Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1907-03-13
REPORT ON Child labor.
Over a Million Children
Breadwinners in 1900.
LEGAL RESTRICTIONS.
OF the Total 1.o54.4i6 Were Em-
ployed ON the Farni--in 20, i52
Families 35.7 Per Cent. OF the
Breadwlnncrs Under f5-Families
Dependent ON Child Labor.

A recent Bulletin published by the
Census Bureau in regard to child la
Dor says that according 70 the census
Of 1900 there were l.T50,iTS chill
dren 10 tolls years Of age employed
in various occupations Ga the United
States. or the total, 1864 ,446 were
employed on the iafm, and most Of
these children were members Of the
farmers families.
Next in Importance 20 agricultural
laborars comes domestic service. or
the occupations Of Seeyants and
walters or mattresses In which 1885,
oG5 children were employed. most
OF them being girls. The children
returned as laborers, the kind OF
lebor not being so specified as TO adj
NIT of any more exact q assiflcation.
make up the next larges. group. the
number of these children being l2S,
Git. OF whom all but 1909 were
boys Most of them ase children
living in cities or suburban com
munities.
The extent OF the evils Of child
labor, the bulletin says, depends
partly upon the age of the child and
partly upon the character OF the oc-
cupation in which the child is en-
ployed. About one-third of the chill
dreE employed in gainful occupa-
tons were 10 years of age, and more
thar one-half were IA or is years.
The number under IA was T90,623,
or-45.2 per cent. OF the sotal.-
OF the total number of child
breadwinners 10 to 10 years OF ago
1872 per cent were boys and 27.S per
cent. girls.
In most States the employment Of
young children is more or less re-
stricted by laws limiting or prohibit
ing child labor and requiring school
attendance. But.there are few legal
restrictions applicable 20 children
who are over IA years of age. BY
the time the children reach the age
of Is years sos per cent. or one-half
of the boys and 21.4 per cent or
more than one-ffth OF the girls have
become workers.
The percentage of breadwinlers
among negro children ia COMPARE
son covering the entire Uaited States
is much higher than that for any
class of white children. But the
percentage OF negro children en-
ployed in pursuits not connected
with agriculture is comparatively
small.
The cotton mills furnish employ
meHt to children to greater extent
than any other manufacturing or
mechanical industry In 1900 the
number OF cotton mill o, eratives 10
to Is years of age was j4,427, and
they formed / s per cent. of the total
number of persons more than 10
years of age in that occupation.
or the 1922 messengers and
errand and Office boys in the United
States in 1900, 62 per cent. we're
district and telegraph messengers
and errand boys. 23.Sper cent. were
Office boys, and 14.7 per cent were
bundle and cash boys or girls. Nine
tenths of the children employed In
such service are boys. Children of
foreign birth or parentage make up
the bulk of the messengers and err
rand and Office boys.
The total number of families with
children employed in gainful occu-
pations for which statistics we're
specially compiled was 20,452 This
number is less than the total number
of child breadwinners, because of the
cases in which two or more of these
child breadwinners were living In the
same family The total number of
persons, or total population, living
In these20,452 families was 1SS,90S.
At the other extreme there were
264 families with no dependents all
the older members, as we'll as the
children being breadwinners Of
these families rs had only / older
breadwinner, while 81 had 2. and
the others had or more. 30 having
not less than each. In such fami-
lies child labor would appear to be
entirely unnecessary.
In the families with child bread
winners schooling rarely extends be-
yond the age of rs. OF the children
IA years of age 97.4 per cent were
employed and only 1.6 per cent. were
at school. The percentage of school
children is little higher in the lext
older years. 1t is evident that q
considerable number of the families
that had children 10 to IA years of
age at work had older children at
tending school