SEATTLE CHILDREN 
 
 IN 
 
 SCHOOL AND IN INDUSTRY 
 
 WITH 
 
 RECOMMENDATIONS FOB INCREASING THE EFFICIENCY 
 OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM AND FOR DECREASING 
 THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC WASTE INCI- 
 DENT TO THE EMPLOYMENT OF 
 CHILDREN 14 to 18 YEARS 
 OF AGE 
 
 BY 
 
 Anna Y. Reed, Ph. D. 
 
 Published by the Board of School Directors 
 
 Seattle, Washington 
 
 January, 1915 
 

 printers 
 Lowman & Hanford Co. 
 
 SEATTLE, WASH. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Pa.?e 
 
 Letters of Transmittal 5-8 
 
 Facts About Seattle 9-11 
 
 Sources of Information and Methods of Investigation.... 12-13 
 
 Section I.— Children Who Left School, 1913-1914 15-24 
 
 Number of Children Who Left 17 
 
 Reasons for Leaving 18-20 
 
 First Positions 20-22 
 
 Changes in Position 22-23 
 
 Initial Wage 23 
 
 Periods of Unemployment 23-24 
 
 Section II. — School Leaving and Labor Permits 25-40 
 
 Classification of Permits 27-29 
 
 Influence of Nationality 30 
 
 Size of Families and Head of Family ' 31 
 
 Retardation of Working Children 31-33 
 
 Occupation of Parents 33 
 
 Economic Status of Family 34-40 
 
 (1) School Leaving Permits and 
 Economic Pressure 34-38 
 
 (2) Labor Permits and Economic 
 Pressure 38-40 
 
 Section III. — Educational and Occupational Experience 
 of Boys and Girls up to 21 Years Who Have 
 
 Been Out of School from One to Five Years 41-77 
 
 Reasons for Leaving 43-44 
 
 Number of Positions 45 
 
 Retardation 46-47 
 
 First Positions and Changes in Positions 47-59 
 
 Handicaps in Securing Promotions 59 
 
 Suggestions for the School System 59-61 
 
 Supplemental Education 61-73 
 
 Initial and Final Wage - 73-77 
 
 Section IV. — Minimum Wage and Vocational Efficiency 78-90 
 
 Section V. — State School and Child Labor Laws and the 
 
 Making of Unemployables 91-95 
 
 Section VI. — Conclusions and Recommendations 96-103 
 
 362138 
 
LIST OF TABLES. 
 
 Table I. 
 
 << 
 
 II. 
 
 " 
 
 III. 
 
 (< 
 
 IV. 
 
 " 
 
 V. 
 
 " 
 
 VI. 
 
 
 VII. 
 
 Table VIII. 
 
 << 
 
 IX. 
 
 " 
 
 X. 
 
 " 
 
 XI. 
 
 " 
 
 XII. 
 
 <( 
 
 XIII. 
 
 « 
 
 XIV. 
 
 <« i 
 
 XV. 
 
 " 
 
 XVI. 
 
 << 
 
 XVII. 
 
 <« 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 \„ 
 
 XIX. 
 
 <( 
 
 XX. 
 
 << 
 
 XXI. 
 
 <« 
 
 XXII. 
 
 * Table XXIII. 
 
 " 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 <« 
 
 XXV. 
 
 " 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 " 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 << 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 «< 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 " 
 
 XXX. 
 
 " 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 <« 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 <i 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 << 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 " 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 u 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 l< 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 Page 
 
 Children Leaving School 1913-1914 17 
 
 Reasons for Leaving School 18 
 
 First Positions — Boys 21 
 
 First Positions — Girls 21 
 
 Number of Positions 23 
 
 Wage Table 23 
 
 Periods of Unemployment 24 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Permits 1913-1914 29 
 
 Nationality of Permit Children 30 
 
 Nmmber in Family and Head of Family 31 
 
 Retardation of Working Children — Boys 31 
 
 Retardation of Working Children— Girls 32 
 
 Summary of Age and Grade on Receiving 
 
 Permit 32 
 
 Summary of Retardation 32 
 
 Occupation of Fathers 33 
 
 Family Resources — School Leaving Permits 35 
 Child's Wage in Relation to Resources — 
 
 School Leaving Permits 35 
 
 Rent in Relation to Resources — School Leav- 
 ing Permits 36 
 
 Family Resources — Labor Permits 38 
 
 Child's Wage in Relation to Resources — 
 
 Labor Permits 38 
 
 Rent in Relation to Resources — Labor Per- 
 mits 39 
 
 Summary of Total Permits 39 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 Reasons for School Leaving — Industrial 
 
 Group 43 
 
 Number of Years Since Leaving and Num- 
 ber of Positions „ 45 
 
 Summary of Positions 45 
 
 Age, Grade and Retardation — Girls 46 
 
 Age, Grade and Retardation — Boys 46 
 
 Summary of Age and Grade 46 
 
 Summary of Retardation 46 
 
 First Positions and School Grade — Boys 47 
 
 First Positions and School Grade — Girls 47 
 
 Changes in Position — Boys 48 
 
 Changes in Position— Girls 49 
 
 Relation of Evening Study to Day Employ- 
 ment — Women 70 
 
 Relation of Evening Study to Day Employ- 
 ment — Men 71 
 
 Wage Table — Industrial Group — Girls 75 
 
 Wage Table — Industrial Group — Boys 76 
 
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL TO THE 
 BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 
 
 January 15, 1915. 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 There are two questions, not new but often recur- 
 ring, which had become so persistent that about two 
 years ago I began to discuss means of finding an 
 answer to them. First, "What becomes of boys and 
 girls who leave school early, why do they leave, in 
 what do they engage, and with what success?" and, 
 second, "How can the public school serve this class of 
 pupils better without neglecting the interests of those 
 who remain?" An answer founded upon opinion or 
 based upon superficial observation in a problem so 
 grave, not only has little value, but may be very mis- 
 leading. Therefore, an investigation to elicit the facts 
 in the problem and a study of the facts in their several 
 relations appeared to be needful. 
 
 Obviously the requirements for the conduct of such 
 an investigation center in the breadth of view, in- 
 telligent interest and scientific training of the in- 
 vestigator. For one to be interested in humanity and 
 to have knowledge of the educational or industrial 
 field, only partially covers the requirement. To this 
 must be added an instinct for fact getting, keenness of 
 discrimination, and training and aptitude in the use 
 of scientific methods of investigation. 
 
 Fortunately for us, Mrs. J. A. Reed, a practical 
 sociologist, proved as an investigator in state work, 
 was available for the conduct of the inquiry and she, 
 under your auspices, has carried on the investigation 
 as a voluntary service. 
 
 Mrs. Reed's investigation and study of the condi 
 tions involved is now completed and submitted here- 
 with. That this study will help to set us on the 
 
 5 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 way to ministering more suitably to boys and girls 
 while in school I have no doubt, and it puts very 
 plainly before us another duty not yet adequately 
 met by any organization or body of people. 
 
 Each year finds many children between the ages 
 of fourteen and eighteen years leaving our public 
 school system and entering industry with little guid- 
 ance or supervision of any kind, and there are few 
 to realize that it is often a child's "first job" which 
 makes or mars his future. Gradually it is dawning 
 upon the observant portion of the public that the 
 most critical time in the child's school life is the 
 day on which he leaves it. Then, for the first time, 
 he is entirely released from discipline; then, for the 
 first time, with little help and no experience, he at- 
 tempts to adjust himself to new conditions and sur- 
 roundings, and, immature of mind and will and un- 
 developed in judgment, he is forced to grapple with 
 the great and varied problems which puzzle the mind 
 of the nation. Moreover, the theory that the public 
 schools exist for children who are in attendance, 
 whether attendance ceases at fourteen or eighteen 
 years, whether in the grammar grades or in the 
 high schools, is gradually giving place to the belief 
 that there are educational problems within the shop 
 as well as within the school, and that the protection 
 and supervision of the educator should follow the 
 working child into his new surroundings and help 
 in the solution of the problems involved in his daily 
 life. Expression of this change in sentiment as to 
 the function of the public school is found in the de- 
 mand for vocational surveys which seek to answer 
 the question, "Shall the educator follow the young 
 wage earner into industry and shall the curriculum 
 of the public schools be expanded to include the edu- 
 cational problems of industry?" 
 
 With the hope that we may be enabled to find a 
 way by which the evident need of vocational guidance 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 7 
 
 may be met through the instrumentality of the school 
 system, I submit this suggestive study and recom- 
 mend that the report be published. 
 
 Kespectfully submitted, 
 
 Frank B. Cooper, 
 Superintendent of Schools. 
 
 To the Board of Directors, 
 
 Seattle School District No. 1. 
 
 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL TO THE 
 SUPERINTENDENT. 
 
 November 24, 1914. 
 Sir: 
 
 According to your instructions, an endeavor has 
 been made to study and interpret the vocational 
 problems involved in education and the educational 
 problems involved in industry for the purpose of 
 ascertaining what can be done to establish a closer 
 and more profitable relation between our Public School 
 System and the business interests of our city. 
 
 The investigation proper covers a period of twelve 
 months, September 1913, to September 1914. An- 
 other two months have been necessary for the classi- 
 fication and presentation of the results. 
 
 No paid workers have been employed except for the 
 month of August, when salary to the extent of $90 
 was allowed in order to complete home visitation. 
 Lack of assistant investigators has been both an ad- 
 vantage and a disadvantage. On the one hand, it 
 has delayed the completion of the report and has 
 forced the investigator to act entirely upon her own 
 initiative, denying her, in many instances, the valu- 
 able suggestions which are the result of varied view- 
 points. On the other hand, it has meant uniformity 
 in standards of investigation and the interpretation 
 
8 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 of facts in the light of first-hand information, which 
 is impossible when one corps of workers collects ma- 
 terial and another interprets it. Personally, I do 
 not regret lack of assistance except in so far as it 
 may detract from the value of the report, but rather 
 I am thankful for the opportunity to study this in- 
 teresting subject, in all its phases, first hand. In- 
 crease in knowledge of educational and occupational 
 life in Seattle, and in understanding of related sub- 
 jects, has more than compensated me for the ex- 
 penditure of time and effort. 
 
 To those who have welcomed us in their homes, 
 to those who have been associated with us as vol- 
 unteers and to the employers and employees of Seattle 
 who have co-operated with us in this public service, 
 I desire to express my appreciation and thanks. I 
 am pleased also to acknowledge the courtesies shown 
 me by the teaching corps and by the office force with 
 which I have been associated. Both have contrib- 
 uted in no small degree to the pleasure of this un- 
 dertaking and to whatever degree of success it may 
 merit. 
 
 I thank you, also, and the Board of Education for 
 your co-operation and encouragement and for the 
 patience with which you have awaited the completion 
 of this task. 
 
 Special mention for valuable assistance is due Su- 
 perintendent Quigley and Chief Attendance Officer 
 Ketchum, both of whom have given freely of their 
 time and advice. Should any benefit come to our 
 Seattle children through the medium of this investi- 
 gation, I trust that these two officials, with each and 
 every person who has assisted, may feel that it is 
 largely due to his, or her, interest and co-operation. 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 Anna Y. Reed. 
 To Mr. Frank B. Cooper, 
 
 Superintendent of Public Schools. 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 FACTS ABOUT SEATTLE. 
 
 Seattle, the largest city in the State of Washington 
 and the metropolis of the Pacific Northwest, is lo- 
 cated on Puget Sound, about one hundred twen- 
 ty-five miles, by water, from the Pacific Ocean, in 
 nearly the center of what is known as the Puget 
 Sound country. 
 
 The climate is equable with no extremes of heat or 
 cold. The summers are cool and the winters are 
 mild, with very little snow, if any, except in the 
 nearby mountains. The average temperature of win- 
 ter is 40 degrees, while that of summer is 62 de- 
 grees. The average yearly rainfall amounts to 34.62 
 inches. 
 
 Seattle was first settled by the whites in 1852. In 
 1853 it was laid out as a town and named Seattle 
 after a friendly Indian chief. It became an incorpo- 
 rated town in 1865 and was re-incorporated in 1869. 
 
 The United States census for 1900 gave the city a 
 population of 80,671, while that of 1910 gave the 
 population as 237,194, showing an increase of 194 
 per cent for the decade, while the census for the state 
 at large in 1910 showed an increase of 120 per cent 
 over the census for 1900. The estimate of the United 
 States Census Bureau July 1, 1914, gave the popula- 
 tion of the city as 313,029, while the Postal Census of 
 October 1914, estimated it at 329,704. 
 
 The population of 1910, according to sex, consisted 
 of 136,773 males and 100,421 females. The number 
 of illiterates was 2,217, of which 1,373 were illiterate 
 males of voting age. Those of native white parentage 
 numbered 105,784, those of foreign born white par- 
 entage 60,835, the balance being Chinese, Japanese, 
 Indians, negroes, etc. 
 
10 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 The statistics for 1910 show that 102,526 males 
 out of a population of 120,532 over 10 years of age 
 were engaged in gainful occupations; 19,759 females 
 out of a population of 84,496 over 10 years of age 
 were likewise engaged in gainful occupations. 
 
 Seattle is primarily a commercial and distributing 
 center. Its seven trans-continental railroads and fifty- 
 eight steamship lines furnish unexcelled transporta- 
 tion facilities both by rail and water and have estab- 
 lished the city as the gateway to Alaska and the 
 Orient. The completion of the navigable Government 
 Canal connecting the fresh water lakes, Lake Union 
 and Lake Washington, with Elliott Bay, will increase 
 the water-frontage of the city to more than one hun- 
 dred forty miles, thus insuring ample anchorage and 
 dockage facilities for a fast growing world-wide com- 
 merce. 
 
 The reasons are numerous why Seattle should be- 
 come an important manufacturing and industrial 
 center. The large quantities of raw material, the 
 exceptional transportation facilities, the abundance 
 of material for building purposes, the nearby exten- 
 sive coal deposits, the adjacent water power, and the 
 ideal sites available for industrial concerns, seem to 
 insure the trend of the city's activity. In 1904 the 
 manufacturing concerns were 467 in number with a 
 total annual product amounting in value to $25,- 
 460,000. Five years later (1909) the number of plants 
 had increased to 751, with a total annual product 
 valued at $50,569,198. 
 
 During the past ten years the city has spent $5,440,- 
 000 in securing and maintaining 28 public parks which 
 have an aggregate area of more than 1,800 acres, 22 
 playgrounds for children and more than 30 miles of 
 scenic driveways. In 1913 the people of King County 
 authorized the expenditure of $3,000,000 in the con- 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 11 
 
 struction of permanent roads in the county outside of 
 Seattle. 
 
 Seattle's public day schools had an enrollment of 
 35,527 pupils for the year of 1914, of which 6,066 
 were enrolled in the high schools. The number of 
 high school graduates in 1914 was 739, 41 per cent 
 of which were boys. More than 6,400 pupils were 
 enrolled in the free public evening schools of the city 
 during the year of 1914, in which courses are offered 
 the same as in day schools. The building equipment 
 of the school system consists of six high schools and 
 seventy grade schools, which have a total appraised 
 value of over |6,394,000. More than 1,100 teachers 
 are required in the day schools. 
 
 School attendance is compulsory. All text-books 
 and supplies are furnished free to pupils. 
 
 In addition to the public school system there are 
 private and denominational schools and business col- 
 leges. The Y. M. C. A. offers opportunities for work 
 in business, trade, mechanical and commercial courses, 
 accommodating about 1,000 students per term. 
 
 Within the city limits, on a campus of 355 acres, 
 is located the State University of Washington. For 
 the year 1914 the enrollment was 3,340 students. 
 The faculty numbered 177 instructors. The Univer- 
 sity is amply endowed by the State and owns valu- 
 able property in the city's business center. 
 
12 Seattle Children in School and in Industry). 
 
 SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND 
 METHODS OF INVESTIGATION. 
 
 The following methods have been employed in con- 
 ducting the investigation and in securing and classi- 
 fying the information upon which conclusions and 
 recommendations are based: 
 
 Four schedules were used for the purpose of re- 
 cording the isolated facts. Schedule No. 1 formed 
 the basis of the investigation. It was filled out by 
 teachers, or by the principal in each school for each 
 child in the grammar school or high school who 
 dropped out during the year 1913-14. From these 
 schedules we secured the name, age, nationality, resi- 
 dence and school rating of each child, as well as the 
 teacher's opinion regarding the cause of leaving. 
 
 With this information as a guide, personal visits 
 were made to 919 Seattle homes. During these visits 
 information was secured for either or both Schedules 
 II and III. Schedule II was used for children who 
 had left school during 1913-14 only. The facts cov- 
 ered were the economic and educational status of the 
 family, the parents' reason for allowing children to 
 leave school; their point of view as to the industrial 
 outlook and their idea as to home and school respon- 
 sibility for the success of their children, both as in- 
 dividual workers in industry and as collective mem- 
 bers of society. Such working experience as the 
 child might have had either before or after leaving 
 school was also recorded. Schedule III contained 
 the record of all boys and girls in the same or in 
 other homes who had been out of the Seattle Public 
 Schools one or more years. The primary object of this 
 schedule was to ascertain the experience and secure 
 the advice of workers who had been out of school 
 long enough and who had acquired sufficient experi- 
 ence to test their own economic and social value and 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 13 
 
 the value of the education which they had secured 
 prior to entering industry. The questionnaire in- 
 cluded their reasons for leaving school and their 
 present opinion as to the wisdom of so doing; the 
 various occupations entered and their success or fail- 
 ure in each, and how far better preparation might 
 have been secured either through their own or through 
 school initiative. 
 
