whoever forges, or procures to be forged, or assists in forging a certificate of birth of such minor, and whoever presents or assists in presenting a forged certificate of birth to a school committee or to the person authorized by law to receive certificates, for the purpose of fraudulently obtaining the school certificate mentioned in section 60, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $500, or by imprisonment for not less than three months nor more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. SEC. 62. Truant officers may visit the factories, workshops, and mercantile establishments in their several cities and towns and ascertain whether any minors are employed therein contrary to the provisions of this act, and shall report any cases of such illegal employment to the school committee and to the chief of the district police or to the inspector of factories and public buildings. Inspectors of factories and public buildings shall visit all factories, workshops, and mercantile establishments within their respective districts and ascertain whether any minors are employed therein contrary to the provisions of this act, and shall enter complaint against whoever is found to have violated any of said provisions. An inspector of factories and public buildings who knowingly and willfully violates any provision of this section may be punished by a fine of not more than $100.

SEC. 63. A truant officer may apprehend and take to school, without a warrant, any minor under the age of 16 years who is employed in any factory, workshop, or mercantile establishment in violation of the provisions of sections 56 and 57 of this act, and such truant officer shall forthwith report to the police, district, or municipal court or trial justice within whose judicial district the illegal employment occurs, the evidence in his possession relating to the illegal employment of any child so apprehended, and shall make complaint against whomever the court or trial justice may direct. A truant officer who knowingly and willfully violates any provision of this section may be punished by a fine of not more than $100 for each offense.

TRUANT OFFICERS AND INSPECTORS OF FACTORIES

SEC. 64. Inspectors of factories and public buildings and truant officers may require that the age and schooling certificates and lists of minors who are employed in factories, workshops, or mercantile establishments shall be produced for their inspection. A failure to produce to an inspector of factories and public buildings or to a truant officer an age and schooling certificate or list required by law shall be prima facie evidence of the illegal employment of

any person whose age and schooling certificate is not produced or whose name is not so listed. A corporation or other employer or any agent or officer thereof who retains an age and schooling certificate in violation of the provisions of said certificate shall be punished by a fine of not less than $10 nor more than $100.

SEC. 65. Police, district, and municipal courts and trial justices shall have jurisdiction of offenses arising under the provisions of the four preceding sections. A summons or warrant issued by any such court or justice may be served, at the discretion of the court or magistrate, by an inspector of factories and public buildings, or by a truant officer, or by any officer qualified to serve criminal process.

ILLITERATE MINORS MUST ATTEND EVENING SCHOOLS

SEC. 66. While a public evening school is maintained in the city or town in which any minor resides who is over 14 years of age and who does not have a certificate signed by the superintendent of schools, or by the school committee, or by some person acting under authority thereof, certifying to his ability to read at sight and write legibly simple sentences in the English language, no person shall employ him, and no parent, guardian, or custodian shall permit him to be employed unless he is a regular attendant at such evening school or at a day school; but upon presentation by him of a certificate signed by a registered practicing physician and satisfactory to the superintendent of schools, or, if there is no such superintendent, to the school committee, showing that his physical condition would render such attendance in addition to daily labor prejudicial to his health, said superintendent or school committee shall issue a permit authorizing his employment for such period as said superintendent or school committee may determine. Said superintendent or school committee, or teachers acting under authority thereof, may excuse any absence from such evening school which arises from justifiable cause. Any minor not holding such certificate shall furnish to his employer a record of his school attendance each week while the evening school is in session, and when said record shows unexcused absences from the sessions his attendance shall be deemed irregular according to this act. Whoever employs a minor in violation of the provisions of this section shall forfeit not more than $100 for each offense to the use of the evening schools of such city or town. A parent, guardian, or custodian who permits a minor under his control to be employed in violation of the provisions of this section shall forfeit not more than $20 to the use of the evening schools of such city or town.

