Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1925-04-24
HFAI tt SHINY MhlF
OF WORKING CHILDREN
BY NEW YORK STATE


The State Of New York, through
its Department Of Labor, has made a
study of helath of the working child
NOT the health as affected by years
Of child labor, but the health Of chill
dren as they are when they go to
work or have been on their jobs a
short time. They were children at
tending continuation schools. 412
children in all, boys and girls in equal
number.
Each child was visited at its place
Of work, and an attempt was made
to measure in terms of muscular ef-
fort the work. he did. What part OF
the day was he on his feet, and how
much Of the time was he sitting ?
Was he lifting boxes, carrying pack
ages, or pushing trucks, and if so,
how heavy were they? Was there
speeding up on the job, or could the
child work at a reasonable pace :
Did the job involve eye-strain? What
were the daily and the weekly hours ?
Was the lighting gold? We're the
machines properly guarded? Were
chairs equipped with backs and
properly adjusted? The report on
this study, made under direction of
Miss nellie Swartz, Director of the
Bureau of Women in Industry of hte
New York State Department of La
Dor, has just been published.
How the Children We're Employed
Wko+ Ill - t..wro~&s 41ro g. .
Among other things, these: Half the
boys and nearly one-fifth of the girls
were employed on factory operations.
Boys predominated in general mes
senger work and in Office positions.
Boys had the active, girls the sed-
entary jobs. A third of the boys were
on their feet the entire work day; a
quarter of the girls sat the whole
of the work day. Boys when on their
feet walked the greater part of the
time; girls stood. Six girls and four
boys stood all day long.
A quarter of the children had
wholly inadequate chairs, in most
cases stools. A quarter of the girls
having wholly unsatisfactory seating
facilities were seated the entire day.
Five per cent of the children ham
died weights exceeding twenty
pounds.
Nearly a fifth of the children
worked in noisy surroundings; ten
children worked in noise so excessive
as to drown ordinary conversation.
Heavy vibration of machinery or
rush of work exposed nineteen chill
dren to a serious nerve strain.
Only one child was found working
on what is classified as a danger
GUS" operation, and the great MAJ
jority of the children appeared to be
on "safe" jobs. However, eleven per
cent of the children had received
some injury during the course of their
employment. Four children had lost
time and two had had compensate
injuries.
Half the children worked at least
four hours less than the legal max
imum. There were twenty-three chill
dren, however, who, contrary to the
law, were employed more than 48
hours. For IL per cent of the chill
dren the lunch period was only half
an hour; over third of all children
had lunch period of less than an
hour.
What Physical Examination Showed
The health of these children was
reported by physicians on the basis
of their history and physical exam
nations.
Among the 412 children the physi-
clans found total of 1922 health de-
fects, of which 260, or % per cent.
were considered to be accumulated by
some condition of the work the chill
dren were doing. Of that % per
cent the important kinds of defects
where the work had accentuated the
weakness were: bad posture, fiat foot,
low strength, hernia, defective WIS.,
ion, heart affection, lung affection,
and nervous over-strain.
In short, the physicians found that
of all the children studied, 40 per cent
or nearly One-half, had some physi-
cal defect which was found to be ac-
centuated by the requirements Of
their job.
Remembering that the children ex-
amined were under 10, most of them
about Is, and working eight hours
day, it is worth while to note the des-
cription Of some of the jobs they
were doing.
A fifteen-year old girl in a mer-
camille establishment made change at
the terminus of the pneunnatic t,,haa
leading from all departments, and had
to work almost constantly at top
speed to keep the tubes clear.
Another case was girl who count
ed and wrapped chocolates, keeping
up with the speed of a moving tray
from which she took the chocolates
as they passed her.
There were four girls working as
telephone operators.