Full text of Child Labor in Representative Tobacco-Growing Areas, Bureau Publication No. 155

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U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
JAMES J. DAVIS. Secretary

CHILDREN’S BUREAU
G R A C E A B B O T T . Chief

CHILD LABOR
IN REPRESENTATIVE
TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS
By
HARRIET A. BYRNE

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1926

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PRIN TIN G OFFICE, W A S H IN G T O N , D . C ., A T
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CONTENTS

Page

Letter of transmittal_________________ ______
Introduction______________________________
Kentucky______•____„
_______ __________
The child workers and their environment.
The work of children in tobacco culture. _
Other farm work of children___________ _
Length of the working day______________
Duration of employment________________
Earnings of child workers. _____ ________
The effect of farm work on schooling____
South Carolina and Virginia
___ _____ _
The child workers and their environment.
The work of children in tobacco culture. .
Other farm work of children____________
Length of the working day______________
Duration of employment________________
Earnings of child workers_______________
The effect of farm work on schooling____
The Connecticut Valley_____________________
The child workers and their environment.
The work of children in tobacco culture. _
Other farm work of children_____________
Length of the working day_______________
Duration of employment__
Earnings of child workers________________
The effect of farm work on schooling____
Summary____._ _ „ _______ _ _:________________

11
12
12
14
16
16
18

21
22
23
25
25
28
28
31
34
35
36
38
39
41

ILLUSTRATIONS
Plate I. Operations on the tobacco crop________ ________
_
Plate II. Picking shade-grown tobacco in the Connecticut Valley_______19

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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
U. S. D epartment of L abor,
Children ’ s B ureau ,

Washington, June 26, 1925.
Sir : There is transmitted herewith a report on “ Child Labor in

Representative Tobacco-Growing Areas.” This report is the eighth
of a series of studies of the labor of children on farms, with special
reference to school attendance, which have been conducted by the
industrial division of the Children’s Bureau.
The investigation upon which the report was based was planned
and carried out under the general supervision of Ellen Nathalie
Matthews, director of the industrial division of the Children’s
Bureau. The field work was directed by Harriet A. Byrne, who
has also written the report.
Acknowledgment is made of the cooperation given the bureau by
State and county officials, local school principals, and teachers.
Respectfully submitted.
Grace A bbott, Chief.
Hon. James J. Davis ,
Secretary o f Labor.
v

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CHILD LABOR IN REPRESENTATIVE TOBACCO-GROWING
AREAS1
INTRODUCTION

From the time tobacco is planted until the leaf is ready for market
a great deal of the work necessary in its cultivation is done by hand.
The amount of hand labor necessary has been only slightly reduced
by the use of machinery and the application of principles of scientific
farming. Much of this work can be done by children because it
requires merely watchfulness and care rather than physical strength.
Although no statistics are available concerning the number of children
working on tobacco, children are known to be employed extensively
on this crop, to which in five States— Kentucky, North Carolina,
Virginia, Tennessee, and South Carolina— more than 1,500,000 acres
are devoted.2
Tobacco is grown to some extent in 42 States, but important
tobacco-producmg regions include certain parts of Kentucky,
Tennessee, and Ohio; a group of South Atlantic States—South
Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia; and the Connecticut Valley
in New England. On the large farms in the Southern States the
owners have tenants. On the small farms the owner and his f am ily
do most of the work. Among the tenant class and the small owners
the acreage of tobacco worked depends upon the number of hands
in the family, always including the children. In New England
much of the tobacco is raised on a commercial scale by large corpor
ations, and most of the work on this tobacco is done by hired laborers.
A few of these reside on the farms the whole year, but by far the
largest number, including many children, are imported for the season,
usually only for harvesting.
The districts selected for the present study are typical, in the
opinion of State directors of agricultural extension work, county
agricultural agents, and State and local school officers, of these three
tobacco-producmg areas and of the different kinds of tobacco pro
duced. These districts consist of parts of Shelby and Christian
Counties in Kentucky, where Burley and other manufacturing and
export varieties of tobacco are grown; parts of Florence County in
South Carolina, and of Halifax County in Virginia— both in the
Bright tobacco belt, producing chiefly a manufacturing and export
type of tobacco; and parts of Hartford County in Connecticut and
of Hampshire County in Massachusetts in the Connecticut Valley,
1 This study is one of a series of studies of rural child labor made by the United States Children’s Bureau.
The following reports in the series have been or are to be published: No. 115, Child Labor and the Work of
Mothers in the Beet Fields of Colorado and Michigan; No. 123, Child Labor on Maryland Truck Farms;
No. 129, Child Labor in North Dakota; No. 130, Child Labor and the Work of Mothers on Norfolk Truck
Farms; No. 132, Work of Children on Truck and Small-Fruit Farms in Southern New Jersey; No. 134,
The Welfare of Children in Cotton-Growing Areas of Texas; No. 151, Child Labor in Fruit and Hop Growing
Districts of the Northern Pacific Coast; Work of Children on Illinois Farms (in preparation).
2 Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, Vol. VI, pt. 2, Agriculture, p. 74. Washington, 1922.

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

where cigar-leaf tobacco is extensively grown. City children from,
three schools in Hartford and five schools in Springfield who worked
on the tobacco crop in the Connecticut Valley were included in the
study.
_
j
. |-JL
Children under 16 years of age 3 on September 1, 1922, were
interviewed by agents of the Childrèn’s Bureau either at school or
in some cases at home if they were not enrolled in school or were
absent on the day of the agent’s visit or lived in districts m which
the school had closed for the term.4 Detailed information on their
farm work was obtained from all those who had worked on the 1922
tobacco crop not less than 12 days. School-attendance records also
were obtained covering the year from February 1, 1922, to January 31,
1923, in Kentucky and South Carolina, and from M ay 1, 1922, to
April 30, 1923, in Virginia, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.
Of the 2,278 child workers found and interviewed, 563 were m
Kentucky, 606 in South Carolina and Virginia, and 1,109 m the
Connecticut Valley.
KENTUCKY
THE CHILD WORKERS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT

As was previously stated, the study in Kentucky was made in
Christian and Shelby Counties. Although the total number of chil
dren enrolled in the 21 Christian County school districts surveyed
was 1,090, only 580 were interviewed. The remainder either were
absent from school at the time of the agent’s visit or lived in districts
where the schools had closed. Of the children interviewed 277 had
worked at least 12 days on the tobacco crop. One child not enrolled
was included, thus making a total of 278. In Shelby County 1,268
were enrolled in the 19 districts surveyed, 927 were interviewed, and
283 were found to have worked not less than 12 days on the tobacco
crop. Two children not enrolled were here included, making a total
of 285.
, „
2
T3
The children were of native white and of negro parentage. Botk
counties have a large negro population. Negroes constituted more
than one-third of the population of Christian County and one-sixth
of that of Shelby County, while in the State as a whole negroes form
less than one-tenth of the population. About one-half of the families
represented in the study m Christian County and one-fifth of those
in Shelby County were negro. Illiteracy was much greater m Chris
tian County than in Shelby County,5 and twice as large a proportion
of the fathers of children studied in Christian County were illiterate
as was found to be the case in Shelby County.
In the northern part of Christian County, the second largest in
the production of tobacco in the State, much of the land is in timber
or uncleared, and that under cultivation is rather infertile. The
farms are small and the farmers, most of whom are white, are not
prosperous. In the southern part of the county the land is rich, the
3 In Kentucky children under 7 years of age were not included.
, , ..
.
* The Children’s Bureau investigation was begun in February, 1923, and concluded in June of the same
^ F ou rteen th Census of the United States, 1920, Vol. I ll, Population, pp. 369 and 380.

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\\T nciVii-nrrtAn

109 9

CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING ARTE AS

farms are relatively large, and many of them are worked by tenants.
Shelby County, which is twelfth in the State in the production of
tobacco, is in the fertile blue-grass region. Many of its farms are
and a great deal of the tobacco is raised by tenants.
The average acreage per farm in Christian County is 83.8 and in
Shelby County 88.2.® Among the families whose children were included
in the study the average acreage of the farms owned or rented was 88
and 77 for the two counties. Only 20 families whose children had
worked in Christian County, and omy 15 in Shelby County, lived on
farms of 200 acres‘or more. Only a tew of the negro farmers worked
as much as 100 acres, and a fairly large proportion in each county
were on farms of less than 25 acres. Most of the large farms were
worked in small lots by tenant families.
In each county about one-half of the fa m ilies represented in the
study were tenants. Most of the remainder owned the farms which
they worked, but a few were the families of farm laborers. Nearly
three-fourths of the tenant families in Christian County were
“ croppers.”
The cropper does not pay a cash rent. He works whatever land
the landlord marks out for him and plants it as the landlord pleases.
He shares the expense of seed and fertilizer, and the landlord furnishes
the house, work animals, and implements. The cropper shares the
profits of the crop after the tobacco has been sold. Frequently the
contract is only an oral one; in some cases the cropper accepts any
conditions which the landlord imposes and does not even know how
many acres he is working. He usually possesses nothing but a few
household articles, and since there is little to hold him he moves from
one farm to another quite often, sometimes every year. Less than
one-third of the tenant families represented in the study in Shelby
County, where there were fewer negroes than in Christian County,
were croppers.
About two-thirds of the child workers in both counties worked on
only the home farm. More than one-half of the remainder in
Christian County and nearly all in Shelby County had worked at
home and on some other farm as well. A few children, chiefly
laborers’ children who worked on the farms where their fathers were
employed, had done all their work away from home.
Of the 563 child workers studied in Kentucky, 414 were boys and
149 were girls. Three-fourths of these were under 14 years of age,
close to one-half were under 12, and more than one-fifth were under
10 years of age. There were 371 white children among these and 192
negroes, both groups of about the same ages; and proportionately as
many white as negro workers were girls.
Table 1 shows me age and sex of white and negro children who
worked on the tobacco crop in Christian and Shelby Counties, Ky.
6 Ibid., Vol. IV, pt. 2, Agriculture, pp. 396, 404. Washington, 1922.

58318°— 26t------ 2

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CHILD LABOE IH TOBACCO-GEO W IN G AREAS

T a b l e 1.— Age and sex of white and negro children who worked on the tobacco crop;

Christian and Shelby Counties, K y.
Children 7 to 15 years of age, inclusive
Christian County
Total

Age and sex

White

Shelby County
Negro

Total

White

Negro

Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
cent Num cent Num cent
cent Num cent Num cent
Num distri
Num distri
distri
distri
distri
distri
ber
ber
ber
ber
ber
ber
bu
bu
bu
bu
bu
bu
tion
tion 1
tion
tion
tion 1
tion 1
Total children..

278

100.0

141

100.0

137

100.0

285

100.0

230

100.0

7 years_____ ____ ___
8 years, under 10____
10 years, under 12___
12 years, under 14___
14 years, under 16___
Age not reported.......

12
48
77
73
54
14

4.3
17.3
27.7
26.3
19.4
5.0

9
23
44
37
25
3

6.4
16.3
31.2
26.2
17.7
2.1

3
25
33
36
29
11

2.2
18.2
24.1
26.3
21.2
8.0

12
47
67
89
61
9

4.2
16.5
23.5
31.2
21.4
3.2

10
42
52
72
49
5

4.3
18.3
22.6
31.3
21.3
2.2

2
5
15
17
12
4

3.6
9.1
27.3
30.9
21.8
7.3

Boys.................

186

100.0

101

100.0

228

100.0

185

100.0

7 years................. ......
8 years, under 10____
10 years, under 12___
12 years, under 14___
14 years, under 16__
Age not reported.......

8
29
53
46
38
12

4.3
15.6
28.5
24.7
20.4
6.5

7
14
31
26
20
3

6.9
13.9
30.7
25.7
19.8
3.0

1
15
22
20
18
9

1.2
17.6
25.9
23.5
21.2
10.6

10
41
49
69
52
7

4.4
18.0
21.5
30.3
22.8
3.1

g
37
37
58
41
4

4.3
20.0
20.0
31.4
22.2
2.2

2
4
12
11
11
3

Girls_________

100.0

7 years........................
8 years, under 10____
10 years, under 12___
12 years, under 14___
14 years, under 16___
Age not reported____

4
19
24
27
16
2

4.3
20.7
26.1
29.3
17.4
2.2

2
9
13
11
5

2
10
11
16
. 11
2

3.8
19.2
21.2
30.8
21.2
3.8

2
6
18
20
9
2

3.5
10.5
31.6
35.1
15.8
3.5

2
5
15
14
8
1

1
3
6
1
1

1 Per cent distribution not shown where base is less than 50.

THE W ORK OF CHILDREN IN TOBACCO CULTURE
Preparing seedbeds and fields.

In March or earlier the tobacco seed is sowed in plant beds.
Children help to prepare these beds in the late winter and early
spring. They cut, carry, and pile on the plot selected for the beds the
brush and poles which are burned to sterilize the soil, or, if steriliza
tion to reduce fungous diseases and the growth of weed seeds is by
steam, the children help to carry water. They also work the soil with
hoe, spade, or plow, and some of them plant the seed and cover the
beds with cheesecloth to protect the seeds and later the plants from
cold. In Christian County 60 children and in Shelby County 134
children did such work. Young children do not often help in the
preparation of the beds. More man one-half of the children who did
this work were 12 years of age or older.
At the same time that the seedbeds are being prepared and sowed
the fields are put in shape by plowing, harrowing, and fertilizing, then
the final harrowing and marking on of rows, averaging 3 ^ to 4 feet
apart, for transplanting. Many boys plow and harrow. (See p. 9.)
A few reported that they had done marking or “ laying off” of rows,
using a plow or other implement.

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

Transplanting.

Transplanting is done when the plants are about two months old,
usually the middle of M ay in Kentucky. This work is done by hand
in the Christian County districts studied and in part of Shelby County.
In Christian County 272 children and in Shelby County 243, or a
total of 515 in Kentucky, reported having had some share in hand
transplanting. In this work the children draw the plants from the
seedbed, drop them at the marked intervals in the rows, and set them
in their places. (See PI. I, Figs. 1, 2, 4, facing p. 18.) Occasionally
a peg is used to make the hole in which the plant is to be put, but
more often the worker uses the first two fingers of his righ.fr hand.
With his left hand he inserts the plant, patting the soil firmly around
the roots and stalk, bending over for the whole process. Often an
adult or an older child draws the plants— a process which requires
the exercise of considerable judgment—while younger ones drop or
set them, and sometimes the younger children do only the dropping.
One-third of the children studied in both counties (100 in Christian
and 90 in Shelby) had worked at some two of these transplanting
operations. All three had been done by 177 children, about onefifth of whom were under 10 years of age. A large proportion of the
children who only set plants were 12 years old or older, while more
than two-fifths of those who only dropped plants were under 10 years
of age.
A machine transplanter can not be employed very profitably on
small crops and was seldom used on the farms where the children
included in the study worked. The machine transplanter auto
matically regulates the distance of setting, the application of water,
and the firm establishment of the plant in the ground. But the
“ feeders,” who sit in a cramped position at the rear of the machine
close to the ground (see PI. I, fig. 3, facing p. 18) and alternately feed
plants into the machine, must keep their attention fixed on putting
the plants into the machine at the proper moment. Feeding is the
work done by child workers. About one-seventh of the children in
Shelby County (41, including 1 girl) had worked on a transplanting
machine. No machine transplanting was done in the Christian
County districts.
Cultivating.