PUBLIC EXHIBITION OF CHILDREN

SEC. 76. No person shall employ, exhibit, or sell, apprentice or give away a child under 15 years of age for the purpose of employing or exhibiting him in dancing on the stage, playing on musical instruments, singing, walking on a wire or rope, or riding or performing as a gymnast, contortionist, or acrobat in a circus, theatrical exhibition, or in any public place, or cause, procure, or encourage such child to engage therein; but the provisions of this section shall not prevent the education of children in vocal and instrumental music or dancing or their employment as musicians in a church, chapel, school, or school exhibition, or prevent their taking part in any festival, concert, or musical exhibition upon the special written permission of the mayor and aldermen of a city or of the selectmen of a town. Whoever violates the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than $200 or by imprisonment for not more than six months.

SEC. 77. A license shall not be granted for a theatrical exhibition or public show in which children under 15 years of age are employed as acrobats or contortionists or in any feats of gymnastics or equestrianism, or in which such children who belong to the public schools are employed or allowed to take part as performers on the stage in any capacity, or if, in the opinion of the board authorized to grant licenses, such children are employed in such a manner as to corrupt their morals or impair their health; but the provisions of this section shall not prevent the granting of special permission authorized by the preceding section.

LICENSING OF MINORS, BY SCHOOL COMMITTEES, TO ENGAGE IN CERTAIN OCCUPATIONS IN CITIES

SECTION 17, chapter 65, Revised Laws. The mayor and aldermen or selectmen may make regulations relative to the exercise of the trade of bootblacking by minors and to the sale by minors of any goods, wares, or merchandise the sale of which is permitted by section 15, and may prohibit such sales or such trade, or may require a minor to obtain from them a license therefor to be issued on terms and conditions prescribed in such regulations: Provided, That in the case of persons under the age of 14 years in the cities of the Commonwealth the foregoing powers shall be vested in and exercised by the school committees of said cities. A minor who sells such articles or exercises such trade without a license if one is required or who violates the conditions of his license or any of the

provisions of said regulations shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10 for each offense. Any person who, having a minor under his control, knowingly permits him to violate the provisions of this act, and any person who procures or employs a minor to violate the provisions of this act, and any person who either for himself or as agent of any other person or of any corporation knowingly furnishes or sells to any minor any of the articles above referred to with knowledge that said minor intends to sell said articles in violation of the provisions of this act, and after having received written notice from the school committee that the minor is unlicensed, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $200 or by imprisonment for not more than six months. Truant and police officers shall enforce the provisions of this chapter.

EMPLOYMENT OF CERTAIN MINORS IN FACTORIES, WORKSHOPS, AND MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS

Chapter 310, Acts of 1911, provides as follows:

SECTION 1. No illiterate minor between the age of 16 and 21 years shall be employed in a factory, workshop, mechanical or mercantile establishment unless his employer procures and keeps on file, accessible to the truant officers of the city or town and to the district police and inspectors of factories and public buildings, a certificate showing that such minor is 16 years of age or over. Said certificate shall give the place and date of birth of such minor and his personal description. The printed form of the certificate shall be provided by the chief of the district police and shall be approved by the attorney-general.

ADDITIONAL DUTIES OF TRUANT OFFICERS RELATIVE TO CARE OF INDIGENT AND NEGLECTED CHILDREN

Chapter 356, Acts of 1904, provides as follows:

SECTION 1. It shall be the duty of truant officers in cities and of the overseers of the poor in towns, as often as may be deemed necessary by them, to make diligent search throughout their respective cities and towns for children under the age of 16 who are suffering want through poverty, privation, or from the neglect of their parents or guardians, or of any other persons having them in charge or from any cause whatsoever.

SEC. 2. Where such children are found without parents or guardians or in charge of such parents or guardians as in the judgment of the officers or overseers aforesaid are unfit to care for children by reason of mental incapacity, dissolute habits, or

poverty, it shall be the duty of the officers and overseers aforesaid to provide for the temporary care of such children until proceedings may be had against them if necessary, according to the provisions of chapter 334 of the acts of the year 1903.

SEC. 3. Reasonable expenses incurred by the officers and overseers aforesaid in furnishing aid as provided by this act shall be paid by the city or town wherein the persons have legal settlements, and, if they are without settlement, by the Commonwealth, after approval by the State board of charity; and notice in writing shall be sent to the place of settlement or, if such persons are unsettled, to the State board of charity as is otherwise provided by law.