The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-07-05
BY LOUIS zooRocK.

farmers, as shown, are forced to per-
form the hardest tasks on the farms
They have no opportunities for edu-
cation, health, recreation and the en-.
joyment of a normal childhood Some
what similar conditions can be found
in the cities, where children of wage
earners in endless procession are
passing thru the gates of child labor
into initial employment in low grade
industries.
1t is very hard, almost impossible,
to find how many juvenile workers
there are thruout the country en-
ployed in city industries. The Chill
dren's bureau states: every year an
army Of 100000 children between IA
and 16 marches out of the schools to
become wage earners. This does not
include the children under Ia years
of age who in number of states are
permitted to work at that early age"
The 1920 census, however, shows that
only 100000 children, 10 to Is years
old inclusive, are employed in the
United States. Both estimates are
altogether too low fer accuracy.
One thing, however, is certain
Since the time when the supreme
court, the bastille of American CAPT
talism, declared the child labor law
unconstitutional, there was a steady
increase in the number of children
= employed. OF "a cities furnishing
statistics of employment certificate is
suance in 1923, 30 reported an in
crease in the number of children I'M
der 16 years of age entering regu-
lar employment for the first time dur
ing the calendar year of 1923 as com
pared with 1922. In these 81 cities,
the number of IA to 16 year old chill
dren receiving first regular employ
ment certificates was 75,752 in 1922
and 1888 in 1928.
In Is of the cities reporting there
was an increase of at least 20 per
cent in 1928, as compared with 1922.
In other cities the percentage was
higher. The largest increase was in
Waterbury, where almost eight times
as many children received employ
ment certificates during the first six
months in 1923, as during the same
period in 1922; other Connecticut
cities reported increases from SO to
17S per cent. Springfield reported an
increase of 214 per cent, Pittsburgh
1867 per cent, San Francisco S4.S per
cent, Indianapolis 74.S per cent, Birm-
ingham 63.2 per cent, Baltimore Sc
per cent, and Philadelphia sos per
cent
These figures are the best proof
of the loyalty of the supreme court
to the manufacturing interests of the
country. In the various industries of
the cities, in coal mines, in canneries,
in tenement home work, in street
trades, etc-children of all ages are
being mercilessly exploited. A great |
deal of work done by these juvenile |
workers is quite unsuitable, involving |
too much sitting, or two much stand |
ing, the carrying of too heavy weights, |
the over-exercising Of one set of
muscles at the expense of another,
and in some occupations-th loss of |
sleep. A description Of some of the
occupations in which children are
employed will help us get a clearer
understanding Of the greatest curse
of capitalist civilization-chil labor.
Children in Street Occupations.
Child labor in street occupations, as
child labor in agriculture, receives
very little protection. 1t is estimated
that over 100000 children under 16
years of age are engaged in various
street occupations: as newsboys, boot
blacks, errand, delivery and messen-
ger boys. vendors of chocolate, chew
ing gum and shoestrings, market
stand helpers, etc.
The children are compelled to work |
long hours for very low wages. Thus,
in Connecticut, it was found that the
greater number of children engaged |
in street trades earn less than so |