Soon after the field has been set the work of cultivation begins and
continues throughout the season. A large proportion of the children
had cultivated. This consists of ordinary surface cultivation to
maintain a loose fine mulch about the plant and to keep down the
weeds. Much of the work is done by machine, but some hand hoe
ing is necessary. In the two counties 431 children had done hoeing.
Only 193 children had cultivated b y machine and two-thirds of these
were in Christian County, where not only are the tobacco acreages
larger than in Shelby County but the farmers are also less prosperous
and children do more of the heavy work. More than one-third of
the children had cultivated at least two weeks, and about one-fourth
of these had cultivated four weeks or more. Proportionately more of
these were in Christian County than in Shelby County, for machine
cultivating, which many of the Christian County children did, has
to be repeated frequently. In Shelby County weeding was done by
133 children, 28 of them under 10 years of age. In Christian County
only 2 reported weeding.

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CHILD LABOE IN' TOBACCO-GEO W IN G AEEAS

Topping.

The next process in tobacco culture is "topping,” which is done
when about one-half of the plants in the field have developed seed
heads— in Kentucky about the middle of July. It is done by break
ing off the top of the plant so as to force all the growth into the leaves
left on the plant and to cause these lower leaves to develop more fully.
The worker steps from plant to plant breaking off this upper part,
exercising his judgment as to where each should be broken. Younger
children can not do this so well; almost three-fifths of the ones who
had done such work were at least 12 years of age. In Christian
County one-half of the children included in the study, and in Shelby
County, where proportionately more of the workers were 12 years of
age or older, about three-fourths, or a total in both counties of 340
children, had done this kind of work.
Suckering.

The process called “ suckering” follows immediately upon topping
and continues until harvest time. It consists of breaking off the
lateral branches or suckers which develop in the axils of the upper
leaves after the top of the plant has been removed. As they con
tinue to come out during the growing season the workers must go
over the field two or three and sometimes four times, since it is im
portant that all the plants be ready for harvest at about the same
time. This is a tedious task, the more so since the worker must bend
lower and lower over the plants as he removes the topmost suckers
and then the next ones, using first one hand and then the other.
Suckering is a task which most children dislike very much. They
complained of their backs aching from bending over,.of their hands
hurting from pulling off the suckers, and of getting sticky all over
from the juice of the tobacco plants. Some of the workers reported
that their hands became blistered, their skin was irritated by the
gummy substance present on the leaves, and the odor from the green
tobacco was so strong that it made them ill. Suckering is done dur
ing the hottest months of the year.
Suckering is considered distinctly children’s work. It was done by
265 children in Christian County and 261 in Shelby County, nearly
one-half of these being less than 12 years of age. About two-thirds
of the children in the former county and one-third in the latter, where
tobacco acreages are smaller, had suckered for two weeks or more,
and one-sixth in the two counties had worked as long as four weeks.
Worming.

The removal of worms, like the removal of suckers, is considered
distinctly children’s work, and nearly as many children had done
this work as had done suckering. Almost one-half of the children
were under 12 years of age, and 22 of them were under 8. Although
it is most often done simultaneously with suckering it often must be
done before suckering is begun. The worker examines each leaf
carefully on both sides to find any worms which may be on it and
either destroys the worms with a twist of the thumb and forefinger
or puts them in a tin can or other receptacle which he carries, to
be burned later. This work is so disagreeable and, according to
gome workers, so irritating to the skin that occasionally premiums

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CHILD LABOR IN' TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

are offered for it or the children are threatened with severe punish
ment if worms are found on the plants after the work is finished.
The necessity for hand worming has been decreased to some extent
by using arsenate of lead as a spray, by taking extra care of the ground
before the plants are set out, and by allowing fowls, especially turfh® fields. This may account for the fact that in
Shelby County, where both cultural and economic conditions were
better, proportionately only half as many children as in Christian
County had to worm as long as two weeks. Yet nearly one-half
of the children in both counties who reported worming had done this
work two weeks or longer, and 81 had wormed for four weeks.
Harvesting.

Harvesting begins about the middle of August and continues until
late in September. In Kentucky the tobacco is harvested by cutting
the whole plant. The worker grasps the stalk near its base with one
hand and with a small hatchet or corn knife in the other hand cuts
down through the center of the stalk nearly to the bottom, then
bends the plant away from him and cuts it off just above the ground
Comparatively few children (62 in Christian County and 120 in
Shelby County) had cut tobacco, as this work is considered too heavy
lor them. One-half of those who had done the work in Christian
County and one-third who had done it in Shelby County were 14
years of age or over.
After the plant has been cut it is laid upon the ground to remain
until the leaves have wilted enough to be handled without breaking.
then hung by the stalk upon a lath 4 feet long by 1 inch square.
Children carry and drop the empty sticks, fill and carry the filled
sticks to the wagon or barn, or load them upon the wagon. Although
a single empty stick weighs but a trifle, a bundle of them is quite
heavy, especially as the children carry as many sticks as they can. A
single stick filled with tobacco stalks may weigh 25 pounds or more.7
Housing.

After the tobacco has been taken to the curing barn it is uhoused.”
Children who help at this work usually hand the sticks filled with the
green tobacco to men who hang them up in tiers in the barn. A few
child workers had themselves hung the sticks, but since the top tiers
are m many cases 30 feet from the ground the hanging is generally
done by men. Three times as many children had helped house to
bacco m Shelby County as in Christian County, and proportion
ately many more young children (13 under 10 and 3 under 8) in the
former than in the latter county.
Miscellaneous work.

When the tobacco is cured the sticks are taken down from the
tiers and “ bulked” or placed in neat piles on the barn floor. Some
times children do the piling; sometimes they merely receive the sticks
and hand them to some one else to pile. Proportionately many
more children in Shelby County than in Christian.County had done
this work.
7 Weight reported by United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry.

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CHILD LABOR IN' TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

The next process, called “ stripping,” consists of taking the leaves
from the stalk, sorting or grading them according to size, and tying
them into bunches called “ hands,” fastened b y winding one leal
tightly around the base of such a bunch or hand. Sometimes the child
workers only tied the leaves which an older worker had graded.
Stripping had been done by 116 children for two weeks or more, and
b y 32 for as long as four weeks. Still other work done by children is
to pick up and tie the leaves which fall during housing, attend to the
fires during the curing, load the tobacco, and haul it to town.
Table 2 shows the operations in tobacco culture performed by
white and negro children in Christian and Shelby Counties, K y.
T able 2.— Operations in tobacco culture performed by white and negro children;
Christian and Shelby Counties, K y.
Children 7 to 15 years of age, inclusive
Shelby County

Christian County
Operations in tobacco
culture

Total

White

Num Per Num Per
ber 1 cent ber cent
Total children.
Field:
Transplanting.............
Suckering— . . ............
Worming-----------------Cultivating--------------Hanging.......................
Topping......................
Picking up leaves----- Cutting.......................
Preparing beds............
Carrying filled sticks..
Carrying empty sticks.
Hauling.......................
Loading.......... ............
Nonfield:
Stripping.....................
Bulking........................
Housing........ ..............

278 100.0

141

272
265
243
232
142
137
79
62
60
59
41
26
21

97.8
95.3
87.4
83.5
51.1
49.3
28.4
22.3
21.6
21.2
14.7
9.4
7.6

137
132
112
120
64
68
13
34
36
39
17
20

209
36
33

75.2
12.9
11.9

101
18
18

Negro

Total

White

Negro

■rum- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per
ber cent ber1 cent ber cent ber cent
137 100.0

285 100.0

230 100.0

100.0

97.2
93.6
79.4
85.1
45.4
48.2
9.2
24.1
25.5
27.7
12.1
14.2
4.3
6

135
133
131
112
78
69
66
28
24
20
24
6
15

98.5
97.1
95.6
81.8
56.9
50.4
48.2
20.4
17.5
14.6
17.5
4.4
10.9

284
261
244
252
134
203
148
120
134
123
47
89
78

99.6
91.6
85.6
88.4
47.0
71.2
51.9
42.1
47.0
43.2
16.5
31.2
27.4

229
210
198
201
101
164
111
101
111
91
39
76
71

99.6
91.3
86.1
87.4
43.9
71.3
48.3
43.9
48.3
39.6
17.0
33.0
30.9

55 100.0
51 92.4
83.3
46
92.4
51
59.8
33
70.7
39
67.0
37
34.4
19
23 41.7
58.0
32
8
14.5
23.6
13
12.7
7

71.6
12.8
12.8

108
18
15

78.8
13.1
10.9

176
78
104

61.8
27.4
36.5

147
65
78

63.9
28.3
33.9

29
13
26

52.5
23.6
47.1

i Some children performed more than one operation.

Table 3 shows the operations in tobacco harvesting performed by
children of different ages in Christian and Shelby Counties, K y.

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CHILD LABOR IN' TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

T able 3.— Operations in tobacco harvesting performed by children of different ages;
Christian and Shelby Counties, K y.
Children 7 to 15 years, inclusive

Operations in tobacco
harvesting

Total

Under 10
years

10 years,
under 12

12 years,
under 14

14 years,
under 16

Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per
ber
cent
ber
cent
ber
cent ber
cent
ber 1 cent

Age not
re
ported 3

C H RISTIAN C O U N T Y , K Y .

Total children______

278

100.0

Hanging tobacco _______
Picking up leaves______ _
Carrying empty sticks___
Carrying filled sticks_____
Cutting_________________
Hauling_________________
Loading___________ _____

142
79
41
59
62
26
21

51.1
28.4
14.7
21.2
22.3
9.4
7.6

17
23
13
7
1
3
1

28.3
38.3
21.7
11.7
1.7
5.0
1.7

40
24
11
22
9
3
6

51.9
31.2
14.3
28.6
11.7
3.9
7.8

41
14
8
14
17
8
9

56.2
19.2
11.0
19.2
23.3
11.0
12.3

36
14
7
14
31
11
4

66.7
25.9
13.0
25.9
57.4
20.4
7.4

8
4
2
2
4
1
1

Total children______

285

100.0

Hanging tobacco_________
Picking up leaves________
Carrying empty sticks____
Carrying filled stick s____
Cutting.-----------------------Hauling_________________
Loading_____________ ___

134
148
47
123
120
89
78

47.0
51.9
16.5
43.2
42.1
31.2
27.4

17
38
11
23
11
6
15

28.8
64.4
18.6
39.0
18.6
10.2
25.4

26
49
14
28
19
11
15

38.8
73.1
20.9
41.8
28.4
16.4
22.4

47
39
13
41
46
34
23

52.8
43.8
14.6
46.1
51.7
38.2
25.8

'39
18
7
27
40
37
24

63.9
29.5
11.5
44.3
65.6
60.7
39.3

5
4
2
4
4
1

SH ELBY COUN TY, K Y .

1 Some children performed more than one operation.

3 Per cent not shown where base is less than 50.

OTHER FARM W O R K OF CHILDREN

Many boys and a few girls helped in fall or spring plowing, disk
ing, or harrowing, and many worked on corn and other grain crops.
More than three-fourths of the children who had plowed had driven
two horses or mules; four had used a tractor. About two-fifths of
the children had plowed for two weeks or more and nearly one-tenth
as long as four weeks. Plowing may become very fatiguing, but
disking is more difficult and dangerous, for the worker always rides,
driving a number of horses and manipulating the levers which con
trol the disks. One-fourth of the children included in the study who
had disked had driven four horses. Only three had used a tractor.
Although not many child workers had disked very long, 25 had
worked at this for two weeks or more.
In making the ground smooth and ready for planting the children
had usedspring and spike tooth harrows, homemade “ plank drags,”
and rollers. Workers who ride seated on these machines must endure
constant jolting. For those who stand on the machines or walk
behind them there is the discomfort of standing or walking all day
long. Almost one-half of the children in both counties who had
dragged, all except three of whom were boys, had driven three or
four horses, only three having used a tractor.
In addition to the field work most of the children had done a
variety of odd jobs around the farm, such as helping to build fences,
clearing fields of brush, hauling wood and’ fodder, putting hay in the
loft and corn in the silo.

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

The crops on which children were employed when work on the
tobacco crop was not pressing were principally corn, which in Ken
tucky is first in acreage and value, other grains, and hay. A total of
150 children, practically equal numbers in the two counties, had
planted corn by hand, and about the same number had hoed it.
Nearly one-half of the children had done some machine cultivating,
using the same implements as for tobacco. Many had also picked
or gathered com, breaking the ears from the stalks standing in the
field or from stalks after they had been cut and shocked, and throw
ing the ears into piles. Sometimes they husked as they picked, but
often left this part of the work until later. Picking from stalks left
standing is done in the latter part of October, but cutting begins
about the middle of September. The work which the children do
in harvesting corn is mostly done before and after school and on
Saturdays. The majority who had cut corn were boys, and nearly
two-thirds were at least 12 years old.
About one-fourth of the child workers had done some work on
other grains than corn, such as shocking or holding sacks to catch
grain during threshing. Some reported using a grain drill or other
implement in seeding grain, and a few had operated a binder. The
children who had worked on the hay crop reported driving the
mower or rake, pitching, loading, or stacking the hay. Some also
helped take it to be stacked, riding or driving a horse which dragged
a chain fastened around a shock of hay.
Table 4 shows work on other crops done b y white and negro chil
dren who worked on the tobacco crop in Christian and Shelby
Counties, Ky.
T able 4.— Field work on crops other than tobacco performed by white and negro chil
dren who were employed on the tobacco crop; Christian and Shelby Counties, K y.
Children 7 to 15 years of age, inclusive
Christian County

Shelby, County

Kind of field work
Total

White

Negro

Total

White

Negro

Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per
ber1 cent ber cent ber cent ber 1 cent ber cent ber cent
Total children...........
General:
Plowing______________
Disking______________
Harrowing.-.................
On com crop:
Picking....... ..................
Planting_____________
Cutting___ ..............
Other work__________
On hay crop_____________
On grain crop____________

278 100.0

141 100.0

137 100.0

230 100.0

100.0

107
76
97

38.5
27.3
34.9

61
45
54

43.3
31.9
38.3

46
31
43

33.6
22.6
31.4

114
105
135

40.0
36.8
47.4

95
87
113

41.3
37.8
49.1

19
18
22

34.5
32.7
40.0

161
123
99
56
74
80
50

57.9
44.2
35.6
20.1
26.6
28.8
18.0

94
66
54
33
36
55
28

66.7
46.8
38.3
23.4
25.5
39.0
19.9

67
57
45
23
38
25
22

48.9
41.6
32.8
16.8
27.7
18.2
16.1

160
71
137
98
225
132
85

56.1
24.9
48.1
34.4
78.9
46.3
29.8

128
65
115
73
183
112
66

55. 7
28.3'
50.0
31.7
79.6
48.7
28.7

32
6
22
25
42
20
19

58.2
10.9
40.0
45.5
76.4
36.4
34.5

1 Some children performed more than one kind of field work.

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285 100.0

CHILD LABOR IH TOBACCO-GROWING ABTCApi.

