312 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY
articles, upon the streets, or in begging. Can as much be said for Chicago ?
This absence of girls from the street trades is due to the very rigid provision in the penal code holding parents and guardians responsible for girls, and guilty of cruelty when they are per- mitted thus to work under the age of sixteen years. Under the statute of 1903, newsboys under the age of fourteen years are required to wear badges loaned to them by the board of education of New York city. They must not work under the age of ten years, or during school hours, or after 10 o'clock at night. They must be able to read and write. They receive their badges (gratis) in connection with licenses, for which the parents must apply with the children, and for the children's compliance with which the adults are held responsible. A similar law of Massachusetts is in force in Boston. Have the laws of Illinois any such provisions?
There is no good measure for the protection of children in the laws of Illinois which cannot be found in the laws of other states also. But there are several excellent provisions missing from the Illinois laws which could be embodied in them with immense advantage to the children of Illinois.
To recapitulate briefly: It appears that the laws of Illinois for the protection of children are excelled by those of twenty states, which require their children to attend school to the age of fifteen or sixteen years, while Illinois permits all who can read and write to leave school at the age of fourteen years, merely demanding attendance at night school of those between fourteen and sixteen years who have not yet learned to read and write. They are excelled by those of two states (Colorado and New York) which require pupils both to reach the age of fourteen years and also to complete a certain amount of school work before leaving school. They are excelled by those of New York in numerous respects, among which one is the requirement that chil- dren before beginning work shall be declared by a physician of the local board of health to be of normal stature of a child of fourteen years and in good health; and another is that requirement, which has been on the statute books of New York since 1893, that children, before beginning work, be able to read and write.
