ROBBING THE CHILD OF HIS GROWTH.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 609, 16 December 1909, Page 4

ROBBING THE CHILD OF HIS GROWTH.

Handicapped from the beginning, robbed not only of the possibility of mental growth but of physical growth, doomed to have one half of his years cut off. Such is the fate of the child of the workers, according to a study made of the child wageearners in Great Britain. This study is published in the Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor. A startling table shows the difference in the weight and height of the child of the wealthy and the child of the poor man. Average height and weight of school children in Liverpool at specified ages, by location of school. Schools located in wealthy districts : Height Weight /yrs 3ft 11 Min. 4Qlbs. 11yr5......... 4ft 7%in. 70lbs. I4yrs sft iMin. 94^1bs. Schools located in poor districts: Height Weight 7yrs 3ft Sin. 43lbs. ilyrs 4ft I Min. S3lbs. I4yrs 4ft 7in. 7llbs. The reports state that in the original statistics from schools in intermediate districts are given, which show a regular graduation in the height and weight of children of the same ages from those of the wealthiest to those of the poorest class. A similar investigation in Dundee, where there is a large factory population, gave equally striking results. A much more extensive investigation in England showed that at 13 years of age the average height of the boy from a well-to-do home was 3’l7ins. above that of the boy who worked, and the average difference in their respective weights was 10'33 pounds. The difference continued to increase until at 16 years of age the nonworking boy had an average advantage over the working boy of 3'37 inches in height and iq‘6B pounds in weight. Differences in average chest measurement show the same variation. These physical handicaps of the poor children are not solely caused by early labour. ' They are also to be accounted for in a large degree by food, housing, prental conditions, and to care during infancy. Nevertheless the evil done by too early and too arduous employment accentuate these handicaps. Medical officers report: “Factory children of factory parents, urban and suburban, compare unfavourably with children in nonfactory districts; urban and rural, and the rate of mortality, particularly infant mortality, is unduly high in factory districts.” A factory inspector of long experience says: “Employment of this character (in textile’mills), especially if carried on in high temperatures, rarely fosters growth or development; the stunted child elongates slightly in time, but remains very thin, loses colour, the muscles remain small, especially tnose of the upper limbs, the legs are inclined to become bowed, more particularly if heavy weights have to be habitually carried, the arch of the foot flattens, and the teeth decay rapidly. . . . The girls exhibit the same shortness of stature, the same miserable development, and they possess the same sallow cheeks and curious teeth. I have also observed that at an age when girls brought up under wholesome conditions usually possess a luxuriant growth of hair, these factory girls have a scanty crop, that when tied back is simply a wisp or ‘rat’s-tail.’ ” In Bradford fifty-two head teachers were recently interrogated by a city medical official as to the physical effect of half time up school children; “Thirty-seven declared that the system was most injurious to the child’s physique. They considered that the lack of adequate sleep, the constant pressure to work quickly, the carrying of big loads of bobbins about the factory, the morning tea without milk, the heat of the spinning room, the lack of play all worked harm.” A factory surgeon of twenty-five years’ experience reports: “The medium average of Lancashire factory children is not equal to the average elsewhere. . . Even strong children do not escape scotfree, for insidious diseases settle in their lungs, the blood is squeezed out of their faces, their limbs lose their youthful straightness and vigour. But the delicate children have no chance at all, for that which injures the healthy kills the frail quickly, . . The promising child of ten degenerates into the lean and sallow young person of thirteen; and this process is continued until a whole population becomes stunted.” The percentage of accidents among half-time employees, is said to be higher than among adults or y young persons, indicating probably the influence of fatigue as much as lack of familiarity with machinery.