed. A conversation between a farmer and the writer,
while engaged in this study, will illustrate this attitude. А
man and his 14-year-old boy were sawing firewood in the
woodland. Besides this boy there were two smaller children
in the family. The man owned a fair-sized, fertile farm
and operated a threshing machine, from which he had made
a considerable amount of money during the past season.
The boy had gone along with the thresher as a feeder,
doing a man's work, for which he received no pay what-
ever, the father saying that sometimes he gave him a nickel,
that he boarded him and clothed him, and that that was as
much as he got when he was a boy. School was in session
but the boy had not attended more than a third of the time.
He was in the third grade. When asked what he would like
to do when he got older, his father, before the boy could
answer, said: “Bill will do just what I tell him to do till
he is twenty-one, if he stays under my roof. After that he
is his own boss and can shift for 'hisself!'” It is not likely
that "twenty-one" will find Bill under his father's roof.
“Twenty-one,” the very time when the burden should defi-
nitely shift from the shoulders of the parent onto those
of the child, is the time fixed for just the opposite.
Another parent, a man who had four children between
10 and 15 years of age, talking about the kind and amount of
work his girls and boys did, made this remark: "Our
bunch is profitable to us all right.” The majority of the
rural children are born of and raised by parents having an
attitude very similar to that of these two. They are not
to be condemned for they have not caught the newer vision
of childhood, in which the parent owes all to the child till he
reaches maturity.
The work done by children on the farm presents no diff-
culties to the mind of the rural parent. In conversation with
62
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
a man who was a leading farmer and an active church and
Sunday School worker in his community, one who had more
than an average education and appreciation of present day
problems, in fact a man who was the leader of his prosperous
community, this question was asked: “Do you think the
children in this community are in any way injured by the
work they do on the farm?" Answer: "No, indeed;
more work would be better for them and the community
would be more prosperous.
The state, on the other hand, has taken a somewhat dif-
ferent attitude. It regards its children as future citizens,
who must be given the chance of normal development so that
they can take their proper places later on. The state be-
lieves that all is not well now with the rural child and is
taking steps to relieve him of the burden it thinks he is
bearing. Knowing the individualism of the rural father
and how he insists on being lord of his household, it is
not taking measures of compulsion, but is trying to displace
child labor with something better-it is substituting chil-
dren's work for child labor. These differ radically but it is
often hard to distinguish between them. Child labor inter-
feres with health, education, and recreation; children's work
not only does not interfere with these but aids in securing
them to the child. West Virginia, through its Division of
Extension, is offering children's work in the form of boys'
and girls' Four-H Clubs. These clubs have been in success-
ful operation for about ten years. Their emblem is a four-
leaf clover, each leaf representing one essential part of a
child's life. It means luck, and luck comes to the boy or
girl who has his Four H's, namely, "Head," "Hand,"
"Heart," and "Health," all well developed. Clubs are or-
ganized in counties which employ agricultural, home demon-
stration, or club agents. They center around the local
schools, and often the children from two or three schools
will be organized in one. The number of clubs in a county
depends on the amount of time an agent can devote to this
work, for he has other duties to perform. Clubs without
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
63
a good leader are not successful. Any rural child between
the ages of 10 and 18 years may become a member, if he
will meet certain requirements (referred to later in connec-
tion with "projects"), secure the consent of his parents, and
sign the following pledge:
“1. To study carefully the Four-H Suggestions as they
come to me each month, and to answer questions
and return blanks promptly.
"2. To do myself as many as possible of the things sug-
gested for the development of my 'Head,' 'Hand,'
Heart,' and 'Health.
"3. To carry out at least one of the systematic projects
described in Four-H Suggestions No. 4.
4. To make accurately and promptly all reports (in-
cluding properly certified records) and exhibits that
are a regular and necessary part of the club work.
"5. To be charted according to the Four-H standards
when requested."
The "Four-H Suggestions," referred to in the first item of
the pledge, are published in the form of pamphlets, written
by the State Club Agent, and sent to each member each
month. These instructions give seasonable instruction about
the project the member is undertaking together with a blank
sheet of questions about the project and club work, which the
member must answer in writing and return to his club leader.
There are also suggestions as to how the member may de-
velop his Four-H's. These suggestions are written in a sim-
ple and forceful way, so that any child who reads can under-
stand them. The titles of some of the subjects discussed in
these pamphlets will show their nature: "About luck," "About
equipment," "About scales" (health), "About a desk"
(hand), "About the three R's," "About the heart H,”
"About cold feet," "About records," "About muscles,"
"About a picnic," "About Four-H camps," "About old reli-
able," "About little things," "About excuses," "About keep-
ing fit," "About team play.” These “Suggestions" are full
64
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
of illustrations of what some other club members have done,
and leave the question with the member: "Why can't I do as
well as he did ?"
The "Systematic Projects,” referred to in item three of
the pledge are described by the club agent as follows:
1. Pig Project (for boys and girls). Each member must
own a sow (pure bred preferable); must care for his stock
in person; and must agree to provide some green forage for
his pig. Basis of prize award: best pig 40 points, profit 40,
booklet 20.
2. Poultry Project (for boys and girls). Forty-five eggs
must be set or incubated to start the work. Each club mem-
ber must provide his or her own eggs. The poultry must be
owned and cared for by the club member. A record of the
value of the eggs and the amount and the value of the feed
must be kept by the member from the time of starting work
till October of any given year. Basis of award: number
raised 30 points, profits 30, exhibit 20, booklet 20.
3. Potato Project (for boys and girls). Each member
must secure the land and seed to start the work. One-eighth
acre must be measured by two disinterested parties who will
also sign the crop record attesting to size of plot. Basis of
award: yield 30 points, profits 30, exhibit 20, booklet 20.
4. Small Fruits Project (for boys and girls). All mem-
bers shall secure the ground (1/20 acre) and, except for the
very hard work, shall plant to strawberries or red rasp-
berries, cultivate and harvest the crops. All members must
exhibit at the county fair three quart glass jars of berries
grown and canned by themselves, together with their record
books and illustrated booklets. Basis of award: yield and
profit 30 points, exhibit 30, record 20, booklet 20.
5. Sheep Project (for boys and girls). Each member
must own one or more ewes with as good breeding and in-
dividuality as possible. The sheep must be managed and
cared for by the club member. Each member must keep a
record on blanks furnished by the Extension Division. Basis
of award : exhibit 40 points, profit 40, booklet 20.
6. Corn Project (for boys). Each member must raise
at least one acre of corn. Two disinterested parties must
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
65
measure the acre before planting, and sign the boy's record
book attesting that the acre contains 4,840 sq. yards.
Eighteen inches must be allowed between edge of acre and
first row of corn. Basis of award: yield 30 points, profit 30,
exhibit 20, booklet 20.
7. Gardening and Canning Project (for girls). All new
members (beginners) shall prepare 1/20 acre of ground
(except for the very hard work), plant, cultivate and har-
vest a crop of tomatoes, canning at least part of them. They
must exhibit at the county show or fair two No. 3 tin cans
and one quart jar of tomatoes grown and canned by them-
selves together with their record book and illustrated book-
let. Basis of award : yield and profit 30 points, exhibit 30,
record 20, booklet 20.
8. Clothing Project (for girls). Each member shall se-
cure the materials and herself do the cutting and sewing
necessary to make towel and holder, cooking apron, and
nightgown. She shall keep in her record book an accurate
statement of the problems that arise in connection with the
clothing project, how overcome, amount of time and of
material used, and all information suggested in the record
book. She shall make an exhibit at a regular club show of
all her work done under the clothing project. Basis of
award: exhibit 60 points, record 20, booklet 20.
These projects are described more fully in circulars sent
out to members by the Division of Extension. An exhibit
of all projects must be made at the county fair or club show;
a record of cost of production must be kept, including pay
for the time of the boy or girl while working at the project
charged on the expense side; they must write a booklet
telling of the problems encountered in the project and of
how they were met; they must write a history of their
project and of the club activities, illustrating with pictures
and drawings if possible. A member may have more than
one project. They are awarded prizes of varying amounts
on the basis as shown above. The money for the prizes is
provided in a great number of ways, but most of it from
the community in which the club is situated. There is suf-
66
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
ficient variety in the projects to allow any child to find some-
thing he can handle. Each one selects his project with the
advice of the agent.
The agent in charge of the club meets the children at the
local schoolhouse one afternoon each month. Here they are
instructed how best to meet their problems, are helped with
their records, and discuss the Four-H Suggestions for the
month; then they have some time left for play, the leader
staying and joining in. This is really a half-day school, as
much more interesting as it is different from the "regular"
school. In addition to the monthly meetings the club agent
visits the members at their homes, looks over their projects,
and gives advice as to the best methods of handling them.
There is an effort made to secure for the members pure-
bred animals and seed. Rarely does a child have to drop
out because he cannot "get a start.” In some communities
the Farm Bureau or some business men's organization has
bought a number of pure-bred pigs and has asked the agent
to place them among the club members. A member is given
a gilt; he must care for her according to club instructions,
raise a litter of pigs and return two female pigs at weaning
time to the organization. All the remaining pigs and sow
belong to him, while the two returned are placed with two
new members. Sheep are placed on the same basis, except
that the member returns only one ewe lamb. In the poultry
project, a club member is given 45 pure-bred eggs and in
the fall she returns three pullets to pay for them. Pure-
bred males are placed in the communities for service in con-
nection with projects and their use in breeding is required
whenever this is possible.
Those who win county prizes are sent to the state College
of Agriculture during the following summer for a week's
training and instruction under the best instructors that can
be secured. Four hundred and twenty-six boys and girls
attended this course last year. Those winning state prizes
are given $100 scholarships at the College of Agriculture.
In those communities where the agent in charge of this
club work is active and interested, a wholesome social and
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
67
recreational life for the children has grown up, with
sociables at the schoolhouse, parties at the homes, picnics in
the community, and “hikes" over the country. In one com-
munity visited the members came together at some home
on two Sunday afternoons each month during the summer,
and under the chaperonage of the parents hiked to some
favorite spot where they had a short program, games, and
picnic supper. In several communities, plays, entertain-
ments, or pageants have been given.
In the summer of 1920 there were 28 Four-H Camps in
the state, with 1,300 children attending. In 1914 there was
only one such camp, the first of its kind. Such time is
selected as the boys and girls can best be spared from their
hones, and the camp leaders can attend. A place in the
county suitable for camping is selected, with drinking water
convenient, and if possible a place to swim. The county
is the unit for these camps. Each member brings his own
provisions according to a list sent out by the county agent;
these are so simple that no child need stay away because of
their requirement. Tents are pitched and camp opens on
Monday. The county agent, assisted by instructors from
the Division of Extension, the College of Agriculture, or
from outside the state, is in charge of the camp. Two or
three mothers of club members volunteer to do the cooking
and each child cares for his own equipment. The children
are divided into groups according to age and sex for
instruction; into "tribes” of mixed age and sex for play:
and the work and play begin. The following is a typical
day's program:
6.00 a. m. Bugle.
6.10 a. m.
Flag raising
6.30 a. m. Setting up exercises or morning dip.
7.00 a. m. Breakfast.
8.00 to 11.00 a. m.
Periods of instruction by the
leaders on topics dealing with the
Four-H's.
Medicine ball.
II.15 a. m. General assembly (lectures and talks)
11.00 a. m.
68
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
I2.00 m. Dinner.
1.30 p. m.
General assembly.
1.45 p. m. Play and recreation by "tribes."
4.30 p. m. Rest.
6.00 p. m. Supper.
7.30 p. m.
Vespers.
8.00 p. m. Night's doings (camp fires, story tell-
ing, pageants, etc.).
10.00 p. m.
Bed.
One day, usually Thursday, is set aside as visitors' day,
when a large number of club members' parents come to join
in the games and to inspect the camp. Many parents have
said that this day was the best of the year for them.
As many of the older members as request it and can be
handled are "charted” at the camp—that is, they take a test
on the Four H's. This is not a test of what the child has
learned but rather of what he is able to do, of his physical
condition, and of his moral judgment. For the "Head” test
there is used a Standardized Silent Reading Test devised by
Walter S. Monroe, University of Illinois; Curtis Standard
Research Test in Arithmetic; and The Myers Mental
Measure. For the "Heart" test, questions in moral judg-
ment are used. Their skill of hand is tested and they are
weighed and measured. The following chart will better
explain:
HEAD
2.
ICO
Points
Points
possible
earned
I. 200 Ability to read...
200 Accuracy and speed with figures.
3. Proof of regular home reading.
4. 100 Report of "What This Camp Means
to Me"
5. 100 Explanation of ambitions in life.
6. 200 Keenness of observation, mental alert-
ness, never getting rattled...
100
General information..
7.
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
69
HAND
2.
Points
Points
possible
earned
I. 150 Quickness, accuracy of movement...
100 Strong grip, well developed callouses
3. 150 Skill in making things without tools.
4. 200 Skill in making things with tools....
5. 100 Boiling one quart of water in ten min-
utes (one match, one block of wood,
one axe, can with one quart of
water
6. 100 Drawing: mechanical and freehand..
7. 200 Number of points earned at camp...
HEART
I.
3.
200
Points
Points
possible
earned
100 Good judgment in distinguishing be-
tween right and wrong.
Efforts to live up to the Golden Rule.
200 Religious training, church and Sun-
day School activities...
4. 100 Appreciation of the beautiful.
5. 200 Loyalty to the gang.
6. Good team work in this camp.
7. 100 Praiseworthy ambitions
IOO
HEALTH
2.
Points
Points
possible
earned
1. 100 Normal gain in weight..
200 Physical well being
Eyes (50).. Teeth (30)
Ears (30).
.Nose (10).
Throat (10).......Feet (20) ).
Carriage (30)... Complexion (10)..
Lack of shadows under eyes (10)...
200 Good health habits
Bath (25)... ....Fresh air (25)...
Sleeping 8 hours daily (25).
3
.
70
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
1
100
Points
Points
possible
earned
Eating habits (50).....
Tooth brush (25)..
Drinking plenty of water (25).
Free bowel movement daily (25)...
4.
Sanitary environment at home and
school
5. Preventives used : small-pox vaccina-
tion, typhoid vaccination, rescue
swimming, first aid...
6. 200 Athletic ability: running (50), jump-
ing (50), throwing (50), swim-
ming (50)
7. 100 Well rounded muscular development:
arms, legs, back, wrists.
This, then, is the attitude the state assumes toward its
rural children, and one plan it has for improving their condi-
tion. Just what it is accomplishing and what influence it is
having on the lives of boys and girls will be discussed later
under proper headings.
TYPES OF FARMING AND WORK DONE BY CHILDREN
Of the families of children studied, 102 were farm owners
engaged in general farming ; 22 were owners engaged in live
stock farming; 11 were farm laborers; and 7 were tenants on
general farms. The great majority of farms are general
farms, but some sections of the state are devoted to orchard-
ing, and there are many potatoes, and tomatoes, and some
tobacco grown, but not so exclusively as to class them as one-
crop farms. Many of the general farms border closely on
the live stock type. Under this general system of farming
we would not expect to find children employed to the same
extent as under some of the other types.
Industrial activities, however, are placing a burden on the
farm child not commonly found in rural districts. Of the
142 families studied, 52 fathers worked away from home
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
71
part or all of the time (see chapter on "The Rural Home"
for kinds of rural industrial work). This leaves the chores
and a great part, in many instances all, of the farm work for
the mother and children to do. Many cases were found
where they were operating the farm, producing most of the
food for the family, while the father was away doing indus-
trial work.
The work children do has been dividea into three classes :
I. regular chores, 2. work done during school term, 3. work
done outside of school term. Parents and children were
both consulted about the nature of the work. There is such
a great variety of it and so many factors determine its effect
on the child, that no attempt has been made to tabulate or
reduce it to averages.
Besides no record of the work chil-
dren do is kept by the family, and it is impossible for them
to give even the number of days they were engaged in a farm
operation. An attempt will be made only to list the kinds of
work reported by children, and by parents, and observed by
the writer while in the field.
It is worthy of note that the economic status of the parent
has very little effect on the amount of work done by the
child except that, strangely enough, the chores and other
light work he does increase with the wealth of the farmer up
to a certain point.
The doing of chores is the main work of the winter season.
This consists of feeding, watering, and caring for the stock;
bedding the stables; milking and caring for the milk; feeding
the chickens, and gathering the eggs; cutting, and carrying
in wood or coal; and often carrying water from the spring;
sweeping the house, making beds, and washing dishes. These
chores must be done every day and many of them twice a
day. It is a boy's job to do the outside work, but often a girl
is found at these tasks. The amount of time and labor
required for them depends of course on the number of ani-
mals, conveniences in feeding and caring for them, the
number of children to do them, etc. The majority of chil-
dren covered by this study were employed for from two to
72
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
four hours a day in this service. Take, for example, a
schedule of one 14-year-old girl's day. In the family were
four children, one boy 16 years old, another boy 10 years old,
a girl baby 6 months old, and herself. This 14-year-old girl
arose at 6 o'clock, was busy with the chores and cooking
breakfast till 8 o'clock, walked two miles to school which
convened at 9 and closed at 4 o'clock, walked home before
5 o'clock, helped with the evening chores and had supper by
6.30 or 7 o'clock, having about an hour and a half for herself
before she retired at 9 o'clock. This is not an extreme case;
one can walk no more than two miles from any country
schoolhouse and find similar instances.
An effort was made to learn the kinds of work at which
children were employed while school was in session, and it
was found that they were kept out for such work as har-
vesting, husking and hauling corn and fodder; filling silos;
sowing wheat; hauling hay from stack to barn; going to mill
or town; cutting and hauling wood; washing and ironing,
and caring for smaller children while mother was washing or
working away from home; staying home to work while
parent was sick; in orcharding sections, picking, packing, and
hauling apples; in tobacco sections, cutting, hanging, and
handing-off tobacco. In the main these are the kinds of
work that keep children from regular school attendance.
Boys and girls are employed to the greatest extent, how-
ever, during the growing or summer season. Aside from
the chores, the chief work, till they are 12 years old, is
hoeing, thinning corn, picking berries, raking hay, and work
of that nature. The hours of employment vary, but many
instances were found where children under 12 years of age
spent 10 and 11 hours in the field, sometimes for a week at a
time. Generally speaking, no difference is made between
girls and boys of this age, as the majority of girls were
reported as taking their places in the field with boys until
they were "too big for field work.” It is not at all uncom-
mon for a parent to say that his 12-year-old boy or girl hoes
corn for 12 hours a day. A large part of the farm land of

County agent advising 14-year-old negro boy who is raising a pig as
a Four-H Club project
Pooled by Club Randers
100%
VIRGIN VOOL
Webs Valls fulls Mall
total lusso
Club member showing wool and explaining that instead of selling it :
at 200. a pound, club members have it made into cloth; this brings
three times as much and their friends are enabled to buy at a
reasonable price real woolen cloth (see background)
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
73
West Virginia is rough and hilly and requires a great deal of
hoeing "to make the crop," and where there are enough
children, this work is turned over to them. A few girls 14
to 16 years old said they had “made a hand” with a plow
last summer. One man and his 15-year-old daughter
plowed 40 acres of corn. Many reported that their chil-
dren from 10 years old upwards helped to cut and shock
corn; to rake windrows with a hand rake; to trim around
stumps and fence corners; to pitch hay onto the wagon and
pack it in the hay mows; in fact, they were reported as doing
every kind of work possible for them to do. Practically all
boys 14 years old and over were reported by themselves and
parents as "regular farm hands," which means that they do
the same kinds of work and for the same number of hours as
the adult. The girls, aside from assisting in the fields, help
with the washing and ironing, tend the garden, assist with
the canning, berry picking, and churning. In orcharding
children from 10 years upwards are employed at picking and
packing apples, and in the tomato sections at cultivating and
picking tomatoes, many working also for part time in the
local canning factories. In the tobacco sections they set the
plants, worm and sucker the tobacco and hand-it off.
James Good, 14 years old, without any help, prepared
land, cultivated, and harvested 10 acres of corn last summer,
-really a man's job.
Clyde Smith, 15 years old, alone raised 6 acres of corn and
I acre of tobacco.
Ralph Anderson, 11 years old, raised 14 acre of tobacco
and is his father's only help on a 95-acre farm.
Two boys, 13 and 16 years old, do all the work on a 125-
acre farm, having had 25 acres in corn last summer.
William Johnston, 13 years old, prepared the land and
cultivated 10 acres of corn.
A 12-year-old boy and his mother cultivated 6 acres of
corn and raised and marketed 800 bushels of tomatoes.
Two boys, 12 and 14 years old, operate a 140-acre farm
while the father works in a sand mine.
74
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
A boy, 15 years old, does all the work on a 150-acre farm,
his father being away at the mines.
A girl, 15 years old, and her two brothers, 13 and 14 years
old, hoed 15 acres of corn three times, cut corn one week,
bound oats by hand three days, raked hay with a hand rake
eighteen days, picked up potatoes for three days, 25 bushels
each, per day, last summer.
One boy, 12 years old, was found operating a tractor,
disking a 20-acre field, unaided.
Every farm child does not work this way, but such cases
as these are not at all uncommon. It is unquestionable that
the rural boy and girl perform many tasks. Is it children's
work or is it child labor ? To decide this it is necessary to
see how their rights are affected.
INTERFERENCE WITH SCHOOL ATTENDANCE OF WORK BY
CLUB MEMBERS AND NON-CLUB MEMBERS
Anything which prevents a child from taking advantage of
the opportunity to attend school constitutes an injustice to
him. With regard to this matter we shall discuss one factor
only, namely work, and see whether it is interfering with
school attendance. As this study extended only through
April, it may not show even the minimum of days missed,
for if the record had been obtained for the entire school term,
including the spring months when a good deal of farm work
is done, the number of days reported missed for work would
undoubtedly have been greater. A record of attendance for
each child, up to the time of the visit, was taken. The boys'
and girls' clubs are exerting a great influence on the educ
tion of their members and are improving their school attend-
ance; therefore, in the following table, the children are
divided into two groups, “club members" and "non-club
members.” Records were obtained for 99 of the former
and for 160 of the latter.
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
75
Number of Children Kept Out of School for Work and Average
Number of Days Missed on this Account
Club Members
Non-Club
Members
Number of children 7 to 14 years
inclusive kept out of school for
work
26
48
1312
31
Average number days missed by
each such child for work, during
period studied
Number of children 15 to 16 years
of age and below 8th grade kept
out of school for work
0
15
Average number of days missed by
each such child for work, during
period studied
0
7473
The minimum school term for West Virginia is 130 days.
From the table, then, 26 per cent of the club members 7 to 14
years of age had each been kept out of school for work an
average of 1372 days up to the time of our visit, or approxi-
mately 10 per cent of the school term; 30 per cent of those
of this same age who are not club members had each been
kept out of school for work an average of 31 days up to the
time of our visit, or 23.8 per cent of the school term. There
were no club members 15 and 16 years of age below the
eighth grade who were kept out of school for work, but 15
non-club members of the same age and standing, or 9 per
cent of the total, had each missed an average of 747/3 days
up to the time of our visit, or 57 per cent of the school term.
These figures speak for themselves; moreover, they were
obtained from parents in communities where teachers do not
recognize farm work as a valid excuse for absence. If we
had visited each school at the end of its term and obtained
the complete records of absence, the figures would have been
worse.
What effect has this absence from school on the education
and training of the children? According to our present
76
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
standard we judge a child's educational advancement by the
grade he has reached in school at a given age. In the follow-
ing table, compiled to show the variation from normal grade,
a variation of two grades has been allowed; for example, a
child 10 years old, who is in the third, fourth, or fifth grade,
is considered in his normal grade, although at his age he
should be in the fifth grade if he started at the age of six.
This method of computing seems fair considering the length
of term and type of the average rural school. Records were
obtained for the same children as shown in the table above.
Number and Percentage of Club Members and Non-Club Members
in, above, and below Normal Grades at School
Above
Normal
Totals
Normal
Below Normal
No.
Per
Cent
No.
Per
Cent
No.
Per
Cent
No.
Per
Cent
Club members
3
3.03 | 55 55.5
41"
41.4
99
100
Non-club members. I
0.6
65) 40.6
94
58.7
160
100
1 This number includes six club members 16 years old who had passed and
were repeating the 8th grade because no high-school was available. If they
are counted as being in normal grade, then the percentage of this group below
normal grade would be lowered to 35.3. There were no such repeaters in the
other group.
Those above grade are few in number--three club mem-
bers and one non-club member. Of the club members over
half are in their normal grades, as against 40.6 per cent of
the non-club members; 41.4 per cent (or 35.3 per cent if
counted as indicated in note above) of club members and
58.7 per cent of non-club members are below normal grade
even with this generous allowance for grade distribution.
From these tables we note that those who are members of
clubs are kept out of school fewer days for work than non-
club members, that a higher percentage of members are in
normal grades, and that poor attendance is causing slow
advancement. The poor condition of the schools themselves
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
77
is the real cause of poor attendance, but this chapter is not
concerned with the remedying of that condition but with the
situation as it is. Under existing conditions work is inter-
fering with the rural child's education. Because it affects
his education, some at least of the work the rural child does
must be branded as child labor.
If we hold to the principle that every child is entitled to
an education, then so far as we find that work is interfering
with this, we must find some means to prevent it. From
this study, accepting school conditions as they are, we are
ready to say that work actually interferes with education,
but before we can find a means of controlling it, we must
find its cause. If it is necessary for children to labor be-
cause of poor economic returns to those engaged in farming,
a program which will increase the returns to this class will
have to be drawn up and carried out before children can be
freed from this burden. On the other hand, if this work is
the result of misconception by the parent of his relation to
his child, or of indifference to the schools, the program
should be one of education and compulsion of the parent.
But the fundamental program is improvement of the schools
themselves. The state should provide agencies to promote
such education, and enact such laws and provide such means
of enforcement as, together with school improvement, would
correct this indifference.
FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF HEALTH
Perhaps more than in any other kind of work does a man's
success in farming depend on his health and strength. This
physical strength is so important that the idea has become
popular that the only personal equipment a man needs to
make a successful farmer is plenty of muscle, bone, and
endurance; hence the old saying, "It takes a man with a
strong back and a weak mind to make a good farmer.” A
farmer needs much more than brute strength to-day, but this
is still essential. Yet, recall the older farm men and women
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RURAL CHILD WELFARE
of your acquaintance: the great majority are broken and
aged beyond their years; many live to an old age, but their
active life is over soon after middle age, and when other men
are in their prime, they are on the decline. Is this the price
they must pay for feeding humanity? It is difficult to deter-
mine how much of this is due to work done in childhood,
work done in manhood, or how much to living conditions.
To ascertain the facts would require an intensive and special-
ized study. Let us review briefly some of the work children
are doing and see whether there is reason to believe that one
source of broken-in-health adults is child labor. First, the
chores: they must be done every day, regardless of weather.
The average rural child does not have adequate clothing to
protect him from inclement weather. In doing some of his
chores he cannot carry an umbrella or wear an overcoat or
raincoat. Ofter he becomes damp with perspiration while
feeding stock in the barn, and then another chore calls him
out into the cold. Many start the day at school with wet
feet and clothing. The actual work of performing chores
should not be injurious, but the conditions under which it is
done must make it harmful to many. Colds are common
among rural children in the winter, and are caused to a great
extent by their exposure. One cold does some harm, and
when they occur repeatedly the child's health is seriously
endangered. Exposure is injurious to adults--how much
more so to children? Too often the child on the farm is
given work without any consideration of the exposure in-
volved.
Aside from the chores, the work most common to all chil-
dren on the farm is hoeing. The child has this job because
it is a very easy task to cut a weed or hoe a hill of corn, but
continued through long hours and in the beaming sun the
resulting fatigue is great. Extreme fatigue from any cause
is injurious to health. The adults of the farm do very little
hoeing when there are children enough to do it. A week's
work with the hoe is the hardest work a farm can offer. In
many instances the adult wilfully shifts this onto the little
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
79
fellow because it is too tiresome for him. Most work on
the farm requires the use of certain muscles all the time, and
does not make for the best all-round physical development.
At harvest and threshing time there is always a rush.
The hours are long, often 12 to 14 daily, and in the excite-
ment of the rush a child will often do work not fit for him.
This season is short but it is long enough for a child to
receive a lifetime injury. A growing boy insists on doing a
man's work and the older folks raise no voice in protest, for
isn't it the place of the young fellow to make it easier for the
man who, as he sees it, has already done his share of the
work? The writer remembers quite distinctly threshing
time on Mr. Jones's farm. Mr. Jones's son, John, was 13
years old and fairly strong for his age. His task was to
help the hired man haul the sacks of wheat from the thresher
to the granary. There are usually plenty of men standing
around the machine who will help load the wagon, but only
John and the hired man went to the granary. The supply
of sacks was limited and they had, therefore, to be emptied
and returned promptly. The sacks held two bushels, 120
pounds. John lifted them out of the wagon and the hired
man emptied them. The boy was determined that the
machine should not stop for want of sacks so he worked
with his whole strength. He did this for only a half day,
but, when the excitement was over, he felt a dull ache in his
back. The effects of this work remain with him yet in the
form of a weak, aching back, and to-day in what should be
the prime of his life he cannot lift the weight he could when
he was 13. These few hours' work cost John years of suf-
fering and decidedly lowered his efficiency. Such small
injuries, when accumulated, leave our rural population unfit
long before they should become so.
There is no more delightful work on the farm than making
nice, clean hay. It must be made when the weather is warm
and the sun is shining, yet it is seldom that a farmer gets
his hay harvested without some rain, and as a result dirt and
dust are on it. Farmer Johnson had thirty acres of very
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RURAL CHILD WELFARE
fertile bottom land in permanent meadow. In fair weather
he could harvest this and his upland hay in about 20 days.
A fair-sized stream ran through the meadow, and every
third year, on the average, in spring or early summer, would
overflow its banks, leaving the hay sanded, which would
injure but not spoil the crop. There were three boys in the
family, and one of their jobs was to place and tramp the hay
in the mow after it had been pulled up with a hay fork.
A heavy cloud of dust hung in the barn, yet the boys worked
in it through the season. This work lasted only a month
at the most and the heaviest dust occurred only every three
years, but that may be enough to do lasting injury. We
certainly would not permit children to work in a factory
that long in even a small portion of such dust. Not only
is there dust at hay time but also in threshing, shredding,
and always when feeding. A farmer may not like dust in
the barn because it injures his stock, but that it might injure
the health of his boy may never occur to him.
Farm machinery is wholly unprotected. The inventors
and manufacturers have given no attention to its protection
because this has not been demanded and it sells as well or
better without It is more of an accident that a child does
not get injured by farm machinery than that he does. Many
adult farmers carry the marks of injuries by farm machinery.
Farmers will tell a boy that he should "be careful” around
dangerous machinery, and it is true that a boy sufficiently
careful need not be injured by farm machinery; but a boy
sufficiently careful need not receive injury from the exposed
cogs, belts, etc., in a factory, yet do we let the factory owner
off with his warning to his employees to "be careful”? Then
why the farmer? A 12-year-old boy, sent out by his
father with a mowing machine, was removing a stick caught
in the sickle when the horses moved and two fingers of the
boy's right hand fell to the ground.
Children are often sent out with teams and implements they
cannot manage and an accident occurs. A farmer sent his
10-year-old boy to harrow a field with a section harrow.
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
81
The boy lifted the harrow to clean some trash from under it;
the harrow was too heavy for him to hold and when he
dropped it one tooth went through his foot. A stiffened
joint of the big toe and a boy lame for life resulted.
Another farmer sent his 14-year-old boy, with a team
of young mules, not well broken, for a piece of machinery a
mile away. On the way the mules became frightened, the boy
fell from the back of one, became entangled in the harness
and was dragged for a quarter of a mile. He was picked up
unconscious and with a broken arm. These are really not
accidents—they are the natural result of children being com-
pelled to do the work of adults.
Some of the work children do on farms is undoubtedly
injurious to health. To what extent we cannot say, but in
so far as it injures health it is child labor.
FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF RECREATION
Work is not the principal cause of poor recreational con-
ditions in the country, but it does have some share in causing
them. More often it is an excuse rather than a necessity.
The great ambition of the farmer has been to get a few
dollars ahead; he has not made as much as our self-made
millionaires, but on the whole his mind is just as much taken
up with it as theirs. Play and recreation have been looked
upon as idleness. If a farmer's children did not work as
hard as his neighbor's, if they went to ball-games on Satur-
day, or took off a day through the week for a picnic, they
were branded in the community as a “shiftless bunch.” An
ambitious parent does not like to have this reputation. Idle-
ness is not good for any one; play is idleness, therefore play
is good for no one-this is how they reason, hence work is
the salvation of the child. The lack of wholesome play
causes parents to think there is no such thing. This com-
bination of the lack of wholesome play with the horror of
idleness has made the rural child's life an orgy of work.
In talking to one farmer about the play of his children, he
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RURAL CHILD WELFARE
answered: “My boy plays with a grubbin' hoe, grubbin'
sprouts and briers. In wet weather he cuts wood. That's
the kind of play that's good for 'im.” In talking further
with this father it was found that it was not necessary for
the boy to work all the time but that he was made to work
just to be kept busy. The most common answer received
to the question about play and recreation is, "They don't
have no time for play." Were it not for the prejudice
against play there would be ample time for it, and children
would be relieved of the extra work put on them just to
keep them out of “divilment.” Such time as the rural child
has free from work he usually spends in "settin' around.”
He does not know how to play. Play is not idleness, and
when good and wholesome play is provided for the country
child, when parents recognize its place in childhood, the
problem of rural child labor will be far on the way to
solution.
There are a few children in every community who are
compelled to work constantly because of the dollars they can
make and save for their parents. Mr. Edwards is a pros-
perous farmer in a prosperous community. He has three
boys, 13, 15, and 16 years old. A Chautauqua was held in
his community recently. He was one of the "guarantors, ”
so he must have been favorably inclined toward it. The
boys wanted to attend, for they enjoyed things of that kind,
but they did not do so. When Mr. Edwards was asked
why this was, he answered: “They have to work in the day-
time and I make them stay home and rest at night so they
will be worth something for the next day.” Fortunately
this group is in the minority.
Work does, however, interfere with recreation in another
and perhaps more serious way. When there is anything of
a recreational nature in the community, there is usually
certain work that, to the farmer, seems urgent. The chil-
dren are kept at home to do this work which might well
have waited till the next day, thus missing the chance. For
a few days following the children may have comparatively
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
83
little to do, but then there is no “circus" to see. The thrifty
farmer delights to be seen in the fields with his children on
holidays and picnic days, while his "no 'count” neighbors
enjoy a day's outing. They will have to work to-morrow
He stayed at home and worked to-day, and to-morrow he
can glory in the fact that his work is "up" and can watch
the others work, saying to himself, “If they had not been
running around they would be 'up' with their work, too”
he reasons. He consoles his children by telling them how
much better it is to have finished the work a day sooner than
to have attended the picnic.
The present attitude makes work interfere with recreation,
but with a change in this attitude there will be plenty of
time for wholesome play.
EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF WORK
Work, though it interferes with school attendance, may
nevertheless be educational. In this study we have tried to
determine how many children were receiving anything of
educational value from their work. All children born on
the farm will not stay there, nor is it desirable that they
should do so; but, whether they stay or go elsewhere, they
should get something of educational value out of their work
while there. When a child spends most of his time at routine
work, such as hoeing, ploughing, washing dishes, making
beds, and doing chores, the educational value is slight. This
is only drudgery, is easily learned, and prepares him for
nothing better. If, in addition, he feeds some animals,
studying the results of different kinds and amounts of feed;
and cares for certain animals, raising some young; cultivates
corn, selecting seed, studying and using best methods of
culture, and keeping a record of cost of production; prunes
and sprays some trees, learns to pack fruit, etc., the boy is
really getting an education along with his work. If a girl,
in addition to the drudgery of housework, learns to cook
well; learns something of the food value of the meals she
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RURAL CHILD WELFARE
prepares; learns to serve; learns best methods of caring for
milk and butter; learns to feed, cull, and care for a flock
of poultry; learns when, how, and what to plant in a garden;
learns how to can and to preserve; learns to sew and to
select material for clothing; learns to keep a simple record
of household expenses, etc., she is being educated along with
her work. Using this as a basis, we have classified children
into two groups: those whose work is fairly educational,
and those whose work is not educational. This classification
is based upon talks with children and parents in their own
homes. These children are divided again into “club mem-
bers" and "non-club members," for if nothing else can be
said for the club work, it is educational.
Number of Club and Non-Club Members Whose Work Is Educa-
tional and Not Educational
Club Members
Non-Club Members
Children whose work is fairly
educational
95
39
Children whose work is not
educational
4
121
Ninety-five of the club members are doing work from
which they receive a good deal of educational value, as are
39 of the non-club members. Four club members have not
begun their projects. One hundred twenty-one of the non-
club members get very little of educational value from their
labor, and without some other influence will become the
shiftless farmer or casual laborer of the future.
The educational value of work depends to a great extent
on the instruction the child receives. He may receive proper
instruction from progressive parents, teachers, or other agents
or individuals in the community. The most desirable place
for a child to receive such instruction is at home and from
his parents. In talking with mothers and fathers we tried
to ascertain the kind of instruction they were giving their
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
85
children, whether they tried to learn the best methods of
doing things and then instructed the children in those
methods, or whether they let them grow up under the old
methods of farming and housekeeping. This classification,
again, is based on judgment after having talked with parents
in their own homes.
Number of Children Receiving Proper and Number Receiving Un-
suitable Instruction front Parents
Club Members
Non-Club Members
69
39
Children receiving proper in-
struction from parents
Children receiving unsuitable
instruction from parents
30
I21
Sixty-nine of the 99 club members are receiving proper
instruction from progressive parents, while 30 must depend
on the teacher and county agents; 39 of the non-club mem-
bers are receiving proper instruction from progressive par-
ents, while 121 must look elsewhere for it.
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC VALUE OF WORK
If a child is a partner in the work of the farm he should
be a partner in the profits. If he has a personal interest
in its affairs the drudgery is lightened. A fourteen-
year-old boy, talking about the work on the farm and how
he liked it, said: "I ain't goin' to stay here much longer;
I have to work myself to death and don't get nothing out of
it; never get to go nowhurs. I don't like it and ain't goin'
to stay.” Many a farm child is forced to work when he is
not interested, and when he knows he will receive nothing
out of it but his “board and keep.” With such treatment
he may become a social misfit, a person disliking work of
any kind, a drag on society. Many farm boys reach matur-
ity owning nothing. All they have made has gone back to
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RURAL CHILD WELFARE
the farm. At maturity they must start with what their
father gives them or nothing. They do not acquire the habit
of saving when young, for they have nothing to save. We
inquired how many children owned anything on the farm,
received any pay for work done at home, or had a share
in the crops or live stock. They have been divided again
into club members and non-club members, for one require-
ment of the clubs is that the member own his project.
Number of Children Owning Anything, Receiving Pay for Services,
or Having Share in Products
Club Members
Non-Club Members
Number of children with such
benefits
31
.
99
Number of children without
such benefits
0
129
All of the club members enjoyed some of these benefits
and eight owned something besides their projects. Thirty-
one or 24 per cent of the non-club members enjoyed some
of these benefits, while 129 or 76 per cent had nothing what-
ever of their own.
An inquiry was also made as to the number of children
beginning to acquire the habit of saving. The following
table shows the results of this inquiry:
Children Having Savings Account in Bank
Club Members
Non-Club Members
38
12
Number of children having
savings account
Number of children having no
savings account
61
148
Thirty-eight per cent of the club members had some money
saved, as against 7.9 per cent of the non-club members.
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
87
Several club members had used their earnings from projects
to defray expenses at high school. Sixty-two per cent of
the club members did not have a savings account as against
92.1 per cent of the non-club members.
Information concerning the economic returns to club chil-
dren from their projects was obtained from the office of the
State Club Agent. He reported that each member last year
had an average net profit of $25.80. This net profit is
figured by deducting all expenses, including, besides other
expenses, rent for land and pay for the member's own labor,
from the gross sales price. Of the 99 members in this study
85 used their profits themselves while 14 gave them to their
parents.
CHILDREN "WORKING OUT"
The 1910 census reported 260,195 children from 10 to 15
years of age as "farm laborers working out.” This means
children working on farms under the direction of persons
other than their parents. But the census represents condi-
tions on only one day of the year or a cross section of the
year. In the present study we have noted all children who
have worked away from home at any time during the year.
Some of them worked away only a few days while others
were hired out by the month. Their work and hours are
similar to those of other farm children. Those working out
only a few days were generally helping a neighbor with
wheat or corn harvest, picking apples, etc., while those who
worked by the month were "regular farm hands.” Of the
259 children studied, 55 or 21.5 per cent had worked away
from home during the past year. The average number of
days worked was not learned, but the average amount of
money earned by each at such work was $33.75. The wages
varied from 50 cents to $2 per day. It is interesting to
know what became of these earnings. The following table
shows this:
88
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
Disposition of Earnings
Number
Per Cent
22
40
Number giving earnings to parents.
Number required to buy clothing
with earnings
Number not required to buy cloth-
ing or give earnings to parents.
23
42
IO
18
Twenty-two or 40 per cent of children who worked away
from home were required to give their earnings to their
parents; 42 per cent were required to buy clothing for them-
selves, which took all their earnings; and only 18 per cent
had their money to use in other ways.
BENEFITS OF CLUB WORK
In comparing the tables given above it is seen that club
work is quite beneficial to children. This is even more
striking when a community in which it is established is
visited. The club work is doing more to discourage rural
child labor than all other agencies combined. Its leaders
have à vision of child welfare and are not promoting the
work with the economic gain to the community solely in
view. They are attacking the problem in the right way,
substituting children's work for child labor.
Let us compare some of the figures in the preceding tables
and note some of the things observed during the study.
The parents of club members have somewhat larger farms.
This
may be due to the fact that the clubs have been started
in the more progressive communities where county agents
are at work. On the whole, however, the types of families
studied were not markedly variant so far as the economic
factor is concerned.
The educational features of this work are helping the
children decidedly, even aiding them in their promotions in
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
89
the public schools. There are more than twice as many
non-club members as club members below grade in school.
Almost twice as many non-club members as club members
from 7 to 14 years of age were kept out of school for work.
Nearly three times as many days were missed from school,
on the average, by each non-club member as were missed by
each club member for work. About 10 per cent of the club
members have gone to high school, while not one of the
non-club members has done so, among the children studied.
Six of the club members were repeating the eighth grade
because no high school was available, while the non-club
members had all dropped out by this stage. The club work
and the contact it gives with other people is inspiring the
children to pursue their education. They are making head-
way where they go on to high school. Two members entered
high school at the county seat; they were doing such good
work in English composition that the teacher began to sus-
pect that they were receiving outside help. When she
investigated she found that they had been in the club work
for four years, and that their good composition was due to
their training and experience in writing booklets, histories
of their projects, and keeping records. They were leaders
in their class and in other high school activities. Many a
rural child never knows any one who can inspire him to reach
out for higher things. The biennial report of the State
Superintendent of Free Schools for the two years ended
June 30, 1920, states that only 52 per cent of the teachers
have had any normal, high school, or summer school training,
and that nearly all of these are in larger towns and cities;
that only one-tenth of them have had four years in high
school. In the chapter on “The Rural Home" the findings
as to the literacy and schooling of the fathers and mothers
of rural children are set forth, and it is not surprising that
boys and girls are not encouraged by their parents to acquire
all the education available. On the other hand, a county
agent must be a college graduate.
If the county agent or home demonstration agent is the
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RURAL CHILD WELFARE
proper sort of person in other ways, he or she is worth more
than his salary because of the inspiration he gives to farm
boys and girls. Then there is a chance for a week at the
State University and a week at the camp with some of the
finest people in the country. It is the object of club work to
help a child find his place in society, and to help to fit him
for that place. Too often this work is thought of as training
to induce children to stay on the farm. It undoubtedly will
have a tendency to keep more and a better type there after
they are taught the better side of farming and rural life, but
when a boy or girl seems better suited to some other work,
the ambition to take it up is not discouraged. The education
and training they get in this work will help them ever after-
wards. They deal with real live problems and not merely
with the theories found in text books.
The average amount of clear money made by each member
from projects last year was $25.80. Of the number studied,
75 per cent kept this money for their own use, 38 per cent
having a bank account. The parent agrees that the child
shall have the profits from his project and public opinion is
fast compelling the parent to live up to this agreement. He
is learning that the child is easier to manage and takes a new
interest in the farm when he is a club member.
The club members have much more and better recreation
than those not in the club. Parents now permit them to
attend its social and recreational activities, whereas formerly
they frowned upon the same functions when given under
other auspices. The older folks are being reached through
the children and a new community life is being developed.
In one community visited, in place of the usual gossip in
the country store, the main subject of talk was the club work,
how they could do more for the children, and a groping
after something better for the boys and girls. The attitude
of the great majority of parents who have children in this
work is decidedly favorable, and in communities where it
is not organized, those who have heard of the work being
done elsewhere express a desire to have it for their children.
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
91
All who were questioned agreed that they received more for
their taxes that went into this work than from any other
public source. The children like the work. Its recreational
side appeals to them as much as the project work and a large
percentage of the 7,163 members completed their projects
last year.
It has one drawback, however. It is not reaching enough
children. To be successful it requires good leadership, and
there are not enough men and women devoting their time
to it. In 1920 there were 30 county agricultural agents
giving approximately one-third of their time to this work,
14 home demonstration agents giving part of their time, and
42 club agents, 20 of whom were giving full time and the
remainder half time. They should meet the clubs twice a
month, visiting each member at least once a month while
he is having special problems with his project. This would
require many more people in the work. If it is a help to
some rural children, as we thoroughly believe, then every
rural child is entitled to its benefits.
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Farming offers many opportunities for the employment
of children, beginning at a very young age and continuing
throughout childhood. There is no uniformity of work and
no two children necessarily do the same amount, or over a
period of time work under the same conditions. There are so
many things that children can do, and do well, on the farm
at all seasons of the year, that the opportunities for child
labor are plentiful. The extent to which they are employed
depends on two main factors: the attitude of the parents
toward the work of children, and the economic status of
the home. The former is by far the most important deter-
mining factor, and when it is adverse to the child's welfare
and appears in combination with an unfavorable economic
status, the child grows up under extremely unfortunate
conditions. The child "working out" in agriculture presents
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RURAL CHILD WELFARE
no more serious a problem than the child working on the
home farm. There is a child labor problem on the farms,
because some of the work children are doing is interfering
with their education, injuring the health of some of them,
and because the unfavorable attitude toward recreation and
the belief that work is the only thing worth while for the
child, is robbing the children of their rights to recreation and
wholesome play. The work done by the majority of rural
children, because of the poor instruction they receive, is not
educational. They take very little interest in the work
because they receive no personal profits from it. They are
not acquiring habits of saving or learning intelligent methods
of spending. It is a small minority that are enjoying the
benefits that a home in the country can afford. With child
labor converted into children's work, which means progress
in education, promotion of health and physical development,
direction of wholesome play and recreation, appreciation of
the importance and place of work, acquisition of thrifty hab-
its, and coöperation in community building, we can conceive
of no better place for the rearing of children. Under such
conditions rural children would become the backbone of a
great nation. The foundation of the rural structure is good;
we need no radical changes, but a gradual conversion of child
labor into children's work, with all this term implies.
We are dealing here with a scattered population, really
with individuals. It does not seem wise to endeavor to
control this labor by laws similar to those applying to indus-
try. The enforcement of such laws alone would make this
out of the question for the present. There must be some
economic adjustment before the state can compel the farmer
to observe certain hours and conditions of work for his
children; he must be able to support his family without
sacrificing the welfare of the child. Again the individualism
of rural people will not permit of too much state control.
It is, nevertheless, a matter for the state to control, but by
indirect legislation which has this object in view.
We do not have a cure-all for this problem, but until
CHILD LABOR ON FARMS
93
further study and better understanding of conditions suggest
a better solution, there are two recommendations that we
believe will be of service:
1. Universal and strict enforcement of the compulsory
school attendance laws, accompanied by a reorganization of
the rural schools.
2. Substitution of children's work for child labor through
Four-H Clubs. Membership should be made available to
every rural child. The club cannot take the place of the
school, but should work with it. The state and the counties
co-operating with the Division of Extension should place an
agricultural and home demonstration agent in every county,
making the salary and tenure of position attractive enough
to secure people who can and will handle the job. The
success of a club demands that a good leader be in charge.
Sufficient club leaders should be employed in each county
to handle the work successfully, with enough clubs to take
care of every child who can be persuaded to enter the work.
The clubs should meet at least twice a nionth during the
summer. A leader can handle six clubs and each club could
embrace three or four one-room schools. These leaders
under the direction of the county agent, until more funds are
provided for the Division of Extension by the state, could
well be teachers in the better schools if qualified. These
teachers should be instructed in the work by means of short
courses, or if any who have been club members are teaching
and are suitable, they might become leaders. They should
devote Saturdays to club work during the school term.
They should be employed for the full year, giving full time
between school terms to club work. The state should pro-
vide the Division of Extension with funds sufficient to pay
these club leaders between school terms. Their pay should
be taken from school funds during the school term. They
should be selected by the county board of education and be
approved by and under the direction of the Division of
Extension. Eventually these leaders should be full-time
club and community leaders.
CHAPTER III
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
Gertrude H. Folks
(Based on a study of 183 rural schools in the following
counties: Barbour, Clay, Grant, Harrison, Kanawha,
McDowell, Marshall, Mason, Morgan, Ohio, Pocahontas,
Randolph, Ritchie, Summers, Upshur, Wood, Wyo-
ming.)
CHILDREN in rural sections are not receiving that educa-
tion to which all children are entitled and without which
neither the individual nor society can develop to the fullest
extent.
Although by no means the only factor in education, it is
the school about which the education of most children centers.
Especially is this true in the country where there are com-
paratively few other educational agencies and little utiliza-
tion of natural educational opportunities. Although grade
in school is too inflexible and too arbitrary a basis for esti-
mating so intangible a thing as education, it is, under our
present rural school system and curriculum, practically the
only feasible method. In using this method, however, it
must be borne in mind that even as to scholastic achievement
it is only approximate, for the grading of most rural schools
is inaccurate and the work of the different grades often far
below that of corresponding grades in standard schools.
In spite of the fact that this would tend to an under-
estimation of retardation, 60 per cent of the 4,529 children
7 to 16 years of age, for whom records were secured in this
study, were found to be retarded; 25 per cent were normal;
94
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
95
and only 15 per cent advanced. These figures are estimated
on a conservative basis. Although the compulsory attend-
ance age does not begin until seven, most children enter
school at six; six and seven years, therefore, have been
considered the normal age for a child in the first grade,
seven and eight in the second grade, etc. Not only is the
percentage of children retarded high, but the degree of
retardation is likewise great. Of the 2,687 children retarded,
39 per cent were retarded one year, 27 per cent two years,
16 per cent three years, 10 per cent four years, and 8 per
cent five years or more. In other words, one third of all
the children retarded and one fifth of all the children in the
schools visited were at least three years backward in grade.
Another significant fact is the unusually marked increase
in retardation as the child advances in age. Forty-nine per
cent of the children 12 years and under were retarded, as
opposed to 84 per cent of those over 12. There was an
even greater increase in the degree of retardation of the
children in the older group as compared with the younger
group, only Ii per cent of the children under 12 being
retarded for as much as three years, and 43 per cent of the
children over 12. As the child grows older the possibilities
of retardation aré, of course, greater; and it is to be expected
that retardation will increase. But considering the high rate
of elimination of children in country schools, particularly
among older and backward children, the above ratio of four
to one is abnormal. Such cumulative retardation suggests
that the factors causing retardation continue through the
child's school life and with increasing intensity.
A certain amount of retardation is inevitable and exists
even in the best of city school systems. Mentally backward
if not definitely feeble-minded children, and others with
some physical defect which reacts upon their work, are in
the schools. It is also true that retardation is greater in
rural than in city schools. There is no general study of
retardation in rural schools available, however, with which
to compare the West Virginia figures. Studies of 25,000
96
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
children in rural schools of Michigan and of 30,000 children
in rural schools of Colorado reveal, on the same scale of
measurement, a retardation of 29 and 27 per cent, respec-
tively. These data, of course, are not sufficient to generalize
upon, but are, nevertheless, a confirmation of a fact which
should be self-evident—that retardation on so great a scale
is excessive and must be due in part to causes which can
be determined and controlled.
Undoubtedly one explanation, and probably the most basic,
is that the children are in school for so short a time. Often
the term is not long enough to accomplish a year's work,
and even when the school is in session, children attend ir-
regularly, some not at all.
The minimum term recognized as necessary for the ade-
quate educational training of the child is nine months. This
standard was endorsed by the International Child Welfare
Conference called by the Children's Bureau in 1919. Even
before that date many cities and towns and a few states had
adopted this minimum, and it is gradually being extended.
Comparatively few rural schools, however, approach it.
In the United States as a whole the country child has a
term 36 days (nearly two school months) shorter than the
city child; in West Virginia it is 54 days (nearly three
school months) shorter. The minimum is fixed by law at
130 days for the year 1920-21, increasing annually until
the year 1923-24, when it is to be 180 days. But in spite
of the law, even this year many of the schools have not
maintained a 672 months' term. This has been due chiefly
to the teacher shortage--schools were unable to secure
teachers until several months after the regular date for
opening and the parents were unwilling to support a
61/2 months' term which started so late in the fall or winter
that it would keep the children in school in the spring when
their help would be wanted for the farms. In some localities
it has been due to lack of funds.
In December, 1920, the State Department of Education
estimated that there were approximately 15,000 children who

Typical one-room rural school. Note site, lack of playground space,
construction, lighting, and outhouses on hillside
Interior of school shown above. For a school of this type it is
unusually well equipped
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
97
one.
would have no school whatever that year, and over 15,000
who had had less than the legal term the previous year.
In 14 per cent of the schools visited the term was to end
before the expiration of the legal minimum-in many cases
at the end of five and in several at the end of 27/2 months.
Some of these schools had not opened until December,
January, or even later. Others had opened on time, but the
teacher had left during the term and there had been a delay-
sometimes several months in duration—in securing a new
In five cases no teacher whatever could be secured for
the school until the expiration of the regular term, when
some teachers were persuaded to take a second school. In
one district paying the minimum salary practically all of the
schools had opened late because of their inability to secure
teachers. This community was visited before the expiration
of a 61/2 months' term and the schools were already closed.
Without the knowledge of the county superintendent, the
board of education had reduced the term to five months.
The secretary of the district board stated that there are in
this same district seven schools not one of which has been
in session during the last five years for the equivalent of
even one full term. It has been difficult to secure teachers
for these schools-some years they have not been taught at
all; other years they have been in session for one or two
months in the spring when the regular school term was
finished and teachers were released. One, in fact, has no
regular school building, but, when a teacher can be secured,
school is held in one of the farm houses.
The superintendent of another county to whom an inquiry
was addressed in April relative to the number of schools in
session, wrote: "It is true that some of the schools began
late, but the board thought it wise to have only four or five
months taught when they began late." If the public school
is to be relied upon for the education of rural children, the
first essential is that it be in session for a period sufficient
to enable it to accomplish its purpose. Even 672 months
is too short.
98
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
Equally important with the short term in causing retarda-
tion is non-attendance.
A study of the records of 4,126 children of compulsory
attendance age (7 to 15 years inclusive) in 168 rural schools
shows that of the aggregate number of days the schools had
been in session at the date of visit, 67,726 days, or 17 per
cent, had been missed. (This does not include days lost
because of the late entrance or early withdrawal of children
who moved in or out of the district during the year.) In
other words, each child enrolled lost an average of 272 weeks.
