CHILD-LABOR LAWS
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and a corresponding enormous capacity to learn.
In recent years the child-psychologists have devoted much attention to the special features of the age of adolescence. This subject is treated in another article. Another important field is the study of the physical development and health of the child. Much information of the greatest value to teachers has come from these investigations.
See APPERCEPTION, INTEREST, ADOLESCENCE, METHOD OF TEACHING, MODERN EDUCATION, PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS, SELF-ACTIVITY.
Consult Preyer: The Senses and the Will and The Development of the Intellect, Apple-ton & Co.; Kirkpatrick: Fundamentals of Child Study, the Macmillan Co.
E. N. HENDERSON.
Child=Labor Laws. So long as a young apprentice lived in the family of his master, the evils of child-labor do not appear to have been great. But when, at the end of the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth century, children came to be employed in large factories, at a very early age, for very long hours and under a brutal discipline and most unhealthy conditions of work, laws became needful to restrict the abuse of child-labor. Both the need and the laws came earlier in England than in the United States. Probably no man did so much on behalf of the factory-acts as did Lord Shaftesbury. In 1802 the hours of apprentices were limited to twelve, no part of which must fall between 9 P. M. and 6 A. M. In 1819 was passed an act that no children under nine years should be employed in the cot ton-mills, nor should their hours be more than twelve per day. In 1831 night-work in cotton-factories was prohibited for persons between the ages of nine and twenty-one years. In 1833 night-work for young persons was prohibited in most other mills, in 1847 came the ten-hours bill, which limited the work of women and children to ten hours per day. In 1899 the Elementary Education Act raised the age at which a child might leave school from eleven to twelve years. An act of 1901 summed up the results of the factory-acts and allowed no children under the age of twelve to be employed in factories.
In the United States each state makes its own labor-laws. As a result, a few states have no laws upon child-labor or even compulsory education of children; and, in general, the southern and some of the western states are more backward in this respect than the northern and northeastern. Most of the states prohibit child-labor until the age of twelve or sometimes fourteen or sixteen years; but the limit in some is only ten years, and a few have no limit. The hours are generally limited to ten per day, and the total number of weekly hours to
sixty. Some states enforce their factory-laws well; others badly. But a general improvement may be noticed. In New South Wales the hours even for adults in factories are limited to eight per day.
Childs, George William, an American publisher, well-known for his generous gifts to charitable and public causes. He was born at Baltimore, Md., in 1829. He came to Philadelphia at an early age, and about the year 1849 became a member of a publishing firm afterward known as Childs & Peterson. In 1864 he became owner of the Public Ledger, which he made a great success. His philanthropy took many and varied forms, at one time establishing a home for aged printers; at another commemorating authors, like Geo. Herbert and Wm. Cowper in Westminster Abbey and erecting to Shakespeare's honor a memorial fountain at Stratford-on-Avon. He died at Philadelphia, Feb. 3, 1894.
Chile (chil'e), a republic of South America, has been called the shoestring republic from its peculiar shape. It is a narrow strip of territory thirty times as long as it is wide. It is nearly 3,000 miles long with an average width of less than 90 miles. For comparison conceive a strip of territory as wide as from Chicago to Milwaukee and as long as from New York to San Francisco. It stretches from Peru on the north to the extreme southern limit of the continent, with Bolivia and the Argentine Republic on the east and the Pacific Ocean on the west.
Surface and Climate. Chile has an area of 292,580 square miles, about five times the area of New England, with a population in 1910 of 3,329,036, about two-thirds the present population of New York City. Chile is a mountainous country, carrying two parallel ranges through most of its length. A narrow strip along the coast slopes up to the western Cordilleras. Between this range and the great Andean range, which forms the eastern wall of Chile, lies the great central valley, with a length of 581 miles and an average width of 31 miles. This^ valley has a rich, productive soil and contains the most important cities and towns. More than one fourth of the territory of Chile lies above the snow-line. In the western Cordilleras range are found the snow-capped peaks of Tacpra 19,800 feet; Huallatire 19,720 feet; Parinacota 20,950 feet; In the main Andean range are Copiapo, a volcano, 20,022 feet; Nevada Los Leones, 19,850 feet; Cerro Jota-beche, 19,259 feet; Cerro Volcan, 18,341 feet; and on the boundary between Chile and Argentina, Tres Cruces 22,213 feet; Cerro Incahuasi 21,576 feet; Los Patos 20,-595 feet; and many others from 18,000 to 20,000 feet high. A number of islands belong to Chile, the most important being Chiloe, Juan Fernandez and a part of Tierra del Fuego.
