The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-08-09

1t 10 estimated ON trustworthy grounds,
thsv over 100, 900 children are ct work In
the factories Of New York and the neigh
boring districts, while from 10, 900 to 20, :
600 are '.iioaters, drifting from one fActo, v
to another. OF these the envelope facto-
ries employ about 8, 900 children, one-quAr-
ter Of whom are under 15 years of age
The average earnings Of the little workers
are % per week. The ventilation Of these
factories Ia generally good. The gold-leaf
factories employ alarge number Of children,
though the exact statistics Of the number
cannot be given. This occupation requires
much skill and dslicacy Of touch it 10 not
severe, but demands constant attention.
The outside air IA carefully excluded from
these factories, owing to the fragile nature
Of the material used. The girls
employed are mostly over 10 years
Of age. The furnishing Of gdd,
silver, and china-ware in mostly done by
girls, some of whom are under Is years Of
age. Singulariy enough, it is said that
men in this business require to wear breast
plates, in order 10 prevent injury from the
steel instruments employed, while the girls
who labor at it sit at long tables, their un-
defended breasts pressing against the
handles of the frame.
Paper-collar factories are very impor-
tant branch of children's labor. Fully
5000 girls from IL to 16 years Of age are
employed in it. A girl can count and box
18, 900 collars in day of ten hours.
Paper-box factories, embracing all sorts
and sizes, from Q match to q work-box, en-
ploy at least 10, 600 children. These be-
come very expert, and often invent new
patterns. The material being cheap, the
children are psrmittsd to take home enough
to do extra work, and are thus, in fact, ex-
cluded from night school.
In regard to factories for making Artif-
cial flowers, it il extremely difficult to OBJ
the shops is rigidly refused. After consid-
erable investigation, it seems to us that
from 10, 900 to IL, 900 are engaged in them,
of whom nearly 5000 are under ~ years
Of age Many are only s and years old.
Tho latter are employed preparing and cut
ting feathers for coloring. Employers
claim this to be healthy business, but,
Judging from the pale and sickly ccunte-
nances Of the girls, we doubt the assertion
Another important industry employing
children in the city In the manufacture Of
tobacco. The tobacco factories contain
fully 10000 children, Of whom 5000 at
least are under 10 years. The youngest
child we saw employed in them was 4 years
of age. He was engaged in stripping to-
baeco, and his average earnings we're about
81 per week. Many iaborerers work all
their lives in these factories. We saw per-
sons as old as 80 years in them. A man
20 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
10 and II years, and were now at work as
men in the same shop. Another, the fore
man and general workshop manager, had
entered the factory thirty-fve years ago,
when q boy 10 years Of age. In some of
these factories boys under Is years are en-
ployed in dusky cellars and Easements, pre-
pairing, bringing and sweetening the weed
preliminary to ''stemming"
The underground life in these damp, cav
ernous places tends to keep these little
workers stunted in body and mind. Other
boys from 10 to IL years we're squatting on
the floors wetting the knives Of the cutting
machines with q mixture of rum and water
applied with sponge.
The rapidity with which the girls work is
wonderful. A girl of 16 years can put up
thirteen gross Of packages Of chewing to-
bacco in tin foil, and twenty-five gross in
paper, in one day. Girls and boys from II
to IA years earn in this business from o. TO
80 per week Some little girls only years
Of age earn % per week. The fact is that
these children are ofCen able to perform the
same amount Of this light labor ~ adults,
while they only receive q portion of the
pay giving to older laborers. Thus the
children who ought to be in school are
made to deprive older laborers of their en-
ployment and remuneration.
Still another branch absorbs q great
number of children-the twine factories
No accurate information can be obtained Of
the number of little laborers in these, but
it is known to be very large. In one up
town factory alone, 300 children, mostly
girls, are employed This work il danger
GUS. The hacking machines" are gener-
ally tended by boys from 10 to 10 years of
age. Their attention must be riveted on
the machinery and cannot relax for a mo-
ment, or the danger to life or limb il i'm
minent. The twisting machines" at
tended to by girls, are equally dangerous.
Many have lost their fingers, or joints of
them, that were caught in twine. Only
great presence of mind has saved many Of
these girls from losing the whole hand.
We know in one instance, in q single night
school in New York, FIVE factory girls who
had each lost finger or thumb. 1t is evi-
dent that strict legislation il reeded here,
as it has been in England, to protect these
young workers from dangerous machinery.
The air Of these twine factories il filed
with floating particles of cotton and fax,
and must be exceedingly unhealthful.
Ii will be seen from these condensed sta
tistics what an immense population of chill
dren in this city are the little slaves of cap
ital How intense and xearying is their
daily toll, and how much Of their health
and education il sacrificed in these early
years and premature labor ! The evil in
New York il evidently enormous. and most
threatening to our future. These children,
stunted in body and mind, are growing NJ
to be our voters and Legislator. There
are already over 10000 persons in New
York who cannot read nor write. These
little overworked operatives will swell this
ignorant throng. Fortunately this great
ahuaa has not eacanad the aftantion of hu.