The percentage of the term missed would be even greater
than the above figures would indicate, for in many cases the
schools were visited two or three months before the close
of the term and the record for the spring months in which
attendance invariably falls was therefore not included.
Of the 3,942 children enrolled in schools which had been
in session for at least two months (40 days), only II per
cent had been daily attendants; less than two thirds had
attended for as much as 75 per cent of the term; 16 per cent
had been absent for more than one half the time, and 7 per
cent had not been present for even one fourth of the time.
Furthermore, a large number of children were found who
had never enrolled. The figures quoted regarding the per-
centage of time missed do not take into consideration the
fact that several of the schools had been in session only a
few weeks and that in some cases their enrolment included
only about half of the children who belonged in school.
Even in those schools which had opened at the regular time,
whole families of children were found who had not been
near the school all year. Not all of these cases could be
followed up, but the following are typical :
(1) In a single school of a district in M-county, five
families with six children between seven and eight years of
age were found, none of whom had enrolled, and concerning
:whom the teacher could give no information.
(2) In a school in Scounty, three families with three
N
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
99
children each of compulsory attendance age were seen, none
of whom had enrolled.
(3) Another family with nine children was visited. Five
were over compulsory attendance age and all illiterate. The
other four were of school age and had just started to school
(two weeks before it closed) for the first time in their lives.
The situation regarding school attendance in these 17
counties can be considered typical of the general situation
throughout the 55 counties of the state. They were selected
with the advice of the State Department and include counties
with the best and the worst of schools, as well as average.
According to the index number of the Russell Sage Founda-
tion, which was applied to each of the 55 counties by the
State Department, these 17 counties vary from Ist to 52nd
in rank, and are generally distributed.
Another indication that non-attendance is general is
afforded by a study of the last biennial report of the State
Department of Free Schools. During the year ended June
30, 1920, over 10,000 children between 7 and 14 years—
4 per cent—were not even enrolled, and nearly 16,000
24 per cent—between 14 and 16 were not enrolled. Among
those enrolled, the average daily attendance was only 73 per
cent for those between 7 and 14 years and 70 per cent for
those between 14 and 16 years. Again this is a conservative
estimate. The figures regarding enrolment and attendance
are approximately accurate, but the enumeration figures (on
which the percentage not enrolled is based) are not accurate
and are undoubtedly understated. The school census is
taken by the teachers—which is to be commended-but it is
taken carelessly and inefficiently. In several schools the
teacher had filled out the blank form at the schoolhouse
without visiting the families. A comparison of the names
on the census list and on the school enrolment showed
children enrolled but not enumerated. In 12 schools the
census figure, according to this spring's census, was actually:
less than the number of children residing in the district and
100
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
enrolled. On the other hand, many children of compulsory
attendance age were enumerated but not enrolled. Moreover,
whole families of children were found and visited who were
neither enumerated nor enrolled, and of whom the teacher
in some instances had never heard. There were in a single
community in M-county, three families of children not
attending school all year; the present teacher, district super-
visor, attendance officer, probation officer and county school
superintendent were all questioned, and not one of them
knew that the children of these three families were not
attending school.
That irregular attendance is, in part at least, responsible
for the lack of education of country children is borne out
by the striking relationship between the child's attendance
record and his progress in school. It was found that retarda-
tion was directly proportional to the amount of absence.
Although the record for one year is not sufficient, of
course, to account for cumulative retardation, it is safe to
assume that on the whole the children who are irregular
attendants one year have been irregular in the past. This
gives significance to the table on page 101, showing the per-
centage of retardation among groups of children classified
according to attendance. Only those schools were included
which had been in session for at least two months.
On the whole, a distinct decrease in the percentage of
children advanced and normal and an increase in the per-
centage retarded accompanies an increase in the percentage
of non-attendance. The degree of retardation is likewise
proportional to the amount of absence, the percentage of
the total number retarded, retarded for only one year de-
creasing from 50 for daily attendants to 35 for those absent
for as much as 75 per cent of the term, while the percentage
retarded for four years increases from 6 to 14, and the
percentage retarded more than four years from 4 to 12.
It is true that these figures do not bear out this relationship
in every instance, and it is rather difficult to account for
the slight decrease in the percentage retarded and the slight
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
IOI
Percentage of Children in Normal Grades, Advanced, or Retarded,
by Periods of Absence
Percent of Total Num-
ber Retarded
.
Per Cent of Time
Absent
Total Number
of Children
Per Cent
Normal
Per Cent
Advanced
Per Cent
Retarded
Retarded,
One Year
Retarded,
Two Years
Retarded,
Three Years
Retarded,
Four Years
Years
Retarded,
More Than
Four
Daily attendants
451 31.9 22. 46.1 50.5 26.9 12.5/ 5.8 4.3
Absent, i to 25 per
cent
2198 27.8 18.4 53.8 42.5 27.3 16.
5.2
Absent, 25 to 50 per
cent
666 20.6 7.9 71.5 31.7 29.4 18.
9.
12.3 8.6
8.6
Absent, 50 to 75 per
cent
365 20.0 7.
7. 73.
73. 33.8 24.8 21.1
9.4 10.9
Absent, 75 to 100 per
cent
262 21.3
6.5|72.2 35.9 20.6 18. 13.8 11.7
15.2 58.8 39.4 26.8' 16.9 9.9 7.0
Total ....
3942 26.
increase in the percentage normal of the group absent for
more than three-fourths of the time as compared with these
percentages for the group absent from one-half to three-
fourths of the term. The figures regarding the degree of
retardation show a more uniform rate of change with in-
crease in non-attendance.
Recognition of the fact that irregular attendance is a
fundamental cause of retardation suggests one method of
dealing with the lack of education in rural communities.
It is a platitude to say that effort should be directed not so
much towards removing illiteracy in adults as to its preven-
tion through the education of children. But there is less
popular appreciation of the fact that in order to educate
children one must first get them into the schools and that
at present we are failing miserably in this respect. The
first step towards altering this situation is to determine the
real causes of non-attendance.
102
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
Failure to understand and to enforce the compulsory at-
tendance law is one explanation. On the whole the com-
pulsory attendance law of this state is good; it requires
attendance for the entire session and it recognizes 16 as
the desirable age limit. In brief, it provides that children
between 7 and 16 years must attend public school for the
entire session, but exempts children between 14 and 16 who
are regularly employed for at least six hours a day or who
have received written permission from the county superin-
tendent to work at home. The usual exemptions for atten-
dance at private schools, physical or mental incapacity, ex-
treme destitution, distance, etc., are allowed. Aside from
the fact that children under 16 should not be excused for
work but should be required to attend school up to the limit
of the facilities provided for them by the community, the
weak spots of the law in its application to rural schools
are two: (1) it carries an exemption clause permitting the
county superintendent or the district supervisor to excuse a
child of any age from attendance for any reason that he
accepts as "valid," and (2) the appointment of full-time
attendance officers is not required, and in most communities
they are employed on a per diem basis.
In spite of the law, in some districts no attendance officer
has been appointed; in others the district supervisor has
been designated, but this part of his work is usually neg-
lected. Nowhere is an effort made to enforce the law up
to 16 years, and even when younger children stay out little
effort is made to find out why and to urge them, or if neces-
sary force them, to return.
Of 183 schools visited, 95-over one-half-had reported
no cases of non-attendance to any one. In several there had
been no attendance officer and reports made to the district
supervisor had been ignored. In the remaining 88 schools
727 cases had been reported. In 212 (203 from one school)
fines had been imposed; in 49 the children were found to
be out legally; in 209 the children returned after the parents
were notified (though in many cases they remained for a
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
103
short time only); in the remaining 257 nothing whatever
had been done.
The State Department reports that during the year 1920
there were 731 prosecutions in the state for violation of the
compulsory attendance law, 516 of which resulted in con-
victions. Considering the amount of non-attendance in
West Virginia this is almost negligible. With such laxity
in its enforcement, the law becomes a dead letter; both
parents and children soon learn that they have nothing to
fear from its violation. In many cases they are not even
familiar with its provisions.
Without a doubt a more rigid enforcement of the com-
pulsory attendance law would keep a large number of chil-
dren in school, and no effort in this direction should be
spared. Particularly should the law in its application to
children between 14 and 16 be stressed, for neither parents
nor teachers are familiar with this phase of it. It should
be made clear that every such child must attend school unless
he is employed regularly for at least six hours a day, or has
written permission from the county superintendent to work
at home. Effort should also be directed towards extending
gradually the scope of the law until it includes all children
under 16 years. Section 122 (i), permitting the county
superintendent or the district supervisor to excuse a child
for any reason which he accepts as "valid," should be re-
pealed; for it is open to abuse and exemptions specified in
the preceding paragraph cover all legitimate cases.
In spite of the general disregard of the compulsory attend-
ance law, however, to explain wholesale non-attendance
merely by the failure to enforce the law is begging the ques-
tion. The use of the law should be necessary only as a last
resort and for extreme cases, the need of frequent recourse
to it in itself demands an explanation. Leaving the ques-
tion of the failure of the attendance law to reach offenders-
what is the real explanation of non-attendance?
schools it was possible through interviewing the teachers
and the children to determine the causes of absence. Rec-
In 172
104
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
ords were taken for 4,126 children, totalling 13,292 days of
schooling. Of this amount 17 per cent had been missed.
Roughly, the reasons given fall into four groups: (1) illness
or physical incapacity; (2) economic pressure; (3) location
of the school; (4) indifference on the part of parents, chil-
dren and the community. The number of days missed and
the number of children absent for each reason is as follows:
Number of Children Absent and Number of Days Missed from
School with Per Cents, by Causes of Absence
Number of Per Cent of
Number of Per Cent of
Cause of Absence Days Missed Total Absence Children Ab Children Ab.
on Account of
Due to
sent on Ac- sent on Ac-
count of
count of
Illness
27,248
40.2
2139
51.8
Work
16,939
25.0
1052
25.5
Distance
and
Weather
5,716
435
10.1
Indifference
15,486
23.1
649
15.7
Poverty.
1,129
1.7
65
Miscellaneous
825
I.I
108
2.6
Unknown
383
0.4
40
0.9
Total
67,726
100.0
8.5
.
1.5
NOTE.-In the third column are included not only the chief cause of ab-
sence of each child, but all causes, as many children were absent for more
than one cause. The figures in the fourth column in each case is the per-
centage of the total number of children enrolled (4,126) who were absent
for each specified cause.
ILLNESS
At first glance the chief cause of non-attendance would
seem to be illness, 40 per cent of all absence being attributed
to this cause, and 51 per cent of all children enrolled having
been absent for this reason. It does not follow, however,
that 40 per cent of the absence was unavoidable, nor that the
entire 51 per cent of children had a legitimate excuse for
their absence. On the contrary, a study of the absences
included under this heading suggests that a large percentage
really belongs elsewhere in the table.
In the first place, this figure is without doubt overstated.
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
105
Many teachers, realizing that they were in part responsible
for the enforcement of the compulsory attendance law, were
inclined to account for all absence on the ground of sickness
or work, those two excuses being in their minds the ones
which they could legitimately accept. Although an effort
was made to convince the teacher that the record of indi-
vidual schools would not be made public and that in no
case would it be used against her, this element of inaccuracy
was not entirely overcome.
In the second place, teachers usually accept the excuse
given by the child without making any effort to verify it,
and, as might be expected, the parents claim sickness even
when there is no suggestion of it. One teacher said that she
never inquired into the reason for a child's absence until he
had been absent for three consecutive days, and “then I have
to believe what he says.”
Moreover, it was not always possible to distinguish be-
tween sickness of the child and sickness in the home. This
group is supposed to include only actual illness of the child
or contagious illness in the family which necessitates the
absence of the child from school. Frequently, however,
when the child himself was not ill the teacher did not know
whether the child remained at home because of contagious
illness in the family, because his help was needed during the
illness of other members of the family, because he couldn't
come to school alone, or merely because “he didn't want to
come." Undoubtedly, a certain amount of absence attributed
to illness really belongs under the heading of work at home,
and a certain amount under indifference.
That illness is often merely an excuse, not a cause, is
strikingly illustrated by a mountain school visited with the
county superintendent. Of the 30 children of compulsory
attendance age enrolled, only 13 were present on the date
of visit. Child after child had been absent for periods
varying from two weeks to three months. A new teacher
had just come and knew nothing about the situation. When
the children were questioned about their absence and that of
106
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
do so.
their companions, they invariably replied “measles.” The
length of the period of absence and the fact that the epidemic
had run its course led to further inquiries, and it developed
that only two children in the neighborhood had had measles
and of these only one was of school age. The parents had
seized upon "measles” as an excuse for keeping the children
out, and the teacher had not questioned their authority to
Week after week had passed and the children had
not returned.
In another community an epidemic of chicken pox was
given as the excuse for wholesale non-attendance, although
only two members of the school had had the disease.
One family was visited whose four children under 16
years of age had not been attending school all year. The
parents said that the children "all had measles in the fall”
and did not know “school was going on.” The father said
that he "believed in education” but that no one from the
school had visited the home or said anything about the
children's non-attendance.
In still another school 57 children were enrolled and the
average attendance was 18. The teacher said there had
been epidemics of scarlet fever, measles and whooping cough
—the worst in 40 years—and then added that no effort had
been made to enforce the compulsory attendance law after
the epidemics were over, and that much of the absence was
undoubtedly due to indifference.
Not only is illness used as a pretext, but very frequently
children are kept home because of fear of illness. Again,
this is often merely a pretext. A certain amount, however,
is sincere and is prompted by concern for the child's welfare.
From one point of view this can be understood, for the
precautions taken by the school to prevent the spread of
contagious disease are negligible. On the other hand, it is
but one more striking illustration of the parents' indifference.
They keep the children out of school because of the fear of
sickness, but at the same time they do nothing whatever to
make the school safe. They take no interest in the health
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
107
conditions of the community, apparently not realizing that
through proper sanitation, public health work and preventive
measures, the need for this fear can be removed. Unconcern
as to the child's schooling results in an apathetic attitude
towards anything which interferes with it.
Entirely aside from the fact that conditions in most schools
are unsanitary and tend to promote the spread of disease,
there is no effort made to exclude children with communi-
cable disease. Teachers are authorized to do so, but seldom
exercise this power.
In one school visited every child had whooping cough.
The schoolroom sounded like a menagerie. The teacher was
quite unconcerned and explained that they did not have to
close school “because they all had it."
In another school there had been an epidemic of mumps.
An effort, however, was made to keep up attendance and the
children had been out only two or three days "when they
were so sick they just couldn't come.” Needless to say,
no one in this school escaped, except a few children whose
parents had kept them at home.
Forty per cent of the schools visited reported some kind
of an epidemic this winter. Thirty-two schools reported
measles, 15 whooping cough, 14 mumps, with a smaller
number reporting other troubles, such as chicken pox, itch,
small-pox, scarlet fever, grippe, etc. This does not include
several schools which had been closed on this account for
periods varying from one to three weeks.
Illness is undoubtedly one of the worst enemies of school
attendance and some absence due to this cause is inevitable.
A large amount of the actual illness of children in these
schools, however, is preventable, and the almost superstitious
fear of illness which also keeps children out of school is
totally unnecessary. Absence which could be avoided by
improving the sanitary condition of the school plant, by the
isolation of children with communicable disease, and by the
development of medical inspection and instruction along
health lines in the schools, should really be attributed to the
108
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
indifference of the school authorities who refuse to take
such precautions and of the parents who fail to demand them.
ECONOMIC PRESSURE
Absence reported in the table as due to work and to
poverty will be considered together. Here again it was
impossible to determine to what extent work or poverty was
actually the cause of absence and to what extent it was
merely used as a pretext by the child or his parents.
Comparatively few of the children absent because of work
were employed away from home. In most cases boys were
out for farm work on their own farm or for miscellaneous
tasks, such as driving a team, going to town, etc., and girls
were out for washing, caring for younger children and for
other forms of home work. The nature of the tasks which
farm children perform is discussed in the chapter on "Child
Labor on Farms."
There is no question but that a large number of the
children working during school hours could be in school
without causing any hardship to their families.. (See chap-
ter on "The Rural Home.”) Extreme poverty does not
often exist, but parents are accustomed to having the help
of the children and expect it. The children, likewise, expect
to give it. In other cases it may be said truthfully that
farm work is the excuse for or the result of non-attendance
rather than its cause. The children do not go to school, but
incidentally spend part of their time in working.
In a mining district many children of compulsory attend-
ance age were seen out of school. Some were running
errands, some helping at home, some playing and loafing.
One or two, when questioned as to why they were not in
school, merely said, “We didn't want to go.”
One teacher told of a 13-year-old boy who had been absent
for three months, “selling something and taking orders.”
His father is the teacher of a neighboring school.
Another teacher gave as the reason not only for poor
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
109
attendance but for closing the school before the expiration
of the term: “The farmers need the children to work”; but
when pressed she added, “Children don't take any interest,"
"no use wasting county money," "I am home-sick and haven't
been home since Christmas." It is safe to conclude that the
first reason given by the teacher told only half the story,
and that indifference was the primary factor.
A judge in one county very intelligently refuses to accept
farm work as an excuse for non-attendance. A man was
brought before him for refusing to send to school his two
children, 10 and 12 years of age, claiming that he could not
support them without their work. The judge ordered him
to send the children to school and go before the county board
and apply for relief. This he refused to do and thereupon
was fined for violating the law. The man was known to
the community and was well able to pay the fine as well
as to send the children to school.
Few judges and few school people, however, will press this
point or make any effort to determine the truth of the
parents' claim that they need the help of the children. In
one district where an attempt was being made to introduce
a nine months' term, the patrons refused to send the children
or to board the teacher after the end of the sixth month,
claiming that they needed the help of the children; the school
board did nothing about it.
This group of children who are out of school. and are
working, or claim to be working, but whose help is not
needed on the farm, is not only an evidence of the indiffer-
ence of parents, but is a reproach to the school which has
failed to overcome the prejudice of the parents and to gain
the interest of the children. Such absence should be classi-
fied rightfully under indifference-possibly justifiable indif-
ference. Conditions in the school which perpetuate and
almost justify such indifference are discussed more fully
later.
There are other children, however, from families where
poverty is a factor and where in order to make the farm yield
IIO
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
a living some help is essential. Under such circumstances
is the absence of these children justifiable? We have already
come to recognize that children should not be allowed to
engage in industry even though their parents need their
wages, but that if the income is insufficient, relief should be
given. This is no longer a matter of controversy. There
is no reason for a relaxation of this standard in its applica-
tion to the rural child. Poverty of the family or economic
necessity should not be allowed to interfere with the child's
education, whether he happens to live in the city or in the
country. It is unfair to the child to place him under a
handicap which will mean that, due to lack of education,
he may be no more successful than his parents and will be
forced, in his turn, to depend upon the labor of his children.
This is just what has happened in one case.
Mr. and
Mrs. G-, 66 and 43 years of age, respectively, are both
illiterate. They have six children, four of whom are of
school age. The three oldest are girls, 14, 13 and 10 years,
who are enrolled in school, but have been absent more than
half the time. The other child of school age is an 8-year-old
boy who has never enrolled. For 14 years they have been
living about 11/2 miles from the schoolhouse on land rented
from a coal mine company. They pay $5 a year for as much
land as they "want to put under fence"-about 50 acres at
present. Their home is a poorly furnished, two-room log
cabin. The father is feeble and broken down, and the
mother does most of the work. When questioned with
regard to the absence of the children from school they said
that their help was needed to “make the crops,” go to the
store, etc.—that without it the family would be dependent
on the county. As it is the neighbors help them gather fuel
for the winter and gather in the crops in the fall. Such a
family should be made to see that it is no more a charity
and much more fair to the children “to go to the county"
for relief and send the children to school than to depend on
their neighbors for help and keep the children out of school.
A similar case is that of the B-family: the father
and mother are 37 and 32 years of age, respectively, and
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
III
there are seven children. The four oldest are all of school
age, being 15, 12, 10 and 8 years. None has gone beyond
the first grade, and none has been enrolled in school this
year. The family live only half a mile from the schoolhouse.
They lease all the land they want from a coal company for
$1 a year and live in a 14 by 18 foot log cabin with a lean-to
kitchen under the most unsanitary and wretched conditions.
Mr. B--- has consumption (confirmed by the county health
officer), and Mrs. B— is very frail and "weakly.” Mr.
B- occasionally "goes to public works," and Mrs. B
and the children do the farm work. The only certain sup-
port for the family is $5 a week in county relief given in
the form of a grocery order. The parents stated that the
sole reason for the non-attendance of the children was the
fact that they had to do the work-carry goods, go to the
grocery, feed the pigs and “make the crops.” The children
appear bright and if educated could probably escape from
the rut in which their parents have fallen. Already the
county has admitted the principle of its responsibility by
giving grocery orders; it should carry this principle to its
logical conclusion and give relief adequate to enable the
children to go to the schools it provides for them.
The idea, however, that the children's education should be
given primary consideration, even to the point of giving
relief to the family to take the place of the child's work,
has not been generally recognized in the country, either by
the parents, the community, or school leaders. In each school
an effort was made to find out whether farm work was
regarded as a legitimate excuse by the teacher or by the
parents of that community. In the 183 schools, 36 teachers
admitted that they accepted the plea of work as an excuse,
and 12 others that they accepted it as an excuse “in cases
of need." In over 100 communities, at least part of the
parents considered work a legal excuse.
In several districts non-attendance because of farm labor
was sanctioned by the county superintendent and district
supervisor, who granted permits to children to stay out for
work. In some cases the permits were given only to children
II2
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
over 14 years; in some cases to younger children. Some
were permanent excuses, some for specific work, some in
the form of a general excuse for any absence that the child
might have during the remainder of the term. The follow-
ing are a few instances of children excused for work, and
of special provisions being made to allow children to work:
I. A 14-year-old boy in the eighth grade was excused
for one month, in April, because of farm work.
2. In another school two boys, 12 and 14 years of
age, were permitted to attend a half day only on account
of work, "whenever necessary"—usually once or twice
a week.
3. A 9-year-old boy in the second grade and two boys
of 14 and 15 in the eighth grade were excused for
work. The permits had just been given and no time
limit was set.
4. Two 15-year-old boys in the eighth grade had been
excused for farm work and had been absent 11/2 and
272 months respectively.
5. In another school two 15-year-old boys in the
eighth grade had been excused for the remainder of
the term:
6. In one district three schools were running on a
part time basis, having only a morning session, in order
that the children might help on the farms the rest of
the day.
7. One county superintendent reported that fre-
quently schools close in the fall for the harvest; that
they do not close in the spring, however, since the
school term is short enough not to interfere with farm
work--that when it does, the parents "just keep them
home."
8. One judge, realizing that farm work is not a legal
excuse and that he would be obliged to fine the parents,
advised the attendance officer not to report families in
which need really existed.
In view of the lack of social organizations in the country
which could assist the family to make an adjustment enabling
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
113
the children to go to school, it may be necessary in some
cases to allow the child to remain at home to help for a
temporary period. But to make the work of the school
subordinate to the need of the farm is not legitimate. Such
practices as breaking the term and allowing children under 16
to leave school for work, to drop out in the spring, or to
attend irregularly, should be condemned.
There are also individual cases which must be excused-
that, for instance, of a boy whose father was in prison, and
who had missed two days to bring in a large flock of sheep
from the mountain when snow came. No one would claim
that this constituted truancy or should have been forbidden.
The number of those really needing the help of their
children, however, is far smaller than the number who claim
that they do. The much larger number who, as a matter
of course, expect the children to help, must be educated to
realize the value of education. The development of the
club work of the Extension Division of the College of
Agriculture will do much along this line, as a comparison
of the figures regarding the school attendance and grades of
children in agricultural clubs with those for non-club mem-
bers indicates. (See chapter on “Child Labor on Farms.")
At the same time the schools must be made more attractive
and more practical to convince the parents of their value.
LOCATION OF SCHOOL
This also plays a fairly large part in causing non-attend-
ance, 81/2 per cent of all absence being due directly or
indirectly to this factor. In some cases the difficulty is the
distance of the school from the homes. Two miles is the
maximum distance which a child is compelled to go under
the compulsory attendance law. Because the school is poorly
located in the district or serves too wide an area, with no
transportation furnished, many children are exempted under
this provision. For small children and in bad weather, even
two miles is too great a distance. In other cases the school
114
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
may be centrally located but at certain seasons of the year
when the roads are veritable mudholes and the creeks are
high, it is impossible for the children to reach it. In fact,
three of the schools visited had been closed on this account
for a few weeks during the early spring. No child, how-
ever, should be deprived of education because of the inacces-
sibility of a school to his home. It would be unwise, of
course, to increase the number of one-room schools in order
to place one within the two-mile limit for every child, but
consolidation is possible and transportation should be fur-
nished to all children not within walking distance. The
condition of many of the roads in West Virginia, especially
in the mountain regions, makes this impracticable at the
present time, for no method of transportation could take the
children over some of the roads in the early spring; but with
the better-road program which has already started, consolida-
tion should be increasingly possible; even at the present time
transportation could be furnished for many children now
absent because of distance.
MISCELLANEOUS
In this category are included various causes of absence
which cannot rightly be placed under any of the other groups,
such as death in the family, suspension from school, etc.
The number of cases included under this heading, however,
is relatively small, and need not be considered in this dis-
cussion.
INDIFFERENCE
Probably the most basic of all causes of non-attendance
is indifference. Indifference to education, and partcularly
to education expressed in terms of school attendance, is
very general and is manifested not only by parents and
children but by the whole community, including school people
themselves.
In addition to the 15,500 days of absence attributed
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
115
directly to indifference (23 per cent of the total), the dis-
cussion above indicates that a considerable percentage of
the absence credited to illness and to work should fall under
this heading. There was hardly a school in which some
instances of indifference were not found and inquiries as
to the cause of absence would bring forth replies of the
following nature: “lack of interest,” “negligence," "failure
of parents to send," "moved in order to come late," "pure
loafing around," "don't like to go,” “lack of discipline.”
Indifference takes various forms—in some cases the par-
ents find a pretext, as for instance, in the case of a twelve-
year-old girl absent 34 days because she “got mad at the
teacher"; and another ten-year-old girl who had been absent
for two weeks and was not planning to return to school for
the rest of the term because the parents did not like the
school trustee. In other cases the parents give no reason
but merely assert their right to do as they wish. In one
school a parent had refused to send his child to school; the
case was brought up to court and he was fined. He then
took the attitude that this gave him the right to keep the
child out all year—in other words, he had "bought the
right. At the time the school was visited the case was again
in court. The man claimed that he needed the boy (who
was 10 years of age) to build a fence. The county super-
intendent, however, said that he was a prosperous farmer
and his action really was due to a dispute over the location
of the school.
In this same school there were several other children at-
tending irregularly because there were two factions which
disagreed as to the location of the school. A new modern
building was to have been erected, but because the patrons
could reach no decision, an addition was put on the old
building
In another school the teacher claimed that she could not
enforce the compulsory attendance law, and that the school
was to close at the end of six months because the patrons
refused to give her board.
Sometimes indifference is sheer inertia. Such, for in-
stance, is the case of the G-family. They have five
116
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
children, 7, 10, 12, 15 and 16 years, none of whom enrolled
this year. The family have lived on their farm for three
years, and own about 200 acres of good mountain farm
land, with over 100 under cultivation. They also own two
horses, one wagon, one buggy, six cows, chickens and hogs.
The house is a comfortable, well-built two-story frame
building with seven or eight rooms. The house had recently
been painted; the lawn and garden were likewise in first
class condition. The mother acknowledged that none of the
children had been in school this year and had gone very
little last year.
Her reasons were that everybody had
measles, her husband didn't believe in school, and “teacher
don't larn 'em anything nohow.” She was perfectly indif-
ferent: "Not a soul kum near, guess nobody cared." They
live three-quarters of a mile from the school house; the road
leading down the "holler” was clear, well drained and easy
travel. There was no conceivable reason for the children's
absence other than the utter indifference of the parents, both
of whom are illiterate.
The most remarkable instance of non-attendance, however,
due to the refusal of the parents to coöperate, is the
following:
At a school in a certain county visited during the winter
three children were present. For about six weeks, the
teacher said, attendance had been confined to this number.
The neighborhood had been divided over the question of the
location of the new state road. The teacher who was em-
ployed belonged to one faction, "the mountain folk," and
the other faction, "the crick folk," therefore refused to send
their children to school. They had nothing against her as a
teacher, nothing against her family-except that she be-
longed to the other faction. The board of education, how-
ever, refused to recognize the opposition of the "crick folk”
and insisted upon her taking the school. They appointed an
attendance officer who served for six weeks and maintained
a fairly good attendance. At the end of that time, however,
without notifying either the teacher or the board of educa-
tion, he discontinued his work, and from that day there has
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
117
never been an attendance of more than six-usually three-
although 45 children were enumerated.
In another instance the indifference of the community
was shown in a somewhat different way. The school was
occupied by tramps and for six weeks the teacher—"a little
mite of a thing"-went daily to the school house and left
again because no one took the responsibility of putting out
the intruders.
Another county in which several schools have not been in
session for seven years and others not for two years, because
of lack of funds, voted $70,000 for a soldiers' memorial.
This indifference is not confined to the parents. Teachers
and school officers themselves, through the laissez faire
attitude which they assume, share the responsibility. The
county superintendent is seldom in close touch with his
schools. In more than half the schools visited he had not
made a single visit during the school year, and in one-third
he had made but one. One teacher reported that there was
so little interest in education in her neighborhood that ħo
school official had visited her school for over six years.
This is partly a question of salary, the amount paid to
county superintendents being too low to secure men of
educational training, experience and vision, who can formu-
late and put over a constructive program. Partly it is a
question of the indifference of the superintendent and of
the community which elects him.
Even those whose duty it is to enforce the law are subject
to the same criticism. The teacher of one school said that
they had been able to do nothing about attendance because
the attendance officer did not believe in compulsory educa-
tion.
In another school a family with five children of school
age had moved into the district in January but did not send
the children to school. No effort had been made by the
teacher or the attendance officer to secure their attendance.
In that same district an Il-year-old boy in the second
grade, who had moved into the district in November, had not
been in school.
In another case the teacher admitted that she had not
tried to enforce the law; epidemics had interfered seriously
118
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
with attendance during the first few months and she had
given it up as a bad job for this year.
In still another school the teacher reported that she could
not enforce the compulsory attendance law, and explained
that she was teaching this year only as a favor to the school
board who could secure no one else. Her father kept the
store “across the creek” and as the parents of the children
were his customers, she could not run the risk of antagoniz-
ing them.
Several teachers claimed that they believed in compulsory
attendance, but that it was impossible to enforce the law
while public opinion was against it; that until parents recog-
nized the value of education, it was useless to try. This
reluctance of the teachers to enforce the law until they have
some degree of coöperation from the parents can be under-
stood, for not only does the community make it unpleasant
for the teacher, in some cases even refusing to board her,
but they have been known to take matters into their own
hands. In one county it was reported that three school
houses had been burned down during the year, one because
of an effort to enforce the compulsory attendance law, one
because of the location of the school, and one because the
teacher was the daughter of a revenue officer and it was
feared she might report to her father.
Such instances as the above could be multiplied indefi-
nitely: they are cited to show that opposition to compulsory
school attendance is common throughout the country regions,
especially in mountain sections, and that parents will have
to be made to realize that the state has the right to insist
upon the child's attendance at school. But this is not to be
accomplished by a mere display of force. There is much
to be said in defense of the parents' attitude, and it is an
open question whether the real basis for their indifference-
and therefore the true explanation of non-attendance-is not
the poor condition of the schools. From the parents' view-
point, the schools have been on the defensive and have failed
to put up a good case. They feel that there is little of
value in the average rural school, and are not convinced
that the children are better off in school than on the farm.

FEE
EFFE
A consolidated school in the heart of the country. Pupils are trans-
ported daily. More recent buildings are of more modern con-
struction
Consolidation makes possible modern equipment. Pupil working in
chemical laboratory of school shown above
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
119
A study of conditions in the 183 schools visited brings an
understanding of their attitude-possibly even justifies it.
THE SCHOOL PLANT
The schoolhouses on the whole are poorly located, unat-
tractive and frequently lacking in sanitation. Of the 183
schools visited, 40 per cent had less than half an acre of
ground, and less than 30 per cent had more than an acre.
The sites are poor, the school usually being placed on some
piece of land which is wanted for no other purpose—a steep
hillside, a rocky field, the edge of a wood, a few feet of land
beside the railroad track. In only 71 cases was the site con-
sidered good, and in 49 it was classed as very poor. In some
cases, it is true, there was no better site in the vicinity, but
seldom had an effort been made to secure a suitable location.
For a school in W- county a coal company had fur-
nished the land. The plot given was across the railroad
track and part way up a hill so steep that in wet weather it
was almost impossible to reach. No road led to it and from
every point of view it was a most undesirable place. As
might have been expected, attendance in this school was
wretched and the teacher truly said: "The board should have
refused to build a school at all until they were given a decent
Another school in this same county is in dire need of
a new building and, although promised, its erection has been
postponed from year to year because the company will not
give a suitable piece of land. Yet boards of education are
empowered to condemn land for school sites.
Frame buildings are used almost exclusively-usually of
the "little red schoolhouse" variety. Even some of those
built within the last few years are of this same old-fashioned
type. Frequently when there are more children than can be
accommodated in a one-room school, the grades are divided
and two of these one-room buildings are used, both equally
poor. In other cases a two-room school is used, each room
frequently being of the same model as the one-room school.
Of the buildings seen, 71 were classed as being in good con-
dition, 82 fair, and 32 so poor as to be unfit for use. In the
site."
I 20
RÚRAL CHILD WELFARE
room.
majority of cases the roof, floor and walls were reported as
satisfactory. On the whole, the general impression was of
very old buildings, hopelessly out of date and unsuitable
for their purpose, but kept in repair.
In one instance school was being conducted in an old resi-
dence. The school building had burnt down two years ago
and no effort had been made to build a new one. Instead,
four rooms in an old dilapidated house near a railroad track
had been thrown into one. The rooms had once been
papered, but the paper was now hanging in shreds from the
wall. There were only four small windows for this large
It was heated by one wood stove. Two small pieces
of painted wood used for a blackboard constituted the entire
equipment. The school had not opened until March and
was being taught by a young girl with a third-grade certifi-
cate, teaching for the first time. There were only 15 chil-
dren enrolled, as compared with an enrolment last year of
39, and not a child over 10 years of age was in attendance,
although there was no other school within reach.
Not only are the buildings unattractive and unsuitable,
but the sanitary conditions are a menace to the children's
health. Toilet facilities are inadequate. In eight schools
there was no toilet whatever. In 23 schools there was but
one toilet, and in five instances this was used by both boys
and girls. The large majority are constructed without any
excavation and with an open back, over 75 being of this
type. In some of the new ones the back is boarded in. Only
13 were constructed with a pit and these were not fly tight.
In all the schools visited, only two had toilets which could
be classed as sanitary. One was a flush and the other a
chemical toilet, both in the larger schools. Their condition,
on the whole, was abominable. Entirely aside from the ques-
tion of sanitation, the inside of the toilets was disgraceful;
32 were classed as clean, 98 as fair and 55 as filthy. There
is no regular inspection of their condition by either health
or school authorities-not even by the teacher. From the
point of view of repair they are little better than from the
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
121
point of view of cleanliness; in many cases doors were off
the hinges, holes torn in the sides, and in some instances the
buildings were in pieces on the ground. In one school both
privies were over a creek and across the railroad track—to
reach them, the children often had to crawl under freight
cars.
Lack of care as to the source of the water supply is an-
other example of the disregard for the health of the children
which characterizes rural schools. Unprotected springs and
even creeks are used in a number of schools and open wells
are very common. In more than half the schools the water
is not on the school grounds, but is carried from a neighbor-
ing house; in a few instances there is no water within one-
half mile of the building. In several cases the location of
the water supply in relation to the toilets was dangerous in
the extreme. At one school having no toilet for boys, a
nearby thicket was used and the drainage was direct to the
place from which the drinking water was taken for the
school. In other cases the toilets were on a hillside at the
foot of which was the well used by the school.
Carelessness is also shown in the arrangements for keep-
ing the drinking water in the schoolroom. Although a ma-
jority of the schools had water coolers, in only 69 were they
In 78 water was kept in a bucket, from which the
children dipped out the water; in 24 the children went
directly to the pump or the spring; in only one was there
a fountain; in II there was no water at the school. In spite
of the fact that common drinking cups are forbidden by law,
in about one third of the schools the teachers admitted that
children were still using a common drinking cup or dipper;
in other schools they said that “family' cups or individual
paper cups made by the children were supposed to be used,
but many added that the children passed them around and
were not careful.
Indifference to the first rules of cleanliness is shown also
in the failure of the school to provide washing facilities for
the children, although practically all bring their lunch and
in use.
I 22
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
eat it at the school house. Eighty-four schools had one
basin each for the use of the teacher and the entire school
(few appeared to be used); five had pails; in four the
teacher said the children went to the pump; and in 15 to the
creek. In 75 there was no provision whatever. Fewer than
20 schools had soap or towels, and in most of these there
was a common cake of soap and a common or a "family"
towel. Here again the teacher said the children were not
"particular."
Nor are the most simple precautions taken to protect the
children's eyes. Seventy-five per cent of the schools, in-
cluding several erected during the last few years, have
cross-lighting. One teacher, observing the investigator note
this item, remarked : "Oh, yes, we have excellent cross-light-
ing in this school." In one school, although the lighting had
been well planned, the desks had been so fastened that the
pupils faced the windows. In six schools there was not only.
cross-lighting but also windows in the front of the room. In
another case school was being conducted in a building origi-
nally erected as a moving-picture house, and so arranged
that there were seven windows on the right side and two
in front; the latter were not covered by curtains and were
directly in front of the children. In spite of cross-lighting,
only 78 schools were properly equipped with shades; 58 had
none whatever and in 56 others they were in very poor con-
dition and badly arranged. The amount of window space is
below standard, only 29 of the schools having as much as 20
per cent of the floor space. The lack of window space is
doubly serious because, true to the old-fashioned model, the
windows almost invariably are placed in the middle of the
wall, without any consideration of the seating arrangements
of the children.
The schools are heated in various way--coal, wood, gas
stoves and furnaces all being used. In only six schools,
however, were furnaces installed. In spite of the law re-
quiring that stoves be jacketed, only three stoves had this
protection. In several cases coal stoves had been adjusted
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
123
to burn gas, the intense heat had cracked the base of the
stove, and the fumes escaped into the room, making it almost
unbearable. Aside from the fact that they are unjacketed
and poorly placed in the schoolroom, their condition, with
the exception of the gas burning coal stoves, was on the
whole satisfactory.
EQUIPMENT
With regard to equipment the schools show the same lack
of modernity and practicality that characterizes the build-
ings. Only 40 of the classrooms were supplied with single
desks, 118 with double, 34 with both. In 31 rooms there was
but one size of seat; in 40 others, although there were at
least two sizes, they were poorly distributed, the lack usually
being for smaller children. In a few instances there were
not enough seats of any kind for those in attendance and
children were sitting two on single and three on double seats.
Frequently even the necessaries for good schoolroom work
were lacking. In 72 schools there was not a single map and
in 52 there was neither map, nor globe, nor chart of any
kind. Seldom could any one furnish a ruler or yardstick
to measure the dimensions of the room. Only 17 schools had
even a trace of special equipment for primary work, and in
all but one of these schools such material as there was had
been furnished by the teacher.
There is no equipment for hand work or practical work
of any kind such as cooking, sewing, manual training or
agriculture. The teaching of the last is required but it is
taught by text book only; no project work is done. In two
schools the teacher had made an effort to introduce cooking,
but no adequate equipment had been provided, and she had
only the top of the heating stove to use for this purpose.
Blackboards on the whole were well placed, although in
10 schools part, at least, of the blackboard space was be-
tween the windows. The condition of the surface was usu-
ally good. In 29 cases, however, it was reported as very
poor and in 32 as only fair.
124
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
In fewer than 50 schools were there good pictures. In
many there were none and in others they were tawdry and
unsuitable. Magazine prints, advertisements, calendars, old
posters, etc., were very common even in schools having good
pictures also. In a few districts, however, the pictures were
of excellent type, and it was evident that a campaign had
been put on in these communities to secure pictures for
every schoolhouse.
TEACHERS
The efficiency of the school depends primarily upon the
teacher. Even the most ramshackle and ill-equipped hut can
be made alive if the teacher has the training and initiative
to make the best of it. On the other hand, no matter how
modern and well-equipped a school building may be, it will
be an absolute failure if the teacher is lacking in training
and personality.
The standards for teaching in West Virginia are very
low. At the present time there are no requirements for
teachers other than the eighteen-year age limit and the
passing of the state examinations in the usual subjects. Those
who pass with a general average of 90 per cent and no
subject below 75 are granted a first-grade certificate. Those
passing with a general average of 80 per cent and no subject
below 68 are granted a second-grade certificate valid for
three years, and those passing with a general average of 70
per cent and no subject below 60 are granted a third-grade
certificate, valid for one year. A third-grade certificate can-
not be issued more than twice to the same person. In addi-
tion to the certificates just mentioned, there are, of course,
the usual certificates granted to graduates of normal schools
and other approved institutions.
Even these low standards are rendered ineffectual by
provision for emergency certificates which may be granted
to any one by the State Superintendent of Schools, regard-
less of qualifications. This form has been used in some
cases to secure competent teachers whose certificates had
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
125
expired, who had failed to take an examination, or for some
other reason could not qualify. But when there were no
certificated teachers available it has been granted to ex-
tremely inefficient teachers who could not pass the examina-
tions. It is an open question whether it is not better to allow
the school to remain closed all year rather than to be con-
ducted by a teacher of this type. Already legislation has
been passed to raise the requirements, and beginning with
1922 applicants for first-grade certificates must have had at
least one year of high-school work and nine weeks' study of
professional subjects. This requirement is gradually to be
increased until in 1924 three years of high school work and
27 weeks' study of professional subjects will be demanded.
There are no changes, however, in the requirements for cer-
tificates of second and third grade, or in the provision for
the issuance of emergency certificates.
In the schools visited there were employed 200 teachers,
125 of whom were women and 75 men. A study of the
preparation and experience of these teachers revealed on the
whole a total absence of the standards which we have come
to expect for our public schools. Only one-half held first-
grade certificates. In view of the comparatively low stand-
ards, even for first-grade certificates, this is serious. About
one-third had only an elementary school education, usually
in one-room country schools; and about one-fourth had in
addition to this only a little summer institute work. Con-
siderably less than one-third had the equivalent of a high-
school course, and less than a third had any normal training
whatever.
The figures compiled by the State Department in their
last biennial report are even more discouraging. Their esti-
mate of the training of the teachers in the elementary schools
for the year 1919-20 is as follows:
1. College graduates
179
1.7 per cent
2. Standard normal graduates and Junior
college
1,722 16.I
3. High-school graduates and short normal
1,672 15.6
course
126
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
10.7 per cent
4. Two years of high-school training
1,145
5. Some high-school training but less than
two years
1,235
6. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL EDUCA-
TION ONLY
4,755
11.5
44.4
Only a few more than half have had any normal school,
high-school, or summer school training whatever. In the
rural schools, the percentage is even less, for the large ma-
jority of trained teachers are in or near towns and cities;
few are in the distinctly rural schools. As the State Depart-
ment puts it: the trained teachers "do not get off the hard
roads."
A man teacher, when asked about his "preparation," said
that he "attended two terms, in all eight months, of free
school in ole Virginny over 20 years ago.” He has not been
teaching for twenty years but when visited was just begin-
ning a school term at a salary of $125 a month.
In another school the teacher said: "I never went a day
to school in my life except at this school.” On finishing the
eighth grade she began to teach the same school where she
had been a pupil, and has been teaching for 17 years. She
now has two children in the same school.
The preparation of another teacher had been "eight years
in a rural school and a six-week term of country school
taught by a teacher to a bunch of us.
In another school was a young girl who had not completed
the eighth grade. She had failed in the examinations, but
nevertheless had been allowed to take the school which the
board had planned to give her. In this same county another
girl finished the eighth grade in December, and the first week
in January began to teach in a neighboring school.
That the State Department recognizes the seriousness of
this situation is hopeful. In its last biennial report it writes:
و و
“The table showing the supply of trained teachers in the
state is eloquent in explaining our rank among the states.
We can hardly hope to have schools without teachers. As
things are, the blind are leading the blind so that we cannot
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
127
help falling into the educational ditch. Almost one half of
our teachers are untrained. They have no education beyond
eighth grade in a country school taught by some one who
had an eighth grade education in a country school. The
vicious circle is complete. There is no vision and our
people perish."
This shortage of teachers has existed all over the country,
but West Virginia has been especially hard hit because of
the exceptionally low salaries paid until this year. In the
schools studied, the median fell between $80 and $90. Thirty
per cent, however, were receiving less than $70. Until this
year the minimum salaries were fixed by law at $75, $60 and
$45 for teachers holding first-grade, second-grade and third-
grade certificates, respectively. With a 67/2-month term,
even a $75 a month salary means a small annual income.
Districts were permitted to raise this rate, provided they
were not receiving state aid, but not all were able to do so.
The law was amended at the last session of the legisla-
ture, and a new scale adopted, as follows: For the first year
of teaching the rate varies from $50 for teachers with third-
grade certificates to $110 for teachers having completed a
college course. Provision is made for a regular rate of
increase depending upon the number of years of service.
Higher rates may be allowed to teachers of one-room
schools; and districts not receiving state aid may increase
the rates, provided that the salaries are uniform throughout
the district for teachers with the same credentials and ex-
perience, and provided that the difference in basic salaries
depending upon training is maintained. Although an im-
provement, this is still inadequate and will not secure teach-
ers with even the minimum of professional training which
should be required of those employed in our public schools.
It is difficult to raise the teaching profession when the
teacher shortage is so acute that the tendency is to ignore
standards already existing. Yet before the school can press
legitimately its demand for the attendance of children it is
essential to do so. An increase in salary alone will not
128
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
secure trained teachers. The exodus from the teaching pro-
fession has been due in part only to low salaries. Unpleasant
living conditions, especially in rural sections, lack of social
recognition, and above all opportunities for women in new
lines of work have also had their effect. Teaching now has
to compete with other professions and even though the sal-
ary scale is raised, it will be many years before the supply
of teachers is great enough to permit of much selection.
The untrained teacher will still be an applicant, and due
partly to teacher shortage and partly to the political control
of appointments in many communities, she will be employed
unless definite minimum requirements are made and en-
forced. Those to be adopted in West Virginia beginning in
1922 are a step in the right direction but they are still ex-
tremely low.
Not only are the teachers untrained, but they are on the
whole inexperienced. One-fourth of all those teaching in
the schools visited were teaching for the first time, and an-
other fourth had been teaching less than three years. On
the other hand, there is the opposite extreme, and several
teachers had been in the work for more than 30 years—with
no further education than the "grade school," and to all
appearances no change in method since their own grade
school days. One woman began to teach 45 years ago and
has taught steadily for 40 years. All of her teaching has
been in one-room rural schools and in all these years she
has never taken any professional training. She is totally
lacking in initiative and originality. Such teachers are not
stimulating and their effect on the children is no less disas-
trous than that of the young, inexperienced, ambitionless girl.
It is also significant that 60 per cent of the teachers were
living in their own homes. Utilization of local talent to
such an extent generally indicates appointments due not to
merit but to either political influence or inability to secure
trained teachers from the outside.
That the present teachers are unable to cope with the
problem of the rural schools or even to understand it is
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
129
evidenced in the lack of responsibility which they feel for
their school work. Frequently they leave the school in the
middle of the term for another school, for other kinds of
work, or merely because they “get lonesome”; 28 of the
schools visited had had more than one teacher during the
term; and two schools had had three teachers. In 16 cases
the school had been closed for periods varying from one
week to several months before the board had been able to
secure another teacher.
In a certain school the teacher left last fall and began
work with a carpenter without even notifying the district
supervisor or county superintendent. After the school had
been closed three days one of the patrons telephoned to the
county superintendent.
In a two-room school the upper grades had only 5 months
of school, although the lower had 612, because the teacher of
the upper grades "quit a month and a half ago, and there
had been no school since.'
Teachers do not hesitate to take a day or two off and
leave the school in charge of a substitute. In three schools
visited the teacher had “gone to town' on the day the school
was visited. In one case a fourteen-year-old girl, herself
a pupil in a neighboring school, was teaching; the teacher's
sister, a young girl.who had never taught, was in charge of
the second; the third was a two-room school and a pupil
from the eighth grade took the lower classes. In each case
the visit to town was for the purpose of shopping.
In another school the teacher was drawn for jury duty.
Although exempt by law he preferred not to claim exemp-
tion, for, as the county superintendent explained, “they all
like to come down to the county seat." His brother, a farm
boy totally unqualified for teaching, took the school for two
weeks during his absence.
In a certain county is a school which, though it had
opened at the regular time, had no teacher for the seventh
and eighth grades until Christmas. Consequently the chil-
dren had a short term. For this situation the teacher was
responsible. Four years ago this district had an enumera-
tion of about 50 and was made a graded sub-district with a
130
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
two-teacher school. The enumeration gradually dwindled
until this year one teacher could handle easily the entire
school. The present teacher, however, had contracted to
teach up to and including the sixth grade, and sent home
the seventh and eighth grade pupils who came in the fall.
They had no schooling until the last week in December,
when a second teacher was employed. People in the com-
munity stated that the trouble was purely local politics; the
teacher's father had determined that she should have a
school, and although she had failed to pass the eighth
grade, succeeded in getting her a certificate. The opposi-
tion to her appointment merely increased her determination
not to include the seventh and eighth grades (which she
probably did not know enough to teach).
WORK AND ACTIVITIES OF THE SCHOOL
Not only are the buildings unsuitable, the necessary equip-
ment lacking, and the teachers untrained, but the spirit of
the rural school is dead. The old-fashioned methods of in-
struction, the conventional curriculum unadapted to rural
life, and the absence of all social and recreational activities
provide nothing to stimulate the child, to awaken his ambi-
tion or call forth any affection or loyalty for his school.
The lack of equipment for ordinary schoolroom work, as
well as for practical work such as cooking, sewing, manual-
training, agriculture, etc., has already been discussed. More
serious than the actual lack of equipment is the fact that
few teachers feel this lack. The curriculum follows the old
traditional lines and the teachers are content with it. As
one said: “No, we don't have no frills in this school.” Those
concerned with rural schools must be made to realize not
only the practical value of "frills" but that, given a good
teacher, on their existence depends the interest of the chil-
dren and therefore the life of the school.
The teachers do not know how to utilize the educational
opportunities which the country affords, and fail to inspire
the children with any knowledge or appreciation of the life
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
131
about them. The teacher who was absent from the school
the afternoon of our visit because she had taken all the chil-
dren on a "hike” to study birds was a refreshing exception-
but there are few like her.
Music, which can be made one of the most attractive fea-
tures of the school, is also neglected. Over 70 per cent of
the schools had no musical instruments whatever; in the 38
schools with some provision for music there were 22 organs,
6 pianos and 17 victrolas. In several cases the children said
the organs were never used, except on Sundays when church
was held in the building.
Little effort is made, through school libraries, to interest
the children in reading; 57 schools had no library whatever ;
45 had fewer than 50 books; less than one-quarter of the
schools had as many as 100 volumes. In many cases the
books were not well suited or well distributed for the dif-
ferent grades, and in several no use was made of the library.
Provision for play and wholesome recreation is seldom
considered a function of the school. Only half a dozen
schools had even a semblance of playground equipment,
these being the larger schools with ball grounds, basket-ball
equipment, in one or two cases a small amount of apparatus
for the smaller children, and in one case a tennis court in
contemplation. In no school was there organized play, and
the teachers showed little aptitude for such work. At
recess time the children played around among themselves
in the school yard or more likely in adjoining fields. In one
school there was no play-ground space near the school, and
the youngsters played in the road and along the banks of the
creek for a distance of about 20 feet.
About one half of the schools have had no entertainments
or social gatherings of any kind in the schoolhouse during
the past year; one-fourth had one entertainment each, and
the remainder had two or three. In a few schools there is
organized a literary club which meets once a week, usually
Friday afternoon, at the end of the school day, and to these
meetings the community is invited. Entertainments, how-
132
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
ever, are usually in the form of box-suppers or pie sociables
and their purpose is not primarily social, but financial, i. e.,
to raise money for improving the school building. In two
instances where normal graduates were teaching, the school
was attempting to put on a play. There were a few other
instances of purely social gatherings including community
spelling-bees, but on the whole, the teachers have not the
interest or originality to develop anything outside of the
usual schoolroom work.
Too often they do not know even the fundamentals of
teaching. In one school the teacher conducted a geography
class as follows:
Teacher reading from the book : "Brazil is a country in
South America.” Looking up, “Isn't it?" and the children
would nod their heads: "Yes." Reading: “Coffee is one of
the chief exports of Brazil. Isn't it?" Again the children
would nod their heads. This routine was followed through-
out the recitation.
In another school the teacher called the class in physiology
and opened the lesson by saying to the children: "S'posin
you tell me all you know 'bout the nervous system, and I'll
sit here and listen at ye.”
In a third school the class was "learnin" South America,
and Chile was pronounced by the teacher as a word of one
syllable with a long i!
With such conditions in the schools, one is tempted not to
blame children for non-attendance; it may well be that it is
better for them not to attend school than to go to schools
held in unattractive and unsanitary buildings, under the
direction of untrained teachers, who give them instruction
of an out-of-date, unpractical and uninteresting nature.
The activities of the Four-H clubs being developed under
the Extension Division of the College of Agriculture are in
part making up for the failure of the rural schools, but
relatively a very small number of children are now reached
by them. (See chapter on "Child Labor on Farms.") The
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
133
school cannot escape its responsibility as the primary agency
for the education of the rural child.
RURAL SCHOOL RE-ORGANIZATION
The problem of the rural school has been well summarized
by Mrs. L. E. McClung, State President of Farm Women's
Clubs of West Virginia. Coming from one who has lived all
her life in the country and knows rural conditions, it is
especially significant. She writes:
“How signally the present system of schools is failing
can only be appreciated by those living in the region of these
teeming camps and hills and coming into actual contact with
these failures.
"Any well-meant attempt to improve the country schools
as now organized is useless. The whole system will have
to be re-organized, it cannot be patched up. The proposal
to raise the standard of teaching, desirable as this is, will
not do it.”
And, it might be added, any attempt to improve materially
attendance in the country schools as now organized is like-
wise useless, for no amount of legislation can force these
people against their convictions. Until the schools are so
changed that the parents are convinced of their value, at-
tendance will continue to be low.
To make possible this reorganization certain fundamental
changes are necessary. First in importance is the abolition
of the one-room district schools and the substitution of
modern consolidated schools serving as large an area as the
physical conditions of the community permit. The advan-
tages of consolidation are too well known to require elabora-
tion. It makes possible suitable school buildings with mod-
ern lighting, heating and plumbing; better equipment; the
introduction of practical work and industrial courses ; larger
libraries; better teachers; fewer recitations per teacher, mak-
ing possible longer recitations and therefore more actual
teaching per pupil ; .closer supervision; community club-
134
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
rooms and auditoriums; more school activities, and a gener-
ally better school spirit. Wherever consolidation has been
tried it has vindicated itself, and proved that it does bring
these advantages.
So far, consolidation has not gained much of a foothold
in West Virginia. Among the schools visited only six could
be considered consolidated. This was due, in part, to the fact
that some counties were visited late in the season when the
regular term was over, and the consolidated schools, which
have no trouble in securing teachers and in opening on time,
had closed; but chiefly to the fact that most of the con-
solidation in West Virginia has been concentrated around
towns and villages.
In the state as a whole there are few consolidated schools.
