SECTION 5. The Commissioner of Education shall cause appropriate certificates or badges to be prepared and issued to pupils in the schools of the state who shall perform satisfactory agricultural or industrial service under rules and regulations of the Commissioner of Education.
It will be noted that the compulsory-attendance law was suspended only between certain periods and at the discretion of the Commissioner of Education, and for the sole purpose of permitting children to labor in the cultivation, production, and care of food products upon farms and gardens within the state.
This bill did not authorize the employment of girls in general domestic service. No provision of the labor law was repealed, suspended, or modified, and the provisions of the labor law relating to the employment of children in canneries or in any factory or mercantile establishment still remain in force. It is true that a bill suspending temporarily in whole or in part, at the discretion of the Industrial Commission, provisions of the labor law in relation to any employment in the state passed the two legislative bodies, but this was wisely vetoed by Governor Whitman.
It will be further noticed that the children thus employed within the dates mentioned are to be under the supervision and direction of the school authorities in the city or district in which such children reside. The Commissioner of Education thereupon issued certain regulations relating to children who might be employed within the compulsory school ages. A brief summary follows:
Boys only, 15 years of age and above, residing in cities.
Boys only, 14 years of age and above, residing elsewhere than in a city.
Girls, 14 years of age, and above, residing outside of cities, may work at home in the district in which such girls reside, or at a place sufficiently near such girls' homes as to afford supervision by their parents.
No child shall be employed or permitted to work on farms and gardens until such child shall obtain a farm-garden permit.
No child shall receive a farm-garden permit who does not present to the issuing officer the written consent of his parent or guardian and who is not found to be physically competent to perform the labor proposed.