"The ignorance is something alarming. Thousands of children
_born in this country, or who came here in early childhood_,
are unable to write; almost as many are unable to read, and
still other thousands can do little more than write their
own name. Possibly one third of the affidavits of the
parents examined by us in the factory towns were signed with
a crossmark, and it seemed to us that when the children who
now require these affidavits grow up and have children of
their own about whom to make affidavit, the proportion of
crossmarks to the papers will not be decreased."
"Children born in Europe, and who lately came to this
country, are much better informed than the children born and
reared in our own State, and this condition of affairs has
also been remarked by the factory inspectors of other
States. Very few American-born children could tell the year
of their birth, State they lived in, or spell the name of
their native town."
In the midst of his gloom, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics
courageously endeavors to show that wages have increased for men in
the labor organizations. But in so doing, he merely whistles to keep
up his courage, for he dare not investigate now, as he did in 1883 and
1884, the employment of women and children, lest he show how much
worse their condition has become during the intervening years, and
thereby forfeit forever his position of laureate to the powers that
be.
The omission of a State census in 1885 was a breach of the
Constitution for which no previous decade affords a precedent, and the
absence of a school census becomes, year by year, a graver sin of
omission as the pressure of economic conditions makes child labor more
widespread and more injurious.
In default of the State census and of adequate information from the
State Bureau of Labor Statistics, and of efficient factory inspection,
an eager welcome awaited the statement touching New York City,
published in Mr. Carroll D. Wright's report of the National Department
of Labor upon the working women in twenty cities, whereof the
following speaks for itself.