In 1920 there were only 145 and of these only 99 were rural.
There were five counties not having a single consolidated
rural school.
The six consolidated schools visited were distinctly
superior to the ordinary schools both as to the school plant
and as to the type of teacher employed. Two schools in
Pocahontas County, which, though in rural communities,
combined the elementary and the high-school grades and
were therefore large enough to realize all the benefits of
consolidation, were especially good. They were well located;
had playgrounds and athletic equipment for both boys and
girls; the buildings were modern and well equipped; the
teachers well-trained and experienced; and for the high-
school grades there was industrial work including a Smith-
Hughes agricultural course. Attendance in these schools
reflected the interest of the children, the percentage of at-
tendance among those enrolled being over 90 for both
schools.
There are, of course, certain obstacles in the way of con-
solidation. Aside from the question of cost, which in view
of the tremendous educational advantages should not be a
deterrent, the chief difficulty in West Virginia is transpor-
tation. In only 30 schools in the state is any provision made
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
135
veyance used.
for getting the children to and from the school. It is not
fair, however, to take away the little district school, even
for a large modern school, if it is not made possible for the
children of the entire area to attend. In many localities the
roads are such that transportation would be impossible at
certain seasons of the year, regardless of the kind of con-
With the better road program already
launched, however, it should be increasingly practicable.
A second drawback is the antagonism of the parents to
the idea. At best they are lukewarm; in some cases they are
opposed because of the increased cost; in some cases, because
they are unwilling for the children to go such a distance.
Frequently they cannot come to an agreement as to the loca-
tion of the new school. One superintendent stated that many
more consolidations would have been made in his county if
the parents had been able to reach an agreement as to the
sites. By education, demonstration, and persuasion the
hostility of the parents can be overcome; it has been over-
come in many instances not only in West Virginia but in the
entire country. Consolidation has been a controversial mat-
ter, but once adopted and the co-operation of the parents
secured, it has never been abandoned.
Consolidation is the hope of the rural schools and must
precede or accompany every effort to raise their standards.
West Virginia has done less than most states; even with road
conditions as they are she can go much further. Large
graded schools will not be feasible in the mountains for many
years to come, if ever, but consolidated schools of the two-
and three-room type can be adopted very generally. In all
but four of the 17 counties visited a certain amount of con-
solidation would be possible at the present time, and in a
few counties it could be made almost universal. The sav-
ing in teachers' salaries by the abolition of one-room schools
having an enrolment of only 10 or 15 will go far towards
meeting the increased maintainance cost of the consolidated
school.
The second step in the reorganization of the rural schools
136
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
is administrative. The present district system must gradu-
ally be eliminated and the county made the unit for adminis-
tration. The schools should be under a county board of
education, composed of one member elected from each dis-
trict, and should be under the immediate supervision of a
county superintendent appointed by the county board of
education. This officer should be a full-time one; adequate
clerical and supervisory assistance should be provided and
the salary should be sufficient to enable men of training and
vision to fill the position.
The enforcement of the compulsory attendance law should
also be under county direction. Not only is the law differently
interpreted and enforced with widely varying degrees of
severity in neighboring communities, but local enforcement
never has been and never can be satisfactory. In many cases
the attendance officer, even though he may have had the
necessary social training, is bound to incur the hostility of
the parents. No one is willing to "get in wrong" with his
neighbors and local officers will not press a case. There
should be a full time county attendance officer whose duties
should include (1) supervision of the taking of the school
census by the teachers, (2) granting of work permits, (3)
enforcement of the compulsory attendance law.
The substitution of the county as the unit of administra-
tion will necessitate, of course, making the county the unit
of taxation for school purposes. This is not a difficulty;
on the contrary it is in itself desirable. Not only is the
county already the taxation unit for other purposes, but it
will make possible the equalization of educational conditions.
At the present time a poor district in spite of a maximum tax
levy not only has insufficient funds for proper buildings and
equipment, but is frequently forced to maintain a shorter
term than neighboring districts and is also at a distinct dis-
advantage in securing teachers. The competition for teach-
ers is keen; and the districts paying the highest salaries and
having the longest terms secure the best. Many, even of
those who live at home, drive several miles back and forth
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
137
to another district, rather than teach in their own district
where conditions are less favorable. This disadvantage is
doubly felt because, in order to secure state aid, a district
cannot pay more than the minimum salary provided by law.
With the county as the unit, the length of term and salary
schedule would be uniform for all schools.
A third need of the rural schools is an increase in school
funds. The last legislature (1921) enacted important legis-
lation along this line. State aid is to be increased by a
million dollars and is to be given not only as formerly to
districts levying the maximum salary tax and yet unable to
pay the minimum salary for the minimum term required
by law, but to each one-room and rural consolidated school
meeting certain standards fixed by the state board of educa-
tion; and also to districts increasing the school levy by elec-
tion for the purpose of raising teachers' salaries and employ-
ing district supervisors. This apportionment of state school
funds is on the right basis, for it recognizes first, the prin-
ciple that educational conditions in the state should be equal-
ized and to this end poor districts aided, and secondly, it
encourages local effort both as to taxation and as to the
establishment of standard schools. The requirement, how-
ever, that districts receiving state aid in order to bring the
term up to the minimum required by law must pay the mini-
mum salaries, is unfair because of the difficulty of securing
teachers on this salary. A few instances were found of
districts which could have qualified for state aid but did
not apply, because they realized that if they did so and paid
the minimum salaries while neighboring districts were
paying more, they would be unable to secure teachers for
their schools. In a few cases they shortened the term in
preference. Those districts which did receive state aid and
paid minimum salaries were the ones in which some schools
opened late and others were closed all year because no one
could be found to teach them. To some extent the same diffi-
culty exists among counties. Last year one county having
on hand some unexpended school money raised its salaries,
138
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
and all the trained teachers from the neighboring county
migrated there. This year that surplus was used up; the
county returned to its former salary schedule and the teach-
ers flocked back to their home county. It would be prefer-
able to give state aid to districts (or counties, when made
the unit) paying not more than a maximum salary, rather
than the minimum stated in the law.
Aside from state funds, which represent less than six per
cent of the total expenditure for public schools in the state,
even including state administrative expenses, support is
secured for the schools by local taxation. According to the
new levy law passed this year, districts may levy an elemen-
tary maintenance fund up to 15 cents, an elementary teach-
ers' fund up to 40 cents, an unlimited levy for high-school
teachers' fund, an unlimited levy for high school mainte-
nance fund, and a levy for new building and improvement
fund
up to 20 cents which may be increased to 40 cents with
the approval of the state superintendent of schools and the
state tax commissioner.
It is difficult to estimate exactly what a state should ex-
pend for education. One computation sometimes used is
based on the following: (1) one teacher should be provided
for every 35 pupils, (2) the school term should be nine
months, (3) the average minimum salary for teachers should
be $100 a month (i. e., $900 a year), (4) the expenditures for
teachers' salaries throughout the country being now 57.2 per
cent of the total expenditure for schools, $8,793,000 is
needed in West Virginia for teachers' salaries and the total
school expenditure should be $15,372,377-an increase over
last year's expenditure ($11,291,593.23) of 36 per cent.
One interesting fact becomes evident in making this com-
putation: the number of teachers needed on the basis of one
to every 35 pupils is less than the number actually employed
in West Virginia at the present time! This is due, of course,
to the innumerable small rural schools with enrolments of
from 10 to 15 or 20. This in itself is a tremendous item of
waste that can be eliminated and the money used to secure
better teachers for the remaining schools.
RURAL SCHOOL ATTENDANCE
139
Whether districts will take advantage of this new law and
raise their tax levies, and whether the funds thus raised
together with the increase in state aid will increase school
revenue sufficiently, remains to be seen.
SUMMARY
Poor school attendance is undoubtedly the basic explana-
tion of the high illiteracy rate among our American born
rural population. It follows that, if we are to have an edu-
cated nation, the children of the nation must attend school.
Attendance, however, is but the other side of the general
rural school problem. Our primary duty to rural children
is to provide for them good schools which really educate
good from the point of view of grounds, building, equip-
ment, teaching and community spirit. Our second duty is
to keep these schools in session for a period of time sufficient
to enable them to fulfill their function. When these two
things have been accomplished, the attendance problem prob-
ably will have vanished and the element of compulsion in
school attendance need exist only for exceptional cases.
CHAPTER IV
RURAL RECREATION
Raymond G. Fuller
1
Only children belong to the Kingdom of Childhood, and
the Kingdom of Childhood belongs to all children.
The democracy of this kingdom is perfect. Within, every
child is king by virtue of his childhood, and the highest
privilege of grown-ups in the world at large, entering into
the kingdom as far as remembrance and the child in them-
selves make it possible, is to manifest respect and reverence
for those who, being children, are the rulers of the race,
the priests of the past, and the prophets of the future--
kings unconscious of their part in destiny, but conscious of
life, life in abundance-just children. And the privilege of
grown-ups is, further, to preserve the kingdom, and protect
it from invasion, and to see that none of its inheritors is
disinherited but that all children everywhere shall be robed
in the royal purple.
How many children in country places live in this King-
dom of Childhood? Their number we cannot know, try as
we may, except as we know that they are few or they are
many. A census of the Kingdom of Childhood is a contra-
diction in terms, for the kingdom is qualitative not quanti-
tative, a spiritual kingdom consisting not of boys and girls
but of the joy and fulness of childhood itself. We know that
the life of play is characteristic of this kingdom, for it is in
their play that children are most completely and most ex-
actly children. Childhood is playtime when Nature has her
way, and only Man in his ignorance or his selfishness would
have it otherwise, and the laws of Nature are the laws of
the kingdom.
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141
So the children who play much belong to the Kingdom of
Childhood and the Kingdom of Childhood belongs to the
children who play little and ought to play more.
THE MEANING OF PLAY
Childhood is peculiarly and preëminently the motor period
of life. The child's great need is activity. His nature de-
mands it. His growth and his health, both physical and
psychical, depend upon it Without it the establishment
of proper and necessary coördinations in the neuro-muscular
system and of that constitutional unity which the ancients
described in the phrase, “A sound mind in a sound body,"
is impossible.
The characteristic mode of childhood activity is play
activity, which is sometimes interpreted as a sort of resur-
gence, in the individual, of the racial past. It is true that
play activity tends strongly to take those forms that involve
the larger muscles, the simpler coördinations, and "brain
tracts that are old, well-worn, and pervious,"—tendencies
and powers that are racially inherited from the hoariest of
hoary antiquity,—but while the elements of play come from
the past, the secret of play is found in the present. The
secret of play is found, not in racial history, but in indi-
vidual development. Yet this is hardly a fair statement, for
the secret of play is itself a racial inheritance. There seems
to be an inborn tendency to exercise the physical and psychi-
cal powers that are ready to be exercised and to satisfy the
interests that are related to these powers. Thus play may
be properly regarded as the joyous exercise of the powers
and capacities, muscular and mental. It is sometimes said
that play is self-expression, but perhaps it might better be said
that self-expression is play. To act self-expressively is
pleasurable and, to that extent, playful.
Growth is the secret of play, and play is the secret of
growth. The man who has never played at all is non-ex-
istent. He could not have grown up if he had never played.
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He could never have learned to know his feet from his
hands, or learned to walk. For play begins with progressive
triumph in the use of physical powers--powers of manipu-
lation, of movement and coördination. The baby gurgles
with joy as he plays with his toes, then exults in his new-
found ability to creep about on the floor, then in learning to
balance himself on his feet, and stand, and walk. Essen-
tially play is self-discovery and the trying out of powers-
the joyous doing of what one is able to do, the exercise of
ripening capacities, an exploration in the realms of muscle
and mind. It is growth and development and progress.
The motions and motives, the acts and thoughts of play, are
the products as well as the causes of growth. The indi-
vidual in ceasing to grow ceases to play, and he who ceases
to play ceases to grow. The compulsions of play are the
compulsions of growth, both physical and mental; inner
compulsions, not external, and therefore allied to spon-
taneity and freedom. Happy is the child who plays, and
happy is the man who has “found his work," or, as we
sometimes say, who has “found himself in his work," for
in his work he has found a play satisfaction, due to its suit-
ability to his powers and capacities, and the opportunity it
affords for self-expression and self-expansion.
Play and interest are one and inseparable as body and
soul, and there is no growth, no learning, without interest
and the satisfaction of interest. Needs give interest, but the
needs of the child are not the needs of the adult; the former
are the needs of growth, while many of the latter are gov-
erned by extrinsic factors—the necessity of making a living,
of doing business, of paying taxes. The adult has powers
for the needs of adult life; the child has powers only for
the needs of childhood, except as tremendous and devastat-
ing strain is put upon his physical and nervous system.
Force upon children activities physically or mentally beyond
their needs or beyond their powers, work in which they can
take no interest, work which evokes no spontaneity or en-
thusiasm and brings no satisfaction, and you have done that
which inevitably will retard or pervert their development,

With a live leader playground equipment is not essential
The country is not without natural recreation facilities—the old
swimming hole
RURAL RECREATION
143
and will seriously impair the normal functioning of the vital
processes within the body and very likely sow the seeds of
nervous disorder.
Let us see what the modern scientist has to say on this
subject. The following is quoted from Herbert S. Jen-
nings, professor of biology in Johns Hopkins University :
“There is one method of the exercise of the powers that is
almost free from these dangers, and that is what we call
play. For years, play was looked upon merely as a sort of
inevitable waste of time among children, but scientific
study of the cultivation of these organisms has shown that
play is in most respects the best, the ideal form of the exer-
cise of the powers. Particularly is this true for the younger
children, but it is in large measure true as they grow older.
Play is the activity which their own natures suggest and
guide; it is varied as their diverse budding capabilities re-
quire; and when free it is not carried beyond the point
where one activity interferes with the development of
others."
Thus it is vastly different from work. Play has intrinsic
value as an agency conducive to normal growth and develop-
ment; work possesses no such developmental value in itself.
Play follows the genetics of physical and psychical develop-
ment, and work does not, unless carefully chosen and super-
vised, and even then there is danger of mistake. Play causes
no overspecialization in the use of any muscle or group of
muscles; work often does. In play, the fundamental muscles
and coördinations get their due proportion of use; in work
the finer accessory muscles are frequently overemphasized
at the expense of the fundamental and for too long a time.
Such work, especially in early childhood and early adoles-
cence, sows the seeds of chorea and produces neurasthenic
symptoms in great variety. No activity in play is performed
with defective psychic motivation, since it always accords
with possessed powers of coördination and effort and with
the existing stock of instinctive and acquired impulses and
desires. With play the child is en rapport.
Not all work is child labor. Give a child work suited to
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his powers and appealing to his interests, give him work in
which he can express himself, in which the instincts of
initiation, creativeness and ownership are involved, in which
he can use his imagination and serve purposes of his own,
work that he can do with enthusiasm and satisfaction, and
you have given him developmental and educative work-
children's work, not child labor. This is the kind of work
that he does when he joins one of the agricultural clubs now
gaining a foothold in rural America. Give him also play,
for much as there is in common between play and children's
work, they are not the same; there is something playful in
play that is not in any work. But do not give him child
labor, for the results are exactly those that Professor Jen-
nings mentions as produced by conditions in badly conducted
schools: "By continued repression of many of the powers,
and by forcing activity in powers not yet ready, strain is
brought about; spontaneity is done away with; interest in
work is destroyed; the instinct of workmanship rooted out,
hate for work cultivated in place of it.” He speaks of
malnutrition and nervous disturbance as among the evil
consequences of such repression and forcement-conse-
quences is no wise associated with play, except through the
fact that play, and especially vigorous outdoor play, is the
best of all preventive agencies and a therapeutic agency of
no little value. No child labor, an increasing amount of
children's work, and always an abundance of play and
recreation, is the right of every child in his progress toward
maturity.
One of the chief indictments against child labor is that it
deprives children of opportunity to play. We do not, how-
ever, without considerable knowledge of child nature, ap-
preciate fully what this indictment means. To rob children
of childhood as playtime is to rob them of childhood itself,
for as Wood says: "Children love play as all young beings
love life, because life is play. The child's life is one of
physical, mental and moral development. Development
means self-expression, self-expression means activity, and
RURAL RECREATION
145
activity means play. Children do not play deliberately from
ulterior motives; with them it is play for play's sake; play
is life, they live to play; they are children because they play.'
It has been said that the child who has not played has
missed half of life. Rather he has missed childhood, which
is more than half of life, since, in Froebel's words, “The
whole later life of man, even to the moment when he shall
leave it again, has its source in this period of childhood.”
It is no exaggeration to say, as Waddle does, that the child
must play or he cannot become a man; for play is function-
ally related to growth and development of body and mind
and the integration of personality. It is the secret of all
progress in the individual and the race. Norsworthy and
Whitley write: "A child who does not play not only misses
much of the joy of childhood, but he can never be a fully
developed adult. He will lack in many of the qualities most
worth while because many of the avenues of growth were
unused and neglected during the most plastic period of his
life.”
Childhood is properly playtime, not worktime. By no
means is a workless childhood implied, but the work of chil-
dren should be children's work in amount and kind, and not
child labor. Nor is a playless adulthood implied either as a
fact or a desideratum. Grown-ups play and ought to play.
In a recent psychological essay, Professor Patrick so de-
fines play as to include practically all the activities of chil-
dren and a large share of those of adults, such, for instance,
as baseball, football, tennis, golf, polo, billiards and count-
less other games and sports; diversions such as travelling,
hunting, fishing, yachting, motoring, flying, dancing, vaca-
tion outings, games, races, spectacles, fairs, amusements,
and expositions; the theatre, opera, moving pictures, lec-
tures and entertainments. the enjoyment of music, painting,
poetry and other arts; the daily paper, the magazine, the
short story, and the novel. A difference is sometimes noted
between the play of children and the recreation of adults;
but adults do play in response to purely and distinctly play-
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ful impulses, and children in school or at work have need
and desire for that recreation which is diversional, relaxa-
tional, re-creative.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
In their comings and goings, hither and thither, the agents
of the National Child Labor Committee have made inquiry
concerning play and recreation, supplementing by per-
sonal observation the answers they received to their ques-
tions. Not least significant among their discoveries was the
attitude of hostility frequently shown toward children's
play-or, if not an attitude of hostility, one of milder dis-
approval. Up in the mountains and down in the valleys,
in cabin and painted farm house, in village and countryside,
this attitude was found. Attitude, whether favorable, hos-
tile, or indifferent, is important to find, for it lies back of
whatever may be discovered regarding not only the time
allowed to children for play activities but also the provision
by adults of such play facilities as toys in the home and a
playground at school. Again and again though we never
asked, “What do you think about play?" we were told, in
reply to the questions we did ask: "We don't believe in
play.” If in that answer there had been any considerable
acquaintance with the science of child nature, it could be
paraphrased to read, "We don't believe in children."
Long ago the philosopher Plato, in a passage frequently
quoted, declared that education should begin with the right
direction of children's sports. Rousseau, some centuries
afterward, with a philosophy of education in which play was
implicit, spoke truly in saying that “Nature would have
children be children before they are men and women.”
Froebel at about the same time was calling play “the germi-
nal leaves of all later development.” And now, when we
examine the literature of childlife and education, we find
the praise of play insistently repeated and emphasized:
RURAL RECREATION
147
There is no agency known to man working so much for
physical and mental development, for quickness of body and
mind, for poise, self-confidence, ability to correlate mental
and bodily action, and above all for that vague thing called
personality, as play.-Bulletin on Physical Education, De-
partment of Public Instruction, Indiana.
In their play children learn to observe quickly, to judge,
to weigh values, to pick out essentials, to give close atten-
tion; they learn the value of coöperation, to recognize the
rights of others as well as to insist on their own being recog-
nized; they learn the meaning of freedom through law; they
learn the value and function of work and the joy of ac-
complishment. No wonder that play is regarded by many as
the most important educational factor of them all. Nors-
worthy and Whitley in The Psychology of Childhood.
Play at its best is only a school of ethics. It gives not
only strength, but courage and confidence, tends to simplify
life and habits, gives energy, decision and promptness of
the will, brings consolation and peace of mind in evil days,
is a resource in trouble, and brings out individuality.-G.
Stanley Hall, in Youth.
One hale and hearty and fairly prosperous farmer
averred, with the accent on the ego, “I never played when I
was a boy." Others, not so hale and hearty or prosperous,
or quite so self-satisfied, made the same statement. Now
it is doubtful, as already noted, if such a statement is ever
true. And if it were true, in any particular case, be it re-
membered that what a man becomes without play is no
proper measure of what he might have become with it. By
the same token, inverted, what a man becomes with child
labor in his past history is not a true measure of what he
might have become without it.
The “I-never-played” people conceive of play, perhaps,
chiefly in terms of its most easily recognized and remem-
bered forms—such as baseball or going to parties. But play
does not require equipment or special occasion, importantly
as these contribute to the variety and richness of the play
life. Play is less conspicuously but not less truly play in
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such simple manifestations as running races with a dog,
paddling in a mud puddle with bare feet (or even merely
going barefoot), throwing sticks into the creek to see them
float downstream, jousting with mullein stalks in the pasture,
or lying face upward upon a grassy hillside and finding lions
and elephants and other wild animals in the clouds. Were
you ever a child? Then you played.
True play is always wholesome, but when its normal ex-
pression is balked, or when the environment is unhealthful,
it may take perverted and even dangerous forms. In other
words, the opportunities for play must be wholesome.
must remember, too, that the term "play" is commonly used
to include all ways of having “a good time.” That lets in
a great many pleasures and amusements that may or may not
be wholesome. And so it is said, with some appearance of
fidelity to facts, that play is morally dangerous. But the
thing that is dangerous is not play but the environment of
play. The thing that is dangerous is the lack of encourage-
ment of, and provision for, the play that is wholesome.
The thing that is dangerous is the absence of high ideals for
the play life of children and of the community. Children
ought to play and they ought to have good times, but on
parents and teachers and all citizens rests the responsibility
of safeguarding the conditions and directing the forms of
play. Certainly we must not limit our conception of whole-
some, self-expressive play to those forms, like tag and base-
ball, in which physical exercise is conspicuous, much less
confound it with physical exercise. Companionship is play,
association with others is play, and what we may call the
“social life” of childhood is comprehended in the meaning of
the term. Most play and the best play requires one or more
playmates, for without them many of the forms and many
of the values of play are impossible. Play is largely social
experience, and as such is self-expressive and developmental
and wholesomely pleasurable. Games are social play, and
so are picnics and parties.
The disfavor and disrepute in which play is held by many
RURAL RECREATION
149
rural fathers and mothers seems to extend to the whole
category of play activities. It is by no means confined to
those forms which, like dancing, are peculiarly liable, if not
properly safeguarded and supervised, to environmental influ-
ences and dangers. It apparently applies to play in any
form—to play as play. Absent in many cases is any concep-
tion of play except as idleness, a waste of time, something
that is not work. There was Abe Fowler, for instance, who
said, "Boys don't need no time to play. When they hain't
workin' they oughtta be sleepin', I reckon.” Another man
said of his own boys, "There's plenty of work for 'em and no
time for foolishness.” Another: “I've got a place for my
boy to play-cuttin' sprouts and weeds. and wet days he
c'n git wood."
This notion that parental duty consists in considerable part
in keeping children from playing is rather common. There
was pride in such statements of fathers and mothers as the
following: "We never give 'em no time to play." "We
don't believe in games." "Our children never bother with
games." "We don't fool with any fool thing like that.”
“We don't believe much in play.” One mother said, “I raised
my children in a holler and they didn't l'arn any of that non-
sense.” Then there were answers more strongly indicative
of religious and moralistic sentiment: "I don't like to see
children put in time on games like dominoes. I'd as soon
see 'em play cards.” “Parties used to be all right, but they
make harm out of everything these days." "That's what's
wrong with the world. The young people want to spend too
much time in foolishness.” “I don't want my children play-
ing out in the neighborhood with other children. You never
know what they're up to or who they're with.” “I don't
believe in them things. All my children have 'professed'
and they go to church and Sunday School.” Thus it ap-
pears that in not a few minds there is not only a moral
antipathy between play and work and an identity between
play and idleness, but a deep and inevitable opposition be-
tween the joy and happiness of play and the seriousness of
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RURAL CHILD WELFARE
religion. These are misconceptions due to ignorance of the
nature and function of play and of the possibility of develop-
ing in the community the opportunities and facilities of a
rich and wholesome play life, not only for the young but for
all.
Occasionally a favorable attitude toward the play and
social life of children was expressed. A mother told us,
“We're too hard on the boy. We never give him no time
off. He's a slave.” That family was caught in the hard
grind of making a living from poor land by poor methods,
but the method of working the boy to the exclusion of play
was the worst method of all. A farmer who had observed
or read or heard something of the truth about play declared
emphatically, "I believe in it. If children don't play it
stunts their growth.” One father averred that “If a boy
don't get no chance to play he's no better'n a dog." And
another explained his favorable opinion of play and good
times for boys and girls by saying, "I was a boy oncet
myself.” Perchance it was the lack of play and good times
in the childhood of men and women now hostile to these
things that explains their present attitude-a childhood of
child labor, an adulthood with no remembrance or under-
standing of the spirit of play. To keep the spirit of play is
to keep young. Groos says that children are young because
they play and not vice versa, and Hall adds that men grow
old because they stop playing and not conversely.
STARVED CHILDREN
Because of the failure of adults to see that play belongs
to the very concept of childhood, because of ignorance of its
values or fear of its supposed dangers, many a child is
starved for the food and drink of childhood. Or, know-
ing not the hunger and thirst, he lacks the sustenance and
refreshment of play, its blessedness and benefit. For with-
out play, the play impulse may perish and the play desire
fade out. Thus it was with the twelve-year-old boy who
RURAL RECREATION
said, “I'd rather sit in the house than play.” A little girl,
not quite so old, wanted a swing, but we learned, “Father
wouldn't put me up a swing. He said I didn't need to play."
There was one community, prosperous and pleasant to
look upon in its physical aspects, where it was planned at
Christmas time to present a cantata in which the children
should participate. Santa Claus was to take part. The
children were all eagerness, and were looking forward
especially to seeing the little old man from the land of the
reindeer, with his bag of presents and his kindness and
good cheer. Such things are dear to the heart of childhood.
But there were older and maybe wiser people in that com-
munity who did not believe in such things. They did not
believe in play-acting or even in good times—especially in the
church. They did not believe in Santa Claus. And so there
was no cantata and no Santa Claus. Christmas in that com-
munity was made safe for children.
The smaller children should have playthings in the house
and the yard—which need cost little or nothing. A few
broken bits of china were all that one little girl could muster,
and with them she played tea-party—though where she had
ever heard of a real tea-party was a mystery. Girls should
have dolls to tend and cherish. Dr. Luther H. Gulick, who
spent twenty years studying the plays and games of children,
writes: "Doll play is a form of toy play in connection with
which very complex mental and social developments take
place. Dolls, like other toys, have their chief interest in
the fact that they serve as instruments about which cluster
instinct feelings that need expression and development. In
this case it is the domestic instincts that are ripening. Love
grows not with the beauty and completeness of the doll, but
with the amount of time and attention given to it by the
girl. Hence arises the great affection that girls have for
rag dolls. The rag doll gives more opportunity for work,
and therefore more opportunity for the expression of affec-
tion. Many girls are exceedingly lonely without their dolls,
but find a sufficient sense of companionship as soon as they
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have them, even if there are no human beings near Girls
talk to dolls extensively and tell them their troubles."
The flower of play blossoms sweetly, if not very fully,
under the most untoward circumstances. It was in a dreary-
looking mining camp, with boxes for houses, muddy lanes
for streets, and garbage heaps for backyards, that we made
the acquaintance of Vera Vernon, nine years old. She had
no mother; leastwise, her mother had gone away to escape
the brutal treatment of her husband, a miner, and came back
only once a year to see the children and clean up the house.
The house must have needed a good deal of cleaning up,
for when we saw it the place was filthy. The room we
entered was used as kitchen, living room and bedroom.
Stale food and garbage on table and shelves. A couple of
dilapidated old chairs, one with a broken rocker. Coal in
a washtub. A pile of cabbages in one corner. An unmade
bed in another. Rags on the floor where the boys slept. As
we approached the house, we could look through this room
to the back porch, where Vera was lustily scrubbing the
floor. Diffidently she responded to our greeting but warmed
to our friendly overtures. "I've been making a playhouse
on the back porch," she informed us and led us out to see.
With manifest pride she showed us the clean floor, a little
box containing broken dishes and fragments of stone, and,
last but not least, a rag doll. She told us of the wonderful
“store doll” that had come to her at Christmas time two
years before. She ran across to a neighbor's for a key,
with which she unlocked the parlor, where all the treasures
of the house were kept—the lard, the jam, the apple butter,
and the wonderful Christmas doll, with eyes that opened
and shut, the wonderful doll from the store securely fastened
in the box just as it came and on the box the price
mark: $6.50.
In part, the limitations on the amount and variety of chil-
dren's play are the result of the physical isolation of many
of the homes in which children are found. A mother told
us that her boys and girls had never had a chance to play
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153
with other children until the family moved across the moun-
tain to the house they were then occupying by the side of a
road. Remote enough was their present location, but not so
far away from everybody as the little cabin entirely sur-
rounded by mountain walls—and no road leading out or in.
We found a number of instances in which the one or two
children in the family had no playmates or companions or
friends of their own age. Away up on a mountain fourteen-
year-old Julia did all the housework while the mother went
down into the valley every day, working out; the father had
"fits" and stayed at home. Girls of her own age Julia had
never even met. But back there in that country of high hills
and deep valleys the need and desire for human contacts
and friendship exists as it exists elsewhere. There is more
than curiosity in the attention given the visiting stranger.
Where one of West Virginia's creeks begins a woman of our
party made friends with a girl of 14, who, after the ice was
broken, said simply, "I like you.” And when this new-found
friend, "the stranger," went away, the little girl climbed up
to a ledge of rock overlooking the trail, and the woman,
looking back till the trail turned in the forest, saw limned
against the skyline the lone figure of a lonely girl in calico.
The woman waved, but no response. The explanation of
this omission, perhaps, is to be found in another instance,
when the visitor waved back to a little group of mother and
children standing before the cabin door and overheard the
question of the oldest of the girls, “Ma, wha'd she do that
fer?"
This physical isolation is also a social isolation. It can
be in a measure overcome by good roads, for roads are a
means of communication; much more, by good schools,
where children can meet and play and get acquainted, and
where centers of community life can be established. Not
least effective in overcoming the social isolation that is more
than physical are the county agricultural and home demon-
stration agents, with their boys' and girls' clubs, and their
own personal comings and goings in the countryside. Nor
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RURAL CHILD WELFARE
need it be that the physically isolated home shall be entirely
without a recreational life of its own. There are families
that play together—fathers and mothers with their children.
Such families are few. Ordinarily the members of the
family go away from home to play and have a good time,
and do not go together, but once we came upon a mother
dancing in the field with her children, all holding hands in a
ring, and found a father who had bought a game of checkers
in order to play with his 13-year-old boy evenings after work.
It is noteworthy that in many communities where the
people, young or old, seldom get together in a social or recre-
ational way, gatherings of this nature were once more com-
mon than they are now. Within the memory of men and
women with whom we talked there were numerous occasions
of general participation in "good times"-spelling bees, corn-
huskings, quiltings, barbecues, parties, dances, and so on.
Physical isolation was certainly no greater than at present,
and social isolation was less. We sought explanation for
this decadence of social and recreational life in communities
where it had occurred. In some cases it was due apparently
to the change from pioneer to settled conditions the com-
mon battle against the wilderness was over, and each man
had now withdrawn to his own house and farm. As for
dances, they had grown in disfavor, especially with the
church people. One man said: “We used to have lots
of dances when I was a boy, and lots of other good times.
But we don't believe in dancing now. We hadn't read the
Bible much then and didn't know it was wrong, but now
since we've been to church and Sunday School, and read the
Bible, we know it's wrong for the young people to dance."
A more specific explanation was given by another man, as
follows: "Dances and parties used to be all right, but fools
got to bringing whiskey and that made trouble.” The taboo
against certain forms of recreation and amusement was ex-
tended by association to other forms, but there was also a
general religious opposition to frivolity and foolishness.
The whole philosophy of life became serious. In some com-
.
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155
munities the decline of social and recreational activities was
explained as due largely to the emigrating of the young
people to the towns and cities. Another explanation and
also a partial explanation, perhaps, of the exodus of these
young people—was this, that the young people want to enjoy!
the present forms of urban recreation, which their elders
cannot supply, and that they scorn and ridicule those forms
which their elders can supply, with the result that all attempt
at rural recreation has been given up.
We visited one community in which we were told, in
answer to our question as to what the children and young
people did for play and recreation, “Oh, they jest set
around." "Jest settin' around” is certainly not play, and as
certainly is not work, and it possesses the virtues of neither.
It seems to come nearer to loafing, and we saw a good deal
of that. But children in their idleness are busy with what-
ever their minds find to feed upon, and if they do not play
in vigorous and wholesome ways, they find something else
to do--for even "idle” boys and girls have frequent desires
to do something. One father's method of keeping his 12-
year-old son out of the reform school was not to let him
"go anywhere" or "do anything," but it did not prove suc-
cessful. The reform school was where that boy went as a
result
Charles W. Waddle, the psychologist, writes: "On the
theory of catharsis certain strong instinctive tendencies,
now no longer useful in their primitive form, require to be
exercised in attenuated and modified ways until their period
of nascency has passed and control of them has been at-
tained. To illustrate, the pugnacious tendencies of boys find
suitable exercise in football, boxing and wrestling, instead
of being allowed to run riot in quarrels and fights. If
allowed proper opportunity to explore, collect, fish, swim,
hunt, to care for and train pets, and the like, boys have less
tendency to destroy or steal property, to torment animals,
or commit other anti-social acts.” In city or country, play
in abundance and variety is the best known preventive of
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RURAL CHILD WELFARE
evil thoughts and improper behavior-not only because of
the moral training it affords but because of the harmless
expression it gives to instincts and tendencies in need of
socialization and sublimation. From this standpoint play is
of notable service in relation to the psycho-sexual life and
the impulses and interests arising therefrom. This problem
of sex runs through the whole of childhood and youth.
Physiologically, play conduces to sex normality, and socially
is potent in rationalizing the attitude of the sexes toward
each other. Pugnacity and the sex life furnish only two
examples of the important relation that play bears to
physical, mental, and moral health.
The playless community is a dangerous community in
which to bring up children. Where opportunities are lack-
ing for normal, wholesome play, opportunities are not lack-
ing for something else. We visited two communities which
may be designated as "A" and "B," lying about two miles
apart. In “A” community the play spirit is strong and is
shared by young and old. There is a live school with a
teacher interested in the playground and in the social affairs
of the community at large. During the winter preceding
our visit, several pie and ice-cream sociables had been held
under the auspices of the agricultural club to which all of
the boys and girls belong. There had been under the same
auspices a marshmallow roast, a number of parties at the
homes of the club members, and two public entertainments.
This does not exhaust the list of club affairs, to which must
be added other parties in the community, a few dances, and
in the spring and summer several baseball games. “B” com-
munity has about the same population of children and young
people, but no agricultural club, no public recreational gath-
erings of any kind, not a single party, or sociable, or picnic
from one year's end to the other. The boys and girls as
they grow up are leaving the community as fast as they can,
but there are some left. The boys belong to a gang which
finds its chief fun and function in going over to “A” com-
munity, when a spelling bee or a dance is in progress, and,
RURAL RECREATION
157
in firing off pistols which these rowdies have procured,
making all the disturbance possible, and sometimes resorting
to even wilder methods of spoiling or breaking up the occa-
sion. That is their idea of having a good time..
In another community the gang of boys finds nothing
more delightful to do than to get crazy on "old hen," raid
orchards, steal chickens, and break the schoolhouse win-
dows. There is still another playless community where
hoodlumism prevails among the older boys and even the
girls, and where the smaller children are rapidly learning
their ways. Five churches stand guard there against any
form of amusement, their opposition extending to movies,
dances, and card parties, but not to kissing games! One of
the chief amusements of the young folks—from thirteen or
fourteen and up—is beauing around the dark streets in the
evening, and another is that of the boys who follow the
sweethearting couples and shower them with rocks. In sev-
eral remote and playless communities we learned of a start-
ling number of illegitimate births to girls of 14, 15, 16, 17
years and older, and on inquiry into the individual histories
of these girls, we found that none had had more than the
most meagre experience in vigorous play and wholesome
recreation.
PLAY AND THE RURAL SCHOOL
The critical point in rural play and recreation is the
country school. Its opportunity in this field is as great as its
failure to recognize and seize this opportunity. In another
chapter of this volume, Miss Folks presents facts showing
the inadequacy and in many cases the utter unsuitability of
the rural school-yard for playground purposes, the lack of
interest on the part of the average teacher in children's play
and her inability to teach games and organize play activities,
and the infrequent use of the school plant for community
center purposes. Not far away from the facts of the rural
situation was the remark of the mother who sent her ten-
158
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
year-old daughter "to school every day when school's
a-keepin', so she won't be playin'."
In going about among rural schools in Kentucky, Ten-
nessee and West Virginia, the writer found that, irrespec-
tive of the adequacy of play space, there were some schools
where the children played busily and zestfully at recess
periods and others where they did not play at all but hung
around unable to think of anything to do. Perhaps the
boys scuffled with one another, while the girls strolled about
in pairs or small groups. This loafing at recess time gen-
erally indicated a dead school on the inside of the building.
In many cases it could be traced to loss of play traditions
and habits in the community. The playless school offers a
splendid opportunity to the rural teacher, but unfortunately
it is an opportunity very generally neglected or unrealized.
Inquiry among county superintendents indicated that not
more than 20 per cent and in many counties not more than
5 or
10 per cent of the rural teachers are capable of
teaching games and organizing and directing play. Perhaps
a still smaller percentage actually does teach games and direct
play. Many teachers apparently are not aware either of the
value of play to country children or of the value of the
playground to the school life. One teacher said that she did
not believe farm children ought to play at school as they had
so much work to do at home. A teacher so densely ignorant
as that ought not to have a certificate. Of course, the qual-
ity of teachers is not always what it ought to be, though it
is probably as good as can be expected in view of the
scandalously low salaries paid.
Much can be done to liven the playground and the school
through paying more attention to play and recreation in
teacher-training courses. The normal schools do not pay
enough attention to this phase of preparation. Every nor-
mal graduate going into the country schools to teach should
possess not merely a theoretical knowledge of the educa-
tional and sociological function and importance of play but
a large repertoire of games for rural schools and rural com-
RURAL RECREATION
159
munities and a training in playground technique. At sum-
mer schools and teachers' meetings these matters should have
more attention. The state department of education should
put into the hands of rural school teachers a handbook of
games containing suggestions as to how to make practical
and effective use of it. The teacher makes the playground.
The size and equipment of the playground are insignificant
in comparison with leadership and direction. It was found
in Tennessee, West Virginia and elsewhere that in those
schools where the children really played and played well
there was a teacher who got out amongst them at least occa-
sionally, taught them games and stimulated them to utilize
the stock of games which the children of every community
find they possess when they are encouraged to pool their
own resources. It is a fact worth noting that while children
play instinctively, they have to learn how to play; play is
unlearned activity, but games are learned activity and the
playground calls for games.
The story of what happened in Madison County, Missis-
sippi, should be interesting and suggestive to teachers and
school officials in other localities. The Teachers' Associa-
tion of the county appointed a committee to make arrange-
ments for a special play program in the usual program of
the annual county field day. A standard text, “Games for
the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium,” by Jessie
H. Bancroft, was adopted and distributed to each school.
Each teacher used her own judgment in the selection of
games. On the day appointed each school was assigned a
definite, staked-off area on the play field. At a signal from
the leader each school began playing its own game. This
was continued for a period of forty-five minutes with brief
intervals when games were changed and play began again.
Then at the end of the forty-five minute period, the first,
second and third grades of all the schools assembled in the
center of the field and played a game together. The rest of
the day was taken up in regular field day events such as base-
ball, basketball, pole vaulting, running and jumping. Intro-
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RURAL CHILD WELFARE
ducing a play period into the regular field day program was
found to be valuable not only because it secured the active
participation of every child, but it also demonstrated to the
teachers the value of games, with the result that they will
be used as a regular feature of school work in the future.
The superintendent of the county schools pronounced the
experiment a shining success and wrote: “Next year this
will mean that there will be no pupils in this county who do
not play. There will be at least a part of each day devoted
to play for the fun of it, and for the exercise that it gives."
It was found in West Virginia that the games most pop-
ular at the rural schools visited were Prisoner's Base, Drop-
the-Handkerchief, Ring Around a Rosy, Baseball, Chase the
Fox, and in bad weather, Clap In and Clap Out. A striking
discovery was the small proportion of games involving real
team or cooperative play. It is notable that at most schools
the boys and girls actually play but a few of the games they
know. At several where the children played a great deal,
“base” was the game they played day after day, week after
week, boys and girls and small and large children together.
Games for use in rural schools, according to Professor E.
C. Lindeman, of the American Country Life Association,
should meet the following requirements: 1. Safe to health;
2. Adaptable to small as well as large numbers; 3. Adaptable
to young as well as old; 4. Adaptable to both sexes; 5. Re-
quiring minimum equipment; 6. Requiring coöperative
activity. The games which Mr. Lindeman feels will best
meet these requirements are as follows: 1. Head and Tail
Tag (Black and White); 2. Straddle Ball (a) Line forma-
tion, (b) Circle formation; 3. Three Deep; 4. Squirrel in
Trees; 5. Numbers Change; 6. Dodgeball; 7. Circle Dodge-
ball (progressive); 8. Circle Relay (Spoke Relay); 9. Circle
Relay (with zig-zag or leap-frog variations); 10. Japanese
Crab Race (man, monkey, crab variations); 11. Pinco-O;
12. Overhead Relay; 13. Over and Under Relay; 14. Shuttle
Relay; 15. Zig-zag Relay; 16. All Up Relay; 17. Volleyball;
18. Hill Dill; 19. “I Say Stoop" ("O'Grady Says”); 20.
RURAL RECREATION
161
“Looby Loo" (folk dance); 21. "Farmer in the Dell” (folk
dance); 22. Partner Tag; 23. Triple Tag; 24. Oyster Cracker
Relay (indoors); 25. Water Glass Relay (indoors); 26.
Apple Basket Relay; 27 Potato Paring Contest (teams);
28. Potato Relay ; 29. Corn Stringing Contest (teams) ; 30.
Skip and Rope Relay.
Mr. Gibbons, in his chapter on "The Rural Home," and
Mr. Armentrout, in "Child Labor on Farms," deal with cer-
tain aspects of the play-and-recreation situation. Both give
considerable attention to the work of the county agricultural
and home demonstration agents. Though in this work the
emphasis is primarily economic rather than social, the
humanistic aspects of rural rejuvenation are not neglected.
Community organization, whatever its aim, is in itself impor-
tant from the standpoint of sociable and recreational life.
In the boys and girls' agricultural clubs, besides the inci-
dental widening of acquaintance and friendship, there is a
special place in the program of club activities for parties,
entertainments, field meets, camp life, and pageantry.
“IT'S ALL RIGHT FOR THE CITY, BUT-
More than once we heard the opinion expressed that play
and recreation may be needed in the city, but are quite
superfluous in the country. The assumption back of it
seemed to be that country people are so much in the open air
and have so much physical exercise that play and recreation
are a waste of time and energy. This represents, of course, ,
a narrow and therefore erroneous view of play. It is as
true of children as it is of adults, and as true of baseball as
it is of checkers, that play is psychical in its nature, and only
incidentally, and sometimes not at all, a matter of physical
exercise. On its sociable side, play is needed in the country
to promote acquaintance and friendship, to relieve monotony,
to counteract the materialism that grows up in an atmosphere
of all work and no play, to destroy isolation and the sep-
arateness of man from man—what we often call the indi-
162
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
vidualism of the American farmer, something that is vastly
different from individuality. In religion a man seeks God,
in play he finds his fellow man. He finds his neighbor, his
community, his own humanity, and greater ease in joining
hands with others to solve their common problems. One
reason why farmers find it difficult to coöperate for the
furtherance of their economic interests is that they do not
know one another well enough, and a second is that they
never learned the art of coöperation-an art that is learned
nowhere so surely or so well as in the team games of boy-
hood and youth.
The common belief in the country that farm-work for
children is the certain road to good physical development
and health is hardly justified by the facts. Comparison of
city and country health statistics does not support it. More
children in the rural than in the urban schools have physical
defects. J. Mace Andress remarks that much of the work
that a boy does on the farm consists in pulling weeds,
hoeing, and the like. Such work tends to cramp the chest
and bring the shoulders forward. If he drives a team
(hitched to wagon, cultivator, mowing machine, binder), he
sits on a seat that has no back and assumes a cramped
position. Andress says: “Children on the farm may de-
velop considerable muscular strength ... but there is little
exercise that develops vital strength, vigor of heart, lungs
and digestion.” Henry S. Curtis writes that "country boys
and girls are apt to be round-shouldered and flat-chested,
with forward slanting heads. Boys who have done much
hard work are usually awkward and clumsy, almost without
that grace and suppleness that are characteristic of a child
who has been trained through play.” In the army camps
it was found that city boys excelled country boys in sym-
metry of body, in quickness and sureness of action, and in
resistance to fatigue. They were mentally more alert.
Now these results may not have been due to overwork on
the farm. There is, it is true, too much overwork on the
farm, but the more serious factor in poor health and deficient
RURAL RECREATION
163
development is the lack of adequate play. Needed are the
supplementary and corrective activities of varied and vigor-
ous play, if the work that children do on the farm is not
to be harmful or if the possibilities of physical and mental
development are to be realized.
There is no intention here of disparaging country children,
but only of pointing out a serious fault of country life. It
as as true of the city as it is of the country that, as Professor
Jennings says, “Opportunity for varied play under healthful
outward conditions is beyond doubt the chief need of chil-
dren; comparative study of the mental and physical develop-
ment of children to whom full opportunity for such play is
given shows striking superiority, as compared with children
to whom such opportunities are denied."
The country needs play and recreation as a means of en-
riching country life and enhancing its holding power. It
needs fun and entertainment, athletic games and sports, occa-
sions of sociable mixing and enjoyment, for the satisfaction
of the normal and wholesome human hungers and desires
that express themselves in play and recreation. The barren-
ness of social and recreational life in many rural communi-
ties is one reason for the great exodus of young people to the
cities. Several rural emigrants with whom we talked gave
this as their only reason for leaving the country. It is some-
times said that the lure of the city, rather than country con-
ditions, is the chief factor in the movement to the centers of
population—that instead of a push from the country there
is a pull from the city. But even so, it remains true that
the country lacks holding power. Many factors operate-
the gregarious instinct, the quest of adventure, opportunities
that appeal to ambition. If young people in the country
should find in the country progressive satisfaction of all the
humanly natural desires and aspirations associated with
those elements of good living which we call work, play, love
and worship, the loss of so much of the best blood and
ability from the country places would be checked. Play and
recreation are not all of life, but they ramify through the
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RURAL CHILD WELFARE
whole tex.ure of life in society. In presenting to Congress
the report of the Country Life Commission, Theodore
Roosevelt declared: "Our civilization rests at bottom on
the wholesomeness, the attractiveness and the completeness,
as well as the prosperity, of life in the country."
Finally, the country needs play and recreation because
these are the right of country people. Country people are
entitled to equal pleasures and advantages with city people.
It is only country people themselves who can establish and
maintain the democratic balance between country and city
in regard to play, recreation, and sociable life-three im-
portant aspects of self-expression and self-expansion.
CHAPTER V
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY, NEGLECT AND
DELINQUENCY
Sara A. Brown
"I RECKEN p'raps if they's had a good home ye's like to
know," spake the kindly old man who keeps the country
store and post office at Posey Hollow Cross Roads, nine
miles from the county seat of X. He paused a few leisurely
moments in his early morning trade and listened courteously
to the writer's inquiry regarding any children in his neigh-
borhood living with some one other than their own parents.
His face brightened, his tired eyes sparkled and his smile
expanded until nothing but smile could be seen, as he mod-
estly yet proudly related how "me and my wife raised two
orphans jes' the same as our own." Then thoughtfully,
soberly added, "Supposin' somebody not good and kind
like my wife had taken 'em even if she had done the best she
knowed how?” The one is a niece, the other "a litti bitti
tramp' taken a dozen years ago, two beautiful girls, now in
eighth grade and high-school, a credit to any family, to any
. neighborhood. Such in the large is the rural spirit in deal-
ing with child dependency.
What becomes of rural dependent children; under what
conditions are they living; who is responsible for them;
what factors contribute to their dependency; and how far
are the best standards applied in the care of dependent chil-
dren distinctively rural? To find the answers we go out into
the open country, far removed from town or village. Three
or four houses clustered about the country store are accepted
as rural and are the nearest approach to a closely settled
community. We interpret dependent children to mean more
165
166
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
than boys under 16 and girls under 18 "dependent on public
charity, destitute, homeless or abandoned," with no relatives
legally responsible for their support, as defined in the law.
In this study, dependent children are any under 18 deprived
of their own family homes, without means for self-support
and education, or living in their family groups without
resources for maintaining minimum standards of life and
education. For instance, a mountain farm valued at less
than $200 constitutes the estate of six children under 14
years. Officials do not consider them legally dependent, yet
for all practical purposes they are now and will be dependent
until they reach an age capable of self-support. In appoint-
ing administrators and guardians, especially when strangers
to the family, courts usually require bond of two or three
times the value of the estate involved. As a courtesy to
kinsfolk, however, as small a bond as $50 or $100 may be
required of a guardian for a family of from three to six
children under 14, but this is no indication of the size of
the estate. In this study, we include as dependents, families
of children with estates valued from $12 to $300, though
by far the largest majority have no claim to property of any
kind, for even the children with small estates are dependent
so far as care and education are concerned. Four children
supported by the labor of their widowed mother and aged
grandmother are not legally dependent because no public
fund contributes to their support. We class them as de-
pendents because the kinsfolk are not able to support them
without the assistance of friendly persons in the community
who know conditions and are willing to supply clothing,
food and sometimes money to make it possible for the chil-
dren and mother to remain together, and because wherever
public funds are available for the care of all dependent
children in their own homes, such children receive support
from the public treasury. The study embraces, then, not
only children who come within the law as it is administered
through the county and through the state, but also those
whose dependency is beyond its reach.
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
167
Believing a limited inquiry in several communities would
picture conditions more accurately than an intensive study
in two or three localities, we selected 23 counties 1 in West
Virginia offering a variety of rural occupations and charac-
teristics. They are counties crossed by trans-continental
trunk lines; counties lying along valleys in and out of which
one train runs daily except Sunday; counties at the end of
a "fork line"; inland counties without a foot of railroad
or graded road; counties, small and densely populated, 107
square miles with 65,000 people; counties, large and sparsely
settled, 1,036 square miles with 36,000 people; counties rich,
counties poor; counties given to orchards, cattle and sheep
raising, coal and sand mining, to lumbering and the cutting
of railroad ties and mine props, to oil and gas; counties with
large farms of three or four hundred acres, with small hill-
side farms of three to ten acres; and counties dominated by
company ownership, where lease holders pay from $1 to $5
a year for as much land as they want to "put under fence.”
With the county seat as working center, we interviewed
clerks of county and circuit courts, superintendents of
schools, truancy officers, overseers of the poor, keepers of
almshouses, county farm and home demonstration agents,
superintendents of child-caring institutions, children's
agents, social workers with the Red Cross and with family
agencies, rural teachers, pastors and storekeepers. We vis-
ited children in their homes and in their schools; interviewed
fathers, mothers, and teachers; consulted school records and
other public records; made careful observations; and con-
firmed or modified our findings with the experiences of those
in each county in personal contact with local conditions.
The score or more of homes accustomed to visits from
children's agents greeted us as an old acquaintance, volun-
teering much of the information desired. For instance,
Fred, age II, ward of an orphanage in a neighboring state,
and foster child of Mr. Wallace, promptly showed his report
1 Berkeley, Cabell, Calhoun, Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Harrison, Jefferson,
Kanawha, Lewis, McDowell, Marion, Mercer, Mineral, Morgan, Ohio, Preston,
Randolph, Summers, Taylor, Tucker, Wirt and Wood Counties.
168
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
card and spoke proudly of his progress in school. Mr.
Wallace finally withdrew, leaving the visitor alone with
Fred, while hospitable Mrs. Wallace prepared lunch for her
and her driver. Others were curious as to the object of the
visit as evidenced by such questions as, “What's yo' name?"
"Where do yo' live?” “Stranger in these parts?" "What's yo'
business?" "How old are yo'?” But everywhere we found a
willingness to talk freely about the children, the circum-
stances under which they were taken into the homes, some of
their present difficulties, and their plans for the future. We
visited families as near as 17/2 miles and as far as 25 miles
from the county seat, 23 miles from a railroad, 35 miles
from a graded road, along "bushed-out trails,” along nioun-
tain streams and hard-surfaced pikes. "Modes of travel
varied with conditions of roads and local circumstances,
and were rail, auto, horse and buggy, mule team and wagon,
mail wagon, milk wagon, river boat, ferry, horseback and
on foot.
We spent 14 weeks during the winter of 1921, and secured
information regarding 804 dependent rural children, belong-
ing to 350 families in 381 homes, having visited 458 children
in 148 homes. All are native born, of native-born parents
and are white, with the exception of 10 in four negro fam-
ilies. By far the largest number are rural children of rural
birth. Of 270 from broken homes, living with relatives and
in foster homes, all are of rural birth with the possible ex-
ception of 31 wards of child-caring agencies, whose family
histories are not known. The fact that neglected dependent
children sometimes become delinquent, led us to make limited
observations regarding 201 children grouped as delinquent
and neglected without any question of dependency. Of the
201 we visited 63 in 24 homes; 68 are declared legally delin-
quent and 133 are neglected. We made no effort to cover all
questions of dependency in any one county or any one
locality.
Our findings are accurate as far as they go, but with our
inquiry confined to families caring for dependent children,
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
169
we do not have a basis for estimating the extent or amount
of rural dependency in general. An accurate basis for such
an estimate is furnished, however, in Mr. Gibbons's chapter
on “The Rural Home.” He visited 657 families, practically
every family in 11 representative farming communities. Of
the children living in these family homes at the time of his
visit, five per cent had been taken into them from broken
homes. With approximately 500,000 rural children under
20 years of age in West Virginia, and figuring five per cent
of this number as dependent, we have a rough estimate of
25,000 dependent rural children in the state. We believe
this is sufficient to challenge the state to a program for the
care of all dependent rural children.
We seek to make the findings descriptive rather than sta-
tistical and record them with the desire that they may carry
conviction. They fall under seven heads in Part I and three
heads in Part II, as follows: Part I. Dependency (1)
Statement of findings on dependency. (2) Children from
broken homes. (a) With relatives.
(a) With relatives. (b) In foster homes.
(c) In hit-or-miss homes. (d) Responsibility of guardians.
(e) Significant factors. (3) Children bound out and on
contract. (4) Children in almshouses. (5) Children born
out of wedlock. (6) Children in their own family groups.
(a) In need of children's aid or mothers' pensions. (b) In
dependent families. (c) Feeble-minded children with feeble-
minded parents. (7) Standards and conclusions. Part II.
Delinquency and Neglect (1) Statement of findings on delin-
quency. (a) Nature of delinquency. (b) Treatment. (c)
Disposition. (2) Statement of findings on neglect. (3)
Standards and conclusions.
