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L5T20 m , i s U. S. DEPARTMENT OP LABOR JAMES J. DAVIS, Secretary e 1* CHILDREN’S BUREAU m GRACE ABBOTT, Chief Child Labor and the Work of Mothers in Oyster and Shrimp Canning Communities on the Gulf Coast By VIOLA I. PARADISE Bureau Publication N o. 9 8 WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1922 », U,6 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Owing to the limited appropriations for printing, it is not possible to distribute this bulletin in large quantities. Additional copies may be procured from the Super intendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., at 15 cents per copy. 2 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is 2 * 1 Ol *o $ ^ z a 99 CONTENTS. Page. Letter of transmittal . ...................... ............................. ............... . ......... ................... 4 5 Summary.............................. ................................................................ ......... ........ ......... Location, scope, and method of study.......................................... ............................... 8-11 The communities. ............... .............. . ............... .............. . . . . ......... .. 9 Races and nationalities of families........................................................................ 10 The industries............................................................................................ . ....... . 10 The seasons....................... •................................. .......... ................................. 10 Extent and character of child labor...................... .................. ......... : ....................11-21 Extent of child labor........ .................... ...................... .............................. ......... 11 Occupations of children.......................................................................................... 12-14 Oyster canning.................... 12 Shrimp canning........................................ 13 Regularity of children’s employment..........................•....................................... 14 r ' Legality of child labor......................................................................... ............ . 16 «"Attitude of parents toward child labor....................... ........................................ 17 ■''Attitude of employers toward child labor........ .......................................... . 18 Hours of work................ J........................... : ..................... ..............................v. . . . 21 Hazards and discomforts of canpery occupations................................... ............ . 30 —Conditions in shucking and picking sheds.......................................................... 36 «¿Literacy and schooling of children...................... ........................................ _.______ 39-45 44 .-Illiteracy.............................. ' School grade.............................. ......................: ...................^ ......... ............. . 44 Poverty and child labor......................................................................................... 45-64 The widowed mothers..'......................... .......... ......... ......... ............ ................. 45 Occupations and earnings of fathers..................................................................... 46 52 Occupations and earnings of mothers............................. “"Earnings of children........................................................................................... 59 Care of babies and small children of working mothers........ : .................................. 64 Migratory families............................................ 69-74 Recruiting the labor.................................. ............................................................ 70 Preference for Polish workers...............................•................................................ 72 Employers’ attitude toward imported labor.................................................... 72 Attitude of the local workers toward imported labor.'..................................... 74 The housing of the cannery workers........................................................................... 74-82 74 _ Crowding........................................ . The camps..... ............... ................................................................................... . 75 . The homes of the noncamp families—white__ '.................................. 80 * The homes of the noncamp families—Negro....................................................... 81 Conclusion..................................................................................................................-... 83 Appendix:—Child-labor and compulsory-education legislation in effect in Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi on January 1. 1919..................................... 85-110 Florida.................. .................................... - ........................................ ; ....... ......... 87 Louisiana..................................................... ........................... - - - ......... ................ 95 Mississippi............................................................. - ............................................. 105 3 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis V LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. U. S. D epartment of L abor , Children ’s B ureau , Washington, October 27, 1921. S i r : There is transmitted herewith a report on Child Labor and the Work of Mothers in Oyster and Shrimp Canning Communities on the Gulf Coast, prepared in the industrial division of the bureau by Viola L Paradise. In addition to the problems resulting from the employment of young children and of thè mothers of infants and' young children, the report shows the special difficulties of providing for the education and protection of the children of migratory families that are recruited in cities for seasonal work in connection with the canneries. As migratory family labor is relied upon for truck farming, fruit picking, and sugar beet raising in other parts of the country, the report has more than local importance. Respectfully submitted. Grace A bbott, Chief. Hon. J ames J. D avis , Secretary o f Labor . 4 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER SHUCKERS. CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES ON THE GULF COAST. SUMMARY. A study of the conditions of child labor and the work of the mothers in the oyster and shrimp canneries was made by the* Children’s Bureau in 1919. In scope it Was limited to the canneries in nine communities in the Gulf coast region in three States—Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida. The study covered 544 working children under 16 years of age, including 2 under 6; 332 between 6 and 14 years of age; and 210, 14 or 15 years old. The work consisted, in the main, of shucking oysters and peeling or picking shrimp. Not only was the work of the children in the canneries studied in detail, but also the conditions in the families where the children or the mother worked. In all, 423 families, with 1,350 children under 16 years of age, were included in the study. The work of the children in the oyster and shrimp canneries was subject to all the irregularities of the canning industry. The great majority, 64 per cent, worked regularly; that is, whenever the fac tory was open. Some of the children worked only occasionally and others worked only before and after school and on Saturdays. The hours of most of the canneries were such that even the children employed “ only before and after school” often worked a considerable time. Since the work depended on the catch, it was very irregular, beginning any time between 3 and 7 o’clock in the morning, and lasting a few hours, a whole day, or occasionally on into the evening. Illiteracy among these working children was widespread. Of the children from 10 to 15 years of age, 25 per cent were illiterate; for the same age group for the United States as a whole, 4 per cent were illiterate.1 A large proportion of the children did not attend school. Of 649 children from 7 to 13 years of age, 266—or 41 per cent—did not attend school; and of those who did attend, more than half also worked in the canneries; in consequence, many went irregularly. -One hundred and six children from 6 to 15 had never been to school. damp, drafty sheds, the oyster shuckers or shrimp pickers standing 1 U. S. Bureau of the Census, Thirteenth Census of the U nited States, 1910"; vol. 1, table 27, p . 1219. 5 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 6 CH ILD LABOR A N D T H E WORK OF M OTHERS IN among the empty oyster shells or shrimp hulls. Besides the discom forts of standing at their work and the. exposure to cold and damp ness, the workers are subjected to certain hazards in the processes themselves. The oyster shells are sharp and the shuckers must use a knife, so cuts are frequent. An acid in the head of the shrimp— according to the statements of employers as well as of employees— eats into the hands, making the flesh raw and sore. Many workers can work on shrimp only two days at a time and must then take a few days off to let their hands heal. A shrimp 11thorn,” which pro trudes from the head of the shrimp, may run into the hand and break off. This sometimes results in a serious infection. More than threefifths of the families reported some injury, including cuts, burns, infections, soreness, and rawness, caused by the acid in the shrimp, and occasionally serious accidents. Poverty was frequently reported as the reason for keeping children out of school and sending them to work. One hundred and five, or about one-fourth, of the mothers included in the study were widowed or had been deserted by their husbands. Since the States included in the study provided no widows’ pensions or other ways of meeting the poverty caused by widowhood, child labor seemed a necessity to some mothers, as well as to some employers.2 In other families the wages received by both mothers and fathers were so low that child labor was resorted to. The fathers usually worked on oyster or shrimp boats or around the canneries and wharves. Their earnings depended on the catch, which in turn depended on the weather. Although the earnings during the season studied by the Children’s Bureau were said by employers and workers to be higher than ever before, it was found that 20 per cent of the fathers for whom reports were secured earned on the average less than $12 a week, 33 per cent less than $15 a week, and 65 per cent less than $20 a week. Only about one-fifth of the fathers earned, on an average, $25 or more a week. For some weeks their earnings would be higher than this average; for others, much lower. In answer to an inquiry as to the highest amount ever earned in a single week it was learned that about one-fifth of the fathers for whom reports were secured had never made as much as $15, that nearly one-half had never earned as much as $20, and that only one-third had reached $25 or more during their best week. The mothers and the children were paid according to the number of pounds of oysters shucked or shrimp picked, the rate varying from 1J cents to 5 cents a pound in the case of oysters and from 1 cent to 3 cents in the case of shrimp. The earnings of nearly half the mothers averaged less than $5 a week, about one-third between $5 and $7.50, and only about one-fifth earned $7.50 or more. One explanation of 2 Florida enacted a mothers’ pension law in 1919. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SH R IM P C A N N IN G C O M M U N ITIES. 7 these low wages was the irregularity of the work. The mothers’ work depended upon the amount of fish brought into the cannery, and' there were frequent short periods of unemployment. Nearly one-third of the mothers had never been able to earn as much as $5 in their most profitable week, and only about 2 in 10 had been able to make $10 or over, and only about one-fifteenth had ever been able to ifiake $12.50 or more.3 The children’s earnings were, of course, lower. The earnings of two-thirds of the children for whom reports of earnings were secured averaged less than $5 a week, and more than one-fourth earned less than $2 a week. There were a few exceptional cases of compara tively high earnings. All but two of the children earning as much as $4 a week were regular workers, and all but 49 were 14 years of age or over. In answer to an inquiry concerning the highest sums ever earned by children, it was found that 19 had earned less than 50^cents in their best week; that 47 had earned less than $1; and that 79 had earned less than $2. Although the lowest earnings were more common among the part-time and occasional workers than among those working regularly, some of the latter also had earned very small sums even in their most profitable weeks. Thus, 4 regular workers—2 of whom were 14 years old—reported less than 50 cents in their best week; and 77 children who worked regularly, or more than one-fourth of the regular workers for whom maximum earnings were reported, had earned less than $4 in their best week. A particular feature of the canning industry in the communities studied is the importation of workers from other places. Usually large numbers of foreign workers—most of them Polish—are brought down from Baltimore at the beginning of the canning season and are sent back at the end of the season. This practice developed with the transfer of the center of the canning industry from Baltimore to the Gulf in 1905. Usually “ family help” was selected; “ that is, the employer hired heads of families with the understanding that wives and children were to be brought also.” 4 The employers housed these imported workers in so-called camps, which usually consist of several long, low, barrackslike frame build ings, often flimsy in construction, and offering a minimum of privacy, sanitation, and protection against the weather. The imported families receive free rent, free fuel, and their return fare at the end of the season. Most of the employers reimbursed themselves by 3 According to the Report on the Condition of Women and Child Wage Earners (Vol. X V III, p. 55) these wages were higher th an in the oyster-packing establishments of th at region in 1909. A t th at tim e, of 188 women, more th an four-fifths of whom were 18 or over, only 1 earned as much as $6 during the given week and 87 m ade less th an $4. 4 Report on Conditions of Women and Child Wage Earners, Vol. X V III, p. 47. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 8 CH ILD LABOR A N D T H E WORK OF M OTHERS I N paying the imported workers a lower piece rate than they paid to resident workers. For example, some employers paid the resident workers 5 cents a pound for oyster shucking, but demanded 1£ pounds for 5 cents from the'imported workers. In some instances the difference was even greater. The time of the imported workers belonged to the manufacturer. I t was customary for the watchmen employed by the cannery ?to go from door to door in the mornings to wake the people who liv§d in the camps. In case of illness, they had to explain their absence to the employer. The local resident workers, on the other hand, were free to come and go. Illiteracy was greater among the chil dren of the camp families than among other children; a smaller proportion of them attended school; and their retardation in school was greater than among the resident children. Like the adult camp workers, their wages were lower, their hours longer, and their hous ing and living conditions far more unfavorable than those of the resident families. At the time this study was made, the number of imported families was small because the Government had pro hibited their migration from Baltimore on account of the shortage of men and women in essential war industries .in and around Balti more. The study included 269 children under 6 years of age whose mothers worked. The problem of caring for these children was a serious one. In 48 instances the mothers took their children to the canneries with them. In 5 instances these babies were under 9 months of age. The children who had passed infancy and could crawl or run about the factory were not only subject to the physical discomforts of the canning shed, but were also liable to accidents. Some mothers left their children a t home in the care of older children, or with neighbors or relations. In several cases the care takers brought the babies to. the mothers in the factory to be nursed. Eighteen small children, some of them as young as 2 years, were customarily left at home without any caretakers. In 30 instances the caretakers were themselves children less than 10 ' years old. Only 117 children had caretakers over 16 years of age. LOCATION, SCOPE, AND METHOD OF STUDY. In the spring of 1919 the Children’s Bureau made an inquiry into the extent and character of the work of mothers and children in oyster and shrimp- ‘canneries, and into the conditions under which these mothers and children lived. The study covered nine com munities on the Gulf coast in which oyster and shrimp canning had been a factor from August 1, 1918, to May 1, 1919, six in Missis sippi—Biloxi, Gulfport, Pass Christian, Bay St. Louis, Lake Shore, https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER A N D SH R IM P C A N N IN G C O M M U N ITIES. 9 Ocean Springs; two in Louisiana 5—Ostrica^ Canovia; and one in Florida—Apalachicola. The two Louisiana towns were not on the Gulf coast, being situated on the Mississippi River, one 38 miles and the other 94 miles above its mouth. Because they are in the Gulf coast section they have been included in this study. Information was secured chiefly through interviews with em ployers and employees; Federal, State, and local officials; physicians, and other interested persons competent to contribute information. Agents of the Children’s Bureau made a house-to-house canvass in cannery neighborhoods and in other parts of the communities where cannery workers lived, and an interview was secured in every home where mothers reported that any children under 16 were employed in canneries, or where mothers with children under 6 years were themselves employed. All employers operating their plants at the time of the study were interviewed. These numbered 22. Because it has been a custom for employers to import families from Baltimore for the oyster and shrimp season, the study included also a short preliminary inquiry into the methods of recruiting such labor in Baltimore. The period for which information was secured fell between the time the first Federal child-labor law was declared unconstitutional and the operation of the Federal child labor tax law .. The communities. The communities studied ranged in size from small isolated settle ments consisting of a single cannery, a store, and the so-called camps or rude barracks erected for the workers—communities which practically go out of existence during the slack seasons—to towns of considerable size. Biloxi had a population varying with the tourists and the imported cannery workers from 9,000 to 12,000. Gulfport, the second largest town, had a population of about 7,000. These larger communities showed very little consciousness of the problems which the cannery population made. A small religious settlement house in Biloxi reached a number of the cannery families and afforded a yard in which some playground apparatus provided a limited number of children with a place to play. Nowhere had the community provided any public recreation. The canneries were usually located in isolated places. The village of Lake Shore, for example, consists of a railroad station and a grocery store. A mile back from the station, in the country, is the 8 The season studied was an abnormal one, due to the war, and in some communities canneries made no attempt to operate. New Orleans was not included in the bureau inquiry because at the time oi the study the amount of oyster and shrimp canning in that city was hegligible. One or two very small com munities may have been missed if their cannery work had closed before the beginning of the study. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 10 CHILD LABOR A N D T H E WORK OF M OTHERS IN factory and camp. The camp at Canovia is a row of two-family shacks behind the cannery, a store, and a school, set down among plantations, about 10 miles from New Orleans. Ostrica is even more isolated. I t lies behind the levee on the north bank of the Mississippi, and is reached by boat across a mile of rough water from a little village on the other side. Its handful of inhabitants live in constant fear of floods and storms. I t has no community life. The cannery; two small general stores, one of which contains the postoffice; the three camp barracks; a few flimsy frame shacks; and the manager’s two-story frame house are the only buildings. I t has no church, no school, no physician, no railroad. A. mail packet brings mail once a day, and brings also whatever provisions the settlement gets; it also carries passengers. Races and nationalities of families. Of the 1,350 children included in the study, only 9 were foreign born; 473 were Negro; and the rest, 868, were native white. Of the mothers interviewed, the great majority (259) were white, and of these only 56 were foreign born. Twenty-five of these foreign mothers were Polish, and 24 of other Slavic origin; 163 of the mothers were Negro. This is, therefore, a study almost exclusively of native Americans. The industries. Canned oysters and shrimp were the principal products of the establishments • that came within the scope of this study. Some of the factories canned figs, sweet potatoes, and other vegetables or fruit between the oyster and shrimp seasons; but the chief prod ucts were oysters or shrimp, or both, in every case but one, where artificial ice was the chief product and canned shrimp a secondary output. These industries are comparatively simple, having few processes, and requiring little machinery and only a small pro portion of skilled workers. The great bulk of the work—the shuck ing of oysters and the so-called picking, or peeling, of shrimp6i—is done by women and children. Comparatively few men are em ployed in and around the canneries. Most of the men in these families go out on boats, either in the employ of the canneries, on their own account, or for a private boat owner. The seasons. The oyster season usually runs from October 1 to May 1, although a few employers canned oysters in September, and one reported that the season ran until May 15. The open season for catching oysters closes on April 15 in Florida and on May 1 in Louisiana and Missis sippi.7 8 For description of these processes see pp. 12-14. 7 During th e w ar, because of food shortage, Mississippi allowed an extension of tim e. reported th at it had taken advantage of this extension. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Only one firm OYSTER AND SH R IM P C A N N IN G C O M M U N ITIES. 11 The shrimp season varies. Formerly there were two definite sea sons, one in the fall and one in the spring; but since the introduction of the trawl system of shrimp fishing shrimp can be caught the year round. However, most of the shrimp fishing is done between August 1 and November ly although some canners put up shrimp after this date and a few operate in February and March.8 More than half the plants close for the entire summer. Others keep open all or part of the time, canning a few shrimp, figs, and tomatoes and other vegetables. Two plants manufactured ice, one as a principal and the other as a secondary product. But even when plants operate during the summer for the canning of vegetables or fruit they use at that time but a small local labor force. EXTENT AND CHARACTER OF CHILD LABOR. Extent of child labor. In the families visited, 544 children under 16 years of age were employed in the canneries. Of these, 334 were under 14 years of age, 1 being 4 years and another 5 years of age. Fourteen children not included in the above numbers were employed,' but not in the canneries, and therefore are not discussed here. Parents were often afraid to admit that their children worked. One family had heard rumors that the wages of all working children under 14 were to be taken from them, and that they would not be allowed to work. In another locality an impression was current that parents would be fined if they allowed children to work; and, as the agents were sometimes taken for inspectors, this influenced the parents to deny or minimize the work of their children. Some concrete examples will illustrate. One woman said: “ I never let my children work. You can if you want to, but there’s a $25 fine if you’re caught, and you’d be paying more than they can make. Lots of children do work, and when the inspector comes they run and hide. They’re on to him, and run whenever they see a stranger. They can get away into places where you’d never think of looking.” Still another mother said: “ I hope soon to get working papers for Jane [aged 12] and John [aged 10]. They are working now, but if the inspector catches you, you get fined $50. The kids watch for him, and they holler if they see him coming and hide till he gets out. If my man was alive, I could send my children to school.” Another woman, not recognizing a Children’s Bureau representa tive as such when she met her casually, boasted that the “ baby”—a boy of 7—could “ make more money than any of them picking shrimp; he can make $1.50 a day.” She later maintained to the 8 Employers’ explanations of the failure to use the whole year were the lim ited m arket for shrim p, th a t icing made th e process too expensive in th e spring and summer, and th a t it was better not to ru n two operations—oyster and shrimp packing—at the same time. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 12 CH ILD LABOR A N D T H E WORK OF M OTHERS IN agent who called to interview her that none of her children worked. A little girl of 7 told the Children’s Bureau agent that she had shucked oysters and picked shrimp, described how sh6 had cut her self between the thumb and forefinger shucking oysters, and said that one week she had made $5, with which she bought savings stamps. When the agent called at her home, the mother insisted emphatically that this child had never worked. In another instance, a boy of 8 admitted that he sometimes worked, when the agent commented on the oyster-shell cuts on his hands. His mother had said that he did not work. This mother, however, quite approved of child labor. “ You notice,” she said, “ that most of the people who come here have big families. Husband works, mother works, and children work. See, it’s good for them.” Sometimes the mother would state that a child worked, but the child would be afraid and would deny that he worked. The desire to conceal the work of children was much stronger in some towns than in others. But in most of the communities studied, child labor was taken for granted. In Biloxi, the largest community, and the one in- which the largest number of children worked, the greatest diffidence and suspicion were found. Even here, however, the great majority of mothers visited considered child labor as a matter of course, and it was not uncommon for them to boast of the skill of very small children in shucking oysters and picking snrimp. To some of the children, life without work in the canneries was be yond their horizons. “ Don’t you ever shuck?” a 12-year-old girl asked a Children’s Bureau agent. ' V Occupations of children. The basis of selection for the study was, it will be remembered, to include only those families in which a child under 16, or a mother with children under 6, worked in a cannery. I t was therefore not surprising to find that of the 544 working children, nearly all had worked at oyster shucking or shrimp peeling, or at both of these occupations. Thirty children had not worked on sea food, but had peeled potatoes in canneries which put up sweet potatoes between seasons. Ten children had worked at packing, and 29 had been engaged, in other cannery occupations, such as weighing, labeling, and “ passing potatoes.” Only 14 children had worked in industries other than canning. '.., To make clear the work which the children actually perform and their relation to the rest of the industry, a brief description of the chief processes involved in oyster and shrimp canning is presented, Oyster canning.—The cannery is usually a more or less open shed built near the shore end of a long pier which extends out into the water. The schooners dock at the end of this pier, and a mechanical https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis L O A D IN G O Y S T E R S F R O M B O A T T O CAR. i s m * ^ . ■ r-- .^nH : 12-1 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis T H E S TE A M BOX - ' * V,w MMI https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AN D S H R IM P C A N N IN G C O M M U N ITIES. 13 shovel on a crane hoists the oysters from the schooners into cars which stand on tracks on the pier. When the cars are full, they are pushed along the tracks into the steam box, which is usually located near the entrance to the shed—sometimes just inside, sometimes just outside. The cars, loaded with oysters, remain in the steam box a few minutes, where the steam partly cooks the oysters and partly opens the shells. From the steam box the cars run on tracks into the shed. Here the shuckers take their places at the sides of the cars and attach containers, which they call their cups, to the sides of the car. (See illustration on opposite page.) The shucker takes from the car a cluster of oysters, breaks thé cluster apart, with a knife opens the shell of each oyster, which the steaming process has partly opened, and removes the oyster meat, cutting it out so that the eye is left in the shell. The empty shells drop to the floor. No seats are provided for the workers. The women and children stand at these cars, swaying back and forth as they work, and bending over farther and farther to reach the oysters as they empty the cars. As the shells accumulate on the floor standing becomes more and more uncomfortable and bending to get the oysters more arduous. From time to time as the. cups are filled the shuckers take them to the weighing window, where the oyster meat is weighed, and they are paid according to the number of pounds in the cups, After the oysters are weighed they are dumped successively into two large colanders, where they are later thoroughly washed in run ning water. They stand awhile to drain and then are taken to the packers. The packing is usually done by women or older girls at a long table at which the workers stand, usually on a narrow platform of boards raised from the wet floor. On the table before the packer is a scale weighted on one side with a can filled with oyster meat. The packer places an empty can on the other side of the scale, picks up some oyster meat with her hand and drops it into the can until the scale balances. She then places the can on a belt, which carries it through the “ briner,” a mechanical device which pours a certain amount of brine into each c an .. The. belt then carries the can on into a machine which covers and seals it. After the cans are sealed, they are placed in a large wire basket, usually called the u process basket.” This basket, when filled, is lifted into a huge kettle of boiling water, and, after the oysters in the sealed cans have been boiled the required time, is lifted out. The cans are then cooled, dried, labeled; packed in wooden boxes, and shipped. Shrimp canning.—The processes in shrimp canning are very simple and the oyster cannery is easily adapted to them. The shrimp https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 14 CH ILD LABOR A N D T H E WORK OF M OTH ERS I N come from the boats to the factory packed in ice, except when they are caught on boats which go out fishing for a single day, in which case the shrimp are iced as soon as they reach the cannery. Che icing is necessary, not only to preserve the fish, but also to facili tate the picking or peeling; the ice causes the shrimp meat to Con tract, and makes the shell brittle. The shrimp, mixed with small pieces of ice, are spread on wire mesh trays—sometimes on tables with mesh tops, often on trays placed on top *of empty1oyster cars. Women and children pick up the shrimp, break off the head with one hand, and squeeze the flesh from the shell with the other. This process is called picking in some communities and peeling in others. As in the case of oysters, when the shrimp cup is full, the worker takes it to be weighed. The peeled shrimp are then washed, boiled, cooled, and cleaned; that is, picked over, to remove any bits of shell or any “ whiskers” which may have adhered. Then they are packed in cans, and the cans are sealed and processed, much as the ,canned oysters are processed. The occupations in which children are chiefly used are the picking or peeling and the cleaning. Older girls and women usually do the packing. Regularity of children’s employment. Some employers stated that they did not allow children to work in their factories, but that notwithstanding their efforts children would get in. “ A few will get in in spite of the foreman, who can not keep watch on them all. They will come in, open an oyster or two, and then run out.” But in general the work of the children was not occasional or in the nature of play. The interviews with the families showed that of the 544 working children only 107, or about 1 in 5, worked occasionally; 89 worked regularly before and after school, or on Saturdays, or both; 348, or 64 per cent, worked regularly—that is, whenever the factory was operating. Of the 2 children under 6, the 5-year-old worked regularly and the 4-year-old occasionally. I t should be remembered that the same suspicion which made some mothers deny that their children worked would tend to make others minimize the amount of work the children did. I t is quite probable that some of the children whose mothers said they were employed only occasionally found the occasions fairly frequent. A 4-year-old girl, who “ sometimes plays around at home and some times goes to work with her mother and shucks a little and makes 5 cents for candy,” probably does not work as much as a 10-year-old girl whose mother says she does not allow her to work but that thg girl sometimes goes in with friends and works for one or two hours “ on the sly.” I t was impossible to tell from many mothers’ state ments how “ occasional” the work of the children really is. One https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTEE A N D S H B IM P C A N N IN G CO M M U N ITIES. 15 boy, for example, whose father was ' ‘boss” of the packing room, “ works whenever his pa feels like putting him on. He works only to keep his school money up; he is always needing pencils and tablets.” The mother stated further that he worked so seldom that she “ never paid any attention to his earnings.” In another instance, a mother considered the work of her 7-year-old boy of no conse quence, though the child worked “ every Saturday and some Fridays. He makes little nickels and dimes, and starts to the door with his money as soon as he gets it.” As a m atter of fact, this child reached the factory at half past 5 in the morning in order to get a place at the table and be ready when the work began a t 6 o’clock. In one family three children—aged 6, 10, and 12 years—brought their mother’s breakfast to the cannery to her, and sometimes stayed a while to work—“ a half hour or so”—before going to school, Sometimes, it is true, even the children who worked regularly had to wait around for work, and played in and around the cannery while they were waiting. Thus, one 11-year-old boy said that he worked intermittently from 6 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon when sweet potatoes were being canned. There was not a steady supply of potatoes and it was necessary frequently to wait until the otatoes were ready to be peeled. “ At such times,” he said, “ I ’d go out to play with the other kids, and the grown people would go fishing. I tried shucking one day, but I didn’t like it. You work bare-handed when you peel potatoes. You dip them in cold water and the skin comes off easily, and you don’t often have to use a knife. We throw the peels on the floor, and we slide up and down on them. They’re slippery and awful sloppy.” A little potato peeler of 8 “ would bring home 5, 10, or 15 cents. He eats more taters than anything else. He was chased out several times.” Other typical instances are two girls of 14 and 15, who worked regularly, and a little boy of 12 worked from 5 to 8 each morning, before going to school, and all day on Saturday. These children had nothing to eat before beginning work; but about half past 7 a little sister, 8 years old, brought their breakfast to them at the factory. A 10-year-old child in another family was in the third grade; he worked about two hours before school, an hour or so after school, and from about 6.30 a. m. to 3.30 p. m. on Saturdays. In another family, two girls of 11 and 12 brought their mother’s breakfast to her every morning and stayed a while to shuck oysters before school, earning about 20 cents a day. v,- Even the part-time work, however, was real labor and not play, involving as it did the standing and bending postures, the monotony, wetness, and dirtiness of the task, the stench of the shrimp,9 and the frequent early hours. *See discussion of work place, p. 33. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 16 CH ILD LABOR A N D T H E WORK OF M QTHERS I N Legality of child labor. At the time the Children’s Bureau study was made, the first Federal child labor law had been declared unconstitutional and the new law providing for a tax on establishments employing child labor had not yet come into force. The children were left, therefore, to such protection as the laws of their respective States and the enforce ment of these laws provided.10 Mississippi permitted boys of 12 tmd girls of 14 to work in factories and canneries; Louisiana and Florida permitted children of 14 to work in factories and canneries. Of the 544 working children, 278 were below the legal age of employment. In none of these States was the enforcing machinery adequate. Mississippi had one factory inspector for the whole State. His duties included not only the enforcement of the child-labor law and a 10-hour law for women, but inspection of sanitation, proper guard ing of machinery, safety devices, and fire protection. The inspector stated that the war had increased his duties more than 200 per cent, since many establishments which had not previously employed women had taken them on; that there were 107 factories to be in spected, not including railroad, telegraph, and telephone offices, laundries, hotels, restaurants, and department stores; that poor rail road facilities complicated his duties so that he could not cover every establishment in the State if he gave 30 minutes to each in one year. The need of food conservation and the shortage of labor were urged here as in other States as a justification for violation of labor laws. The inspector reported that although employers wanted him to abrogate the child-labor law in order to conserve food he would not do that, but was not as strict as he would have been otherwise. Louisiana had only one labor commissioner and two assistants to cover the whole State outside of New Orleans. The total appropria tion available for traveling expenses for the commissioner and assist ant commissioners was approximately only $100 a month. The report of the commissioner for 1916-1918 11 called attention to the lack of adequate staff and appropriation. Enforcing a child-labor law in the canneries is difficult. The work is irregular and the canneries are sometimes situated in isolated or almost inaccessible places. The commissioner felt that the difficulties were increased because the law of Louisiana did not make it an offense for a child to be in. a factory provided he is not being paid, and some employers took advantage of this subterfuge. He stated that there were more violations in shrimp factories than in any others, 10 See Appendix, p. 85. Child Labor and Compulsory Education Legislation in Effect in Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi on January 1,1919. A Ninth Biennial Report of the Departm ent of Commissioner of Labor and Industrial Statistics of the State of Louisiana, 1916-1918, p. 8. « . https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AN D S H R IM P C A N N IN G C O M M U N ITIES. 17 but there had been improvement in both the oyster and shrimp factories. Florida provided for only one inspector for the State, known as the State labor inspector. He reported that a proposed law for a woman assistant was defeated at the last session, and no additional appropriation was given the office. He also testified to difficulties in law enforcement similar to those found in Louisiana and Mississippi. An interesting comparison between the protection given to child hood and that given to the oyster industry in Mississippi and Louisiana may be made from the following statements of sums appropriated by the legislatures for the enforcement of child-labor laws and for the protection of oysters and shrimp. • For the enforcement of the childlabor law, the State of Mississippi provided in 1918 only one factory inspector (annual salary $1,500), appointed by the State board of health. In the same year $23,000 12 was appropriated for the board of oyster commissioners for the following year. In Louisiana only $8,500 per year was appropriated for the office of the commissioner of statistics and labor, which has the enforcement of all labor laws out side the Parish of New Orleans. For the conservation of oysters, fish, and game the department of conservation was given an appropriation A>f $175,000.13 Attitude of parents toward child labor. Other sections of this report reveal, to some extent, the attitude of the parents toward child* labor. Many of them, to be sure, are eager to give their children a better chance than they themselves have had.14 Yet it is true that for the most part child labor is taken for granted. The claims of the industry, as well as the money the children bring in, are considered. “ If it weren’t for the children,” said a mother, “ I don’t know what in the world the factories would do. The children save the oysters from spoiling. ” Another woman commented, “ Once, before the child-labor law got so bad, little bits of kids, 5 to 6 years old, would get out and make more than the older ones.” Sometimes statements that certain children did not work would be made in a tone of apology. The older sister of a boy aged 7 explained th at he did not work because he “ couldn’t reach the car to shuck.” The mother of a little girl of 9, who “ hadn’t gone to work at all,” felt it necessary to add, in explanation, “ her little hands are too tender.” A colored mother complained that the employer, who was “ afraid of inspectors, ” would frequently run o ut” her 13-year-old boy when he tried to work. The boy ^as evidently persistent in his attempts to work, but “ he is more to Laws 1918, pp. 54-55. 18 Laws 1918, pp. 142 and 201. 18 See Literacy and Schooling of Children, p. 41. 