Physical Standards for Working Children

Excerpt from Physical Standards for Working Children: Preliminary Report of the Committee Appointed by the Children's Bureau of the U. S. Department of Labor to Formulate Standards of Normal Development and Sound Health for the Use of Physicians in Examining Children Entering Employment and Children at Work The child who goes to work between 14 and 18 years of age is in need of special protection if he is to arrive at maturity with good health and a vigorous and well-developed body. During these years he is passing through the most critical period of his physical develop ment, when his body must meet the unusual demands of rapid growth and physiological readjustment. If at the same time he is subjected to the mental and physical strain of occupational life, the burden upon his immature physique is a double one, and special precautions are necessary if normal growth and development are not to be endangered. Prohibiting the employment of children in certain occupations generally recognized as injurious to health is an important but obviously limited means of affording protection. Raising the minimum age for entrance upon any employment offers only a partial solution of the problem. A tendency to keep children out of industry until they are at least 16 years of age is becoming apparent in child labor laws, but even with 16 years as a minimum age, large numbers of young persons will continue to go to work before their physical growth is completed and will stand in need of protection if they are to reach normal development. An effective means of pro teeting the health of children at work lies in the adoption of standards of physical fitness which all children entering employment are required by law to meet. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.