40 chapters
4 hour read
Selected Chapters
40 chapters
CHILD LABOR IN CITY STREETS
CHILD LABOR IN CITY STREETS
BY EDWARD N. CLOPPER, Ph.D. SECRETARY OF NATIONAL CHILD LABOR COMMITTEE FOR MISSISSIPPI VALLEY New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1913 All rights reserved logo THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO DALLAS · SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO Copyright, 1912, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1912. Reprinted January, 1913. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PREFACE
PREFACE
This volume is devoted to the discussion of a neglected form of child labor. Just why the newsboy, bootblack and peddler should have been ignored in the general movement for child welfare is hard to understand. Perhaps it is due to "the illusion of the near." Street workers have always been far more conspicuous than any other child laborers, and it seems that this very proximity has been their misfortune. If we could have focused our attention upon them as we did upon children in factories, they
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Broader Aspects of the Problem
Broader Aspects of the Problem
Let us consider the matter from another point of view and discuss the opportunities for constructive work rather than confine our atten tion to the need of the merely negative remedy of restrictive legislation. The street is painted as a black monster by some social workers, who can discern nothing but evil in it. Nevertheless the street is closely woven into the life of every city dweller, for his contact with it is daily and continuous. If it is all evil, it ought to be abolished; as this is i
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Chicago
Chicago
It is only from the reports of occasional and very limited local investigations that material as to the actual state of affairs can be obtained. Social workers of Chicago had a bill introduced into the Illinois legislature at its session of 1911, providing that boys under ten years and girls under sixteen years should be prohibited from selling anything in city streets, and some material was gathered to be used in support of this measure. In connection with what has already been said in Chapter
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Boston
Boston
In Boston, during the year 1910, there were issued to newsboys, peddlers and bootblacks from eleven to thirteen years of age inclusive, 2664 licenses. Of these nearly all (2525) were issued to newsboys, while 114 were issued to bootblacks and 25 to peddlers. Of these license holders 904 were eleven years old, 900 were twelve years old, and 860 were thirteen years old. It is interesting to note that nearly three fourths of these children were born in the United States; the table on page 33 shows
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
New York City
New York City
The actual number of children engaged in street activities at any given time is less than the number of licenses issued during the year, inasmuch as not all such children persist in pursuing this work, many of them working only a few weeks, while a few never enter upon the tasks which they have been licensed to perform. This is borne out by the experience of investigators in New York City; the report of a study made there recently says: "We are told by the department of education issuing newsboy
57 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Cincinnati
Cincinnati
In Cincinnati from June to December, 1909, 1951 boys from ten to thirteen years of age were licensed to sell newspapers, this number being about 15 per cent of the total number of boys of these ages in the city. Their distribution according to age was as follows:— The Cincinnati figures do not include bootblacks, peddlers or market children, as no licenses were issued for such occupations, al though they are specifically covered by the municipal ordinance regulating street trades. The above data
35 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Padrone System
The Padrone System
In almost every city of the United States having a population of more than 10,000, there is to be found the padrone system, which is operated principally in the interests of the bootblacking business which the Greeks control. The peddling of flowers, fruit and vegetables in Chicago and New York is partly subject to the same methods. The labor supply furnished by this system for peddling and bootblacking consists generally of children from twelve to seventeen years of age. [24] The Immigration Co
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Minor Street Occupations
Minor Street Occupations
There are a few so-called street trades in which a relatively small number of children are engaged which so far have not been mentioned in this volume. These are the leading of blind persons and the accompanying of beggars in general, little children being found valuable for such work because they help to excite the sympathy of passers-by. A few children also are employed as lamplighters to go about towns lighting street lamps in the evening and extinguishing them in the early morning. A class o
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Conditions in Great Britain
Conditions in Great Britain
Turning to Europe we find much more information on this subject. In Great Britain the House of Commons in 1898 ordered an inquiry to be made into the extent of child labor among public school pupils, and the education department sent schedules to the 20,022 public elementary schools in England and Wales for the purpose of determining the facts. A little more than half of the schools returned the schedules blank, stating that no children were employed; this introduced a large element of error int
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Conditions in Germany
Conditions in Germany
