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diff --git a/old/44396.txt b/old/44396.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f9611b9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44396.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7479 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Child Labor in City Streets, by Edward Nicholas Clopper + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: Child Labor in City Streets + +Author: Edward Nicholas Clopper + +Release Date: December 9, 2013 [EBook #44396] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHILD LABOR IN CITY STREETS *** + + + + +Produced by Charlene Taylor, Heike Leichsenring and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + + + + + CHILD LABOR IN CITY STREETS + + + + + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO + DALLAS . SAN FRANCISCO + + MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED + LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA + MELBOURNE + + THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. + TORONTO + + + + + 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_ + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1912, + BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. + + +Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1912. Reprinted +January, 1913. + + + NORWOOD PRESS + J. S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. + Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Text originally marked up as bold is surrounded by =, text in italics by +_, text in different font with ~. All footnotes can be found after the +chapter "Conclusion", before the Bibliography. Obvious printer's errors +have been remedied, a list of all other changes can be found at the end +of the document. + + + + + 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 would have been banished from the +streets long ago. But they were too close to us. We could not get a +comprehensive view and saw only what we happened to want at the +moment--their paltry little stock in trade. Now that we are getting a +broader sense of social responsibility, we are beginning to realize +how blind and inconsiderate we have been in our treatment of them. + +The first five chapters of the book review present conditions and +discuss causes, the next two deal with effects, and the final ones are +concerned with the remedy. The scope has been made as broad as +possible. All forms of street work that engage any considerable number +of children have been described at length, and opinions and findings +of others have been freely quoted. I have attempted to show the bad +results of the policy of _laissez-faire_ as applied to this problem. +Simply because these little boys and girls have been ministering to +its wants, the public has given them scarcely a passing thought. It +has been so convenient to have a newspaper or a shoe brush thrust at +one, it has not occurred to us that, for the sake of the children, +such work would better be done by other means. Although good examples +have been set by European cities, we have not introduced any +innovations to clear the streets of working children. + +The free rein at present given to child labor in our city streets is +productive of nothing but harmful results, and it is high time that a +determined stand was taken for the rights of children so exposed. A +few feeble efforts at regulation have been made in some parts of this +country, but this is an evil that requires prohibition rather than +regulation. There is no valid reason why just as efficient service in +streets could not be rendered by adults. Certainly it would be far +more suitable and humane to reserve such work for old men and women +who need outdoor life and are physically unable to earn their living +in other ways. We could buy our newspaper from a crippled adult at a +stand just as easily as we get it now from an urchin who shivers on +the street corner. It is only a question of habit, and we ought to be +glad of the change for the good of all concerned. + + E. N. C. + + Cincinnati, 1912. + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. THE PROBLEM OF THE STREET-WORKING CHILD--PUBLIC + APATHY--RELATION TO OTHER PROBLEMS 1 + + II. EXTENT TO WHICH CHILDREN ENGAGE IN STREET ACTIVITIES IN + AMERICA AND EUROPE 24 + + III. NEWSPAPER SELLERS 52 + + IV. BOOTBLACKS, PEDDLERS AND MARKET CHILDREN 83 + + V. MESSENGERS, ERRAND AND DELIVERY CHILDREN 101 + + VI. EFFECTS OF STREET WORK UPON CHILDREN 128 + + VII. RELATION OF STREET WORK TO DELINQUENCY 159 + + VIII. THE STRUGGLE FOR REGULATION IN THE UNITED STATES 189 + + IX. DEVELOPMENT OF STREET TRADES REGULATION IN EUROPE 214 + + CONCLUSION 243 + + BIBLIOGRAPHY 245 + + APPENDICES 255 + + INDEX 277 + + + + + CHILD LABOR IN CITY STREETS + + + + + CHAPTER I + +THE PROBLEM OF THE STREET-WORKING CHILD--PUBLIC APATHY--RELATION TO +OTHER PROBLEMS + + +The efforts which have so far been made in the United States to solve +the child labor problem have been directed almost exclusively toward +improvement of conditions in mines and manufacturing and mercantile +establishments. This singling out of one phase of the problem for +correction was due to the uneducated state of public opinion which +made necessary a long and determined campaign along one line, vividly +portraying the wrongs of children in this one form of exploitation, +before general interest could be aroused. Within very recent years +this campaign has met with signal success, and many states have +granted a goodly measure of protection to the children of their +working classes as far as the factory, the store and the mine are +concerned. The time has now come for attention to be directed toward +the premature employment of children in work other than that connected +with mining and manufacturing, for there are other phases of this +problem which involve large numbers of children and which, up to the +present, have received but little thought from students of labor +conditions. The three most important of these other phases are the +employment of children in agricultural work, in home industries and in +street occupations. This volume will deal with the last-named +phase--with the economic activities of children in the streets and +public places of our cities, their effects and the remedies they +demand. + +The street occupations in which children commonly engage are: +newspaper selling, peddling, bootblacking, messenger service, delivery +service, running errands and the tending of market stands. The first +three are known as street "trades," owing to the popular fallacy that +the children who follow them are little "merchants," and are therefore +entitled to the dignity of separate classification. Careful usage +would confine this term to newsboys, peddlers and bootblacks who work +independently of any employer. Many children are employed by other +persons to sell newspapers, peddle goods and polish shoes, and such +children technically are street traders no more than those who run +errands, carry messages or deliver parcels. Consequently the term +"street trades" is limited in its application, and by no means +embraces all the economic activities of children in our streets and +public places. + +Wisconsin has written into her laws a definition of street trading, +declaring that it is "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."[1] +This covers neither bootblacking nor the delivery of newspapers. + +In Great Britain the expression "street trading" has been officially +defined as including: "the hawking of newspapers, matches, flowers, +and other articles; playing, singing, or performing for profit; plying +for hire in carrying luggage or messages; shoe blacking, or any other +like occupations carried on in streets or public places."[2] + +Street traders and street employees may be classified by occupation as +follows:-- + + STREET TRADERS STREET EMPLOYEES + (WORKING FOR THEMSELVES) (WORKING FOR OTHERS) + + Newspaper sellers Newspaper sellers (on salary) + Peddlers (on salary) + Peddlers Bootblacks (in stands) + Market stand tenders + Bootblacks (on street) Messengers + Errand children + Delivery children + +This classification is based upon the well-known economic distinction +between profits and wages. It is unfortunate that this distinction has +been applied to juvenile street workers, for it has operated to the +great disadvantage of the "traders." This class has been practically +ignored in the general movement for child welfare, on the ground that +these little laborers were in business for themselves, and therefore +should not be disturbed. Recently the conviction has been dawning +upon observant people that, in the case of young children at least, +the effects of work on an independent basis, particularly in city +streets, are just as bad and perhaps even worse than work under the +direction of employers. The mute appeal of the street-working child +for protection has at last reached the heart of the welfare movement, +and the first feeble efforts in his behalf are now being put forth, +regardless of whether he toils for profits or for wages. + +This alleged distinction between street trading and street employment +should be clearly understood, as any movement designed to remedy +present conditions must be sufficiently comprehensive to avoid the +great mistake of protecting one class and ignoring the other. On the +one hand there is said to be an army of little independent "merchants" +conducting business affairs of their own, while on the other there is +an array of juvenile employees performing the tasks set them by their +masters. For purposes of regulation this distinction is hairsplitting, +narrow-minded and unjust, as it has been made to defeat in part the +beneficent aim of the great campaign for child welfare, but +nevertheless it must be reckoned with. Children under fourteen years +of age at work in factories and mines are often properly called +"slaves," and their plight is regarded with pity coupled with a +clarion cry for their emancipation. But tiny workers in the streets +are referred to approvingly as "little merchants" and are freely +patronized even by the avowed friends of children, who thereby +contribute their moral support toward continuing these conditions and +maintaining this absurd fiction of our merchant babyhood. As an +instance of this remarkable attitude, there was proudly printed in the +Pittsburgh _Gazette-Times_ of April 11, 1910, the picture of a +four-year-old child who had been a newsboy in an Ohio town since the +age of _thirty months_, and this was described as a most worthy +achievement! + +That the term "child labor," whose meaning has so long been popularly +restricted to the employment of children in factories, mills, mines +and stores, is properly applicable to the activities of children in +all kinds of work for profit, is now virtually recognized by a few +states which prohibit employment of children under fourteen years of +age "in any gainful occupation." But unfortunately the courts have +rigidly construed the word "employ" to mean the purchasing of the +services of one person by another, hence newsboys, peddlers, +bootblacks and others who work on their own account, do not enjoy the +protection of such a statute because they are not "employed." Under +this interpretation a fatal loophole is afforded through which +thousands of boys and girls escape the spirit of the law which seeks +to prevent their _labor_ rather than their mere employment. It is for +this reason that, in states having otherwise excellent provisions for +the conservation of childhood, we see little children freely +exploiting themselves on city streets. This situation has been calmly +accepted without protest by the general public, for, while the people +condemn child labor in factories, they tolerate and even approve of it +on the street. They labor under the delusion that merely because a few +of our successful business men were newsboys in the past, these little +"merchants" of the street are receiving valuable training in business +methods and will later develop into leaders in the affairs of men. A +glaring example of this attitude was given by a monthly magazine[3] +which fondly referred to newsboys as "the enterprising young merchants +from whose ranks will be recruited the coming statesmen, soldiers, +financiers, merchants and manufacturers of our land." + +It is extremely unfortunate that this narrow conception has prevailed, +as it raises the tremendous obstacle of popular prejudice which must +be broken down before these child street workers can receive their +share of justice at the hands of the law. The only fair and logical +method of approach toward a solution of the child labor problem in all +its phases is to take high ground and view the subject broadly in the +light of what is for the best interests of children in general. + +The state recognizes the need of an intelligent citizenship and +accordingly provides a system of public schools, requiring the +attendance of all children up to the age of fourteen years. In order +that nothing shall interfere with the operation of this plan for +general education, the state forbids the employment of children of +school age. In respect of both these mandates, the state has really +assumed the guardianship of the child; it has accepted the principle +that the child is the ward of the state and has based its action on +this principle. A guardian should be ever mindful of the welfare of +his wards, and so, to be consistent, the state should carefully shield +its children from all forms of exploitation as well as from other +abuses. + +However, in the matter of the regulation of child labor, a curious +anomaly has arisen--no one may employ a child under fourteen years in +a _factory_ for even one hour a day without being liable to +prosecution for disobeying the law of the state, because such work +might interfere with the child's growth and education; all of which is +right and indorsed by public opinion, but--merely because a child is +working independently of any employer, he is allowed to sell +newspapers, peddle chewing gum and black boots for any number of +hours, providing he attends school during school hours! Could anything +be more inconsistent? To this extent the state, as a guardian, has +neglected the welfare of its ward. + +This lack of consideration for street workers was emphasized in a +British government report a number of years ago. Referring to the +statutory provisions for preventing overwork by children in +factories, workshops and mines, the report declared: "But the labour +of children for wages outside these cases is totally unregulated, +although many of them work longer than the factory hours allowed for +children of the same age, and are at the same time undergoing +compulsory educational training, which makes a considerable demand on +their energies. We think this is inconsistent. In the interests of +their health and education, it seems only reasonable that remedies +which have proved so valuable in the case of factory children should +in some form be extended to cover the whole field of child labour."[4] + +To insure a good yield, a field requires cultivation as well as +planting; to effect a cure, a patient requires nursing as well as +prescription. So with the aim of the state--to insure a strong, +intelligent citizenship, its children must be cared for, as well as +provided with schools. If a patient is not nursed while the physician +is absent, his treatment is of little avail; if children are not +protected out of school hours, the purpose of the school is +defeated. No manufacturer would allow his machinery to run, unwatched, +outside regular work hours, for he knows how disastrous would be the +consequences; yet this is precisely what the state is doing by +ignoring the activities of children in our city streets--the delicate +machinery of their minds and bodies is allowed to run wild out of +schools hours, and the state seems to think nothing will happen! These +thoughts impel us to the conclusion that the state must watch over the +child at least until he has reached the age limit for school +attendance, and in the matter of labor regulation its care must not be +confined to the prevention of one form of exploitation while other +forms, equally injurious, are permitted to flourish unchecked. + +Legislation regulating street trading by children in this country is +now in the stage corresponding to that of the English factory acts in +the early part of the nineteenth century,--the first meager +restrictions are being tried. Several of the street occupations, viz. +messenger service, delivery service and errand running, are ordinarily +included among those prohibited to children under fourteen years by +state child labor laws, because to engage in such work children have +to be employed by other persons. These occupations are covered by the +provision common to such laws which forbids employment of such +children "in the distribution or transmission of merchandise or +messages." The street "trades" of newspaper selling, peddling and +bootblacking are, as yet, almost untouched by legislation in the +United States, for there exist only a very few state laws and city +ordinances relative to this matter, and these of the most primitive +kind. The public does not yet realize the injustice of permitting +young children to engage, uncontrolled, in the various street-trading +activities. It was slow to appreciate the dangers involved in the +unrestricted employment of children in factories, mills and mines, but +when the awakening finally came, the demand for reform was insistent. +This gradual development of a sentiment favoring regulation +characterizes also the problem of street employment; the present stage +is that of calm indifference, ruffled only by occasional misgivings. +Even this is an encouraging sign, inasmuch as the factory agitation +passed through the same experience, and emerged triumphant, +crystallized in statute form. + +It is hard to understand how the public conscience can reconcile +itself to the chasm between the age limit of fourteen years for +messenger service and freedom from all restraint in newspaper +selling--both essentially street occupations. Child labor laws are +framed in accordance with public sentiment, hence the people by +legislative omission practically indorse street trading by little +children while condemning their employment in other kinds of work. +Thus the state virtually assumes the untenable position that it is +right to allow a child of tender years to labor in the streets as a +newsboy without any oversight or care whatever, and that it is wrong +for him to work in the same field as a messenger, or an errand boy, or +a delivery boy, although such occupations are subject to some degree +of supervision by older persons. In other words, it is held that +little children are capable of self-control in some street +occupations, but not able to withstand the dangers of other similar +street work, even under the control of adults! After having described +the conditions prevailing in Philadelphia among newsboys, Mr. Scott +Nearing says: "There are many causes leading up to this condition. +Beneath all others lies the fundamental one--the lack of public +sentiment in favor of protecting these children. Closely allied to +this is another almost equally strong--the lack of public knowledge of +the true state of affairs."[5] + +The Chicago Child Welfare Exhibit pointed out the fact that street +trades are quite untouched by child labor legislation in the city and +also in the state, declaring that in Illinois a boy or girl too young +to be permitted to do any other work may haunt the newspaper offices, +the five-cent shows, the theaters and saloons, selling chewing gum and +newspapers at all hours of the night.[6] + +Among the arguments advanced in support of the unsuccessful effort to +secure legislation on street trading in Illinois in 1911 was the +following: "Each boy or girl street trader is a merchant in his or her +own right, and therefore before the law is not considered a wage +earner, although there is merely a fine-spun distinction between the +child who secures _wages_ as the result of his work and one who +obtains his reward in the form of _profits_. The effect on the child +of work performed under unsuitable conditions, at unsuitable hours and +demanding the exercise of his faculties in unchildish ways, is in no +wise determined by the form in which his earnings are calculated. That +the results of street trading are wholly bad in the case of both boys +and girls is universally recognized."[7] Miss Jane Addams has deplored +this situation in a public statement: "A newsboy is a merchant and +does not come within the child labor regulations of Illinois. The city +of Chicago is a little careless, if not recreant, toward the children +who are not reached by the operation of the state law."[8] + +Even in the few localities where regulation of street trading has been +attempted, the delusion that there is some essential difference +between child labor in factories and child labor in streets persists +in the legislation itself. The latter form of exploitation is assumed +to merit a wider latitude for its activity, hence it is hedged about +by much less stringent rules. Attention is invited to this +inconsistency by the report of a recent investigation in New York +City: "We have in New York 4148 children between 14 and 16 years +employed in factories with their daily hours of labor limited from 8 +A.M. to 5 P.M., while in mercantile establishments there are 1645 more +of similar age limit, none of whom can work before 8 in the morning or +after 7 in the evening. But on the streets of New York City we have +approximately 4500 boys licensed (to say nothing of the little fellows +too young to be licensed) to sell newspapers. That means 4500 +legalized to work at this particular trade from 6 o'clock in the +morning until 10 o'clock in the evening (save during the school year, +when they are supposed to attend school from 9 A.M. to 3 P.M.) any day +and every day, seven days to the week if they so desire to do."[9] + + + _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 attention +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 impossible, we must study it to see what it really is and what +needs to be done with it. It is the medium by which people are brought +into closer touch with one another, where they meet and converse, +where they pass in transit, where they rub elbows with all the +elements making up their little world, where they absorb the +principles of democracy,--for the street is a great leveler. + +Dr. Delos F. Wilcox, in speaking to the subject "What is Philadelphia +Doing to Protect Her Citizens in the Street?" recently said: "The +street is the symbol of democracy, of equal opportunity, the channel +of the common life, the thing that makes the city.... I fancy that the +civic renaissance which must surely come, ... will never get very far +until we have awakened to a realization of the dignity of the +street--the common street where the city's children play, through +which the milk wagon drives, where the young men are educated, along +which the currents of the city's life flow unceasingly."[10] + +An English writer has expressed a similar thought: "We have spoken of +the street as a dangerous environment from which we would gladly +rescue the children if we could, and so it undoubtedly is in so far as +it supplants the influence of the home, tends to nullify that of the +school and lets the boys and girls run wild just when they most need +to be tamed.... It is, in fact, so strange a mixture of good and evil, +so complex an influence in the growth of boy and girl, of youth and +man, among our great city population, that it is necessary to attempt +to analyze it a little more exactly. It is for the majority the medium +in which the social conscience is formed, and through which it makes +its power felt. In it the all-powerful agents of progress, example, +imitation, the spread of ideas and the discussion of good and evil are +incessantly at work."[11] + +It is only natural that such a general agency for communication should +have been abused. Its popularity alone would inevitably lead to such a +result, with no restrictions imposed upon street intercourse. The very +popularity of the games of billiards, pool and cards and of dancing +led to their abuse and consequent disrepute in the eyes of many +persons who were blinded to their intrinsic worth as diversions, by +the abuses to which they were subjected. The marked success attending +the proper use of all these amusements in social settlements and +parish houses stimulates the imagination as to what might be +accomplished with the street if its abuses also were eliminated. + +It is of course absurd to pass judgment summarily upon the street, for +the street can exert no influence of itself; the evil issues from its +abuse by those who frequent it, and it is this abuse that should be +suppressed. This immediately raises the question as to what +constitutes this abuse. We must bear in mind that the real purpose of +the street is to serve as a means of communication, a passageway for +the transit of passengers and commerce. It was never intended for a +playground, nor a field for child labor, nor a resort for idlers, nor +a depository for garbage, nor a place for beggars to mulct the public. +These fungous growths from civic neglect ought to be cut away. "A +place for everything and everything in its place" would be an +efficacious even if old-fashioned remedy: playgrounds for the +children, workshops for the idlers, reduction plants for the garbage +and asylums for the beggars. With these reforms effected and carefully +maintained, the street would soon become much more wholesome and +attractive. + +These considerations have been advanced to indicate the intimate +relation which exists between the problem of the child street worker +and many other problems with which social workers are now struggling. +Child labor in city streets must be abolished, but at the same time +cooperation with other movements is necessary before a satisfactory +solution of the problem can be assured. + +For example, it would be a short-sighted policy to prohibit young +children from selling goods in home market stands without reporting to +the housing authorities cases in which large families live in one or +two filthy rooms, displaying and selling their wares in the doorway +and from the window. Our Italian citizens are not committing race +suicide, but in spite of their numerous progeny they crowd together in +extremely limited space, combining their home life with the customary +business of selling fruit. Their young children assist in tending the +stands on market days and nights or sit on the sidewalk selling +baskets to passers-by; at closing time their goods are often stored in +the same room that serves for sleeping quarters, cots being brought +out from some dark hiding place. In such circumstances the mere +prevention of child labor is not sufficient--the housing conditions +also should be remedied so as to give the children a more suitable +place in which to play, study and sleep, a better home in which to use +their leisure. + +Again, a movement to prohibit street work by children should give +impetus to that which seeks to make the public school a social center, +and especially to that for public vacation schools. Many of the homes +of city children very largely lack the element of attractiveness which +is so essential in holding children under the influence of their +parents, and this want must be filled as far as possible by making +the school an instrument not merely for instruction, but also for the +entertainment and socializing of the entire neighborhood. + +Again, the regulating of street trading should be undertaken jointly +with the movement to supply adequate playground facilities. +Playgrounds are not a municipal luxury, but a necessary. Children must +have some suitable place for recreation. It is not a function of the +street to furnish the space for play, and as children cannot and +should not be kept at home all the time, it follows that ground must +be set apart for the purpose. On these points a British report says: +"We have no doubt that insanitary homes and immoral surroundings, with +the want of any open spaces where the children could enjoy healthy +exercise and recreation, are strong factors in determining towards +evil courses in the cases of the children of the poor."[12] The need +for more playgrounds in Chicago was partially supplied by having one +block in a congested district closed to traffic during August, 1911, +so that children could play there without risking their lives, from +eight in the morning to eight in the evening. In providing this +emergency playground, Chicago has set an example that will undoubtedly +be imitated by other cities. + +In this way the abolition of child labor in city streets would result +in benefit not only to the children, but to the entire community as +well. It would promote a general civic awakening that would make each +town and city a better place to live in, a better home for our +citizens of the future. + + + + + CHAPTER II + +EXTENT TO WHICH CHILDREN ENGAGE IN STREET ACTIVITIES IN AMERICA AND +EUROPE + + +There are no reliable figures either official or unofficial showing +the number of children engaged in street activities in any city of the +United States or in the country at large. The figures given by the +United States Census of 1900 are so inadequate that they can hardly +mislead any one endowed with ordinary powers of observation. It +solemnly declares that in that year there was a grand total of 6904 +newspaper carriers and newsboys, both adults and children, in the +entire United States, of whom 69 were females.[13] In all probability +there was a greater number at that time in some of our larger cities +alone. In the group called "other persons in trade and transportation" +only 3557 children ten to fifteen years of age are reported, although +this group embraces nine specified occupations, of which that of the +newsboy is only one. Besides these, many other occupations (in which +63 per cent of the total number of persons reported are engaged) are +not specified.[14] Consequently the number of newsboys ten to fifteen +years old reported by the enumerators for the entire country must have +been ridiculously small. + +Again, the total number of bootblacks ten years of age and upwards in +the country was reported as 8230, they being included in the group +called "other domestic and personal service." Only 2953 children ten +to fifteen years of age were reported in this group, which includes +five specified occupations, of which that of the bootblacks is only +one, and many others (in which 67 per cent of the total number of +persons reported are engaged) which are not specified.[15] + +The inadequacy of these figures to convey any idea whatsoever as to +the extent of child labor in street occupations in this country is +painfully apparent; they are quoted here merely to show the poverty +of statistics on this subject. Their inaccuracy is practically +conceded by the report itself in the following words: "The limitations +connected with the taking of a great national census preclude proper +care upon the question of child employment. There is great uncertainty +as to the accuracy of a mass of information of this character taken by +enumerators and special agents, who either do not appreciate the +importance of the investigation or find it impracticable to devote the +time to the inquiry necessary to secure good results."[16] + +There is reason to hope for more reliable data from the 1910 census; +but unfortunately the figures will probably not be available until +1913. The enumerators employed by the Federal government for the +Census of 1910, were instructed to make an entry in the occupation +column of the population schedule for every person enumerated, giving +the exact occupation if employed, writing the word "none" if +unemployed, or the words "own income" if living upon an independent +income. It was stated positively that the occupation followed by a +child of any age was just as important for census purposes as the +occupation followed by a man, and that it should never be taken for +granted without inquiry that a child had no occupation.[17] + +However, upon inquiry by enumerators at the time of the census taking +as to the occupation of children, many parents undoubtedly replied in +the negative, even though their children may have been devoting +several hours daily outside of school to street work, under the +impression that this was not an occupation. Consequently it is safe to +assume that the figures for street-working children in the United +States according to the Census of 1910 when published will be under +the true number. Nevertheless, they can hardly fail to reflect +conditions far better than did the figures for 1900. + + + _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 I, it is interesting to note that +although the provisions of this bill were very mild, and strong +efforts were put forth by social workers to secure its passage, it was +not allowed to become a law largely because of the absence of public +opinion and partly because of the opposition by newspaper publishers +and others who were afraid that their interests might suffer through +the granting of protection to such little children. + +In one of the schools of Chicago, pupils were found to be trading in +the streets in addition to attending school in the following +percentages:-- + + 65 per cent of 5th grade children + 35 per cent of 4th grade children + 15 per cent of 2d grade children + 12 per cent of 1st grade children + (Figures for 3d grade were not given.) + +All of these children were attending school twenty-five hours a week, +and many cases of excessive work out of school hours were found. Some +allowance should be made for possible exaggeration on the part of +these children, but nevertheless it is certain that many of them were +working to an injurious extent. The hours given were as follows:-- + + 1 boy over 50 hours + 4 boys over 40 hours + 5 boys over 35 hours + 7 boys over 30 hours + 18 boys over 20 hours + +Their average earnings per week were found to be as follows:[18]-- + + 5th grade children $1.18 + 4th grade children .85 + 3d grade children .60 + 2d grade children .43 + 1st grade children .36 + +In referring to the weekly income of the children from this source, +the Handbook of the Chicago Child Welfare Exhibit declared that it was +"a pitiable sum to compensate for the physical weariness and moral +risk attending street trades in a large city. School reports show that +street trades, when carried on by young children, lead to truancy, +low vitality, dullness and the breaking down of parental control. +Since the children are on the streets at all hours, careless habits +are developed which often lead to moral ruin to both boys and +girls."[19] + +An instance was related wherein the teacher of a fifth grade in a +Chicago school asked those of her pupils who worked for money to raise +their hands. In the class of 38 pupils, 26 acknowledged that they were +little breadwinners! One boy said he worked ten hours a day besides +attending school; others had less striking records, spending from +twenty to forty hours a week selling chewing gum and newspapers, +blacking boots and pursuing the various other street occupations which +the Illinois law leaves open to children of all ages.[20] + +Referring to the economic and home conditions surrounding young +children in Chicago and the many phases of danger to their moral +well-being, the Vice Commission of that city reported that its agents +had found small boys selling newspapers in segregated districts and +that one night an investigator had counted twenty newsboys from eleven +years upwards so engaged at midnight and after. Besides these +newsboys, many little boys and girls were found peddling chewing gum +near disorderly saloons where prostitutes were soliciting. Numerous +examples of employment in vicious environment are cited, principally +of the peddling of newspapers and chewing gum by young children at all +hours of the night in the "red light" districts, about saloons and +museums of anatomy. Even in the rear rooms of saloons, boys were seen +offering their wares and heard to join in obscene conversation with +the patrons of these resorts.[21] + +A folder published in Chicago by the advocates of street-trade +regulation calls attention to these conditions, and states, with +regard to little newsgirls who sell papers in the vice regions: "It is +not surprising if some of them, becoming so familiar with the +practices of the district, take up the profession of the neighborhood. +The Juvenile Protective Association reports one little girl who +entered the life of a professional prostitute at the age of fourteen, +after having sold newspapers for years in the district."[22] + +Another element of this problem, seldom considered, is described also +in this folder--the vagrants, who constitute a large and growing class +deserving the attention of both city and citizen. "Three classes of +persons, who add little to the general circulation, while detracting +much from the tone of the business and working a real injury to +themselves, are engaged in selling newspapers; these are the small +boy, the semi-vagrant boy, and the young girl. The business of selling +newspapers in Chicago is so systematized that the 'vagrant' cannot +prosper, and yet the 'vagrant' is in our midst. He can be found on +State Street at 11 o'clock on a Saturday night with one newspaper +under his arm--not attempting to sell it, but using it as a bait to +beg from the passers-by. He can be found in the _American_ news alley, +sometimes fifty, sometimes a hundred strong, sleeping on bags, under +boxes, or on the floor of the newspaper restaurant. With this boy, +and with all those who are obviously too young to be permitted to +engage in street trading, it is our duty to deal if we are to preserve +the attitude the American city takes toward the dependent child." + + + NATIONALITIES OF BOSTON CHILD STREET TRADERS + + ====================================+======+========== + PLACE OF BIRTH |NUMBER|PERCENTAGE + ------------------------------------+------+---------- + { Boston 1,556 | | + America { Elsewhere in Mass. 171 | 1860 | 70. + { Other states 133 | | + Russia | 473 | 17.5 + Italy | 161 | 6. + Other foreign countries | 162 | 6. + Not given | 8 | .5 + |----- | ------ + | 2664 | 100.0 + ====================================+======+========== + + + _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 their distribution among +nationalities. + + + _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 badges that 4500 boys have these badges, yet +when we secured the addresses of some of these from their application +cards ... we found that not 30 per cent of the 100 cases investigated +lived at listed addresses. Many such were bogus numbers, open lots, +factories, wharves, and in some cases the middle of East River would +wash over the house number given. When we did find a correct address, +the children so located in six cases out of ten were not following the +trade. In some instances they never sold papers, obtaining badges +simply because other boys were applying for them, and after receiving +a badge tucked it away in a drawer or maybe sold it or gave it +away."[23] + + + _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:-- + + 10 years 424 + 11 years 466 + 12 years 539 + 13 years 522 + ---- + Total 1951 + +The Cincinnati figures do not include bootblacks, peddlers or market +children, as no licenses were issued for such occupations, although +they are specifically covered by the municipal ordinance regulating +street trades. + +The above data were available only because there has been some attempt +in Boston, New York and Cincinnati to restrict the employment of +children in street occupations; as in the great majority of cities and +states there is absolutely no regulation of this kind, there are of +course no figures to indicate conditions. + + + _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 Commission states in its report that there are several +thousand shoe-shining establishments in the United States operated by +Greeks who employ boys as bootblacks, and that with few exceptions +they are under the padrone system.[25] A few boys under sixteen years +of age are employed under the Greek padrone system as flower vendors, +and these are found chiefly in New York City. They are hired by +florists to sell flowers in the streets and public places--largely old +stock that cannot be handled in the shops. These boys usually live in +good quarters, are well fed and receive their board and from $50 to +$100 a year in wages. When not engaged in peddling, they deliver +flowers ordered at the shops. The boys employed by the padrones to +peddle candy, fruit and vegetables usually live in basements or in +filthy rooms; here they are crowded two, three and sometimes four in +one bed, with windows shut tight so as to avoid catching cold. The +fruit and vegetables still on hand are stored for the night in these +bedrooms and in the kitchen. In each peddling company there are +usually three or four wagons and from four to eight boys.