Читать книгу Child Labor in City Streets - Edward Nicholas Clopper - Страница 11

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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]