PART ONE
DEPENDENCY
STATEMENT OF FINDINGS ON DEPENDENCY
Dependent children living in the open country share many
things in common with all children. Factors outside their
homes affect all rural children alike, such as distance from
neighbors, school, church, store, doctors, mail and telephone;
condition of roads; social activities, wholesome recreation
and community school spirit. The stories of 1,005 children
contribute to our findings : on dependency 804, delinquency
68 and neglect 133. The writer visited 521 children of the
three classes in 172 homes. The 804 dependent children
are living as follows: 140 with relatives; 130 in foster
homes; 13 bound out; 58 in almshouses; 24 recently re-
moved; 72 born out of wedlock (duplicate count of 25 with
relatives), and 392 in their own family groups, the children's
dependency intricately involved with such problems as need
for children's aid or mothers' pensions, family dependency,
and the condition of feeble-minded children of feeble-minded
parents. It is significant that there is no one place in any
county where information is assembled regarding dependent
children. As a result, no one in the county knows the full
extent of dependency in rural districts; no agency, official
or voluntary, reaches cases of rural dependency in any large
number; and children are left to the mercy of whoever hap-
pens to know them and to care enough to take responsibility
for them.
An orphanage with a capacity of 25 children, located near
a village of about three hundred people, eleven miles from
a railroad, is well known throughout the county and the
adjoining counties which are all distinctively rural. By far
the largest number of children received are from the open
170
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
171
country, and most of those placed are accepted in rural
family homes. Orphanages located in, or in easy access of
cities or "settlements," do not discriminate against rural
children, but are either overcrowded with those from their
own communities or fail to get in touch with these others.
All the orphanages we visited in or near cities report no
children received from the open country. The receiving
homes of the state and of one private home-finding society
are the only homes caring for rural children with the excep-
tion of two located in the country. Rural folk have an aver-
sion to sending children to an "orphan asylum” under any
circumstances. It is due doubtless to the fact that it in-
volves separation from their acquaintances, separation from
kinsfolk and an adventure into the unfamiliar, unknown
world. It is not uncommon for a rural foster parent to say,
"We took the pore little fellow rather than see him go to
the orphan asylum."
Occasional effort is made to keep family groups together.
Voluntary agencies such as the Red Cross, societies doing
family social work, orphanages, churches and neighbors take
the lead. Organized groups are comparatively few and
when they attempt to reach rural children are handicapped
by lack of vision, lack of facilities for transportation, lack
of trained officers and of a sustained policy of organization
and program. In each of five counties the Red Cross has a
volunteer, and in each of five others a paid secretary under-
taking to serve civilian and soldier families throughout the
county. In two others, a paid secretary cares only for
soldiers and their families. One worker has a car at her
disposal for visits in the country. Four counties have fam-
ily social work agencies unable to get far into the country.
because they have no means of transportation. The county
and circuit courts are official agencies acting within the law
in an effort to keep families together. The county court has
charge of all poor relief, medical and hospital care, and has
power to grant mothers' pensions. Six counties out of 23
give mothers' pensions, and two grant regular allowances
172
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
of poor relief. Out of 94 families receiving pensions at
the time of this study, 19 are rural in which 39 children are
beneficiaries. With two or three exceptions, poor relief is
niggardly, inadequate, administered with a sting equivalent
to commitment to the almshouse. There prevails no uni-
formity of standards, methods, records or conception of the
purpose of either mothers' pensions or poor relief. The
circuit court has jurisdiction over social as distinguished
from relief service. It prosecutes for non-support and de-
sertion; handles cases entitled to workmen's compensation
and coöperates with state children's agents in efforts to hold
parents and relatives to full legal responsibility for support
of their children. The fact that the court fails to reach
rural families is due to no lack of need, but rather to lack
of official avenues for contact with rural districts and con-
ditions.
West Virginia officially recognized the need of a state-
wide program in 1919 when the State Humane Society was
reorganized and given the name of the State Board of Chil-
dren's Guardians. This board is composed of three members
appointed by the governor for six years and has power to
receive dependent, neglected and homeless children; to
place them in family homes or in institutions after they have
been given mental and physical examinations; to study child
dependency, defectiveness and delinquency; to care for moth-
ers; to obtain mothers' pensions; to investigate the cases of
tuberculous children who need care and to place such chil-
dren in sanitariums; to supervise foster homes; and in gen-
eral to look after the welfare of dependent, neglected, home-
less and physically defective children. It is not responsible
for the care or commitment of defective or delinquent chil-
dren, but is required to gather data, study problems and
publish statistics relating to the care of all children needing
attention. Upon request, agents of the board visit paroled
wards of the state schools and cooperate with parole and
probation officers and deputy sheriffs, but are not required
to perform the usual duties of such officers.
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
173
The executive offices of the board are in Charleston and
the state appropriates funds for its expenses. For the pur-
poses of its work, the state is divided into nine districts
and a resident agent assigned to each. Each district consists
of from five to seven counties, and one district of five
counties contains one county which is larger than the state
of Delaware. Most of the travel is difficult and round-
about; one agent has to spend a whole day from 8 a. m. to
6.30 p. m. in going from her home to the county seat of one
of the counties of her district. These agents have to travel
long distances over rough roads, they are allowed only $25
a month for expenses, and their salaries are low, but never-
theless they are without exception doing more work than
could reasonably be expected of their number. They are
often the only persons available in the open country for
taking care of the classes of children that come under their
jurisdiction.
Among factors contributing to rural dependency are sick-
ness, ignorance, inefficiency, mismanagement, mental de-
ficiency, licentiousness, brutality, immorality, poverty, acci-
dent, death, divorce and desertion. Homes are broken;
children become dependent on others than their own parents.
Unofficially, without the law, they are placed in homes of
relatives, neighbors, friends, strangers, and in institutions.
They are placed on agreement, on private contract, or for
accommodation, by a parent, relative, physician, hospital,
Salvation Army, mission, justice of peace, probation officer,
police matron, club woman, or private citizen. Officially,
within the law, they are placed by the county court in alms-
houses, in each instance in the same quarters occupied by old
men and women and mentally deficient inmates; in family
homes; under care of guardians; and are bound out. Law
protects property rights, but does not always protect human
rights. Guardians usually guard and account for money
and ignore children. Officially, the circuit court makes
children wards of the state, when physically and mentally
sound and legally subject to placement in foster homes.
174
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
Out of 270 children from broken homes, less than 25 per cent
have been reached by any responsible authority such as the
court, probation officer, state agent, private home-finding
society, orphanage, or any official, public or private.
Forty-six per cent have lost both parents through death.
The largest number of orphans are in foster homes; the
largest number with one or both parents living are in hit-or-
miss homes; many are tramp children, drifting from place
to place without permanent care.“ The largest number
partially supported by a parent are with relatives. The larg-
est number of those whose mothers have deserted, remarried
or who for any reason fail to keep in touch with them, are
received into foster homes; while most of the children whose
fathers have deserted or fail to keep in touch with them
are in hit-or-miss homes with no plan for permanent
care. Twenty-two per cent of the children in foster homes,
with a living parent, know nothing of the parent's where-
abouts. The largest number of children not akin are found
in the prosperous farm homes. The largest number over 16
years are found in foster homes.
Dependent children are not receiving the minimum educa-
tion provided as required by law in their localities. Those
in foster homes attend more regularly than those who are
with relatives or in hit-or-miss homes. Seven per cent of
those with relatives, 4 per cent of those in foster homes, and
38 per cent of those in hit-or-miss homes, of compulsory
attendance age, are not attending school at all. Children
are received in farm homes varying in size from the ances-
tral farm of 300 acres to the half-acre patch; whose houses
vary from that with furnace and bath to the one-room log
cabin with lean-to kitchen and the isolated tumble-down
shack without a window and without a floor. Approxi-
mately one-third of the homes have no toilet facilities. One-
third of the married couples caring for dependent children
are classed as “aged,” as are also two-thirds of the widows
doing so. More than half, or 57 per cent, of the homes
provide some kind of reading matter, while 43 per cent have
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
175
nothing of the kind, nor is anything available through travel-
ing library or the school.
Rural children born out of wedlock are most frequently
born in their mothers' homes; of 72 such children found, 78
per cent are being reared by their mothers. Reliable in-
formation regarding the paternity of one-third of these
children fixes responsibility about equally between married
men, unmarried neighbors and blood relatives. The benefit
of prosecution is negative and unjust in that the public
record is kept over the mother's affidavit. The ages of such
mothers vary from 13 to 22 years, with the largest number
14, 15, 16 and 17 years. Eight out of 32 mothers are
"orphans' reared in foster homes. Families dependent on
public and private charity in many instances are not provid-
ing their children with the minimum requirements of food,
clothing, shelter, education, religious instruction, work and
natural play.
In case of sudden disaster, as fire, neighbors for miles
around send supplies and money. In case neighbors believe
parents are able and are not making sufficient effort, children
are allowed to go year after year without physical care,
without medical care or education. Public relief is not
available to any extent to rural families with children.
Mothers' pensions seldom reach rural children. Prosecution
for non-support and desertion seldom extends beyond fam-
ilies having easy access to the county seat. Youthful mar-
riages are common. Feeble-minded adults intermarry, one
generation after another, without interference either for the
protection of society or of the children. Every county needs
at least one person well qualified to make investigations
among rural families; equipped with means of transportation
most practical in the county; paid from public or private
funds or both; responsible for the care of all dependent
rural children in the county, whether living with relatives in
foster homes, in hit-or-miss homes, bound out, in alms-
houses, born out of wedlock or living in their own family
groups.
:.
176
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
CHILDREN FROM BROKEN HOMES
In visiting dependent children wherever they were, we
made a point of contact with the place they called "home.”
We accepted this place and its relation to the children as a
starting point for observation and inquiry. When the chil-
dren had been separated from their own families, we did not
attempt to carry the investigation back into all circumstances
incident to their separation but recognized this fact and
accepted it as evidence of a home broken. We found 270
children from broken homes living as follows: 140 with rela-
tives; 81 in foster homes; and 49 in hit-or-miss homes.
Significant factors in the broken and the new homes we
discuss later under (1) social status of parents, (2) persons
responsible for placement, (3) length of time in homes, (4)
school attendance, (5) home conditions.
With Relatives, Rural folk generally are alike in the
warmth of their hospitality toward homeless children though
frequently they do not work harmoniously together for any
common economic interest in their neighborhood. The rela-
tives—“kinsfolk”—are first to receive children who for any
reason are separated from their own parents. Whether they
live in the neighborhood or far away, children are taken
into their homes without question of conditions, size of fam-
ily, financial ability to assume the additional burden, or the
fitness of either the children for the homes or the homes
for the children. The matter of blood relationship is the
determining factor and overrides every other consideration.
If there are no relatives, neighbors open their homes, again
without question, and for so long a time as the children
choose to remain. One hundred and forty children of 86
families are living with relatives in 97 homes. Girls out-
number boys by four. Grandparents are caring for by far
the largest number, or 67 per cent; aunts for 15 per cent;
uncles, 14 per cent, and cousins, 4 per cent. The spirit
through them all is typified in the story of Maxine's
“Grandpap."
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
177
"That's where my grandpap lives and my poppy run'd
away with a married woman, he did," said little Maxine,
age 7, as we met her on the road from school and in-
quired the way to what chanced to be her grandfather's
home, two miles from the county seat.
We found a
picturesque, one-room log cabin, about 12 by 18 feet,
with a lean-to kitchen and a loft. The friendly warmth
from the big, open hearth shed a soft light on what
seemed a myriad of faces gathered about. We counted
eight children and three adults, ui in all; five children
under seven years whose mother died of tuberculosis
three years ago and whose father, one year later, de-
serted; their mother's sister, in an advanced stage of
tuberculosis, who with her two children, six and eight
years, came home for care; and another sister, 16 years,
who spends much of her time with her invalid, aged,
paternal grandparents in a cabin nearby. These, with
Maxine's grandfather and grandmother, make up the
group of it. The grandfather, able-bodied, alert, is
deeply devoted to his kinsfolk. The grandmother,
paralyzed, is unable to leave her chair. The little home
provides four double beds, two in the living room and
two in the loft. Water is carried from a spring several
yards from the house. The sole support is derived from
the 80-acre mountain farm and an old gas lease. The
adults can barely read and write, but talk intelligently
of preventing the spread of disease. They are confident
"the children's father will some day come back, will want
his kids and won't git 'em!"
In Foster Homes. From interviews with foster fathers
and mothers caring for children in no way related to them,
we find that the circumstances under which the children are
received are large factors in shaping plans for them. Homes
which take children on definite arrangement from those
legally charged with their custody and which plan for legal
adoption or for rearing them as members of the family with-
out adoption, we refer to as "foster homes.” The term,
,
"hit-or-miss homes" is coined as the result of frequent refer-
ence to children as tramps, stopping with first one family,
178
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
then another, no one accepting responsibility for their care
with definite plans for the future. One hundred and thirty
children representing 92 families in 110 homes are clearly
classified in the two groups. In foster homes, 81 children
of 68 families are in 64 homes. In hit-or-miss homes, 49
children of 24 families are in 46 homes.
The existence of a definite plan does not presuppose any
standard of excellence in the foster homes, and does not
assure a careful selection of children to fit the homes. It
does imply a certain degree of responsibility deliberately
assumed by the foster fathers and mothers, and a positive
idea of care for the children. A majority, or 51 out of 81,
are treated in every respect as members of the family.
Thirty have either already been adopted or will be later if
circumstances warrant. Through records of Circuit Courts,
we attempted to secure data as to the number of children
adopted into rural families, but the address of adoptive
parents is seldom made a matter of record, so it is necessary
to depend on the memory of the clerk or his acquaintance
with the families. Incidentally, reference is sometimes
made to their owning or living on a farm in the evidence
presented at the time of court hearing. From records avail-
able and findings in foster homes, we are confident that a
much larger number of rural children are reared as mem-
bers of families than are adopted; that public sentiment con-
cerning adoption, and the actual adoption vary widely in
different neighborhoods; and that little babies are seldom
adopted by rural families. Common misuse of the word
"adopted" in referring to any foster child is noted in the
case of Annie:
"I'm nuthin' but a pore woman as ye see, but every-
thing I have is for Annie,” said the widow, Mrs. Scott,
who with Annie, lives on her 12-acre farm, 37/2 miles
from the county seat, one mile from the school and
church. Annie, 14, is spoken of in the neighborhood as
an adopted child. No legal papers have been drawn, yet
she has been cared for by the Scotts as their own since
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
179
she was one year old and when Mr. Scott died it was
found that he had named her in his will as sole heir to
the estate, granting Mrs. Scott the use of it during her
lifetime. Left an orphan, Annie lived with an aunt
several months until she died, then was taken voluntarily
by the Scotts. The comfortable, five-room frame house
is old but in good repair, plain and comfortably fur-
nished. Mrs. Scott rents out the land for one-third of
the crop grown, the renter furnishing everything. She
owns three Jersey cows, one horse, a few chickens and
hogs. She kills their own meat, sells butter, raises a gar-
den and gathers wild fruits from the mountains. She
is ignorant, but eager for Annie to "git larnin'." She
subscribes to a weekly paper and to a church magazine.
Annie has reached the sixth grade but is not enough of
a student to prepare for teaching. With the visitor,
Mrs. Scott eagerly talked over a number of plans for
her future.
Children in foster homes show something of the extent
to which agencies outside the family are reaching rural
children and taking responsibility for placing them in farm
homes. A larger number of children than in any other
group were taken at the request of those not akin. Out of
81 children, 12 were taken at the request of a private home-
finding society; 12 at the request of the state; 7 of an
orphanage; 15 at the request of the mother; 5 each at the
request of the father, the court, and overseer of the poor;
4 at the request of a probation officer; 6 are unknown; 3
each were taken at the request of a friend, a club woman and
a mission; and one at the request of a justice of the peace.
Doubtless these agencies account for the definite arrange-
ment and plans in many instances. Those long experienced
in home-finding confirm our observations that families more
quickly accept the responsibility for children who are with-
out homes than for those who have already been transferred
to a receiving home or to an orphanage. The appeals of
mothers or of neighbors to take helpless children and rear
them as their own are not easily ignored, and agreements to
180
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
care for them frequently prove as binding as an order of
court.
Hit-or-Miss Homes.
Miss Johnson, teacher of Hog Knob one-room school,
four miles from the county seat, incidentally mentioned
that Herman Myers, 7, came to school ragged and un-
kempt; that a brother, William, 12, had been dropped
from the roll when he went to a family over the moun-
tain; and that the mother was trying to find a home for
Herman. Following an uncertain road along the bed
of a stream, crossing and recrossing, now on a swing-
ing bridge, now on a log, or stepping from stone to
stone, we found the mother of Herman and William
keeping house for an aged couple. Herman was not in
school because William was expected home and the
mother was hoping to send Herman back to the country
with him. Poor little Herman could scarcely breathe,
so full was his throat of diseased tonsils, apparent even
to a layman. The mother said she “ 'lowed he breathed
all right, never noticed anything wrong.'
But William's new home is our story. One day when
in the village, Mrs. Myers stopped at the home of Rosa
Staubs on Piedmont Street. There she met Liza
Stuckey, a neighbor of Mrs. Staubs. Mrs. Myers spoke
of her desire to find a home for William, of the father's
death three years ago, and her inability to support and
control the boys. Mrs. Stuckey, a stranger, had just
moved to town from "beyond yon mountain.” She told
Mrs. Myers she knew of a farmer who wanted a boy of
about William's age, that she was going back to her
old neighborhood on a visit soon, and would be glad to
take William along. If the farmer liked him, he could
stay; if not, she could bring him back. So, in due time,
William went over the mountain with the woman, whose
name and address the mother did not have, to a farmer
whose name she did not know. In fact, all she did know
was the name of Mrs. Staubs, her friend, and the name
of the street on which she lived. A house to house
search along the village street brought us to Mrs. Staubs
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
181
who said she knew nothing of Mrs. Stuckey, had met
her but two weeks before, and had never heard of the
farmer, whose name she thought was Newton Fry. Wil-
liam's mother does not appear in any way to be below
the average ignorant woman. She is fond of her boys
and yet is satisfied with this method of finding homes
for the children she is unable to support.
If William were the only rural child whose future were
at stake in such a gamble, the story of hit-or-miss homes
would not need to be written. But there are large numbers
of children for whom homes are chosen with no more care
than in William's case. We found 49 children representing
24 families in 46 hit-or-miss homes.
A larger number, no one knows how many, drift from
one home to another, no one assuming responsibility for
permanent care, while many children tramp for weeks or
even months at a time-not for the sake of adventure—but
because they have no home. Tramp children are not at all
uncommon in the rural communities covered in this study.
Annie, age 14, is typical of a distressingly large num-
ber of such children. In March we found her at Grape-
vine attending school for the first time in her life. She
lives with Granny McCauley a mile and a half up the
hollow. As we walked home with her after school, her
story ran something like this: with three younger sis-
ters, she lived in a one-room mountain cabin; the mother
died a year ago; the father, never a good provider, fre-
quently deserted during the lifetime of the mother.
Just before last Christmas he left early one morning,
presumably for the village nine miles away, and did not
return. The supply of food became exhausted. The
fuel gave out and the children gathered more from the
mountain side. Meanwhile, a heavy snow had fallen.
Rather reluctantly, Annie admitted she was afraid be-
cause there were so many lonely graves scattered about,
but did not dare let her sisters think so. At the end of
the fourth day, she took the children to a neighbor
where they stayed a couple of days, while the man of
182
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
the house made inquiry regarding her father. Hear-
ing nothing, Annie returned to the cabin, rolled their
meager supply of clothing together, and started with her
three little sisters over the mountain to a friend of the
mother. It was nearly dark when they arrived at the
friend's cabin, only to find the doors locked, no fire
and no tracks on the fresh snow. They trudged on
about half a mile and spent the night with a neighbor.
For three weeks they tramped, never staying more than
one night in any place. Annie had no definite point in
mind but a very clearly defined idea that she was re-
sponsible for finding a home where they could stay to-
gether. They drifted into a neighboring county where
a man put them on the train with tickets to their own
county seat. They arrived about 9.30 at night; the
conductor left them in charge of the station master and
sent for the sheriff who took them to the jail for the
night. The following day, he sent word to the county
probation officer nine miles in the country. They stayed
with the sheriff three or four days, while the women of
the town provided them with new clothing, the sheriff
and prosecuting attorney searched for the father, and
the kindly probation officer found them homes, as he
said, “so they wouldn't have to go to no orphan asylum."
The Responsibility of Guardians. Law based on property
rights does not always function to protect children from
neglect.
Six children under 14 years, left orphans last Sep-
tember through the death of their father, have an estate
valued at less than $200. Some one in due form peti-
tioned the county officials to appoint an administrator
to care for the $200 and pay any bills. These officials
knew the children were left without responsible friends,
yet claimed they had no authority to appoint a guardian
of the person for them unless duly petitioned according
to law. Six months after the father's death, we found
the six children in five homes, all unsatisfactory, and
none able or desirous of keeping the children perma-
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
183
nently. One man said, “You see, Miss, we can't give
Tom the raisin' he ought to have; we just took him for
accommodation and now can't get the 'guardeen' to do
anything for him.” He confused “administrator" with
"guardian," for no guardian had been appointed. Two
of the children are with an aged aunt, mother of II
children, five of whom died in infancy. She lives in a
two-room log cabin with a lean-to kitchen and is giving
the children the best she has. The cabin already houses
three adults, three children and a 16-year-old girl men-
tally defective, awaiting maternity, supported by the
county at the rate of $5 a week. This is the “hit-or-
miss home” of two of Tom's sisters, neither is attending
school, and no one except the attendance officer is very
much distressed.
Because of the frequency with which we found children
having guardians who took no responsibility for their care,
we compiled information regarding 37 children who have
estates varying from $12 to $300. In every instance, the
children are dependent for all practical purposes; and yet
for food, shelter, clothing, education in fact, for all things-
less than 20 per cent of the guardians are giving any thought
to planning for them, their present needs, or preparation
for the future. Out of the 37 children, 23 have lost both
parents through death. Guardians who have made plans
for the children either took them into their own homes or
sent them to relatives. But 80 per cent of the guardians,
including high officials and humble neighbors, pay no atten-
tion to what becomes of the children. Local officials con-
firm our findings and many of the guardians admit
that they accepted the appointment with no thought other
than to act legally in any business transaction and to account
for the meager funds. The small fee allowed by court for
such service pays in a limited sense for the trouble, and they
would not consider taking responsibility for the children
themselves. A judge of the Circuit Court offered to take a
184
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
12-year-old girl into his family, send her to school and
train her as a nurse maid, but refused to act as guardian and
bind himself for her future. We interviewed the guardian
of three children. He had taken the boy, 12, into his own
home and later had him committed to the State Industrial
School. The other two have been in seven different homes
in four years. The guardian of an II-year-old girl,
known to the officials as irresponsible, a wife beater and a
deserter, took the girl into his home for three years, then
ran away with her. His family, the wife and five children,
are receiving aid from public and private philanthropy with
no effort to prosecute or apprehend the deserter.
Significant Factors.-SOCIAL STATUS OF PARENTS. The
orphan bereft of both parents by death is present among
rural dependent children, but is outnumbered by children
with one or both parents living. The three groups, totalling
270 children from broken homes, are a significant com-
mentary on the stability of 34 American families. Forty-six
per cent of the 270 children have lost both parents through
death; 13 per cent have both parents living ; 23 per cent,
mothers only; and 17 per cent fathers only; while one per
cent is unknown. The smallest number of orphans live
with relatives, and the largest number with foster parents.
The smallest number with both parents living are in foster
homes, and the largest number in hit-or-miss homes. A sur-
prisingly large number either live with or are partially sup-
ported by a parent. It is not uncommon for a parent to con-
tinue support of the children after remarriage and yet not
take them into the new home. Often this is due to an un-
willingness on the part of the relatives to give up the chil-
dren to whom they have become attached. More frequently,
it is due to unwillingness on the part of the new parent to
accept responsibility for the children in the new home.
It is not unusual for parents to fail to keep in touch with
their children yet not abandon them. Once or more during
a year they write, visit or send gifts. In this sense, the
whereabouts of many were not known at the time of our
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
185
.
CHART I
Dependent Children from Broken Homes Living with Relatives,
Foster Parents or Others, by Number, Sex, and Parents Liv-
ing or Dead
Sex
(Per-
centage)
Living Parents
(Percentage)
Both Parents
Dead
Girls
Father
Only
Both
Un-
known
Doch Mother
51
0
1. With relatives
140
2. In foster homes
81
3. In hit-or-miss homes. 49
66 | 34
57
23
14
6
13
4
22
3
30
64
61
CHART 1-Continued
Children Who Have Living Fathers Who Have Deserted or Re-
married, Who Partially Support Them or Are in Prison or
Blind
PERCENTAGE OF
Blind
Unknown
0
140
81
45
7
15
22
38
14
2
7
28
O
22
1. With relatives
2. In foster homes.
3. In hit - or - miss
homes
49
78
8
0
O
14
CHART 1-Continued
Children Who Have Living Mothers Who Have Deserted or Re-
married, Who Partially Support Them or Are Insane
PERCENTAGE OF
Number of
Children
All
1. With relatives
2. In foster homes
3. In hit-or-miss homes
140
81
49
9
7
60
18
27
14
65
40
21
8
7
0
O
19
5
186
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
visit. Children living with relatives keep in closer touch
with their parents as evidenced by the fact that the addresses
of all were known except in cases of abandonment.
PERSONS RESPONSIBLE FOR PLACEMENT. The question as
to who is responsible for finding homes for rural children
separated from their own families is answered as far as
this study is concerned. Over half, or 136 of the 270 chil-
dren from broken homes, were taken into the new homes
at the request of relatives. Less than one-fourth, or 63,
were taken at the request of authoritative persons aside
from relatives; of these, only 12 were taken at the request of
a private home-finding society, 12 at the request of the state,
and 7 of orphanages.
CHART II
Dependent Children from Broken Homes Taken by Relatives, Fos-
ter Parents and Others; at the Request of Parents and Others
PERCENTAGE TAKEN AT THE REQUEST OF
Mother
Father
Court
Private
Society
Orphanage
State
Nobody
15
O
1. With relatives
2. In foster homes
3. In hit-or-miss homes.
140
81
49
50
19
23
O aer
0
15
0
O
15
0
29
5
23
0
CHART 1I~Continued
PERCENTAGE TAKEN AT THE REQUEST OF
0
I. With relatives
2. In foster homes
3. In hit-or-miss homes.
0
6
0
5
12
0
4.
0
O
4
0
0
0
2
0
O too
0
0
16
0
4
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
187
LENGTH OF TIME IN HOMES. Children who become a
permanent part of the family life in their new homes, have
much better opportunity for education, training and normal
child life. Taken as a whole, 15 per cent of them have been
in the homes less than one year; 53 per cent from one to
four years; 18 per cent from five to 10 years; and 14 per
cent over 10 years. Children remain for about the same
length of time with relatives as in foster homes. A dis-
tressingly large number have been in hit-or-miss homes less
than one year.
CHART III
Length of Residence with Relatives, Foster Parents or Others of
Dependent Children from Broken Homes
PERCENTAGE IN HOME FOR
Number
Less Than
1 Year
I to 4
Years
to 10
ears
More Than
10 Years
ani
I. With relatives
2. In foster homes
3. In hit-or-miss homes.
140
81
6
6
52
55
62
43
25
19
4
14
14
1
49
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. It is not surprising to find the
largest percentage of children of pre-school age living with
relatives, for loyalty to kinsfolk does not discriminate in favor
of older children. As to number, 82 are of pre-school age
(under seven years) ; 159 are of compulsory attendance age,
(7 to 15); and 29 are over 16. Briefly, this is the situation
as to ages; relatives care for the smallest number over 16,
foster homes the largest number of school age, and the
smallest number of pre-school age.
If one child more than another needs opportunity for edu-
cation, it is the dependent child who frequently must make
his way alone in the world. It is generally agreed that chil-
dren from homes broken by death, disease, lack of character,
mismanagement or from whatever cause, are from one to
188
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
three years behind grade. Aside from questions of mental
ability, it is conceded that regular attendance even for a
shorter term contributes more to children's training than
can ever be hoped for from irregular attendance. It is
deplorable that after rural children become dependent, they
are not receiving education as required by law in their locali-
ties; indeed, the chart shows that 29 per cent in hit-or-miss
homes have never attended school.
CHART IV
Dependent Children from Broken Homes Living with Relatives,
Foster Parents and Others, by Age, Groups, and School At-
tendance of School-Age Group
AGE BY PER-
CENTAGE
PERCENTAGE ATTENDING
COB Number
Pre-School
Güly to 15 Years
Gen 16 and Over
DO Regular
Irregular
None
Never
Unknown
1. With relatives
2. In foster homes
homes
In hit-or-miss
140
81
40
22
29
II
7
4
O O
6
4
49
16 70
14
9
53
9
29
0
HOME CONDITIONS. What kind of rural homes take de-
pendent children of broken families ? Considerable range
of variety is found in 63 homes visited by the writer. It is
of no value to class them as "good," "fair," or "bad";
"satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory." These are relative
terms with no generally accepted basis for evaluation. Cer-
tain physical surroundings lend themselves to interpreta-
tion and are of limited value in determining home conditions.
Physical surroundings favorable or unfavorable to a com-
fortable, pleasant, decent abiding-place do not reflect the
spirit in the home; the understanding and deep-seated love
for children; high ideals for development of character or of
strong bodies and minds; the relation of sons and daughters
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
189
to the dependent child; and a multitude of other factors
determining fitness or unfitness as foster homes. An inti-
mate knowledge of all elements in the home requires a long
period of observation and supervision, and then mistakes
are possible.
One foster mother who recently took the third child
from a home-finding society and said she wanted another,
may be a good mother but showed poor judgment in at
least one respect. During our conversation in her "settin'
room,” little dark-haired, dark-eyed Virginia, age nine,
came home from school. The foster mother remarked,
“This is the little orphan we got last time. We wanted
a boy, but Mr. Blank didn't have one so we took this
’un, and I told him if I had to take a girl I wanted one
with light hair and blue eyes so I could dress her up
pretty, and this is what I got.” Virginia dropped into
a little rocking chair at the farthest side of the room,
her large eyes questioning, pleading, and watching every
move her new-found mother made.
Out of 63 foster parents, 37 are farm owners, 14 renters
and 12 squatters ; 26 of their houses are built of logs, 28 are
frame, 4 log and frame, 4 brick, and one is a slab shack.
The number of rooms to a family averages five, the number
of persons to a family of 5.1. Water supply is obtained for
38 families from wells; 22 from springs; and 3 from
streams; 3 have water piped into the house. Toilet accom-
modations are provided on 43 farms and on 20 no provision
is made. Forty-eight households are presided over by man
and wife, 16 of whom are classed as aged couples; 15 are
homes of widows, 10 of whom are classed as aged. In 36
homes reading matter of some description is found such as
a weekly paper, “Farm and Fireside," "Chicago Ledger,
“Youth's Companion," or a monthly religious publication;
and 12 have sufficient nuinber of books to be called a library.
In 27 homes there is nothing to read. In answer to our
inquiry as to what the children had to read, one foster father
of two boys remarked, “Sometimes I get a funny paper
190
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
a
a’purpose for 'em.” An old woman, commonly called
"Granny," laboriously climbed a ladder to the loft, and
brought down a large volume of "The New Knowledge Li-
brary,” for which she paid $6.50, saying proudly, "When
the boys learn everything in this book, they'll know a heap,
won't they?” Four orphans stand to her credit for she
“never turns an orphan away."
CHILDREN BOUND OUT AND ON CONTRACT
The clerk of the county court in an old, wealthy and pro-
gressive county, told the writer in a matter-of-fact way that
when a family of children is in need of county aid, the parents
are sent to the almshouse and the children bound out. From
the file-room he brought massive "order books" and took con-
siderable pains to show us how the records of apprenticed
children were indexed. We found the latest order entered
in 1918. It reads:
"It is therefore ordered by this Court that said
age 57/2, be and is hereby bound as an apprentice to the
said
until he arrives at the age of 21 years, and
the Court does further order that the said
shall
be by the said master or his direction, and expense,
instructed in some useful trade, art, business and shall
be taught reading, writing and common arithmetic, the
said
shall also, during the time aforesaid find,
provide and allow unto the said apprentice sufficient
meat, drink, washing, comfortable apparel and lodging
and other things needful, necessary and meet for an
apprentice, and when the said
arrives at the age
of 21, the said
will pay unto him the sum of
$50.00 the payment of which is secured by a bond of
$100.00 considered according to law with
his surety and made out in due form of law which said
bond is hereby approved.”
as
The boy's mother, left a widow, was not able to
support her child. Born out of wedlock, she had been
reared by the master, who in the sense of a grand-
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
I9I
parent, accepted the care of her child. We found the
boy of the third generation born out of wedlock, now
eight years, attending school regularly, doing average
work in the second grade. His clothing was well
patched but clean. Hands and face showed dirt of
several days' accumulation. The school room was over-
crowded and his growing legs were cramped under a
seat much too small. There are three grown sons away
from home and two relatives, one a cripple, making their
home with the master. Though illiterate, they are
kindly people, attend "gospel services" in the school
house two miles distant once in four weeks. They have
a very comfortable living from the 125-acre farm and
the seven-room house is all in use every day.
Two negro children were apprenticed to a negro
farmer. A girl referred to as a "yallow gal” was ap-
prenticed to a white family. Her record reads,
9, has become chargeable to the county. Shall be
bound and put out to -, until 18
The girl
was to be instructed in house work and was to "well
and faithfully serve the said
in such business
as shall be confided to her." The record at the court-
house does not state how the girl became chargeable to
the county, but in looking through the books at the
almshouse we found record of her birth and that of her
three sisters. The matron reported two others buried
in the cemetery on the county farm. We saw the girl's
mother at the almshouse, her story familiar a genera-
tion ago : feeble-minded, unmarried, resident of the alms-
house 40 years, mother of six children born in the alms-
house! The girl and her three sisters were placed in
family homes by the county commissioners because they
were "chargeable to the county."
Two brothers, II and 7 years of age, were appren-
ticed in 1918 to a resident of an adjoining county and
a bond of $1,000 required of the master by the county
court, as the commissioners are called. Through an
error in indexing, we were not able at first to find the
record of the proceedings, hence we visited the home of
the master without knowing anything of the boys' his-
192
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
tory. “Break over the mountain and drop off Goose
Neck," said the livery man as he directed us to the 100-
acre farm 15 miles from a railrad. We found the
boys, now 14 and 10, at home helping to butcher three
hogs for the family's use. The master, an illiterate,
rough farmer and lumberman, talked freely about the
boys and their place in his home. As he expressed it,
he had "adopted them through the court; their father
had a lawyer and fit me hard, but I paid all the costs and
got the boys. Their mother worries me right smart
awantin' to see 'em onct every week, but she's jus' a
pore wummin and can't manage boys." Last year, he
allowed them to go with her to visit relatives and they
were gone nearly three weeks; he feared that they
would not come back and that he would not only lose
the boys, but forfeit the $1,000 bond. Briefly the story
of the two brothers is this: The father and mother lived
for several years on a 2-acre patch about two miles
from the village. The father, a laborer, worked some-
times in the quarries, and sometimes in town. He was
never a good provider and changed jobs frequently.
The mother, in addition to caring for the boys and her
aged mother, went out "by the day" or "took in wash-
ings." After the death of the boys' grandmother, be-
cause of non-support, desertion and lack of harmony,
the mother took the children and left their father, never
to return. She rented rooms in town and attempted to
support herself and the children. The family was
known to officials and residents of the village, yet no
effort was made through law or otherwise to help ad-
just matters in the family for the protection or the sup-
port of the children. The mother heard of a farmer
who wanted "some boys” and, without visiting his home
or seeing his wife and family, she petitioned the court
to apprentice both boys to him—their present master.
She said to the writer, "If anybody had ever helped me,
I'd never have given up my children. And now they
say I can't ever get 'em back.” In due form the case
came before the county commissioners. The mother
and the master appeared with an attorney. The father
appeared with an attorney who told the writer he ob-
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
193
jected to apprenticing the boys because the master was
not a resident of the county and was not a suitable
person to have them. He asked the court that the mat-
ter be dismissed, but the boys were bound out as re-
quested. The master is required to pay each boy the
sum of $100 when he becomes of age, and to provide for
him as set forth in the statute.
School records show the older boy has not attended
school for two years and has reached the fourth grade.
The younger boy attended irregularly last vear, is at-
tending regularly this year, and is in the first grade.
The nearest school, 1/2 miles, has no teacher this year,
and it is only by permission of the teacher in an ad-
joining district who knows the circumstances surround-
ing the children that they are allowed to attend the
already overcrowded school nearly 27/2 miles distant.
The master provides no reading matter at home and
his family is illiterate. The four-room log cabin with
a frame addition is poorly furnished but clean and or-
derly. The master operates a portable sawmill and
said "the boys pick up a heap of money around the mill
when they don't go to school.” He favors school dur-
ing the summer months when "boys ain't good for
nuthin' else." Because of frequent reference to the
master as unfit to train the boys, we consulted the court
and Justice of Peace dockets and found that his brother
frequently violates law and is known in the county for
having served a term in the state penitentiary. The man
to whom the little boys are bound because their father
could not furnish $300 bond "at once," bears the repu-
tation of being honest because he pays his debts, igno-
rant and rough. The boys' mother frequently walks
the 15 miles to visit them. The father lives with his
own relatives in the vicinity.
We believe the action of the county commissioners
was illegal because the law requires the father to file a
petition for apprenticing a child, and at no time was
the welfare of the children given consideration. The
circumstances under which the boys were apprenticed
were equivalent to forcibly removing them from their
parents, a matter of such vital importance as to require
194
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
action only by a juvenile court, in this instance, the
Circuit Court. The children were denied the right of
a hearing in the juvenile court. Had their father's
petition not been overruled, the judge of the Circuit
Court might have made a thorough inquiry into all the
facts, and if he had found it for the best to remove
them from the custody of both their father and mother,
he would have had authority to enter such an order.
Following this, the same Court would have had power
to determine whether the master's home was the best
fainily home available for the boys until they were
capable of self-support. Such protection by law is the
right of every child, and of every parent. The father
needed the law patiently and firmly administered to com-
pel him to support his children. If the mother were
deemed fit to rear her own children, she needed financial
assistance from a public fund supplementing her earn-
ings to enable her to support her children in her home
in so far as the law failed to compel the father's support.
If she were found unfit to rear her children, the same
protective law should, through a court of competent
jurisdiction, enter an order separating the children from
her, and protecting them as wards of the court until a
suitable family home could be found as a substitute for
their own.
These questions arise and should be frankly met by
the state now: Is this father justly relieved of all re-
sponsibility for the support, training, and care of his
children? Is the mother justly deprived of her right to
mother her children? Is she separated from them be-
cause of poverty, or is she in no way fit to rear them?
Are the children treated fairly in being deprived of the
services of the juvenile court? Are they in the best
foster home available?
Seven miles from town on a 40-acre farm live Mr. and
Mrs. Reese Crawford, and Bertha, 14. The writer saw
Bertha at Forest Hill school where records show regular
attendance and fair scholarship in fifth grade work.
Stopping at the comfortable six-room cottage, we found
Mr. and Mrs. Crawford who spoke tenderly of the child
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
195
and the circumstances under which she came into their
home. When about one year of age, she toddled onto
their porch one day while they lived in the nearby vil-
lage. With her vocabulary limited to "mama" and
“baby,” Mrs. Crawford could not find where she came
from. After a lunch of bread and milk, she started with
the child to find her home. It developed that the unmar-
ried mother, Ella, boarded on the next street, worked in
a restaurant, and depended on the landlady to "mind
the baby” during the day. As a result of Bertha's ex-
cursion, Ella came to the Crawfords to board and Mrs.
Crawford helped to care for the child. In the course of
a few months with overwork and small pay, Ella asked
the Crawfords to keep Bertha so that she might secure
elsewhere better paying employment than the little vil-
lage furnished. The Crawfords consented on one condi-
tion, namely, that Ella give the child to them legally as
they never could be happy to part with her in later
years. Only when they assured Ella that she could see
her as frequently as she chose, did she consent. A con-
tract was drawn incorporating the statute for binding
out children. Though never recorded, it stands as a
private agreement between Ella and the Crawfords.
For several months, the mother spent all her leisure
ours with her child. Each time when she left both
wept bitterly over the parting. Finally, she came only
when the child was asleep, hovering over her, cooing
love songs, leaving always before she awoke. This
continued for several months, when she went to work
in another county. In the course of time, Ella married
happily, lived in a neighboring state, was the mother
of four children and though she never saw Bertha after
she was three years of age, every few months for 10
years she and the Crawfords exchanged letters and
pictures. Bertha has a family group photograph taken
just before her mother's death with the “flu” in 1919.
The Crawfords feel keenly their responsibility for
Bertha's future. Last summer she became restless, felt
the country was dull, and wanted to go to the village
to work. Mrs. Crawford arranged for her to go to a
friend on a business agreement with a wage commen-
196
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
surate to the work required. In a few weeks, Bertha
was eager to return home and studiously applied herself
to tasks about the house, happy when time came for
opening of school.
IN ALMSHOUSES
Conforming to the custom of referring to the county farm
as an almshouse, the writer used the term when talking with
county officials. One day an elderly man, clerk of the county
court, looked bewildered a moment, then said, “We call it
plain pore-house." Clerks of county courts are familiar with
the general policy in their counties regarding care of chil-
dren in almshouses, but keep no record at the court house,
and seldom know anything of the number, their family his-
tory, or the circumstances under which they are received or
dismissed. County commissioners and overseers of the poor
handle such matters personally. We, therefore, visited alms-
houses, though frequently they are very difficult of access.
In each instance, they are located in the open country, and
the buildings are of every variety from the modern fire-proof,
hospital-like structure planned and equipped for care of the
county's dependents, to the dilapidated, run-down buildings of
a poor mountain farm. There is no uniformity of standards,
records, policies or spirit. A few receive children as a mat-
ter of fact because they know of no other way to provide for
them. Others refuse because they believe the almshouse "is
no fit place for any child," others because they are not
equipped to keep them separate from the aged inmates.
Sentiment against keeping children in almshouses has
crystallized in a very positive demand that all normal chil-
dren be removed, and no new cases of child dependency be
accepted. This demand has penetrated into some of the
most rural counties; as one keeper said regarding normal
children, "We have had none here for over a year and the
most we ever had at one time was nine, two years ago.
Another reported 28 children at one time during the winter
of 1919 and 1920, with 19 attending district school. While it
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
197
is not a general practice to house children there, they never-
theless are found in almshouses. Seventeen counties out of
23 receive and care for normal children, and three counties
with thriving, wide-awake cities as seats of government are
the most serious offenders.
We visited 58 children in 19 almshouses, 40 of wnom are
recognized as normal and 18 mentally defective. We found
records of 24 but recently removed, nine of whom had been
placed in foster homes and 15 just dismissed. In each in-
stance, children associate with old men and women, with
the feeble-minded and syphilitic inmates, and with two ex-
ceptions occupy the same sleeping rooms, use the same
toilets and eat in the same dining rooms with the inmates.
With two exceptions, they attend free school in the neigh-
borhood. One county conducts a private school on the farm,
and the other has never sent the children to school. Alms-
houses are being used as maternity hospitals without equip-
ment. They shelter unmarried mothers and their babes;
they shelter deserted and widowed mothers and their chil-
dren, even family groups both mentally normal and defec-
tive; they are used as detention homes for juvenile and adult
delinquents; and in a few instances, receive children in need
of treatment for venereal disease. Records seldom include
more than names, dates, and by whom admitted. One
county kept a register for a period of 10 years, and recorded
names of 15 babies born in the almshouse with names and
ages
of mothers. The same records show that family groups
sent by overseers of the poor had remained from two to
five years. The wife of a keeper, telling of two orphans,
aged seven and five, in the almshouse three years, referred
to them as "bright little brats," removed to an orphanage
and "adopted out inside two months.” A girl, 1o, is being
reared as a member of the keeper's family. She was born
in the almshouse, her mother an inmate for many years.
She is known as "Kate's child” by all the old men and
women, some of whom have been county charges over 50
years. A few days previous to our visit an old woman
198
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
"threw it up to the child," who ran to her foster mother
sobbing, “Kate's not my mama, is she? I hate her." A
two-year-old baby born in the almshouse, her mother an
inmate many years, was taken to her foster home the day
following our visit. Her mother had taken all care of her:
living, cooking, eating and sleeping in a room with a feeble-
minded old woman.
The conditions under which children are living in many
almshouses stand as a reflection against the people in any
county, in any state, who permit such injustice toward help-
less children. With possibly one exception, those in charge
are doing everything in their power for the children's train-
ing and education, but in no sense are their best interests of
first consideration. Except when designated as mentally
defective, all the children are considered normal. With
facilities for mental tests practically non-existent, it is diffi-
cult for those most familiar with them to know whether
children are retarded, undeveloped, dull or defective men-
tally. In many instances, reports of tests recently made by
the mental hygiene association were known by those in
charge. In others, the officer's classification was accepted
in conjunction with such points as ability to do the usual
school work of normal children, to conduct themselves nor-
mally in association with normal people, whether they are
considered placeable in so far as application has been made
for their legal adoption, and whether committed to the alms-
house as dependents with no question of being defectives.
Often all children in almshouses are referred to as de-
fectives. Nothing is more unjust to the children nor to
those charged with their care than such a sweeping state-
ment. The wonder is that any normal child does not become
permanently retarded after a few months' association with
the inmates of the average almshouse.
In one, 23 children were residing last spring and on the
day of our visit there were 12, all living in slum conditions.
Families in the depths of poverty and destitution live under
no more wretched conditions of crowding, filth, lack of
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
199
sanitation, absence of fresh air and light, clothing ragged
and dirty, with no opportunity for education.
Just seven years ago, a widow and her six children
were brought to the almshouse by an overseer of the
poor. After the death of her husband she had received
treatment for several months at a state hospital for
insane, and had been dismissed as cured; she is said
to have suffered no recurrence and has not been in need
of treatment for mental disturbance. She is strong,
industrious, capable; has taken care of her growing
children in two rooms at the almshouse; has cooked,
scrubbed, washed, mended, sewed, and has given them
all the training they have had. The eldest, a boy,
entered service and went over-seas; the others, now 16,
14, 13, 10 and 8 years, have not attended school in
seven years, have labored on the farm, and associated
only with men and women inmates of the almshouse.
The mother deplores their lack of schooling but said she
"put up with it" because she didn't know there was any
other way to keep her children with her.
A girl, 12, has been in the almshouse five years and
the keeper claims that a relative is paying her board.
Another, 14, there five years, is working for the keeper's
family. Neither has attended school. And so it goes.
In many respects this county is doing some of the best
work with children in the state, through city, county and
private groups, but officials busy in their own depart-
ments, acknowledge they are not familiar with condi-
tions at the almshouse and that "somebody ought to
look after the children."
In another county with an active department of poor
relief, a juvenile court, and probation officer, the alms-
house has been designated as juvenile detention home,
and the keeper named as superintendent, but he should
not be required to carry responsibility for children in
addition to managing the large farm, and caring for the
aged and sick residents of a county home.
At the time of our visit there were eight boys present,
only one of whom is considered deficient. With the ex-
ception of a baby born in the almshouse in June, 1920,
200
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
the boys sleep in the old men's department in the first
room adjoining the family quarters. The room has
bare walls, windows and floor. Double beds with mat-
tresses and badly worn blankets are the only furnish-
ings. The boys use the same stairs, toilet and bath-
room, and eat in the same dining-room as the old men.
They care for their own room under the direction of
the kindly housewife and assist with the work about the
house and farm yard. On the day of our visit, a nine-
year-old boy carried dinner trays to men in the hospital
some distance removed from the house; when he en-
tered “old Bill's room" the child found him dead. Dur-
ing the afternoon the child's cheeks were flushed, his
hands trembled, yet no one comforted him or helped ad-
just him to the unusual and distressing experience.
Children were helping in the one kitchen where all
food was prepared, along with a woman who within the
week had been diagnosed as an open case of syphilis by
two physicians. Ugly sores were on her face. A giri,
13, recently returned from the State Industrial School
because afflicted with venereal disease, had proven un-
controllable, and was being detained in the county jail
for treatment; when staying at the almshouse as a de-
tention home, she lived in the women's section, associat-
ing with feeble-minded and decrepit old women.
CHILDREN BORN OUT OF WEDLOCK
The discussion of rural children born out of wedlock is
based on stories of 72 children, born of 51 mothers, living
in 44 homes. Without exception, the mothers were living
in the open country at the time of their misfortune, and
those who were employed in cities returned to their homes
in the country and continued as members of their own
family groups. We do not include the 17 children born out
of wedlock who with their 15 mothers are living in five
almshouses, because in many instances these mothers came
from the city and are not distinctly rural. A striking con-
trast is found in the mentality of the rural unmarried
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
201
mothers compared with those in almshouses. Over 50 per
cent in almshouses are defective, while according to a con-
servative estimate not more than 25 per cent of the former
are defective.
Out of 72 children, 49 were born in the mother's family
home, 20 in institutions, such as the Florence Crittenden
Home, Salvation Army or mission maternity homes and three
in general hospitals. By far the largest number, 78 per cent,
are being reared by their mothers, 8 per cent by grand-
parents, 7 per cent by foster parents, and 7 per cent have
died.
We secured reliable information regarding the paternity
of about one-third of the children, which we classify under
three heads. Unmarried neighbors are fathers of ii per
cent, married men of 13 per cent, and blood relatives of 10
per cent. Only 10 of these mothers have filed complaints at-
tempting to hold the fathers responsible for support of their
children. Few of these cases came up for hearing. Jus-
tices' court dockets contain records of complaints filed by
mothers over their affidavits naming the alleged fathers,
referring to the children as “bastards” or “illegitimate,” yet
no action is taken. Should such public records be permitted
to stand ? One record of prosecution stands against an un-
married man commonly known as the father of four chil-
dren in the neighborhood, all "sworn to him in court"; the
payment of $100 was required for the support of each child.
The age of the mother at the time of the child's birth
varies from 13 to 22 years, with the following per cents: 7
per cent are unknown; 4 per cent are 13 years old; 20 per
cent 14; 20 per cent 15; 22 per cent 16; 13 per cent 17; 8
per cent 18; and 2 per cent each 20, 21 and 22.
Unmarried mothers in rural communities frequently re-
main in their own homes rearing their children as members
of their families, apparently without opprobrium being
heaped on either the mothers or children. The towns or
small cities large enough to attract her as possible hiding
places, yet not providing wise counsel for her, are far more
202
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
disastrous in their effects than the open country. Officials,
police matrons, nurses, missions, agencies, private citizens
or any who without knowledge of all the facts separate chil-
dren from their mothers are just as anti-social as though
they violated statutes of the state. They should be required
by the state to meet well defined minimum standards or go
out of this business. There is no way of knowing how many
rural mothers are victims of such “charity,” but from inter-
views with a score or more who place out "un-wanted
babies" without investigation and without record of so much
as the names of mother, child, or new home, we are confi-
dent that large numbers of rural mothers fall into the hands
of well meaning but selfishly misguided persons. A woman
who is proud of the fact that she has secured homes for 78
babies in about 27/2 years in this manner, said to the writer,
"You know a child like that don't amount to a cuss when
raised with its mother.” A man who exclaimed, "Oh, if
you'd seen what nice clothes they brought to put on the baby
you'd know it would have a good home,” makes no inquiry
and keeps no records. Another of similar type is responsible
for this article which appeared in the county seat daily,
"Who wants this Pretty Baby Boy-Mothers and Fathers,
do you want to adopt a pretty baby boy in good, healthy
condition? is looking for good parents and a good
home for a little four-months-old fellow left in their care.
The baby may be seen by making arrangements with
at
or you may call on the telephone. The
in
the last year has aided in finding homes for 14 babies. As
soon as the stories are printed in the paper,
is besieged by requests for the child. If you want this one,
he says you'll have to hurry for it's a prize, one of the many
that have been left in the care of
and spirit may be sincere, but this method of finding homes
for children born out of wedlock is a crime against the chil-
dren, their mothers, and the state. Among records of adop-
tion, it was not uncommon to find such cases as that of Elsie,
four months old, whose mother had given written consent
says he
The purpose
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
203
and did not appear in court though she lived in the county.
The adoptive parent said, “We went to the city hospital with
the understanding of adopting her." Question, "That was
in answer to an advertisement in the paper for a home for
this child, was it not?" Answer, "Yes, sir."
Twelve unmarried mothers have more than one child
each. Three with their children are living in homes by
themselves. Information regarding 32 mothers shows that
12 are daughters of farm owners, 8 of renters, 3 of squat-
ters, one of "hired help," and 8 are orphans reared in foster
homes. While distance from town may have no bearing on
their misfortune, it is interesting that out of 32, 10 live two
miles from a town, 4 live three miles, 3, four miles, 8, five
miles, 3, seven miles, 3, nine miles, and I, seventeen miles.
In matter of education, they vary from the high school
graduate to the illiterate and mentally defective. Through
the stories of all run the pathetic facts of isolation, mis-
directed affection, deceit, and the absence of many things
normal to wholesome child life.
DEPENDENT CHILDREN WITH THEIR OWN FAMILIES
Children's first right is to live in their own family homes
with at least the minimum standards accepted in their com-
munity for food, clothing, and shelter. Food not just suffi-
cient to keep soul and body together, but of the kind and
amount to develop healthy bodies; clothing not just to cover,
but adequate and of variety to protect and give warmth
according to the season; shelter not simply from the ele-
ments, but a home with opportunity for education, work,
play, religious instruction and comradeship. Leading family
social workers, children's agents and court officials main-
tain that children should not be separated from their own
families except as a last resort after patient, skillful, con-
tinuous effort has failed to preserve, to develop, or to rebuild
the family group. At the same time, the fact is recognized
that a distressingly large number of children can never have
204
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
opportunity for normal childhood, and can never hope to
develop into self-respecting, self-supporting citizens unless
educational factors can be taken into their homes, gradually
bringing about a marked change in conditions of family and
home life. How far can a community, a county, a state,
enter the intimate circles of family groups and influence their
standards for the care of their children? Shall we say that
it can influence them just so far as enough people in the
community have a sense of responsibility for all children
equivalent to a parent's responsibility for his own? For
the discussion of children living with their own families, we
select rural homes in which dependency exists in addition
to all other factors depriving children of minimum stand-
ards of living and education, and reserve for later considera-
tion neglected children whose families in no way live near
the line of dependency. They fall under three heads: (1)
children either receiving or in need of children's aid or
mothers' pensions; (2) children in dependant families, whose
income is supplemented by public or private “charity”; (3)
feeble-minded children living with their feeble-minded par-
ents. Findings are based on stories of 392 children, be-
longing to g1 families, in 106 homes. They are distributed
(1) children in need of aid or mothers' pensions: 132 chil-
dren of 33 families, now living in 48 homes; (2) in de-
pendent families: 205 children, of 50 families, in 50 homes ;
(3) feeble-minded with feeble-minded parents : 55 children,
of 8 families, in 8 homes. All reflect the attitude of the
county, the only official group touching every neighborhood,
toward outdoor relief and mothers' pensions; they reflect the
sympathetic but limited extent of private charity and em-
phasize the need of the family group as the natural and
compelling factor in the life of every community.