[26] + + + _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 of street boys who have as yet +received no name in this country, but in England are called "touts," +haunt the neighborhood of railroad depots and lie in wait for +passengers with hand baggage, offering to carry it to the train for a +small fee. + +Some children are used as singers or performers upon musical +instruments, but this is in reality only another form of begging. The +writer found one instance of a young boy who was employed by the +public library of one of our large cities to gather up overdue books +about the city and to collect the fines imposed for failure to return +the same. Very frequently in the course of his work this boy had to +enter houses of prostitution, as the inmates are steady patrons of the +public library, reading light literature, and are quite negligent in +the matter of returning the books within the prescribed time. +Immediately upon the librarian's learning of the situation, he was +relieved of this duty, and a man was detailed to perform the task. +Such special occupations as these do not constitute a real factor in +the problem because of the small number of children involved, and +hence they are omitted from consideration. + + + _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 into the return, as many of the +schoolmasters misunderstood the meaning of the schedules, and +consequently quite a number of children who should have been included +were omitted from the total. The 9433 schedules which were filled and +returned showed that 144,026 children (about three fourths boys and +one fourth girls) were in attendance full time at the public +elementary schools of England and Wales and known to be employed for +profit outside of school hours. + +The ages of these children reported as employed were as follows:[27]-- + + Under 7 years 131 + 7 years 1,120 + 8 years 4,211 + 9 years 11,027 + 10 years 22,131 + 11 years 36,775 + 12 years 47,471 + 13 years 18,556 + 14 and over 1,787 + Not given 817 + ------- + Total 144,026 + +The standards or school grades in which these working children were +enrolled and the total enrollment for the year ended August 31, 1898, +were as follows:[28]-- + + ==========================+============ + | TOTAL + WORKING CHILDREN | ENROLLMENT + --------------------------+----------- + No Standard 329 | + 1st standard 3,890 | 2,875,088 + 2d standard 11,686 | 723,582 + 3d standard 24,624 | 679,096 + 4th standard 36,907 | 590,850 + 5th standard 37,315 | 421,728 + 6th standard 21,975 | 212,546 + 7th standard 6,382 | 66,442 + Ex-7 standard 382 | 7,534 + Not stated 536 | + ------- | --------- + Total 144,026 | 5,576,866 + ==========================+============ + +The occupations followed by these children were divided into three +main groups, and each of these groups was further divided into three +classes. These divisions and the number of children in each were as +follows:[29]-- + + =======================+=======================+========================= + | | DOMESTIC EMPLOYMENT, + PIECEWORK, CHIEFLY | TIME-WORK, CHIEFLY | GIRLS ONLY, WITH ONE + BOYS | BOYS | OR TWO EXCEPTIONS + -----------------------+-----------------------+------------------------- + Selling | In shops or | Minding babies 11,585 + newspapers 15,182 | running | + | errands for | Other housework, + Hawking goods 2,435 | shopkeepers 76,173 | including + | | laundry work, + Sports, taking | Agricultural | etc. 9,254 + dinners, | occupations 6,115 | + knocking-up, | | Needlework and + etc. 8,627 | Boot and knife | like occupations 4,019 + | cleaning, etc. | + | (house boys) 10,636 | + =======================+=======================+========================= + +The return revealed a surprising variety of occupations followed by +these children--about 200 different kinds in all. + + HOURS PER WEEK NUMBER OF CHILDREN + Under 10 39,355 + 10-20 60,268 + 21-30 27,008 + 31-40 9,778 + 41-50 2,390 + 51-60 576 + 61-70 142 + 71-80 59 + Over 81 16 + Not stated 4,434 + ------- + Total 144,026 + +The number of hours per week devoted by these children to the various +employments will be found in the above table; it should be remembered +that these hours were given to work in addition to the time spent at +school.[30] + +It was recognized that the figures given by this parliamentary return +did not represent the real situation, but nevertheless its revelations +were sufficiently startling to show the need of further investigation. +Accordingly in 1901 there was appointed an interdepartmental committee +which after careful study reported that the figures in the +parliamentary return were well within the actual numbers, but that the +facts it contained were substantially correct.[31] This committee +estimated the total number of children who were both in attendance at +school and in paid employments in England and Wales at 300,000;[32] it +declared that cases of excessive employment were "sufficiently +numerous to leave no doubt that a substantial number of children are +being worked to an injurious extent."[33] + +Referring to the amount of time devoted by the children to gainful +employment outside of school, the committee reported, "On a review of +the evidence we consider it is proved that in England and Wales a +substantial number of children, amounting probably to 50,000, are +being worked more than twenty hours a week in addition to twenty-seven +and one-half hours at school, that a considerable proportion of this +number are being worked to thirty or forty and some even to fifty +hours a week, and that the effect of this work is in many cases +detrimental to their health, their morals and their education, besides +being often so unremitting as to deprive them of all reasonable +opportunity for recreation. For an evil so serious, existing on so +large a scale, we think that some remedy ought to be found."[34] The +committee estimated the total number of children selling newspapers +and in street hawking at 25,000.[35] + +With reference to conditions in Edinburgh, an English writer says, "Of +the 1406 children employed out of school hours in Edinburgh, 307 are +ten years of age or under. Four of them are six years old, and eleven +are seven years of age. We hear of boys working seventeen hours (from +7 A.M. to 12 P.M.) on Saturday. For children to work twelve, thirteen +and fourteen hours on Saturday is quite common. The average wage seems +to be three farthings an hour, but one hears of children who are paid +one shilling and sixpence for thirty-eight hours of toil."[36] + +In New South Wales boys are permitted to trade on the streets at the +age of ten years, and up to fourteen years may engage in such work +between the hours of 7 A.M. and 7 P.M. except while the schools are in +session; after they are fourteen years old they may trade between 6 +A.M. and 10 P.M. Such children are licensed, and during the six months +ending March 31, 1910, 714 licenses were issued, 72 per cent of them +being to children under fourteen years of age; 92 per cent of these +children were engaged in hawking newspapers, the others being +scattered through such occupations as peddling flowers, fruit and +vegetables, fish, fancy goods, matches, bottles, pies and milk.[37] + + + _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 unseasonable times and in unsuitable +places, child labor gives rise to serious consideration; in such cases +it is not only dangerous to the health and morality of the children, +but school discipline is impaired and compulsory education becomes +illusory. For children cannot possibly give the necessary attention to +their lessons when they are tired out and when they have been working +hard in unhealthful rooms until late at night. I need only instance +employment in skittle alleys late in the evening, in the delivery of +newspapers in the early morning and the employment of children in many +branches of home industry. The most recent researches undertaken in +different localities show that the employment of children in labor +demands earnest attention in the interests of the rising +generation."[38] + +Inquiries extending over almost the whole German Empire were +accordingly made by the different states from January to April, 1898. +It was found that 544,283 children under fourteen years were employed +in labor other than factory labor, agricultural employment and +domestic service. This was 6.53 per cent of the total number of +children of school age (8,334,919). + +With regard to the effects of such work, this German report says: "As +the children who carry around small wares, sell flowers, etc., go from +one inn to another, they are exposed to evil influences, and are +liable to contract at an early age, bad habits of smoking, lying, +drinking.... The delivery of newspapers is a particularly great strain +on the children, as it occupies them both before and after school +hours." + +Seven divisions of these children were made according to occupation, +four of them relating to street work. Under the heading _Handel_ were +included children in many kinds of work, among them hawking fruit, +milk, bread, brooms, flowers, newspapers, etc.; under _Austragedienste_ +were included only the delivery and carrying around of bread, milk, +vegetables, beer, papers, books, advertisements, circulars, bills, +coals, wood, boots and shoes, washing, clothes, etc.; under +_Gewoehnliche Laufdienste_ were included only errand boys and +messengers; under _Sonstige gewerbliche Thaetigkeit_ were included, +among other occupations, blacking boots, leading the blind, street +singers and players, etc. + +========================+========+========+=========+=========+============ + | | | SEX NOT | | + | BOYS | GIRLS | STATED | TOTAL | PERCENTAGE +------------------------+--------+--------+---------+---------+------------ +Handel (retail trade) | 7,507 | 4,540 | 5,576 | 17,623 | 3.31 + | | | | | +Austragedienste | | | | | +(delivery service) | 67,188 | 36,966 | 31,676 | 135,830 | 25.52 + | | | | | +Gewoehnliche Laufdienste | | | | | +(general messenger | | | | | +service) | 23,321 | 2,134 | 10,454 | 35,909 | 6.75 + | | | | | +Sonstige gewerbliche | | | | | +Thaetigkeit (other forms | | | | | +of labor) | 6,281 | 2,387 | 3,119 | 11,787 | 2.21 +========================+========+========+=========+=========+============ + + + _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, 169 were engaged in peddling and +huckstering; in delivering goods and going errands 1554 children were +employed, being generally hired to deliver bread, milk, meats, +groceries, newspapers, books, telegrams, circulars--in fact, all +manner of goods.[39] In the province of Upper Austria children are +paid from two to seven crowns (40.6 cents to $1.42) a month for +delivering newspapers daily, while in the duchy of Salzburg the pay +varies from twenty to fifty hellers (4 to 10 cents) a day for +delivering bread or newspapers. + +In the province of Lower Austria, "referring now to the other main +occupations in which school children are employed outside of industry +proper, the report [of the investigation] shows that ... those +working in trade and transportation usually help wait on customers in +their parents' stores; a number, however, sell flowers, shoe laces, +etc., or huckster bread, butter and eggs, or carry passengers' baggage +to and from railway stations. Most of those put down as delivering +goods are engaged in delivering bread, milk, newspapers and +washing."[40] Children who sell flowers, bread or cigars in Vienna +earn one to two crowns (20.3 to 40.6 cents) a day during the week, and +on Sundays as much as three crowns (60.9) cents. "The children +employed [in Lower Austria] to deliver goods and run errands are also +usually employed by non-relatives and receive wages in money. Those +who deliver milk, and who work one half to one hour a day, generally +receive twenty hellers to one crown (4 to 20.3 cents) weekly; in +exceptional cases two crowns (40.6 cents), and in some instances only +food and old clothes. For delivering bread and pastry, wages are +reported as thirty hellers (6 cents) a week and some meals, or fifty +hellers to two crowns (10 to 40.6 cents) a week without meals; in +exceptional cases, 10 per cent of the receipts. For delivering +papers, which requires one to two hours a day, children receive two to +ten crowns (40.6 cents to $2.03) a month. For delivering of washing, +thirty hellers (6 cents) for a two-hours' trip, or sixty hellers to +two crowns (12 to 40.6 cents) a week. Children who carry dinner to +mill laborers, requiring one half to one hour daily, get eighty +hellers to five crowns (16 cents to $1.02) a month. Messengers for +stores, hotels, etc., get a tip of two to ten hellers (.4 to 2 cents) +per errand, or, if employed regularly, twenty hellers to one crown (4 +to 20.3 cents) a week."[41] + +"The delivery of milk, pastry, newspapers, etc., in which many +children are employed in Vienna and other large cities, does not cause +frequent absences, but is responsible for tardy arrival at school in +the morning and for the fatigue that reduces attention and prevents +mental alertness."[42] + + + + + CHAPTER III + +NEWSPAPER SELLERS + + +By far the majority of the children in street occupations are engaged +in the sale or delivery of newspapers. The newsboy predominates to +such an extent that he is taken as a matter of course. As Mrs. +Florence Kelley says, "For more than one generation, it has been +almost invariably assumed that there must be little newsboys." Ever +since he became an institution of our city life, the public has been +pleased to regard him admiringly as an energetic salesman of +penetrating mind and keen sense of humor. There seems to be a tacit +indorsement of the newsboy as such. + +Ordinarily there are five classes of newsboys to be found in all large +cities--(1) the corner boys, (2) those who sell for corner boys on +salary, (3) others who sell for them on commission, (4) those who sell +for themselves, and (5) those with delivery routes. The bulk of the +business is handled by the first three of these classes, which are +always associated together and found on the busy corners of the +downtown sections of all our cities. The choice localities for the +sale of newspapers, namely, the corners in the downtown sections where +thousands of pedestrians are daily passing, come under the control of +individuals by virtue of long tenure or by purchase, and their title +to these corners is not disputed largely on account of the support +they receive from the circulation managers of the newspapers. In +former years the proprietorship of the corner was settled by a fight, +but now it undergoes change of ownership by the formal transfer of +location, fixtures and goodwill in accordance with the most approved +legal practice. + +In Chicago a system of routes has been established by the newspapers +which send wagons out with the different editions published each day +to supply the men who control the delivery and sale of newspapers in +the various districts. These route men employ boys to deliver for them +to regular customers and also to sell on street corners on a +commission basis. In Boston, ex-newsboys known as "Canada Points" are +employed by the publishers at a fixed salary to distribute the +editions by wholesale among the twenty odd places in the city from +which the street sellers are supplied. + + + _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 for him, to one of whom he pays 25 cents a day and +to the other 30 cents a day; their duties are to hawk the different +editions and to dispose of as many copies as possible by hopping the +street cars and offering the papers to pedestrians from 3.45 to 6.30 +P.M. daily on week days. If they do not hustle and make a large number +of sales, they lose their job. + +A corner in another part of the city is "owned" by a thirteen-year-old +boy who earns about 80 cents a day clear for himself in eight hours, +and on Saturdays in nine hours. He has two boys working for him on +commission, to whom he pays one cent for every four papers sold; they +average about 15 cents a day apiece for three hours' work. When +questioned, these commission boys admitted that they could make more +money if working for themselves, but in that case would have to work +until all the copies they had bought were sold, while on the +commission plan they did not have to shoulder so much responsibility. + +Regulations made by the circulation managers of newspapers concerning +the return of unsold copies greatly affect the newsboys' business. +Naturally these regulations are made with an eye to extending the +circulation. Corner boys are allowed to return only one copy out of +every ten bought, being reimbursed by the office for its cost. +Consequently they urge their newsboy employees and commission workers +to put forth every effort to dispose of the supply purchased. The +independent sellers are never permitted to return any unsold copies, +except in the case of certain energetic boys who can be relied upon to +work hard in any event. These are known as "hustlers," and owing to +their having won the confidence of the circulation manager they are +granted the special privilege of returning at cost all copies they +have been unable to sell. + +In Boston, beginners are often on a commission basis; "in this way +they secure the advice and protection of the more experienced while +serving their apprenticeship. These _strikers_, as they are called, +keep one cent for every four collected; few of them earn more than 25 +cents a day, while many of them earn less than 10."[43] + +An eleven-year-old Jewish boy who has been a newsboy for several years +now controls a comparatively quiet corner in Cincinnati, where he nets +from 40 to 50 cents a day, working about three hours. This boy's +father and mother are both living. + +Submission to older persons is natural among children, and an +interesting instance of tyranny over small boys by adults was found in +the case of a newspaper employee who works inside the plant and +employs several young boys to sell newspapers on the streets for him. +These boys together earn about $1.30 when working about seven hours, +but only half of this amount goes into their pockets, the other half +being paid to their "employer." In New York City certain busy sections +having points of strategic value are under the control of men who +employ small boys to do the real work for a mere pittance, usually the +price of admission to a moving-picture show. However, under certain +circumstances, these little fellows often display a sturdy spirit of +independence. An amusing instance is innocently recorded by an old +wartime report of a newsboys' home: "It had been decided to give the +boys a free dinner on Sundays, on condition that they attend the +Sunday School; but last Sunday they desired the Matron to say that +they were able and willing to pay for the dinner."[44] + +Independent newsboys must not stand in the territory controlled by +another; they must select some uncontrolled spot, or else run about +hither and yon, selling where they can. Under the unwritten law of +this business a boy who chances to sell in another's territory must +give the corner boy the money and receive a newspaper in exchange; +this results the same as if the corner boy himself had made the sale. +The earnings of these independent boys range from 15 to 65 cents daily +out of school hours, while on Saturdays they make from $1 to $1.50 +working from 11 A.M. to 6.30 P.M. + +An eleven-year-old lad who has been a newsboy for three years, selling +on his own account, disposes of most of his copies in saloons located +in the middle of a busy square, earning from 50 cents to $1.25 a day +even when attending school. His mother and father are both living. +Another example of this class is a sixteen-year-old boy who devotes +all his time to the trade, his net income averaging about $7.50 per +week. His attitude toward regular work is both interesting and +significant; he hopes to get a better job, but says that although he +has hunted for one, so little is offered for what he can do ($2 to $3 +per week) that it would hardly suffice for spending money. Discussing +this difference between factory wages and street-trading profits, an +English report says: "Working from 11 A.M. to 7 or 8 P.M., with +intervals for gambling, newsboys over 14 years old can make from +10_s._ to 14_s._ a week if they have an ordinary share of alertness. +In a factory or foundry, working from 6 A.M. to 6 P.M., a boy earns +about 13_s._ a week. The comparison needs no comment. The excitement +of their career tends to make them more and more reluctant to work +steadily.... Many newsboys protest that they want more permanent work, +but they rarely keep it when it is found for them."[45] The life of +the streets lacks the discipline involved in steady work and fixed +earnings. + +As an example of the route boy there is a fourteen-year-old lad in +Cincinnati who has a list of fifty customers to whom he delivers +newspapers regularly, earning in this way 25 cents daily, delivering +after school hours. He declares that he finds it much easier to work +on a route than to sell on the corners or at random. + +The morning papers employ a man as circulation manager for the +residence districts who controls all the corners in those sections. +When a corner becomes vacant, he assigns a youth to it. These older +boys are not to sell their corners nor to dispose of them in any way, +nor are they allowed to have any one working for them; they must "hop" +all the street cars passing their corners and are expected to put +forth every effort to accomplish a great number of sales. They get +their supply of copies at the branch office at 5 A.M., hurrying then +to their corners, where they remain until nearly noon, averaging in +this time from $2 to $3 per day clear. Nearly all of the afternoon +papers sold in the residence districts are delivered by route boys; +after having gone over their routes, some of these boys go to the +busier localities and sell the sporting extra during the baseball +season until about seven o'clock. + + + _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 with his trade, and long hours in which +there is little or nothing to do, during which the boy has unlimited +opportunities to make such use of the street freedom as he sees fit. +During these light hours newsboys congregate in the streets and commit +many acts of vandalism. They learn all forms of petty theft and +usually are accomplished in most of the vices of the street. In +building up their routes, the boys often include places of the most +degrading and detrimental character. On the economic side, the loss is +due to failure of the occupation to furnish any training for +industrial careers."[46] + +The irregularity of newsboys' meals and the questionable character of +their food form one of the worst features of street work and are a +real menace to health. Many newsboys are in the habit of eating +hurriedly at lunch counters at intervals during the day and night, +while some snatch free lunches in saloons. In New York City their +diet has been found to consist chiefly of "such hostile ingredients as +frankfuerters, mince pies, doughnuts, ham sandwiches, cakes and +'sinkers'."[47] The use of stimulants is common, and the demand for +them is to be expected because of the nervous strain of the work. +Liquor is not consumed to any appreciable extent by street-trading +children, but coffee is a favorite beverage. In the largest cities, +where "night gangs" are found, from four to six bowls of coffee are +usually taken every evening. Tobacco is used in great quantities and +in all its forms; many boys even appease their hunger for the time by +smoking cigarettes, and the smallest "newsies" are addicted to the +habit. Evidence that this is not a recent development among street +workers is found in a report made nearly a quarter of a century ago, +which, with reference to newsboys, says "many of them soon spend their +gains in pool rooms, low places of amusement and for the poisonous +cigarette."[48] + +An English report on the street traders of Manchester says: +"Drunkenness is rare among these boys ... they are in many ways +attractive; but the closer our acquaintance grows with them the more +overwhelming does this propensity to gambling appear. Indeed, it may +reasonably be said that the whole career of the street trader is one +long game of chance.... They tend to become more and more unwilling to +work hard; they are the creatures of accident and lose the power of +foresight; they never form habits of thrift; and their word can be +taken only by those who have learnt how to interpret it."[49] + +There are tricks in newspaper selling as well as in other trades, and +children are not slow to learn them. A careful observer cannot fail to +note that certain newsboys seem always to be without change. Their +patrons are generally in a hurry and willingly sacrifice the change +from a nickel, even priding themselves on their unselfishness in thus +helping to relieve the supposed poverty of the newsboys. As a matter +of fact, such an act does real harm, for it arouses the cupidity of +boys and leads them to believe that honesty is not the best policy. +The temptation for newsboys to develop into "short change artists" is +an ever present one, for the bustle of the street creates a most +favorable condition for the practice of such frauds. Yet in spite of +the many temptations which assail them, numbers of newsboys are +scrupulously exact in the matter of making change, even under the most +trying circumstances. Another common form of deceit, used to play upon +the sympathy of passers-by, is practiced after nightfall by boys of +all ages in offering a solitary newspaper for sale and crying in +plaintive tone, "Please, mister, buy my last paper?" A kind-hearted +person readily falls a victim to this ruse, and as soon as he has +passed by, the newsboy draws another copy from his hidden supply and +repeats his importuning. Commenting on these features of street +trading, Dr. Charles P. Neill, United States Commissioner of Labor, +has said: "Unless the child is cast in the mold of heroic virtue, the +newsboy trade is a training in either knavery or mendicancy. Nowhere +else are the wits so sharpened to look for the unfair advantage, +nowhere else is the unfortunate lesson so early learned that +dishonesty and trickery are more profitable than honesty, and that +sympathy coins more pennies than does industry."[50] + + + _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 papers around so that we get them in the +morning at four o'clock all the year around. They are working for a +man with whom we contract for our newspapers. I was quite shocked in +St. Louis twice this fall (1908) to find a girl five or six years of +age selling newspapers near the railroad station in the worst part of +town after dark. We hear a great deal of sentimental talk about +newsboys' societies doing so much for newsboys, but they do not seem +to care anything for work of this kind."[51] In passing it may be +remarked that in the city of Toledo there is an active association +organized for the benefit of newsboys, which openly encourages street +work by boys of from eight to seventeen years. The manager insists +that such work affords the means of alleviating the poverty in the +families of these boys, but upon inquiry it was found that he had +never heard of the provision for the financial relief of such cases of +child labor, which is made by the Ohio law, and which had been, at the +time, most successfully administered for three years by the Board of +Education of his own city. + +The Chicago newspapers have their Sunday editions distributed on +Saturday night, consequently the newsboys are up all night so as to +assure prompt service to patrons. In the absence of public opinion in +the matter, this abuse flourishes unrestricted, and the children's +health is sacrificed to meet the demand for news. Agents of the +Chicago Vice Commission reported having seen boys from ten to fifteen +years of age selling morning papers at midnight Saturday in the evil +districts of the city.[52] + +The early rising of newsboys to deliver the morning week-day editions +also contributes to the breaking down of their health. The old adage +is a mockery in their case. There is abundant testimony relative to +the evil effects of such untimely work. "Children who go to school and +sell papers get up so early in the morning that they are so stupid +during the day they cannot do anything. That was clearly demonstrated +to me during my experience in teaching school."[53] + +Another teacher said: "I have had instances in school where children +have gone to sleep over their tasks because they got up at two or +three o'clock in the morning to put out city lights and to sell +papers. In those instances we wanted the parents to take the children +away from their work. Where they would not do it, we prosecuted them +for contributing to the delinquency of their children."[54] + +The delivery of newspapers by young boys in the strictly residence +sections of cities appears to be unobjectionable, yet even this simple +work should be under restriction as to hours, because otherwise the +boys would continue to rise at unseemly hours of the night in order to +reach the branch offices in time to get the newspapers fresh from the +press. In fact, every phase of street work should be under control. +Dr. Harold E. Jones, medical inspector of schools to the Essex County +Council, has testified that among the most injurious forms of labor +performed by boys is the early morning delivery of newspapers and +milk.[55] In his Report on Child Labor Legislation in Europe, Mr. C. +W. A. Veditz states, "Delivering milk before school in the morning +must be condemned, because it fatigues the children so that they +become, to say the least, intellectually less receptive."[56] + +In his article on "The Newsboy at Night in Philadelphia,"[57] Mr. +Scott Nearing gives a graphic account of conditions in the City of +Brotherly Love. Although this description was written some years ago, +local social workers find that the same conditions still obtain, as +there is neither law nor ordinance to bring about a change. In this +city the closing of the theaters at eleven o'clock marks the beginning +of Saturday night's work. The last editions of the evening newspapers +are offered at this time, often as a cloak for begging. After the +theater, the restaurant patrons are available as customers until +midnight. Then the morning papers begin to come from the press, and +the newsboys abandon their begging and gambling and rush to the +offices for their supplies. A load of forty pounds is often carried by +the smallest newsboys, hurrying along the streets in the early morning +hours. The cream of the business is done at this time, for most of the +purchasers are more or less intoxicated and therefore inclined to be +generous with tips and indifferent as to change; sometimes a newsboy +takes in as much money on Saturday night and Sunday morning as during +the entire remainder of the week. In relating his experiences, Mr. +Nearing says, "On one night we saw fifteen boys in a group just as the +policeman was chasing them out of Chinatown at half-past three Sunday +morning; the youngest boy was clearly not over ten and the oldest was +barely sixteen." At this hour the officers of the law interfere and +quell the revels of the district. The open gratings in sidewalks +through which warm air comes from basements, are then sought, and here +the boys pass the time dozing until dawn, when they go abroad again to +cry the Sunday papers. + + + _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 who profit by the system. Newspapers are +not an exception to the rule; the newsboys extend their circulation +and incidentally give them free advertising in the streets--hence they +see nothing but good in the newsboys' work and fight lustily to defend +what they claim to be the mainstay of the widows. That this popular +impression and appealing argument are false and without justification +has been shown by students of the problem everywhere. The following +table gives the family condition of Cincinnati newsboys:-- + + Both parents dead 12 + Father dead 239 + Mother dead 69 + Both parents living 1432 + ---- + Total 1752 + +Through a special inquiry it was found that in only 363 cases out of +this total were the earnings of the children really needed. These 1752 +children, ten to thirteen years of age, were licensed from July to +December, 1909; their distribution as to age was as follows:-- + + 10 years 303 + 11 years 348 + 12 years 564 + 13 years 537 + ---- + Total 1752 + +Upon investigation of the home conditions of several hundred newsboys +in New York City it was declared that "in the majority of cases +parents are not dependent on the boys' earnings. The poverty +plea--that boys must sell papers to help widowed mothers or disabled +fathers--is, for the most part, gross exaggeration."[59] + +Concerning a study of Chicago newsboys, Myron E. Adams says, "A +careful investigation of the records of the Charity Organization +Society shows that of the 1000 newsboys investigated, the names of but +sixteen families are found, and of these ... only four received direct +help, such as coal, clothing or food."[60] + +Mr. Scott Nearing says: "In many cases the boys want to go on the +streets in order to have the pocket money which this life affords, and +the ignorant or indifferent parents make no objections, but take the +street life as a matter of course. Sometimes, though not nearly as +often as is generally supposed, there is real need for the +selling."[61] + +The British interdepartmental committee appointed in 1901 to inquire +into the employment of school children, denounced the tolerance of +street trading on the ground of necessity: "We think that in framing +regulations with regard to child labour and school attendance ... the +poverty of the child or its parents ought not to be made a test of the +right to labour.... We do not think it is needed; we think that all +children should have liberty to work as much and in such ways as is +good for them and no more."[62] + +Another argument in favor of street trading advanced by those who are +interested in maintaining present conditions, is that it affords a +splendid training for a business career because of the competition +that rages among the boys. This is doubtless true, as far as it goes, +but the great difficulty is that street trading leads nowhere. It is a +blind alley that sooner or later leaves its followers helpless against +the solid wall of skilled labor's competition. An occupation that fits +a boy for _nothing_ and is devoid of _prospects_, is a curse rather +than a blessing in this day of specialization. In spite of the +division of labor so elaborately realized to-day, a boy or girl who +enters any of the regular industries has at least a fighting chance +for acquiring a trade. If the child is honest, capable and diligent he +will be promoted to a better position in time if misfortune does not +overtake him. The trapper boy in a coal mine is in a fair way to +become a miner. The lad who works in a machine shop has the +opportunity to make a machinist of himself. The girl who begins as a +wrapper in a dry goods shop may become a saleswoman, and then possibly +a buyer for her department. Yet in most states children may not enter +upon such work until they have reached the age of fourteen years, +while some states prohibit boys under sixteen years from being +employed in mines or in connection with dangerous machinery either in +machine shops or elsewhere. Bitter experience has taught us that these +restrictions are right and just, and we now have no hesitancy in +barring young children from such employment, regardless of the +training it affords. Why, then, do we exempt many forms of street work +from the operation of the law? Why do we allow little children to +work at any age, both night and day, as newsboys, bootblacks and +peddlers in the essentially dangerous environment of the street? Such +employment offers but a gloomy future--the useless life of the casual +worker. There is no better position to which it leads, no chance for +the discovery and development of ability, no reward for good service. +It seems incredible that we have been so engrossed with throwing +safeguards about the children in regular industries that we have +altogether neglected the street worker, for the arguments against +child labor in factories, mills, mines and retail shops apply with +even greater force to the work of children in our city streets. + + + _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_d._ a quire of twenty-six +copies, a few men selling from six to eight quires a day. This +newspaper has followed this method for many years, and its general +manager declares that it is the most satisfactory system that they +have been able to evolve. Boys have no sense of responsibility, while +old men cling to their posts very faithfully. He admitted that the +_Westminster Gazette_ employed some boys as carriers and that the +whole subject lay somewhat heavily on his conscience because, +"practically speaking, these boys have no future ... a few of them may +become cyclists carrying the newspapers ... in a few years their +usefulness as cyclists has gone ... then they simply drift away, we +don't know where, but we do know that they drift to places like +Salvation Army Shelters, etc. How they earn their living is always one +of the mysteries of London.... But they have learned nothing from us, +nothing that gives them any usefulness for any other occupation.... +The great majority become casual labourers dependent entirely on +casual work.... It is a life in which very little is gained, although +one would suppose that the open air would be of great benefit. But +one must remember the insufficient food that these street traders +have, and the bad conditions of living and the irregular hours. Many +of these boys, of course, are up all hours of the night.... It is +quite as bad for a boy in the long run to be engaged as a carrier +distributor as for him to sell newspapers in the street. There is no +possible argument for the system except that one's competitors do it, +and that so long as they do it we must do the same.... We get +practically all our men from Salvation Army and Church Army Shelters. +There is an abundant supply.... The ordinary man whom we employ is +over fifty years of age and runs up to about seventy years.... I think +if the police would give us every facility for introducing kiosks it +would be a great improvement upon the present system. If boys were +prohibited from selling newspapers altogether on the streets, it would +automatically send the public to the kiosk; ... the public get into +the habit of getting the newspapers from the boys."[63] + +It should be remembered in connection with the above statements that +the _Westminster Gazette_ is a penny paper, and its manager was of +opinion that the half-penny papers could not afford to employ men +because they depended largely for their circulation upon the +persistence of newsboys in thrusting copies upon the attention of +people in the streets; he believed that the use of old men would +curtail their circulation because men are not so active as boys. On +the other hand, news agents protested against the competition of +street traders and maintained that they alone were fully able to meet +the demands of the public. The departmental committee of 1910 +reported: "There can, we think, be little doubt that an active child +is an effective agent in promoting the circulation of half-penny +papers, and that if the employment of children were forbidden, +newspapers would have to rely upon facilities of a more staid and less +mobile character. But we see no reason to think that purchasers of +newspapers need be put to any inconvenience, since the news agents +would be in a position considerably to extend their business, and it +might reasonably be expected that the system of employing old men as +salesmen would also be developed. It appears to us economically +unjustifiable to use children to their own detriment for work which +can be done by other means."[64] + +Referring to the great possibilities for good involved in confining +the sale and delivery of newspapers to adults who need outdoor work +and are unable to provide for themselves in other ways, the Secretary +of the New York Child Labor Committee says: "Where such cities as +Paris and Berlin do entirely without newsboys--corner stands taking +their places--it would seem that the least that can be done in +American cities is to adopt some adequate system of regulation. In +this connection, the opportunity presented in newspaper selling to +give work to the aged and handicapped--who otherwise would have to be +supported by private charity--should not be overlooked."