There are 813 children working in the cotton and woolen mills of this State on certificates from parents, according to the annual report George E. Morrison of Saco, state inspector of factories, workshops, mines and quarries, which will be made public tomorrow. The report treats at length on the child labor problem, saying in part:

“The law requiring the child to furnish a certificate as to age and school attendance we find has been evaded in many ways to meet the local requirements. This has been forced along in a way by the great demand for help in our cotton mills, where today hardly a mill in our State is running to its full capacity owing to the scarcity of help.”

50 Years Ago, 1956

The International Snowshoers’ Congress in Lewiston-Auburn swung into high gear last night as an estimated 4,000 spectators turned out to watch a colorful parade and spectacular bonfire, eye-catching preliminaries to the spirited convention.

The bonfire of thousands of Christmas trees, fittingly named, “The Burning of the Green,” attracted some 2,000 persons to Marcotte Park and surrounding streets. This flaming inferno also could be seen by countless thousands at vantage points miles away.

An estimated 1,500 visiting snowshoers had either registered or were in the city by last night, Congress officials said. The majority of these came from New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine communities, although some Canadian snowshoers were in evidence last night.

25 Years Ago, 1981

President Ronald Reagan’s expected announcement Wednesday of an immediate lifting of remaining oil price controls “would have devastating impact on the people of Maine,” Sen. George Mitchell, D-Maine, charged today.

Mitchell said the Senate Energy Committee estimates the wholesale price oil will go up 12 to 15 cents a gallon when the controls are lifted.