In only four counties out of the 23 visited were there
private agencies doing family social work, and these reach
rural families only occasionally. Only one has a car at its
disposal and that but part time. Five counties have Red
Cross volunteer secretaries, and five others have paid secre-
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
205
taries handling family problems for soldiers and civilians in
rural districts. Two counties work only with soldiers' fam-
ilies. Only one secretary has a car for visits into the coun-
try. In seven counties health programs are maintained by
the Red Cross and nursing service is carried on in rural
neighborhoods. The nurse, frequently the only social agent
touching the family, is confronted with problems she is
neither able to understand nor handle, and many which her
own professional ethics will not permit her to handle. For
instance, in a county with a big health program but limited
in other social work, the county poor department restricts
relief to $2.50 a month for groceries and two tons of coal a
year without regard to the size of the family. With the
nurse, we visited a home from which the tuberculous father
was being taken to the sanitarium, and where instruction
was being given to the mother and five little children in
means of preventing the spread of disease. To our per-
sistent questioning as to what resources the nurse had for
all the other social service needed in the home, she replied,
“When we have taken care of the sick there isn't anything
else.” Later, we found that two children in that home were
wards of the juvenile court on probation at the time of our
visit. We cite this in no criticism of the nurse for she was
already doing the work of two or three women, but rather
to illustrate a limited vision and an unlimited opportunity to
coöperate with all social agencies in the community for the
upbuilding of the family unit, and the need for all-around
family social work.
Need of Children's Aid or Mothers' Pensions. The term
"mother's pension” is misleading. The idea of granting a
cash allowance for the care of dependent children under 14,
for any reason deprived of their father's support, sprang up
as a reaction against conditions separating children from
their mothers because of poverty. It was an indictment
against the administration of poor relief which for half a
century had been associated with such a sting and such nig-
gardliness that a self-respecting mother either broke her
206
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
health from over-work in an effort to keep her children with
her, or sent them to "orphanages” rather than accept as-
sistance from a tax fund. Backed by the argument that the
state might pay to the mother in her own home an amount
in cash for each child under 14, equivalent to the cost of
caring for the child in an institution, the so-called mother's
pension, more correctly children's allowance idea, swept
through the states about a decade ago.
West Virginia has a mother's pension law, passed in
February, 1917. It requires that the father be dead, in-
capacitated mentally or physically, confined to a state insti-
tution, or have abandoned the family. The mother must
be a citizen of the United States, resident of the state five
years, of the county two years, and have two or more chil-
dren under 13 years. Application is made to the county
court, investigation made by a member of the court, report
submitted in writing with usual petition, summons, service,
hearing and order of court. The law states that the court may
order payment from the county funds of "an amount of
money necessary to enable the mother to properly care for
such children," then proceeds to specify that the amount
shall not exceed $15 per month for two children, nor $5 per
month per child, the total never to be more than $25 per
month. Conditions upon which the pension may be granted
require that the children live with their mother, that it be
for the welfare of the children to remain with her, that
the mother without such relief would have to work away
from home, but that with it she work away only such time
as the court specifies. The mother must be fit physically,
mentally and morally; must save the children from neglect;
must not own property other than household goods; and
must not receive workmen's compensation. The law re-
quires reports of school attendance from the children's
teachers, and denies relief if relatives contribute an amount
equal to the pension, or if any adult person stays in the
home. The pension ceases when the children reach 13 unless
they are ill or incapacitated for work, in which cases it may
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
207
continue until they reach the age of 16. The law is unfor-
tunate in at least five respects. It does not harmonize with
the state child labor or compulsory school attendance laws,
because its maximum age limit is 13 years, while that of the
two other laws is 14 years, and under certain circumstances
is as high as 16 years; hence, a poor mother with a 13-year-
old child cannot put him to work, and must send him to
school, and yet is denied this relief. The aid should be
available until her child is no longer compelled by law to
attend school, or, in other words, until he becomes eligible
for a work permit. Administration is left with the same
group in charge of poor relief and the almshouse. As a gen-
eral rule we found county courts interpreting the mother's
pension as a form of poor relief, referring to the mothers
who make application as paupers and marking the grant
"pauper." In a few instances they offer the almshouse as
a substitute. The maximum amount is quite inadequate and
bars the family from receiving any other form of outdoor
poor relief. While a property qualification is frequently em-
bodied in such laws, most states have been liberal in their
interpretation of what constitutes property, and a home of
small value does not usually bar the children from necessary
aid, but unfortunately the possession of any form of prop-
erty is considered ground for denying aid in many counties
in West Virginia. A young widow with three children under
seven had about $350 life insurance. After paying debts,
she had enough left to buy a cow. Her husband's employer
remodeled a stable and permits her to live in it without
paying rent. The county court not only denies her the
mother's pension but also poor relief, because "the cow is
property.” No provision is made by law, and we found no
provision made by administration, for additional machinery
for making the law effective; no probation or other officer
of the court makes investigations, secures help from relatives
or other resources, supervises or helps the mother through
friendly counsel to meet the multitude of problems in her
home.
208
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
Out of the 23 counties visited six administer pensions, and
two grant regular monthly allowances of poor relief. Two
grant the maximum allowed by law and three make pay-
ments quarterly. At the time of this study, 94 mothers were
receiving grants, of whom 19 were rural, representing 39
rural child
beneficiaries. No county provides supplementary
aid from the county fund, none gives friendly supervision, or
requires reports of any kind from family or school. In
practically every county, we found little children deprived
of their fathers' support whose mothers were compelled to
place them out or to accept positions as housekeepers in
homes of widowers, invariably compromising their own repu-
tation in the community. We secured authentic information
regarding 132 children of 33 families, now living in 48
homes, who are in need of some form of children's aid.
me."
An overseer of the poor said to the writer, "I jes'
warned Mrs. Taylor it warn't so easy to git on the
county, yet if she needs anything tell her to come to
Mrs. Taylor and three children live II miles
from the county seat, three miles up “Stoney Bottom
Holler.” The three-room cabin without foundation has
five windows and two outside doors. She pays $1 a
month rent for 10 acres and “right hard it is to grub
out the stumps and make a garden.” Mr. Taylor is in
a state hospital for the insane and the sole income is
from Mrs. Taylor's labor. The settlement three miles
away is the nearest place she can get work and buy
food. She has no horse, so carries groceries home in a
flour sack. She cans wild fruit, raises vegetables, and
kills her own meat. She borrowed a horse and rode
nine miles to the overseer of the poor. He gave her a
$10 grocery order with such a scolding that she vowed
she would let her children starve rather than go to him
again. Her children, a girl eight, boys four and two, are
frail and puny. The girl apparently has phthisis and
is unable to breathe when lying down. Last winter a
doctor saw her when he came to the home to examine
the father for commitment to the hospital, and about
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
209
a year ago the mother borrowed a team and wagon
and took her to a doctor il miles distant. She “ 'lows
as how she will outgrow it.” A friendly, skillful service
might make it possible for Mrs. Taylor to move to the
settlement close by the country store, and to have her
aged mother live with her to help care for the children,
Mrs. Taylor working as much as consistent with the
state of her health and the care of her family, her wage
supplemented with a regular allowance from public
funds, sufficient to provide as nearly as possible a nor-
mal home. The attitude of the overseer of the poor and
the distance of nine miles from his home are barring
the little children from the assistance to which they
have a right, and for which there is great need.
Dependent Families. Information regarding 50 rural fam-
ilies, with 205 children dependent upon private or public
relief for partial support, confirms our experience in rural
family case work in that problems of dependency are the
same in the open country as in the city, with a difference in
setting and facilities for meeting all the needs. In every
neighborhood visited, we found dependent and neglected
families with little children, unable themselves to meet even
the lowest standards for decent living and education. Forces
from outside the family group must needs bring patient
instruction in the simplest arts of home-making, character
building, protection from preventable disease, medical care,
better paying employment, prosecution for neglect and non-
support, and occasionally material relief in the form of
food, fuel, clothing and medicine.
Two phases of neighborliness are prevalent among rural
families. One occurs in time of sudden disaster; the other,
when neighbors believe the family capable of caring for
itself but unwilling to make the effort. The first is illustrated
in the burning of James Vincent's home when the family
lost everything except the clothing they had on. It was a
bitter cold winter day. Mr. Vincent, a "rig builder," was
at work in the oil field, the six children were alone in the
210
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
house, Mrs. Vincent having gone to a neighbor half a mile
away to borrow a spool of thread. The older children had
come home from school and were "minding the twins.” Mr.
Vincent was paying for the 20-acre farm but for over
two years sickness of many varieties used up his meagre
savings. From a radius of five miles, acquaintances and
strangers sent money, furniture, bedding, clothing, vege-
tables, fruit, literally everything. A young people's society
in a rural church, with one week's notice, took up a collection
of $84. The school gave a "peanut sociable," the only
social event in the neighborhood during the winter, and the
proceeds were turned over to the family. Such expression
of neighborliness is genuine and spontaneous.
Repeatedly attendance officers said they could not enforce
the school attendance of a family of children when they were
destitute. In no instance coming under our observation did
a teacher or attendance officer have the backing of the
county relief officials in providing shoes, clothing, coats,
mittens or anything necessary to keep the children in school.
The teacher of a school in which three little children without
suitable or sufficient clothing were enrolled had never heard
of county relief and was confident there was no overseer of
the poor in his district. On inquiry at the court house, we
found that no overseer had been appointed for that district
because the president of the county court lived there and
year after year reported there were no poor. From our
observation, it was one of the poorest districts in the county
in terms of dependent and neglected children. The attend-
ance officer and the Red Cross secretary in one neighbor-
hood reported whole families of children out of school all
year for lack of clothing. They had never thought of pro-
viding clothing enough to start the children to school and
through patient personal service requiring the father to pro-
vide adequately and the mother to get the children off to
school. Nor had they thought of the case work needed to
know all the facts, to secure the coöperation of the family in
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
211
carrying out a plan based on facts, nor in case of willful
neglect had they thought of prosecuting the parents instead
of penalizing the children by depriving them of schooling.
Desertion is not uncommon in the open country. Fathers
are guilty in larger numbers than mothers, yet some rural
mothers do desert their children. In several counties circuit
courts are getting fairly good results in prosecutions for
non-support and desertion. They usually require the man
to make regular payments for the support of his children but
provide no system for following up the court's order, de-
pending on the wife to report any violation. We found no
court reaching rural families that lived more than two or
three miles from the county seat. There is need for efforts
to preserve and rebuild the rural family unit, and for prose-
cution and supervision only after all efforts to rebuild have
failed.
Youthful marriage is without doubt a contributing factor
in family dependency. While we secured no extensive evi-
dence, we know that some girls in rural mountain counties
marry at as early an age as 12 years, and many at 14 and 15.
Many grandmothers caring for dependent grandchildren are
comparatively young women. In one application for a
license to marry, the girl, already divorced, gave her age as
15. In two school registers the following notation was
found after the names of four girls whose ages are recorded
as 14: "married during vacation.” The record of the mar-
riage of two West Virginia children in Maryland gives the
age of the boy as 21 and of the girl as 18, while in fact the
boy is not quite 17 and the girl not quite 12. Unfortunately,
birth registration is not always available for legal proof of
age.
Cheap land attracts types of families that create slum
neighborhoods in otherwise prosperous, well organized, rural
counties. In one such "slum” the land belongs to a wealthy
private citizen who makes no improvements and no repairs,
and the low rent he charges therefore brings him large re-
turns on his investment. In another, lots were put on the
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RURAL CHILD WELFARE
market at auction, many selling for as low as $25, the buyer
building a shanty according to his own plans. Another
such area is owned by a corporation which allows squatters
to use the land for one to five dollars a year. All have con-
ditions equally unfavorable as far as the children are con-
cerned.
Feeble-Minded Children with Feeble-Minded Parents.
Reference is made to families of children born of feeble-
minded parents for the purpose of emphasizing two points:
namely, prevalence of feeble-mindedness in rural districts,
and lack of control. Rural life with its possibilities of iso-
lation makes it easy for mental and moral degenerates to
live in secluded spots one generation after another, children
growing to maturity without coming in contact with any
phase of life outside their immediate groups. The "half
wit” who lives an apparently harmless life is known in a
friendly way by his neighbors who, choosing the line of
least resistance, permit anti-social conditions to continue
indefinitely rather than arouse the ill-will of mentally irre-
sponsible neighbors. Every county has feeble-minded chil-
dren, but we select eight families in which both parents are
without doubt feeble-minded as examples of persistent con-
ditions. The total number of children in the eight families
is 55; many are without question idiots, and all are recog-
nized in their neighborhoods as "not bright."
A group of three families at Staffords' Cross Roads
reveals conditions common to all. The country store-
keeper pointed to a cabin beautifully located up Sweet
Spring Hollow and asked the writer to visit it without
inquiring about the family in advance. Speaking for
all his neighbors, he was eager to know what they could
do to protect the children and themselves. We reached
the cabin just as Mark, the head of the family, came
home at noon. Except for this coincidence, we doubt
whether we could have secured any information other-
wise than through observation, for neither the mother
nor the three older children speak more than three or
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
213
four words at a time. The family, parents and five
children, were hovering over a cracked stove. Claude,
12, had gathered green wood from the mountain. The
day was bitter cold, and the writer was comfortable
only while walking, though wearing a woolen dress, a
sweater, a raincoat and heavy shoes. The mother and
Fairy, 20, wore men's shirts and overalls, the latter
ragged and torn half way above the knees, with no
underclothing, no stockings, and men's shoes, badly
dilapidated. Annie Lou, the baby, wore half socks,
white canvas slippers, no underclothing, and a ragged
cotton slip. Reginald, 14, a cripple and idiot, wore a
girl's dress. The father was suitably clothed for his
work as a wood chopper. Howard, eight, was warmly
clothed and shod because he had been staying with
Granny Hardy a couple of months, going to school; he
got "too lonesome" and came home on a visit. Four
grown children, two married and two "working away"
are Laferry, Luzella, Gilbert and Edward. The only
evidence of food was freshly butchered pork and a
basket of frozen potatoes. The beds were a heap of
dirty rags on a pair of springs and another heap on the
floor in the corner. Two chairs, without backs, a bench
and the kitchen table were the only pieces of furniture
besides an old rocking chair in which the crippled boy
sat. Mark talked freely of the 10 acres for which he
pays $20 a year rent and one third of the crops. He
said there was no use for any of his children to go to
school because they never learned anything, yet assured
us he was quite able to provide all they needed in cloth-
ing and food. He and his wife, Annie, are first cousins
and have always had the same surname. Robert, An-
nie's brother, lives at Timber Ridge, a quarter of a mile
up the hollow, with Emma, a sister of Mark's. They
have five children.
children. Tom, a cousin of Mark and
Emma, married Bird, a cousin of Annie and Robert.
With 10 children, eight of compulsory school age, they
live under the very shadow of South Quarry school
yet do not attend regularly, and the teacher reports
not one capable of doing the work of the first grade.
Mrs. Tom's house of six rooms is comfortably fur-
214
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
nished and as clean as could be expected with 10
feeble-minded children. The distressed neighborhood
sometimes threatens to drive them out, yet appreciates
that this would be cowardly and still does nothing to
help conditions.
STANDARDS AND CONCLUSIONS
Standards for the care of rural dependent children should
in no respect fall below the generally accepted standards
for the care of all dependent children. Yet in their admin-
istration the most fundamental principles are not reaching
rural children in counties known to the writer and in no
respect are they reaching all dependent children in the open
country. Present machinery is not functioning uniformly in
all parts of any county. This study demonstrates the need
of new methods of administration adapted to care for all
rural dependent children. Certain fundamental principles
underlie such treatment: (1) A child should never be sepa-
rated from his parents except as a last resort, after patient,
skillful, continuous effort has failed to make his home suit-
able to serve the best interests of the child and of the state.
Poverty alone should never separate a child from his mother
or from his father. If this study were confined to the 392
children in their own family groups, evidence would be
sufficient to show the need in every county for some respon-
sible authority whose business is the care of needy children
in their homes. There is no means of knowing how many
broken homes might have been saved to the children and to
the state, had adequate and understanding social and relief
service been available at the time most needed. Rural chil-
dren are being separated from parents because of poverty
alone, many are tramping, many are drifting from place to
place with fathers living and with mothers living, and many
with both parents living. (2) A second principle specifies a
private family home as the best substitute for his own home
when for any unavoidable reason a child is separated from
his parents. The burden of proof that the separation is
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
215
unavoidable rests with the individual or the official respon-
sible for the protection of all children in the locality. The
crippled and the mentally handicapped child should receive
treatment, training, and care in special hospitals and schools
until fitted for placement in a private family home. If he
never becomes fit for family home life, permanent care in
an institution may be necessary for the best interests of the
child and of the state. In the application of this principle,
rural children fare better in at least one respect than many
in the cities. Comparatively few rural children are cared
for in institutions. They are usually received into family
homes without question as to fitness, either on the part of
the homes or of the children. And a private family home,
however humble, is ordinarily better for the child than any
institution. The tragedy lies in the fact that in so large a
degree no one is held responsible for rural children in selec-
tion of homes, length of time they stay, kind of care and
training they receive, attendance upon school, or in other
matters concerned with their childhood and preparation for
adulthood. The crippled child left dependent is not readily
received in a family home and, with no one in the county
finally responsible for securing treatment and care, is grossly
neglected and frequently drifts into the almshouse where he
spends the remainder of his life associating with defective,
degenerate, and diseased men and women of all ages. The
mentally defective rural child who is dependent easily be-
comes a menace to himself and to his community. In a few
instances he is committed to a special school, and if reached
by local authority is committed to the almshouse, or under
the guise of delinquency, to a state industrial school. (3)
The state, as guarantor of protection to all children,
should inspect, license, and supervise all individuals and
agencies caring for dependent children. Local authority,
which in rural districts means the county authorities, should
be close to the child's family home and should be charged
with the duty and final responsibility of caring for all de-
pendent children: those with their own family, those un-
216
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
avoidably separated from their parents or deprived of their
care, those legally placeable in foster homes and those not,
and dependent children sick, crippled, mentally deficient,
neglected or delinquent. For the sake of somewhat nearly
uniform standards and service to the children, for the sake
of knowing the whole need and ultimately providing ade-
quately for all dependent children, the state must be respon-
sible for assisting local agencies, public and private, and in
so far as the family and the local agencies fail, the state
should insure or provide care for all dependent children.
Rural children should not be separated from living parents
without the knowledge and approval of a local public or
private agency endorsed by the state, and families should
not receive them without the approval of such agency.
Neighbors, friends and relatives who generously open their
homes to dependent homeless children should have available
some responsible agency in the county, approved by the state,
to assist in the delicate and intricate task of planning for
their future, and should not be allowed to assume respon-
sibility without such assistance. Parents and relatives should
not surrender the permanent custody and control of de-
pendent children without such approval or without record
being made in a court of competent jurisdiction. None of
the rural children found in this study are being protected
by the state to this extent, with the exception of 12 who are
legal wards of the state. (4) A fourth fundamental prin-
ciple requires the recording of complete histories of de-
pendent children and of their parents, based upon personal
investigation and supervision, for the guidance of child-
caring agencies, public or private. With the exception of 31
wards of child-caring agencies and the possible exception of
25 who have received care in institutions, no record was
found anywhere of histories of the parents and children
covered by this study. (5) A fifth fundamental requires
that every needy child receive the best medical and surgical
attention available and be instructed in health and hygiene.
Facilities for safeguarding the health of children are totally
RURAL CHILD DEPENDENCY
217
inadequate in the rural counties visited, and the services of
the nearest physician are often out of the question for such
reasons as cost, distance, lack of telephone, and bad roads.
Hospital service is frequently available only at the county
seat or in an adjoining county. Public health nurses and
traveling clinics offer the best health care in rural counties.
What are the outstanding conclusions with regard to rural
dependency as covered by this study of conditions ? One of
the most striking is that there is universal indifference to
the rights of dependent children, indifference on the part of
public officials, and indifference on the part of private citi-
zens, who, although familiar with conditions surrounding a
child or a family of children, dismiss all responsibility for
providing for their needs. The generally accepted standards
for the care of dependent children are not applied in the case
of rural children, because of the lack of understanding of
rural folk, lack of vision, lack of knowledge, and lack of
means of transportation,
Counteracting this spirit of indifference is the hospitable
response made to the appeal of mothers, or the appeal of
children, whom families receive into their homes, unwilling
as they say “to turn any orphan away.” This hospitality,
however, is seldom accompanied by full understanding of
the responsibility involved or by a sense of what is or what
is not for the children's best interests. It is folly to believe
that any home, just because it is in the open country, is a good
home for any dependent child. It depends on the home and
on the child. Rural folk may be kind, they may be hos-
pitable and fond of children, yet in no sense be the best folk
available for raising dependent children.
Perhaps the most urgent need of rural dependent children
is at least one person in every county, capable, accessible, and
vested with authority to befriend every dependent child and,
in coöperation with all other child-protecting factors in the
county and state, responsible for the best available care for
every child according to his need. Such an agent, public or
private or both, must be accessible, which means that he
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must be provided with the most rapid means of transporta-
tion practicable in his county; in some counties it may mean
an auto; in others, a saddle horse; but accessible he must be.
It is folly to expect an officer, however socially minded he
may be, to remain at the county seat and know conditions
surrounding children in the open country. Until he goes into
the country and makes careful and thorough investigations
there, he is not qualified to determine plans for the children's
future.
It is very obvious that leadership technically trained for
child-caring work is not now available to rural children in
many counties. However, it is a fact that in practically
every county there is living at least one person, in most
cases a woman, who understands children, understands fam-
ily problems and human nature, and is willing to undertake,
with the tactful counsel of a well-trained state supervisor, the
responsibility of developing a county-wide program for the
care of all rural dependent children. Everywhere the need
for her services is urgent.
PART TWO
DELINQUENCY AND NEGLECT
INTRODUCTION
Conditions of delinquency in the open country came under
our observation in the course of the study of rural child
dependency. We found dependent children who had been
neglected until they violated law, and were then taken into
court and legally declared delinquent.
For instance Albert, age 11, left an orphan when very
young, lived with an aged couple in the country until
their home was broken up, when he was obliged to
shift for himself. He is bright, keen, with a frank,
open countenance, an attractive little fellow above the
average neglected child of his age. We met Albert at
an almshouse in charge of the keeper, who was acting
as superintendent of the county juvenile detention home
because the almshouse had been so designated by court.
Two days before Christmas of 1920, a railroad police
officer filed complaint before a justice of the peace,
charging that Albert and five other boys "did unlaw-
fully and feloniously break and enter the depot
at
County, W. Va., with intent to steal
and carry away goods stored in said depot." Albert's
case was referred to the juvenile court.
He was
brought to the county seat, left in the county jail the
night of Dec. 23rd, and on the 24th the superintendent
of the detention home took him to the almshouse where
he joined in the celebration of Christmas Eve.
The juvenile court record in the office of the clerk of
the Circuit Court contains the following under date of
Dec. 28, 1920, “State of West Virginia vs. Albert
Charge, felony. Proceeding came to be heard
before Judge of Juvenile Court of County in va-
219
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RURAL CHILD WELFARE
cation upon complaint and warrant certified to the said
Judge by of the said county. Albert in his own
person came, brought by Superintendent County
Detention Home for Children and represented by pro-
bation officer says he is guilty. Nothing being offered
in delay of judgment, it is considered and ordered by
said Judge that the said defendant be and is hereby
held to answer an indictment for the offense of which
he stands charged, by the Grand Jury at the regular
March, 1921, term of the Criminal Court of
County. Thereupon, the said defendant was remanded
to the custody of the said superintendent aforesaid."
Officials present at the juvenile court hearing reported
that witnesses testified that Albert had no permanent
home, that different ones present had kept him at their
homes for a night or two. Albert frankly confessed to
having stolen "some oranges, candy, and chewing gum"
because he wanted them." He "hid them under the
porch," then told the officer where they were. At the
almshouse, Albert with several other little dependent
boys, occupied a room in the men's quarters which ad-
joins the superintendent's living quarters, using the
same bath-room and eating in the same dining-room
with the old men. The room is not attractive and has
no furniture except the beds. True to boy nature the
children engage in various pranks after they go to bed,
such as pillow fights and jumping from one bed to an-
other; in all such mischief and in mischief at school,
Albert has always frankly and truthfully borne the blame
for the part he took and never has “told on the other
fellow." He has been manly and straight-forward in
all his relations with children and with adults. He at-
tended a school on the county farm in company with
children from the almshouse and from a nearby chil-
dren's home. He does average work for a child of his
age and, as his teacher said, “is one of the manliest little
lads I ever knew."
Fortunately, the case did not come before the grand
jury. After several months in the almshouse where
the lad was held by order of the juvenile court, he was
placed in the home of an elderly woman and her un-
RURAL CHILD DELINQUENCY
221
married son. The permanency of this home is uncer-
tain because of the foster mother's age and the proba-
bility that her son will establish a home of his own else-
where.
That we might better understand what happens when
children in the open country are neglected, we made limited
inquiries regarding rural delinquent children in the 23 coun-
ties in West Virginia covered in the study of dependency.
We interviewed juvenile judges, justices of the peace, prose-
cuting attorneys, sheriffs, constables, probation and truancy
officers; and visited detention homes, state industrial schools,
jails and almshouses. We consulted dockets of rural jus-
tices of the peace, records of juvenile courts and registers
of county jails. We secured authentic information regard-
ing 201 delinquent and neglected rural children from 97
families, having visited 63 in 24 homes and places of deten-
tion. They fall into groups under two clearly defined heads;
68, implicated in wrong-doing or treated as wrong-doers,
were legally declared delinquent by court; and 133 were
neglected largely because of habitual absence from school
with no element of dependency. Findings are presented
under six heads, as follows: (1) Statement of findings on
delinquency. (2) Nature of delinquency. (3) Treatment,
(a) Enforcement of law (b) Justices of the peace (c)
Juvenile Court (d) Probation (e) Jail as place of deten-
tion (f) Almshouse as place of detention. (4) Disposition.
(5) Statement of findings on neglect. (6) Standards and
conclusions.
STATEMENT OF FINDINGS ON DELINQUENCY
Problems of delinquency are not confined to urban chil-
dren, but are found also in varying degrees of seriousness
among children in the open country. It is easier in the city
than in the country to interfere with the conveniences and
rights of others. On the other hand, it is easier in the
country to "get by" with really serious offenses. Along with
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this greater leeway, goes the fact that local and individual
standards of right and wrong are most easily enforced in
the country and frequently an act trivial in itself may be
regarded in that neighborhood as a serious offense and pun-
ishment administered out of all proportion. Such differing
standards and their treatment fail to develop in rural chil-
dren a consistent sense of justice and individual rights, and
coupled with the laxity of law enforcement, make them ill-
prepared for the adjustment necessary when they live in a
closely knit community.
The delinquent children observed range from 9 to 17
years of age; 40 are boys and 28 girls. Many are also
dependent. It is easy enough for any child to "get into
trouble,” but the trouble is much more serious when he is
dependent. All of the 68 are declared to have violated law
according to standards in their communities. All except
5 have been arrested; 59 but once, 3, twice, and I,
three times. The offenses committed include mischievous
pranks, sex irregularities, property damage, and murder.
Slightly more than one-third were found guilty of stealing;
nearly one-third were declared sex offenders, many of whose
stories are as hideous and revolting as any associated with
organized vice, and many show pathetic ignorance of sex
life. The remaining one third were guilty of damage
against property, “rocking little children," disturbing relig-
ious worship, and murder. Law provides no measures for
preventing delinquency in the country. Officers of law act
only after complaint has been filed. Enforcement is a deli-
cate and difficult matter because it depends on the willing-
ness of a man or woman to file information, appear in open
court and testify against his neighbor. Not many rural folk
are willing to go to this extent. There are additional diffi-
culties in making two or more journeys to the county seat
at the time of hearing, unless cases are disposed of by the
local justice of the peace which, however, is contrary to law.
Rural justices of the peace tried 47 cases, having transferred
but three to juvenile courts as required by law, and handled
RURAL CHILD DELINQUENCY
223
two without arrest. Again, in violation of law, they are
committing children to institutions, to jails, to almshouses,
acting themselves as probation officers and returning chil-
dren to parents. The exceptional rural justice may be quali-
fied to deal with children's cases, but the ordinary one is not,
and his office is no place for any child. Juvenile courts
handled cases of 16 children directly and three were adjusted
without arrest. In 23 counties, 14 juvenile courts were pro-
tecting rural children when family protection failed, proba-
tion service was provided in II counties, and at the time of
this study five probation officers had wards living in the
open country. In the cases of more than one-half, or 56
per cent of the 68 children, no effort had been made to cor-
rect the wrongdoing before final disposition by court. One
county has a detention home and only one child was being
detained in it. One county uses a private children's home as
a place for detention and two children were being detained
there. Two counties have designated the almshouse as the
official detention home for children, and named the keeper as
superintendent. Two children were detained in almshouses.
More than 50 had been or were being detained in county
jails, either as a safe place of keeping pending hearing or
while awaiting transfer to an institution. Some had been
committed to county jails as punishment for alleged crimes.
Girls duly committed to the State Industrial School are re-
turned to their home counties when in need of treatment for
venereal disease, and with others in their county are com-
mitted to jails for compulsory treatment. Out of 23 coun-
ties, 18 care for children in their jails, and but two of these
are equipped with apartments separate from those of adult
prisoners, and only two provide supervision of girls by
women. One rural judge refusing to violate the law by
letting children stay in the jail, said "I'd take them to my
own home first." Another, in order to secure privacy in
hearing cases involving girls and women, hears them in the
parlor of the village hotel. The almshouses used for deten-
tion of children provide no quarters separate from the reg-
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ular inmates. In one instance an 11-year-old boy ate
food prepared by an inmate afflicted with syphilis, and car-
ried trays to old men afflicted with venereal disease.
The juvenile and justice of peace courts handling the
cases of 68 rural children considered nearly one-third, or 30
per cent, serious enough to commit the children to state
industrial schools. More than one-third, or 40 per cent,
were distributed about equally between probation, jail, and
return to their homes with no provision for probation. One
girl only was placed under the supervision of a woman. The
remaining 30 per cent were placed in detention homes,
private family homes or state hospitals, or simply “returned
to county of legal residence.” With no protective feature of
the law extending into the open country; with provision for
police power only after complaint has been filed; with juve-
nile courts inconvenient of access; with justices of the peace
easily available in every portion of a county; and with no ade-
quate provision for trained and efficient probation service
it is difficult to protect rural children from the neglect which
so often leads to delinquency. The presence of at least one
official in every county well qualified for probation service
would go a long way toward making it unnecessary to care
for children in jails and almshouses and toward making
possible a fuller measure of justice for all rural children.
Nature of Delinquency. The stories of 68 children
ranging from 9 to 17 years of age reveal in a limited sense
the sort of things rural children do when they become impli-
cated in "wrong-doing,” as interpreted in their neighbor-
hood. Of these, 40 are boys and 28 girls, a ratio of about
three boys to two girls.
Offenses vary from mischievous pranks to serious viola-
tions against property, to sex offenses, and to murder.
Slightly more than one-third were charged with and found
guilty of stealing such things as chickens, canned goods,
brass, bicycles, watches, copper wire, auto tires, flash lights,
gloves, candy, oranges, and home brew, more specifically
called “old hen." Slightly less than one-third were found
RURAL CHILD DELINQUENCY
225
guilty of sex offenses, many as heinous as those committed
in cities. The remaining one-third included damage against
property, such as breaking in and destroying public build-
ings, breaking glass in railroad coaches valued at $150, and
total destruction of a peach orchard by uprooting all the
trees. Assault consisted of "throwing stones," or "rocking
little children," "whipping little children on road home from
school," and "carried pistol.” The word "incorrigible" was
used but twice and other offenses were described as "staying
out nights,” “ran away,” “lied," "disturbed religious wor-
ship," "jumped trains," "threw switch," "forged check on
father," "shot stepfather,” and “murder.”
What on the surface appear to be slight offenses may not
be so serious in their immediate as in their ultimate effects.
It is common practice for children to “rock” each other.
The writer observed several such battles along country roads
as children were going home from school. Sometimes it was
a lone conflict between two children, sometimes between
"sides,” not at all a matter for law and courts to control,
yet such things if allowed to pass uncontrolled may lead to
bitter hatreds and feuds through years to come.
In dis-
cussing the disturbance of religious worship, officers said
that this took the form of "whispering, talking out loud,
giggling, and running in and out with scuffling feet.” One
justice of the peace told of frequent annoyance by a thirteen-
year-old girl, declaring, “I didn't want to send a gal to jail
so jes' fined her $3 and warned her never to do it agin."
The gang and gang spirit diminish in proportion to the dis-
stance from the "settlement," as a town or village is called.
Temporary gangs spring up spontaneously to meet a definite
situation, but the organized gang as known in and near
cities is absent in rural districts as far as our observation
has gone. In fact, the lack of gang spirit is one of the
deadening phases of rural child life, meaning as it does, lack
of opportunity to associate closely with those of the same
age and tastes. It is not easy to distinguish between the
acts of boys who steal a chicken and go down by the creek
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to enjoy a feast, and of the boys who bag 20 or 30 chickens
and take them to town to sell. The most serious offenses
against property were committed by two or more acting
together, while the most serious thefts were committed by
individuals acting alone.
The 14-year-old boy being held in county jail for shoot-
ing his stepfather had staunch friends in the officers who
knew the circumstances. The child had known nothing
but “beatings and abuse” and one officer said, “The old man
should have been killed long ago.” However, during those
years of abuse, the child had no effective protection from
his county, or from his state. The 16-year-old boy found
guilty of murdering a 13-year-old girl is defective, the
"fool” of his neighborhood, and as many others had
done for years, the girl had made fun of him. Without
threat, he concealed himself behind a tree and shot her as
she passed.
Treatment. The families involved and the school which
the children attend are usually the first in the community to
come in contact with "wrong-doing" of whatever degree of
seriousness. They "treat" the offender and the offense ac-
cording to their standards of right and wrong and usually
settle the matter unless they consider it of sufficient conse-
quence to be handled by law. Children may have the repu-
tation of being “bad” over a period of years without coming
in contact with the law because their conduct does not have
the same results in the open country as it would have in a
closely settled city. Offenses do not inconvenience others or
injure their rights readily in a widely scattered population.
Another result arises from the neighborliness of country
people. One neighbor seldom files complaint against the
children of another unless there has grown up a spirit of
hatred and revenge. They are more likely to get together,
settle grievances, and often require their children to work
after school and on Saturdays in order to make full recom-
pense for damage, with no thought of resorting to law. The
school usually coöperates with the family in such a course
RURAL CHILD DELINQUENCY
227
of action. As a result, conduct requiring sterner measures
may be passed over lightly, while trivial, harmless pranks
may be over-stressed and made to appear more serious than
they are. Such treatment may permit unfortunate habits to
become fixed and may develop a warped idea of the rights
of others. Nevertheless, it is the most general "treatment"
in the rural districts visited.
ENFORCEMENT OF Law. What means does the law pro-
vide for preventing delinquency and for handling it after it
has occurred? We found no representative of the law
reaching rural children to prevent delinquency or to correct
conditions making court action necessary. The sheriff has
police power throughout the county and acts only after
complaint has been filed, and warrant for arrest issued.
Justices of the peace and their constables are provided in all
districts of the county but they, too, act only on filing of
complaint. The official services of probation officers are
restricted to wards of the court and only so far as they are
willing do officers respond to requests when court action is
not pending. Who is there then to prevent delinquency
among rural children? No one, as far as this study reveals,
except the unofficial factors in each community.
The enforcement of law is a very delicate and difficult
task in the open country. Standards of enforcement are
laxer than in cities because offenses do not occasion the
same degree of inconvenience, and because neighbors are not
willing to “make trouble.” Officials who depend upon the
vote of the people are not willing to stir up trouble, and
even ministers have been suddenly known to lose their con-
gregations and their financial support when they preached
“too plain about the wrongs in the neighborhood.”
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE. When the offense is serious
enough, or when it is considered serious enough, to resort to
law, a citizen or an official usually files complaint with the
justice of the peace having jurisdiction over the district in
which the child lives. This justice is elected by the people
to handle petty violations but he does not necessarily have a
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knowledge of law or qualities fitting him to deal with such
delicate and intricate matters as gathering and sifting social
and legal evidence, passing judgment, and making decisions
involving the welfare of little children. Occasionally a man
is elected as justice of the peace who has all the essential
qualities for dealing with “wayward” children, but he is the
exception rather than the rule.
A kindly old man, serving his first term as justice, com-
mitted a juvenile to the state industrial school at the time of
our visit. He went to the trouble to telephone the juvenile
judge at the county seat after he had made the commitment,
and seemed distressed when the judge said his order was
"irregular" for he had no thought of violating the law which
specifies that justices of the peace shall transfer juvenile
cases to the juvenile court. We learned later that his illegal
commitment had been accepted at the state school as are
many, many other illegal commitments of juveniles by jus-
tices of the peace. We visited two boys, 16 years old, in a
county jail where they had been sentenced by a justice for
from 5 to 15 days for "flipping” freight trains. An-
other, a boy of 14, we found in a county jail committed
for the third time, his case each time handled only by a
justice of the peace. With him was a boy, 16, committed
for the second time by the same justice. A girl, 16, a sex
offender, we found in a detention home sent by a justice.
With few exceptions, the justices we met are kind-hearted
men who "mean well,” but unfamiliar with modern methods
of handling delinquents. Two or three take a keen interest
in their "bad boys” and tell with justifiable pride of their
fatherly talks with them. One makes a special point always
to speak to all his boys and has an understanding with them
that no matter where he is they are to come and speak to him.
One justice related the story of two years of patient personal
supervision over a boy who he was determined should make
good, his final commitment to the industrial school, and
successful parole. Many of the girls taken before a justice
are guilty of sex offenses. One fatherly justice inquired
RURAL CHILD DELINQUENCY
229
whether some means might not be devised for sealing such
evidence so as to prevent its remaining a public record. The
office of the rural justice is invariably the loafing place for
all idle men in the neighborhood. Frequently it is dark,
dingy, dirty, overheated, unventilated, the air filled with
stale tobacco smoke and the floor covered with old tobacco
juice. Such surroundings do not create respect for the
dignity and justice of the law and are not at all suitable for
children, either boys or girls. In spite of the exceptional
justice and his nearness to the child's home, making a
speedy hearing possible, we are confident there is no hope of
making the justice of the peace a satisfactory agent of the
law for handling delinquent children and that his speedy
elimination in such cases is much to be desired.
THE JUVENILE COURT. The court having jurisdiction over
juvenile cases is intended to reach all children alike, irre-
spective of where they live. In practice, however, no juve-
nile court in the counties visited is reaching rural children
in proportion to their need. It is not because the judges
are not willing to serve rural as well as urban children, but
because the court does not provide facilities for reaching
places difficult of access. It is a question, first, of a person
qualified to make social investigations in the open country;
and second, of the additional expense for transportation. It
is difficult for country folk to go to the county seat where
juvenile court is usually held. They prefer to have the
local justice of the peace handle the matter or drop it alto-
gether rather than go to the trouble of one or two journeys
to the county seat. Another obstacle looms high in the
minds of country folk when they know the judge holds
court in their county but four times a year and then for only
ten days or two weeks. True it is that judges are quite
willing to hear juvenile cases any time "during vacation";
that many make long journeys to remote corners of their
districts to hear the cases of delinquent children; others
sometimes personally bear the expense of having the child
with all necessary witnesses brought to the seat of court, as
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no public funds are provided for this purpose, but this
involves difficulties not easily overcome. As a result, rural
children are not receiving the best service the juvenile court
is desirous of rendering.
Out of 23 counties, 14 reported one or more rural cases in
juvenile court during one year; four reported no rural
children; and five have no records of any juvenile cases.
One clerk of the circuit court in office 20 years thought he
remembered one juvenile case about 10 years ago, but after
diligent search through court records, decided he was mis-
taken. He did remember one case of legal adoption, about
12 years ago, and verified his memory by the record. With-
out exception in counties visited, the judges handling juve-
nile cases were the highest type of officials responsible for
the care of children in their community. Again, it is a mat-
ter of administration; delinquent children, though remote
from the seat of justice, are worth the additional expense of
one or more competent referees who could hear cases in
different parts of the county subject to review by the judge
as necessity requires, and of a probation officer qualified and
equipped with the most rapid means of transportation prac-
tical in his county.
PROBATION. It has wisely been said, "On the soundness
of its probation service, the juvenile court system stands or
falls.” A well qualified probation officer available in every
portion of every county is the first essential equipment
necessary to enable the juvenile court to serve delinquent
children in the open country. More than half the children
had no friendly officer to assist the judge in gathering all
the social and legal evidence concerning each child and his
misconduct, and to assist the child and his parents in cor-
recting the causes of his delinquency. Less than one-half
received some kind of friendly supervision before the final
order of the court was entered. These included five chil-
dren placed under the supervision of a probation officer ; 10
under a truancy officer; 2 paroled to their fathers; one to
his mother; one to his grandmother; 3 in charge of the
RURAL CHILD DELINQUENCY
231
state children's agent; 5 in charge of friends; and 3 sent to
hospitals for treatment.
Out of 23 counties, 10 have paid probation officers and
one a volunteer. Four are qualified by training and experi-
ence to make thorough investigations and supervise delin-
quent children.
Only one officer is a woman. Five had
rural children under supervision at the time of this study.
The most effective service was being rendered by full-time
officers having jurisdiction also in well organized cities.
Part-time officers in purely rural counties or in counties
with no well developed idea of juvenile court work were
invariably failing to reach rural children with any well de-
fined program. An officer who is paid $300 a year claims
to know his county very thoroughly, having lived on a farm
there for over 40 years. He said he couldn't remember ever
having known a really bad country boy because “Farm boys
have to work so hard they are too tired at night to cut up
deviltry.” Two kindly old men are known in their counties
as friends of “poor children" and doubtless secure some
satisfactory results, but their idea of service is confined to
two things, "getting 'em good homes," and "sending 'em to
the reform school."
Effective rural probation service is possible as evi-
denced in two instances. Dorothy, age 14, lives II
miles from the county seat. Her father, a truck gar-
dener, has a well kept comfortable home. With an
older brother, Dorothy attends the country school regu-
larly, and is now in the eighth grade. Complaints were
made to the probation officer that the girl was going to
rough country dances with men of questionable char-
acter, frequently staying out all night. After careful
inquiry, the probation officer found that the complaints
were justified and that the girl's father and mother
were having serious differences over this very matter.
The father, knowing the facts, sternly objected to her
continuing to go out, but the mother helped her to
secrete her clothing in the barn where she dressed for
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the dance and changed again before coming into the
house. The probation officer took Dorothy to the de-
tention home at the county seat. The case was heard
privately in the judge's office, only witnesses being ad-
mitted. Dorothy was put on three years' probation.
She reports either in person or by telephone every Sat-
urday, and as the probation officer said, bids fair to
escape delinquency but should have a woman rather
than a man officially to supervise her and her parents.
Jack, 13, as ringleader of five, stole home brew out
of a cave in his father's back yard, took it to an empty
shack, one-half mile away, where all became intoxicated
and completely destroyed a peach orchard valued at
$150. It was their "first offense.” Following arrest,
the probation officer attempted in vain to secure co-
operation of Jack's father voluntarily to pay the dam-
age. He refused and threatened the officers with the
result that he was arrested, and sentenced to 15 days in
the county jail. Jack was taken to the detention home
pending disposition of his father's case. Both father
and Jack were put on probation and required to make
good the damage. Later the probation officer removed
Jack from his parent's home because of “bad surround-
ings.” He is now in a good farm home, attending
school regularly. The probation officer visits him or
requires him to report by letter or in person every week.
JAIL AS PLACE OF DETENTION. Eighteen out of 23 coun-
ties care for juveniles in their county jails. One county has
a detention home and one uses a private children's home as
such. In answer to our inquiry, one juvenile judge in a
rural county said, "Keep a juvenile in our jail ? I'd take him
to my own home first.” He proceeded in this wise, "Sup-
pose we'd put Roy in jail this afternoon. There would be
only one place for him, with the other prisoners. To-day
we have three men prisoners, one charged with murder, the
black man who shot at three officers last night, and a sex
pervert. Put Roy with them? I hate to believe any man
who has taken the oath of his office would be guilty of such
RURAL CHILD DELINQUENCY
233
a crime against the boy.” Roy, 15, had been brought to the
juvenile court by a rural justice of the peace charged with
carrying a pistol. With five brothers and sisters, he had
been an orphan five years. They secured good homes.
Roy lived with his aged grandmother in the mountains.
The juvenile judge sent for the man in whose home one of
Roy's sisters is living and asked him to take charge of the
boy pending the hearing a week hence. The man willingly
granted the judge's request.
Two jails in large cities and one in a rural village had
rooms separate from those occupied by the prisoners in
which juveniles were kept. Others provided one kind of
accommodations for all alike.
A girl, age 16, from the country, was committed to a
county jail for a total of 49 days for treatment for
venereal disease. Neglected in early childhood, she had
been committed to the industrial school at 14, and dis-
missed in December, 1920. Through the service of a
public health officer, she was apprehended and sent to a
hospital for treatment. She made her escape a number
of times and was committed to jail four times serving
terms of 24, IO, 10 and 5 days. On the day of our
visit to the county jail where she was detained, she was
being taken to a state hospital for observation and
diagnosis, and for the first time in all these years she
is being studied in an effort to determine the causes of
her conduct.
In another rural county where we inquired about the
holding of children in jail, the probation officer, the Red
Cross president and a local children's agent for the state all
reported that no juveniles were ever kept there. One active
in civic and religious interests in the city emphasized his
reply with, "We wouldn't think of such a thing." The
writer went direct from his office to the jail and found two
boys, one 16 who had been there five weeks, and one if there
three weeks, and with the help of the sheriff took from the
jail register the names of six additional juveniles admitted
234
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
within a period of 12 months. The local workers were
without doubt sincere, but they just hadn't known and had
not thought of finding out for themselves. The boy, II,
was from the country and had been committed by a justice
of the peace for the theft of $20. His father, dead five
years, and his mother supporting three children by washing,
had not been able to control him. Twice he had been ar-
rested and twice returned to his mother. The third time he
was committed to jail by the justice of the peace, and the
plan was to return him to a married sister who lived near
town where the officers could watch him. He had not at
any time been placed in the custody of the probation officer.
The 16-year-old boy had stolen copper wire, had broken
jail, and was awaiting trial.
Through the courtesy of a jailer who said he had no idea
how many juveniles they had had in a year, but acknowl-
edged that it was a large number, we found 26 under 18
years registered during a twelve-month period. They in-
clude six children age II, three of whom were "repeaters"
as many as four times; four aged 12 and 13 with one three
times a repeater; eight, 14 and 15; and four aged 16 and 17,
all repeaters. Two of the four whose ages were not recorded
were four times repeaters.
Though in violation of law, children are being held in
county jails pending hearing or transfer to institutions, and
are being sentenced to jail in punishment for alleged crime.
In counties with no detention home, no provision is made to
house delinquents anywhere at public expense. "A jail is
no place for a child; it breeds criminals," declares the Mis-
souri Children's Code Commission.
ALMSHOUSE AS PLACE OF DETENTION. Two counties out
of 23 have officially designated the almshouse as the county
detention home for children. With only two others pro-
viding detention homes, in fact with only one detention
home and one private home used for detention in the state,
it is not surprising that almshouses are used for the deten-
tion of delinquent as well as dependent children. An effec-
RURAL CHILD DELINQUENCY
235
tive system of probation service available to every juvenile
court would help do away with many of the difficulties in
securing suitable places of detention for children. One
rural county contemplates boarding delinquents in carefully
selected family homes willing to assume that responsibility
for a fair payment. Others might make an agreement with
a private institution while in a few instances two or three
adjoining counties might jointly maintain a detention home.
Disposition. What disposition of the 68 rural children
was made by the courts responsible for protecting them?
Nearly one-third, or 30 per cent, were committed to a state
industrial school. Without doubt this large number is due to
at least three things: first, because offenses do not always
bring the child to the attention of the court until they are
sufficiently serious and deep-seated to require drastic meas-
ures; second, because rural girls are seldom subjected to
arrest except for sex offenses with which rural folks are not
able to cope in their own homes; third, because many rural
officials do not know what else to do and follow the easiest
way of ridding their community of the "bad child.” Until
the possibilities of probation service are understood in rural
counties, commitment in unnecessarily large numbers to insti-
tutions may be expected.
One boy, 14, a ward of the state, had run away from four
foster homes, was a sex offender, and guilty of stealing and
lying. Officials in the county of his last legal residence gave
a formal receipt showing his arrival at the court house;
then what? The sheriff took him in charge and disapproved
of their keeping him at the jail, so placed him with a friend
on a farm. No one had clearly in mind who was legal cus-
todian of his person and future welfare. Again, at least
one person in every rural county well qualified to champion
the cause of any child in need, would be of invaluable assist-
ance to the court and do much to remove many difficulties
now experienced in providing adequate care for all children.
236
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
STATEMENT OF FINDINGS ON NEGLECT
in
Neglected children include any under 18 years growing
up without protection from disease and without medical
care; without protection from abandonment; without suit-
able guardians; without education, wholesome play and rec-
reation; and without work suited to their strength and
ability. Legal neglect is usually confined to wilful acts on
the part of parents or guardians. We maintain that children
suffer whether the neglect be wilful or due to ignorance or
incapacity on the part of parents, or to lack of opportunity.
As to the number of neglected children in the open coun-
try, no reliable data are available. In this study we found
no instances of rural children legally declared neglected.
Without doubt, large numbers of dependent rural children
are neglected: the tramp children drifting from one home to
another are grossly neglected, as are many living with rela-
tives, in foster and in hit-or-miss homes, in almshouses,
jails, and in their own family groups. We confine our
classification to children belonging to families in no way de-
pendent upon public or private relief in the counties, and to
neglect resulting from habitual illegal absence from school.
In practically every county of the 23 visited some rural chil-
dren were reported as never attending school. When we
group the children according to information secured, we
found 133 belonging to 24 families, neither dependent nor
delinquent, who were not attending school. They include
families scattered, one or two in a neighborhood; they
include whole districts where school spirit is lacking, and
slum neighborhoods where cheap land or squatter's rights
attract shiftless, ignorant parents who defy law in any form.
Out of 133 children, 53 have not attended school this
year; 39 are reported by the school and by their parents
never to have attended. One truancy officer reported 20 in
one district who had not attended two consecutive days
during the year. Two boys, 13 and 14, left school and were
illegally employed. Two girls, 14 and 15, not legally ex-
cused, considered themselves “too big" to go to school.
RURAL CHILD DELINQUENCY
237
STANDARDS AND CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that many children living in the open
country are deprived of protection from those forms of
neglect which lead to ignorance, wrong-doing, delinquency,
and often to crime. All children are entitled to certain
minimum standards of care to insure protection to all alike.
Measured by the standards set forth in the introduction
to this volume, rural children are not protected from neglect
or delinquency. Social work for all children is not found
in rural districts; outside of the State Board of Children's
Guardians, the work of county farm and home demonstra-
tion agents, the schools and the juvenile court, no group is
organized and none of these is equipped to reach rural
children in any numbers. Wholesome recreation as a pre-
ventive of delinquency is generally lacking; few teachers
and club leaders are attempting to meet the need, but to a
great extent play is looked upon as a device of Satan to
tempt idle boys and girls, while parents often consider it
foolish to engage with their children in any kind of games.
The justice of the peace as a juvenile judge should be abol-
ished, and the machinery of the juvenile court made available
to every child in the open country through a carefully chosen
referee and well developed program of probation service.
In rural counties, an efficient officer of the juvenile court
would be looked to for advice in solving all kinds of prob-
lems pertaining to children. He would be the logical person
to make thorough inquiry and act for the best interests of
each child, preventing the necessity for court action whenever
possible. Protective agents well qualified for the task and
supported by public funds cannot be provided in every rural
county in the course of a few months. But in every county
there is need for a year-round campaign of education as to
conditions of rural child life and means for meeting all the
needs of rural children, emphasizing the human value as far
outweighing the question of dollars and cents.
CHAPTER VI
TAXATION AND THE CHILD
Hettie L. Hazlett
How is the progress of a state in child care to be judged?
By laws passed "creating" welfare institutions, but providing
no administration or funds to make them possible? By
glowing pictures painted of a heyday that is to come at some
future date with no attempt made to bridge the gaps that
confront us here and now?
A state must be judged by its foresight in meeting the
conditions of to-day with not only wise legislation but ample
provision for administration so that the full benefit of its
program may be enjoyed by every child.
The other chapters recommend to the state just how it can
install the machinery for improving conditions but what of
the dynamo--that is the money—which must be furnished
to run this machinery? Taxation has been for centuries the
method of procuring funds for public purposes. What then
are the sources of revenue in West Virginia ? How are
taxes levied and collected? What plans are made for the
distribution of these moneys to insure care, protection, edu-
cation, and development to children?
238
PART ONE
SOURCES OF INCOME TO THE STATE
I. General State Funds.
1. A general property tax: that is to say, a levy based
on the assessed value of
A. Real estate
B. Personal property
C. Public utility property.
This levy must not exceed ten cents on the hundred
dollars for general state purposes. If the neces-
sity arises, extra levies can be made on the basis of
the same assessment but only by an act of the legis-
lature. This was done in the case of the Virginia
debt when an extra levy of ten cents was authorized
to take care of the bonds issued in payment of that
debt.
2. An annual state license tax on charters issued to
corporations for the privilege of carrying on business.
3. A special land tax on corporations-an annual tax
of five cents per acre for each additional acre over
10,000 held by any corporation.
4. Inheritance taxes--for the transmission of property
by inheritance.
5. A special excise tax on corporations. This is a profit
tax on business, but now eliminated by the substitu-
tion of a gross sales tax-that is, a tax levied on all
sales made within the state.
6. Fees :
A. Those accruing in the state auditor's office for
handling delinquent real estate taxes and for
issuing charters to, for instance, insurance
agencies.
B. Those accruing in the secretary of state's office
for the use of the state seal and for the secre-
239
240
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
tary's acting as statutory attorney for foreign
corporations.
C. Those accruing in the office of the commissioner
of banking in payment of inspection and exami-
nation of state banks.
7. A tax on insurance written and a fee for issuing
certificates of authority. The former a gross income
tax applicable to all insurance written in the state
and the latter a tax for the privilege of writing in-
surance.
8. Sale of books in the secretary of state's office: West
Virginia Codes, acts of the legislature, etc.
9. Collection from counties for support of inmates in
industrial homes.
10. A privilege tax on transportation of oil and gas.
This tax was abolished in 1921. No revenue was
collected under it. The suits testing its constitution-
ality are still in the Supreme Court of the United
States. The Supreme Court of Appeals of West
Virginia held the act to be constitutional but to apply
only to intrastate business.
II. School Fund.
1. A state capitation tax. This tax applies only to male
voters and is limited by the constitution to one dollar
for school purposes and one dollar for roads.
2. Fines imposed in the circuit, criminal and justice of
the peace courts.
3. Fines collected by the game and fish warden.
4. Interest on the "irreducible school fund.” This
school fund is limited to a million dollars and cannot
be expended but is invested and the interest is ap-
plied to the general school fund.
5. Interest on deposits of state moneys in various banks.
6. State fees collected on:
A. Marriage licenses.
B. Forfeitures, i.e., forfeiture made in case prop-
erty or portion of property has been withheld
from the assessor.
TAXATION AND THE CHILD
241
C. Privilege of conducting certain business, i.e.,
drug stores, cigar stores, etc.
D. Sale of delinquent land by the county sheriff.
E. Sale and redemption of forfeited land by the
commissioner of school lands.
F. Redemption of delinquent lands by the auditor.
7. A tax collected from teachers for examination fees,
institute fees, and emergency fees.
8. A tax on national forest reserves paid by the federal
government for any land owned by the federal gov-
ernment in the state.
9. The sale of confiscated automobiles seized for viola-
tion of the prohibition laws.
10. Direct appropriation made by the legislature for
school purposes.
