Mining Laws for “Employment of Children” in 1905 including the 1907 Amendment
The West Virginia Department of Mines was created in 1905 as a response to several mining disasters and they would formally revise the State’s mining laws for the first time in February of 1907. To comprehend how “children” were considered by the State for employment in 1907, we need to start with the laws for “Employment of Children” in 1905:
- Sec. 1, That no minor, male or female, under the age of twelve years shall be employed for wages or otherwise in any mine, factory, workshop, mercantile or manufacturing establishment where goods or wares are made or sold, and no such minor under the age of fourteen years shall be employed during the free school* term of the district in which such child resides; provided, however, that this section shall not be construed to apply if such employment will not interfere with the regular attendance at the school of such minor. And in all cases of minors applying for work it shall…foreman or operator, to see the provisions of this section are complied with.
- Sec. 2. Any manager, superintendent, foreman or operator in any mine, factory, workshop, mercantile or manufacturing establishment, and parents and guardians allowing any child to work in violation of section one of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than ten dollars nor more than twenty dollars for each and every offense.
- Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the prosecuting attorney to enforce the provisions of this Act, and to prosecute the violations of the same before any magistrate or court of competent jurisdiction in this State, and it shall be the duty of the commissioner of labor to report all violations of this Act to the prosecuting attorney.
- Sec. 4. All fines collected for violations of this Act shall be paid into the common school fund of the county in which the offense was committed.
On February 27, 1907, Governor Dawson approved amendments to this law made by the State Legislature which formally went into effect across the State 90 days later:
- Sec. 17. No boy under fourteen years of age, or female persons of any age shall be permitted to work in any coal mine, and in all cases of doubt, the parents or guardians of such boys shall furnish affidavits of their ages; any operator, agent or mine foreman who shall knowingly violate the provisions of this section or any person knowingly making a false statement as to the age of any boy under fourteen years of age applying for work in any coal mine, shall upon conviction, be fined not less than ten nor more than five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned in the county jail not less than ten nor more than ninety days, in the discretion of the court.
*The free school session for Monongah ran from November – April. Many of the children 12 and under who might have been in the mine any other time of the year were, both fortunately and unfortunately, in school at the time this event occurred right beneath their feet.
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