[65] + + + _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 this situation the +boys conceived the idea of establishing a newsboys' court which should +have jurisdiction in all cases of failure to observe the rules +governing their trade. The following year a petition was presented to +the Boston School Committee which was favorably acted upon by that +body, and accordingly on the regular election day of that year the +newsboys cast their ballots to select three juvenile judges of the +court. These three boys, together with two adults appointed by the +School Committee, compose the court. Election of these boy judges is +held annually, and all licensed newsboys who attend the public schools +are qualified electors. The court is empowered to investigate and +report its findings with recommendations to the School Committee in +all cases of infraction of the newsboy rules. Under the Massachusetts +law the School Committee is authorized to regulate street trading by +children under fourteen years of age, hence the newsboys are subject +to purely local supervision. The supervisor of licensed minors, also +an appointee of the School Committee, can, in his discretion, take +complaints in his department before the newsboys' court instead of the +juvenile court. The newsboy judges are paid fifty cents for their +attendance at each official session of the court. The charges made +before the Trial Board, as the Boston newsboys' court is called, range +from selling without a badge or after eight o'clock in the evening or +on street cars, to bad conduct, irregular school attendance, gambling +or smoking. The disposition of these cases varies from reprimands and +warnings to probation or suspension of license for a definite period, +or complete revocation of license.[66] + + + _Summary_ + +Although the work of selling newspapers has been, to some extent, +subdivided and systematized 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 opportunities for bad companionship are frequent, that +irregularity of meals and use of stimulants tend to weaken their +constitutions, that it offers no chance for promotion and leads +nowhere. We know further that the presence of the newsboy in our +streets cannot be justified on the ground of poverty. It has been +demonstrated in other countries that children are not essential to the +sale and delivery of newspapers; in fact, it has been shown that +selling at stands and the use of men instead of children in the +streets are both feasible and satisfactory. Why cannot such practices +be introduced into the United States? There can be but little doubt as +to the advisability of this step, but the innovation will certainly +not be made voluntarily by the newspapers. The law must force the +issue by prohibiting street work by children. + + + + + CHAPTER IV + +BOOTBLACKS, PEDDLERS AND MARKET CHILDREN + + + _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 by child labor laws. + + + _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 in the shoe-shining parlors seven days a week +from 7 A.M. to 9 P.M. and living with the 'boss' in groups varying +from five to twenty-five under unsanitary conditions, overcrowding and +irregularity of meals wholly undesirable for young boys. They are +isolated from learning English or from American contact, and receive +for their work from $7 to $15 a month and board and lodging. The +majority of the flower peddlers have been unable to obtain permits, +with the result that the boys who work for them are arrested for +violating the law. Boys who have been in the country from three months +to a year state they have been arrested several times--their first +experience in this country--and are already hardened so that they +think nothing of paying fines."[67] + +The bootblack business is the chief industry to which the Greek +padrone system is applied. The United States Immigration Commission +found[68] that boys employed as bootblacks live in extremely +unwholesome quarters. Wherever the room is large enough, several beds +are gathered together with three and sometimes four boys sleeping in +each bed. In some places the boys merely roll themselves up in +blankets and sleep on the floor. The bootblacking stands are opened +for business about 6 o'clock in the morning, consequently the boys are +obliged to rise about an hour earlier, and wherever their sleeping +quarters are located at considerable distance from the stands, they +have to get up as early as 4.30. Arrived at the stands, they remain +working until 9.30 or 10 at night in cities, and on Saturday and +Sunday nights the closing hour is usually later. The boys eat their +lunch in the rear of the establishment, this meal consisting generally +of bread and olives or cheese. Supper is eaten after the boys reach +"home," and after having eaten it they retire without removing their +clothes. Even after their excessively long work day, two of the boys +are required to wash the dirty rags used for polishing the shoes daily +so they can be used the next day. + +These boys are compelled to work every day in the year without +vacation. The Immigration Commission found that they are under +constant espionage, as at every stand the padrone places relatives who +both work for him and act as spies on the other boys. Their employer +instructs them to make false statements to questions asked by +outsiders relative to their ages or conditions of work; many padrones +also censor the letters written by the boys to their parents or others +and examine all incoming mail, so as to forestall any efforts made by +outsiders to induce the boys to leave for other places. + +The majority of them cannot read or write their own language, and are +unable to secure any education in this country because of their long +work hours. According to the Immigration Commission their mental +development is perceptibly arrested by the physical fatigue they +suffer as a result of their long-sustained work without recreation. +They receive no good advice, nor do they hear anything that would +tend to elevate them morally. The Commission does not hesitate to +brand these conditions as deplorable; it declares that the ravages on +the constitutions of these boys laboring in shoe-shining +establishments under this system are appalling. It attributes these +effects to the following causes: long hours, close confinement to +their work in poorly ventilated places, unsanitary living conditions, +unhealthful manner of sleeping, excessive stooping required by their +work, inadequate nourishment due to the "economy" of the padrones who +furnish the food, the microbe-laden dust from shoes, the inhaling of +injurious chemicals from the polish they use, the filthy condition of +their bodies resulting from their failure to bathe and the lack of +proper clothing for the winter season. + +The Greek Consul General at Chicago, himself a physician, in a letter +to the Immigration Inspector of that city under date of November 16, +1910, declared that as a result of his experience in examining and +treating boy bootblacks he was convinced that all boys under eighteen +years of age who labor for a few years in shoe-shining establishments, +develop serious chronic stomachic and hepatic troubles which +predispose them to pulmonary disease; he further declared that +because of the conditions under which they work the majority of them +ultimately contract tuberculosis, and that in his opinion it would be +more humane and infinitely better for young Greeks to be denied +admission into the United States than to be permitted to land if they +are intended for such employment. Similar statements are made by other +Greek physicians of Chicago. + +The importation of Greek boys for use as bootblacks in the United +States started about 1895, when the Greeks began to secure their +monopoly of the industry by taking it away from the Italians and the +Negroes, confining it, however, to stands or booths. Most of the early +padrones have become financially independent. Their success attracted +other Greeks to this industry, and in a short time almost every +American city with a population of more than 10,000 had bootblack +stands operated by them. Thus the traffic in Greek boys began to +flourish. + +The Bureau of Immigration helped to have a number of padrones indicted +and convicted for offenses against the conspiracy statute and the +Immigration Act, and these prosecutions made the importers very +careful as to their manner of procedure. They now bring the boys here +through the instrumentality of relatives in Greece in such a way that +the padrones are almost beyond the reach of our criminal statutes. + +In some cases it has been found that on leaving Greece for this +country the boys are told to report to a saloon keeper in Chicago or +in some other western city, hence they do not know their final +destination. The saloon keeper has his instructions from the padrones +and acts as their distributing agent. Padrones who operate in places +distant from ports of entry easily avoid detection in this way. + +In most cases these padrones derive an income from each boy of from +$100 to as high as $500 a year. The Commission explains this as +follows: The wages paid by the padrones now to Greek boys in +shoe-shining establishments range from $80 to $250 per year, the +average wages being from $120 to $180 per year. The boys are bound by +agreement to turn their tips over to their padrones: in most cases as +soon as the tipping patron has departed the boy deposits his tip in +the register, while in other places tips are put into a separate box +to which the padrone holds the key. In smaller cities and even in the +poorest locations each boy's tips may exceed the sum of 50 cents per +day, while in large cities they average higher. The Greek padrone, +therefore, receives in return from tips alone nearly double the amount +of wages paid. By deducting the wages and the annual boarding expenses +for each boy--an expenditure seldom exceeding the sum of $40 per +year--there is still a sum left to the padrone to pay him for the +privilege of allowing the boy to work in his place. In other words, +from the total amount of tips--money that belongs to the boy by +right--the padrone is enabled to pay the boy's annual wages and still +have a respectable sum left, all this independently of the legitimate +profits of his business. + +Relatives of the padrones in Greece often pay the steamship passage of +boys with the understanding that they are to go to the United States +and serve the padrone for one year to reimburse him for the passage +money advanced. A mortgage is placed on the property of the boys' +father as security, purporting that the father is to receive in cash +an amount equal to the wages commonly paid to Greek bootblacks for +one year in the United States, but as a matter of fact a steamship +ticket and $12 or $15 in money are all that is given. The cash is to +serve as "show money" to help secure admission to this country past +the immigration officers at the ports of entry. Advertising is +systematically carried on throughout all the provinces of Greece with +a view to exciting the interest of the parents so that they will send +their boys to the United States, and no efforts are spared in letting +it become known that there is a great demand here for boy labor at the +bootblack stands. The padrones themselves even go to Greece every two +or three years, and while there manage to become godfathers to the +children of many families; this relationship gives them great +influence, and through it they are able to secure many boys for their +service. + +Concerning the prevention of these abuses, the report says: "In the +investigations conducted by the Bureau of Immigration many conferences +were held with United States attorneys in various jurisdictions with +the view of instituting proceedings against padrones, if possible, +under the peonage statutes. The attorneys generally agreed that under +the evidence submitted to them those laboring in shoe-shining +establishments are peons, but as the elements of indebtedness and +physical compulsion to work out the indebtedness are missing, peonage +laws cannot apply. + +"Our immigration laws as now on the statute books provide specifically +for the exclusion of boys under sixteen years of age only when not +accompanied by one or both of their parents. This provision cannot +apply to those boys that come in company with their parents, nor to +those who have their parents in the United States, nor to such as +successfully deceive immigration officers by posing as the sons of +immigrants in whose charge they come. If held for special inspection +at the ports of entry, these aliens can only be excluded if it appears +that they are destined to an occupation unsuited to their tender +years. In the absence of any such evidence, the boards of inquiry +generally admit. Once landed, it becomes a hard matter to trace them +and almost impossible to secure evidence in the majority of cases, for +the boys understand that they will be punished by deportation. This +knowledge makes them persistent in withholding any information as to +the manner of their entry into the United States."[69] + +Quite recently a young Greek bootblack who was working at a stand in +an Indianapolis office building confessed to a truant officer that he +was twelve years old, whereupon the chief truant officer of the city +went to the place, but on his arrival the boy had changed his mind and +declared that he was fourteen years old, and every one connected with +the stand supported the statement. Nevertheless the chief truant +officer proceeded with the case and found that the boy had been in +this country only about six months, his parents being still in Greece. +An older brother had a position as a railroad porter but did not stay +with the little fellow even on the few occasions he was in the city. +The boy lived at the home of the proprietor of the stand, whose +relationship to him was a combination of employer and guardian. This +man operated four stands in the city, and his dozen or more other +employees all lived at the same place. The chief truant officer +charged the man with having worked the boy from 7 A.M. to 9 P.M. +seven days in the week, which was admitted before the Juvenile Court +by the defendant, who also volunteered the information that the boy +worked until 11 P.M. on holidays and on Saturdays. Of course the boy +was being kept out of school. + +In its issue of August 12, 1911, the _Survey_ published a letter from +a correspondent concerning a case of peonage among bootblacks in the +city of Rochester, N.Y. This particular case was of a pale, thin, +under-sized Greek lad who worked at a large stand in a local office +building. He explained that he worked every day in the week from 7 +A.M. to 9 P.M., including Sundays, and that on Saturdays the hours +were lengthened to 11 P.M., adding that he had not been absent from +his stand one day in four years except at one time when he was sick in +the hospital. + +A letter which was written by a Greek in Syracuse, N.Y., on May 4, +1911, to the editor of the Syracuse _Post-Standard_ was printed in the +same magazine.[70] This letter recites the wrongs of the bootblacks +and is reproduced below because of its value as one of the rare +protests which come from the victims of the system:-- + +"Before I came to this country from Greece, I heard that this country +is free, but I don't think so. It is free for the Americans, not for +the shoe shiners. In this city are too many shoe shiners' stands, and +the boys which work there--they work fifteen hours a day, and Sunday, +and almost eighteen on Saturdays. They make only from $12 to $18 a +month and board, but we don't have any good board neither, but our +patrons give us bread, tea and a piece of cheese for dinner, supper, +but no breakfast. We don't have any time to go to the church, not in +school, and without them we won't be good citizens. They won't let us +read newspapers, because they are afraid if we learn something we will +quit, but we can't quit because we can't speak English, and we can't +find another job. Now I don't mean the boys working in the barber +shops. They make $10 to $18 a week, and they don't work as hard as we +do. We wish to work as they do. We want the public and Mr. Mayor to +cut the hours from fifteen to ten, not Sundays, because we want time +for school, and weekly work, not monthly. I think I wrote enough." + + + _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 agents found boys under fourteen +years of age selling gum late at night in the segregated districts of +the city. At intervals of from two to three hours their investigators +returned to the same neighborhood and found these little children +still engaged in this very questionable form of work. One agent +reported having seen two little girls of about eleven years in the +company of a small boy of about eight years selling chewing gum in +front of a saloon in the vice district between nine and ten o'clock at +night.[72] + +The following table gives the sex, age, nationality, standing in +school, orphanage and occupation of seventeen children found by one +person in a single trip through the markets of Cincinnati:-- + + ====+=====+====+=====+===========+==========+==========+============== + | | | | | FATHER | MOTHER | + | | | | | LIVING | LIVING | + | | | | +-----+----+-----+----+-------------- + BOYS|GIRLS|AGE |GRADE|NATIONALITY| YES | NO | YES | NO | SELLING + ----+-----+----+-----+-----------+-----+----+-----+----+-------------- + 1 | | 9 | 2d | Italian | 1 | | 1 | | baskets + 1 | | 10 | 4th | American | 1 | | 1 | | fruit + 1 | | 10 | 3d | German | | 1 | 1 | | vegetables + 1 | | 10 | 2d | Italian | | 1 | 1 | | fruit + | 1 | 10 | 4th | Italian | 1 | | 1 | | fruit + | 1 | 10 | 3d | Italian | | 1 | 1 | | baskets + 1 | | 11 | 4th | Italian | | 1 | 1 | | fruit + 1 | | 11 | 3d | Italian | 1 | | 1 | | baskets + | 1 | 11 | 6th | German | 1 | | | 1 | vegetables + 1 | | 12 | 4th | American | 1 | | 1 | | vegetables + 1 | | 12 | 3d | American | 1 | | | 1 | baskets + 1 | | 12 | 4th | American | 1 | | 1 | | sassafras + 1 | | 12 | 6th | Italian | 1 | | 1 | | fruit + 1 | | 13 | 5th | Italian | 1 | | 1 | | baskets + 1 | | 14 | 3d | American | 1 | | 1 | | sassafras + 1 | | 14 | 8th | American | 1 | | 1 | | vegetables + | 1 | 14 | 4th | Italian | | 1 | 1 | | fruit + ====+=====+====+=====+===========+=====+====+=====+====+============== + +Of these seventeen children nine were Italians, six were Americans, +two were Germans. Five of the children, all of whom except one were +Italian, were engaged in selling baskets to the passers-by in markets. +Six of the children, all of whom except one were Italian, were selling +fruit. Six of the children were selling vegetables and herbs, all of +them being Americans and Germans. The occupational characteristics of +these different peoples are shown by their children, the Italians +predominating in the sale of fruit, the Germans in the sale of the +products of their market gardens, the Americans, all of whom were +boys, in the sale of the herbs they had gathered or the vegetables +cultivated on their home farms. + +Of these seventeen children nine were in their normal grades at +school, while eight were backward and none ahead of their proper +grades. This large percentage of retardation is due principally to the +lack of time for preparation of school lessons on the part of these +children, as much of their afternoons and evenings is taken up either +with the work of selling in the markets or with the work of assisting +with the garden duties at home. Of the eight backward children, four +were Italians and four were Americans. One of the backward Italian +girls was fourteen years of age and had left school three weeks prior +to the inquiry; she was the oldest of six children; her father was +dead, and she was working for her mother in their fruit store selling +the fruit from early morning until midnight every day in the week +except Sunday. As she was the oldest child in the family, it is of +course easily seen that her retardation in school was largely due to +her having been kept at work in the shop during the afternoons and +evenings while she was still attending school. An American boy, who, +although twelve years of age, was only in the third grade at school, +was employed by his parents to sell baskets in the market, in spite of +the fact that his father had a store and was fully able to support the +child properly. This boy was found, as were many other such children, +selling baskets in the market at eleven o'clock at night after having +been there since early in the morning. A thirteen-year-old Italian boy +was only in the fifth grade; he was selling baskets in one market in +the morning and in another market during the afternoon and evening; +both of his parents were living, and his father had a "city job." +There were six children in the family, two of whom were older and +employed. The entire family of eight persons occupied two rooms. + +It is noteworthy that the fathers of twelve of the children were +living, only five being dead; while the mothers of fifteen were +living, only two being dead. Not a single child was a full orphan. In +the great majority of cases it was not necessary for these children to +work so prematurely. + + + + + CHAPTER V + +MESSENGERS, ERRAND AND DELIVERY CHILDREN + + +Accustomed to seeing messenger boys engaged during the day in the +unobjectionable task of delivering telegrams to residences and +business offices, one is likely to regard this service as an +occupation quite suitable for children and to give it no further +thought. However, the character of the work done by the messenger boy +changes radically after nine or ten o'clock at night. At that hour +most legitimate business has ceased, and the evil phases of city life +begin to manifest themselves. From that time on until nearly dawn the +messenger's work is largely in connection with the vicious features of +city life. The ignorance of the general public as to the evil +influences surrounding the night messenger service is strikingly +illustrated by what one Indiana boy told an investigator; he declared +that if his father knew what kind of work he was doing, a strap would +be laid across his back and he would be compelled to abandon it. But +the father did not know; he thought his boy was simply delivering +telegrams. + +The delivery of telegrams forms but a small part of the boy's work at +night, because few messages are dispatched after business hours. +Instead, calls are sent to the office for messengers to go on errands. +The boys wait upon the characters of the underworld and perform a +surprising variety of simple tasks; they carry notes to and from the +inmates of houses of prostitution and their patrons, take lunches, +chop suey and chile con carne to bawdyhouse women, procure liquor +after the closing hour, purchase opium, cocaine and other drugs, go to +drug stores for prostitutes to get medicines and articles used in +their trade, and perform other tasks that oblige them to cultivate +their acquaintance with the worst side of human nature. One instance +was found in which the boy was required to clean up the room of a +prostitute and to make her bed. The uniform or cap of the messenger +boy is a badge of secrecy and enables him to get liquor at illegal +hours or to procure opium and other drugs where plain citizens would +be refused; hence these boys are thrown into associations of the +lowest kind, night after night, and come to regard these evil +conditions as normal phases of life. Usually the brightest boys on the +night force become the favorites of the prostitutes; the women take a +fancy to particular boys because of their personal attractiveness and +show them many favors, so that the most promising boys in this work +are the ones most liable to suffer complete moral degradation. + +Messenger service not only gives boys the opportunity to learn what +life is at night in "tenderloin" districts, but the character of the +work actually _forces_ them into contact with the vilest conditions +and subjects them to the fearful influences always exerted by such +associations. Some believe that this evil could be prevented by +forbidding the office to allow messenger boys to go on such errands, +but this is not practicable for two reasons: first, because an +essential feature of the messenger service is secrecy--the office does +not inquire into the nature of the errand to be performed, and even if +it did so, a false statement could easily be made by the patron over +the telephone; and second, it would be necessary to send a detective +along with the boy on each trip to see that he observed the rules. +Boys are eager to run errands for prostitutes for various reasons, one +being the extra income assured, as these women give tips with liberal +hand. + +Like other street occupations, the messenger service is a blind alley; +it leads nowhere. A very few boys are promoted to the position of +check boy in the telegraph office, and fewer still have an opportunity +to learn telegraphy. Some of the boys become cab drivers because they +have familiarized themselves with the city streets; others become +saloon keepers because they have become well acquainted with this +method of making a livelihood; some are attracted by the life of +"ease" which opens before them and enter into agreement with +prostitutes, upon whose earnings they subsist; others have the courage +to get away from these influences and secure work as office boys or in +some other line entirely different from the messenger service. + +A considerable number of the inmates of state reform schools were +formerly messenger boys, indicating that this service is one of the +roads to delinquency. As the immoral influences surrounding this work +are especially active among youths, the age limit for such employment +at night should be made high enough to prevent their being so exposed. +New York State was first to declare that if this work is to be done at +night it must be done by men, and has fixed the age limit at +twenty-one years. The late Judge Stubbs, of the Indianapolis Juvenile +Court, speaking before the Conference of Juvenile Court Officers held +in that city in November, 1910, said that messenger boys, and newsboys +who sell papers in the downtown streets, were the boys most frequently +charged with delinquency before his court, and declared that +twenty-one years was low enough as an age limit for night messenger +service. + +Other temptations assail the messenger boy in his work, and are +frequently yielded to. The old practice of raising the amount of +charges on the envelope of a telegram is notorious and is still an +ever present problem to the companies. When a boy has been detected in +this petty crime and is questioned about it, he too often adds to the +one misdeed the other equally grievous one of lying, whereupon his +dismissal usually follows. + +Under the direction of the writer an investigation of the night +messenger service was made in 1910 in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, the +following cases being typical of the conditions found in all cities. +In one of the larger towns of Indiana, a fourteen-year-old messenger +boy was interviewed one night by an agent of the National Child Labor +Committee who had called up the telegraph office by telephone +requesting that a messenger be sent to him. Early in the course of +conversation, of his own volition, the boy referred to houses of +prostitution. Upon being asked what he knew about such places, he +replied: "Too much--I am there half the night. You see they call for +messengers to run errands for them. Sometimes I get them drinks, +opium, medicines from drug stores or anything they want. No matter +what they ask us to do--it's our business to go ahead and do it." The +boy led the agent to a disreputable negro district and described his +activities in this region. "No night passes without my making a dollar +down here," said he. "The niggers are great smokers of opium, and I +get it for them; they give me a little jar, and I have it filled up +for them. It costs them $1.50, and I usually get the change from $2." +The agent feigned doubt so as to elicit more information, whereupon +the boy offered to get some opium if he were given a tip. The agent +gave the boy one dollar and told him he might keep the change; in ten +minutes he returned with a card of opium which was subsequently +analyzed in a laboratory and found to be the kind ordinarily prepared +for smoking purposes. This experience was repeated again and again by +agents of the National Child Labor Committee in different cities and +proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that these young boys are forced +into familiarity with the most degrading conditions. + +Another fourteen-year-old messenger boy in the same town told the +agent that there were but few business calls at night, and that nearly +all of their work was in connection with houses of prostitution. This +boy spoke of the money he received in tips from inmates and patrons of +these houses, of his receiving liquor and cigarettes from them, and +remarked, "I do not have to do this work, but I like it; this job is +too good to give up; I'm learning a lot of things." This little fellow +described some extremely revolting scenes of which he had been +witness in these houses, and upon being asked whether his manager was +aware of the kind of places he was called to, he replied, "Sure he +does, for he gets the message over the telephone, then he calls one of +the boys and sends him to the house." + +Another messenger in the same city, who was seventeen years old and +had been in this service for four years, working daily until half past +two in the morning, said, in talking about the use of drugs by +prostitutes, "When they are so full of dope that they don't know what +to do, they call up for a messenger, and sometimes I have had them +send me out to a drug store for paris green; they want to kill +themselves, they are crazy with opium; of course I take their money +and never show up again." This boy also bought a small package of +opium for the agent. He declared that he knew every house of +prostitution in the city and was well acquainted with their +proprietresses. To prove this, he wrote out a list of fourteen such +places, putting down the streets and numbers at once from memory. +These were subsequently referred to persons familiar with the city and +verified. + +It is very distressing to read the testimony of a fourteen-year-old +messenger boy of another city who had been thrown by his work so much +in contact with evil conditions that he had come to regard these as +normal. Although only fourteen years of age, he had lost all faith in +womankind. In walking through the segregated district with the agent, +this boy called out in advance the number of each house of +prostitution, thus showing his familiarity with the whole region. In +his childish, schoolboy hand, he wrote on a slip of paper a list of +the bawdyhouses, putting down very promptly from memory the names of +the proprietresses, the names of the streets and numbers of the +houses. + +Another fourteen-year-old messenger boy in this city related many +disgusting details of his experiences in the service at night--of +prostitutes smoking, cursing and sprawling on the floor dead drunk. He +stated that he had never smoked before he became a messenger, but that +when he saw the women using tobacco in all the houses, he thought +there could be no harm in it. "If ladies do it, why shouldn't I? So I +began, and now I smoke a pack of cigarettes a day. I get twenty for a +nickel and smoke all night. If I didn't, I suppose I'd fall asleep. I +once lit a cigarette from an opium pipe in one of the houses--but no +more opium for me." When asked whether his manager knew that he was +sent to these houses, he replied: "Sure he does, he's the one that +sends us; if we don't go, we get fired. He knows all the women, too, +because he jokes with them over the telephone when they call up for a +boy." + +A fifteen-year-old night messenger, when asked what he did with the +money he received as tips, replied: "Last week I lost a dollar in a +crap game, and I go to moving-picture shows during the day and buy +different things; I suppose if my people knew the kind of work I was +doing, I would get a thick leather strap over my back. They have an +idea that the messenger business is just taking telegrams to reputable +people. There are very few business calls at night at our office; +almost all of them come from houses of prostitution. This is going to +be a very busy week with us because a convention starts to-morrow, and +the delegates will want us to take them to the houses." + +Another Hoosier messenger was only sixteen years of age, although he +had been in the service of one company for four years and had +previously been discharged from another company for having defrauded a +patron. This lad was a typical boy of the street; his features were +drawn, black lines were below his eyes, and his walk could be +described best as a drag. "I know every single house of prostitution +in this city," said he. "I have been in every one. I get drinks in +most of them, and many a time I was drunk for a whole day in some +woman's room." This boy, having been in the service several years, +spoke of the ravages dissipation had wrought on the women of the +underworld. He had known many of them when they were just starting in +their life of shame, and remarked their rapid decline. Voluntarily he +spoke of the venereal diseases from which he had suffered. He said +that he had been discharged from his first job as a messenger for +having defrauded patrons. To illustrate how the scheme worked, he +said: "A woman wanted me to carry a package to some place and asked me +what it would cost; I said one dollar, and she said she wouldn't pay +it because it was too much. I told her to speak to the manager and +gave her the telephone number where my pal was waiting for the call. +She asked him whether he was the manager, and he said, 'Yes'; then she +asked how much the charge was, and he answered one dollar. Then I went +on the errand, and we split the difference. Somehow the manager got +wise, and out we went." This boy's conversation was a continuous flow +of vulgarity. When the agent mentioned gambling, the boy drew from his +pocket two sets of dice and said they were "ready at any time to do +business. When the first of the month comes around, I am generally +short or ahead $5. I lost $8 once. When I have no ready cash, I play +on account of my salary." + +An eighteen-year-old messenger said: "I have been in this business +here for five years, and a night never passes that I don't go to a +house of prostitution; that's our main business at night. They could +not afford to have a messenger service in this town at night if it +were not for the red light district. We have to do all their work, +because they trust us." This boy spoke of the venereal diseases other +boys in the service had, and admitted that he had contracted them +twice himself. + +Another eighteen-year-old messenger boy, who has been in the service +four years and is afflicted with an exceptionally bad venereal +infection, said among other things, "There are lots of messengers who +are kept by women. The boys work only for appearances. I knew two +messengers who worked with me who were kept by two prostitutes for a +year, then they gave up the job at the same time and took the +prostitutes to Chicago, where the women worked for them. One of these +boys is only about nineteen years old now. You don't learn anything in +the messenger business except to knock down (overcharge a patron) and +to go around with prostitutes and gamblers. It kills a fellow. I know, +because I went down the line, and I'm coming out the wrong end." When +asked why he didn't quit the job, he replied: "You don't suppose I +want to work for $3 or $4 a week? I'm used to making pretty good money +and having a good time." He said that he made from $40 to $75 a month +according to the tips he received, and spent it as fast as he got it. +Most of it went in gambling. + +A fourteen-year-old messenger boy in another city who works from 6 +P.M. to 7 A.M., in speaking of the use of whisky in houses of +prostitution, said: "We get it for them; the saloons know the +messengers, and we stand in with them; the more a house sends for +whisky the better they stand in with the saloon keeper. If the +proprietress gets locked up, she will always be bailed out by the +saloon keeper, but if she don't buy enough stuff from him, he will +refuse to do it. When a proprietress is put in jail, the cops ring up +for a messenger from the station house, and they send me to the cell +where the woman is, and she always gives me a note to take to the +saloon keeper and he goes down and gets her out." This boy said his +manager knew the kind of places he visited, but was not in the office +all night. During the late hours of the night the telegraph operator +and the clerk were left in charge, and the boy remarked that they had +told him to try to get a woman into the office if he found one on the +street, and related instances in which this had been done. He was paid +a salary of $22 a month. + +Another fourteen-year-old messenger in this town is paid $17 a month +salary and makes $10 or $12 a month in tips. + +A thirteen-year-old messenger in another city, after having related +some of his experiences in the segregated district, said: "I tell you, +it's mighty dirty work for a boy to be in, but I suppose a fellow has +to learn these things somehow, and I may as well learn them in the +messenger service as in any other way. I smoke perique so I can sleep +in the daytime." + +A fourteen-year-old messenger in the same city, employed from noon to +midnight, had been in the service only one week when interviewed by +the agent; among other things he said: "All the last week I have been +doing nothing but go to the red light district. I didn't know what +this messenger business was until I got into it, and I am going to +quit just as soon as I see a little more of that kind of thing." + +In a certain Indiana city there was found a "kid line" messenger +service, so called because the proprietor was a mere boy who was +formerly in the service of another messenger company. He had two day +boys, but at night answered the calls himself. He was fourteen years +old and told the agent that he had lived in the "red light" district +more than at his home on account of the number of calls he had to +answer there, but of course this was exaggeration intended to convey +the fact that most of his business was with that region. When he +entered into business for himself, he went to all the prostitutes in +the "red light" district and told them that he was commencing on his +own account and that he wanted them to be his customers. "I get a good +deal of their business. I get it because I know how to treat them. I +can get them beer on Sunday and can sneak it into their houses. I know +all the women and can introduce you to any of them, and can get you +any amount of beer or whisky that you want. When I was working for +the---- messenger company there was another boy on the force who tried +to take all the good calls; he divided his tips with the manager, so +he was sent to all the houses where good tips were given. There was +one prostitute who liked me pretty well and gave me ten or fifteen +cents for myself every time I went to her house. I started to answer a +call there one night, and the other boy ran after me. We got to the +place at the same time and had a fight in the hall; the men and women +in the place gathered around us and offered to give us two dollars +each if we would scrap for them, so we started right in, and before I +was through with him he had two black eyes and his face was bleeding, +then he pulled out a knife, but they took it away from him, and the +next day I was fired. There is a young girl in one of the houses who +is a chambermaid and wants me to live with her, and maybe I will but +I'm afraid my mother will get wise." + +The fifteen-year-old messenger of another office showed the agent the +list of about one hundred calls sent in the previous night, nearly +every one of which came from the "red light" district. + +After weighing such evidence we can readily comprehend the justice of +the opinion rendered by Dr. Charles P. Neill in the following words: +"The newsboys' service is demoralizing, but the messenger service is +debauching.... And, saddest of all, this service appeals strongly to +the children. The prurient curiosity of the developing boy would +itself incline him to like these calls to houses of prostitution, but +they quickly learn also that women who live in these sections are more +generous with their earnings in the way of tips than are the people in +the more respectable sections of the city.... It can be said that all +the boys who go into the messenger service do not go to the bad, but +it can be said with equal truth that it ruins children by the dozens, +and that if any boy comes out of this service without having suffered +moral shipwreck he can thank the mercy of God for it, and not the +protecting arm of the community that stands idly by and makes no +attempt to save him from temptation."[73] + +In 1908 Congress passed a child labor law for the District of Columbia +which provided, among other restrictions, that no messenger boy under +sixteen years should be employed between 7 P.M. and 6 A.M.,--_sixteen +years_, the beginning of the period of adolescence, when boys have the +greatest need of protection from the vices running riot in cities! + +The Chicago Vice Commission devotes several pages of its report to a +recital of the experiences of messenger boys in connection with their +work in the segregated districts. One of the telegraph companies +maintains a branch office close to one of these districts, where eight +boys from fifteen to eighteen years of age are employed as +messengers. These boys are called upon to work at all hours of the day +and night, their tasks being the same as those of the messengers in +other cities. A number of specific instances of the wretched +environment into which these boys are thrown, are given. One of them +who works from midnight until 10 A.M. was sent by a prostitute to a +drug store for a package of cocaine hydrochloride, for which he paid +$5.78, receiving $1 from the prostitute as a tip for the service. +Another messenger was sent out on a similar errand by another +prostitute two weeks later and purchased for her a hypodermic needle +for a syringe; he was charged $2 for this needle, the cost to the +druggist being 19 cents. A few days later a boy was called by another +prostitute who confided to him that she had discontinued the use of +messenger boys for purchasing "dope" because she found that they +talked too much and could not be trusted, adding that she now had a +newsboy, who sold papers at a near-by corner, buy the cocaine for her. +A woman who lives in an apartment house and is the owner and +proprietor of houses of prostitution in the restricted district, is in +the habit of sending in an order for cocaine to a druggist, who calls +a messenger boy to deliver it to her residence. This messenger opened +one of the packages and, suspecting that it was cocaine, sniffed a +little of it himself. He confessed that he had done this quite often +since, and it appeared that he had derived a good deal of pleasure +from it. The same messenger is sent about three times monthly by a +certain man to a Chinaman, from whom he buys a package of opium for +$4. On returning from one of these trips he watched the man open the +package, take a quantity of the stuff, roll it and heat it, but at +this point the messenger was told to leave the room. Another messenger +boy has been employed at this particular branch office for more than +three years, although he is now only seventeen years old; his earnings +average about $10 per week, including tips. He is of small stature, +not mentally bright and at present is afflicted with syphilis of three +months' duration. Another messenger is a boy of foreign parentage, +only fifteen years of age, who said he had recently been called quite +often to a certain house of prostitution where an inmate gave him a +box with a note to a druggist; the contents cost $1.75, but upon +returning to the woman he would declare that he had paid $2.50, thus +obtaining 75 cents on false pretenses, and in addition a tip of half a +dollar. On one of his trips for this prostitute he had opened the note +and found that it was a requisition for cocaine; on returning he +placed some of the contents upon his tongue, but did not like the +sensation and never repeated it. He is in the habit of picking up +discarded cigarettes and smoking them. In spite of his age, he knows +the name of nearly every prostitute in this district and can recognize +these women at sight; he stated that whenever he entered a house of +prostitution they would nearly always kiss him, and at different times +he had had sores on his lips. + +Another boy who was attending high school was employed as a messenger +in the downtown district during Christmas week of 1910. He was sent to +deliver a message in a house of prostitution, and the girl who +received it offered to cohabit with him free of charge as a Christmas +present, stating that it was customary to do this for messenger boys +on Christmas Day.[74] + +A number of other messengers told of similar experiences, stating that +they were often called to houses of prostitution to perform small +personal services for the inmates. As to regulation of the service, a +police order was issued in Chicago in April, 1910, to the effect that +no messenger or delivery boy under eighteen years was to be allowed in +the segregated districts at any time. + +In arguing against the further restriction of the night messenger +service, the telegraph companies and other interested organizations +insist that the majority of these boys are working to support their +widowed mothers or incapacitated fathers; a recent government report +says, in referring to the table of families in which there are +messengers and errand and office boys ten to fourteen years of age, +classified by percentage of older breadwinners, for Boston, Chicago, +New York and Washington, "These statistics point to the conclusion +that the greater part of the families now furnishing children from ten +to thirteen years of age and fourteen years for the occupation of +messengers and errand and office boys are by no means either entirely +or largely dependent upon the earnings of such children for the +family support."[75] The restriction advocated does not contemplate +the prohibition of this work to boys of fourteen years and upwards in +the _daytime_; its object is to shield the youths from the vile +associations necessarily connected with this work at _night_. + + + _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 legislature of New York State [in 1910], excluding any +person under twenty-one years of age from this occupation between ten +o'clock at night and five o'clock in the morning." + +Massachusetts in 1911 forbade the employment of messengers under +twenty-one years of age between the hours of 10 P.M. and 5 A.M., +except by newspaper offices. Utah fixed the same age limit for this +work in cities of first and second classes between 9 P.M. and 5 A.M. +New Jersey did likewise as to cities of the first class, fixing the +age limit at eighteen years for smaller places, the prohibited hours +being from 10 P.M. to 5 A.M. + +Wisconsin also passed a law in 1911, prohibiting the employment of any +one under twenty-one years of age as a messenger between 8 P.M. and 6 +A.M. in cities of the first, second and third classes. Ohio, in 1910, +fixed the age limit for messenger service between 9 P.M. and 6 A.M. at +eighteen years. + +Michigan now prohibits the employment of messengers under eighteen +years between 10 P.M. and 5 A.M., as do also New Hampshire, Oregon, +Tennessee and California. + +Other states having the advanced type of child labor law prohibit the +employment of children under fourteen years in the messenger service +during the day and under sixteen years at night. The states of +Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North +Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming do +not yet provide any age limit for this work. + +The evil effects of the messenger service have also been noted in +Great Britain. A schoolmaster of Edinburgh says, "Insolence, coarse +intonation, swearing, lying, pilfering and lewdness are the chief +products of message going by boys."[76] + +A London health officer has testified as follows: "There is a very +large employment of boy labour now, boys employed as messengers and +errand boys, which teaches them nothing useful for their future life; +and when they have outgrown the age at which they can be employed in +this way, the risk of drifting into the ranks of the unskilled +labourer is a very large one."[77] + +"The government post office telegraph messengers are not employed +unless they have passed the seventh standard at school and each +candidate has to provide a satisfactory certificate of health from his +own medical attendant. A boy of fourteen must also be over four feet +eight inches in height. The minimum starting wage in London is seven +shillings a week, rising by a shilling a week annually to eleven +shillings. On reaching the age of sixteen the boy has to pass a +further examination in order to qualify for retention. The various +_private_ telegraph companies offer much the same terms, though in +some cases they are able to get boys slightly cheaper, as the +qualifying standard is not such a high one. It is only during the rare +periods when the supply of boy labour is more plentiful than usual +that the private telegraph companies will refuse a boy on account of +his size. The varied nature of the work they are called upon to +perform is an undoubted attraction in the eyes of many.... That it is +bad for them morally is less open to doubt. Even when they are more +actively employed the most that they can hope to learn is a very small +amount of discipline. A more serious point is the future of the boys +when they cease to be messengers."[78] + +"It is well to point out that the commonest of these occupations, that +of errand boy or messenger boy, is seldom a desirable one, quite +apart from the fact that it generally leads nowhere. It lacks almost +necessarily what the boy most needs--the compulsory training of the +habit of disciplined effort."[79] + +As Mrs. Florence Kelley says, "The test of the work, however, should +be not whether boys can do it, but what it does to boys."[80] + + + + + 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 been engaged in street work for any length of time, +and this is sufficient proof of the undesirability of such employment +for our boys and girls. + + + EFFECTS OF STREET WORK ON CHILDREN + + Material { Form distaste for regular employment. + Deterioration { Small chance of acquiring a trade. + { Drift into large class of casual workers. + + { Night work. + { Excessive fatigue. + { Exposure to bad weather. + Physical { Irregularity of sleep and meals. + Deterioration { Use of stimulants--cigarettes, coffee, liquor. + { Disease through contact with vices. + + { Encouragement to truancy. + { Independence and defiance of parental control. + Moral { Weakness cultivated by formation of bad habits. + Deterioration { Form liking for petty excitements of street. + { Opportunities to become delinquent. + { Large percentage of recruits to criminal population. + +These are the insidious influences permeating street work and rampant +in all our cities. They are minimized and even denied by certain +ignorant or interested parties who base their assertions upon the fact +that prominent men of to-day were once newsboys or bootblacks, and +therefore jump to the conclusion that their success is due to the +training received in this way when young. The truth is more likely to +be that such individuals have succeeded, not because of this early +training, but in spite of it. Boys of exceptionally strong character +will force themselves out of such an environment unscathed, but the +great majority of children have not sufficient mental and moral +stamina to withstand these influences. The minority will take care of +itself under any circumstances,--it is with the weaker majority that +we must deal. The problem is an urgent one, but generally ignored, +for, as Myron E. Adams says, the public sees the street worker at his +best and neglects him at his worst. + +The charge that in street work a child has small chance of acquiring a +suitable trade is one of the worst counts in the indictment. Street +work leads to nothing else; the various occupations are so many +industrial pitfalls, and the children who get into them must sooner or +later struggle out and begin over again at some other line of work, if +they would succeed. + +"These children (street traders) furnish a very large proportion of +recruits to the criminal population. Those who do not graduate into +crime form a liking for the petty excitements of the street and a +distaste for regular employment. They lack skill and perseverance, +shun the monotony of a permanent job, and as they grow older either +follow itinerant and questionable trades or become ill-paid and +inefficient casual laborers. Therefore these young people are a source +of waste to society rather than of profit."[81] + +The large percentage of former newsboys among the inmates of boys' +reformatories recently induced an active social worker to send an +inquiry to the superintendents of such institutions and to juvenile +court judges in different parts of the country relative to the effect +of newspaper selling on schoolboys. The statements received in reply +are set forth in a leaflet which was published in 1910.[82] + +These officials are practically unanimous in condemning street trading +by boys, declaring that newsboys are generally stupid and almost +always morally defiled; that the pittance they earn is bought at great +sacrifice; that the spending of their earnings without supervision is +the worst thing that can befall them; that the life leads to gambling, +dishonesty and spendthrift habits; that it is a dead-end occupation +leading to nothing; that it abounds in evil temptations; that the boys +are comparatively idle and see and hear the worst that is to be seen +and heard on the street; that the work subjects boys to bad influences +before they are strong enough to resist them; that delinquency results +from their enforced association with all classes of boys; and +concluding that every possible protection should be thrown about the +young boy. Some of these officers gave due consideration to the +advantages of street trading, and one made the naive statement that +newspaper selling was not a bad business for a boy who could withstand +its temptations. + +Although the law of New York State provides a modicum of regulation +for street trading, nevertheless it has not been effective because of +extremely indifferent enforcement. Like almost all other +street-trading laws in the United States, it places the age limit at +the ridiculous age of ten years. A movement was started recently in +Buffalo to remedy the situation, and the following statement was +published:-- + +"During the past year we have sought to discover, not by theorizing, +but by uncovering the facts, what is the effect of street work on the +boy. School records of 230 Buffalo newsboys were secured. Eighteen per +cent were reported as truants; 23 per cent stood poor or very poor in +attendance and deportment. Twenty-eight per cent stood poor or very +poor in scholarship, while only 15 per cent of the other children in +the same schools failed in their work. An investigation at the truant +school showed that 46.6 per cent of the boys there had been engaged in +the street trades. On the basis of these facts and studies made in +connection with the schools, juvenile courts and reformatories +elsewhere, we hope to secure legislation raising the age below which +boys may not engage in the street trades to twelve years, and making +it illegal for boys under fourteen to sell after 8 P.M. We are also +striving to secure better enforcement of this law in Buffalo and other +cities."[83] + +This folder also states that circular letters were sent to all Buffalo +school principals asking about the effect on scholarship of the early +morning delivery of newspapers by their pupils, and also to +physicians inquiring about the effect of such work on physical +development. The hours for such newspaper delivery were from 4.30 A.M. +to 7 A.M. Eight principals and six physicians denounced such work to +every one who favored it. Referring to the occupational history of +reformatory inmates, a recent report for New York City says: "The +parental school (school for truants) statistics show that 80 out of +its 230 inmates were newsboys, while 60 per cent of the entire number +have been street traders. The Catholic Protectorate, full of Italians +(noted as street traders), gives us a record of 469 or 80 per cent out +of their 590 boys interviewed, who have followed the street +profession, and 295 or 50 per cent had been newsboys selling over +three months. The New York Juvenile Asylum gives us 31 per cent of its +inmates as newsboys and 60 per cent as street traders. The House of +Refuge repeats the same story: 63 per cent of those committed to that +institution had been street traders, of whom 32 per cent were +newsboys. If 63 per cent of the House of Refuge inmates have been +street traders, and if the majority of such have begun their so-called +criminal careers, which end invariably in the state penitentiary, why +do we permit children to trade on our streets?"[84] + +Another American writer says: "Whatever the cause, the effect on the +newsboy is always the same. He lives on the streets at night in an +atmosphere of crime and criminals, and he takes in vice and evil with +the air he breathes. If he grows into manhood and escapes the +tuberculosis which seizes so many of these boys of the street, the +things that he has learned as a professional newsboy lead in one +direction,--toward crime and things criminal. The professional newsboy +is the embryo criminal."[85] + +The dangers to the morals of children are particularly emphasized by +those who have given this subject any attention. Mr. John Spargo says: +"Nor is it only in factories that these grosser forms of immorality +flourish. They are even more prevalent among the children of the +street trades,--newsboys, bootblacks, messengers and the like. The +proportion of newsboys who suffer from venereal diseases is alarmingly +great. The superintendent of the John Worthy School of Chicago, Mr. +Sloan, asserts that 'one third of all the newsboys who come to the +John Worthy School have venereal diseases and that 10 per cent of the +remaining newsboys at present in the Bridewell are, according to the +physician's diagnosis, suffering from similar diseases.' The newsboys +who come to the school are, according to Mr. Sloan, on an average of +one third below the ordinary standard of physical development, a +condition which will be readily understood by those who know the ways +of the newsboys of our great cities--their irregular habits, scant +feeding, sexual excesses, secret vices, sleeping in hallways, +basements, stables and quiet corners. With such a low physical +standard the ravages of venereal diseases are tremendously +increased."[86] + +The economic aspect of this work is magnified by most people beyond +its true proportion; the earnings of street-working children are not +needed by their families in most cases, and even in those instances +where their poverty demands such relief it is wrong to purchase it at +the price paid in evil training and bad effects of every kind. +Commenting on this point the chief truant officer for Indianapolis +says: "A large number of truants are recruited from that large +unrestricted class whose members are to be found competing with one +another on our street corners from early until late. The pennies which +many of them earn are a material aid in replenishing the depleted +resources of some of our homes. Yet, it is a question whether such +child laborers will not in the future bequeath to society an abundant +reward of human wreckage which may be traced to such traffic and its +many temptations."[87] + +As to the bad judgment of parents in seeking the premature earnings of +their children, a Chicago physician says: "The average newsboy, if he +works 365 days a year, does not earn over a hundred dollars; if he +becomes delinquent it costs the state at least two hundred dollars a +year to care for him. When we remember that twelve out of every one +hundred boys between ten and sixteen become delinquent, and that over +60 per cent of these boys come from street trades, it does not take +long for a business man to figure out that it is rather poor economy +to let a ten-year-old boy go into at least this field of labor.... +From an economic standpoint the family that sends out a ten-year-old +boy to sell papers loses a great deal more in actual money from the +boy's lack of future earning capacity than the boy can possibly earn +by his youthful efforts. In other words, this sort of labor from an +economic standpoint is an absurdity."[88] + +In its splendid report on street trading, the British departmental +committee of 1910 stated: "We learnt that much of this money, so +readily made, is spent with equal dispatch. The children spend it on +sweets and cigarettes, and in attending music halls, and in very many +cases only a portion, if any, of the daily earnings is taken home.... +In many towns the traders are drawn from the poorest of homes, but +numerous witnesses have emphatically stated that their experience +leads them to think that cases where real benefits accrue to the home +are rare."[89] + +The lack of proper training during childhood almost invariably brings +about a tragedy in the lives of working people. The premature +employment of children at any kind of labor which interferes with +their education and their training in work for which they are fitted +is most disastrous in its effects and far outweighs in future misery +the little income thus secured in childhood. A careful student of the +working class declares: "Many bright and capable men and women in this +neighborhood [Greenwich Village, New York City] would undoubtedly have +been able to occupy high positions in the industrial world if they had +not been _forced into unskilled work when young_."[90] + +With reference to the effects of street trading an English writer +says: "It is difficult to imagine a life which could be worse for a +young boy. Apart from the moral dangers, it is a means of earning a +livelihood which perhaps more than any other is subject to the most +violent fluctuations. But the uncertainty of the income is a trifling +evil by comparison with the certainty of the bad moral effects of +street trading on boys and youths. The life of the street trader is a +continual gamble, unredeemed by any steady work; it is undisciplined +and casual, and exposed to all the temptations of the street at its +worst. The great majority of the boys who sell papers drift away into +crime or idleness or some form of living by their wits."[91] The same +writer also declares: "Few things could have a worse effect than this +street trading on those engaged in it. It initiates them into the +mysteries of the beggar's whine and breeds in them the craving for an +irregular, undisciplined method of life."[92] And the editor of these +English studies adds: "It is part of the street-bred child's precocity +that he acquires a too early acquaintance with matters which as a +child he ought not to know at all. His language and conversation often +reveal a familiarity with vice which would be terrible were it not so +superficial."[93] + +Speaking of immorality in the narrow sense of the word, the same +writer says: "We do not believe that immorality of this kind is +universal among the boys and girls of the labouring classes, nor do we +believe that the town youth is any worse than his brother and sister +of the country. Coarseness and impurity are not the distinguishing +mark of any one class or any one place. We question whether comparison +of sins and self-indulgence would work out at all to the disadvantage +of the town labouring class as a whole. It must be remembered that one +commonplace factor, the glaring publicity of the street, is all on the +side of the town youth's virtue. The street has its safeguards as well +as its dangers."[94] + +With reference to the blind alley character of street work, another +English writer avers: "As in London, the labours of the school +children [in Manchester] are in no wise apprenticeship or preparation +for their future lives. The grocer's little errand boy will be +discharged when he grows bigger and needs higher wages; the chemist's +runner is not in training to become a chemist. The three farthings an +hour on the one hand, and the physical, moral and intellectual +degeneration on the other, are all that the little ones here, as +elsewhere, get out of toil from which many a grown man would +shrink."[95] + +Another English student of labor conditions declares: +"Teachers--together with magistrates, police authorities, ministers of +religion and social workers--are practically unanimous in condemning +street trading as an employment of children of school age. In this +occupation children deteriorate rapidly from the physical, mental and +moral point of view."[96] + +Still another writer says: "One great evil which results from this +life of street trading in childhood is the fact that it is fatal to +industrial efficiency in after life."[97] + +The testimony of Sir Lauder Brunton, M.D., given in 1904, on the +occasion of the inquiry into physical deterioration in Great Britain, +is to the point, in spite of the fact that the committee directing the +inquiry stated that "The impressions gathered from the great majority +of the witnesses examined do not support the belief that there is any +general progressive deterioration."[98] Sir Lauder Brunton's testimony +was as follows: "The causes of deficient physique are very numerous +... it is very likely that in order to eke out the scanty earnings of +the father and mother the child is sent, out of school hours, to earn +a penny or two, and so it comes to school wearied out in body by +having had to work early in the morning, exhausted by not having had +food, and then is sent to learn. Well, it cannot learn."[99] Later the +same witness testified, "One of the very worst causes [of physical +deterioration] is that children in actual attendance at school, work +before and after schooltime."[100] + +In a special inquiry into the physical effects of work upon 600 boys +of school age made in 1905 by Dr. Charles J. Thomas, assistant health +officer to the London County Council's education department, it was +found that many of the children suffered from nervous strain, heart +disease and deformities as a result of prolonged labor. Of the 600 +boys, 134 were shop boys, 63 were milk boys, 87 were newsboys and the +others were scattered among various employments. It was found that +work during the dinner hour and also the long work-day on Saturday +were particularly harmful. As to fatigue among the newsboys, of those +working 20 hours or less, 60 per cent were affected; of those working +between 20 and 30 hours, 70 per cent; while of those working more than +30 hours per week, 91 per cent showed fatigue. As to anaemia, among the +newsboys, of those working 20 hours or less it appeared among only 19 +per cent; but of those working 20 to 30 hours, 30 per cent showed it; +while of those working over 30 hours per week, 73 per cent were +afflicted in this way. As to nerve strain, of those working 20 hours +or less 16 per cent were suffering from it; of those working 20 to 30 +hours, 35 per cent; while of those working over 30 hours, 37 per cent +showed nerve strain. As to deformities, none were noted among boys +working less than 20 hours a week, but 10 per cent of those working 20 +to 30 hours or more were found to be afflicted. All elementary +schoolboys showed deformities to the extent of 8 per cent, but of +those engaged in different kinds of work from 20 to 30 hours a week, +21 per cent showed deformities. Flatfoot was found to be the chief +deformity produced by newspaper selling, this being caused by the +boys' having to be on their feet too much.[101] + +One of the most decisive blows delivered against street work by +children in Great Britain was the statement of Thomas Burke of the +Liverpool City Council, a son of working people, who had lived in a +crowded city street for twenty years, had attended a public elementary +school until fourteen years of age, where the number of child street +traders was very large, and had become convinced that "work after +school hours was decidedly injurious to health and character." +Referring to the material condition of his street-trading +acquaintances, he said: "Almost all the boys sent out to work after +school hours from the school referred to have failed in the battle of +life. Not one is a member of any of the regular trades, while all who +were sent to trade in the streets have gone down to the depths of +social misery if not degradation ... a great proportion of those who +did not work after school hours, or frequent the streets as newspaper +sellers, occupy respectable positions in the city."[102] + +Miss Ina Tyler of the St. Louis School of Social Economy in a study of +St. Louis newsboys made in 1910, found that of 50 newsboys under 11 +years of age, 43 gambled, 42 went to cheap shows and 23 used tobacco; +while of 100 newsboys 11 to 16 years of age, 86 gambled, 92 went to +cheap shows and 76 used tobacco.[103] + +Among the conclusions of the British interdepartmental committee of +1901 is the following: "Street hawking is not injurious to the health +if the hours are not long, and the work is not done late at night; but +its moral effects are far worse than the physical, and this employment +in the center of many large towns makes the streets hotbeds for the +corruption of children who learn to drink, to gamble and to use vile +language, while girls are exposed to even worse things."[104] + +The British departmental committee of 1910 declared: "In the case of +both boys and girls the effect of this occupation on future prospects +cannot be anything but thoroughly bad, except, possibly, in casual and +exceptional cases. We learn that many boys who sell while at school +manage to obtain other work upon becoming fourteen, but for those who +remain in the street the tendency is to develop into loafers and +'corner boys.' The period between fourteen and sixteen is a critical +time in a boy's life. Street trading provides him with no training; he +gets no discipline, he is not occupied the whole of his time; for a +few years he makes more money and makes it more easily than in an +office or a workshop, and he is exposed to a variety of actively evil +influences."[105] + +An important division of the study of street-working children concerns +their standing in the schools. In New York City a few figures are +available through a study recently made there. The distribution of 200 +newsboys under fourteen years of age among the school grades is shown +in the following table:[106]-- + + ======================================================== + | GRADES | | + AGES +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ SPECIAL |TOTALS + | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | | + ------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---------+------- + 7 | 2 | | | | | | | | | 2 + 8 | | 3 | 2 | | | | | | | 5 + 9 | | 1 | 6 | 1 | | | | | | 8 + 10 | | | 6 | 3 | 3 | | | | | 12 + 11 | | 5 | 7 |10 | 7 | 4 | 1 | | 2 | 36 + 12 | | 1 | 1 |19 |21 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 62 + 13 | | | |15 |10 |23 |17 | 7 | 3 | 75 + +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---------+------- + Totals| 2 |10 |22 |48 |41 |36 |25 | 8 | 8 | 200 + ======================================================== + +Applying the rule that in order to be normal a child must enter the +first grade at the age of either six or seven years and progress with +enough regularity to enable him to attend the eighth grade at the age +of either thirteen or fourteen, it is found that of the 177 newsboys +ten to thirteen years of age inclusive, 118 are backward, 57 are +normal and 2 are beyond their grades. This is shown in the following +table:-- + + ============================================== + AGES |BACKWARD | NORMAL | AHEAD | TOTAL + -----------+---------+--------+-------+------- + 10 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 12 + 11 | 22 | 11 | 1 | 34 + 12 | 42 | 16 | 1 | 59 + 13 | 48 | 24 | 0 | 72 + +---------+--------+-------+------- + Totals | 118 | 57 | 2 | 177 + Percentages| 67% | 32% | 1% | 100% + =============================================== + +This table shows that of the 177 newsboys ten to thirteen years of +age, 67 per cent are backward and 32 per cent are normal, while only 1 +per cent are ahead of their grades. Boys of these ages are subject to +the restrictions prescribed by the state law as to hours, and it is +probable that the percentage of retardation would have been even +greater if work at night had not been to some extent prevented. + +A report of New York City conditions made in 1907, before the newsboy +law was enforced, says: "The shrewd, bright-eyed, sharp-witted lad is +stupid and sleepy in the schoolroom; 295 newsboys compared with +non-working boys in the same class were found to fall below the +average in proficiency. They were also usually older than their +classmates, that is, backward in their grades."[107] + +Referring to Manchester newsboys above the age of fourteen years, an +English report[108] says: "They are not stupid, or even markedly +backward, judged by school standards.... As they grow older they sink +to a lower level, both morally and economically--in fact, little +better than loafers, without aspiration, and content with the squalor +of the common lodging-houses in which they live, if only they have +enough money for their drink and their gambling." Concerning the +younger newsboys the same report continues: "Those who are the +children of extremely poor, and often worthless parents, are often +upon the streets selling their papers during school hours, and their +attendance at the schools, in spite of prosecution of their parents, +is so irregular that they make very little progress. These boys take +to the streets permanently for their livelihood; a few of them +continue, after the age of fourteen, to earn their living by selling +newspapers, but most of them sink into less satisfactory kinds of +occupation." In connection with these statements it should be +remembered that they portray conditions existing prior to the adoption +in 1902 of local rules on street trading. With reference to the +alleged cleverness of street Arabs, a British observer draws this +distinction: "Street-trading children are more cunning than other +children, but not more intelligent."[109] + +In St. Louis there was no regulation until the Missouri law of 1911 +was passed; and in 1910 Miss Ina Tyler, in a study of 106 newsboys of +that city, found the following conditions:-- + + NUMBER BELOW NORMAL + YEARS SCHOOL GRADE + + 10 10 out of 16 62% + 11 12 out of 16 75% + 12 16 out of 28 57% + 13 25 out of 33 75% + 14 11 out of 13 84% + -- --- --- + 74 106 70% + +These figures were copied by the writer from charts displayed at the +child labor exhibit of the National Conference of Charities and +Correction in St. Louis in 1910, but efforts to ascertain the method +of determining these percentages were unavailing. Therefore they +cannot be compared with the figures in the preceding tables, because +it is by no means certain that the standard ages for normal school +standing were adopted in the compilation of this table. + +In Toledo, Ohio, there is no regulation governing street work by +children, although a local association makes an effort to look after +the welfare of newsboys. In October, 1911, the writer visited the four +public common school buildings nearest the business district of this +city and found 287 children in attendance who were regularly engaged +in some form of street work out of school hours. The great majority of +them were newsboys. The distribution of these children according to +age and grade is given below:-- + + AGES + ===================================================================== + Grade | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Totals + ------+---+---+---+---+---+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+------- + 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | | | | | | | 23 + 2 | | | 7 |12 | 8 | 2 | 3 | | 2 | | | | 34 + 3 | | | 1 | 5 | 8 | 22 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 1 | | | 51 + 4 | | | | 3 | 7 | 17 | 9 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 58 + 5 | | | | | | 8 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 4 | | 44 + 6 | | | | | | | 7 | 7 | 16 | 3 | 4 | | 37 + 7 | | | | | | | 1 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 25 + 8 | | | | | | | | | 5 | 7 | 3 | | 15 + ------+---+---+---+---+---+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+------- + Totals| 1 | 8 | 13| 24| 27| 50 | 34 | 40 | 45 | 27 | 15 | 3 | 287 + ===================================================================== + +Adopting the same method for determining retardation as in the case of +the New York figures, we find that of these 287 street-working school +children of Toledo, 55 per cent are backward, 43 per cent are normal +and 2 per cent are ahead of their grades. Or, selecting the children +ten to thirteen years of age, as was done with the New York figures, +we have the following results:-- + + ========================================================= + AGES | BACKWARD | NORMAL | AHEAD | TOTAL + -----------+-------------+----------+----------+--------- + 10 | 25 | 25 | | 50 + 11 | 16 | 17 | 1 | 34 + 12 | 28 | 12 | | 40 + 13 | 34 | 11 | | 45 + Totals | 103 | 65 | 1 | 169 + -----------+-------------+----------+----------+--------- + Percentages| 61% | 38% | 1% | 100% + ========================================================= + +These percentages show that conditions in Toledo are only slightly +better than in New York City. This is surprising because of the great +difference in the working conditions of the two cities, the +metropolitan street children being subjected to far greater nervous +strain because of the more congested population and heavier street +traffic. + + + RETARDED CHILDREN IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS (TOLEDO), 1910-1911 + + _Grades_ + + | FIRST + +-+-------------- + | |NORMAL AGE 6-7 + | + | | SECOND + | +-+-------------- + | | |NORMAL AGE 7-8 + | | + | | | THIRD + | | +-+-------------- + | | | |NORMAL AGE 8-9 + | | | + | | | | FOURTH + | | | +-+-------------- + | | | | |NORMAL AGE 7-8 + | | | | + | | | | | FIFTH + | | | | +-+---------------- + | | | | | |NORMAL AGE 10-11 + | | | | | + | | | | | | SIXTH + | | | | | +-+---------------- + | | | | | | |NORMAL AGE 11-12 + | | | | | | + | | | | | | | SEVENTH + | | | | | | +-+---------------- + | | | | | | | |NORMAL AGE 12-13 + | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | | EIGHTH + | | | | | | | +-+---------------- + | | | | | | | | |NORMAL AGE 13-14 + | | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | | |PER CENT OF + | | | | | | | | |ALL RETARDATIONS + | | | | | | | | +-----+---------- + V V V V V V V V V +==========+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+======+====== + | | | | | | | | | TOTAL +----------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+------+------ +Retarded | | | | | | | | | | +1 year | 325| 449| 500| 483| 528| 507| 366| 209| 3,367| 53.5 + | | | | | | | | | | +Retarded | | | | | | | | | | +2 years | 91| 170| 215| 346| 384| 324| 194| 72| 1,796| 28.5 + | | | | | | | | | | +Retarded | | | | | | | | | | +3 years | 33| 53| 101| 152| 219| 119| 33| 17| 727| 11.5 + | | | | | | | | | | +Retarded | | | | | | | | | | +4 or more | 16| 42| 74| 131| 105| 19| 3| 5| 395| 6.2 +years | | | | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | | | | +Total | | | | | | | | | | +retarded | 465| 714| 890|1112|1236| 969| 596| 303| 6,285| + | | | | | | | | | | +Enrollment| | | | | | | | | | +each grade|3114|2680|2548|2400|2209|1856|1284| 901|16,992| + | | | | | | | | | | +Per cent | | | | | | | | | | +each grade|14.9|26.6|34.8|46.3|55.9|52.2|46.4|33.6| 36.9| +==========+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+======+======= + + + RETARDED STREET WORKERS IN FOUR TOLEDO COMMON SCHOOLS, OCTOBER, 1911 + + _Grades_ + + | FIRST + +-+-------------- + | |NORMAL AGE 6-7 + | + | | SECOND + | +-+-------------- + | | |NORMAL AGE 7-8 + | | + | | | THIRD + | | +-+-------------- + | | | |NORMAL AGE 8-9 + | | | + | | | | FOURTH + | | | +-+-------------- + | | | | |NORMAL AGE 7-8 + | | | | + | | | | | FIFTH + | | | | +-+---------------- + | | | | | |NORMAL AGE 10-11 + | | | | | + | | | | | | SIXTH + | | | | | +-+---------------- + | | | | | | |NORMAL AGE 11-12 + | | | | | | + | | | | | | | SEVENTH + | | | | | | +-+---------------- + | | | | | | | |NORMAL AGE 12-13 + | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | | EIGHTH + | | | | | | | +-+---------------- + | | | | | | | | |NORMAL AGE 13-14 + | | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | | |PER CENT OF + | | | | | | | | |ALL RETARDATIONS + | | | | | | | | +-----+---------- + V V V V V V V V V +==========+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+======+====== + | | | | | | | | |TOTAL | +----------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+------+------ +Retarded | | | | | | | | | | +1 year | 4| 8| 22| 9| 10| 16| 9| 3| 81| 51.6 + | | | | | | | | | | +Retarded | | | | | | | | | | +2 years | 4| 2| 4| 11| 7| 3| 3| | 34| 21.7 + | | | | | | | | | | +Retarded | | | | | | | | | | +3 years | 1| 3| 7| 6| 5| 4| 1| | 27| 17.2 + | | | | | | | | | | +Retarded | | | | | | | | | | +4 or more | | 2| 4| 5| 4| | | | 15| 9.5 + | | | | | | | | | | +Total | | | | | | | | | | +retarded | 9| 15| 37| 31| 26| 23| 13| 3| 157| + | | | | | | | | | | +Enrollment| 23| 34| 51| 58| 44| 37| 25| 15| 287| +street | | | | | | | | | | +workers | | | | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | | | | +Per cent |39.1|44.1|72.5|53.4| 59|62.1| 52| 20| 54.7| +==========+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+======+======= + +A comparison between the table given in the report of the Toledo Board +of Education for 1911 showing the total number of retarded children in +the elementary schools, and a similar table compiled from the figures +for the street-trading children in four Toledo schools given on pages +154 and 155, is most significant. The retardation among the total +number of pupils enrolled is to be found on page 154.