LENGTH OF THE W ORK ING DAY

The hours which the child workers reported for different kinds of
work, such, as general farm work,planting, cultivating, and harvesting
were similar and usually long.8 Of the 546 children who worked
cultivating, 216 reported a working day of 10 hours or more. The
10-hour day was much more common in Christian County, where the
tobacco farms were larger, than in Shelby County, though the latter
included more older children among its workers. Children who
plowed and planted worked the longest hours. Harvesting hours
were somewhat shorter because employment on tobacco and corn
the two crops on which most of the children worked, was not rush
work; and also because these crops were harvested in the fall when
v®ijWOr™ Ç
was
necessity shorter. However, of the 96
children under 10 years of age who harvested, 48 had worked at least
8 hours a day. A difference was noted in the length of working day
reported by the older children as compared with that of the vouneer
ones.
J
b
Two cases will serve to illustrate the long hours which many children
worked on typical days. vAn 11-year-old boy had worked from
5 a. mu until 11a. m., then from 12 m. to 6.30 p. m., or 1 2 ^ hours a
day, disking, transplanting, and suckering tobacco. A 12-year-old
boy had haiTOwed for 10 hours on one day, transplanted for 12 hours
on another day, and suckered and cultivated as long as 13 hours on a
third day.
.
Table 5 shows the length of a typical working day in cultivating for
children of different ages in Christian and Shelby Counties, Ky.
T able 5.— Length o f typical working day in cultivating tobacco fo r children o f
different ages; Christian and Shelby Counties, K y.
Children 7 to 15 years of age, inclusive
Total
Hours cultivating tobacco
on a typical day
Num
her

7 years,
under 10

Per
Per
cent
cent
dis Num dis
ber
tribu
tribu
tion
tion

10 years,
under 12

Num'
ber

12 years,
under 14

14 years,
under 16

not
Per
Per
Per
re
cent
cent
cent
Num
Num
ported
«
dis
dis
dis
tribu ber tribu ber tribu
tion
tion
tion

CH RISTIAN C O U N T Y, K Y .

Total children____

272

100.0

Less than 8 hours______
8 hours, less than 10____
10 hours and more______
Not reported..................

59
78
131
4

21.7
28.7
48.2
1.5

274

100.0

63
122
85
4

23.0
44.5
31.0
1.5

100.0

35.6
'30.5
30.5
3.4

100.0

18.4
38.2
40.8

19.7
22.5
57.7

2.6

100.0
17.3
23.1
59.6

S H E L B Y C O U N T Y, K Y .

Total children____
Less than 8 hours_______
8 hours, less than 10--— .
10 hours and more______
Not reported......... ..........

100.0

30.9
43.6
23.6
1.8

100.0

28.1
31.3
39.1
1.6

23.3
50.0
26.7

100.0
11.7
51.7
35.0
1.7

° Per cent distribution not shown where base is less than 50,
« The hours worked on the last day prior to the inquiry, provided the hours on that dav were said to he
day^ A h ^ s^ cffled operatton? reP° rt6d ° D’ are'presented in this report « t o Hours of work for a “ tj^icaP*

58318°— 26t------ 3

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

DURATION OF EMPLOYM ENT

Since many of the children studied, especially the boys, had
worked on other crops as well as tobacco, the total employment of
a large number of these child workers extended over a considerable
period of time. Some of them began early in the spring when plow
ing started and continued until the last work on the crops was finished
in late fall or early winter. Nearly one-third of the children had
worked at least three months, either continuously or an equivalent
time intermittently through a longer period. The great majority
of these had worked as long as four months, a few for six months,
and some even longer. Younger children did not work so long as
older ones, but of those under 12 years of age for whom a report
was obtained on the length of employment, nearly two-fifths had
worked at least two months, and about one-sixth had worked three
months or longer.
Two examples may illustrate the duration of the children s work.
An 11-year-old boy had plowed one month, disked one week, and
harrowed one week. He had transplanted tobacco one week, culti
vated with hoe and machine two months, wormed six weeks, and
suckered three weeks. At harvest time he had housed tobacco one
week and later had stripped it one month. When not busy on
tobacco he had planted, cultivated, and harvested corn for a total
of more than two months and had helped make hay three days.
Another boy 12 years of age had worked on tobacco alone during
the entire season. He had transplanted one month, hoed six weeks,
topped one week, suckered six weeks, and wormed (probably while
suckering) one week. During the harvest he loaded and hauled
five weeks.
Girls and boys worked for noticeably different periods of time.
More than one-fourth of the boys included in the study had worked
four-months or more, but no girls had worked so long. This may be
attributed to the fact that a smaller proportion of girls than of boys
worked on any other crop than tobacco, and they performed fewer
of the operations in its culture. Other factors, such as race or
tenure o f farm, were found to be of little significance. White and
negro children, whether of laborers, tenants, or owners, worked about
the same periods of time on tobacco and at other farm work. The
less prosperous farmers, whether owners or tenants, were the ones
whose children were most likely to work and, therefore, to be included
in the study.
Table 6 shows the duration of field work in tobacco culture of chil
dren of different ages and sex in Christian and Shelby Counties, Ky.
EARNINGS OF CHILD WORKERS

The earnings reported by children for work away from home varied
from 10 cents to $4 per day. Piecework rates were similarly un
standardized. Many children worked on the farms on which their
fathers were employed as laborers, and their pay was included in their
fathers’ wages. Some children were working to repay labor which
had been done on their fathers’ farms— “ swapping work,’.’ as they
called it. Only a few children who worked at home were paid. In
some cases the payment was the profit from a certain acreage of

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

tobacco or some other crop, or so much for the season’s work, or
some especial recompense for disagreeable work like worming (as
5 or 10 cents per 100 worms gathered).
T a b l e 6 .— Duration of field work o f children employed in tobacco culture, classified

by age; Christian and Shelby Counties, K y.
Children 7 to 15 years of age, inclusive
Total
Duration of field work
Per years
Num - cent unde
10
ber distri
bution

10
12
years, years
under unde
12
14

14
years,
under
16

Age
not
re
ported

CH RISTIAN C O U N TY , K Y .

Both sexes.
Less than 1 month____
1 month, less than 2 „ _
2 months, less than 3- 3 months, less than 4 ..
4 months and more___
Duration not reported.

100.0

21.2
23.7
18.7
9.0
24.1
3.2

25
16
11
1
4
3

12
25
15
5
17
3

15
15
16
12
13
2

6
7
7
5
28
1

1
3
3
2
5

100.0

. ■ 8

10.8
18.3
18.3
12.4
36.0
4.3

11
9
9
1
4
3

4
15
10
5
17
2

4
6
10
11
13
2

2
3
4
28
1

.
.

59
66
52
25

Boys.
Less than 1 month.___
1 month, less than 2 ...
2 months, less than 3. .
3 months, less than 4 ..
4 months and more___
Duration not reported.
Girls.

1
2
2
2
5

100.0

39
32
18
2
1

42.4
34.8
19.6
2.2
1.1

14
7
2

8
10
5

11
9
6
1

6
5
4
1

1
1

Both sexes.

285

100.0

Less than 1 month____
1 month, less than 2__
2 months, less than 3. _
3 months, less than 4. .
4 months and more___
Duration not reported.

38
77
74
35
43
18

13.3
27.0
26.0
12.3
15.1
6.3

11
26
13
2
1
6

11
25
17
3
7
4

7
19
29
14
16
4

7
5
11
16
4 19
3

2
2
4

228

100.0

17
57
61
35
43
15

7.5
25.0
26.8
15.4
18.9
6.6

8
23
11
2
1
6

5
18
13
3
7
3

3
9
24
14
16
3

1
5
9
16
19
2

100.0

21
20
13
3

36.8
35.1
22.8
5.3

3
3
2

6
7
4
1

4
10
5
1

2
1

Less than 1 month____
1 month, less than 2 .. .
2 months, less than 3 ..
3 months, less than 4. _
Duration not reported.

SH ELBY COUN TY, K Y .

Boys.
Less than 1 month____
1 month, less than 2 ...
2 months, less than 3. _
3 months, less than 4. .
4 months and more___
Duration not reported.
Girls.
Less than 1 month___
1 month, less than 2 ...
2 months, less than 3. .
Duration not reported.

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2
4
1

CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GEO W IN G AREAS

THE EFFECT OF FARM W ORK ON SCHOOLING

Complete school-attendance records for one year (February 1,
1922, to January 31, 1923) were obtained for 409 children, these
constituted about two-thirds of the children studied in Christian
County and nearly four-fifths of those studied m Shelby County.
Nearly one-half the children in the former county for whom records
were obtained had attended school less than 80 per cent oi the total
school session. In Shelby County slightly more than one-halt ol the
children for whom there were school records had attended at least
90 per cent of the term. The better school attendance in Shelby
County was doubtless due to its being a more prosperous community
with a lower percentage of illiteracy. (See p. 2.) A concerted eltort
also had been made in this county to bring about better enlorcement
of the compulsory attendance law, through the action of the county
superintendent of schools in authorizing the principals ol the five
consolidated schools to enforce the law in their respective districts.
Christian County had only one attendance officer for the whole
Farm work is the chief cause of absence. The number of pupils
who had been absent from school on account of illness was greater,
but absences due to illness were generally brief. Farm work was given
as the cause of absence by 156 children (three-fifths of those reported
absent) in Christian County, and by 134 children (more than onehalf of those reported absent) in Shelby County. The percentage ol
boys was much larger than that of girls in each county, as would be
expected since the boys had worked for a longer time than had the
girls. When the schools opened in July or August, as some did m
Christian County, many pupils remained away to sucker and worm
tobacco. Later m the fall these same children and others attending
schools which opened in September ^were kept at home for harvesting.
Relatively few children lost any time in the spring for farm work,
since most of the schools closed before this work began; and pro
portionately fewer of the young children were absent in either spring
or fall. The number of days of absence for farm work varied from 1
to 60. The average absence was 19 days in Christian County and
18 days in Shelby County, or approximately one school month out oi
the seven months comprising the school term.9
. '
As a result of the short school term and much absence, a majority
of the Christian County children for whom records were obtained
(112 or nearly two-thirds) had attended school less than 100 days
during the year preceding the study. In Shelby County a small ma
jority (115, or slightly more than one-half of those for whom records
were obtained) had attended school 140 days or more.
Table 7 shows the absence from school on account ol farm work ol
boys and girls in Christian and Shelby Counties, K y.
9
Until 1922 the minimum term {that is, the length of time a school must be taught “ °r^ * 01*
to contribution out of the State school fund) had been only six months. See Kentucky, Acts of 1922, cn.
88, pp. 242, 243.

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

T a b l e 7.— Absence from school on account of farm work o f boys and girls employed

on the tobacco crop; Christian and Shelby Counties, K y.

Children 7 to 15 years of age, inclusive
Christian County
Absence from school on
account of farm work

Total

Boys

Shelby County
Girls

Total

Boys

Girls

Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent
distri
distri
distri
distri
distri
distri
ber
ber
ber
ber
ber
bu ber bu
bu
bu
bu
bu
tion
tion
tion
tion
tion
tion
Total children..........

278

186

Reporting on absence........

100.0

No absence for farm
work.........................
Less than 10 days____
10 days, less than 20...
20 days, less than 40...
40 days, less than 60...
60 days or more______
Not reporting days___

38.1
10.3
11.1
8.3
3.2

28.9
11.4
12.7

55.8

27.8

30.7

1.2

8.1
8.1
4.7
1.2

10.2

4.2

1.8

22.1

Not reporting on absence..

285

228

253 100.0

205 100.0

119
42
24
20
6

4
38

47.0
16.6
9.5
7.9
2.4

41.5
19.0
10.2
8.3
2.9

15.0

16.1

1.6

2.0

1 Per cent distribution not shown where base is less than 50.

In Christian County 52 per cent of the pupils 8 to 15 years of age
were retarded/0 and of those in Shelby County, 39 per cent, the
dilierence being due to the much larger number of negro children
included m the study in Christian County. While such factors as
illness, mental retardation, parental indifference, and the failure of
the schools to meet the needs of the children must be admitted, the
most conspicuous factor preventing normal progress of pupils in the
schools was poor attendance. There was a clear relation between
retardation and the percentage of absence of the pupils retarded for
the year studied, which was probably typical of the entire school life.
As the percentage of attendance increased, the percentage of retardatop*1 decreased. In Christian County the proportion of retarded
children was but little more than one-half as large among children
attending school 90 per cent or more of the school term as among
those attending less than 70 per cent, and in Shelby County it was
considerably less than one-half. The fact that in both counties only
about one-third of the white pupils but seven-tenths of the negro
pupils were retarded may have been due to the larger proportion of
illiterates among the negro fathers; also to the inferiority of tlie schools
provided for negro children as compared with those for white children,
anu ^i°i
§>rea^er number of long absences among the negro pupils!
Table 8 shows the school progress of white and negro children who
worked on the tobacco crop in Christian and Shelby Counties, Ky.
lo
A child is considered retarded if he is 8 years of age or over on entering the first grade of school 9 or over
B m ^ u ^ f Education ^ Srade’ 311(1 S° °n’ accordillg to the Srade standard adopted by the United States

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

T a b l e 8 . — Progress in school of white and negro children who worked on the tobacco

crop in Christian and Shelby Counties, K y.
Children 8 to 15 years of age, inclusive
Shelby County

Christian County

Negro

White

Total

Negro

White

Total
Progress in school

Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
cent
Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent Num
distri
ber
distri
ber
distri
ber
distri
ber
distri
ber
distri
ber
bution
bution
bution
bution
bution
bution
Total children— 266
Retarded...............—

137

100.0
51.5

132
40

100.0
30.3

134

100.0

273

100.0

220

100.0

72.4

107

-39.2

33.2

64.2

15.4
14.7
9.2

34
27
12

15.5
12.3
5.5

8
13
13

15.1
24.5
24.5

1 y e a r.......... ......
2 years_________
3 years or more—

45
35
57

16.9
13.2
21.4

16
13
11

12.1
9.8
8.3

29
22
46

21.6
16.4
34.3

42
40
25

Normal......................
Advanced...................
Age or grade not re
ported.....................

89
21

33.5
7.9

65
20

49.2
15.2

24
1

17.9
.7

131
24

48.0
8.8

119
21

54.1
9.5

12
3

22.6
5.7

7.1

5.3

9.0

4.0

3.2

7.5

SOUTH CAROLINA AND VIRGINIA
THE CHILD WORKERS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT

As was previously stated, the study in South Carolina was made
in Florence County and that in Virginia in Halifax County m the
Piedmont section of the State. These counties lie within the Bright
tobacco belt (so called because of the light yellow color of the tobacco
grown there).' Florence County is not only a prominent tobacco
growing district but quite a truck-producing district as well, raismg
especially sweet potatoes and beans, and some cotton and sugar cane.
In 10 school districts in Florence County selected for study the total
enrollment was 901 children, and 687 of these were interviewed.
It was found that 289 of these children and 2 others who were not
enrolled in school had worked at least 12 days on the 1922 tobacco
crop. In eight school districts selected for study in Halifax County
the enrollment was 733 children, and 609 of these were interviewed.
It was found that 287 children had worked at least 12 days on the
tobacco crop, as had also 28 children who were not enrolled m any
school, making a total of 315 for Halifax County. Hence the total
number of child workers studied in South Carolina and Virginia
was 606.
. 1it
All were of native white or negro parentage. Although about
one-half of the population in each of these two counties was negro,
the fathers of only about one-fourth of the children included m the
study in each county were negro. The proportion of illiteracy in
each county was about one-sixth for the total population 10 years of
age and Over;11 but one-fourth of the child workers studied m Florence
County and one-third of those in Halifax County had fathers who
could not read or write.
■
.
The fathers of more than one-half of the child workers m I lorence
County and more than two-fifths of those in Halifax County owned
their farms. Most of the remainder were tenants. The average
ii
Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, Vol. HI, Population, pp. 929,931,1061,1066.
ton, 1922.