III. Road Fund.
1. License fees for
A. Automobiles
B. Automobile dealers
C. Motorcycles
D. Chauffeurs
E. Special privileges (for extra heavy loads).
2. Sale of blue prints and auto directories.
3. Federal aid for roads.
4. Bond issues—for any emergency arising which can-
not be met from current revenues, state bonds may
be
issued, but only when authorized by a constitutional
amendment.
SOURCES OF INCOME TO THE COUNTY
I. A general property tax, that is to say, a levy based
on the assessed value of:
1. Real estate.
2. Personal property
3. Public utility property.
II. Earnings in the sheriff's office, in the county courts,
and in the circuit courts.
III. Interest from county depositories.
242
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
IV. Delinquent taxes and redemption sales.
V. Forfeitures for failure to return property for tax-
ation.
VI. Balance due from the fund held by the sheriff.
VII. Dog tax.
If a dog kills a sheep, the sheep is paid for out of
this fund; if the sheep however is killed by any
other animal or in any other way, the state does not
pay for it.
VIII. Bond issues.
A bond issue for special purposes must be author-
ized by a vote of the people.
SOURCES OF INCOME TO THE SCHOOL DISTRICT
I. A general property tax; that is to say, a levy based
on the assessed value of
1. Real estate.
2. Personal property.
3. Public utility property,
II. Moneys received from residents of other districts for
tuition.
III. Sheriff's tax redemption.
IV. Personal property taxes reurneu as delinquent in
former settlements and collected in subsequent years.
V. Sale of school books.
VI. State aid to schools.
Each of these three units, that is to say, the state, the
county, and the district, has special funds into which the
taxes assigned to it fall regularly.
The state has :
I. A general state fund which can be expended only
for the payment of appropriations made by the
legislature.
II. A special state fund used for the maintenance of
the penal institutions.
III. A general school fund which maintains the depart-
ment of free schools, i.e., the salaries of the state
superintendent and his assistants, the compensa-
TAXATION AND THE CHILD
243
tion of institute instructors, expenses of the board
of education, expenses of uniform examinations,
salaries of county superintendents, the cost of cer-
tification and publication of delinquent taxes, and
the distribution of school moneys to school dis-
tricts.
IV. The school fund (see "Sources of Income to the
State," II, 4).
V. A state road fund maintains the state road com-
mission.
VI. Moneys belonging to the counties, districts, and
municipalities.
VII. Sinking fund for the Virginia debt.
VIII. Workingmen's compensation fund. Cost and
maintenance of this fund and payments of the
benefits awarded by the compensation commis-
sioner, carry themselves from the premiums col-
lected from the payrolls of employing companies.
The county has:
I. A regular county fund for taking care of the general
expenses, which may be disbursed only by the county
court.
II. A main county road fund to take care of the main-
tenance and building of county roads.
III. A county road and bridge fund to take care of
bridges on county roads.
IV. A district road fund for helping individual districts
with the maintenance and building of roads.
The district, which is the main school administrative unit,
has its money divided into funds which pertain to the main-
tenance of the free schools:
I. A fund for new buildings—a levy not to exceed
20 cents on the $100 valuation for purchasing lands
and erecting buildings, for the purchase and remod-
eling of buildings, and building additions to school-
houses, and for furnishing and equipping them.
II. A fund for the maintenance of old buildings, i.e.
general running expenses.
244
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
III. A teachers' fund for maintaining the schools in the
district for the minimum term fixed by law. In case
this is not enough to pay minimum salaries to a suffi-
cient number of teachers for the minimum term, the
board of education shall make an additional levy to
cover the deficiency.
IV. A high-school building fund.
V. A high-school teachers' fund.
DIAGRAM OF THE SOURCES AND DISTRIBUTION
OF TAXES IN WEST VIRGINIA
TAXES
FUND
DISTRIBUTION
STATE
General Property Tax
Administration
GENERAL
STATE
FUND
Ipstitutions and
Hospitals
Gross Sales Tax
Dept. of Health
Dept. of Safety
Inheritance Tax
SCHOOL
FUND
Dept. of Agriculture
Virginia Debt
Capitation Tax
ROAD
FUND
Dept. of Schools
Dept. of Roads
Interests, Licenses,
Fines, Fees
COUNTY
Administration
GENERAL
COUNTY
FUND
Dept. of Health
General Property Tax
Dept of Safety
Dept. of Agriculture
Fees, Fines, Licenses
ROAD
FUND
Dept of Roads
DISTRICT
Education
General Property Tax
SCHOOL
FUNDS
Fecs, Fines, Licenses
Administration
Dept of Health
MUNICIPALITIES
Dept of Safety
CITY
TREASURE
General Property Tax
Dept. of Public Works
Dept. of Recreation
INDEPENDENT
DISTRICT
SCHOOL
FUND
Fees, Fides, Licenses
Dept. of Schools
245
PART TWO
In the state, taxes are levied by act of the legislature.
This is in the form of a budget bill or supplementary budget
bill. They are collected by the state auditor, under the
supervision of the tax commissioner. In the county, the
county court, or board of commissioners, meets the second
Tuesday in August and fixes the new levy based on assess-
ments of property made by the assessor for the current
year; the taxes are then collected for the county by the
sheriff. As the taxes collected for the district go for the
maintenance of the free schools, they are levied by the dif-
ferent boards of education, and to save expense and dupli-
cation of effort, are also collected by the county sheriff and
credited to the funds of the various school districts.
As the main source of revenue to the county and the dis-
trict, and in a large part to the state, is the general property
tax, that is, the direct levy based on the assessed value of real,
personal and public utility property, it is well to consider
carefully the system and its efficiency.
In order to evaluate public utility property uniformly this
assessment is made by a Board of Public Works which
consists of the governor, the attorney-general, the auditor,
the treasurer, the state superintendent of free schools, the
secretary of state, and the commissioner of agriculture. The
assessment is made on the basis of a brief of the financial
statement of each corporation prepared by the tax commis-
sioner's office.
The assessment of real and personal property is more
complex. Each county in the state constitutes an assessment
district and elects one assessor for a term of four years. If
the population of the county is large, assistant assessors may
246
TAXATION AND THE CHILD
247
be appointed by the assessor. The number of assistants
varies according to population, the maximum number being
nine in counties of over 70,000.
Up to the 1921 session of the legislature the assessment
period ranged from April 1 to July 1. During this period
each assessor or assistant must call upon every person in the
territory liable to assessment and secure a full and correct
description of that individual's real and personal property.
The property is then assessed presumably at its "true and
actual value," that is to say, at the price for which such
property would sell if voluntarily offered for sale by the
owner. It has been almost impossible to gather this de-
tailed information over the large territory assigned to each
assessor or assistant during the short period allowed for
making the assessment. As a result, in most instances the
assessment of the previous year was copied and no new
assessment made. However, this period has been extended,
making the time limit over which assessments shall be made
from January 1 to June 20.
The Board of Public Works appoints three citizens in
each county for a term of six years to constitute for the
county a Board of Review and Equalization, with the clerk
of the county court as, ex-officio, the clerk of the board.
This board meets annually for the purpose of reviewing and
equalizing the assessments of the county returned by the
assessor. The time and place of holding the meetings of the
board are published in the newspapers three weeks in ad-
vance so that any person thinking he has been unfairly
assessed can bring his complaint before it.
"It will thus be seen that each county forms in reality an
independent assessment district for valuing property, in
which the assessor acts in the first instance, but the board is
the final arbiter in the matter of assessments, unless an
appeal is taken from the value as fixed by the board to the
Circuit Court of the county. There are then 55 assessment
units in the state for the valuing of property, none of which
is in any way responsible or dependent upon the action of
248
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
another. If their judgments coincide, uniformity results; if
they do not, there is inequality in the assessment."
Previous to 1921, the only supervision outside of the
county was that of the state tax commissioner whose powers
were only advisory and directory. The legislature, however,
has now given the tax commissioner power to employ, with
the approval of the Board of Public Works, experts to
examine and report upon the different kinds and classes of
property with the idea of furnishing more accurate informa-
tion upon which to base the work of valuing and assessing
property. Recently, also, provision has been made for an
annual meeting of the assessors to be held during the month
preceding the beginning of the assessment period. This is
done for the purpose of bringing about cooperation among
the assessors, giving an opportunity for the exchange of
ideas, and unifying the standards of property values.
There should be a general re-assessment of real estate
values at least every four years and a local readjustment
annually. Up to the present, real property has been assessed
in many of the counties at approximately 30 per cent of its
actual value. It is not surprising to note, then, that for the
years 1918 and 1919 while there was an increase in the
assessment of from 2 to 10 per cent there was an increase
of 39 per cent in the total tax levy.
Such changes, however, as have been made in the past
year, increasing the number of assistants, increasing the
assessment period, and providing for expert valuation super-
vision, show not only a desire to rectify the previous defects
of the system but point the way to a more equitable assess-
ment of property at its "true and actual value” as judged by
the standards of the current year and not by those of two,
five, or ten years previous. It will also make possible
through a higher assessment a lower levy, a condition much
to be desired in a state which should encourage industrial
development.
Taxation is nothing more or less than a buying and selling
transaction. If we know what moneys are paid into the
TAXATION AND THE CHILD
249
treasuries of the state, counties, and districts by the indi-
vidual we must then find out what benefits are received by
that individual. In other words, what do these units hold
out, for instance, to the farmer in the way of protection,
education, and aid in bringing up his child as an intelligent,
healthy citizen? Is his return sufficient to make him willing
to support these functions of government?
PART THREE
The benefits derived through taxation are as follows:
STATE
General Fund.
I. Board of Control, a public corporation of three mem-
bers created with a view to centralizing power and
responsibility for the managing and control of all
state penal, charitable, and correctional institutions,
as well as of the financial and business affairs of all
the state educational institutions. Under this board
come:
1. The Huntington State Hospital.
Now admits epileptics, idiots, imbeciles, and such
other incurable mental defectives as the Board
of Control specifies; 746 patients are taken care
of at an annual expense of $141.82 per capita.
The patients are committed by the County Hy-
giene Commission or in such manner as the
Board of Control may prescribe. Diversional
employment is provided for the inmates.
2. Spencer State Hospital.
The hospital for the insane, taking care of an
average of 607 patients at an annual cost of
$185.95 per capita. Work in an upholstery shop,
sewing room and on the farm is provided for the
inmates.
3. Weston State Hospital.
Hospital for the insane; an average of 1,076
inmates at an annual cost per capita of $167.98.
Has an extensive industrial department as well
as work provided on the farm.
.250
TAXATION AND THE CHILD
251
4. West Virginia Hospital for Colored Insane.
The 1919 Legislature created such a hospital.
A site of 650 acres has been selected and an
architect is now working on plans for the build-
ings.
5. The Welch Hospital No. 1.
6. McKendree Hospital No. 2.
7. Fairmont Hospital No. 3.
These three hospitals were established by the
legislature for the treatment, free of charge, of
persons accidentally injured while engaged in
their usual employment or occupation, preference
being given to residents of the state. If a miner
be injured away from the locality of the hospitals
his transportation to one of them is usually paid
by his company. Any medical case not con-
tagious can be treated at these hospitals for a
nominal fee. The special rules for admission of
any child for free surgical or orthopedic care and
treatment are as follows:
Such treatment must be subscribed to by the
child's parent or guardian.
Such child shall not be afflicted with contagious
disease.
Incurable cases or those which cannot be bene-
fited will not be admitted.
Children mentally defective are admitted only
on special order from the Board of Control.
Fifty thousand dollars was appropriated by
the legislature to spend annually for free treat-
ment for any needing hospital care in any hospi-
tal in the state.
8. The State Tuberculosis Sanitarium—Terra Alta,
Preston County.
This is not a home for incurables. The period
of stay is limited to six months unless for special
reasons the superintendent advises that the pa-
tient remain longer. The superintendent also
has the right to reject any patient who is not
suitable. As nearly as possible, patients admitted
are limited to those in the incipient stages of
252
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
tuberculosis, the purpose being to effect as many
cures as possible so that those cured may be the
means of disseminating information of educa-
tional value. On July I there were 124 patients
and the annual cost was $426.24 per capita.
9. The State Colored Tuberculosis Sanitarium-Dun-
mar, Pocahontas County.
This sanitarium opened with 40 beds; it has been
running for less than a year and it is hoped to
increase the number of beds to 150.
10. The Hillcrest Tuberculosis Sanatorium-Kana-
wha County.
This receives state support for only those pa-
tients who may become public charges.
II. West Virginia School for Deaf and Blind-Rom-
ney.
The school averages 241 patients at an annual
expense of $276.07 per capita. The colored deaf
and blind are sent to the Maryland School for
the Blind at Overlea, Md., at a cost of $300 per
capita, each year paid out of the current expense
fund of this institution.
12. West Virginia Colored Orphans' Home Hunt-
ington.
Colored orphan children under 16 years of age
or such children as may be surrendered by the
Board of Children's Guardians or by any over-
seer of the poor are admitted.
13. Florence Crittenton Home-Wheeling.
This home is for unfortunate girls and receives
only partial aid from the state. It is principally
to care for cases which cannot be cared for else-
where.
14. The State Board of Children's Guardians.
The board consists of three members appointed
by the governor. It employs several officers,
deputies and agents who receive into custody de-
pendent, neglected, and homeless children. After
careful investigation the children are placed in
suitable institutions or private homes for care,
maintenance and education.
TAXATION AND THE CHILD
253
15. The West Virginia Industrial School for Boys-
Pruntytown.
This is a correctional institution. Here boys
may be admitted by a justice of peace or by the
judge of any intermediate or circuit court. Dur-
ing the past year there have been 284 white and
57 colored children taken care of, the largest
number' falling between 14 and 17 years of age.
Mental defectives are differentiated from the
normal group only by the observation method.
The white and colored children are separated into
eight school grades, the former with four teach-
ers, the latter with one. One full regular school
day from 9 a. m. to 4 p. m. alternates with a
work-day. It is the policy of the school that
every youth shall “have his splendid latent pow-
ers for labor fostered and built up' while on the
other hand it is obvious from the report of this
institution that the "splendid latent powers" for
play have been sadly neglected. However, the
1921 legislature appropriated some funds to al-
leviate this situation by preparing a school build-
ing and play grounds; it also established a West
Virginia Industrial School for Colored Boys but
no site has been selected as yet.
16. The West Virginia Industrial Home for Girls
Industrial.
Only girls between the ages of 12 and 18 are
received in this institution. They are com-
mitted because of immorality, incorrigibility and
other forms of delinquency. The commitment
may be made by a justice of the peace or by any
criminal, intermediate or circuit court. Nine or
ten months of regular school is carried on in
much the same manner as the public school and
the same books are used although the ever-chang-
ing population makes the work somewhat diffi-
cult. A great deal of attention is given to recrea-
tion, several hours of the day being given to
amusements. There are swings on the lawn and
the girls play games of all kinds. Roller skates
254
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
are provided for them and a piano and Victrola
are furnished for each cottage. A library with a
good supply of books and current magazines is
available. In summer the town of Salem has
a Chautauqua and during the winter a lyceum lec-
ture course which the girls are permitted to
enjoy. There is an interesting form of discipline
here, arising from a system of grading and
monthly reports for good conduct. The girls
with the best reports belong to what is called the
"Open Door" club; they are allowed the freedom
of the home and are permitted at times to go to
church or on errands to the village unattended.
Their room doors are not locked and the guards
are taken from their windows. As a rule a girl
must be a member of this club before her parole
or discharge is considered.
17. West Virginia University Morgantown.
The University stands at the head of the school
system. It has six large departments, Arts and
Science, Engineering, Mining, Agriculture, Law,
and Medicine and Pharmacy. Its college of
Agriculture deserves special mention for the
work being done in the extension division. The
legislature appropriated $955,000 for the Uni-
versity for the year 1922.
18. Normal Schools.
The normal schools are next in the educational
system. They are as follows:
Concord State Normal School.
Fairmont State Normal School.
West Liberty State Normal School.
Shepherd College.
Glenville State Normal School.
Marshall College.
The legislature appropriated $857,500 for the
year 1922.
19. Storer College-Harper's Ferry.
This is a free college for colored boys and girls.
It is supported partially by private contributions
and partially by the state.
.
TAXATION AND THE CHILD
255
20. Bluefield Colored Institute-Bluefield.
A school for colored boys and girls which offers
high-school and normal work.
21. West Virginia Collegiate Institute-Kanawha
County.
A colored institution for vocational training.
22. West Virginia Trade School-Montgomery.
This school receives federal aid to help maintain
its department of vocational training.
23. Department of Public Safety (or State Police).
This department under the Board of Control per-
forms general police duty without restriction as
to county lines. This means it has authority to
make arrests, including children, bringing the
offender before the courts of the county in which
the offense was committed.
II. State Department of Health. This department sees
to the enforcement of health and sanitation laws; it
maintains a bureau of venereal disease and a depart-
ment of state public health nursing.
III. Six factory inspectors to enforce as one of their
duties the child labor law everywhere, except in
mines. Due to the large territory which each in-
spector must cover it is impossible for him to follow
up closely the work permits of laboring children and
the conditions under which they are employed.
IV. Nineteen inspectors under the department of mines.
Among their many other duties they enforce the
child labor law in mines.
V. Workmen's Compensation Fund. This fund is paid
into the state treasury by employers of labor. The
amount which each employer must pay is regulated
by the payroll and the casualties of the past year.
Free care at the above mentioned state hospitals is
given in addition to compensation.
School Fund. Out of the general school fund are de-
ducted the salary of the State Superintendent of Free
Schools, his necessary travelling expenses, not to exceed $500
per year, the expenses of his office and the salaries of the
256
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
county superintendents. The balance is distributed among
those districts which show a deficit in the local school fund.
Such aid is given as follows:
I. Aid to high-schools.
I. High-schools giving an approved course of nor-
mal training are entitled to receive $400 annually,
provided, however, that not more than ten high
schools shall receive aid as normal training schools
at one time and that such aid shall not be given to
any high-school in any county where a normal
school is already maintained.
2. High-schools are divided into three classes :
A. First-class high-schools offer courses covering
four years of not less than 36 weeks each, and
employ not fewer than three thoroughly quali-
fied high school teachers who devote all their
time to teaching high-school subjects, such
schools receive $800 annually.
B. Second-class high-schools offer courses cover-
ing three years of not less than 36 weeks each,
and employ not fewer than two thoroughly
qualified high-school teachers who devote all
their time to teaching high-school subjects;
such schools receive $600 annually.
C. Third-class high-schools offer courses of two
years of not less than 36 weeks, and employ
at least one thoroughly qualified high-school
teacher; such schools receive $400.
II. Aid to the maintenance building fund of elementary
schools. This is to help standardize one-room and
consolidated rural schools. One-room schools meet-
ing first-class requirements receive $125 state aid
annually, those meeting second-class requirements
receive $100. In the case of consolidated schools
the amount is determined by the number of pupils;
provided, however, that not more than $800 be given
to any first-class consolidated school, or more than
$600 to any second-class consolidated school.
III. State aid to the teachers' fund of elementary schools
TAXATION AND THE CHILD
257
in districts where the maximum levy for teachers
will not provide sufficient funds to pay minimum
salaries to teachers for all the elementary schools
for the minimum term.
IV. In case a district votes a special levy to increase teach-
ers' salaries above the minimum and to pay for a
district supervisor, state aid will be given to the ex-
tent of half the amount on condition the district
raises the other half.
Road Fund. Heretofore the state has given the counties
some money to help with the maintenance and construction
of roads. Under the new road law passed in 1921 all public
roads have been divided into two classes, state roads and
county-district roads. State roads are those which make up
the system and are now taken over by the newly created
Road Commission. This means the state will bear the entire
financial burden of this class of roads whereas formerly
they bore only part. This will relieve the county and district
from any support of main roads and will leave more funds
for the building of roads through the rural districts. The
working out of this new system of road control should be
watched with great interest, as a more extensive system of
roads will be the most constructive gift West Virginia can
give to her children with a view to furthering their welfare
and development.
COUNTY
General Fund
From this fund are paid the general expenses of the
county which include:
I. County board of health, and salary of a county
health officer, who has charge of the enforcement
of general health measures and any emergency
health matters, such as epidemics. There are about
eighty public health nurses in the state but very
little of their work is due to county support. Most
of them are enrolled Red Cross nurses. Many are
supported partly by Red Cross funds and partly
258
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
by other organizations. Some are supported partly
by county funds. Only one nurse is now main-
tained by county funds alone.
II. County poor relief. The code reads "Each County
Court shall appoint for each magisterial district
one intelligent voter residing therein as an overseer
of the poor for a period of two years in said dis-
trict.” It is the duty of these overseers to admin-
ister this relief. It may be applied for by or on be-
half of any person who is unable to maintain him-
self or family, or if the overseer finds any woman
in his district who has one or more children and is
in need of assistance, provided always that such
person has a legal settlement of one year, he may
administer the relief, without any application for
it. In the case of the woman, the husband must be
dead, or totally incapacitated mentally or physically,
in a state institution or have abandoned his family.
This poor relief in no event exceeds $10 a week
for one child, or $5 for each additional child; the
allowance for any child must not continue beyond
the age of 14, and the total amount allowed to any
family must not exceed $25. It is usually given in
the form of an order for shoes, milk, medicine,
coal, or groceries and also includes orders for
burials. There is no supervision of the issuance
of such orders and the investigation of a family's
need is left entirely to the judgment of the over-
seer. Although there is a law which provides for
mothers' pensions their payment is left to the
county and up to date this opportunity has not been
utilized. The overseers themselves receive a very
small salary, in Ohio County the highest being $70
per month, and the majority on the average $25
to $50 per month.
III. Agricultural clubs. The county pays part of the
salary of the county agent; part is paid by the
federal government, under the Smith-Lever Act.
IV. The county provides detention homes.
V. Inquests are made by the coroner at the county's
expense.
TAXATION AND THE CHILD
259
VI. Each county has a County Hygiene Commission
made up of the president of the Board of Commis-
sioners or the president of the County Court, the
prosecuting attorney and the county clerk. The
examination, care and transportation of patients to
state institutions is paid for.
VII. Each county must have a probation officer and pay
his expenses and salary.
VIII. A county may have a tuberculosis sanitarium.
IX. An inspector of weights and measures is provided
for in part, part being paid by the state and part by
the federal government.
X. County Hospital and Home. An institution sup-
ported out of the general county fund as a shelter
for the indigent poor.
Road Fund. The county road fund takes care of build-
ing and maintaining all the roads not included in the state
system of roads or in towns or in corporations.
DISTRICT. The district is the unit which maintains the
free schools, with state aid under certain conditions (see
School Fund). Under the new school law any district is
entitled to employ school nurses and to establish dental
clinics.
We have shown briefly just what public benefits West
Virginia holds out to its children,-benefits made possible
through the payment of taxes by its people.
It is impossible in this discussion to go into every depart-
ment of government and inquire into its functions and
necessary expenditures to find whether or not the proper
amount of revenue is being collected for its maintenance; we
can, however, ask the question, “Are the funds collected
being used expediently?" The answer is, “No.” The re-
sponsibility for enforcement of laws and ordinances is so
scattered and so little supervision is exercised over the ex-
penditure of funds that waste and confusion are bound to
result.
For instance, the farmer pays for poor relief, but how is
260
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
he to know whether or not the overseers in his county are
administering this relief wisely? There is no supervision of
the “orders” given or case work done. In the enforcement
of the child labor law and the compulsory school attendance
law-both state laws we find the former is enforced en-
tirely by state authorities with no local assistance, while the
latter is left entirely to local authorities with no supervision
whatsoever by the state.
In the course of 24 hours a child may come to the atten-
tion of a number of public officers whose administrative
powers are in no way connected but whose initial duty is
essentially the same-that is, to consider the welfare of the
child. Much of the individual and personal interest in the
child is lost as he passes from the truancy officer to the pro-
bation officer, to the factory inspector, to the officer issuing
work permits, to the health officer, to the administrator of
mothers' pensions or poor relief.
Unfortunately, due to the division of responsibility, very
few of these officers have sufficient duties assigned to them
to justify engaging all of their time in the work nor does
the compensation allotted for such divided services provide a
reasonable living; therefore they are compelled to spend the
greater part of their time at some more remunerative occu-
pation, thus relegating their public duties to a secondary
place.
It would be far more to the interest of children to unite
closely related tasks which from their very nature fall log-
ically together and, under the supervision of the state, entrust
them to a county unit or a county welfare board in which
competent people, paid for their entire time, serve the public
for the benefit of the child, not only economically and effi-
ciently but sufficiently.
CHAPTER VII
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
W. H. Swift
IF ONE seeks to know what is being done for all American
children, he must find what is being done for the children of
every one of the states. This is not so much a study of
West Virginia, as of the laws and agencies of a certain
definite territory in which American children live.
The test of any system of law and administration, de-
signed to promote the welfare of children, is not how much
is done for a part of them, but the minimum that is abso-
lutely assured to every child. Are some, able to be taught,
growing up in ignorance—then the public educational system
is imperfect; are some exploited to their own injury and to
the loss of the state—then there is something wrong or weak
in the laws regulating their employment or in the machinery
created to enforce these laws. The state must measure its
laws by the very least that is assured to its poorest, humblest
child. What are the chances of children slipping out of the
hands, not only of the home but of the state, to sicken, die,
or grow up into non-desirable citizens? That must be the
test.
The child law of West Virginia is, in the main, much the
same as that of other progressive states. With the excep-
tions to which, at proper places, attention will be called, it is
in conformity with the better accepted standards of the
country. The legislature has not hurried to change either
law or legal agencies; but, on the other hand, it has not
hesitated to amend old laws or to enact new ones when con-
vinced of the need. The legislature of 1919 amended the
261
262
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
public school law and the child labor law, and provided for
the establishment of a State Board of Children's Guardians.
The legislature of 1921 amended the school law again, ex-
tended the powers of the State Board of Children's Guar-
dians, enacted a new vital statistics law, provided for the
establishment of an industrial home for colored girls, an
industrial school for colored boys, and a training school for
mental defectives, made the work-permit law applicable to
children in state industrial schools, and made provisions for
a child welfare commission.
The Supreme Court, in interpreting the law and in making
it apply to specific cases, has not been forgetful of the fact
that children are entitled to the best care. In conformity
with the excellent policy of similar courts in other states and
an old rule laid down by the legislature of West Virginia for
the guidance of judges of circuit courts in divorce cases, it
has held time and time again that, when a child is involved,
paramount consideration must be given to its welfare.
Now, accepting that as the high rule of law, let us see how
well other laws, rules, and practices conform to it.

"Be it ever so humble
1
What will this coun-
try boy do with his
heritage ?
Courtesy of Professor John F. Smith
Bad roads are an obstacle to economic and
social development. An example from
Eastern Kentucky
PART ONE
LAW
MARRIAGE
We begin with marriage, a legally regulated institution,
because the state in making and enforcing its regulations
holds in consideration any children that may be born as well
the two parties to the contract, and also because, under
certain conditions, the law permits persons under twenty-one
years of age, children, to marry. Marriage is an unusual
sort of contract, into which some children may legally enter,
as well as a custom arising out of instinct. Law regulates
the contract and, in some measure, refines the custom so as
to make them agreeable to the state of public thought at any
given time. The Supreme Court of West Virginia has de-
clared that while marriage is a civil contract in that consent
of the parties is essential, it partakes of the character of an
institution in that it is regulated by law upon principles of
public policy for the benefit of the community.
It is a crime:
1. For any person with a living husband or wife, or who
has been absolutely divorced for less than six months, to
marry. The absence, however, of the husband or wife for
seven years with no knowledge on the part of the other that
he or she is living excuses the crime. A marriage with a
person already married is void, but it is prudent to have the
court so declare.3
2. To marry within the degrees of kinship as forbidden
1
1
29 W. Va. 740.
2BC. C. 149, S. 1, 2.
34 W. Va. 524.
263
264
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
4
by law. An incestuous marriage will be annulled at the
instance of one who knowingly entered into it.2
3. For a white person to marry a negro, or for any per-
son to solemnize the marriage of a white person and a
negro.
All these, together with the marriage of a person insane,
or of a child under the age of consent, are held to be void,
but the general rule is that a court of competent jurisdiction
must so declare.5
If all other formalities are complied with, a boy may
marry at the age of eighteen and a girl at the age of sixteen.
The general rule is, that no marriage is valid unless sol-
emnized under a license issued according to law; but, even if
there was no authority vested in the one solemnizing the
contract, it is a valid marriage, if the parties, or either of
them, believed that it was lawful.?
The license required is issued by the clerk of the county
court, but not necessarily upon the personal application of
both or even one of the parties. It is very brief, simply
authorizing the marriage to be solemnized in a lawful man-
No license for the marriage of a child under twenty-
one years of age will be issued unless the father or guardian,
or, if there be neither, the mother, consents in person before
the clerk, or in writing duly witnessed. The general rule is,
that only ministers of the Gospel may solemnize marriages,
and they only when authorized by the county or circuit
It is unlawful for any one to perform a marriage
without a license or without being authorized ;11 and for a
county clerk to issue a marriage license contrary to law.12
ner.
court. 10
1 B. C. C. 149, S. 3.
54 W. Va. 301.
3 B. C. C. 149, s. 8.
* B. C. C. 149, s. 9.
o B. C. C. 64, s. 1, 9 and 10.
o B. C. C. 64, s. 2.
7 B. C. C. 63, s. 6.
8 B. C. C. 63, s. 14, I.
• B. C. C. 63, s. 2.
10 B. C. C. 63, s. 3.
11 B. C. C. 149, 9. 5.
12 B. C. C. 149, s. 8.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
265
Common law marriages are not recognized as valid in
West Virginia. No marriage contracted in the state is valid
unless contracted in the manner prescribed by law, even
though the parties may have lived as man and wife. On
the other hand, marriage may be inferred from the fact that
the parties lived together, called each other husband and
wife, from other circumstances, and from matrimonial habit
and repute.3 Where the legitimacy of a child is involved the
fact of marriage may be established by evidence of cohabita-
tion, and the presumption of legitimacy is so strong that it
can be overcome only by cogent proof offered by him who
alleges illegitimacy. That is good law for children.
As one reads this part of the law five questions arise:
1. If a child is old enough to marry and the legal age
limits are reasonable, why require the consent of anybody?
If a person has sufficient discretion to enter into the con-
tract, he is old enough to dispense with all consents except
that of the other contracting party.
But if consent is to be required, why should the
mother be made subordinate not only to the father but to
the guardian even? If any consent whatever is to be re-
quired, the mother ought to join with the father. It is her
child.
3. Under the method of granting licenses it would be
easy enough for a feeble-minded person or one with syphilis
to marry. We cannot be sure that this will not happen. In
fact, we know that it does often happen. There ought to
be some sort of certificate of qualification for marriage.
Ordinarily, both parties should appear in person.
Each
should be required to present a physician's certificate that he
or she is free from venereal disease and the clerk should be
required to find as a fact that each is of sound mind.
4. Marriage is a civil contract, then why have it sol-
2.
1 29 W. Va. 732.
22. W. Va. 435.
76 W. Va. 352.
• 68 W. Ya. 690.
266
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
emnized only by ministers? Sometimes the preacher may
be gone and it might be a long way to the next one.
5. Reasonable notice that the parties are about to apply
for license to marry ought to be given. There are really
three parties to the contract and society is entitled to notice
that it is about to be drawn in by the other two.
PRE-NATAL CARE AND CARE AT BIRTH
The average legislator has not been much concerned about
this unless the mother happened to be his wife or a near
relative, and almost no attention is given to it in the law; but
it is a social matter which should not be ignored. Simple
instructions to pregnant women are often the means of pre-
serving the health and even the lives of both mothers and
children.
Those who live in many rural sections are forced to
depend upon midwives and good luck. Physicians are re-
quired to stand an examination and to hold lawful certifi-
cates before engaging in the practice of medicine; but the
law specifically exempts females who practice midwifery.”
Midwives are required to register in the office of the clerk of
the county court and to report all births and deaths;a but no
legal provision is made for even the most simple instruction
or for any sort of examination. He who relies upon a
midwife for the care of his wife and child in West Virginia
does so without the least sort of legal assurance that she
knows her business. Physicians naturally go to the towns,
cities and better communities. If there is no physician, one
is forced to depend upon a midwife, and that makes it all
the more necessary for the law and legal agencies to have
some say.
The care of women and children at child-birth should be a
part of the work of the state and county health agencies, and
the law should forbid'the employment of a woman for a
reasonable period before and after the birth of a child.
1 B. C. C. 150, S. 24.
B. C. C. 63, s. 18.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
267
Maternity homes and lying-in hospitals are institutions
which should be carefully watched. There are unscrupu-
lous persons who do not hesitate to run ill-equipped places;
and, unless carefully and continuously supervised, some ma-
ternity homes may soon become abortion shops and "fences”
for the quick disposal of babies. The State Board of Chil-
dren's Guardians is authorized and required to visit, inspect,
supervise and approve these as well as all other child-caring
agencies, not belonging to the state.1 This means that
the state has recognized its responsibility and has set its
agent to guard the child.
It is unlawful for any one to administer any drug to any
pregnant woman or to cause her to take any drug or use
other means to destroy her unborn child, or to produce
an abortion, or cause a miscarriage. That is not sufficient.
The best sort of law is positive rather than punitive. Women
and children suffer, or are injured because of ignorance and
neglect a thousand, ten thousand, times more frequently than
from actual criminality.
West Virginia is not the only state that fails properly to
guard mothers and children at child-birth. The need for
this sort of care has come to be clearly recognized only in
the last few years. Those who think and set things going
have been so much interested in other matters that they have
not yet got fully around to this. The good work done by
the Children's Bureau, and other agencies, has not yet borne
full fruit. But this indifference should not be allowed to
continue. The state must take the growing of strong men
and women as a serious matter; and when it does, mothers
and children will all receive proper attention and care.
PARENT AND CHILD
We now come to that relation in which most children
live. In law, the father is the natural guardian of the child
.
1 Chapt. 134, 1921,
3 B. C. C. 144, s. 9.
268
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
6
and has the right of custody; but this is not held to be an
absolute right; and the courts will ignore it whenever it is
shown that the child is not properly cared for. In case of
the death of the father, the mother succeeds to the right of
custody; but the father may defeat this by binding out the
child as an apprentice. The father may also appoint a
guardian for his minor child by will; but no guardian ap-
pointed by will of the father may take the child from the
care and custody of the mother, unless it be shown that she
is unfit to have the care of her child.4 Even when the child
has an estate and a guardian, the father and after him the
mother has the rights of custody and care of the education
of the child.5
A parent may relinquish his right to have the custody of
his child, and when relinquished it will not be restored to him
unless it is shown to be for the best interests of the child.
A parent may by agreement emancipate his child, and the
law is that he may not revoke such agreement. The rule of
all rules is that the court has the right to take and place the
child with that person who will best serve its interests.
Still, the law does not fail to guard the right of the parent to
have the undisturbed custody of his child. It is a crime to
take or secrete any child under 14 years of age from the
parent or other lawful custodian and for any person other
than its father or mother to take any minor over 14 years of
age for any unlawful or improper purpose.S
The right to the services and earnings of a child springs
from the right to custody and the duty to support it. A
father or the mother, in case she succeeds to the rights of
custody, is entitled to the services and earnings of his or her
minor child and may maintain an action for any interruption
8
41 W. Va. 704; 29 W. Va. 751.
2 B. C. C. 46 A, s. 7.
29 W. Va. 751.
2 W. Va. 464; B. C. C. 82, s. 7.
5 B. C. C. 82, S. 7.
50 W. Va. 244.
7 62 W. Va. 55.
8 B. C. C. 144. S. 14.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
269
of that service. The earnings of a child who works for
another without the consent of the father belongs to the
father. Of course, this rule does not hold in case the parent
has emancipated his child or relinquished his right to cus-
tody, services or earnings. A parent cannot recover dam-
ages for the wrongful death of his minor ; that action must
be brought by the personal representative of the deceased
child.4
From what has been said, it might be inferred that a man
has full right to put his children to work and take all they
make and live off it in idleness; but that inference would not
be justified, unless it appears that other laws enacted for the
benefit of children are either inadequate or not enforced.
The compulsory school attendance law, the child labor law
and juvenile court law all should stand in the way of the
vicious or neglectful parent and ought to prevent him from
exploiting his own child. The question is, do they, and that
question is answered in the other chapters.
A parent, ordinarily, has, in addition to the right of cus-
tody and to the services and earnings of his minor child, the
power to consent and thereby authorize the marriage, adop-
tion or apprenticing of his child and also to emancipate or
appoint a guardian for it.
Marriage. Marriage must be contracted under a license
and that will not be granted for a minor unless the consent
of the father, guardian, or if there be neither, of the mother
is given in person or in writing. It is of interest: first, that
the father has the power to authorize the marriage of the
child no matter how much the mother may object; and
second, that if the father is dead, a guardian has the right to
consent and authorize the marriage without the consent of
the mother. That certainly places the mother in a subordi-
1
2
8
41 W. Va. 704.
29 W. Va. 424.
31 W. Va. 242; 38 W. Va. 424.
52 W. Va. 433.
8 B. C. C. 63, s. 2.
270
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
nate position, and no mother should be so placed in respect to
her own child.
Adoption. In cases of adoption both parents must con-
sent, and another excellent feature of this part of the law is
that, if a married man seeks to adopt a child, the consent of
his wife or vice versa must be given before the court will
grant the decree. If there is only one parent, the consent of
that one is sufficient; if no parent, then the guardian con-
sents. Adoption is decreed by judge of the Circuit Court
after all the facts are shown and especially that the
adoptor is at least fifteen years older than the child, is of
good character and standing, is able to maintain and educate
it, and that the adoption will be for the best interests of the
child.2
After adoption, the child becomes as if the child by
birth of his adoptor and his lawful heir. But the law does
not set aside the rights of a parent who had no notice. Such
parent may within one year after notice bring an action to
have the decree set aside, and the court would be guided by
the rule often declared by the Supreme Court; namely, that
the best interests of the child must control. The judge
of the Circuit Court is the judge of the Juvenile Court, and
so adoption is really decreed by the judge of the Juvenile
Court; but it would be better to make it a Juvenile Court
matter strictly so that there may be thorough examination of
every case by an official investigator.
Apprenticeship. There are really two ways of appren-
ticing a child: a father, or, if there is no father, a guardian,
or, if there is neither, the mother may, with the consent of
the county court, apprentice a child; and the county court
has authority, upon its own motion, to bind out any child
who is found begging or likely to become a county charge.
No child 14 years of age or over may, however, be bound
1 B. C. C. 122, s. 1, 2.
2 B. C. C. 122, s. 3.
8 B. C. C. 122, S. 5.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
271
1
out without his consent. Children are apprenticed by in-
dentures.
The articles of indenture must specify the trade to be
taught and the master is required, in addition, to teach the
child or have it taught reading, writing and common arith-
metic. If a parent or guardian apprentices a child, he, of
course, fixes the terms subject to the approval of the county
court; if the binding is done by the county court, at its own
instance, it, of course, fixes the terms. In either case the
master is required to file a bond to guarantee that he will
comply with conditions. Failure to file this bond for six
months renders the indentures void.2
The term of apprenticeship is, for boys, until 21 years of
age, for girls, until 18. An apprentice may be transferred
or assigned by the master but he may not be carried out of
the county without the consent of the county court. If the
child is carried into another county a copy of the indentures
must be filed in the office of the clerk of the county court or
else the apprentice is not required to serve.
The Juvenile Court is presumed to handle all dependent
children, and, if a child is ever to be bound out it should be
under this court. But there should be no binding-out. It
makes for slavery. Children of spirit are not going to serve
a master until 21 or even 18. Boys are permitted to marry
at 18, and girls at 16. All acts or parts of acts authorizing
any child to be apprenticed should be repealed.
Emancipation. A father or mother who has the right of
custody has the power to emancipate a child, and the fact of
emancipation may be inferred from the circumstances.
3
Guardian by Will. The father of a minor or the mother,
if she is a widow or unmarried mother, has the power to
appoint a guardian by will. The general rule is that a
1 B. C. C. 81, s. 1, 2, 4.
2 B. C. C. 81, s. 4, 3, 7, 12.
3 B. C. C. 81, s. 12.
29 W. Va. 424; 37 W. Va. 242; 38 W, Va. 283.
272
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
guardian takes the custody of the child, but this does not run
against a father or mother.1
We have been speaking of a parent's rights with regard to
the child. Now we turn our attention to a matter of more
importance, the child's rights. It is the duty of a father to
support and care for his minor child, and that regardless of
whether the child has or does not have an estate in its own
right; if, however, it is shown that the child has an estate
and that the father is unable to support him, the court will
order support for the child out of the estate belonging to it.?
In case of the death of the father, this duty falls upon the
mother.
The criminal law may be invoked to enforce this right for
the child. It is a crime for any parent without lawful ex-
cuse to desert or willfully neglect to provide for the support
of his child (legitimate or illegitimate) under 16 years of
age. Just what constitutes a lawful excuse does not appear
in any of the decisions; but certainly one parent should not
hold the conduct of the other to be any excuse for failure to
care for his child. It is a crime for any parent or other
person having the custody of a child cruelly to ill-treat or
abuse it or to inflict upon it cruel punishment;4 and for any
parent to let or dispose of his child under eighteen years of
age to sing, play or beg in a public street or road, or to
permit his child under fifteen years of age to sing, dance, act
or exhibit in any dance house, concert, saloon, theatre or
place of entertainment where liquor is sold. The law holds
the father first and then the mother responsible for the sup-
port and care of the child. Either may be punished for
failure or neglect.
Any parent has the power to deprive his or her child of
whatever age or state of infancy of support from his or her
property by will.8
But it must be clear that the parent
2
1 B. C. C. 82, s. I.
41 W. Va. 704; 43 W. Va. 711.
& B. C. C. 144, s. 16 c.
• B. C. C. 144, s. 16 d.
• B. C. C. 144, s. 16 d.
• B. C. C. 77, S. 1.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
273
meant to cut the child off without support. A child born
after a will in which no provision is made for it and no men-
tion is made of it takes as if there was no will. The law,
while permitting a parent to cut the child off helpless, throws
the burden upon him by requiring him to show that he de-
liberately planned to do it. This is one of the time-honored
rights of personal ownership of property. It rests upon the
assumption that one has the right to do as he pleases with
his own; but, not every one has the right to dispose of his
property as he pleases. No one can dispose of his property
so as to deprive his creditors of their rights. One must be
just to his creditors before he will be permitted to be gen-
erous to anybody. Why not to his child? Neither father
nor mother may take property from the other, by will or by
right of curtesy or dower, for each is held by law to support
and educate the child.
A little, a very little, intelligent extension of the law of
debt would suffice to insure care for the child. The law
holds that it is the duty of a parent to support his child; then
support is a sort of debt which the parent owes to the child
and which is enforceable against the parent, so long as they
both are alive. The next step would be to declare that this
debt of support survives after the death of the parent and is
a charge against the estate just as any other debt, but sec-
ondary to the lawful claims of other creditors. If that were
done, the parent would be required to provide support for
his child, say up to the age of 16, before he could dispose of
any part of his property by will to any other person, and if
this were not done, any one taking any amount under the
will would take it charged with the support of the child or
children in a like amount.
The state must hold itself bound to support every child
left without means of support. Property is willed under the
authority and by the sanction of the state. There is, there
can be, no good reason why the state should carry a parent's
estate over to another, as directed by his will, and then be
1 B. C. C. 77, s. 17.
274
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
forced to give support to the child. It is unfair to the state
as well as the child.
This idea is not altogether new. Even now the right of
the child to be supported by the parent runs in some measure
after the death of the parent. The workmen's compensation
act is based, in part, upon the principle that a child has the
right to look to his parent for support even after that parent
has ceased to live. Under this act payments are, of course,
made to the person injured in cases of disability only;1 but in
case of death, the payments are made for the benefit of the
employee's dependents. Widows, invalid widowers, and
children under 15 years of age are declared to be dependents,
and posthumous, adopted, and step children under 15 years
are similarly classed. An illegitimate child would not be
classed as a dependent of his father.
Outside the scope of the workmen's compensation act the
law gives to the administrator of a deceased person the right
to recover damages for his death caused by the negligence or
wrongful act of another. The amount so recovered is dis-
tributed as a part of the surplus of the personal estate of the
deceased.
The surplus of the personal estate of a deceased father
goes, one-third to the widow, and two-thirds to the children.
If there is no widow, the children take all; if no child, the
widow takes all. Upon the death of a mother the same rule
is followed. In determining the right to inherit property
the law holds a child born of a void marriage to be legiti-
mate,5 as also a child born within ten months after the
death of the husband of its mother. The child or children
of a deceased father or mother take all the real property
subject, of course, to the rights of dower or curtesy, as the
case may be.?
1 B. C. C. 15 P, s. 33.
B. C. C. 15 P, s. 33.
8 B. C. 103, s. 5; 27 W. Va. 32; 57 W. Va. 433.
* B. C. C. 78, s. 9.
o B. C. C. 78, S. 7.
o B. C. C. 78, s. 8.
1 B. C. C. 78, s. 1.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
275
Up to this point we have had almost exclusively in mind
the ordinary child to whom nothing unusual has come.
Now, let us turn our attention to those children whose home
life is, in some way or other, either broken up or badly dis-
ordered.
Death of Parent. Upon the death of the mother there is
no change in legal relations. The father, as the natural
guardian, continues to have legal custody of the child and
remains under the same legal obligations to maintain and
care for it. If, however, any property is left to the child by
the mother a guardian must be appointed. A father has no
legal right to handle the estate of his child unless he is
appointed guardian.
The death of the father causes very material changes in
legal relations. The right and duty to keep and care for the
child falls to the mother at the death of the father, just as it
goes to her, without relieving him or his estate of any lia-
bility, in case he abandons his family. If the father leaves
property for the child a guardian must be appointed to care
for the estate, but not to have the custody or care of the
child, unless it is shown that the mother is unfit to care for it.
Guardianship. The law contemplates that every child
under age shall have the care of a guardian of the person.
This right belongs first to the father ;' and then in case of his
death to the mother. A second marriage of the mother
does not divest her of this right. But it must be under-
stood that neither father nor mother as natural guardian has
any right to the estate of the child. Only a legally ap-
pointed guardian is entitled to handle the estate of a minor.
A married woman may not be appointed guardian of the
estate, and the marriage of a woman, while it does not divest
3
29 W. Va. 751; 35 W. Va. 698.
40 W. Va. 564.
29 W. Va. 564.
40 W. Va. 564.
276
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
her of her right to have the custody of her child, does ter-
minate her guardianship of its estate.
A guardian may be appointed by the will of the father,2
by the will of the mother, if a widow or an unmarried
mother, or if the child has an estate and no guardian has
been appointed in either of these ways, the county or Circuit
Court will appoint a guardian. If the child is 14 years of
age or over he may, with the approval of the county court,
nominate his guardian."
All guardians, except those specifically exempt by last
wills, are required to give bond.® A guardian who has
filed the bond required by the county court is authorized to
take the custody of the child, to have the care and manage-
ment of its estate and is required to provide for its main-
tenance and education, but this general rule is limited by the
right of the father or mother to have the custody and care of
the education of the child and also by the fact that the duty
to support and educate the child rests first upon the father,
and then upon the estate held by the guardian.?
The general rule is, that a guardian may not use more than
the annual income from the estate in maintaining or edu-
cating the child. There are, however, exceptions to this
rule: when the child is too young or not strong enough to be
bound out and when the Circuit Court deems it best to ex-
pend a part or all of the estate for the maintenance and edu-
cation of the child and so orders.
A guardian has no authority to sell his ward's land unless
so ordered by the court. He is authorized to lease his ward's
lands either publicly or privately ;' but this does not apply to
leases for oil or gas development unless upon order of the
8
1 B. C. C. 82, S. 7.
2 B. C. C. 82, s. I,
& B. C. C. 82, s. 1,
B. C. 82, S. 3.
8 B. C. C. 82, s. 4.
o B.
C. 83, S. 5.
7 B. C. 82, s. 7; W. Va. 826; 40 W. Va. 564; 2 W. Va. 464.
8 B. C. C. 82, s. 8.
43 W. Va. 211.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
277
court. Being empowered to sell the personal estate of his
ward, he will, of course, be held liable for gross negligence,
and to account not only for such property as comes into his
hands, but also for such as would have come into his hands
if he had used reasonable diligence and ordinary prudence.
He is required to collect all debts and will be held liable for
failure. The statute of limitations does not run against a
ward in favor of his guardian.3
A guardian who has the custody of a child is held to give
that care which the law requires of a parent. The Circuit
Court is authorized to remove any guardian for neglect or
breach of trust or for failure to care for the child. Circuit
as well as county courts have full authority to appoint
guardians; but the practice is for the Circuit Court to ap-
point guardians for special purposes only. Ordinarily, guar-
dianship matters are under the jurisdiction of the county
court.
In reading the law as to guardians three points arise for
consideration. First, when a mother, married or not mar-
ried, wills property to a minor child she should have the
right to name the guardian for the care of the estate. A
mother should not be barred from this right simply because
she is married. Second, the fact that a woman is married
should be no bar against her right to act as guardian. This
part of the law should be changed so as to give her full
right with her husband or any other person. Third, all
guardianship matters should be under the exclusive juris-
diction of the Circuit Court sitting as a Juvenile Court.
There is no good reason why two courts should have the
right to appoint guardians, or why the county court, which
should be a fiscal court only, should ever have this right.
All matters relating to children should be made juvenile
court matters.
53 W. Va. 203; 43 W. Va. 826.
265 W. Va. 752.
65 W. Va. 752; 69 W. Va. 459.
278
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
2
Divorce. There are really four kinds of divorce actions:
1. Marriages which are forbidden by law will be declared
by the court to be void. The Supreme Court has held that
in some cases a decree is not absolutely necessary for treating
the contract as a nullity, but suggests it as a matter of
prudence.
2. When there is doubt as to the validity of a marriage
an action may be brought to determine the facts and the
Circuit Court will thereupon decree the marriage valid or
void as the facts appear.3
3. The law declares a rather liberal number of causes for
absolute divorce. 4
4. Divorce from bed and board may be granted for any
one of the causes for absolute divorce, or for cruel or in-
human treatment, reasonable apprehension of bodily hurt,
abandonment, desertion, or habitual drunkenness after
marriage.5
All actions for divorce are brought in the Circuit Court
on the chancery side. The circuit judge may appoint in
each county within his jurisdiction a divorce commissioner,
or he may refer the matter to a commissioner in chancery
or a special commissioner to take testimony and to find the
facts with regard to estates, parties, children, income, and
character. There can be no divorce by agreement of the
parties. Neither will a divorce be granted upon the admis-
sion of either party. The whole matter must be heard and
there must be positive proof of the facts alleged as cause
for divorce. 10
Where a marriage is declared to be void no alimony will
1
2
34 W. Va. 524.
54 W. Va. 301.
8 B. C. C. 64, s. 4.
* B. C. C. 64, s. 5.
6 B. C. 64, s. 6.
6 B. C. C. 64, 9. 7.
? B. C. C. 64, s. 16.
8 B. C. C. 64, s. 15.
41 W. Va. 125.
10 B. C. C. 64, 9. 8.
9
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
279
cases.
be granted to the wife;1 but in actions for absolute divorce,
or for divorce from bed and board, the circuit judge is
authorized to order the husband to make payments to the
wife for maintenance, to enable her to carry on her suit, to
provide for the maintenance of the children, to preserve his
estate, to require him to give security, to surrender to the
wife her personal estate, and to refrain from interfering with
her liberty. All papers in divorce cases are sealed after
decree and may not be opened except by order of the
court.3
That brings us to the disposition of children in divorce
No child of any marriage declared to be void or
dissolved by a court is held to be other than legitimate.*
The law and the courts guard the child's right to honorable
birth even though the marriage may have been illegal. The
court may make orders as to the estate, assign the children
as seems best, and provide for their maintenance. Even
when there is no divorce but the parents have separated the
judge has authority to assign the children. The Supreme
Court has declared that in making disposition of children the
court must consider, first, their welfare.6 In all cases the
orders are held to be open rather than final and may be
changed from time to time as the circumstances and espe-
cially the best interests of the children demand. Where
children were assigned to the mother, who was a fit person
and had a home, it was held that the order would not be
changed unless it was shown that it was necessary for the
best interests of the children. It would be helpful if the
services of an official investigator could be had in divorce
cases, especially where the welfare of minor children is
involved. That part of the work is exactly in line with that
of an ordinary probation officer of a Juvenile Court, and this
1
34 W. Va. 524.
2 B. C. C. 64, s. 9.
8 B. C. C. 64, s. 19.
- B. C. C. 78, s. 7.
6 B. C. C. 64, s. 11.
37 W. Va. 746; 35 W. Va. 698.
50 W. Va. 113.
6
7
280
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
2
officer might well be called upon to perform this additional
duty.
Up to this point we have been speaking as if all children
were legitimate. Consideration must now be given to those
who are not legitimate.
Illegitimate Children. The law prefers to have just as few
illegitimate children as possible, and is slow to brand any
child as a bastard. As has already been stated, the general
rule is that a child born in wedlock or within ten months
after the death of the husband of the mother is presumed
to be legitimate. The law will, however, permit this pre-
sumption to be overcome; but places the burden heavily
upon him who alleges illegitimacy. Children born of a
marriage held to be void or dissolved by a court are legiti-
mate.
A child born out of wedlock may be legitimated. If the
father of the child of an unmarried mother later marries her
and recognizes the child as his own, it is deemed to be
legitimate. It is not necessary that the man have been
declared by a court to be the father, but this would, of
course, be a material fact. This law is liable to lead to
confusion. Ordinarily, a man is not held in law to be the
father of an illegitimate child until so declared. The law
should be that if a man, declared by a court to be the father
of a child, later marries its mother or in writing duly
acknowledges that he is its father, it should be deemed to
be legitimate. That would make the law definite, a thing
always desirable.
Relief for the support of an illegitimate child may be had
from the father through bastardy proceedings. This is a
civil action and can be instituted only by the mother ;4 but
once it is begun it may be carried on by officers of the court
to enforce support for the child so as to prevent its becoming
3
1 B. C. C. 78, s. 8.
2 B. C. C. 78, s. 7.
3 B. C. C. 78, s. 6.
* 68 W. Va. 541.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
281
a county charge. The county court is authorized to bind
out any child likely to become a county charge, and is, there-
fore, interested in the case.?
The action may not be begun until the child is born, and
must be brought within three years of birth. An unmarried
mother or a married mother who has lived apart from her
husband for more than one year may institute bastardy
proceedings by charging before a justice of the peace in
writing, under oath, that a man is the father of her child
under three years of age, and thereupon the justice will
issue his warrant for the arrest of the man, and, upon arrest,
will bind him to the Circuit Court for trial. In all cases
the county attorney is required to prosecute. The trial is
in the Circuit Court and by jury unless waived by both
parties. A man found to be the father of an illegitimate
child may be ordered to pay fixed amounts for its support
and for such a number of years as the court may determine.
Bond to guarantee payments is required, and, upon failure to
furnish bond, the declared father may be imprisoned.
The Supreme Court has said that a bastardy action is not
for the purpose of recovering compensation for the mother
but to enforce support for the child. On the other hand,
it has been held that the mother may compromise with the
father for a fair and good consideration. It has also been
held that a contract to provide for an illegitimate child in
consideration that no bastardy action be brought is enforce-
able; but the court examines such a contract with suspicion,
and it must, therefore, be clear and definite.
It is unlawful for any parent to abandon or fail to support
his illegitimate child under 16 years of age.10 This prob-
B
9
25 W. Va. 588.
2B. C. C. 80, s. 2.
* B. C. C. 80, s. 1.
* B. C. C. 80, s. 1.
& B. C. C. 81, s. 3, 6.
o B. C. C. 80, s. 4.
