New-York tribune., 1922-10-02
Bureau Finds
YouthExploited
I'm Coal Fields
Federal Body Reports Abuse
Is Worst Where Parents
Incomes Are Low; Educa-
ton and Health Menaced
Housing Serious Problem
Overcrowded Living and
Unsanitary Surroundings
Are Features of District

From Ths Tritume's Washtmgson Bureau
WASHINGTON, Oct. 1.---Excessive
child labor in Pennsylvania coal
mining district III the anthracite re-
gion and direct relation between
child labor and low earnings Of the
fathers are reported by the United
States Department Of Labor through
the Children's Bureau in a bulletin
made public to-day.
The study, entitled "Child Labor and
the Welfare Of Children in an Anthra-
cite Coal Mining District" deals with
children from thirteen to sixteen years
Of age in district of the central field
in Schuylkill County. In this area Of
little more than half a square mile
24,726 persons were found living-13,-
592 Of them with more than one person
Rooms were generally small and cubic
air space below a minimum standard.
The conditions caused by crowding
were rendered worse by lack Of proper
sanitation and general disrepair Of the
houses, largely attributed to the under
mining Of the land. The mining COM
panies and estates owning the land
were protected by their leases from
liability for any damage to property or
to life and limb resulting from the fire.
quent cave-ins due to mining operations
beneath the town. Cheap and faulty
construction and neglect on the part of
the owners were also believed to be re-
sponsible for much Of the disrepair.
Houses Unsafe
The available land, hemmed in by
mining properties on all sides, was SO
nearly covered with houses that even
when these were unsafe the tenants
found 1t necessary to remain. Streets,
railroad tracks and dumps afforded the
only space within the town where chill
dren could play.
Children in this district, the report
says, "suffer both from congestion of
population and isolation" From most
Of the outlying settlements of the dis
trict children had to walk long dis
tances, sometimes by hazardous paths,
TO attend beyond the sixth grade.
School buildings and instruction for the
lower grades were also very deficient.
Of the boys between thirteen and six
teen years Of age in the district 81 per
cent--896 out OF 1854; and Of the girls,
20 per cent-453 out Of 1,572-had left
school for work.
A total Of 51e of the boys had been
employed, contrary to law, before
reach1ng the age OF fourteen years;
299 had been employed full time, and
SO per cent of these in or about the
mines. Likewise, in violation of law,
1877 boys not yet sixteen years of age
had been employed underground. Of
978 boys from thirteen to sixteen
years OF age who had been employed in
or about the mines 17S had suffered
accidents, including serious injuries,
in the breakers as we'll as underground
The. girls were employed chiefly in
clothing, cigar and other factories and
in domestic or personal service.
Forced to Go to Work
Family need was the reason most fre-
quently given for leaving school and
going to work, and the proportion of
children who had entered employment
was greater as the fathers income
was less. Almost half of the 483 chill
dren whose fathers earned less than
$3.50 year had discontinued their
schooling for regular work, while only