The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1916-06-02

indoors all day long and work making limitations
of flowers the child has never seen?
Some Startling Cases.
And yet have seen children begin to learn to
make artificial flowers when they were only two
years old. do not say that children of that age
are compelled or coaxed by their mothers to work,
but II Is this way.
The baby sits in chair by the table watching
mother and the other children work The baby
stretches out its hands, grabbing petal or leaf
To satisfy his desire the mother gives the baby
few petals, showing him how to pull them apart.
At three or four the child is already an efficient
worker able to earn about ten cents day.
Here are some of the facts
A mother and two daughters. living and work
ing in a rear tenement, so dark that oil lamp
must be kept burning all day In order that they
may see to work. make forgetme-not wreaths.
They receive cents for one dozen wreaths,
and earn $4.20 every Is days.
A frail delicate mother of five children sits at
table in their two-room fiat from morning until
late at night putting artificial berries on stems.
She earns from ten to fifteen cents a day.
In fourroom fat where three children have
died of tuberculosis and two others were suffering
from II, a mother and an eevenyear-od girl made
artificial roses at 10 cents gross
In one home on Saturday morning four chill
dren. ten nine, six and four years DID, were found
sitting by a table the one window making
cherries They had been there since six o'clock in
the morning and worked each day until eight
o'clock at night.
No child above four five Is considered too
young to work. The hours for all, whether chill
dren or adults are determined not by law. not by
physical welfare, but by the amount of work the
factory gives out to be done IL there is an extra
amount Of work the whole family work from half
past five in the morning until ten or eleven at
night and sometimes even until one or two o'clock
In the morning stopping only long enough to eat
| thair ptyy Of aCh OF dry
fee, on which they seem to subsst.
| Breaking the Labor Law.
In the 165 families studied by the investigator
for the Consumers league COL children were found
More than Is per cent of these were fourteen
| years and over and were contributing something
| to the family income; about 36 per cent were five
| years and under, too young to work, though In
! few cases children of this age were found helping
with the flowers Out of the remaining 46 per cent
between the ages of six and fourteen who might be
| found helping Ia per cent we're busily at work at
the time OF the Investigators call. At least IA per
| cent then of the children who able to do this
work were violating the child labor law of New
York state.
| How many more could be included In this list II
| was impossible to ascertain. Many families were
| visited during the morning, when the children
| were at school, and IL was only through the word
| of the mother that we were able to determine
| whether or not the children helped with the flow
/ ers after school hours. For the most part only
| cases OF children who were actually found at work
| were listed Thessfore. the estimrte II very con-
vervatye one