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This letter by P. J. McBride, Commissioner of Labor and Industry, informed the governor of Kansas about the enforcement of child labor laws in Sabetha, Nemaha County. Edith Enderton, an agent of the Department of Labor and Industry, had visited Sabetha in order to enforce compliance with the child labor law, and she found "a considerable number of children employed in violation" of this law. McBride specifically mentions a 10-year old boy, Teddy Grimm, who delivered groceries and sometimes worked 14 or 15 hours lifting heavy boxes and sacks of flour. While McBride acknowledges that Enderton may "have possibly been a little over-zealous in the application of the law where children are employed by their own parents"—which was not the case with Teddy Grimm—McBride agrees that young children should not be required to work outside the home.
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1915-1919: Capper)
Date: December 12, 1917
This letter could be grouped with the letters written by Sabetha citizens Emma Grimm, Ralph Tennal, and Roy Hennigh, to provide background about their complaints. When these letters are paired with P. J. McBride's other responses, the story of Teddy Grimm becomes more clear.
KS:11th:1.4:Child labor laws (2005)
Item Number: 211798
Call Number: Governor's Office, Governor Arthur Capper, Correspondence Files, Numerical File Box 10 Folder 3 No. 9
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 211798
Business and Industry - Labor - Child labor
Collections - State Archives - Governor's Records - Capper, Arthur
Curriculum - 11th Grade Standards - Kansas History Standards - 1877-1930 (Kansas_Benchmark 1) - Child labor laws (Indicator 4) - Arguments for enforcement of existing child labor laws
Curriculum - 11th Grade Standards - Kansas History Standards - 1877-1930 (Kansas_Benchmark 1) - Child labor laws (Indicator 4) - Examples of child labor
Date - 1910s - 1917
Government and Politics - Reform and Protest - Progressivism
Government and Politics - State Government - State agencies and programs - Agencies - Labor, Department of
Objects and Artifacts - Communication Artifacts - Documentary Artifact - Letter
People - Children
Places - Cities and towns - Sabetha
Places - Counties - Nemaha
Thematic Time Period - Age of Reform, 1880 - 1917
Type of Material - Unpublished documents - Government records - Correspondence
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/211798
