Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1911-12-22
H. c. WOLFE, Jeweler
rhe Slavery Of the Shrimp Pickers.

Ine slavery OF n Shrimp
Children Of more tender age are
employed In the shrimp and oyster
canneries than In any OF the cotton
mills Of the South. some Of them be-
ing only four or five years old. The
method Of handling the oysters con-
sistS In piling them into small cars
and running them into big Steam
chests, I" out OF which they come with
their shells open, SO that, when spread
on long tables, IL is ar easy matter to
take u the meats" This Is the
task allotted to the children, who,
under the stern eye Of a %s'shucking
boss" cut the meats out of the shells
and transfer them to tin buckets,
ready for canning.
This is an immense industry in the
Gulf States. At Pass Christian Miss
and other points great numbers of
children are employed to shuck oysters
In the canneries. Nearly all Of them
are OF foreign parentage, and largely
they are Poles. They are often housed
under the most squalid and insanitary
conditions, and 1t is beyond question
that many of them die from the hard
ships they are obliged to endure.
Most of these children come from
Maryland and Delaware. They n
employed during the summe and
early fall In the vegetable and fruit
canneries Of those States, and are
shipped to the South in fiocks to
shuck oysters and pick shrimps
through the winter and spring.
When autumn arrives, agents for the
shrimp and oyster packers visit Balti-
more and other large towns III that
part Of the country, and pick up as
many poor immigrants as they need,
especially among the Poles the Ital-
ians having become wary through ex-
perience. Such families, usually pro-
vided with plenty of children, are
persuaded to 60 by the promise of
free transportation and OF the pay
ment OF their return passage-the
latter expectation being nearly always
untitled. Very ignorant and common.
" unacquainted with any language
except their own, they are helpless to
protest themselves, and, once herded
on board steamers, they have no
chance to escape.
Filled with the hope Of going to a
warm latitude-where, they are told,
they can pick oranges off the trees
they are carried to Biloxi, Appalachi-
cola, Pass Christian, and other places
whore the shrimp and oyster canneries
are located. While at work, they
commonly live under such conditions
of squalor as would not be tolerated
In the most poyerty-stricken quarter
Of any Northern city. The pay is
small, and for the children often not
more than ten cents a day; but a
good deal Of Northern capital is most
pr0itably invested In the canneries,
and the big dividends they yield are
largely derived from the labor Of mere
infants. Dr. A. j. McKelway, Secre-
tary Of the National Child Labor
Committee (which has It's head
4NOSV0AO ~ N0W OIAJ says. OuT
chief adversary In the fight fora better
child labor law In Florida has been
the owner Of an oyster cannery at
Appa1achicola. / visited his factory,
and saw acres Of oyster shells fifteen
feet deep, a great proportion of which
had been shucked by little children.
Lewis w. Hine, q special agent of
the Committee, writes:
From statements made by them
selves, I have record of thirteen child
rem employed in the Gulf Coast can
neries from three to five years OF age,
twenty-five from six to eight years OF
ago, and fifteen from nine to eleven
yeaB OF age. The mother OF three
year old Alma told me proudly, Yes,
I'm learnin' her the trade The
little ones sisters, Grace and Maud,
three and i've years old, helped, but
Alma was the fastest.'-FRoM
..sH11MPs AND BABIES" JANUARY
TDCHNICAL WORLD MAGAZINE.