[110] + +The corresponding figures for the 287 street-trading children in the +four schools are to be found on page 155. + +It is especially noteworthy that the percentage of retardation among +the street workers is very much greater than among the total number of +pupils, in every grade except the eighth, while for all the grades it +is 17.8 per cent greater. This becomes all the more significant when +it is remembered that the figures for the total enrollment include the +street workers; hence the excess of retardation among the latter makes +the showing of the former worse than if they were excluded, and +consequently the comparison on page 155 does not appear to be as +unfavorable to the street workers as it is in reality. + +On consideration of the figures in the tables on pages 154 and 155, +the conclusion is inevitable that street work greatly promotes the +retardation of school children. There are, of course, other factors +which contribute to bring about this condition of backwardness, such +as poverty, malnutrition and mental deficiency, but there can be no +doubt that the evil effects of street work are in large measure +responsible for the poor showing made in the schools by the children +who follow such occupations. + +The many quotations in this chapter from authoritative sources with +reference to the harmful effects of street work upon children +constitute a most severe indictment. Students of labor conditions, +specialists and official committees bitterly denounce the practice of +permitting children to trade in city streets, and cite the +consequences of such neglect. Material, physical and moral +deterioration are strikingly apparent in most children who have +followed street careers and been exposed to their bad environment for +any length of time. We have provided splendid facilities for the +correction of our delinquent children through the medium of juvenile +courts, state reformatories and the probation system, but surely it +would be wise to provide at the same time an ounce of prevention in +addition to this pound of cure. Social workers have returned a true +bill against street work by children. What will the verdict of the +people be? + + + + + CHAPTER VII + +RELATION OF STREET WORK TO DELINQUENCY + + +The most convincing proof so far adduced to show that delinquency is a +common result of street work is set forth in the volume on "Juvenile +Delinquency and its Relation to Employment,"[111] being part of the +Report on the Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United +States, prepared under the direction of Dr. Charles P. Neill, United +States Commissioner of Labor, in response to an act of Congress in +1907 authorizing the study. The object of this official inquiry into +the subject of juvenile delinquency was to discover what connection +exists between delinquency and occupation or non-occupation, giving +due consideration to other factors such as the character of the +child's family, its home and environment. This study is based upon the +records of the juvenile courts of Indianapolis, Baltimore, New York, +Boston, Newark, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, showing cases of +delinquency of children sixteen years of age or younger coming before +these courts during the year 1907-1908. The total number of +delinquents included in the study is 4839, of whom 2767 had at some +time been employed and 2072 had never been employed. The entire number +of offenses recorded for all the delinquents was 8797, the working +children being responsible for 5471 offenses, or 62.2 per cent, while +the non-working children were responsible for 3326 offenses, of 37.8 +per cent. This shows that most juvenile offenses are committed by +working children. The ages of the children committing the offenses +recorded, ranged from six to sixteen years, and the report adds, "When +it is remembered that a majority, and presumably a large majority, of +all the children between these ages are not working, this +preponderance of offenses among the workers assumes impressive +proportions."[112] + +With reference to the character of the offenses it was found that the +working children inclined to the more serious kinds. Recidivists were +found to be far more numerous among the workers than among the +non-workers. Summing up the results of the discussion to this point +the report says: "It is found that the working children contribute to +the ranks of delinquency a slightly larger number and a much larger +proportion than do the non-workers, that this excess appears in +offenses of every kind, whether trivial or serious, and among +recidivists even more markedly than among first offenders."[113] + +With reference to the connection between recidivism and street work +the report says: "The proportion of recidivism is also large among +those who are working while attending school, and the numbers here are +very much larger than one would wish to see. Some part of the +recidivism here is undoubtedly due to the kind of occupations which a +child can carry on while attending school. Selling newspapers and +blacking shoes, acting as errand or delivery boy, peddling and working +about amusement resorts account for over two-thirds of these boys +(478 of the 664 are in one or another of these pursuits). These are +all occupations in which the chances of going wrong are numerous, +involving as they usually do night work, irregular hours, dubious or +actively harmful associations and frequent temptations to dishonesty. +In addition, something may perhaps be attributed to the overstrain due +to the attempt to combine school and work. When a child of 13, a +bootblack, is 'often on the street to 12 P.M.,' or when a boy one year +older works six hours daily outside of school time, 'often at night,' +as a telegraph messenger, it is evident that his school work is not +the only thing which is likely to suffer from the excessive strain +upon the immature strength, and from the character of his +occupation."[114] + +While reflecting on the excess of working children among the +delinquents, one may be inclined to attribute this to bad home +influences; but the report shows that only one-fifth of the workers as +opposed to nearly one-third of the non-workers come from distinctly +bad homes, while from fair and good homes the proportion is +approximately 76 per cent to 65 per cent. Consequently, the working +child goes wrong more frequently than the non-working child in spite +of his more favorable home surroundings.[115] + +Of the total number of delinquent boys, both working and non-working, +under twelve years of age, 22.4 per cent were workers, while of those +twelve to thirteen years old, 42.4 per cent were workers, and of those +fourteen to sixteen years old, 80.8 per cent were workers. As +comparatively few children under twelve years are at work, the fact +that more than one-fifth of the delinquent boys in this age group are +working children "becomes exceedingly significant." Of all children +twelve to thirteen years of age, the great majority are not employed +because of the fourteen-year age limit prevailing in all the states +studied except Maryland; hence the larger proportion of working +offenders cannot be explained by the influences of age. The increase +of working delinquents above fourteen years is to be expected, because +so many children go to work on reaching that age. + +Remembering that the proportionate excess of workers varies from two +to nine times the ratio of non-workers, it is evident that this excess +cannot be explained by a corresponding excess of orphanage, foreign +parentage, bad home conditions or unfavorable age. As the report says, +"It seems rather difficult to escape the conclusion that being at work +has something to do with their going wrong."[116] + +The strongest argument against street work by children is to be found +in the following table[117] of occupations pursued by the largest +number of delinquents and giving the percentage of total delinquents +engaged in each. + +As the report says, the following classification shows that the +largest number of delinquent boys were found in those occupations in +which the nature of the employment does not permit of supervision--namely, +newspaper selling, errand running, delivery service and messenger +service. Boys engaged in these occupations, together with bootblacks +and peddlers, all work under conditions "which bring them into +continual temptations to dishonesty and to other offenses."[118] + +==================================================================== + | PER CENT | |PER CENT + BOYS | OF | GIRLS | OF + | TOTAL | | TOTAL +Industry or Occupation |DELINQUENT|Industry or Occupation|DELINQUENT + | BOYS | | GIRLS +-----------------------+----------+----------------------+---------- +Newsboys | 21.83 | Domestic service: | +Errand boys | 17.80 | Servant in private | +Drivers and helpers, | | house | 32.18 + wagon | 7.30 | In hotel, restaurant | +Stores and markets | 4.23 | or boarding house | 5.44 +Messengers, telegraph | 2.59 | Home workers | 16.33 +Iron and steel | | Total in domestic |---------- +Iron and steel | 1.84 | service | 53.95 +Textiles, hosiery and | | | + knit goods | 1.84 | Textiles, hosiery and| +Bootblacks | 1.77 | knit goods | 12.36 +Peddlers | 1.71 | Stores and markets | 5.44 +Building trades | 1.64 | Clothing makers | 4.95 +Theater | 1.57 | Candy and | +Office boys | 1.43 | confectionery | 4.45 +Glass | 1.30 | Laundry | 1.98 +==================================================================== + +The offenses with which the boys were charged are divided in the +report into sixteen classes. The messenger service furnishes the +largest proportionate number of offenders charged with "assault and +battery" and "immoral conduct"; the delivery service those charged +with "burglary"; bootblacking those charged with "craps and gambling," +"incorrigibility and truancy"; peddling those with "larceny and +runaway," and "vagrancy or runaway." The report calls attention to the +greater tendency of messengers to immorality, and remarks that it is +easy to see a connection between bootblacking and the offenses in +which bootblacks lead. The report continues: "It is worthy to note +that neither the newsboys nor errand boys, both following pursuits +looked upon with disfavor, are found as contributing a _leading_ +proportion of any one offense. They seem to maintain what might be +called a high general level of delinquency rather than to lead in any +particular direction, errand boys being found in fourteen and newsboys +in fifteen of the sixteen separate offense groups."[119] + +For the purpose of clearly defining the connection between occupation +and delinquency, and determining whether the delinquency inheres in +the occupation or in the conditions under which it is carried on, +there were selected six kinds of employments which are generally +looked upon by social workers as morally unsafe for children, and a +comparison was made of conditions as to the parentage, home +surroundings, etc., prevailing among the workers in these occupations, +the working delinquents generally, and the whole body of delinquents, +both working and non-working. Of the delinquent boys under twelve +years engaged in these six groups of employments (delivery and errand +boys, newsboys and bootblacks, office boys, street vendors, telegraph +messengers and in amusement resorts), nearly three-fourths were found +to be newsboys and bootblacks. As four-fifths of the working +delinquents under twelve years of age in all occupations are found in +these six groups, it is evident that this class is largely responsible +for the employment of young boys, and "comparing these figures with +those for the working delinquents in all occupations we find that 58.6 +per cent, or nearly three-fifths of all the working delinquents up to +twelve, come from among the newsboys."[120] + +It was found that 54.6 per cent of all the working delinquents had +both parents living, while newsboys and bootblacks, street vendors and +telegraph messengers were found to be more fortunate in this respect +than the great mass of working delinquents, even surpassing the whole +body of delinquents, working and non-working. As the report says, "One +so frequently hears of the newsboy who has no one but himself to look +to that it is rather a surprise to find that the orphaned or deserted +child appears among them only about half as often relatively as among +the whole group of workers."[121] + +Of the delinquent delivery and errand boys, 78.9 per cent were found +to have fair or good homes, of the newsboys and bootblacks 75.8 per +cent, of the street vendors 65 per cent, and of the telegraph +messengers 78.9 per cent, and in this connection the report declares, +"Certainly the predominance of these selected occupations among the +employments of delinquents cannot be explained by the home conditions +of the children entering them."[122] + +The findings with respect to the messenger service fully corroborate +the charges brought against it by the National Child Labor Committee. +The report says: "Turning to the messengers, it is seen that they are +in every respect above the average of favorable conditions. Moreover, +it is well known that boys taking up this work must be bright and +quick; there is no room in it for the dull and mentally weak. Plainly, +then, in this case the occupation, not the kind of children who enter +it, must be held responsible for its position among the pursuits from +which delinquents come ... the chief charges brought against it are +that the irregular work and night employment tend to break down +health, that the opportunities for overcharge and for appropriating +packages or parts of their contents lead to dishonesty, and that the +places to which the boy is sent familiarize him with all forms of vice +and tend to lead him into immorality."[123] Referring again to the +messenger service, the report says: "The unfortunate effects of the +inherent conditions of the work are, however, manifest. Its +irregularity, the lack of any supervision during a considerable part +of the time, the associations of the street and of the places to which +messengers are sent, and the frequency of night work with all its +demoralizing features, afford an explanation of the impatience of +restraint, the reckless yielding to impulse shown in the large +percentage of incorrigibility and disorderly conduct. A glance at the +main table shows that the two offenses next in order are assault and +battery and malicious mischief, both of which indicate the same +traits. On the whole, there seems abundant reason for considering that +the messenger service deserves its bad name."[124] + +With reference to errand and delivery boys, the report finds that as +the level of favorable conditions keeps so near to the average, it +seems necessary to attribute the number of delinquents furnished by +this class more to the conditions of the work than to the kind of +children taking it up. + +The occupational influences of amusement resorts, street vending and +newspaper selling "are notoriously bad, but a partial explanation of +the number of delinquents they furnish is unquestionably in the kind +of children who enter them. It is a case of action and reaction. These +occupations are easily taken up by immature children, with little or +no education and no preliminary training. Such children are least +likely to resist evil influences, most likely to yield to all that is +bad in their environment."[125] + +Having shown that a connection can be traced between certain +occupations and the number and kind of offenses committed by the +children working in them, the report next determines to what extent a +direct connection can be traced between occupation and offense. If a +working child commits an offense, first, during working hours, second, +in some place to which his work calls him, and third, against some +person with whom his work brings him in contact, a connection may be +said to exist between the misdemeanor and the employment. The report +insists that either all three of the connection elements must be +present, or else the offense must be very clearly the outcome of +conditions related to the work, before a connection can be asserted; +and it reminds the reader that the number of connection cases shown +represents an understatement, probably to a considerable degree, of +the real situation. The number of boy delinquents in occupations which +show more than five cases of delinquency chargeable to occupation was +found to be 308; of these, 100 were errand or delivery boys, 129 were +newsboys, 16 were drivers or helpers, 13 were street vendors and 10 +were messengers. + +The number of boy delinquents working at time of last offense and the +number whose offenses show a connection with the occupation are +compared, by occupation, in the following table,[126] p. 173. + +"Among the errand and delivery boys the percentage (of connection +cases) is large and the connection close. Larceny accounts for over +nine-tenths of these cases, the larceny usually being from the +employer when the boy was sent out with goods, though in some cases +it was from the house to which the boy was sent. It will be remembered +that in respect to parental and home condition, age, etc., the +delinquent errand boys came very close to the average, and their +antecedents gave no reason to expect they would go wrong so +numerously. That fact, together with the large proportion of +connection cases, seems to indicate that the occupation is distinctly +a dangerous one morally."[130] + + ========================+=============+======================== + | | BOY DELINQUENTS WHOSE + | | OFFENSES SHOW A + | BOY | CONNECTION WITH + | DELINQUENTS | OCCUPATION + | WORKING AT +--------+--------------- + OCCUPATION OR INDUSTRY | TIME OF | | Per Cent + | LAST | | of Boy + | OFFENSE | Number | Delinquents + | | | in Occupation + | | | Working + ------------------------+-------------+--------+--------------- + In amusement resorts | 40[127] | 7 | 17.5 + Domestic service | 50[128] | 14 | 28.0 + Driver or helper | 107 | 16 | 14.9 + Errand or delivery boys | 261 | 100 | 38.3 + Iron and steel workers | 27 | 7 | 25.9 + Messengers | 38 | 10 | 26.3 + Newsboys and bootblacks | 346[129] | 129 | 37.2 + Street vendors | 25 | 13 | 52.0 + Stores and markets | 62 | 12 | 19.3 + ========================+=============+========+=============== + +As the various forms of immorality are practiced in secret, the report +truly says that the evils which are most associated with a messenger's +life could hardly appear in these studies. "A trace of them is found +in the case of one boy sentenced for larceny. After his arrest it was +found that he was a confirmed user of cocaine, having acquired the +habit in the disreputable houses to which his work took him. Perhaps +something of the same kind is indicated by the fact that one of the +few cases of drunkenness occurring among working delinquents came, as +a connection case, from this small group of messengers. For the most +part, however, the connection offenses (by messengers) were some form +of dishonesty, usually appropriating parcels sent out for delivery, +though in some cases collecting charges on prepaid packages was added +to this."[131] + +The newsboys almost equal the errand boys in their percentage of +connection cases, though their offenses have a much wider range; in +fact, the connection cases for newsboys include a greater variety of +offenses than any other occupation studied. Beggary appears for the +first time, there being two cases, in both of which the selling of +papers was a mere pretext, enabling the boys to approach passers-by. +Street vendors were found to show the highest percentage of connection +cases, larceny being the leading offense. + +The report concludes: "It is a striking fact that in spite of the +incompleteness of the data, a direct connection between the occupation +and the offense has been found to exist in the cases of practically +one-fourth of the boys employed at the time of their latest offense. +It is also a striking fact that while the delinquent boys working at +the time of their latest offense were scattered through more than +fifty occupations, over six-sevenths of the connection cases are found +among those working in street occupations, and that more than +three-fifths come from two groups of workers--the errand or delivery +boys, and the newsboys and bootblacks. It is also significant that the +connection cases form so large a percentage of the total cases among +the street traders, the messengers, and the errand or delivery boys, +their proportion ranging from over one-fourth to over one-half, +according to the occupation."[132] + +In considering the effect of night work upon the morals of children, +the report says, "The messengers and newsboys show both large numbers +and large percentages of night work, thus giving additional ground for +the general opinion as to the undesirable character of their work"; +and again, "In the following occupations the cases of night work are +more numerous than they should be in proportion to the number ever +employed in these pursuits: bootblacks, bowling alley and pool room, +glass, hotel, messengers, newsboys and theaters and other amusement +resorts."[133] + +More than one-fourth of the working boy delinquents were found to be +attending day school. More than half of these pupils were newsboys and +bootblacks. It was found that the more youthful the worker, the +stronger is his tendency toward irregular attendance at school. + +Eighty-three boy delinquents were devoting eleven or more hours per +day to work, and of these, 31 were errand or delivery boys, 7 were +hucksters or peddlers, 6 were messengers and 2 were newsboys or +bootblacks. + +"For both sexes, the workers show a greater tendency than the +non-workers to go wrong, even where home and neighborhood surroundings +appear favorable, but this tendency is not so marked among the girls +as among the boys."[134] + +This report of the government investigation furnishes most conclusive +evidence as to the evil character of street trading in general. It +bears out the description so aptly made by a recent writer: "The +streets are the proverbial schools of vice and crime. If the factory +is the Scylla, the street is the Charybdis."[135] + +Another American writer has lately declared: "A prolific cause of +juvenile delinquency is the influence of the street trades on the +working boy. No other form of work has such demoralizing +consequences.... These boys are brought into the juvenile court, and +their misdemeanors are often so great that reformatory treatment is +necessary for them. Accordingly they represent a large proportion of +the boys in the different institutions. The demoralization produced by +the street trades affects others than those engaged in such trades, +but the latter are the chief sufferers; therefore the importance of +legislation which will shut off this source of infection."[136] + +A Chicago physician took occasion to look into the records of the +juvenile court of that city in 1909, and found that the first 100 boys +and 25 girls examined that year were representative of the 2500 +delinquents brought into the court during the preceding year. Not less +than 57 of these boys had been engaged in street work--43 as newsboys, +12 as errand boys and messengers and 2 as peddlers. Only 13 out of the +entire number had never been employed. Sixty of them were physically +subnormal; the general physical condition of the girls was found to be +much better than that of the boys of the same age, although 40 per +cent of the girls were suffering from acquired venereal disease.[137] + +In the autumn of 1910 there were 647 boys confined in the Indiana +state reformatory, which is known as the Indiana Boys' School, at +Plainfield. Of this number 219, or 33.8 per cent, had formerly been +engaged in street work. To determine the relative delinquency of +street workers and boys who have never pursued such occupations, it +would be necessary to compare these 219 delinquents with the total +number of street workers in Indiana and also to compare the total +number of inmates who had never followed street occupations with the +total number of boys within the same age limits in Indiana. A +comparison of the two percentages would be illuminating, but is +impossible because it is not known how many street workers there are +in the state. However, it is safe to assume that the number of +street-working boys in Indiana is much less than one third of the +total number of boys. If we accept this as true, then the figures +indicate that street work promotes delinquency, because one third of +all the delinquents in the state reformatory had been so engaged. The +frequent assertion that, merely because a large percentage of the +inmates of correctional institutions were at some time engaged in +street work, such employment is therefore responsible for their +delinquency, cannot be accepted alone as proof of the injurious +character of this class of occupations, as it is not known how long +each offender was engaged in such work, nor are the other causes +contributing to the delinquency of each boy properly considered or +even known. This defect is avoided in the government's Report on +Juvenile Delinquency and its Relation to Employment, which, with +reference to the common practice of jumping at conclusions in this +way, says, "This appears to show that selling newspapers is a morally +dangerous occupation, but the danger cannot be measured, since it is +not known what proportion of the working children are newsboys, or +what proportion of the newsboys never come to grief."[138] The +following tables are of interest as showing in detail the facts as to +Indiana's delinquent boy street workers, who are confined in the state +reformatory:-- + + + STREET WORKERS IN INDIANA BOYS' SCHOOL, 1910 + + _Table A. Distribution among Street Occupations_ + + ==============+============+=====+======+=====+========+======+===== + COMMITTED FOR | MESSENGERS |NEWS-|BOOT- |PEDD-|DELIVERY|CAB |TOTAL + | |BOYS |BLACKS|LERS |BOYS |DRIVER| + +-----+------+ | | | | | + | Day |Night | | | | | | + --------------+-----+------+-----+------+-----+--------+------+----- + Larceny | 3 | 22 | 88 | 3 | 6 | 3 | | 125 + Incorrigi- | | | | | | | | + bility | | 5 | 30 | 1 | 3 | | 1 | 40 + Truancy | | 2 | 27 | | 3 | | | 32 + Assault | | | | | | | | + and battery | | 2 | 5 | 1 | | | | 8 + Burglary | | 1 | | | | 2 | | 3 + Forgery | | 2 | | | | | | 2 + Manslaughter | | | 1 | | | | | 1 + Other charges | 1 | 2 | 5 | | | | | 8 + --------------+-----+------+-----+------+-----+--------+------+----- + Totals | 4 | 36 | 156 | 5 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 219 + ==============+=====+======+=====+======+=====+========+======+===== + + + _Table B. Ages when at Work at these Occupations_ + + ==================+=======+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+======== + | UNDER | | | | | | | | + | 10 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | TOTALS + ------------------+-------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-------- + Day messengers | | | | 1 | 1 | 2 | | | 4 + Night messengers | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 11 | 3 | | 36 + Newsboys | 29 | 29 | 28 | 36 | 19 | 14 | 1 | | 156 + Bootblacks | 3 | | 1 | | 1 | | | | 5 + Peddlers | 1 | 4 | | 2 | 3 | 1 | | 1 | 12 + Delivery boys | | 2 | | 1 | 1 | | | 1 | 5 + Cab drivers | | | | | 1 | | | | 1 + ------------------+-------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-------- + Totals | 34 | 37 | 31 | 45 | 38 | 28 | 4 | 2 | 219 + ==================+=======+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+======== + + + _Table C. Ages at Time of Commitment_ + +================+=======+===+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====== + | UNDER | | | | | | | | | | + COMMITTED FOR | 9 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Total +----------------+-------+---+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+------ +Larceny | 1 | 2 | 8 | 16 | 16 | 24 | 28 | 19 | 10 | 1 | 125 +Incorrigibility | | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | | 40 +Truancy | | 2 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 1 | | 32 +Assault and | | | | | | | | | | | + battery | | | | | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | | | 8 +Burglary | | | | | | | 2 | | | 1 | 3 +Forgery | | | | | | | 1 | 1 | | | 2 +Manslaughter | | | | | | | 1 | | | | 1 +Other charges | | | | | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | | | 8 +----------------+-------+---+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+------ + Totals | 1 | 5 | 15 | 26 | 26 | 40 | 52 | 33 | 19 | 2 | 219 +================+=======+===+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====== + + + _Table D. Nationality and Orphanage of Street Workers_ + + OCCUPATIONS + +--------------------------------------- Day messengers + | +--------------------------------- Night messengers + | | +--------------------------- Newsboys + | | | +--------------------- Bootblacks + | | | | +--------------- Peddlers + | | | | | +--------- Delivery boys + | | | | | | +--- Cab driver + | | | | | | | + V V V V V V V Totals +===============+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+======= +AMERICAN | 3 | 25 | 69 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 110 +NEGRO | | 5 | 59 | 1 | 2 | 3 | | 70 +GERMAN | | 3 | 13 | | 1 | | | 17 +IRISH | | 1 | 8 | | 1 | | | 10 +POLISH | 1 | 1 | 3 | | 1 | | | 6 +FRENCH | | | 2 | | 1 | | | 3 +SCOTCH | | 1 | | | | | | 1 +ITALIAN | | | 1 | | | | | 1 +JEWISH | | | 1 | | | | | 1 +---------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------- +FATHER | Yes | 4 | 30 | 107 | 5 | 7 | 4 | | 157 + LIVING | No | | 6 | 49 | | 5 | 1 | 1 | 62 +---------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------- +MOTHER | Yes | 3 | 30 | 119 | 5 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 174 + LIVING | No | 1 | 6 | 37 | | 1 | | | 45 +=========+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+======= + + + _Table E. Hours and Earnings of Street Workers_ + +(In only 91 cases were the hours given, and earnings in only 116 +cases.) + + OCCUPATIONS + +-------------------------------- Day messengers + | +--------------------------- Night messengers + | | +---------------------- Newsboys + | | | +----------------- Bootblacks + | | | | +------------ Peddlers + | | | | | +------- Delivery boys + | | | | | | +-- Cab driver + | | | | | | | + V V V V V V V Totals +====================+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+======= +HOURS | | | | | | | | + Day | | | | | | | | + All | 3 | | 29 | 5 | 11 | 5 | | 53 + Morning | | | 10 | | | | | 10 + Afternoon | | | 11 | | | | | 11 +--------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+------- + Night | | | | | | | | + All | | 6 | 1 | | | | | 7 + Before midnight | | 2 | 4 | | 1 | | 1 | 8 + After midnight | | 1 | 1 | | | | | 2 + Totals | 3 | 9 | 56 | 5 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 91 +====================+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+======= +DAILY EARNINGS | | | | | | | | + Under 50 cents | 1 | | 47 | 1 | 6 | | | 55 + 50-75 cents | 1 | 8 | 23 | 3 | 3 | 3 | | 41 + 75 cents-$1.00 | 1 | 4 | 5 | | 3 | 2 | 1 | 16 + $1.25-$1.50 | | 1 | 3 | | | | | 4 + Totals | 3 | 13 | 78 | 4 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 116 +====================+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+======= + + + _Table F. Non-Street Workers in Indiana Boys' School, 1910_ + + COMMITTED FOR + +--------------------------------- Larceny + | +--------------------------- Truancy + | | +--------------------- Incorrigibility + | | | +--------------- Burglary + | | | | +--------- Assault and battery + | | | | | +--- Other charges + | | | | | | + V V V V V V Totals +===============+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+======= +AMERICAN | 156 | 66 | 53 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 293 +NEGRO | 40 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 65 +GERMAN | 12 | 4 | 4 | | 1 | 2 | 23 +IRISH | 7 | 3 | 5 | | 1 | 1 | 17 +POLISH | 10 | 3 | 3 | | | | 16 +ENGLISH | 3 | | 1 | 1 | | | 5 +JEWISH | 1 | | 1 | | | | 2 +SWEDISH | | | 1 | | | | 1 +FRENCH | 2 | | | | | | 2 +MEXICAN | 1 | | | | | | 1 +ITALIAN | 1 | | | 1 | | | 2 +HUNGARIAN | 1 | | | | | | 1 +---------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------- +TOTALS | 234 | 86 | 75 | 8 | 6 | 19 | 428 +---------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------- +FATHER | Yes | 168 | 62 | 44 | 6 | 3 | 15 | 298 + LIVING | No | 66 | 24 | 31 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 130 +---------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------- +MOTHER | Yes | 182 | 62 | 50 | 7 | 5 | 17 | 323 + LIVING | No | 52 | 24 | 25 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 105 +=========+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+======= + + + _Table G. Non-Street Workers in Indiana Boys' School, 1910_ + + COMMITTED FOR + +--------------------------------- Larceny + | +--------------------------- Truancy + | | +--------------------- Incorrigibility + | | | +--------------- Burglary + | | | | +--------- Assault and battery + | | | | | +--- Other charges + AGES AT | | | | | | +COMMITMENT V V V V V V Totals +===========+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+======= + UNDER 9 | 9 | 7 | 1 | | | 2 | 19 + 9 | 7 | 10 | 7 | | | 3 | 27 + 10 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 1 | | 2 | 27 + 11 | 20 | 10 | 9 | 2 | | 3 | 44 + 12 | 25 | 17 | 8 | | | 1 | 51 + 13 | 33 | 14 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 61 + 14 | 46 | 10 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 73 + 15 | 47 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 66 + 16 | 28 | 3 | 12 | | 1 | | 44 + 17 | 9 | | 2 | | | 3 | 14 + OVER 17 | | | | 1 | 1 | | 2 +-----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------- + TOTALS | 234 | 86 | 75 | 8 | 6 | 19 | 428 +===========+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+=====+======= + + + _Table H. Behavior in Institution_ + + =========+================+==================== + | STREET WORKERS | NON-STREET WORKERS + ---------+----------------+-------------------- + Good | 39 or 18% | 95 or 22% + Average | 175 or 80% | 321 or 75% + Bad | 5 or 2% | 12 or 3% + ---------+----------------+-------------------- + Totals | 219 | 428 + =========+================+==================== + +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 is much greater than the ratio of the other inmates to +the whole body of non-street-working children in the state. + +In comparing Tables C and G it is seen that the street workers and the +non-street workers were committed for practically the same offenses, +and that their distribution according to offense does not vary widely. +It is significant that a much smaller proportion of the street workers +were committed to the institution under the age of ten years, than of +the non-street workers, indicating that street occupations (which are +not usually entered upon before the age of ten years), if followed for +a year or two, contribute largely to the promotion of delinquency. + +From a comparison of Tables D and F it will be observed that the +prevalence of delinquency among the street workers cannot be explained +on the ground of orphanage, as only 28 per cent were fatherless and 21 +per cent motherless, while of the non-street workers 30 per cent were +fatherless and 25 per cent were motherless. This indicates (1) that +street work in the great majority of cases is not made necessary by +orphanage, and (2) that street work causes delinquency in spite of +good home conditions so far as the presence of both parents +contributes to the making of a good home. Furthermore, it will be +noted in Table E that nearly half of the children for whom figures on +income could be obtained earned less than fifty cents per day--a small +return on the heavy investment in the risk of health and character. + +The difference in behavior at the institution between the street +workers and the others is shown in Table H to be almost negligible, +the latter making a slightly better showing. + +An English writer says: "There is no difficulty in understanding how +street trading and newspaper selling lead to gambling. We are told by +those who are best able to judge, that of the young thieves and +prostitutes in the city of Manchester, 47 per cent had begun as street +hawkers. For the younger boys and girls such an occupation, especially +at night, turns the streets into nurseries of crime. The newspaper +sellers are not exposed to quite the same dangers, but they are nearly +all gamblers. They gamble on anything and everything, from the horse +races reported hour by hour in the papers they sell, to the numbers on +the passing cabs, and they end by gambling with their lives."[139] + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + +THE STRUGGLE FOR REGULATION IN THE UNITED STATES + + +The economic activities of children in city streets, commonly called +street trades, are not specifically covered by the provisions of child +labor laws except in the District of Columbia and the states of +Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, +New Hampshire and Wisconsin. The laws of many other states as well as +of those mentioned, however, prohibit children under fourteen years of +age from being employed or permitted to work in the distribution or +transmission of merchandise or messages. If newspapers are +merchandise, then children under fourteen years would not be allowed +to deliver newspapers under the provision just stated. This raises a +nice question as to what is included in the term "merchandise." That +there is any distinction between newspapers and merchandise is +practically denied by the street-trades laws of Utah and New +Hampshire which provide that children under certain ages shall not +sell "newspapers, magazines, periodicals or _other_ merchandise in any +street or public place"; the question of delivery, however, is left +open by these laws. The Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, +in the case of District of Columbia _vs._ Reider, sustained the +juvenile court of the District in its decision that newspapers are not +merchandise and consequently that children under fourteen years of age +engaged in delivering newspapers are not affected by the law.