Читать книгу Child Labor in City Streets - Edward Nicholas Clopper - Страница 7

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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
America	{	Boston	1,556	1860	70.
Elsewhere in Mass.	171
Other states	133
Russia	473	17.5
Italy	161	6.
Other foreign countries	162	6.
Not given	8	.5
	2664	100.0