78 W. va. 791.
8 81 W. Va. 791.
41 W. Va. 234; 72 W. Va. 747.
10 'B. C. C. 144, S. 16 c.
282
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
ably refers to the mother only. No man could be held to
support an illegitimate child unless he has been declared to
be the father, and, in that case, his liability would be limited
by the orders of the court.
In law, the mother is the parent, guardian and custodian
of her illegitimate child. She has with regard to her child
all the rights, powers, and duties of a married father with
regard to his. The fact that a man has been declared to be
the father and ordered to pay stated amounts for its support
gives him no rights in the child and imposes no duty except
to pay as ordered, and the fact that he is ordered to support
or help to support the child does not relieve the mother of
this duty. It is the mother's child, and, as such, is fully
capable both of inheriting and of transmitting inheritances
from her.
If the mother of an illegitimate child and her offspring
are to receive proper consideration and to be assured rightful
aid from the man in the case, the law of bastardy will have
to have written into it the following features:
1. The action should lie on the juvenile side of the
Circuit Court and should be heard in chambers and always
without trial by jury. It should be as now, not a criminal
action, but should be treated as a combined action for debt
due the woman and to enforce the support of the child; but
the action should in no way disturb the mother's exclusive
right to have the custody and control of the child.
2. The woman should have the right to begin the action
by alleging under oath that she is pregnant. It would be
well to defer final hearing until after the birth of the child,
but a still-birth or death of the child should not be a bar
to the action or orders by the court for the benefit of the
woman. The oath of the woman should make a prima facie
case. Once a case is begun it should not be settled except
by approval of the court.
3. The action should be for three distinct purposes : to
determine the paternity of the child, to compel the father
to contribute to its support up to the age of sixteen, and
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
283
to compel the man to make such payment as the court may
order to the woman as an aid for loss of time and expenses
before, at, and after confinement.
4. The right to bring the action should run up to the
time the child is 16, but should never be brought except upon
the statement of the mother. It should lie even though the
child is dead, if brought within one year after its birth; and
also against the estate of a deceased man, if brought within
one year after the birth. In other words, the claims of the
mother for aid and the rights of the child to support should
be treated largely as debts against the father, or his estate
when brought within one year of the birth.
5. The father should be required to support the child up
to the age of 16, but all payments for the care of the
child should cease with its death. Orders of the court should
be held to be liens against his estate.
Much is being said, these days, about removing the stigma
from both the mother and the child. Neither can be done,
for society brands whomsoever it wills to brand. The most
that can be done, by law, is to make it sure that the woman
has ample opportunity to compel the man to aid her some-
what and to support the child during infancy, if she cares
to exercise that right. If the mother does not care to have
the court declare the name of the father of her illegitimate
child, it should remain undeclared forever.
There are, of course, other children who are unusually
and unfavorably circumstanced: defectives, neglected, de-
pendent and delinquent children. These will be considered
under Administration-Part Two of this study.
OTHER CIVIL LAW OF INFANCY
The general rule is, that a child is an infant until he
reaches the age of 21 and presumed to be unable to act for
himself; 1 but this rule is subject to exceptions, as girls, 16
years of age, and boys, 18 years of age, may, with proper
1 B. C. C. 46 A, s. 29.
284
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
consent, contract marriage. The contracts of an infant
are not absolutely void; but are simply voidable, to be rati-
fied or disaffirmed within a reasonable time after the infant
arrives at majority, as he may elect. But this is subject
to an exception in that law holds an infant to pay for the
necessaries of life, and will not, therefore, permit him
to disaffirm his contract to pay for these. When the
contract is disaffirmed, the infant must return the con-
sideration, if he has it. It is well established that an
infant may avoid his deed. He may avoid any contract
made during infancy for the surrender or release of his
rights. He may disaffirm a release of a railroad from
damages without restoring the consideration, and a contract
of compromise is not binding against him unless he chooses
to stand by it.?
No minor is allowed to prosecute or defend any civil
action in his own name. His guardian, of course, prosecutes
civil actions for the infant's estate, and he may sue by his
next friend. His interests are defended either by his guard-
ian or a guardian ad litem. He cannot recover damages
for the loss of services during minority.1
In any case, a child who appears to the court to be sensible
of the obligation to tell the truth is competent as a witness.11
10
CRIMINAL LAWS FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN
These are, in the main, just about what one would expect.
In addition to what has already been stated, it is a crime to
abduct or entice any child from any state institution or to
attempt to cause any child to escape.12 It is criminal for any
3
6
1 B. C. C. 64, s. 2.
3 74 W. Va. 447.
57 W. Va. 263.
57 W. Va. 263.
35 W. Va. 143.
42 W. Va. 112.
$3 W. Va. 422.
8 B. C. C. 82, s. 14; 40 W. Va. 564.
• 61 W. Va. 207.
59 W. Va. 688.
11 B. C. C. 50, S. 108.
12 B. C. C. 147, S. 12 a.
7
10
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
285
person to apprentice, give away, or otherwise dispose of a
child or to employ a child as a rope walker, acrobat, gymnast,
contortionist, rider, or for any indecent or illegal exhibition or
in any manner dangerous to life or limb, or for purposes
of prostitution; or to keep any child in or about any
assignation house or place of obscene, indecent or illegal
exhibition, or for any person to cause, encourage, or con-
tribute to the dependency of a child.?
It is unlawful to import, print, publish, sell or distribute
any book or other matter containing any obscene language,
print, picture, figure or description tending to corrupt the
morals of children, or to have or introduce any such book
or other matter into any family or place of education.3
It is a crime to sell or give to any child under 21 years of
age any cigarettes or cigarette paper, or to sell, give or fur-
nish tobacco in any form to a child under 16 years of age, 4 or
for any child under 21 years of age to make or have ciga-
rettes or cigarette paper; and it is made a part of the duty
of all peace officers to enforce this law against the use of
cigarettes.
The legislature of 1921 amended the law as to consent
for sexual intercourse. It is not rape for a boy under 16
years of age to have sexual intercourse with a girl over 12,
she consenting. It is probable that no boy under 16 years
of age can now be held to answer with his life for sexual
intercourse. The legislature of 1921 wisely raised the age
of consent for girls to intercourse with males over 16 from
14 to 16, and just as wisely raised the age at which a boy may
be held to be guilty of a capital felony in respect to sexual
intercourse, the girl consenting, from 14 to 16.
5
1 B. C. C. 144, S. 16 d.
2 B. C. C. 46 A, 9. 33.
• B. C. C. 149, s. II.
* B. C. C. 150, s. 20 e.
SB. C. C. 150, s. 20 e.
6 Chapt. 90, 1921.
PART TWO
ADMINISTRATION
Law, as we have been thinking of it, is, for the most part,
remedial. If strong men and women are to be grown and
children are to live in the enjoyment of all the rights of
childhood, more than penalties for wrongdoing in respect to
children must be provided. There must be positive, con-
structive activity on the part of the state, and this brings us
to the larger and far more important part of legal child care,
administration.
Every child should be properly cared for in a good home.
When, for any reason, the home fails or breaks down, the
state must step in to the aid of the child. Even if there is
no break-down, the state has its function in respect to chil-
dren, to keep watch over them. Then, too, there are many
things needful that the home cannot possibly give, as full
protection for health, education and suitable recreation. The
home's extremity is the state's opportunity. The state will
and should encourage the home to accept aid from private
persons or agencies as need arises; but, in the end, it is the
business of the state to see that every child gets full and just
consideration and his rights.
The nation must undoubtedly interest itself more and more
in its children; but, under our system of government, so
long as the states retain their present powers it will have to
look to and work with them. We have, then, both the
nation and the home looking to the state for adequate child
care. The state is the one organization that is in free posi-
tion and has full power to act for the best interests of every
child. It must hold itself, secondarily, it is true, but none
the less responsible for the care of every child within its
borders. It must see that the home functions, if need be
286
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
287
it must help it to function, or, that being impossible, place
the child in a new and proper home and thereby render a
good account of its trust to the nation as well as to its own
people.
The state, in discharging its full duty to childhood, has
to think of and deal with two classes of children: normal
children and handicapped children, defective, dependent,
neglected and delinquent. Naturally, it carries the handi-
capped child closer to its heart, but its future depends largely
upon
the sort of care it assures to the normal child. It dare
not neglect the normal child for any great length of time.
Fortunately, it is possible to use much of the same state
machinery for the care of both. There is really not as much
difference between the two as one at first thinks. They are
all children requiring some care.
The child must be kept in such physical state as will
enable him to live a complete child's life and to come, in so
far as possible, to strong manhood or womanhood. This
means state activity to insure health-a State Department
of Health
He must be taught so that he may not only live the full
life of a child but may come to manhood or womanhood
with that training which is essential to successful living.
This means
state activity to insure education-a State
Department of Education.
He must be left free to grow physically, mentally and
spiritually. He must not be made to carry the burdens or
do the work of adults. This means state activity to regu-
late employment-a State Department of Labor.
He must, if in any manner handicapped, have such special
care and treatment as will make his child's life as nearly
rmal as possible. This means state activity for all handi-
capped children-a State Department of Child Welfare.
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
State Department. The West Virginia State Depart-
ment of Health is under the direction of a Commissioner
288
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
of Health and a Public Health Council of which the Commis-
sioner is a member. The Commissioner, who is appointed by
the Governor with consent of the Senate for a term of four
years, is required by law to be skilled in sanitary science and
experienced in public health administration. As executive
officer of the Public Health Council it is his duty to administer
the health law and rules adopted by the council, to appoint di-
rectors and assistants and to assist local health officers in the
performance of their duties, to assist in making surveys, and
to inspect schools and factories and to make reports.2
Whenever there is a failure on the part of the local health
officers to act in cases of emergency the Commissioner and
Council have authority to step in and act, even to remove
any health officer or board.3 The Commissioner has full
authority to appoint inspectors to act as his representatives
and under him in enforcing health laws and rules with full
right of entry. +
The Public Health Council consists of the Commissioner
of Health and six other members appointed in the same
manner as the Commissioner. Each member is required to
be a graduate in medicine with five years' experience in
practice. The term of each member is four years, three
going out every other year. It has power to adopt rules
which really have the force of law. It is authorized by
law to establish quarantine, to prepare vaccine and other
serums for free distribution for the benefit of the poor, to
apply for injunctions and to make regulations to insure
clean milk,? to examine boats and trains, and to disinfect to
prevent the spread of disease.8
It examines and grants
licenses for the practice of medicine.
At present, there are in the State Department of Health
9
1 B. C. C. 150, S. 1.
2 B. C. C. 150, s. 1, 2.
SB. C. 150, S. 3.
* B. C. C. 150, s. 4.
* B. C. C. 150, S. I, 3.
o B. C. C. 150, S. 3.
7 B.
C. 150, s. 2.
8 B. C. C. 150, s. 8.
• B. C. C. 150, s. 8 a.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
289
the following eight divisions with duties as hereinafter indi-
cated. This very exact information was very kindly pre-
pared and furnished by the State Department of Health.
1. Division of Preventable Diseases. No director, in
charge of director of Division 2. Function, securing reports
from part-time local health officers.
2. Division of Vital Statistics. Director, clerk and ste-
nographer. Function, collecting and compiling reports. (The
legislature of 1921 enacted a new vital statistics law. It is
hoped that this will place the state in the U. S. Registration
Area.)
3. Division of Public Health Nursing and Child Welfare.
Director, state supervisor and stenographer. Function,
supervision of community and county nurses, and child
health education work.
4. Division of Laboratories. Director, assistant director,
bacteriologist, and chemist. Function, analysis of water,
and diagnosis.
5. Division of Sanitary Engineering. Chief engineer and
assistant engineer. Function, advice and supervision of
water supplies.
6. Bureau of Venereal Diseases, in conjunction with
U. S. Public Health Service. Director and assistant. Func-
tion, reporting and education in venereal diseases.
7. Bureau of Rural Sanitation, in conjunction with Inter-
national Health Board. Director. Function, education for
the establishment of county health units.
8. Division of Sanitary Inspection. No director. Func-
tion, investigation of sanitary conditions and milk supplies.
In addition to these the Public Health Council has medical
control of the state tuberculosis sanatoria.1
This, in brief, is the state organization to promote public
health. It is simple, the Commissioner, members of the
Council and agents are selected in the right way, and there
1 B. C. C. 150, s. 4.
290
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
is ample authority for the state department to do whatever
needs to be done. But the state capital is a long way from
most folk-too far for direct action. If there is to be
effective public health work, county or city health officials
will have to act.
County and City Boards of Health. It is the duty of the
Public Health Council upon the recommendation of the
county court of each county to appoint a legally qualified
physician as county health officer, who holds office for a term
of four years, but may be removed for cause, and is paid at
least one hundred dollars a year and expenses. He (the
county health officer), the president of the county court, and
the county attorney constitute the county board of health.2
Incorporated cities and towns may establish their own
local boards of health, which, when established, have the
power of county boards. The jurisdiction of the county
board does not run in cities or towns having local boards.
The state board acts through either.2
Local health boards (county or city) have authority to
establish quarantine, and may, upon petition of 100 voters,
not only establish quarantine but enforce vaccination in any
city, town or village. The county court may also order that
public school children be vaccinated. This probably does
not hold in cities or towns which have a separate health
board. It has been held that a mandamus will lie to compel
a city to pay for the treatment of the poor in its care.8
County health work would probably come under the same
rule. Any county court or city or town council may provide
for a full-time public health officer and levy a tax of not
more than three cents on each hundred dollars of valuation
for this purpose.?
Now that we have seen the plan of organization for state
1 B. C. C. 150, s. 6.
2 B. C. C. 150, s. 6.
8 B. C. C. 150, s. 7.
* B. C. C. 150, s. 21.
6 B. C. C. 47, s. 4.
39 W. Va. 526.
7 B. C. C. 150, S. 3 a.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
291
and county health work let us see what there is in the way
of general health law, which the county health authorities,
first, and then the state health authorities are expected to
enforce.
Health Law. It is unlawful to sell or offer for sale any
diseased or unwholesome food or drink without notifying
the buyer, or to adulterate for the purpose of sale any
food or drink or offer it when adulterated for sale. “Both
the Public Health Council and the county attorney have
authority to inspect foods and drinks and to take samples
for examination. It is unlawful to pollute any water sup-
ply or to throw polluting matter upon any street, alley, or
public place, or within 100 feet of any public road, or for
any owner or occupant of any premises to permit such pol-
luting matter to remain upon his premises.
It is, of course, possible to have a special act for a county,
or city or town, or for any of these to act under the general
law providing for the appointment of a full-time health
officer, as heretofore pointed out; but special work in cer-
tain counties has been held back by the fact that the county
health officer could not be dismissed from his office.
The legislature of 1921 made provision for the establish-
ment of dental clinics by school districts and for the treat-
ment of poor children, but under this permissive act it is
not likely that much will be done.
The truth is that the state Public Health Council is not
expected to do much. Under the present plan of county
health organization it could not, in justice, be expected to
do much. The state organization is, as has been said, simple,
and its scope of authority is wide, but it lacks funds. The
legislature of 1921 appropriated, all told, only $74,800 a
year for the years 1921-2 and 1922-3 for all state health
activities.
1 B. C. C. 150, s. 19.
2 B. C. C. 150, s. 20, 20 b 2.
ŞB. C. C. 150, s. 19.a, 20 DI.
• B. C. C. 150, s. 200, d.
• Chapt. 139, 1920.
292
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
An investigation was recently made in the office of the
Commissioner of Health for the purpose of comparing the
state's expenditures for health per capita of the rural popu-
lation with that of other rural and somewhat similar states.
It was found that for the year 1920, on the basis of the
rural population, there was expended in health work for
each rural inhabitant in the following states the amounts
shown:
South Carolina 16 cents per capita (rural)
Kentucky ... 15
North Carolina 13
Virginia
Mississippi
Alabama
8
Georgia
8
Tennessee
West Virginia. 3
IO
9
.
wen 000
The appropriation by the legislature of West Virginia for
state health work for 1921-2 and 1922-3 brings the amount
per capita (rural) up to approximately 5 cents, about the
same as that of Tennessee for 1920. What can a state
expect in public health when it invests less than six cents
per rural inhabitant, knowing, at the same time, that most
of its counties are investing almost nothing ?
Rural health can be had for a price; but not much of it
can be had at less than six cents a head. The state ought
to do one of two things: quit all health work it is now
doing except that of taking and compiling vital statistics,
or else go on and do some real work in rural communities.
It will not, cannot, do the former, and we may, therefore,
expect that it will move, perhaps slowly but certainly, along
the road to the latter.
When it starts to move it will have to consider the matter
of county health organization. Cities, being authorized to
maintain their own health boards, are expected, of course,
to look after their own health work. The county health
board now offers almost no hope for children who may be
in need of care. One member of it, the president of the
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
293
county court, is interested primarily in keeping down taxes,
and is selected not at all because of his knowledge of health
matters, or vital interest in them; another, the county attor-
ney, has almost the same point of view and the same primary
interest, and the third member being paid frequently only
one hundred dollars a year, the legal minimum, could not be
expected to exert himself to any great extent. This board
has outlived its usefulness and should be "scrapped."
Every county should have a local health board of three
members named by the county court, one every second year,
and each for a term of six years. It should have definite
powers under the State Public Health Council and should
be authorized to expend public funds within legal limitations.
The people of every county should have the benefit of the
services of a public health unit consisting of a public health
officer and a public health nurse with a laboratory in charge
of one skilled in that sort of work. The people, the children
of the rural counties, need this more than any others, and
the more remote the county the greater the need.
Now comes the problem. Rural counties are able and
ought to spend considerable more public funds in promoting
public health than they are now spending; but it will be a
long time before many of the strictly rural, and especially
agricultural, counties will feel themselves able to support a
public health unit. The law now authorizes a county to
establish a health unit with a full-time health officer, and
it is possible that the law authorizing the establishment of a
hygienic laboratory by two or more counties could be inter-
preted as granting authority for the establishment of a
district health unit by two or more counties. But all this
is optional. There is now, or rather there was in the month
of May, 1921, but one full-time county health officer in the
whole state. The work started to move and then stopped.
The county optional plan has hung fire.
The state and county will have to join in the work. Each
county court should be required to levy a specific tax as
determined by the county health board for health work and
294
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
the funds thus derived should be expended by the new health
board herein suggested. Cities should not be encouraged or
permitted to pull selfishly apart from the county. If they
desire to do additional health work, they should provide
additional funds. The state should supplement the funds
provided by the county and perhaps the best way would be
for the state to pay the salary of the public health officer
who should be selected by the county board upon the ap-
proval of the state department.
In order that the expense may not be burdensome it would
be wise to group two or three counties, conveniently located,
into a health district under the care of a public health
officer with a central laboratory and a health nurse for each
county. The state should pay the health officer, each county
should pay its nurse, and the other expenses should be borne
by the counties joining according to property valuation or
the number of inhabitants. It would be simple for each
county board of health to select its representative on a district
health board.
It would be no trouble to divide the state into not
more than 25 districts. The expense to the state in
payment of 25 public health officers and such other
state employees as would be needed for a complete state
Department of Health ought not to exceed $100,000 and the
expense to the counties ought not to exceed another $100,-
000. This would mean that the state would be spending
about 12 cents per capita of the rural population. The state
and counties jointly would be spending approximately 20
cents per capita of the rural population, hence the counties
would be putting up 8 cents to the state's 12 cents. That
is fair. Local effort should be encouraged.
It is generally accepted that there should be some con-
venient person to whom pregnant women may go for exam-
ination and instruction in the care of themselves and their
children; that children should be examined from time to
time to the end that their parents may be advised as to their
care; that bad teeth, bad tonsils, and adenoids should be
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
295
treated; that other defects should, if possible, be remedied;
and that the good health and proper development of every
child be made reasonably certain. The law now requires
that children in independent districts be examined by dental
inspectors. There is no reason for leaving out the rural
child, and this suggests a plan by which the whole job can be
done-twelve cents invested yearly by the state in good
health for the rural child, just about 20 cents by the state
and counties. If good health is worth anything at all to
the state and county, it is worth that much; if public health
can be bought, the price named is low, almost too low for
proper appreciation.
Take the Eastern Panhandle: The three counties of Jeffer-
son, Berkeley and Morgan ought to unite to form a health
district. This would be by action of the three new health
boards under the approval of the State Commissioner. The
district health board should be composed of three members,
one elected by each county health board. The health office
should be located at Martinsburg in charge of a full-time
health officer approved by the Public Health Council. There
should be a health office at the county court house in each
of the three counties in charge of a public health nurse, to
be paid out of the county health funds.
The public health officer of this district could go in an
automobile from Martinsburg to any part of his district in
less than half a day. Each county would have the full-time
services of a health nurse and one-third of the time and the
supervision of a trained public health officer at a yearly cost
of not more than $2,000, and the state would have the full-
time services of four trained workers in that district of three
counties. This ought to give some assurance that all the
children would be looked after, and that none would die or
suffer from ignorance or neglect.
Other counties fall by geographical location into just as
convenient groupings. Three or four, at most five, counties
might, by reason of the population, find it best to maintain
1 Chapt. 2.
See 64, 1921,
296
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
a county health unit. In that case the state should maintain
its state-paid public health officer just as in health districts.
There is another matter to be considered. The tendency
of all state departments is to increase the number of
employees at the state capital. West Virginia will be no
exception; there are no exceptions to this rule. The Com-
missioner and the Public Health Council may be in need
of more help. What better help could the state department
have than twenty-five of its official agents scattered over the
state and a public health nurse in every county? Through
these it could keep in almost daily touch with the whole
population. Except for special laboratory work and the
collecting and filing of vital statistics and other reports, the
function of the State Department of Health should be to
direct and supervise county and district health officers. Its
staff of field workers should be kept low or rather the dis-
trict and county health workers should be its staff.
This view is pressed because the fact that any county has
now, by law, the right to establish a county health unit
shows that it is believed to be a good plan. Naturally, the
better, stronger counties will take advantage of this optional
law first. We are thinking mostly of children in remote
counties, and seeking some simple way by which the state
can make, for them, certain definite assurances of health.
The expansion of this optional county health unit law into a
general county health law seems to be not only the best,
but the only way. Each county court should be compelled
by law to levy a tax for public health purposes and then
the state should do its part. The national government will
perhaps be ready very soon to make grants of money for
certain parts of this work. The state, if it is to participate
as it ought, will have to be prepared to do its part. What
we suggest is logical in that the state will be ready to become
the vital connecting link between the national government on
the one hand and the child in the rural county on the other.
The result would be that the federal government, the state
and the county would be united in promoting and safe-
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
297
guarding the health of all the children of the state, and in
aiding the home to do whatever needs to be done, a thing
much to be desired and not to be rejected because it will cost
approximately 15 cents more than is now being paid per
capita (rural).
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
West Virginia has had from the very first a continuing
interest in education. The constitution makes it the duty
of the legisature to provide, by general law, for a thorough
and efficient system of free schools. This applies equally
to white and colored children, but they may not be taught in
the same school.2 Free schools have had much of the atten-
tion of successive legislatures. In each of the last two
sessions, much time was spent in amending the free school
law. It may be accepted as a fact that the thinking people
of the state want every child educated and are planning to
that end.
State. To have the oversight of this big undertaking, the
constitution provides for the office of State Superintendent
of Free Schools. Unfortunately, he is elected by direct
vote for a term of four years, instead of being selected, as
the heads of universities and colleges and superintendents
of city schools are selected, by a board.
There is a State Board of Education composed, in addi-
tion to the State Superintendent, of six members appointed
by the Governor with consent of the Senate. It was created
to advise with the State Superintendent and to aid him in
the discharge of his duties. The law (perhaps wisely) de-
clares that not more than four of the six appointive members
shall be of the same political party; but just why any one
should have to belong to one of the two dominant political
parties in order to be eligible to membership in the State
1 Const. XII, s. I.
? Const. XII, s. 8.
8 Const. XII, s. 1.
Ibid.
. Chapt. I, 1921.
298
RURAL CHILD WELFARF
Board of Education is not clear.1 The most suitable person
might not belong to either of the two dominant parties.
Independence in voting is held by some to be a virtue. The
Governor should have the right to name the members regard-
less of party affiliations, and should be held to account for
any failure on their part.
The duties and powers of the State Board of Education
and the State Superintendent are ample for the management
and direction of the system of free schools;2 but the general
law is limited by an unfortunately large number of special
school acts for cities, towns and independent districts.
Special school acts should not be necessary, and the legis-
lature ought to repeal every one of them, at the same time
taking care to see that the general school law is wide enough
for all classes of communities.
In addition to the management of the free school system,
as we ordinarily understand it, the State Board of Education
has the educational control of the State University, the state
normal schools, and the school for the deaf and blind. It
has educational control of the Industrial School for Boys
(White), the Industrial School for Girls (White),4 and
will have the same control over the Industrial Home for
Colored Girls and the Industrial School for Colored Boys,“
and over the Training School for Mental Defectives. It
has supervision of the training of teachers and certificates
them, prescribes courses of study for the different classes
of public schools, is authorized to require that plans of
schoolhouses for smaller districts be submitted to it for
approval,' adopts text books, and cooperates with the fed-
eral government in promoting vocational education.
11
i Chapt. I, 1921.
? Chapt. 2, sec. 1-26, 1919.
8 Chapt. 2, sec. 7, 1919.
* Chapt. 2, sec. 159, 1919.
Chapts. 154, 155, 1921.
o Chapt. 131, 1921.
? Chapt. 2, sec. 8, 1919.
8 Chapt. 2, sec. 9, 1921,
9 Chapt. 2, sec. 10, 1919.
10 Chapt. 2, 1921.
11 Chapt. 2, sec. 131, 1919.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
299
The State Superintendent is executive officer of the State
Board of Education and, as such, has supervision of the
state's system of public education, and is charged with the
duty of seeing that the school law and rules and regulations
of the State Board of Education are enforced. The law re-
quires that his academic and professional training be the
equivalent of graduation from a standard university or col-
lege and he must have had five years' experience in public
school work.1
The superintendent ought to be selected by the State Board
of Education. The burden of finding the best person for
the position should be thrown directly upon the members of
the State Board, and then they should be held responsible for
the conduct of the free school system. There is no more
reason for electing the State Superintendent of Schools by
direct vote than for selecting the Commissioner of Health or
an engineer in the same manner. All are jobs for experts.
County. Getting out now into the country and leaving
out of consideration cities, towns and independent districts,
for this is strictly a study of the rural child, we come, first,
to the County Superintendent of Schools. He is, in fact, the
only county school officer, there being no county board of
education. He is elected by direct vote of the people; his
term of office is four years. The law starts bravely out to
require him to hold a life certificate with nine weeks' training
in school administration and supervision or a school super-
visor's certificate, or to be graduated from a standard normal
school, or to have had education, in the judgment of the
State Board of Education, equivalent thereto, and then grows
weak in that it makes eligible any one who held a first grade
certificate prior to July, 1922, and who has taught for ten
years and has had as much as nine weeks' training in school
administration and supervision, and then still further weak-
ens by making service in the World War count for double
time in actual teaching.?
1 Chapt. 2, sec. 17-26, 1919.
2 Chapt. 5, 1921.
300
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
The county superintendent has a limited control of the
public schools of his county. He explains the school law,
visits schools, confers with teachers and district boards,
settles controversies and aids the State Board of Education
in standardizing the public schools of his county. He has
authority temporarily to suspend a teacher for cause, to
close a school when the premises are a menace to the health
or safety of the pupils, and is the financial secretary for each
local district board. He aids the State Board in holding the
yearly teachers' institute of one week; 2 and in holding ex-
aminations for teacher's certificates but, by this, it must not
be understood that he prepares questions, grades papers, or
grants certificates—all this is done by the state department.3
The law specifically exempts independent districts from even
this not very complete control which the county superin-
tendent has over ordinary public schools.* The legislature of
1921 empowered and made it the duty of the county court
to provide funds for clerical help for the county superintend-
ent up to the amount of $1,200 a year.
There is no county board of education. In fact, strictly
speaking, there is no county control of the public schools, no
county system; for at best the county superintendent is, in
law, only an educational adviser to the district boards. He
has no authority to approve or disapprove any particular
teacher for any particular school. All this lies with the dis-
trict board. The general law provides no way by which a
county may act as a unit in providing educational advantages
for all its children.
There should be a county board of education. It should
be charged with the conduct of the public schools of the
county including all independent districts and the public
school systems of towns and small cities, but larger cities
may be left independent of the county board and county
5
1 Chapt. 2, sec. 31-40, 1919.
2 Chapt. 2, sec. 113, 1919.
• Chapt. 2, sec. 96-112, 1919.
• Chapt. 2, sec. 35, 1919.
5 Chapt. 6, 1921.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
301
superintendent. One of the chief duties of the county board
of education should be to select and employ the county super-
intendent who should then become the executive officer of the
board. The district system need not be broken up but coun-
ties should be encouraged to act as a unit and provision
should be made in the law whereby the people of the county
could, by vote, provide additional free school facilities for
all the children. There was, perhaps, a time when it was
wise to encourage little local districts to "go it alone"; but
that time is now gone. The county should be the unit of
public school administration to the end that every child be
provided with adequate opportunities and facilities for
schooling.
District. A school district is a magisterial district. There
may be, in fact there always are, in it a number of sub-dis-
tricts, and schoolhouses. Each is controlled by a district
board composed of three members elected by a vote of the
people. It holds all school property, determines school sites
and playgrounds with power to condemn land up to five
acres, provides buildings, appoints the teachers, may dismiss
a teacher for cause, and has general control of the free
schools of the district. In addition, this board is authorized,
if it chooses, to appoint a trustee, or three trustees, for each
school, to name a district supervisor and for the whole year
round, if desired, to provide kindergartens, evening, part-
time and vocational schools, and other recreational or com-
munity activities, to provide libraries and free text-books,
and to establish a teachers' retirement fund. Ordinary dis-
tricts may provide for medical and dental inspection, and
employ nurses. Independent districts are required to
employ medical and dental inspectors.
The board of any district, ordinary or independent, may,
when ordered by a vote of the people, establish a high-school
1 Chapt. 2, sec. 41, 1919.
? Chapt. 2, sec. 46, 50, 57, 58, 1919,
• Chapt. 2, sec. 53, 56, 61, 63, 65, 66, 1919.
• Chapt. 2, sec. 64, 1919.
302
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
or join with the board of another district in establishing a
union high-school. A district not having a high-school is
required to pay the tuition of all pupils who have completed
the elementary schools and are attending a high-school out-
side the district. The state aids in the support of high-
schools according to class, there being three classes provided
for by law. 1
There may be good reason why ordinary school districts
should be retained, but certainly independent districts exist-
ing by special acts should be abolished. County boards of
education should have authority to establish special taxing
districts, but they should be just as much under the control
of the county board of education as ordinary districts. If
districts and district boards are to be retained, some of the
authority now lodged by law with them should be transferred
to the county board, when established, as the selecting of
school lots, erection of schoolhouses, enforcement of com-
pulsory attendance, and provision of medical inspection for
all children. This last should be peculiarly a function of the
county board to the end that every child may have the ad-
vantages of it. If medical and dental inspection is worth
while for children of some schools it must be desirable for
all.
For the rounding out of the state's public school system a
county board of education is necessary. But it does not
follow that the districts should be destroyed. For some rea-
sons it would be well to let the presidents of the district
board constitute the members of the county board; but there
are, of course, some objections. The number of members
would be objectionable; boards with many members are not
usually a success. Also the terms of the presidents of the
district boards expire at the same time every four years.?
This would mean that the county would have a new board
every four years, whereas it ought if possible to be a body
not subject periodically to complete change. A solution of
1 Chapt. 2, sec. 78-81, 1919.
2 Chapt. 2, sec. 41, 1919.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
303
the whole problem would be a board composed of three mem-
bers, each holding for a term of six years, one being elected
at the school election every two years.
Teachers in ordinary free school districts are required to
hold a state conference;' but some boards of cities and towns
and independent districts do not require a state certificate.
There probably was a time when the state's standard for
certificates was too low for these independent districts but
that should not be the case now. The law contemplates that
every teacher in a public school should hold a state certificate
and there should be no exception. Every person who re-
ceives and teaches any child of compulsory school age should
be required to hold a state certificate of proficiency when
attendance at such school is taken in lieu of attendance upon
the public school.
Children. Finally, we consider those for whom the whole
system of public education exists—the pupils. What assur-
ances are there that every child will attend a school of the
proper sort, or what are his chances of slipping through the
educational net or, perhaps, of getting hung in its meshes?
A county system of free schools undoubtedly gives more as-
surance to each child; but the district system is not being
worked to its fullest possibilities. District boards are au-
thorized to provide well built, properly equipped school
houses. The law presumes that ample playgrounds will be
provided. The County Superintendent, the State Superin-
tendent and the State Board of Education are all authorized
to see that this is done; but in many cases it is not done.
There are hundreds of schoolhouses and grounds in which
neither districts nor communities can take pride. In far too
many they are public evidences of a lack of interest in edu-
cation.
But let us go further. We have agreed that the test of a
public educational system must be the assurances it gives
that every child will be properly schooled. In other words,
1 Chapt. 2, sec. 96, 1919.
304
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
it must stand or fall by how well it reaches the child farthest
back or most in need of schooling. The state knows that all
parents, guardians and custodians will not send their chil-
dren to school regularly. The compulsory attendance law is
evidence of this knowledge. In this law taken with the law
regulating employment the state holds that every child of
compulsory school age should be in school, when in session,
unless he is 14 years of age, has a sixth grade education and
is lawfully and regularly employed. If the child is not regu-
larly and lawfully employed he is required to attend school
until he is 16 years of age, or has completed the eighth
grade. The school census should contain the name of every
child between 7 and 16 years of age. The law requires
that the teacher make and report the enumeration.2
Rural school teachers ought to be employed the year round,
and they should live in the school district, be a vital part of
the community. This would mean, of course, two things:
first, consolidation of schools, and, second, the erection of
homes for teachers. The school plant, school building, play-
grounds and teacher's home with its garden should be the
center of culture for the community.
Compulsory School Attendance. The enrollment and at-
tendance in the public schools has tremendously increased
in the last two or three years. The best attendance record,
urban or rural, that I have ever examined was that of a
country school taught by Miss Gladys Patch in Grant County,
West Virginia, this year. But in spite of all this it must be
said that, if the public school system with the compulsory
attendance act is to be likened to a net, children of compul-
sory age are going over it, under it and around it on both
ends. The net glides so easily over the backs of many that
they never get inside the schoolhouse.
In some form every state of the nation as well as every
civilized country in the world has accepted the principle of
Chapt. 17, 1919; Chapt. 41, 1921.
* Chapt. 2, sec. 91, 93, 1919.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
305
compulsory school attendance. Compulsory attendance acts
are now a part of the law. This is not the place for any
discussion of the merits of the free schools as adapted to the
needs of the rural child. If the public school is not what it
ought to be, make it so. The rural boy or girl is measured by
attainments in the courses now being offered; and it cannot
be successfully denied that schooling, just ordinary country
schooling, does prepare boys and girls, in some measure,
for adult life even if it does fail to give them a complete
childhood. Moonlight and other special schools have been
run in more than one of the states within recent years to
give a little of the same sort of schooling to adults.
Here is the big hole in the net: the school attendance officer
is employed by the district board at so much a day. At no
school, although the records in most cases showed repeated
absences, did we find much evidence that the attendance
officer had been active. Some teachers could not recall the
name of the attendance officer, others thought he had quit.
One officer said he had quit work because the district board
had instructed him to go "light" and would not pay him for
his work. The scheme simply will not work. Some new
plan must be evolved.
This is another reason for the county unit system. The
officer to enforce the school attendance law should be a county
officer and in addition to the duty of enforcing it he should
be charged with making and keeping a correct enumeration
of all children of compulsory age and of granting all work
permits as required by the law regulating the employment of
children.
Children of compulsory school age may be taught privately
or in a private school and have this counted for attendance
upon the public school, but the law does not require, as it
ought, that such teachers hold state certificates and that the
courses of study be the same as those of public schools. The
law should be amended so as to insure that children of com-
pulsory school age in private schools will be taught by teach-
· Chapt. 2, sec. 123, 1919.
306
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
ers holding state certificates. The same sort of reports
should be required as from free school teachers and the at-
tendance officer should see that children of compulsory age
in private schools attend regularly.
PUBLIC EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS FOR UNUSUAL CHILDREN
All the institutions established by the state for the care and
education of children in need of special care are under the
joint control of the State Board of Control and the State
Board of Education, the latter having only the right to de-
termine educational policies.1
Crippled Children. There is no state institution for the
care of crippled children.
Feeble-Minded Children. The legislature of 1921 au-
thorized the establishment of a training school for mental
defectives, the feeble-minded, idiots, imbeciles and morons.
Preference in admission is ordered by law to be given to chil-
dren and women of child-bearing age. This institution has
not yet been established,
Deaf and Dumb, and Blind Children. These are cared for
and taught at the state institution located at Romney. Per-
sons between the ages of 8 and 25 are to be admitted
so long as there is room and they may remain for
five years or longer, if board and principal think wise. Just
which board is meant is not clear. It ought to be the State
Board of Education but it would probably be interpreted to
mean the Board of Control. All persons are to be admitted
free except that the counties may be charged up to $50
a year for clothing for each pupil from that county.
There is no compulsory education law for deaf and dumb,
or blind children. Their parents, guardians or custodians
may give them training or not, as they see fit. The tax as-
4
1 Chapt. 2, sec. 181, 1919.
3 Chapt. 131, 1921.
• Chapt. 2, sec. 153, 4, 1919.
• Chapt. 2, sec. 154, 1919.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
307
sessors are, however, required to make a list of all deaf and
dumb and blind persons for the institution. This brings us
back again to the county school attendance officer. Parents,
guardians and custodians of deaf and dumb, and blind chil-
dren ought to be required to send them to school, and, if
they are able, they ought to be required to pay for their
keep, but not for their teaching, the institution being a part
of the free school system. The compulsory school attend-
ance act ought to be made to apply to deaf and dumb, and
blind children. It should be made a part of the duty of the
county school attendance officer to enforce this as well as all
other parts of the school attendance law.
The enumeration of all deaf and dumb, and blind children
should be made by the school enumerator. In fact, the
school enumeration ought to show any physical or mental
defect actually interfering with sending the child to the
ordinary school. The school attendance officer must have
this information if he is to act intelligently. It should be no
part of tax assessors' business to collect it. With all neces-
sary information in hand, it would be an easy matter for the
school attendance officer to learn whether handicapped chil-
dren are being given that training which the state has said, by
law, is their right. If there is failure or neglect on the part
of parents or guardians, he should take such action as will
insure to all such children their rights.
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
This subtitle is not exact. We use the term, Department
of Labor, because there has been established by law a State
Bureau of Labor under the control and management of a
State Commissioner of Labor, and, along with his other
duties, the law has made it the duty of this officer, his as-
sistants and inspectors to enforce all laws regulating the
employment of children, except employment in mines. One
1 Chapt. 2, sec. 157, 1919.
2 Chapt. 15, 1889.
9 Chapt. 17, sec. 7, 1919.
308
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
of the chief duties of the Commissioner of Labor and his
assistants is to inspect places where labor is employed. This
necessarily brings the Commissioner or his representative
into places where children are likely to be employed and this,
no doubt, is one of the reasons, and a very good one, why
the enforcement of the laws regulating the employment of
children was placed under the Bureau of Labor. The
Bureau of Labor was given no jurisdiction in the matter of
employment of children in mines because these are under the
jurisdiction of the Department of Mines.3
A third state department, namely, the State Compensation
Commissioner, has jurisdiction in labor matters—the admin-
istration of the Workmen's Compensation Law. It is also
of interest that although the Bureau of Labor is distinctly
excluded from having any authority of inspection or other-
wise in mines, yet it issues the proof of age for the employ-
ment in mines of boys over 16 years of age. These three de-
partments, labor, mines and compensation, ought to be com-
bined into one under the direction of a Commissioner selected
by a State Labor Board, the members of which should be
named by the Governor just as members of the State Boards
of Health and Education are now named.
To aid the Commissioner of Labor in this work of inspect-
ing factories and enforcing all labor laws, except those relat-
ing to mines, the law provides him with four factory in-
spectors. A chief clerk, a statistical clerk and a stenographer
are also provided, and another of the chief duties of the
Commissioner is to collect and report statistical information
on labor and the industrial interests of the state.5
With these general statements and with the further state-
ment that eight hours constitute a day's work for all laborers,
workmen and mechanics when work is being done for the
state, 6 we come at once to the matter in which we are pri-
1 Chapt. 30, 1919.
2 Chapt. 17, 1919.
9 Chapt. 32, 1919.
* Chapt. 131, 1919.
o Chapt. 30, sec. 6, 1919; Chapt. 12, 1915.
☆ Chapt. 17, 1899.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
309
marily interested, the law regulating the employment of
children. This was amended by the Legislature of 1919.
There was but a single Act to regulate the employment of
children enacted by the Legislature of 1921; to prevent chil-
dren from the State Industrial School or Home from being
employed outside without work permits required by the child
labor law. 1
The general rule is that no child under 14 years of age
may be employed in any gainful occupation, except in agri-
culture or domestic service and except that boys of 12 with
a lawful work permit may be employed in mercantile estab-
lishments and business offices outside school hours. Noth-
ing is said of street trades or of revoking the work permit
when the work interferes with schooling. No distinction is
made between work in agriculture or domestic service at
home or as a hired hand. It is legal to employ a 10-year-old
boy as a farm-hand or a 10-year-old girl as a domestic
servant, except during public school hours.
Children under 16 years of age may not be employed in
any occupation dangerous to the life or limb or injurious
to the health or morals. A commission composed of the
Commissioners of Labor and Health and the State Superin-
tendent of Schools is authorized to declare what trades,
processes, and occupations are dangerous or injurious, and
thereafter it is unlawful to employ any child under 16 in
any such. Inquiry was made at the Bureau of Labor as to
the declarations by the commission. There was no informa-
tion that it had ever formally met or made any declaration.
If this commission is not going to act and one cannot be
had that will act, the only remedy is to amend the law so as
to include occupations known to be dangerous, hazardous or
injurious. Information upon this is so general that it may
almost be said to be common knowledge. In most states one
is civilly liable per se when a child under 16 is employed at a
3
1 Chapt. 145, 1921.
2 Sec. I.
Ibid.
Sec. 2.
310
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
dangerous occupation. This seems not to be the law in West
Virginia. Children under 16 do not have discretion. In
fact, certain occupations known to be dangerous and in which
children under 16 years of age may not be employed are now
named in the law; work in mines, quarries, tunnels or ex-
cavations and a number of others such as rope-walking,
circus-riding and other exhibitions. All such occupations
ought to be enumerated either in the act or by the commis-
sioner.
No child between the ages of 14 and 16 may be legally em-
ployed at any gainful occupation unless the employer has
a lawful work permit. Note that agriculture and domestic
service are not excepted, and it must necessarily follow that
any one who hires a child between the ages of 14 and 16
years to do anything-pull weeds, drive cattle, work in the
garden, wash dishes, or mind the baby-is required by law to
have a work permit for the child.
Work permits are issued by the superintendent of schools
of the city or county or by some person authorized by him in
writing. There is an indefiniteness here. Once a person is
authorized in writing his authority seems to run for life, if
the person granting the authority outlives him. Of course,
this was not intended and the law should be amended; first,
to limit the authority so granted to not more than one year
and, second, to empower the granting officer to revoke his
grant at any time. We have already said that work permits
should be granted by county school attendance officers. In
cities with independent schools, and there should not be
many of these in the state, work permits ought to be issued
by the city school attendance officer.
Before issuing a work permit the officer is required to
have:
1. An agreement by the employer to employ the child. It
is significant that the law does not require the agreement to
1 Sec. 2.
. Sec. 3.
8 Ibid.
• Ibid.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
311
show the work at which the child is to be employed. This
is necessary in order that the medical inspector or public
health officer may intelligently grant or deny a certificate of
physical fitness for that particular work.1
2. One of four proofs of age to be required in the order
here named: a, a certificate of birth or transcript thereof;
b, a baptismal record or attested transcript thereof; c, other
documentary evidence more than one year old; d, a certificate
of a physician showing age as determined by physical ex-
amination.2
3. A certificate of schooling showing that the child can
read and write simple English sentences and has completed
the first six grades of the course of study prescribed by the
free schools, or the equivalent. This fixes the educational
qualification for a work permit, except that the issuing officer
is empowered to grant vacation work permits without any
evidence of schooling and except also that permits for the
employment of boys 12 and upwards in business offices and
mercantile establishments outside of school hours may be
granted without evidence of schooling. Just why mercan-
tile establishments and business offices should be given the
advantage, if it is an advantage, by two years in respect to
the employment of boys is not clear. Children of 14 and
over might well be permitted to work after school hours
under supervision with authority to cancel the work permit
when it is shown that the employment interferes with the
child's health, growth, and progress in school or that there
are other good reasons why he should not be employed.
4. A certificate of physical fitness signed by a medical
school inspector or public health officer.
The law does not make it clear that all the papers herein
provided must be filed by the issuing officer, as they should
be. No work permit of any kind can be issued without an
agreement to employ, lawful evidence of age and a certificate
1 Sec. 3.
? ibid.
• Ibid.
• Ibid.
312
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
of physical fitness. Clearly all these and the evidence of
schooling, when required, should be preserved; but not all
to be used for a new work permit, for it must be understood
that for each new employment a new work permit is required
and that for this there must be a new agreement to employ
and a new certificate of physical fitness. Work permits should
be issued in triplicate, the original for the employer, and a
copy each for the issuing officer and the State Bureau of
Labor. Upon return of the permit, it and the copy held by
the issuing officer should be marked “cancelled" and then
the original should be forwarded to the state office to close
the case.
It is unlawful to employ any child under 16 years of age,
except in agriculture and domestic service, for more than six
days or 48 hours a week, eight hours a day or after the hour
of 7 p. m. or before the hour of 6 a. m.1
The Commissioner of Labor and his assistants and school
truancy officers are charged with the duty of enforcing this
law, except in mines. The Bureau of Labor issues certifi-
cates of age for boys employed in mines under the federal
act. There is no good reason for thus splitting up the work.
If the Commissioner of Labor is to have supervision of part
of this work, he should have supervision of all. The county
school attendance officer should issue work permits as we
have above suggested. There should also be a county officer
to enforce the child labor law within his jurisdiction—the
county social welfare agent later suggested. More and more
it is coming to be understood that child labor laws are a part
of the general system of child welfare. There has been
growing up in different states of the country a disposition
to leave the enforcement of these laws to the state labor de-
partment exclusively. This ought not to be; child labor laws
are just as real as any other laws, and should be so consid-
ered by local law enforcing agencies. Local interest in the
welfare of children should be developed rather than curbed.
1 Sec. 6.
Sec. 7.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
313
There are but four labor inspectors to look out not only for
child workers but for all other labor problems except those
which arise in mines. There is no probability that this
number will be increased, yet it is obvious that four times
as many inspectors could not possibly cover, well, the entire
state. In fact, the State Department of Labor ought not to
undertake to cover the state except in a supervisory manner.
County and city officers should be the eyes of the state.
There is or should be a record of every child in any county
or city, and the attendance officer should know whether he
is at school, at work, or just fooling around. If he does his
duty, he will learn whether the child is at work and having
learned that he is at work it will be both natural and easy for
him to know whether the employment is legal, and if found
to be illegal, or if there is doubt, to turn the matter over to
the proper county officer---the county social agent.
There is no great need of increasing the number of state
inspectors, so far as child labor goes; but there is great need
that they be understood to be supervisors and helpers of local
officers. Each school attendance officer should report to the
Bureau of Labor all work permits issued, denied and can-
celled and all violations. The local officer and the state de-
partment should join in enforcing the law as occasions de-
mand. Child labor laws are not enforced largely because of
a lack of local interest and because of the further fact that
a state inspector has only two eyes and can be in but one place
at any given time. This suggests that in strictly rural and
not densely populated counties it might be possible to have
the school attendance officer enforce the laws regulating the
employment of children. This is well worth considering; but
attention is here called to the fact that the enforcement of
the child labor law belongs more logically under the jurisdic-
tion of the combination child welfare and probation officer.
In smaller counties it may be possible to have one officer
serve in the three capacities.
The study of the "Enforcement of Child Labor Laws in
1 Chapt. 30, 1919.
314
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
West Virginia" by Ethel Hanks Van Buskirk, in The
American Child for August, 1921, is full of evidence that
there is no well established system of granting work permits
or of enforcing the child labor law. The irregularities found
by her are so many that the readers of her report are made
to wonder whether some of those who enforce the law or
employ children ever took time to read the law. This comes
from neither willful ignorance nor innate depravity, but from
the fact that there has been no supervision. This should be
one of the chief functions of the Commissioners and Bureau
of Labor.
The legislature of 1921 made provision for the establish-
ment of continuation or part-time schools in communities
where 50 or more children are at work under work per-
mits. This adds a new duty to the officers charged with the
enforcement of the compulsory school attendance and child
labor laws in that they will have to follow up all these chil-
dren in order to see that they are attending part-time schools.
These schools should not and, in justice, cannot be limited to
communities with 50 working children. The better stand-
ards of the country are beginning to demand that children up
to the age of 18 continue in part-time schools, until they
have completed at least the first eight years of the public
school course.
In cities, newsboys and other street traders are frequently
seen. The law makes no provision for any system of badges
and, seeing that these children are mostly independent trad-
ers, it follows that they come under no provision of the
present child labor law. This ought not to be. It should be
amended so as to authorize and require badges for all street
trading by children under 16 years of age.
Boys and girls of more than 16 years of age may be em-
ployed at any sort of night work, even delivering night mes-
sages. This is below standard and endangers their future.
With a few changes the child labor law could be made ex-
cellent. Its chief weakness lies in the method of enforce-
1 Chapt. 4, 1921,
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
315
ment and this must be considered in connection with other
phases of county and city child welfare problems. It is folly
to enact laws unless machinery for their enforcement is pro-
vided. The method and manner of enforcing both the school
attendance and child labor laws is such as gradually to build
up in the minds of the people a sort of contempt for law.
The practice in respect to both laws diverges too widely and
too regularly from the simple letter.
DEPARTMENT OF CHILD WELFARE
By Department of Child Welfare is meant a department of
state charged with the duty of looking after handicapped
children and especially dependent, neglected and delinquent
children. There is no suc hstate department in West Vir-
ginia. There is a State Board of Children's Guardians but
it undertakes to care for one class of children only, normal,
neglected or dependent children who may be placed in
homes. It does have a sort of supervisory function in re-
spect of children paroled from state institutions, and it has
the power of standardizing private hospitals, maternity
homes and other institutions or associations receiving or
caring for children, but its primary duty is to find homes
for dependent children. The State Board of Children's
Guardians has nothing to do with state institutions estab-
lished for the care of children.
The Division of Public Health Nursing and Child Wel-
fare of the State Department of Health is not and was never
meant to be a State Department of Child Welfare, Charities
or whatever one may wish to call that department of state
which one usually finds charged with the duty of exercising
a watchful care over those unable to care for themselves.
It is a division of the Department of Health and therefore
concerns itself primarily with health matters.
Except as to certain educational control exercised by the
State Board of Education, every child, whether mentally
defective, an orphan, neglected, dependent, or delinquent,
316
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
committed or placed in any state institution, comes immedi-
ately under the Board of Control. We have, therefore, the
financial control of state child-caring institutions and the
fatherly oversight all lodged, by law, in the same body, the
Board of Control. In other words, we have nothing of the
"dual” system; administration and supervision of state insti-
tutions are united in the one board, but with that board
undertaking to do nothing for any child except such as have
entered one of the state institutions. County and municipal
child-caring institutions are without state supervision.
Let us go a little further a-field in our search for legal
child-caring agencies. Naturally we would look first to the
Juvenile Courts and this brings us at once to two acts which
contain most of the handicapped-child law except that re-
lating to mentally deficient children and except also the
mother's pension act.
There is strictly speaking no state juvenile court law.
Circuit and other courts including some criminal courts are
authorized to hear cases of delinquent children in a special
manner and such courts are required to keep a juvenile
record and are called for convenience, "Juvenile Courts." 1
This act authorizes these so-called juvenile courts to handle
only delinquent children;? but Chapter 134, 1921, gives the
juvenile court along with other courts jurisdiction over
dependent and neglected children.
Let us review, first, Chapter III, 1919:
All children under 21 years of age who come under its
provisions are held for the purposes of the act to be wards
of the state. A delinquent child is any child under 18 who
violates any law of the state or does almost anything which
shows that he is without or beyond parental control. This
is good.
Circuit Courts have original jurisdiction of all children
coming within the provisions of the act except that where a
court of common pleas or intermediary court with chancery
1 Chapt. 111, sec. 3, 1919.
i Sec. 1, 13.
. Sec. 1.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
317
jurisdiction has been created it has exclusive jurisdiction
and except also that where there is a criminal court and no
court of chancery jurisdiction, except the Circuit Court,
then the criminal court has exclusive jurisdiction. The
hearings may be in chambers but a jury trial may be had
on demand.
This is not good. First, the juvenile court should be
a definite court, and not a wandering sort of thing. If the
Circuit Court is to sit as a juvenile court, then no other
court should ever undertake to hear juvenile cases. Second,
some criminal courts are given jurisdiction of juvenile cases,
on the law side. It is now generally accepted that a juvenile
court should sit always as a court of chancery. Third, it is
a mistake to have trials by jury in juvenile courts. The
judge should find the facts and make such orders as the
best interests of the child demand.
Full authority is given to whatever court is sitting law-
fully as a juvenile court, after service of process upon the
parent or guardian or even without this, to take charge of
any child who appears to be without proper care and there-
after to make such orders as to the court seems wise. This
power is, of course, limited by the right to trial by jury when
demanded.
Any Circuit or other court, sitting as a juvenile court, has
authority to appoint any number of probation officers in any
county to serve without compensation. The law declares
it to be the duty of any such probation officer to make in-
vestigations, to be present at hearings, to assist the judge
and to take charge of the child. The law provides for one
paid probation officer in counties of more than 15,000 in-
habitants, and for two paid officers in counties of more than
40,000. All these are appointed directly by the judge. In
counties with a population of less than 15,000 the right of
the judge to appoint a paid probation officer is limited by the
opinions of the county superintendent of schools and a
3
i Sec. 2.
9 Sec. 3, 4.
Sec. 2.
318
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
majority of the board of county commissioners as to need.
They have the right and are required to pass upon the
competency of any probation officer suggested by the judge.
In counties of more than 40,000 inhabitants, upon the recom-
mendation of the county superintendent of schools and the
board of county commissioners, two additional paid proba-
tion officers may be appointed.
This section is about as unusual as one meets in the law
books. In counties with large population and therefore with
more work for probation officers, the judge is given a free
hand in appointment while in counties of small population
he is forced not only to get consent of county officials to
appoint a paid officer for his own court, but must have his
appointee approved by them. Yet it is not so strange after
all. When this part of the law was written (this part of the
act of 1919 is brought forward from a former act), the
possibilities of effective probation service and even of the
juvenile courts were not appreciated. It was then strongly
believed that the whole thing was for towns, with the result
that the legislature left the matter of having paid probation
officers in counties of small population to the discretion of
certain county officials. This, of course, leaves the matter
of having or not having a paid probation officer entirely to
them. Unfortunately, the law makes no provision for hay-
ing any other county officer perform the duties of probation
officer, and so we find counties with juvenile courts but
without probation service. Still more unfortunately, in
some counties we find the county officers not at all sympa-
thetic with the juvenile court idea.
In one county the clerk of the Circuit Court who is, by
reason of his office, clerk of the juvenile court, was asked
whether he had many juvenile cases.
“Not many," was his reply, "and I hope we'll never have
another one.