In December, 1897, the German Imperial Chancellor, referring to the incomplete census returns as to child labor, requested the governments to furnish him with information as to the total number of children under fourteen employed in labor other than factory labor, agricultural employment and domestic service, and the kinds of work done. In this circular he said: "But, above all, where the kind of occupation is unsuitable for children, where the work continues too long, where it takes place at un
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Conditions in Austria
Conditions in Austria
The Austrian Ministry of Commerce began an investigation of actual conditions in Austria late in 1907 in response to the agitation for a new law that would regulate child labor not only in factories, but also in home industries, in commerce, and even in agriculture. In his Report on Child Labor Legislation in Europe, Mr. C. W. A. Veditz refers to the findings of this investigation in a number of the provinces. In Bohemia, of 676 children in trade and transportation, but still attending school, 1
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Ages, Earnings and Character of the Work
Ages, Earnings and Character of the Work
The following individual cases will serve to illustrate the various forms this business takes. One nineteen-year-old boy paid $65 for his corner in Cincinnati about five years ago; he now earns from $4 to $5 a day clear and would not sell the location for many times its cost. He works there from 11 A.M. to 6.30 P.M. on week days, starting an hour earlier on Saturdays, while on Sundays he delivers the morning newspapers over a route to regular customers. Two boys of about twelve years of age work
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Environment
Environment
Strong emphasis was laid upon the evils of street trading by the New York Child Welfare Exhibit of 1911, the Committee on Work and Wages declaring that "The ordinary newsboy is surrounded by influences that are extremely bad, because (1) of the desultory nature of his work; (2) of the character of street life; and (3) of the lack of discipline or restraint in this work. The occupation is characterized by 'rush hours,' during which the boy will work himself into exhaustion trying to keep pace wit
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Hours
Hours
Work at unseasonable hours is most disastrous in its effects upon growing children, and the newspaper trade is one that engages the labor of boys in our larger cities at all hours of the night. This fact is not generally known. A prominent social worker recently said: "I was astounded to find the other day that my newspaper comes to me in Chicago every morning because two little boys, one twelve and the other thirteen, get it at half-past two at night. These little boys, who go to school, carry
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Home Conditions—Poverty
Home Conditions—Poverty
One of the reasons why the public is so indulgent toward the street worker is that it takes for granted that the child is making a manly effort to support a widowed mother and several starving little brothers and sisters. Mrs. Florence Kelley calls this "perverted reasoning" and scores the public which "unhesitatingly places the burden of the decrepit adult's maintenance upon the slender shoulders of the child." [58] Poverty has been made an excuse for child labor from time immemorial by those w
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Better Substitutes
Better Substitutes
There is no reason why newsboys should not be replaced as the medium for the sale and delivery of newspapers by old men, cripples, the tuberculous and those otherwise incapacitated for regular work. In London, the Westminster Gazette , the Pall Mall Gazette , the Evening Standard and the Globe (all penny papers) are sold in the streets by old men; the Westminster Gazette pays them a wage of 1 s. for selling eighteen copies and after having disposed of this number they are given a commission of 8
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Newsboys' Court
The Newsboys' Court
In an effort to control to some extent the tendency of newsboys to become delinquent and to imbue them with a sense of personal responsibility, an interesting experiment in juvenile suffrage and jurisprudence has been undertaken in Boston. During the year 1909, about three hundred newsboys were taken before the juvenile court of that city charged with violation of the local license rules. As the docket of this court was crowded, these newsboy cases were necessarily delayed, and as a result of th
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Summary
Summary
Although the work of selling newspapers has been, to some extent, subdivided and systema tized by circulation managers, it has so many features highly objectionable for children that a radical departure from present methods of handling this business should be taken. We know that the work of the newsboy lacks the oversight and discipline of adults, that it exposes the children to the varied physical dangers lurking in the streets, that the early and late hours cause fatigue, that the opportunitie
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Bootblacks
Bootblacks
The itinerant bootblack is gradually disappearing from our cities, but he is still found in Boston, Buffalo, New York City and a few other places. He is being supplanted by the worker at stands, which are conducted almost invariably by Greeks. As a result of this change the bootblacking business will soon cease to be a street occupation; it is discussed here because of the abuses it involves and because it is unregulated in many states, owing to its omission from the list of employments covered
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Padrone System
The Padrone System
