New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-11-27
BABIES MADE To WORK
Children Only Four Years Old
Employed in CannerieS.
THEIR DAY EIGHTEEN HOURS
Witnesses Tell State Factory
Investigators of Hard Con-
ditions of Child Labor.

Albany. Nov. 2s.-Conditions under
which children work I'm certain canneries
Of the state, as observed by a college
woman employed as special investigator,
were told at to-day's session Of the State
Factory investigating Commission IN its
consideration OF proposed legislation de-
signed 10 improve labor conditions I'm the
canning industry.
Miss Mary Elizabeth Chamberlain, Of
Yassar, %. who had secured work in sew
eral canneries. stated that children rang
ing in age from four years up had been
employed in shipping" beans, hnsking
corn or sorting peas and beans and that
during the busy season the youngsters
worked regularly from a. m. until 10
p. m. and sometimes until midnight"
She said the spectacle Of these little
human machines. some OF them with
their fingers wrapped in bandages, the re-
suit OF having them split in their work,
was as sad as IL was shocking" She con-
tinued:
The people of the state would indeed
be appalled, II they were TO see these
children on cool mornings, shiverlng IN
blankets. at work, scarcely awake. Some
others would cry and want 10 stop work
but I have seen them whaCked by their
parents and compelled 10 stay at their
tasks.
Miss Chamberlain said these parents
were not Americans, the American
mothers being more considerate OF their
offspring. She related how one little
fellow told her he had been pulled out
at
having been up until Il the night before.
THE boy earned 81 10 for working from
a. m until II p. M" Miss Chamberlain
added "and the next morning he tear
fully declared, Honest. Miss Chamberlain
it didn't seem as II / was in bed
minute"
Miss Chamberlain told the commission
that the owner OF one cannery insisted
children were not employed as early as
a. nj, but she had awakened IN her
hotel at 3 o'clock one morning and dis
covered parade OF mothers and children
and baby carriages making for the can
merry, and, following the procession, found
her conclusions well founded"
The witness testified that on one occa-
sion last year, when word reached the
canneries Of visit by the investigating
commission. ''the bosses hurried the kids
out Of the plants"
Zenas l.. Potter, another OF the COM
missions investigators, submitted a re-
port In which 1t was alleged that In
some Instances women worked is hours
a week. and that their weekly average
during the busy season was between
seventy and ninety hours.
J. =. Conner, District Attorney OF Liv-
ingston County, appearing for several
Gamers. stated that the canneries of this
state could not be operated under the
ffty-four or even the sixty hour law.
Most of the prpprietors agreed that a
prohibitive age limit ought to be enforced.
and S. p. Sherman. OF Utica, brother of
the late Vice President. said no children
under fourteen years old should be en-
ployed.
The Gamers agreed that most of the
younger workers shipped" beans because
ut was play for them" and that they
ceased when 1t became work" The can
ners admitted that there were certain
conditions which ought TO be remedied,
but added: 1T is impossible, as you
know, to legislato humanity into heaven"