4 and 5 every morning. I want to appeal for strong efforts to raise the age limit, as they are doing in other large cities, notably New Orleans, and at the same time these youngsters must have competent and persistent supervision. In Houston these efforts are being made, and the work of the probation officers, under the direction of Judge Ward, juvenile court, deserves special mention.

The street trades, after they have been divested of the false sentimentalism that has surrounded them for so long, stand before us as dangerous occupations if the boys are not properly supervised and directed in their work.

THE MESSENGER AND DELIVERY BOYS.

By far the most dangerous phase of the work of the street traders is that which sends the boys at all hours of the day and night into the red-light districts of our cities. The popular excuse that the boys are sent to the door of the house only fails when one finds that the boys do not stop there, or, if they do, their information about the life of the underworld, gained at first hand and from the tales of the other boys, gets a start that often ends in their own moral downfall. Judge Ward, of juvenile court, Houston, told me that 20 per cent of juvenile arrests are messenger or delivery boys at the time of the arrest. I examined 50 cases (for the month just passed), 9 of them were messenger and delivery boys (from 14 to 16 years of age); 3 were newsboys; 5 were shine boys. Mr. Ingraham, probation officer at Waco, said that a large percentage of delinquency of boys was due to the influences of the street, and especially of the red-light district. Mr. Sam Callaway, probation officer at Fort Worth, was very vehement over the bad influences of "The Acre" (red light), especially those whose business sends them into that district.

Dr. W. C. Rountree, a specialist, who has a sanitarium for those who are addicted to the use of narcotics, told me he has found a number of children at Fort Worth who use cocaine. Cited the case of a 15-year-old messenger, Chester Robinson, who, while delivering messages to The Acre and working nights and with bad associates, acquired the cocaine habit. The doctor cured him, and he is now on a farm, in good shape. His wreck was due to his work and associations with the red light.

Dr. Smith, house physician in a house of refuge for young girls, has had occasion to investigate the reservation in Dallas. While there she found many cases of harm that came to young messenger and delivery boys through their work in that district. She found a 13-year-old drug messenger this year in a notorious resort so much under the influence of morphine that he couldn't remember his name. Found a 15-year-old messenger on the second floor of a mulatto resort there. Saw delivery boys for department stores going into the rooms of various women in these resorts.

A BILL Entitled, "An act to provide for compulsory school attendance, the appointment of truant officers and prescribing their duties; to require school officers and teachers to make such reports as may be required by the county superintendent; to provide for the furnishing of necessary books for children and issuing scholarships to children of dependent parents; and to prescribe penalties for violations of this act and declaring an emergency."

Be it enacted by the people of the State of Oklahoma: SEC. 1. That every parent, guardian, or other person in the State of Oklahoma, having control or charge of any child or children between the ages of eight (8) and sixteen (16) years, inclusive, shall be required to send such child or children to a public, or other school, each year, for a term or period not less than that of the public schools of the school district where the child or children reside.

SEC. 2. The county superintendent of public instruction of each county shall appoint at least one truant officer in each county upon the passage and approval of this act, or as soon thereafter as he may deem advisable in order to carry out the purposes of this act, who shall hold office for the term of one year unless sooner removed for cause. The truant officer shall see that the provisions of this act are complied with, and it shall be his duty to visit all establishments where children under sixteen (16) years are employed to ascertain whether the provisions of this act are complied with, and when, from personal knowledge

or by report or complaint from any resident or teacher of the township under his supervision, he believes that any child subject to the provisions of this act is habitually tardy or absent from school, he shall immediately give written notice to the parent, guardian, or custodian of such child that the attendance of such child at school is required, and if within five (5) days such parent, guardian, or custodian of said child does not comply with the provisions of this section, then such truant officer shall make complaint against such parent, guardian, or custodian of such child in any county court for violation of the provisions of this act: Provided, That only one notice shall be required for any child in any one year. Any such parent, guardian, or custodian of child who shall violate the provisions of this act shall be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not less than five dollars ($5) nor more than twenty-five ($25), to which may be added, in the discretion of the court, imprisonment in the county jail not less than two nor more than thirty days.

All funds collected as aforesaid shall be deposited in the county treasury and be designated the "Truancy fund," and shall only be used in carrying out the provisions of this act.

