The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1910-03-18
TO AID CHILD WORKERS.
New Fight on to Stop Infant Labor In
New York Tenements.

A twenty-five year fight against a
court Of appeals decision which Mrs.
Florence Kelley, secretary of the Ma
tional Consumers league, declares has
made slaves of thousands of little chill
dren of New York city has been re-
opened along new lines.
The decision referred to was render
ed by the New York court of appeals
in 1855. 1t declared unconstitutional
an act which the Cigarmakers union
had passed by the state legislature
stopping the manufacture of cigars In
tenement houses If the act had been
upheld tenement sweatshops, with all
their menace against the public health,
would have been things Of the past.
The court found the law unconstitu-
tional on the ground that the liberty
of the individual was interfered with
and that it had not been shown that
the public health was threatened.
Writing about this decision, Theo-
dore Roosevelt, who successfully ap-
pealed to Governor Grover Cleveland
to sign the bill, few months ago,
said:
Anything like an effective reforma-
tion of tenement house conditions was
thereby deferred for fifteen or twenty
years, and during that time men, wom-
en- and children were guaranteed their
liberty to tester in sodden misery"
Since the decision of the court was
rendered many unsuccessful attempts
have been made to get reversal. Now
the Consumers league has reformed
its lines and has caused to be prepared
a new health bill
By its provisions any merchant who
gives out work is made responsible
for the healthful surroundings of said
goods, materials and merchandise and
for the exposure thereof to the pres
ence Of vermin and Of the germs of
any contagious or infectious disease
exactly as If said goods, materials or
merchandise had remained in said
principal place of business.
In the course of, n recent address
Mrs. Kelley said:
SIT is almost inconceivable the num-
Der of children Of tender years that
are working daily and nightly in the
thickly populated tenement districts
Of New York While there is a law
preventing the employment Of chill
dren under fourteen in factories, there
Is none that touches this greater evil,
child labor in the homes. 1t is so diff
cult to get at and yet so terribly prev
alent.
investigations made by our officers
have discovered babies of five and
even tenderer years aiding their moth
ers in the manufacture Of artificial
flowers, white goods, garters, etc.
Then the children who are old enough
to go to school are obliged to work
early in the morning, during their
lunchtime and often late into the night.
in one instance two girls of eleven
and eight were forced to aid their
elder sister. who was making roses at
8 cents gross, working until o'clock
at night Then the total pay would
amount to only so cents day
"In another instance in the same
house four children of fourteen.
twelve, nine and seven were found
making June buds at cents a gross
By working until late they managed
to earn, aided by their mother and
older sister, from so to 60 cents a day.
1--WE must have some more drastic
law than is at present on the statute
books, and we hope that the bill we
have had drafted will meet in great
part the needs of the situation"