The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-10

the investigations made by MT. Err nest Poole in connection with child iaoor legislation in this State. Abuses aIways elude to some extent the vigil lance of factory inspectors and organi- cations for the protection, of children, and these abuses are at their worst in the busy weeks before the holidays because in many of the industries whose richest harvest is reaped from the Christmas trade tbe cheap labor Of children can be used with great profit. In the candy and paper box factories, for example. children can do the work as we'll as grown persons and at much less cost One case is on record where a girl fourteen years old worked 7s 1-2 hours a week dip ping" candy from seven in the morning until nine at night, with 80 minutes off for luncheon and Is for supper supper, presumably, taking less time because there is less to eat. In the rush season hundreds of thousands of paper boxes for Christmas presents must be turned out in a few weeks. and then the demand for cheap labor is at its greatest. It was during the holiday season that one little girl-- she was only four feet in height whose real age was eleven and official age fifteen, was found to be turning in" box covers from 7:S0 in the morn ms uhAtA 1CNSh db AtG AOf WhtCh Shc received about four cents an hour.
 Nominally, of course, all these children are over fourteen, the age at which the law permits them to begin work under certain restrictions. and most of them have working papers" Intended to convince the doubter of the fact. Notwithstanding increasing vigilance on the part of the authori- ties, 1t is still easy to add a few years to the child's age. and to many par ents a dollar in the hand Is worth a great deal of education in the bush. To the newly arrived immigrants, especially, health and a fair start in life for their children are an un- known boon, while the value of 50 cents is well recognized.
 It it not only In the factories, how ever, that Christmas brings an in- creased demand for child labor. The army of delivery and messenger boys at work in the city the year round is reinforced with thousand of recruits. Nominally their regular working day is one of twelve consecutive hours, but in most eases the day actually ends when the last parcel Is delivered. This may or may not be before eight o'clock at night-in the holi- day season 1t is rarely much be- fore midnight and usually later. Here the "tail-end boy" makes his appear nnce. His function Is to sit in the back of the wagon and to carry pa
 into houses-work which the du
 and the brightest boy can do ca
 well. With customers insisting
 their purchases shall. be deliyere
 once, there is little opportunity to
 slider the feelings of the ''tail-end
 A year or so ago one poy return
 the stable from his last trip at
 night. Too tired to go home fo' few hours before. the wagon W,
 start on It's rounds again. he -' nsleep wrapped in the canvas cover ings in the wagon. 1t was a cold De- cember night and in the morning he was found dead.
 From such work as this, many of the brightest turn to pick up living by more exciting means. One of the most popular occupa ta0Re is. that of the messenger boy, a thousand being