The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1907-05-11

she has to. stand, barefooted In pools;
Of water. twisting coils Of wet hemp.
When saw her. she was dripping wet,
though she said she had worn a rubber.
apron all day In the coolest even
ings Of winter, little Marie, and hum .
dreds Of other little girls, must go out
from the superheated steam rooms In
to the bitter: cold just in that condi-;
tion.'' -
Child in Glass Factory.
IT shall never forget my first visit
to glass factory at night" continues;
Mr.. Spargo. 1T was big wooden
structure, 50 loosely built that it at
forded little protection from the
draughts, surrounded by high fence
with several rows of barbed wire
stretched across the top. went to
the foreman of the factory, and he ex-
planned to me the reason for the stock
ade-like fence. It keeps the young
1mps inside once we've got 'em for
the night Shift he said. The young
imps' were, Of course, the boys en-
ployed, about forty in number, at
least ten Of whom were under IL years
OF age" The working hours of these
young imps" were from $50 p. m.
until $3.50 q. m. After watching these
boys at their work. Mr.. Spargo says
he could readily understand why the
employers preferred to hire boys for
that particular work. He says: 1T
is difficult to get men to do this work,
because men cannot stand the pace,
and get tired too quickly
Breaker Boys in Mines.
IT,
| as a breaker boy" at an anthracite
mine. There are thousands Of boys
! so employed. Their duty is to sit over
the long chutes and pick out the slate
from the running coal. They are en-.
veloped all the time in binding cloud
Of coal dust. Mr.. Spargo thus de-
scribes the experiment.:
Il once stood In a breaker for half
an hour and tried to do the work that
a l2-year-old boy was doing day after
day for ten hours at stretch for so
cents day. The gloom Of the breaker
appalled, me. Outside the sun shone
brightly, the air was pellucid, and the
birds sang in chorus with the trees
and the rivers. Within the breaker
there was blackness, clouds Of deadly
dust EMBODIED everything, the harsh
grinding roar of the machinery, and
the ceaseless rushing of the coal
through the chutes filled my ears I
tried to pick out the pieces of slate
from the hurrying streams of coal,
OFTEN missing them; my hands were
bruised and cut in a few minutes; I
was covered from head to feet with
coal dust, and for many hours after
wards I was expectorating some of the
small particles Of anthracite I had
swallowed. ! could not do that work
and live-but there wore boy of 10 and
II years Of age doing it for so and 60
cents day!"
Child Labor in New Jersey.
I'm New Jersey and Pennsylvania -
says Mr.. Spargo, II have seen hun
dreds OF children boys and girls, be-
tween the ages of 10 and IL years, at
work In the factories belonging to the
| cigar trust Some Of these factories
| are known as kindergartens' on &C
count OF the large number of small
cn1ldren employed in \them. It is by
no means a rare occurrence for chill
| oren In these factories to faint or fall
asleep over their work, and I have
/ heard foreman in one Of them say
1t was eneugh for one man to do.iust
to keep the kids awake Often the
factories are poorly lighted, i'll VEN
t1lated tenements, in which work.
whether for children or adults, ought
TO be prohibited. Children work as
many as fourteen or sixteen hours in
these little home factories,' and in
cities like P1ttsburg, it is not unusual
Tor them, after attending school all
day. to work from 4 p. m. until -: 80
a. m. making 'tobies' or 'stogies,' for
which they receive from to 10 cents
per hundred
Patrons of the "cigar trust" should
ponder over these amazing statements.
Their truth Is beyond question.
Mr.. Spargo declares that he has
seen children or years old at work
IN New York canning factories at 3
O'Clock IN the morning. In Oxford,
Md he saw tiny girl, years old,
who had worked for twelve hours in
an oyster canning factory. And there
are nearly 300 Of such canning factor
les In Maryland, all Of them employ
ing children.
! Children in Sweatshops.
In the sweat shops, and more par
t1cularly, the poorly-paid home in
dustries, the kindergartens are rob-
bed to provide baby slaves" says Mr..
spargo. I'll am perfectly we'll aware
that many persons will smile incred-
ulously at the thought of infants from
to years old working. what can
such babies do? they ask" Then Mr..
Spargo proceeds to answer that ques-
ton by citing specific instances where
mere babies were engaged in work.
Take the case of little Annetta Fam
china, for example," he says The
work she was doing when I saw her,
wrapping paper about pieces Of wire,
was very similar to the play of better