SEC. 3. The truant officers provided for in this act, except county officers acting ex officio as truant officers, shall receive from the truancy fund of the county treasury not exceeding two dollars ($2) for each day of actual service, to be paid by the county treasurer upon warrant signed by the county superintendent of public instruction: Provided, That no warrant shall be issued on the county treasury for such services until the truant officer shall have filed an itemized statement of time employed in such service, and such statement shall have been certified to by the superintendent of public instruction of the county in which such truant officer is employed and such claim shall have been allowed by the board of county commissioners: Provided further, That no truant officer shall receive pay for more days than the average length of school term in the county, cities, or towns under his supervision.

SEC. 4. All school officers and teachers are hereby required to make and furnish all reports that may be required by the county superintendent of public instructions or the truant officer, with reference to the workings of this act. SEC. 5. If any parent, guardian, or custodian of any child or children is too poor to furnish such child or children with the necessary books with which to attend school, then the county superintendent of public instruction of the county where such parent, guardian, or custodian resides shall furnish temporary aid for such purpose to such child or children, which aid shall be allowed and paid upon the certificate of such officer by the board of county commissioners of said county.

SEC. 5. If any widowed mother or disabled father shall make affidavit to the effect that the wages of his or her child or children under sixteen years of age are necessary to the support of such widowed mother or disabled father, then the county superintendent of public instruction may, after careful investigation, in his discretion furnish such child or children a certificate called a "scholarship," stating the amount of the wages such child or children are receiving, or so much of such wages as shall be deemed necessary to the support of such widowed mother or disabled father, so long as such child or children shall attend the public school in accordance with the provisions of this statute, which aid shall be allowed and paid upon the certificate of such county superintendent of public instruction to the child or children holding such scholarship by the board of county commissioners of the county in which such child or children reside.

SEC. 7. Any child who absents itself from school habitually may be adjudged a confirmed truant by the truant officer, the county superintendent of public instruction, and the superintendent of the schools of the city. Such confirmed truant shall be brought before the judge of the county court for such disposition as may be deemed best, in his discretion, and may be turned over to the probation officer of the juvenile court or be sentenced to such reformatory institution as may be designated.

SEC. 8. In order that the provisions of this act may be more definitely enforced it is hereby provided that the enumerators of school children, in taking the school census, shall ascertain and record the place and date of birth of every child enumerated, and the parent, guardian, or custodian of such child shall subscribe and take oath or affirmation that such record is true. The enumerator is hereby empowered to administer such oath or affirmation, and any parent, guardian, or custodian, or any child who shall refuse to take such

oath or affirmation shall be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined any sum not less than one dollar ($1).

SEC. 9. On the first day of school the trustees, boards of trustees, or commissioners of school corporations shall furnish the truant officer with the names of the children of compulsory age who are enumerated on the regular enumeration lists. These names shall be alphabetically arranged and shall give all the information contained in the regular enumeration returns. The county commissioners shall provide necessary postage and such blanks as may be required by the State superintendent of public instruction.

SEC. 10. It shall be the duty of truant officers, in visiting factories and other establishments where children under sixteen years of age are employed, to report to the commissioner of labor any cases they may discover of the violation of the laws relating to the employment of children.

SEC. 11. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

SEC. 12. For the preservation of the public health and safety an emergency is hereby declared, by reason whereof this act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval.

MCKELWAY EXHIBIT NO. 5.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR READING REPORTS HEREUNTO ATTACHED.

This report contains the census of the school districts, the enrollment, and the attendance.

The percentage of enrollment and attendance is obtained by deducting the census for the actual enrollment average attendance; the same is true when a number of districts are added up at the end of each report.

Here is an example for comparison of mill districts with rural districts and like, whereas a report for the year 1911 and 1912 for the entire rural school population.

The State reports for 1912-13 are not available.

At none of the four mills has any schoolhouse been built by the mill.

At Whitnel the mill contributed $140 to pay teachers. I learned that the mill owners had helped to defeat a school tax.

NOTE.--Per cent of enrollment, rural districts better by 12: per cent of attendance, rural districts better by 23; in rural districts enrollment better than in Thomasville two mills by 27; in rural districts attendance better than in Thomasville two mills by 13.

Negro enrollment and attendance nearly as good as for white children in Thomasville.

Entire county rural, including mill districts, better in both enrollment and attendance than mill districts.