56569°—22---- 2 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 18 CH ILD LABOR AHD T H E WORK OF M OTH ERS IK on the run than not. Usually he is just jumping in and out. Some times he makes two days a week. He’s good for nothing but destroy ing bread. ” The grandmother in a family where a 14-year-old girl was a steady worker said that if she had any young children she would take every one of them to the canneries and make them work all day long. “ This is the worst place for kids,” she said, “ they git awful mean around here. See, there ain’t hardly a winder left around this place; the kids smash ’em. They are awful tough. They should be sent to the canneries to keep them from getting mean, and then if the Government kicked about it, I would make the Government take care of them. Many of the children who are supposed to be going to school don’t go at all. They get together in gangs and are very destructive. Ain’t it better for them to be earning a few nickels? Children nowadays are born grown; they know so much.” An employer, commenting on the difficulty of keeping children out of the factory, said, “ A nigger woman will come with a couple of kids, and you can’t tell how old they are, and they’ll swear up and down that they are 14, and if you don’t believe them and start to put them out, the woman will say, ‘If they can’t pick, I ’U go.’ * * * If you put out a nigger kid, a bunch of older ones may go, too. ” A very different attitude on the part of the colored people in another factory was revealed in the case of a 13-year-old boy whose mother had sent him to the cannery after school and on Saturdays. Later, she let him stay away from school every other week to work. When he had been working three weeks the colored people objected. They went to the weigher and protested that he was too young to work. The mother said she then complained to the owner, who decided that the boy was old enough to work. However, “ the shrimp began to get slender and the factory shut down, ” and the child did not continue to work. The comment of the head of the associated charities in this com munity is of interest. He stated that one employer had been fined for employing white children, but “ the laws are not applied to the Negroes as stringently as to the white people, and therefore more Negro children than white work. ” https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER A N D SH R IM P C A N N IN G C O M M U N ITIES. 19 they should be in school. All the boys and girls working here are past 15, or whatever age it is that is required by the child labor law. ” Another said, “ Children are not allowed to work, and they are sup posed to be sent out whenever they are found working. The boss is not always strict about this, but if I see a child working I send him out. Children should go to school. I try to make them go, and for the past two years more have gone than ever before.” The manager of one factory stated that he had formerly employed children, but that he had been warned by the State commissioner of labor and has since been very strict, not allowing any children under 14 to work and requiring certificates of age for those over 14 who work. “ One woman,” he said, “ tried to get her 12-year-old girl in here' to work, and I had such a time with her th a t I finally refused to give work to the mother or any of the family.” Another employer said that before the passage of the first Federal child-labor law he had fought against it, had made speeches, and had done everything in hri power to prevent its going through. “ The head of the Child-Labor Committee will remember me as a strong opponent, ” he said. “ How ever, before the law was passed I became converted not for senti mental reasons but because it was better policy for the business. Since being converted and coming out strongly for the child-labor law, I have adhered strictly to the policy of employing no children under age. Also, I will permit no very small children to help their mothers, as they often try to. ” There were, however, employers who believed that children should work. “ I believe in everybody’s working. I ’ve worked since I was 10 years old and I believe in everybody else doing the same thing. * . * * If I find a boy or girl outside in the afternoon [he referred to the workers who lived in his Gamp] I go up to them and say, ‘ What are you doing out here? Don’t you know you are supposed to be working ? No loafers are allowed here. ’ ” Another employer said, “ I t is impossible to run the plant without children from 10 to 14 years old. * * * The work here should not be compared with child labor in the cotton mills. Here the children do piecework and they work voluntarily. The children who go to school can earn quite a lot after school. The place is clean and the work is not harmful to them. The children work faster and better than the Negro women. There is one child here who has never made less than $2.75 a day.” Still another employer commented, “ A child of 12 or 13 can do more in a day than a grown person. They work faster because they are interested in getting the nickels. I t was a great thing for the families and for the factories th a t the Federal law was declared unconstitutional. The Federal law might have been good if it had provided for compulsory education, but the class of people we have here do not want their children to go to school, and the result https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 20 CHILD LABOR A N D T H E WORK OF M OTH ERS I N of the law was that the children hung around and we had a lot of trouble with them. We had to employ a man specially to keep them out of the factory. The mothers cursed us out and the children didn’t like it, and we had a bad time all around. ” That the work of children was quite occasional and amounted to little was the attitude taken by some employers. “ I don’t allow children here; I keep them out to be on the safe side. Inspectors just drop in on you. Some places will take a chance, but we don’t feel that we can afford to do so. Sometimes a child will run in and work 10 minutes and make a nickel and run out. You’ve got a time keeping them out, and they’ve got so now they know the rules. Five or six years ago children worked much more, but they are a regular nuisance around a place. They get to poking into things and fooling around, and there’s no gain from kids, because you pay them the same rates you pay grown-ups. ” Later, in the same interview, this employer said, “ I think kids ought to be allowed to work on Saturdays and after school. I know a number of widows who have kids who are able to work but aren’t allowed, and it’s mighty hard for the mother to earn enough to feed them. There are lots of times when kids can help out. I t ’s not hard work and doesn’t hurt them. Also, it’s piecework and they can quit when they want to. ” “ Many children under age,” said another employer, “ work after school. They slip in to earn a few nickels. I ’d rather not have them around at all. They are in the way, and they do not work as well as the older people. I try to run them out, but in many cases to hold tho mother I have to overlook the child. ” This employer later commented that the children did not work of their own accord, but because their parents wanted the money and forced them to work. “ No childlabor law will be effective until there is a compulsory-education law; as it is now, the children are better off in the cannery than they are on the streets. I have never seen so much illiteracy in my life as I see among the people in the cannery.” The complaints of employers that they made an effort to keep children out of their plants, but that the children would “ slip in ,” are indicative of the general lack of organization in the canneries. One employer stated, “ The trouble with child labor is that they’ll run in at all times, even after you run them out. They’ll get a cup two-thirds full before you spot them, and then plead to be allowed to shuck the cup full. A man should put them out, but nobody else is going to fill up their cup for them or take the place they’ve madei messy.” “ I think the kids ought to be fined, and not the factory,” said another, “ I t ’s hard to keep them out. Sometimes they come in. We try to keep them out, but where a person has lots to attend to, it’s hard to keep at them .” “ It is against the law to have children https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SH R IM P C A N N IN G C O M M U N ITIES. 21 in the factory, ” said another, but when he showed the agent through the plant and she remarked that some of the children shucking did not seem to be more than 7 or 8 years old, he replied, “ Some are not over 8 or 10. I have forbidden them to come in, but they can’t be kept out. We have a State law, but it is not so strict as it used to be.” Another employer, who stated that no children under the legal age were permitted to work in his plant, when asked about the numerous children obviously under age in the shucking room, said, “ A few will get in in spite of the foreman, who can not keep a watch on them all. They will come in, open an oyster or two, and then run out. There is no profit in child labor. ” It is clear from the statements of both employers and the mothers of the children that some employers made an effort to keep children out of the canneries. One mother stated that her 11-year-old child could pick shrimp faster than she could. “ If children could only work steady it would be a big help to the people, but the boss won’t let children work.” A boy, whose mother said he was 14, picked shrimp for two days, earning 23 cents one day and 40 cents the other; but the employer “ wouldn’t let him stay because he was under age. ” A girl of 10 “ went over to the cannery, but the boss wouldn’t let her in. He said she was too small. ” One mother said that a company had “ run o u t” children on the day she was interviewed, as the em ployer did not want them “ hanging around.” In one family three children, aged 13, 11, and 9, had worked occasionally, and a 6-yearold child worked once, but “ children are not allowed at the factory unless the mother is there.” One mother said, “ When the cannery has a run of large oysters there are always a lot of gangs there to shuck, but when they have the small oysters there aren’t any outside people [that is, families not living in the company camps] there. Then the boss likes to have the children work, but if the oysters are large they don’t like them hanging around.” HOURS OF WORK. The children who are classified as regular workers observed the same hours as did their parents or other adults, though occasionally some of the younger children would come to the cannery an hour or two after work had begun and would leave earlier than the grown people. “ They knock the kids off—that is, waken them—at 3.30 or so,” said one mother, but such comments were rare. The two most striking facts in regard to hours were their irregularity and the early iiours of beginning work. In most cases no accurate statement of the usual hours of work could be given, because the hours in the canneries were so irregular, depending as they did both upon the catch and the number of https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 22 CH ILD LABOR AKD T H E WORK OF M OTHERS IK workers available. An effort was made, however, to get from each family the hours of beginning and ending work during the week pre ceding the visit of the Children’s Bureau agent; or, if no member of the family had worked during that week, the hours for the last week worked. This method, it was thought, would give a fair basis on which to draw conclusions, since the investigation extended over a period of three months. I t should be remembered that these three months were regarded by the employers as well as by the employees as exceptionally slack in comparison with other seasons, that the hours of work reported were shorter than the hours in normal years, and that some employers were less exacting than in former years. Government restrictions on imported labor made the plants more dependent on the immediate community than they had ever been before, and in places where there were two or more canneries the local workers were to some extent independent. The imported workers, living in company camps and dependent on the good will of the employer for their so-called free rent and free fuel and their railroad fare home at the end of the season,15 were required, on penalty of being put out of the camps, to come to work when the cannery opened and to stay as late as there was work to be done. A number of local workers also, who were allowed to live in the company camps and received free rent and fuel and the same rate of pay as the imported workers, were subject to the camp regulations, and were therefore expected to get to work early. The canneries customarily employed a watchman, one of whose duties it was to wake the workers each morning not only by blowing the factory whistle but by knocking at the door of each family living in the camp. In one family where the mother worked regularly at shucking and picking, and where a 7-year-old child worked occa sionally at picking shrimp, the father was a night watchman. The mother stated: u He starts out waking people up at half past 3. He pounds on each family’s door. If there is a large amount of oysters in at the cannery, he tells the people, and they are supposed to go to work right off, getting there as near 4 as possible. Many of the people don’t go that early, however. Always before this year if the camp people did not show up soon after the night watchman had been around, the boss would come around himself and tell them to go to work or get out of his camp. I usually start in work between 4 and half past; sometimes not till after 6. I can take as much time as I like for dinner; I take about half an hour. I can not take any ■other time off unless I have to cook or wash, which takes only a few hours in the week. I have to stay at the cannery until the oysters are finished, which is around 5 in the afternoon. is See p. 70. The difference in rates of paym ent to workers living in the camps and those living outside often more th an compensate the company for giving free rent, fuel, and railroad fare. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SH R IM P C A N N IN G C O M M U N ITIES. 23 Even with the workers living in the company camps some em ployers were less strict about hours than in former years. “ You’re supposed to go to the cannery when the whistle blows, but then they don’t push you,” said one mother who lived in a camp; “ they wake you up when the cannery opens, but you go when you feel like it. Last year they came around when the cannery opened and made you go whether you wanted to or not, but this year there are fewer people, and they have to be careful.” On the other hand, some mothers and some employers stated that the workers were required to be at work when the factory opened. ‘‘If y°u don’t go early, they come after you. The watchman wakes us at 3 o’clock and comes again at half past 5 and if you don’t get up then, the old man * * * comes after you. He came here at half past 7 one morning and asked 'W hat’s the matter? Are you dead, or do you think you are rich and don’t have to work?’ We have to stay until the work is finished«” An employer said, “ The whistle blows at 4 o’clock and the factory opens a half hour later. At 4.30 or 5 o’clock the watchman makes his rounds to call those who have not yet come to work. If they don’t turn out we go after them; we tell them if they don’t work, to get out—it’s work or move off the place. “ The shuckers begin work at 4.30 or 5 a. m. and take a half hour or so off at 8 or 8.30 for breakfast. Their work is usually over by 4 or 4.30 in the afternoon, but we can’t be governed by hours. The goods are perishable and when there is work to be done everyone is expected to work until it is finished. The packing room closes at 5.30, but if there is a rush they have sometimes worked until 7 or 8 o’clock. We’ll never get it that way again, though ; the new genera tion won’t work. “ The packers generally take an hour for lunch, the shuckers choose their own time. Some of them do not take any time at noon, but Work steadily until closing time. Others take from 15 minutes to an hour and a half. We don’t stipulate on this. The mothers are free to take time off whenever they want it, but no one else is allowed to loaf.” The employers were often more lenient with women who had babies or very small children than with other workers. A few mothers in one Biloxi cannery district left their babies at a day nursery. Since the nursery did not open until 7 o’clock and closed at 5, whoever took the babies to and from the nursery could not work as long at the cannery as the other members of the family. “ When I work I take my children [one aged 4 years and the other 23 months] to the nursery. I t doesn’t open until 7 o’clock, so I never can get to work before half past 7,” said one mother. Another said, “ I work https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 24 CHILD LABOR A N D T H E WORK OF M OTHERS I N from 5 in the morning to 5 in the evening usually. Eliza [age 13] waits to take the baby to the nursery at 7 and doesn’t get to work until half past 7, and she leaves in the afternoon in time to get the baby at 5 o’clock. We take our lunch with us and take off only a few minutes at noon, because if you stay sitting down too long you don’t make anything. You can choose your hours, but if you start on a car you have to stay until the work is finished.” As has been stated, the hours of work were very irregular. On some days there would be no work. On others the work might begin at any time between 3 and 7 a. m., and might last only a few hours or all day. An example will illustrate the irregularity of hours. A mother and a child of 15 worked as follows: Monday................- ..................................... 6.00 a. m. to 5.20 p. m. Tuesday..............., ......................................6.00 a. m. to 2.00 p. m. Wednesday........................................... :...7 .0 0 a. m. to 1.00 p. m. Thursday.............................. ....................... 7.00 a. m. to 4.00 p. m. Friday............................................................5.20 a. m. to 2.30 p. m. Saturday....................................................... 7.00 a. m. to 10.30 a. m. They took no time off for breakfast, but “ nearly an hour for lunch, beginning at half past 11.” In another family two girls of 12 and 13 were regular workers, and the mother worked occasionally. During a week the mother did not work at all; the girls worked as follows: Thursday......................................................5.00 a. m. to 4.00 p. m. Friday................................... - .....................5.00 a. m. to 3.30 p. m. Saturday................................................... 9*00 a. m. to 4.00 p. m. They did not work on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. They stated that they usually began work between 5 and 9 a. m. and stopped between 3 and 5 in the afternoon. For two or three days a week,- on the average, they had no work. The irregularity of the work made it difficult for mothers to remem ber the hours even for the last week they had worked. “ Work is so irregular I couldn’t rightly remember, ” said one mother. A colored woman commented, “ I disremembers, to tell the truth. They worked very shabby this past season.” (“ Shabby” was occasionally used to mean slack or irregular.) “ I t ’s slipped my remembrance,” said another colored woman; “ it's been so shabby it seems like a dream.” Some families had no clocks, and did not know at what hour they began or ceased their work. One mother said she u did not think of work by time. ” They depended on the factory whistles or on the watchman to waken them, and usually worked as long as there was work to be done. In all, 117 of the 423 mothers could not remember their hours of beginning and stopping work. Of the 306 who reported hours, 90, or nearly 3 in. 10, began before 6 in the morning; 67, or more than https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SH R IM P C A N N IN G C O M M U N ITIES. . 25 2 in 10, began before half past 5, and 17, or 6 per cent, began before half past 4. Two families began between 3 and half past 3. Only 60 in all began as late as 7.30. The families living in camps went to work earlier than most of those who lived outside, as Table I shows. T a b l e I . — Number o f fam ilies reporting specified earliest hours o f beginning w o rt, according to residence in camps. Earliest hours of beginning work. Total not reported.................................................................. ................... Total. Living in camps. Not liv ing in camps. 423 117 306 128 5 123 295 112 183 2 4 11 50 23 53 28 75 16 44 2 4 9 30 11 22 11 23 3 9 0 0 2 20 12 31 17 52 13 35 Thus of the 123 camp families from whom reports of hours were eceived, 56, or 46 per cent, began work before 6 a. m.; 45, or 37 per cent, began before 5.30 a. m.; and 15, or 12 per cent, began before 4.30 a. m. Of the 183 families living outside the camps from whom reports of hours were secured, 34, or only 19 per cent, began before 6 a. m .; 22, or 12 per cent, began before 5.30 a. m .; and only 2 families before 4.30. Table II, giving the latest hours of stopping work reported by each family during a sample week,, shows that a large proportion of camp dwellers, as compared with noncamp dwellers, worked through to the latest hours. T a b l e I I .— Number o f fam ilies reporting specified latest hours o f ending work, according to residence in camps. Latest hours of ending work. Total. Total..................... Total not reported Total reported----- 423 117 306 Before 12 m ..................... 12 m. and before 1 p. m . 1 p. rri. and before 2....... :,nd before 3.-..... ......... and before 4................. 4 and before 5................. 5 and before 6................. 6 and before 7................. 7 or later.......................... 5 5 3 8 51 126 92 11 5 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Living in camps. 129 5 124 1 2 19 51 45 3 3 Not living in camps. 294 112 182 5 4 1 8 32 75 47 8 2 26 CH ILD LABOR A N D T H E WORK OF M OTHERS IK The specified hours of beginning and ending work may be mis leading, because it sometimes happened that workers would begin early and stop early, or they would begin.late and would work only a few hours, while at other times they would begin very early in the morning and would work until late in the afternoon or on into the evening. From the statement of hours given in the report for the sample weeks, it was possible to secure the extent of the shortest and the longest workdays of 309 families. This is shown in Table III. It should be noted, however, that the time taken off for meals has not been deducted, since the mothers were often unable to state how much time they had spent at meals. In some instances practically no time was taken, the workers snatching a few minutes to eat as they worked. Mothers would sometimes go home at noon for about an hour to prepare the noon meal. The most common dinner period appeared to be 30 minutes. T a b l e I I I .— Fam ilies reporting specified m in im u m and m axim um hours per day worked during a sam ple week.1 Number of hours per day. Minimum. Maximum. 423 114 309 423 114 309 44' 28 18 26 41 53 46 31 20 1 1 s 6 8 25 37 62 66 53 28 8 5 3 1 Hours taken off for meals have not been deducted. 2 In three instances mothers could give the num ber of hours worked, although they could not give the actual hours of beginning and ending work. This explains the difference in the num ber of reports in this table and in Tables 1 and II. s Includes three cases where the m axim um num ber of hours was 15, 16, and 18J. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER A N D SH R IM P C A N N IN G C O M M U N ITIES. 27 The following typical statements make clearer than does the table the changing demands in regard to hours and the attitude of both the employers and the workers: “ The watchman calls us at 4 o’clock in the morning and we are . supposed to be at work by 5 o’clock. I can’t get there until half past 6. They wanted me to come earlier, but I won’t go until I get the children ready for school. They growl because I don’t go earlier, but I can’t help it. We can stop work to rest whenever we want to, but we have to stay at night until the work is finished.” “ I start work no later than 6 in the morning and always take James (8 years old) with me. He works the same hours. He’s a smart kid, too, and can shuck good. Sometimes we would work till 10 in the evening when there was a rush on. We weren’t made to stay, but did it to make the money, and we like to please the boss.” ‘I go to work at 7 and work till 5 or half past. I have to take my dinner to the factory and eat from 12 to half past; they only allow you that. Usually I take one day off a week. The boss doesn’t mind your taking a day off if you have an excuse, but you are ex pected to do what you have to do at home on Sunday. The watch man wakes people at 4. Those who haven’t small children to look after are expected to be at work at 5; others at 7. If you don’t go, the watchman comes back at 7. He doesn’t say much if you are sick. If you generally work regularly, but just take a day off, he doesn’t make you go.” “ The boy [aged 15 years] works on the oyster cars, unloading oysters and transferring cars. The time he begins in the morning depends on the amount of work to be done and the number of men there are to do it. If there are not enough men they always send for him. On the 10th of March they sent for him at 3 in the morning, but he usually goes between 4 and 5. If the work slackens up later and there are plenty of men around they send him home, sometimes about 11 o’clock. Usually he works till 5 or 6 in the afternoon.” This boy’s older sister (aged 18) said that she went to work several times this year at 3.30 a. m. Generally she began work at '6 a. m. and worked until 5 p. m., or until the oysters were finished. She said “ The camp people can not stay out a day, except mothers with children, when they have to cook and wash. The manager knows all the people and which of the mothers have children and why they stay away, but the other people have to come every day. If you stay home the manager sends some one after you; only if you’re sick it’s all right not to work.” “ You can choose your own hours when you shuck, but in the pack ing room you have to stay until the work is finished. Sometimes it meansffrom 6 in the morning to 10 at night.” https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 28 CH ILD LABOR A N D T H E WORK OF M OTHERS IN “ I take half an hour for dinner. We can choose our own hours, but we have to go early to get a place to work. Work begins at 6, but we [mother and 7-year-old boy] get there at half past 5.” “ I t ’s so dark Joe [aged 11] is afraid to go to work alone in the morn ing. We can choose our own hours. We take half an hour for dinner. The other children [a boy of 10 and two girls of 8 and 6] come to the factory for their dinner, too. Joe works regularly. Mike does not work any, but the girls work from 9 to 2 on Saturdays.’’ “ The whistle blows at half past 4 and people are expected to be at the factory at 5. I come home between 7 and 8 for breakfast and between 11 and half past 12 for dinner. I stop work about 4 in the evening. They treat you good. They don’t tell you nothing. You can come home any time.” “ We usually work from 5 in the morning to 5 at night. Some times we work overtime till 7—I do quite often. We could have an hour off for dinner but we never take so much. I guess we would eat in about 15 minutes.” “ The watchman comes around at 4 o’clock and knocks on the door. You don’t have to get up. He just wakes you up so you don’t sleep too late.” “ The usual hours are from half past 7 in the morning to half past 4 in the evening with half an hour at noon. We’re expected to work in the factory whenever there is work, but we can stay home to wash or take care of the children when it’s necessary. I haven’t worked for the last six days and no objection has been made. There isn’t much work this year.” The testimony of employers as to the hours of work did not vary greatly from that of the workers. One said: “ The time workers are called depends upon the amount of work to be done during the day. If there is a big load of oysters, the watchman knocks at the door at 4 a. m. and the whistle blows at 5, when work starts. “ Workers usually begin at 5 but it’s up to them when they come; it’s piecework, and we can’t force them if they don’t want to come. Some come early and some come late. When they don’t come we go to their house to see what the trouble is. Work is usually over by 6 in the evening, but often it is necessary to work until 7. I t has been necessary to work as late as 9 o’clock, but this does not happen often. “ Half an hour is taken at 9 o’clock for breakfast, and at noon a half hour for dinner, and when work at night is necessary, a half hour is taken at 6 o’clock.” Another reported that, “ The amount in hours of work is notspecified; they are supposed to work as long as there is any work to be done. Mothers are allowed leeway in choice of hours, but others are expected to work whenever work is available. Workers are free to work elsewhere when there is no work at our cannery. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 29 “ The watchman does not call the workers in the morning. The factory opens at 5 o’clock and workers are expected to be there at that time. An early start is a good idea. People can get more work done in the morning, especially foreigners; they don’t like to work in the afternoon. The shuckers go home at 4 or 4.30, or even earlier, and the packing room closes about 5. We stop work early every Saturday, usually about 3 o’clock. The workers usually stop at about 8 in the morning and take an hour for breakfast. They all go home again at 12 and take an hour or so for dinner, but they can take as long as they want. “ The hours for the im ported workers are specified in Baltim ore, b u t they come and go as they please. W ish I could do as they do. We expect them to work whenever there is work to be done, b u t we are no t very strict. The row boss tells me I am too soft-hearted.” O ther employers testified as follows: “ The hours depend on the supply of oysters or shrimp; they are usually from 4 a. m. to 4 p. m., but workers can quit whenever they want to. We are supposed to keep track of the number of hours worked by boys under 16, I think it is, and girls under 14; but.this is impossible, as they come and go at will and we have no control over them.” il The cannery opens about 5 a. m. and closes about 5.30 p. m. We run a 12-hour day, but the people working don’t. The help is most unreliable and they come in and go out as they like. This is an industry where the labor runs the employer. The packers work anywhere from 4 to 8 hours a day depending upon the amount of work that has to be done. ■‘ The im ported labor is hired for the fam ily, n o t for individuals. •Every m em ber of the fam ily who is allowed to work according to the S tate law (which is 14 years for girls and 12 years for boys) is counted a worker. In retu rn for free rent, fuel, and transportation, all work ing members of the fam ily are supposed to work every day unless they are sick. B u t the camp peoole get the best of the bargain afid do n o t work a t all regularly.” “ Im ported laborers work two hours earlier and one hour late r th an resident workers. Im ported workers s ta rt a t 5 o’clock of their own accord. This extra three hours produces the com pany a m axim um of o u tp u t a t a m inim um of cost.” “ The workers usually come about 6.30 a. m. and are through by 1 or 2, working, in general, a 7-hour day.” When this employer vas asked why some firms began much earlier, he said it was because they were afraid they could not get enough workers. He added, “ We have all the workers we need and, therefore, can begin late.” An agent of the Children’s Bureau, however, one morning counted 15 children who entered this plant between 5 and 6 o’clock. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 30 CHILD LABOB AND THE WOBK OF MOTHERS IN “ The usual hours are from 6 a. m. to 4 p. m., but often there is not enough work to keep them busy all that time- The women come when they want to. They often stay home and do a washing in the morning and come to work in the afternoon. The early whistles are all foolishness., I think the people who have them blowing ought to be arrested for disturbing the town. In former years when there was a great deal of work to be done, there was some excuse for starting early.” An agent of the Children’s Bureau, however, heard the whistle of this factory blow one morning at 10 minutes before 5 and saw workers going into the factory from 10 minutes before 5 to 10 minutes before 6. “ The factory is generally busy from 7 a. m. to 4 or 5 p. m., but shuckers sometimes begin as early as 6.30 and a few even at 6, Occa sionally.” In answer to a question, this employer stated that shrimp picking usually begins earlier than shucking because of the two or three hours needed for cooling the shrimp after they have been picked and boiled. “ During the past winter work generally began about 7 or 7.30 a. m., rarely before that time. People have changed, they have become too independent. Years ago, we would blow the whistle at 3 a. m., and get a house full.” When asked if workers were required to work regular hours, this employer answered, “ They work just as they want to; they are on the piece system; they go when they want. They’ll come and laugh at you and go-home just when there’s a pile of work on your hands. They might come here a while and then go off and work for another cannery. You stop at 4 or else your crowd quits on you and you are left anyway. The packers and weighers have to work more regularly than the shuckers and pickers. The day is rarely over seven or eight hours.” “ The plant generally begins work at 6 o’clock, and we work till we get through; we might get through in five hours or in eight—we never can tell. Sometimes we are through by noon and at other times we work till 5 o’clock. We can’t really tell how much we do work. That’s why we’re up against it when we have to make a report to the State as to the number of hours women work.” When asked if the factory had no time clock, or other device for keeping track of hours, this employer replied, “ The canning business couldn’t be run that way, in its very nature.” HAZARDS AND DISCOMFORTS OF CANNERY OCCUPATIONS. Are the occupations a t which the cannery children work haza: ous ? To w hat, if any, accidents, injuries, or dangers to general health do the actual processes in which they are engaged expose them ? W hat is the character of the work place ? https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CAHETNG COMMUNITIES. 31 As to accidents, more th an three-fifths of the families reported some injury, including cuts, burns, infections, sores, and rawness caused by the acid in the shrim p, and some m ore serious accidents, during the season studied. The m ost common injuries were cuts from the oyster shells, sore hands from the shrim p acid, and sores resulting from running shrim p thorns into the hands. These injuries and physical ills, being directly related to the work, occur, of course, more frequently th an accidents such as those resulting from falls upon a wet, slippery floor or from being run over by oyster cam. Since the oyster shells are sharp and the workers use a knife in shucking, cuts are common. The shucker usually wears a glove or finger stalls, or both (the glove on the left and the stalls on the right hand). The gloves, however, wear out very quickly, seldom lasting longer than a day, and sometimes, especially on a fast shucker, wearing through before the end of a single day. “ Sure, you cut your hands, said one 14-year-old girl. “ Your gloves sometimes wear out during the day, and there isn’t time to go to the store for a new pair, and then you often cut yourself. We have to get a new pair nearly every other day. My mother wears one glove and I wear the other. I get sore between the fingers and on my wrist where the glove rubs all day long, and the juice from the oyster stings.” A 13year-old boy showed a cut he had got that day. I t was on the thumb, an inch and a half long, and cut nearly to the bone. The child’s mother showed many small cuts. An 8-year-old girl in another family showed a cut in the palm of her hand from an oyster shell. The skin was torn away and the cut was rather deep. This child does not wear gloves. A 7-year-old girl had cut her finger on an oyster shell before Christmas and a week before the agent’s visit (Mar. 1) the cut, which had not yet healed, had abscessed. A doctor had lanced it, but it was still sore. Another little girl of 10, who showed the agent a large cut on her forefinger, said, “ Shucking is very hard on the hands, even with gloves.”. “ Yes; you often cut yourself,” said a mother. “ Amy [her 8-year-old daughter] cut her foot badly on a shell at the factory. You certainly cut up your hands. There are no gloves small enough for the little children, so they have to work barehanded.” In another instance a boy of 15 got a piece of oyster shell in his hand and had to have the hand lanced. He lost two or three weeks’ work at the factory. His mother, too, had recently had a bad oyster-shell cut. “ The older children don’t have much trouble with their hands,” said one mother, “ because they wear gloves. But they don’t make little gloves, and the younger children can’t get any to fit, and often cut themselves.” Another woman said, “ The stalls protect the fingers, but the palms of the hands are very apt to get cut up. You’re apt to get stuck and get blood poisoning. I got a bone bruised once and had to have it https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 32 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN scraped. New help usually gets cut. After working a while there is not so much danger.” There were many other comments in regard to cuts from oyster shucking. The employers, however, did not consider such injuries serious or very common. “ Shuckers are not apt to get injured seriously,” said an employer. “ Occasionally they may cut their hands slightly on oyster shells, but they usually wear gloves and finger-stalls, which afford sufficient protection.” “ They cut them selves on shells very seldom,” said another. “ Once a month they’ll cut themselves. They wear gloves to protect their hands.” Still another remarked, “ They may cut their hands a little now and then,, but it won’t hurt them.” Another blamed the workers: “ If a shucker ever gets cut from oyster shells, it is due to her own carelessness. This seldom happens.” Some physicians did not regard cuts from oyster shells so lightly. One stated that he thought oyster-shell cuts peculiarly liable to infec-. tion, due rather to the unusual amount of dirt attached to the shells than to any substance in the shell itself. He had' seen five or six infected cuts this season. Another physician commented upon the prevalence of infected cuts among oyster shuckers. The workers agreed that shrimp picking, or peeling, was a much more injurious occupation. Many workers said that peeling shrimp made their hands so sore that they could not possibly work at it more than two or three days in succession. Two hundred and fortyeight of the children included in this study had picked shrimp. “ Shrimp is killing on the hands. I t ’s real poison. It eats up your hand. After two or three days on shrimp you have to knock off for a rest,” said one mother. Another said: “ Shrimp makes your hands bleed so badly you can hardly rest when night comes. You can’t work steadily at shrimp. Jack [her 11-year-old son] can’t work as long as I can. He can’t stand it. He swells up and it hurts him.” One cautious worker said, “ I stop when my hands get stiff and red before they crack.” “ I haven’t picked shrimp this season,” said another, “ but when I do, I pick for two days and then take a day off to let my hands heal. I couldn’t stand it if I worked every day.” Nor are the peelers the only ones exposed to the acid. “ Shrimp eat your hands up,” stated one worker, and added, “ They make the feet of the men who dump them bleed. They even eat the leather off your shoes. If you’ve worked on shrimp for two or three days you have to stay home a day and do a washing and rest your hands. Then you can go back for a couple more days.” The^ following statement was repeated in effect many times: “ I have seen people with blood dripping from their hands from picking shrimp, and https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 33 you can’t wear nothing to protect them because the acid eats through everything.” . Besides the effect of the acid, the shrimp picker often gets a shrimp thorn into his hand. (A shrimp thorn is a sharp, spurlike weapon, sometimes an inch or more in length, which protrudes from the head of the shrimp.) A 15-year-old girl said, “ I stick shrimp thorns into my hands four or five times a day. My hands sometimes drip with blood from the shrimp. I use 25 cents’ worth of alum a week.” A 13-year-old girl said a prick from a shrimp thorn is “ sorer than a cut.” Another 13-year-old girl said, “ My hands get so sore they just bleed. Then I stick them and they get all galled up.” A 14-yearold boy said, “ Shrimp eat your hands down to the quick. You have your fingers all swol’ up with thorns.” O ther obnoxious features of shrim p picking or peeling are the incidental wetness, the filth, the stench, and the cold. In order th a t they m ay not spoil, the shrim p m ust be kept iced. The workers are handling small pieces of ice as well as shrim p, and the m elting ice runs down their clothes and onto the floor.17 ' The following com m ents of employers in regard to shrim p picking or peeling show th a t knowledge of the dangers and unpleasantness of the work is n o t lim ited to th e employees. “ The ammonia in the shrimp causes the hands to become sore. A worker could not pick more than six or seven hours at the very most without suffering. We give our workers about two days in every week to rest during the shrimp season. They can not pick steadily.” “ If the workers allow the fluid from the shrimp to cake on their hands, they will become sore. Washing your hands often in water will prevent this soreness. I have never known a case whe*e a worker has got a shrimp thorn in her finger. I t would be due to her own carelessness if it did happen.” “ In picking shrim p it is possible to stick the thorn which projects over the head into your hand, b u t this is rare—you h ardly ever hear of it. I t ’s like walking along and stubbing your toe on a root if you don’t see it. Picking shrim p several days in succession will h u rt the hands a little. The w orker then lays off for a day or two, washes his hands in alum w ater, and is all rig h t again.” “ The shrimp is pretty tough on the hands and we provide alum water for each worker. A tubful is made up each morning and the workers can help themselves.” “ Workers who pick shrimp can’t stand the work every day. I t ^Jiurts your hands pretty bad after you stay in it three days steady. The acid in the shrimp just eats your hands off.. I t seems pretty much like ammonia to me, for when you leave a pile of hulls around S See discussion of conditions of work place, p. 36. 