The New York-New Jersey Committee of the North American Civic League for Immigrants reports that: "The condition of Greek boys and young men in such occupations as pushcart peddling, shoe-shining parlors and the flower trade is one of servitude and peonage. It has been found that many boys apparently from fourteen to eighteen years of age arrive here alone, stating that they are eighteen years old, but in reality less than this, and that they are going to relatives. They have been found working
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Peddlers and Market Children
Peddlers and Market Children
The licensed peddlers of Boston are under orders not to engage little children to sell for them with or without compensation. "These peddlers have hitherto crowded the markets of this city by inviting children to help them in the business, frequently for no other compensation than the offal of their pushcarts or stands." [71] The peddling of chewing gum is a common form of street occupation for children. In reality it is merely begging in disguise. The Chicago Vice Commission reports that its ag
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Night Service by Men—Not by Boys
Night Service by Men—Not by Boys
Mr. Owen R. Lovejoy of the National Child Labor Committee, in speaking of the study of the night messenger service undertaken by this organization, says: "The evidence collected justified the committee in cooperating with its affiliated organizations to secure legislation, and, counting on the moral interest of the public to promote the effort, we made the question one for practical and immediate decision. Results apparently justify the policy chosen. A bill was unanimously passed by the legisla
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI EFFECTS OF STREET WORK UPON CHILDREN
CHAPTER VI EFFECTS OF STREET WORK UPON CHILDREN
All the evil effects of street work upon children observed by students of the problem have been here divided into three groups, under the headings of physical, moral, and material deterioration. It must be understood that this is a summary of such effects and that while the influences of the street are unquestionably bad, any one child exposed to them is not likely to suffer to the full extent suggested below. However, deterioration in one form or another is invariably noted in children who have
36 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Street Workers in Indiana Boys' School, 1910
Street Workers in Indiana Boys' School, 1910
By far the largest number of street-working delinquents had been newsboys, these being followed by messengers, peddlers, bootblacks and delivery boys in the order given. From a hasty glance at these tables one might conclude that street workers are not so liable to become delinquent as those who never follow street occupations, because of the smaller number of the former; but it should be remembered that the ratio of street-working inmates to the entire number of street-working boys in Indiana i
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Present Laws and Ordinances
Present Laws and Ordinances
The following table shows all the laws and ordinances governing street trading by children in existence in the United States in 1911. The city council of Detroit passed an ordinance in 1877 which forbids newsboys and bootblacks to ply their trades in the streets without a permit from the mayor. No age limit is fixed, no distinction is made between the sexes and no hours are specified. Applicants for the permit are customarily referred to the chief truant officer for approval, and as a rule permi
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Opposition to Regulation
Opposition to Regulation
The opposition to bringing the street trades under some degree of restriction has come, as might be expected, from very interested sources. In Illinois the newspaper publishers figured prominently in the movement to prevent the passage of the street-trades measure introduced in the legislature of that state at its session of 1911. This has not always been the case, however, as the circulation managers of the five leading daily newspapers of St. Louis wrote letters to the legislature of Missouri
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Ways and Means of Regulating Street Work
Ways and Means of Regulating Street Work
As to the control of street trading by children there are two methods by which the desired end may be approached. First, a mutual agreement as to self-imposed restrictions among the managers of all the business interests in connection with which children work on the streets. This method, however, can be dismissed from consideration at once on account of its impracticability. Street work embraces many different kinds of commercial activity, and as one manager is the competitor of all others in th
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Probable Course of Regulation in Future
Probable Course of Regulation in Future
American child labor laws usually contain a provision to the effect that no child under sixteen years shall engage in any employment that may be considered dangerous to its life or limb or where its health may be injured or morals depraved. This is sonorous, but ineffective,—the particular kinds of improper work should be specified. In this list of undesirable forms of labor, street work should be included. Great Britain has had far more experience in the matter of regulating the work of childre
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Great Britain
Great Britain
Attention was called to the problem of street trading by children in England for the first time, in a comprehensive way, in 1897. A few close observers of social conditions noticed that the situation was so grave as to demand an immediate remedy, and accordingly, upon their initiative, an organization was effected for the purpose of studying the subject. This organization took the form of a private association known as the Committee on Wage-Earning Children. The committee conferred with the offi
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Liverpool
Liverpool
As to local efforts to regulate the street-trading evil, the first steps were taken in Liverpool. In this city the condition of child street traders was particularly bad; half of them were girls, and the stock in trade was usually newspapers and matches—the children were dirty, ragged and running the streets at all hours of the night, the apparent trade in newspapers and other articles being frequently used to cover up much worse things; in fact, many of the girls were practically prostitutes. Q
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
London
London
Under the powers conferred on local authorities by the Employment of Children Act 1903, the London County Council framed in February, 1905, a set of by-laws, the provisions of which seemed quite innocuous. Nevertheless a considerable outcry was raised by persons whom they would affect, and thereupon the Secretary of State withheld his confirmation and authorized Mr. Chester Jones to hold an inquiry at which complaints could be heard as well as arguments in favor of the by-laws. This inquiry was
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Manchester
Manchester
Although the British departmental committee of 1910 was not favorably impressed by the results of regulation as a cure for the evils of street trading, nevertheless it gave due credit to the city of Manchester for what had been accomplished there under the license system. Referring to this city, the report says: "In Manchester such good results as can be arrived at by the method of regulation were, perhaps, more apparent than anywhere else. In that city the entire evidence testified to the fact
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
New South Wales
New South Wales
The British Colony of New South Wales has adopted some mild restrictions under the Employment of Children Act, 1903, and the president of the State Children Relief Board for New South Wales states in his report for the year ending April 5, 1910, that "the Board is not favorably impressed with the principle of street trading by juveniles, realizing that even under the most careful administration children, when once licensed to engage in street trading, are exposed to great temptations."...
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Canada
Canada
The province of Manitoba, Canada, forbids children under twelve years from trading in the streets at any time; licenses are issued to boys twelve to sixteen years old, who are not allowed to sell after 9 P.M. Some boys have been denied licenses because of their poor school record, others because of lack of proof as to age, others on account of not being physically qualified, and still others because there was no need for their earning money in this way. The licensed boys are kept under supervisi
31 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Germany
Germany
The Industrial Code of Germany prohibits children under fourteen years from offering goods for sale on public roads, streets or places, and peddling them from house to house. In localities in which such sale or peddling is customary, the local police authorities may permit it for certain periods of time not exceeding a total of four weeks in any calendar year. "Under this provision there was considerable street trading, especially in the larger cities. In Berlin, for instance, during the weeks p
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
France
France
The labor of children in France is regulated by the law of November 2, 1892, as amended by the act of March 30, 1900. This law applies to factories, workshops, mines and quarries, exempting home industries, agricultural work and purely mercantile establishments. [172] The work of children in city streets is not even mentioned. New legislation has recently been proposed to regulate the employment of minors under 18 years of age and of women in the sale of merchandise from stands and tables on sid
42 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Many years ago Macaulay declared, "Intense labor, beginning too early in life, continued too long every day, stunting the growth of the mind, leaving no time for healthful exercise, no time for intellectual culture, must impair all those high qualities that have made our country great. Your overworked boys will become a feeble and ignoble race of men, the parents of a more feeble progeny; nor will it be long before the deterioration of the laborer will injuriously affect those very interests to
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX A LAWS
APPENDIX A LAWS
The law of Wisconsin relative to street trading, as amended in 1911, is given below in its entirety, because it is the most advanced law of its kind in the United States. Section 1728 p. The term "street trade," as used in this act, shall mean any business or occupation in which any street, alley, court, square or other public place is used for the sale, display or offering for sale of any articles, goods or merchandise. No boy under the age of twelve years, and no girl under the age of eighteen
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX C CARDS FOR INVESTIGATIONS
APPENDIX C CARDS FOR INVESTIGATIONS
The cards used in the inquiries into the newsboy situations of Philadelphia and Milwaukee are reproduced here, in the hope that they will be of use in furnishing suggestions to any organization or individual who contemplates making such an investigation elsewhere. It will be observed that these cards are practically confined to questions affecting newsboys only, and would have to be considerably amplified, if intended for use in a general study of street work by children....
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter