them are engaged in manufacturing.[1] With the exception of Pennsylvania, the Southern States have the greatest totals of child laborers, while the great manufacturing states have the largest number in manufacturing. As "Child Labor" usually refers to manufacturing rather than to agriculture, the real relation of the Northern States to the problem is apparent.
The official authority which comes into the most direct relation with the child labor problem is the Factory Inspection Department. In some of the more advanced states, the issuance of certificates has been placed in the hands of the school authorities, but even in such states, the factory departments have the largest measure of responsibility for enforcing the law. The statistics furnished by the factory departments are interesting, if not conclusive. The work of the factory inspectors is usually curtailed by lack of either inspectors or of office force, or of both. The resulting figures show, with some degree of accuracy, the changes from year to year in
- ↑ Census of Manufactures, 1900. Part ii, p. 987.