56569°—22-----3 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 34 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IK they smell bad and it is like an ammonia smell. The acid is carried in the head of the shrimp. Shrimp pickers generally wash their hands in alum water in order to heal them up and harden them.” u If you pick shrimp four or five days, it hurts the hands. Then you lay off a day, use peroxide and a whole lot of ordinary medicines, and you’re all right. I t doesn’t hurt the niggers—they’ve got thicker skin.” 18 The statements of local physicians concerning shrimp poisoning, as well as other aspects of the effect of cannery work upon women and children,are of interest. One such physician said, “ I have a world of accidents resulting from picking shrimp. There are frequent abscesses on the hands of people picking shrimp.” Other physicians reported few such cases. The workers seemed to take most of their injuries for granted and applied alum or other home remedies. One doctor said he had never heard of any serious results from shrimp poisoning. “ Last year I had a lot of cases of bone felon, inflammation at the end of the finger,” said another. “ I don’t know the cause of it, but I think the tail of the shrimp becomes embedded in the flesh. I t ’s not serious, but it means lancing and a mighty sore finger for a week.” Another stated, “ The average number of cases I treat for infection received from the shrimp thorn is about four or five during the season. Aside from the thorn, the acid in the shrimp makes the hands very sore for the first four or five days on the work. However, the women do not come to me for treatment for this; they use soda and water; also alum.” Two doctors had a different point of view. One said, “ There is no industry as free from hazards as the canning industry. I t is the best business in the world for women and children. It is^ery seldom I treat cases due to any kind of injury received at the canneries, and I have never had any such eases of children. The youngest person I have treated for injury from the cannery work was 17 years old. This season I have had probably six cases of infected hands from cuts on oyster shells and fish fins, and these were mostly fishermen. The acid in the shrimp causes soreness of the hands, but not to such an extent that the workers ever have to come to me for treatment. On my calls I have seen one or two cases of sore hands from shrimp. The acid irritates the skin quite badly, but if alum water is used the hands become hardened and toughened to it. The only disagreeable feature in the cannery work is the wetness. This can not be prevented; the workers are bound to get wet.” The other said, “ The children work in the factories all right. They use them all sizes, as soon as they can open an oyste^ shell, from 8 and 9 years up. I t ’s good for them. I t keeps them out of mischief. I never heard of an accident down there requiring a physician. Shrimp picking is filthy work, but they seem to get 18 Many complaints of the effect of shrimp acid on the hands were made by the Negroes interviewed. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 35 used to it. There are no hazards to the work. I ’ve known people who lived to old age and they worked all their lives in the factory.” Other injuries and accidents beside those already referred to, though not so common, are sustained. One physician said that acci dents frequently happened to children, especially the little children brought to the factory by their mothers. He had attended two cases, one a child of 2, the other 5 years old, who had fallen in the path of the oyster cars and had had their hands crushed. He said he had also cared for two boys between 12 and 14 whose hands had been run over. An employer said, “ Children are not allowed to play and skylark around the cannery. I forbid it because I don’t want to be sued for damages in case of injury.” A mother said, “ The factory is a dangerous place for small children. Men push the cars roughly. The steam is often so thick they can’t see what is in front of them, and children are apt to get run over.” Another mother, who said her 10-year-old child had had two fingers smashed under a car, said, “ There is so much steam that you can’t see the people. Then you get all steamed up and when you go out of doors you’re liable to catch cold.” Speaking of children in the factories, one woman said, “Austrian people bring children of 5 and 6 to the factory where they work all day long. They could get hurt on the tracks of the oyster cars. One of them had his nose crushed, several others got their fingers hurt; then they want the company to pay.” A boy of 8 had two large abscesses on the backs of his hands, which he had got by falling on the shells and getting cut. Both abscesses had maturated and spread. The same boy’s hand was run over by an oyster car, making a wound in which several stitches had to be taken and which left a seam running the width of his palm. Another child, a 12-year-old girl, “ slipped and cut a deep hole in her head.” Falls seemed to be fairly common, especially in some factories during the potato-canning season. “ I t ’s wet and slippery in potatoes. You’ll slip up and bust your head—it’s so slick,” said a colored woman. A serious accident happened to one 13-year-old boy, crippling him for life. He was shoveling shells on the wharf and his leg got caught in the derrick. M any cannery women complained of burns from handling ho t po tatoes. “ P otatoes p re tty nearly burned m y hands off. You get burned before you can get them into the cold w ater,” said one m other. And another said, “ I burned m y nails loose on m y hands from handling h o t sweet potatoes.” ‘X. A part from accidents and injuries, cannery work causes m uch weariness and backache and aching feet, from th e-constant standing and bending, and illness often results from getting wet and cold. “ We get so wet we alm ost die w ith cold. We get colds going and coming,” said one m other. A nother exclaimed, “ My God! Your https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN 36 back and everything hurts standing on those shells all day.” “ I don’t mind the cuts so much as standing all day and bending over so much. I ’ve always been a strong person, but I could never shuck a whole day; I would get such bad pains in my back from leaning over so much.” Still another said, i‘ When the shells are piled high and you have to lean way down to reach the oysters, your back aches, your side hurts, and God knows what doesn’t ache.” Conditions in shucking and picking sheds. The condition of the work places, the general structure, dampness, provisions for heating, and uncleanliness, varied, of course, in the different canneries. For the most part, the plants were unsub stantial buildings, often in bad repair and quite open to the weather. In some of them no attempt had been made to provide any other heat, than that afforded by the “ steam box” in which the oysters are steamed. In none of them was there an adequate heating system. Although the communities studied were all in the Gulf coast region, it must not be supposed that there was no cold weather; in winter it was often cold and dam p.19 The wetness of the work itself, whether from melting ice, oyster juice, potato water, or steam, added to the discomfort caused by the ’ temperature. Some employers attempted to provide heat, and made other efforts to mitigate the unpleasantness. One plant provided boxes on which the shrimp pickers could sit, while working, if they wished to do so. “ Our factory is nice and dry. There is a big heater in is The United States Weather Bureau gives the following reports of temperatures for two observation stations in the districts studied: LOW EST T EM PE R A T U R E ON RECORD. • Stations. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Biloxi, Miss. 116 0 F : 16 years’ record)........ Bay St. Louis, Miss. 14 (15 years’ record).. An Oct. Nov. Dec. nual, oF °F 1 oF 27 ° F. 36 oF 40 »F 54 ° F. 63 0 F. 63 ° F. 40 oF 35 ° F. 27 oF 15 2 25 32 45 53 62 58 48 34 24 15 2 1 H IG H EST T EM PE R A T U R E ON RECORD. Biloxi, Miss. (16 years’ record)........ Bay St. Louis, Miss. (15 years’ record).. 79 81 87 90 98 100 100 102 98 98 85 80 102 79 81 87 89 92 102 101 101 100 97 85 81 102 MEAN MONTHLY T E M PE R A T U R E . Biloxi, Miss. (17 years’ record)........ Bay St. Louis, Miss. (15 years’ record).. 51 53 62 67 75 80 . 82 82 78 69 60 52 68 52 53 62 68 75 80 81 82 79 69 60 52 68 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 37 winter,” said one mother. “ The factory is damp,” said another, “ but you don't have to get wet unless you want to. There are grated benches to stand on, 6 inches high.” A worker in another factory said, “ There are wooden slats over the concrete floor, and ^ou can keep dry if you want to.” One mother said she would rather be at the cannery than at home. “ I t is very comfortable and warm there,” she said; “ they have picnics, and the tables are kept clean and white.” Sometimes careless employers were made to reform. “ Blank’s is a nice, clean place,” said a woman who worked, there. “ He got arrested once for filth, so I guess he’s trying to do better now. I t doesn’t get so wet and sloppy because he has boxes fixed to throw the shrimp hulls in. They are emptied often and some one keeps it swept up around.” “ I t ’s not damp there,” said a colored woman of the factory where she worked. “ They keep it so clean that one doesn’t get wet. But it stinks so bad I used to say I wouldn’t go down there; but there ain’t any money in washing with wood so high.” Many factories, however, dailed to provide any protection for the feet of the workers, and there were not many favorable comments on the conditions of the sheds. “ There was no heat in the factory all winter; the children’s hands almost froze,” said one mother. “ The factory was damp,” said a 14-year-old girl. “ I have to stand in slops. You have to wear stout shoes to keep your feet dry.” Others said the same thing. “ Yes; it’s damp down there, and very cold from the ice on the shrimp. I t ’s slops down there, dress wet, feet wet just like a ditch.” “ The walls are thin and cracked, so the wind and rain blows in. I t is a pretty damp place for ladies. A lady^ can’t work there and keep her health.” ’ “ I t rains in like a basket.” “ In shrimps you get wet all over, and in oysters you get cold from standing over cracks. I t shortens your life all right.” “ During the potato season, it’s just like a hog bin, it’s so sloppy, with potato peels everywhere.” A 14-year-old girl said, “ I got wet to the skin peeling potatoes, and my mother made me stop working. I had rheumatism, and the dampness made it worse. I t ’s sloppy and slippery.” “ I t is very wet work,” said an 11-year-old boy. “ I had to stay home on account of the bad colds I caught going home in wet clothes. After that I wore an oilcloth apronr which kept me dry.” A 14-yearold girl took a bad cold at her work of peeling potatoes, developed a fever, and had to stay in bed three days. Her mother said, “ They jvould send water down the trough (by steam power) so fast that the trough would run over and the workers would be soaked. She was wet through and through after four hours and would have to go home and change her clothes. And the table was so high it made her tired to work at it.” “ I have a cold most of the time,” another https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 88 CHILD LABOR ASD THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN worker said; “ the factory is cold, and the steam h eaters don’t work. We have to stop and get w arm in the boiler room .” A health officer in a county in which a large number of canneries were located made the following statement about factory conditions. “ The factories are in pretty good condition. If they had everything they should have, they would have to close down. The shucking sheds have been remodeled and the drainage improved. Processing rooms are well kept,' but are not properly screened. The floors are usually wet during shrimp and potato seasons, and wooden frames should be provided for the workers to stand on to prevent their feet from getting wet. We have made this recommendation and some of the factories have agreed to it. A slat floor, similar to that provided for bookkeepers, should be put in. A pliable flooring will add to the comfort of the workers. We hope we will come to this m time.” The State factory inspector has insisted upon certain changes in the height and width of the tables used in peeling sweet potatoes. Some of them were too high and some were too low, and they were so wide that it was a strain to reach over to the water trough in which the potatoes were dipped. Washing facilities are now provided in all the factories. The toilets have been misused, but an effort is being made to prevent this by keeping them locked. Toilet paper is not yet sup plied by all factories, but this is to be required.” The possibility of eliminating many of the discomforts usually existing in oyster canneries is demonstrated by a Maryland establish ment, which is thus described in an official report. “ Those who are familiar with the oyster-packing industry well know how uninviting and uncomfortably gloomy these establish ments usually are because of poor lighting and heating. The floors are damp and cold, because but little heat is allowed for fear of spoil ing the oysters. However, Cambridge can boast of a pioneer reformer who has removed existent evils in the working conditions of this class of establishments. This employer has accomplished wonderful results in the construction of a modern factory with the shucking room on the second floor. Double rows of shucking tables are arranged to run the length of the room, accommodating 500 workers. An opening is made in the table at the place of each worker,-into which the oyster shells are dropped and conducted by a chute to the floor below, where they are carted away. Running under the flooring at the feet of the workers are heating pipes serving a double purpose, as they supply the neeessary heat to the workers and keep the floors dry and warm. A double row of windows, which are ranged at either side at the top along the entire length of the building, supply the necessary light and ventilation. No children under 16 years of age were employed in this establishment.” https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 39 LITERACY AND SCHOOLING OF CHILDREN. Prem ature child labor, no com pulsory education laws or poorly enforced compulsory education laws go h and in hand. A t the tim e the investigation was m ade Florida had local option in com pulsory education; th a t is, a school district could avoid it, even though the county should have voted for it. The Florida com m unity included in this stu d y did. no t m ake education compulsory. Mississippi had a law som ew hat sim ilar to th a t of F lo rid a ; Louisiana had a com pulsory education law applicable to the entire S tate, b u t the exem ptions, as well as the lack of m achinery to enforce the law, ham pered or nullified its effectiveness. Inasmuch as the basis of selection of the families for the study was that the children under 16 years of age were working in the canneries, or the mothers of children under 6 were so employed, it was to be expected that the percentage not attending school would be large. I t was, therefore, not surprising to find that of 943 chil dren from 6 to 15 years of age, 106, or 11 per cent, had never attended school. Of 649 from 7 to 13 years, 266 (41 per cent) were not attend ing school at the time the study was made. Moreover, 191 (68 per cent) of the children who were going to school also worked in canneries, so that their attendance was often very irregular. The children of the white nonresident families had the poorest record for school attendance, as they did for literacy. If the children 7 to 13 years of age, inclusive, are considered, only 16 per cent of these nonresident white children attended school as com pared w ith 63 per cent of the resident white children and 72 per cent of the resident Negro children.21 Failure on the part of the community to provide good schools or, in some cases, any schools at all, was encountered. Some par ents were altogether indifferent, while others appreciated the value of an education and deplored the lack of schools. In a village in Louisiana which had no public school, the Polish parents of a 6 and a'7-year-old child were eager to have them go to school to learn English, since only Polish was spoken at home. Another family, with children 6 and 15 years old, was planning to move to New Orleans u since the children can’t grow up without schooling.” . In this community the cannery apparently obeyed the Louisiana child-labor law. The children not at work and with no school to attend had nothing to occupy their idle time. A m other in another com m unity complained, “ There is only one school, and a couple of miles to walk. The teachers are ju st kids and don’t learn the children an y th in g .” 2i I t should be noted th at the difference in the percentages for the white and colored children is prob ably not significant, since they were drawn in unequal proportions from several different communities which offered different school facilities. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 40 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN Sometimes the school officials were responsible for the indifference to school. In a previous report of the bureau reference is made to a Florida superintendent who excused his own cooperation in the viola tion of the child-labor law of the State on the ground that “ children should have a chance, as they are the best workers in the shucking business.” 22 Tales of irregular attendance were general. Thus, a child of 11 years nominally attended school, but “ more than half the time she stays out to work. Yesterday she worked from half past 4 in the morning till half past 3 in the afternoon. To-day she began at 5 in the morning and worked till 4 in the afternoon.” Two seventh-grade girls of 13 and 14 were kept out of school two days each week in the fall to work in the factory. The father said, “ The boss wanted me to send the children last week, but I wouldn’t because it was the last week of school.” In another family two little girls, 10 and 12 years old, worked in-a shrimp factory twice a week.& One mother said that her two children of 14 and 15 had “ missed a lot of school. The last year each of them stayed away from school about two days a week to work. Children frequently worked before and after school and on Satur days. A little girl of 10, for example, worked two hours before school in the morning and “ an hour or so” after school in the after noon. A boy aged 13 had worked in a cannery after school and on Saturdays. Then his mother let him stay away from school every other week to work. The principal of a public school in the cannery district of Biloxi said that about 20 per cent of the children did not attend regularly because of work in the cannery. The principal of the parochial school also complained of ifregular attendance. Parttime employment was often the entering wedge for increasingly regular employment and increasing neglect of school. But even if a child works only before and after school, the early morning labor deprives him of sleep and the afternoon labor of play, both of which are essential not only to his healthful development but also to his ability to learn when he does attend school. Some parents made great sacrifices to keep their-children in school. One mother had kept her 16-vear-old girl in school, permitting her to work only on Saturday and in vacation. When asked if the girl worked before and after school during the week the mother replied, “ No; because if she did she would not advance so well in school.” This girl was in the seventh grade. This same family was less con siderate of their 13-year-old boy, who, though he attended school, regularly, had been working in a bakery before and after school for four years. He got up at 4 o’clock every morning and delivered 500 loaves of bread on his bicycle by 8 o’clock.____ ________._______ _ 22 The Administration of the First Federal Child-Labor Law, p. 62. Children’s Bureau Publication N o. 78. Washington, 1921. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 41 A father who worked on an oyster boat and who sent his 8-year-old son to school regularly, said “ I am going to have him learn a trade. He is not going to be a shucker all his life if I can help it. I t ’s a tough life and I don’t w ant him to work like I have.” A “ Louisiana F ren ch ” m other moved away from one com m unity because it had no school. “ I w ant the children to get a good schooling because I never had any, and even now can’t talk English w ithout m aking them laugh.” Frequently parents blamed their poverty for keeping their chil dren out of school. A girl of 11 was needed at home to care for a 2-year-old baby while her mother worked in a cannery to eke out the father’s average earnings of $5.35 a week. “ If my man was alive,” commented one mother, “ I ’d send all my children to school.” The 10-year-old boy in this family went to night school three nights a week, paying 50 cents a week for tuition. “ But it costs too much; I can’t send him much longer,” said the mother. In another family the children, aged 13 and 11, went to school regularly until their father died, when they had to help in the support of the family. In another instance a woman wanted her 15-year-old grandson to continue school, but she was unable to buy him the necessary “ third reader.” A bright boy of 12 in the seventh grade was forced to drop out of the parochial school in December. He worked during the day and went to night school three nights a week. “ He is a smart boy,” his mother said, “ and if I could afford it I ’d keep him in school.” The mother of three children—aged 13, 10, and 7—who went to school last year, was not able to send them this year. The whole family had the influenza, and their bills amounted to $100, and they had no money left for shoes and the other clothes that the children needed for school. The mother hoped to send the two younger ones next year. Another mother said she would send her two boys—aged 12 and 7—to school “ if they had any clothes. I can’t send them looking as they do.” A colored girl of 8 had not entered school because she had been “ shoeless and clothesless.” One little girl of 13 was discouraged because she had made poor progress in school. She was promoted last year to the sixth grade but had had to continue all this year in the fifth grade because the family could not afford the necessary books for the higher grade. These statem ents are typical of m any th a t were m ade to the agents of the bureau. D irectly or indirectly—because of the need for th e ch ild ’s wage, or the lack of m oney for clothes and books, or the need of the ch ild ’s services in caring for the younger children left a t ‘ome while the m other worked—poverty was allowed to interfere w ith the education of the children. The opinion was current in some few families th a t though a little knowledge was desirable anything m ore th an a little was unfortunate. One m other (white) who was sending her oldest boy —14 years —to https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 42 CHILD LABOR. ASTD THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN night school three times a week, and who had not sent her second and third children—aged 12 and 9 years, respectively—hack to school since the influenza, was planning to send them next year. She commented, “ They need a little learning, but they won’t get graduated. All poor children need to know is to read and write a little. Too many poor children get educated. I t don’t do them no good. ” (This mother went through the third grade and stated that she vras able to read and write.) A colored mother took a similar stand. She said of her 7-year-old boy, ‘•I want him to learn enough— to read and write—but not to finish; just to learn enough not to have him foolish. It don’t do kids no good to learn too much nowadays.” Another mother said of her 13-year-old girl, “ She was in school for six years, and I won’t be sending her back. T h at’s plenty long enough. ” An employer expressed a like opinion: “ I t ’s my opinion that a child learns enough to go through life if he is sent to school from the time he is 6 years until h e ’s 11 or 12.” Another employer, who realized that the children needed an education although he found their school attendance subversive to his own interests, said, “ I guess i t ’s a good thing for children to go to school. I wish I ’d gone. I worked since I was 8 years old. But the child-labor law hurts the factories, because children can shuck as well as the others. We don’t make anything on them, for we pay them as much (that is, the same piece rates) as the others. But the factories need the numbers. ” The education of the colored children was always a special prob lem. Their schools were inferior and the terms shorter.' A desire on the part of the Negro parents to educate their children was not lacking. In Apalachicola, Florida, where the great majority of the children employed in the canneries are colored, 65 per cent of 113 colored children attended school. The colored people in. this community seemed alive to their chil dren’s need for education and had attempted to collect money to continue the school session longer than the six months provided by public funds. A number of families sent their children to “ pay schools.” One mother, whose children attended a pay school, said that the public school had closed April 1 after a session of five months,23 the appropriation for the colored school being made for 23 T he county superintendent of public instruction stated th at the Negro school term was six m onths and th at th e white school had an eight-months’ term . lie gave the following information about the white and colored educational facilities: ___... XT , White. Negro. Number of public schools......................... . ...................... ................................................. .. ^ Number of teachers................................................................................................................... * Salary averages.............................................................................................................................. N um ber of principals.....................................................................- ......................................... Salaries of principals..................................................................... Number of pupils per teacher (averages)........................... .. .- . . ......... - ............................+3® Length of school term in 1918.................................................................................. m onths.. Length of school term in 1919.................... — ................. - ........ . ..................— 8 £ ® $33.33 ^ $55 +^2 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 6 OYSTER AM) SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 43 five m onths only. “ If the school is to run a nine-m onths’ term , the same as the w hite school, the teachers have to raise m oney to cover expenses ($100 a m onth) by contributions from the parents and by entertainm ents.’’ F o r the previous two years they had been unsuc cessful, and schools had had to close early. Three p ay schools opened when the public school closed; 50 and 60 cents a m onth was charged for tuition. One mother, who sent her 14-year-old daughter to night school after the public school closed in March, said that the colored publicschool session extended customarily from October 1 to March 1. It was prolonged until April 1 in 1919, to make up for the time lost during the influenza epidemic. “ They have six teachers for about 250 pupils. The principal gets $55 a month, the assistant principal and the primary teacher get $30 a month. A very good teacher left because she couldn’t afford to pay $12 a month for board and room out of her $25.” The superintendent of public instruction stated that the “ average” salary of Negro teachers was $33.33 a month, and of the principal $55 a month. The “ average” number of pupils per teacher he reported to be “ 42 + .” In some of the Apalachicola families there was complaint of the quality of education and the ability of the teachers in the public school. One colored woman “ saw no sense ” in sending her grandson to the public school “ to fight and scratch.” “ They don’t have teachers enough,” she said, “ and the teachers they have they elevate from the eighth grade.” She sent her grandson to a pay school as regularly as she could afford the tuition of 15 or 26 cents a week. Another colored woman sent her 11-year-old daughter to a school that charged 20 cents a week tuition. The girl had been taken out of the public school after one term because “ she learned nothing there. There were too many pupils to a teacher,” the mother explained. Each teacher had from 50 to 60 pupils, and the teachers were poorly paid. “ The public school only runs five m onths, and th a t don’t am ount to anything on a child’s m ind, so I send mine to pay school when public school closes. I only send them to the public school because m y taxes are so high th a t I w ant to get a little benefit from them . B u t they don’t learn nothing there. My girl has gone to the public school for five years, and she’s still in the prim er, b u t she is getting along fine a t the pay school. This private m an sure will lea m your children.” A Children’s Bureau agent visited a colored “ pay school.” I t was taught by the father of one of the children who worked in a cannery. It was held in a fairly large, one-room building sadly in need of paint. About 60 children sat on wooden benches, the small est in the front rows. The teacher, a gray-haired, kindly, old colored https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 44 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN man, his coat in tatters, sat at his table in front of the rows. The school was not divided into classes, but the teacher “ took each one separately,” the pupils coming to him one at a time to recite. This school he conducted the seven months when the public schools were closed. Besides this «day school he had a night school all the year round for children who worked during the day. During the winter months when his day school was closed he did carpentry, but he “ doesn’t make much. Just enough to stay here, and th at’s all.” Whatever the quality of these pay schools, the very fact of their existence bespeaks the real interest of the colored people of this community in providing their children with some education. Illiteracy. Under the conditions just described a high percentage of illiteracy was inevitable. Of the 609 children between 10 and 15 years of age who were included in the study 149, or 25 per cent, were illiterate. The illiter acy rate for all children from 10 to 14 years 24 old (inclusive) in the United States was 4 in 1910. The percentage of illiteracy among the children from 10 to 15 years of age who were included in this study was therefore approximately six times that for children of an age group very nearly the same (10 to 14 years) for the United States as a whole. I t was the children of the families who were brought down from Baltimore and other places that were mainly responsible for this exceedingly high rate. In the group studied the rate of illiteracy among the resident white children 10 to 15 years of age was 19 per cent and among colored children 25 per cent; among the migratory white children it was 37. There were practically no mi grating colored families. The illiteracy of the children was only a little less striking than that of their mothers. While 25 per cent of the children over 10 were illiterate, 33 per cent of the mothers were illiterate. Nor was the illiteracy of the mothers confined to those of foreign birth, for of the native-born white mothers 32 per cent were unable to read and write. Forty-four, or more than one-tenth of the m others, were unable to speak English. In 22 instances these m others were native Americans. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 45 grade; 18 (8 per cent) at the second grade; 30 (13 per cent) at the third grade; and 48 (21 per cent) at thé fourth grade. Only 110, less than half of the children who had reached their fourteenth birth day, had gone beyond the fourth grade. The figures just given include both white and colored, resident and nonresident, children, those working in canneries as well as those not employed. As their attendance at school was less, so the retardation of the nonresident children was- greater. The per cent of the 14- and 15year-old children who had completed the fourth grade in school was 34 per cent for the nonresident children, 52 per cent for the resident, for the white children 46 per cent, and for the colored children 53 per cent POVERTY AND CHILD LABOR. Widowhood, the small earnings of fathers and m others, the high cost of living— all these are among the im m ediate causes of child labor. “ Grub is so high, he has to w ork,” said the m other of a 12-year-old boy. “ E verything costs so m uch,” said another, “ th a t we couldn’t get along if the children didn’t w ork.” A mother, whose crippled husband can average only $6 a week, "sent her 13-year-old daughter to work after school and on Saturdays. She said that the child’s earnings of 20 or 25 cents a day and $1 on Saturday were needed to help support the family. In another instance a woman who had six children under 16 and whose husband had deserted her sent the four oldest—-from 10 to 15 years—to work in the cannery. They had all gone to school before the father left them and their mother complained that she had a hard time keeping the 10- and 11-year-old boys at work, because they “ had rather play.” I have a hard time paying the $6 a month rent after feeding and clothing the children. And it will be harder in summer, when there is not so much work.” Another woman said, “ Many of the children round here have to work or starve to death. I don’t blame the mothers for having them work, as living is so high.” This family’s income was exceptionally high. The husband and two sons (over 16) worked on a boat, and earned on an average $50 a week between them, but altogether there were nine in the family. The mother sent her 10-year-old child to the factory to shuck part time. “ I t takes every penny to feed and clothe them,” she explained. (See discussion of earnings of fathers, p. 50.) “ he widowed mothers. Of the mothers included in the study 105, or about one-fourth, were widowed or had been deserted by their husbands. These women had to bear the responsibility which, in normally constituted families, is shouldered bv the father as the chief breadwinner. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 46 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN In the absence of State pensions 25 or subsidies to widows, it is generally taken for granted that widows need to sell the labor of their children in order to support themselves and their families. “ Something will happen pretty soon,” said one widowed mother, “ if the poor people can’t do better. With the price of food and the cost of influenza, we can’t get along. What are poor people going to do, if their children can’t work to help pay for their shoes and things—especially those that haven’t got fathers?” In some cases even the delicacy or actual illness of a child did not save him from work in the canneries. A widow said of her 15year-old son, “ He is a weak boy. He coughs fit to kill himself. He has to take medicine all the time to be able to work.” Neither the mothers nor the communities seemed to know that ways have been found for meeting the misfortune of widowhood otherwise than by the premature employment of children already handicapped by the loss of their fathers. Occupations and earnings of fathers. Since in every family included in this inquiry either the wife or the children—or both wife and children—worked, it is important to know the occupations and earnings of the fathers. In 3 instances there was no report on the father’s occupation. In 105 instances the father was dead or had deserted his family. Of the 315 fathers concerning whom reports of occupations were secured, 7 were unemployed; 107 worked on oyster and shrimp boats (in 14 cases the fathers owned the boats and sold their catch to the can neries) ; 68 were employed inside the canneries or around the wharves; 31 worked in shipyards; and 102 worked at other occupations not connected with the canneries. In interpreting the earnings of the men (see Table IV), especially those engaged on the boats or in and about the canneries, it should be remembered th at these varied from week to week, depending on the catch and the weather. A captain of one of the cannery boats said, *i I t all depends on the weather in our work, and the weather is something you never can count on. I t ’s a game of chance; a gamble with the wind. If the wind is right, luck’s with you; but if it’s too windy you can’t manage your sails, and if it isn’t windy enough it’s no good, for you’ve got to keep the boat moving. I t ’s mighty un certain. Some months we can make four trips, and then again when the weather is bad we only manage to make one. When you have luck it’s all right, but it’s bad if luck’s against you. “ I t takes five men to manage a boat. We are usually out a week and load on about 450 barrels of oysters. When we land we load into the cars, 5 barrels to a car; then when we are paid we first deduct our provision bill and then divide the rest into six shares, and 25 Florida enacted a mothers’ pension law in 1919. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AISTD SHRIMP eAXXING- COMMUNITIES. 47 one share belongs to the boat, which counts as a person, and goes to the company. We average about $30 apiece each trip.. The num ber of trips we can make in a month, as I said, depends upon the weather. “ During the summer months I haul shells. Each company has to replace the oysters taken with a certain quantity of shells. We dump them along the Gulf as far as Pensacola, Fla. I t ’s hard work, harder than catching. The glare of the shells is so hard on our eyes we have to begin work before sunrise, knock off before noon, and begin again at 3 or 3.30. We are paid by the barrel, and we make almost as much as we do in the oyster season. “ This sea life spoils you for a land job, but it’s mighty uncertain, and I only come out about even at the end of the year.” The boatmen were paid not on a time basis but for the number of pounds or barrels of shrimp or oysters they brought in. In different communities different rates were paid. Since it was not the custom of employers to keep pay rolls showing the amounts earned by the various boatmen it was difficult to get either from the employers or the families absolutely accurate evidence of earnings. The state ments of the employers regarding the amounts the men could earn did not always agree with those of the workers. There is, perhaps, a tendency for employers, when questioned about wages of piece workers, to state the maximum rather than the average wages. One employer said, “ The men who go out on the boats work by shares. Five or six on a boat bring in a cargo worth $250 to $300. They divide equally, the boat taking a share. The boat belongs to us. They make pretty good money. Here’s a case [pointing to a record sheet in front of him and showing the figures] where a boat was out four days and each man got $29.31 clear of provisions, lodgings, and everything else. * * * They make from $26 to $35 on a trip, and they have made as high as $40.” Another employer showed the record of amounts paid for certain trips for oysters, ranging from $34.50 to $139.50. The employer stated that these trips lasted one week only, and that after approxi mately $15 a week had been deducted for gasoline, living expenses, and miscellaneous expenditures, the remainder, divided into two shares, was net profit to each of the two men who manned the boats. This same employer showed records of payments ranging from $71.40 to $294.75 for shrimp trips. The expenses for the shrimp boats, he said, were $30 a week. As in the case of oysters, the trips ,sted only a week, and the money was shared by only two men. Other employers presented a somewhat different picture of the men’s earnings. One stated that “ a family with three shuckers, one man for daywork, and one man on a boat, could make altogether $40 a week.” When asked if any of the families working in his factory https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 48 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IK had ever done that, he replied that he “ did not know of any families with more than two shuckers and one dayman.” “ Boatmen work on a share basis,” said an employer; “ they have been averaging $25 a week all season.” Others said, “ The skilled men are paid by the week, receiving from $18 to $25 a week,” and “ The boatmen were earning between $20 and $40 a week before the strike.” 26 Apalachicola was the only place visited in which the cannery workers were organized. Here there were four unions, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, as. follows: The Oysterman’s Protective Association, the Colored Oyster-Catchers’ Union, the Shuckers’ Union (colored), and the Ladies’ American Union (colored). In one factory an unusual situation grew out of a disagreement between the employer and the American Federation of Labor. The employer wanted his workers organized in opposition to union labor, and so they joined the I. W. W. None of them understood the principles of the I. W. W. They wished simply to be organized. In the course of the year they lost their charter, and were greatly surprised to learn of charges being brought against the I. W. W. “ The cost of labor has increased by leaps and bounds,” said another employer. “ Boatmen who used to get $5 a barrel are now getting $7.50. Raw oyster shucking is performed by men at the rate of $1.50 per 1,000 oysters. This is 100 per cent higher than three years ago. The women are too airy here to do this work, but they do it in the East. “ Boatmen sail oyster and shrimp boats on the share basis. The boat may belong to a boatman or to the company. In either case, the boat is considered a share; the net also counts as a share. The provision bill is first deducted and then the proceeds are divided into equal shares. If a crew makes a “ broken” trip—that is, gets no catch—the factory pays all expenses of the trip. This occurred four times last spring, costing me $100 a trip. At present boatmen are paid $7.50 a barrel. At the beginning of the season they received $7 but another firm offered 50 cents more and it was necessary to pay this additional amount in order to keep the men. * * * Several factories are cutting down on the price to boatmen and this is causing some dissatisfaction. Men with large families, however, are satisfied because the difference is more than made up by what their children earn shucking.” The men employed in and around the canneries were usually paid by the hour. “ A man doing a day’s work makes anywhere from $3.85 to $4 a day. A man wheeling shells gets 35 cents an hour,” said one employer. Other hour rates reported were 22^ cents, 25 26 At th e tim e of th e study the boatm en in Apalachicola had been on strike for three m onths. They had been receiving 3 cents a pound for shrim p, and were striking for 3£ cents a pound. After th e strike had started, however, th e m arket “ went to pieces ” and the employers, were offering the boatm en only 2\ cents a pound—a lower rate th an they had been paying a t th e tim e th e strike was called. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis , OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 49 cents, 27^ cents, and 30 cents an hour. Several employers paid 35 cents, and one reported that he paid from 30 to 40 cents an hour. In this connection it should be remembered that the inside workmen are almost as dependent on the catch as are the boatmen, and that their work also is irregular. One father who shucked raw oysters,27 and who said he was con sidered “ the fastest shucker on the P o in t/7 said that his average earnings were about $15 a week, and that the most he ever earned in one week was $23. Another father, who had a small boat of his own, went “ oystering” with tongs on public reefs. He took his 13-yearold son with him. “ We catch to-day and open to-morrow/7he said, meaning that after getting the oysters he shucked them and then sold them to raw-oyster dealers, getting a price on shucked oysters. He usually got $3.50 a thousand for the shucked oysters. He and the boy together could shuck about 2,000 a day. In other words, the two together could earn $7 for two days7 work; but the work was irregular—“ We can’t count on more than three days7work a week/7 he said, “ the season is so short and the work so irregular that we can t make enough to last us through the dull season—about four months. Last summer I was way in debt.77 Statements of the average and maximum weekly earnings for the season studied of each working member of the family were secured whenever possible. In 254 instances the average weekly earnings, and in 252 instances the maximum weekly earnings of fathers were given. Table IV shows the average weekly earnings of both the white and colored fathers. T a ble IV.—F a t h e r s r e p o r t i n g specified a v e r a g e w e e k l y e a r n i n g s , b y color. Fathers reporting earnings. Average weekly earnings. Total. W hite. Colored. All fathers rep orting......................... 254 165 89 Loss th an $12....................... 112 b ut less th an $15..................... $15 b u tless th an $20.................. $20 b u t 1ess th an $25..................... $25 b u tless th an $30................................... $30 but less th an $35............................... $35 and over............................................. 51 33 81 35, 18 22 14 34 18 47 24 13 18 11 17 15 34 11 5 4 t3 From this table it appears that during the shrimp and oyster seasons the median earnings fell between $15 and $20. However, 51, or 20 per cent, of the fathers averaged less than $12 a week; 84, or 33 per ent, less than $15; 165, or 65 per cent, less than $20; 200, or 79 per cent, less than $25. 27 Women and children were employed to shuck only steamed oysters, and not for rawoyster shucking except in rareinstances. 56589°—22----- 4 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 50 CHILD LABO® AND THE WORK .HF MOTHERS OT The low-earnings were not confined to ike colored fathers, although a smaller proportion of them were in the higher wage groups. Of the white fathers 34., or .21 .per cent, earned less than $1.2 a week; 52, or 32 per cent, less than $15 ; 99, or 60 per coot, less than $20; and 123, or 75 per cent, less than $25 a week. Of the Negro fathers 17, or 19 per cent, earned less than $12 a week; 32, or 36 per cent, less than $15 ; 66, or 74 per cent, less than $20; 77, or 87 per cent, less than $25 a week. I t should be remembered that thé wages paid in the canneries during the seasons studied were considered by employers as well as employees to be exceptionally high on account of war conditions. “ Factories treated people better this year,” said one mother, “ be cause men were employed in the shipy ards and labor was hard to .get. They had to lower the weight for all workers.” (Lowering the weight is equivalent to raising the rate of pay.) One employer said in regard to wages, “ These high wages can not continue. We shall have to reduce rates next year. .Of course, if we could continue to get the present war prices for our products, we would have no objection to paying the same rates.” Another said, “ I have been paying the boatmen $7 a barrel for shrimp, and from 65 to $5 cents for oysters. These prices are higher than usual, and I will not be able to pay this much hereafter. I have no idea what prices will be next year, but they will not be as high.” Some employers had already begun to reduce rates of pay, “ Men laborers up to now have received 30 cents an hour. From now on they will get 25 -cents,” said one. By a comparison with Table Y the variation between the maxi maim and the average weekly earnings of 245 fathers can be computed. In 75 instances the same sums were reported for both the average and the maximum weekly earnings. In 75 additional cases, the variation was less than $5. In 48 instances—20 per cent—the variation between the average and the maximum was $10 or more. Table V.— N u m b e r a n d p e r cent distribution o f fathers, b y m a x i m u m meekly earnings. Fat&ersrep ortiBg .earnings. Maximum weekly earnings. Number. .231 .400.0 .56 ,22.2 25.7 IS. ,2. •6.7 9.1 <8.3 -5.1 4.0 4.3 16 17 .23 16' 13 10 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis P e rc e n t distri bution. OYSTER ASTB SHRIMP €AKXTXO COMMHittTIES, 51 The 10 fathers reporting $50 or more as the earnings for their best week reported the following sums: 5 earned $50; 2 earned $57; 1 earned $60; 1 earned $100; and 1 earned $115. In 3 cases the fathers owned their own boats, and the amounts received therefore represent not only wages but also a return on capital, for it is customary when the money for a catch is divided to count the boat owner as one man. All the fathers who reported an income of $50 or more for their best week had much lower average weekly earnings.28 The 10 fathers who made $50 or more in their most prosperous week formed only 4 per cent of those for whom maximum earnings were reported, as shown in Table V. This table also shows that more than one-fifth of the fathers made less than $15 during their maximum week, that nearly half the fathers made less than $20, and that only one-third made $25 or more during their best week. The fathers who had migrated from their homes on the promises of the row boss were often bitterly disappointed with the wages and conditions of work in the cannery communities. One man said, **The row boss came to our house and promised me a job of $4 a day on the boats and work for the whole family. When we got here they wouldn’t give me a job on the boats, and I have to shuck, and only make about 75 cents a day. We don’t like it here and we’ll never come again. I can make much more in Baltimore.” A woman in Biloxi said, “ The row boss had told my husband that he could make good money as captain of a schooner, and that if he did not get that he would get him a night watchman’s job, or work on the steam box. My husband was keen about hunting game and the row boss said there was a lot of it down in Biloxi. He promised all kinds of good things. They will tell you any kind of a lie to get you down here. When we got here the night watchman’s job was taken, and it was in December—eight weeks—before he could find a job. If it wasn’t that we brought a little of our savings and that I worked, we wouldn’t have been able to get along. Finally, the company put Virm on doing odd jobs, and he averages $9 a week. If we could have earned enough for our fare back to Baltimore we would have gone long ago. We think the row boss played a trick on us and are awfully sorry we came.” In another instance, a man had been promised work on the steam box. When the family arrived all such positions had been filled. For three weeks the man was without employment; his wife and a 14-year-old boy worked at shucking oysters and picking shrimp. Finally the woman told the company th at she and heT family were "ping back to Baltimore. (She thought she had saved enough money from picking tomatoes in the summer to take them back.) Then 28 For table of average weekly earnings, see p. 49. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 52 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN the company gave the man work unloading shells. He objected to this, and finally was given a job rolling shells at 40 cents an hour. Occupations and earnings of mothers. , In the group studied, 94 mothers were unemployed; 4 were dead, or had deserted their families; and in 2 instances no report of the mothers’ occupations could be secured. Of the 323 mothers who worked, all but 43 worked in canneries, most of them picking shrimp and shucking oysters. A few were packers, or peeled potatoes, or performed other cannery work. Most of the working women not employed in canneries did laundry work, sometimes in their own homes, sometimes in the homes of their employers. As all the women interviewed, except those who were packers, were paid on a piece-rate basis, the speed of the individual worker was one factor in their earnings. But the regularity of the work, which depends on the catch, the weather, and the rates allowed, which varied at different seasons in different localities and for resident and nonresident workers, were much more important factors. According to the employers’ statements, the rates for oysters varied from 1J cents to 5 cents a pound, and for shrimp from 1 to 3 cents. Usually the nickel was the unit of payment, the workers being required to shuck a certain number of pounds for a nickel. Thus, when the rate of pay was lowered, the workers, as well as the employers, spoke of the procedure as “ raising the weight,” and an increase in the rate of pay was called “ lowering the weight.” The difference most frequently reported was between a rate of 5 cents a pound for shucking by outsiders and 5 cents for a pound and a half for the same work when done by insiders. In other words, people living in the camps provided “ free” by the company were required to do 50 per cent more work for their money than the workers who were paying a definite rent outside the company camps. The shuckers and pickers were not on the pay roll. Whenever their shrimp or oyster cups were filled they took them to the weighing win dow and received as many nickels as the weight of the cup called for. Only the “ hour workers,” such as the packers, weighers, and labelers, were kept on the pay roll. The wages, of this pay-roll group of workers varied from 10 cents to 30 cents an hour. Reports of average and maximum weekly earnings were secured from 284 mothers.29 Table VI shows the average weekly earnings reported by those living in the camps, or company houses, and by those living outside. 29 In 139 cases th e m others were unemployed, were unable to give their average earnings, were dead, or had deserted their families. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. T able M l — N u m b e r 53 a n d p e r c e n t d i s t r i b u t i o n o f m o t h e r s w i t h specified p l a c e o f residence, , b y average w eekly earnings. Mothers reporting average earnings. Living in camps or company houses. Total. Average weekly earnings. Living elsewhere. Per cent Per cent Number. distribu Number. distribu Number. distribu tion. tion. tion. All earnings.... -. 284 100.0 102 100.0 182 100,0 Less th an SI................. $1 b u t less th an $2....... $2 but less th an S3....... $3 b u t less th an $4....... S4 b ut less th an So....... $5 b u tless th an 87.50-. $7.50 b utless th an $10 . $10 b u t less th an $12.50 $12.50 or m ore.............. 2 14 31 49 43 93 28 15 9 .7 4.9 10.9 17.3 15.1 32.8 9.9 5.3 3.2 1 2 9 24 19 34 8 4 1 1.0 2.0 8.8 23.5 18.6 33.3 7.8 3.9 1.0 1 12 22 25 24 59 20 11 8 .6 5.59 12.1 13.7 13.2 32.4 11.0 6.0 4.4 This table shows that nearly half the mothers who reported their earnings made on the average less than $5 a week; that about onethird averaged between $5 and $7.50; and that only about one-fifth averaged $7.50 or more a week. I t should be remembered that these earnings do not represent full time work every day for six days a week. The irregularity of can nery work is discussed later.30 Table VI bears out the statement of the mothers who lived in camps and company houses that their lower wages balance their so-called free rent and fuel. The women who did not live in camps earned a higher average wage than the camp mothers, in spite of the fact that the latter probably worked more steadily. “ We used to live in the camp,” said one woman, “ but my son does not want me to live there any longer, so he is paying our rent for us. We didn’t like it there. You had to work whether you felt like it or not. If you stayed home the boss would talk. They say free rent and duel, but Oh, Lprd! you can’t save anything on that for they use a heavier weight on you. They can call it free, but I call it a big rent.” Another said, “ We decided we would save money living outside of camp. We figured it out that we were paying $15 a month rent to the company and burning $1.50 worth of wood a day by working at the rate of 5 cents for 1J pounds instead of 5 cents for 1 pound.” “ We get this house free,” said another, “ but we used to rent it from the company for $ 4 a month; and that was better, for then they paid us the same as others and we could make more. If they give you your house they use a heavier weight 30 See p. 56. See also Hours of work, p. 24. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 54 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN on you. I t is 5 cents a pound for outsiders and 5 cents a pound and a half for us/ The people from Baltimore have it even worse— they only get 5 cents for 2 pounds. That’s because their fare down here was paid for them, and because they get free fuel.” Another said, “ The first of the season the company paid 5 cents for 2} pounds; now they pay 5 cents for 1J, while the people outside the camp are paid 5 cents a pound. Besides this they give insiders heavy weight and the outsiders light weight. They do this to get back on their free rent. The outside people can make as much as $3.50 a day; it’s so much easier for them. I t is really better to pay rent, because those who have free rent get paid so much less. We are going to jmy rent next year.” Table VI shows that the lowest earnings were more frequent among the mothers living in company camps or houses and that the highest earnings were much more frequent among those living outside. Of the inside mothers, only 13 per cent earned $7.50 or more a week, as compared with 21 per cent of the outside mothers. Only one camp mother averaged $12.50 or more a week, whereas, of the out side mothers, 8 fell in this wage group. In some instances promises of free rent were fulfilled for only part of the season. One mother showed the Children’s Bureau agents a notice reading as follows: . March 7,1919. Mr . -------- and F amily: This is to notify you that starting on Sunday, March 16, 1919, the premises which, you are now occupying will be charged for at the rate of $1.50 per week rental. This rental must be paid every Saturday at our office from and after this date. In connection with the above, we wish it to be understood that all tenants living in our houses will he expected to work in our factory whenever in operation, the same as in the past. Yours, very truly, “ We can’t pay such a re n t,” said the m other who showed this card, “ and we don’t know w hat we are going to do. Everyone in this row of houses except two got the sam e notice. I guess m ost of them are going to move. * * * There’s no reason for m aking us pay when they promised us free rent. * * .* They prom ised to pay our fare hom e if we promised to come back here in the fall. Now we don’t know w hether they will pay our fare home o r not, because th ey ’ve already gone hack on the free re n t.” Table V II, giving the average weekly earnings reported by the white and colored women, shows th a t the percentage of those earning the higher wages was greater am ong the colored th a n among the white women. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP OARING COMMUNITIES. Table V II .— N u m b e r a n d p e r cent distribution o f m o t h e r s 55 o f specified c o h r , by average w e e k l y earnings. Mothers reporting average earnings. Total. Average weekly earnings. Number. All earnings.............................. ............: Colored. Per cent Per cent P ercent distri- ; Number. distri Number. distri button. bution. bution. 234 100.0 2 ! Less th an $1.................................................... $1 b utless th an $ 2 ......................................... $2 b u t less th a n $3......................................... : $3 bu tless th an $4......................................... $4 b u tless th a n $ 5 .......... ............................. $5 butless th an $7.50..................................... $7.50 b u t less th an $10 ................................... $10 b u tless th an $12.50................................. $12.50 or m ore.................'...................... ........ White. 169 1 8 .7 i 4.9 10.9 17.3 15.1 32.. 8 9.9 5.3 3.2 14 31 49 43 93 28 15 9 19 34 26 54 15 8 4 l-OO. 0 • .6 115 100.0 1 ; 6 12 4.7 11.2 20.1 .9 5.2 10 .4 15 17 39 13 7 5 15.4 32.0 8.9 4.7 2.4 13.0 14.8 33.9 11.3 6 .1 4.4 Of the -Negro mothers 44 per cent earned less than $5 a week, whereas 52 per cent of the white mothers earned less than that sum; 22 per cent of the Negro mothers earned $7.50 or more a week, but only 16 per cent of the white mothers fell in this earnings group. The higher earnings of the colored women is accounted for by the fact th a t so m any of the white m others were im ported and lived in the com pany camps, while the colored m others came from the neigh borhood and were paid a slightly higher rate. The highest wages were paid in Biloxi an d G ulfport, these com m unities offering workers a som ew hat wider industrial choice. The women were asked not only how much they had averaged a week but also the largest sum they had ever earned in a week. The following table summarizes the 279 reports of the highest earnings made by the group of working mothers who lived both inside the company camps and by those who lived in the towns or villages. T able V III .— N u m b e r a n d per cent distribution residence, b y m a x i m u m of mothers with specified place of w e e k l y earnings. Mothers reporting maximum earnings. Maximum weekly earnings. Number. Per cent ! Per cent P ercent distri- ; Number. distri Number.; distri bution. bution. button. 279 100.00 90 70 61 39 32.26 25.09 6: 9 3 1 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Living in camps or ’ Living elsewhere. company houses. Total. 21.86 13.98 2.15 1 3.23 1.08 .36! 100.00 j 173 ’ 100.00 37 28 27 i 34.91 26.42 25.47 9.43 : 3 2: 83 .94 53 42 ' 34 29 6 : 30.64 24.23 T9.S5 16.76 3.47 3.47 106 10 ' 1 6 2! 1 1 .1 0 .5 8 56 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OE MOTHERS IN From. Table V III it appears that nearly one-third of the women were unable to earn $5 in their most profitable week, and that only about 2 mothers in 10 were able to make $10 or more in their best weeks; about one-fifteenth could make $12.50.or more. Of those who had earned $12.50 or more, all but 4 lived outside the company camps. Only one-eighth of the “ inside” mothers had ever earned $10 or more in a week, while about one-fourth of the “ outside” mothers had earned that much. Some of the women considered the rate of pay satisfactory but complained of the irregularity of the work. “ If work was steady, shucking would be a good living, but days when there’s no work we have to live just the same,” said one mother. Another said, “ About two days a week there* is no work, and on days when there is work it often gives out early in the afternoon. I t ain’t no steady work; if it was, we’d make a good living.” There were some instances where higher earnings were reported. One woman (who had no children and so was not included in the study) said she sometimes earned $5 a day; one week, her highest, she earned $19.75. A 16-year-old girl in the same family once made $3.75 in a single day. The tables on pp. 53 and 55, however, make it clear that such cases were exceptional. The irregularity of the women’s, as of the men’s, work made the family income a very uncertain quantity. “ Some weeks there’s only one or two days’ work. Other weeks you can find work every day. It all depends on the boats, and if the weather is too bad, there’s no work,” said one mother; and another said, “ I ’m out of work two days a week. The morning hours depend on incoming boats; sometimes there is no work before 10 o’clock.” Still another said, “ We are go ing back to Ocean Springs; we can’t make a decent living here, the work is not steady enough.” Other comments on the irregularity of the work were the following: “ Sometimes when there is work at only one or two factories, the places are so crowded that you can’t work. There might as well not be any.” “ A t ----- —1’s there are so many shuckers you have to wait around for cars.” “ There’s not much work, not enough for all. Too many people.” “ I can’t have any Easter dress this year. We can’t get the money. Lots of people would get Easter dresses, but there’s been no work for so long.” “ In shrimp season the factory whistles would blow when there was enough shrimp for colored people; when there was only a little, only white people (that is, those living in the company camps) would go.” “ The people from Baltimore get the preference as to work. They prefer shucking, so the Negroes, as outsiders, never get a chance to learn shucking oysters and can’t earn anything when they try them.” “ When there is only a little work the factory blows a little whistle, so that the ‘insiders’ can get the work before the ‘outsiders’ come.” The local workers who did n o t go to other com m unities when the oyster and shrim p seasons closed had to suffer long stretches of un https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 57 employment during the summer as the communities provided prac tically no other employment to which the workers could turn. “ I t ’s hard in the summer time when there’s no work,” said one mother. “ We fish for our dinner and sell what we don’t use. Then they’re nice at the grocery store and let you charge. I haven’t been able to buy any clothes for two years. We have a hard time getting along.” Another said, “ I t’s hard to live on the little earnings we make and we have to save up for the summer, too. During the summer none of us work for three months, but sometimes late in the summer they start fixing the boats and my husband can earn a little something. We usually make credit in the summer.” “ You can stop work to rest or go home whenever you want to, but we can’t afford to. We have to keep at it as long as there is any work to do in order to have enough for the summer months when there is no work,” said another. Another expressed the grim alternative which many of them come close to experiencing: “ There are three months in summer with no work at all. If you can’t save money you have to starve.” The inadequacy of the wages to meet the increasing cost of living, was sharply felt and frequently pointed out. The price of working shoes, formerly $1.50, had risen to $2.50. “ This place is in poor shape for a living. With the present prices we can hardly live,” said one woman. Another told how one of the companies tried to make more profits. “ About a week ago,” she said, “ they put on such heavy weight we could not make anything. Everybody left the factory, and they had to lower the weight. The larger the shrimp the heavier they made the weight. Oysters were so small the people became disgusted—it took so long to fill a measure. We can’t make a living and pay the rent. Everything is so high. You can’t buy anything with a dime. Two chops cost a quarter. You are just giving your time to the firm and making nothing.” “ We’re paid nice money, but grub costs so much the stores get it all,” said another. The low earnings of the oyster shuckers and shrimp pickers were still further diminished by the sums they had to spend for gloves to protect their hands from cuts, and for alum and other medicaments which they used to harden their hands against shrimp poisoning. In one factory alum was supplied by the firm, but usually the workers had to buy it for themselves. The most common expenditure re ported for alum was 5 cents a day, though some workers who were peculiarly sensitive to the poison spent more. Gloves usually cost 20 cents a pair, and as only one was worn at a time—the odd one being worn inside out—the cost was ordinarily 10 cents a day. A few women bought material by the yard and made their gloves and finger stalls, but this was an exceptional procedure* “ Gloves now cost 10 cents for a single one and they last only a day,” said one woman. “ I t costs our family $8 a month to buy gloves for https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 58 CHILD LABOR, AND THE WQBK OF MOTHERS IN the three workers. We wear stalls on the other hand; I make these myself, but the material costs 30 cents a yard.” Another, speaking of the cost of alum as well as of gloves, said, “ We used to pay 5 cents apiece for the gloves we wear when we shuck, but now we have to pay 15 cents apiece, and one glove does not last a day. We use alum when we pick shrimp. We used to be able to get enough for a nickle to last a week, but now 10 cents worth does not last a day. Alum knocks a big hole in what you make.” Some employers allowed the workers to take oysters home with them at the end of the day. “ The boss lets us take all the oysters we want before they are shucked,” said one mother; “ welive on oysters.” Occasionally, the -Children’s Bureau agents saw mothers cbming from the factories with a few oysters in the bottoms of their “ cups” which the workers took home with them each night. The following are some typical comments of mothers in regard to earnings, in addition to those already quoted in this section: “ The row boss in Baltimore told me I could make $3 a day, but the first of the season the cannery only paid 5 cents for 2£ pounds, and I couldn’t make more than 60 or 70 cents a day. Many a night I ’d come home and cry because I couldn’t make more and I needed the money so badly. Now the cannery is paying 5 cents for 1J pounds, and I have made as much as $1.25 a day; thatis the m o stl ever made.” “ Shuckers work in gangs of eight and they don’t like to have new people come in on the gang. We go to the factory where we think we can earn the most, and if the oysters are small we leave after we have finished one carload and go to another factory. * * * That’s the fun in shucking—to see which gang can get ahead of the other in getting the best oysters.” “ You never can tell how much you are going to make, because you never know what weight they are going to use on you, and you never can tell which factory is going to have the lightest weight. They all change back and forth. Last week we got 5 cents a pound, but this week it’s been pounds for 5 cents. If you object the boss says, ■If you are not satisfied, go home. ’ ” “ The way to make money is to watch for wet cars. When the cars come out of the steaming room some of them are wetter than others and there’s always a rush if a wet car is spotted, for the oysters are still wet and they weigh more. That’s why it’s better to shuck as soon as the oysters are steamed; an hour or so later they are dry and you don’t make as much. And always have your cup weighed as soon as possible; if you wait the oysters dry and you lose. When the children work before school, sometimes they can’t get their cups weighed before they leave, and they have to come back a t noon and they don’t make as much then because the oysters are dry.” “ The pay is better this year than last. We get 5 cents a pound for oysters; last year we only got 5 cents for 3^ pounds.” https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 59 Earnings of children. The average weekly earnings for 166 working children could not be secured—in 25 instances because their earnings were included with their parents’, and in the other instances usually because the earnings had been so irregular or so slight that the mothers could not remember or estimate the weekly average. There were, however, reports for 378 of the 544 working children. Of these, two-thirds earned less than $5 a week, and more than one-fourth earned less than $2 a week. There were, however, a number of instances of comparatively high weekly earnings. Thus 18 children earned $10 or more, 7 earned between $9 and $10, and 11 between $8 and $9 a week. All the children earning these sums—and, indeed, all but 2 of those earning as much as $5 a week—were regular workers, and with 5 exceptions were 14 years of age or over. Table IX gives the children’s average weekly earnings according to the regularity of their work and their age. According to this table, the median earnings of the children who worked regularly fell between $4 and $5 a week. The higher earnings were confined to the children 14 years of age and over, and even in this group some of the children even of the regular workers earned very small sums—in 2 cases, less than 50 cents a week; in 11 cases, less than $2 a week; and in 48 cases (more than one-fourth of the children in this group from which reports were secured), less than $4 a week. Among the part-time workers, the median earnings fell between $1 and $2, while the median earnings of the occasional workers were less than $1. Only one part-time worker (aged 15), and one occasional worker (aged 13) earned more than $4 a week. The earnings of most of the part-time and occasional workers, and the earnings of most of the regular workers in the early age groups, were very small. As in the case of their mothers, the irregularity of the children’s work was an important factor in the low wages. And, as in the case of the mothers, there were instances of high wages in certain weeks. The question “ What was the most you ever earned in a single week ?” brought out the fact that 47 of the 384 children for whom reports were secured, had made $10 or over. One 6-year-old child had once made $18.90 in a single week. One, 11 years old, had once made $13.60 in a week. However, 190 children, or almost half of those for whom reports were secured, were unable to earn even in their best weeks as much as $5 a week; and there were many instances of very low earnings. Table X presents the highest wages ever earned by the children in any one week, together with the age and the regularity of the work. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis T able IX .— Children w o r k i n g i n canneries , a c c o r d i n g to a v e r a g e w e e k l y e a r n i n g s r e c e i v e d . G* 1 Not rei>orted. All children................ 50 cents, Less Total than b ut less Earnings Earnings reported. than $1 . 50 cents. included not in those of reported. parents. Total. 544 25 2 4 141 2 3 3 7 12 15 22 378 1 7 14 12 26 34 28 31 82, ' but less than $3. 45 46 57 1 2 1 5 1 5 3 6 6 4 2 2 ii 75 3 19 19 53 2 2 14 b ut under 15 years.......,. 15 b u t under 16 years.......... 117 94 2 102 2 1 5 13 8 Regular workers........ 348 17 41 290 6 9 3 3 4 14 1 1 1 1 \ 3 2 79 21 2 15 b u t under 16 years.......... Part-tim e workers__ 104 86 89 2 5 8 32 44 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 13 46 29 1 6 1 88, 89, but but less less than than 89. . 810. $7, but less than 88. 810 and over. 38 22 11 2 i i i 5 3 1 4 8 3 4 2 12 22 11 7 18 5 5 3 7 6 19 19 5 9 4 10 9 9 16 14 24 34 48 46 28 37 2 2 8 7 18 1 17 14 19 11 5 15 1 1 3 4 5 1 3 i 1 1 1 i 6 5 i 4 ' 1 7 6 4 5 10 8 4 • 2 1 5 2 4 6 1 6 0 1 3 3 8 65 ii 86, b ut less than 87. 15, but less than 86. 11 4 4 4 24 2 7 7 i 94 75 1 11b u t under 12 years.......... 4 2 10 10 3 8 3 7 3 8 3 5 1 1 1 2 6 1 1 $3, but leis than $4. ....... | .............j 11 2 10 $4, but less than 85. $i, • but less than 82. 1 1 1 1 1 5 5 3 7 2 5 5 3 1 19 9 16 14 6 3 4 4 6 10 8 1 1 8 1 2 6 12 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OE MOTHERS IN Type of worker and age of child. 21 11 b 3 15 . 8 14 b u t u n d er 15 years............ 15 b u t u n der 16 years............ 6 5 1 6 4 O ccasional w o r k e rs... 107 76 23 7 U n d er 6 y ea rs........................... 6 b u t u n der 7 years................ 7 b u t u n der 8 y ears................ 8 b u t u n der 9 years................ 9 b u t u n d er 10 y ears.............. 10 b u t u n d er 1f years............ 11 b u t u n d er 12 years............ 12 b u t u n d er 13 years............ 13 b u fu n d e r 14 years............ 1 2 8 14 17 16 19 10 10 1 2 5 9 10 11 15 7 8 1 4 7 3 2 3 1 1 1 5 14 b u t u n d er 15 y ears............ 15 b u t un der 16 years............ 7 3 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 8 2 1 2 2 1 5 3 2 1 1 7 1 3 3 2 2 2 1 4 1 1 1 2 8 2 1 4 1 ■Ì 2 2 2 1 . 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES; 12 b u t under 13 y e a r s ..: ___ 13 b u t u n der 14 y ears............ 05 T a b l e X . — C hildren w o rk in g i n canneries, accordin g to m a x im u m w eekly earn in gs received. N o t reported. A ll ch ild ren .................. T otal. 544 L ess T o ta l E arnings th a n in clu d ed E arn ings reported. 50 cen ts. n o t re in th ose of par ported. en ts. 50 c en ts b u t less th a n $1. 19 28 7 2 7 2 25 135 384 4 1 10 29 37 47 56 2 $9 b u t less tb a n 810. 84 b u t 85 b u t le ss . less th a n th a n 86.. 85. 86 b u t lesstb a n 87. 87 b u t less th a n 88. . 88 b u t less th a n 89. 36 38 33 25 2 4 6 3 1 3 4 1 2 2 1 3 $2 b u t 81 b u t less th a n less th a n 82. 83. S3 b u t le ss th a n 84. 32 24 54 33 1 4 1 6 6 6 4 1 1 1 11 2 3 3 3 5 6 9 8 1 1 4 1 6 9 15 810 and over. 47 & i 1 1 10 b u t un der l l y ea rs......... .. 47 2 12 b u t un d er 13 years............ 13 b u t un der 14 years............ 72 75 3 3 16 19 22 16 14 b u t un der 15 y ea rs............ 15 b u t u nder 16 y ea rs............ 117 94 2 5 17 9 98 80 2 1 2 4 1 4 14 6 7 4 10 10 17 7 13 12 3 ,14 R egular w ork ers......... 348 17 36 295 4 4 13 13 43 30 33 37. 32 25 15 . 46 1 1 1 1 1 3 6 3 1 3 3 0 1 2 5 2 i 4 3 3 7 17 7 13 11 12 6 3 ' 5 14 25 1 TT 9 1 1 J..S31...J 0 tiiiaèr 10 ye&fs * - « «• • • l ì b u t Unde# 12 y e a fà ............ 12 b ù i Li.ii.def 13 years • • • « • • 15 b ù i Uhder 16 y ea rs------. . t ’aft-tiU le w ork ers. . . 54 104 86 89 j. 1 3 2 6 2 5 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Ì5 1 1 1 4 2 3 1 6 1 1 90 77 2 27 62 8 16 0 1 10 2 1 4 1 17 1 1 3 4 5 6 1 1 4 1 5 8 11 6 1 3 4 10 9 19 6 2 2 1 12 4 8 bu t u n der 9^years 10 b u t unde# 11 y e a fs ------. . *4 16 83 31 46 1 2 1 2 ...............i ' 1 1 .... CHILD LABOB AX.0 T H E W ORK OE M OTHERS IH K in d of w orker and age of ch ild . 11 b u t under lTf years___ 12 b lit under 13 yea rs,___ 13 b u t un der 14 yea rs. . . 10 13 8 14 b u t un d er 15 y ea rs___ 15 b u t Cinder 16 years 6 3 Occasional workers 8 but under 9 years . . . . . 9 but under 10 years. . . . u n der under un der un der 11 y ea rs. . . 12 y ea rs___ 13 y ea rs. . . 14 y ea rs. . . https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 1 1 3 1 1 2 2 1 5 1 1 1 i 27 7 . 3 4 6 3 4 3 2 3 1 3 2 4 1 2 8 2 2 2 1 1 1 . 1 . 1 1 1 1 1 :::::::: 1 i i 1 1 i 2 1 1 i SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES 14 b u t un der 15 y ea rs. . . 15 b u t u n der 10 y ea rs. . . , DPR 4 3 3 AND 10 b u t 11 b u t 12 b u t 13 b u t 72 5 2 Q¥STER U n d er 6 y e a r s ................... 6 b u t un der 7 y e a rs. . . . . 7 b u t un der 8 y e a rs. . . . . 107 l CS <ZO 64 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN This table shows that 19 children earned less than 50 cents in tne best week, that 47 earned less than SI, and that 79 earned less than ' $2 in their maximum week. While the median earnings for the group as a whole were slightly over $5, the median earnings for the regular workers 31 were slightly over $6. Some, even of the regular workers, earned very small sums even in their most profitable weeks; thus, 4 regular workers, 2 of whom were 14 years of age, had earned less than 50 cents in their best week; and 77 regularly working children— or more than one-fourth of those for whom maximum earnings were reported—had earned less than $4 in their best weeks. Low earnings were more common among part-time or occasional workers; thus, the median earnings of part-time workers were less than $2, and the median earnings of occasional workers less than $1 in the best weeks. CARE OF BABIES AND SMALL CHILDREN OF WORKING MOTHERS. The problem of providing proper care for the children of working mothers is a most difficult one. In these southern canneries many of the working mothers made a practice of taking their small children and babies with them to the wet and drafty picking and shucking sheds. In 48 instances children under 6 years of age were customarily taken to the canneries with the mothers. In 5 of these instances the children were under 9 months of age. Sometimes the mothers, being obliged to work and having no one at home with whom to leave the children, had no alternative but to take them to the canneries. Some women did not realize that this practice endangered the health of the children. One mother with three children—aged 5 years, 2 years, and 7 months respectively—said, “ I take the children to the factory and they play around. I t ’s a good place to keep the baby, but last week I put it in a drafty place and it caught a bad cold.” Another mother took her 6-months-old baby with her; she said there -was a “ clean cement place there for babies.” This mother, who had lost a 3-year-old child several years ago, said, “ My husband claims that taking the child to the factory caused its illness, but I think not.” “ I usually take the baby to the factory. I can’t leave her home,” said the mother of a 7-months-old baby, “ the mosquitoes would eat her up. I have a cradle for her at the factory and she seldom cries and doesn’t bother me in my work. I stop once in a while to nurse her. Sometimes I leave her with her 8-year-old brother.” The mother of a 1-month-old baby, who had not worked since the baby was born, said that she would have gone to work before if she had had a baby carriage in which to keep the child at the cannery. “ I am planning to go to work next week,” she said, “ and take the 31Regularworkers, it will be rememberedwere those who worked whenever there was workto be done. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis G O IN G T O W O R K . M other takes baby and oldest child, 7 years of age, w ith he r to the cannery and leaves the third child in a nursery. 6 4 -1 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 65-2 C O R N E R O F F A C T O R Y W H E R E C H IL D R E N M A Y P L A Y . https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 65 baby and keep him in a box at the factory.” Another mother who had no baby carriage made a habit of taking her 3-months-old baby to the cannery where she kept it in a big rocking chair while she worked. This baby was very ill of pneumonia at the time of the visit of the Children’s Bureau agent, and the mother was working very irregularly. Another mother, who left her 4-months-old baby at home with its sister, nursed it when she went home to cook. She expected to take it to the factory with her when the weather got warmer. An 1.1-months-old baby was left with his grandmother while his mother worked, the mother nursing him before going to work and again at noon and at night. The grandmother found it very hard to care for the baby, because when the mother had no work she would nurse him much oftener. “ The days I took the baby to the factory I nursed her there,” said another mother; “ the days I left her home she’d have to wait till I got back.” Some women realized the importance of nursing their children regularly and the danger of taking them to the factories. The mother of a 7-months-old baby who lived some distance from the cannery said, “ I only work from 7 to 11 in the morning as I am nursing the baby. His grandmother gives him bottled milk in the morning. If it weren’t for him I would work longer.” Some women expressed disapproval of the factory as a place for children. One said, “ People don’t care for children. They bring them in gocarts to the factory and they cry all day long.” Another said, “ I tell you, the factory is terrible on children. One Italian mother has seven little children. She keeps the baby in a box, and it cries all day. She goes out and nurses it and gives a piece of bread to the others and then starts work again. The poor kids are in awful shape.” In some instances a mother would leave her baby at home with a relation or neighbor who would take the baby to the mother in the factoi'y to be nursed. “ I leave my children (one aged 9 months, and the other 2 years) with my sister-in-law,” said one mother. “ She brings the baby to the factory twice a day for me to nurse-—at 12 o’clock and at 4. But if she cries too hard, she brings her oftener.” Another mother said, “ I take the baby (aged 15 months) to the fac tory with me on warm days. But I ’m afraid he would catch cold on cold days, so his grandmother keeps him, and at 12 o’clock every day brings him to me at the factory to be nursed.” In Biloxi a small settlement house conducts a day nursery which was able, by crowding, to accommodate 15 children. A few mothers left their small children at the nursery while they worked, paying 5 cents a day for the care of the child. One mother took her 6-months56569°—22---- 5 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 66 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN old baby to this nursery every morning at 7, and went to the cannery to work at half past 7. At 9 o’clock, half past 12, and at 2 in the afternoon she went to the settlement to nurse the baby and at 5 to take him home. “ I t ’s a good thing we have the nursery,” said another mother. “ They keep the baby from 7 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon. That’s a good help for 5 cents. Another mother, with one child of 4 and another of 23 months, said, There is a room in the factory where the children can play, but there is no one to look after them, and they run loose. ' So I take my children to the nursery. They get good care there, and I don t have to worry about them.” As has been said, however, the nursery could accom modate very few children. Some of the factories had penned off a space for children, and some times even had a room for them. One employer had had a room about 25 feet square partitioned off from the rest of the factory for children. The room was absolutely bare, having no chairs or other furniture. There were no children in the room at the time of the interview, although a number of small children were playing about the shucking shed. The employer said that the children would not stay in the room he had provided. In another factory a little free space in a stall-like division, cluttered . with barrels, boxes, and a miscellany of factory properties, was as signed to the children.32 No cannery visited had a well-equipped nursery, and usually no provision was made for the babies, who lay in boxes, baby carriages, gocarts, or on trucks in some corner of the shed. In cold weather some of the factories allowed the mothers to put their babies near the steam box. “ Only three or four mothers bring their children to this cannery, and no mother ever brings young babies. These children sometimes play on the wharf and sometimes help their mothers a little, said one employer. “ We stick them under the stairs, said another. I wish the mothers would leave them at home. The squalling is awful.” “ No place is provided for children. They play or sleep wherever they can find room,” said one employer. “ They stay in one corner of the room where their mothers are working,” said another. “ There is a nice, roomy, clean place for children at the factory and I take my 5-year-old girl with me. Sometimes she plays around with a knife and shucks a few oysters, and the boss gives her a nickel. I want her to shuck; it learns her to be willing to work.” Some employers said that they did not allow mothers to bring babies and small children to the factories. One said, “ We don t allow mothers to bring their babies in. Sometimes they leave them outside the factory with a couple of kids, or else they leave them with a neighbor. That’s very common around here.” Others 32 See illu stra tio n facin g p . 65. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 67 wished to keep them out. “ Babies and small children are brought w ith their m others. They are a nuisance, and this should n o t be allowed. I thought of p u ttin g up a building near the factory th a t could be used as a nursery, b u t the W orld W ar m ade th a t impossible, and present conditions do no t ju s tif y 'it.” O ther employers said they were planning to provide a “ baby room .” The children who have passed infancy and who can crawl or run about the factory are subject not only to all the physical discomforts which the babies suffer but also to accidents. When oysters are shucked, the oyster shells, and when shrimp are picked, the hulls and shrimp heads with their thorns, are scattered over the floor; and children who fall among them are in danger of seriously hurting themselves. The mother of two children, 3 and 5 years of age, said that they both had cut their feet on oyster shells. The 3-year-old child “ had a big hole cut in his foot from a shell and had to have it sewed up.” In another family a 3-year-old child had a sore on her face, the result of falling upon oyster shells at the factory. “ Last week a child fell out of an open doorway and cut her nose up badly on the shells,” said an employer. The danger of being run over by the oyster cars has already been mentioned.33 The steam from the oyster cars often makes it impos sible for the men wheeling the cars, to see whether there are any children in the way. Aside from these dangers there is the added one that children old enough to run in and out of the cannery might fall off the piers or wharves into the water. “ I wouldn’t take my children [aged 2 and 4 years] to the factory. I t ’s no place for them. I ’m afraid they would fall overboard,” said one mother. And another said, “ I sometimes take my children [one aged 3 years and the other 16 months] to the factory, but I don’t like to. I ’m afraid they will get hurt.” “ I take the children [aged 6 and 3 years] to the factory with me. I wish there was a nursery here. They get so tired at the factory and no place is provided for them there. I have to keep my eye on them and I lose a lot of time that way. They like to run around and play bût it is too dangerous, and I try to make them stay near me.” “ W hen M ary [aged 10] is a t school, I keep the b aby [6 m onths] in the factory w ith me, and when M ary can sta y hom e to take care of him I go hom e to nurse him . I lose a lo t of tim e cooking and doing m y housework and nursing the b a b y .” The children who were not brought to the factories, however, were often left more neglected at home. In 18 instances children were left without a caretaker of any sort. One mother left her two children, aged 3 and 5 years, at home, entirely alone, playing about the house and yard. The yard had a gate, but the children could easily open 83 See H azards, p . 35. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 68 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN it and get into the street. There was a trolley on this street, and just a little beyond the trolley is the water. Another woman leaves her two children of 2 and 5 years at home alone. She “ goes home two or three times during the day to see that they are all right.” Another woman sometimes left her 4- and 5-year-old children at home with their 15-year-old sister, but when the sister worked the children “ play around home alone.” In another family the 5-year-old child “ stays home alone with the pup.” The mother of this child left some coffee on the stove, which the child has with bread and butter for his lunch. Another mother left two children [2 and 4 years old] at home alone, “ I leave a lunch for them,” she said, “ or give them 5 or 10 cents to get something to eat at the store. The neighbors say the children run out on the road and are often in danger of being run over. I don’t like to leave them home, but there’s nothing else to do.” Another mother left her 2- and 4-year-old children alone once a week while she went to work. “ I work only once a week,” she said, “ be cause the neighbors talked about me for leaving the children alone, but I risked it because I needed the money so.” Another mother, who left a 4-year-old boy at home, said, “ He plays with the children in the neighborhood. I leave lunch for him and his sister.” (The sister, 10 years old, is subject to spasms.) A t one hom e an agent of the C hildren’s B ureau found alone in the house a boy of 6, who was in bed w ith a high fever. Two younger children were playing outside. H e said he had been sick three days. No physician had been called. H is m other had given him some medi cine in the m orning before she left. Sometimes children of school age are kep t out of school to care for the sm aller children while the m other works. In one fam ily two girls, 11 and 12 years old, took turns staying out of school on alternate days to do the cooking and care for the baby. In another family a 10-yearold child had to stay out of school about twice a week to take care of four younger children—aged 8, 5, and 3 years, and 18 months—while the mother worked. “ Jimmie [aged 6] looks after*the children; he looks after them as I would. The only reason I do not like to leave them at home is because we live near the water, and I ’m afraid they will fall in and get drowned. Sometimes all three of them [the little ones are 17 months and 4 years, respectively] come to the cannery and play around. They have a fine place there for babies. The boss knows when there are children you have got to tend to them.” In a few instances mothers paid a neighbor to care for the childre: while they worked. Of 269 children under 6 years of age whose1 mothers worked only 117 had caretakers 16 years old or over. In 30 instances the caretakers were themselves children less than 10 years old, and, as has been said, in 18 instances children, some of them as young as 2 years, were left entirely alone. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 69 MIGRATORY FAMILIES. Reference has been made from time to time to the families who are brought from a distance. The rapid development of the fish-canning industry in Mississippi and the Gulf coast generally resulted in inadequate local labor supply and led to reliance on a system of importing workers, principally from Baltimore and New York. The local labor supply which was available but not utilized fully was the Negro labor. The reasons given were those usually given for the nonemployment of Negroes in factory work in the South. At the time this study was made only 12 employers used Negro labor in actual cannery work. From the beginning there was a tendency to bring down “ family help,” the understanding being that the wives and children were to be taken down and also employed.34 A t the tim e th a t this stu d y was m ade the num ber of im ported families was smaller th an in previous years because the Governm ent had prevented the transfer of workers from the N orth because of the shortage of workers for the essential w ar industries in and around Baltim ore.35 Still, even under these war conditions there were families brought from the North and there was abundant evidence that employers had no intention of abandoning the custom. Some discussion of the special problems which result from this practice is therefore necessary. The Children’s Bureau inquiry covered 88 imported families. This does not represent the total number of the families that had been brought in for that season’s work. I t will be remembered that the inquiry included only those families having working children under 16, or a working mother with children under 6. In normal years, according to all testimony, the great majority of the families come from Baltimore. The 88 imported families included in this study had 267 children, of whom 176 were between 6 and 15 years of age. Of these children 105 worked in the canneries. I t was estimated by the assistant general passenger agent of the railroad which usually carries the migrating families from Baltimore to the Gulf coast that in normal years from 3,000 to 3,500 workers go south annually from Baltimore alone to work in the oyster and shrimp canneries. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 70 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN Recruiting the labor. To recruit this labor the employers send out m en who are known as “ row b o sses/’ or the m anager or forem an of a cannery will himself go to Baltim ore to round up families. F or example, one m anager said, “ I usually go up to Baltim ore m yself in Septem ber or October, when the workers are coming in from the tom ato and corn canneries, and have th eir goods all packed up. They stay around Baltim ore about a week, and are brought to our train w ith their stuff packed.” The Baltim ore “ row boss” keeps lists of families who m ake a h ab it of m igrating south annually, and from these he gets the nam es of others who wish to go south. The inducem ents offered are a warm climate, free rent, free fuel—in some cases free furniture— and rail road fare down and back, if the fam ily stays through the season. If conditions are n o t satisfactory, the workers are free to leave, b u t if they do this they m ust them selves bear the expense of their retu rn trip. Two row bosses interview ed said th a t in effect the workers were compelled to sta y the whole season, for commonly a fam ily was una ble to save enough to pay the railroad fare for all its members. As one m other said, “ If you w ant to leave you’ve got to pay your way back; and you can’t m ake enough to get aw ay.” There were m any such comm ents. Some row bosses who recruited labor in Louisiana m ade no promises about retu rn fare, and it was understood th a t the families would p ay their own fare back. The m anager of one small factory said, “ We pay their fare here and freightage on their furni ture, b u t no retu rn fare.” This factory gets m ost of its workers from w ithin a short distance— “ native people from this d istrict.” The canners usually in stru ct the row bosses to secure families, n o t single m en. A fam ily group is less likely to move away if disap pointed w ith its lot. The em ployer wishes the workers to stay long enough to com pensate him for his outlay for railroad fare; and besides he needs a larger num ber of women and children than of men. Com plaints from m en who were n o t given the work they were prom ised seemed to indicate th a t they were persuaded to m igrate n o t so m uch for the sake of their own labor as for th a t of their families. One m an reported th a t he had been promised a “ good jo b ” before he left Baltim ore, b u t was told when he reached Biloxi th a t the com pany had p lenty of m en and there was no work for him. H is wife was employed, however. A fter several weeks he was given an inside job, b u t said it was “ two m en’s w ork,” decided he was n o t being treated fairly, and w ent back to Baltim ore, paying his own fare. H e left his fam ily in Biloxi, b u t supplem ented their Biloxi earnings by sending them a few dollars occasionally. Another family came because of a promise of steady work for the father, mother, and the older boys. One boy of 17, however, was never given work at the cannery, although his brother, who was 14, https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 71 was employed regularly. The father was employed only about half time on a boat. The family were planning to leave as soon as they could find a place where they could get steady work. As a rule, a written agreement is not made between the row boss and the migrating families. The families have therefore no assurance that the promises of the row boss will be kept. The following contract, however, was given a group of families: This agreement, made this 21st day of November, 1918, b etw een-------- Co., of Biloxi, Miss., of the first part, a n d ------------------ , of Baltimore, Md., of the second part. Witnesseth: That the said party of the first part doth hereby bargain with party of the second part to pay the following wages for shuckers, day workers, and boat men as other places pay at Biloxi, Miss., and said, party of the first part agrees to pay said transportation both ways, the said men so employed, will be shipped home as soon as the other packers in Biloxi, Miss., ship home. As witness our hand and seals. -------- Co. B y ------------------ [Row boss]. ------------------ [Head of family]. W itness:------------------ . As witness my hand and notarial seal. [ s e a l .] ------------------- , N o ta ry P u b lic . “ The following w ages” were n o t fu rth er m entioned. The wage rates which the row boss quotes are usually the hour or piece rates; or he may say that workers are able to make a certain amount per day. The workers often do not realize that the work may be irregular and that, though the unit rate sounds high, the actual weekly or monthly earnings are a very different matter.36 As a result many families are disappointed, although, of course, there are those who migrate year after year. An employer com mented, “ We have been getting some of the same people to come down to do the shucking and picking for the last 15 years. By that it looks like they must be treated right or they would not come year after year. They make good money and are out of the cold weather, and the whole family can work. Up in Baltimore the man might be able to work, but the women have to stay at home and do nothing. ” Some fam ilies never retu rn to the place they came from, b u t settle in th e cannery town. Occasionally an employer will give such a fam ily m oney equivalent to th e retu rn fare. Eleven of th e 88 im ported families included in the stu d y gave as a '-reason for coming th a t th e children or the “ entire fam ily ” could work.37 “ The row boss came to B altim ore and promised enough 36 See d iscussion of earnings, p . 51. Som e of th e B altim ore row bosses w h o w ere in terv iew ed sta te d th a t th e y w arned fam ilies th a t child ren under 14 years o f age w ou ld n o t b e a llo w ed to w ork. 37 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 72 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IK work for the whole family,” said one mother who had two children, aged 14 and 11 years, and a baby of 2. “ We came because we heard we could make a better living here in Biloxi than in Louisiana,” said one mother, “ because the children could work here. ” Another, whose five children—aged 13, 12, 10, 8, and 7—all worked regularly shucking oysters, said/ “ This is a good place for children. I t ’s better than the city. * * * I t ’s the best place 11ve been since I ’ve tried to make a living—there’s work for all the children.” “ We lived on a farm, but we weren’t making much, so we came here, where all the children could work,” said a woman in another family. In still another the father had worked on a cane plantation, earning $1.25 a day. “ He could not make enough to support the family,” said the mother, “ and the children were not permitted to work in Louisiana. So we came here, where they can work, too. ” Preference for Polish workers. Years ago Bohem ians used to come to th e South from Baltim ore. L ater, Poles and other Slavs came. M any people in the canning com m unities still refer to all these as Bohemians. There seemed to be a general preference for these Slavic workers. “ Take it all round, the Polaks are th e best shuckers,” said one employer. “ The thriftiest and best w orkers,” said another, “ are the A ustrians.38 They live here and m any of them own th eir homes and boats. The only fau lt w ith them is th ey know th e canneries like their help, and they are, therefore, too in d ep en d en t.” “ The Polish workers are m uch b e tte r th a n the local w orkers,” said another, “ because they stick to th eir work. The local workers come when th e y feel like it. ” T he Polish workers them selves realized th a t th ey were, so to speak, th e chosen people. Said one m other, “ The row bosses in B altim ore tr y to get all th e Polish people th ey can, as the oyster work comes n a tu ra l to the Polish; and th ey are m ore satisfactory th an the F rench people, as th e bosses can get m ore work o u t of them . ” Employers* attitude toward imported labor. Whether or not the importation of families will continue in the future may be judged by the employers’ attitude. On the whole, they' were found to have a strong predilection for im ported workers, for such employees five in the com pany camp and are a t h and when needed. One em ployer said, “ The im ported labor lives in the camps. We blow the whistle and they have to come. They have to be on the job around the factory, else we’ll ru n ’em out of the camp and refuse to pay their fare back. We hold it over their heads. I t ’s like ‘sea d u ty ’ to a sailor. W hen they live in your 88 T h is term w as u sed loosely to in clu d e P o les an d oth er S lavic p eop les, w h eth er or n o t th e y cam e from A ustria. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 73 camp you’ve got them under your thumb. You can tell ’em where to get off, and what to do—and they’ll do it.” “ I t is much better to have the imported labor, because it is under stood that they have to work for me whenever I have any work to do, though they are free to work for any one they please when I haven’t any work,” said another employer. Still another commented, “ The one outstanding advantage of imported labor is that you don’t have to worry so much about where your help is coming from.” Superior ability of the imported workers was sofnetimes mentioned as a reason for preferring them. “ The Baltimore people are born and bred to the work. They are familiar with it almost from birth. We tried getting Slovaks and Poles from Chicago, but they gave us more trouble. The Baltimore people have been trained in the can neries of Baltimore.” “ We’ve always imported our labor from Baltimore until this year. We have to have Baltimore workers; they know the business. The people down South will not work in the canneries.” “ To operate successfully you must have an abundance of labor, as the work is done by the piece and we have no control over the workers; we can’t compel them to come to work. When a factory has large oysters everyone knows it in an hour or so and the other factories are left empty. If I had big oysters they’d all come at once, but should the next boat have small ones they’d leave. The advantage of imported labor is that you have some control over it. Of course, you have to take your chance on their working, but the threat that you will put them out of camp is not without effect.” On the other hand, some of the large factories were beginning to feel that certain disadvantages accompanied the importation of labor. “ I t is a very expensive proposition to bring the laborers in, because they do not stay when they get here,” said one man who had paid 55 fares from Baltimore and 150 from Louisiana. “ There are only about 20 of the Baltimore people left and about 50 of the Louisi ana people.” “ I prefer native help,” said another, “ and next year I hope to employ native labor only. The expense of importing labor is a big factor, and if we had natives we would have them all year round.” The objection to imported labor is not always on the ground of expense. “ The camp people are not as satisfactory as the outsiders. * * * The outsiders (that is, from outside the camps) pome to earn money, and stay all day, either bringing their lunch or having it p-ent down to them. The camp women say they have to cook and wash, and are altogether too independent. Two-thirds of the workers are outside people.” https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN 74 Attitude of the local workers toward imported labor. Some of the local workers resented the bringing in of imported labor on the ground that it kept wages down. One man said, “ They import labor because it keeps the wages down, and then they can force those people out to work whenever they want to. We American people aren’t going to be treated that way. They go to Louisiana and Balti more and tell the people lies to get ’em here. We d get a living wage and that’s all we wanh—if it weren’t for imported labor. Some of the factories use almost all children; they do it to keep down the men’s wages. They would rather pay 15 cents an hour to two chil dren than give a man 30 cents for the same job.” Another man, who had been crippled in the factory and whose family depended almost entirely on the work of the mother and the occasional help of the 10-year-old daughter, said, “ The factories bring people down here every winter from Baltimore, but it’s not necessary. There are plenty of workers down here, and they bring in outsiders in order to keep our wages down. They don’t need ’em. I t s just to keep down the people who live here. They couldn’t get many this year; the governor wouldn’t let them.” THE HOUSING OF THE CANNERY WORKERS. Crowding. Many of the families were crowded into small, unsubstantial, rickety quarters. Of the 423 families visited, 8 lived in one room, 53 in two rooms, and 136 in three rooms. In other words, 197, or nearly half, the families occupied three rooms or less. Only 91, or a little more than one-fifth, occupied more than four rooms. “ We’re doing awful good with four rooms,” said one woman. One hundred and fifty-three families, or more than one-third, lived 2 or more per sons to a room. In 43 instances the rate was 3 or more persons per room; in 4, it was 5 or more persons. Of these 4 cases of overcrowd ing, the worst was that of a family of 9 living in a single room. In 2 instances families of 5 and 6, respectively, lived in 1 room. In one instance a family of 10 occupied 2 rooms. Because comparatively few imported workers were brought in during the seasons studied by the Children s Bureau, families who lived in camps were often allotted more space than had been custom ary. Some employers allowed the camp people to take as much room as they wished. In some instances camps were empty except for one or two families. One camp, which had been built to provide only one room to a family, had no connecting doors between th rooms. Thus a family which occupied more than one room had to go out of doors to get from one room to another. Some of the rooms in this camp were fairly large, measuring 14 feet 4 inches by 16 feet. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. v 75 O ther rooms were m uch smaller, m easuring 10 feet 1 inch square E ach room had one window. In some instances camps were more overcrowded th an in form er years. A Polish fam ily of seven, which had always had three rooms, was given only two, since the employer had im ported French workers from Louisiana to take the place of the usual Baltim ore supply. On the whole, the room congestion was greater among the camp families th an among the others, as Table X I shows. Table X I .— F a m ilies w ith specified place o f residence, by n u m ber o f person s p e r room . F a m ilies liv in g — P erson s per room . T otal. In cam p s. E lse w here. T o ta l........... 423 129 294 L ess th a n 1 ........... b u t le s s th a n 2 . b u t le s s th a n 3 . 3 b u t le s s th a n 5 . 5 b u t le s s th a n 7 . 7 b u t le s s th a n 10 47 223 6 41 161 67 1 2 62 43 18 110 39 3 21 3 1 1 According to this table nearly half the camp families lived two or m ore persons to a room, whereas less th an one-third of the “ outside” families were so crowded. Table X I I .— F a m ilies o f specified color, by p erson s p e r room . P erson s p er room . T otal. W h ite. Colored. T o ta l........... 423 260 163 L ess t h a n 1 . . . . 7 . b u t le s s th a n 2 . b u t le s s th a n 3 . 3 b u t le s s th a n 5 . b u t le s s th a n 7 . 7 b u t le ss th a n 10 47 223 18 134 77 29 29 89 33 1 2 6 110 39 3 1 1 1 10 2 According to Table X II, 108, or 42 per cent, of the 260 white families lived two or more persons per room, while in only 45, or 28 per cent, of the 163 colored families was there such congestion. The fact that nearly all the imported families who lived in company camps were white is probably the explanation of this difference. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 76 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN ment. A few were fairly well constructed and as decent and habit able as that type of building could be. Some were dilapidated and sagging, in the last stages of decay, others not old were poorly and cheaply built so that they did not protect the inhabitants from the weather. “ I don’t get wet much when it rains,” said one woman, “ but M rs.-------- ’s bed gets wet every time.” The typical barracks were long, low, ugly, flimsily built frame structures, without foundations, but usually raised from the ground on a pile of bricks, or on wooden piles, at the corners. Thin, singleboard partitions divided the buildings into separate family quarters, and the family space into rooms. Occasionally these partitions did not reach the ceiling, but this shortcoming scarcely increased the lack of privacy, since the partitions were so thin that any moving about and any conversation in the next compartment was entirely audible. Cracks between the boards of the dividing wall some times further interfered with privacy. One woman said, “ The people next door complain because I cough all night.” The barracks were usually two or three rooms deep. In the latter event a family dwelling would usually consist of three rooms, run ning from the front to the back of the building; the middle room— except in the compartments at the end of the building—had no windows. In most of the camps there were no dark rooms. Some times a building two rooms deep would be made into a “ double camp,” in which case all families except those at the ends of the buildings would have neighbors in adjoining rooms on three sides. The barracks ranged from 26 feet to 194 feet in length and from 7 feet 8 inches to 56 feet in width. The room dimensions ranged from 10 feet by 5 feet 8 inches to 28 feet by 10 feet 8 inches, the latter an exceptionally large room in a camp allotting only one room to a family. The room crowding was usually aggravated by entire lack of closets and often of cupboards. This meant that whatever clothes the family were not wearing had to hang on the walls, and that all the dishes and food had to be kept on tables or shelves, or on the stove. These circumstances made it difficult for the best housewife to keep a dwelling neat. A physician in one community said, “ When both father and mother work all day long, they are too tired at night to clean up their home, and there is no incentive for them to do so. The camp is regarded as a temporary makeshift, a place to sleep and eat when the family is not at the factory.” Never theless one frequently found bright, tidy homes, showing evidence u an effort at decoration. The furnishings were usually most meager. Some families brought furniture with them, but it was more common for them to make a rude bed, a table, and a bench from lumber which the company https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis ■ PLAY SPACE https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis CO TY OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 77 furnished, and to get along with as little as possible. Boxes were often used for chairs. Sometimes the companies agreed to furnish the rooms of the imported workers, except for bedding and dishes. One company supplied a wide iron bedstead (without mattress), one stove, one rough table, and several rough wooden benches. This was the extent of the furnishings of the homes of the people living in this camp. This was fairly typical of the meagemess of the furnishings, whether company owned or not. Often, indeed, the luxury of an iron bed stead was lacking, and wooden bunks, built up about 2 feet from the floor, served as beds. All the camps depended on oil lamps for lighting and on wood stoves for heat. The defects in structure, however, Such as cracks in the walls and floors, often rendered the little stoves quite inade quate. Newspapers were sometimes pasted on the walls to keep out the cold. One camp had no provision for chimneys. Window panes had been broken and the stovepipes carried through the open ings thus made. None of the camps was equipped with plumbing; all had outside privies and hydrants. The number and cleanliness of the privies and the number and thè convenience of the hydrants varied, as did, of course, the general conditions of the camp buildings and premises. In a very few instances there was a toilet for each family in the camp; in a few cases each family had a separate pump or hydrant; but such instances were exceptional. Sometimes large numbers of families Used the same toilet and the same hydrant. In one community there was only one hydrant to supply the whole camp, which normally housed 27 families. ; None of the camps visited was screened, and many of them were infested with flies and mosquitoes. One community, being in a cantonment zone, had recently had its sanitary provisions improved under the direction of the Public Health Service. In this camp each family had its own privy, built éo as to be fly and mosquito proof, and there were strict rules, apparently obeyed, for the covering or screen ing of garbage and against throwing away tin cans before six holes had been punched in them. This camp was located on marshy ground, however, and there was much stagnant water near by, some of it covered with green slime, and the mosquitoes were numerous. “ The situation was improved by the Public Health Service,” said a physician, “ but it is impossible to draw off all the water, especially as the soil is mucky. ” The various camps had some individual advantages and disadvan tages—one, for example, provided two-family cottages instead of barracks but, on' the whole, the above statements supplemented https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 78 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN by the following descriptions and the illustrations facing pages 76 and 77, will convey a general idea of the housing provided by the companies for their workers, sometimes free of charge, but usually for the indefinite rent of a percentage of their earnings. One of the best camps consisted of four barracks, a store converted into a dwelling, and two small houses. These buildings were fenced in; there was no grass, but the hard dirt was raked and swept clean daily by the watchman. A few large palm trees near the main entrance of the inclosure provided some shade and relieved the place of the bareness which was characteristic of most camps. The long, low buildings were fairly well built, were painted, and had good corrugated-tin roofs. The barracks varied in size from 83^ feet by 22 feet to 150 feet by 21 feet. They were all one-story buildings, 9 feet 6 inches and 9 feet 8 inches in height. Each build ing had a porch running its whole length, and, though without a wall foundation, each building was raised from the ground. On the porches of the longer barracks were three barrels filled with water; on the porches of the smaller barracks two barrels, to be used in case of fire. Coal oil had been poured on the surface of the water to pre vent the breeding of mosquitoes. These buildings were divided into compartments by single board partitions, and the compartments were divided into rooms in the same fashion, except that the dividing wall within the compartments contained a doorway. Most of the compartments were two rooms deep. Families in this camp were usually alloted from one to three rooms. Each room had one out side window and one outside door. The rooms ranged in size from 12 feet 8 inches by 13 feet to 10 feet 4 inches by 10 feet 8 inches. Theie were no closets; clothing hung on nails about the rooms. Shelves were provided for dishes. The floors and walls were of rough, unfinished boards, without rugs or wall paper or paint to relieve the bareness. In a few homes, however, the occupants had tacked newspapers over the entire wall space to keep out the wind and to make the room warmer. Each family had a small stove for the combined purpose of heat ing and cooking, and usually wood was piled behind the stove. There was no plumbing, no running water, sink, nor drainage system. The waste water was thrown from the porch and allowed to soak - into the ground. Kitchens were usually supplied with a bucket of water for drinking and cooking purposes. Few families had their own furniture, most of them using the rough board furniture supplied by or made from wood supplied by the company. In nearly ever home the crude furnishings were as follows: One large table, one * or two wide bunks built up about 2 feet from the floor, two or three benches, one or two straight chairs, and occasionally supplementary boxes. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 79 A few of the homes were im m aculately clean, w ith covered w ater buckets, w hite spreads on the beds, oilcloth on the table, curtains hanging from the shelves, colored pictures on the walls, and other homelike signs. The general impression, however, which even this exceptionally good camp gave was th a t of disorder, confusion, and crowding; of rickety chairs and benches; of half-eaten food left about on unw ashed dishes; of d irty clothes soaking; of old tin cans standing about; of flies buzzing over the food, the uncovered w ater bucket, and the grease spots on the floor. At the time of the study there were about 25 families living in this camp. Normally, however, the camp accommodates a much larger population. One hydrant supplied each building with water, and the ground below the faucet was always wet and muddy. There were only 11 privies for the entire camp. These were cleaned three tinges a week by the watchman, who said that almost immediately after they were cleaned they were in a vile condition. The a ttitu d e of the people tow ard the cam ps varied. Some of them were content, others dissatisfied. Some families had moved o u t of the camps and had rented dwellings, n o t only because it was more profitable for them to p ay re n t and g et higher rates of pay b u t because of the conditions in the camps. ‘ ‘We used to live in a cam p; we had two rooms, b u t it was too jam m ed up. We were glad to get out. * * * They used to bring people from B alti more, and how they did pile them up! Pile ’em up and pile ’em up! * * - * The houses are bad; they ought to be fixed up— they leak in like a b ask et,” said one m other. A nother said, “ The houses aren’t good enough for a horse. The roofs leak, and they won’t even m end broken windows. I prefer to re n t m y house and keep m y health .” “ I wouldn’t live in one of those camps. They live like hogs over there,” said another. Physicians in some of the com m unities condemned the cam p conditions. The city physician of one tow n said, “ If I had any au th o rity in the m atter, I should certainly no t perm it such living quarters to exist as those in the cannery camps. The double arrangem ent of apartm ents in the camp buildings is very bad, since it does n o t give v e n t on two sides for a free ventilation of air. More over, there should be b e tte r heating facilities b oth in cannery and cam p.” “ I would discourage the building of cam ps entirely,” said the county health officer. ‘ ‘They are bad m entally, m orally, physically, and socially. The th in partitions separating one fam ily yom another are n o t adequate. The common porch is another bad feature. Isolated cottages are far better. * * * The over crowding was very m uch worse two years ago, and b ad health con ditions and vice were the result. This isn’t the same place as tw o https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 80 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IH years ago. The camps have not been filled this year because it was difficult to import labor. The former crowding will not be allowed again, and the packers have been notified of this. * * * One of the cities does not collect garbage on unpaved streets, so the district where the workers live is excluded; but an effort is being made to provide for this. At present the factories are held responsi ble for their camps. In another city the city collects all garbage. A physician in another community said, “ I consider the surround ings of the camp unhealthy. The ground is low and mucky and marshy. There always seems to be stagnant water, which is fine for breeding mosquitoes. The combination with the near-by outhouses is not desirable. The homes are not kept in very clean condition, but I think it is not possible for them to be kept cleaner with the rough kind of house and furniture which the cannery gives the people. I think the mothers do make an effort to keep them in as good con dition as possible.” Another physician in this same town said, “ Though the people are ignorant of the laws of sanitation and hygiene, the factory has done much this year toward the cleaning up of tin cans and mosquitoes. Previous to this year there were only one or two toilets for a row of houses. Now there is one for every cottage. These are mosquito and fly tight, according to the sanitary law applied to the zone around the naval training school. I believe that these improvements will make a noticeable change in the health of the camp people. Conditions for raising children are far from ideal in the camps, however.” In another town the city health officer said: “ During the canning season the camp is overcrowded and sanitation is bad. The toilet facilities are poor and we have to guard against this all the time. There is no sewerage system, so the problem is a big one.” The homes of the noncamp families—White. The families living in their own houses, or in homes for which they paid money rent and which were not connected with the canneries, fared much better than the camp families. The great majority paid from $4 to $7 a month for rent. Most of the houses were small, single, one-story frame cottages, often unpainted, with a private privy, a private pump, a little yard often planted with flowers, and occasionally a vegetable garden, and inclosed by a picket fence. Sometimes the fences were sagging and broken and the houses sadly in need of repair. The condition of the interiors depended, of course largely on the skill and leisure of the housewives. Many of the houses had a rural air, straggling along a country lane or set off in field.' Chickens and a family pig were not uncommon. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 81 The homes of the noncamp families—Negro. The Negro districts presented in general a particularly ram shackle appearance. They were often situated along the railroad tracks or in swam py, isolated districts. The appearance was m uch more rural th a n in th e w hite districts. The streets, even when the district was near the center of th e city, were seldom paved nor were the roads k ep t in good condition. Y et, despite the loose boards, the sagging porches, and the general disrepair of the gray, w eather beaten houses, tiny, neat, well-kept gardens which were th e rule ra th e r th a n the exception, gave to the district a cheerful air. In m any of th e yards were large black iron kettles in which the clothes were boiled on wash days. The interiors of the houses were usually n eat and clean, although there were a few exceptions. Most of the cottages had three or four rooms, divided, like the barracks in the cannery camps, by thin wooden partitions, w ith uncovered floors and bare walls. Generally, the furnishings were lim ited to the actual necessities, such as beds, a chest of drawers, stove, table, and a chair or two. The beds were comm only covered w ith im m aculate w hite spreads. Sometimes vividly colored religious pictures hung upon the walls, and occasion ally there were fu rth e r decorations, such as brig h t tablecloths, doilies, and vases. Often, especially in th e homes of the Negroes who took in washing, it was common to see a large washing piled upon the beds. The first impression received in m any of the homes was unfavorable, b u t this was generally due to the untidiness inci dent to a lack of closets and to the confusion attending the lau n d ry work. Some homes were d irty and m iserable. A father, m other, and nine children lived in three filthy, bare, dark rooms. The two beds had no sheets, and the soiled blankets and quilts were piled on the unm ade beds. The room seen by the Children’s B ureau agent con tained two beds, two chairs, a lam p, and nothing more. A nother house of unpainted boards presented a wrecked appearance. H alf the boards were missing from the roof and floor of the porch. The stairs were broken and lopsided. A great deal of bedding and cloth ing, discolored and stained w ith age and wear rath e r th an dirt, littered the interior. The fam ily th a t lived in this house were th a n k ful th a t they owned it, although they had neither the tim e nor the m aterials to m ake repairs. “ If we had the wood,” asked the father, “ where would we get the nails The Negro quarters in'A palachicola are situated about a half mile in from the beach. The street on dry days was uneven w ith stones and occasional grass plots; uncertain planks bridge the riverlets. On w et days it was alm ost impassable. This condition was peculiar 56569°—22-----6 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 82 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS. to the Negro section; complaints of Negro taxpayers to the town council were reported to have brought no improvement. The head' of the associated charities in this community said, “ The sanitary conditions of the homes are not even fair. I consider them bad. There is a town law compelling sewers, but it is not enforced. Fur thermore, the sewerage pipes do not run out to ‘the hill’ (Negro sec tion). The garbage is collected only once a week.” The houses were almost all three or four room cottages, sitting gray and unpainted behind the rosebushes and the honeysuckle which overflow the fenced yards. From the gate of the average home one saw the sunshine streaming through the hall which connected the front porch With the kitchen porch. The interiors showed remnants of furniture, chairs whose seats and backs had yielded to wear, blankets dingy with age, and clean plank floors, warped and broken. Sometimes the chairs were littered with clothing, for most of these homes had neither closets, shelves, nor hooks. The housekeeping was seldom dirty or slovenly, but there was much apparent shift lessness. The Negroes did not appear to be contented'with these conditions; they desired to move to a place where work was steady and living conditions better in consequence. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis CONCLUSION. The m ovem ent in behalf of more and b e tte r schools, of b etter com pulsory-education and child-labor laws, and of b e tte r enforcing m achinery for such laws as are enacted, while longer delayed th an in some p a rts of the U nited States, has been gaining ground in the Gulf S tates in recent years. I t should be pointed ou t th a t, as in other States, child labor and nonattendance a t school are more serious in the cannery than in m ost other industrial towns. Still illiteracy and child labor are n o t confined to the cannery com m unities of these States. And even if it were confined to these cannery communities, the facts revealed in this rep o rt dem onstrate the urgency of the need for im provem ent in the S tate child-labor and school-attendance laws, and, alm ost more im portant, adequate provision for their enforcement. I t will be remembered that this study was made during the interval which elapsed between the time when the first Federal child-labor law was declared unconstitutional and the enactment of the present Federal child-labor tax law. No subsequent investigations have been made to determine whether the 10 per cent tax which the revenue law provides the cannery, mill, factory, or workshop which employs children under 14 years of age or children between 14 and 16 years more than eight hours a day or before 6 a. m. or after 7 p. m. must pay, has resulted in the elimination of the many young children found at work at the time this study was made. However, as it is still possible for the canneries to pay the tax and employ the children so far as the Federal Government is concerned, it comes down to the question, not of the welfare of the child but of the relative profitable ness of child labor. If the Federal child-labor ta x law has resulted in p u ttin g the children ou t of the factories, it takes no steps tow ard providing the schools th a t agents of the Children’s B ureau found were n o t available in some com m unities or to lengthen the very short term s provided in others. I t is tru e th a t experience shows th a t w ith the possibility of employing children gone and the opposition of employers and parents rem oved in consequence, b e tte r school-attendance laws and b e tte r schools are m uch easier to secure. A direct as well as this indirect contribution on the p a rt of the Federal G overnm ent tow ard securing these ends is being dem anded b y an increasingly large num ber of people. 83 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 84 CHILD LABOR AJtfD THE WORK OF MOTHERS. The U nited S tates has adopted the policy of providing Federal aid for vocational education, b u t it has m ade no sim ilar provision fo r stim ulating elem entary education. The percentage of illiteracy among the m en assembled in the camps or exam ined by the d raft boards during the W orld W ar resulted in a new appreciation of the im portance of a national educational minimum . To m eet the problem of the children of the m igratory families, special provision is necessary. I t was in these families in the cannery com m unities th a t ignorance was greatest and housing conditions m ost serious. Like the children, who w ith their parents work in the beet fields of the central and w estern S tates or who follow the fru it in California, or who sometimes live in railw ay construction camps in various p a rts of the country, neither the com m unity from which they come nor the one in which they are tem porary residents feels respon sible for their education and general welfare. I t would therefore seem necessary for the State, in the case of m igrations from one p a rt of a S tate to another, and for the N ational G overnm ent when the m igrations are in terstate ones, to find some w ay of assuming this responsibility. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis A p p e n d ix Child-Labor and Compulsory-Education Legislation in Effect in Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi on January 1, 1919 85 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis APPENDIX. C H IL D LABOR A N D C O M PU L SO R Y E D U C A T IO N LEG ISLATIO N IN EFFECT IN FLO R ID A , LO U ISIA N A , A N D M IS S IS S IP P I O N JANUARY 1, 1919. F L O R ID A . STREET TRADES IN CITIES. MINIMUM AGE E m p lo y m e n t o f boys u n der 10 a n d g irls u n der 16 in se llin g n ew spapers, etc., pro h ib i t e d — N o boy under ten years of age, and no girl under sixteen years of age shall distribute, sell, expose, or offer for sale (1) newspapers, (2) magazines, (3) periodicals in any street or public place, in any city of six thousand population or more.. [Com piled Laws 1914 section 2642a] STORES, OFFICES, MESSENGER SERVICE, ETC., IN CITIES. MINIMUM AGE. E m p lo y m e n t un der 12 p ro h ib ited . —No child under twelve years of age shall be employed, permitted, or suffered to work in, about or in connection with any (1) ''store, (2) office, or (3) in the transmission or sale of merchandise, (4) or in the trans mission of messages, in any city of six thousand population or more. [C L 1914 s 2642b] FACTORIES, WORKSHOPS, MECHANICAL ESTABLISHMENTS, THEATERS, ETC. MINIMUM AGE. E m p lo y m e n t un der 14 pro h ib ited . —No child under fourteen years of age shall be employed, permitted or suffered to work in, about or in connection with any (1) mill, (2) factory, (3) workshop, (4) mechanical establishment, (5) laundry, (6) or on thé stage of any theater. [C L 1914 s 2642c] FACTORIES, WORKSHOPS, MINES, ETC. EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATES AND RECORDS. Certificates a n d lis ts requ ired un der 16; lis ts to be posted ; certificates to be retu rn ed to ch ild or p a re n t; p r o o f o f age m a y be requ ired f o r children a p p a re n tly un der 16; e m p lo y m en t w ith o u t such p r o o f after n o tific a tio n co n stitu tes evidence o f v io la tio n . —No child under sixteen years of age shall be employed, permitted or suffered to work in any factory, workshop, laundry, mine or mill, unless the person or corporation employing him procures and keeps on file and accessible to the judicial and police officers of the town or city, and to the State labor inspector, an employment certificate as hereinafter prescribed, and keeps two complete lists of all such children employed therein, one on file and one conspicuously posted near the principal entrance of the building in which such children are employed. On termination of the employment of the child so registered, and whose certificate is so filed, such certificate shall forthwith be sur rendered by the employer to the child or its parent or guardian or custodian. The State labor inspector may make demands on an employer in whose establishment a child apparently under the age of sixteen years is employed or permitted or suffered to work, and whose employment certificate is not then filed as required by this act [s 2642a-2642x], that such employer shall either furnish him within ten days evidence satisfactory to him that such child is in fact over fourteen years of age, or shall cease to employ or permit or suffer such child to work therein. The labor inspector may require from such employer the same evidence of age of such child as is required on 87 • https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 88 CHILD LABOE AND THE WOEK OF MOTHEES IN the issuance of an employment certificate, and the employer furnishing such evidence shall not be required to furnish any further evidence of the age of the child. In case such employer shall fail to produce and deliver to the inspector within ten days after such demand such evidence of age herein required of him, and thereafter continue to employ such child, or permit or suffer such child to work in such establishment, proof of the giving of such notice and of such failure to produce and file such evidence shall be prima facie evidence in any prosecution brought for violation of the provision that such child is under fourteen years of age and is unlawfully employed: TO L 1914 s 2642d] X L iv S ch o o l au th o rities to issu e certificates; exception s. —An employment certificate shall only be approved by the county superintendent of schools, or by a person authorized by him m writing, or, where there is no superintendent of schools, by a person authorized by the school boardi P ro v id e d , That no member of a school board, or other authorized as aforesaid shall have authority to approve such certificate for any child then in or about to enter his own employment, or the employment of a firm or corporation of which he is a member, officer or employee. [0 L 1914 s 2642e] S ch o o l a n d birth records required; m eth od o f issu in g certificates; edu cation al qu alifica tio n s; p h y sic a l com petence f o r w ork co n tem p la ted required. —The persons authorized to issue employment certificates shall not issue such certificates until he has received examined, approved and filed the following papers duly executed. (1) The school record of such child properly filled out and signed as provided herein below. (2) A passport or duly attested transcript of the certificate of birth or baptism or other religious record, showing the date and place of birth of such child. A duly attested transcript of the birth certificate filed according to law with any officer charged with /o? mu ^ of recording births, shall be sufficient evidence of the age of such child. (3) The affidavit of the parent, guardian or custodian of a child, which shall be required, however, only m case such last mentioned transcript of the certificate of birth be not produced and filed, showing the place and date of birth of such child, which affidavit must be taken before the officer issuing employment certificates, who is hereby authorized and required to administer such oath, and who shall not demand or receive a fee therefor. Such employment certificate shall not be issued until such child has personally appeared before and been examined by the officer issuing the certificate, and until such officer shall, after making examination, file and sign in his office a statement that the child can read and legibly write simple sentences in the English language and that in his opinion the child is thirteen [sic] years of age or upward and has received the normal development of a child of its age, and is in sound health and is physically able to perform the work which it intends to do. In doubtful cases such physical fitness shall be determined by a medical officer of the board or department of health, or by the county physician. Every employment shall be signed in the presence of the cmld in whose name it is issued. [C L 1914 s 2642f] C o n ten ts o f certificate.— S u c h certificate shall state the date and place of birth of the child, and describe the color of the hair and eyes, the height and weight and any distinguishing facial marks of such child, and that the papers required by the preceduig section have been duly examined, approved and filed and that the child named m such certificate has appeared before the officer signing the certificate and has been examined. [0 L 1914 s 2642g] C o n ten ts o f school record; exception s to requ irem en t o f school record.— T h e school record above mentioned shall be signed by the principal or chief teacher of the school which such child has last attended and shall be furnished, on demand, to a child entitled thereto. It shall contain a statement certifying that the child has regularly attended the public schools or school equivalent thereto or parochial schools for not less than sixty days during the sehool year previous to his arriving at the age of four teen years or during the year previous to applying for such school records, and is able to read and write simple sentences in the English language, and has received during such period^ partial instruction in reading, spelling, writing, and geography and is familiar with the fundamental operations of arithmetic up to and including common fractions. Such school record shall also give the age and residence of the child, as shown on the records of the school and. the name of its parents or guardian or custodian: Provided^ That upon the filing with the person authorized to issue employment certificates of the affidavit of the applicant or of his or her parent, guardian, or custodian, showing that diligent effort has been made to obtain the school record hereby required and that it can not be obtained, then the person authorized to issue the cerfafi^te may issue such a certificate without having received such school record, but it shall be his duty, in such case, to examine the applicant as to his or her proficiency in each oi the studies mentioned in this section; and in such case the employment certificate shall show that such examination was had in lieu of the filing of the school board [sic]. [C L 1914 s 2642h] https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 89 FACTORIES, WORKSHOPS, MECHANICAL ESTABLISHMENTS, THEATERS, ETC. HOURS OP L'ABOR. N in e hou rs a da y, 54 a week, 6 days a week, a n d n ig h t w o rk pro h ib ited , u n d er 16; hou rs to be p o sted . —No child under the age of sixteen years shall be employed, permitted or suffered to work in, about, or in connection with any establishment or occupation named in section 3 (1) for more than six days in any one week, (2) nor more than fiftyfour hours in any week, (3) nor more than nine hours in any one day, (4) or [nor] before the hour of five o’clock in the morning or after the hour of eight o’clock in the evening. The presence of such child in any establishment during working hours shall be prima facie evidence of its employment therein. Every employer shall post in a conspicuous place in every room where such minors are employed a printed notice, stating the hours required of them each day of the week, the hours of commenc ing ana stopping work, and the hours when the time or times allowed for dinner or for other meals Degin and end. The printed form of such notice shall be furnished by the State labor inspector, and the employment of any minor for a longer time in any day so stated shall be deemed a violation of this section. [C L 1914 s 2642i] MESSENGERS. HOURS OF LABOR. N ig h t w o rk p ro h ib ited u n d er 18. —No person under the age of eighteen years shall be employed, permitted, or suffered to work as a messenger for telegraph, telephone, or messenger companies in the distribution, transmission, or delivery of goods or mes sages before five o’clock in the morning or after ten o’clock in the evening of any day. [CTL 1914 s 2642k] REGULATED OCCUPATIONS. ENFORCEMENT. D u tie s a n d pow ers o f ju d ic ia l or police officers a n d labor in sp ecto rs. —County or city, judicial or police officers may visit the factories, workshops, mines, and mercantile establishments in their several towns and cities and ascertain whether any minors are employed therein contrary to the provisions of this act [s 2642a-2642x] and they shall report any cases of such illegal employment to the superintendent of schools and to the labor inspector. Labor inspectors or any city or county officer may require that the employment certificates and lists provided for in this act, of minors employed in such factories, workshops, mines, or mercantile establishments, shall be produced for their inspection. Complaints for offenses under this act shall be brought by the labor inspector or other person in the same manner as provided by law for other offenses. [C L 1914 s 26421.] DANGEROUS, INJURIOUS, AND IMMORAL OCCUPATIONS. MINIMUM AGE. S p ecific o ccu p a tio n s p ro h ib ited u n der 16; co n stan t sta n d in g p ro h ib ited f o r g irls un der 16; e m p lo y m e n t m a y be p ro h ib ited by health officers in other o ccu p a tio n s. —No child under the age of sixteen years shall be employed at sewing belts, or to assist in sewing belts, in any capacity whatever, nor shall any child adjust any belt to any machinery; they shall not oil or assist in oiling, wiping, or cleaning machinery; they shall not operate or assist in operating circular or band saws, wood shapers, wood joiners, planers, sandpaper or wood-polishing machinery, emery or polishing wheels used for polishing sheet metal, wood turning or boring machinery, stamping machinés in sheet metal and tinware manufacturing, stamping machines m washer and nut factories, operating corrugated rolls, such as are used in roofing factories, nor shall they b e employed in operating any steam boiler, steam machinery, or other steam generating apparatus, or as pin boys in any bowling alley; they shall not operate or assist in operating dough brakes, or cracker machinery of any description, wire or iron straightening machinery, nor shall they operate or assist in operating rolling mill machinery , punches or shears, washing or grinding or mixing mills, or calendar [calender] rolls in rubber manufac turing, nor shall they operate or assist in operating laundry machinery, nor shall such children be employed in any capacity in preparing any composition in which danger ous or poisonous acids are used, and they shall not be employed in any capacity in the manufacture of paints, colors, or white lead, nor shall they be employed in any capacity whatever in operating or assisting to operate any passenger or freight elevator, nor shall they be employed in any capacity whatever in the manufacture of goods for immoral https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN 90 purposes, nor shall females under sixteen years of age be employed in any capacity where such employment compels them to remain standing constantly. Nor shall any child under sixteen years of age he employed at any occupation dangerous or injurious to health or morals or to lives [life] or limbs, and as to those matters, the decision of the county physician or city health officer, as the case may he, shall be hnai. [C L 1914 s 2642m.] MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS. MINIMUM AGE AND SAFETY. Safety contrivances to be provided where children under 16 are employed; cleaning .—It shall be the duty of the owner of any manu facturing establishment, where any person under sixteen years of age is employed, his agents, superintendents, or other persons in charge of same, to furmsh and supply when practicable, or cause to be furnished and supplied to him belt shifters or other safe mechanical contrivance for the purpose of throwing belts on or off pulleys; and, whenever practicable, machinery therein shall be provided with loose belts. All vats, pans, saws, planes, cogs, gearing; belting, set screws, and machinery of every description therein, which is palpably dangerous, where practicable, shall be properly guarded ■ and no person shall remove or make ineffective any safeguard around or attached to any planer, saw, belting, shafting or other machinery, or around any vat or pan while the same is in use, unless for the purpose of immediately making repairs, thereto, and all such safeguards shall be properly replaced. No person under eighteen years of age «ball be allowed to clean machinery while m motion. [0. L. 1914 s 2b42n. j m a c h i n e r y i n m o t i o n prohibited u n d e r 1 8 TOILETS AND DRESSING ROOMS FOR GIRLS. S e v a r a t e toilets f o r th e s e x e s w h e r e girls u n d e r 1 6 a r e e m p l o y e d ; separate dressing r o o m s Suitable and proper washrooms and water-closets shall be provided ‘in all manufacturing establishments, where any person under sixteen years of age is employed and such water-closets shall be properly screened and ventilated and be kept at all times in a clean condition; and if girls under sixteen years of age be em ployed in any such establishment, the water-closet shall have separate approachesand be kept separate and apart from those used by men. All closets shall be kept free from obscene writing and marking. A dressing room shall be provided for such girls when the nature of their work is such as to require any change of clothing. [L L 1914 s 2642o] f o r avrls if n e e d e d — MANUFACTURING, MECHANICAL, AND MERCANTILE ESTABLISH MENTS, ETC. SEATS FOR GIRLS. .—Every Derson firm, corporation, association, individual, or partnership employing girls under sixteen years in any manufacturing, mechanical, or mercantile industry, laundry, workshop, renovating works, or printing offices in this State, shall provide seats for the use of the girls so employed, and shall permit the use of such by them when not necessarily engaged in the active duties for which they are employed. [C L 1914 s S e a t s t o b e p r o v i d e d a n d their u s e p e r m i t t e d w h e r e girls u n d e r 1 6 a r e e m p l o y e d 2642P] MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS. HEALTH OF MINORS. T h e walls and ceilings of each room in every manufacturing establishment where any person under sixteen years of age is employed shall be lime-washed or painted, when, in the opinion of the labor inspector, it shall be conducive to the health or cleanliness of the persons working therein. [C L 1914 s 2642q] C l e a n l i n e s s o f w a l l s a n d ceilings w h e r e m i n o r s u n d e r 1 6 ar e e m p l o y e d . — REGULATED OCCUPATIONS. ENFORCEMENT. c o u n t y solicitors, eic.-^-Grand juries and county solicitors of criminal courts of record, where such courts exist, shall have inquisitorial powers to investigate violations of this act [s 2 6 4 2 a-2 6 4 2 x ]; also shall [sic] county judges and circuit judges and judges of the circuit courts of the State shall specially charge the grand jury at the beginning of each term of the court to investigate viola tions of this act. [C L 1914 s 2642r] Duties a n d powers o f g r a n d juries, https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 91 pfoZrf labor law to be p o ste d — A. copy of this act [s 2642a-2642xl shall be conepicuoiisly posted and kept m each workroom of every manufacturing establishment °r W0i r 8h0P’ °r mercantlle or printing establishment, theatre, telegraph’ Pfub.h ^ messenger company or laundry in this State, where a^hUd under the age of sixteen years is employed, and in every pool room ox billiard room or bowling alley. [C L 1914 s 2642s as amended by 1915 C 69181 ’ A p^ o in tm erU o f State labor inspector. —For the purpose of carrying out the provisions the ° 3 c e of State labbr R e c t o r ÏÏÆ e b y S E d K X office to be filled by any capable person, male or female, by appointment by the governor for a term of four years, such term to begin from and after such appointS t nt’[CL T g ^ l e S t f ShaÜ haVG n0 P°Wer °r authority excePt as conferred by this Act n ot to interfere w ith industrial training in schools or w ith children engaged in the i eUvery ° f daily VaP.ers.-Nothing in this act [s 2642a 2642x] shall prevent children of any age from receiving industrial education furnished by the United States, this State, or any city or town in thin State and duly approved by the State superintendent of public instruction or by other duly constituted pubhc authority ; nor shall any of the provisions of this act be considered as applying to children engaged in agricultural or domestic employment. And noth ing m this act shall apply to male children employed in the delivery of newspapers to regular subscribers out of school hours. [C L 1914 s 2642w] PP REGULATED OCCUPATIONS. PENALTIES. V io la tio n b y em p lo y er, p a re n t e tc .; e m p lo y m e n t after n o tific a tio n ; f a ilu r e to produce certificates o r lis ts ; reten tio n o f certificates b y e m p lo y er; f a ls e sta tem e n ts— W h o e v e r employs a minor child in violation of any of the provisions of this act Is 2642a-2642xl and whoever having under his control such child permits such child to be employed m violation of this act, shall for such offense, be fined not more than fifty dollars and whoever continues to employ any child in violation of this act after being notified by a labor inspector or other officer thereof, shall for every day thereafter that such employment continues, be fined not less than five nor more than twenty dollars. A failure to produce to any officer or labor inspector any employment certificate or list required shall be prima facie evidence of the illegal employment of any person whose employment certificate is not produced, and whose name is not so listed. Any eorP0i^ io n or employer retaining employment certificates in violation of section 4 [s2642d] of this act, shall be fined ten dollars. Every person authorized to sign the certificate prescribed by section 5 [s 2642e] of this act, who knowingly certifies to any materially false statement therein shall be fined not more than fifty dollars nor less than ten dollars. [0 L 1914 s 3728a] y ’ BUSINESS PURSUITS. SEATS. S e a ts to be p ro v id e d f o r a ll em p lo yees a n d their use pe rm itte d ; p e n a lty . —If any merchant storekeeper, [or] employer of male or female clerks, salesmen, cash boys or cash girls or other assistants, in mercantile or other business pursuits, requiring such employees to stand or walk during their active duties, neglect[s] to furnish at their [his] own cost or expense suitable chairs, stools or sliding seats attached to the counters or walls, for the use oi such employees when not engaged in their active work, and not required to be on their feet in the proper performance of their several duties; or refuse[s] to permit their [his] said employees to make reasonable use of said seats during business hours, for pur poses of necessary rest, and when such use will not interfere with humane or reasonable requirements of their employment, he shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding sixtv days. [C L 1914 s 3235] 6 J DANGEROUS, INJURIOUS, AND IMMORAL OCCUPATIONS- PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS. MINIMUM AGE. E m p lo y m e n t u n d er 14 i n sin g in g , d a n cin g, ro p e w a lk in g , etc., p ro h ib ited ; exception sp e n a lty . —Whoever takes, receives, hires, employs, uses, exhibits or in any manner or under any pretense sells, apprentices, gives away, lets out or otherwise disposes of to any person any child under the age of fourteen years for or in the vocation https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 92 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN occupation, service or purpose of singing, playing on musical instruments, rope or wire walking, dancing, begging or peddling, or as a contortionist, rider, acrobat, or for or in any obscene, indecent or immoral purpose, exhibition or practice, or for or in any business, exhibition or vocation injurious to the health or dangerous to the life or limbs of such child, or causes or procures, or encourages any such child to engage therein, * * * or has in custody any such child for any of the purposes aforesaid, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned not more than six months. Nothing contained in this section shall apply to or affect the employment or use of any such child as a singer or musician in any church, school or academy, or at any amatetxr concert or entertainment, or in learning the science or practice of music and social dancing. [C L 1914 s 3237] CHILD LABOR AND VAGRANCY. P erso n s liv in g o n ea rn in gs o f their children declared va g ra n ts. —* * * Persons able to work but habitually living upon the earnings of their wives or minor children * * * shall be deemed vagrants, and upon conviction shall be subject to the penalty provided in section 3571. [C L 1914 s 3570] P e n a lty .— * * * Any person * * * [convicted of vagrancy] shall be fined not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars, or by imprisonment [sic] not more than six months. [C L 1914 s 3571] ALL OCCUPATIONS. MINIMUM AGE. E m p lo y m e n t u n d er 15 w ith o u t con sen t o f p a re n t, gu a rd ia n , etc., pro h ib ited ; p e n a lty .— Whoever hires or employs or causes to be hired or employed any minor, knowing such minor to be under the age of fifteen years and under the legal control of another w ith out the consent of those having such legal control, for more than sixty days, shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding sixty days or by fine not exceeding twenty dollars. [C L 1914 s 3728] EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS. COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. A p p r o v a l o f act to be decided by v o te . —Whenever one-fourth of the registered white voters of any special tax school district, school board district, or of any county shall file with a county board of public instruction a written petition asking for an election to be held in such special tax school district, school board district, or county, to determine whether'compulsory school attendance shall prevail in either of said dis tricts or the county, it shall be the duty of the county board of public instruction to order an election in either of said districts or the county, according as the petition may request, to decide whether the following compulsory school attendance provi sions shall be enforced in said special tax school district, school board district, or county. [1915 C 6831 s l l . A c t i n effect. —Should three-fifths of the votes legally cast at any such election be “ For Compulsory School Attendance,” then the compulsory school attendance laws hereinafter prescribed shall be in force in such territory for two years, or forever there after until another such election is held in compliance with the foregoing provisions; and if three-fifths or more of the votes shall be cast “ Against Compulsory School Attendance,” then school attendance shall not be compulsory in said territory until otherwise determined by an election held in pursuance of this act: P ro vid ed , That when any such election is held in a whole county, compulsory school attendance shall be enforced in any school board district or districts of said pounty wherein a threefifths vote was cast “ For Compulsory School Attendance,” though a three-fifths vote of the county as a whole was cast “Against Compulsory School Attendance”; P ro v id e d a lso , That when any such election is held in a whole county, compulsory school attendance shall not be enforced in any school board district or districts of said county, wherein a majority vote was cast “ Against Compulsory School Attendance” though the majority vote of the county as a whole was cast “ For Compulsory S chool Attend-, ance.” [1915 C 6831 s 7] N o tific a tio n .— The county board of public instruction of a county in which a com pulsory school attendance election has been held and three-fifths of the votes legally cast at such election in a special tax school district, school board district, or in the whole county was for “ Compulsory School Attendance,” shall, at the first regular meeting thereafter, publish that the following compulsory school attendance laws will be in full force and effect thirty days thereafter in the special tax school district, https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OUSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 93 school board district, or, in the county, as may have been determined by the said election. [1915 C 6831 s 8] Children .fro m 8 to 1 4 .—Every parent, guardian, or person in charge of or control of a child or children, between the ages of eight and fourteen years and residing within a special tax school district, a school board district, or a county advertised as under the following compulsory school attendance provisions, shall cause such child or children to attend regularly the public school of the district in which the child or children reside not less than eighty days of each year, between the ages of eight and fourteen years of each child [sic]; the period of compulsory attendance shall com mence with the beginning of the school term nearest to the eighth birthday of each child and shall cover a period of six consecutive years thereafter, except as herein after provided. [1915 0 6831 s 9] E q u iv a le n t attendan ce. —Continuous attendance upon some other school, public, private, or church, for eighty days of each year during [sic] the ages of eight and fourteen of any child, may be accepted in lieu of attendance upon a local public school: P ro v id e d fu rth er, That any private or church school receiving for instruction pupils between the ages of eight and fourteen years shall keep such record of attend ance of said child or children and will render such reports of the same, as are herein after required of teachers of public schools; otherwise the attendance upon any such private or church school refusing or neglecting to keep such records and to make such reports shall not be accepted in lieu of attendance upon a public school. [1915 0 6831s 10] E x e m p tio n s o n accou nt o f p o v e rty co m p e llin g e m p lo y m e n t; other e x e m p tio n s — Lrúa act shall not apply in any case in which the child’s physical or mental conditions [sic], as attested by any competent physician before any cotut having jurisdiction under this act, render its attendance impracticable or inexpedient; or in any case in which the child resides more than two miles by the nearest traveled route from the school house, and transportation is not provided; or in any case of extreme pov erty, in which the services of such child are necessary for its own support or the support of its parents, as attested by the affidavit of its parent or parents and of such witnesses as the attendance officer may require; or in any case in which said parent, guardian, or other person having charge or control of a child, shall show before any magistrate by affidavit of himself and of such witnesses as the attendance officer may require, that the child is without necessary books and clothing for attending school, and that the parent is unable to provide the necessary books and clothing: P ro vid ed , That when books and clothing shall be provided, through charity or by other means, the child shall no longer be exempt from school attend ance under this provision: P ro v id e d fu rth er, That when a teacher is charged with inefficiency, misconduct or cruelty, such charge being made in writing and filed with the trustees of the special tax school district, or with the county board of public instruction by a parent or guardian of any child attending the school being taught by such teacher, then the attendance of such child shall not be enforced until after a full investigation of such charge has been made by the board with which same was filed and the said teacher has been acquitted or exonerated. [1915 C 6831 s 11] P e n a lty . —Any parent, guardian, or other person in control of a child or children, violating the provisions of this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon con viction by any court of competent jurisdiction shall be liable to a fine of not less than one dollar and not more than three dollars for each and every offense. And upon failure or refusal to pay such fine, said parent, guardian or other person in control of a child shall be imprisoned not to exceed thirty days in the county jail: P ro vid ed , That the fine for any first offense may, upon payment of costs, be suspended and not collected until the same person is convicted of a second offense: P ro v id e d fu rth er, That after the expiration of three days from the time notice is served by the attend ance officer, each and every day a parent, guardian, or other person shall wilfully and unlawfully keep such child or children from school, or allow it or them to remain out of school, shall constitute a separate offense and shall subject said person to the penalties above described. [1915 0 6831 s 13] . E n forcem en t: a p p o in tm e n t o f attendance officers. —The county board of public in struction of any county wherein any district or the county^ has adopted the compul sory school attendance provisions of this act, shall have the power to appoint and fix the compensation of an attendance officer or officers, and remove the same at will. An attendance officer may be appointed for one school or for a number of schools, in the discretion of the county board of public instruction, and may be a supervisor or a trustee of a school, or any suitable person who will discharge the duties of the posi tion, and the county board may assign an attendance officer such other duties as may be deemed advisable. [1915 0 6831 s 14] https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 94 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS*. SCHOOL CENSUS. E n u m era tio n o f children f r o m 6 to 21 . —It shall be the duty of every attendance officer to take an accurate census of every child between the ages of six and twentyone years in his district in the month of June in each and every year on blanks fur nished by the State superintendent of public instruction. He shall make three neat and legible copies of this census roll, which shall give the name, sex, date of birth, the name of the parent or guardian, with the post office, of every child and any addi tional information demanded. One copy of this census shall be filed with the Statu superintendent of public instruction, one copy with the county superintendent of public instruction, by the first day of July in each and every year, and one copy shall be preserved for his own use, and he shall furnish the principal of each school within his jurisdiction with a list of the names of children due to attend the school of which the principal is in charge, and the county hoard of public instruction shall ascertain without charge the number of pupils contained in said list. [1915 0 6831 s 15] COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. E nforcem en t: du ties o f attendance officers. —The attendance officer shall serve a written or printed notice, or partly written and parity printed^ notice, upon every parent, guardian, or other person having control of a child or children, violating the provisions of this act, and prompt compliance on the part of the parent, guardian or other person shall be required. If any parent, guardian, or other person upon whom such notice is served fails to comply with the law within three days thereafter, then it shall be the duty of the attendance officer upon the recommendation of the board of public instruction to prosecute forthwith such person in the name of the State of Florida, before any justice of the peace, or coifhty judge, of any county, town, or district in which the prosecuted resides. All fines collected shall be turned over to the custodian of the county school fund, and may be used by the county board of public instruction for the enforcement of this act, or for other purposes. [1915 0 6831 s 16] „ ., ■ ' E nforcem en t: pow ers o f attendance officers; evidence o f age m a y be requ ired f o r e m p lo y edr children a p p a re n tly u n der school age. —The attendance officer shall have the right to visit and enter any office, factory, or business house employing youth, for the purpose of enforcing the provisions of this act; when doubt exists as to the age of a child he may require a properly attested birth certificate or affidavit as to the age of any child. [1915 0 6831 s 17] ~ E nforcem en t: d u ties o f attendance officers; a n n u a l re p o rts. —Every attendance officer shall keep an accurate record of all notices served, all cases prosecuted, and all other services performed, and shall make an annual report of the same to the county board of public instruction, on blanks furnished by the State superintendent of public instruction, in the manner required, and oftener when demanded by the county board. [1915 C 6831 s l8 ] , , * t ; -y E nforcem en t: d u ties o f p rin c ip a ls a n d teachers.—It shall be the duty of all principals and teachers to cooperate with the attendance officer in the enforcement of this law. To this end it shall be the duty of the principal or teacher in charge of every school, in which pupils between the ages of eight and fourteen years are instructed, to keep an accurate record of the attendance of all pupils, to render weekly reports to the attendance officer and the county superintendent of public instruction, of all pupils imperfect in attendance, showing all absences, excused and unexcused, and m the case of an excused absence to state the reason for which the pupil was excused. [1915 C 6831 s 19] , . , A , . . ,r . , .. A c t to be p u b lish ed .— It shall be the duty of the county board of public instruction of each county to cause this act to be published, separate and distinct from the pub lication of the acts of the legislature, in full in some newspaper published -in the county if there be one, and if there be none, then to distribute and give it the widest circulation in the form of a circular at least four weeks prior to the opening of the school^ for the school year, beginning July 1, 1915, and annually thereafter if in their discretion it be necessary. [1915 C 6831 s 20] https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis L O U IS IA N A . FACTORIES. MINIMUM AGE. O p era tin g or clea n in g m ach in ery i n m o tio n , etc., p ro h ib ited u n der 1 2 . —No child under the age of twelve years shall be permitted to operate or clean any part of the machinery in a factory while such part is in motion by the aid of steam, water or other mechanical power, or to clean any part of such machinery that is in dangerous proximity to such moving part. [Wolff’s Revised Laws 1904 volume 1 page 991; 1892 Act 60 section 1] P e n a lty . —Whoever, either for himself, or [as] superintendent, foreman, overseer or other agent of another, violates the provisions of the preceding section, shall be pun ished by a fine of not less than ten nor more than twenty-five dollars, or shall be sub ject to imprisonment for a term not exceeding thirty days, or both at the discretion of the court for each offense. [W R L 1904 v 1 p 991; 1892 A 60 s 2] ALL OCCUPATIONS. SEATS AND HOURS OF LABOR FOR GIRLS. S ea ts to he p ro v id ed a n d their use p e rm itte d . —It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation doing business in the State of Louisiana, where female labor or female clerks are employed, not to maintain seats, chairs or benches which shall be -so placed as to be accessible to said employees, for their use during the times when said employees are not actually engaged in the attention to their duties as employees of such firm, person or corporation. [W R L 1904 v 1 p 992; 1900 A 55 s 1] T h irty m in u tes f o r m id d a y m ea l requ ired i n re ta il establish m en ts. —All persons, firms or corporations doing business at retail in,the State of Louisiana where female labor or female clerks are employed, shall be required to give every employee each day, between the hours of ten (10) a. m. and three (3) p. m. not less than thirty (30) minutes for lunch or recreation. [W R L 1904 v 1 p 992; 1900 A 55 s 2] N ote .