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Washing

CHILD LABOR IH TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

acreage per farm is 56.6 in Florence County and 84.5 in Halifax
County.12 Among the families represented in the study the average
acreage per farm was 65 and 120 for the respective counties. About
four-fifths of the farm owners or tenants in Florence County had less
than 100 acres, and only 11 (10 of whom were owners) had so much
as 200 acres. In Halifax County nearly one-half of them owned or
rented 100 acres or more, and about two-fifths of these had as much
as 200 acres. In Florence County only about one-fifth of the owners
or tenants reporting tobacco acreage and in Halifax County not quite
three-fifths had 6 acres or more in tobacco.
All except 13 of the child workers included in the study in the
two counties had worked on the home farm. More than two-fifths
of those in Florence County who had worked at home had worked
away from home as well; the same was true for one-eighth of those in
Halifax County, this lower proportion being doubtless attributable
to the greater amount of work done by the Virginia children on their
fathers7 farms, which were larger than the farms of the South Caro
lina farmers whose children worked. Most of the work done away
from home was “ swapping.77 Approximately three-fifths of the child
workers studied in the two counties were boys. About three-fourths
of the workers were under 14 years of age, more than two-fifths were
under 12, and one-fifth were under 10 years of age.
Table 9 shows the age and sex of white and negro children who
worked on the tobacco crop in Florence County, S. C., and Halifax
County, Va.
T able 9.— Age and sex o f white and negro children who ¿worked on the tobacco
crop; Florence County, S. C., and Halifax County, Va.
Children under 16 years of age
Halifax County, Va.

Florence County, S. C.
Total
Age and sex
Number

White

Negro

Total

White

Negro

Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
cent
cent
cent
cent
cent
cent
dis- Num- dis- Num- dis- Num- dis- Num- dis- Num- distritritriber
ber
ber
triber
triber
tribubububububution
tion
tion
tion °
tion
tion °

Total children.

291

100.0

215

100.0

Under 8 years............
8 years, under 10____
10 years, under 12___
12 years, under 14___
14 years, under 16___
Age not reported____

9
38
67
86
54
37

3.1
13.1
23.0
29.6
18.6
12.7

7
33
57
67
43
8

3.3
15.3
26.5
31.2
20.0
3.7

2
5
10
19
11
29

100.0
2.6
6.6
13.2
25.0
14.5 ,
38.2

315

100.0

238

100.0

32
48
76
86
65
8

10.2
15.2
24.1
27.3
20.6
2.5

23
33
60
68
50
4

9.7
13.9
25.2
28.6
21.0
1.7

9
15
16
18
15
4

11.7
19.5
20.8
23.4
19.5
5.2

Boys ...............

158

100.0

123

100.0

201

100.0

156

100.0

Under 8 years......... .
8 years, under 10.......
10 years, under 12___
12 years, under 14___
14 years, under 16___
Age not reported____

6
21
41
42
29
19

3.8
13.3
25.9
26.6
18.4
12.0

5
17
38
35
23
5

4.1
13.8
30.9
28.5
18.7
4.1

,1
4
3
7
6
14

25
32
44
56
39
5

12.4
15.9
21.9
27.9
19.4
2.5

17
23
37
46
31
2

10.9
14.7
23.7
29.5
19.9
1.3

8
9
7
10
8
3

Girls................

133

100.0

114

100.0

Under 8 years.. . . . . . .
8 years, under 10____
10 years, under 12___
12 years, under 14___
14 years, under 16___
Age not reported____

3
17
26
44
25
18

2.3
12.8
19.5
33.1
18.8
13.5

2
16
19
32
20
3

2. 2
17.4
20.7
34.8
21.7
3.3

1
1
7
12
5
15

7
16
32
30
26
3

6.1
14.0
28.1
26.3
22.8
2.6

6
10
23
22
19
2

7.3
12.2
28.0
26.8
23.2
2.4

1
6
9
8
7
1

° Per cent distribution not shown where base is less than 50.
I2 Ibid., Vol. VI, Agriculture, pt. 2, pp. 155, 278. Washington, 1922.

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

THE W ORK OF CHILDREN IN TOBACCO CULTURE

The culture of tobacco is in general the same in the South Caro
lina and Virginia districts studied as in those in Kentucky. The
only noticeable difference in work in the fields is the method of har
vesting in South Carolina, where the workers pick the leaves one by
one from the stalk, instead of cutting the whole plant. Many boys
help in the picking and then haul the leaves from the field to the
barn where other workers, mostly women and girls, string the leaves
upon laths. The younger children, including some boys too young
to help at other work, hand tobacco leaves to the workers who string
them.
Work before harvesting.

Much of the work preliminary to the harvesting of tobacco in
which the children took part was similar to that of the child workers
in Kentucky. Thus, 165 children (about one-half in each county)
had helped to make the seedbeds, and 273 (also about one-half in
each county) had helped weed the tobacco beds. A large proportion
of the children in both counties had transplanted, mostly by hand.
Nearly one-half of the Florence County children and one-fourth of
those in Halifax County had performed all three operations involved
in transplanting— drawing, dropping, and setting. (PI. I, Figs. 1,
2, 4, facing p. 18.) Many, however, had only dropped the plants,
division oflabor being evidently more practicable in Halifax County
especially, possibly because of the larger acreages worked there.
More than one-fif^h of the children who had transplanted in both
counties were under 10 years of age.
A lm ost, all the children who reported cultivating tobacco had done
hoeing, but about one-fourth of the children in both counties who
had cultivated had used a machine, such as a one-horse turn or
sweep plow. About one-sixth of the child workers who had culti
vated were under 10 years of age. Topping had been done by 246
children. Nearly all who had done any work on the tobacco crop
had done some worming and suckering, the majority (proportion
ately many more in Halifax County, where tobacco acreages were
larger than in Florence County) having worked at these tasks more
than one week.
Harvesting.

Although the actual cutting of tobacco stalks was generally done
by adult workers in Halifax County, this work was reported by 66
child workers, mostly the older boys. Children also carried empty
sticks, distributing them through the field, and carried filled sticks
to the wagons. Loaded sticks had been put upon the wagon by 71
children (mostly boys), and hauling to the barn was reported by 36
boys. A few children had also helped to hang the tobacco stalks
upon the sticks in the field.
Since in South Carolina the harvesting is done by picking the
individual leaves from the stalks, which is not heavy work, about
one-half of the boys and one-fifth of the girls studied in Florence
County had harvested. Harvesting begins about the middle of July
and lasts a month. For the first picking or “ cropping,” as the local
expression is, the child workers sit or kneel on the ground (PL II,
facing p. 19) as the lower leaves usually mature first. Working along

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P L A T E I.— O P E R A T I O N S ON T H E T O B A C C O C R O P : 1. D R A W I N G P L A N T S
F R O M T H E B E D ( F L O R E N C E C O U N T Y , S. C.). 2. S E T T I N G P L A N T S ( F L O R
E N C E C O U N T Y ) . 3. S E T T I N G P L A N T S BY M A C H I N E ( M A S S A C H U S E T T S ) .
4. S E T T I N G P L A N T S ( F L O R E N C E C O U N T Y ) . 5. H A N D I N G P L A N T S T O T H E
S P E A R E R ( C O N N E C T I C U T V A L L E Y ) . 6. C A R R Y I N G L E A V E S T I E D IN B U N
DLES T O T H E P A C K E R ( C O N N E C T IC U T V A LL E Y )

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

—■
■■
:...TT
■■

A T E h ^ P I C K I N G S H A D E G R O W N T O B A C C O IN T H E C O N N E C T I C U T V A L L E Y :
I. F I R S T PI C K IN G . - 2. S E C O N D P I C K I N G .
3. T H I RD P I C K I N G . 4. F O U R T H
K IC K IN G

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

two rows at the same time, they break off those leaves which are of
about the proper stage of maturity and lay them in neat piles upon
the ground. Later they gather the piles and put them into baskets
or directly into the trucks in which they are to be carried to the barn.
For later pickings of leaves higher on the stalks the children can
stand up. In order to get the leaves at their best it is necessary to
go over the field three or four times at intervals of about a week.
The majority of the 108 children who had picked in Florence County
were boys, and one-third of these were under 12 years of age. The
one-horse trucks in which tobacco is taken to the curing barns had
been driven by 110 children, 11 of whom were girls.
Barn work.

In South Carolina the tobacco leaves must be strung in bunches
on the laths preparatory to curing, and this task, known as stringing,
had been performed by 78 children in Florence County, 55 of whom
were girls. The children who are too young to string put leaves in
bunches to hand to the stringers, 181 (about an equal number of
boys and girls) having done this. Sometimes two children are
kept busy handing leaves to one stringer. Of those who did the
stringing, 70 per cent were 12 years o f age or over. The process
consists of attaching a string to one end of the lath, and alternately
winding this string around a bunch of leaves and across the upper
surface of the lath until the lath has been filled with bunches of leaves
hanging alternately on either side of it. The end of the string is
then made secure so that no leaves can fall off.
Housing of the tobacco, or hanging the filled laths in tiers in the
barn and taking them down after the curing has been completed,
was reported by about one-fourth of the child workers in Florence
County and four-fifths of those in Halifax County.
Fire tending.

In the South Atlantic States most of the tobacco is “ flue cured”
by heated air circulated through the curing barn by means of flues.
The furnaces which heat the air require practically constant atten
tion during the entire four or more days of the curing in order that
the required degree of heat be maintained. Children often relieve
their parents at this task; and 128 child workers (two-thirds of whom
were 12 years of age or older, and all except 16 of whom were boys)
had helped tend the fires. Very often the children remained at the
barns until late at night, and sometimes they stayed all night. For
example, a 14-year-old boy and his brother had kept the fires night
and day for one week, taking turns sleeping and watching. A
10-year-old girl had helped tend the fires during the time in which six
curings were made, sleeping at the barn practically a month. A
13-year-old boy stayed up until midnight every night for one month
watching fires during the curing process.
Miscellaneous work.

Since in South Carolina and Virginia the tobacco-curing barns are
not large enough to hold a whole season’s crop they must be used
several times within one season. Therefore, the tobacco is removed
to a storage house as soon as it can be handled. Helping to take the
tobacco down and to bulk it was reported by 129 children. In

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

South Carolina, where tobacco is harvested by picking, so that it
does not have to be stripped, bulking is the last work before grading
and tying in which the child workers assist. In Virginia, to get the
tobacco “ in order” or in proper condition for stripping, it is hung in
an underground pit on tiers like those in the barn. As the tiers in
the pit are not so high as those in the barn, the strain of reaching is
not so great; but each stick loaded with tobacco weighs about 5
pounds.13 In Halifax County, 98 of the child workers had helped
pit tobacco, 55 had stripped and graded it, and 169 had tied leaves
which had been graded by others. Children m South Carolina sort
the leaves according to size and quality and tie them in hands.
Tying leaves which, they themselves or others had. sorted or graded
was reported by 122 of the children in Florence County Tying does
not require the skill needed in grading; about one-tenth of the chil
dren who did this work were under 10 years of age, and about twofifths were under 12. Many of the children who had tied had done
the work as long as two weeks; and more than one-third had tied tor
as long as four weeks. In South Carolina much of the tying can be
done before school opens.
, ,
Table 10 shows the operations in tobacco culture performed by
white and negro children in Florence County, S. C., and m Halifax
County, Va.
T a b l e 10.— Operations in tobacco culture performed by white and negro children;

Florence County, S. C., and Halifax County, va.
Children under 16 years of age
Halifax County, Va.

Florence County, S. C.
Operations in tobacco
culture

Total

White

Negro

Total

White

Negro

Per
Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per Num
cent
ber1 cent ber cent ber cent ber1 cent ber cent ber
Total children-------Field:
Transplanting— - .......
Suckering............ .........
Worming____________
Cultivating......... .........
Topping--------- ----------Weeding.......................
Hauling....... ..................
Picking---------------------

291 100.0

100.0

215 100.0

100.0

315 100.0

238 100.0

311 98.7
312 99.0
305 96.8
232 73.7
75 23.8
134 42.5
36 11.4

236 99.2
235 98.7
228 95.8
170 71.4
63 26.5
81 34.0
23 9.7

75 97.4
77 100.0
77 100.0
62 80.5
15.6
12
68.8
53
16.9
13

281
279
259
223
171
139
110
108

96.6
95.9
89.0
76.6
58.8
47.8
37.8
37.1

206
208
193
161
118
98
84
70

95.8
96.7
89.8
74.9
54.9
45.6
39.1
32.6

75
71
66
62
53
41
26
38

98.7
93.4
86.8
81.6
69.7
53.9
34.2
50.0

Preparing beds............Loading.......... ...............
Nonfleld:

82
7

28.2
2.4

60
5

27.9
2.3

22
2

28.9
2.6

66
83
71

21.0
26.3
22.5

40
60
57

16.8
25.2
23.9

26
23
14

33.8
29.9
18.2

Bulking______________
Housing............ ...........

66
75

22.7
25.8

46
55

21.4
25.6

20
20

26.3
26.3

55
63
250

17.5
20.0
79.4

43
48
184

18.1
20.2
77.3

12
15
66

15.6
19.5
85.7

i Some children performed more than one operation.

Table 11 shows the operations in tobacco harvesting performed by
children of different ages in Florence County, S. C., and Halifax
County, Va.
____________ _________
i Weight reported by the United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry.

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS
T able

11.— Operations in tobacco harvesting performed by children o f different
ages; Florence County, S. C., and Halifax County, Va.
'

Children under 16 years of age
Operations in tobacco
harvesting

Total

Under 10
years

10 years,
under 12

12 years,
under 14

14 years,
under 16

Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per Num Per
ber 1 cent
ber cent2 ber
cent ber
cent ber
cent

Age
not re
ported

F L O R E N C E C O U N T Y , S . C.

Total children...........

291

100.0

Driving truck...... ..............
Picking,______ __________
Stringing................... .........

100
108
78

37.8
37.1
26.8

18
11
5

34
23
17

fiO 7

34 3
25! 4

315

100.0

164
71
36
66

52.1
22.5
11.4
21.0

62
15
4
2

77.5
18.8
5.0
2.5

43
13
2
10

H A L IF A X

COUN TY,

100.0

31.4

38.9

100.0

56.6
17.1
2.6
13.2

41
26
15
21

47.7
30.2
17.4
24.4

14
15
13
32

21.5
23.1
20.0
49.2

37
13
8

VA.

Total children_____
Carrying sticks...................
Loading.............................
Hauling...................... ......
Cutting_____ _____ _____ _

2
2
1

1 Some children performed more than one operation. 2 Per cent not shown where base is less than 50.

OTHER FARM WORK OF CHILDREN

Many children did general farm work and worked on other crops
when no help was needed on tobacco. They made hay, helped plant,
cultivate, and harvest corn and other grains; and in Florence County
many worked on cotton, and some on sweet potatoes, peanuts, peas,
beans, rice, and sugar cane. On account of the loose, friable nature
of the soil in this county less work is required in preparation of the
land for planting than in other districts where the study was made,
and much of the general farm work is done with simple one-horse
machines. Plowing had been done by an unusually large proportion
of children— 110 (including eight girls), or about two-fifths of the
workers. About one-fourth of them had worked for four weeks or
more. A few children had disked and dragged, although not much of
this type of work was done. In Halifax County 91 boys had plowed,
nearly one-third working at least four weeks. Harrowing was
reported by 99 boys, over one-third of whom had done it for at least
a week. More than one-half the children (a larger proportion in
Florence County than in Halifax County) had planted corn by
hand or by machine. Cotton, which is grown extensively in Florence
County and to a very limited extent in Halifax County, is planted
shortly after corn, but very few children had done cotton planting.
They set out tobacco after the corn planting is finished and soon
afterwards begin chopping cotton” with a hoe. Nearly o n e -h alf
of the child workers in Florence County had chopped cotton. About
one-half of the children in both counties had cultivated corn by hand
or machine or in both ways. More than three-fourths in Florence
County had helped in the cotton picking, which is done after the
tobacco crop has been harvested and continues while there is any
cotton left to pick, sometimes even until Christmas. More than
one-half of the children in Florence County and not quite one-fifth
' k ^ 6 m ^ a^ ax County ka-d picked com, generally husking as they

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

Table 12 shows the kind of field work done on crops other than
tobacco by white and negro children who worked on the tobacco
crop in Florence County, S. C., and Halifax County, Va.
T a b l e 12.— Field work on crops other than tobacco, performed by white and negro

children who were employed on the tobacco crop; Florence County, S. C., and
Halifax County, Va.
Children under 16 years of age
Halifax County, Va.

Florence County, S. C.
Kind of field work

Total

White

Negro

Total

White

Negro

Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per
ber
cent
cent
ber
cent ber 1 cent
ber
cent
ber
b e r1 cent
Total children..
General:
Plowing...............
Disking................
Harrowing______
On corn crop:
Planting........ .
Cultivating_____
Picking________
Stripping fodder .
Cutting corn____
Other work_____
On hay crop________
On grain crop_______
On cotton:

291

100.0

215

100.0

315

100.0

238

100.0

110
31
41

37.8
10.7
14.1

78
28
28

36.3
13.0
13.0

32
3
13

42.1
3.9
17.1

91
16
99

28.9
5.1
31.4

65
12
74

27.3
5.0
31.1

26
4
25

33.8
5. 2
32.5

189
161
1S1

130
108
102
111
23
79
96
37

60.5
50.2
47.4
51 ft

59
53
49
44

38.7
46.0
19.4

92
109
55

38.7
45.8
23.1

30
36
6

39.0
46.8
7.8

10.7

36.7
44.7
17.2

32
30
17

77.6
69.7
64.5
57.9
15.8
42.1
39.5
22.4

122
145
61

35
111
126
54

64.9
55.3
51.9
53 2
12! 0
38.1
43.3
18.6

162
212
51
110

51.467.3
16.2
34.9

ÏÎ2
152
41
87

47.1
63.9
17.2
36.6

50
60
10
23

64.9
77.9
13.0
29.9

228
134

78.4
46.0

158

73. 5
44. 2

70
39

92.1
51.3

i Some children did more than one kind of field work.

LENGTH OF THE W ORKING DAY

The hours which the child workers reported for different kinds of
work were generally long. A large majority in both counties had
worked 8 hours a day or longer, whether on tobacco, corn, or general
farm work.14 As large a proportion of the younger as of the older
children had worked these lo n g hours. A number in Florence
County and a much larger number proportionately in Halifax
County, where farms were larger, had worked 10 hours a day or
longer. For example, of the 261 children in Florence County who
had cultivated, 193 had worked 8 hours or longer and 80 had worked
10 hours or longer; of the 242 children in Halifax County who had
cultivated, 216 had worked at least 8 hours and 162 at least 10 hours.
The following illustrations of long hours of work may be given: An
11-year-old boy in Florence County had plowed and had transplanted
tobacco 10 hours a day and had hoed tobacco and harvested corn
11 hours a day. A 12-year-old girl had worked 11 hours a day trans
planting and hoeing tobacco and picking cotton. An 11-year-old boy
m Halifax County had transplanted and hoed tobacco l l j ^ hours a
day and helped on tobacco at harvest time 1 0 ^ hours a day.
Table 13 shows the length of a typical working day in cultivating
for children of different ages in Florence County, S. C., and Halifax
County, Va.
« For definition of typical working day see footnote 8, p. 11

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

T able 13.— Length of typical working day in cultivating tobacco fo r children of
different ages; Florence County, S. C., and H alifax County, Va.
Children under 16 years of age

Hours cultivating tobacco on
a typical day

10 years,
under 12

Total

12 years,
under 14

14 years,
under 16

Un
Age
der 1C
not re
Per
Per years1
Per
Per
Num cent Num cent Num cent ported 1
Num cent
ber distri ber distri ber distri
ber distri
bution
bution
bution
bution

FL O R E N C E C O U N T Y , S . C.

Total children2_______

261

100.0

»35

Less than 8 hours___________
8 hours, less than 10_________
10 hours and more___________

67
113
80

25.7
43.3
30.7

13
14
8

22
25
15

35.5
40.3
24.2

19
34
25

24.4
43.6
32.1

11
21
19

21.6
41.2
37.3

2
19
13

Total children2....... ......

242

100.0

Less than 8 hours.............. .
8 hours, less than 10_________
10 hours and more.................__

25
54
162

10.3
22.3
66.9

8
10
26

9
13
37

15.3
22.0
62.7

5
18
51

6.8
24.3
68.9

2
12
45

3.4
20.3
76.3

1
1
3

H A L IF A X C O U N T Y , V A .

1 Per cent distribution not shown where base is less than 50.
2 Includes 1 child for whom no report on hours was obtained.

DURATION OF EMPLOYM ENT

More than one-third of the children in each county had worked at
least three months continuously, or an equivalent of this time inter
mittently, throughout the year. A much larger proportion of boys
than of girls worked three months or longer, since boys helped in
more operations on the tobacco crop than did girls, also on a greater
number of crops and general farm tasks, especially in Florence
County. Negro children worked longer than white children. Only
68 children in the two counties had worked less than a month, and
many children had worked four months or even longer. The
younger children worked shorter periods than older children, and also
more intermittently. For instance, some dropped tobacco plants in
April, then did no other farm work until they helped to worm and
sucker tobacco plants in June and July.
The following accounts illustrate the duration of employment: A
10-year-old girl and a 15-year-old girl in a tenant family which worked
10 acres of tobacco in Halifax County had worked on the com crop,
planting, thinning, cultivating, and harvesting, for more than one
month, on tobacco transplanting one week, cultivating about as
long, and suckering and worming two months. The younger girl had
held sticks during harvest time for two weeks while the older one cut
tobacco. Both had housed tobacco and taken it down from the
barn during part of this time. After the field work was done they
had stripped tobacco for three months, working after school and
often in the evening by lantern light. A 12-year-old boy in this
family had done as much work on com and tobacco as had ms sisters,
and in addition he had plowed for seven weeks.
Four sisters aged 9, 11, 12, and 15, whose father owned his farm,
had worked on tobacco in the field and at the barn. The three older

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

ones had worked on com, peas, and sugar cane when they were not
busy on the tobacco. For a few days they had helped make plant
beds and weed them. They had transplanted for two weeks, the
three older girls drawing and setting the plants, while the youngest
one worked only at dropping them. All four girls hoed for four
weeks, and all wormed and suckered for one month. Only the two
older sisters had topped. They also had cut tobacco for two weeks
during the harvest time, while the two younger girls carried sticks and
held them. All four girls helped for two weeks in putting tobacco
in the barn and had helped take it down when the curing was com
pleted. The oldest girl had stripped while the other three tied for
two months, much of this being done after school and on Saturdays.
Some help was given on this farm by a cousin of these girls, who,
according to the school record, was only 7 years of age. On the day
when the agent of the Children’s Bureau visited the farm the 7-yearold boy was driving a one-horse “ dagger” plow preparing land for
planting. He had started to work that morning at 6 o’clock. This
was his first year of plowing, but during the previous year he had
worked on tobacco.
Table 14 shows the duration of field work of children, classified by
age and sex, in Florence County, S. C., and Halifax County, Va.
T able 14.— Duration of field work of children employed in tobacco culture, classified
by age and sex; Florence County, S. C., and Halifax County, Va*
Children under 16 years of age

Duration of field work

To tal
7
years,
Per
cent
under
Num distribu
10
ber
tion

years,
under

years,
under
14

14
years,
under
16

Age
not re
ported

F LO K EN CE C O U N TY , S. C.

Both sexes............ . . . .................. •.........

291

1 0 0 .0

67.

Less than 1 month_______________________
1 month, less than 2_______________ ______
2 months, less than 3 _______ ___________
3 months, less than 4.................. ...................
4 months and more______________________
Duration not reported________ ______ ____

6
19

4
16
17

81
65
36
62
25

7.6
27.8
22.3
12.4
21.3
8.6

1
10

Boys.....................................................

158

1 month,, less than 2......... ........... ..................
2 months, less than 3 _ .__________________
3 months, less than 4-------------------------------4 months and more______________________
Duration not reported............ ......................

4
33
38
24
43
16

12
2

3
5

14
6

6
24
18
15
17
6

5
5
9
7

1 0 0 .0

2.5
20.9
24.1
15.2
27.2

2
10

3
8
3
14

5
2
4
6

1 0 .1

5
2
3
5

8
13
6
8
5

9
12

5
9
5

Girls......................................................

133

1 0 0 .0

18
48
27

13.5
36.1
20.3
9.0
14.3
6.8

4
9
7

3
8
4
4
6

6
17
8
6
5
2

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19
9

Less than 1 month_______________________
1 month, less than 2.......................................
2 months, less than 3. __________________
4 months and more______________________
Duration not reported________ ___________

13
4
19

4
44

5
3
i
3
6

CHILD LABOR IH TOBACCO-GRO W IN G ART?. AS.

T able 14.— Duration o f field work of children employed in tobacco culture, classified
by age and sex; Florence County, S. C., and Halifax County, V a.— Continued
Children under 16 years of age

Duration of field work

Total

Num
ber

7
years,
Per cent under
distribu
10
tion

10
years,
under
12

12
years,
under
14

14
years,
under
16

Age
not re
ported

H A L IF A X C O U N T Y , V A .

Both sexes..........................
Less than 1 month..................
1 month, less than 2.......................
2 months, less than 3 _ ..........
3 months, less than 4____ ______
4 months and m ore......................
Duration not reported.....................
Boys...........................................
Less than 1 month___t _____
1 month, less than 2...................
2 months, less than 3.....................
3 months, less than 4................
4 months and m o re ............
Duration not reported......... ...
Girls....................................
Less than 1 m onth......................
1 month, less than 2.......................
2 months, less than 3 ..............
3 months, less than 4. ................
4 months and more................
Duration not reported...............

315

100.0

46
76
71
45
62
15

14.6
24.1
22.5
14.3
19.7
4.8

16
34
20
4
5
1

8
21
18
17
10
2

13
13
19
15
21
5

7
g
14
9
25
2

201

100.0

12
39
50
34
53
13

6.0
19.4
24.9
16.9
26.4
6.5

8
24
16
3
5

8
13
14
8

4
6
11
12
18
5

I
10
5
21
2

1
4

114

100.0

34
37
21
11
9
2

29.8
32.5
18.4
9.6
7.9
1.8

8
10
4

8
13
5
3
2
1

9
7
8

7
7
4
4
4

1
5

EARNINGS OF CHILD WORKERS

The earnings reported b y children for work away from home varied
from 15 cents to $1.25 a day in Florence County and from 15 cents
to $1.50 a day in Halifax County. The majority in Florence County
received 50 cents a day, but in Halifax County one-half of the child
workers receiving pay earned $1 or more a day. Some in both
counties had done work in exchange for work done on their fathers’
farms. Payment for work on the home farm was infrequent, but
some children (mostly in Halifax County, where a larger proportion
of the fathers were farm owners) had received the profit from a
certain acreage of some crop, usually tobacco.
THE EFFECT OF FARM W ORK ON SCHOOLING

In Florence County attendance records for the whole school year
preceding the study were obtainable for only 173 of the 291 children
included in the study. . About one-half of these 173 child workers—
a far larger proportion of negro than of white children— had attended
school less than 90 per cent of the term. School attendance in South
Carolina was compulsory for only four months, or 80 days, for all
children between 8 and 14 years of age, and various exemptions were
permitted.15 Because of lack of funds an attendance officer had been
employed only a part of the year covered by the school records.
“ South Carolina, Acts of 1921, No. 430, p. 754, secs. 1-15.

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

The majority of the children for whom records were obtainable
(55 per cent) had attended school less than 120 days, and 23 children,
or 13 per cent, had attended less than 80 days.
Farm work was the chief cause of absence. Of 237 children for
whom attendance records were obtained, 138 (nearly 60 per cent)
had missed some time for farm work. Although the absence varied
from only a few days to 60 days (12 school weeks), the average
number of days missed for farm work was 18. A larger proportion
of boys than of girls had missed school for farm work, and a larger
proportion of negro than of white children.
The shortness of the school term, the brief duration of the com
pulsory period, and the long absences would be expected to result
in retardation for many of the children. One-half of the children 8
to 15 years of age included in the study were found to be retarded
(see footnote 10, p. 15), and 36 per cent of these were retarded three
years or more. Of the 45 negro children of these ages for whom a
report on age and grade could be obtained, 40 were retarded, 27 of
these being retarded three years or more. The negro schools had
a shorter term than that of the white schools, and the attendance
law was practically disregarded so far as negroes were concerned.
No school records were obtainable for 72 of the children studied
in Halifax County, and, as was previously stated (p. 16), 28 others
had not attended school at all during the year preceding the study.
Nearly two-fifths (79) of the 215 children for whom records could be
obtained had attended school less than 80 per cent of the term, and
nearly three-fifths had attended less than 90 per cent. Children
between 8 and 14 years of age, with certain exemptions, must attend
some school for the time the public school is in session in the respective
districts in which they reside, but a city or county, through the action
of local authorities, may be exempted from the operation of the law,
which may thus be made inoperative if the influential members of
the community so desire.16
Farm work was the reason for absence of 145 of the 215 pupils
whose records were found, and 13 boys had missed 40 days or more
on this account. The average absence for this reason was 16 days.
A larger percentage of boys than of girls reported farm work as a
cause of absence, and a larger percentage of negroes than of white
children.
Among the children who had not been in school at all were 13
within the compulsory school age. One group of such nonattendants
was part' of the family of a negro tenant who had 13 children at home,
9 of them under 16 years of age. Only one of these 9 (4 of whom
were of compulsory school age) had ever been in school, and she had
not attended at all during the year preceding the study. The father
remarked, “ Had so many children, couldn’t send them all” ; so that
in this case parental ignorance and illiteracy as well as the necessity
of doing farm work were at the foundation of the absence of the
children from school.
16 Virginia, Acts of 1922, ch. 381, p. 641. This law is a great improvement over the one which it replaced,
but it had just been passed at the time of the study and two years had been allowed to prepare fOT its enforce
ment, with the privilege of having that time extended on permission of the local tax authorities.

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

Although seven months is the legal minimum term,17 some of the
schools in Halifax County had shorter terms for the year 1922-23,
chiefly because of the lack of sufficient funds. In some of the school
districts the parents subscribed money in order to keep the schools
open longer than would have been possible with public funds alone.
The shortness of the term in some districts and the failure to
enforce the compulsory attendance law doubtless account in part
for the fact that the great majority (67 per cent) of the children for
whom records were obtained had attended school less than 120 days,
that more than one-third had attended less than 100 days, and that
40 children or nearly one-fifth, had attended less than 80 days.
Table 15 shows the absence from school on account of farm work
of boys and girls in Florence County, S. C., and Halifax County, Va.
T able 15.— Absence from school on account o f farm work o f boys and girls em
ployed on the tobacco crop; Florence County, S. C., and H alifax County, Va.Children under 16 years of age
Florence County, S. C.
Absence from school on
account of farm work

Total

Boys

Halifax County, Va.

