The State Steps In: Child Labor Crackdown
Labor Commissioner William Blackman arrives in Tacoma to investigate reports of children under 14 working in factories.
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William Blackman, state labor commissioner, arrived in Tacoma on Wednesday to investigate charges that the state child labor law was being violated. The law prohibits children under fourteen from working in factories. Blackman previously investigated similar reports in Puyallup, where girls aged 10 to 11 were packing strawberry boxes and a nine-year-old boy was found using a hammer and nails. In that case, the employer agreed to dismiss the children rather than face prosecution. Regarding the Tacoma complaints, Blackman noted that while the law allows for exceptions for families in extreme financial distress—with a judge’s permission—he intends to enforce the statute strictly if the allegations are proven true.
“I cannot tell at this time whether or not a prosecution will be necessary, but you may say that if conditions are as represented to me, the law will be invoked, and soon.”
Child labor regulations remain a vital, contested frontier in American labor law. While the 1903 investigations focused on local packing houses, contemporary debates often echo these early fights over the economic necessity versus the exploitation of minors in the workforce.
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