 Schedule IV contained the employer's estimate of 
 the value of the child in industry and such sugges- 
 tions as employers were able and willing to make 
 for greater efficiency in preparing the young for busi- 
 ness life. 
 
 In classifying this material one schedule has been 
 checked by the others and every effort has been made 
 to verify facts before accepting them as such. In 
 presenting conclusions and in offering tabulation of 
 facts to support the same, the sources of information 
 have been indicated by reference to schedule numbers. 
 
 Detailed studies of each occupation which absorbs 
 a sufficient number of young wage earners to warrant 
 the undertaking are contemplated. For this reason 
 occupational information is not included in this re- 
 port. 
 
SECTION I. 
 Children Who Left School, 1913-1914. 
 
SECTION I. 
 
 Children Who Left School, 1913-1914. 
 
 From Schedule I we „ received the names of 402 
 pupils who had left the grammar schools and 822 
 pupils who had left the high schools during 1913-14. 
 We should be glad to state that such numbers in- 
 cluded the entire list of pupils leaving school during 
 the period covered, but our "check" system indicated 
 a number of instances in which teachers and prin- 
 cipals had neglected to furnish the school leaving in- 
 formation and approximate accuracy only can be 
 claimed. 
 
 t'able No. 1 offers a tabulation of the school leaving 
 children classified along the following lines: (1) as 
 to grammar school or high school, and (2) without 
 permits or with permits and the kind.* 
 
 Table I. School Leaving 1913-1914. 
 
 
 School Leaving 
 Permits 
 
 Labor 
 Permits 
 
 No 
 Permit 
 
 Grand 
 Total 
 
 
 Boys 
 
 Girls 
 
 Total 
 
 Boys 
 
 Girls 
 
 Total 
 
 Boys 
 
 ^ Girls 
 
 Total 
 
 Boys 
 
 Girls 
 
 Total 
 
 Grades.. 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 63 
 
 22 
 
 67 
 
 89 
 
 140 
 
 110 
 
 250 
 
 195 
 
 207 
 
 402 
 
 High 
 School 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 27 
 
 12 
 
 1 
 
 38 
 12 
 2 
 
 171 
 174 
 116 
 13 
 
 138 
 89 
 56 
 13 
 
 309 
 263 
 172 
 26 
 
 182 
 
 174 
 
 117 
 
 13 
 
 165 
 101 
 
 347 
 
 2d « 
 
 
 
 
 275 
 
 3d ■ 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 57 174 
 
 4th ■ 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 26 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total... 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 63 
 
 34 
 
 107 
 
 141 
 
 614 
 
 406 
 
 1020 
 
 681 
 
 543 
 
 1224 
 
 Table II classifies the reasons why 1,224 children 
 left school during the year. The final tabulation is 
 based upon the personal opinion of the investigator 
 after comparing schedules I, II and III. 
 
 * The State Laws relative to granting labor and school leaving per- 
 mits and the tabulation of the various kinds of permits issued by the 
 Seattle Attendance Department are discussed under Section II., p. 27. 
 
 17 
 
18 
 
 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 Table II. 
 
 Reasons Why Children Left School. 
 
 
 
 Reasons 
 
 Grades 
 
 High Schools 
 
 Grand Totals 
 
 Boys 
 
 Girls 
 
 Total 
 
 Boys 
 
 Girls 
 
 Total 
 
 Boys 
 
 Girls 
 
 Total 
 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 11 
 82 
 31 
 
 9 
 
 30 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 7 
 9 
 5 
 
 15 
 
 11 
 
 173 
 
 45 
 
 w . 
 
 66 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 25 
 
 11 
 
 24 
 
 9 
 
 91 
 19 
 132 
 63 
 
 42 
 5 
 
 62 
 38 
 
 133 
 24 
 194 
 101 
 
 98 
 19 
 
 223 
 77 
 
 7 
 
 57 
 8 
 3 
 
 84 
 9 
 
 68 
 4 
 
 24 
 
 50 
 
 16 
 
 144 
 
 69 
 
 9 
 
 76 
 18 
 2 
 
 88 
 10 
 26 
 5 
 30 
 
 148 
 
 
 35 • 
 
 3. Economic pressure 
 
 91 
 14 
 
 7 
 
 36 
 
 367 
 146 
 
 
 16 
 
 6. Indifferent, trouble, dis- 
 
 like 
 
 7. To enter other schools . . . 
 
 21 
 8 
 3 
 
 67 
 
 5 
 
 53 
 
 46 
 12 
 
 1 
 
 80 
 3 
 17 
 
 67 
 
 20 
 
 4 
 
 147 
 8 
 70 
 
 133 
 
 26 
 
 5 
 
 9. Not pass, too large, dis- 
 couraged, misfit 
 
 17 
 4 
 
 15 
 4 
 
 172 
 19' 
 
 
 94 
 
 12. Forced by parent 
 
 9 
 
 24 
 
 30 
 
 54 
 
 54 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 195 
 
 207 
 
 402 
 
 486 
 
 336 
 
 822 
 
 681 
 
 543 
 
 1224 
 
 
 
 Very frequently economic pressure or ill health has 
 been the reason given on the school blanks, while visit 
 to the home and conference with the child or parent 
 revealed dissatisfaction of some kind with the school. 
 On the other hand, several instances have been found 
 where parents have stated that children were not 
 interested and did not care to continue in school, 
 while personal interview with the child indicated 
 strong desire for further education had the parents 
 been willing. 
 
 Illustrations. 
 
 A's mother brought her to the office to secure a 
 labor permit. She stated that A. did not care to at- 
 tend high school and perf erred to go to work. A. 
 agreed to the statement. Interviewed alone at a later 
 date, A. with tears in her eyes said, "I was just per- 
 fectly crazy to go to high school, but my step-father 
 said a girl fifteen was old enough to earn her own 
 living." 
 
 B. left school in the seventh grade at 15 years of 
 age. The reason given by the teacher was "economic 
 pressure." Personal visitation revealed that this girl 
 was an only daughter in a very nice home. Her 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 19 
 
 parents were heart-broken to have her leave school 
 with a seventh grade education, but she had failed to 
 be promoted three semesters in succession and was so 
 large that she was ashamed to continue in the gram- 
 mar school. 
 
 C, age 14, eighth A, marked "economic pressure," 
 came to the office for a labor permit. In the course 
 of conversation he admitted that he could go to high 
 school if he desired but it was not worth while. "I 
 can't say the schools stand specially high in my favor 
 although there isn't anything special against them." 
 Later, "Some kids think they ought to get a good 
 teacher every time, but I don't. I've had about three 
 good ones out of every four and I don't make any 
 kick, somebody's got to have the poor ones." 
 
 D., age 19, a senior in the high school, marked "not 
 interested," was found to be a boy who was paying 
 his own way and had been forced to leave high school 
 at three different times because he was out of money. 
 He still expects to graduate. 
 
 More than one instance was found in which pupils 
 dropped out because they could not dress as well as 
 others. Parents could keep them' in school and fur- 
 nish the necessities and they were anxious to go, but 
 would not do so and feel mortified because they lacked 
 the clothing and spending money furnished other 
 children. 
 
 Conclusions. 
 
 In the grammar school 173, or approximately 40 
 per cent, left because of economic pressure and 115, or 
 28 per cent, because of dissatisfaction of some kind 
 with school. These are the two main factors in gram- 
 mar school leaving. As economic pressure is a rela- 
 tive term, and as about 30 per cent of those classified 
 under this heading admitted that they disliked school 
 and were glad to be relieved of attending, we are 
 
20 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 justified in assuming that "dissatisfaction" is an even 
 more potent factor in school leaving than statistical 
 tabulation indicates. 
 
 The real reasons for school leaving seemed to be 
 less understood by high school teachers than by grade 
 teachers. Home investigation revealed that large num- 
 bers were discouraged and feared failure. In this con- 
 nection it is rather interesting to note that of the total 
 number, 347, leaving during the freshman year, 92 
 dropped out prior to October 15th and 76 more prior 
 to March 15th. There was nothing on the record to 
 indicate what percentage of the 76 were pupils enter- 
 ing in the second semester, but in all we have a total 
 of 168, or approximately 50 per cent who dropped out 
 about the time of receiving their first report. The 
 reason for leaving assigned by the teacher was in 
 many instances either "ill health" or "economic pres- 
 sure," but the scholarship rating of the same pupils 
 by the same teachers was "failure" or "unsatisfactory" 
 in 101 out of the 168 cases. Visitation in the home 
 confirmed the suspicion that the scholarship record of 
 the pupil was better understood by the teacher and 
 was more nearly in harmony with the child's real rea- 
 son for leaving than was the reason offered by the 
 teacher. Of the 275 who left during the sophomore 
 year, 102 were rated as failures or unsatisfactory; of 
 the junior year, 32 out of 174, and of the senior year, 
 11 out of 26. Three of the eleven seniors are expecting 
 to try again and still hope to graduate. 
 
 First Positions of Those Leaving 1918-1914. 
 
 Tables No. III. and IV. contain tabulated informa- 
 tion regarding the lines of work entered by grammar 
 school students. Without assistant investigators it 
 was impossible to carry out this line of inquiry for 
 all high school pupils. Complete occupational infor- 
 mation was secured from but 138, 64 boys and 74 girls. 
 Many pupils leaving the high school have not entered 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 21 
 
 any remunerative line of work and do not expect 
 to do so. 
 
 Table in. First Positions 1913-1914. Boys. 
 
 Occupation 
 
 Grades 
 
 High School 
 
 Total 
 
 Percentage 
 
 
 61 
 39 
 
 16 
 17 
 2 
 11 
 
 1 
 1 
 6 
 1 
 3 
 
 24 
 12 
 18 
 6 
 
 85 
 51 
 34 
 23 
 2 
 12 
 
 2 
 6 
 1 
 3 
 
 37 
 
 33 ' 
 
 Department stores or inside messenger 
 Offices 
 
 20 . 
 13 
 
 Trades . . 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 5 " 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Vi 
 
 
 
 Vi 
 
 
 37 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 195 
 
 64 
 
 259 
 
 
 
 
 Table IV. First Positions 1913-1914. Girls. 
 
 Occupation 
 
 Grades 
 
 High School 
 
 Total 
 
 Percentage 
 
 
 86 
 25 
 32 
 20 
 8 
 4 
 
 20 
 24 
 
 8 
 8 
 4 
 
 106 
 49 
 40 
 28 
 12 
 4 
 10 
 32 
 
 38 
 
 Office 
 
 17 i 
 
 
 14 • 
 
 
 10 
 
 Trade 
 
 4 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 
 32 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 207 
 
 74 
 
 281 
 
 
 
 
 Seattle is a commercial rather than a manufacturing 
 center and the above tables indicate very clearly that 
 it is commercial rather than factory lines which ab- 
 sorb the young worker. Department stores claim 
 approximately 38* per cent of the. girls, while messen- 
 ger or delivery service claims about 33 per cent of 
 the boys. Factory work, largely for the cracker and 
 candy companies, employs 14 per cent of the girls, 
 and offices take another 17 per cent. Nine per cent 
 of the boys and 4 per cent of the girls entered upon 
 apprenticeship in skilled trades. We have found noth- 
 
 * All percentages are approximate. Fractions have been dropped 
 throughout the study. 
 
22 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 ing to indicate that manual trades are discredited as 
 employments nor have we received any expression 
 from children to confirm such a suspicion. The two 
 main factors influencing against trade apprenticeship 
 are (1) the low initial wage compared with the higher 
 remuneration in less desirable lines and (2) the 
 natural tendency of children to experiment with 
 various occupations rather than to become proficient 
 in one. Several excellent examples will serve to illus- 
 trate this statement. 
 
 A., age 15, left school in the fifth grade in February, 
 1914, was visited six months after leaving and the 
 following industrial record secured: He had been 
 employed three months and two days out of the six 
 months, had had four different positions and tried 
 three different trades. 
 
 B., age 16, out of school two years, left in the sev- 
 enth grade, had been employed 16% months out of 
 24, tried three different trades and was a delivery boy 
 at the time of our visit. 
 
 C, with a similar experience gave his reason for 
 changing from each position, "trying to find out which 
 trade is best." In reply to a question as to which 
 was the best he said, "printing." He was a delivery 
 boy at that date. 
 
 Thirty-two girls and 37 boys, or 17 per cent of the 
 total number leaving the grades, had not, at the time 
 of our visit, done any work of any kind. 
 
 Changes in Position. 
 
 Table V. indicates the number of positions held by 
 grade girls and boys who have been out of school 
 from one week to one year. In many instances the 
 home was visited as soon as we received the school 
 leaving report. Had we delayed our visits, it is legiti- 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 23 
 
 mate to infer that the number holding but one posi- 
 tion would have been greatly lessened. 
 
 Table Y. Number of Positions Held. 
 
 
 One 
 Position 
 
 Two 
 
 Positions 
 
 Three 
 Positions 
 
 Four 
 Positions 
 
 Five 
 Positions 
 
 No 
 Work 
 
 Total 
 
 Boys..... . 
 
 Girls 
 
 101 
 107 
 
 33 
 43 
 
 18 
 22 
 
 5 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 37 
 32 
 
 195 
 207 
 
 
 
 
 Total... 
 
 208 
 
 76 
 
 40 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 69 
 
 402 
 
 Initial Wage. 
 
 It was possible to make out a complete wage table 
 including all grammar school pupils and the 138 high 
 school pupils from whom industrial histories were 
 secured. 
 
 Table VI. Weekly Wage.* 
 
 
 $2 
 
 $3-4 
 
 $4-5 
 
 $5-6 
 
 $6-7 
 
 $7-8 
 
 $8-12 
 
 Total 
 
 Girls: 
 Grade 
 
 
 26 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 54 
 4 
 
 20 
 6 
 
 37 
 5 
 
 40 
 18 
 
 73 
 20 
 
 71 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 16 
 
 20 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 18 
 
 *20"" 
 
 207 
 
 High school.... 
 Boys: 
 Grade 
 
 1 
 
 74 
 156 
 
 
 
 64 
 
 
 
 
 . Total 
 
 1 
 
 33 
 
 84 
 
 100 
 
 176 
 
 55 
 
 42 
 
 501 
 
 The average initial wage of grammar school girls is 
 $5.10 and of high school girls $7.08; of grammar 
 school boys $6.07 and of high school boys $7.76. Com- 
 parison of average wage rates for the grammar school 
 and high school pupils might be useful in indicating 
 to parents and children the economic value of con- 
 tinuing their education whenever it is possible.f 
 
 Periods of Unemployment. 
 
 It was impossible to estimate the time of unemploy- 
 ment in proportion to the time of employment since 
 
 * Thirty-nine grade boys employed by the A. D. T. or delivering: on 
 commission are omitted. 
 
 t The influence of the minimum wage law in this particular is not 
 yet demonstrated. 
 
24 
 
 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 leaving school for the 402 grammar school pupils be- 
 cause so many initial wage rates were secured imme- 
 diately after the child left school and follow up visits 
 were not made. An especial effort was made to secure 
 this information for the 138 high school students 
 with the following results: 
 
 Table VII. Unemployment — 138 High School Students. 
 
 
 Average Time 
 Out of School 
 
 In First 
 Position 
 
 Percentage 
 
 Unemployed 
 
 at Date 
 
 Percentage 
 
 of time 
 Unemployed 
 
 Average 
 Wage 
 
 Girls 
 
 Boys 
 
 5 5-7 mos. 
 5 9-10 mos. 
 
 24H% 
 50H% 
 
 35% 
 16 3-5% 
 
 27^% 
 
 1»H% 
 
 $7.08 
 7.76 
 
 From the above statistics it is easy to estimate the 
 economic loss to high school pupils resulting from 
 periods of unemployment. Had we similar statistical 
 information for grammar school pupils it is safe to 
 say that periods of unemployment would be much 
 longer and that in many cases the economic return 
 from the loss of a year of education would be reduced 
 to the minimum. 
 
SECTION II. 
 School Leaving and Labor Permits. 
 
SECTION II. 
 
 School Leaving and Labor Permits. 
 
 The School Laws of Washington require all children 
 between the ages of 8 and 15 years, or any child be- 
 tween 15 and 16 years of age, not regularly and law- 
 fully engaged in some useful and remunerative occu- 
 pation, to attend school unless excused on certain 
 specified grounds, one being the completion of the first 
 eight grades of the public school. Children excused 
 from school attendance may not be employed except 
 upon presentation of a school leaving certificate issued 
 by the School Authorities to be kept on file by the 
 employer during the period of employment.* 
 
 The Child Labor Laws of Washington forbid the 
 employment of any male child under the age of 14 
 years or any female child under the age of 16 years 
 at any labor whatever, in, or in connection with any 
 store, shop, factory, mine or any inside employment 
 not connected with farm or housework without the 
 written permit thereto of a Judge of a Superior Court 
 of the County wherein such child may live.f 
 
 By mutual agreement it has become the custom in 
 Seattle for the School Attendance Department to issue 
 both school leaving and labor certificates. Certificates 
 so granted are issued to the child for a definite period 
 
 • Remington & Ballinger Code of Washington, Title 28, Chapter 36. 
 t Remington & Ballinger Code of Washington, Sees. 2447. 6570, 6571. 
 
 27 
 
28 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 to work for a definitely named employer. There is 
 no legal requirement either that the child return the 
 certificate to the Attendance Office when the position 
 is given up or that the employer notify the office that 
 he has ceased to employ the child. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that boys who have attained the 
 age of 14 years and have completed the eighth grade 
 may leave school and remain idle or enter the employ- 
 ment of their choice without consultation with the 
 School Department and without legal obligation to 
 the same. Boys who have not completed the eighth 
 grade may not have this privilege until they are 15 
 years of age, but at that age they may leave school 
 and enter industry irrespective of their educational 
 status and subject only to the requirements of the 
 school law and the minimum wage rulings regarding 
 conditions of labor. Girls are legally entitled to the 
 same prerogatives except that the age at which girls 
 may accept employment without a labor permit is 16 
 instead of 14. 
 
 That portion of the school law which requires chil- 
 dren "between 15 and 16 years of age not regularly 
 and lawfully engaged in some useful and remuner- 
 ative occupation to attend school" is too often a dead 
 letter owing to the fact that the attendence depart- 
 ment has no legal method of ascertaining when a 
 child ceases to be employed and should be forced to 
 return to school. 
 
 In this section we shall present the facts which we 
 have secured relative to "Permit Children." Our 
 primary object in this discussion will be to indicate 
 as clearly as possible the basis upon which school 
 leaving permits* are issued and to ascertain what 
 
 * This is the only class of permits In which the attendance depart- 
 ment has the right of refusal. Labor permits may be secured on request 
 provided the school law has been complied with. 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 29 
 
 constitutes economic pressure and how far it is the 
 controlling factor in granting such permits. In order 
 to carry out our object, and at the same time have 
 as broad a basis for generalization as was possible, 
 we have utilized for tabulation the 186 children from 
 Table VIII. who received school leaving and labor 
 permits in 1913-1914 and 143 additional children who 
 left the grade schools the year previous, 1912-1913, on 
 similar permits. Obviously it would be unfair to in- 
 clude in our study for economic pressure those chil- 
 dren who work after school and Saturdays for spend- 
 ing money. 
 
 As all of the children under Table VIII., except 
 such as may have been continuously employed on labor 
 permits since prior to September 1913, have been in- 
 cluded in the first division of our study we shall not 
 tabulate the same class of information for a similar 
 second group including but 143 new names. Records 
 indicate that were such facts to be summarized they 
 would not differ materially from those already given. 
 The reasons for school leaving, the lines of work en- 
 tered and the wage scale would be almost identical. 
 
 Table VIII. indicates the number of children who 
 have received permits during the year 1913-1914 and 
 the class of permit issued. As this study is dealing 
 with the Seattle schools only, the names of a few 
 children who are attending country schools in King 
 County are omitted. 
 
 Table Tffl. Permits 1913-1914. 
 
 
 Boys 
 
 Girls 
 
 Totals 
 
 
 33 
 31 
 20 
 29 
 
 2 
 
 95 
 27 
 18 
 19 
 3 
 
 128 
 
 
 " 58 
 
 
 38 
 
 
 48 
 
 Health 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 115 
 
 162 
 
 277 
 
 
 
30 
 
 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 Table EX. Nationality of 329 Permit Children.* t 
 
 
 Native Born, 
 Native Parents 
 
 Native Born, 
 Foreign Parents 
 
 Foreign Born, 
 Foreign Parent! 
 
 United States: 
 Whites 
 
 197 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 34 
 20 
 13 
 6 
 6 
 6 
 5 
 4 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 Italy 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 Wales 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 Canada: 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Turkey 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Poland 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 201 
 
 104 
 
 24 
 
 
 
 Grand total . 
 
 329 
 
 The main interest in Table IX. is the consideration 
 of how far race and nativity are influencing factors in 
 the desire of parents to secure labor or school leaving 
 certificates. Inasmuch as 61 per cent of the 329 cer- 
 tificates were issued to native born children of native 
 parents and another 31 per cent to native born chil- 
 dren of foreign parents, inasmuch as no foreign nation- 
 ality predominates in the totals, and inasmuch as 
 "custom to leave" is not an important factor in our 
 school leaving table, we would seem to be justified in 
 concluding that nationality plays no part worth men- 
 tioning in the desire to secure working papers. 
 
 • The remaining- tables in this series will be based upon the 186 
 school leaving and labor permits from Table VIII and the 143 from the 
 year 1912-1913, 329 in all. 
 
 t Where parents were not born in the same country, the nationality 
 of the father is the one tabulated. 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 31 
 
 Table X. Number in Family and Head of Family. 
 
 Number in 
 Family 
 
 Father 
 
 Mother 
 
 Step-father 
 
 Other 
 Relatives 
 
 Non-family 
 Group 
 
 Total 
 
 j 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 14 
 29 
 50 
 32 
 24 
 12 
 12 
 13 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 16 
 
 22 
 
 18 
 
 17 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 3 
 
 24 
 
 3 
 4 
 5 
 
 2 
 4 
 4 
 2 
 
 40 
 53 
 73 
 
 6 
 
 
 46 
 
 7 
 
 
 1 
 
 34 
 
 g 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 g 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 196 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 329 
 
 No separate tabulation was made to indicate 
 whether fathers were dead, divorced or had deserted, 
 but the percentage (36 per cent) of families where the 
 father is not at the head is larger than in any other 
 study to which we have had access. Desertion we 
 are convinced is a much more formidable cause of 
 school leaving than it has been found to be in eastern 
 cities. Orphanage, too, either partial or complete, 
 plays a much larger part than is conceded by most 
 cities. It is interesting to note that families with 
 step-fathers at the head are 4 1/2 per cent of the total 
 while the federal investigation covering several cities 
 reported 3 7/10 per cent. About the same percentage 
 of children are classified as self supporting or in non- 
 family groups. Large families, that is, families 
 consisting of more than six members, which is also 
 the average number in families, are common. 
 
 Table XI. Age and Grade on Receiving Permit t Retardation of 
 Working Children. Boys. 
 
 Age 
 
 Grade 
 
 High School 
 
 Grand 
 Total 
 
 3d 
 
 4th 
 
 5th 
 
 6th 
 
 7th 
 
 8th 
 
 Total 
 
 9th 
 
 10th 
 
 11th 
 
 Total 
 
 12 
 
 ...... 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 2 
 5 
 12 
 5 
 2 
 
 *2 
 11 
 18 
 12 
 4 
 
 3 
 *7 
 
 8 
 13 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 *20 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 31 
 59 
 43 
 
 20 
 
 5 
 *3 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 5 
 3 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 64 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 46 
 
 16 
 
 
 1 
 
 22 
 
 Total. 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 26 
 
 47 
 
 36 
 
 49 
 
 163 
 
 11 
 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 175 
 
 * Normal. 
 
32 
 
 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 Table XII. Age and Grade on Receiving Permit t Retardation of 
 Working Children. Girls. 
 
 Age 
 
 Grade 
 
 High School 
 
 Grand 
 
 3d 
 
 4th 
 
 5th 
 
 6th 
 
 7th 
 
 8th 
 
 Total 
 
 9th 
 
 10th 
 
 11th 
 
 Total 
 
 Total 
 
 12 
 
 :::::: 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 3 
 2 
 
 2 
 6 
 
 1 
 *1 
 
 11 
 12 
 
 "2" 
 
 •15 
 
 38 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 11 
 32 
 58 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 14 
 
 9 
 
 •17 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 26 
 6 
 
 41 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 9 
 *3 
 
 ...... 
 
 84 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total. 
 
 i 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 13 
 
 25 
 
 61 
 
 113 
 
 28 
 
 12 
 
 1 
 
 41 
 
 154 
 
 * Normal. 
 Table XIII. 
 
 Summary of Age and Grade on Receiving Permit. 
 
 Grade 
 
 3 
 4 
 5 
 6 
 7 
 8 
 H.S. 
 
 Boys 
 
 13 
 
 Total 
 
 Girls 
 
 12 13 14 
 
 Total 
 
 Grand 
 Total 
 
 1 3 
 
 5 8 
 
 8 34 
 
 13 60 
 
 25 j 61 
 
 61 110 
 
 41 ! 53 
 
 Per- 
 centage 
 
 Total. 
 
 32 
 
 46 
 
 22 
 
 175 
 
 84 
 
 154 329 
 
 100% 
 
 t Seventh Grade at 13 years, normal; sixth or below at 13 years, 
 retarded; eighth or above at 13 years, above normal. 
 
 Table XTV. Summary of Retardation. 
 
 
 Normal 
 No. Per Cent 
 
 Retarded 
 No. Per Cent 
 
 Ahead 
 No. Per Cent 
 
 Total 
 
 Per Cent 
 
 Boys 
 
 32 
 
 18 2-7 
 
 123 
 96 
 
 70 2-7 
 62 26-77 
 
 20 
 22 
 
 113-7 | 
 14 22-77 j 
 
 175 
 154 
 
 100 
 
 Girls 
 
 36 
 
 23 29-77 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 68 
 
 
 219 
 
 
 42 1 1 
 
 329 
 
 
 Inferences along several lines, according to the in- 
 terest of the reader, may be readily drawn from the 
 statistical information contained in Tables XL, XIL, 
 XIII. and XIV. The one who may be interested in 
 sex comparison will note that the girls make a slightly 
 better scholastic showing than the boys: the other, 
 more interested in the average educational status 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 33 
 
 will note that 16 per cent of the total number were 
 high school pupils at the date of leaving and 33 per 
 cent were in or had completed the eighth grade. 
 Comparison with general statistical information on 
 this subject indicates that the scholastic record of 
 permit children in our city is much higher than the 
 average for the country. Cincinnati's survey for 
 1911-1912 reports 2,366 working certificates issued 
 during that year. Approximately 2 per cent were 
 granted to high school pupils and 18 per cent to 
 eighth grade pupils. Comparison with the same city 
 for percentage of retardation was useless as the Cin- 
 cinnati basis of computing retardation allows a lee- 
 way of more than a year while ours does not.* 
 
 Occupation of Parents. 
 
 Turning to the occupation of parents, we find very 
 little which has any bearing on^ our subject. Occupa- 
 tions are not more hereditary in Seattle than in other 
 sections of the country, while the seasonal character 
 of many industries is a much more important factor 
 in school leaving than in many other localities. Fre- 
 quently economic pressure due to unemployment of 
 adults because of illness or slack work necessitates 
 the granting of a temporary permit until the father 
 secures employment. 
 
 Table XV. Occupation of 210 Fathers and Step Fathers. 
 
 Occupation 
 
 Number 
 
 PerCent 
 
 
 37 
 42 
 71 
 23 
 37 
 
 18 
 
 Skilled trades 
 
 20 
 
 
 34 
 
 City emplnyftftfl nr cnmmPTcin\ linpa 
 
 11 
 
 Miscellaneous 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 210 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 * Woolley, Helen T. : Facts about the Working Children of Cincin- 
 nati and Their Bearing Upon Educational Problems, 1913. 
 
34 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 Economic Status of the Family. 
 
 The economic status of the family is the real basis 
 for deciding whether a child under 15 years of age 
 who has not completed the eighth grade shall receive 
 a school leaving permit or be refused the same. The 
 Attendance Department in Seattle has never made a 
 scientific study of what constitutes economic pressure. 
 However, the information presented in Tables XVI. 
 to XXII. and the comparison of this information 
 with the results of scientific investigation elsewhere, 
 indicate clearly that our chief attendance officer has 
 estimated very accurately, even if intuitively, the 
 meaning of "economic pressure." 
 
 Certain rules have been observed in collecting and 
 tabulating our material which will be enumerated in 
 order that those who desire to compare Seattle sta- 
 tistics with those of other cities may better under- 
 stand our view point and our interpretation of eco- 
 nomic pressure. 
 
 1. In estimating family resources we have used the 
 statistics given at the time of visitation. No effort 
 was made to secure the annual income. 
 
 2. The same rule has been followed with reference 
 to rent and to the child's income. 
 
 3. Only members of the family living at home have 
 been considered. "Family resources" equals the sum 
 of the full earnings of all who live at home. 
 
 4. No deductions of any kind were made for illness, 
 rent, assessments, taxes, carfare, lunches, etc. 
 
 We regret our inability to make this section of our 
 survey conform strictly to the Federal methods of 
 investigation and tabulation. It was our original in- 
 tention to do so but home ownership in Seattle dur- 
 ing recent years has meant financial obligation in the 
 shape of assessments, taxes, and special improvements 
 which approaches, equals and often exceeds the aver- 
 age expenditure for rent. For this reason the Fed- 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 35 
 
 eral system did not seem to meet Seattle needs nor 
 would its results have been fairly representative of 
 Seattle conditions.* 
 
 We were not able to secure the assessment, taxation 
 and repair figures for all of the home owners but we 
 did find in many instances that the financial burden 
 was very heavy and that "to save the home" was often 
 the real reason for school leaving. Under these cir- 
 cumstances it seemed best not to deduct rent but to 
 tabulate separately the economic status of home 
 owners and renters. 
 
 5. The economic condition of the family is a vital 
 consideration in granting school leaving permits but 
 need not be such in granting labor permits. There- 
 fore, Tables XVI., XVII. and XVIII. will classify 
 separately the economic status of the 58 families in 
 which children received school leaving permits. 
 Tables XIX., XX. and XXI. will present statistics for 
 labor permits which may be used for comparison if 
 desired. 
 
 Table XVI. Family Resources — Fifty-eight School Leaving: Permits. 
 
 
 Total Weekly Income 
 
 Average 
 Weekly 
 
 
 $5-10 
 
 $10-15 
 
 $15-20 
 
 $20-25 
 
 $25-30 
 
 $30-35 
 
 Total 
 
 Income 
 
 
 2 
 5 
 
 6 
 14 
 
 9 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 19 
 39 
 
 $14.00 
 
 
 17.00 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 7 
 
 20 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 58 
 
 
 Table XVII. Child's Wage in Relation to Resources — Fifty-eight School 
 Leaving: Permits. 
 
 Weekly Per Capita, Less Child's Wage 
 
 Child's 
 
 
 Child's 
 Wage 
 Only 
 
 $lor 
 Less 
 
 $1-2 
 
 $2-3 
 
 Over $3 
 
 Average 
 
 Average 
 Wage 
 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 1 
 6 
 
 11 
 11 
 
 3 
 13 
 
 2 
 6 
 
 $1.60 
 2.10 
 
 $5.55 
 
 Renters 
 
 5.90 
 
 Total 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 22 
 
 16 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 • The Federal system measures the financial resources by the per 
 capita income remaining- after rent is paid and often the expenses of 
 illness and death and the income from children under sixteen is de- 
 ducted. Vol. VII, p. 80. 
 
36 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 Table XVIII. Bent in Relation to Resources — Thirty-nine School 
 Leaving: Permits. 
 
 Weekly Rent 
 
 Number 
 
 of 
 Families 
 
 Average Rent 
 Per Family 
 Per Week 
 
 Average 
 
 Income 
 
 Per Family 
 
 Percentage 
 
 of Rent 
 
 of Income 
 
 $1 25 
 
 18 
 11 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 $1.25-2.50 
 { 2 50-3 75 
 
 13.50 
 
 $17.00 
 
 20% 
 
 Over |3 75 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fifty-eight families is hardly a sufficient basis to 
 warrant definite conclusions but in passing over the 
 subject it may be well to note a few items which 
 alone are of little value but which if taken in con- 
 junction with other facts may prove both interesting 
 and useful. 
 
 1. Thirty-three per cent of the 58 families securing 
 school leaving permits were home owners. Of the 
 seven cities included in the Federal investigation the 
 highest percentage of home owners was 37 and the 
 average 24. 
 
 2. Of the 19 home owners, 12 or 63 per cent, were 
 of foreign birth. Eeal estate dealers, who make a 
 business of handling small homes on the monthly 
 payment plan, agree that a large percentage of sales 
 are made to the foreign population. One dealer, who 
 has been in business in Seattle for over 20 years, is 
 at this date carrying $150,000 of investments in small 
 homes. Payments are met regularly and only twice in 
 20 years has foreclosure been necessary. Foreigners 
 in his estimation are much more willing to make per- 
 sonal sacrifice in order to become home owners. 
 
 3. Comparison of the family resources of home 
 owners and renters shows the renters to be earning, 
 on an average, $3.00 or 21 per cent more per week 
 than are home owners. Those who buy do not have 
 the largest income. In the Federal investigation the 
 reverse was found to be true. 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 37 
 
 4. Table XVIII. indicates the amount per week 
 paid for rent and the percentage which rent forms of 
 the total income. The lowest rent is $1.25 and the 
 highest $5.60; the average $3.50 or 20 per cent of the 
 total income. This is a higher percentage on the 
 average than is reported by other cities. The Federal 
 investigators found 88.1 per cent of the families pay- 
 ing less than 20 per cent, practically 75 per cent less 
 than 15 per cent, and nearly 50 per cent less than 10 
 per cent. Renters as a rule had comfortable homes. 
 A very small percentage was classed as "poor." 
 
 5. The average percentage of the family income con- 
 tributed by the child is 39 9/14 for home owners and 
 34 12/17 for renters. This percentage is nearly double 
 that of the average contribution made by children else- 
 where. Twenty-two per cent in Columbia, S. C, is the 
 highest average reported by the Federal investigators. 
 Without this contribution by the child 58 per cent of 
 the families under consideration would have $2.00 or 
 less per week per capita for entire living expenses. 
 