Girls

Total

Boys

Girls

Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
cent Num cent Num cent
cent Num cent Num cent
Num distri
Num distri
distri
distri
distri
distri
ber bu ber
bu ber bu ber bu ber bu ber
bu
tion
tion
tion
tion
tion
tion
Total children_____ _
Reporting on absence__ . . .

158

315

237 100.0

100.0

108 100.0

41.8
16.6

32.6
13.2
10.1
7.8
2.3
3.1
31.0

52.8
18.5
5.6
.9
2.8

No absence for farm
work........................__
Less than 10 days_____
10 days, less than 20 ....
20 days, less than 40___
40 days, less than 60___
60 days or more_______
Not reporting days.......
Not reporting on absence__

8.0

4.6
2.5
1.7
25.7

19.4
25

103
54
23
11
8
5
44
67

114

201

41.5
21.8
9.3
4.4
3.2
2.0

17.7

160 100.0

100.0

30.6
23.1
10.0
6.3
5.0
3.1
21.9

61.4
19.3

8.0
1.1

10.2
26

Of the Halifax County children 8 to 15 years of age, inclusive, who
were studied, one-half were retarded— 45 per cent of the white
children and 68 per cent of the negro children of these ages. Nearly
one-fourth of the retarded white children and nearly one-half of the
retarded negro children were retarded three years or more.
Table 16 shows the progress in school of white and negro children
who worked on the tobacco crop in Florence County, S. C., and
Halifax County, Ya.
17 The law fixed no absolute minimum term, but provided that in order to share in the State funds the
schools of a county or district must have been kept in operation on an average of at least seven months,
or 20 days longer than the previous year, or a less period satisfactory to the State board of education. It
also provided, however, that no county should be denied participation in the State funds when it had
levied the maximum school tax allowed by law. See Virginia, Acts of 1920, ch. 82.

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

T able 16.— Progress in school of white and negro children who worked on the
tobacco crop; Florence County, S. C., and H alifax County, Va.
Children 8 to 15 years of age, inclusive
Florence County, S. C.
Progress in school

Total

White

Halifax County, Va.

Negro

Total

White

Negro

Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
cent Num cent Num cent Num cent
cent Num cent
Num distri
Num distri
distri
distri
distri
distri
ber bu ber bu ber bu ber
bu ber bu ber bu
tion
tion
tion
tion
tion
tion
282 100.0

208 100.0

74 100.0

283 100.0

100.0

142

50.4

102

49.0

54.1

142

50.2

44.7

67.6

1 year.................... ........
2 years________ ______
3 years or more_______

54
30
58

19.1
10.6
20.6

45
26
31

21.6
12.5
14.9

9
4
27

12.2
5.4
36.5

55
43
44

19.4
15.2
15.5

43
30
23

20.0
14.0
10.7

12
13
21

17.6
19.1
30.9

Norm&l__________________

91
12
37

32.3
4.3
13.1

86
12
8

41.3
5.8
3.8

6.8

39.2

99
8
34

35.0
2.8
12.0

86
7
26

40.0
3.3
12.1

13
1
8

19.1
1.5
11.8

Total children______
Retarded..........................

Age or grade not reported.-

215 100.0

THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY
THE CHILD WORKERS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT

Tobacco growing in Massachusetts and Connecticut is a large
commercial enterprise, and many of the tobacco farms, though
managed by a local person, are owned by corporations, as has been
stated (p. 1). Hence the labor on these farms is composed of
workers resident on the farm during the entire year, migratory
workers— a large proportion of whom are men recruited from neigh
boring cities for seasonal work— and day workers from cities and rural
districts, including many children. City children as a rule work
only in the harvest season, either in the fields or in the sheds where
the tobacco is prepared for curing. In the field they are supervised
by foremen who work under the direction of the manager. The
foremen see to it that the children pick with care and do not waste
time. Foremen or forewomen also supervise the work done by chil
dren in the sheds.
Since about three-fourths of the acreage of tobacco in the whole
of New England is in Connecticut, chiefly in the vicinity of the city
of Hartford, it is not difficult to obtain workers. Although on smaller
farms the owners’ families can usually do the work, they too hire
local labor if rushed in busy seasons. Massachusetts raises some
tobacco on territory contiguous to the Connecticut area, and some
along the Connecticut River in the district extending from Northamp
ton north to Greenfield.
In Connecticut the enrollment of six schools in the rural districts
of Hartford County with a total of 485 pupils and of three schools in
the city of Hartford with an enrollment of over 6,000 pupils was
used as a basis of the study. Of the children in the rural schools,
267 (or nearly three-fifths of those whom it was possible to interview),
and in the city schools 534 children (or nearly one-tenth of those
enrolled), had worked at least 12 days on the tobacco crop, making a

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CHILD LABOR IK TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

total of 801 children for the study in this State. In Massachusetts
three rural schools in Hampshire County with an enrollment of 470
pupils were selected, and of these, 175 children (or two-fifths of those
interviewed) had worked on the tobacco crop at least 12 days. In
addition 5 children of 14 or 15 years of age, the older brothers or
sisters of enrolled pupils, who had left school for regular work, were
included in the study, making a total of 180 rural children. There
were also 128 pupils (about 4 per cent of the enrollment) in five
schools of Springfield, Mass., who had worked on the tobacco crop
not less than 12 days and who were included in the study, making a
total of 308 children in this State and a total of 1,109 studied in the
selected districts of the two States. A large proportion of the
fathers of the children were of foreign birth. (Table 17.) The.
illiteracy among the native fathers was negligible, but practically
one-third of the foreign-born fathers could neither read nor write.
T able

17.— Race and nationality of the fathers of children who worked on the
tobacco crop in the Connecticut Valley
Children under 16 years of age
Massachusetts

Connecticut

Race and nationality of
father

Total

City
(Hartford)

Rural
(Hartford
County)

Rural
City
(Springfield) (Hampshire
County)

Total

Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
cent Num cent Num cent Num cent Num-! cent Num cent
Num distri
distri
distri
distri
distri
distri
ber
ber
bu
bu ber
bu ber
bu ber
bu ber
bu
tion
tion
tion
tion
tion
tion
Total children.

801 100.0

100.0

724

White.
Native______
Foreign born.
Polish............
Italian._____
All other-----Not reported.

86.7

152
566

19.0
70.7

36
425

6.7
79.6

129
237
191

16.1
29.6
23.8
1.1

232
103

16.5
43.4
19.3
.4

.7
9.6

Nativity not reported.
Negro.................................

2
2

.4
13.3

267 100.0

308

261

97.8

300

116
141

43.4
52.8

230

74.7

15.4
1.9
33.0

2.6

104
73
49
4

33.8
23.7
15.9
1.3

1.5

2.2

68 22.1

2.6

15
104

11.7
81.3

53
126

29.4
70.0

6.3
57.0
17.2

53.3

15.0
1.7

6.3

Of the 1,109 children included in the study in this region, 979
(706 in Connecticut and 273 in Massachusetts) stated that they were
being supported by their fathers. Others were supported by their
mothers, older brothers or sisters, or other relatives. The majority
of the fathers of the rural children were farm owners, and nearly all
the rest were farm laborers or were engaged in nonagricultural work,
as there are few farm tenants in New England. The farms were
small, the majority less than 50 acres. In the two States about
one-half the farmers whose children were studied worked less than
15 acres of tobacco. The fathers who were not farmers were engaged
in various occupations; about two-thirds of them in some manu
facturing or mechanical pursuit, in factories as laborers, skilled or
semiskilled operatives, or as contractors or mechanics in the building
trades. Among the remaining third were proprietors of stores,

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CHILD LABOR IN' TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

commercial travelers and salesmen, real-estate or insurance agents,
truck drivers, chauffeurs, and railroad laborers.
All except two of the children from the cities were reported as
having worked for other employers than their own fathers. Some
rural children worked only at home, some only away from home, some
both at home and elsewhere.
More than two-thirds of the 801 child workers studied in Connecti
cut were boys, a larger proportion of those from the city of Hartford
than of those from the rural districts. Nearly three-fifths of the 308
child workers studied in Massachusetts also were boys, approxi
mately the same proportion for rural as for city children. In Con
necticut a much larger proportion of rural child workers (89 per cent)
than of city child workers (78 per cent) were under 14 years of age,
as would be expected from the fact that the city children were hired
hands, working some distance from their homes. In Massachusetts
also more rural children (71 per cent) were under 14 years of age than
were those from the city of Springfield (49 per cent). In Massa
chusetts 28 child workers and in Connecticut 111— more than oneeighth of those included in the study in that State— were under 10
years of age.
Table 18 shows the age and sex of rural and city children who
worked on the tobacco crop in the Connecticut Valley.18
T able 18.— Age and sex o f city and rural children who worked on the tobacco crop
in the Connecticut Valley
Children under 16 years of age
Massachusetts

Connecticut

Total

Age and sex

City
(Hartford)

Rural
(Hartford
Co.)

Total

Rural
City
(Springfield) (Hampshire
Co.)

Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent
ber distri ber distri ber distri ber distri ber distri ber distri
bution
bution
bution
bution
bution
bution
Total children..
Under 10 years______
10 years, under 1 2 ....
12 years, under 1 4 ....
14 years, under 16___
Age not reported____
Boys..........

801

100.0

534

100.0

267

100.0

308

100.0

128

100.0

180

100.0

3.9
12.5
32.8
49.2
1.6

23
43
61
50
3

12.8
23.9
33.9
27.8
1.7

100.0

111
182
359
144
5

13.9
22.7
44.8
18.0
.6

35
108
271
118
2

6.6
20.2
50.7
22.1
.4

76
74
88
26
3

28.5
27.7
33.0
9.7
1.1

28
59
103
113
5

9.1
19.2
33.4
36.7
1.6

5
16
42
63
2

547

100.0

385

100.0

162

100.0

184

100.0

110

100.0

5.4
18
16.2
30
30
23.0
52.7 ' 30
2
2.7

16.4
27.3
27.3
27.3
1.8

Under 10 years..........
10 years, under 12___
12 years, under 14___
14 years, under 16___
Age not reported____

80
123
249
94
1

14.6
22.5
45.5
17.2
.2

28
85
195
76
1

7.3
22.1
50.6
19.7
.3

52
38
54
18

32.1
23.5
33.3
11.1

22
42
47
69
4

12.0
22.8
25.5
37.5
2.2

4
12
17
39
2

Girls.................

254

100.0

149

100.0

105

100.0

124

100.0

. 70

100.0

4.8
13.7
45.2
35.5
.8

1
4
25
24

1.9
7.4
46.3
44.4

5
13
31
20
1

7.1
18.6
44.3
28.6
1.4

Under 10 years______
10 years, under 12___
12 years, under 14___
14 years, under 16___
Age not reported____

31
59
110
50
4

12.2
23.2
43.3
19.7
1.6

7
23
76
42
1

4.7
15.4
51.0
28.2
.7

24
36
34
8
3

22.9
34.3
32.4
7.6
2.9

6
17
56
44
1

is a further idea of the extent of children’s work on the tobacco crop in the Connecticut Valley may be
gained from the figures furnished by the owners or managers of 12 tobacco farms in Connecticut visited by
an agent of the Children’s Bureau during the harvest season of 1923. They estimated that of approximately
3,645 workers employed on these 12 farms, about 1,600, or 44 per cent of the total number, were children
under 16 years of age.

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

THE W ORK OF CHILDREN IN TOBACCO CULTURE

Two types of tobacco, shade-grown and sun-grown, are produced
in the Connecticut Valley. Most of the city children who go out
to work are employed on the shade-grown tobacco, chiefly on the
west side of the river; rural children work on both kinds. Shadegrown tobacco is picked, but sun-grown tobacco is harvested in the
Connecticut Valley by cutting. Only a few of the child workers
from the city performed any of the operations in tobacco culture
except harvesting, but rural children helped in nearly all of them.
Kural boys and girls do the same kinds of work, but this is not the
case with the children from the city. More than 90 per cent of the
city boys had worked in the fields exclusively, and 83 per cent of
the city girls had worked in the sheds exclusively. The few boys
who had worked in the sheds as well as in the fields had done so for
brief^periods when it was inexpedient to do field work on account
of rain or heavy dew, or because the work at the barn had not been
handled quickly enough.
Work before harvesting.

More than one-third of the rural children in both regions studied
(a large proportion of whom were boys) had transplanted tobacco,
usually by machine. (Pl. I, Fig. 3, facing p. 18.) A slightly larger
proportion of these children (also mostly boys) had hoed and topped
the plants, and more than one-half had removed suckers. No worm
ing was done.
Harvesting.

Proportionately few children helped cut the sun-grown tobacco,
but more than one-fourth (227 rural children and 65 from the cities)
handed the cut tobacco to the workers who speared it upon the
laths, two boys helping each spearer. (PI. I, Fig. 5, facing p. 18.)
Since the tobacco stalks must he kept up from the ground so that
the leaves will not be injured, the smaller children must hold their
arms out horizontally, and this is very tiring. More than one-half
of the children who did this work were under 12 years of age.
Shade-grown tobacco is so named because a covering of cheese
cloth or similar material is placed over it, supported on wires strung
from 9-foot posts set in rows about 33 feet apart all over the field
and not removed until the harvesting has been finished. Some of
the plants attain a height of 8 feet, and the leaves of adjoining rows
of plants extend well past each other. The child pickers are entirely
hidden from view at harvest time, only the quick, crackling sound
of the breaking leaves indicating their presence. As can readily be
understood, the work is done in an extremely close and hot atmosiphere.
Picking shade-grown tobacco was reported b y 305 children from the
Hartford city schools, all except 4 of whom were boys, and by 37
rural children in Connecticut. Kural children in Connecticut usually
work only on sun-grown tobacco. In Massachusetts 140 children,
approximately equal numbers from city and country, had picked
tobacco. For the first of the four or five pickings which are necessary
the smaller boys especially are employed. They sit upon the ground
and hitch themselves along, or kneel or crawl along from one plant
to the next. (PI. II, Figs. 1 and 2, facing p. 19.) Turning from side

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

to side to pick from two rows at once, they carefully break off the
lowest leaves and put them in neat piles under the plants, to be
collected by other workers. To work in this manner and in such
postures all day long puts considerable strain upon the muscles of
the child workers. For the next picking some o f the children stand
(PI. II, Fig. 3, facing p. 19), but many still kneel, preferring this to
the constant stooping. The children always stand during the last
two or three pickings, but the younger children have to reach higher
than is easy for them in order to pick the upper leaves. (PI. II,
Fig. 4, facing p. 19.) Care must be exercised because shade-grown
tobacco is used for the most part in cigars and if the leaves are broken
they are valueless. The tobacco pickers are constantly under
supervision and rarely become really proficient until after several
weeks’ experience, even though they can acquire a superficial knowl
edge of the work in a few hours.
More than one-fourth of all the children who had picked were less
than 12 years old, and 34 of them were under 10 years of age. More
than three-fifths of both the city and rural children who picked
tobacco had worked a month or longer, and nearly one-fourth had
picked for at least two months.
The piles of picked leaves are collected by boys who walk along
between each two rows dragging baskets made of canvas over light
metal frames, about 3 feet long, 1^ feet wide, and 1 foot deep. The
filled baskets (then weighing from 45 to 55 pounds) are dragged back
to the edge of the field, where the leaves are put into trucks to be
taken to the barn. Men or older boys usually drag baskets; yet
more than one-fifth of the 98 Hartford boys who reported domg it
were under 12 years of age. In Massachusetts only 35 (about equal
numbers of city and rural children) had dragged baskets.
Shed work.