—[See W R L Supplem ent 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 4] P e n a lty . —Whoever shall be found guilty of evading or disobeying any of the pro visions of this actJ1900 A 55], shall be deemed guilty of a misdeameanor, and upon arrest and conviction therefor shall be fined in a sum of not less than twentv-five ($25) dollars nor more than one hundred ($100) dollars, and in default of the payment thereof shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a period not less than five (5) days nor more than six (6) months. [W R L 1904 v 1 p 992; 1900 A 55 s 3] ' ALL REGULATED OCCUPATIONS. ENFORCEMENT AND PENALTIES. D u tie s a n d pow ers o f com m ission er o f labor, etc. —The duties of said commissioner [of labor] and said assistant commissioners shall be to visit and inspect manufacturing establishments, workshops, mills, mercantile establishments, factories and other places where industrial work is being done for the purpose of enforcing the laws regulat ing or dealing with the conditions of employment of labor of any kind, and to prosecute an persons, firms, associations or corporations violating the labor laws of the State. * * * [Wolff’s Revised Laws Supplement 1904-1908 volume 3 page 412; 1908 Act 155 section 2 as amended by 1914 Act 186] D u tie s a n d pow ers o f com m ission er, etc.; a p p o in tm e n t o f fa c to r y in sp ecto r in N e w rle a n s. —The commissioner or assistant commissioners shall have power to take and preserve evidence, examine witnesses under oath and administer the same,, and in the discharge of his duties may enter any public institution of the State, and at reason able hours any factory, mill, workshop, mercantile establishment or other places where labor may be employed. In the city of New Orleans the mayor shall appoint a factory inspector who may be either male or female. The commissioner and each assistant commissioner shall have power to investigate all cases where'violations of 95 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 96 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IJN the laws pertaining to the conditions or employment of labor is complained of; and it is hereby made the duty of said commissioner and assistant commissioners to order the criminal prosecution in any competent court of any person, firm, association or corporation, acting in violation of any laws of this State, regulating the conditions of the employment of labor. [ WR L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 412; 1908 A 155 s 3 as amended by 1914 A 186] H in derin g co m m ission er, etc. —Any person who shall willfully impede or prevent the commissioner or assistant commissioners in the full and free performance of his or their duties shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction of the same shall be fined not less than ten (10) nor more than fifty (50) dollars or be imprisoned not less than five (5) or more than twenty-five (25) days in the parish jail, or both at the discretion of the court. [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 412; 1908 A 155 s 5 as amended by 1914 A 186] ALL OCCUPATIONS. MINIMUM AGE. E m p lo y m e n t u n der 14 proh ibited; a g ricu ltu ra l p u r su its excepted; p e n a lty . —It shall be unlawful for a person, agent, firm, company, copartnership or corporation to require or permit, or suffer or employ any child under the age of 14 years to labor or work in any mill, factory, mine, packing house, manufacturing establishment, workshop, laundry, millinery or dressmaking stores or mercantile establishments, or hotel, or restaurants or in any theater or concert hall or in or about any place of amusement where intoxicating liquors are made or sold or in any bowling alley, boot-blacking establishment, freight or passenger elevators or in the transmission or distribution of messages, whether telegraph or telephone or any other messages, or merchandise or in any other occupation whatsoever: P ro vid ed , That the provisions of this act shall not affect act 176 of 1908 [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 872]. The provisions of this act shall not apply to agricultural pursuits. Any violations of this act shall be punish able by a fine of not less than $25.00 or more than $50.00 or by imprisonment in the parish*jail (parish prison in New Orleans) for not less than 10 days or more than 6 months or both, at the discretion of the court. [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 1 as amended by 1914 A 133 s 2] ' Court d ecisio n .—The section of which the above is an amendment was held constitutional. Held th at the word “ w ork” is comprehensive enough to cover any performance on the stage of a theater of a girl 10 years of age; the words “ where intoxicating liquors are made or soid” do not quahfy the word “ theater.”— State v. Rose, 125 La. 462, 5i So. 496 (1910). A p p lic a tio n o f a ct. —Nothing in this act [1908 A 301 s 1 as amended by 1914 A 133] shall repeal any of the provisions of act 184 of 1912. [1914 A 133 s 8] EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATES AND RECORDS. F actory in sp ecto rs to issu e age certificates; exception s; m ethod o f issu in g a n d conten ts o f age certificates; evidence o f age required; records o f issu in g office; p e n a ltie s f o r o b ta in in g certificates by f r a u d , etc.; certificates to be retu rn ed to ch ild. —The State factory inspector or any factory inspector appointed by the mayor of the city of New Orleans with the consent of the council acting in conjunction with the board of health and school board in the parish shall have full power to issue an age certificate to minors over 14 years and under 16 years of age seeking employment in any; part of this State: P ro v id e d however, That no person authorized to issue an age certificate as hereafter provided shall have authority to approve such certificate for any child then in or about to enter his own establishment, or the employment of a firm or corporation of which he is a member, officer or employee. The person approving these age certifi cates shall have authority to administer the oath provided therein, but no fee shall be charged therefor. Every person issuing or approving these age certificates shall keep a record of the same, and shall forward to the office of the State factory inspector a duplicate of each certificate issued or approved. All such age certificates shall be subject to review by the State or other factory inspector, and may by him or her be canceled if he or she finds that such certificates may have been obtained through fraud, misrepresentation or falsification of facts, and whoever shall_obtain or assist in obtain ing such age certificates by fraud, misrepresentation or falsification of facts, is hereby declared to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction before a court of compe tent jurisdiction shall be fined not less than $10 or more than $50. In such cases th factory inspector shall give written notice to the employer, who shall at once cause the minor affected to be dismissed from employment. Printed forms of the age cer tificates hereinafter provided shall be furnished by the State factory inspector upon request made by persons authorized to issue them. An age certificate shall not be approved unless satisfactory evidence is furnished by a certificate of birth or baptism https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 97 of such child, the register of birth of such child with an officer of a city or town desig nated to keep a register of births, or by the records of the public or parochial school attended by such child, that such child is of the age stated in the certificate, or by a certified copy of their passport from the commissioner of immigration: P ro v id e d , That in cases where the above proof is not obtainable, the parent, guardian or custodian of the child shall make an oath before the State factory inspector, or any factorv inspector, or before a juvenile or district court as to the age of such child, and the State factory inspector, or any factory inspector, or the court, may issue to such child an age certificate as sworn to. A duplicate of such age certificate shall be filled out and shall be forwarded to the office of the State factory inspector. The age certificate shall be printed and shall be filled out, signed and held or surrendered in the follow ing forms: AGE CERTIFICATES. This certifies that I am (father, mother, guardian or custodian) of (name oi minor) and that (he or she) was born at (name of town or city) in the (name of county if known) and (State or county [sic] o f ..........) on the (date of birth and year of birth) and is now (number of years and months) old. (Signature of parent, guardian or custodian.) (City or town and date.) There personally appeared before me the above-named (named of person signing) and made oath that the foregoing certificate by (him or her) signed, is true to the best of (his or her) knowledge. I hereby approve the foregoing certificate of (name of child), height (feet and inches), w eigh t.........., complexion (fair or dark), hair (color), having no sufficient reason to doubt that (he or she) is of the age therein certified. Owner of certificate. This certificate belongs to (name of child and in whose behalf it is drawn), and is to be surrendered to (him or her) whenever (he or she) leaves the service of the corporation or employer holding the same, but if not claimed by said child within thirty days from such time, it shall be returned to the office of the State factory inspector for cancellation. (Signature of person authorized to approve and sign with official character of authority.) (Town or city and date.) Such certificate shall be issued without charge. * * * [ W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 2] ENFORCEMENT. D u tie s a n d p o w ers o f com m ission er o f labor, etc. —It shall be the duty of the * * * [commissioner of labor] and his deputies, and such factory inspectors as will be ap pointed in incorporated cities and towns by the mayor, with the consent of the council, and in parishes, by the police jury, and they are hereby authorized and empowered to visit and inspect, at all reasonable times and as often as possible all places enumerated in section 1 [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 1 as amended by 1914 A 133 s 2] of this act [1908 A 301], and to file complaint in any court of competent jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of this act. and it shall be the duty of the parish or district attorney to appear and prosecute all complaints so filed. [ W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 3] , HOURS OF LABOR. Ten hours, a d a y, 60 a week, f o r boys u n der 18 a n d g irls o f a n y age; tim e f o r m id d a y m eal required; certain m erca n tile establish m en ts exem pted on S a tu rd a y n ig h ts; p e n a lty . —No child or person under the age of 18 years, and no woman shall be employed in any of the places and industries enumerated in section 1 [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 1 as amended by 1914 A 133 s 2] of this act [1908 A 301] for a longer period than ten hours per day of [or] 60 hours per week. There shall be one hour allowed each day for dinner, but such dinner time shall not be included as part of the working hours of the day. In case two-thirds of the employees so desire, time for dinner may be reduced at their request to not less than 30 minutes: P ro v id e d , That this shall not apply to persons working in stores and mercantile establishments on Saturday nights in which more than 5 persons are employed. Any violation of this provision shall be punishable by a fine of not less than $25 or more than $50, or by imprisonment in the parish jail (parish prison in New Orleans) for not less than ten days or more than six months, or both, in the discretion of the court. [ W R L Supp 1904^1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 4 as amended by 1916 A 177] N ote .—[See W R L 1904 v 1 p 992; 1900 A 55 s 2] 56569°—22---- 7 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 98 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN N ig h t w o rk p ro h ib ited f o r boys u n der 16 a n d g irls u n der 18; certain m ercan tile establish m en ts exem pted o n S a tu rd a y n ig h ts; p e n a lty . —No boy under the age of 16 years and no girl under the age of 18 years shall be employed at any work before the hour of 6 in the morning or after the hour of 7 at night: P ro vid ed , That this shall not apply to per sons working in stores and mercantile establishments on Saturday nights in which more than 5 persons are employed. Any violation of this provision shall be pun ishable by a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $100, or by imprisonment in the parish jail (parish prison in New Orleans) for not less than ten days nor more than six months, or both, in the discretion of the court. [ W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 5 as amended by 1916 A 177.] EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATES AND RECORDS. L is ts requ ired -under 18 where fiv e or m ore children are em ployed; lis ts to be posted; age certificates requ ired over 14 i n certain occu pation s where m ore th an 5 perso n s are em p lo y e d a n d i n theaters, concert h alls, e tc.; p e n a lty . —Every person, firm or corpora tion, agent or manager of a corporation employing or permitting or suffering to work five or more children under the age of 18 years and over the age of 14 in all places of business or establishments or occupations enumerated in section 1 [W It L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 1 as amended by 1914 A 133 s 2] shall post and keep posted in a conspicuous place in every room in which such help is employed or per mitted or suffered to work a list containing the names, age and place of residence of every person under the age of 18 years employed, permitted or suffered to work in such room, and it shall be unlawful for any person, agent, firm, company, copart nership, corporation or manager of a corporation to require or permit or suffer or employ in any mill, factory, mine or packing house, manufacturing establishment, workshop, store, laundry, millinery, dressmaking or mercantile establishment in which more than five persons are employed, or any theater, concert hall or in or about any place of amusement where intoxicating liquors are made or sold, or in any bowling alley or bootblacking establishment, or in any place where messages are transmitted or distributed, or in any other occupation not herein enumerated which may be deemed unhealthful or dangerous, any child over the age of 14 until an age certificate, approved as hereinabove provided, has been produced and placed on file in any such establishment or place of employment as heretofore mentioned in this section: P r o vid ed fu rth er, however, That immediately upon the employment of any child in any of the places enumerated in. this act [1908 A 301] the manager, superintendent, owner or agent shall notify in writing, the factory inspector of the employment of said child in the event proper age certificate is not filed, but such establishment or place of employment must procure from said child within five days from employment the age certificate provided for in this act. Any violation of this section shall be punish able by a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $50 or by imprisonment in the parish jail (parish prison in New Orleans) for not less than ten days nor more than six months, or both in the discretion of the court. [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414 ; 1908 A 301 s 6] P e n a lty f o r fa ls e sta tem en t by p a ren t, etc. —Any parent or guardian or person or per sons having control of or being responsible for the care of any child or person under the age of 16 who shall sign or swear or in any manner make false statement as to the age of said child or person under the age of 16 for the purpose of obtaining em ployment for said child or young person shall be deemed guilty of an offense for each violation thereof and upon conviction for the same shall be punished by a fine of not less than $10 nor more than $25 or by imprisonment in the parish jail (parish prison in New Orleans) for not less than ten days nor more than thirty days, or both, in the discretion of the court. [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 7] Certificates o f p h ysica l fitn e ss requ ired f o r children a p p a re n tly u n der legal age. —Any child working in or in connection with any of the aforesaid establishments or in the distribution or tr a n s m is s io n of merchandise or messages who appears to the inspector to be under the legal age is required to procure from the city or parish physician a certificate as to the physical fitness of said child to perform the work dr service he or she is required to do. [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s,8] P resence to be evidence o f e m p lo y m e n t. —The presence of any child under 14 years of age in any of the establishments enumerated in section 1 [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3. p 414; 1908 A 301 s 1 as amended by 1914 A 133 s 2], except during the dinner hour, shall constitute prima facie evidence of his or her employment therein. [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 9] ENFORCEMENT AND PENALTIES. P en a lty f o r h idin g, etc., children on approach o f in spector; em p lo yer or em ployee.— A n y owner, manager, supervisor or employee in any of the aforesaid occupations who shall hide or assist to escape or give warning of the approach of the inspector to any child or https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 99 young person or woman in said establishments shall be deemed guilty of a misde meanor and shall be punished by a fine of not less than $5 nor more than $15 or by inprisonment in the parish jail (parish prison in New Orleans) for not less than ten days nor more than thirty days, or both, in the discretion of the court. [W R L Sudd 1904-1908 v 3 p414; 1908 A 301s 10] S ta te m e n t o f n u m b er o f p erson s e m p lo y ed to be fu r n ish e d in sp ector; p e n a lty . —Any person, owner, agent, firm, manager, copartnership or company in charge of any es tablishment at the time of inspection shall be required to furnish the inspector a true statement of the number of persons employed in such establishment and any person, owner, agent, superintendent, firm, manager, company or copartnership who shall fail or refuse to furnish such statement or willfully understate the number of persons employed shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than $25 nor more than $100 for each offense or imprisonment [im prisoned] for not less than ten nor more than thirty days in theparish jail (parish prison in New Orleans) or both, in the discretion of the court. [W R L Supp 19041908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 11] In sp e cto r to be n o tifie d o f occu pancy o f fa c to r y , etc., where children or w om en are em p lo ye d ; p e n a lty . —Within one month after the occupancy of any factory, workshop or mill or store or other aforesaid occupation [sic] or establishment where children, young persons or women are employed the occupant shall notify the inspector in writing of such occupancy. Failure' to do this shall constitute a misdemeanor and shall be punishable by a fine of not less than $10 nor more than $25 or by imprisonment in the parish jail (parish prison in New Orleans) for not less than ten days nor more than thirty days, or both, in the discretion of the court. [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 12] * TOILETS, DRESSING ROOMS, AND SEATS FOR GIRLS. S ea ts to be p ro v id ed a n d their use p erm itted ; p e n a lty . —Every person who shall employ any female in any factory, mill, warehouse, manufacturing establishment, workshop or store or any other occupation or establishment hereinabove mentioned shall pro vide suitable seats, chairs or benches for the use of the females so employed, which shall be so placed as to be accessible to said employees and shall permit the use of such seats, chairs or benches by them when they are not necessarily engaged in the active duties for which they are employed, and there shall be provided at least one chair to every three females. Failure to comply with this section shall be punishable by a fine-of not less than $25 nor more than $50 or imprisonment in the parish jail (parish prison in New Orleans) for not less than ten days nor more than thirty days, or both, in the discretion of the court. [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 13] D ressin g room s a n d separate to ile ts f o r the sexes to be p ro vid ed ; p e n a lty . —Every factory, mill, manufacturing establishment, workshop, warehouse, mercantile establishment or store and all other occupations and establishments hereinabove mentioned in which five or more young persons or women are employed and every such institution in which two or more children, young persons or women are employed shall be supplied with proper wash and dressing rooms and kept in a cleanly state and free from effluvia arising from any drain, privy or other nuisance and shall be provided, within reasonable access, with a sufficient number of proper water-closets or privies for the reasonable use of the persons employed and at least one of such closets shall be pro vided for each twenty-five persons employed and wherever two or more persons and one or more female person[s] are employed as aforesaid a sufficient number of separate and distinct water-closets, earth closets or privies shall be provided for the use of each sex and plainly so designated, and no person shall be allowed to use any such closet or privy assigned to persons of the other sex, and said closets or privies shall not be locked during working hours. Failure to comply with this section shall be punish able by a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $50 or imprisonment in the parish jail (parish prison in New Orleans! for not less than ten davs nor more than thirty days or both, in the discretion of the court. I W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414: 1908 A 301s 14] FACTORIES, MILLS, AND WORKSHOPS. HEALTH OF MINORS. C lean liness where w om en a n d children are em ployed; p e n a lty . —Every factory, mill or workshop in this State where women and children are employed shall be limewashed or painted when deemed necessary and ordered by the heaith authorities. Failure to comply with this section shall be punishable by a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $50 or imprisonment in the parish jail (parish prison in New Orleans) for not less than ten days nor more than thirty days or both, in the discretion of the court. [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 16] https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 100 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OE MOTHERS IN M INIMUM A G E . C lean in g m achinery i n m o tio n p ro h ib ited f o r m in o rs a n d w om en ; p e n a lty . —No minor or woman shall be required to clean any part of the mill, gearing or machinery in any such establishment in this State while the same is in motion. Failure to comply with this section shall be punishable by a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $50 or imprisonment in the parish jail (parish prison in New Orleans), for not less than ten days nor more than thirty days or both, in the discretion of the court. [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908-A 301 s 17] MANUFACTURING, MECHANICAL, AND MERCANTILE MENTS, ETC. ESTABLISH SA FET Y .\ O p en in g s o f hatchw ays, elevators, etc., where, w o m en a n d children are e m p lo y ed to be protected; p e n a lty . —The opening of all hatchways, elevators and wellholes upon every floor of every manufacturing, mechanical or mercantile or public buildings [build ing] Where women or children are employed in this State shall be protected by good and sufficient trapdoors of [or] self-closing hatches or safety catches or good strong guard rails at least three feet high. Failure to comply with this^section shall be pun ishable by a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $50 or imprisonment in the parish jail (parish prison in New Orleans), for not less than ten days nor more than thirty days or both, in the discretion of the court. [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 18] INJURIOUS OCCUPATIONS. HEALTH OF MINOKS. S ta te in sp ecto r m a y order m echanical m ean s o f v e n tila tio n where w o m en a n d c h ild ren are em p lo yed ; procedure; p e n a lty . —In all establishments in this State wherein children, young persons or women are employed where any process is carried on by which dust, or smoke or lint is generated the inspector shall have the power and authority' to order that a fan, or fans, or some other dust, or smoke or lint removing or consuming contrivance or contrivances be so placed as to prevent the inhalation of such dust or smoke or lint by the employees: P ro v id e d , That two mechanical engineers, one chosen by the inspector and the other by the owner or Owners of the establishment, phg.ll agree as to the necessity of such fan or fans or other dust or smoke or lint removing or consuming contrivance or contrivances. Upon the failure of said two mechanical engineers to agree, a third mechanical engineer shall be chosen to arbi trate. Failure to comply with this section shall be punishable by a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $50 or imprisonment in the parish jail (parish prison in New Orleans) for not less than ten days nor more than six months or both, in the discretion of the court. [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 19] MANUFACTURING, MECHANICAL, AND OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS SAFETY. A cciden ts to be repo rted where w o m en a n d children are em ployed; p e n a l t y — All acci dents in manufacturing, mechanical or other establishments or places within this State where children, young persons or women are employed which prevent the injured person or persons from returning to work within two weeks after the injury or which result in death shall be reported semiannually by the person in charge of such establishment or place to the inspector. Failure to do this shall be deemed a violation of this section and punishable by a fine of not less than $5 nor more than $10 or imprisonment in the parish jail (parish prison in New Orleans) for not less than twenty-four hours nor more than ten days, or both, in the discretion of the court. [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 20.] ALL REGULATED OCCUPATIONS. ENFORCEMENT. Office, etc., to be p ro v id ed f o r in sp ecto r. —It shall be the duty of the city or town or parish employing an inspector or inspectors to provide a suitable office for same and pay for all necessary expenses incurred in the discharge of the duties of said office. I W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 21.] https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 101 A n n u a l rep o rt o f in sp ectio n s, etc. —There shall be an annual report of inspections made and all work and. expenses in connection with said office forwarded to the commis sioner of labor and [in] incorporated towns and cities to the mayor and council of the cities and towns employing said inspector or inspectors. [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 22.] A p p o in tm e n t a n d d u ties o f fa c to r y in sp ecto r in N ew O rleans. —The mayor of the city of New Orleans, with the consent of the council, shall appoint a factory inspector, who may be either male or female, to see that the regulations of this act [1908 A 301] are observed and also to prosecute all persons who shall violate the same. Such inspector shall be paid a salary of not more than twelve hundred dollars per annum. [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 414; 1908 A 301 s 23 as amended by 1912 A 61.] MERCANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS. HOURS OF LABOR. One hou r f o r m id d a y m eal required in reta il establish m en ts in certain cities. —It shall be unlawful for any proprietor or proprietors, firm or corporation doing business in this State, in cities of more than fifty thousand inhabitants, engaged in the retail business, or conducting retail department stores or retail establishments, not to allow their clerks at least one hour of the day, between the hours of 10:00 a. m. and 3:00 p. m. for their midday meal, lunch or recreation. [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 426; 1904 A 195 s i . ] P e n a lty . —Any proprietor or proprietors, firm or corporation found guilty of, or [sic] evading, the provisions of this act [1904 A 195] shall be deemed guilty of a misde meanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars ($25) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100), and in default of payment thereof be imprisoned not less than fifteen davs (15) nor more than six months (6). [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 426;-1904 A 195 s 2.] CHILD LABOR AND VAGRANCY. P erso n s liv in g o n earn in gs o f their children m a y be declared vagran ts by m u n ic ip a litie s , etc. —The several municipal corporations and police juries of the respective parishes throughout the State are hereby authorized and empowered to adopt ordinances declaring vagrants and punishing as such * * * all persons able'to work who do not work, but who live upon the wages or personal earnings of their wives or minor children. [W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 897; 1908 A 205 s 1.] P e n a lty . —It shall be lawful for the several municipal corporations and police juries of the respective parishes throughout the State to punish vargrancy as authorized by this act [1908 A 205] to be defined by a fine of not less than ten dollars nor more than thirty dollars, or by an imprisonment of not less than ten days nor more than thirty days in the municipal or parish jails, or both, at the discretion of the court. [ W R L Supp 1904-1908 v 3 p 897; 1908 A 205 s 2.] EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS. COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE IN NEW ORLEANS. C hildren f r o m 8 to 14, in clu sive; f r o m 14 to 16 i f n o t reg u larly a n d la w fu lly em ployed; excep tio n s. —Every parent, guardian or other person, residing within the boundaries of the Parish of Orleans, having control or charge of any child or children between the ages of eight (8) and fourteen (14) years, inclusive, shall send such child or children to a public, private, denominational, or parochial day school each school year, during the time in which the public schools of the Parish of Orleans shall be in session, under such penalty for noncompliance herewith as is hereinafter provided. Said child or children may be excused from such attendance by the attendance or truant officers of the parish, upon the presentation of satisfactory evidence that the bodily or mental condition of the child or children is such as to prevent or render inadvisable attendance at school or application to study; or that such child or children are being instructed at home in the common school branches, or that the child or children have completed the prescribed elementary school course of study, or if the public school facilities within twenty city blocks of the home of the child or children are not adequate to accommodate such child or children: P ro vid ed , That no excuse from attendance shall be valid for more than three months, except where the child has completed the elementary course, or if the public school facilities within twenty city blocks of the home of the child or children are not adequate to accommodate such child or children. Every parent, guardian, or person in the Parish of Orleans https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 102 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OP MOTHERS IN having charge or control T>f a child between the ages of 14 and 16 years who is not regularly and lawfully engaged for at least six hours each day in some useful employ ment or service, shall cause said child to attend regularly some day school according to the provisions of this section. [1910 A 222 s 1 as amended by 1912 A 232] P e n a lty for 'principal, teacher, p a re n t, etc. —Any principal, teacher, parent or guard ian, or other persons having control or charge of such child or children, who shall fail to comply with the provisions of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misde meanor, and upon conviction shall be liable, for the first offense to a fine of not more than five ($5.00) dollars, and for each subsequent offense to a fine of not more than ten dollars, and in default of payment of such'fines, to imprisonment in the parish prison for a period not exceeding five days. * * * [1910 A 222 s 3] E nforcem en t: D u tie s o f attendance or tru a n t officers.—The attendance or truant officers of the parish shall on complaint of any person make a full and impartial investigation of all charges against parents or guardians or other persons having control of any child or children for violation of any of the provisions of this act. If it shall appear, upon such investigation, and after "the three days notice hereinafter provided shall have been given that any parent, guardian, or other person has violated any of the provi sions of this act, it is hereby made the duty of said attendance or truant officers to make and file, in the proper court, a complaint in legal form against such parent, guardian, or other person, charging such violation, and to assist in the prosecution of such charges by the proper authorities. [1910 A 222 s 5.] E nforcem en t: A p p o in tm e n t o f attendance or tru a n t officers.—The board of directors of the Parish of Orleans shall appoint, with the power to remove at pleasure, one or more male attendance or truant officers, and shall fix their compensation, payable from the school fund of said parish and shall prescribe their duties, not inconsistent with law, and make rules and regulations for the performance thereof. [1910 A 222 s 6.] N ote.—[Section 71, act 214 of the Acts of 1912, which repealed “ all laws or parts of laws in conflict,” authorizes the board of directors of the public schools of the Parish of Orleans to “ select an attendance officer, and employ such other officers, clerks, and assistants as m ay be necessary to properly conduct the public schools of the parish.”] E nforcem en t: D u tie s a n d pow ers o f attendance or tru a n t officers— T o aid in the enforce ment of this act, the attendance or truant officers shall, in addition to the other duties provided elsewhere in this act, have full police power, the authority to serve warrants and to enter factories, workshops, stores, and other places^ where children may be emploved, and do whatever may be found necessary for investigation and in the enforcement of this act. It shall be the duty of the attendance or truant officers to see that the provisions of this act are complied with, and when from personal knowl edge, or report to them, or complaint from any resident or teacher of the parish under his supervision, he has reason to believe that any child, subject to the provisions of this act, is habitually absent from school, he shall immediately give written notice to the parent or guardian or other person having control of such children, that the attendance of such child is required at school and if within three (3) days such parent or guardian or other person having control or charge of such child does not comply with the pro visions of this act and enter said child in a school, said truant officer shall make com plaint against such parent, guardian, or other person having control of such child or children in the proper court, charging such violation, and shall assist in the prosecu tion of such parent or guardian or [sic] by the proper authorities, and in the event of such parent, guardian, or other person being found guilty by the court shall be pun ished [sic] as hereinabove provided. [1910 A 222 s 7.] SCHOOL CENSUS IN NEW ORLEANS. E n u m era tio n o f children fr o m 6 to 18 — It shall be the duty of the assessors and the board of assessors of the Parish of Orleans to make a correct enumeration by giving the name of the educable children between the ages of 6 and 18 years in the respective parishes and wards by race and sex. This list of educable children shall be made in triplicate form and written in ink. One list shall be furnished to the auditor of public accounts, one list to the State board of education, and one list to the'board of school directors of the parish in which the enumeration is made. The said assessors of the parishes shall also make a separate correct enumeration of the blind and deaf and dumb children between the ages of 6 and 18 years in their respective parishes by wards. giving the name, race, and sex of said children, and shall furnish to the State board of education one separate list of said blind children and one separate list of said deaf and dumb children. It shall be the duty of the assessors and the board of assessors of the Parish of Orleans to swear to the correctness of said lists before a competent officer, who shall attach a certificate thereof on each list before filing them. [W B L Supp 1904-1908 s 3 p. 230; 1908 A 48 s 1.] https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 103 DANGEROUS, INJURIOUS, AND IMMORAL OCCUPATIONS. MINIMUM AGE. E m p l o y m e n t u n d e r 1 7 i n b i l l i a r d o r p o o l r o o m s p r o h i b i t e d .—It shall be unlawful for any person, whether as proprietor, agent, manager, employee, lessee or1otherwise, conducting or carrying on any place where pool or billiard games of any sort are oper ated, for pay or otherwise, to allow or permit minors under the age of 17 years within such places, or to be employed therein * * *. [1912 A 25 s 1.] P e n a l t y .—Whoever shall violate any of the provisions of this act shall be regarded as contributing to the neclect and delinquency of children and shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction for violation of any of the provisions of this act shall be fined not less than $25 nor more than $100, or shall be sentenced to be con fined in the parish jail or prison for not more than three months, or may be both fined and imprisoned as above set forth, in the discretion of the court. [1912 A 25 s 2.] DANGEROUS, INJURIOUS, AND IMMORAL OCCUPATIONS; PUBLIC EXHIBITIONS. MINIMUM AGE AND EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATES. E m p l o y m e n t under 1 & in rope w a lking , acrobatic performances,' singing, dancing, the a t r i c a l e x h i b i t i o n s , etc., p r o h i b i t e d ; p e n a l t y ; e x c e p t i o n s ; p e r m i t s m a y r b e i s s u e d b y j u v e n i l e court e x e m p t i n g children f r o m p r o v i s i o n s r e l a t i n g to p u b l i c exhibitions, etc.; c o n d i t i o n s , .—A person who employs or causes to be employed, or who exhibits, uses, or has in custody, or trains for the purpose of exhi bition, use, or employment of, any child actually or apparently under the age of six teen years, or who has the care, custody, or control of such a child as parent, relative, guardian, employer, or otherwise, sells, lets out, gives away, so trains, or in any way procures or consents to the employment, or to such training or use, or exhibition of such child; or who neglects or refuses to restrain such child from such training or from engaging or acting: 1. As a rope or wire walker, gymnast, wrestler, contortionist, rider, or acrobat, or upon any bicycle or similar mechanical vehicle or contrivance; or, 2. In singing; or dancing; or playing upon a musical instrument; or in a theatrical exhibition; or in any wandering occupation; or, 3. In any illegal, indecent, or immoral exhibition or practice; or in the exhibition of any such child when insane, idiotic, , or when presenting the appearance of any deformity or unnatural physical formation or development; or, 4. In any practice or exhibition or place dangerous or injurious to the life, limbs, health, or morals of the child; shall beregarded as contributing to the neglect and delinquency of children and guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in a sum not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than two hundred and fifty dollars, or shall be imprisoned in the parish jail or parish prison for not more than two years, or by [sic] both such fine and imprisonment: A n d p r o v i d e d f u r t h e r , That any person, firm, or corporation licensed as or holding a license for any theater within this State, who shall be convicted hereunder, shall, upon such conviction forfeit such license. But this act does not apply, nor shall any act prior thereto apply, to the employment of any child as a singer or musician in a church, school of [or] academy, or in teaching or learning the science or practice of music, or in a theatrical exhibition or as a musician in any concert, where a. permit therefor has first been secured from a judge of a juvenile court, or a district court acting as a juvenile court. In the case of a nonresident child no permit shall be granted unless such child be accompanied by a parent or a guardian or a custodian duly designated in writing, attested by a notary public by said child’s parents or guardian; nor shall said permit be granted unless it be shown to the satisfaction of the court that said child is receiving and during the period of said permit will receive proper instruction and teaching in common schoolstudies. The court granting such permit shall have the power to exact from the employer of the child, as a condition precedent to the granting of such permit, under such stipulations and conditions as may be determined by the judge of such court, a bond in a sum not exceeding two thousand dollars, to be executed in favor of the State of Louisiana, and conditioned to secure and guarantee the proper tuition as well as the moral and physical health of s.uch child while in such employment. Such bond may be forfeited by showing a breach thereof in the State of Louisiana or else where, and in such proceedings testimony may be taken as provided by law in civil cases in the civil courts of this State. Such permit shall not be given unless previous [sic] twenty-four hours’ previous notice of the application therefor shall have been served in writing upon the society for the prevention of cruelty to children, if there be one in the parish, and a hearing had thereof, if requested, and such permit shall be revocable at the will and discretion of the authority granting it. The permit shall m e t h o d s o f issuing, a n d contents o f p e r m i t s https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 104 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS. specify the name of the child, its age, the names and residence of its parents, or guardians, and its employers; the nature, time, duration, and number of performances permitted, together with the place and character of the exhibition. But no such permit shall be deemed to authorize any violation of the first, third, or fourth sub divisions enumerated above. [1912 A 184 s 1] N ote .