 Although methods of deciding what constitutes a rea- 
 sonable standard of living vary somewhat in different 
 cities there seems to be a general agreement that no 
 per capita income is sufficient which is less than $1.50 
 per week after rent has been deducted and after bills 
 for illness and death have been met. Moreover it is 
 universally conceded that families having a weekly 
 income of less than $2.00 per capita, after the above 
 deductions have been made and after the contribution 
 made by the child has been deducted, are justified in 
 asking for financial assistance from the child on the 
 basis of "economic pressure." All investigators have 
 reported a few families who do keep children in school 
 at a much lower per capita income than $1.50 to $2.00. 
 In Seattle we have found a considerable number. 
 
 In deciding how far "economic pressure" has been 
 a legitimate factor in granting school leaving permits 
 
38 
 
 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 it must be remembered that our statistics have been 
 tabulated without deductions for rent, illness or 
 death and that had such deductions been made, many 
 of the 24 families now above the "economic pressure" 
 line would have fallen below. Losses from illness and 
 death were frequently the cause of "economic pres- 
 sure." 
 
 Labor Permits and Economic Pressure. 
 
 Although "labor permits" have not been included in 
 our study on economic pressure, it may be interesting 
 for purposes of comparison to know something of the 
 same facts relative to families where children who are 
 exempt from school leaving certification have secured 
 the working certificate only. Doubtless a part of 
 these children have had school leaving certificates the 
 year previous and the material conditions of the fam- 
 ily have not changed. On the other hand, in many 
 instances it is obvious that necessity has played no 
 legitimate part in influencing children to enter in- 
 dustry prior to the completion of the public school 
 course. Attention has been called in Section I. to 
 various causes which are largely responsible for such 
 cases. 
 
 Table XIX. Family Resources — Two Hundred Seventy-one 
 Labor Permits. 
 
 
 Total Weekly Income 
 
 Average 
 Weekly 
 Income 
 
 
 $6-10 
 
 $10-15 
 
 $15-20 
 
 $20-25 
 
 $25-30 
 
 $30-35 
 
 Over 35 
 
 Total 
 
 Owners. . 
 Renters. 
 
 18 
 36 
 
 12 
 44 
 
 6 
 36 
 
 32 
 22 
 
 20 
 10 
 
 4 
 11 
 
 13 
 7 
 
 105 
 166 
 
 21 
 10 
 
 Total... 
 
 54 
 
 56 
 
 42 
 
 54 
 
 30 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 
 271 
 
 
 Tabic 
 
 > XX. 
 
 Child's Wage In Relation to Resources — Two Hundred 
 Seventy-one Labor Permits. 
 
 
 Weekly Per Capita, Less Child's Wage 
 
 Child's 
 
 Average 
 
 Wage 
 
 
 Child's 
 
 Wage Only 
 
 $1 or Less 
 
 $1-2 
 
 $2-3 
 
 Over 3 
 
 Average 
 
 Owners. . 
 Renters. 
 
 12 
 14 
 
 4 
 12 
 
 20 
 24 
 
 24 
 50 
 
 45 
 76 
 
 $3.00 
 3.07 
 
 $6.60 
 5.63 
 
 Total... 
 
 26 
 
 16 
 
 44 
 
 74 
 
 121 
 
 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 39 
 
 Table XXI. Bent in Relation to Resources — One Hundred Sixty-six 
 I^abor Permits. 
 
 Weekly Rent 
 
 Number 
 
 of 
 Families 
 
 Average Rent 
 Per Family 
 Per Week 
 
 Average 
 
 Income 
 
 Per Family 
 
 Percentage 
 
 of Rent 
 
 of Income 
 
 $1.25 
 
 4 
 76 
 60 
 26 
 
 
 
 
 $1.25-2.50 
 
 
 
 
 $2.50-3.75 
 Over $3.75 
 
 $3.80 
 
 $19.00 
 
 20% 
 
 Table XXII. Summary of Three Hundred Twenty-nine Labor and 
 School Leaving- Permits. 
 
 Plass 
 
 of 
 SQrmit 
 
 Percentage of 
 271 Labor and 
 58 School Leav- 
 ing Permits 
 
 Average Weekly 
 Income(*) 
 
 Percentage of 
 
 Income 
 
 Contributed by 
 
 Child 
 
 Average 
 Rent 
 and 
 Per- 
 centage 
 
 of 
 Income 
 
 Weekly 
 Income 
 
 Less 
 
 Child's 
 
 Below 
 
 Standard 
 
 Average 
 Total 
 Weekly 
 Income 
 $20 or 
 Less 
 
 
 Owners 
 
 Renters 
 
 Owners 
 
 Renters 
 
 Owners 
 
 Renters 
 
 
 School 
 Leaving 
 
 Labor... 
 
 33% 
 
 38% 
 
 67% 
 
 62% 
 
 $14.00 
 19.50 
 
 $17.00 
 19.00 
 
 39% 
 33% 
 
 34% 
 
 34% 
 
 $3.50 
 20% 
 3.80 
 20% 
 
 58% 
 32% 
 
 63% 
 56% 
 
 * In drawing general conclusions from the 329 cases, the average 
 Income of renters is undoubtedly larger than that of owners. Eight 
 home owners in the labor section have weekly incomes of $40-$60 while 
 no renters happen to have incomes similarly high. 
 
 In concluding how far economic necessity is a factor 
 in the labor of children under 16 years of age, we 
 have the following facts which hold good for our 
 entire list of 329 permits, including both grammar 
 grades and high school: 
 
 1. Average rent is uniform at 20 per cent of the 
 average income for all classes of permits. This rental 
 is high in comparison with other cities. 
 
 2. The generally accepted average weekly per capita 
 income absolutely essential to cover the necessities 
 of living is from $1.50 to $2.00 after deductions have 
 been made for illness, death and rentals. The aver- 
 age in Seattle for all School Leaving Permits falls 
 below this standard. Considered from another point 
 of view, 58 per cent of the school leaving certificates 
 and 32 per cent of the labor certificates are granted 
 to families in which the weekly per capita income 
 
40 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 falls below this universally accepted standard of 
 living. Were the expenses incident to illness, death 
 and rentals to be deducted, this percentage in both 
 classes would be much larger. From this point of 
 view there is a margin of about 50 per cent in which 
 parents by securing a labor permit may use a child 
 as a source of income although not forced to do so 
 because of economic pressure. Parents are not always 
 responsible. Very frequently a child prefers to go to 
 work either because of dissatisfaction with school or 
 because of desire for more abundant spending money. 
 In Seattle children themselves have voiced greater 
 dissatisfaction with the schools than have the parents 
 of the same children when visited in their homes. In 
 the Federal report about two-fifths of the children 
 were found to have left school of their own choice. 
 School leaving permits do not allow this same exer- 
 cise of personal judgment or desire on the part of 
 parent and child. 
 
 The lowest per capita income for all classes with- 
 out deductions, except the child's wage, is 55 cents 
 and the highest f 12.40. 
 
 Average weekly income for average family is another 
 legitimate method of estimating the influence of eco- 
 nomic pressure. Twenty dollars per family is the 
 usual minimum accepted. Reference to Table XXII. 
 shows the average for each group composing the 329 
 to fall below this requirement. The same table shows 
 that if families are grouped according to total weekly 
 income 56 per cent of the labor certificates and 63 per 
 cent of the school leaving certificates are held by 
 families with weekly incomes of $20 or less. 
 
 3. The percentage of family income contributed by 
 Seattle children is above 30 per cent in all averages. 
 Elsewhere in the country it approaches 20 per cent. 
 This is interesting in view of the fact that child labor 
 here receives so high a financial reward in comparison 
 with other cities reporting. 
 
SECTION III. 
 
 Educational and Occupational Experience of 
 
 Boys and Girls Up to 21 Years of Age Who 
 
 Have Been Out of the Seattle Schools 
 
 More Than One Year. 
 
SECTION III. 
 
 Educational and Occupational Experience of 
 
 Boys and Girls Up to 21 Years of Age Who 
 
 Have Been Out of the Seattle Schools 
 
 More Than One Year. 
 
 From the third set of blanks we have 202 girls and 
 223 boys who furnished complete replies to both the 
 educational and vocational questionnaire. Workers 
 were never interviewed at their places of business. 
 Fluently employers offered to extend this courtesy 
 bift for many reasons it seemed best to seek employees 
 in their homes or elsewhere after business hours. 
 
 Table XXIII. Reasons Why Children Leave School — 202 Girls — 223 Boys. 
 
 Cause 
 
 Girls 
 
 Boys 
 
 Total 
 
 Percentage 
 
 Illness 
 
 15 
 
 54 
 
 71 
 7 
 4 
 
 51 
 
 2 
 46 
 
 69 
 13 
 16 
 77 
 
 17 
 100 
 
 140 
 
 20 
 20 
 
 128 
 
 4 
 
 Economic pressure 
 
 23 
 
 Too old, dislike, trouble, not promoted, 
 etc 
 
 33 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 4 
 
 Spending money or preference for work 
 
 30 
 
 Total 
 
 202 
 
 223 
 
 425 
 
 
 The following are typical replies as to why these 
 more experienced youths left school : 
 
 "Preferred to work but would like to go back now." 
 "Was not compelled and had never been sorry until 
 
 just now." (Age 17.) 
 
 "The teacher was too bull headed." (Age 16.) 
 "Did not have the money to buy clothes and pay 
 
 dues." (Age 19.) 
 
 "I did not like school but am sorry I left now." 
 
 (Age 18.) 
 "I would have stayed had I known what I know 
 
 now of the necessity for so doing." 
 
 43 
 
44 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 "Wasn't getting anything from high school." 
 "Couldn't get credit" 
 
 "To try and find out what was the best line of 
 work. I may go back." 
 
 "Wanted to work for something definite." 
 "Wanted to do something to bring in the money." 
 "Could not keep up with the high school expenses." 
 "Four years is too much time to put in with noth- 
 ing to show for it." 
 "Could not get along with the principal." 
 "Yes, compelled to leave and was glad of it." 
 "Left at my own choice — was discouraged." 
 "Because I wanted to but I do not know enough to 
 get along and am going back." (Age 16.) 
 
 "I grew tired of what I was doing and left. I would 
 do differently now." (Age 19.) 
 
 "I did not realize I was making a mistake to leave." 
 (Freshman, out six months.) 
 "Because of certain studies." 
 
 "Did not care for school and did not want to waste 
 time." 
 
 "Prefer a good trade." (This is an interesting 
 statement in view of the fact that this boy stuck to 
 his trade only six weeks and at the time of writing 
 was a delivery boy — age 16.) 
 
 Comparison of Table II. with Table XXIII. indi- 
 cates that the reasons for school leaving have been 
 fairly uniform covering a period of five years. De- 
 tailed knowledge of the point of view of the older 
 child at date of leaving compared with his point of 
 view after even a brief competition in business, indi- 
 cates that many are finding "dissatisfaction" to be 
 a most trivial excuse and are realizing too late that 
 lack of education is a serious handicap in adult life. 
 With the older as with the younger group "economic 
 pressure" has been one of the leading factors in school 
 leaving. It is not, however, in either case entitled 
 to the prominence which is commonly assumed. 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 45 
 
 Table XXIV 
 
 Number of Years Since Leaving and Number of 
 Positions Held. 
 
 
 Number of Positions— Girls 
 
 Number of Positions — Boys 
 
 Years Out 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 5 Plus 
 
 Total 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 5 Plus 
 
 Total 
 
 1 .. 
 
 15 
 16 
 6 
 4 
 2 
 7 
 
 12 
 12 
 10 
 9 
 10 
 14 
 
 6 
 10 
 12 
 6 
 5 
 13 
 
 7 
 2 
 
 "3* 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 40 
 44 
 33 
 24 
 22 
 39 
 
 13 
 10 
 4 
 12 
 4 
 8 
 
 15 
 17 
 9 
 6 
 7 
 12 
 
 8 
 11 
 6 
 4 
 4 
 8 
 
 2 
 5 
 1 
 
 2 
 4 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 "i 
 
 2 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 ........ 
 
 14 
 
 41 
 
 a 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 "*i" 
 *'"i" 
 
 54 
 31 
 
 26 
 
 5 
 
 5 plus 
 
 20 
 51 
 
 Total... 
 
 50 
 
 67 
 
 52 
 
 20 
 
 11 
 
 2 
 
 202 
 
 51 
 
 66 
 
 41 
 
 15 
 
 12 
 
 38 
 
 223 
 
 Table XX V. Summary of Number 
 
 of Positions and Percentage. 
 
 
 One 
 Position 
 
 Two 
 Positions 
 
 Three 
 Positions 
 
 Four 
 Positions 
 
 Five 
 
 Positions 
 
 Total 
 
 
 No. 
 
 Per Cent 
 
 No. 
 
 Per Cent 
 
 No. 
 
 Per Cent 
 
 No. 
 
 Per Cent 
 
 No. 
 
 Per Cent 
 
 No. 
 
 Per Cent 
 
 Boys.... 
 Girls.... 
 
 51 
 
 50 
 
 23 
 25 
 
 66 
 67 
 
 30 
 33 
 
 41 
 
 52 
 
 18 
 25 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 
 7 
 9 
 
 50 
 13 
 
 23 
 6 
 
 223 
 
 202 
 
 100 
 100 
 
 Total... 
 
 101 
 
 24 
 
 133 
 
 31 
 
 93 
 
 21 
 
 35 
 
 8 
 
 63 
 
 15 
 
 425 
 
 100 
 
 In comparing Table XXV. with Table V. it must 
 be remembered that the 402 included under Table V. 
 represent a complete school leaving group covering 
 a definite period — one day to one year — while the 425 
 included under Table XXV. represent a group com- 
 posed of but a small part of those leaving school 
 during a period of approximately one to five years. 
 The first group includes grammar school pupils only, 
 the second both grammar and high school pupils. 
 The first includes very young children fresh from 
 school supervision with neither the judgment nor 
 the experience necessary to warn them of the dangers 
 of frequent changes, the second includes only those 
 who have remained in industry, many of whom ac- 
 knowledge that most of their changes were made in 
 the early years of their industrial experience. It 
 would be natural to expect a higher percentage of 
 stability in the second group, and also natural to 
 expect increase in stability as age and experience 
 increase. Moreover it is unlikely that all actual 
 changes have been given in the replies of older 
 workers. 
 
46 
 
 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 Table XXVI. Age, Grade and Retardation of Industrial Group. Girls. 
 
 
 Grade 
 
 High School 
 
 Grand 
 
 Age 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 Total 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 Total 
 
 Total 
 
 12 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 *4 
 
 2 
 *3 
 
 5 
 12 
 
 3 
 
 19 
 
 33 
 
 21 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 6 
 
 29 
 
 52 
 
 27 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 14 
 
 
 1 
 
 "3* 
 
 4 
 3 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 •12 
 5 
 
 7 
 3 
 
 4 
 ♦9 
 
 7 
 3 
 
 
 
 2 
 19 
 14 
 
 19 
 17 
 
 31 
 
 15 
 16 
 
 3 
 
 
 71 
 41 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 
 *2 
 2 
 
 *3 
 9 
 
 24 
 
 18-21 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 16 
 
 25 
 
 83 i 131 
 
 28 
 
 24 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 
 71 
 
 202 
 
 * Normal. 
 
 Table XXVII. Age, Grade and Retardation of Industrial Group. Boys. 
 
 
 Grade 
 
 High School 
 
 Grand 
 Total 
 
 Age 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 Total 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 Total 
 
 10-12 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 *1 
 
 2 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 *2 
 9 
 9 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 *22 
 
 28 
 17 
 6 
 
 4 
 5 
 
 40 
 
 48 
 
 20 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 14 
 
 1 
 
 .... 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 *14 
 
 8 
 9 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 *13 
 
 8 
 4 
 
 
 
 10 
 19 
 23 
 21 
 
 24 
 
 50 
 
 15 
 16 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 67 
 43 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 
 27 
 
 18-21 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 27 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 17 
 
 25 
 
 76 
 
 126 
 
 42 
 
 31 
 
 9 
 
 15 
 
 97 
 
 223 
 
 * Normal. 
 
 Table XXVUI. Summary of Age and Grade at Date of Leaving. 
 
 Grade 
 
 Boys 
 
 Girls 
 
 Grand 
 Total 
 
 Per- 
 cent- 
 
 
 10- 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 16- 
 21 
 
 Total 
 
 10- 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 16- 
 21 
 
 Total 
 
 age 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 17 
 25 
 76 
 97 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 9 
 
 33 
 50 
 159 
 168 
 
 1-5 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 9 
 28 
 19 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 3 
 3 
 12 
 33 
 19 
 
 
 
 4 
 3 
 16 
 25 
 83 
 71 
 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 '"2' 
 2 
 
 2 
 6 
 9 
 22 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 H. S. 
 
 2 
 
 17 
 23 
 
 "2 
 
 7 
 
 45 
 
 4 
 2 
 
 "*3* 
 3 
 
 4 
 5 
 19 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 21 
 
 14 
 
 "2 
 
 6 
 
 36 
 
 8 
 11 
 37 
 39 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total. 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 50 
 
 67 
 
 43 
 
 54 
 
 223 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 31 
 
 71 
 
 41 
 
 44 
 
 202 
 
 425 
 
 
 Table XXIX. Summary of Retardation — Industrial Group. 
 
 
 Normal 
 
 Retarded 
 
 Ahead 
 
 Total 
 
 
 No. 
 
 Per Cent 
 
 No. 
 
 Per Cent 
 
 No. 
 
 Per Cent 
 
 No. 
 