“Why?"
“They are a regular damned nuisance.”
1 Sec. 6.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
319
The general rule is that clerks and other officers get no fees
out of juvenile cases, except when the court orders the child
to be proceeded against as a criminal. This may explain
the state of mind of the clerk. At any rate, there was no very
strong guarantee of the best sort of treatment for children.
The court has a very wide discretion in determining what
is best to be done for any child brought into court and ad-
judged to be delinquent:
I. He
may remand the child to the criminal court for
trial.2
2. He may order the child to be sent to a hospital for
treatment, provided that no charge is made against pub-
lic funds.3 This, of course, is all wrong. If the child
needs treatment and has no parent or estate to pay for
it the county ought to pay.
3. He may leave the child in its own home under the
supervision of a probation officer. Of course, if there
is no probation officer, there could be no supervision.
4. He may appoint a guardian and order him to leave
the child in his (the child's) home, to take it into his
(the guardian's) home or to place the child in a suitable
family home, provided no charge is made against public
funds.5
5. He may commit the child to a state, county or
municipal institution or a private institution or asso-
ciation accredited by the State Board of Children's
Guardians. The court may at any time recall a child
that has been committed to the care of a guardian or to
any institution or association, and return it to its own
home. The executive officer of the institution or asso-
ciation to which the child is committed becomes by law
its guardian. The guardianship of a delinquent child,
however arising, lasts until 21 unless sooner terminated
by the court.” All guardians, private or institutional,
1 Sec. 17, 9, 13.
Sec. 9.
Sec. 16.
* Sec. 7.
6 lbid.
Ibid.
Sec. 8, II.
320
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
may be required to report as often as the court desires
and the court may at any time remove the child from
the care of the guardian or institution.1
Children under 18 years of age belong under the original
jurisdiction of those courts which sit as juvenile courts; but
police-magistrates and justices of the peace have authority
to hold hearings and discharge because there is no evidence
of delinquency. This is not the best way. Police courts
and courts of justices of the peace are necessarily criminal
courts. A hearing and discharge by a court may be the very
worst thing for a child. Section 2 of the act states clearly
that those courts authorized to sit as juvenile courts are to
have original jurisdiction. That jurisdiction ought to be
exclusive. Police-magistrates and justices of the peace
ought not to hear children's cases.
State institutions which receive juvenile delinquents are
required by law to examine homes to which children are
paroled. This has, evidently, not worked very successfully,
for the State Board of Children's Guardians is now em-
powered to make these investigations.
When a child is taken from his parent or guardian and
committed to some prison or institution the court may order
such parent or guardian to pay for the support, maintenance
and education of the child and may enforce the order by
seizing property, part of his wages or by contempt proceed-
ings. The law goes further back and makes it criminal for
any one to contribute to the delinquency of a child. The
juvenile court hears such cases which, of course, includes the
right of trial by jury. Any sort of criminal trial of an adult
for any offense against a child should be in courts strictly
criminal and not in juvenile courts.
Counties of more than 40,000 inhabitants are required,
5
i Sec. 12.
2 Sec. 13.
s Sec. 2.
A Sec. 15.
• Chapt. 134, sec.
. Sec. 20.
7 Sec. 20-36.
10, 1921.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
321
and other counties are authorized to build detention homes.2
In spite of the fact that we found children held in jail, proper
probation service rather than the building of detention homes
needs most to be stressed.
This whole act is to be interpreted and construed in ac-
cordance with two principles. First, it must be liberally con-
strued in favor of the state to the end that the child may be
protected from himself as well as from all other persons;?
and, second, in construing the act, the court is bound by the
fact that the legislature has declared that "no child shall be
taken or kept from its home or parents or guardian any
longer than is necessary to preserve the welfare of the child
and the interests of the state. The first is in accord with
oft-repeated declarations of the Supreme Court and both are
now approved by the better thought of the country. We no
longer glorify institutions for children, but avoid, if possible,
the breaking up of families.
This brings us to a consideration of state institutions for
delinquent children. There are two in active operation: the
Industrial School for Boys, and the Industrial Home for
Girls. These were originally for both white and colored
children, but the legislature of 1921 made provision for
similar institutions for colored boys and girls. These, when
established, will be governed by the same law and rules as
the two now in existence.!
The Industrial School for Boys is managed by the
State Board of Control. It is for boys between the ages of
10 and 18 years of age and this may include boys convicted
of crimes in courts or even convicts transferred by the
Governor from the penitentiary.”
Boys between the ages of 10 and 18 years may be com-
mitted to the institution:
1 Sec. 37.42.
Sec. 35.
8 Sec. 8.
* Chapts. 154, 155, 1921,
5 Sec. 159, 160, 161, 167.
322
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
1. By a justice of the peace when the person having
control of the child declares under oath that he is in-
corrigible and vicious and beyond control.1
2. By any justice of the peace, when any person,
under oath, shows that the child is a vagrant, incorrigi-
ble, vicious and beyond the control of the person having
custody of him.
3. By the several courts of the state. Whenever any
boy under 18 years of age is convicted of any crime
punishable by imprisonment the judge may, in his dis-
cretion, commit him to the Industrial School instead of
sentencing him to jail or the penintentiary.3
2
This part of the law is confused. Circuit Courts sit-
ting as juvenile courts are supposed to have exclusive and
certainly original jurisdiction over delinquent children, but
here we have authority for justices of the peace to handle
delinquent boys and to commit them to a state institution.
The law should be amended so that no justice of the peace
or judge of any except a juvenile court shall have authority
to commit boys to this school. As it is, a boy may be re-
manded to the criminal court for trial and then after trial
committed to this school which should be for boys who are,
at most, only wayward. Why try a boy in a criminal court
if he is going to be sent to the school to which the juvenile
judge probably would have sent him? This is a school;
convicts ought not to be transferred to it. If a boy under
18 years of age is to be released from the penitentiary it
would be much better to parole him than to send him to this
school for young boys.
The State Board of Control is empowered to grant, upon
recommendation of the superintendent, paroles in accordance
with such rules as they may prescribe.
The law in respect to the Industrial Home for Girls is
4
I Sec. 160.
? Sec. 160.
Sec. 160, 161.
4 Sec. 171.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
323
very similar to that regulating the School for Boys. Girls
between 12 and 18 years of age and of a sound mind may be
committed by justices of the peace, criminal, circuit, inter-
mediate, juvenile, or mayor's court, to be held until they are
21 unless sooner discharged. Any girl unfit for the Home
may be returned to the court committing her. The same
right of trial by jury is found.? All these different features
being common to both these institutions, what has been said
in respect to the law governing the Boys' School holds true
here.
There is one feature of the law governing the Industrial
Home for Girls not found in that governing the Industrial
School for Boys—the right to bind a girl out until she is 21
years of age. This is entirely different from the right to
parole boys from the Industrial School. It has already been
said that all laws or parts of laws granting authority to ap-
prentice children should be repealed and this should include
this part of the law.
For the law in respect to dependent and neglected chil-
dren, we turn, second, to Chapter 134, 1921.
The State Board of Children's Guardians has three mem-
bers, one a woman. One member is appointed by the Gov-
ernor with consent of the Senate every other year and each
holds for a term of six years. This is an excellent form of
state board. The law wisely leaves the conduct of its busi-
ness largely in its own hands in that it is authorized to make
rules and regulations and to appoint officers and agents, gen-
eral and district.5
The State Board of Children's Guardians is authorized to
receive into its custody and control two classes, dependent
and neglected children. By "dependent" is meant any boy
under 16 or girl under 18 years of age "who is dependent
upon public charity, or is destitute, homeless or abandoned.”
1 Sec. 173, 174, 1919; Chapt. 134, 1921.
Sec. 175; Chapt. 134, 1921.
• Sec. 177, 1919; Chapt. 134, 1921.
. Sec. I.
& Sec. 3.
324
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
1
By "neglected child" is meant any boy under 16 or girl under
18 who is without proper guardianship, begs or receives
alms, or lives in a home of ill-fame or with improper per-
sons, or whose home or environment is not proper and such
as to warrant the state's assuming guardianship.
The board or any of its agents or other person may begin
an action in a Circuit Court, common pleas, criminal, inter-
mediate or juvenile court to have any child, alleged to be
dependent or neglected, taken from its custodian and com-
mitted to the board and the judge of the court may after
proper notice and hearing commit the child to it. The
judges of the same courts may when petitioned by the
board, also order that a "poor but otherwise worthy parent
or guardian" of a child be paid out of the public funds of
the county, such sums as are necessary to maintain said
parent and child or children.2
This last is an excellent feature of the law because it opens
the door for adequate aid for children in need, in that it em-
powers judges to make orders for the maintenance of chil-
dren in their own homes. If the benefits were not limited to
children of worthy parents, and if the law appointed the pro-
posed county boards of children's guardians to administer
them it would, if properly carried out, do away with any
need for a mother's pension act. Unfortunately, judges of
common pleas, criminal and intermediary courts are given
jurisdiction just as in cases of delinquent children. There
is now a very strong sentiment for handling all cases of
dependency outside of any court. Here jurisdiction is given
to several courts, some of them criminal. The better thought
of the country is against this.
When a boy under 16 or a girl under 18 is found to be
dependent or neglected the judge may in his discretion:
I. Allow the child to remain in its home under the
visitation of the board;
i Sec. 4.
» Ibid.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
325
2. If necessary the judge may take the child from the
parent and appoint a guardian;
3. Or, he may commit the child to a state institution,
industrial school, children's home, or an accredited asso-
ciation which cares for or finds homes for children.
When the child is committed to an institution or associa-
tion the executive officer becomes guardian. All chil-
dren taken and committed under this law are held to
be wards of the state until 21 unless restored to their
parents by order of the court or adopted. This, of
course, includes commitment to the Board of Children's
Guardians. Children committed to it remain in its
custody until placed or ordered into other care and
custody.2
It must be noticed that while the juvenile along with
other courts is given jurisdiction no probation service,
except that of the ten district agents, is provided for.
In other words, cases of neglect or dependency, no mat-
ter how pressing, must wait until the district agent gets
there and may then be heard by a court other than the
juvenile court.
The State Board of Children's Guardians is empowered to
place children in orphan asylums, children's homes or suit-
able private homes observing, as far as practicable, religion
of parents. In addition to this it is required upon request
to investigate children paroled from state institutions and
homes to which they have been or are about to be sent, and
also upon request deaf and dumb and crippled children, and
to procure medical and surgical examinations at the expense
of the county. * This last is rather surprising as it gives the
board the right to create a debt against county funds without
judicial order. It would be an excellent feature if the right
to expend public funds were based upon orders of the juve-
nile court.
Another function of the State Board of Children's Guar-
1 Sec. 5, 6, 4.
i Sec. 7.
Sec. 9, 15.
• Sec. 10.
326
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
dians is that of visiting, inspecting, supervising and approv-
ing annually, by certificate, every hospital, maternity home,
or association which receives, cares for or finds homes for
children. No association for the training, caring for or
placing of children may be incorporated or have its charter
amended without the approval of the board. This is good
law.
The court may in proper cases of dependent or neglected
children appoint a guardian and authorize him to consent to
the adoption of the child. When a child is found to be de-
pendent or neglected and the parent is able to contribute to
its support the court may order him to pay a reasonable sum
to the society, institution, association or prison for this pur-
pose and this order may be enforced by a seizure of property
or wage and by contempt proceeding 3
As in the act relating to delinquent children the law here
again declares that it is to be liberally construed to the end
that parents may be enabled and compelled to care for their
children and that children may be educated and trained
morally, intellectually and physically.4
The legislature appropriated $36,500 a year for the years
1921-2 and 1922-3 for the support of the ten district agents
and all other officers and employees and other expenses of
the State Board of Children's Guardians. Five of the ten
district agents are required by law to be women.
Mothers' Pensions. There is another chapter of the law
which ought to provide some aid for some children, the so-
called mother's pension act.? This act was, probably, enacted
as a piece of advice from the legislature to county courts as
much as for any other purpose; for county courts are in no
way bound to act upon it. However it does two things: first,
it recognizes the fact that the state as the over-father knows
6
i Sec. 12.
2 Sec. 13.
3 Sec. 17.
Sec. 4.
8 Chapt. 1, Extraordinary Session 1921, Chapt. 134, 1921.
6 Chapt. 134, sec. 3, 1921.
? B. C. C. 46 B.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
327
that often a mother is actually unable to care for her chil-
dren, and, second, that support for children left without the
support of a father is a proper legal charge against the public
funds of a county. The best part of this act is that it opened
the door for aid out of public funds for all children in need.
No, it would be more exact to say that it pushed the door a
little farther open, for the old poor-law, under which county
courts ordered the paying out of pittances by the overseers
of the poor for the relief of children as well as adults, was
the beginning
Following the old poor-law the whole administration of
this law is placed in the hands of the county court. Applica-
tion may be made to this court for relief for any mother
with at least two children under 13 years of age, whose
husband is dead, permanently incapacitated for work, is con-
fined in a state institution or has abandoned his wife. Upon
application the county court orders one of its members to
visit the family and report in writing;? and thereupon after
a verified statement of facts is filed may issue a summons
for the mother and children to be brought into court.3 For-
tunately, the county court has authority to waive this part
of the law. A careful and sympathetic investigation of the
case should be made by a county social agent. A member
of a county court is, as a rule, not qualified and will not take
the time to get the facts. Good women will let their children
suffer and suffer themselves before they will come before a
county court to ask for help. Who can blame them?
Where there is but one child under 13 years of age no
allowance may be made. Thus the law urges women to keep
on hand at least two children under 13 years of age, if they
would obtain a pension. If there is more than one under 13.
the court may allow up to $15 a month for the first child and
$5 a month for each additional child under 13 up to $25 a
month in all. Thus again the law, in a way, says that in well-
1 B. C. C. 46 B, s. 1.
* B. C. C. 46 B, s. 3.
* B. C. C. 46 B, s. 5.
• B. C. C. 46 B, s. 8.
328
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
regulated families there should never be more than three chil-
dren under 13 years of age. Then, too, a child is required by
law to attend school up to the age of 14. If he has not com-
pleted the course of study prescribed for the free schools, he is
required to attend even longer, and up to his sixteenth year
unless he is legally and regularly employed or has completed
the first eight years of the free school course. The mother's
pension law will not permit an allowance for children over
13. A child that goes to school has to have shelter, clothes
to wear and food to eat. Also, the legislature has declared
the policy of keeping parent and child together, if practicable.
If there is to be a mother's pension law, it ought certainly
to fit the compulsory school attendance and child labor laws,
and allowances should be made until the child is eligible for
a regular work permit.
The conditions upon which grants may be made are:
that children live with the mother; that it is for the wel-
fare of the children for them to live with her; that with-
out the relief the mother would be compelled to stay
away from home, but with it will be able to stay at home,
except that she may work out a fixed number of days;
that the mother is a proper person, physically, mentally
and morally to have the care of her children; that the
relief is necessary to save the children from neglect;
that the mother has no real estate or personal property,
except household goods; that she is a citizen of the
United States, and has been for five years a resident
of the state and county; that no relative of the children
contributes an equal amount to their support; that the
mother permits no man other than a relative to live in
the house, and that children of school age attend school.1
In the main, the principles above enumerated are good.
Any good investigator would use almost all of them in
recommending relief for a mother and her children. They
should not appear in the law but should be used for the
guidance of the investigating officer—the county social agent
i B. C. C. 46 B, s. 10.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
329
and the judge of the juvenile court. If there is to be a
mother's pension law, it ought to be administered by the
proposed county board of children's guardians. Mothers'
pensions should not be administered by the county court.
We are here seeking to insure that children will be given
aid out of public funds whenever they are in need. Some
will not come under any mother's pension law. Therefore,
it would be far better to place the whole matter under the
jurisdiction of the proposed County Boards of Children's
Guardians and the county social agent.
Now we are at a point where we can look at this system as
a whole. The state by its laws is committed to the idea that
some court should adjudicate cases of dependent and neg-
lected, as well as delinquent, children. For the best interests
of all children it would be better to confine the jurisdiction
of juvenile courts to neglected and delinquent children, and
charge the proposed county boards of children's guardians
with the care of dependent children.
Circuit Courts sit in every county. The juvenile court
should be a definite part of the Circuit Court and none
other, and the procedure should be strictly on the chancery
side. There should be no jury trials. The fact that Circuit
Court judges have jurisdiction over more than one county
presents a problem; but this could be met by having the cir-
cuit judge appoint a juvenile referee for each county. This
judge now has the power to appoint a divorce commissioner
in each county.
If this commissioner were made juvenile
referee, an excellent system of state-wide courts, almost
family courts, might well be built up.
The weakness of juvenile courts in the state is a lack of
probation service, the weakness of the state's whole system of
child care is that there is no one at the county court house
to hurry out to the relief of any child that may be reported
in need, no one to see that there are no children in need.
Every county needs badly an official social worker and he
should be the chief probation officer of the juvenile court.
In counties with large population, there should, of course,
330
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
be more than one probation officer. This combination social
worker and probation officer ought to be nominated by the
Circuit Judge and when approved by the State Board of
Children's Guardians elected by the County Board of Chil-
dren's Guardians herein suggested. He ought to be nomi-
nated by the Circuit Judge because he will be the probation
officer of the juvenile court; he ought to be approved by the
State Board of Children's Guardians because he should, in
law and in fact, be the representative of the State Board in
his county and he ought to be elected and have his salary
fixed, to be paid out of county funds, by the County Board
of Children's Guardians because it is wise to preserve and
develop the idea of local activity and control and also be-
cause it would be unwise to have officers placed in a county
without any sort of local consent.
The County Board of Children's Guardians should be the
direct representative of the State Board of Children's Guar-
dians in the county.
There should be three members, one
appointed every two years. Since this board is to be charged
with the expenditure of county funds, the members should
be named by the board of county commissioners. There
are, however, some good reasons for having the State
Board of Children's Guardians or the Governor name the
members.
The State Board of Children's Guardians should be
charged with the oversight of every handicapped child
whether defective, dependent, neglected or delinquent,
whether in an institution, public or private, a home or roam-
ing at will over the county. Part of this is now one of its
functions. Delinquent children are as much entitled to
supervisory care as any others. The State Board of Chil-
dren's Guardians ought to see that children committed to
state or county institutions for delinquency, or for any other
reason, are properly housed, fed and treated just as much
as if they were merely dependent or neglected. More than
that, probation officers need instruction and supervision and
the State Board of Children's Guardians ought to give it.
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
331
It is a mistake to develop what is primarily a state chil-
dren's home-finding organization at the expense of county
probation service. All forms of child care ought to be
brought along together and they can be without any great
changes. There would be no need for any material enlarge-
ment of the working force of the State Board of Children's
Guardians. The ten district agents would make ideal in-
structors and supervisors of the county social agents.
In
fact, these agents themselves are now doing unofficially much
of the work of such officers. The system so well begun ought
to be rounded out.
Members of County Boards of Children's Guardians
should serve without pay, and there should therefore be no
problem there. Heretofore, it has not been easy to get
paid probation officers. The reason has been that it was felt
there was not enough work to justify their employment.
But their activity was limited to delinquent children. We
are suggesting an officer who, serving the juvenile court, the
County and State Boards of Children's Guardians, all allied
in their official interest in children, will have the oversight
of every crippled, deaf and dumb, dependent, neglected,
abused and abandoned child as well as delinquent children.
He should investigate all cases where public funds are to be
expended for the relief of children, and should actually see
that the money is wisely spent. Not enough to keep him
busy? The trouble will be that he will never get through,
for new problems will arise daily and old ones will hang on.
This business of letting children drag on in want to grow up
into men and women unfitted for complete living ought to be
ended, and the way to do it is to put somebody in the county
court house, an official social worker, to see that it is ended.
The office of county social workers in the smaller counties
should be enlarged into a bureau for the larger counties, the
chief of which should be the chief probation officer of the
juvenile court. In addition to his many other duties, this
county social worker should enforce the laws regulating the
employment of children in his county, this, of course, in close
332
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
coöperation with the State Department of Labor. Child
labor restriction is a child welfare matter.
It may be that in a few of the counties with very small
population the county could not employ both the county
school attendance officer and the county social worker here
suggested. This would be unfortunate; but, in the event
that it comes to this, it is suggested that the county school
attendance officer be charged with all the duties of the county
social worker and that he be paid for his additional service
out of the county, not school, funds such sum as the County
Board of Children's Guardians determine, provided that such
county school attendance officer shall be approved by the
judge of the juvenile court as probation officer and by the
State and County Boards of Children's Guardians. This
suggestion is made solely to meet an emergency and as a
temporary solution and upon the definite belief that county
school attendance officers will be provided by law. If pos-
sible, each county should have both a county school attend-
ance officer and a county social agent.
SUMMARY OF CHANGES SUGGESTED
LAW
Consideration should be given:
1. To such amendments of the marriage law as will give
the mother equal rights with the father in the matter of con-
sent, if parental consent is to be retained; and will insure that
both parties are of sound mind and not afflicted with venereal
disease, and that reasonable notice of the marriage is given.
All this will gather about the manner of issuing the marriage
license.
2. To such amendments or new laws as will insure proper
instruction, care and treatment of expectant mothers, moth-
ers and children, forbid and prevent the employment of
women to their own hurt or to the hurt of themselves or their
children, and insure that midwives are instructed, examined
and certificated.
3. To such amendments of the law as will make it clear
once and for all that the mother has equal joint rights with
the father in respect to their child.
4. To such amendments of the law as will prevent any
able-bodied parent from living in idleness upon the labor,
services or earnings of his child, will prevent any parent
from depriving his or her child under 16 years of age of
support by will, will, under the workmen's compensation
act, cause illegitimate children, when so declared by the
court, to be classed as dependents of their fathers, will
raise the age for dependency under this act to 16, and will
prevent any conduct on the part of either parent from being
held, in law, to relieve the other of his or her duty to support
the child.
333
334
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
5. The law governing adoption is in the main good; but it
is suggested that Circuit Courts, sitting as juvenile courts,
make full use of probation officers for investigation in
cases of adoption.
6. To the repeal of all law or parts of law which authorize
the binding out of children.
7. To such amendments of the law as will give any mother
who wills property to her child the right to name a guardian
for the estate, to empower married women to act as guard-
ians, and to place all guardianship matters under the juris-
diction of Circuit Courts, sitting as juvenile courts.
8. To such amendments of the divorce law as will insure
proper investigation of cases where the interests of children
are involved by probation officers of the juvenile court.
9. To such changes in the law as will make a bastardy pro-
ceeding a juvenile court matter without trial by jury; will
allow the action to be brought upon the woman's oath before
the birth of the child or any time thereafter up to the time
the child is 16 years of age; the action to lie for the benefit of
the woman even if the child is dead, if brought within one
year from birth, and to lie against the estate of a deceased
man, if brought within one year of birth.
10. To such changes in the law as will make legitimation
depend upon the fact that the man who marries the mother
has been declared by a court to be the father of the child or
that he acknowledges the paternity in writing.
ADMINISTRATION
Consideration should be given:
Health.
1. To such amendments of the law as will insure a new
health board for every county and will provide for the estab-
lishment of a health unit for every county or health district
made up of a group of counties.
2. To the provision by the state of such funds as will be
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
335
necessary to pay all county or district health officers and by
each county of sufficient funds to meet its part of the expense
of the health unit.
3. To a law to provide for instructing, examining and cer-
tificating midwives.
4. To such measures as will insure that advice, instruction
and aid, if necessary, is within easy reach of all pregnant
women and mothers of children.
5. To such law as will insure every child of compulsory
school age, 7 to 16, whether in school or at work, a medical
examination at least once a year.
Education.
1. To an amendment of the constitution so as to empower
the State Board of Education to name the State Superin-
tendent of Schools and a corresponding change in the law.
2. To the repeal of all special school acts so that a system
of free schools may be a reality. The larger cities should,
perhaps, have the same administrative system as counties, but
this should be covered by the general law rather than by
special acts.
3. To the establishment of a county unit system with a
County Board of Education. The presidents of the district
boards might constitute the membership of the County
Board; but it would be better to have a board of three mem-
bers, one elected every second year and each for a term of
six years. This board should be empowered to name the
county superintendent, the county school attendance officer,
and to determine the tax levy necessary for school purposes
and to build, equip and own public schoolhouses and grounds
and to submit the question of increased taxes for free schools
to the voters of the county, as a single district.
4. To such law as will require the county attendance officer
to have made and keep a census of all children of school age
and to see that each teacher keeps accurate attendance record
of every child of compulsory school age in his sub-district
and reports at the end of each week all absences not lawfully
336
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
excused. The school attendance officer should grant work
permits and, of course, enforce the compulsory school attend-
ance law.
Prosecution for violating this law should be
brought in the juvenile court on the chancery side as other
cases of neglect. That part of the law which requires writ-
ten notice before prosecution should be repealed.
5. a. To an amendment of the law so as to require all
teachers in city, town, or independent free schools to hold
state certificates.
b. To such amendments as will require private teachers
and teachers in private schools receiving and teaching chil-
dren of compulsory school age, to hold certificates just as
public school teachers, to make reports at the end of each
week of the attendance of all children of compulsory school
age, and to teach the courses prescribed for the free schools.
Child Labor.
1. To such amendments of the child labor law:
a. As will make it illegal to hire children under 14 years
of age to work in agriculture or domestic service.
b. As will insure a full enumeration of dangerous or in-
jurious trades, occupations or processes.
c. As will authorize and require the compulsory school at-
tendance officer, and him only, to issue work permits in
triplicate, will require the agreement to employ to specify
the character of work, and will require issuing officers to
file all papers or copies thereof.
2. To such amendments as will provide part-time schools
for all children under 18 years of age who have not
completed the course of study prescribed for the first eight
years of the free schools, or its equivalent.
3. To such amendments as will provide for a system of
badges for street traders, with supervision either by the
school attendance officer or county social agent herein sug-
gested.
4. To such law as will charge the county social agent with
the duty of enforcing all laws regulating the employment of
THE CHILD AND THE STATE
337
children in his jurisdiction in cooperation with the State
Department of Labor.
Child Welfare.
1. To the enactment of an entirely new juvenile court law
incorporating the following features :
a. The juvenile court to be a special division of the Circuit
Court, no other court to have jurisdiction of any child of
juvenile age except upon remand by the juvenile court. The
juvenile court should have exclusive original jurisdiction in
all cases of neglect or delinquency and also in all cases of
adoption, appointment of guardian, transfer of custody, tru-
ancy, and the administration of mothers' pensions, if there
are to be mothers' pensions.
b. There should be no trial by jury. The hearings should
be entirely on the chancery side. There should be no trials
of adults for crime.
c. Consideration should be given to the matter of having
the circuit judge appoint a combination divorce commissioner
and juvenile judge to sit as referee in each county.
2. To such expansion of the powers and duties of the
State Board of Children's Guardians as will give it the over-
sight of all handicapped children, even those in public insti-
tutions, and make it the de facto guardian of every child in
need.
3. To the creation of a County Board of Children's Guar-
dians for each county.
4. To such law as will provide in each county a county
social agent with the following features :
a. He should be elected and have his compensation fixed
by the County Board of Children's Guardians.
b. He should be approved by the State Board of Children's
Guardians as its representative.
c. He should be approved by the judge of the Circuit
Court sitting as juvenile judge, as probation or chief proba-
tion officer.
d. The duties of the county social agent should be:
338
RURAL CHILD WELFARE
(1.) To act as probation or chief probation officer of
the juvenile court; to make all investigations including
investigations for mothers' pensions if there are to be
mothers' pensions; for adoption; the appointment of
guardians; and the transfer of the custody of a child.
(2.) To act as representative of the State and County
Boards of Children's Guardians in the oversight of all
defective, dependent, neglected and delinquent children,
and to follow up deaf and dumb, blind and crippled
children; to coöperate with the State Bureau of Labor
in enforcing the child labor law; and to see that care is
given to every dependent child.
5. In counties of small population it may be impossible
to provide for a full time county social agent. In that case
the county school attendance officer should be charged with
all the duties of the county social agent.
To do all this it will be necessary to repeal Chapter III,
1919, and Chapter 134, 1921, and all acts of which either
of them is an amendment and to enact two new acts; one,
establishing the juvenile court as a special part of the Circuit
Court in every county, and the other, establishing State and
County Boards of Children's Guardians. Many good fea-
tures of both acts should be retained, as, for instance, the
ten district agents of the State Board of Children's
Guardians.
6. To the repeal of all laws authorizing children to be
bound out.
7. To the repeal of the mothers' pension act and at the
same time to the enactment of such law as will insure that
ample funds are provided in each county for the care of
every dependent child. Such funds should be paid out and
the expenditure thereof supervised by the County Board of
Children's Guardians:
APPENDIX
TABLE I— CROPS BY ACREAGE AND YIELD, FOR OWNERS AND TENANTS
having number
acres
acres
acres
acre
acre
none
2121
4.2
15.8
2224
I 125
8.7
9.6
79527
74281
291
3229
Owners — 486 families
Tenants --- 75 families
Average Average Average Number
Average Average Average Number
Total
Total yield number
Total
yield families
Total yield number yield families
number
yield per
рег
yield per
per having
per farm
farm
none
per farm
farm
Corni
3,562 118,638 33.3 7.4 246 67 1,35020 49,074 36.4 | 17.5 637 1
Silage?
123 1,070
7.2
.3
2 462
49
Wheats
2,012 23,9191 11.3
49 290 1,18622 16,436 13.9
219 32
Oats4
993 20,089 28.8 2.1
262 6523 1,546
59
Ryes
236 2,062
443
190
73
Buckwheats
2,728
453
260
72
Barley?
18
540
483 826
82
73
Hays
4,192 4,671 1.1
127
865 1.I 10.6 II.5 38
Clover
440
444
ΙΟΙ
66
Alfalfa10
40 63
479
73
72
Soy beansli
75
III
463
25
71
Potatoes 12
31,444
65
30
83
Apples13
122,461
253 148
2,579
34 50
Peaches14
10,025
21 320
183
68
Other fruit16
558
475
0
75
Sorghum16
1,672
413
342
62
Tobacco17 4238 33,612
463
87438 7,545
70
Tomatoes18 15372 20,968
443 87287
885
72
Melons 19
478
71
1 Corn record 483. Silage record 484. Wheat record 484. Oats record 484. The total yield of oats (20,089 bushels) is
for 730 acres; the remainder was fed in the sheaf. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 are for 484 families. 11. Total yield of
111 bushels is for 54 acres. 20 Record for 75. 21 Records for 75-yield given is for 16 of 21 acres. ». Record for 75. 23 Record
for 75. The 1,546 bushels is total yield for 59 acres, the remainder not being thrashed. 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37,
Records for 75. *. Record for 73.
1730
31 6,227
2
32
33
2
34
36
acres
2374
1138
38
339
340
APPENDIX
TABLE II
NUMBER OF LIVESTOCK FOR OWNERS, TENANTS, AND LABORERS
Owners-486 families
Tenants-75 families
Laborers-96 families
2.4
.2
5.6
2.8
3.2
2.6
. I
.6
Total
number
Average Number
number | families
per having
farm
Total
number
Average Number
number families
per having
farm
Total
number
Average Number
number families
per having
farm
none
none
none
Horses
Beef cattle
Dairy cattle
Sheep
Hogs
Chickens
Other poultry
1,159
2,737
1,336
4,023
3,465
29,521
1,722
66
180
47
321
45
15
346
2.8
8.2
7.1
61
3.5
208
238
198
285
593
6,431
3.8
22
36
9
59
I2
2
49
19
8
56
0
.241
3,252
196
78
91
55
96
31
14
81
7.9
85.7
2.5
34
2
316
4.2
APPENDIX
341
TABLE III
INCOME FROM FARM AND SUPPLEMENTARY SOURCES FOR OWNERS,
TENANTS, AND LABORERS
Owners
486
families
Tenants
75
families
Laborers
96
families
Average number dol-
lars per family
942
760
75
Gross farm
income
Per cent from live
stock
54
56
97
Farm
income
Per cent from crops..
46
44
3
Farm expenses
423
297
54
Net farm income
519
463
21
Average number dollars per
family
481
273
735
1
Per cent from skilled labor
24
32
Supplementary
income
Per cent from unskilled labor
41
83
61
Per cent from other sources
35
16
7
Average number dollars per
family
I000
756
Net
income
736
63
Per cent from farm sources
52
3
Per cent from supplementary
48
37
97
sources
i Less than I per cent.
342
APPENDIX
TABLE IV
NUMBER OF CHILDREN AT HOME AND AWAY FROM HOME, BY AGE GROUPS, SEX, AND MARITAL CONDITION,
FOR OWNERS, TENANTS, AND LABORERS
Children at home
Children away from home
Boys
Girls
Boys
Girls
Total
Average
Total
M
S
M
S
M
S
M
S
.
175
2
175
296
2 120
34 ΙΟΙ
36 | 692
.07
1.42
8
13
.03
350 .72
282
578 | 1.19
120 247 •51 19
79 222 .45 | 283
656 1397 2.87 302
1.35 2.87
.62
44
55
104
.21
47
330
377
.77
2
9 14
.03
22 132 .27
28 | 696 1.43
61 844 1.73
.13
1.73
2
1
23
44 97 | 1.25
58 125 1.66
46 .61
2 IO .13
127 | 278 3.71
1.69 3.71
I
8
9
.I2
3
4
4
II
.15
5
I2
34
.07
.16
.45
.68
4
21
25
.33
I
6
.08
51
.68
1.23
47
71
22
5
145
1.51
I- 6.
Owners
486 families
7-15
16-21.
Over 21
Total
Average
I- 6
Tenants
75 families
53
67
22
8
150
2.0
7-15
16-21
Over 21
Total
Average
I
.01
I-6
Laborers
96 families
7-15
16-21
Over 21
Total
Average
47
94 | .98
47 I18
13 35 .36
5 13 .13
II2
1.17 | 2.71
van
2
2
18
20
.21
I
I
.ΟΙ
I
2
6
9
.09
I
14
15
.16
.05
.07
.42
.54
2
260 2.71
2
8
.08
40
52
•54
.02
APPENDIX
343
TABLE V
CONSUMPTION OF FOODS BY FAMILIES AND PERSONS, FOR OWNERS, TENANTS, AND LABORERS
Tenants
Owners
486 families 1
75 families
Laborers
94 families 2
Num.
Aver-Aver- ber
age age
fam-
per per
ilies
family person having
none
Num-
Aver- Aver- ber
age age
fam-
per
per ilies
family person having
none
Total
Num.
Aver-Aver- ber
age age
fam-
per
per ilies
family person having
none
Total
40
336
429
323
285
4
37
66
48
31
215
36
4
223,170 | 465 | 96
282,450
588 120
14,807 31
22,567 47 IO
10,273 21 4.3
817 2
4,176 9 2
85,012 177
24,037 50 IO
Total
Pork raised
Pork bought
Beef raised
Beef bought
Flour raised
Flour bought
Chickens
Eggs
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Meal
Fruit canned
Vegetables canned
316,557 659 135
23,515 49 IO
13,497
28 6
8,867 18
6.3
48,577 684 120
3,724 52 9
963 14 3
979 14 3
44,560
628 I10
34,350 478 84
2,136 30 5
3,024 43 7.5
1,487 21 3.6
152 2
737
IO 2
12,927
182 32
4,532 64 II
39,509 420 89
10,150 108 23
325 3 I
3,631 39
8
0
92,300 982 201
1,753 19 4
2,813 30 6.4
1,592 17
3.6
63
335 4
10,412 II2 23
3,837 41 8.7
38
23
2
332
119
16
122
م در به ه
25
38
91
44
94
O
17
12
I
72
27
I
25
2
o
36
7
O
IO
i First six items, records are for 480 families; for remainder, 479.
* Records for 94 families,
344
APPENDIX
TABLE VI
ATTENDANCE OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN AT CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL, AND OF CHILDREN AT SCHOOL,
FOR OWNERS, TENANTS, AND LABORERS
Parents
Children
Parents
Children
Parents
Children
Not
Attend-attend-Attend-attend-Attend-attend-Attendattend. Attend-attend- Attend-attend-
ing ing ing ing ing ing ing ing ing ing
ing
ing
regu- regu.
regu-
regu- regu- regu- regu- regu. regu- regu- regu- regu-
larly larly larly larly
larly larly larly larly larly larly larly
Tenants
Owners
486 families
75 families 1
Laborers
96 families
Not
Not
Not
Not
Not
larly
Church
324
162
310
II2
35
39
43
24
55
41
53
28
Sunday School
269
217
287
135
29
45
40
27
44
52
49
32
School
181
93
28
25
31
28
1 Records for 74 families,
APPENDIX
345
TABLE VII
CAUSES OF ABSENCE FROM SCHOOL OF CHILDREN, FOR FAMILIES OF
OWNERS, TENANTS, AND LABORERS, AS STATED BY PARENTS 1
Owners
Tenants
Laborers
Work .
38
18
15
Sickness
25
5
7
Indifference
22
2
6
No school
5
Distance and weather
6
I
Taught at home .
I
1 Some families gave more than one reason.
TABLE VIII
NUMBER AND AVERAGE AGES OF MEN AND WOMEN, FOR OWNERS
TENANTS, AND LABORERS
Owners
Tenants
Laborers
Men
Women
Men
Women
Men
Women
Number
444
440
74
70
91
92
Average age
50. I
45.7
39.8
34.8
41.7
37.1
346
APPENDIX
TABLE IX
EDUCATION OF MEN AND WOMEN, FOR OWNERS, TENANTS,
AND LABORERS
Owners
Tenants
Laborers
Number Number Number Number Number Number
men tomen men women men Women
15
5
18
16
Cannot read or write
Completed ist grade
2nd
58
15
22
I
2
54
6
8
29
2
2
2
I
4
2
ΙΟ
IO
3rd
4th
5th
29
58
75
IO
15
16
67
82
14
16
18
IO
13
8
20
22
2
I
II
7
3
14
114
4
5
15
7
IO
5
16
IIO
II
2
I
3
4
2
I
I
I
2
2
2
I
I
I
I
1
I
6th
7th
8th
9th
Ioth
IIth
12th
Some high school
High school graduate
I yr. academy
Academy graduate
2 yrs. prep. school
Some normal.
Normal graduate
I yr. Normal.
I yr. college
112 yr. college
2 yrs. college
College graduate
College and 2 yrs. medical
Unknown
I
I
I
I
2
2
2
2
I
I
3
3
I
I
I
I
I
3
I
I
I
5
3
Total
426
419
68
65
89
89
APPENDIX
347
TABLE X
KINDS AND CONDITION OF HOMES AND EQUIPMENT, FOR OWNERS,
TENANTS, AND LABORERS
Owners
485
families
Tenants Laborers
74
96
families families
Frame
418
59
75
53
14
16
Log
Both log and frame .
Stone
9
Kind of house
I
Brick
4
I
I
Stucco
4
5.84
5.77
4.79
Average number rooms per house
Average number rooms per person
1.20
1.01
1.02
Good
213
25
30
Fair
153
27
40
Poor
119
22
26
Home
repair atmosphere
State of
233
24
30
O
Good
Fair
29
45
144
106
Poor
21
21
Yes
242
35
37
No
243
39
59
Screened
Toilets or partly
screened
Yes
390
58
73
No
95
16
23
Yes
53
I
4
No
432
73
92
31
32
Water
in
house
Source of
water supply
21
20
Wells
Cisterns
Springs
River
235
63
185
5
21
44
I
Average depth of wells 1
47
48
64
1 Record for 260.
348
APPENDIX
TABLE XI
MEMBERSHIP IN CLUBS AND ORDERS AND ATTENDANCE AT MEETINGS
AND FUNCTIONS, OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN, FOR
OWNERS, TENANTS, AND LABORERS
Owners
486 families
Tenants
75 families 1
Laborers
96 families
Parents Children Parents Childrer Parents
Children
Clubs
136
58
9
3
4
an
Picnics
159
155
26
29
34
31
Parties
80
123
6
17
14
13
Dances
18
26
I
2
8
6
Athletics
47
60
7
9
2
7
Public meetings
194
133
20
13
38
20
Fraternal orders
109
19
20
1 Records for 74.
TABLE XII
HOME EQUIPMENT, AUTOMOBILES, AND TRACTORS, FOR OWNERS,
TENANTS, AND LABORERS
Laborers
Owners
486 families
Tenants
75 families 1
96 families
Having
Not
having
Having
Not
having
Having
Not
having
Piano or organs
234
252
19
55
20
76
Other musical in-
struments
150
26
336
.
48
31
65
Sewing machines.
401
85
59
15
68
28
Power washer
16
470
0
74
I
95
Telephones
267
219
31
43
24
72
Automobiles
III
376
12
62
22
74
Lighting systems.
77
409
2
72
IO
86
Tractors
15
471
0
74
0
96
i Records for 74.
APPENDIX
349
TABLE XIII
READING MATTER, FOR OWNERS, TENANTS, AND LABORERS
Owners
486
families
Tenants Laborers
75
96
families 1 families
Total number books
22,547
1,290
.
1,995
Books
46
17
21
Average number per family.
Number families having none
55
II
20
Total number dailies.
129
22
26
Dailies
.26
.30
.27
Average number per family .
Number families having none
370
55
72
Total number weeklies
514
43
38
Weeklies
1.06
•58
•40
Average number per family.
Number families having none
150
45
70
Total number farm papers
605
84
63
Farm
Papers
1.24
1.13
.65
Average number per family.
Number families having none
174
32
58
Total number current maga-
zines.
520
52
46
Current
Magazines
1.07
.70
.
.48
Average number per family
Number families having none
255
44
70
1 Records for 74.
350
APPENDIX
TABLE XIV
OCCUPATIONS OF CHILDREN WHO HAVE LEFT HOME BY NUMBER AND
PER CENT, FOR FAMILIES OF OWNERS, TENANTS, AND LABORERS
Owners
486 families
Tenants
75 families
Laborers
96 families
Number Per cent Number Per cent Number Per cent
Farm work
245
29+
1
5
9-
8
15+
Unskilled work
116
14-
II
22 -
10
19+
.
Local industrial
work
115
14 -
13
25+
Ιο
19+
Clerical and sales
work
57
7-
I
2-
I
2 —
re-
76
9+
2
4-
0
•
Professions with
educational
quirement
Professions with
apprenticeship
requirement
Semi-skilled work
89
II+
I
2 —
8
15+
66
8-
5
IO —
5
IO
Miscellaneous
34
4+
6
12 -
•
IO-
5
Unknown
46
5+
7
14-
2|
IO-
Total
844
51
52
.
INDEX
Absence from school (see School Children
attendance)
Number of rural at home 17, 18
Adoption of children
Number of rural away from
Law 270, 326, 384, 337, 338
home 19, 46, 47, 48, 49
Methods of 202-203, 230
Club work 9, 10, 38, 39, 40, 62-93,
Agriculture-See Labor, Child 113, 132, 133, 144, 156, 161,
Farms, Farm work
258
Almshouses
Consent, age of 264, 285
Detention homes 197, 220, 223,
County board of children's guar-
234-235
dians proposed 260, 329-
Homes for children 2, 3, 170,
332, 337-338
173, 175, 196-200, 207, 215, County board of education 136,
236
299-303, 335
Apprenticeship law 268-271
County board of health 257, 290,
Attendance (see School attend-
291, 293
ance)
County social worker proposed
Automobiles on farms 41, 42
175, 217, 218, 224, 329-332,
336-338
Binding out of children 3, II, 170,
County superintendent of schools
(se e Superintendent of
173, 175, 190-196, 334, 338
schools, county)
Court
Causes of absence from school Circuit 171, 173, 178, 183, 211,
45, 46, 74, 76-77, 101, 102,
262, 270, 276, 278, 281, 282,
104-119
316, 317, 318, 322, 329, 334,
Census, school (see Schools, cen-
337, 338
sus)
County 171, 173, 190, 196, 206,
Certificates of teachers (see
207, 246, 270, 271, 276, 281,
Schools, teachers)
290, 291, 293, 296, 300, 326,
Children
327
Ages of 17, 18, 19
Juvenile (see Juvenile Court)
Blind 252, 306, 307, 338
Custody of child 6, 180, 216, 267-
Crippled 215, 306, 325, 331, 338
283, 333, 337, 338
Deaf and dumb 252, 306, 307,
325, 331, 338
Defective children 3, 102, 172,
Delinquent (see Delinquent 216, 283, 287, 307, 315, 330,
children)
331, 338 (see also Children,
Dependent (see Dependent blind, crippled, deaf and
children)
dumb, feeble-minded)
Feeble-minded (see Feeble- Delinquent children 1, 2, 3, 10,
minded children)
168, 172, 216, 219-235, 283,
Neglected (see Neglected chil-
287, 315, 316-323, 330, 331,
dren)
337, 338
351
352
INDEX
Foods 12, 22, 25, 34-38, 48, 49, 50,
175, 183
Foster parents (see Homes, fos-
ter)
Funds (see Taxes)
Guardianship 3, 7, 166, 173, 182-
184, 268, 269, 271-277, 282,
284, 319, 324, 325, 334, 337,
338
Delinquent children
Methods of dealing with 222,
223, 226-235, 320, 326, 329
Offenses of 222, 224-226, 228
Dependent children 1, 3, 165-218,
274, 283, 284, 287, 315, 316,
323-332, 333, 337-338
Defined 165-166
Disposition of by court 166,
190-199, 206-208
Deserted children 175, 211, 272
Divorce commissioner as juve-
nile referee 329, 337
Divorce law 262, 263, 278, 280, 334
Earnings of child 50, 86, 87, 90
Parents' right to 268, 269, 333
Education (see Schools)
Employment
Children (see Labor, child)
Women before and after child-
birth 7, 266, 333
Enforcement (see Child labor
law and School attendance
law)
Enrollment at school (see
Schools, enrollment)
Entertainments, school (see
Schools, entertainments)
Experience of teachers
(see
Schools, teachers)
Family, rural
age of parents 16, 17, 20, 174,
Health 1, 6, 12, 62, 69, 265, 286
Health conditions 4, 28-34, 45, 50,
77-81, 104-108, 119-123, 162,
163, 175, 266, 267
Health examinations 7, 107, 294,
295, 301, 302, 311, 325, 335
Health work 7, 8, 171, 172, 216,
217, 236, 259, 260, 334, 335
By county 8, 290-297, 334, 335
By state 8, 255, 287-292, 294-
296
Federal aid for 8, 296, 297
Funds 290, 291, 292, 293-334,
335
Heating of school houses (see
Schools, heating)
Home-finding 3, 171-174, 179, 186,
201
315, 319, 325, 331 (see also
Placing Out of children)
Homes
Broken 168, 169, 173, 174, 176-
190, 214
Foster 168, 170, 172-180, 189,
216, 236
Hit-or-miss 174-178, 180-182,
187, 236
Relatives 168, 170, 176-177
Homes, farm (see Farm Homes)
Housing 4, 28-30
Size of 17, 18, 19, 20, 26
Farm homes 4, 5, 12-51, 152
Atmosphere of 29, 32, 50, 188
Kinds of 28, 29, 32, 174, 189
Farm income 24-28, 45, 50
Sources of 25-28
Supplementary 26-28
Farms, types 13, 14, 48, 49, 88
Farm work as cause of absence
from school 45, 72, 74-75,
107-113
Farm work, kinds of 13, 20, 21,
23, 48, 55-60, 70, 108
Feeble-mindedness 7, 9, 95, 170,
175, 197, 198, 201, 204, 212,
213, 215, 216, 262, 265, 306,
315, 316
Illegitimate children 7, 157, 170,
175, 200-203, 272, 274, 279,
333-334
Law 265, 280-283, 333
Illiteracy 43, 44, 101, 139
Illness as cause of absence from
school 45, 46, 104-108
Income, farm (see Farm in-
come)
INDEX
353
Indifference as cause of absence
from school 46, 107, 108,
114-119
Institutions 8, 173, 201, 206, 215,
216, 223, 321-326, 330
Control of 249
List of 249-255
State 184, 215
Neglected children 1, 6, 10, 168,
210, 216, 236, 272, 387, 315,
316, 323-326, 329-331, 337,
338
Orphanages 170, 171, 174, 179,
186, 252, 315, 325
Orphans 184, 197
338
Jail as detention home 223, 232,
233-234, 236, 321
Justice of Peace dealing with
children 173, 224, 227, 228,
229, 237, 320, 322
Juvenile Court 10, 219-235, 237,
270, 271, 277, 279, 316-326,
329-332, 334, 336-338
Labor, child 9, 10, 11, 52-93, 103,
143, 144, 145, 269, 307-315,
328, 331, 332, 336, 337 (see
also Work permits)
Enforcement 11, 260, 307-308,
312-315, 331, 336, 338
Farm 4, 23, 24, 45, 46, 52-93,
108, 309, 310, 312, 336
Law 53, 102, 207, 261, 262, 269,
309-315, 328, 331, 336, 337
Standards for II, 62, 77, 81,
110, 314, 336
Laborers (see Work, rural in-
dustrial)
Land ownership 12-51
Tenure 15, 16, 189
Pensions, mothers' 170, 171, 172,
175, 204-209, 260, 316, 326-
329, 337, 338 (see also
on
McClung,
Mrs., quoted
schools 133
Marriage 7, 175, 263, 266, 269,
270, 278-280
Ages for 7, 264, 265, 271, 283
Early 175, 211
License 7, 264, 265, 266, 269,
333
Marriage laws 333
Maternity homes 201, 252, 266-
267, 315, 326
Mental tests 7, 198
Midwives 266, 335
Music
In homes 41, 42
In schools (see Schools, music)
Poor relief)
Placing out of children 170-173,
174, 179, 186, 187, 214-215,
217, 224, 315, 319, 325-326,
330-331 (see also Home-
finding)
Play (see Recreation)
Playgrounds 10, 131, 304
Poor relief 1, 3, 8, III, 171, 172,
175, 204-210, 236, 258, 259,
260, 324, 327-329, 331
Poverty as cause of absence from
school 108-113
Pre-natal care 7, 266, 267, 294,
333, 335
Privies
At farin homes 25, 30, 31, 33,
50, 174, 189
School 120
Probation service 10, 172-174, 179,
207, 224, 227, 230-232, 235,
237, 259, 279, 317, 318, 319,
321, 329, 330, 331, 332, 334,
337, 338
Qualifications of teachers (see
Schools, teachers)
Recreation 1, 4, 6, 10, 12, 38-43,
51, 60, 62, 81-83, 140-164,
175, 236, 237, 286, 301
Agricultural clubs 10, 38, 39,
40, 66-68, 156, 161
Athletics 10, 39, 160, 163
Church and Sunday School at-
tendance 10, 39, 41, 149,
157
Dances 38, 39, 40, 154
Fraternal orders 39
354
INDEX
Recreation
Parties 38, 40, 148, 149, 154, 156
Picnics 38, 39, 148
Playgrounds (see Playgrounds
and Schools)
Public meetings 10, 39
School (see Schools, recrea-
tion)
Trips 41
Reading matter in homes 42-43,
174, 189, 190
Red Cross 167, 171, 204-205, 210,
233, 257
Relief of poor (see Poor relief)
Retardation in school 76, 94-96,
98, 100-101, 188
Rights of children 1, 2, 5-11, 12,
18, 45, 51, 54, 60, 77, 94,
I10, 141, 142, 203, 214-217,
237, 261, 272-274, 279, 283,
286, 287
Roads, condition of 114, 135, 170
Sanitation 4, 289
Homes 25, 28-30, 33, 34, 50
Schools 107, 119, 120
Schools 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 43-46, 51,
62, 94-139, 183, 236, 261,
286, 297-306, 335, 336
Administration 10, 133, 136,
137, 297-307, 335
Attendance 3, 4, 9, 44-46, 51,
72, 74-77, 83, 94-139, 174,
175, 187, 188, 196, 197, 206,
215, 236, 303-306, 328, 336
Compulsory, law 102, 207,
262, 269, 304, 306, 307, 328,
336
Enforcement 9, 10, 45, 46, 93,
102, 103, 105, 109, 136, 210,
255, 260, 302, 312-315, 336-
337
Exemptions 9, 102-103, 305
Officers 9, 46, 102, 136, 167,
210, 221, 200, 305, 306, 307,
310, 312, 313, 314, 332, 335,
336, 338
Records of 75, 98, 104-118,
335
Census 9, 99, 100, 136, 304,
305, 307, 335
Schools
Condition of 51, 76, 77, 119-
124, 303
Consolidation 10, 114, 133,
134, 135, 304
Curriculum 9, 10, 130-133,
336
District boards 136, 259, 300-
303, 305, 335
Enrollment 304, 98-100
Entertainnients 131, 132
Equipment 123, 124, 130, 133,
134
Federal aid for 9
Funds 136, 137, 138, 240-244,
246, 255-257, 259, 302, 335
Heating 122, 123, 131
Libraries 131
Lighting 122
Location of 113, 114, 119, 134
Music 131
Part time 9, 11, 314, 336
Playgrounds 131, 134, 157, 159,
304
Recreation 10, 131, 132, 157,
158, 159, 160, 161, 301
Superintendent, county (see
Superintendent of schools,
county)
Teachers 124-130, 139, 301, 304
Certificates of 124, 125, 298,
300, 303, 305, 306, 336
Experience of 125-128
Qualifications of 4, 51, 89,
125-130, 134, 136, 137, 157-
159, 303
Salaries of 51, 122, 128, 137,
138
Shortage of 96, 97, 126-128
Term, length of 9, 75, 96, 97,
137, 139
Transportation of pupils 134-
135
Water supply 121-122
Screening of houses 28-29, 30, 33,
50
Standards for child welfare 5-11,
96, 202, 204, 214, 215, 216,
237, 261, 314
State Board of Children's Guar-
dians 172, 173, 237, 252,
INDEX
355
Toilets (see Privies)
Tramp children 2, 3, 174, 177, 181,
182, 214, 236
Transportation of pupils (see
Schools, transportation)
Unmarried mothers 157, 175, 197,
200-203, 280-283, 334
Vital Statistics, law 7, 262, 289,
291, 292
Water supply
Homes 25, 28, 30, 31, 33, 34, 50,
189
Schools (see Schools, water
supply)
Weather as cause of absence
262, 266, 267, 315, 319, 320,
323, 325, 329, 330, 331, 332,
337, 338
State Board of Control 249-255,
306, 316, 321, 322
State Bureau of Labor 255, 287,
307-315, 332, 337, 338
State Child Welfare Commission
262
State Department of Child Wel-
fare, proposed 287, 315
State Department of Education
96, 99, 103, 125, 126, 137,
159, 287, 297-299, 300, 303,
306, 308, 315, 335
State Department of Health 8,
255, 287-290, 293, 294, 296,
308, 315
Superintendent of Schools
County 136, 299-301, 303, 317,
318, 335
State 297-299, 303, 309, 335
from school 113, 114
Work (see also Labor, child)
Farm 3, 4, 18, 20, 21-23, 24, 45,
46, 48, 50, 52, 55-60, 70,
108, 162-163, 309, 310, 312,
336
Rural industrial, 15, 22, 23, 70
Skilled 21, 22, 27, 28, 46, 47, 48
Unskilled 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 46,
47, 48
Work as cause of absence from
school (see Farm work as
à cause of absence)
Work of children (see Labor,
child, also Farm work)
Work permits 9, 11, 112, 136, 207,
200, 305, 309-315, 328, 336
Taxes 238-260
Outline of system 239-245
Property 246-248
Road 257, 259
School 136, 137, 138, 246, 255-
257, 259, 302, 335
Teachers (see Schools, teachers)
Telephones in homes 41, 42
Tenancy 12-51
Term of school (see Schools,
term)
16 HH
91
BR4
03/08
02-013-01
4230
Group
UKIO
312
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 06607 1039
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1.53
:...