[140] The +judge of the trial court stated in his opinion, "No one will seriously +contend that the nature of the employment in the case at bar is at all +harmful to the child." The case at bar was the prosecution of a route +agent for a morning newspaper on account of having employed a minor +under fourteen years of age to deliver newspapers. This opinion is +typical of the misplaced sympathy so commonly bestowed upon these +young "merchants" of the street. In the case cited, the court +permitted itself to be drawn aside into an interpretation of the +letter of the law instead of viewing the matter in the light of its +spirit. The purpose of such a law is to _prevent the labor_ of +children, not to distinguish between closely related forms of labor. +Its object is to afford protection, not to provoke discussion of +purely technical points. The _labor_ of delivering merchandise does +not differ in any respect from the _labor_ of delivering newspapers +(the possibly greater weight of merchandise does not alter the case, +inasmuch as it is usually carried about in wagons); and as the child +labor law of the District of Columbia forbids the delivery of +merchandise by children under fourteen years at any time, it follows +that the delivery of newspapers by such children should not be +allowed, because the intent of the law is to protect them from the +probable consequences of such work. Moreover, the District of Columbia +law prohibits children under sixteen years from delivering merchandise +before six o'clock in the morning; yet, under the interpretation given +by the juvenile court, it is perfectly proper for a child even under +the age of _fourteen_ years to perform the _labor_ of delivery before +that hour, provided he handles newspapers instead of packages. The +inconsistency of this is only too apparent. The spirit of the law is +lost sight of in the close interpretation of its wording. This is one +of the obstacles always encountered in the movement for child labor +reform after prohibitory legislation has been enacted. + +American legislation on street trading still clings persistently and +pathetically to the theory that uncontrolled labor is much better for +children than labor under the supervision of adults, and consequently +authorizes very young children to do certain kinds of work in the +streets on their own responsibility, while forbidding them to work at +other street occupations even under the control of older and more +experienced persons. This official incongruity must ultimately be +rescinded and replaced by more rational and comprehensive legislation. +The fallacy of permitting such a distinction on the ground that the +child is an independent "merchant" in the one case and an employee in +the other, must also be abandoned in favor of a more enlightened +policy. + + + _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 permits are not issued to boys under ten years +of age or to girls. An annual license fee of ten cents is charged, and +the license holder is supplied with a numbered badge which must be +worn conspicuously. Owing to its manifest weakness, this ordinance is +of little avail. + +It will be observed from the following table that the common age limit +for boys in street trading is ten years. When we pause to reflect on +the import of this, it is hard to realize that intelligent American +communities actually tolerate such an absurdly meager restriction; yet +the movement for reform has progressed even this far in only a very +small part of the country--in most places there is no restriction +whatever! Some day, and that not in the very remote future, we shall +look back upon the authorized exploitation of the present period with +the same degree of incredulity with which we now regard the horrors of +child labor in England during the early part of the nineteenth +century. + + + STATE LAWS + +============+===========+==========+=======+=============+================= + STATES | AGE LIMIT | LICENSES | HOURS | ENFORCEMENT | PENALTIES +------------+-----------+----------+-------+-------------+----------------- +Colorado, |Girls, 10; | | |Factory |$5-$100 fine for +1911 |any work | | |inspectors |first offense, + |in streets | | | |$100-$200 fine or + | | | | |imprisonment 90 + | | | | |days for 2d + | | | | |offense for + | | | | |employers. $5-$25 + | | | | |fine for parents +------------+-----------+----------+-------+-------------+----------------- +District of |Boys, 10; |Boys, |6 A.M. |Factory |Left to +Columbia, |Girls, 16; |10-15 |10 P.M.|inspectors |discretion of +1908 |bootblack- | | | |juvenile court + |ing, | | | | + |selling | | | | + |anything | | | | +------------+-----------+----------+-------+-------------+----------------- +Missouri, |Boys, 10; | | |Factory |Max. fine $100 or +1911 |girls, 16; | | |inspectors |max. imprisonment + |selling | | | |one year, for + |anything | | | |child +------------+-----------+----------+-------+-------------+----------------- +Nevada, 1911|Boys, 10; | | | |Child dealt with + |girls, 10; | | | |as delinquent + |selling | | | | + |anything | | | | +------------+-----------+----------+-------+-------------+----------------- +New Hamp- |Boys, 10; | | |Factory |$5-$200 fine or +shire, 1911 |girls, 16; | | |inspectors; |imprisonment + |publica- | | |truant |10-30 days, for + |tions or | | |officers |employers and + |other mdse.| | | |parents + |Boys, 10; | | | | + |girls, 10; | | | | + |bootblack- | | | | + |ing | | | | +------------+-----------+----------+-------+-------------+----------------- +New York, |Boys, 10; |Boys, |6 A.M. |Police and |Dealt with accor- +1903 |girls, 16; |10-13 |10 P.M.|truant |ding to law + |publica- | | |officers | + |tions | | | | +------------+-----------+----------+-------+-------------+----------------- +Oklahoma, |Girls, 16; | | |Commissioner |$10-$50 fine or +1909 |publica- | | |of Labor |imprisonment + |tions | | | |10-30 days for + | | | | |child +------------+-----------+----------+-------+-------------+----------------- +Utah, 1911, |Boys, 12; |Boys, |Not | |$25-$200 fine or +1st& 2d |girls 16; |12-15 |after | |imprisonment +class |publica- | |9 P.M. | |10-30 days, for +cities |tions or | | | |employers and + |other mdse.| | | |parents + |Boys, 12; |Boys, | | | + |girls, 12; |12-15 | | | + |bootblack- |Girls, | | | + |ing |12-15 | | | +------------+-----------+----------+-------+-------------+----------------- +Wisconsin, |Boys, 12; |Boys, |5 A.M. |Factory |$25-$100 fine or +1909, as |girls, 18; |12-15 |6.30 |inspectors |imprisonment 10- +amended |publica- | | P.M., | |60 days for pa- +1911, 1st |tions. | |winter | |rents permitting, +class |Boys, 14; | |7.30 | |and others em- +cities |girls, 18, | | P.M., | |ploying, child + |all others | |summer;| |under 16 to + | | |publi- | |peddle without + | | |cations| |permit. Same for + | | | | |newspapers allow- + | | | | |ing boys under + | | | | |16 about office + | | | | |between 9 A.M. + | | | | |and 3 P.M. on + | | | | |school days +------------+-----------+----------+-------+-------------+----------------- +Massachu- |Mayor and aldermen or selectmen may make re-|Max. fine $10 for +setts, 1902 |gulations of bootblacking and sale of news- |child; max. fine +as amended, |papers, merchandise, etc; may prohibit such |$200 or max. +1910 |sale or trades; or may require license to be|imprisonment 6 + |obtained from them. School committees in |months for parent + |cities have these powers as to children |allowing, person + |under 14 years. |employing, or + | |any one furnish- + | |ing articles to, + | |a child to sell +============+============================================+================= + + + CITY ORDINANCES + +==========+===============+==========+=========+=============+============= + CITIES | AGE LIMIT | LICENSES | HOURS | ENFORCEMENT | PENALTIES +----------+---------------+----------+---------+-------------+------------- +Boston, | Boys, 11; | Boys, | 6 A.M. | Supervisor |Revocation +1902, by | girls, 14; | 11-13 | 8 P.M., | of licensed |of license +school | bootblacking, | | winter | minors, |and fine as +committee | selling | | 9 P.M., | police and |stated for + | anything | | summer | truant |Massachusetts + | | | | officers | +----------+---------------+----------+---------+-------------+------------- +Cincin- | Boys, 10; | Boys, | 6 A.M. | Police, |Fine $1-$5 +nati, 1909| girls, 16; | 10-13 | 8 P.M. | truant and |for child + | bootblacking, | | | probation | + | selling | | | officers | + | anything | | | | +----------+---------------+----------+---------+-------------+------------- +Hartford, | Boys, 10; | Boys, | Not | |Revocation +1910 | girls, 10; | 10-13 | during | |of license + | selling | Girls, | school | |by school + | anything | 10-13 | hours | |superinten- + | | | or | |dent + | | | after 8 | | + | | | P.M. | | +----------+---------------+----------+---------+-------------+------------- +Newark, | Boys, 10; | Boys, | Not | Police and |Child placed +1904 | girls, 16; | 10-13 | between | truant |on probation + | newspapers | | 9 A.M. | officers |or committed + | | | and 3 | |to Newark + | | | P.M. | |City Home at + | | | nor | |expense of + | | | after | |parent + | | | 10 P.M. | | +==========+===============+==========+=========+=============+============= + +In an attempt to minimize the bad effects of street trading most of +the communities which have enacted laws or ordinances on the subject +provide for the issuance of licenses to boys, and in some cases also +to girls, in the belief that in this way the work of the children can +best be brought under some degree of control. However, this is merely +temporizing, although it affords an opportunity to gather facts and +undoubtedly marks a step toward a better solution of the problem. This +is brought out clearly by a recent British report on street trading: +"Our general impression, gathered in towns in which by-laws had been +made, was that, though in exceptional cases much good had resulted +from their adoption, on the whole this method of dealing with what we +have come to consider an unquestionable evil, has not proved adequate +or satisfactory. In many instances it has been pointed out to us that +a system of licensing and badging is but a method of legalizing what +is indisputably an evil, and that a set of by-laws, however rigorously +enforced, can at best only modify the difficulties of the +position."[141] + +The social workers of Chicago, keenly alive to the menace of the +situation, bewail the lack of protection for street workers in the +following words: "The child labor law and the compulsory school law +and the juvenile court law form the body of protective legislation +which has been developing in behalf of the children of Illinois during +the past twenty years. By none of the three, however, except in so far +as street trading by a child under ten is counted an element in +dependency, is the street-trading child safeguarded against parental +neglect or greed, the vicious sights and sounds of the city street and +the demoralizing habit of irregular employment."[142] + + + _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 favoring the passage of that +section of the child labor bill of 1911, which provided that boys +under ten years and girls under sixteen years should not sell anything +in any street or public place within the state. This provision was +enacted into law, but it is safe to say that if the rational age limit +of sixteen years for boys had been advocated instead of ten years, the +newspapers would have been most active in opposing this section. In +Cincinnati the circulation managers of the newspapers most affected by +the street-trades ordinance passed by the City Council in 1909 agreed +to its provisions before the measure was submitted to the Council, +and consequently it passed without opposition. + +In New Haven and Hartford repeated attempts have been made to secure +regulation of street trading by means of city ordinances, and at two +sessions of the state legislature bills have been introduced which +provided for such restriction, but all these efforts have been +persistently fought by a leading newspaper of Hartford in which city +it has always been customary to have girls as well as boys selling +newspapers on the street. In 1910, a city ordinance was passed in +Hartford providing that boys and girls under ten years should be +prohibited from trading in the streets and that between the ages of +ten and fourteen years they should be licensed and not allowed to sell +after 8 P.M. The newsgirls were not banished from the street because +it was held that they were "a pretty good sort of girl after all," and +that so long as it could not be proved that they were _demoralized_ by +the work, they should be permitted to go on with it. In other words, +the city clings to the fine old American policy of delaying action +until some calamity makes it necessary. + +The objections offered by interested parties to the by-laws drafted by +the London County Council at a hearing held in 1906, show that the law +of self preservation operates in England as in other quarters of the +Earth. News agents, employing little boys to deliver newspapers, +declared that conditions were not bad; that the work was healthful; +that the wages were a great help to poor parents; that they could not +afford to employ older boys; that the lads should be allowed to begin +at 6 A.M. and work not more than ten hours a day outside of school +with a maximum weekly limit of twenty-five hours; that to prohibit the +delivery of newspapers before 7 A.M. and after 7 P.M. would be a great +injustice to the trade; that boys wouldn't stay in bed even if 7 A.M. +were fixed as the hour for beginning work; that such work does not +interfere with schooling; that the boys are well looked after; in +short, that the by-laws would ruin them and bring starvation to the +children. One news agent in declaiming against the hours fixed for the +delivery of newspapers, insisted that the restriction would throw boys +out of employment and send them to trade in the streets with their +undesirable associations, apparently unmindful of the fact that +delivery boys themselves worked in that environment. The dairymen were +horrified at the limit placed on hours, urging that the little boys in +their employ should begin to deliver milk at 5 A.M., as early work was +beneficial and the wages useful to poor parents. Shopkeepers denounced +the by-laws as too drastic, because they would prevent such light work +as errand running at noon and casual employment in the evening after +7, resulting in hardship to both parents and children; one +acknowledged that if he were prevented from employing cheap labor his +business would suffer; another said that he employed a boy at noon and +also from 5.30 to 9 P.M., the work being light and the parents +satisfied, and that the training was good for boys. A fruiterer +actually declared that the limit of eight hours on Saturday would make +a boy valueless to him; another said he employed a boy for one hour in +the morning, from 6 to 9 in the evening, and also on Saturday morning +and evening, in running errands, and that the work was not heavy; +another employed boys after school from 6 to 9.30 P.M., insisting that +the work was good for them, as it kept them from the street and gave +them an insight into business habits.[143] It should be remembered +that all this work was performed by the children in addition to +attending school both morning and afternoon. + +The testimony given before the British Interdepartmental Committee of +1901 by the secretary of an association representing many thousand +retail shopkeepers, would be amusing if it were not so sinister. He +presented the subject of child labor in a most favorable aspect, +declaring that the wages were needed on account of poverty in the +families; that the work was light and had a _very beneficial_ effect +on health because it was done in the open air; that good meals were +given in addition to cash wages and were _very beneficial_; that the +effect on the boys' character was _very beneficial_, as the work +cultivated businesslike habits and kept the boys from running the +streets, frequently affording promotion to the higher grades of +shopkeeping.[144] Another British Committee, investigating conditions +in Ireland, reported, "We found but one witness (a newspaper manager +of Belfast) to testify that the present conditions of selling papers +in the street were satisfactory and cannot be improved; and that +instead of tending to demoralize, they have the opposite effect."[145] + + + _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 the same line of business and is free to adopt such +lawful means of placing his wares on the market as he sees fit, it +would be clearly impossible to force any one into such an agreement +against his will. Moreover, new competitors may enter the field at +any time who would not be bound by the agreement of the others, and +consequently this would soon be broken by the force of competition +following the intrusion of these new parties. + +Second, regulation by constituted legislative authority. This is the +more feasible method, and such regulation may be obtained from either +of two sources--the municipality or the state. There is a question as +to which of the two is the better for the purpose. Regulation by the +state has the advantage of making the provisions apply uniformly to +all cities within its borders and is obtained by no more effort than +is required to get an ordinance through the Council of a single +municipality. On the other hand, the municipal ordinance has the +advantage of being secured by residents of the community who are +intelligently concerned in the local problem and who will therefore +take an active interest in having its provisions enforced. However, +the good features of both these methods are united in the English +plan, a modification of which has been adopted by Massachusetts. +According to this plan the state fixes a minimum amount of +restriction and authorizes local authorities, including boards of +education, to increase the scope of restriction, and provides +penalties for violation of the same. + +As to the degree of regulation, an ultra-conservative measure would +prohibit boys under ten and girls under sixteen years from selling +anything at any time in the streets or public places of cities, while +the age limit for boys is raised to fourteen years for night work. The +issuance of licenses to boys ten to fourteen years of age who wish to +engage in street trading is the usual accompaniment of such +restriction, and while ordinarily of little avail, it could be made of +some assistance to truant and probation officers in their efforts to +enforce the compulsory education and delinquency laws. The age limit +for boys has been advanced to eleven years by the School Committee of +Boston, and to twelve years for newsboys and fourteen years for other +street workers by the state of Wisconsin. But all efforts to secure +such regulation should be based upon the principle that street trading +is an undesirable form of labor for children, and consequently should +be subject to at least the same restrictions as other forms of child +labor. + + + _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 children than any state of this +country, and, in the light of all this experience, her departmental +committee of 1910 has emphatically declared that street trading by +boys under seventeen and girls under eighteen years should be +absolutely prohibited. This should be our ideal in America. Commenting +on the banishment of young girls from the streets of New York City, +Mrs. Florence Kelley says, "If the law against street selling and +peddling by girls to the age of sixteen years can be thus effectively +enforced in a city in which the depths of poverty among the immigrants +are so frightful as they are in New York, there is no reason for +assuming that it is impossible to prohibit efficiently street selling +by boys."[146] Girls under eighteen years should never be allowed to +go out in the streets for commercial purposes, no matter how innocent +these purposes may be in themselves. One of the most important +features of the movement in America should be the absolute prohibition +of such work by minors under eighteen years at night; this is urged +because it is in harmony with the provisions of our most advanced +child labor laws and is fully justified because of the evil character +of the influences rampant in cities after dark, and because such night +work affords children a constant opportunity to cultivate their +acquaintance with, if not to know for the first time, conditions from +which every effort should be made to isolate them. For night messenger +service the age limit should be twenty-one years. + +The enforcement of such regulation as is now provided by the few +states and cities which have given this subject any attention, is +variously intrusted to factory inspectors, police, truant and +probation officers, but in Boston the school committee has delivered +this task into the hands of one man who is known as the supervisor of +licensed minors. The Boston plan for enforcement seems to have given +better results than the common system of intrusting the enforcement to +officers already overburdened with other duties, but it is clearly +impossible for one officer to handle the situation unaided in a large +city--the plan would be considerably improved by the appointment of +several assistants. + +"The licensing by the Boston School Committee of minors of school age +to trade in the streets of Boston came about through an act of +legislature in 1902. The need of supervision of minors licensed under +this act became very apparent, as their numbers increased and their +street influences reacting on their school life became better +understood. To meet this need a supervisor of licensed minors was +appointed whose duties are to secure the strict enforcement of the +law, regulations governing the various forms of street work of +children of school age, also to have general supervision of the +details of the licensing department."[147] + +Human nature in children is not in the least unlike human nature in +adults. Just as we need an interstate commerce commission backed by +the federal government to supervise the large business affairs of men, +so do we need a supervisor of children's commercial activities in city +streets, clothed with authority by the municipal government. + +The Boston plan is now being advocated for New York City: "In the +street trades the Committee recommends that the principle of +supervision of licensed minors, as practised for a number of years in +Boston, be adopted, and that an office be created in the Department of +Education that shall have supervisory control of all minors engaged in +street trades. It recommends furthermore that the minimum age limit +for licensing boys be raised from ten to fourteen years, and that the +legal limit for selling at night be reduced from 10 to 8, to +correspond more nearly with the provisions of labor legislation +dealing with children in factories."[148] + +The first attempt to control the situation in New York City was +intrusted to the police, but the results were not satisfactory, as +they looked upon the matter with indifference. Subsequently the truant +officers also were charged with this duty, and in 1908 four men were +assigned to give their entire attention to this work between 3 P.M. +and 11 P.M., and at present eight men are so engaged, but no very +marked improvement is noticeable. In Rochester the enforcement of the +state law was brought about through the efforts of the women of that +city; both business women and shoppers were asked to consider +themselves members of a vigilance committee and to notify the board of +education and the police department by telephone whenever any +violations of the law were observed upon the streets. Within five days +so many complaints had been received that both the superintendent of +schools and the president of the board of education arranged a meeting +at which their attention was invited to the widespread disregard of +the law. As a result, steps were taken at once to insure enforcement, +and finally the board of education appointed one truant officer, and +the commissioner of police detailed a policeman especially for the +work of reporting violations. + +In addition to providing an improved method of enforcement, efforts +have been made in Boston to deal more effectively with the difficult +problem of keeping street traders out of saloons, the licensing board +having issued an order to all holders of liquor licenses to prohibit +minors from loitering upon the licensed premises, more especially +newsboys and messenger boys. + +The efforts of the school committee to regulate street trading in +Boston have been further supplemented by organizing a Newsboys' +Republic, which is described as follows: "Perhaps the most important +result of supervision so far has been the gradual introduction of a +plan for self government among the licensed newsboys through the +so-called Boston School Newsboys' Association. This association is +pledged to the enforcement of the license rules and the suppression of +smoking, gambling and other street vices, more or less common among +the street boys of certain neighborhoods. The association is run by +the boys themselves, through officers of their own choosing, +consisting of one newsboy captain and two lieutenants for each school +district; also a chief captain and general secretary and an executive +board of seven elected from the ranks of the captains. The general +duties of the captains and lieutenants are, first, to see that all +licensed newsboys of their respective school districts live up to +their license rules, and the principles of the association. Secondly, +to see that all boys not licensed shall not interfere with or in any +way hurt the business of the licensed newsboys. These duties are +performed through weekly inspections on the street, supplemented by +monthly inspection at schools, at which time branch meetings of all +the boys in each district are frequently held."[149] + + + + + CHAPTER IX + +DEVELOPMENT OF STREET TRADES REGULATION IN EUROPE + + + _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 officers of the board of education and succeeded in +arousing their interest to the extent of securing a promise for the +collection of a return from the elementary schools of England and +Wales concerning the labor of public school pupils, their ages, and +other relevant information. In 1898, the House of Commons ordered +this inquiry to be made, and in June of that year copies of a schedule +were sent by the educational department to all the public elementary +schools in England and Wales. Many schoolmasters misunderstood the +meaning of this schedule and failed to report the children of their +schools who were actually engaged in various forms of work outside of +school hours. Only about half of the schedules were filled and +returned, but these showed that 144,026 children were following some +kind of gainful occupation in addition to attending school. Many +schoolmasters reported pitiable cases of child exploitation, as, for +example, the following: "Boys helping milkmen are up at 5 o'clock in +the morning, whilst those selling papers are about the streets to a +very late hour at night. During lessons many fall off to sleep, and if +not asleep the effort to keep awake is truly painful both to boy and +teacher. The educational time, as a consequence, is materially +wasted."[150] "These are sad cases, viz. one boy (aged eleven, in +Standard III) works daily, as a grocer's errand boy, for 1_s._ 6_d._ +a week, from 8 to 9 A.M., from 12 to 1.30 P.M., and from 4.30 to 7.30 +P.M. On Saturday from 8 A.M. to 10 P.M. Another boy, aged ten in +Standard III, works also as a grocer's errand boy for 1_s._ 6_d._ per +week, from 8.30 to 9 A.M., from 12 to 1.30 and from 5 to 8 P.M., and +on Saturday from 8.30 A.M. to 11 P.M." And all this in addition to +twenty-seven and one half hours of school every week! A boy who works +for 56-3/4 hours a week, selling papers, is employed as follows: +"Monday to Friday, from 7 A.M. to 8.45 A.M., from 12 to 1 P.M., and +from 4 to 10 P.M., and on Saturday from 7 A.M., to 10 A.M., from 12 to +2 P.M. and from 3 to 11 P.M." "This is a very bad case: called at 2 +and 3 o'clock A.M., the boy (aged eight) is so tired that he is +obliged to go to bed again, and is often absent from school, and made +to work in the evening as well."[151] Many schoolmasters also +testified to the need of a remedy; one of these wrote on the schedule: +"May I be allowed to express my gratitude to the education department +for making this inquiry, and express the hope that the department will +be able to frame some regulation to meet and relieve the onerous +conditions under which many of the young have to gain education. +Without exaggeration I can truthfully assert that there are to-day in +our national and board schools thousands of little white slaves."[152] + +Nothing more came of the movement until January, 1901, when the +Secretary of State for the Home Department appointed an +interdepartmental committee "to inquire into the question of the +employment of children during school age, and to report what +alterations are desirable in the laws relating to child labour and +school attendance and in the administration of these laws." After +making careful investigation this committee declared: "In the case of +street-trading children very strong powers of regulation are required. +These children are exposed to the worst influences; they enter public +houses to ply their trade, they are kept up late at night and exposed +to inclement weather, and the precarious nature of their trade +disinclines them to steady work, and encourages them to dissipate +their earnings in gambling ... there should be power to prohibit +street trading by children; to make regulations as to the age and sex +of street traders, and the days and hours on which they may ply their +trade; to grant licenses to those permitted to trade and to require +the wearing of badges or uniforms; to forbid street traders to enter +public houses or to importune or obstruct passengers; and generally to +control their conduct and to cope with the evil in every reasonable +way."[153] The committee further reported: "Our main recommendation is +that the overworking of children in those occupations which are still +unregulated by law should be prevented by giving to the county and +borough councils a power to make labour by-laws; ... further we +suggest that the gaps that may be left by local by-laws should be +filled up by a general prohibition of night labour by children and of +labour manifestly injurious to health."[154] This committee reported +that the number of children in England and Wales attending school and +also in paid employment was far greater than as reported by the +parliamentary return, estimating that the total number was no less +than 300,000 in 1898.[155] + +One of the witnesses before this committee was a London truant officer +of eighteen years' experience, who testified that every month he met +with hundreds of cases of milk boys who "go to work at 5 A.M. and +knock off at 8.30 and get to school at 9.45. At twelve they return to +work, and after school at 4.30 they go again and wash up. The latest +hour they work is about 8 P.M. I have frequently seen these children +fast asleep in school. It is a common thing to see children of tender +age outside the different theatres trying to sell newspapers at 11 +o'clock at night. The percentage of cases in which this work is +necessary is very small; it simply means that a little more money is +spent in the public houses."[156] The report of this committee +contains a great mass of testimony from persons in many walks of life, +nearly all of whom declared that street trading by children is bad and +should be regulated. They differentiated between the hawking of +articles in the streets and their delivery for employers, and one of +the witnesses from Liverpool testified that the local regulation of +street trading by children in that city did not apply to bootblacks +nor to boys who carried parcels because they were not selling +anything.[157] + +In 1902, an interdepartmental committee was appointed to study the +subject in Ireland, and in its report stated: "The principal dangers +to which they [street traders] are exposed are those arising from late +hours in the streets, truancy, insufficient clothing, entering +licensed premises to find sale for their goods, obstructing, annoying +or importuning passengers, begging, fighting with other children, +playing football or other games in the streets, using bad language, +playing pitch and toss (a gambling game), smoking--all of which are +matters of common observation, and have been testified to by many of +the witnesses. In our opinion these evils can be lessened, if not +entirely removed, by the simple system of regulation, licenses and +badges."[158] + +The direct result of the reports of these committees was the passage +by Parliament of the Employment of Children Act, 1903. Section 3 of +this act provides, first, that no child under eleven years shall +engage in street trading; second, no child under fourteen years shall +be employed between 9 P.M. and 6 A.M.; third, no factory or workshop +half-timer shall be employed in any other occupation; fourth, no child +under fourteen years shall handle heavy weights likely to result in +injury; fifth, no child under fourteen years shall engage in any +injurious employment. Sections 1 and 2 of this act give to local +authorities power to make by-laws regulating the employment of +children. The provisions of Section 2 concerning street trading are in +substance as follows: any local authority may make by-laws with +respect to street trading by persons under the age of sixteen years +and may prohibit such street trading subject to age, sex or the +holding of a license; may regulate the conditions on which such +licenses may be granted and revoked; may determine the days and hours +during which and the places at which such street trading may be +carried on; may require such street traders to wear badges and may +regulate generally the conduct of such street traders; provided that +the right to trade shall not be made subject to any conditions having +reference to the poverty or general bad character of the person +applying for this right, and provided also that the local authority +shall have special regard to the desirability of preventing the +employment of girls under sixteen years in streets and public places. + +Section 2 b of the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 1904, +imposes a penalty upon _adults_ who cause, procure or allow boys under +fourteen or girls under sixteen to trade in the streets between 9 P.M. +and 6 A.M. + +An official report made in 1907 gives the names of all counties, +boroughs and urban districts in Great Britain which had up to that +time made by-laws to regulate street trading by children. In England +and Wales, 2 counties, 60 cities and boroughs and 4 urban districts +had done so; in Scotland, 3 burghs and the school board districts of +11 burghs and 12 parishes; and in Ireland, 4 cities and boroughs and 1 +urban district had made such by-laws.[159] + +By 1910, out of 74 county boroughs in England and Wales, not less than +50 had made street-trading by-laws, and these included most of the +larger places; but out of 191 smaller boroughs and smaller urban +districts only 41 had done so; while among 62 administrative counties +only 3 had made by-laws. In addition to these, 4 county boroughs and 2 +of the smaller boroughs had made street-trading by-laws under local +acts. + +In Scotland, of the 33 county councils empowered to make by-laws, not +one had done so by 1910; while of 56 burghs only 3 had passed by-laws; +of 979 school boards only 27 had made such regulations. Edinburgh +passed by-laws under a private act. + +In Ireland, out of 33 county councils not one had made by-laws; of the +43 councils of urban districts with a population of over 5000, only 5 +had passed regulations. + +In 1909 the Secretary of State for the Home Department appointed a +departmental committee to inquire into the operation of the Employment +of Children Act, 1903, and to consider whether any and what further +legislative regulation or restriction was required in respect of +street trading and other employments dealt with in that act. This +committee confined its report, which was submitted in 1910, to the +subject of street trading; and its great contribution to the cause of +child welfare is its recommendation that street trading should be +_prohibited_ rather than regulated. The statute of 1903 prohibits all +work by children under the age of eleven years, and its restrictions +on street employment by children above that limit, out of school +hours, are prohibitions of _night_ work after nine o'clock, +consequently a child above the age of eleven years who engages in +street trading is restrained, during the day, only by such by-laws as +may have been adopted by the local authority. The committee found that +even in communities where by-laws had been adopted they were not +always observed, and also that where no by-laws had been passed the +minimum statutory restrictions were frequently ignored. The report +declared that: "A considerable amount of street trading is still done +by children under eleven. Special censuses taken in Edinburgh revealed +the fact that children as young as seven were trading in the streets. +The great bulk of the evidence received in and from Scotland points +to the conclusion that the Act [of 1903] has been almost a dead-letter +in that country.... Infringements of the Act in Ireland are no less +common. In Waterford newspapers are sold by children of nine years old +up to 11 P.M. and later."[160] The issuance of licenses and badges was +denounced as giving the stamp of official approval to what is +recognized as an evil, the adoption of by-laws resulting merely in a +partial improvement of conditions even when rigorously enforced. + +After having devoted several months to the inquiry, during which +evidence was gathered in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, +Dublin, Belfast, Birmingham and Liverpool in addition to receiving the +testimony of witnesses from Sheffield, Nottingham, Bolton and other +centers, the committee made this very noteworthy and significant +declaration: "We have come to the conclusion ... that the effect of +street trading upon the character of those who engage in it is only +too frequently disastrous. The youthful street trader is exposed to +many of the worst of moral risks; he associates with, and acquires the +habits of, the frequenters of the kerbstone and the gutter. If a match +seller, he is likely to become a beggar--if a newspaper seller, a +gambler; the evidence before us was extraordinarily strong as to the +extent to which begging prevails among the boy vendors of evening +papers. There was an almost equally strong body of testimony to the +effect that, at any rate in crowded centres of population, street +trading tends to produce a dislike or disability for more regular +employment; the child finds that for a few years money is easily +earned without discipline or special skill; and the occupation is one +which sharpens the wits without developing the intelligence. It leads +to nothing practically, and in no way helps him to a future career. +There can be no doubt that large numbers of those who were once street +traders drift into vagrancy and crime.... Much evidence was given to +the effect that the practice of street trading, even though only +carried on in the intervals of school attendance, tends to produce a +restless disposition, and a dislike of restraint which makes children +unwilling to settle down to any regular employment. So far as girls +are concerned, there must be added to the above evils an +unquestionable danger to morals in the narrower sense. The evidence +presented to us on this point was unanimous and most emphatic. Again +and again persons specially qualified to speak, assured us that, when +a girl took up street trading, she almost invariably was taking a +first step toward a life of immorality. The statement that the +temptations are great, and the children practically defenseless, needs +no amplification. An occupation entailing such perils is indisputably +unfit for girls."[161] + +The need for _prohibition_ of street trading was realized by this +committee, the change being urged in the following epoch-making +statement: "After carefully considering the operation of the by-laws +adopted since 1903, and comparing the present state of affairs with +that existing before the passing of the act, we have come to the +conclusion that the difficulties of the situation cannot be said to +have been met, or any substantial contribution to a solution of the +problem made, by the existing law and the machinery set up for its +enforcement. Regulation, however well organized and complete, will not +turn a wasteful and uneconomic use of the energies of children into a +system which is beneficial to the community. Consequently we feel that +we have no choice but to recommend the complete statutory prohibition +of street trading either by boys or by girls up to a specific age. In +the case of boys we feel that it would be wise to name an age which +would render it likely that they would have had full opportunities of +taking to regular work before they could legally trade in the streets. +We think the most suitable age would be seventeen, which gives an +interval of three or four years after the ordinary time of leaving an +elementary school.... So far as girls are concerned, we feel that the +arguments in favor of prohibiting trading increase rather than +diminish in force as the age of the traders advances. The entire body +of testimony laid before us has forced upon us the conclusion that +street trading by girls is entirely indefensible, and that no system +of regulation is sufficient to rid the employment of its risks and +objections. On the other hand, we have not been able to discover any +trace of hardship having resulted in any of those towns in which +by-laws have prohibited trading by girls, or have restricted the ages +during which trading is permitted. We think that the age of +prohibition should be higher for girls than for boys, and, while we +feel that it should, in any event, not be less than eighteen, we +should be willing to see it fixed as high as twenty-one."