—[Act 59 of 1892, prohibiting the employment of children under 15 in rope-walking, acrobatic per formances, etc., appears to be superseded by this act, which raises the age lim it for such employment to 16 years. The act of 1892 also provides th a t no license shall be granted for a theatrical-exhibition or public show in which children u n d er 15 are employed as contortionists, acrobats, etc., “ or where in the opinion of the mayor of a city or town authorized to grant licenses, such children are employed in such a m anner as to corrupt their morals or im pair their physical health.”] EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS. COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE OUTSIDE NEW ORLEANS. C hildren f r o m 7 to 14 years; exception s. —From and after September the first, 1916, every parent, guardian, or other person residing within the State of Louisiana, having control or charge of any child or children between the ages of seven and fourteen years, both inclusive, shall send such child or children to a public or private day school under such penalty for noncompliance herewith as is hereinafter provided. [1916 A 27 s 1.] M in im u m session o f attendan ce. —The minimum session of attendance required under this act shall be one hundred forty days, or for the full session of the public schools where the public school session is one hundred forty days or less, and children shall be required to enter school not later than two weeks after the opening of the session or term. [1916 A 27 s 2.] E x c ep tio n s. —The following classes of children between the ages of seven and four teen years shall be exempted from the provisions of this act, the parish school board to be the sole judge in all such cases: (a) Children mentally or physically incapaci tated to perform school duties; (b) children who have completed the elementary course of study; (c) children living more than two and one-half miles from a school of suitable grade and for whom free transportation is not furnished by the school board; (d) chil dren for whom adequate school facilities have not been provided; (e) children whose services are needed to support widowed mothers. [1916 A 27 s 3.] P en a lties.— All cases of violation of the foregoing provisions by any parent, guardian, or other person having control of children, shall be tried in the proper courts having jurisdiction, and the penalty for every violation of any of said provisions shall be a fine not exceeding ten dollars, or not exceeding ten days in jail, or both, at the discre tion of the court. [1916 A 27 s 4.] T ru an cy defined. —Truancy as herein used is defined to be absence from school for more than one week without cause. [1916 A 27 s 6.] https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis M IS S IS S IP P I. ALL OCCUPATIONS. MINIMUM AGE. In d u c in g children to leave hom e f o r e m p lo y m e n t; p e n a lty . —Any person who «hall persuade entice, or decoy away from its father or mother, with whom it resides any child under the age of twenty-one years if a male, or eighteen if a female, being unmarried, tor the purpose of employing such child without the consent of its parents or one of them shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than twenty dollars, or [by] imprisonment in the county jail not more than thirty days, or both. [Code 1906 section 1080] CHILD LABOR AND VAGRANCY. P erso n s liv in g o n ea rn in gs o f their children declared va g ra n ts.— The are and shall be punished as vagrants, v iz .: * * * * * following persons * * (m) All persons who are able to work and do not work, but hire out their minor children or allow them to be hired out, and live upon their wages. [C 1906 s 5055] .P n fo r c e m e n t: d u tie s o f sheriffs, etc. —It shall be the duty of every sheriff, deputy shenlf and constable in every county, and of the police, town marshal, deputy marsfials,_ and of other like officials in every county, city, town, or village^ in the State to give information under oath to any officer empowered to issue criminal warrants of all vagrants within their knowledge, or whom they have good reason to suspect as being vagrants in their respective counties, cities, towns, and villages; thereupon the said officer shall issue a warrant for the apprehension of the person alleged to be a vagrant. [C 1906 s 5056] E n forcem en t: charges b y citizen s, etc. —All informations charging vagrancy shall be ujider oath; and while it is made the special duty of the officers named in section 5056 hereof to file the said informations whenever they shall have knowledge or good reason to suspect that any person is a vagrant as defined by any clause or section of this act [s 5055-5063], yet any information charging vagrancy may be charged under oath by any resident of this State. [C 1906 s 5057] P e n a lty . —Whenever any person shall have been arrested on a charge of vagrancy he shall immediately be carried before a justice of the peace of the district in which the offense occurs, or before the mayor or police justice ot any city, town, or village if said offense occurs within the corporate limits of same, and on satisfactory evidence 2* being a vagrant, the justice or mayor or police justice shall commit such person to jail for not less than ten nor more than thirty days, and said person so committed shall serve said sentence for the prescribed time, and shall not be liberated from such sentence by payment for the tune required to be served by said sentence, unless such person give bond, with sufficient security, to be approved by said justice or mayor or police justice, in any sum not less than two hundred and one dollars, for the future industry and good conduct of such person for one year from the date of giving of such bond. * * * [0 1906 s 5058] s s P e n a lty f o r second offense.— Whenever any person shall be convicted of a second ? of vaSr?,ncY> no. matter under which head of this chapter [ss 5055-5063], he shall be committed to jail for not less than ninety days nor more than six months, and shall serve said sentence for the prescribed time, and shall not be liberated from _uch sentence by payment for the time required to be served by said sentence; and -in all cases where any person shall be convicted of vagrancy, in addition to being committed to jail as herein provided, such person shall also pay all costs, and shall stand committed until same is paid, and this shall apply to all cases, whether such persons give bond as herein provided or not. [C 1906 s 5061] 105 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN 106 MANUFACTURING AND CANNING ESTABLISHMENTS, ETC. MINIMUM AGE. E m p l o y m e n t o f b o y s u n d e r 1 2 a n d g i rls u n d e r 1 4 p r o h i b i t e d .—No girl under the age of fourteen years or boy under the age of twelve years, shall be employed m p* permitted to7 work in any mill, factory, manufacturing establishment or cannery in this State. [1908 C 99 s 1 as amended by 1912 C 165] HOURS OP LABOR. a d a y , 4 8 a w e e k , a n d n i g h t w o r k prohibited, f o r b o y s u n d e r —No boy under the age of sixteen years of age and no girl under the age of eighteen years of age shall be employed or detained m any m ill factory, cannery or manufacturing establishment within this State for more than eight hours m any one day, or more than forty-eight hours in any one week, or be employed m or detamed in any such establishment between the hours of 7 p. m. and 6 a. m. [1908 C 99 s 2 as amended by 1912 C 165] Eight hours under 18 EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATES. A f f i d a v i t s r e q u i r e d u n d e r 1 6 .—It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to employ or detain or permit to work in any mill, factory, cannery, or manufactunng establishment in this State any child under the age of sixteen years without first requiring said child to present the affidavit of the parent or guardian or person standing inparental relation to such child, stating the place and date of birth of such child, and also stating the last school attendance of such child and grade of studies pursued, S d the name of school and name of teacher in charge. The employer shall Preserve such affidavit and keep a complete register of all such affidavits showing all the facts contained therein. [1908 0 99 s 3 as amended by 1912 C 165] ENFORCEMENT ANB PENALTIES. D u t i e s o f c o u n t y h e a l t h officers .—It is the duty of each county health officer to visit, without notice of his intention to do so, all manufacturing establishments einploying child labor within his county at least twice each year, and oftener i,f requestea by_the sheriff and to promptly report to the sheriff any unsanitary condition of the premises, anv child or children afflicted with an infectious, contagious, or communicable disease, o? whose physical condition renders such child or children incapacitated to perform the work required of them; and the sheriff shall promptly remove such child or children from such manufacturing establishment and order the premises put in sanitary con dition- and the judgment of the county health officer as to the physical condition of the children and sanitary condition of the premises shall be final and conclusive. llt r i W S S a * ela i. be the ,d u ty o . £ circuit ju d g * * specially charge the grand jury to investigate violations of this act. 11908 L yy s b aS R ^ u ^ ^ i n f o m a H o n , et c .—Any officer, manager, or superintendent of any manufac turing establishment, in which child labor is employed, who shall fail or refuse true and correct information demanded of him by any of the officers hereinbefore directed to inspect such establishments, or who shall fail or refuse to obev any lawful order of the sheriff or health officer of the county in which such establishment is located for carrying out the purposes of this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, “ Î S 3 n , »hall L Sued not le » than ten: dollars nor more than one hundred dollars. [1908 G 99 s 7 as amended by 1912 C 165] A . I l l e g a l e m p l o y m e n t , et c .—Any person, firm, or corporation, er the superintendent, manager or anv officer of a manufacturing establishment employing any child, or on^eldld to be employed by or work in orbe detained m any mill, factory, or 1m ^ffiact^ n^ est^ H slun m it^ n th!s°State contrary to law, shall be guilty of a ^ uuon conviction, shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, or may be sentenced to the county jail for not less than tendays6nor more than sixty days or [snffer] both such fine and rmpnsonment. [1908 C 99 s 8 as amended by 1912 C 165] . fe N ote -[S e c tio n s 4 and 9 of th e above a ct, p la tin g to e^ orcem en t exempting fruit cannefies, and, defining the application of the act, were repealed b y section 8, chapter 163, A cts oi ihiaj https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER. AND SHRIMP CANNING COMMUNITIES. 107 MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS, ETC. HOURS OF LABOR. T e n h o u r s a d a y ; a d m i t m a l e s h a n d l i n g perishable agricultural p r o d u c t s excepted; other It shall he unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation engaged in manu facturing or repairing to work their employees more than ten hours per day, except in cases of emergency, or where necessity requires in such departments; but this provision shall not extend to those persons, firms, or corporations engaged in handling or converting perishable agricultural products in season who work adult male labor only m connection therewith. [1912 C 157 s 1 as amended by 1914 C 168] T e n h o u r s a d a y , 6 0 a w e e k ; e x c e p t i o n s .—It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation engaged in manufacturing or repairing to work their employees more than ten hours per day, except in cases of emergency, or where the public necessity requires in such departments: P r o v i d e d , That persons may work not more than thirty minutes additional each day for the first five days of the week, the additional time so worked to be deducted from the last day of the week: P r o v i d e d , That persons who work at night only, may work eleven and one-quarter hours for the first five nights_of the week, beginning with Monday night, and three and three-quarters hours Saturday night, but sixty hours shall constitute a full week’s work under the provisions of this act.1 [1912 C 157 s 1 as amended by 1914 C 169 and 1916 C 239 s 1] A p p l i c a t i o n o f a c t .—Nothing in this act shall apply to railroads or their employees or to public service corporations. [1916 C 239 s 2] P e n a l t y .—Any person, firm, or corporation violating this act shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than ten dollars nor more than fifty dollars for each offense, and each day’s violation shall constitute a separate offense. [1912 C 157 s 2 as amended by 1914 G 168] exceptions. C ourt d ecision s.—A former.act on the above subject was held constitutional. I t was held to apply to cottonseed oil mills. If a workman is required to be on duty for more th an ten hours, although not employed during the entire period, the act is violated.—Buckeye Cotton Oil Co. ». State, 60 So 775 09131 A former act on this subject was also held constitutional. The word “ m anufacturing" is used in its usuai sense, and means an organized force of laborers working with machinery to produce from raw materials ^ / i f i s h e d produet. This includes a sawmill,—State v. Newman Lumber Co., 103 Miss. 263, 59 So. 923 and 60 So. 215 (1912). ALL REGULATED OCCUPATIONS. ENFORCEMENT. A p p o i n t m e n t o f f a c t o r y i n s p e c t o r . — [ The] State board of health shall appoint and may remove for cause a special inspector who shall have the title of factory inspector and who shall be a person having competent knowledge of factories and capable of performing the duties prescribed below. Such inspector shall execute bond in the penalty of three thousand ($3,000.00) dollars, payable to the State, for the faithful performance of his or her duties. [1914 C 163 s 1] D u t i e s o f f a c t o r y i n s p e c t o r .—It shall be the duty of the factory .inspector to inspect all factories and canneries where women and children are employed at least three times each year. ^ Such inspector shall collect evidence of violations of the laws of the State relating to the employment of women and children, and furnish such information to the county or district attorney in the county in which said violation occurred. Such inspector shall report annually, under the direction of the secretary of the State board of health, the number of women and children employed in the different cotton and knitting mills and canneries in the State, and the number of violations found and disposition of each. [1914 O 163 s 3] D u t i e s o f f a c t o r y i n s p e c t o r .—Said inspector shall report annually to the secretary of State board of health the number of industrial establishments in this State which it is made his duty to inspect, the number of employees, the number of inspections made, the number of violations found, and the disposition of each, and such other information as may be deemed valuable and necessary, and shall enforce the laws of thé State in factories and other establishments where women and children are employed. [1914 0 163 s 4] P e n a l t y f o r r e f u s i n g i n f o r m a t i o n o r h i n d e r i n g i n s p e c t o r .—Any officer, manager, or other agent of any factory, or cannery subject to the provisions of this act who shall feil or refuse to give true and correct information demanded of him by the State factory inspector, or who shall attempt to prevent the factory inspector from entering such establishment in the regular performance of the duties of such inspector, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction be fined not less than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars. [1914 0 163 s 5] 1 This section was also amended b y chapter 168 of the acts of 1914, quoted above. were approved on March 28,1914, and the penalty apparently applies to both. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Both am endments 108 CHILD LABOR AND THE WORK OF MOTHERS IN COTTON AND KNITTING MILLS. MINIMUM AGE. E m p lo y m e n t o f boys u n der 12 a n d g irls u n der 14 pro h ib ited . —No boy under the age of twelve years and no girl under the age of fourteen years shall be employed or per mitted to work in any cotton mill or knitting mill in this State. [1914 C 164 s 1] HOURS OF LABOR. E ig h t hours a d a y, 48 a week, a n d n ig h t w ork pro h ib ited , f o r boys u n der 14 a n d g irls u n d er 16; 10 hours a d a y, 60 a week, for other e m p lo y e e s — No boy under fourteen years of age and no girl under sixteen years of age shall be employed or permitted to work in any cotton mill or knitting mill more than eight hours in any one day, or more than forty-eight hours in any one week, or be employed in or detained in any such estab lishment between the hours of seven p. m. and six a. m., but all other employees of cotton mills or knitting mills may be employed and be permitted to work not more than ten hours in any one day or sixty hours in any one week-. [1914 C 164 s 2] EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATES. A ffid a vits requ ired u n der 1 6 — It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to employ, or detain, or permit to work, in any cotton mill or knitting mill in this State, any child under the age of sixteen years without first requiring said child to present the affidavit of the parent or guardian, or person standing in parental relation to such child, stating the place and date of the birth of such child, and also stating the last school attendance of such child, the grade of study pursued, and the name of the school, and the name of the teacher in charge. The employer shall preserve such affidavit and keep a complete register of all such affidavits, showing all the facts con tained therein; [1914 C 164 s 3] » ENFORCEMENT. D u tie s o f sh eriffs— I t shall be the special duty of the sheriff of the county in which the cotton mills or knitting mills employing child labor are located to visit, at least once each month, such cotton or knitting mill, to see to the enforcement of this act. |1914r C 164 s 4 ] ' D u tie s a n d pow ers o f sheriffs a n d health officers.—It shall be the duty of the county health officer to visit, without notice of his intention to do so, all cotton mills and knit ting mills employing child labor within his county at least twice each year or oftener if requested by the sheriff, and to promptly report to the sheriff any unsanitary con dition of the premises, any child or children afflicted with infectious, contagious or Communicable disease, or whose physical condition renders such child or children incapacitated to perform the work required of them, and the sheriff shall promptly remove such child or children from such cotton mill or knitting mill, and order the premises put in sanitary condition, and the judgment of the county health officer as to the physical condition of the children and the sanitary condition of the premises shall be final and conclusive. [1914 0 164 s 5] . , P r o s e c u tio n — It shall be the duty of the circuit judge to specially charge the grand jury to investigate violations of this act. [1914 0 164 s 6] PENALTIES. V io la tio n o f act or refu sin g in f o r m a tio n — Any officer, manager, or superintendent of any cotton mill or knitting mill in which child labor is employed, who shall fail or refuse to give true and correct information demanded of him by any officer herein before directed to inspect' such cotton mills or knitting mills, or who shall fail or refuse to obey any lawful order of the sheriff or health officer of the county in which said cotton mill or knitting mill is located, for carrying out the purpose of this act, shall be guilty of a misdeameanor, and upon conviction shall be fined not less than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars. [1914 C 164 s 7] . Ille g a l e m p lo y m e n t— A n y person, firm or corporation, or the superintendent, mansv ger or any officer of the cotton mills or knitting mills employing tany child, or per? mitting any child to be employed by or to work in, or to be detained in. any cotton mill or knitting mill in this State contrary to law, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, or may be sentenced to the county jail for not less *^2/ more than sixty days, or [suffer] both such fine and imprisonment. [1914 0 lb4 s SJ https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis OYSTER AND S H R IM P CA N N IN G C O M M U N ITIES. 109 APPLICATION OP ACT. -'n A c t n o t to repeal la w o f 1912 .—* * * This act shall not be construed as repeal ing any part of chapter 165 of the laws of 1912, except those parts relating to cot ton mills and knitting mills. [1914 C 164 s 9] ALL OCCUPATIONS. HOURS OP LABOR FOR GIRLS. Ten hours a da y, 60 a week; exception s .—It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to work [sic] any female or girl in any laundry, millinery, dressmaking store, office, mercantile establishment, theater, telegraph or telephone office or any other occupation not here enumerated, to work such female labor or girl more than ten (10) hours per day or more than 60 hours per week except in case of emergency or where public necessity requires such. [1914 C 165 s 1] P e n a lty .—Any person, firm or corporation violating this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than $10.00, nor more than $50.00 for each offense, or imprisonment [be imprisoned] in the'county jail not less than five days nor more than thirty days, or [suffer] both fine and imprison ment. And each day’s violation shall constitute a separate offense. [1914 C 165 s 2] A p p lic a tio n o f act; dom estic w ork excepted .—This act shall not be construed to con flict with the child labor law of the sheet Acts of 1912, chapter 165, nor to apply to domestic servants. [1914 C 165 s 3] EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS. COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. Children f r o m 7 to 14 years .—On and after the first day of September, 1918, every parent, guardian or other person in the State of Mississippi having control or charge of any child or children between the ages of 7 and 14 years, inclusive, shall be required Tb send such child or children to a public school or to a private, denominational, or parochial school taught by a competent instructor, and such child or children shall attend* school for at least 60 days during each and every scholastic year: P ro vid ed , That the county school board, or in case of a separate school district the board of trustees, shall have power to reduce the period of compulsory attendance to not less than 40 days for any individual school: P ro v id e d fu rth er, That the period of compulsory attendance for each school shall commence at the beginning of the school, unless otherwise ordered by the county school board or by the board of trustees of a separate school district, as the case may be. [1918 0 258 s 1] E x c e p tio n s .—Any and all children who have completed the common school course of study or the equivalent thereof shall be exempt from the provisions of this act, and in case there be no public school within 2 \ miles by the nearest traveled road of any person between the ages of 7 and 14 years, inclusive, he or she shall not be sub ject to the provisions of this act unless public transportation within reasonable walking distance is provided: P r o v id e d fu r th e r , That the teacher of any school with the ap proval of the trustees of the school shall have the authority, in the exercise of their discretion, to permit the temporary absence of children from the school between the ages of 7 and 14, inclusive, in extreme cases of emergency or domestic necessity. [1918 C 258 a 2] E x c ep tio n s .—Any and all children who are physically or mentally incapacitated for the work of the school are exempt from the provisions of this act, but the school authorities shall have the right, and they are hereby authorized, when such exemption under the provisions of this act is claimed by any parent, guardian, or other person having control of such child or children, to require from a practicing physician a properly attested certificate that such child or children should not be required to attend school on account of some physical or mental condition which renders his attendance impractical or inexpedient. [1918 C 258 s 3] . E x c ep tio n s .—In case where because of extreme poverty the services of such children are necessary for their own support, or the support of their parents, as attested by affidavit of said parents, the teacher shall, with the consent of the trustees, spare 1ich child or children from attendance; or in case where such parent, guardian, or other person having control of the child shall show before an officer by affidavit that the child is without necessary books and clothing for attending school and that he is unable to provide them, the said child may be excused from attendance until through charity or other means books and clothing have been provided, and thereafter the child shall no longer be exempt from such attendance. [1918 G 258 s 4] https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 110 CHILD LABOR AND T H E WORK OF M OTHERS. E n f o r c e m e n t ; d u t i e s o f p r i n c i p a l t e a c h e r s a n d c o u n t y s u p e r i n t e n d e n t s . —It shall be the duty of the principal teacher of all schools to report to the county superintendent all cases of nonenrollment and nonattendance in accord with section 1 of this act.* In all cases investigated by the county superintendent, where no valid reason for nonenrollment or nonattendance is found, it shall be the duty of the county super intendent to give written notice to the parent, guardian, or other person having control of the child, which notice shall require the attendance of said child at such school within three days from date of said notice. [1918 C 258 s 5] . E n f o r c e m e n t ; p o w e r s o f c o u n t y s u p e r i n t e n d e n t ; p e n a l t y . —If within three days from date of service of such notice, the parent, guardian, or other person having control of such child does not comply with the requirements, the county superintendent may, if he deems it necessary, make affidavit against such parent, guardian, or other person having control of such child before any justice of the peace, mayor, or police justice of any town or city, as the case may be, in which such offense shall be committed, which court is hereby clothed with jurisdiction over all offenders with full power to hear and try all complaints, and on conviction punish by a fine of not less than $1 nor more than $10 for each offense and enforce their collection. [1918 0 258 s 6.] R e p o r t s . —All school officers, including those in private, denominational, or paro chial schools in this State, offering instruction to pupils within the compulsory attend ance ages, are hereby required to make and furnish all reports that may be required by the State superintendent of education and by the countv superintendent of edu cation, or by the trustees of any municipal separate school district, with reference to the working of this act. Every teacher employed in the public schools of the State of Mississippi is hereby required to make a report to the county superintendent or principal of a municipal separate school district in which he may be employed, showing the names and addresses of all pupils who have been truant or habitually absent from school during the previous month, and stating the reason for such truancy dr habitual absence, if known. [1918 0 258 s 7.] L i s t s o f c h i l d r e n a t t e n d i n g . —In order that the provisions of this act may be more definitely enforced, the county superintendent of education shall, not later than 10 days before the annual compulsory attendance term, furnish to each principal of a rural school and to the superintendent or principal teacher of the school ‘or school, in any municipal separate district, a list of all thé children from 7 to 14 years of age, inclusive, who should attend the school or schools under the charge of said principal teacher of the rural school or of the superintendent or principal of the school or schools in any municipal separate district, as the case may be, giving the name, date of birth, age, race, sex, and estimated distance from the schoolhouse by the nearest traveled road, the name and address of parents, guardian, or other person in parental relation ship. [1918 0 258 s 9.] A p p l i c a t i o n o f act. —The provisions of this act shall not be applicable to any county in the State unless and until an election shall have been held to determine whether or not the people of said county or of any supervisor’s district, separate school district, or consolidated school district shall vote to come in under, same. [1918 0 258 s 9a.] E l e c t i o n t o a d o p t act. —The board of supervisors of any county shall, upon petition signed by 20 per cent of the qualified electors of said county, or 20 per cent of the qualified electors of a supervisor’s district, or by 20 per cent of the qualified electors of any separate school district, or by 20 per cent of the qualified electors of any consoli dated school district of said county, order an election to be held in the county at large, or in a separate school district, or in a consolidated school district, as the case may be, to determine the will of the people as to whether said county or separate school district, or consolidated school district shall come under the provisions of this act. *In the event a majority of those voting in said election shall vote for compulsory school attend ance, then the provisions of this act shall apply and not otherwise. [1918 0 258 s 9b.] S u b s e q u e n t e l e c t i o n . — P r o v i d e d , That in any county, or supervisor’s district, or consolidated school district, or separate1school district where a special election shall have been held and carried in favor of the provisions of this act, no subsequent election on the subject of compulsory school attendance shall be held within four scholastic years after the date of-such election. [1918 0 258 s 9c.] A c t i n effect.— This act shall take effect and be in force from and after September 1, 1918. [1918 0 258 s 10.] https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis INDEX, Accidents, liability of children to— During process of work, 6, 30-35. Young children brought by mothers, 8, 35, 67. Acid of shrimp, effect upon hands, 6, 31-34. Age, minim um , for employment, 16. S ee a lso Child-labor laws, State. Ages of children in study, 5, 7,9,11,12. Alum water, use in picking shrimp, 33-34. expense to workers, 33, 57-58. Appropriations for enforcement of labor laws and for oyster industry compared, 17. Babies of working mothers: C a re Factory, 8, 64-68. S ee a lso Accidents. Home, 8, 64, 65, 67-68. Nursery, 23-24, 65-66. Barracks, 7, 75-80. Bums, from acid in shrimp, 6, 31-34. From peeling sweet potatoes, 35. .damps: Community life, 10. Housing. S ee Housing. Isolation, 9-10. Recreation, 9,10. Regulations, 8, 22-23, 53-54. Sanitation, 7, 77,78, 79, 80. S ee also Families, imported. Canneries: Conditions, 5-6, 15, 36-38. Minimum age, 16. Number visited, 9. Oyster, description, 12-13. ^Principal products, 10. : Regulations, 8, 22-26. Canning in d u stry : Effect of th e w ar upon, 8, 9,10,69. ' Irregularity, 5,7,21,24, 46-52, 56. Principal products, 10. Processes— Oyster, 12-13. Shrimp, 13-14. Seasons, 10-11. Care of babies and small children of working mothers: Factory, 8, 64-68. S ee a lso Accidents. Home, 8, 64, 65, 67-68. Nursery, 23-24, 65-66. .ietakers for children of working mothers, 8,23-24, 64, 65, 67-68. Child labor: A ttitude of employers, 18-21. A ttitude of parents, 11-12,14-15,17-18. E x ten t, 11-12. Legality, 16-17. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Child labor—Continued. Occasional— Earnings; 7, 59. Hours of labor, 14-15. . Number of workers, 14. P art tim e— Earnings, 7, 15, 45, 59. Hours of labor, 5,15,40. Number of workers, 14. Regular— Earnings, 7, 59. < Homs of labor, 15,21-30,40. Comparison between cam p and resident workers, 8, 22, 25, 29. Number of workers, 5,14. Relation of father’s death or desertion to, 6, 45. Relation of property to, 6,41, 45-64. Child-labor laws, S tate: Enforcement, 16-17, 21, 83. Appropriation for, compared w ith th a t for oyster industry, 17. Text, 85-110. Violations, 16, 40. Children: As caretakers, 8, 64, 65, 67-68. Employm ent. S ee Child labor. Illiteracy, 5-6, 20, 44. Camp families, 8, 39, 44. Number below legal age of employment, 16. Number in study, 5,10. Imported workers, 69. Under 6 years whose mothers were em ployed, 8. Under 16 years who were employed, 5,11. Occupations, 5, 6,10,12-14. Retardation, 8, 45. SchooVattendance, 5,8,39-45 Sick, employment, 46. Young, care— Factory, 8, 64^68. S ee a lso Accidents. Home, 8, 64, 65, 67-68. Nursery, 23-24, 65-66. Communities studied: Climate, 36. Size, 9. Community life in camps, 10. Compulsory school attendance: Laws, S ta te Enforcement, 39, 83. Need for im provement, 39, 83. T ext, 85-110. S ee also School attendance. Concessions to employed mothers w ith small chil dren, 23, 27, 28. Conditions in shucking and picking sheds, 5-6,15, 36-38. Contract between im ported workers and row boss, 71. Cuts, frequency, 6, 12, 31. Ill 112 INDEX. Dampness in canneries, 5-6, 15,36-38. Day nursery, care of children of working mothers, '23-24,65-66. Death or desertion of father, relation to child labor, 6,45. Description of communities, 9-10. Discomforts and hazards— During process of work, 5-6,12,13,30-38. Young children brought by mothers, 8,35,67. Discrimination against imported labor, 8,22,52,53. Expenses: Additional, for workers, 31,33,57-58. E xtent of child labor, 11-12. Factories. S ee Canneries. Factory inspectors, duties, 16. Fear of, 11-12. Families: • Basis of selection, 9,39. Imported— Contract, 71. Earnings, comparison w ith resident work. ers, 8,52,53. S ee a lso Earnings. Employers’ attitude toward, 72-73. Employers’ discrimination against, 8,22, 52,53-54. Hours of labor, comparison with resident workers, 8,22,25,29. S ee a lso Hours of labor. Housing. S ee Housing. Illiteracy, 8,39,44,84. Number in study, 69. Preference for Polish workers, 7,72. Recreation, 9,10. Recruiting, 70-72. Regulations, 8,22-23,53-54. School attendance, 8,39. Migratory. ( gee Families, imported.) Nationalities, 10. Number in study, 5. Races, 10. Resident, compared w ith camp, 8. Father: Death or desertion, relation to child labor, 6,45. Earnings, 6,46-52. Occupation, 6,10,46-52. Federal Government and education, 83-84. Florida: Community studied, 9. Laws— Child-labor and compulsory-education legis lation, 87-94. Mothers’ pensions, 6,46. Earnings: Children— Daily (individual cases), 11,15,19,21,45. •Irregularity, 6-7,59. Weekly— Average, 7,59-61. Maximum, 7,59,62-64. F a th e r Irregularity, 6,46-52. Relation to child labor, 6,46-52. Weekly— Average, 6,47-50. Maximum, 6,50-51. Mother— Irregularity, 6-7,52,56,57,58. Relation to child labor, 6. Weekly earnings— Average, 6-7,52-55. Maximum, 52,55-56. Education: A ttitude of parents toward, 39,40-44. Negroes, 39,42-44. Education, literacy and schooling of children, 5,8, 20,39-45. Education laws, compulsory, enforcement, 39. Educational facilities for white and Negro, 42. Employers: A ttitude toward— Child labor, 18-21. Education, 18-19,42. Im ported labor, 72-73. Negro labor, 69. Number interviewed, 9. Employm ent between seasons, 56-57. * Gloves: Employm ent of children: Lack of, for young children, 31. E x ten t, 11-12. Use in oyster shucking and shrimp picking, Legality, 16-17. 31-32,57-58. Occasional— Expense to workers, 31,57-58. Earnings, 7,59. Grade in school, 44-45. Hours of labor, 14-15. Number of workers, 14. H ands, effect of shucking and picking upon, 6. P a rt-tim e Hazards and discomforts— Earnings, 7,15,45,59. During process of work, 5-6,12,13,30-38. Hours of labor, 5,15,40. . Young children brought by mothers, 8,35,67. Number of workers, 14. Heating, provisions, 36-38. R e g u la rHigh cost of living, relation to child labor, 45,46,57. Earnings, 7,59. “ Hour workers,’’ 52. Hours of labor, 15,21-30,40. Comparison between camp and resident Hours of labor: Irregularity, 6-7,21,24,46-52,56,59. workers, 8,22,25,29. Relation to low earnings, 6-7,56,59. Number of workers, 5,14. Occasional Workers, 14-15. S ee also Child labor. Part-tim e workers, 5,15,40. Enforcement of State child-labor laws, 16-17,21, 83. Regular workers, 15,21-30,40. Enforcement of State school-attendance laws, 39,83. Comparison between camp and resident Establishments, num ber visited, 9. 8,22,25,29. Principal products, 10. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis INDEX, Housing: Camps— Cleanliness, 76,79,80. Condition of repair, 7,74,76,78,79,84. Congestion, 74-75,76,79,80. Furnishings, 76-77,78-79. Heating, 77,78,79. Privacy, 7,76. Sanitation, 7,77,78,79,80. Type of houses, 7,75-78,79. Ventilation, 79. W ater supply, 77,78,79. Noncamp homes— W h ite Condition, 80. Type, 80. Negro— Condition, 81,82. Furnishings, 81,82. Sanitation, 82. Streets, condition, 81-82. Type, 81-82. Illiteracy, among children, 5,20,44. Camp families, 8,39,44. Among mothers, 44. Im portation of families, 7. Imported workers. S ee Workers, im ported. Industries, shrimp and oyster: Effect of the war upon, 8,9,10,69. Irregularities, 5,7,21,24,46-52,56. Principal products, 10. Inspectors, factory, duties, 16. Fearof, 11-12. irregularity: Canning industry, 5,7,21,24,46-52,56 Earnings— Children and mothers, 6-7,52. Fathers, 6,46-52. Hours Of work, 6-7,21,24,46-52,56,59. Relation to low earnings, 6-7,56,59. School attendance, 5,8,39,40. la b o r , imported, 7,9. Employers’ attitude toward, 72-73. Recruiting, 70-72. Resident workers’ attitude toward, 74. Labor unions, 48. Laws: Child-labor and compulsory-education legisla tion— Florida, 87-94. Louisiana, 95-104. Mississippi, 105-110. Mothers’ pensions— Florida, 6,46. Legality of child labor, 16-17. Lighting in canneries, 38. Literacy and schooling of children, 5,8,20,39-45. Illiteracy in camps, 8,39,44. School grade, 44-45. Living conditions, comparison between camp and resident workers, 8. Location, scope, and method of study, 5,8-11. [isiana: Communities studied, 9,10. Laws— Child-labor and compulsory-education legisIation, 95-104. 56569°—22----- 8 https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 113 M axim um hours of work, 26. Method, location, and scope of study, 5, 8-11. Migratory families. S ee Families, imported. Minimum age for employment, 16. S ee a lso Appendix. Mississippi: Communities studied, 8-9 Laws— Child-labor and compulsory-education legis lation, 105-110. < Mosquitoes, prevalence in camps, 77, 78, 80. Mothers: A ttitude toward child labor, 11-12,14-15,17-18. Desertion of, relation to child labor, 6,45. Illiteracy, 44. Statem ents concerning extent of work done by children, 11-12,14-15. Widowhood, relation to child labor, 6,45. Employed, concessions allowed, 23,27,28. Earnings, 6-7,52-58. Hours of labor , 21-30. Comparison between camp and resident workers, 8,22,25,29. Number in study, 52. Nursing of infants, 8,64,65, 66,67. Occupations, 5, 6,10,13,14, 52. Relation of irregularity of work to low earn ings, 6-7. Unemployed, num ber in study, 52. Mothers’ pension laws, 6, 46. Nationalities of families, 10. Native born, num ber in study, 10. Negro labor, attitude of employers toward, 69. Negroes, education, 39,42-44. Number of children in study, 10. Number of mothers in study, 10. Night schools, attendance of working children, 41, 42,43, 44. Nursery, care of children of working mothers, 23-24, 65-66. Nursing of infants by mothers employed, 8, 64, 65, 66, 67. Occasional workers. See Workers, occasional. Occupations: Children, 5,6,10,12,13,14. Father, 6,10,46-52. Mother, 5,6,10,13,14,52'. Oyster canneries, possibility of improved working conditions, 38. Oyster canning, processes, 12-13. Shucking, effect upon hands, 6,31-32. . Packing, processes, 13,14. Parents, attitude, toward child labor, 11-12, 14-15, 17-18. Toward education, 39,40-44. Part-tim e workers. S ee Workers, part-tim e. Pay, rate of, fluctuation, 6,52,57,58. Comparison between camp and resident workers, 8,52,53-54. Pay schools, use of, by Negroes, 42-44. Peeling shrim p. S ee Picking shrimp. Pension laws, mothers’, 6,46. Period included in study, 8,9,16. Picking shrimp, disagreeable features, 5-6,15,33-34. Effect upon hands, 6,31-34. 114 INDEX. Plum bing, 38, 77-80. Polish workers, preference for, 7, 72. Poverty, relation to child labor, 6,41, 45-64. Relation to nonattendance a t school, 6, 41. Privacy, absence in camps, 7,76. Privies in camps, 77,79,80. Processes, in oyster canning, 12-13. In shrim p canning, 13-14. Public schools, dissatisfaction of Negroes with, 43. Bace of families in study, 10. Rate of pay, comparison between camp and resi d en t workers, 8,52,53-54. Fluctuation, 6,52,57,58. Recreation in camps, 9,10. Recruiting labor, 9,70-72. Regular workers. S ee W orkers, regular. Regularity of children’s employment, 5,14-15. Regulations in camps, 8,22-23,53-54. Resident workers. S ee Workers, resident. Retardation of camp children, 8,45. “ Row boss,” 51,70-71,74. S an itary conditions: Camps, 7,77-80. Canneries, 5-6,15,36-38. School attendance, 5,6,8,39,40,41. Laws, State— Enforcement, 39, 83. Need for im provem ent, 39,83. Text, 85-110. SchooJ grade, 44-45. School term s, length of: White, 42. Negro, 42-44. Schools: Lack of, 10,39. Night, attendance of working children, 41, 42, 43,44. P ay, use b y Negroes, 42-44. Public dissatisfaction with, 39,43. Retardation of camp children, 8,39,45. Salaries of teachers, 42,43. Scope, location, and method of study, 5 ,8 — Hi Seasons for canning, 10-11. Seats in canneries, lack of, 5-6,13,15. Sheds, shucking and picking, conditions, 5-6, 15,' 36-38. Shrimp canning, processes, 13-14. Picking, disagreeable features , 5-6,15,33-34. Effect upon h a n d s,6,31-34. Shucking, effect upon hands, 6,31-32. Sick children, employment, 46. Stagnant water in camps, 77,80. Stalls, use in oyster shucking, 31,32. Expense to workers, 57-58. Standing, constant, in canneries, 5-6, 13, 15, 35, 36. State child-labor law s: Enforcement, 16-17,21,83. Appropriation for, compared w ith th at for oyster industry, 17. Text, 85-110. Violations, 16,40. S ee a lso A ppendix, 85-110. State compulsory-education laws: Enforcement, 39,83. Need for improvement, 39,83. Text, 85-110. Teachers, salaries of, 42,43. Temperature in communities studied, 36. Unem ploym ent between seasons, 56-57. Unions, labor, 48. Ventilation: Camp houses, 79. Canneries, 38. Violations of State child-labor laws, 16-17. Wages: Children, 6-7,11,15,19,21,45,59-64. Father, 6,46-52. Mother, 6-7,52-58. War, World, effect upon canning industry, 8,9,10,69. W ater supply, 77,78, 79. Wetness of work, 5,15, 36-38. Widowhood and desertion, relation to child labor, 6,45. Widows’ pensions, absence, 6,46. Work: Hours of, 21-30. S ee a lso Hours of labor. Irregularity— Children and mothers, 5,6-7,56. Fathers, 6,46-52,56. N ature— Children, 5,6,10,12,13,14. Fathers, 6,10,46-52. Mothers, 5,6,10,13,14,52. Of children, desire to conceal, 11-12,14. Workers: Imported— Contract, 71. Earnings, comparison w ith resident work ers, 8,52,53. •■'f S ee a lso Earnings. Employers’ attitu d e toward, 72-73. Employers’ discrimination against, 8,22,52, 53-54. o https://fraser.stlouisfed.org Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis