The Elbert County tribune., 1907-02-14
CHILD lABORERS
SEVENTEEN HUNDRED AND FiF-
TY THOUSAND EMPLOYED.
AGES OF TEN TO FIFTEEN
Most of Them Get Little Schooling
Fortunately the Greater Number
Work on Farms-Larse Proportion
in Mills and Factories.

/
child labor is employed in the United
States is set forth in a bulletin issued
by the census bureau yesterday. The
statistics presented are for 1900, and
relate to the employment of children
as breadwinners, of whom 1.750,00O, in
round numbers, between the ages OF
ten and fifteen, were SO employed.
Breadwinners are defined as those
earning money regularly by labor,
contributing to the family support, or
appreciably assisting in mechanical or
agricultural industry.
BY tar the most important occupa-
tion for children is that of agricultural
laborers, the number of children ten
to fifteen years of age so employed be
ing i,G54,446. About two-thirds of the
total number of child breadwinners
were employed on the farm, and most
| of these children were members OF the
farmers families. Next in Importance
comes domestic service, or the occu-
patton of servants and walters or
mattresses. in which 13S,065 children
were employed, most of them being
girls.
About one-third of the children en-
ployed in gainful occupations were
fifteen years of age. and more than
one-half were fourteen or fifteen
years. The number of fourteen was
| 100 623, or 45.2 per cent of the whole.
OF the total number of child bread
winners ten to fifteen years of age
72.2 per cent. were boys and 27.S per
cent. girls. Almost invariably the per
centage of breadwinners is much
| greater among foreign-born children
than among native children The per-
centage of breadwinners among negro
children is much higher than among
white children.
The cotton mills furnish employ
ment to children to n greater extent
] than any other manufacturing or me-
chanical industry. In 1900 the num-
ber of cotton mill operatives ten to
fifteen years of age was 44,427. OF
the 1892 messengers and errand and
office boys in the United States, sixty
| two per cent. were district telegraph
messengers and errand boys, 23.3 per
cent. were office boys and 14.7 per
cent. were bundle and cash boys or
girls. Nine-tenths of the children en-
| ployed in such service are boys.
The occupation of the textile
worker or the needle trades furnished
employment to 35,070 children be.
tween ten and fifteen years of age, of
whom 5,136 were boys and 29,934
were girls. The total number of chill
dren ten to fifteen years of age en-
gagged in the tobacco and cigar fac.
tories was 11,462. OF the 49,99S glass
workers reported in 1900, 5,365, or 10.7
per cent, were from ten to fifteen
years of age.
OF the 23,657 children for whom sta.
tistics were specially compiled, 1886,
| or 1853 per cent, were living in homes
with their parents; $3.50, representing
14-3 per cent, or approximately one
seventh of the total number, were liv-
ing with widowed mothers, and SIS,
or two and four-tenths per cent, with
mothers who were living apart from
their husbands, and whose economic
position was therefore likely. to be
analogous to that of a widow. The
number of children that were either
fatherless, or were not living with
fathers, was 4,943, representing about
| one-fifth of the total number.
The percentage of school children
In the total population. FIVE to nine
| years of age, enumerated in the
United States was 53.3, which is only
a little higher than the percentage
| (50.6) shown for selected fam.
| lilies included in this study. OF
the number of children ten to fourteen
| years of age in these families, only
31.9 per cent. were at school, while the
corresponding percentage for the total
number of children of that age in the
United States was 1913. But after
these children reach the age at which
the opportunity for employment as
wage earners begins, their school at
| tendance suffers.
In the families with child bread
winners, schooling rarely extends be.
| yond the age of thirteen. OF the chill
| dren fourteen years of age, 974 per
cent. were employed, and only 1.6 per
| cent. were at school.
| OF the total number of children ten
to fourteen years of age in the United
States. seven and one-tenth per cent.
were illiterate, as compared with 1873
| per cent. for the child breadwinners
OF the same age included in this tab
ulatioD. For the messengers and err
rand and office boys the per cent OF
illiteracy is comparatively small
By far the greatest degree of illit-
eracy is that shown for the children in
cotton mills. In the South almost one.
half of the cotton mill operatives ten
TO FOURTEEN years of age are illiterate.
and about one-fourth of those fifteen to
twenty years of age. The smaller per-
centage in the older group of opera
tyes would indicate that a good many
OF these children learn to read and
write after they are, ten years of age.
But the percentage of illiteracy in the
older group is still very high, render
ing It probable that large numbers OF
these children are destined to remain
iiliterate for the rest of their lives.