Stringing, known locally as sewing, is the next process after the
leaves nave been picked and conveyed to the barns. The girl or
women workers stand behind tables placed end to end to form long
benches. As a bundle of laths is brought to each stringer she threads
the loose end of the string, which has already been attached to the
lath, into a large needle, picks up one leaf from each of the two piles
that have been placed before her by another worker, holds these two
leaves face to face, and inserts the needle through the stems near the
broken ends. When she has strung the required number of leaves
(about 40) she slips the needle off the string, fastens the string
securely to the end of the lath, and places the filled lath on a rack
behind her.
The necessity of standing all day long and the soreness oi the
hands due to the constant use of the needle are the most unpleasant
features of this work. Another disagreeable feature is the stickine^fe
of the juice from the tobacco leaves, which stains the hands badly.
The right hand can be protected somewhat by a piece of leather
around the palm, which is used instead of fingers to push the needle
through the leaves. The coolness of the barn, with its doors and
ventilating slats open, makes the situation of these workers pre
ferable in this respect to that of the pickers under the tent covering.
All except 15 of the 261 children who had strung tobacco were
girls. In Connecticut most of the stringers were from the city, but
in Massachusetts about as many rural as city children had strung.

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CHILD LABOE IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

A large proportion did the work for a month or more. Tn the two
States 50 o f the stringers were under 12 years of age.
In the two States 197 children had put the leaves in bunches upon
the tables for the stringers. About two-fifths of these children
were under 12 years of age. Almost one-third had worked at this
task for a month or more.
Housing tobacco was reported by 174 children, mostly boys. As
a rule they carried the filled laths from the racks behind the stringers
to the men in the barn who placed them upon the tiers. Nearly
one-third of these children were under 12 years of age. The picking
up of leaves which fell from the laths as they were being hung or
which had fallen from the racks or elsewhere was a job also reported
by child workers. Another type of work mentioned by some was
attaching the cords to the laths before stringing began, or putting
new cords on those which were to be used a second time if there was
a shortage of laths. This process consisted of cutting off the proper
length of cord by a metal cutter on the wall, putting the end of the
cord in a slit at the end of the lath, winding" it tightly around the
lath a couple of times and fastening it in the slit again, repeating the
process at the other end of the lath with the other end of the cord.
After the tobacco has been cured the filled laths are taken down
and the tobacco leaves stripped from them. The shade-grown
tobacco is stripped by untying the cords, slipping off the leaves,
and sometimes b y tying the leaves in bunches before they are carried
to the packers. (PI. I, Fig. 6, facing p. 18.) A total of 160 children
in Connecticut and 74 in Massachusetts had done this work.
Table 19 shows the operations in tobacco culture performed by
rural and city children in the Connecticut Valley.
T able 19.— Operations in tobacco culture performed by city and rural children in
the Connecticut Valley
Children under 16 years of age
Connecticut
Operations in tobacco
culture

Total

City
(Hartford)

Massachusetts
Rural
(Hartford
Co.)

Total

City
(Springfield)

Rural
(Hampshire
Co.)

Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per
ber1 cent
ber
cent
ber
cent ber1 cent
ber
cent
ber
cent
Total children_
Field:
Picking................
Suckering______
Handing..............
Topping..............
Hoeing..... ...........
Transplanting__
Dragging baskets
Preparing beds...
Cutting________
Hauling...............
Shed:
Stripping_______
Sewing_________
Handing.............
H ou sin g.......... .
Tying..................

801

100.0

534

100.0

267

100.0

308

100.0

128

100.0

180

100.0

342
264
247
148
140
122
106
98
97
86

42.7
33.0
30.8
18.5
17.5
15.2
13.2
12.2
12.1
10.7

305
86
60
41
27
8
98
1
20
17

57.1
16.1
11.2
7.7
5.1
1.5
18.4
.2
3.7
3.2

37
178
187
107
113
114
8
97
77
69

13.9
66.7
70.0
40.1
42.3
42.7
3.0
36.3
28.8
25.8

140
70
39
58
89
64
35
36
58
32

45.5
22.7
12.7
18.8
28.9
20.8
11.4
11.7
18.8
10.4

75
8
5
3
19
9
19

58.6
6.2
3.9
2.3
14.8
7.0
14.8

6
3

4.7
2.3

65
62
34
55
70
55
16
36
52
29

36.1
34.4
18.9
30.6
38.9
30.6
8.9
•20.0
28.9
16.1

160
157
155
113
75

20.0
19.6
19.4
14.1
9.4

25
121
127
67
34

4.7
22.7
23.8
12.5
6.4

135
36
28
46
41

50.6
13.5
10.5
17.2
15.4

.74
104
42
61
25

24.0
33.8
13.6
19.8
8.1

3
46
14
9
3

2.3
35.9
10.9
7.0
2.3

71
58
28
52
22

39.4
32.2
15.6
28.9
12.2

1Some children performed more than one operation.

Table 20 shows the operations in tobacco culture performed by
children of different ages in the Connecticut Valley.

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

T able 20.— Operations in tobacco culture performed by children o f different ages in
the Connecticut Valley
Children under 16 years of age
Under 10
years

Total

Operations in tobacco
culture

Num Per
ber 1 cent

10 years,
under 12

Slum Per Num Per
cent
ber cent2 ber

12 years,
under 14

14 years,
under 16

Slum Per
cent
ber

Age
not re
ported 2

CONNECTICUT

Field:
Picking—....... ......
Suckering.............
Handing-----------Topping------------Hoeing.............
Transplanting___
Dragging baskets.
Preparing beds—
Cutting................
Shed:
Stripping----------Stringing_______
Handing-----------Housing------------

100.0

60
41
30
27
34
17
3613
'24

41.7
28.5
20.8
18.7
23.6
11.8
25.0
9.0
16.7

1
2
2

16.7
22.3
21.4
14 2

24
42
11
28

16.7
29.2
7.6
19.4

103

100.0

113

100.0

52.5
15.3
35.6
23.7
16.9

44
12
23
13
11

42.7
11.7
22.3
12.6
10.7

54
10
35
27
26

47.8
8.8
31.0
23.9
23.0

3
1
2
2
2

30.5
18.6
11.9
28.8

19
49
17
15

18.4
47.6
16.5
14.6

24
38
15
22

21.2
33.6
13.3
19.5

2
1

801

100.0

111

100.0

182

100.0

359

100.0

342
264
247
148
140
122
106
98
97

42.7
33.0
30.8
18.5
17.5
15.2
13.2
12.2
12.1

26
52
65
25
22
29
23
9

23.4
46.8
58.6
22.5
19.8
26.1
7.2
20.7
8.1

70
57
68
34
26
32
16
28
16

38.5
31.3
37.4
18.7
14.3
17.6
8.8
15.4

185
112
82
62
56
44
46
33
48

51.5
31.2
22.8
17.3
15.6
12.3
12.8
9.2
13.4

160
157
155
113

20.0
19.6
19.4
14.1

35
8
16
10

31.5
7.2
14.4
9.0

40
26
48
24

22.0
14.3
26.4
13.2

60
80
77
51

308

100.0

140
39
89
64
M

45.5
12. 7
28.9
20. 8
18.8

8
7
8
8
9

31
9
21
14
10

74
104
42

24.0
33.8
13. 6
19.8

11
5
3
5

18
11
7
17

Total children.

144

2
1
1
1
3

M ASSACH USETTS

Total children..
Field:
Picking.......... .
Handing..........
Hoeing_______
Transplanting.
Cutting........—
Shed:
Stripping------Sewing---------Handing-------Housing______
i

Some children performed more than one operation.

2 Per cent not shown where base is less than 50.

OTHER FARM W ORK OF CHILDREN

Although most of the city children had worked on tobacco only,
most of the rural children had worked on corn, hay, and other crops, a
majority of those in Massachusetts having worked on the onion crop.
The rural districts of this State adjacent to the Connecticut area
studied and along the river in the region from Northampton to Green
field raise onions on a large commercial scale, and a great deal of hand
labor is needed. Weeding must be done four or five times, and for
the first weeding the child workers kneel down astride the rows mid
use both hands, aided occasionally by a small hook or weeder. For
later weedings they stand and stoop over. Very little difference was
noted in the ages of boys and girls who weeded, or in the length of
time which they worked. Nearly two-thirds of the children worked
two weeks or longer, an.d 24 (5 of whom were under 10 years of age)
worked a month or more. Pulling is done in the same position as
weeding. After the onions are dry the tops are clipped off with a
large pair of shears, and the onions are sorted by means of a screen
which is generally shaken by two small boys while larger boys or men
dump the onions upon it. Bags to catch the onions as they fall

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

through the screen are pinned to the screen frame, usually by a childDuring the screening the children must pick out any decayed or im
perfect onions which they notice.
Table 21 shows the operations in onion culture performed by boys
and girls who had also worked on the tobacco crop in Massachusetts.
T able 21.— Operations in onion culture performed by boys and girls who had also
worked on the tobacco crop; Massachusetts
Children under 16 years of age
Total

Operations in onion culture

Total children

Boys

Girls

Num
ber 1

Per cent

Num
ber

Per cent

Num
ber

308

100.0

184

100.0

124

100.0

115
101
86
60
35
23

37.3
32.8
27.9
19.5
11.4
7.5

78
66
58
46
25
21

42.4
35.9
31.5
25.0
13.6
11.4

37
35
28
14
10
2

29.8
28. 2
22.6
11.3
8.1
1.6

............................

Working on onion crop__________
Weeding__________________ . .
Clipping__________________
Pulling- ____ _____ _______
Planting______________ .
Screening____________ _

Per cent

1Some children performed more than one operation.

LENGTH OF THE WORKING DAY

The following figures are for rural child workers only, since few of
the city children were employed in any work other than harvesting
the tobacco crop: Three-fifths (65) oi the children in Connecticut
and two-fifths (22) of those in Massachusetts who had transplanted
had worked 8 hours or more on the day which they reported as
typical,19 and approximately two-thirds in each State had worked at
least 8 hours a day also in cultivating.
During the harvest season the working hours were longer for a
great number of the children. In Connecticut 85 per cent and in
Masschusetts 89 per cent of the child workers reporting the length
of their working day (a larger proportion of city children than of
rural children) had worked at least 8 hours a day; and about one-fifth
of the child workers included in the study in the Connecticut Valley
had worked 10 hours or more a day. A working day of at least 10
hours was more common in Connecticut than in Massachusetts,
where the number of city children among the workers was smaller
than in Connecticut. The hours of work at the shed were usually
the same as in the field, since the same trucks brought all the work
ers; but some children doing shed work would shorten their lunch
periods in order to work longer and make more money on the piece
work basis on which they were paid. Younger children worked a
shorter day at harvest time than did the older ones, yet two-thirds of
the children under 10 years of age had worked at least 8 hours and
about one-sixth had worked 10 hours or more during this season.
The majority of the city children began work at 7 a. m., took one
hour for lunch at noon, and worked until 5 p. m. But so many had a
long distance to go to work that the time consumed in transportation,
» For definition of “ typical” see footnote 8, p. 11,

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

added to the nine hours spent in actual work, made a very long work
ing day. Some children traveled 5 miles to work, some even 10 miles.
A few walked or rode in street cars, but the majority were taken back
and forth in the employers’ trucks.20 Evidently the working hours
of the rural children, although less regular, were frequently shorter.
Table 22 shows the length of a typical working day in harvesting
tobacco for children of different ages in the Connecticut Valley.
T a b l e 22.— Length of typical working day in harvesting tobacco for children of

different ages; Connecticut Valley
Children under 16 years of age

Total
Hours harvesting tobacco
on a typical day

Under 10
years

10 years,
under 12

12 years,
under 14

14 uears,
under 16

Age
not re
Per ported
Per
Per
Per
Per
2
cent Num cent Num cent Num cent
Num cent
dis
dis
dis
dis Num dis
ber tribu ber tribu ber tribu ber tribu ber tribu
tion
tion
tion 2
tion 2
tion 1

CONNECTICUT

612

Reporting hours.................

481

100.0

Less than 8 hours------8 hours, less than 10..10 hours and more------

73
293
115

15.2
60.9
23.9

+* rr

131

101

266

141

100

Total children---------

ië" 100.0

118

100.0

196

100.0

30.2
53.5
16.3

25
65
28

21.2
55.1
23.7

13
127
56

6.6
64.8
28.6

7
55
16

9.0
70.5
20.5

26
46
14
14

1
]

M ASSACH USETTS

Total children---------

199

Reporting hours.................

197

100.0

21
152
24

10.7
77. 2
12.2

4
13
4

4
32
7

5
46
6

8.8
80.7
10.5

8
57
7

11.1
79.2
9.7

1 Per cent distribution is based on the number reporting rather than on the total, because of the large
proportion of children in Connecticut not reporting hours of work.
2 Pelr cent distribution not shown where base is less than 50.

DURATION OF EMPLOYM ENT

About two-fifths of both the rural and city children had worked
at least two months on tobacco in the field or shed or in both places.
Many of these started as soon as harvesting began in July and con
tinued until it was completed in September. Some of the rural
children among them, however, worked at the beginning of the season
and then did little or no work until harvest time. In both States the
proportion of children who had worked two months or longer was
so Although all the plantations are expected to furnish enough trucks to give every person a seat (usually
one truck for women and girls and one for men and boys) sometimes there is not enough rooni for every child
to have a seat, and sometimes the children stand because they prefer to tor the sake of indulging in such
play as is possible. One accident due to overcrowding of the trucks which resulted m slight injury to
several of the children, and another which caused the death of a child, were reported to an agent of the
Children’s Bureau.

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

greater among those employed only in the sheds than among those
employed in the fields, for shed work is continuous throughout the
faaryest; and was greatest among those who worked in both shed and
Held. Kural children, especially boys who had Worked on other crops
as well as on tobacco, had been employed longest.
Table 23 shows the duration of employment of rural and city
children m field and shed work on the tobacco crop in the Connecticut
Valley.
T able 23.

Duration of field and shed work o f children employed in tobacco culture
classified by age; Connecticut Valley
Children under 16 years of age
Connecticut

Duration of work on to
bacco crop

Total

City
(Hartford)

Massachusetts

Rural

(Hartford
Co.)

Total

City
(Springfield)

Rural
(Hamp
shire Co.)

Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
Per
Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent Num cent
distri
Num cent
distri
distri
distri
her bu ber
distri
distri
ber
ber
bu
bu
bu ber bu ber bu
tion
tion
tion 1
tion
tion 1
tion 1
Total children.
Less than 1 m onth...
1 month, less than 2..
2 months, less than 3.
3 months, less than 4.
4 months and more.
Not reported..___________
Children doing field
work only_______

801 100.0
133
279
286
50

16.6
34.8
35.7

201
220

4.0

6.2
2.6

8
2

184 100.0

100.0

267 100.0

17.6
37.6
41.2
1.5
.4
1.7

14.6
29.2
24.7
15.7
7.1

8.6

308 100.0
51
144
76
16
11
10

16.6
46.8
24.7
5.2
3.6
3.2

128 100.0
26
64
33
2

1.6

2.3

100.0

74 100.0

50 100.0

28.8
37.5
28.8

26.9
37.3
33.6
1.5

34.0
38.0
16.0
4.0

28.4
41.9
23.0
44.1

28.0
44.0
26.0

2.7

8.0

2.7

Children doing shed
work only________ >165 100.0

153 100.0

73 100.0

18.3
30.1
46.4

8.2

Less than 1 month__
1 month, less than 2..
2 months, less than 3.
3 months, less than 4.
4 months and more...
Not reported_______

2.2

Less than 1 m onth...
1'month, less than 2_.
2 months, less than 3.
3 months, less than 4.
4 months and more—
Not reported_______
Children doing field
and shed work____
Less than 1 m onth.._
1 month, less than 2..
2 months, less than 3.
3 months, less than 4.
4 months and more—
Not reported_______

19.4
29.7
44.8
3.0

452 100.0
48
161
159
41
21
22

10.6
35.6
35.2
9.1
4.6
4.9

30
105
104
2
2

100.0

205 100.0

161 100.0

12.1
42.5
42.1
.8

8.8

14.9
44.1
24.8

8.8

5.6
4.3

1.6

1 Per cent distribution not shown where base is less than 50.

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2.0
2.0

57.5
26.0
4.1
2.7
1.4

2.6
2.6

3.0

100.0

20.3
50.0
25.8

27.3
26.8
19.0
9.3

6.2

112

100.0
13.4
42.0
24 1
8.0
8.0
4.5

CHILD LAB Oil IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

EARNINGS OF CHILD WORKERS

The commercial scale on which tobacco is raised in the Connecticut
Valley has caused the*rates of pay for both daywork and piecework
to be standardized. As nearly all of the children included in the
study had worked on the large plantations they had been paid for
their work. The daily wages for the majority varied from $1.50 to
¿3, the younger children receiving the smaller amounts. For much
of the shed work the payment was on a piecework basis, as from 30
to 50 cents per bundle of 50 laths. Many workers could finish four
bundles in a day, although some did less, and a few could finish as
many as eight bundles. The boys who did shed work, such as hous
ing, taking down laths, or stripping, were usually paid the same flat
rate as for picking and often did one or more of these tasks on the
same day on which they did some picking.
Most of the children who reported pay had harvested. Almost
all who had transplanted or done other work preliminary to harvest
ing were rural children who had worked for their own parents, and
the few who had been paid for it received something less than $2 a
day. Three-fourths of the children in Massachusetts and fivesixths of those in Connecticut who had helped to harvest received
pay for their work. For their last day’s work in harvesting more
than one-half of those in Connecticut and about one-third of those
in Massachusetts received from $1 to $2; one-half in Massachusetts
and more than one-third in Connecticut were paid from $2 to $3;
and 22 children, proportionately more in Massachusetts, had re
ceived $3 or more a day. The smaller proportion of workers in
Connecticut who received the larger amounts was doubtless due to
the fact that the proportion of workers under 14 years of age was
larger than in Massachusetts.21
The season’s earnings for work on tobacco were reported by 473
of the 534 child workers from Hartford and 101 of the 128 child
workers from Springfield. More than one-fourth of the Hartford
children and about two-fifths of the Springfield, children had earned
less than $50 during the season, and one-third of the Hartford chil
dren and about one-fifth of the Springfield, children had earned $100
or more. The Springfield children had not worked so long as the
children from Hartford. In both States more than three-fourths of
the children whose total earnings were less than $100 had worked
less than two months, while more than three-fourths of those in
Massachusetts and nearly nine-tenths of those in Connecticut whose
earnings were $100 or more had worked two months or longer. Little
difference was noted in the earnings of boys and girls.
Table 24 shows the earnings of children from Hartford and Springfield who were employed on the tobacco crop in the Connecticut
Valley.
si some cases were reported during the 1923 season in which child workers were paid less than the amount
which they alleged had been agreed upon during the early part of the season when labor was scarce.

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS
T able

24.—-Season’s earnings o f children from Hartford and Springfield who
worked on the tobacco crop; Connecticut Valley
Children under 16 years of age
Duration of work on tobacco crop
Total
Less than 1
month

. Season’s earnings at work on
tobacco crop

1 month, less 2 months and
than 2
over

Not
Per
Per
Per
Per
report
cent Num cent Num cent
cent
ed 1
Num distri
Num distri
ber
ber distri
ber distri
ber
bu
bu
bu
bu
tion
tion 1
tion
tion 2
HAETFORD

Total children..........................
Reporting season’s earnings— ___
Less than $50... ..
$50, less than $100..........
$100, less than $150______
$150 and more...... ..........
Not reporting season’s earnings.........

534
473
135
182
131
25
61

100.0
88.6
25.3
34.1
24.5
4.7
11.4

92
83
80
3

100.0
90.2
87.0
3.3

202
182
51
112
19

100.0
90.1
25.2
55.4
9.4

9.8

9.9

128
101
41
41
14
5
27

100.0
78.9
32.0
32.0
10.9
3.9
21.1

22
19
15
4

64
53
24
25
4

100.0
82.8

231
208
4
67
112
25
23

100.0
90.0
1.7
29.0
48. 5
10.8
10.0

SPRIN G FIELD

Total c h ild re n .......’. .
Reporting season’s earnings_______
Less than $50_______
$50, less than $100_____
$100, less than $150____ .
$150 and more___
Not reporting season’s earnings....

3 7 .5

39.1
6.3
17.2

38
28
1
12
10
5
10

4
1
1

1 Per cent distribution not shown where base is less than 50.

THE EFFECT OF FARM W ORK ON SCHOOLING

In Massachusetts the minimum school term is 160 days, and in
Connecticut it is 190 days.22 In this region the work of children on
farms, especially their work on tobacco, does not affect school at
tendance as conspicuously as in the Southern States. One reason
is the better enforcement of the compulsory attendance law. The
other is the fact that harvesting is usually completed here before the
opening of school; and if it is not, the opening of the rural schools
is sometimes postponed for a week or two until the harvesting is
finished.
Of the children in Connecticut for whom attendance records were
obtained, 60 per cent of those in the rural districts and 94 per cent
of those in Hartford had been present during at least nine-tenths
of the school session. All the Hartford children and 85 per cent
of the rural children had been present at least 80 per cent of the
term. In Massachusetts 71 per cent of the rural children for whom
attendance records were obtained were present 90 per cent of the
term or more; and 35 of the 46 Springfield children whose attend
ance records could be obtained had been present at least 90 per
cent of the term.
As a consequence of the longer school term and the better school
attendance in Massachusetts and Connecticut than in the other to
bacco-producing regions studied, many more of the children work
ing on the tobacco crop in the Connecticut Valley were receiving
22Massachusetts, General Laws 1921, ch. 71, sec. 1, as amended by Acts of 1921, ch. 360; Connecticut,
General Statutes, Revision of 1918, ch. 45, sec. 851, as amended by Acts of 1921, ch. 45.

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GEOWING AEEAS

an adequate numoer of days of schooling. Of the 539 children in
Connecticut for whom records were obtained 456 (more than fivesixths) had attended school 160 days or more during the year. In
Massachusetts, where the legal minimum school term was shorter
than in Connecticut, a smaller proportion (one-half) had attended
school for 160 days or more.
About one-third (33 per cent) of the pupils in Massachusetts and
about one-sixth (18 per cent) of the pupils in Connecticut for whom
school records were obtained attributed some of their absence to
farm work. However, the total time lost for farm work was very
short, as almost three-fifths of the 175 pupils reporting absence due
to this cause had missed less than 5 days, and only 21 pupils, or 12
per cent, had missed so much as 10 days for farm work.
Except for the children living in the city of Hartford, the amount
of retardation in school was comparatively small. There was less
retardation among the children in the rural districts of Massachusetts
than among any other group of rural children which has been studied
by the Children’s Bureau. Among the children in the rural districts
oi Connecticut there was less retardation than among any other
group of child workers which has been studied, except in Massachu
setts and among a group of children working on their home farms
or on farms near their homes in certain districts in the States of
Washington and Oregon.23 The percentage of Springfield children
who were retarded was lower than the average for city school
children.24 Among the Hartford children the lowest retardation was
that of children of native white fathers, 36 per cent as compared
with 41 per cent and 68 per cent for children of foreign-born fathers
and negro fathers, respectively. But even the children of native white
parentage were considerably more retarded than the average city child.
Table 25 shows the progress in school of city and rural children
who worked on the tobacco crop in the Connecticut Valley.
T able 25.— Progress in school of city and rural children who worked on the tobacco
crop in the Connecticut Valley
Children 8 to 15 years of age, inclusive
Massachusetts

Connecticut
Total
Progress in school

City
(Hartford)

Per
Num cent
dis Num
ber
ber tribu
tion

Rural
(Hartford
Co.)

Total

City
(Springfield)

Rural
(Hampshire
Co.)

Per
cent Num
dis ber
tribu
tion

Per
cent Num
dis
tribu ber
tion

100.0

Per
cent
dis
tribu
tion

Total children______

777

100.0

531

100.0

246

305

100.0

127

100.0

178

100.0

Retarded________________

293

37.7

234

44.1

24.0 ;

15.4

15.0

15.7

1y e a r..........................
2years................. .........

155
79
59

19.9

10.2

121 22.8
61
52

11.5
9.8

13.8
7.3

2.8

26
14
7

8.5
4.6
2.3

7.6

34
18
7

7.9
3.9
3.1

16
9
3

9.0
5.1
1.7

N orm al.........................—
Advanced_______________
Retardation not reported...

367
81
36

47.2
10.4
4.6

233
34
30

43.9
6.4

134
47

54.5
19.1
2.4

115
60
83

37.7
19.7
27.2

23.6
4.7
56.7

85
54

47.8
30.3

3 years or more.......... .

6.6

5
4

6.2

S3 Child Labor in Fruit and Hop Growing Districts of the Northern Pacific Coast, pp. 16, 44. Chil
dren’s Bureau Publication No. 151. Washington, 1925.
24 The average percentage of retardation for city school children is 26.6. This figure is based on agegrade statistics from Statistical Survey of Education, 1921-22, p. 17, by Frank M . Phillips (U. S. Bureau
of Education Bulletin,1924, No. 38, Washington, 1925).

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CHILD LABOR I2ST TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

SUMMARY

In three typical tobacco-growing districts, consisting of parts of
Shelby and Christian Counties in Kentucky, Florence County in
South Carolina and Halifax County in Virginia, and the Connecticut
Valley region in New England, a study was made of the work of a
total of 2,278 children who had worked at least 12 days on the
tobacco crop of 1922. The kinds of work done were noted, the
length of the typical working day, the duration of employment, the
earnings of the children, their absence from school due to work on
the tobacco crop or other farm work, and the effect of such absence
upon the progress in school of the child workers.
In Kentucky the study included 563 children, representing nearly
two-fifths of the number whom it was possible to interview in the
schools selected; in South Carolina and Virginia it included 606
children, or about one-half of those interviewed; and in the Connecti
cut Valley it included 1.109 children. o ^ vhm^447 were from rural
districts (abou£^gflJ*||p^B|BBBBBBMIil^^H!fthe selected schools)
and 662 wnTe from selected sch n ol^ ^ H irjlord , Conn., and Springfield, M ass^^^Q uym jyijB i^rt^B W fnK ireinncluded in the study
in the
two-thirds of those in New England were
boys. Nearly one-half of the child workers in the South and more
than one-third of those in the Connecticut Valley were under 12
years of age, and about one-fifth in the South and more than onetenth in the Connecticut Valley were under 10.
Negroes constituted about one-third of the child workers in Ken
tucky and one-fourth of those in South Carolina and Virginia. In
the Connecticut Valley almost all were white but of foreign parentage.
Most of the children included in the study worked long hours and
were employed for a considerable length of time. Very few reported
working less than 8 hours a day, and 10 hours was the usual length
of the working day for a number of them. A day of 10 or more
hours was typical for nearly one-fourth of the child workers in the
Connecticut Valley, nearly one-third in South Carolina, about twothirds in Virginia, and ‘two-fifths in Kentucky. Older children,
especially boys, had uniformly worked longer than younger ones;
and in the Southern States they were employed quite continuously
from early spring until all the tobacco was harvested in the fall.
Since the growing season is longer in the South and the Southern
children worked on various crops in addition to tobacco, these
children reported a greater number of days of employment than
was usual among the New England children. One-third of the
Kentucky children and slightly more than one-third of those in
South Carolina and Virginia had worked at least three months, as
compared with less than one-tenth of those in the Connecticut Valley.
Girls in the South do practically the same work as boys, except that
a smaller number of girls perform operations requiring a great deal
of physical strength. In New England work was rather differentiated
for the two sexes at harvest time, boys being employed in the fields
and girls in the sheds.
Comparatively fight tasks may become fatiguing if performed con
tinuously for a long time. Weeding, hand transplanting, hoeing,
topping, suckering, worming, and pidnng compel the child to bend
or stoop steadily while his hands are busy; ana small children must

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CHILD LABOR IN TOBACCO-GROWING AREAS

at times kneel or sit and hitch themselves along in this posture; or
near the end of the season must reach higher than is easy; or must
hold their arms horizontally with the heavy stalks which they hand
to the spearers. Machine work involves continuous walking, man
aging of horses or mules, and regulation of the machine, whether it
be comparatively simple like a plow or more complicated like a cul
tivator. The children’s task on a transplanting machine is feeding,
and they must pay constant attention, with the eyes always down
ward, in order to drop the plants into the machine at the proper
moment. Much work on the tobacco and other crops is done when
the summer heat is at its worst, with the aggravation in New Eng
land of a close atmosphere due to cloth coverings over shade-grown
tobacco; and the odor of the tobacco plants is often sickening.
Child labor on the tobacco crop in the South could be materially
reduced by measures to reduce the amount of time and labor spent
in suckering and^m^^o^^^^^^T^^^^^^^h^DQ^a^^^^^^^^^possible^h.^

worming and the
of
lead as an insecticide.26
„
.
....
,
In New England less than one-third of the city children who re
ported their earnings for the season received under $50; more than
one-third earned between $50 and $100; one-fourth between $100
and $150; and only one-twentieth earned $150 or over. The daily
wage for rural children who worked on the large tobacco plantations
in the Connecticut Valley was the same as that for city children
working on the same plantations, but many of the rural children
worked on home farms and received no payment. In the Southern
States the daily wage even for hired laborers was less standardized,
and most of the child workers belonged to the families of tenants and
small landowners who depended upon the members of their families
to take care of the tobacco acreage. When children in these families
received pay for their work it usually consisted of the profit from a
certain acreage or crop. Children often worked away from the home
farm in exchange for farm work done for their parents.
Many children in the southern districts studied (where the school
terms are short) were kept out of school for farm work, the average
absence for this reason being from 15 to 19 days. A great deal of
retardation was found among white children as well as among ne
groes. In the Connecticut Valley the school terms are longer, the
compulsory attendance laws more strictly enforced, and the school
attendance noticeably better among the child workers. The amount
of school retardation among these workers was comparatively small,
except for some city children, notably negro children and those ot
foreign parentage, many of whom presumably were handicapped by
the. tact that a foreign language was spoken in the home.__________
a« U. S. Department of Agriculture, Farmers’ Bulletin No. 416, p. 12.
26 xj S. Department of Agriculture, Fanners’ Bulletin No. 1356, p. 1.

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Full text of Child Labor in Representative Tobacco-Growing Areas, Bureau Publication No. 155

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