The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1873-09-09
THE LITTLE LABoRERs or New YoRK


$4,000 to 10000 are "noatcrs." drift
ng from one factory to another. OF
.hese the envelope factories employ about
5000 children, one.quarter of whom are
under fifteen years ofage. The average
earnings of the little workers are SO per
week. The ventilation in these factories
is generally good. The gold-leaf facto-
ries employ large number of children,
though the. exact statistics of the number
be given. This occupation re-
quires much skill and dclicacy Of touch
it is not severe, but demands constant
attention. The outside air is carefully
excluded from these factories, owing 20
the fragile nature of the material used.
The girls employed are mostly over fifteen
years Of age. The furnishing of gold,
silver, and China-warc is mostly done by
girls, some Of whom arc under thirteen
years of age. Singularly enough, it is
said that men in this business require to
wear breastplates, in order to prevent in.
jury from the steel instruments employed,
while the girls who labor at it sit at long
tables, their undefended breasts pressing
against the handles of the frame
Paper.colar factories arc very i'm
portant branch Of children's labor. Fully
5000 girls from twelve to sixteen years
of age are employed in it. A girl can
count and box $4,000 collars in day of
ten hours.
Paper.box factories, embracing all
sorts and sizes, from match to u work
box, employ at least 10000 children
These become very expert, and often in.
vent new patterns The material being
cheap, the children are permitted to take
home enough to Go extra work, and are
thus, in fact, excluded from night school,
In regard to factories for making arti-
fetal flowers, it is extremely difficult to
obtain trustworthy information, as access
to the shops is rigidly refused. After
considerable investigation, it seems to us
that from 10000 to 10000 children are
engaged in them. of whom nearly 5000
are under twelve years of age. Many
are only five and seven years old. The
! attOr ero N"rloyod preparing and cut
ting feathers for cooring. Employers
claim this to be healthy business, but,
judging from the pale and sickly countc
nances of the girls, we doubt the asser.
tion.
Another important industry employing
children in the city is the manufacture
of tobacco. The tobacco factories contain
fully 10000 children, of whom 5000 at
least are under fifteen years. The young.
est child VIC saw employed in them was
four years Of age. He was engaged in
stripping tobacco, and his average earn.
ings were about one dollar per week
Many laborers work all their lives in
these factories. We saw persons as old
as eighty years in them A man seventy
years Of age told US he had spent thirty
years in one factory His two boys had
entered the factory with him at the age
Of ten and twelve years. and were now a
work as men in the same shop. Another
the foreman, and general workshop inau-
uger, had entered that factory thirty.fvt
years ago, when boy ten years Of age
In some of these factories boys under
fifteen years are employed in dusky eel.
lars and easements, preparing, briniug
and sweetening the weed preliminary tC
"stemming." The underground life il
these damp, cavernous places tends tt
keep the little workers stuntcd in BODY
and mind. Other boys from ten to twelve
years were squatting on the floors, whet
ting the knives of the cutting machines
with mixture of rum and water applied
with a sponge. The rapidity with whicl
the girls work is wonderful. A girl o
sixteen years can put up thirteen gros
packages Of chewing tobacco in tin-foil
and twenty-five gross in paper, in on'
day. Girls and boys from twelve t,
fourteen years earn in this business from
four to five dollars per week. Some ittl
girls only eight years of age earn S3 pc
week. The fact is that these childre
are often able to perform the same amour
Of this light labor as adults, while the.
only receive portion Of the pay give
to older laborers. Thus the children VIII
ought to be in school are made to dcpriv
older laborers of their employment an
remuneration.
Still another branch absorDs a grea
number Of children-the twinc factorie;
No accurate estimate can be obtained @
the number of little laboIers in these
but it is known to be very large. In on
uptown factory alone, 200 children
mostly girls, are employed This wor
is dangerous. The 'hackling machines
are generally tended by boys from ten t
fifteen years of age. Their attcntio
must be rivited on the machinery, au
cannot relax for a moment, or the dangc
to life or limb is imminent. The "twi,
ing machines" attended to by girls, al
equally dangerous. Many have lost the
fiDgers,or joints of thcm,t that were cangn
in the twinc, Only great presence c
mind has saved many Of these girls froi
losing tho whole hand We knew in on
instance, in single night school in Ne
York, five factory girls who had eac
lost a finger or thumb 1t is evider
that strict legislation is needed here, ;
it has been in England, to protect tbe'
young workers from dangerous machiner.
The air of these twine factories is file
with floating particles of cotton and fla
and must be exceedingly unhealthful.
1t will be seen from these condenst
} statistics what an immense population
children are the little slaves Of capita
, How intense and wearying is their dai
i toll, and how much Of their health al
, education is sacrificed in these early yea
and premature labor The evil in Nc
} York is evidently enormous, and INC
threatening to our future. These ch
, dren, stuhted in body aud mind,are gro
9 ing up to be our voters and legislator
. There are already over 10000 persc
' in New York who can not read or wri
These little overworked operatives W
swell this ignorant throng. Fortunate
this 0reat ahnse has not escaned the ,