The Dolores star., 1907-02-15
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.
Washington.-The extent Of which
child labor is employed in the United
States is set forth In bulletin issued
by the census bureau yesterday. The
statistics presented are for 1900. and
relate to the employment OF children
as breadwinners, of whom 1,750,000, 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
apprecfably assisting In mechanicai OF
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 1,G54,446. About twothirds 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
79O, 1923, or 452 per cent. of the whole
OF the total number Of child bread
winners ten to fifteen years OF age
1922 per cent were boys and 27.8 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 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 147 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 1898 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 578
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 widow. The
number Of children that were either
fatherless, or were not living with
fsthers, 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
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 tota
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, 97.4 pei
cent. were employed, and only 1.6 pc,
cent. were at school.
| OF the total number of children ter
to fourteen years of age in the United
States, seven and one-tenth per cent
were illiterate, as compared with 1876
>per cent. for the child breadwinners
| OF the same age included In this tab
ulation. For the messengers and er
rand and, Office boys the per cent. ol
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 ter
to fourteen years of age are illiterate
and about one-fourth of those fifteen tc
twenty years of age. The smaller per
centage in the older group of opera
tives 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
illiterate for the rest Of their lives.