New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-08-28
THESE NEED FRESH AIR
Fund Mast Often Pay Earnings to
Get Children to COuntrY.

How the families Of the East Side would get
along without the income derived from sewing for
the sweatshops is a matter of much speculation
Rarely is home found where the mother and
daughters of the family who old enough 10
hold needle are not busIy engaged from early
morning until late at night sewing on clothes
brought from the factories. The income derived
is meagre and yet whole families are forced TO live
upon the money earned in this manner. Especially
is this true where the mother IS widow. but in
many cases the father is unable to work through
Illness and the mother and daughters support him
along with the children.
The child labor laws are successful in keeping
young children out Of the factories. but they do
not prevent them from working at home. Except
for the vigilance Of truant officers children would
be kept from school to sew. and. Of course. when
vacation time comes thers Is nothing to stop the
parents from keeping them at work all the time
When the workers OF the Fresh Air Fund come
around 10 get the children 20 go TO the country
they are forced TO plead with the parents to let
the children go. and oftentimes the parents Justly
hesitate, for although the little ones add only
few cents to the income each week, these few
cents form a large percentage OF the total, since
mother and daughters working together are rarely
able to earn more than s. S. a week.
Many times the Fresh Air workers have fur
nished the money that the children would earn
while they are on their two weeks vacation In the
country. but It is impossible TO do this in every
ease, and many little children are forced 70 go
without their vacation because they must stay at
home and do their share toward supporting the
family.
visit TO the East Side homes will disclose how
many children are to be found in the hot
stuffy tenements. sewing on trousers and coats
brought from the sweatshops. To be sure. tue
streets do not offer a suitable place to play but
the crowd Of boys and girls who swarm over the
pavements make the best Of the circumstances anu
have good a time as is possible in sueh a
cramped situation. But even the little pleasure
which this gives is denied the girls who stay in
doors from weeks end to the other. struggling
to earn livelihood for the family.
The work usually done by the girls is that or
sewing buttons on trousers, and they earn money
at the rate of six dozen pairs OF trousers
The mothers are able to do work which requires
skill of a simple kind. sewing the Innings in trou-
sers and finishing them after they have come from
the factory machines at rate Of six cents
apiece on particularly hot days the doorsteps ana
eourtyards of the tenenents will be piled with
clothes from the factories. and the humble seam
stresses will eongregate and work out in the open
in the futile attempt TO get breath Of cool an
But working under these conditions is extraordi-
narily trying because of the children playing IN
every corner. In courtyard perhaps twenty-five
feet square. where several mothers and daughters
were sewing. thirty boys were rompfns' shourhs
and fighting.
The efforts made TO exc out an existence on the
few dollars earned in this manner result in the
most rigid economy being practised. The cnlidien
OF the family are often sent on errands many
blocks away. where articles Of food may be bought
a few cents cheaper than in the nearby stores
There is one little girl who must walk half mile
once or twice week to get apron full or stale
bread which costs three cents a loaf. The family
cannot afford TO pay FIVE cents for fresh bread
The father has not been able to work tor seven
years because OF illness. so the mother and daEeh-
ter are forced to support him and six other children
by sewing. Fortunate indeed is a family in when
the boys have grown up and are able to work
It is the children. such families as these that
the Tribune Fresh Air Fund makes an especial
effort 10 send away 70 the country, and once dur
ing the year the children come to know what real
play is like and 20 get breath Of the eean pure
air OF the fields.