 Per Cent 
 
 Boys 
 
 63 
 58 
 
 28 
 28 
 
 136 
 126 
 
 61 
 62 
 
 24 
 18 
 
 10 
 9 
 
 223 
 202 
 
 100 
 
 Girls 
 
 10a 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 121 
 
 28 
 
 262 
 
 61 
 
 42 
 
 10 
 
 425 
 
 100 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 47 
 
 Tables XXVI., XXVII., XXVIII., and XXIX. for 
 the Industrial Group correspond to Tables XI., XII., 
 XIII. and XIV. for the group receiving School Leav- 
 ing or Labor Permits. Each group includes both 
 grammar grades and high school. The industrial 
 group includes ages up to 21 years and the permit 
 group to 16 years only. Hence we would expect to 
 find a higher percentage of high school pupils in the 
 former. One, again, is composed of all children in a 
 definite group, while the other is in a sense composed 
 of selected cases. Bona fide "economic pressure" is 
 a much larger factor in the permit group. These 
 facts must be taken into consideration in making 
 comparisons as to age and grade of leaving. 
 
 First Positions and Changes in Position. 
 
 Table XXX. First Position and School Grade— Boys 223. 
 
 First Position 
 
 5th Grade 
 or Less 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 Total 
 
 Per 
 Cent 
 
 Delivery and messenger 
 
 Clerks 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 1 
 3 
 6 
 
 3* 
 1 
 
 18 
 11 
 2 
 13 
 8 
 2 
 4 
 2 
 3 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 9 
 4 
 
 3 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 7 
 2 
 6 
 3 
 2 
 2 
 
 "i" 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 .... 
 
 4 
 
 39 
 
 29 
 
 9 
 
 42 
 
 21 
 
 12 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 42 
 
 17 
 13 
 
 Street trades 
 
 4 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 18 
 
 Office 
 
 9 
 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Sailor 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Automobile 
 
 
 
 1 
 3 
 
 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Miscellaneous 
 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 3 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 8 
 
 17 
 
 25 
 
 76 
 
 42 
 
 31 
 
 9 
 
 15 
 
 223 
 
 
 Table XXXI. First Position and School Grade — 202 Girls. 
 
 First Position 
 
 5th Grade 
 or Less 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 Total 
 
 Per 
 
 Cent 
 
 Department store 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 25 
 6 
 12 
 10 
 10 
 3 
 5 
 3 
 9 
 
 9 
 2 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 5 
 
 5 
 16 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 6 
 
 51 
 31 
 23 
 21 
 16 
 9 
 
 16 
 14 
 21 
 
 25 
 
 Office..? 
 
 15 
 
 Factory 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 1 
 4 
 1 
 
 3 
 5 
 1 
 3 
 3 
 5 
 3 
 
 11 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 .... 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 "i' 
 
 10 
 
 Trade 
 
 g 
 
 Laundry 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Telephone 
 
 
 1 
 
 .... 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 None immediately after leaving 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 7 
 
 16 
 
 25 
 
 83 
 
 28 
 
 24 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 
 202 
 
 
Mi 
 
 w 
 
 .a 
 ill- 
 
 I 1* 
 
 •s-s 
 
 1 
 
 l.as 
 
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 w*^^f<*ecco«oos 
 
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50 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 Tables III. and XXX. for boys and IV. and XXXI. 
 for girls indicate the number and percentage of the 
 whole entering each different line of work. Statistics 
 speak for themselves in both series. Fifty per cent 
 variation for boys is found in delivery and messenger 
 service where the younger group comprises 33 per 
 cent of the whole as against 17 per cent in the older 
 group. Personally I believe this variation to be more 
 apparent than real. Younger boys just leaving school 
 nearly always record their first position even if em- 
 ployed for but a few weeks, while boys who have been 
 at work for three or four years frequently forget to 
 mention their first weeks of employment as messenger 
 or delivery boys. Investigators have been instructed 
 to secure this information but have not always been 
 successful. 
 
 The same percentage of variation is found in skilled 
 trades where 18 per cent of the older group is tabu- 
 lated against 9 per cent of the younger. Several 
 theories might be offered in explanation. One of the 
 most logical, and one supported by facts, is that the 
 second group comprises a larger number of older and 
 more advanced students for whom it is much easier 
 to secure positions as apprentices. The general public 
 would doubtless be surprised to find so small a per- 
 centage of either group engaged in street trades. 
 School principals, however, know that a large part of 
 the newsboys in Seattle are school boys who, when 
 they drop out of school permanently, usually enter 
 other lines of work.* 
 
 The percentage of girls from each group entering 
 each occupation is singularly uniform. The highest 
 percentage from both groups enter department stores, 
 the second go to offices, the third to factories, while 
 the percentage entering both skilled trades and do- 
 
 • A study is in preparation which will indicate the source of supply 
 for newsboys, the influence of street work on educational progress and 
 also in future Industrial occupation. 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 51 
 
 mestic service is exactly the same. The percentage 
 of high school girls entering the telephone service is 
 increasing. This is doubtless due to the great im- 
 provement in conditions of service, the excellent moral 
 and physical surroundings, permanency of employ- 
 ment, steady promotion, sick benefits, insurance and 
 pension systems. 
 
 Of the 202 girls 81, or 40 per cent, were in their 
 original line of work at the date of interview, 79 or 
 39 per cent, in different lines and 42, or 21 per cent, 
 were out of work. 
 
 Of the 223 boys 79, or 35 per cent, were in their 
 original lines of works, 117, or 52 per cent, were in 
 different lines and 27, or 12 per cent, were looking for 
 work. 
 
 With both sexes the highest percentage of occupa- 
 tional stability accompanied greater age and longer 
 business experience. It is also of interest to note 
 that the highest percentage of stability is found in 
 those lines of work which require some definite train- 
 ing in order to secure and hold positions. Sixteen 
 per cent of the total number is a high percentage of 
 unemployment in view of the fact that this group is 
 more or less select in composition and doubtless 
 represents an individual type above, rather than be- 
 low, the average. 
 
 In reply to the question, "Are you satisfied with 
 your present position?" 90 girls said "Yes" and 70 
 said "No"; 95 boys said "Yes" and 101 said "No." 
 This means that over 50 per cent were either out of 
 work or were dissatisfied with their work.* In many 
 cases "dissatisfaction" was not based on legitimate 
 criticism. The positions were desirable, the conditions 
 of service favorable, the prospect for permanency good 
 and remuneration all that could be expected consid- 
 ering education, native ability and personality. 
 
 * It is interesting to note that about the same percentage of pupils 
 leave school because of "dissatisfaction." 
 
52 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 Reasons for Changes of Positions. 
 
 A few quotations from the reasons for leaving po- 
 sitions or for dissatisfaction although retaining the 
 position, will illustrate better than anything else the 
 real causes of this constant shifting in occupations. 
 Boy 19 who had been em- "Would like to try some- 
 ployed in four different thing different." 
 lines of work. 
 
 Boy 20 who was trying to "Too hard and not lucra- 
 learn a trade. tive." 
 
 Boy 17 who was in a hard- "No, because I ought to 
 ware store. have a good position." 
 
 Boy 18 left school at 15 in "To reach such a position 
 the sixth grade. Had as would be good." 
 tried seven different 
 lines, four of which 
 were skilled trades. 
 
 Boy 15 eight grade, out of "Don't like work any bet- 
 school one year. ter than school." 
 
 Boy 16 who has had four "Didn't get on with the of- 
 
 positions in one year. fice man." 
 
 Boy 19 left school in sev- "For reasons too numerous 
 
 enth grade at 14 years. to mention here." 
 Has tried seven lines 
 and is unemployed at 
 present. 
 
 Boy 19 left school in the "To find out which trade 
 eighth grade. Has tried is best." 
 to learn three different 
 trades and after decid- 
 ing that printing is the 
 best is now a delivery 
 boy. 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 53 
 
 Boy 16, eight grade, out "My employer wanted me 
 
 of school one year. Has to change and I wanted 
 
 changed position four to change, too." 
 times. 
 
 Boy 17, mother says he is "I got fired." 
 too lazy to do good 
 work. Lost three good 
 positions in a few weeks. 
 
 Very common reasons are "Lack of education," 
 "Could not get adjusted to the house," "Laid off" and 
 "No future." 
 
 As the above quotations indicate, the reasons given 
 by young boys for the constant change in positions 
 are truly "too numerous to mention here." Psycholog- 
 ical interpretation, however, is not difficult for one 
 who is accustomed to dealing with boys from 14 to 21 
 years of age. 
 
 Beasons given by girls differ somewhat and are much 
 more easily grouped or classified. There are three 
 main reasons directly traceable to the following 
 sources: (1) the girl herself, (2) the character of 
 employment, (3) legislative enactment. 
 
 Under (1) we have: 
 
 "Just to get a change." 
 
 "To rest up a bit." 
 
 "No reasons especially." 
 
 "To get a little rest." 
 
 "To have a change in work." 
 (Present position excel- 
 lent. The girl, 17, had 
 made five changes.) 
 
 "Didn't like the place." 
 
 "For want of a change." 
 
 "Too young." 
 
 "Lack of education." 
 
54 Seattle Children in School and in Industry). 
 
 Under (2) we have a second group of reasons which 
 center about the character of employment and are 
 usually beyond the control of employees, although at 
 times "slack work," "laid off" and "rush over" are 
 only polite terms for concealing "inefficiency" on the 
 part of the girl. The following are examples : 
 
 "Season over. 
 "Relief only." 
 "Christmas rush." 
 "Irregular work." 
 "Laid off." 
 
 Under (3) we have such legislative enactments as 
 have been placed on our statute books for the avowed 
 purpose of benefiting female employees. Legislation 
 of this class, worthy in motive and good in theory, 
 frequently defeats the very object for which it was 
 initiated, or benefits one class of female workers to 
 the disadvantage of another class. The Eight Hour 
 Law and the Minimum Wage Law stand out promi- 
 nently in this respect. Both laws have cost many 
 good honest girls their positions. The influence of 
 the Minimum Wage Law will be discussed in its 
 relation to education in another section of the report. 
 The influence of the Eight Hour Law is felt in various 
 ways by different classes of female workers. It reads 
 as follows: 
 
 "No female shall be employed in any me- 
 chanical or mercantile establishment, laundry, 
 hotel or restaurant in this State more than 
 eight hours during any day. Provided, how- 
 ever, that the provisions of this section in 
 relation to the hours of employment shall 
 not apply to, nor affect, females employed in 
 harvesting, packing, curing, canning or dry- 
 ing any variety of perishable fruit or veget- 
 ables, nor to females employed in canning fish 
 or shellfish."* 
 
 Sec. I, Chapter 37, Laws of 1911. 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 55 
 
 Very frequent illustrations of the workings of this 
 law are brought to our attention by women and girls 
 who benefit by or who suffer from its operation. 
 Enumerated and classified they offer a series of very 
 definite facts which are worthy of public attention. 
 An instance representing each type is given. 
 
 Mrs. C, a widow with 
 three children, does day 
 work whenever she can 
 secure it. She is also 
 regularly employed as a 
 janitress in one of our 
 office buildings. She 
 cleans 24 rooms each 
 evening after 5 p. m. and 
 receives f 1.00 per room 
 per month. 
 
 The Eight Hour Law has 
 had no influence on this 
 class of worker. Such 
 women may continue to 
 sacrifice themselves and 
 their families as before. 
 
 Miss P., employed in one 
 hairdressing establish- 
 ment, may not work 
 more than eight hours 
 for this house. She fre- 
 quently goes to a second 
 s i m i lar establishment 
 and does evening work. 
 When window displays 
 are to be given, Miss P. 
 prefers to return in the 
 evening and assist in 
 her own store and re- 
 sents the fact that she 
 must go to a second 
 store while an alien is 
 brought in to work in 
 her place when overtime 
 is necessary. 
 
 The Eight Hour Law does 
 not protect such girls 
 from excessive hours 
 nor does it force them 
 to protect themselves. 
 
56 
 
 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 Miss B. is employed as a This girl is not protected 
 
 stenographer in a gar 
 age. She reports for 
 duty at 7:30 a. m. and 
 remains until 6 p. m. 
 Her salary is f 12.00 a 
 week. 
 
 by the Eight Hour Law. 
 A stenographer in a 
 garage may work as 
 many hours as she 
 pleases for f 12.00. 
 
 Miss. M. is employed as a This girl works for a 
 
 stenographer in one of 
 our large mercantile 
 houses. Her salary is 
 $12.00 a week. She 
 works from 9 a. m. to 
 6 p. m. 
 
 house included under 
 the law. Her employer 
 is fined if she exceeds 
 eight hours. She has 
 benefited by the law. 
 
 Miss K. is employed as a 
 stenographer by a real 
 estate firm for $85.00 a 
 month. She works as 
 many hours as she and 
 her employer agree. 
 
 Miss S. is employed as a 
 stenographer by a large 
 business house. Her 
 work is of such a nature 
 that letters frequently 
 must be written after 
 5 p. m. Her salary is 
 $90.00. 
 
 Keal estate offices are not 
 included under the law. 
 This class of employee 
 is exactly where she 
 was before the passage 
 of the law or possibly 
 worse off, as fewer posi- 
 tions are open to her. 
 
 This house is included un- 
 der the Eight Hour 
 Law. The salary is suf- 
 ficient to attract male 
 employees and the em- 
 ployer does not wish to 
 risk violation of the 
 law. Miss S. lost her 
 position to a man. She 
 is worse off than she 
 was before the passage 
 of the law. 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 57 
 
 A large number of similar instances serve to em- 
 phasize the following facts:* 
 
 1. That the Eight Hour Law for women is 
 "class" legislation — class according to the char- 
 acter of the house rather than according to the 
 character of employment. The stenographer is 
 protected in the mercantile house, but the sten- 
 ographer in the garage is exactly where she was 
 before the passage of the law. That is, the Eight 
 Hour Law does not uniformly apply to all 
 women workers in all employments. Moreover, 
 it does not uniformly apply to the low salaried 
 women in all classes of employment. 
 
 2. That the woman of ability who is able to 
 hold a position in which the salary is sufficient to 
 attract men is in danger of losing her position 
 provided it be with a house included under the 
 law. If with a house not included under the 
 law she too is exactly where she was before the 
 passage of the law or possibly worse off because 
 the number of positions open to her type of abil- 
 ity are lessened. That is, the high salaried women 
 are brought into unequal competition with men. 
 Handicapped by the law, in some cases they lose 
 their positions and in others are forced into 
 houses where the law is not operative. 
 
 3. That the main object of the law — to protect 
 the health of woman as an individual and by pro- 
 tecting her protect posterity — is defeated in all 
 cases where women and girls accept day work from 
 one employer and night work from another. Wait- 
 resses, janitresses, stenographers and others have 
 many opportunities for this sort of thing and it 
 is a much more common practice than the casual 
 observer might think. Such women are not bene- 
 fited by the law. In fact they are frequently 
 
 * No effort is here made to offer a complete summary of facts 
 relative to the Eight Hour Law. 
 
58 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 worse off than before as the second employer 
 rarely knows what service has been rendered the 
 first and is less likely to consider the girl's con- 
 dition than would be the case had she worked 
 continuously for one employer. 
 
 4. The only real uniform advantage accruing 
 to women workers is in the case of low salaried 
 women in certain lines of work who, because of 
 the character of the work and the large numbers 
 employed, can neither be displaced by boys nor 
 by machinery. Boys have to some extent taken 
 the place of women, and machinery is more and 
 more doing so. Even in the mercantile lines 
 there are prophecies of a day when mail orders 
 will supplant counter sales and many clerks will 
 be entering other occupations. 
 
 It seems fair to conclude that the Eight Hour Law 
 has benefited some women in some lines of work, but 
 on the whole has been a serious handicap to the 
 woman of ability who realizes that the positions at 
 the top are not often filled by "time servers." Many 
 women feel that if we are to have such a law it should 
 be made uniform for every woman whose ability has 
 not received a certain salary recognition — say $10.00 
 to |12.00 a week — and that women who have received 
 such recognition should be allowed to use their own 
 judgment as to both hours and salary, reaching the 
 top if possible. It is also suggested that uniform 
 protection for low salaried women will continue to be 
 impossible unless women themselves are obligated by 
 law to take the same responsibility for their health 
 as does the employer. Why not fine the woman who 
 works over eight hours as well as the employer? This 
 would be peculiarly applicable to women who serve 
 two employers. Another suggestion is the alteration 
 of the law to permit a maximum number of hours per 
 week with a more flexible day limit. 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 59 
 
 Whatever the reasons for changing positions may be, 
 one thing is certain — employers are not inclined to en- 
 courage the employment of boys and girls whose appli- 
 cation blanks indicate frequent changes in occupation. 
 The employers of Seattle have allowed us the privilege 
 of examining hundreds of application blanks, some 
 filled out by successful and some by unsuccessful ap- 
 plicants. It has been very common to find the reason 
 for failure to employ expressed as follows : "Too many 
 changes." It is always comparatively easy to get a 
 first trial, sometimes a second and possibly a third, 
 but by the time the fourth position is sought, busi- 
 ness men say frankly that it costs the house too much 
 to train a boy with almost certainty that he will not 
 stay. 
 
 The following record is an excellent example of 
 the type of worker not wanted by business men: 
 
 A., age 15, completed eighth grade at 14 years. 
 Took his first position August 4, 1913, and his fifth 
 on May 15, 1914. 
 
 Firm 
 
 Occupation 
 
 Wage 
 
 Time 
 
 Why Leave 
 
 j 
 
 
 $6.00 
 
 6.00 
 
 6.00 
 
 6.00 
 
 26^ per Mo. 
 
 Aug. 4, '13, to Sept. 27, '13... 
 
 Sept. 27 to Jan. 10, '14 
 
 Jan. 12 to April 10 . . 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 April 27 to May 15 
 
 Better place 
 
 5 
 
 Hardware apprentice 
 
 May 15 to June 1 
 
 Handicaps in Securing Promotions. 
 
 In reply to the question, "What has hindered you 
 most in securing better positions and better wages?" 
 we have chosen the following answers as best charac- 
 terizing the group: 
 
 Age 19, eleventh grade, 
 been out two and one- 
 half years, tried three 
 different lines and was 
 anxious to find his right 
 place in industry. 
 
 "Lack of advanced educa- 
 tion in one particular 
 line and not knowing 
 how to find the right 
 line to follow." 
 
60 
 
 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 Left school at 11 years in 
 the third grade in coun- 
 try. Entered city school 
 for one year at 14 years. 
 Has done odd jobs al- 
 ways and had no work 
 at date of interview. 
 
 I had no trade and no 
 proper schooling." 
 
 Age 17, left school in sev- "I haven't fitted myself 
 
 enth grade at 15 years for anything better than 
 
 of age. Is a messenger I am doing." 
 boy. 
 
 Age 17, left school in 
 eighth grade two years 
 ago. Has done odd jobs 
 and lost two positions 
 as trade apprentice. 
 
 "Ignorance and inexperi- 
 ence. I have failed at 
 two trades." 
 
 Age 20, tenth grade, in "I do not know. I have 
 very good line and do- never thought of it un- 
 ing well. til you asked this ques- 
 
 tion." 
 
 Age 20, eighth grade, tried 
 several lines and at- 
 tends night school. 
 
 "Don't know. Just can't 
 seem to get ahead." 
 
 Age 18, left school in sixth 
 grade. 
 
 "Don't like work of any 
 kind. Employers expect 
 too much." 
 
 Girl 18, seventh grade, 
 poor school record. 
 
 "Don't care to work very 
 hard and don't have to." 
 
 Many girls and boys summarized their replies in two 
 or three words: 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 61 
 
 "No technical training." 
 "Incompetence." 
 "Lack of concentration." 
 "Lack of pull." 
 "Nothing." 
 
 "The class of unemployed." 
 "Age." (A very common reason.) 
 "Lack of education." (The high- 
 est percentage of all.) 
 
 Qualities Which Contribute to Success. 
 
 "What qualities have been most helpful to you in 
 advancing?" was rarely answered thoughtfully or in- 
 teligently by the younger workers. Girls, as a rule, 
 did not attempt to reply. The older boys gave some 
 excellent replies. 
 
 "Ability to see what to do and be 
 willing to do it." 
 
 "Hard work." 
 
 "Industry." 
 
 "Staying by the same job." 
 
 "Determination to succeed." 
 
 "Paying attention to what I was 
 told." 
 
 "Observation of those ahead of me." 
 
 "Increasing my knowledge by watch- 
 ing better men." 
 
 "Making a daily plan for work and 
 study and following it." 
 
 "I do not know what qualities are 
 needed. If I did I would go back 
 to school and try to learn them." 
 (Age 15, out of school six months.) 
 
 Suggestions for the School System. 
 
 There are some valuable hints for educators in re- 
 plies to the question, "Were you to return to school 
 what can you suggest that would be most helpful in 
 making you a more efficient worker?" 
 
62 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 "Character consideration is more important 
 
 than children think. Couldn't teachers do 
 
 more to show children the right point of 
 
 view?" 
 
 "More patience with dull children. I always 
 
 knew the teacher did not like dull boys." 
 "Help boys to see the value of education be- 
 fore it is too late." 
 "A thorough brief business course to show 
 us all what will be expected when we go 
 to work." 
 "Teach us to do every little thing well." 
 "Give us a better foundation in common 
 
 branches." 
 "A better foundation to build on." 
 "Better spelling and arithmetic." 
 "A simplified application of economics." 
 "Closer application and ability to think for 
 
 ourselves." 
 "Something to show girls how to use money." 
 "I wish I knew. I have not done well so far." 
 "Make girls more independent." 
 "To teach things that count in business. 
 
 Character is neglected." 
 "More thoroughness in teaching and develop- 
 ing the reasons why." 
 
 Boy 18, who says he is "To help us to see what 
 honest and has lots of we are adapted to and 
 grit but has no educa- make a study of it." 
 tion for anything and 
 his work life is a fail- 
 ure. 
 
 There are many lessons for our school boys and 
 girls which might be learned from the experience and 
 advice of these older workers who have seen the 
 serious side of business life and who are realizing 
 their needs after the opportunity to meet them has 
 slipped away. Over and over again, in instance after 
 instance, we were told that another opportunity would 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 63 
 
 meet a different response on their part. Might not 
 our public school teachers find a message for their 
 charges in the testimony of these experienced workers 
 so ably expressed in the words of Kipling? 
 
 "I wish myself could talk to myself as I left 'im a 
 
 year ago: 
 I could tell 'im a lot that would save 'im a lot on the 
 
 things that 'e ought to know." 
 
 The same question, "What can the schools do to 
 make more efficient workers?" was put to many em- 
 ployers who deal with large numbers of young em- 
 ployees. Employers' replies are almost identical with 
 those of the workers themselves. Capital and labor, 
 employer and employee, no matter what their point 
 of view, are unanimous in asking for greater emphasis 
 along three definite lines: 
 
 1. Academic — accuracy, rapidity and neatness 
 in arithmetic, writing and spelling. 
 
 2. Character — honesty, industry and ability to 
 follow instructions. 
 
 3. Personality — hygiene, proper business dress, 
 courtesy and refinement in speech and manner. 
 
 Supplemental Education. 
 
 In view of the fact that a large percentage of the 
 group under consideration acknowledges "lack of edu- 
 cation" to have been the most serious handicap in 
 advancing, it is well to inquire what opportunities 
 Seattle offers for such youths to make up educational 
 loss when the need is realized, and how many are 
 seriously interested in taking advantage of such 
 opportunities. 
 
 The Board of Education under the State Law of 
 1909 has established and is operating Public Evening 
 Schools during six months of each year. The regis- 
 tration for 1914 to date is approximately 3,000 in high 
 
64 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 school courses, 500 in grammar schools and 700 for- 
 eigners learning to read and write the English lan- 
 guage or preparing for citizenship. Private Evening 
 Schools charging tuition are maintained by various in- 
 stitution such as Business Colleges, Schools of Engi- 
 neering, and the Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. Day 
 courses are also offered by the same institutions for 
 those who during short periods of unemployment de- 
 sire to increase their ability and knowledge. Registra- 
 tion in correspondence schools is not uncommon. 
 Churches and other philanthropic agencies also provide 
 for special lines of educational work in free evening 
 school if the demand is sufficient. 
 
 No attempt has been made to investigate in detail 
 the classes maintained by agencies other than the 
 Public School System. We have tried, however, to 
 ascertain through interviews with the boys and girls 
 included under the various sections of this study and 
 by means of interviews with, and investigation of, the 
 present registration at the Broadway night school 
 what the character of the demand for supplementary 
 study is, the object in view, the type of pupils who 
 avail themselves of such opportunities and their sat- 
 isfaction with the instruction received.* 
 
 The following facts are offered as the result of this 
 study : 
 
 1. Boys and girls do not often register in evening 
 schools immediately after leaving day schools. fPub- 
 lic evening registration for 1913-1914 was 6,444. Of 
 this number 199 or 3 per cent were under 16 years 
 of age, 101 were in the elementary schools and 98 in 
 the high school. 
 
 Under Group I., comprising the 402 children who 
 had been out of grammar school less than one year, 
 
 * It was impossible to include all the evening schools in this 
 study. The Broadway was chosen because it registers approximately 50 
 per cent of the total attendance. It carries all courses offered in any 
 of the schools and some not offered elsewhere. 
 
 t This is a mere statement of fact. The desirability of pupils under 
 16 registering in evening schools, is discussed on page 65. 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 65 
 
 only 9 boys and 7 girls were attending night school. 
 Of the 425 under Group III. who had been out of 
 school from one to five years, 93 boys and 40 girls 
 were attending Public Evening School, 5 boys were 
 attending private evening school and one was taking 
 a correspondence course. From the same group only 
 three had attended during the first year after leaving 
 day school 
 
 Two explanations are offered for these facts. The 
 first comes from the students themselves who testify 
 that they rarely realize until a year or two after 
 leaving, the competition to be met with in business 
 life and the disadvantage of educational shortage. The 
 second is offered by the investigator who suggests that 
 evening work done by children under 16 is not advis- 
 able from either the mental or physical, and in some 
 instances we might add, the moral point of view. A 
 portion of this younger group is doubtless strong 
 enough physically and sufficiently developed mentally 
 to attend evening school advantageously, and were it 
 possible to handle such pupils in classes apart from 
 adults and more along the lines of grammar school 
 organization, we are confident that a considerable 
 number from 15 to 17 would be interested to complete 
 the requirements for high school admission. This 
 would be especially true were we to introduce a sys- 
 tem similar to that of some cities in England where 
 the chief attendance officer forwards every Saturday 
 morning to the organizer of the evening schools a 
 complete list of pupils who have left the day schools 
 during the current week. On the following Monday 
 a visitor from the department of evening schools visits 
 the home and talks over the occupation to be entered 
 and tries to interest the child and his parents in the 
 line of advanced study best calculated for his future 
 progress. One visitor, who combines vocational guid- 
 ance with evening school attendance to approximately 
 
66 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 100,000 population, is bringing most satisfactory re- 
 turns for the expenditure involved. 
 
 While engaged in this investigation we have made 
 an experimental beginning of a similar system from 
 which we have obtained results indicating the utility 
 of continuing and expanding the system. Schedule 
 No. 1 which gave us our basis for home visitation last 
 year has been reprinted and enlarged and has been 
 sent out through the Superintendent's office with in- 
 structions to fill out and send in a blank for every 
 pupil, other than transfers, who leaves school. Up 
 to November 16, 1914, we have received 110 of these 
 school leaving blanks from the high schools and 121 
 from the elementary school. All blanks are carefully 
 checked to detect any violation of school or labor laws 
 and whenever there seems to be especial need, we are 
 visiting the homes for the purpose indicated above.* 
 The fact that we are always welcome, that advice is 
 frequently followed, and more than all, the fact that 
 parents who have been visited are passing on the 
 information to others who have not been visited and 
 these latter in turn are coming voluntarily to the 
 office, are undeniable indications of the demand for 
 this line of educational supervision. From September 
 1, 1914, to November 1, 1914, the writer has held office 
 consultation with 201 parents or children along the 
 lines of vocational information and continued educa- 
 tional progress. The information acquired by the office 
 in this way is immensely valuable and we believe the 
 advantage to the child is proven by the steady increase 
 in demand for consultation. Were we able to visit 
 all the school leaving cases and continue our friendly 
 interest and educational oversight we could doubtless 
 accomplish much for both the individual and society. 
 
 2. Personal ambition rather than educational status 
 is the controlling motive governing registration. Total 
 
 • Results of visitation for the year 1914-1915 are not Included in 
 this report. Whenever possible we have made the visit because of 
 personal interest rather than to secure material for the report. 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 67 
 
 evening registration for 1913-1914 was 6,444. About 
 30 per cent pursued elementary courses and 70 per 
 cent high school courses. The legitimate interpreta- 
 tion to be given this statistical information is not that 
 70 per cent of the evening school pupils have had a 
 complete grammar school education and are pursuing 
 secondary academic education, but that large num- 
 bers of mature persons who have chosen to increase 
 their professional knowledge or mechanical skill rath- 
 er than to continue definite academic courses, and 
 who have the foundation necessary to do so advantage- 
 ously, are permitted to register under high school in- 
 struction. The investigator knows of many instances 
 in which adults, who have not even reached the upper 
 grammar grades, are pursuing high school technical 
 courses with the best of results. Our conclusion, 
 which we believe to be entirely justified by facts, is 
 that a very large percentage of the instruction given 
 in our evening schools is beneficial to those who have 
 not secured the fundamentals of an education in youth, 
 but who, because of personal ambition rather than 
 high or low academic status, desire to become more 
 efficient as individuals and more intelligent as mem- 
 bers of our social fabric. 
 
 3. The object of registration in evening courses is: 
 (1) general culture, (2) to acquire command of the 
 English language, (3) to increase wage earning ca- 
 pacity either in the present occupation or in other 
 lines. 
 
 4. The satisfaction of students with the instruction 
 offered and their estimate of the value received in 
 proportion to the effort accompanying evening at- 
 tendance, is one of the most interesting phases of the 
 study and one of the most difficult to present with 
 accuracy and clearness. 
 
 In general, classes for foreigners and special classes 
 seem to be giving very good satisfaction. There is 
 
68 Seattle Children in School and in Industry). 
 
 considerable dissatisfaction with the purely academic 
 lines of work and in some instances with commercial 
 instruction. Doubtless much of this criticism is jus- 
 tified. It is traceable to a combination of circum- 
 stances which requires more careful analysis and more 
 detailed explanation than is possible in this investiga- 
 tion. A few general conclusions are cited: 
 
 (1) Pupils registering for English and special 
 classes are usually more mature, more uniform 
 in ability, more earnest in purpose and more reg- 
 ular in attendance. 
 
 (2) Teachers of such classes are more uniformly 
 well prepared for their specialty and the char- 
 acter of their task does not afford the same temp- 
 tation to "fill in time." 
 
 (3) Academic classes usually include a hetero- 
 geneous mass of adults and children ranging over 
 all the elementary grades, the serious and the 
 frivolous, those who are forced to attend by par- 
 ents or attendance officer, those who have no 
 more scholarly motive than the courting of the 
 opposite sex, and those who are genuinely anxious 
 to complete their elementary education and secure 
 high school promotion. 
 
 Classes of this character are to be found in 
 both elementary and high school. They are at 
 best a difficult proposition and require high class 
 pedagogical ability combined with personal inter- 
 est supported by fresh mental and physical vigor. 
 When we consider that nearly all of our instruct- 
 ors have already rendered full day school service, 
 or are gaining their first practical experience, we 
 need not be surprised that students complain as 
 to the value of the work, and that many who 
 would like to give serious attention to this class 
 of evening study become discouraged, feel that 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 69 
 
 their time is being wasted and drop out; or be- 
 fore entering, learn from friends of their dissatis- 
 faction and do not attempt to attend. 
 
 Until we have more complete grading of age and 
 ability in our academic classes, until we have 
 better supervision of actual results*, until we 
 have the same pedagogical interest in, and re- 
 sponsibility for, evening school pupils that we 
 have for day school pupils, it does not seem that 
 our evening schools will be able to render the 
 service in this particular line which might be 
 rendered, nor judging by our investigation, the 
 service for which there is a genuine demand. 
 
 Correspondence with other cities shows that 
 our problem in this respect is a national problem, 
 and more than that, letters from the other side 
 of the water indicate that the problem is of more 
 than national extent. The larger cities of England 
 and Scotland are wrestling with the same diffi- 
 culties. Experiments of various kinds are re- 
 ported, some of which might contain suggestions 
 for Seattle. They are at the disposal of the 
 Superintendent and the Board, but are not in- 
 cluded here as hardly within the province of this 
 report. 
 
 5. The Relation of Evening Study to Day Employ- 
 ment is another interesting phase of the subject and 
 is of considerable importance in connection with the 
 object of attendance and the satisfaction of employees 
 with their positions. We have secured full informa- 
 tion relative to this question from 729 women and 
 805 men attending the Broadway Evening School. 
 The results of this investigation are presented in 
 Tables XXXIV. and XXXV. 
 
 * A supervisor of evening school was recently appointed by the 
 Board. 
 
70 
 
 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 Table XXXIV. Relation of Evening Study to Day Employment — 
 728 Women. 
 
 Day 
 Occupation 
 
 Totals 
 
 Domestic 
 Science 
 
 General 
 Culture 
 
 Physical 
 Training 
 
 Commercial 
 
 TradeC) 
 
 
 9 
 
 192 
 
 6 
 
 284 
 
 63 
 
 5 
 
 53 
 
 35 
 
 40 
 
 41 
 
 11 
 
 1 
 44 
 
 71 
 10 
 
 4 
 16 
 
 7 
 15 
 15 
 
 
 5 
 
 28 
 
 3 
 
 123 
 
 29 
 
 5 
 16 
 
 6 
 11 
 
 2 
 
 Housework(t) .... 
 
 Laundry 
 
 Office 
 
 7 
 
 102 
 2 
 
 19 
 
 7 
 
 33 
 
 6 
 
 38 
 
 Sales clerk 
 
 11 
 
 Teacher 
 
 11 
 5 
 3 
 5 
 
 13 
 4 
 5 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 Telephone 
 
 Trade 
 
 3 
 11 
 
 Miscellaneous — 
 
 6 
 
 Total 
 
 728 
 
 62 
 
 184 
 
 72 
 
 227 
 
 183 
 
 * Largely millinery and dressmaking for home use. 
 t Includes housewives and domestics. 
 
 Table XXXV. Relation of Evening Study to Day Occupation — 
 805 Men. 
 
