The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-07-21
By L. A.
ed by Sol Auerbach)

IN the tea plantations of the prov
ince of Hupeh harvest is in full
swing. Small and big merchants
have already bought it up. The large
tea factories and warehouses are
working full speed. The tea is be-
ing sorted, boxes and baskets are
filled with freshly dried tea leaves.
Dozens of children sit at the table
crowded close to one another. Their
supple fingers work quickly and
separate the rotten leaves and twigs.
They bend over the boxes, their
small faces pale and covered with
perspiration. The tea-dust hurts
their lungs and they cough heavily.
One gets faint from the aroma of
the tea. 1t is this way from day to
day, uninterrupted, from twelve to
fourteen hours.
From the balcony of my room I
can see the blacksmith shop, which
is on the other side of our small
street. It's din and hammering re-
sounds from one morning until the
next. BY daylight and at night by
the light of small petroleum lamp
| always see near the master and
his helpers two greasy and SCOT COW
cred children, the younger about
eight and the older hardly ten years
old. They work the bellows, hammer
pieces of tin into shape, make holes
in iron plates with a chisel. When
food is brought them-rice with a
little watery soup-they eyes dance
greedily.
On the river at Canton and on the
Wampu at Shanghai there are al
ways heavily loaded junks to be
seen, which are propelled with the
help of single enormous oar. On
this oar the boatman, his wife and
three or four-year-old children exert
themselves with all their strength.
But this is not so bad since the sun
shines here and the air is fresh.
In Canton, which is famous for its
ivory products, children work in the
sitting air, the dust and darkness
of the well-known narrow alleys
where this handiwork industry is to
be found. The small Li-Po is twelve
years old. Hhe has already had two
years of apprenticeship and still has
five more years to go before he will
have fully learned ivory-cutting. He
already knows how to cut up a piece
of ivory into smooth three-cornered
pieces and strips, which must yet be
polished in order to make chop
sticks out of them. He must, how
ever, also learn how to cut rosettes
knives, frames, Buddha figures and
other things. That takes a long
time, In the meantime his parents
starve and wait until he is able to
earn something and support them.
The embroidery of Tschang- Schs
is known in all China and outside of
its borders. Small children sit in the
dark booths and blind themselves
over the embroidery. Every piece
made is saturated with their sweat
and blood. Perhaps the colors of
the embroidery are so brilliant be-
cause the faces of the small masters
are covered with deadly pallor.
In a small side-street of Shang-
hal there stand a tumbled down
house, shop. Within a busy rust
ling can be heard that is due to pa
per. At the door tremendous piles
of boxes are being loaded. In
/ Shanghai there are numerous match
factories and even more tobacco fac
tories. Millions of cigarettes are
made there. These boxes are nee
essary for them. Hundreds of chill
dren from the age of five to twelve
sit crowded closely against each
other FASTING boxes. The employer
pays a Mexican dollar a year per
child. Besides this the children re-
ceive ten cents for every 10000
boxes. To finish 10000 boxes takes
over one month!
The small Li-Siao is only six years
old. She always has a desire to
sleep. She has worked with her
mother for one year in a large silk
factory of Shanghai. To unravel the
silk cocoons small fingers are nee
cssary. The cocoons are thrown into
soapy water. The working room is
full of steam and in this moist and
sitting room Li-Siao unrolls the CO.
coons from early morning until late
at night. She often falls asleep and
if she is seen by the foreman, her
finger is scalded. She receives in
cessant fines and is never paid her
full months wage of one dollar
The foreman beats her painfully
Li-Siao can hardly await the new
year, for then she has three holidays
the only ones in the whole year
How she will be able to sleep then!
These children in the box, tea, silk
and other factories and work shops
who in their early years are already