Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Child Labor in Warring Countries: A Brief Review of Foreign Reports
The first effect in every country of the European war was a period of widespread unemployment accompanied by tremendous pressure in the few industries which were immediately necessary for war supplies. The activities of labor exchanges were extended to facili tate the distribution of labor, and in many places labor restrictions were relaxed, since this was thought necessary to intensify produc tion. Experience proved, however, that the relaxing of standards failed of its purpose. In England and France and more recently in Italy, after the redistribution of labor had been effected and an actual shortage of workers had replaced the earlier unemployment, definite steps were taken by the Governments to restore the provisions of the labor law, because they were found to be essential not only to the conservation of the available workers but to the quantity and the quality of their output.
On the other hand some countries resisted from the beginning of the war any such breaking down of the labor law and maintained, or even advanced, their labor restrictions. N 0 special exemptions are reported from Hungary; and, with the exception of a slight lengthen ing of legal overtime in the Australian State of Victoria, school attendance and child-labor laws have not been relaxed in any part of Canada, Australia, or New Zealand. They have been strengthened during the war in South Australia and in four Canadian Provinces. In England and France also official proposals have been made to reorganize and extend secondary education in ways which would directly affect the employment of children and raise the standard of their protection.
Switzerland toward the end of 1915 defined more exactly the ex emptions which might be granted under the special war decree of 1914 and made it plain that night work by girls under 18 and boys under 16 would not be permitted and that the 14-year age limit for employment must be observed.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