 Day 
 Occupation 
 
 Totals 
 
 Trade 
 
 Culture 
 
 Gymnasium 
 
 Mechanical 
 
 Store 
 
 Office 
 
 Apprentice 
 
 Factory 
 
 34 
 32 
 
 27 
 6 
 18 
 
 215 
 51 
 
 224 
 
 73 
 
 22 
 
 9 
 
 92 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 10 
 
 
 18 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 1 
 
 17 
 3 
 101 
 5 
 2 
 5 
 
 13 
 
 ...„«.. 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 ....... 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 2 
 5 
 
 
 ....J... 
 
 9 
 
 Laundry 
 
 Messenger 
 
 Newsboy 
 
 Office 
 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 13 
 
 2 
 19 
 
 3 
 
 ""j" 
 
 38 
 13 
 53 
 17 
 11 
 
 36 
 
 15 
 4 
 3 
 
 10 
 15 
 15 
 17 
 
 122 
 
 Salesman 
 
 Skilled work 
 
 Store. . . 
 
 14 
 33 
 31 
 
 Student. . . 
 
 
 9 
 
 Teacher 
 
 2 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 Miscellaneous — 
 
 23 
 
 Total 
 
 805 
 
 49 
 
 207 
 
 31 
 
 184 
 
 69 
 
 265 
 
 Interesting conclusions may be drawn from these 
 tables as well as from the material presented earlier 
 in this report. Page 19, and Table II. indicate that 
 approximately 50 per cent of the children who leave 
 school before completing the grammar school course 
 do so because of "dissatisfaction" either real or un- 
 real. Page 44 and Table XXIII. indicate that this 
 percentage of dissatisfaction has not varied greatly 
 during a five-year period. A subsequent paragraph 
 tells us that the same percentage of these same chil- 
 dren are "dissatisfied" in business life. Pages 48 to 51 
 state that 48 per cent of the 425 who have been out 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 71 
 
 of school from one to five years have given up their 
 original line of work, 38 per cent have remained in it 
 and 14 per cent are unemployed. Table XXXIV. 
 shows the following facts regarding the two occupa- 
 tions absorbing the largest number of beginning fe- 
 male wage earners, department stores and office work. 
 Registration for commercial courses is 227 with only 
 123 employed in the same lines during the day, and 
 104 who are in entirely different lines attempting to 
 make a change. Evening registration for salesclerks 
 is 63, with 29 of that number attempting to change to 
 office work. Moreover, although the registration is 
 smaller, 50 per cent of the telephone operators and 
 the same percentage of laundry workers are also 
 striving to become office workers. 
 
 Fifty per cent of "dissatisfaction" carried from the 
 schools into industry means frequent change in posi- 
 tions, the growth of pessimism, chronic discontent 
 and finally many failures and unemployment.* An 
 additional item of interest along this same line was 
 obtained recently while investigating the need of an 
 evening class for sales clerks employed in our depart- 
 ment stores. f One-third of the saleswomen in one of 
 our stores have been trained for office work, and one- 
 half of the women from the same store who are regis- 
 tered in evening classes are taking courses in stenog- 
 raphy preparatory to changing their occupation. Al- 
 lowing for the fact that there are doubtless a number 
 of instances in which girls have made unfortunate 
 initial choices and would do better to change, we are 
 still fairly close to the inevitable 50 per cent of dis- 
 content and the all too common feeling that any task 
 is less arduous than the one at hand, that any occu- 
 pation is more agreeable, of higher social standing 
 
 * It is hard to make a similarly accurate study for men because the 
 lines of work seem to be more closely related. Commercial registration 
 for girls means stenography and typewriting, for men it has a broader 
 significance. 
 
 t Such course was established by the Board October 1, 1914. 
 
72 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 and more remunerative than the one in which we are 
 engaged. Is it not this same feeling which causes 
 the average parent to prefer almost any occupation 
 for his child rather than the one in which he is en- 
 gaged? The fact that such large numbers employed 
 in one line are trying to prepare for other lines rather 
 than industriously and hopefully striving to perfect 
 themselves in their present occupation, opens up the 
 whole question of vocational guidance in selecting 
 original positions and then encouraging efficiency 
 rather than change. The waste of energy, time and 
 money in continuing our present system is serious, 
 while the effect of constant discontent on the individ- 
 ual and his usefulness must not be underestimated. 
 
 General culture, physical culture and special courses 
 leading to efficiency in homemaking should be encour- 
 aged no matter what the day occupation. But when 
 we realize the great army of office workers already in 
 the field and estimate the additional number clamor- 
 ing for admission who are at the same time unable 
 to offer personal qualities, educational qualifications 
 or technical skill sufficiently superior to the average 
 to hope to attain high rank, we pause to consider to 
 what extent our public school system is responsible 
 for such conditions, or if not responsible, what it 
 might do in a remedial way. 
 
 Our public day schools offer just one practical 
 course looking toward efficiency as wage earners in 
 the business world. This course is not in the line 
 which employs the largest number of young girls, nor 
 is it in the line in which there is the greatest dearth 
 of even semi-trained workers. The question arises — 
 has not our school system followed the line of least 
 resistance in establishing courses looking toward 
 clerical positions only, and is it not unconsciously en- 
 couraging pupils to enter an occupation in which, 
 according to present indications, there will soon be 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 73 
 
 nothing like positions sufficient to go around? Are 
 we not, as it were, doing worse than merely neglecting 
 vocational guidance? Are we not actually tempting 
 girls to ignore proper vocational considerations ? Prob- 
 ably the greatest fault lies with our day school sys- 
 tem, but it might be possible and would doubtless be 
 useful, if during the period of evening registration, 
 conferences were to be held and information freely 
 given regarding the industrial situation and the de- 
 sirability of changing or continuing in present occu- 
 pations. Too many are constant experimenters always 
 with the hope of* bettering their condition, while ex- 
 perimentation is based on the most superficial knowl- 
 edge of the various occupations and the real advant- 
 ages offered by each. 
 
 6. What demand for advanced education seems to 
 be unmet by evening schools? Adults of both sexes 
 have been found in considerable numbers who would 
 be glad to take advantage of an ungraded day school. 
 This demand arises from the seasonal character of 
 many of our industries. Those who are out of em- 
 ployment for two, three or four months would com- 
 prise the larger part of the registration and the 
 school would probably not be in session more than 
 four or five months of the year. 
 
 Initial and Final Wage and Relation of Same to Changes 
 in Position. 
 
 Table VI. indicates that the initial weekly wage of 
 high school girls and boys is respectively fl.98 and 
 $1.69 higher than the corresponding weekly wage for 
 grammar school pupils.* 
 
 • The operation of the minimum wage law has practically forbidden 
 continued differentiation in initial wage according to educational status 
 and age. It is impossible at the present time to secure more than $6.00 
 even for the high school graduate, while the same sum is required by- 
 law for every minor without reference to intellectual status. If fixing 
 the minimum at both ends tends to make the legal minimum the actual 
 maximum, financial incentive for prolonging school life will be entirely 
 removed and intelligence, measured by advancement in school, will 
 cease to be a determining factor. 
 
74 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 In constructing the tables for this section of the 
 report we had hoped that there would be sufficient 
 evidence to indicate the average initial wage relative 
 to final wage, the number changing positions within 
 the same occupation relative to those changing to an 
 entirely different line, the predominating motives for 
 change and the financial effect of the same. That there 
 is not more conclusive evidence along these lines, has 
 been somewhat of a disappointment. For example, 
 there is nothing to indicate why all those originally 
 employed in automobile work have retained their po- 
 sitions, while sailors, farmers and lumbermen have 
 all changed, and there is nothing to indicate whether 
 the character of the industry has been a controlling 
 influence for or against permanency. We offer the 
 material for what it is worth. The reader may find 
 some suggestion for further study or some generaliza- 
 tion indicating, if not proving, facts. 
 
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Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 77 
 
 The average initial wage of boys and girls in this 
 group is respectively $7.83 and $6.26*, the average 
 final wage $11.90 and $9.29f, or an increase of 52 per 
 cent for boys and 48 per cent for girls. 
 
 The total number of girls in their original line of 
 work, irrespective of the number of positions held and 
 including those unemployed at the date of investiga- 
 tion, is 101. The number who have changed occupa- 
 tions is the same, 101. The number out of work in 
 each group is respectively 20 and 22. The number of 
 boys in their original line is 79, the number changing 
 117 and the numbers unemployed 12 and 15 re- 
 spectively. 
 
 Comparison of initial wage with the final wage of 
 each group for each sex, those who change and those 
 who retain positions, shows that girls lost approxi- 
 mately 40 cents per capita per week by changing from 
 one occupation to another, while boys gain approxi- 
 mately 60 cents. These statistics, as has been said, 
 are not proof of any fact. They are, at best, mere 
 indications that a larger percentage of boys change 
 occupations and by so doing better their condition 
 than is the case with girls. Our knowledge of Seattle 
 industries, as yet superficial, indicates that there are 
 more and better opportunities for boys to test their 
 ability and better their condition through change 
 than there are for girls. It is also well to recall that 
 the largest percentage of young boys are found in 
 the messenger service from which a change is im- 
 perative, while the largest percentage of young girls 
 is found in our department stores in which there is 
 the best of opportunity for advancement. 
 
 * This average is nearer the average of the high school than the 
 grammar school group on page 23. Two explanations are suggested: 
 (1) Many of the number are high school pupils and (2) doubtless the 
 initial wage in this group is not as uniformly the first wage as it is for 
 the younger group. 
 
 t This average wage is approximately the same as the minimum 
 wage established for four industries. For those who desire, the full 
 findings of the wage commission are available in the Report for 1914. 
 
SECTION IV. 
 Minimum Wage and Vocational Efficiency. 
 
SECTION IV. 
 
 Minimum Wage and Vocational Efficiency. 
 
 Inasmuch as studies of this type are closely related to 
 studies carried on by minimum wage boards ; inasmuch 
 as wage legislation and vocational education are two of 
 the interesting and important problems of the day ; in- 
 asmuch as each day that passes brings before us in 
 some new form or old the intimate relation which 
 exists between wage standards and standards of ef- 
 ficiency; and inasmuch as the ultimate results of the 
 wage law cannot be judged apart from its action and 
 reaction on the educational system, it has seemed log- 
 ical to indicate in this report how the Minimum Wage 
 Law and the subsequent rulings of the Commission 
 are affecting the children of Seattle educationally, and 
 how they are emphasizing the need of some action on 
 the part of the educator by which efficiency may be 
 substituted for "cost of living" as the basis of remun- 
 eration for industrial service. 
 
 By legislative enactment the State of Washington 
 in 1913 established what is known as the "Minimum 
 Wage Law for Women and Minors." The avowed pur- 
 pose of this law was "to establish such standards of 
 wages and conditions of labor for women and minors 
 employed within the State of Washington as shall be 
 held hereunder to be reasonable and not detrimental 
 to health and morals, and which shall be sufficient for 
 the decent maintenance of women."* A minor was 
 "defined to be a person of either sex under the age 
 of 18 years."! This law was approved by the Gov- 
 ernor on March 24, 1913, and under its operation the 
 following rulings have been adopted by the commis- 
 sion. 
 
 * Section 3, Chapter 174, Laws of 1913. 
 t Section 8, Chapter 174, Laws of 1912. 
 
 81 
 
82 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 1. For mercantile establishments, to be effective 
 June 27, 1914, a minimum weekly wage of $10 for 
 adult workers; an apprenticeship system allowing 
 f 6 for the first six months and $7.50 for the sec- 
 ond six months after which the full minimum of 
 $10 must be paid. Minors of either sex may not 
 be employed for less than $6. 
 
 2. For manufacturing establishments, to be ef- 
 fective August 1, 1914, a minimum weekly wage 
 of $8.90 for adults with $6 as the minimum for 
 minors. 
 
 3. For laundry and dye works, to be effective 
 August 24, 1914, a minimum weekly wage of $9 
 for adults with the same $6 provision for minors. 
 
 4. For telephone and telegraph establishments, 
 to be effective September 7, 1914, a weekly mini- 
 mum of $9 to be paid after nine months of 
 service. 
 
 One searches this statute in vain for any sugges- 
 tion of competency in relation to remuneration or any 
 hint that educational systems could or should be val- 
 uable assistants in raising the standards of efficiency 
 and thereby increasing the wage scale. In establishing 
 rulings for apprentices in the various lines, the true 
 meaning of "apprenticeship" has been entirely lost 
 sight of, the nature of the various employments and 
 the varying degree of skill or technical knowledge 
 required in each has been ignored, and a flat rate of 
 $6 has been agreed upon for all alike.* Furthermore, 
 application blanks, issued to those seeking apprentice- 
 ship, inquire only into length of service and cost of 
 living. The educational side of apprenticeship is ig- 
 nored by statute and by commission. No questions are 
 asked as to the opportunity offered to secure the 
 industrial training actually essential to efficiency, no 
 
 * This statement is based upon the rulings which have been pub- 
 lished. As a matter of fact the commission is quietly experimenting 
 with some variations. 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 83 
 
 questions regarding the determination of the appli- 
 cant to become an apprentice in the true sense of 
 the term, nor is there anything to indicate that the 
 applicant has any personal responsibility for self- 
 improvement. There is no system of educational re- 
 ports and no systematic effort on the part of the com- 
 mission to find out why certain apprentices fail to 
 make good while others succeed. Conclusion of the 
 period of apprenticeship is determined by the time 
 "put in" not by the advancement of the apprentice. 
 It might be said, and it is unquestionably true, that 
 employers will discharge incompetent apprentices long 
 before the year expires, but this does not solve the 
 problem for the incompetent. This office has placed 
 some of these border line incompetents as many as 
 four or five times since the law became effective, and 
 it has been impossible for some to keep a position for 
 longer than three weeks at a time. In fact, so accus- 
 tomed have we become to the requirements of certain 
 industries that we are asking those who come to us 
 for advice to let us know at the end of the first week 
 exactly the volume of work passing out through their 
 hands. We can tell with considerable accuracy 
 whether the apprentice will be retained or dismissed. 
 
 The investigation undertaken by the Board of Edu- 
 cation deals with the child from the educational point 
 of view, attempting to ascertain the degree of efficiency 
 carried from school life into industry and the pros- 
 pect for future advancement. It covers the period 
 from September 1913, to September 1914. The mini- 
 mum wage law went into effect June 27, 1914. It 
 deals with the cost of living, the hours of service and 
 the physical and moral surroundings of employees. 
 
 From the dates above it will be seen that nearly ten 
 months of the year given to the school study had 
 elapsed before the first ruling of the commission be- 
 came effective, but the influence of the law was appre- 
 ciable in the school office as soon as it had become a 
 
84 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 certainty. The usual foresight of business houses in 
 anticipating legislative effect was not lacking in this 
 instance and the problem of adjustment to the new 
 legislation was well on toward solution before the 
 law became effective. It is legitimate, therefore, to 
 say that our study, our educational facts and conclu- 
 sions have been influenced to some extent by the mini- 
 mum wage law during about six months of the period 
 covered. This influence was not apparent so much in 
 the wage scale as in loss of position due to reorganiza- 
 tion of the working force. These facts have tended to 
 make our study somewhat more complicated although 
 much more interesting and more beneficial, we trust, 
 to both educator and student of social legislation.* 
 
 The first immediate result of the attempt to estab- 
 lish a uniform wage scale based on the cost of living 
 was loss of position for large numbers of Seattle 
 workers of all ages who were near the border line of 
 incompetency. The business men of Seattle who, prior 
 to the enactment of this law, had carried on their pay 
 rolls scores of "industrial boarders" were now com- 
 pelled by law to establish a uniform standard of 
 efficiency to correspond to a uniform wage standard. 
 The weeks following the passage of the law were weeks 
 of experimental readjustment and constant shifting of 
 positions. Dozens of sub-averages were thrown out of 
 employment, but in spite of many prophecies to the 
 contrary, no one age or class of women workers bore 
 x he brunt of this industrial reorganization. This office 
 
 • Our study of "Telephone Operating as an Occupation for Girls" 
 was completed early in May, 1914, and an outline of the same published 
 for the benefit of school girls who were considering entering this occu- 
 pation during the summer months. Telephone operating is a semi- 
 skilled occupation. We found a graduated wage scale well calculated 
 to encourage efficiency and permanency and an excellent sick benefit, 
 pension and insurance system. The ruling of the Wage Commission, 
 effective in September, has forced an entire reorganization of the system 
 giving all the advantage to the beginner and discouraging efficiency and 
 permanency. Before our complete study is published it will have to 
 be revised as it is already out of date. Doubtless we shall not under- 
 take this for several months as we sincerely hope that the Wage Com- 
 mission, with more experience and a better understanding of the char- 
 acter of the system, will call another conference for the modification of 
 the present orders. 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 85 
 
 was besieged by all ages of female workers, by the 
 young who were in need of training, by the old whose 
 usefulness was waning but whose children were de- 
 pendent upon their employment, by the slow who 
 had failed to acquire speed, as well as by the girl of 
 ability whose gravest fault was lack of the maturity 
 of judgment so essential to success in certain occupa- 
 tions.* The age of the victim has depended almost 
 entirely upon the character of employment and the 
 essentials of successful service. It is one problem for 
 the laundry worker, a second problem for the depart- 
 ment store employee, a third for the telephone oper- 
 ator and a fourth for the factory worker. No one has 
 yet taken a census of the "scrap heap." Possibly we 
 have come as near to it as any institution because 
 of the fact that throughout the entire summer our 
 attention was called to the effect of the law every day, 
 and oftentimes every hour of the day. 
 
 A few individual cases have been selected as indi- 
 cative of the type of problems which have been brought 
 to our attention by those who have sought our advice. 
 
 M., age 17, the oldest in a family of 11 children, 
 had been employed in a factory at $4.50 to $5.50, 
 piece work. Lost her position in July. Applied 
 to the school office for advice. Has been placed 
 in five different positions and been discharged 
 from all. After careful consideration of the girl's 
 ability, the character of the various positions held, 
 and reports from her employers as to the causes of 
 
 * Advice regarding vocational opportunities and placement in in- 
 dustry for our own school children has been our main interest. At no 
 time have we attempted the functions of an employment bureau. Un- 
 employed men and women frequently ask for school leaving permits for 
 children because they, or their older children, are without work. Where 
 it has been possible to aid the adult worker and thus keep the child in 
 school we have gladly done so. 
 
 A considerable number of young women who, attracted by the 
 minimum wage, have come to Seattle from outside the State have ap- 
 plied at the office for placement, and have offered remuneration if we 
 would use our influence to secure positions. We do not refuse to give 
 vocational information to any who seek it, but we have not considered 
 it within our province to make personal effort for others than our Seattle 
 girls and boys. 
 
86 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 failure, we believe this girl to be incapable, with- 
 out special training, of earning the minimum 
 wage. 
 
 Mrs. S., deserted by her husband, has six chil- 
 dren, all under 15 years of age. It has been im- 
 possible to place either mother or child. The 
 mother is too old and too untrained for the adult 
 minimum, the child too young and too untrained 
 for the $6 minimum. 
 
 Miss B., age 22, an employee of one of our 
 stores for some time, honest and loyal but never 
 very competent, had received $8 prior to estab- 
 lishment of minimum of $10. Lost her position 
 and has been without work for several months. 
 Kecently returned to same firm and begged for 
 position back at $8. The law was explained and 
 as tears rolled down her cheeks she cried out, 
 " the minimum wage or any law that re- 
 fuses me a chance to earn my living." 
 
 C, age 16, has two sisters, 18 and 19 years of 
 age. They were employed in department stores 
 at $8.50 and $9.00 respectively and had promised 
 the younger sister a chance to go through the 
 high school. Both older girls are unemployed 
 and the younger sister has left school and ac- 
 cepted a position at $6.00. 
 
 D., a high school graduate, had been encouraged 
 to complete her course on the promise of entering 
 employment more advantageously after gradua- 
 tion. She was obliged to take laundry work at 
 the same wage as the girl who had not completed 
 grammar school. 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 87 
 
 C, age 14, has had trouble with his eyes, and 
 is temporarily unfitted for study. A small 
 grocery store will employ him at $3.50 per week 
 and lunches. The child made application for a 
 permit to accept the same. When the employer 
 learned that the wage was fixed by law, he re- 
 fused to give employment and the boy is unable 
 to secure any work for which he is physically 
 fitted at the $6.00 minimum. His home is a 
 shack on the beach, the family are very poor and 
 the child is wasting his time unemployed. 
 
 S., B., M. and A., all high school girls, 17 years 
 of age, employed for the summer as "shakers out" 
 in a laundry in order to earn sufficient to provide 
 clothing for their next school year. All four re- 
 ported loss of position to the office the same day, 
 just one week before the laundry minimum became 
 effective. Boys 13 and 14 years of age received 
 labor permits to fill the vacant positions. 
 
 Mrs. H., a deserted wife with two children 
 whom the writer placed about three years ago, 
 has been making a brave effort to give both chil- 
 dren a complete grammar school education. She 
 entered upon her work entirely untrained and 
 was not a very desirable worker. Sympathy for 
 the woman played a considerable part in her em- 
 ployment and she was receiving $9.00. Lost her 
 position and was unable to find anything at the 
 adult minimum. The oldest boy, who has never 
 been absent nor tardy and who lacks three 
 months of grammar school graduation, has been 
 forced to leave school. 
 
 The second immediate effect of the minimum wage 
 has been the difficulty experienced by beginning work- 
 ers in securing opportunities of any kind in the in- 
 
88 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 dustrial world. This is the more important result in 
 connection with our public school system because it 
 places upon it, as it were, responsibility for fitting its 
 charges to become efficient factors of the economic age 
 in which they live. Responsibility for the "industrial 
 boarder" of the future is placed upon society unless 
 through its system of public education it can entirely 
 eradicate the sub-average worker. More than this, not 
 only must the school system raise the standard of 
 efficiency for the future worker, but it must offer to 
 those who have retained their positions, opportunities 
 in evening schools for continued progress. Mercantile 
 stores have already asked for this class of assistance 
 for their employees and the demand was responded to 
 by the Board of Education. 
 
 Classes in mercantile efficiency, to which none but 
 bona fide mercantile employees were admitted, were 
 established October 1, 1914. Employees have not taken 
 very much interest in the classes, and unless attend- 
 ance increases it will probably be advisable to dis- 
 continue evening continuation work and substitute 
 day classes in part time schools for unemployed girls. 
 
 Our study convinces us that there is a ceaseless hunt 
 for talent in almost every occupation. The most 
 pressing task of employers is to find and keep those 
 who can be promoted, and in general there is plenty 
 of opportunity for those who are qualified to do a 
 line of work which the world needs and who are 
 willing to do it. 
 
 One hesitates at this time to attempt to foretell 
 what may be the ultimate outcome of this legislation 
 because so much depends upon the wisdom and intel- 
 ligence of the wage boards, and upon the support of 
 public opinion. We shall have taken a long step in 
 the solution of this problem if we can realize that 
 the work of wage boards must go hand in hand with 
 the work of school boards; that the work of school 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 89 
 
 boards must go hand in hand with the work of busi- 
 ness boards; that the teacher supervisor must co- 
 operate with the factory and the mercantile super- 
 visor; that learners must always be subsidized by 
 someone until they are able to earn a living wage, 
 and that children who enter industry must be fitted 
 to do the work which industry demands in the way 
 that industry says, rather than to do the work of 
 their unguided preference according to the methods of 
 their choice. The net result of this law for the pres- 
 ent is the unemployment of those who cannot in 
 quantity and quality of work measure up to the mini- 
 mum wage standard. 
 
 This brings us to the question of unemployment and 
 the extent to which responsibility for the making of un- 
 employables may be placed upon our educational sys- 
 tem. 
 
SECTION V. 
 
 State School and Child Labor Laws and the 
 Making of Unemployable*. 
 
SECTION V. 
 
 State School and Child Labor Laws and the 
 Making of Unemployables. 
 
 We have shown in a previous section that not over 
 40 per cent leave school because of economic necessity 
 and that many who remain would not do so unless 
 compelled by law. We have shown also that our state 
 law requires children between the ages of 15 and 16 
 years, who have not completed the eighth grade, to 
 be either in school or at work, but makes it especially 
 difficult to enforce the law because labor permits are 
 issued to the child rather than to the employer. Un- 
 der our law it is not uncommon to find young children 
 who either have or have not completed the grammar 
 school both out of work and out of school. They may 
 lose or give up a position and take with them when 
 leaving their labor permit, and as has been stated 
 before there is no uniform legal method by which 
 attendance officers are informed of such facts. 
 
 Our statistics throw considerable light on the evils 
 of the present system. Of the 402 boys and girls 
 who left our grammar schools in 1913-1914, 67, or 17 
 per cent of the whole, had had no employment at the 
 date of our visit nor was employment in sight when 
 they left school. The high school pupils who entered 
 industry had been idle on an average of one-fourth of 
 the time covering a period of six months. During the 
 months of January and February, 1914, the writer 
 knew personally of 614 girls under 21 years of age 
 who were unemployed, and whose applications were 
 on file in five or six different business houses. Some 
 of these girls had tried a number of different occupa- 
 tions and still had given no serious thought to the 
 subject of vocational efficiency. While visiting homes 
 
94 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 we found 214 unemployed girls and 189 unemployed 
 boys. Only three of the 214 girls were doing any- 
 thing for self-improvement although a large number 
 admitted that loss of position was due to incompe- 
 tency.* 
 
 During the last two months, September and October, 
 1914, we have had calls from 39 girls under 19 years 
 of age who have been out of school for some time but 
 are untrained for any useful work and have done 
 nothing since leaving school to improve either their 
 economic or intellectual status. During the same two 
 months, 43 boys between the ages of 15 and 18 have 
 called, and 26 more have been reported as "idlers" by 
 parents who hoped that we might use some influence 
 to keep them at work. 
 
 As a result of the present state education law, 
 children unhindered and uncontrolled enter upon a 
 career of drifting which tends to create an army of 
 misfits, unfits and unemployables. Not only is the 
 individual harmed, but there is also a great social 
 and economic loss to the community. In too many 
 instances we "buy the milk of education at great cost, 
 mourn the cost and end by spilling the milk." It is 
 the tabulated effects of this neglect of the working 
 child during his most critical years which has aroused 
 us to realization of the fact that close relation be- 
 tween the elementary school and industry is far more 
 vital to the ultimate welfare of society than is a cor- 
 respondingly close relation between the secondary 
 school and the college. It is far less important to 
 follow the child to college and the professions than 
 to apprenticeship and industry. Municipalities, states 
 and nations are awakening to the fact that we can 
 no longer issue a labor permit to a child, who because 
 of economic necessity or childish preference leaves 
 
 • This class of unemployed might be Induced to attend an un- 
 graded day school such as was mentioned on page 73 or If under 18 
 might be forced to do so by law. 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 95 
 
 school, and then forget that there is such a child 
 until he is sentenced by our courts to become a perm- 
 anent charge on society. This is the problem of our 
 investigation: Shall society through the educational 
 system give a helping hand to these children as they 
 start out on their industrial career, and shall a serious 
 and concerted effort be made to prevent the industrial 
 and social waste resulting from random choice of 
 jobs and the early formation of "Vocational Hoboes"? 
 
 The years between 14 and 18 are the years of edu- 
 cational loss. If the public investment for children 
 up to 14 years is to make good, must not the schools 
 find some way to hold on to them during the next 
 two or three years? 
 
 If these questions be answered in the affirmative, it 
 then becomes the second object of our investigation 
 to suggest what can be done to establish a closer and 
 more profitable relation between school and industry. 
 
SECTION VI. 
 Conclusions and Recommendations. 
 
SECTION VI. 
 
 Conclusions and Recommendations. 
 
 Conclusions. 
 
 Briefly stated, the fundamental facts secured from 
 the investigation are: 
 
 1. There are two main reasons which have not 
 changed much in five years for school leaving — eco- 
 nomic pressure and dissatisfaction. The latter plays 
 the more important part and carried over into business 
 life is a serious handicap in success. Our conclusions 
 in this respect are similar to those of other cities. 
 
 2. Department stores and offices are receiving the 
 largest percentage of our young girls, messenger serv- 
 ice and offices the largest percentage of boys. Two of 
 these employments offer opportunities for rise and 
 development superior to almost any other occupations 
 receiving children. The contrary is the case in the 
 child employing industries in most of our eastern 
 cities. 
 
 3. Occupational instability is a universal and a 
 serious problem. It is increasingly common from 14 
 to 18 years of age and contributes its full share to- 
 ward creating an army of unemployables. 
 
 4. Wasted time and irregular financial returns are 
 the outgrowth of the above and lead to great economic 
 and social waste. 
 
 5. The initial wage scale is higher in Seattle than 
 in any other city reporting along similar lines. Here- 
 tofore it has increased according to the age, ability 
 and educational status of the child. The minimum 
 wage law is tending to give equal remuneration to all 
 without reference to qualifications, but is aiso tend- 
 
100 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 ing to eliminate from service many who under the old 
 conditions were receiving the lowest wage. 
 
 6. Occupational efficiency is not what it should be, 
 nor is it by any means commensurate with the wage 
 established by law. 
 
 7. The greatest handicaps in securing and retain- 
 ing positions are lack of thorough training in the 
 fundamentals of academic education, failure to under- 
 stand the importance of personal responsibility and 
 neglect of supplemental study upon which future 
 progress depends. 
 
 8. School leaving permits are granted on much 
 higher educational requirements and much closer fin- 
 ancial margin than in other states. In Seattle fifty- 
 eight school-leaving-labor permits have been granted 
 on a total elementary school enrollment of 30,016. 
 This is one-sixth of one per cent of the total. Cin- 
 cinnati reports 3 per cent of the elementary enroll- 
 ment granted the same class of permits. 
 
 9. Although occupational incompetency is a com- 
 mon complaint, the character of Seattle occupations 
 is such that we have found nothing in our study to 
 indicate that trade schools would serve a useful pur- 
 pose in our community. Training for occupational 
 efficiency, in part time or continuation schools, would 
 be useful to the child, to business and to society. 
 
 Recommendations. 
 I. For Legislative Action: 
 
 (1) That our Compulsory Attendance Law be so 
 amended that all children who have not completed the 
 eighth grade shall be obliged to attend school until 
 they are 16 years of age, unless granted school leaving 
 permits. 
 
 (2) That the present provision requiring children 
 either to be at work or to attend school be retained 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 101 
 
 with the age limit raised from 16 to 18 years. This 
 would provide educational supervision for all children 
 up to 18 years of age, whether in school or in industry, 
 and if a follow-up system were established, it would 
 overcome many evils of our present system. 
 
 (3) That our Child Labor Law be amended so that 
 labor permits be issued in duplicate and employers be 
 required to return their copy to the issuing office 
 whenever the child concerned leaves their service. 
 Permits should be re-issued for each change in position. 
 In this way attendance officers would be able to en- 
 force the law absolutely and the beginning of de- 
 linquency would be more easily detected and checked. 
 
 II. For the Educational System: 
 
 (1) That some system be devised whereby a closer 
 relation may be established between the work of the 
 attendance office, the evening schools and the indus- 
 trial life of our children. The experience of the past 
 year indicates that no one of these departments can 
 attain its greatest efficiency without the co-operation 
 of the others. 
 
 (2) That a course in mercantile efficiency be of- 
 fered in the commercial department of one of our 
 high schools, or in more than one if necessary. That 
 this course be organized along the lines of a part time 
 school combining the theoretical and academic instruc- 
 tion essential to efficiency with practical experience 
 in counter sales. The department handling this course 
 should keep in close touch with business houses so 
 that over supply in proportion to the demand may be 
 avoided. Very valuable suggestions for the organiza- 
 tion of such a course have been secured from Seattle 
 and other cities and are on file in the office. 
 
 (3) That trade training in sewing be offered in one 
 of our high schools. Several very fine young girls 
 have completed our present high school course in 
 sewing only to be refused trade positions because they 
 
102 Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 
 
 could not handle a power machine. This need not 
 be an expensive proposition and we believe, from the 
 facts ascertained, would bring good return on the 
 investment. It would probably require lengthening 
 the school day for trade students and the installation 
 of one power machine.* 
 
 (4) That training for domestic service as a pro- 
 fession be encouraged in the elementary schools and 
 that day continuation schools for young girls who 
 have entered such service be maintained. We have 
 secured an abundance of information on domestic 
 service which will be classified for publication later, 
 but which could be used in its present form for as- 
 certaining our immediate needs and the best methods 
 of organization. 
 
 (5) That part time schools be established as occa- 
 sion arises, or part time attendance be permitted for 
 those individuals whose industrial choice indicates the 
 advantage of combined academic knowledge and prac- 
 tical experience. Part time schools should have in- 
 dustrial supervisors who act as a connecting link be- 
 tween school and industry. If legislation is needed 
 in order for part time pupils to draw their full share 
 of the state appropriation, this should be included 
 under "legislative recommendations." 
 
 (6) Organization for the winter months of an 
 ungraded school for the benefit of students mentioned 
 on page 94. 
 
 (7) The present prevocational schools are interest- 
 ing and holding many children who otherwise would 
 drop out. Parents are uniformly pleased with the 
 results and a large number of boys and girls, for 
 whom there is no room, have expressed a desire to 
 
 J * Information has been secured regarding the cost of a power 
 i machine and also regarding the cost of an electrical attachment for the 
 ordinary machine. In some factory lines, previous experience in ma- 
 chine operating is not required: in others, especially since the minimum 
 wage became effective, it is essential. We have investigated the subject 
 sufficiently to feel that, for the present at least, one machine would be 
 sufficient for the city system. 
 
Seattle Children in School and in Industry. 103 
 
 attend. Increasing provision for this type of school 
 would seem to be desirable. 
 
 (8) The collection and dissemination of vocational 
 information for the benefit of parents, teachers and 
 children and for the purpose of ascertaining when 
 and how the schools can co-operate with industry in 
 increasing the efficiency of the child. If further 
 expansion of vocational service is approved, the fol- 
 lowing methods are suggested as the result of our 
 experimental efforts during the year: 
 
 (a) That parents and children be encouraged 
 to consult with teachers regarding their occupa- 
 tional interests. That they be asked to notify 
 teachers as soon as possible when it becomes nec- 
 essary to leave in order that the schools may co- 
 operate with them in studying their individual 
 needs and abilities relative to the character of the 
 various positions obtainable. 
 
 (b) That a follow-up system be inaugurated 
 whereby the schools may be informed of the 
 child's progress in industry and his educational 
 record be supplemented by the record of his in- 
 dustrial efficiency. Records of this class should 
 include changes in position, increase in wages, 
 causes of failure, qualities leading to success, ef- 
 forts for supplemental education, suggestions 
 from employers and many other items. 
 
 (c) The system suggested on page 65 would 
 greatly increase the efficiency of our public serv- 
 ice. 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY