The times., 1898-10-09
WHITE SLAVES OF PARIS
A Shocking Story About the
Use of Children.
HOW THEY HAVE LIVED
Italian Children Who Are Hired for
Work iu fhe GLASS Factories of
the French Capitag-CrueI Way I'm
Which They Are Treated Even
When HI.

To prove that the laws enacted in this
land for the protection of children are
wise We have only to learn what is done
with them elsewhere. The Paris Messen-
ger says: THE world has generally been
led to suppose that slavery in civilized
countries was long since put to an end.
but a discovery which has just been made
a. St Denis, one Of the manufacturing
quarters of Paris has brought to light as
abominab!e a system of child slavery
one would have expected TO find in the old
days when slavery fourished. St. Denis.
il may be explained, boasts Of several
glass-blowins works, where numbers of
lads are employed TO carry the molten
glass from the furnace to the glass-blower
and back again 10 the fire The object of
this is TO save the time of the blower, who
Is more or less skilled laborer. Child
labor. on the contrary, is cheap, and the
man. with these young helps, is able TO
get through great deal more work than
be would otherwise be able to do had he
continually TO go backward and forward
10 the furnace. The children so employed
for they are nothing more-earn from
tween IS. I'D. and Us. sd. week-not at
all bad wage for boy between twelve
and thirteen years old. which is supposed
TO be the age at which lads are allowed
TO commence work by law in this country.
Under ordinary circumstances, beyond
that the work is onerous and hard. il is
within the means of a good healthy lad
provided he is wei fed and well looked
after at home. But then come the abuses
OF the system. Owners Of glass-blowing
establishments have d habit of engaging
whole families father and sons and in
such cases II is TO the advantage of the
father TO have as many lads as possible
above the permitted age who can help
10 swell his income Naturally the factory
proprietor does not inquire too closely
into the ages and origin of the lads in his
employ. provided the parents can produce
the necessary certificates. and 1t is. there
Tore, not difficult TO see where the abuse
comes in
With this brief explanation we will
proceed to precise facts, which not only
reveal abuses. but show a condition of
things one woaid hardly have imagined
possible at the end Of a civilized CEN
1ury The white slaves of England. in
deed, are nothing TO lhe white slores of
Paris. Their master is .Jne Donate Vozza
an Italian. ferty-iiTe years of age, who
was employed in d glass factory belong
ing 10 N. Legras. at 81 Rue St Denis
rms family was composed OF the father
and mother, a son Of twenty years of
age, and number of lads-chfldren
would be the better word-who. when
Nozza entered the factory. were also
taken on The origin of these lads is.
perhaps. the most remarkable part of
the case They are Italians whom
NOzza had hired-saye the word-from
their parents in Italy for the modest sum
OF i0Jf. head per annum. In exchange
for this sum he was TO clothe and nour-
ish them, and had a right to the total
earnings they could produce by their
joint manual labor. If this is not selling
lads into slavery, then what is? 1t may
be under a civilized guise, but with what
barbarian results will be seen below To
stand the work in the glass factories the
lads require, above everything, to be well
nourished But this slave driver, YozZa,
cared nothing for the bodily welfare Of
his slave team. He had hired them at
so much head. That was capital laid
out. For the rest, the less they cost him
the greater were his profits. The regime
the children suffered can be imagined,
and naturally the weaker ones went TO
the wall and il was this continual pro-
cess of going TO the wall" that at last
brought the nefarious traffic TO light
The first case of which there is a record
concerns a child named Antoine Capano,
who fell down in the glass works on the
zzth of March last, and whose case, hav-
ing come to the knowledge Of several
Sisters of Charity, was removed 10 the
Hospital de FEnfant Jesus, where ne
died three days later.
IL was only with the greatest difficulty
that Tozza would let the child enter the
hospital, its departure being a direct loss
TO him. A few days later another lad
named Scappaturi fell ill., Threats had
been used to get TozZa to part with him.
but he died shortly afterward in the hos
pital al Genoa, Finally another lad died
from tuberculosis. and this series OF
deaths called the attention Of the au-
thorities 10 the procedure adopted by Yoz-
"a His other slaves we had an oppor-
tUnity Of seeing recently, and they are
simply so many living human frames
mere masses of skin and bone. Their
home. if such hoyel can be designated
by the word. consisted of two rooms about
four yards by three at the bottom of a
court, where light or fresh air could not
by any possibility penetrate.
The furniture consisted of three iron
bedsteads. and mattress stuffed with
pUtrid straw. The lads We're divided into
two shifts, a day and a night watch-one
lot slept while the other worked, so that
the beds were never unoccupied. AS for
food, if the neighbors are to be believed,