[162] + +As to the administration of the law, the committee declared that this +should be delivered into the hands of the education authorities who +could charge the regular truant officers with the work of enforcement +or employ special officers for the purpose. The placing of +responsibility upon the parents of child offenders was indorsed, but +the committee criticised administrators because of the small penalties +imposed as fines, the amounts being easily covered by the earnings of +the traders, and hence an increase of the maximum fine was +recommended. + +A minority report was submitted by four members of this committee who +declined to support the recommendation of the majority that street +trading should be immediately and universally prohibited in the case +of boys up to the age of seventeen. These members held that the cause +of street trading should first be removed by organizing employment +bureaus for children, by giving the children the benefit of vocational +direction, and by promoting industrial education for boys both while +attending the elementary schools and after. + + + _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. Quite a number of these children were nothing +more or less than beggars, and deliberately appeared in ragged +clothing for the purpose of exciting sympathy. A local association +undertook to supply them with clothing, but many refused this aid +"because it would interfere with their trade." Commenting on similar +practices among the street traders of Dublin, Sir Lambert H. Ormsby, +M.D., said in 1904: "They sell other things besides ... matches +principally. Of course the selling of matches is merely a means of +evading being taken up by the police for begging. The matches are only +humbug; they do not want to sell them ... they do it for begging +purposes."[163] In 1897 the Liverpool Watch Committee appointed a +subcommittee to consider the question of children trading in streets, +and this subcommittee reported that: "The practice is attended, first, +with injury to the health of the children; second, with interference +with the education of such as are of school age; third, with danger to +the moral welfare of the children inasmuch as the practice frequently +leads to street gambling, begging, sleeping out and other undesirable +practices, and in some cases to crime." They were of opinion--in which +the inspector of reformatories concurred--that much of the money +earned by the children went to indulge the vicious and intemperate +propensities of parents and guardians. + +By the Liverpool Corporation Act, 1898, Parliament gave the city power +to regulate street trading by children, and accordingly the following +provisions were made by the city council: (1) no licenses to any child +under eleven; (2) boys eleven to thirteen and girls eleven to fifteen +inclusive, to be licensed if not mentally or physically deficient, +with consent of parent or guardian; (3) licenses good one year; (4) +badges also to be issued; (5) no charge for license or badge; (6) +licenses may be revoked by Watch Committee for cause; (7) no licensed +child to trade after 9 P.M., nor unless decently clothed, nor without +badge, nor in streets during school hours unless exempted from school +attendance, and no licensed child may alter or dispose of badge, or +enter public houses to trade, or importune passengers. These +regulations took effect May 31, 1899, and marked the formal beginning +of the movement against street trading by children. + +In 1901 the Liverpool subcommittee reported that it was "of opinion +that the application of the powers conferred by the Act has had the +effect of greatly reducing the number of children trading in the +streets, especially during school hours and late in the evenings, and +of improving the condition, appearance, and behaviour of those +children who still engage in street trading." This subcommittee +recommended raising the boys' age limit for licenses from fourteen to +sixteen years, and was inclined to advise the total prohibition of +street trading by girls.[164] + + + _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 held in June and July of 1905, and +schoolmasters, attendance officers, police inspectors, news agents and +others testified. Mr. Jones held that it was his duty "to endeavour to +discover where the line should be drawn, and that it was not open to +argument either that child labour should entirely be prohibited or +that it should be unregulated."[165] + +In his report Mr. Jones took up each by-law separately and discussed +it, recommending that it be either confirmed or rejected in accordance +with his findings. He also drafted a set of by-laws and submitted them +with the recommendation that they be adopted instead of the ones +originally passed by the London County Council. Referring to these, he +says: "An important respect in which my suggested by-laws differ from +the County Council by-laws is in differentiating between employment in +connection with street stalls and other forms of street trading. It +seemed to be the general opinion [of witnesses] that the former +employment, being under the supervision of some adult person, probably +the parent, is not so harmful in its effects on the morals of the +child as the latter, and it must be remembered that the main objection +to street trading was on the ground rather of its affecting the +morality than the health and education of the children."[166] The +regulations drafted by Mr. Jones were not even so drastic as those +proposed by the London County Council, and in recommending milder +restrictions Mr. Jones says: "A set of by-laws should not err upon the +side of overstringency, nor should they be in advance of public +opinion; the first, because taking a step more or less in the dark +might cause hardships impossible to avoid, and the second, because any +by-laws of this sort, being most difficult of enforcement, will +certainly be evaded unless backed up by the weight of public +opinion."[167] + +The County Council, however, did not follow Mr. Jones's +recommendations in their entirety, but adopted a more stringent set of +by-laws which were put in force in October, 1906. In December, 1909, +the County Council again amended the by-laws, and an inquiry relative +to these changes was held by Mr. Stanley Owen Buckmaster in October, +1910. Mr. Buckmaster recommended a number of changes of minor +importance which were adopted by the Council, and accordingly the new +by-laws were adopted and took effect on June 3, 1911. This set of +by-laws will be found in the Appendix, page 264. The most significant +feature which they present is the raising of the age limit for boys to +fourteen years and for girls to sixteen years without exemption. The +old by-laws prohibited street trading by children under sixteen years +between the hours of 9 P.M. and 6 A.M., and this provision was +retained in the new by-laws, applying, however, only to boys, inasmuch +as girls under that age are prohibited from trading in the streets at +any time. These London by-laws on street trading are identical with +the provisions of the most advanced American child labor laws on +factory employment, and consequently they blaze the way for the +application of these provisions in the United States to street trading +as well as to employment in factories, mills and mines. + + + _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 that the regulation of street trading +is very highly organized; a special staff of selected, plain-clothes +officers, giving their whole time to the work, knowing the traders +personally, visiting the homes, advising the parents, clothing the +children and apparently exerting a most beneficial influence. All that +can be done through the instrument of regulation seems to be done +there, the various authorities working together to that end."[168] + +An English writer says that regulation in Manchester "has greatly +improved the conditions of the newspaper boys and others who earned +their living by hawking goods in the streets. It is something to the +good at any rate that a boy should be compelled to be decently +dressed and so avoid the obvious temptation of appealing to the +sympathies of the public by the picturesque raggedness of his +clothing. At the same time one cannot help feeling that halfway +legislation of this sort is only playing with the problem and that the +only really satisfactory law would be one which prohibited street +trading by children altogether."[169] + + + _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." + + + _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 supervision; their attendance at school is watched; and if +they persist in selling after 9 P.M. or disobey instructions, their +licenses are revoked.[170] + + + _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 preceding Christmas, numerous children under fourteen +were thus employed. Protests against the practice were made by the +Consumers' League and similar organizations, and resulted in the +passage of a police regulation, for its restriction; and in 1909 a +further step was taken by providing that no exceptions of this sort be +thereafter permitted, so that now the employment of children under +fourteen years of age in street trading is absolutely forbidden in +Berlin."[171] + +The Industrial Code forbids children under twelve years to deliver +goods or perform other errands except for their own parents. Children +over twelve years may so engage for not more than three hours daily +between 8 A.M. and 8 P.M., but not before morning school nor during +the noon recess nor until one hour after school has closed in the +afternoon; on Sundays and holidays such children may do this work only +for two hours between 8 A.M. and 1 P.M., but not during the principal +church service or the half hour preceding it. Such children must +first obtain the _Arbeitskarte_ from the local police authority, which +is issued upon request of the child's legal representative. Employers +must notify the police authority in advance of the employment of such +children. + + + _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 sidewalks outside of bazaars and large stores. According to +its provisions, the work of such persons would be prohibited for more +than two hours at a time and for more than six hours a day, while +seats and heating facilities would have to be supplied the same as +for employees inside the large establishments.[173] + +In Paris, newspapers are sold almost exclusively at kiosks on street +corners, presided over by middle-aged women. + + + + + 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 which his physical and moral interests have been +sacrificed. If ever we are forced to yield the foremost place among +commercial nations, we shall yield it to some people preeminently +vigorous in body and in mind." To-day these words seem to us a +veritable prophecy--but we must not forget that they apply to America +no less than to England. If our civilization is to continue and to +improve with time, every child must have a proper opportunity to grow +under conditions as nearly normal as possible; we must secure to the +children their birthright--the right to play and to dream, the right +to healthful sleep, the right to education and training, the right to +grow into manhood and into womanhood with cleanness and strength both +of body and of mind, the right of a chance to become useful citizens +of the future. Eternal vigilance is the price of protection for +childhood, and while "Women and children first" is a rigid law of the +sea, "Children first" is the fundamental law both of Nature and +civilization. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] Wisconsin Statutes, Section 1728 p., Laws of 1911. + + [2] Report of Interdepartmental Committee on the Employment of + Children during School Age in Ireland, 1902, Minutes of Evidence, Q. + 71. Cf. also Great Britain--Employment of Children Act, 1903, Section + 13. + + [3] _The Newsboy_, Pittsburgh, April, 1909. + + [4] Great Britain--Report of Interdepartmental Committee on Employment + of School Children, 1901, pp. 18, 19. + + [5] Scott Nearing, "The Newsboy at Night in Philadelphia," _Charities + and The Commons_, February 2, 1906. + + [6] "The Child in the City," Handbook of Chicago Child Welfare + Exhibit, 1911, p. 25. + + [7] "A Plea to Take the Small Boy and Girl from the City Streets," a + folder issued by Chicago Board of Education and a committee + representing local organizations, 1911. + + [8] Pamphlet 114 of National Child Labor Committee, p. 8. + + [9] Elizabeth C. Watson, "New York Newsboys and their Work," 1911. + + [10] _The Survey_, April 22, 1911, p. 138. + + [11] "Studies of Boy Life in Our Cities (England)," edited by E. J. + Urwick, 1904, p. 296. + + [12] Report of Interdepartmental Committee on the Employment of + Children during School Age in Ireland, 1902, p. vii. + + [13] Twelfth Census of United States, Vol. II, Population, Part II, p. + 506. + + [14] Twelfth Census of United States, Special Reports, Occupations, + 1904, pp. xxiv, cxxxiii. + + [15] _Idem_, pp. xxiii, cxxxiii. + + [16] Twelfth Census of United States, 1900, Vol. VII, p. cxxv. + + [17] Instructions to Enumerators, Thirteenth Census of the United + States, pp. 32-34. + + [18] These tables were copied from charts displayed at the Chicago + Child Welfare Exhibit, May, 1911. + + [19] "The Child in the City," Handbook of the Child Welfare Exhibit, + Chicago, May 11-25, 1911, p. 25. + + [20] _Idem_, p. 25. + + [21] "The Social Evil in Chicago," by the Vice Commission of Chicago, + 1911, pp. 241-242. + + [22] "A Plea to take the Small Boy and the Girl from the City + Streets," by the Chicago Board of Education and a committee + representing local organizations, 1911. + + [23] Elizabeth C. Watson, "New York Newsboys and their Work," 1911. + + [24] Abstract of Immigration Commission's Report on the Greek Padrone + System in the United States, 1911, p. 9. + + [25] A more detailed presentation of this matter will be found in + Chapter IV. + + [26] Immigration Commission's Report, p. 9. + + [27] Elementary Schools (Children working for Wages), House of Commons + Papers, 1899, No. 205, p. 17. + + [28] _Idem_, p. 21. + + [29] _Idem_, p. 17. + + [30] Elementary Schools (Children working for Wages), House of Commons + Papers, 1899, No. 205, p. 25. + + [31] Great Britain, Report of Interdepartmental Committee on + Employment of School Children, 1901, p. 8. + + [32] _Idem_, p. 9. + + [33] _Idem_, p. 10. + + [34] Great Britain, Report of Interdepartmental Committee on + Employment of School Children, 1901, p. 18. + + [35] _Idem_, p. 16. + + [36] Robert H. Sherard, "Child Slaves of Britain," 1905, p. 178. + + [37] Report of President of State Children Relief Board of New South + Wales for year ending April 5, 1910, pp. 39-40. + + [38] Vierteljahrshefte des Kaiserlichen Statistischen Amts, 1900, Heft + III, p. 97. See also Great Britain, Report of Interdepartmental + Committee on Employment of School Children, 1901, App. 3, p. 294. + + [39] Bulletin 89 of United States Bureau of Labor, 1910, p. 84. + + [40] Bulletin 89 of United States Bureau of Labor, 1910, p. 56. + + [41] _Idem_, p. 63. + + [42] _Idem_, p. 65. + + [43] _The Hustler_, organ of Boston Newsboys' Club, February, 1911. + + [44] Report of the Newsboys' Home Association of Washington, D.C., + 1863-1864, p. 7. + + [45] "The Education, Earnings and Social Condition of Boys Engaged in + Street Trading in Manchester," by E. T. Campagnac and C. E. B. + Russell; Great Britain, Report of Interdepartmental Committee on + Employment of School Children, 1901, App. 45, pp. 456-457. + + [46] Handbook of New York Child Welfare Exhibit, 1911, p. 33. + + [47] "Child Labor on the Street," _The Newsboy_, leaflet of New York + Child Labor Committee, 1907. + + [48] Report of Newsboys' and Children's Aid Society of Washington, + D.C., 1889, p. 10. + + [49] "The Education, Earnings and Social Condition of Boys Engaged in + Street Trading in Manchester," by Campagnac and Russell, 1901. + + [50] Child Labor at the National Capital, an address delivered in + Washington, December, 1905, Pamphlet 23 of National Child Labor + Committee. + + [51] Mary E. McDowell, Pamphlet 114 of National Child Labor Committee, + pp. 6-7. + + [52] "The Social Evil in Chicago" by the Vice Commission of Chicago, + 1911, p. 242. + + [53] Miss Todd, Pamphlet 114 of National Child Labor Committee, p. 12. + + [54] National Child Labor Committee, Pamphlet 114, p. 12. + + [55] Great Britain, Minutes of Evidence Taken Before Departmental + Committee on Employment of Children Act, 1903, 1910, Q. 9724. + + [56] Bulletin 89 of United States Bureau of Labor, 1910, p. 46. + + [57] _Charities and The Commons_, February 2, 1906. + + [58] "Some Ethical Gains through Legislation," 1905, p. 12. + + [59] "Child Labor on the Street," _The Newsboy_, leaflet of New York + Child Labor Committee, 1907. + + [60] "Children in American Street Trades," 1905, Pamphlet 14 of + National Child Labor Committee. + + [61] _Charities and The Commons_, February 2, 1906. + + [62] Great Britain, Report of Interdepartmental Committee on + Employment of School Children, 1901, p. 23. + + [63] Great Britain, Minutes of Evidence Taken before Departmental + Committee on Employment of Children Act, 1903, 1910, Q. 1837 _et seq._ + + [64] Great Britain, Report of Departmental Committee on Employment of + Children Act, 1903, submitted in 1910, p. 13. + + [65] George A. Hall, "The Newsboy," in Proceedings of Seventh Annual + Meeting of National Child Labor Committee, 1911, p. 102. + + [66] School Document, No. 14, 1910, Boston Public Schools, pp. 42-44. + + [67] Report of New York-New Jersey Committee of the North American + Civic League for Immigrants, December, 1909-March, 1911, pp. 33-34. + + [68] Abstract of Immigration Commission's Report on the Greek Padrone + System in United States, 1911, p. 10. + + [69] Abstract of Report on Greek Padrone System in United States, by + Immigration Commission, 1911, p. 22. + + [70] _Survey_, Vol. XXVI, p. 591. + + [71] School Document, No. 10, 1910, Boston Public Schools, p. 133. + + [72] "The Social Evil in Chicago," by the Vice Commission of Chicago, + 1911, p. 242. + + [73] "Child Labor at the National Capital," an address delivered in + Washington, December, 1905, Pamphlet 23 of National Child Labor + Committee. + + [74] "The Social Evil in Chicago," by the Vice Commission of Chicago, + 1911, p. 244. + + [75] Bulletin 69 of Bureau of Census, "Child Labor in the United + States," 1907, p. 170. + + [76] Robert H. Sherard, "Child Slaves of Britain," p. 179. + + [77] Great Britain, Report of Interdepartmental Committee on Physical + Deterioration, 1904, Vol. II, Q. 10,440. + + [78] J. G. Cloete, "The Boy and his Work" in "Studies of Boy Life in + Our Cities," edited by E. J. Urwick (England), 1904, p. 121. + + [79] E. J. Urwick, "Studies of Boy Life in Our Cities" (England), + 1904, p. 305. + + [80] "Some Ethical Gains through Legislation," 1905, p. 15. + + [81] Victor S. Clark, "Women and Child Wage Earners in Great Britain," + Bulletin 80, United States Bureau of Labor, p. 28. + + [82] "Newsboy Life--What Superintendents of Reformatories and Others + think about its Effects," Leaflet No. 32 of National Child Labor + Committee, 1910. + + [83] "Buffalo Child Labor Problems," folder issued by New York Child + Labor Committee, 1911, p. 3. + + [84] Elizabeth C. Watson, "New York Newsboys and their Work," 1911. + + [85] Scott Nearing, "The Newsboy at Night in Philadelphia," _Charities + and The Commons_, February 2, 1906. + + [86] John Spargo, "Bitter Cry of the Children," 1906, p. 184. + + [87] James L. Fieser, "Causes of Truancy," Indiana Bulletin of + Charities and Correction, June, 1910, p. 227. + + [88] James A. Britton, M.D., "Child Labor and the Juvenile Court," + Pamphlet 95 of National Child Labor Committee, 1909. + + [89] Great Britain, Report of Departmental Committee on Employment of + Children Act, 1903, submitted in 1910, p. 12. + + [90] Mrs. Louise B. More, "Wage-Earners' Budgets," 1907, p. 148. + + [91] J. G. Cloete, "The Boy and his Work" in "Studies of Boy Life in + Our Cities (England)," edited by E. J. Urwick, 1904, p. 131. + + [92] _Idem_, p. 135. + + [93] E. J. Urwick, "Studies of Boy Life in Our Cities," 1904, p. 307. + + [94] _Idem_, p. 309. + + [95] Robert H. Sherard, "Child Slaves of Britain," 1905, pp. 179-180. + + [96] Constance Smith, Report on the Employment of Children in the + United Kingdom, 1909, p. 11. + + [97] Margaret Alden, M.D., "Child Life and Labour," 1908, p. 118. + + [98] Great Britain, Report of Interdepartmental Committee on Physical + Deterioration, 1904, Vol. I, paragraph 68. + + [99] _Idem_, Vol. II, Q. 2453. + + [100] _Idem_, Vol. II, Q. 2479. + + [101] Great Britain, Minutes of Evidence taken before Departmental + Committee on Employment of Children Act, 1903, 1910, Q. 9503 _et seq._ + + [102] Great Britain, Report of Interdepartmental Committee on + Employment of School Children, 1901, App. 39, p. 418. + + [103] Copied from Charts in Child Labor Exhibit at National Conference + of Charities and Correction, St. Louis, May, 1910. + + [104] Great Britain, Report of Interdepartmental Committee on + Employment of School Children, 1901, p. 11. + + [105] Great Britain, Report of Departmental Committee on Employment of + Children Act, 1903, 1910, p. 12. + + [106] Elizabeth C. Watson, "New York Newsboys and their Work," 1911. + + [107] "Child Labor on the Street," leaflet of New York Child Labor + Committee, _The Newsboy_, 1907. + + [108] "The Education, Earnings and Social Condition of Boys Engaged in + Street Trading in Manchester," by Campagnac and Russell, 1901. + + [109] Report of Interdepartmental Committee on Employment of Children + during School Age in Ireland, 1902, Q. 3862. + + [110] Report of the Board of Education of the Toledo City School + District, 1910-1911, p. 141. + + [111] "Juvenile Delinquency and its Relation to Employment," Vol. VIII + of Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United + States, Senate Document No. 645, 61st Congress, 2d Session. + + [112] "Juvenile Delinquency and its Relation to Employment," Vol. VIII + of Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United + States, Senate Document No. 645, 61st Congress, 2d Session, p. 39. + + [113] _Idem_, p. 42. + + [114] "Juvenile Delinquency and its Relation to Employment," Vol. VIII + of Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United + States, Senate Document No. 645, 61st Congress, 2d Session, p. 44. + + [115] _Idem_, p. 59. + + [116] "Juvenile Delinquency and its Relation to Employment," Vol. VIII + of Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United + States, Senate Document No. 645, 61st Congress, 2d Session, p. 62. + + [117] _Idem_, p. 69. + + [118] _Idem_, p. 71. + + [119] "Juvenile Delinquency and its Relation to Employment," Vol. VIII + of Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United + States, Senate Document No. 645, 61st Congress, 2d Session, p. 73. + + [120] _Idem_, p. 84. + + [121] "Juvenile Delinquency and its Relation to Employment," Vol. VIII + of Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United + States, Senate Document No. 645, 61st Congress, 2d Session, p. 86. + + [122] _Idem_, p. 87. + + [123] _Idem_, p. 90. + + [124] "Juvenile Delinquency and its Relation to Employment," Vol. VIII + of Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United + States, Senate Document No. 645, 61st Congress, 2d Session, p. 91. + + [125] _Idem_, p. 92. + + [126] "Juvenile Delinquency and its Relation to Employment," Vol. VIII + of Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United + States, Senate Document No. 645, 61st Congress, 2d Session, p. 105. + + [127] Includes 17 in bowling alleys and pool rooms and 23 in theaters + and other places of amusement. + + [128] Includes 2 in boarding houses, 26 home workers (precise + character of work not specified), 10 in restaurants, and 12 in private + families. + + [129] Includes 26 bootblacks and 320 newsboys. + + [130] "Juvenile Delinquency and its Relation to Employment," Vol. VIII + of Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United + States, Senate Document No. 645, 61st Congress, 2d Session, p. 106. + + [131] _Idem_, pp. 106-107. + + [132] "Juvenile Delinquency and its Relation to Employment," Vol. VIII + of Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in the United + States, Senate Document No. 645, 61st Congress, 2d Session, p. 108. + + [133] _Idem_, pp. 116-117. + + [134] _Idem_, p. 134. + + [135] Davis Wasgatt Clark, "American Child and Moloch of To-day," + 1907, p. 40. + + [136] George B. Mangold, "Child Problems," 1910, p. 232. + + [137] James A. Britton, M.D., "Child Labor and the Juvenile Court," + Pamphlet 95 of National Child Labor Committee, 1909. + + [138] Vol. VIII of Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners + in the United States, 1911, p. 22. + + [139] E. J. Urwick, "Studies of Boy Life in Our Cities (England)," + 1904, p. 304. + + [140] Bulletin 81, United States Bureau of Labor, p. 416. + + [141] Great Britain, Report of Departmental Committee on the + Employment of Children Act, 1903, submitted in 1910, p. 9. + + [142] "A Plea to take the Small Boy and the Girl from the City + Streets," by the Chicago Board of Education and a committee + representing local organizations, 1911. + + [143] Report on Bylaws made by London County Council under Employment + of Children Act, 1903, by Chester Jones, 1906, pp. 24-27. + + [144] Great Britain, Report of Interdepartmental Committee on + Employment of School Children, 1901, App. 33, p. 403. + + [145] Report of Interdepartmental Committee on the Employment of + Children during School Age in Ireland, 1902, p. vii. + + [146] "Street Trades," in Proceedings of Seventh Annual Meeting of + National Child Labor Committee, 1911, p. 108. + + [147] School Document No. 15, 1909, Boston Public Schools, pp. 34-35. + + [148] Committee on Work and Wages, Handbook of New York Child Welfare + Exhibit, 1911, p. 33. + + [149] School Document No. 15, 1909, Boston Public Schools, p. 36. + + [150] Elementary Schools (Children Working for Wages), House of + Commons Paper, 1899, No. 205, p. 14. + + [151] Elementary Schools (Children Working for Wages), House of + Commons Paper, 1899, No. 205, pp. 26-27. + + [152] _Idem_, p. 16. + + [153] Great Britain, Report of Interdepartmental Committee on + Employment of School Children, 1901, pp. 20-21. + + [154] _Idem_, p. 24. + + [155] _Idem_, p. 9. + + [156] _Idem_, Q. 1123. + + [157] Great Britain, Report of Interdepartmental Committee on + Employment of School Children, 1901, Q. 7203. + + [158] Great Britain, Report of Interdepartmental Committee on the + Employment of Children during School Age in Ireland, 1902, p. 6. + + [159] Great Britain, Return of Local Authorities which have made + By-laws under the Employment of Children Act, 1903, 1907. + + [160] Great Britain, Report of Departmental Committee on Employment of + Children Act, 1903, submitted in 1910, p. 7. + + [161] Great Britain, Report of Departmental Committee on Employment of + Children Act, 1903, submitted in 1910, p. 11. + + [162] Great Britain, Report of Departmental Committee on Employment of + Children Act, 1903, submitted in 1910, p. 13. + + [163] Great Britain, Report of Interdepartmental Committee on Physical + Deterioration, 1904, Vol. II, Q. 12757-12759. + + [164] Great Britain, Report of Interdepartmental Committee on + Employment of School Children, 1901, App. 37, pp. 415-416. + + [165] Report on the By-laws made by the London County Council under + the Employment of Children Act, 1903, by Chester Jones, 1906, p. 5. + + [166] _Idem_, p. 16. + + [167] _Idem_, p. 15. + + [168] Great Britain, Report of Departmental Committee on Employment of + Children Act, 1903, submitted in 1910, p. 9. + + [169] J. G. Cloete, "The Boy and his Work" in "Studies of Boy Life in + our Cities," 1904, p. 131. + + [170] "Citizens in the Making," Annual Report of Superintendent of + Neglected Children for Province of Manitoba, Canada, 1910, pp. 31-34. + + [171] C. W. A. Veditz, "Child Labor Legislation in Europe," in + Bulletin 89 of United States Bureau of Labor, 1910, p. 242. + + [172] Henry Ferrette, "Manuel de legislation industrielle," 1909, p. + 149. + + [173] Daily Consular and Trade Reports, 14th Year, No. 106, p. 566. + + + + BIBLIOGRAPHY + + + BOOKS + + ADAMS, MYRON E., _Children in American Street Trades_, in Proceedings + of First Annual Meeting of National Child Labor Committee, 1905, + pp. 25-46. + + ---- _Municipal Regulations of Street Trades_, in Proceedings of + National Conference of Charities and Correction, 1904, Vol. XXXI, + pp. 294-300. + + ALDEN, MARGARET, _Child Life and Labour_. + + BRITTON, JAMES A., _Child Labor and the Juvenile Court_, in + Proceedings of Fifth Annual Meeting of National Child Labor + Committee, 1909, p. 111. + + BROWN, EMMA E., _Child Toilers of Boston Streets_. + + _Buffalo Child Labor Problems_, folder issued by New York Child Labor + Committee, 1911. + + CAMPAGNAC AND RUSSELL, _Education, Earnings and Social Condition of + Boys Engaged in Street Trading in Manchester_, Board of Education + Special Reports on Educational Subjects, 1902, Vol. VIII, pp. + 653-670. + + _Child Labor in Germany Outside of Factories_, in Report of United + States Commissioner of Education, 1900-1901, Vol. I, pp. 54-80. + + _Child Labor on the Street--The Newsboy_, leaflet of New York Child + Labor Committee, 1907. + + _Child Labor in the United States_, Bulletin 69 of Bureau of Census, + 1907. + + CLARK, DAVIS W., _American Child and Moloch of To-day_, 1907, p. 40. + + CLARK, VICTOR S., _Woman and Child Wage Earners in Great Britain_, in + Bulletin 80 of United States Bureau of Labor, January, 1909. + + CLOETE, J. G., _The Boy and his Work_, in _Studies of Boy Life in Our + Cities_, edited by E. J. Urwick, 1904, pp. 129-133. + + CLOPPER, EDWARD N., _Children on the Streets of Cincinnati_, in + Proceedings of Fourth Annual Meeting of National Child Labor + Committee, 1908, pp. 113-123. + + ---- _Child Labor in Street Trades_, in Proceedings of Sixth Annual + Meeting of National Child Labor Committee, 1910, pp. 137-144. + + CONANT, RICHARD K., _Street Trades and Reformatories_, in Proceedings + of Seventh Annual Meeting of National Child Labor Committee, 1911, + pp. 105-107. + + _Employment of Children Act_, 1903, Great Britain, in J. N. Larned's + _History for Ready Reference_, 1910, Vol. VII, p. 87. + + DAVIS, PHILIP, _Child Life on the Street_, National Conference of + Charities and Correction, 1909. + + FIESER, JAMES L., _Causes of Truancy_, in Indiana Bulletin of + Charities and Correction, June, 1910, p. 227. + + FLEISHER, ALEXANDER, _The Newsboys of Milwaukee_, in Fifteenth + Biennial Report, Part III, of Wisconsin Bureau of Labor, 1911-1912, + pp. 61-96. + + GIBBS, S. P., _Problem of Boy Work_. + + GREAT BRITAIN, Elementary Schools (Children Working for Wages), + Parliament Sessional Papers 1899, Vol. 75. + + ---- Report of Interdepartmental Committee on Employment of School + Children, 1901. + + ---- Report of Interdepartmental Committee on Employment of Children + during School Age in Ireland, 1902. + + ---- Report of Interdepartmental Committee on Physical Deterioration, + 1904, Vol. II, Q. 2453-2479, 10,440, 12,757. + + ---- Report of Interdepartmental Committee on Partial Exemption from + School Attendance. + + ---- Report of Departmental Committee on Employment of Children Act, + 1903, 1910. + + ---- Report on By-laws made by London County Council under Employment + of Children Act, 1903, by Chester Jones, 1906. + + ---- Report of Education Committee of London County Council, March 21, + 1911, pp. 690-696. + + Report of President of State Children Relief Board of New South Wales + for year ending April 5, 1910, pp. 39-40. + + Citizens in the Making, Annual Report of Superintendent of Neglected + Children for Province of Manitoba, Canada, 1910, pp. 31-34. + + _Greek Padrone System in United States_, Abstract of Immigration + Commission's Report on, 1911. + + GUNCKEL, J. E., _Boyville_, 1905. + + HALL, GEORGE A., _The Newsboy_, in Proceedings of Seventh Annual + Meeting of National Child Labor Committee, 1911, pp. 100-102. + + HENDERSON, CHARLES R., _Street Trading of Children_, in his + _Preventive Agencies and Methods_, 1910, Vol. III, pp. 97-100. + + _Juvenile Delinquency and its Relation to Employment_, Vol. VIII of + Report on Condition of Woman and Child Wage Earners in United + States, Senate Document 645, 61st Congress, 2d Session. + + KELLEY, FLORENCE, _Children in Street Trades_ and _Telegraph and + Messenger Boys_, in her _Some Ethical Gains through Legislation_, + 1905, pp. 11-26. + + ---- _Street Trades_, in Proceedings of Seventh Annual Meeting of + National Child Labor Committee, 1911, pp. 108-110. + + MANGOLD, GEORGE B., _Child Problems_, 1910, p. 232. + + NEILL, CHARLES P., _Child Labor at the National Capital_, in + Proceedings of Second Annual Meeting of National Child Labor + Committee, 1905, pp. 17-20. + + _New York Child Welfare Exhibit, Handbook of_, 1911, p. 33. + + _Newsboys' Home Association of Washington, D.C., Report of_, + 1863-1864. + + _Newsboy Law_, in Handbook of Child Labor Legislation, 1908, National + Consumers' League, p. 63. + + _Newsboys' and Children's Aid Society of Washington, D.C._, 1889. + + _Newsboy Life--What Superintendents of Reformatories and Others Think + about its Effects_, Leaflet 32 of National Child Labor Committee, + 1910. + + North American Civic League for Immigrants, Report of New York-New + Jersey Committee, December, 1909-March, 1911, pp. 33-34. + + PEACOCK, ROBERT, _Employment of Children with Special Reference to + Street Trading_, in Proceedings of Third International Congress for + Welfare and Protection of Children, 1902, pp. 191-202. + + _Plea to Take the Small Boy and Girl from the City Streets_, a folder + issued by Chicago Board of Education and a committee representing + local organizations, 1911. + + _Problems of Street Trading_, in Proceedings of Fifth Annual Meeting + of National Child Labor Committee, 1909, pp. 230-240. + + _Saving the Barren Years_, in The Child in the City, Handbook of + Chicago Child Welfare Exhibit, 1911, pp. 25-27. + + School Document No. 14, 1910, Boston Public Schools, pp. 41-44. + + School Document No. 10, 1910, Boston Public Schools, pp. 132-138. + + School Document No. 15, 1909, Boston Public Schools, pp. 34-37. + + SCOTT, LEROY, _The Voice of the Street_. + + SHERARD, ROBERT H., _Child Slaves of Britain_. + + SMITH, CONSTANCE, _Report on Employment of Children in United + Kingdom_. + + _The Social Evil in Chicago_, Report of Chicago Vice Commission, 1911, + pp. 241-245. + + SPARGO, JOHN, _Street Trades_ in his _Bitter Cry of the Children_, + 1906, pp. 184-188, 258-259. + + STELZLE, CHARLES, _The Boy of the Street_, New York, 1904, pp. 7, 41. + + URWICK, E. J., editor of _Studies of Boy Life in Our Cities_ + (England), 1904. + + VEDITZ, C. W. A., _Child Labor Legislation in Europe_, Bulletin 89 of + United States Bureau of Labor, July, 1910. + + WATSON, ELIZABETH C., _New York Newsboys and their Work_, 1911. + + WHITIN, E. S., _Child Labor: Street Trades_, in his _Factory + Legislation in Maine_, 1908, pp. 137-138. + + WILLIAMS, M., _The Street Boy: Who He is and What to do with Him_, + National Conference of Charities and Correction, 1903. + + WILLIAMSON, E. E., _The Street Arab_, in Proceedings of National + Conference of Charities and Correction, 1898, Vol. XXV, pp. + 358-361. + + + MAGAZINE ARTICLES + + Child Labor, by Florence Kelley, _Twentieth Century_, 1911, Vol. V, + pp. 30-34. + + Child Laborers of the Street--The New York Bills, _Charities and + Commons_, 1903, Vol. X, pp. 205-206. + + Child Labor and the Night Messenger Service, by Owen R. Lovejoy, _The + Survey_, Vol. XXIV, pp. 311-317. + + Child Street Trades in London, _Charities and Commons_, 1903, Vol. X, + pp. 149-150. + + Children as Wage Earners--Street Sellers, _Fortnightly Review_, 1903, + Vol. LXXIX, pp. 921-922. + + Committee on Wage-earning Children--Third Annual Report, _Economic + Review_, 1904, Vol. XIV, pp. 208-211. + + Convalescent Men for Newsboys, _The Survey_, 1910, Vol. XXV, p. 809. + + Enforcing the Newsboy Law in New York and Newark, by J. K. Paulding, + _Charities and Commons_, 1905, Vol. XIV, pp. 836-837. + + Ethics of the Newsboy, by A. Saxby, _Western_, Vol. CLVIII, pp. + 575-578. + + The Greek Bootblack, by Leola Benedict Terhune, _The Survey_, 1911, + Vol. XXVI, pp. 852-854. + + The Greek Boy Who Shines Shoes, _The Survey_, 1911, Vol. XXVI, p. 591. + + Hartford Regulates Child Street Trades, _The Survey_, 1910, Vol. XXV, + p. 511. + + Industrial Democracy: A Newsboys' Labor Union and What It Thinks of a + College Education, by R. W. Bruere, _Outlook_, 1906, Vol. LXXXIV, + pp. 878-883. + + John E. Gunckel of Toledo: the Newsboys' Evangelist, by A. E. Winship, + _World To-day_, 1908, Vol. XV, pp. 1169-1173. + + De Kid Wot Works at Night, by William Hard, _Everybody's_, 1908, Vol. + XVIII, pp. 25-37. + + Milwaukee Regulates Its Street Trades--Other Wisconsin Child Labor + Advances, _Survey_, 1909, Vol. XXII, p. 589. + + New Jersey Children in Street Trades by E. B. Butler, _Charities and + Commons_, 1907, Vol. XVII, pp. 1062-1064. + + New Rules for Street Trades in Boston, with a Comparison of + Regulations in Liverpool, _Charities and Commons_, 1909, Vol. XXI, + pp. 953-954. + + New York's Newsboy Lodging House, _Charities and Commons_, 1908, Vol. + XXI, pp. 147-148. + + New York's Newsboys Licensed, _Charities and Commons_, 1903, Vol. XI, + pp. 188-189. + + The Newsboy at Night in Philadelphia, by Scott Nearing, _Charities and + Commons_, 1907, Vol. XVII, pp. 778-784. + + The Newsboy Breadwinner Story, _Charities and Commons_, 1903, Vol. XI, + pp. 482, 568. + + Newsboy Wanderers are Tramps in the Making, by Ernest Poole, + _Charities and Commons_, 1903, Vol. X, pp. 160-162. + + Newsboys Elect Their Own Judge, _Survey_, 1910, Vol. XXV, p. 312. + + Night Messenger Service, by Owen R. Lovejoy, _Survey_, Vol. XXV, p. + 504. + + The Press and its Newsboys, by John Ihlder, _World To-day_, 1907, Vol. + XIII, pp. 737-739. + + Sale of Goods on Sidewalks (in France), Daily Consular and Trade + Reports, 14th Year, No. 106, p. 566. + + School Children as Wage Earners, by E. F. Hogg, _Nineteenth Century_, + 1897, Vol. XLII, pp. 235-244. + + School Children as Wage Earners--Street Trading in Liverpool, by J. E. + Gorst, _Nineteenth Century_, 1899, Vol. XLVI, p. 16. + + Street Children, by Benjamin Waugh, _Contemporary Review_, 1888, Vol. + LIII, pp. 825-835. + + Street Labor and Juvenile Delinquency, by Josephine C. Goldmark, + _Political Science Quarterly_, 1904, Vol. XIX, pp. 417-438. + + Street Trades and Delinquency, _Survey_, 1911, Vol. XXVI, p. 285. + + The Street-trading Children of Liverpool, by Thomas Burke, + _Contemporary Review_, 1900, Vol. LXXVIII, pp. 720-726. + + Street Trading by Children (Bradford, England), Daily Consular and + Trade Reports, 14th Year, No. 89, p. 246. + + Two O'clock Sunday Morning, by Scott Nearing, _The Independent_, 1912, + Vol. LXXII, No. 3297, pp. 288-289. + + A Western Newspaper and its Newsboys, by W. B. Forbush, _Charities and + Commons_, 1907, Vol. XIX, pp. 798-802. + + Waifs of the Street, by Ernest Poole, _McClure's_, Vol. XXI, pp. + 40-48. + + What Boston Has Done in Regulating the Street Trades for Children, by + Pauline Goldmark, _Charities and Commons_, 1903, Vol. X, pp. + 159-160. + + What of the Newsboy of the Second Cities? Investigations carried on in + Buffalo, _Charities and Commons_, 1903, Vol. X, pp. 368-371. + + + + + APPENDICES + + + + + 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. + + + _Wisconsin_ + +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 years, shall in +any city of the first class distribute, sell or expose or offer for +sale newspapers, magazines or periodicals in any street or public +place. + +SECTION 1728 q. No boy under fourteen years of age, shall, in any city +of the first class, work at any time, or be employed or permitted to +work at any time, as a bootblack or in any other street trade, or +shall sell or offer any goods or merchandise for sale or distribute +hand bills or circulars or any other articles, except newspapers, +magazines or periodicals as hereinafter provided. + +SECTION 1728 r. No girl under eighteen years of age shall, in any city +of the first class, work at any time, or be employed or permitted to +work at any time, as a bootblack or at any other street trades or in +the sale or distribution of hand bills or circulars or any other +articles upon the street or from house to house. + +SECTION 1728 s. No boy under sixteen years of age shall, in any city +of the first class, distribute, sell or expose or offer for sale any +newspapers, magazines or periodicals in any street or public place or +work as a bootblack, or in any other street or public trade or sell or +offer for sale or distribute any hand bills or other articles, unless +he complies with all the legal requirements concerning school +attendance, and unless a permit and badge, as hereinafter provided, +shall have been issued to him by the state factory inspector. No such +permit and badge shall be issued until the officer issuing the same +shall have received an application in writing therefor, signed by the +parent or guardian or other person having the custody of the child, +desiring such permit and badge, and until such officer shall have +received, examined and placed on file the written statement of the +principal or chief executive officer of the public, private or +parochial school, which the said child is attending, stating that such +child is an attendant at such school with the grade such child shall +have attained, and provided that no such permit and badge shall be +issued, unless such officer issuing it is satisfied that such child +is mentally and physically able to do such work besides his regular +school work as required by law. + +SECTION 1728 t. Before any such permit is issued, the state factory +inspector shall demand and be furnished with proof of such child's age +by the production of a verified baptismal certificate or a duly +attested birth certificate, or, in case such certificates cannot be +secured, by the record of age stated in the first school enrollment of +such child. Whenever it appears that a permit was obtained by wrong or +false statements as to any child's age, the officer who granted such +permit shall forthwith revoke the same. After having received, +examined and placed on file such papers, the officer shall issue to +the child a permit and badge. The principal or chief executive officer +of schools, in which children under fourteen years of age are pupils, +shall keep a complete list of all children in their school to whom a +permit and badge has been issued, as herein provided. + +SECTION 1728 u. Such permit shall state the place and date of birth of +the child, the name and address of its parents, guardian, custodian or +next friend, as the case may be, and describe the color of hair and +eyes, the height and weight and any distinguishing facial marks of +such child, and shall further state that the papers required by the +preceding section have been duly examined and filed; and that the +child named in such permit has appeared before the officer issuing +the permit. The badge furnished by the officer issuing the permit +shall bear on its face a number corresponding to the number of the +permit, and the name of the child. Every such permit, and every such +badge on its reverse side, shall be signed in the presence of the +officer issuing the same by the child in whose name it is issued. +Provided, that in case of carrier boys working on salary for newspaper +publishers delivering papers, a card of identification shall be issued +to such carriers by the factory inspector, which they shall carry on +their person, and exhibit to any officer authorized under this act, +who may accost them for a disclosure of their right to serve as such +carriers. + +SECTION 1728 v. The badge provided for herein shall be such as the +state factory inspector shall designate, and shall be worn +conspicuously in sight at all times in such position as may be +designated by the said factory inspector by such child while so +working. No child to whom such permit and badge or identification card +are issued shall transfer the same to any other person. + +SECTION 1728 w. No boy under fourteen years of age shall, in any city +of the first class, sell, expose or offer for sale any newspapers, +magazines or periodicals after the hour of six-thirty o'clock in the +evening, between the first day of October and the first day of April, +nor after seven-thirty o'clock in the evening between the first day of +April and the first day of October, or before five o'clock in the +morning; and no child under sixteen years of age shall distribute, +sell, expose or offer for sale any newspapers, magazines or +periodicals or shall work as a bootblack or in any street or public +trades or distribute hand bills or shall be employed or permitted to +work in the distribution or sale or exposing or offering for sale of +any newspapers, magazines or periodicals or as a bootblack or in other +street or public trades or in the distribution of hand bills during +the hours when the public schools of the city where such child shall +reside are in session. Provided, that any boy between the ages of +fourteen and sixteen years, who is complying and shall continue to +comply with all the legal requirements concerning school attendance, +and who is mentally and physically able to do such delivery besides +his regular school work, shall be authorized to deliver newspapers +between the hours of four and six in the morning. + +SECTION 1728 x. The commissioner of labor or any factory inspector +acting under his direction shall enforce the provisions of this law, +and he is hereby vested with all powers requisite therefor. + +SECTION 1728 y. The permit of any child, who in any city of the first +class distributes, sells or offers for sale any newspapers, magazines +or periodicals in any street or public place or works as a bootblack +or in any other street trade, or sells or offers for sale or +distributes any hand bills or other articles in violation of the +provisions of this act, or who becomes delinquent or fails to comply +with all the legal requirements concerning school attendances shall +forthwith be revoked for a period of six months and his badge taken +from said child. The refusal of any child to surrender such permit, +and the distribution, sale or offering for sale of newspapers, +magazines or periodicals or any goods or merchandise, or the working +by such child as a bootblack or in any other street or public trade, +or in distributing hand bills or other articles, after notice, by any +officer authorized to grant permits under this law of the revocation +of such permit and a demand for the return of the badge, shall be +deemed a violation of this act. The permit of said child may also be +revoked by the officer who issued such permit, and the badge taken +from such child, upon the complaint of any police officer or other +attendance officer or probation officer of a juvenile court, and such +child shall surrender his permit and badge upon the demand of any +police officer, truancy or other attendance officer or probation +officer of a juvenile court or other officer charged with the duty of +enforcing this act. In case of a second violation of this act by any +child, he shall be brought before the juvenile court, if there shall +be any juvenile court in the city where such child resides, or, if +not, before any court or magistrate having jurisdiction of offenses +committed by minors and be dealt with according to law. + +SECTION 1728 z. Any parent or other person who employs a minor under +the age of sixteen years in peddling without a license or who, having +the care or custody of such minor, suffers or permits the child to +engage in such employment, or to violate sections 1728 p to 1728 za, +inclusive, shall be punished by a fine not to exceed one hundred +dollars nor less than twenty-five dollars, or by commitment to the +county jail for not more than sixty days or less than ten days. + +SECTION 1728 za. Providing that no badge shall be issued for a boy +selling papers between the ages of twelve and sixteen years by the +state factory inspector, except upon certificate of the principal of +either public, parochial or other private school attended by said boy, +stating and setting forth that said boy is a regular attendant upon +said school. No boy under the age of sixteen years shall be permitted +by any newspaper publisher or printer or persons having for sale +newspapers or periodicals of any character, to loiter or remain around +any salesroom, assembly room, circulation room or office for the sale +of newspapers, between the hours of nine in the forenoon and three in +the afternoon, on days when school is in session. Any newspaper +publisher, printer, circulation agent or seller of newspapers shall +upon conviction for permitting newsboys to loiter or hang around any +assembly room, circulation room, salesroom or office where papers are +distributed or sold, shall be punished by a fine not to exceed one +hundred dollars nor less than twenty-five dollars, or by commitment to +the county jail for not more than sixty days or less than ten days. + + + _London, England_ + + BY-LAWS ADOPTED BY THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL AND PUT IN FORCE + ON JUNE 3, 1911 + + By-laws 1-9 concern the employment of children generally. + +10. No girl under the age of 16 years shall be employed in or carry on +street trading. + +11. No boy under the age of 14 years shall be employed in or carry on +street trading. + +12. No boy under the age of 16 years shall be employed in or carry on +street trading before 6 in the morning or after 9 in the evening. + +13. No boy under the age of 16 years shall at any time be employed in +or carry on street trading unless + +(1) He is exempt from school attendance, and + +(2) He first procures a badge from the London County Council, which he +shall wear whilst engaged in street trading on the upper part of the +right arm in such a manner as to be conspicuous. + +The badge shall be deemed to be a license to trade, and may be +withheld or withdrawn for such period as the London County Council +think fit in any of the following cases-- + +(_a_) If the boy has, after the issue of the badge to him, been +convicted of any offense. + +(_b_) If it is proved to the satisfaction of the London County Council +that the boy has used his badge for the purpose of begging or +receiving alms, or for any immoral purpose, or for the purpose of +imposition, or for any other improper purpose. + +(_c_) If the boy fails to notify the London County Council within one +week of any change in his place of residence. + +(_d_) If the boy commits a breach of any of the conditions under which +such badge is issued; such conditions to be stated on such badge or +delivered to the boy in writing. + +14. A boy to whom a badge has been issued by the London County Council +shall in no way alter, lend, sell, pawn, transfer, or otherwise +dispose of, or wilfully deface, or injure such badge, which shall +remain the property of the London County Council, and he shall, on +receiving notice in writing from the London County Council (which may +be served by post) that the badge has been withdrawn, deliver up the +same forthwith to the London County Council. + +15. A boy under the age of 16 years, whilst engaged in street trading, +shall not enter any premises used for public entertainment or licensed +for the sale of intoxicating liquor for consumption on the premises +for the purpose of trading. + +16. A boy under the age of 16 years, whilst engaged in street trading, +shall not annoy any person by importuning. + +17. Nothing in these by-laws contained shall restrict the employment +of children in the occupations specified in section 3 (_a_) of the +Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act, 1904, further than such +employment is already restricted by statute. + + + APPENDIX B + +TWO TYPES OF NEWSBOY BADGES. + +[Illustration: BADGE USED IN CINCINNATI.] + +[Illustration: BADGE USED IN BOSTON.] + + + 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. + + + Cards used by Boston School Committee for Issuance of Licenses + + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + APPLICATION FOR A LICENSE + + To the School Committee of the City of Boston: + + I hereby apply for a license for my son as NEWSBOY--PEDLER--BOOTBLACK. + + SIGNATURE + OF PARENT + + I promise to see that he lives up to the license rules. ________________ + + SIGNATURE + OF BOY + + I promise to live up to the license rules. ________________ + + ------------------------------------------------------------------------- + SCHOOL RECORD OF BOY TO BE FILLED OUT BY THE TEACHER AND PRINCIPAL + ---------------------+-------------------+------------------------------- + PLACE OF BIRTH | DATE OF BIRTH | RESIDENCE + | | + -------+-------------+-------------------+------------------------------- + GRADE | SCHOLARSHIP | PHYSICAL DEFECT? | SIGNATURE OF TEACHER + | | | + -------+-------------+-------------------+------------------------------- + + I hereby certify that this Boy's attendance is______ His conduct is_____ + + + SIGNATURE OF PRINCIPAL SCHOOL + + ____________________________________ _____________________________ + + + GRANTED WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE: + + __________________________ SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + (CARD RETURNED TO SCHOOL FOR FILE) + LICENSED MINORS + _________ + + + ________________________________________ No.________________________ + + Birth date + + Teacher Grade + + School + + Badge given Expires and must be returned + ========================================================================= + + READ AND COPY + + LICENSE RULES OF THE BOSTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE + + _________ + + No boy can get a license unless he is eleven years of age and able to + understand and COPY the following: + + A LICENSED NEWSBOY + + MUST MUST NOT + + 1. Must ATTEND school regularly. | 6. Must not sell before 6 A.M. + 2. Must be "GOOD" in conduct. | 7. Must not sell after 8 P.M. + 3. Must have no UNLICENSED | (9 P.M. in baseball season.) + boy help him. | 8. Must not sell in SCHOOL HOURS. + 4. Must keep the badge TO | 9. Must not sell on CARS. + HIMSELF. | 10. Must not sell without wearing + 5. Must RETURN his badge to the | the badge IN PLAIN SIGHT + Superintendent of Schools | ALL THE TIME. + when ordered to do so. | + + Any boy who breaks any of the above rules is liable to have his license + revoked or go to court and pay a maximum fine of TEN dollars. + + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + + Form of Application for License used in Hartford, Conn. + + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + ~City of Hartford~ + + + TO THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS:-- + + I hereby make application for a Street-Sales Permit for + ______________________________________________________________________ + + Born in ______________________________________________________________ + + Age ______________ Sex _______________ Complexion ____________________ + + Eyes _____________ Hair ______________ Figure ________________________ + + Living at_________________________________________ Street ____________ + + If such license is granted I agree that it shall be for this child and + for no other. + + ________________________________________ Parent, Guardian, Next Friend + + Hartford, ____________________________ + + + =School Information= + + ______________________________________________________________________ + + Living at _______________________________________ _Street_____________ + + is pupil in this School, is regular in attendance, and is a suitable + child to have a Street-Sales Permit. + + ________________________________ Principal. + + __________________________________ Teacher. + + __________________________________ School. + + The age, sex, complexion, eyes, hair, and figure, should be as + described above. + + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + + Form used in Obtaining Information before the Issuing of a Badge in + Province of Manitoba, Canada. + + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + LICENSED NEWSBOY + + No. __________________ Date _________________________________ + + Child's name _____________________________________ Age _______________ + + Father's name ____________________________ Address ___________________ + + Mother's name ________________________________________________________ + + Father's occupation __________________________________________________ + + School and Grade _____________________________________________________ + + Principal's name _____________________________________________________ + + Church __________________ Clergyman __________________________________ + + Address ______________________________________________________________ + + Is child of apparently normal development? ___________________________ + + What proof has been given that he is over twelve years of age? _______ + + ______________________________________________________________________ + + Why do parents want him to sell papers? ______________________________ + + Can child read? ______________________________________________________ + + Can child write? _____________________________________________________ + + Has badge been granted? _____________ No. of badge ___________________ + + If badge has not been granted, state why _____________________________ + + _____________________________________________ + _Superintendent Neglected Children, + Province of Manitoba._ + + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + + Sample of Card used in Investigation of Street Trades in Philadelphia + + + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + Name_______________________________Address_______________________________ + + Age_______________sells__________________________at______________________ + + From________to________every day. Works from________to________on Saturday. + + How long in street trades_____________Income________________per__________ + + Parents living_____lives at home_______contributes_______per_____to home. + + If not living at home where does boy reside? + + Lodging house___ Furnished room___ + + Some relative___$__per___paid for board. Does boy gamble__drink__smoke___ + + Habit acquired prior to engaging in street trades________________________ + + Does vendor save part earnings___________________________________________ + + Where and with whom does boy spend non-working hours_____________________ + + At what hour does newsboy reach home_____Has boy a route (exclusive)_____ + + General health of boy____________________________________________________ + + Schooling________________________________________________________________ + + Is selling boy's own choice______________________________________________ + + How many nights so far this summer has boy stayed out all night__where___ + + Investigator________________________________Date_________________________ + + + =Philadelphia Investigation Card= + + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + + Sample of Card used in Investigation of Newsboys in Milwaukee + +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + NAME ADDRESS CITY ++-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +| I. FAMILY | ++======================+=================+=============+==================+ +|Name of {Guardian} | Nationality: | Religion: | Occupation: | +|person he {Parent } | | | | +|lives with{ } | | | | ++--------------------+-+------+--------+-+-------+-----+------------------+ +|Number in Family: |Mother |Father | Total |Number contributing | +| | | |Children | to family support | ++--------------------+--------+--------+---------+------------------------+ +|Age of Boy, yr. mo. |Number of years |Papers handled Daily Sunday *| +| | selling papers | Weekly | ++--------------------+-----------------+----------------------------------+ +|Sells papers as Employer Employee of Individual *| ++-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +|Sells at (street) | ++---------------------------------------------------------+---------------+ +|Sells: Morning Afternoon Evening After 9 P.M. *|Permit Number *| +| |Has none | ++------------------+--------------------------+-----------+---------------+ +|Does he come |Where else does he eat? | How often (elsewhere) | +|home for supper? | | per week? | ++------------------+--------------------------+---------------------------+ +|Arrives home |P.M. Saturday nights |Leaves to {deliver} A.M.*| +|P.M. week nights | | {sell } | ++------------------+---------------+----------+-+-------------------------+ +|Does he stay out How often |Shoot |Go into {Saloons } | +|all night? per week? |"craps"? | {Tenderloin} | ++-----------------------+-----------------------+-------------------------+ +|Does he like |Family require |Why is he working? | +|the work? |his working? | | ++=======================+=======================+=========================+ +| II. SCHOOL | ++==============================+==========================================+ +|School attended: | Location: | ++-------------------------+----+----------+-------------------------------+ +|Informant: | Grade: | Years in school: | ++-------------------------+---------------+-------------------------------+ +|Boy's standing in Good Fair Poor *| Conduct: Good Fair Poor *| +|school work: Poor | | ++------------------+----------------------+-------------------------------+ +|Is Boy drowsy? |Is school work injured by selling papers? Yes No *| ++------------------+--------------+--------------------+------------------+ +|Attendance: Regular Irregular *|Number of days |Absences excused | +| |absent last month: | | ++---------------------------------+--------------------+------------------+ + +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + + Reverse Side of Milwaukee Newsboy Investigation Card + +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + ++--------------------------------------------++---------------------------+ +| III. INCOME (AMOUNT RECEIVED BY || | +| FAMILY CASHIER) ||IV. TO BE OBTAINED FROM BOY| ++----------------------------------+---------+| | +|SOURCE OCCUPATION PER NO. WEEKS| TOTAL || | +| WEEK PER YEAR |PER YEAR || | ++----------------------------------+------+--++---------------------------+ +|Newsboy | | ||What does boy $ | +| | | ||earn per week? | ++----------------------------------+------+--++---------------------------+ +|Other Children | | ||How much given $ | +| | | ||to family? | ++----------------------------------+------+--++---------------------------+ +|Father | | ||Why is he selling papers? | ++----------------------------------+------+--++---------------------------+ +|Mother | | || | ++----------------------------------+------+--++---------------------------+ +|Rents | | || | ++----------------------------------+------+--++---------------------------+ +|Lodgers | | || | +|(outside of family) | | || | ++----------------------------------+------+--++---------------------------+ +|Other | | || | +|Sources | | || | ++----------------------------------+------+--++---------------------------+ +|Total | | || | ++==================================+======+==++===========================+ +|Remarks--Housing: || INSTRUCTIONS | +| || | +| || It is necessary to get | +| ||answers to all questions, | +| ||as there are a | ++--------------------------------------------++comparatively small number | +| ||of cases being | +| ||investigated. | +| || Divisions I and III are to| +| ||be obtained from the | +| ||family. | ++--------------------------------------------++ Division II from school | +|Cleanliness: ||principal or teacher. | +| || Division IV from the boy | +| ||himself, away from his | +| ||family, if possible. | +| || Only boys under 14 are to | ++--------------------------------------------++considered. | +|Other: || If parent is dead, cross | +| ||out line two, over. | +| || * Use check ([X]) to mark | +| ||what answer is. | +| || If there are several | +| ||answers, check each. | ++--------------------------------------------++---------------------------+ + +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + + + +INDEX + + + Addams, Jane, on Illinois child labor law, 15. + + Age limit (_see_ Laws and Ordinances), 194-196. + + Austria, investigation of 1907, 49-51. + + + Begging, 38, 69, 96, 220. + + Berlin regulations, 240. + + Bootblacks, 83, 93. + Ages, 84. + Delinquency, 165. + Diseases, 87, 88. + Earnings, 84, 89, 95. + Environment, 86, 87. + Home conditions, 85. + Hours, 84, 85, 94, 95. + Padrone System, report by Immigration Commission, 86-92. + Report by North American Civic League for Immigrants, 83, 84. + + Boston, license statistics, 33. + Regulations of street work, 196. + + Boston Newsboys' Court, 79-81. + + Boston Newsboys' Republic, 212. + + Buffalo conditions, report on, 132, 133. + + + Canada, 238. + + Chicago Child Welfare Exhibit, 14, 29. + + Chicago statistics of local studies, 28, 29. + + Chicago Vice Commission's report, 30, 67, 96, 118. + + Child Welfare Exhibit, 14. + Chicago, 29. + New York, 60. + + Cincinnati, license statistics, 35, 71. + Market children, 97. + Newsboy conditions, 54. + Regulations of street work, 196. + + + Delinquency, relation to street work, report of Dr. Charles P. Neill, + 159. + Chicago juvenile court records, 178. + Connection between occupation and offense, 171. + Records of Indiana Boys' School, 179-187. + + Delivery Service, 68, 161-174. + + Detroit, regulations of street work, 193. + + + Edinburgh, conditions in, 44, 125, 224. + + Effects of street work, classified, 128. + In Buffalo, 132, 133. + In physical deterioration, 142-145. + Opinions of superintendents of reformatories, 131, 132. + + Employment distinguished from independent work, 2, 192. + + Enforcement of regulations, 132, 208, 211. + + Errand running, 202. + Delinquency, 161-174. + + + France, regulations, 241. + + + Germany, inquiry of 1898, 45-48. + Regulations, 239. + + Girls as newspaper sellers, 31, 65, 200. + + Great Britain, Departmental Committee of 1910, 76, 138, 147, 197, 223, + 237. + Employment of Children Act, 1903, 221. + Interdepartmental Committee of 1901, 43, 73, 145, 203, 217. + Interdepartmental Committee of 1902 on Ireland, 150, 294, 220. + Interdepartmental Committee of 1904 on Physical Deterioration, 125, + 142. + Parliamentary return of 1899, 39-42, 215. + + + Hartford, regulations of street work, 196. + + Housing problem's relation to street trading, 20. + + + Illinois, effort to regulate street trading, 14, 198. + + Immigration Commission, report on Padrone System, 36, 86-92. + + Ireland, report of Interdepartmental Committee of 1902, 150, 204, 220. + + + Kelley, Florence, on street trading, 52, 70, 127, 207. + + + Laws, table of state, 194. + + Licenses for street work required, 197, 209. + + License statistics, of Boston, 33. + Of Cincinnati, 35, 71. + Of New York, 16, 34. + + Liverpool, conditions, 230. + Regulations, 232. + + London County Council bylaws, 233-236, 264. + + Lovejoy, Owen R., on messenger service, 123. + + + Manchester regulations, 236. + + Market children, 21, 96. + Ages, 97. + Earnings, 96. + Home conditions, 99, 100. + Hours, 99. + Nationalities, 97, 98. + Orphanage, 100. + Retardation, 98, 99. + + Merchandise, distinction between newspapers and, 189. + + Messenger boys, 101. + Ages, 106-117. + Character of work, 101-104. + Chicago Vice Commission's report, 118-121. + Delinquency, 104, 165, 169. + Diseases, 111, 112, 113. + Earnings, 106, 112, 113, 114. + Environment, 102, 103. + Hours, 108, 113, 115, 119. + Investigation in Ohio Valley, 106-117. + Lack of prospects, 104, 126. + Poverty as excuse for work, 122. + Use of men instead of boys, 105, 123-125. + + + Nationality of street workers, 33, 97. + + Nearing, Scott, conditions in Philadelphia, 69, 135. + + Neill, Charles P., on newsboys' work, 64. + On messenger service, 117. + Report on Juvenile Delinquency and its Relation to Employment, 159. + + Newark, regulations of street work, 196. + + New York, report of newsboy investigation, 16, 34, 148. + Child Welfare Exhibit, 60. + Regulations of street work, 195. + + Newsboys, ages, 54-60. + Associations, 66. + Character of work, 56-58. + Classified, 52. + Delinquency, 165. + Diseases, 136. + Earnings compared with factory wages, 58. + Environment, 60, 135. + Home conditions, 70-72. + Hours, 65-70. + Irregularity of meals, 61. + Orphanage, 71, 168. + Retardation, 147-156. + Substitutes, 75-79. + Tricks of the trade, 63-64. + + Newsboys' Court of Boston, 79-81. + + Newsboys' Republic of Boston, 212. + + New South Wales, license statistics, 45. + Regulations, 45, 238. + + Newspapers, as merchandise, 189. + Attitude toward regulation, 28, 199. + + Night work, of messengers, 101, 169. + Of newsboys, 65-70. + + + Ordinances, table of city, 196. + + + Padrone System, report, of Immigration Commission, 36, 86-92. + North American Civic League for Immigrants, 83, 84. + + Peddlers, findings of Chicago Vice Commission, 96. + Cincinnati statistics, 97. + Delinquency, 165. + Immigration Commission's report, 36. + + Philadelphia conditions, 69. + + Playgrounds, 22. + + Poverty as an excuse for street work, 70-73, 136-138. + + Prohibition, of night work, 208. + Of street work by children, 224, 227. + + + Regulation, by municipality or state, 205. + Degree of, 193, 206. + In future, 207. + Unsatisfactory, 228. + + Retardation in school of street workers, 98, 147-156. + + Rochester, method of enforcement, 211. + + + St. Louis statistics, 146, 151. + + School, as social center, 21. + Retardation of street workers, 98, 147-156. + + Scotland, conditions, 44, 225. + + Spargo, John, on effects of street work, 135. + + Statistics, of U.S. Census, 24, 25. + Austria, 49-51. + Boston, 33. + Chicago, 28, 29. + Cincinnati, 35, 71. + Germany, 45-48. + Great Britain, 40-44, 143-145. + New York, 16, 34, 148. + + Street as a social agent, 17. + + Street employments, distinction between, 5. + + Street occupations, of minor importance, 38. + Classified, 4. + Contrasted with regular work, 73, 139. + + Street trading defined, 3. + Neglected in legislation, 7, 12, 192. + + Street trading problem related to other problems, 20. + + + Toledo, retardation of street workers, 152-156. + + + Vagrants, Chicago report on, 32. + + Vice Commission of Chicago, report, 30, 67, 96, 118. + + + Wisconsin, law, 257. + + + + + The following pages contain advertisements of a few of the Macmillan + books on kindred subjects. + + + + + + + NOTABLE WORKS BY MISS JANE ADDAMS + + + + +A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil + + _Cloth, 12mo, $1.00 net; by mail, $1.10_ + +It is almost unnecessary to call attention to the importance of a new +book by Jane Addams. As a servant of the public good Miss Addams, both +through her work at Hull-House and through her writings, has made for +herself a name all over the world. She does not view things from a +standpoint of destructive criticism, but rather from that of +constructive, her aim being always to better the conditions in the +particular field which she is considering. In "A New Conscience and an +Ancient Evil," she considers sanely and frankly questions which +civilized society has always had confronting it and in all probability +always will. Something of her attitude of mind and of her purpose in +writing this book as well as a glimpse of the character of the volume +may be seen from the following paragraph taken from her preface: + +"'A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil' was written, not from the +point of view of the expert, but because of my own need for a +counter-knowledge to a bewildering mass of information which came to +me through the Juvenile Protective Association of Chicago. The reports +which its twenty field officers daily brought to its main office +adjoining Hull-House became to me a revelation of the dangers incident +to city conditions and of the allurements which are designedly placed +around many young girls in order to draw them into an evil life." + + * * * * * + +"Miss Addams's volume is painful reading, but we heartily wish that it +might be read and pondered by every man and woman who to-day, in smug +complacency, treat with indifference and contempt the great struggle +for social purity."--_The Nation._ + +"As an educational weapon, incalculably valuable. A torch with which +every thinking citizen should be armed for a crusade against the +dark-covered evil at which it is aimed."--_The Continent._ + + + + +The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets + + _12mo, cloth, $1.25 net; by mail, $1.35_ + +A protest against the practice of every large city of turning over to +commercialism practically all the provisions for public recreation, +leaving it possible for private greed to starve or demoralize the +nature of youth. + + * * * * * + +"Few persons in this country are better qualified to speak with +authority on any subject connected with the betterment of the poor +than is Jane Addams."--_New York Herald._ + +"The book should be in the hands of every preacher and laborer for +humanity. I wish that parents might make it a text-book."--Rev. +MADISON C. PETER in _The New Orleans Daily News_. + +"It is brimming full of the mother sentiment of love and yearning, and +also shows such sanity, such breadth and tolerance of mind, and such +philosophic penetration into the inner meanings of outward phenomena +as to make it a book which no one who cares seriously about its +subject can afford to miss."--_New York Times._ + + + + +Newer Ideals of Peace + + _12mo, cloth, leather back, + $1.25 net; by mail, $1.35_ + +"A clean and consistent setting forth of the utility of labor as +against the waste of war, and an exposition of the alteration of +standards that must ensue when labor and the spirit of militarism are +relegated to their right places in the minds of men.... Back of it +lies illimitable sympathy, immeasurable pity, a spirit as free as that +of St. Francis, a sense of social order and fitness that Marcus +Aurelius might have found similar to his own."--_Chicago Tribune._ + +The editor of _Collier's_ writes: "To us it seems the most +comprehensive talk yet given about how to help humanity in America +to-day." + +"It is given to but few people to have the rare combination of power +of insight and of interpretation possessed by Miss Addams. The present +book shows the same fresh virile thought, and the happy expression +which has characterized her work.... There is nothing of namby-pamby +sentimentalism in Miss Addams's idea of the peace movement. The volume +is most inspiring and deserves wide recognition."--_Annals of the +American Academy._ + +"No brief summary can do justice to Miss Addams's grasp of the facts, +her insight into their meaning, her incisive estimate of the strength +and weakness alike of practical politicians and spasmodic reformers, +her sensible suggestions as to woman's place in our municipal +housekeeping, her buoyant yet practical optimism."--_Examiner._ + + + + +Democracy and Social Ethics + + _Half leather, ix + 281 pages, 12mo, + $1.25 net; by mail, $1.35_ + +"The result of actual experience in hand-to-hand contact with social +problems.... No more truthful description, for example, of the 'boss' +as he thrives to-day in our great cities has ever been written than is +contained in Miss Addams's chapter on 'Political Reform.' ... The same +thing may be said of the book in regard to the presentation of social +and economic facts."--_Review of Reviews._ + +"The book is startling, stimulating, and intelligent."--_Philadelphia +Ledger._ + + + + +Twenty Years at Hull-House + + _Ill., dec. cloth, 8vo, + $2.50 net; by mail, $2.68_ + +Jane Addams's work at Hull-House is known throughout the civilized +world. In the present volume she tells of her endeavors and of their +success--of the beginning of Hull-House, of its growth and its present +influence. For every one at all interested in the improvement of our +cities, in the moral education of those who are forced to spend much +of their time on the streets or in cheap places of amusement--"Twenty +Years at Hull-House" is a volume of more than ordinary interest and +value. + + * * * * * + +"The personality of Jane Addams is one of the finest achievements of +that idea of democracy, service, and freedom for which America means +to stand before the world."--_N. Y. Times._ + +"The story of the beginnings of this remarkable undertaking +(Hull-House), the problems that were faced and conquered in the early +days, the unsuspected resources that were developed among the crowded +city population of foreign birth, and the efforts continuously made +for the betterment of labor legislation in the State of Illinois, are +all set forth with simplicity and directness. On the whole it is a +wonderful record of accomplishment, full of suggestion to social +reformers the world over."--_Review of Reviews._ + +"Who reads this book lightly misses a great opportunity."--_Bellman._ + +"The story is one of singular interest and has a strange affinity with +the stories of other great moral and spiritual leaders of +humanity."--_Bookman._ + + + + +On City Government +_The American City_ + + By DELOS F. WILCOX, Ph.D. + + "In the 'American City' Dr. Wilcox ... has written a book that every + thoughtful citizen should read. The problems of the street, the + tenement, public utilities, civic education, the three deadly vices, + municipal revenue and municipal debt, with all their related and + subsidiary problems, are clearly and fully considered."--_Pittsburgh + Gazette._ + + _6 + 423 pages, 12mo, cloth, leather back, + $1.25 net. Citizens' Library_ + + + + +Great American Cities +_Their Problems and Their Government_ + + By DELOS F. WILCOX, Chief of the Bureau of Franchises, of the + Public Service Commission for the first District, New York + + A detailed account of present conditions in the half-dozen largest + cities of the country, including Chicago. + + _Half leather, 12mo, $1.25 net_ + + + + +On Industrial Legislation +_Some Ethical Gains through Legislation_ + + By MRS. FLORENCE KELLEY + + The book has grown out of the author's experience as Chief Inspector + of Factories in Illinois from 1893 to 1897, as Secretary of the + National Consumers' League from 1899 till now, and chiefly as a + resident at Hull-House, and later at the Nurses' Settlement, New + York. + + _Cloth, leather back, 341 pages, 12mo, + $1.25 net. Citizens' Library_ + + + + +On Charitable Effort +_How to Help_ + + By MARY CONYNGTON, of the Department of Commerce and Labor, + Washington + + Not only is the professional charity worker often in need of advice + as to the best methods of investigation, administration, etc., but + the non-professional worker, with his zeal unrestrained by special + training, is even more emphatically in need of such guidance as this + sound and competent book gives. + + _New edition, cloth, 12mo, $1.50 net_ + + + + +The Development of Thrift + + By MARY W. BROWN, Secretary of the Henry Watson Children's Aid + Society, Baltimore + + "An excellent little Manual, a study of various agencies, their + scope and their educating influences for thrift. It abounds in + suggestions of value."--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._ + + _Cloth, 12mo, $1.00 net_ + + + + +Friendly Visiting among the Poor + + By MARY E. RICHMOND, General Secretary of the Charity Organization + Society of Baltimore + + "A small book full of inspiration, yet intensely + practical."--CHARLES RICHMOND HENDERSON. + + _Cloth, 16mo, $1.00 net_ + + + + +The Care of Destitute, Neglected, and Delinquent Children + + By HOMER FOLKS, Ex-Commissioner of Public Charities, New York City + + CONTENTS.--Conditions prevalent at the opening of the Nineteenth + Century; Public Care of Destitute Children, 1801-1875; Private + Charities for Destitute Children, 1801-1875; Removal of Children + from Almshouse; The State School and Placing Out System; The County + Children's Home System; The System of Public Support in Private + Institutions; The Boarding Out and Placing Out System; Laws and + Societies for the Rescue of Neglected Children; Private Charities + for Destitute and Neglected Children, 1875-1900; Delinquent + Children; Present Tendencies. + + _Cloth, 12mo, $1.00 net_ + + + + +Constructive and Preventive Philanthropy + + By JOSEPH LEE, Vice-President of the Massachusetts Civic League + + CONTENTS.--Essence and Limitations of the Subject; Before 1860; + Savings and Loans; The Home; Health and Building Laws, Model + Tenements; The Setting of the Home; Vacation Schools; Playgrounds + for Small Children; Baths and Gymnasiums; Playgrounds for Big Boys; + Model Playgrounds; Outings; Boys' Clubs; Industrial Training; For + Grown People; Conclusion. + + _Cloth, 12mo, $1.00 net_ + + * * * * * + + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York + + + + + Transcriber's Notes: + + The following changes have been made to the text: + + - In the table introduced as "Street traders and street employees may be + classified by occupation as follows:--" Newspaper sellers was written + as one word once. + + - In the table detailing the occupation of children in Germany, + introduced as "Seven divisions of these children were made + according to occupation ..." the word Austragedienste was wrongly + hyphenated. + + - In the TABLE E. HOURS AND EARNINGS OF STREET WORKERS a header + "OCCUPATIONS" was missing (compared to TABLE D before), and was added. + + - In Footnote [172] the title of Mr. Ferrette's work was misspelled as + "Manuel de Legislation Industrielle", and was changed to "Manuel de + legislation industrielle" in accordance with its original title. + + - In the Index entry "Great Britain ... Interdepartmental Committee of + 1902 on Ireland ..." the reference to page 294 was changed to page 204. + + The following changes have been made to the formatting and layout: + + - Tables D to G in Chapter VII, and some tables in Annex C were changed + in layout to enable readability in plain text. + + - In "Reverse Side of Milwaukee Newsboy Investigation Card": Original + uses check mark, rendered here as [X]. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Child Labor in City Streets, by +Edward Nicholas Clopper + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHILD LABOR IN CITY STREETS *** + +***** This file should be named 44396.txt or 44396.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/3/9/44396/ + +Produced by Charlene Taylor, Heike Leichsenring and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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