View original document

The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.

T

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
FRANCES PERKINS, Secretary

CHILDREN’S BUREAU
GRACE ABBOTT, Chief

CHILDREN ENGAGED IN
NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE
SELLING AND DELIVERING
L I B R A R Y
Agricultural & Mechanical College ot Texas
College Station, Texas.
Bureau Publication No. 227

UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON: 1935

'

v -p

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C.
/

u

*7
C~-

'

n

i


U 65 a
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal
4k.Reserve
^ ^ T Bank of St. Louis

\

>

Price 10 cents


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

CONTENTS
P age

Letter of transmittal______________________
Introduction________________________________________________________
Summary of findings________________________________________________
Working conditions of newspaper sellers__________________________
Working conditions of newspaper carriers_________________________
Working conditions of magazine sellers and carriers________________
Newspaper sellers__________________________
Employment policies____________________________________________
Ages-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hours_________________________________________________________
Earnings_______________________________________________________
Girl newspaper sellers___________________________________________
Social aspects of street selling____________________________________
Newspaper carriers__________________________________________________
Ages-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hours_____________________
Earnings_______________________________________________________
Employment policies________________________
Magazine sellers and carriers_____________________
Employment policies____________________________________________
Ages---------------------------------------Hours and earnings__________________________
Prizes__________________________________________________________
Girl magazine sellers____.____________________ _________ _________ _
Street traders having more than one job______________________________
Cities covered in earlier studies and revisited in 1934__________________
Atlanta, Ga____________________________________________________
Omaha, Nebr___________________________________________________
Paterson, N.J___________________________________________________
Wilkes-Barre, Pa_______________________________________________
Legal regulations____________________________________________________

m


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

v
1
4
5
6
7
9
9
11
13
17
19
20
23
23
25
27
30
38
39
41
42
45
45
46
47
47
50
53
55
58


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

U n it e d S t a t e s D e p a r t m e n t o f L a b o r ,
C h i l d r e n ’s B u r e a u ,

Washington, June 16, 1984..
M a d a m : There is transmitted herewith a report on Children En­
gaged in Newspaper and Magazine Selling and Delivering. This
study, which was made by the industrial division of the Children’s
Bureau, was undertaken in cooperation with the National Recovery
Administration for the purpose of supplying the Government mem­
bers of the Daily Newspaper and Graphic Arts Code Authorities with
the information on this subject requested by the President when he
signed the codes for these industries. As it brings up to date the
Bureau’s earlier studies of street trades and indicates progress toward
a higher age level, its publication seems desirable.
The Bureau is indebted to school superintendents, principals, and
other members of the school staffs in the cities visited, to State and
local officials charged with the enforcement of street-trades regula­
tions, and to officials of social agencies interested in these problems,
whose prompt cooperation made the survey possible. Newspaper
and magazine circulation managers also cooperated by supplying
information regarding employment policies with reference to the
distribution of their publications.
G r a c e A b b o t t , Chief.
Hon. F r a n c e s P e r k i n s ,
Secretary of Labor.
v


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

CHILDREN ENGAGED IN NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE
SELLING AND DELIVERING

INTRODUCTION

In approving the code for the daily newspaper publishing business
on February 17, 1934, the President said, “ I am not satisfied with
the child-labor provisions. * * * The Government members of
the code authority shall give particular attention to the provisions
authorizing minors to deliver and sell newspapers and shall report
* * * not later than 60 days hence.” The President specifically
asked that the report should include recommendations. A similar
report was requested from Government members of the code author­
ity for the graphic-arts industry.
The child-labor provisions contained in the codes may be summed
up as follows:

Regulation of work of
minors under 16

Code for daily newspaper publishing
business

Sellers

Carriers

Minimum age________ No lim itation________ No lim itationHours allowed.............._
Outside schoo hours
N ight work prohibited. 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. from N o lim itation.
Oct. 1 to Mar. 31.
8 p.m. to 7 a.m. from
Apr. 1 to Sept. 30.
Other requirement___ A bility to perform wor z “ w ithout impairment of health.”

Graphic-arts code (magazines, periodi­
cals, advertising newspapers, and cer­
tain other newspapers)
Sellers

Carriers

14.................................... No limitation,
Outside school hours
7 p.m. to 7 a.m. from N o limitation,
Oct. 1 to Mar 31.
8 p.m. to 7 a.m. from
Apr. 1 to Sept. 30.
Ability to perform wor k “ without impairment of health.”

In order to provide a factual basis for determination of standards
governing the employment of children in newspaper and periodical
distribution, the Children’s Bureau of the United States Department
of Labor, in cooperation with the Research and Planning Division of
the National Recovery Administration, undertook in March 1934 a
rapid field survey of children under 16 years of age engaged in this
work in 17 representative cities in different parts of the country.1
In four of these cities 2 the subject had been studied extensively in
• The cities included in the 1934 survey and the number of children interviewed in each city were:
Atlanta, Ga., 233; Baltimore, M d., 297; Buffalo, N . Y ., 206; Chicago, El., 399; Des Moines, Iowa, 229;
Detroit, M ich., 307; Fall River, M ass., 155; Los Angeles, Calif., 205; Louisville, K y., 238; M emphis, Tenn.,
176; N ew Haven, Conn., 205; Omaha, Nebr., 297; Paterson, N . J., 115; San Francisco, Calif., 333; Washing
ton, D . C., 319; Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 173; Youngstown, Ohio, 323.
1 Atlanta, Ga.; Omaha, Nebr.; Paterson, N.J.; Wilkes-Barre, Pa. See Children in Street Work and
Child Workers on City Streets (U.S. Children’s Bureau Publications Nos. 183 and 188, Washington, 1928).

1

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

2

CHILDREN IN NEW SPAPER AND MAGAZINE WORK

earlier surveys, and therefore comparative data are now available on
changes during the past decade.
The Bureau’s inquiry was confined to children under 16 years of
age—the group to which child-labor regulations generally apply. The
study therefore does not show the great extent to which older boys
(16 years of age and over) are being used in newspaper and periodical
distribution.
Schedules were obtained for more than 4,000 children under 16
engaged in newspaper or magazine selling or delivering. These
children were interviewed in public and parochial schools, some
elementary and some junior high schools or regular high schools being
covered in each city. The schools were selected in consultation with
school authorities and with officials enforcing street-trades regulations
in order to cover neighborhoods in which children were known to be
engaged in this work. From five to a dozen schools were included
in the survey in each city, and in most of these schools a canvass
was made of all the children under 16 engaged in newspaper or
magazine work. In this way a representative sample of children
engaged in these types of street work was obtained.
T able 1.—Age and occupation of children engaged in street trades in 17 cities, 1934
Children engaged in street trades

Newspaper sellers

Age at last birthday

Newspaper carriers

Total
Number

Percent
distri­
bution

Number

Percent
distri­
bution

Magazine sellers
and carriers

Number

Percent
distri­
bution

Total__________________

4,210

1,259

Age reported_________________

4,194

1,256

100

1,819

100

1,119

100

178
493
1,651
1,872

49
147
528
532

4
12
42
42

19
89
596
1,115

1
5
33
61

110
257
527
225

10
23
47
20

16

3

Under
10 and
12 and
14 and

10 years___________
11 years___________
13 years___________
15 years___________

Age not reported..... .............. .......

1,830

11

1,121

2

Information was obtained from each child concerning his age at
his last birthday and his hours of work (time of beginning and ending)
and his actual net earnings during the week preceding the interview.8
“ Weekly hours” and “ weekly earnings” throughout this report are
based upon the figures obtained for this week. In the case of news­
paper carriers information was sought concerning time spent in
collecting, soliciting new subscriptions, attending meetings, and
keeping records, as well as time spent in delivering papers. Light is
thus thrown upon the questions: What is the age distribution of the
* Actual earnings Include tips; losses due to failure to collect are also taken into consideration.


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

INTRODUCTION-

3

children under 16 engaged in selling or delivering papers and periodi­
cals? What are their hours of work and their earnings? Measured
by hours and earnings, how effective are children of different ages
in these types of work?
Because of important differences in conditions of work it is necessary to distinguish between the selling and the delivering of news­
papers. With regard to magazines, however, no hard and fast line
can be drawn between delivering to regular customers and selling.
Newspaper selling, newspaper delivering, and magazine distribution
are therefore treated in separate sections of this report.

73748°—35---- 1


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

The survey showed median ages for the groups studied as follows:
Newspaper sellers, 13.7 years; newspaper carriers, 14.3 years, maga­
zine distributors (those selling and delivering), 12.7 years. It is sig­
nificant that the median age of newspaper carriers was higher than that
of sellers, in view of a prevalent belief that carrying papers is a suit­
able occupation for the youngest group of boys. A few children were
found engaged in these types of work who were under 10 years old
(178, or 4 percent). Sixteen children were under 8 years of age.
Only 6 percent of the carriers under 16 years of age were less than
12 years old, and 39 percent were less than 14. Of the sellers under
16 years of age 16 percent were under 12 and 58 percent were under 14.
The magazines apparently rely to a greater extent than the news­
papers upon the services of very young children. Ten percent of the
magazine sellers included in the study were under 10 years of age, 33
percent were under 12 years, and only 20 percent were 14 and 15 years
of age. The numbers found selling magazines increased with each
year of age up to 12 and thereafter decreased with each year up to 16.
Comparison with earlier studies made by the Children s Bureau
between 1922 and 1926 shows that within the last few years there has
been a striking tendency to employ older children. The proportion
of newspaper sellers who were 14 and 15 years old has doubled; the
proportion under 10 years has dropped from 17 to 4 percent. Equally
striking changes have taken place among the carriers. (See tables
2 and 9, pp. 12, 24.) Apparently the shortage of opportunities for
employment of boys of 14 and 15 and even older, brought about by
the depression and, in certain occupations, by the requirements of the
N.R.A. codes, made newspaper work seem more desirable to the
older boys. Another effect of the depression and the surplus of avail­
able labor unprotected by a code minimum wage was reflected in the
decrease in earnings of the children engaged in newspaper selling and
delivering.
While sellers’ total weekly hours have decreased, carriers’ hours
have increased, a result apparently of the spread of the little mer­
chant” system, which requires the carrier boy to spend additional
time in collecting and in soliciting subscriptions. In general, child
newspaper sellers and carriers in 1934 averaged at least a year older
than they did at the time of the previous Children’s Bureau surveys;
working hours of sellers were shorter, but hours of carriers were longer.
4

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

5

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

Earnings of sellers were approximately one-half and earnings of car­
riers three-fourths of what they had been in 1922-26.
The changes are shown in the following comparison:
N ewspaper sellers

Newspaper carriers

1922-26

1922-26

Item

M edian age______
_
M edian weekly hours
M edian w eekly earnings___

y«»Fir9

12.3
16. 2
$2. 76

1934
13. 7
15.6
$1.41

1934

13. 1
8 .8
$2.39

14.3
10.3
$ 1.87

WORKING CONDITIONS OF NEW SPAPER SELLERS
A ges

The age distribution of the sellers interviewed in 1934 was as
follows :
P ercent

Under 12 years_____________________________
12 and 13 years_____________________________________
14 and 15 years____________________________________

jg
42

42

H o u rs

Great variety was found in length of selling time, as is shown in the
following list, giving distribution of weekly hours:
P ercent

Less than 5 hours________________________ _________
_
B etw een 5 and 15 h o u r s .._____________________ ______
B etw een 15 and 25 hours___________________________________
25 hours or more___________________________________

jo

30
28
24

When 25 hours of school time are added it is seen that almost a
fourth of the boys interviewed were occupied 50 hours or more a
week.
As is shown by the median hours and earnings, the youngest sellers
not only worked the longest hours but also had the lowest earnings.
N ig h t s e llin g

On school days 9 percent of all the sellers interviewed sold until
10 p.m. or later. On Saturdays and Sundays 15 percent sold until
10 p.m. or later. Thirteen percent worked until 9 p.m. or later on
school days and 23 percent on Saturdays. Boys selling until 8 p.m.
or later constituted 25 percent of all those selling after school and
34 percent of all those selling Saturdays. Late selling was not con­
fined to boys over 14. Some of the latest hours found in the course
of the study were reported by very young children. Late selling was
not confined to cities of metropolitan size.


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

6

CHILDREN IN NEWSPAPER AND . MAGAZINE WORK

E a rn in g s

Half the sellers interviewed earned less than $1.41 a week. Younger
children, although they sold for longer hours, earned less. Median
weekly earnings and weekly hours of sellers by age were as follows:
E a r n in g s

H o u rs

17. 8
15. 4
15. 4

Under 12 years___________________________________ $0- 82
12 and 13 years__________________________________ !• 30
14 and 15 years__________________________________ 1- 82

Only 7 percent of the newsboy sellers in the study earned $4 or
more a week, and 66 percent of these were 14 or 15 years old. Very
long hours did not always mean higher earnings; 14 percent of the
boys who worked 30 or more hours earned less than $1 a week.
G ir l n e w s p a p e r se lle r s

A negligible number of girls—12 (in 6 cities) out of 1,259 children
interviewed—were found selling papers. One of these was 8 years
old; two were 9; two, 10; one, 11; three, 12; and three, 13.
W O R K IN G C O N D IT IO N S OF N E W S P A P E R C A R R IE R S
A ges

The age distribution of the carriers included in the survey was as
follows :
P ercent

Under 12 years--------------------------------------------------------------------12 and 13 years-------------------------------------------------------------------14 and 15 years--------------------------------------------------------------------

8
33
61

In some cities more than 70 percent of the carriers interviewed
were 14 years of age or over.
Sixteen percent of the carriers interviewed worked on early-morning
routes. In several places the newspapers would hire only boys of 16
years or over on morning routes.
H o u rs

Time spent in delivering papers averaged about 1 hour a day, or 7
hours a week. When time spent in collecting and soliciting is included,
however, median hours were 10.3 a week. Thirty-eight percent of the
boys were through delivering in less than 6 hours a week, but only
20 percent reported total hours as short as this. Delivering rarely
took as much as 15 hours a week; but when time spent at other
activities is included, a fourth of the boys interviewed worked 15 or
more hours a week, and 10 percent worked 20 hours or more.
Older boys handled longer routes and spent more time than the
younger boys in collecting and soliciting; their earnings were corre­
spondingly higher, though earnings were low even for the older group.


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

7

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
E a rn in g s

Median weekly earnings and weekly hours of carriers by age were as
follows:
E a r n in g s

Under 12 years_______________________________

$0. 79

12 and 13 years_________________________________
14 and 15 years............ .........................

1. 35
2. 13

H o u rs

8 2
99
10. 6

Nearly three-fourths of all carriers earned less than $3 a week.
More than one-fourth earned less than $1. Of the 14- and 15-yearold carriers only a third earned $3 or more, and only a sixth earned
$4 or more.
WORKING CONDITIONS OF MAGAZINE SELLERS AND CARRIERS
A ges

The practice of using very young children in magazine distribution
has increased markedly in recent years. The age distribution of the
children included in the survey was as follows:
P ercent

Under 12 years____________________________________
Under 10 years_______________________________ 2 ____
10 and 1 1 years_______________________________
12 and 13 years____________________________________
14 and 15 years______________________________________

33
10
23

47
20

Two-thirds of all the children and about the same proportion of those
under 14 were selling magazines in public places; that is, on streets,
in restaurants, in stores, and so forth. In some cities magazine agents
took groups of children into neighboring towns to sell on Saturdays, all
day.
H o u rs

It took children many hours a week to sell relatively few copies.
Fifty-nine percent of those selling weeklies only sold them on more
than 1 day a week, and nearly a third sold them on more than 2 days
a week.
Selling hours were mainly after school and on Saturdays. About 60
percent reported quitting before 6 p.m., but a small group (9 percent)
sold until 8 p.m. or later on school days.
E a rn in g s

The median number of weeklies disposed of per child was 15 in a
week. Only 8 percent of the children sold as many as 50 copies,
and one-third sold fewer than 10. Monthly magazines constituted a
small proportion of total sales. Sixteen percent of the children re­
porting on the sale of monthlies sold 20 or more copies in a month;
58 percent sold fewer than 10. The number of magazines sold in-


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

8

CHILDREN IN NEW SPAPER AND MAGAZINE WORK

creased with the age of the child. Fifteen percent of the children 10
and 11 years old earned 40 cents or more a week, compared with 25
percent of those 12 and 13 years old and 36 percent of those 14 and
15 years old.
Earnings, however, were extremely low for children of all ages.
Only 96 children (out of 1,091) reported average earnings of as much
as 80 cents a week from sale of both weeklies and monthlies. Of these
children, 36 were 14 or 15 years old, and 79 were 12 years or older.
The chief attraction in selling magazines was not the cash earnings
but the prizes.


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

NEWSPAPER SELLERS

Boys who sell papers on the streets, it is generally stated by school
authorities, newspaper managers, and social agencies, are a radically
different type from boys who deliver papers regularly. Whereas
carriers are encouraged to be neat, well dressed, courteous, and
tactful in their approach to customers, the seller, or “ newsie,” is
more likely to be a “ hustler”, attracting attention by “ hollering”
and fighting his way to supremacy on his corner.
Selling newspapers has long been considered, together with other
forms of street work, an occupation for which ages and hours of work
should be regulated. It is an occupation that may expose the
child to severe physical strain, to inclement weather, and to moral
and physical hazards. The seller is away from his own neighbor­
hood, is largely free from supervision, and may easily be thrown
with associates of a rough or otherwise undesirable type. Since tips
are more plentiful at night, from the after-dinner and after-theater
crowds, there is a constant temptation to prolong selling, disregarding
the need for meals, sleep, or recreation.
In spite of these conditions legal regulation of street trades is not
yet universal. Only 20 States and the District of Columbia have
laws regulating this work by boys. Many of our large cities, how­
ever, are located in these States. A considerable number of cities
have ordinances, but these vary widely in their standards, and most
of them are inadequate. In only two of the cities visited is a mini­
mum age for newsboys as high as 14 years established, either by
law or by ordinance. In 5 cities the minimum age for sellers is
12 years; in 1, 11 years; and in 5, 10 years. In four cities there
is no minimum age. (See Legal regulations, p. 58.) Of the 17
cities included in the present survey, 3 (Atlanta, Youngstown, and
Detroit) have no legal regulations of street trades at the present
time, 10 are covered by street-trades laws, 2 have local ordinances,
and 2 regulate street trades under authority vested in the juvenile
court by virtue of State law.
EMPLOYMENT POLICIES

A little more than half of the 1,259 sellers under 16 years of age
for whom schedules were obtained reported that they obtained their
papers directly from the main distributing rooms of the newspapers
or that the papers were delivered to them on corners by the news9

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

10

CHILDREN IN NEW SPAPER AND MAGAZINE WORK

paper trucks; the others sold for a news dealer or for a corner owner,
or obtained their papers from other newsboys. In one city (Omaha)
trucks from the newspaper offices called at the schools at closing
time to take the children and their papers to their corners; and,
beginning at 7 p.m., the trucks made the rounds of the corners to
pick up the children and take them to their homes. For some of
the boys this is an excellent plan. It does not work out well, how­
ever, for the boys who are last to reach their homes. One 9-year-old
boy reported that he stayed on his corner until 8 p.m. Saturday
and did not reach his home until 10 p.m. On Sunday morning he
was picked up at home at 5:15 a.m. and taken to his corner.
Papers obtained from newspaper companies are sold to the boys
at wholesale rates and resold at retail; this nets the boy an amount
varying from }i cent to 2 cents for each daily paper and from 2 cents
to 5 cents for each Sunday paper. The wholesale rate is not avail­
able to all boys. The circulation department of the newspaper
ordinarily reserves the right to choose the boys who are to sell its
papers and sometimes assigns them to corners, guaranteeing the
corners against competition from anyone selling the same newspaper
but not against competition by sellers of rival newspapers. In
other cities the “ hustler” must establish his own corner rights.
Occasionally a bonus is paid to sellers at strategic corners where
the circulation department desires to build up sales or at certain
other corners to insure that they are covered at times of the day
when sales are infrequent; this is especially true where two papers
are competing vigorously. Men are sometimes paid a bonus of as
much as $1.50 a day, but boys under 16 are seldom paid more than
25 cents.
The custom of buying papers outright and paying for them in
advance appears to have given way to a system of buying on credit,
the newsboy settling with the truck driver or street-sales supervisor
at the end of the day. Unsold papers are now generally returned,
whereas formerly it was common for the boys to bear the loss.
Eighty percent of the boys who reported upon this matter in 1934
stated that they could return unsold papers; 16 percent, that they
could not; and 3 percent, that occasionally they were “ stuck” with
them or that as a disciplinary measure the drivers made the boys
“ eat ’em”, that is, pay for unsold papers.
There was great variety in the arrangements under which boys
who did not obtain papers directly from the newspapers were work­
ing. In some cases the boys earned the same amount per paper as
though they had obtained their supplies from the newspaper office.
Some were paid at a flat rate; others were paid a percentage of their
total sales. The system was not uniform within a city, and the same
news dealer might have different agreements with different boys.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

NEWSPAPER SELLERS

11

The system under which the boys worked seemed to be dependent
on custom and the strength of their bargaining power. Tips formed
an important source of income at certain strategic points; and where
tips could be relied upon, boys were willing to accept a very small
percentage of the usual commission on each paper or were willing
even to buy their papers at the full retail price.
Street sellers were seldom included in the organizations of news­
paper boys maintained by the newspapers. There is less supervision
of sellers than of carriers. The prizes offered for new subscriptions,
which are so highly valued by carriers, are not available to street
sellers. In one city a carrier wrote: “ We get prizes very often,
and they are generally useful in everyday life.” In this city a seller
wrote: “ I wish they would give boys on the corner a chance to go
to the show and to win prizes like the carrier boys.” However, in
several places annual banquets or picnics or athletic contests for the
sellers were customary.
AGES

The circulation managers who gave the ages at which they con­
sidered boys made the best street sellers were divided in their opinions.
None expressed a preference for boys younger than 12. Some pre­
ferred boys 12 years of age or older; others preferred boys 14 years
of age or older. Several preferred a higher age level for sellers than
for carriers. In spite of the expressed preference for older boys, both
the present study and earlier studies show the average age of street
sellers to be lower than the average age of carriers.
Many newspaper circulation managers had issued instructions to
their truck drivers, branch managers, and corner men to enforce the
provisions of the newspaper codes as approved in February 1934. In
some instances they had even gone so far as to establish the policy
of giving out papers or assigning comers only to boys 16 years of age
or over. Instances were found in which instructions on this matter
were issued to independent news dealers as well as to the employees
of the newspaper company. The following order was given out by a
Chicago paper to its truck drivers, to comer men, and to news agen­
cies handling home deliveries:
T h e --------- Co. desires that no minor under the age of 16 years
shall sell or deliver its newspapers. You are not to sell to anyone
under 16 years of age when you reasonably believe that such minor
intends to resell them. This order is effective at once.

In Youngstown, where there is no legal regulation, the circulation
managers within the last 6 months had begun to control the sale of
newspapers by young boys. They had first refused to supply papers
to girls under 16 or to boys under 8 years of age. In the week of the
survey the age limit had been advanced to 10, and it was proposed to
73748°—35----- 3


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

12

CHILDREN IN NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE WORK

eliminate boys under 12 within another 6 months. The two news­
papers in this city had agreed on this plan and neither would give
papers to boys who had been refused by the other paper. They
have also instructed sellers not to give papers to boys under 10 years
of age. Violation of this regulation constituted a reason for refusal
to supply papers.
Circulation managers in New Haven have worked with a social
agency to which complaints regarding newspaper boys are made by
the public. All complaints are investigated, and visits are made to
the child’s parents if necessary. In this way selling by girls and by
young boys, whether they were obtaining their papers from the news­
paper company or elsewhere, has been eliminated.
Although these comparatively recent efforts may have eliminated
some young children, they had not produced marked results as yet.
The average age of newspaper sellers under 16 included in the present
study was more than a year higher than the average age of sellers
under 16 included in the Bureau’s previous group of studies, but this
average is still under 14 years.
Sixteen percent of the sellers interviewed were under 12 years of age
(table 2). The remaining sellers were evenly distributed between the
12- and 13-year age groups and the 14- and 15-year age groups—twofifths in each. Twelve girls were found selling papers; but since the
number was small and their working conditions were the same as
those of the boys, they have been included with the boys in both
tables and discussion. A comparison of the age distribution of the
newspaper sellers interviewed in 1934 and in the earlier study is
shown in table 2. The trend toward employment of older children
is clear. The percentage of children under 12 years has dropped
from 44 percent to 16 percent.
T able 2.— Age of newspaper sellers in 17 cities in 1934- and in 7 cities in 1922-26
Newspaper sellers
Age at last birthday

17 cities, 1934
Number

7 cities, 1922-26

Percent dis­
tribution

1,259

Percent dis­
tribution

Number
1,681

Age reported____________ _______ ___________________

1,256

100

1,677

100

Under 12 years_________________________________

196

16

741

44

Under 10 years____ ____ _____________________
10 years____________________________________
11 years____________________________________

49
55
92

4
4
7

279
193
269

17
12
16

12 and 13 years..................................................... - ............

528

42

584

35

12 years____________________________________
13 years____________________________________

229
299

18
24

306
278

18
17

14 years................. ...................................... .......................
IS years_____________________ ___________ —.........

324
208

26
17

215
137

13
8

3


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

4

13

NEWSPAPER SELLERS

The age distribution was found to vary widely among cities. In
Memphis—where the juvenile court and the newspapers have been
cooperating over a period of 10 years to eliminate street selling by
children—only one seller under 16 years of age was found, and he was
14. Memphis is therefore omitted from the further discussion of
newspaper selling. In Buffalo, Fall River, and Des Moines very few
newsboys under 16 were found. In four additional cities—Washing­
ton, Chicago, Detroit, and Wilkes-Barre—50 percent or more of the
newsboys found were between 14 and 16 years of age. In some cities
many of the boys were younger than 12 years. In Omaha close to
a third of the sellers included in the study were under 12.
Children under 12 were frequently “ hustlers” for comer owners or
assisted their older brothers in selling. However, not all the younger
boys were selling for news dealers or corner men. In one city where
street selling is illegal for boys under 14 years of age, 12 of the 17 boys
who obtained their papers from the main distributing rooms were
under 14 years of age, and 5 of these were 12 years old.
^
HOURS

The long and irregular hours, sometimes extending until late into
the night, which earlier surveys have shown and which make street
selling an unsuitable occupation for young children, were found also
in the 1934 study. Of the 1,248 boys who reported their hours, a
little more than half worked 15 hours or more a week. When these
hours are added to the normal school week of 25 hours half of the
boys are found to have been occupied at least 40 hours, the usual
code work week for adults. Nearly two-fifths of the boys sold for 20
hours or more a week; nearly a fourth sold for 25 hours or more; 12
percent sold for 30 hours or more. A considerable number (19 per­
cent) sold casually, for less than 5 hours a week. The distribution
of weekly working hours of the newspaper sellers was as follows:
Percent

Total reported_____________________________________ 100
Less than 5 hours________________________________________
5 hours, less than 10______________________________________
10 hours, less than 15_____________________________________
15 hours, less than 20________ .____________________________
20 hours, less than 25_____________________________________
25 hours, less than 30_____________________________________
30 hours or more_________________________________________

19
13
17
14
14
12
12

Younger boys often worked the longest hours. Median weekly
hours by age groups were: 17.8 hours for boys under 12 years; 15.4
hours for boys of 12 and 13 years; 15.4 hours for boys of 14 and 15
years. Sixteen percent of the youngest group worked 30 hours or
more, while only 10 percent of the oldest group worked as long as this.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

14

CHILDREN IN NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE WORK

More of the older boys than of the younger boys sold less than 5 hours
a week. (Table 3.) Obviously the 11-, 12-, or 13-year-old boy who
puts in—at school and selling combined—a total week that exceeds
the code standard for an adult is being deprived of the rest and play­
time needed for his normal mental and physical development.
T able 3. —Age and weekly hours of newspaper sellers in 17 cities, 1984
Newspaper sellers
Age at last birthday
Weekly hours

Total
Under 12 years 12 and 13 years

14 and 15 years

N ot re­
Percent ported
N um ­ Percent
um ­ Percent
um ­ Percent
distri­ Nber
distri­ Nber
distri­ N um ­ distri­
ber
ber
bution
bution
bution
bution
Total.

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

Honrs reported
Less than 5 hours____ .
5 hours, less than 10___ _
10 hours, less than 15___
15 hours, less than 20__
20 hours, less than 25 ...
25 hours, less than 3 0 ___
30 hours or more
Hours not reported_______

1,259

196

528

532

3

1,248

100

193

100

525

100

527

100

232
161
207
180
174
147
147

19
13
17
14
14
12
12

28
28
30
19
34
24
30

15
15
16
10
18
12
16

93
73
89
84
64'
57
65

18
14
17
16
12
11
12

111
59
87
77
75
66
52

21
11
17
15

11

3

3

3

13
10

5

Comparatively few boys were found who sold early-morning
papers—a condition similar to that found in the 1922-26 studies.
Only 107 (8 percent) of the boys for whom schedules were obtained
reported selling before school; these were mainly in Washington,
New Haven, Omaha, and Los Angeles. Six boys began selling before
5 a.m.; 14 boys started between 5 and 6 a.m.; 50, between 6 and 7
a.m.; 34, between 7 and 8 a.m.; and 3, at 8 a.m. or later.
About two-thirds of the sellers usually sold on school-day afternoons
or evenings; a somewhat larger proportion sold on Saturdays, but
only about a quarter sold on Sundays.
Night selling was still prevalent, although in some places there has
occurred a notable improvement since the earlier studies. In every
city visited some boys were found selling until 9 p.m. or later, either
on school-day nights or on Saturdays. Some sold up to 11 or 12 p.m.
and even 2 a.m. Thirteen percent of those selling after school, 23
percent of those selling on Saturdays, and 21 percent of those selling
on Sundays did not quit until 9 p.m. or after (table 4). Certain
cities, however, presented a very different picture. In Des Moines,
Buffalo, New Haven, and Washington practically no late selling was
found; nearly all the children who sold after school quit before 8 p.m.
These instances show that boys are not necessary for selling night
papers and that the abuses of late selling can be controlled.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

15

NEWSPAPER SELLERS

On school-day nights selling to 9 p.m. and after was most prevalent
iii Paterson and Detroit—and on Saturday nights in these same cities,
with the addition of Atlanta. Even in these cities there has been
considerable improvement within the last 10 years.
T able 4.—Hour of quitting work on specified days by newspaper sellers in 17
cities, 1934
Newspaper sellers

Hour of quitting work

on Satur­
Worked after school Workedday

Worked on Sunday

Percent
Percent
Percent
Number distribu­ Number distribu­ Number distribu­
tion
tion
tion
T otal___ ____________ _____ ______

1,259

1,259

1.259

Hour reported_________________________

868

100

1,011

100

326

100

Before 7 p .m ________ ____ _____ ____
7 p.m., before 8_____________________
8 p.m., before 9_____ _____ _______ __
9 p.m., before 10...................................... _
10 p.m., before 12________________ . . .
12 p.m. and after___________________
N o work___________________________
Hour not reported___________________ __

400
248
110
30
180

46
29
13
3
9

462
210
109
82
99
49
245
3

46
21
11
8
10

253
3
3
17
37

78
1
1
5
11

387
4

933

1 These 80 children quit selling at 10 or later; some m ay have worked until 12 p.m. or after.

One of the worst situations found in the present survey occurred
in Paterson, N.J., and was connected with the sale of out-of-town—
chiefly New York City—papers. In Paterson sellers outnumbered
carriers in the schools visited. Distributors of out-of-town papers
in Paterson sell to anyone who will buy, and consequently very
young boys were to be seen on the streets at night, especially near
the railway station and the principal motion-picture theaters.
Thirty-six of the 58 sellers interviewed sold until 10 p.m. or later
at some time during the week. The hours that some of the indi­
vidual boys worked and the amounts that they earned on the night
before the interviews were as follows:
Age

Earnings

11
11
12
12
12
14
15

$0. 30
. 45
.5 5
.7 5
.2 0
. 40
.7 5

Hours

9:15-11 p.m.
8:30-11 p.m.
3:30-5 p.m. and 9:307:00-10 p.m.
4:00 p.m.-midnight.
8:45-11:30 p.m.
10:00 p.m.-midnight.

None of these boys could return unsold papers—a fact that may
account for their selling until such late hours. The 12-year-old boy
who sold until 2 a.m. said he got “ stuck” with four papers, which he
was then trying to dispose of.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

16

CHILDREN IN NEW SPAPER AND MAGAZINE WORK

Detroit also stands out as a city wliere a large amount of late-atnight selling occurs. Sixty-one percent of the 80 boys selling on
Saturdays who were interviewed were staying out until 9 p.m. or
later, and almost a third were staying out until 10 p.m. or later,
among them a boy 8 years old. On school-day nights 59 percent
of the sellers quit at 9 p.m. or later, and 35 percent quit at 10 p.m.
or later. Even on Sunday nights more than half the children who
sold stayed out after 9 p.m.
In Chicago, at one of the schools for truant and delinquent chil­
dren, a number of late sellers were found. One boy—still a truant
from time to time—sold regularly until after midnight on school days
and on Sundays outside one of the large hotels; he seldom reached
home before 1 a.m. He received his papers from a newspaper truck
driver. Another 14-year-old boy in the same school sold from 7 p.m.
to midnight on school days, and on Sundays from 3 p.m. to midnight.
He received his papers and made settlements weekly with a corner
manager employed by a newspaper company. This boy often fell
asleep in school. He looked extremely pale and complained of loss
of appetite. (Neither of these boys sold on Saturdays.)
Two boys of 13 and 14, very much undersized for their ages, who
worked together with an older lad, sold on school days from 7 p.m.
to midnight and on Saturdays up to 2 a.m. Occasionally they were
allowed to sleep for a while in a garage, and sometimes they stayed
out all night. Selling in restaurants, they were sometimes treated to
supper by regular customers with whom they were acquainted.
Each claimed that he made $1.20 a night, including tips.
In Chicago, where formerly night selling was a serious social
problem but where the principal papers are making an effort to
comply with code hours, the majority of child sellers are off the streets
by 7 p.m. both on school days and on Saturdays and Sundays.
Several boys reported that they had been instructed to quit by 7 p.m.
and not to work more than 3 hours a day. Yet on school days 23
percent of the sellers quit at 8 p.m. or later, and on Saturdays, 31
percent. A few of the late-edition sellers still stay out until very
late. In Chicago at the time of the study 17 boys (of 108 who sold
after school) were staying out until 9 p.m. or later on school days.
On Saturdays 24 were staying out after this hour, the latest quitting
between 2 and 4 a.m. On Sundays 10 boys (of 85 who sold on
Sundays) quit after 9 p.m.—the last one after 2 a.m.
Everywhere selling on Saturday nights constituted a more serious
problem than selling on school-day nights, both because of the larger
number of boys involved and because of the late hours. In 1 city
18 boys (31 percent of all the boys reported as selling on Saturday)
did not leave the streets until 10 p.m. or later, and 9 did not leave


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

17

NEWSPAPER SELLERS

until midnight or later. Fourteen of these 18 boys obtained their
papers from newspaper companies.
Long hours also are a feature of Saturday selling. A 13-year-old
boy reported that he sold from 9 a.m. Saturday until 4 a.m. Sunday,
with 2 hours off for meals. During the 17 hours he usually sold 80
papers. Another boy, 13 years of age, worked from 6 a.m. until
11.30 p.m. Saturdays, with 2 hours off for meals. TTis earnings for
the 1 day were $5. A 12-year-old boy was on the street from 8 a.m.
Saturday until 2 a.m. Sunday, with 1 hour off for meals. This child
sold papers on school days from 4 p.m. until midnight and on Sundays
from 9 p.m. until midnight. His earnings for the week before the
survey were $2.75.
Many of these children who sold practically all day and all night
on Saturdays worked on school days also. Their total weekly selling
hours in some cases equaled what is considered a full working week
for an adult. In one city three boys, aged respectively 13, 14, and 15
years, had sold for hours ranging from 40K to 49 in the week preceding
the survey. When these were added to the 25 hours that make up a
normal school week, the shortest weekly hours of this group were 65.
Starting immediately after school these three boys sold regularly until
8 or 9 p.m., and on Saturdays from about 11 a.m. until 11 p.m.; the
14-year-old boy sold until midnight. These boys also sold for 6 or 7
hours on Sundays. Their earnings were, respectively, $2.75, $8,
and $3.83.
EARNINGS

Median weekly earnings for the 1,208 sellers reporting this infor­
mation were $1.41. Seventeen percent of the newsboys under 16
earned less than 50 cents a week; 36 percent earned less than $1,
and two-thirds earned less than $2 weekly (table 5). Median weekly
earnings and median weekly hours for different age groups were as
follows:
Earnings

All a g e s ___ ___
Under 12 y e a r s __ ______
12 and 13 years______
14 and 15 years _____

- - ____

82
1 30

Hours

15.
17
15
15.

6
8
4
4

Thus, contrary to a prevailing impression and in spite of the fact
that the younger children worked longer hours, it was the younger
children who earned the smaller amounts. Of the 39 children under
10 years of age from whom information was obtained, 21 earned
less than 50 cents a week. Of the boys under 12 years of age 34
percent earned less than 50 cents a week, whereas only 11 percent
of those 14 and 15 years of age earned so little. Only 7 percent of
all the boys earned $4 or more; 66 percent of this group were 14
or 15 years of age, and only 3 percent were under 12 (tables 5 and 6).

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

18

CHILDREN IN NEW SPAPER AND MAGAZINE WORK

T able 5.— Percent distribution of weekly earnings of newspaper sellers of specified

ages in 17 cities, 1934
Newspaper sellers
Age at last birthday

W eekly earnings
Total

T a b l e 6 . — Age

Under 12 12 and.
13 years
years

14 and
15 years

100

100

100

100

17
19
16
14
18
8
7

34
25
17
11
8
3
2

18
22
16
14
17
6
5

11
15
16
14
22
12
11

and weekly earnings of newspaper sellers in 17 cities, 1934
Newspaper sellers
Age at last birthday

W eekly earnings
Total

Total...................
Less than 50 cents___
$50 cents, less than $1.
$1, less than $1.50____
$1.50, less than $2-----$2, less than $3______
$3, less than $4„*-----$4 or more__________
N ot reported________

1,259
209
232
199
164
215
100
89
51

Total
re­
ported

N um ­
ber

14 and
15 years

12 and
13 years

Under 12
years
Per­
cent

N um ­
ber

Per­
cent

N um ­
ber

N ot
re­
ported

Per­
cent

1,256

196

16

528

42

532

42

3

208
232
199
162
215
100
89
51

63
45
32
20
15
5
3
13

30
19
16
12
7
5
3

89
111
82
71
87
31
27
30

43
48
41
44
40
31
30

56
76
85
71
113
64
59
8

27
33
43
. 44
53
64
66

1
2

. _
..

The total weekly hours of all the boys covered by the study
who earned between $1 and $1.50—the group in which the median
earnings fall—varied widely, as is shown in the following list giving
distribution of working hours:
Percent
distribution

Total reported____ ________________________________
Less than 5 hours___
5 hours, less than 10_.
10 hours, less than 15.
15 hours, less than 20.
20 hours, less than 25.
25 hours, less than 30.
30 hours or more____


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

100
13
15
20
20
14
11

8

19

NEWSPAPER SELLERS

A similar wide variation in working time was found for boys whose
earnings were more than $1.50 (table 7).
T able 7.— Weekly earnings and weekly hours of newspaper sellers in 17 cities, 1934
Newspaper sellers
W eekly horns
Less 5 hours, 10 hours, 15 hours, 20 hours, 25 hours, 30 hours
than 5 less than less than less than less than less than
hours
10
15
20
25
30

Weekly earnings

Total________

1,259 1,248 232

Less than SO cen ts..
SO cents, less than $1
$3, less than $1.50__
$1.50, less than $2__
$2, less than $3_____
$3, less than $4_____
$4 or more_________
N ot reported______

209
232
199
164
215

161

180

174

147

147

208
230
196
164
213
99

100

88

50

Longer hours did not always mean higher earnings. Boys who
worked 30 or more hours a week had no guarantee that they would
earn an amount commensurate with their efforts. Fourteen percent
of them earned less than $1 a week, and only 29 percent as much as
$3 a week (table 8).
T able 8.

Percent distribution of weekly earnings of newspaper sellers working
specified weekly hours in 17 cities, 1934
Newspaper sellers
W eekly hours

Weekly earnings
Total

T otal____ ______
Less than 50 cen ts.____ . . .
50 cents, less than $ 1 ...
$1, less than $1.50____ _____
$1.50, less than $2______
$2, less than $3___________
$3, less than $4___________
$4 or more____ ______

Less
5 hours, 10 hours, 15 hours, 20 hours, 25 hours,
than 5 less than less than less than less than less than 30 hours
or more
hours
10
15
20
25
30

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

100

17
19
16
14
18
8
7

51
31
11
3
3
1

24
29
19
10
14
1
2

11
21
19
15
20
4
8

7
16
22
16
21
10
8

3
17
17
21
21
14
8

5
4
16
20
21
20
13

6
8
11
15
31
13
16

.

1 Less than 1 percent.

GIRL NEWSPAPER SELLERS

The number of girls found selling papers was negligible—12 out
of 1,259 sellers interviewed. These 12 were in 6 different cities.
Their ages were as follows: One was 8, two were 9, two were 10,
one was 11, three were 12, and three were 13 years old.
73748°—35----- i


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

20

CHILDREN IN NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE WORK

Three of the girls were sisters. The 2 younger girls, 8 and 9 years
of age, helped their 13-year-old sister on Saturdays and their older
brother during the week. The eldest of these 3 girls had worked
from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on the Saturday preceding the survey, with a
half hour off for supper, and had earned 80 cents from the sale of
papers and 40 cents in tips. This girl obtained her papers from the
main distributing room of the newspaper plant.
A 9-year-old girl helped a boy seller from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. on school
days, from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays, and from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Sundays. She was paid at a flat rate of 10 or 15 cents a day. A 10year-old girl earned 60 cents by selling from 3:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Sat­
urdays. On Sunday morning she began selling again at 6:30 a.m. and
worked until 1 p.m.
Eight of the girls obtained their papers from sources other than the
newspaper companies, 2 secured them from the main distributing
rooms, and 2 had papers delivered to them by newspaper companies.
SOCIAL ASPECTS OF STREET SELLING

Although the present study was undertaken primarily to collect
information on ages, earnings, and hours, the field agents’ interviews
with social agencies, school principals, schqol-attendance officers, and
others tended to confirm the conclusions already well established by
other surveys, that newspaper selling is an unsuitable and unwhole­
some occupation for young children. Several circulation managers
concurred in this opinion. One circulation manager remarked that
many parents who exercise close supervision over their children will
not permit them to sell newspapers. Another said that he did not
supply papers to boys under 12 and preferred to give them to boys
14 years of age or over, because a small child soon learned that it was
more profitable to beg than to sell and consequently his papers
remained unsold.
While statistical evidence of the effects of street work on school
progress is inconclusive, yet both during the 1934 study and during
previous studies many individual instances in which fatigue, resulting
from long hours and loss of sleep at night, had had a detrimental effect
on school progress were brought to the attention of Bureau agents.
Sellers were found who regularly fell asleep during school hours, and
teachers, knowing the hours they worked, said they did not have the
heart to waken them.
It is inevitable that long hours of standing or walking on hard
pavements, sometimes carrying heavy bundles; the overstimulating
life of down-town streets, particularly at night; too early or too late
hours; irregular and unwholesome meals; and exposure to inclement
weather often result in injury to the health and the physique of young
children. Physical examinations of groups of newspaper boys have

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

NEWSPAPER SELLERS

21

shown that cardiac diseases, orthopedic defects, and throat ailments
occurred with much greater frequency among boys who sold papers
than among boys who did not.1
The accident hazard to which newsboys are exposed is great and is
one of the factors which lead some newspaper companies to place the
newsboy in the status of independent contractor rather than employee,
thus avoiding liability.
Claims that newspaper selling is a potent factor in character build­
ing must be considered in the light of the actual surroundings of the
boys and in the light of statistics relating to juvenile delinquency,
even though it is impossible to isolate all the elements which may
have caused the delinquency. Many surveys of newsboys have
pointed out the comparatively high rates of delinquency found among
children who sell newspapers, as shown by court records. In the five
cities covered by the earlier Children’s Bureau surveys, in which the
juvenile-court records were examined, from 6 to 13 percent of the
newsboys in the study had been in court, the great majority of them
being taken there for the first time after they had begun work on the
streets. Other studies have found evidence of a direct connection
between street work and delinquency in the fact that large proportions
of boys committed to industrial schools and reformatories have sold
papers.
A preliminary report on a group of boys committed to the Preston
School of Industry, Waterman, Calif., a school for repetitive juvenile
delinquents, showed that 62 percent had been engaged in selling or
delivering newspapers, magazines, or circulars. All but 14 of the 61
boys included in that study who had engaged in this type of work
started with it as their first job. The average age for starting to
sell newspapers was 11 years 4 months. The number that had
been sellers slightly exceeded the number that had been carriers.
The sellers in the group showed an average school retardation of more
than three grades. The newspaper carriers were retarded slightly
more than one grade.2
In a follow-up study of 1,000 delinquent boys who had come before
the Boston juvenile court in the period 1917-22 and had been referred
to the clinic associated with it—the most recent intensive analysis of
juvenile delinquents—it was found that two-thirds of those who had
been employed before coming before the court had been in street
1 Hexter, Maurice B.: The Newsboys of Cincinnati, p. 157 (Helen S. Trounstine Foundation Studies,
vol. 1, no. 4, Jan. 15, 1919); Street Traders of Buffalo, N .Y ., 1925, pp. 36-37 (Foundation Forum, August
1926, no. 52); The Health of a Thousand Newsboys in N ew York City, a study made in cooperation with
the Board of Education by the Heart Committee of the N ew York Tubercuolosis and Health Association
(Inc.), p. 18. (Mimeographed. No date.)
8 Thomas, R uth Esther: Work Records of a Group of Sellers and Carriers of Newspapers and Magazines
in the Preston School of Industry, Waterman, Calif. M ay 6,1934. (Unpublished.)


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

22

CHILDREN IN NEW SPAPER AND MAGAZINE WORK

trades, as newsboys, bootblacks, errand boys, or messengers.
report comments:

The

So it will be seen that our group of juvenile delinquents were to a large extent
engaged in street trades. The dangers of such occupations during the years of
puberty and adolescence do not require extended comment here. Antisocial
attitudes, petty forms of misconduct leading gradually into more serious ones—
gambling, sex practices, the acquisition of antisocial cultural traditions—these are
only a few of the possibilities of the uncontrolled street life of boys eager to express
themselves and impress their fellows. If the lure of the streets and the standards
and conduct which it naturally stimulates are not counteracted by organized
recreational facilities, petty violations of the social code may gradually lead to
more serious forms of misconduct and eventually to contacts with police and
courts. The process is illustrated in many a case history.3

Evidence was obtained, in the course of the present study, that
progress has been made in eliminating some of the most unwholesome
influences which surround the work of the newsboy, particularly the
conditions in the newspaper-distributing rooms. The 1934 study
showed that many newspapers had tried to eliminate the practice of
loitering and gambling in the distributing rooms or the adjoining
alleys and the practice of sleeping in the distributing rooms or garages,
formerly common after late selling, particularly on Saturday nights.
In the older studies there was much evidence that some of the men
employed to sell papers to newsboys at wholesale were of such a type
as to exert a demoralizing influence on the boys. It was reported in
the 1934 survey that in many places there had been great improve­
ment in this regard, but few definite facts could be obtained in so
short a time as was available. School authorities and others familiar
with the problem felt that supervisors for the street sellers are not so
carefully selected as those for the carriers.
8 Qlueck, Sheldon, and Eleanor T. Glueck: One Thousand Juvenile Delinquents, pp. 89,90. Survey of
Crime and Criminal Justice in Boston Conducted by the Harvard Law School, vol. 1. Harvard Uni­
versity Press, Cambridge, Mass,, 1934,


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

NEWSPAPER CARRIERS

The 1934 survey included 1,830 newspaper carriers under 16 years
of age in the 17 cities visited. Some of these worked for the publisher
on a salary basis; others were in the status of “little merchants ”,
selected and supervised by the newspapers, obtaining their papers at
wholesale rates; still others built up and owned their own routes;
276 worked as helpers to other carriers.
In general, regulation applying to newspaper carriers is less stringent
than that applying to sellers. The New York State street-trades law
applies to carriers as well as sellers, and consequently in Buffalo a
minimum age of 12 is found for newspaper carriers, badges are
required for boys 12 to 17 years old, work is prohibited before 6 a.m.
and after 7 p.m., and girls are entirely barred. However, no other
city visited has so high a standard as this; often the m in im um a g e for
carriers is as low as 10 years, or badges are not required, or the nightwork provisions do not apply and consequently there is no limitation
on early-morning deliveries.
AGES

Although the N.R.A. code did not contain provisions applying to
carriers, nevertheless in some of the places visited newspapers reported
having adopted the policy of taking on no carriers under 16 years of
age, and in others, none under 14 years of age. In some places these
policies antedate the N.R.A.; in others they have been introduced
recently. Some managers expressed a preference for boys of the
ages 12 to 14 years; but none expressed an interest in employing boys
younger than 12, and a number thought that older boys (16 years and
upward) give better service. A considerable number of papers stated
that it was their policy to give morning routes to boys at least 16
years of age.
A morning paper in Atlanta for the past 13 years has been operating
with men carriers only and has found this a much better business
method than employing young boys; it has meant fewer problems of
discipline, fewer complaints, and fewer losses. The men carriers work
full time at delivering papers, soliciting subscriptions, and making
collections; they work on a commission basis, assuming the respon­
sibility for collections. A man’s usual route includes about 450
customers, fbur or five times the number that a boy employed on a
part-time basis can handle.
23

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

24

CHILDREN IN NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE WORK

The newspaper agencies that handle home deliveries for six of the
important dailies in Chicago employ no carriers under 16 on morning
deliveries, which constitute the principal part of the business. Boys
14 to 16 are engaged only on afternoon routes, and no boys younger
than 14 are hired.
A circulation manager in another city, during the course of his
newspaper experience, had changed his mind about the advantages of
employing young boys. He found that although youngsters might
be more appealing and therefore made good canvassers, they did not
hold their routes so well as older boys. He found it was possible to
engage boys while they were in high school who would hold their
routes while attending college. At the time of the study his hiring-age
minimum was 15 years, and he expressed himself as in favor of a
16-year minimum under the N.R.A.
To some extent the depression has had the effect of increasing the
average age of carriers, because boys unable to find other work have
kept their routes beyond the customary age. Nearly everywhere
large numbers of high-school boys were found doing this type of
work, and some who had graduated from high school and gone on to
college were still carrying papers.
It has been felt generally that the work of a newspaper carrier does
not expose the child to the harmful environmental influence of news­
paper selling; yet carriers have been found both in this study and in
earlier studies to be a little older than sellers, although many very
young boys do carry papers on routes. There has been the same
tendency toward using older boys for this purpose as for selling. The
median age of the carriers studied in the Children’s Bureau surveys
of 1922-26 was 13.1 years; in 1934 it was 14.3 years.
T able 9.— Age of newspaper carriers in 17 cities in 19S4- and in 7 cities in 1922—26
Newspaper carriers
7 cities, 1922-26

17 cities, 1934
Age at last birthday
Number

Percent dis­
tribution

Percent dis­
tribution

Number

3,479

1,830
Age reported............................................................................. -

1,819

100

3,473

100

Under 12 years........... .....................................................-

108

6

1,050

30

Under 10 years................................ - ...........- ...........
10 years............ ............................................................
11 years_______________________ ____________

19
26
63

1
1
3

327
279
444

9
8
13

596

33

1,318

' 38

12 years........ ...............................................................13 y e a rs........................................................................

188
408

10
22

624
694

18
20

14 years......................... ................................. .....................
15 years____________________. . . ------------------- ------

591
524

32
29

682
423

20
12

12 and 13 years_____________________________ —

11


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

6

NEWSPAPER CARRIERS

25

This study does not reflect the great extent to which carriers 16
years of age and over are now employed, since only children under
16 were included. Of the carriers interviewed 61 percent were 14
and 15 years of age; one-third were between 12 and 14; and only 6
percent were under 12. Not only was the general trend in 1934
toward the older carrier, but there was a most decided decrease in
the proportion of very young children. The proportion of the boys
who were under 12 was five times as great at the time of the earlier
studies as in 1934 (30 percent in 1922—
26 as compared with 6 percent
in 1934), and the percentage under 14 was more than one and a half
times as great (68 percent in 1922—
26 as compared with 39 percent in
1934). (See table 9.)
In 1934 there were considerable variations among cities in the age
distribution of the boys. In Buffalo, Wilkes-Barre, Omaha, and
Fall Elver more than 70 percent of the carriers interviewed were 14
or 15. In Baltimore, Youngstown, Detroit, and San Francisco half
the carriers or more were under 14.
HOURS

Of the carriers interviewed in this study only 16 percent reported
week-day morning delivery hours; these were mainly in Memphis and
Des Moines. Almost three-fourths of those delivering on week-day
mornings started work before 6 a.m. and 43 percent started before
5 a.m. A few started between 3 and 4 o’clock. Whenever the boys
under 14 were found engaged in this type of work, few of them were
able to get preferential treatment in the matter of hours.
In one city visited 69 carriers under 16 reported work on morning
routes; 44 of these started work before 4 a.m. and the remainder
before 5 a.m. Of these boys who started delivering some time between
3 and 5 a.m., 14 were 13 years of age and 10 were 12 years old. One
youngster who started to deliver at 3:30 every week-day morning
and at 5 a.m. on Sundays was only 11 years old. He carried 70
papers, 7 times a week, earning $3 a week. In addition to the time
spent delivering, which took 2 hours on week days and 1 hour on
Sundays, he spent about 4 hours making collections and 3 hours
getting new subscribers and several hours keeping his records and
accounts. Twice a week he had to listen to a sales talk. The total
weekly working hours of this child of 11 were 22 a week, which in
addition to school means 47 hours.
The time that the boys included in the Children’s Bureau survey
spent in the actual delivery of papers averaged a little more than 1
hour per day. Half the boys spent more than 7 hours a week deliv­
ering, half spent 7 hours or less. But in addition a number of hours
were spent each week in collecting and soliciting. Of 1,830 boys,
1,208 reported extra time in collecting, and 1,108 reported extra time

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

26

CHILDREN IN NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE WORK

in soliciting new subscribers. Half tbe boys worked more than 10.3
hours a week in all these activities. Table 10 compares the hours
spent in delivering with the total weekly hours worked.
T able

10.— Weekly hours spent in delivering newspapers and total weekly hours of
newspaper carriers in 17 cities, 1934
Newspaper carriers spending weekly hours
in-

W eekly hours

Delivering newspapers
Percent
distribution

Number

Total.......

1,830

Hours reported.

1,826

Less than 8 hours___
6 hours, less than 9 ...
9 hours, less than 12..
12 hours, less than 15.
15 hours, less than 20.
20 hours or more____

687
608
281
137
72
41

Hours not reported— ,__

4

All activities1

Number

Percent
distribution

1,830
100

1,796

100

38
33
15
8
4
2

362
394
328
278
247
187

20
22
18
15
14
10

34

i Includes soliciting, collecting, and so forth, as well as delivering.

Although 38 percent of the carriers were through delivering in less
than 6 hours a week, only 20 percent reported total hours of work as
less than 6 a week. Seventy-one percent completed their deliveries
in less than 9 hours a week, but this represented total working time for
only 42 percent of the boys. Delivering took very few of the boys
(6 percent) as much as 15 hours a week; but when the time spent in
soliciting, collecting, and keeping records was included, it was found
that 24 percent of the boys spent 15 hours or more a week, and 10
percent spent 20 hours or more a week.
There is a distinct relationship between the age of the carrier
and the total weekly hours of work. The older boys not only handle
the longer routes but spend more time in soliciting and collecting.
Frequently a 14- or 15-year-old boy employs a younger one to help
him throw papers; the helper often accompanies him on his collec­
tion tours but rarely assumes the responsibility himself. Of the
boys under 12 years old, 34 percent worked less than 6 hours a week,
compared with 23 percent of those 12 and 13, and 17 percent of those
14 and 15. Those working 15 or more hours a week comprised 18
percent of the youngest age group, 24 percent of the 12- and 13-year
group, and 25 percent of the 14- and 15-year group (table 11).


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

27

NEWSPAPER CARRIERS
T able

11.— Age and total weekly hours of newspaper carriers in 17 cities, 1984
Newspaper carriers
Age at last birthday
Total
Under 12 years 12 and 13 years 14 and 15 years

Total weekly hours1

N um ­
ber

Per­
cent
dis­
tribu­
tion

N um ­
ber

Per­
cent
dis­
tribu­
tion

N um ­
ber

Per­
cent
dis­
tribu­
tion

Per­ N ot re­
cent ported
dis­
tribu­
tion

N um ­
ber

Total_________ ______

1,830

Hours reported.....................

1,796

100

103

100

5S5

100

1,097

100

11

Less than 6 hours______
6 hours, less than 9_____
9 hours, less than 12____
12 hours, less than 15___
15 hours or more.

362
394
328
278
434

20
22
18
15
24

35
23
16
10
19

34
22
16
10
18

134
128
104
78
141

23
22
18
13
24

191
241
206
189
270

17
22
19
17
25

2
2
2
1
4

Hours not reported

34

108

596

5

1,115

11

11

18

1 Includes hours spent in soliciting, collecting, and so forth, as well as delivering.

EARNINGS

For the week preceding the interview the median earnings for all
the newspaper carriers included in the study were $1.87. The dis­
tribution of weekly earnings was as follows:
Percent

Total reported____________________________________ _ 100
Less than 50 cents. ______________________________________
50 cents, less than $1_____________________________________
$ 1 , less than $2 __________________________________________
$2, less than $3___ ______________________________________
$3, less than $4__________________________________________
$4, less than $5_______________________________________ __
$5 or more________________ ________________ _____________

11

16
26
21
13
7
6

As has been explained, “ earnings” means not the hypothetical
amount which a route is supposed to yield, but the amount actually
collected, less the payments to the publishing company for the whole­
sale cost of the papers.
Eleven percent of the carriers earned less than 50 cents during the
week, 27 percent earned less than $1, 53 percent earned less than $2,
and 74 percent earned less than $3. Of those earning $3 or more
during the week, 13 percent earned between $3 and $4, 7 percent
between $4 and $5, and 6 percent $5 and more. Ten boys had
received no pay, either because they had merely helped other car­
riers or because they had failed to collect enough to cover their paper
bills.
73748°—35----- 1


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

28

C H IL D R E N I N

N E W S P A P E R A N D M A G A Z IN E W O R K

'There is a distinct relationship between the age of the carrier and his
earnings; the older boys earn more than the younger ones, and earnings
increase with each year of age. Fifty-eight percent of those under 12
years of age, and 50 percent of those 12 years of age, earned less than
$1 a week, compared with 33 percent of those 13 years of age, 22
percent of those 14 years of age, and 15 percent of those 15 years of
age. The proportion earning $4 a week or more increased from 2
percent of those under 12 years old to 19 percent of those 15 years of
age (table 12). However, 44 percent of the boys 14 and 15 years old
reported earnings of less than $2 a week, showing that even among the
older group the higher earnings were not the rule.
Median weekly earnings and median weekly hours both showed
increases with age as follows:
Earnings

Hours

All ages___________________________
$1» 87
Under 12 years------------------------------------------------*79
12 and 13 years________________________________ 1* 85
14 and 15 years------------------------------------------------ 2. 13

10.3
2
9. 9
10.6

8.

A comparison with the earlier Children’s Bureau studies shows an
increase in hours and a decrease in earnings, the median figures of the
surveys of 1922-26 being 8.8 for weekly hours and $2.39 for weekly
earnings. This increase in hours is due apparently to the greater
prevalence of the little-merchant system, which requires the carrier
boy to spend additional time in collecting and soliciting subscriptions
and keeping records.
T able

12.— Age and weekly earnings of newspaper carriers in 17 cities, 1934
Newspaper carriers

1,772

Less than $1.-------------------$1, less than $2—............... .
$2, less than $3........... - ..........
$3, less than $4......................
$4, less than $5-----------------$5 omnore.......... - ....................

482
458
370
228
130
104

Earnings not reported -- - - - - ——


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

10
48

& ■
a
3

Z

©
a
3

A
Z

188

CD
eQ
a
■3

Z

408

Ut

©
,0
a
3

z

591

15 years

Ut

©

JS
a
3

Z

Percent dis­
tribution

S-4
Q
>

14 years
Percent dis­
tribution

13 years

108

Total.................................... - 1,830
Earnings rep orted ..------ ---------

12 years

Percent dis­
tribution

Z

Under
12 years

Percent dis­
tribution

S
m
©
a
3

, Percent dis­
tribution

Weekly earnings

Percent dis­
tribution

Age at last birthday
Total

100 103

100 183

100 387

100 576

100 513

60
27
10
4
1
1

58 92
26 46
10 22
4 12
7
1
1 4

50 127
25 109
12 72
7 34
4 27
2 18

33 124
28 146
19 133
9 97
7 40
5 36

22 77
25 127
23 130
17 80
7 54
6 45

15
25
25
18
11
9

5

6
15

15

2
9

2
3

!

fc

41

524
100.

27
26
21
13
7
6

T©
3
O
Pi
M
O

10
2
3
3
1
1

1

29

N E W S P A P E R C A R R IE R S

Although in general the older boys worked longer hours and earned
more money than the younger ones, there is not so much relationship
between hours and earnings as this statement might lead one to expect.
There is a wide variation in the hours worked by the boys of all ages
who earned between $1 and $2 a week—the category in which occurs
the median wage for all ages combined, $1.87. The distribution of
total weekly hours of carriers earning $1 to $2 a week was as follows:
Percent

Total rep orted ..______________ ______________ ______ 100
Less than 6 hours__ }_______________ _________ .___________ ¡¡J
hours, less than 9______________________________________
9 hours, less than 12^_________________________________17
12 hours, less than 15________ ____________________________
15 hours, less than 20_____________________________________
20 hours or more_________________________________________
6

17
29
16
12
10

While a majority (63 percent) of the boys whose hours of work were
less than 6 a week earned less than $1 a week, many who worked long
hours also earned this small amount. Ten percent of the boys in the
group working 20 hours or more weekly earned less than $1 (table 13).
If the group of boys whose weekly earnings were highest ($5 or more)
is considered, a wide range of hours is also found; 32 percent worked
between 6 and 12 hours, 47 percent between 12 and 20 hours, and 21
percent 20 hours or more (table 14).
T able

13.— Percent distribution of weekly earnings of newspaper carriers workinj
specified total weekly hours in 17 cities 1934

,

Total weekly hours

W eekly earnings
Total

Total.
Less than $ 1 ...
$1, less than $2.
$2, less than $3.
$3, less than $4.
$4, less than $5.
$5 or more____


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Less than
6 hours

6 hours,
less than
12

12 hours,
less than
20

100

100

100

100

100

27
26

63

25
30
22
13
6
6

13
24
24
17
12
9

io
24
22
18
14
12

21

22
12

13
7

3

6

20 hours
or more

30

C H IL D R E N I N N E W S P A P E R A N D M A G A Z IN E W O R K

T able 14.— Weekly earnings and total weekly hours of newspaper carriers in 17

cities, 1984
Newspaper carriers
Total w eekly hours

Weekly earnings

Less than 6
hours

Total

Total
report­
N um ­
ed
ber

6 hours, less
than 12

Per­
cent

N um ­
ber

12 hours, less
than 20

20 hours or
more
N ot re*
ported

Per­
cent

N um ­
ber

Per­
cent

N um ­
ber

Per­
cent

Total................

1,830

1,796

362

20

722

40

525

29

187

10

34

Less than $1..............
$1, less than $2____
$2, less than $3____
$3, less than $4____

482
458
370
228
130
104
10
48

474
451
360
225
128
102
10
46

218
75
43
12

46
17
12
5

171
207
151
93
41
33
4
22

36
46
42
41
32
32

67
126
126
88
61
48
1
8

14
28
35
39
48
47

18
43
40
32
26
21
2
5

4
10
11
14
20
21

8
• 7
10
3
2
2

3
ii

2

In a few places flat salaries were paid by some newspapers for deliv­
ering only, the amounts varying with the distance covered in delivering
papers, the difficulties of delivery, and the number of papers delivered
during the week. In Wilkes-Barre the salary ranged from $4.50 to
$10 a month ($1.04 to $2.31 a week). In Chicago on morning routes
the pay was usually from $10 to $15 a month ($2.31 to $3.46 a week),
on evening routes from $5 to $8 a month ($1.15 to $1.85 a week). In
Washington the pay varied from $5.50 to $10 a month ($1.27 to $2.31
a week).
EMPLOYMENT POLICIES

With few exceptions newspapers in the cities visited in 1934 used
the little-merchant system for delivering papers to homes. Under
this system authorized carriers are selected and supervised by the
newspaper company. The little merchant buys his papers from
the company at a wholesale rate. Occasionally bonuses are paid for
scattered routes to bring up the carrier’s earnings or to cover losses
from bad debts. The carrier is usually bonded to the extent of a 1
or 2 weeks’ paper bill, or he may be required to pay for his week’s
papers in advance. In most cases he is required to settle weekly at the
main office or at a branch office, although boys in outlying sections
sometimes make less frequent settlements.
The carrier is responsible for making collections from customers
weekly, biweekly, or monthly. As his paper bill falls due weekly, he
may be in debt to the company a considerable part of the time. Usu­
ally he is trusted for the account, but occasionally his parents are
required to put up money for the bill. When subscribers do not pay,,
the carrier loses on each the wholesale cost of the paper plus his
earnings for the time spent in delivering and handling the account..

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

N E W S P A P E R C A R R IE R S

31

The cash loss on a bad debt may vary from 9 to 17% cents per customer
per week, depending upon the wholesale rate.
At the tune of the earlier Children’s Bureau studies this system was
found in only a few places: In Columbus, where all the carriers worked
under it, and in Omaha and Atlanta, where it applied to a little more
than half the carriers. The prevailing method was to employ boy
carriers at a flat salary to make deliveries only. A different crew,
usually adults, was employed to make collections and sometimes to
solicit new subscriptions. Today the flat-salary system is being
eliminated.
The extreme form that the little-merchant system may take is
illustrated by the contract that carriers of a metropolitan daily news­
paper were required to sign recently.
Under this contract the carrier agrees to deliver copies
to as many subscribers as are designated by the news­
paper, the territory and route being subject to change
at any time.
The price at which the carrier is to buy the daily and
Sunday papers from the newspaper company is stip­
ulated, but the “ prices are subject to change by the
newspaper on its posting a notice of such change at its
office, and the carrier agrees to pay at the new price.”
The carrier agrees to pay for his past week’s papers
on Saturday, and furthermore he agrees to pay the
newspaper company any amount that the subscriber has
agreed to pay, under any sales plan, such as a combina­
tion sale of the newspaper and insurance, whether or not
the subscriber has paid the excess to the carrier.
Even though subscribers may not pay, the carrier
“ shall have no authority to cancel a subscription.”
“ The carrier agrees to deliver free on said route
among such persons living within that locality as are
designated by the [newspaper] any advertising matter
given him by the [newspaper].”
The carrier agrees not to handle any other publication
during the life of the contract and not to handle any
other paper published in the same city within 30 days
after termination of the contract.
The contract is to run for 5 years but may be termi­
nated by the carrier on 15 days’ notice, or by the news­
paper on 24 hours’ notice.
The carrier is required to deposit-a bond, the amount
being left blank on the printed form, and may be called
upon later to deposit additional amounts. These

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

32

CHILDREN IN NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE WORK

amounts may be retained by the newspaper as liquidated
damages in the event of a breach of the contract by the
carrier or to cover any claims against the carrier. On
termination of his services the deposit need not be
refunded until 30 days afterward. Interest at the
rate of 4 percent is allowed but is retained by the news­
paper “ for the same purposes as the deposit.”
The contract, which is phrased in formal legal
language, requires the signature of the carriers, parents.
A comparison with conditions found in the earlier surveys shows
that in introducing the so-called “ little-merchant” system the
newspapers have radically altered the character of the carrier’s job.
The little-merchant system often entails a task out of all propor­
tion to the pay and to the maturity of a grade-school boy. Instead
of being paid a flat salary for a single function, that of delivering
papers every day to a list of regular customers, the carrier must
assume new responsibilities and new risks; he is expected to collect
bills, prevent “ stop orders”, and get new subscriptions. The result
has been to lengthen hours, to make earnings irregular, and to impose
upon the boy the risk of bad debts and the difficulties incidental to
collections.
Furthermore, the newspaper company sometimes claims exemption
from the workmen’s compensation law on the ground that little
merchants are independent contractors, and in some cases this claim
has been allowed. Such an interpretation leaves a large group of
boys in a dangerous occupation without the benefit of workmen’s
compensation. Carriers run considerable risk of injury, largely on
account of the wide use of bicycles in their work. A study of indus­
trial accidents occurring to minors in California during 1932 showed
that of 608 accidents reported 70 occurred to newspaper sellers or
carriers—most of them to carriers. During the year four carriers,
all under 16 years old, were killed riding bicycles, when the bicycle
collided with a train or an automobile. One of the fatal cases re­
ported was declared ineligible for compensation under the law, and the
same decision was made with regard to four cases in which the boy
was seriously but not fatally injured.1
Collecting

The carrier’s most difficult job, the one to which he devotes the
greatest amount of attention because his profits are so closely depend­
ent upon it, is the collection of bills.
i Industrial Accidents to Employed Minors in California in 1932. M onthly Labor Review, vol. 39,
no. 5 (November 1934), pp. 1078-1094.


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Acricultural & Mechanical College of le u *

CollegeE§iatienp j#®sers

33

Carriers are instructed, not to combine collecting witb delivering
because it means delay in delivery, but to make one or more extra
trips over their routes. Where routes are long and scattered this
entails a considerable amount of extra time. Customers often tell
boys to call again for the money and expect calls to be made at hours
which suit their convenience rather than the boys’.
Many complaints were made by boys in the course of the interviews
on the subject of collections and losses from bad debts. “ You pay
the bill and get the balance if there is any ”, said one boy.
A boy 13 years old had not made a cent during the last month, as he had been
behind in his collections every week; in fact, he still owed $3.50 on his paper bill.
He delivered 27 papers daily and 20 on Sunday, which required 8% hours a week.
He had spent 6 hours in collecting bills and 3 hours in soliciting subscriptions,
making a total of 17% hours of work during the week.

Another boy’s story illustrates the difficulties of making collections in a neigh­
borhood of boarding houses, where most of the customers are transients. This
boy spent 1 % hours every school-day evening collecting, and also 3 hours on
Saturday morning, and an hour on Sunday—a total of 11)4 hours a week. His
delivery time was 14 hours a week, and record keeping took 5 hours, so that he
worked 30% hours a week. His earnings, on a route which should have yielded
$2.50 a week, never had exceeded $1.50, and for the week preceding the agent’s
visit they were $ 1 .

In the city where this boy worked, although 75 percent of the carriers
completed deliveries in less than 9 hours a week, only 32 percent
completed all their work in this time. Thirty-seven boys (out of 105)
worked 15 or more hours a week at their various activities connected
with carrying papers.
A 13-year-old boy delivering 30 daily papers and 50 Sunday papers had earned
no profit for several weeks, and in fact his father had had to pay a $9.50 paper
bill in order to hold the route. His weekly hours were 1 1 in delivering papers and
16% in collecting, soliciting, and keeping records.

A 14-year-old boy, delivering 40 morning, 50 afternoon, and 80 Sunday papers—
spending 20 hours a week on the combined activities connected with the route—
netted 30 cents during the week.

A boy is allowed to use some discretion in deciding when to drop
accounts, but his decision to do so ordinarily must be approved by his
district manager. Circulation managers said that boys were usually
advised not to carry a delinquent subscriber more than 2 or 3 weeks.
A number of the circulation managers interviewed stated definitely
that supervisors or field men were available to assist boys who had
difficulties in making collections. In these cities boys reported
fewer losses. On the other hand, several managers stated frankly
that they thought it a mistake for boys to receive much assistance
from their elders; it prevented the boy from getting the mavlmnm 0ut

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

34

C H IL D R E N I N

N E W S P A P E R A N D M A G A Z IN E W O R K

of his training in business. Some boys, they said, were “ just naturally
poor” at collecting and had to be dropped on this account. All the
circulation managers interviewed felt that losses from bad debts were
insignificant, yet in the boys’ minds the problem seemed to bulk large.
In a carriers’ manual one paper offers boys advice on how to make
collections successfully, as follows:
The time for collecting is on Friday night after you have finished your route and
on Saturday forenoon. Always make it a point to collect from the same family at
the same time each week * * * First of all a carrier must impress upon the
slow-paying subscriber that he must pay the office regardless of whether the
subscriber pays or not.

The inspirational bulletins published for distribution among
carriers sometimes contain items like the following:
During the past few months it has been necessary to replace several boys on
account of poor collections. There are no excuses for these boys, for collecting
requires only constant plugging while some of the other requirements of our boys
need special ability. * * * ALL BILLS MUST BE PAID BY THE 10TH
DAY OF EACH MONTH OR SOME NEW FACES WILL BE SEEN ON
“B ” ROUTES N EX T MONTH * * *.
Fines

The carriers’ earnings are often subject to considerable deductions.
Many complaints were heard from some of the boys about the system
of fines still in use by some papers. The following fines were said to
be collected in one city:
25 cents for nondelivery of a paper on Sunday.
15 cents for nondelivery of a paper on a week day.
25 cents for a wet paper.
10-15 cents for tardiness at a district meeting.
25 cents for absence from a meeting.
Fines are irritating and apparently fail to achieve the desired effect.
In this same city one paper, which abolished fines in favor of a system
of recording complaints and occasional discharge of a careless boy,
found that complaints were cut in half in 2 months. Only three
carriers were discharged.
Equipment

Further inroads are made into earnings of carriers by required
purchase of equipment. In some places boys were required to buy
bags, punches, rubber bands for Sunday papers, route books, and
cards from the company. Small fees are sometimes charged for
“ stuffing” (putting supplements into folded papers).
Circulation practices

Boys are now subject to a great deal more pressure to build up their
routes than was found in the earlier studies, although in one or two
places complaints were made even then against the enforced carrying
of extra papers for which the boy had to pay. Today the carrier boy
is often considered the paper’s chief agent in building up circulation.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

N E W S P A P E R C A R R IE R S

35

Since the advertising rates depend upon circulation, there is always a
certain amount of pressure to maintain and increase circulation, which
is transmitted to the carriers and newsboys who come directly in contact
with the public. During the depression this pressure has been particu­
larly acute in certain localities, although mergers between papers may
have operated, here and there, to lessen some of the competition.
The solicitation of new subscriptions, as well as the collection of bills,
is said to give a boy that valuable business training for which news­
paper work is often praised. At the same time some of the most
undesirable phases of the work are connected with these activities.
Pressure to increase sales leads' to late hours. Evening deliveries
are generally over before 7 p.m., but the time after supper is con­
sidered the best time to approach new customers. In many places
boys are expected to call on prospective subscribers one or two evenings
a week. Often weekly branch or district meetings are held in the
evening, at which there is a rally and “ pep” talk, after which the
boys go out in crews to canvass certain streets or neighborhoods. In
one city, meetings were held twice a week and lasted about half an
hour. In other places they were held weekly or at less frequent or
irregular intervals. Many complaints are made by parents, teachers,
principals, and social agencies about this practice. One source of
complaint was the lateness of the hour at which boys returned.
More than a fifth of the boys who reported either collecting or solicit­
ing in the evening finished between 7 and 8 p.m.; almost one-fourth
finished between 8 and 9 p.m.; 8 percent finished at 9 o'clock or after,
mostly before 10 p.m. The principal of a school said that he had
required his son to give up his paper route because the district manager
would not excuse boys from evening canvassing.
Again the house organs published for the carriers give evidence
of this pressure to build up routes:
No orders calls for an operation called canning. Be an aggressive carrier,
start your serves today. * * *
Work your heads off to be at the banquet table on April 14, Joe, Don, and
Charlie. You can do it. * * *

Bonuses for new subscribers and prizes of all descriptions, including
trips to the World's Fair, to Washington, college scholarships, second­
hand automobiles, as well as many smaller articles, are constantly
held out to the carriers as incentives to enlarging their routes. In
one city evidence was found that boys were coached in—or encouraged
to invent hard-luck stories in order to increase the effectiveness of
their appeals for subscriptions. Although avoiding deliberate mis­
representation, many circulation managers seek to utilize and exploit
a child's natural appeal to the older person’s sympathy. One purposes
of staging contests in which the prize is a trip to the World's Fair, for
instance, is to give the boy an irresistible talking point. “ She (your

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

36

C H IL D R E N I N N E W S P A P E R A N D M A G A Z IN E W O R K

customer) has some interest in you and will oftentimes be glad to
continue her subscription to enable you to make your profits”, says
one inspirational bulletin. And again, “ It is much easier for the
carrier to tell the nonsubscriber about the prizes he hopes to win than
it would be for him to tell about holding his job.”
If customers want to stop the paper, the carriers of one chain paper
are instructed to—
Explain to Mrs. Jones that you are in a contest (carriers are always in a contest,
therefore you are stating a fact) and that it is very important to you if she will
just continue taking the paper for 2 more weeks. Tell her how much you will
appreciate it if she will do this. Some people will stop the paper because they
feel hard up at that particular moment, but at the end of the 2 -weeks period they
will have had a pay day and they will not feel so poor.

Are ruses of this sort a desirable part of a boy’s “ business training”?
Or instructions like this one: “ There are a very few apartment houses
where the manager will not allow you to solicit. These few may be
worked by starting on the top floor and working down. Solicit the
manager last.”
Sometimes the paper offers subscribers coupons or cheap insurance
as an inducement to take the paper. This means one more job for the
carrier. Boys complained that they had to collect weekly insurance
premiums from certain subscribers but received no extra pay for this.
The loss of an insurance receipt is penalized by a fine.
The general attitude of the circulation departments is thus summed
up, in the words of one of their members: “ The carrier who thinks
more of getting the job done than of the hours he must work reaps the
greatest reward for the hours he puts on the job.” The amount of
follow-up work which a carrier is exhorted to put into gaining or
retaining an order that will net him 6 cents a week certainly could not
be expected of an adult.
In some cases carriers suffered financial losses because of the policies
of the circulation departments. One paper did not permit its carriers
to decrease the number of papers charged to them until the end of
the week, although they could increase the number any day. This
meant that a subscriber could stop taking the paper at any time during
the week and the boy had to meet the balance of the week’s payment.
Some of the carriers of this paper complained that their district
managers would not permit them to decrease the number of papers
even at the end of the week unless they had attempted to offset the
“ stop” with a “ start.”
Another source of loss to the carriers is the practice of requiring
boys to carry and pay for extra papers. This practice was found in
both the present study and the earlier ones. Circulation departments
explain this regulation as necessary for replacement of stolen, wet, or
tom papers. One circulation manager said that boys would rather
carry extras in the hope of getting “ starts” than admit the loss of

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

NEWSPAPER CARRIERS

37

subscribers. There was considerable discrepancy between this ex­
planation and the statements of the boys. “ We want no more than
three extras at the most” was typical of their remarks. One boy
said he could not get his extras cut, and so he continued carrying to
bad pays.” Another way of disposing of extras was to pass them
along to helpers as part of their pay. The boys were “ out of pocket”
the weekly wholesale rate of the papers unless they made sales to
offset the loss. The complaints of the carriers concerning the number
of extras given them would indicate that this practice was for the
purpose of increasing circulation.
Supervision

The degree of supervision of carriers varies from city to city.
In some places there is an elaborate carriers’ organization which checks
up on the boys’ school records and the activities connected with route
work. In the city in which this system exists in its most highly
developed form it may be briefly described as follows:
When a boy applies for a route or a corner his parents are inter­
viewed and his school record is obtained, together with a statement
as to whether or not the school recommends the boy for newspaper
work. There is provision for training the boy in doing the work and
in understanding the system under which he is working. Every 6
weeks during the school session the boy is graded “ satisfactory” or
unsatisfactory” by the school on the following citizenship traits:
Attendance, punctuality, conduct, effort, and courtesy. At the same
time his average numerical academic grade is given. The academic
record is used in the award system, under which a boy receives at the
end of the year a cash award ranging from $1 to $20 for average or
above-average school work. Unless ‘‘effort ” is rated unsatisfactory
there is no follow-up of below-average school work. More emphasis
is placed on the citizenship ratings. If a boy receives three unsatis­
factory ratings, he is put on probation with a warning (which is put
into effect) that an unsatisfactory rating the following month will
result in the loss of his route. The boy’s parents and his school are
likewise given this information. Absence and tardiness reports of
newspaper boys are mailed by the school to the educational division
of the newspaper. A visit is made to ascertain why he was absent
and whether he engaged in newspaper work that day. Truancy is
cause for dismissal from newspaper work. The boy who leaves
school before completing high school also loses his route or corner.
Complete service and production records for each boy are kept by the
educational division. These records, together with the school ratings,
are used to recommend high-school graduates for positions in the reg­
ular newspaper organization. Unless technical training is required,
positions in all departments of the newspaper are filled from the
newspaper-boy group.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

MAGAZINE SELLERS AND CARRIERS

As part of this study, information was obtained from 1,121 children
under 16 years of age who were engaged in selling and delivering
magazines in the 17 cities visited. The practice of using very young
children in magazine distribution has increased markedly in recent
years. The magazine sellers were much younger than either the
newspaper sellers or the carriers, their average age being 12.7 years
as compared with 13.7 years for sellers and 14.3 years for carriers.
One-third of the children working for the periodical publishers includ­
ed in this study were under 12, and only a fifth were as old as 14.
At the time of the earlier Children’s Bureau studies very few chil­
dren engaged in this type of work were found and the work was
'characterized as “ unexacting in every way” ; children sold for an
hour or two immediately after school, mainly in the neighborhood of
their homes. Today the situation has changed. Much larger num­
bers of children have been drawn in, selling hours have increased,
visits to business places and restaurants are more common, and cash
earnings have decreased. In a number of places school authorities
and social agencies called attention to various abuses and undesirable
features connected with this work. In one city very young children
were found selling at night in downtown restaurants and beer gar­
dens; complaints were made concerning the recruiting of children on
their way to and from school without consulting the parents, and of
irregular and sometimes unfair terms of compensation. In the case
of very young children, selling and begging were hardly to be differ­
entiated; one led easily to the other. Such large numbers of children
were employed in certain places that it became obviously impossible
for most of them to earn any appreciable amount. Children stayed
out long hours and covered considerable distances and yet had very
little to show for it except to “ wear out shoe leather”, as one boy’s
mother put it.
The provisions in street-trades laws or ordinances that regulate
newspaper selling commonly apply also to magazine selling and dis­
tributing. In 2 of the cities visited a minimum age of 14 is set
for selling magazines; in 5 cities the minimum age is 12 years; in 1,
11 years, and in 5, 10 years. In 5 cities permits or badges are
required. In 4 cities no legal minimum age is set.
(See Legal
regulations, p. 58.)
Some street-trades laws apply only to children selling. Actually
it is impossible to distinguish between the selling and delivering of
magazines. It is true that many children have.regular customers, but
these are under no obligation to take the magazines every week or
38

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

MAGAZINE SELLERS AND CARRIERS

39

every month. At any time a child may decide to try to sell a few
extra copies. In this he is encouraged by the agent, who leaves him
a few extras each time, and he is constantly offered prizes for in­
creased sales. Many of the children who reported that they sold only
t° regular customers disposed of their magazines in a few hours or
minutes, but 59 percent of the children selling only weekly magazines
engaged in this at least 2 days each week, and one-third sold on 3 or
more days. The median number of magazines sold or delivered was
15. Therefore, the amount of time spent is not accounted for by the
large number of customers per child, but rather by the child’s con­
tinual search for customers.
Information gathered as to the places where sales are made dis­
proves one common statement regarding conditions of work; It is
often said that children distributing magazines merely deliver them
to houses in neighborhoods close to their own homes. Nearly twothirds of the magazine distributors included in this study (736 of
1,119 reporting) sold at least some of their magazines on streets and
in other public places, such as stores, restaurants, gasoline stations,
barber shops, and office buildings. One hundred and forty-one of
these children sold only on streets or in other public places. Thirtyfour percent (383) distributed magazines only from house to house or
m apartment buildings.
In two Middle Western cities magazine agents had established the
practice of taking a carload of children who had distinguished them­
selves in selling, to neighboring small towns on Saturdays to sell for
an entire day. The children left at 8:30 a.m. and were returned
home at 6 p.m. The agent furnished milk for the noon lunch. Boys
were paid 25 cents for selling 10 or more magazines.
EMPLOYMENT POLICIES

Some of the national periodical-publishing companies have in­
structed their chief agents, at least in certain cities, to visit the child’s
home and get the parent’s consent before making arrangements with
children for selling. Evidence gathered from children in this study,
however, indicates that this instruction is far from universally
followed and that it is violated extensively and in places widely sep­
arated from one another. It is a common practice for agents to
station themselves near a school and to approach children on their
way to and from school with selling offers.
In one city where 33 children gave definite information as to how
they had started selling magazines, it developed that two-thirds had
been approached by strangers when they were away from home.
Eighteen had been stopped on the street by a man who offered them
a chance to make money and win prizes. Three more had been
attracted by the crowds in front of a movie and had made arrange­
ments there with a man who offered them a free show

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

40

C H IL D R E N

IN

N E W S P A P E R A N D M A G A Z IN E W O R K

The following stories explain how some boys got their jobs:
An 11-year-old boy in Youngstown, Ohio, wrote, “ As I was going downtown
I was passing the
* * * theater. I stopped and looked at the pictures. I
saw a man there letting children go to the show. I went in and asked how the
children happened to go in. He said to me ‘These children sell
* * *
magazines.’ I said as follows: ‘May I sell magazines? I want to make some
money.’ He said ‘Very well, sonny’, and he took my name and address and next
Wednesday he brought me five magazines. I sold 4 and made 6 cents. I
was so happy to make a little sum of money so from then on I always sell maga­
zines.”
A 13-year-old boy, this time in Louisville, Ky., wrote: “ How I come to have my
job. I walking on the sidewalk when a car came up to side. He said Hey sonny
would you like sill some magazines. I said yes. He said look here. You can
wine baseball, gloves, bats, caps, masks, and swet shirts. He gave me the books,
and [I] started going to the houses. No! everybody said we like---------books. He
man came the next day. I ask some boys w[h]ere to g e t--------- . He would not
tell me. My Father told [me]. A man come and give me 10 magazines, I work
up to 15 books a week. I fell down to 9 books. I went to Slloon [saloon] and I
sold all of them. I order 20 magazines. I went there again I sold them too.
For 5 weeks [I sold] them all and they gave me swet shirt, and to knives. That is
how I begin to sell magazines and wins things.”

With a negligible number of exceptions, agents of the companies
take the magazines to the children’s homes and come back for collec­
tion of unsold copies and financial settlement. In all the cities visited
unsold copies may always be returned. The policy of the companies
is to pay a uniform commission on each copy sold. On 5-cent weekly
magazines th is is generally !}{ cents, and on the monthly magazines,
which are generally higher in price, the commission ranges from 3 cents
to 6 cents. Prizes are, however, frankly considered the chief incentive
A fixed number of coupons is given according to the number of copies
sold; and these are exchangeable for prizes, which are fully described,
with prices in terms of coupons, in prize books. Many children,
however, had only a vague idea concerning the terms of their remun­
eration, and a very few were able to check upon the agent’s settlements
with them. Cases were reported in which the commission paid the
child varied from the established rate; in which young children sold
on a no-cash basis, for prizes only; in which children received no
compensation if they sold less than a required number of copies.
Some of these cases were recounted by children interviewed in the
course of this study; others were reported by social agencies and school
principals.
A 12 -year-old boy was selling weeklies on a 2-cent commission basis. By agree­
ment the boy turned in the full amount of his sales, and the agent was to with­
hold the commission until a certain sum had accumulated. The man left town
owing the boy $4 , and at the time of interview the boy was selling again, this
time on a po-cash bpsis, for prizes only*


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

M A G A Z IN E S E L L E R S A N D

41

C A R R IE R S

One boy reported that he had just begun to sell weeklies and did not know how
many copies he would take or on what commission. During the preceding month
he had received 13 cents and 7 lead pencils from his sale of monthlies.
An 8-year-old boy put in 21 hours, covering 6 days, and had no cash earnings.
He had spent 2 weeks making the 24 sales required for earning a bag of marbles.
He was about to begin working for money.

The Children’s Aid Society of Buffalo reported cases in which school
premises were used to make arrangements for employing 9- and 10year-old children to distribute magazines. Each child was told he
would receive a jackknife for each 4 copies sold, but there was to be
no remuneration for fewer than 4 copies.
It is not surprising, in view of the casual selling arrangements and
the extreme youth of many of the children engaged, that the turn-over
among magazine sellers is very high. In every school where the
field agents distributed questionnaires, a comparatively large number
of children did not meet the conditions for filling them out because
they “ used to sell magazines”, had not sold them for several weeks,
or expected to begin next week. This situation was not paralleled
among either newspaper carriers or sellers.
AGES

Children selling magazines are, as a group, younger than either
newspaper carriers or sellers. Ten percent of the magazine distribu­
tors included in this study were under 10 years old, 33 percent were
under 12 years, and 80 percent were under 14. The corresponding
proportions for newspaper sellers were: 4 percent under 10 years, 16
percent under 12, and 58 percent under 14. The age level among
newspaper carriers was distinctly higher, 61 percent being 14 and 15
years of age, compared with 42 percent of the newspaper sellers and
only 20 percent of the magazine distributors. (See table 1 , p. 2.)
The age distribution of the magazine sellers and carriers was as
follows:
Total reported________________________ ________

Percent
jqq

Under 8 years_________________________ __________ __
j
years_____ i ____________________________
_
__
g
g
9 years..______________________________________ _
10 years________________________________________
_ jq
1 1 years.____________________________________
_
jo
12 years-------------------------------------------------------------------- ____ 24
13 years____________ _______________________
_
__
2g
14 years. ________________________________________ _
jg
15 years_____________________________ ____________
y
8


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

42

CHILDREN IN NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE WORK

The Graphic Arts Code, which covers periodical publishing, sets
a minimum age of 14 years for selling magazines and specifies no
minimum age for “ delivering.” It has already been shown that it is
difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish between the two. Never­
theless it is pertinent to inquire what the children under 14 were
doing. Sixty-nine percent (615 children) of the interviewed children
under 14 sold at least part of their magazines in public places; 13
percent (118 children) sold in public places only.
In one of the cities surveyed 50 children (88 percent of those included
in the study who reported selling) were under 14 years of age, and 45
of the 50 were, selling in public places (offices, stores, restaurants,
streets) in spite of the fact that this city is covered by a State-wide
child-labor law prohibiting boys under 14 and girls under 18 from
selling on the street. In another city, where street trades are totally
unregulated, 85 percent of the magazine distributors for whom
information was obtained were under 14 years of age. In a third
city, also unregulated, 84 percent were under 14. In this city there
were complaints against late night selling by young children. Just
before the agent’s visit 4 children in 1 family, the youngest 6 years
old, had been picked up by a police officer because they were found
selling in a beer garden late at night. These children sometimes sold
as many as 47 magazines a night. The oldest boy, aged 14, planned
the routes and supervised the younger ones. They systematically
visited all the eating places along several of the busy down-town
thoroughfares.
In a city where, through the combined efforts of newspapers, schools,
and the juvenile court, very bad conditions among newspaper sellers
had been remedied, 85 percent of the magazine children were still
found to be under 14, and 62 percent were under 12—the highest pro­
portion in any of the places visited.
HOURS AND EARNINGS

Hours of selling magazines seldom conflicted with school hours.
The few children who sold before school usually completed their sales
before 9 a.m., and 898 of the 1,077 who were interviewed started selling
at 3 o’clock or later on school afternoons. Four hundred and fortyfive of these children reported selling until 6 o’clock or later. Ninetytwo children sold until 8 p.m. or later, and 4 as late as 10 o’clock on
school days.
Cash earnings for most of the children included in the study were
extremely low because of the small number of magazines sold.


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Ma g a z i n e s e l l e r s a n d c a r r i e r s

43

Nine hundred and forty children reported on the number of weeklies
sold the previous week. Only 76 (8 percent) of them sold as many as
50 magazines. Twenty-two children (2 percent) sold 100 or more,
one child being far ahead of the others with more than 300 magazines!
One-third (306) sold fewer than 10 weekly magazines, and another
third (319) sold 10 to 20 weeklies.
Seven hundred and ninety-three children reported selling monthlies
during the month preceding the survey. Of these only 124 (16 per­
cent) were able to sell as many as 20 monthly magazines. Two
hundred and four (26 percent) sold 10 to 20 magazines; and 465 (59
percent), fewer than 10.
Of the magazine distributors reporting weekly earnings from the
sale of weekly and monthly magazines, 21 percent earned less than 10
cents a week, and nearly one-half (46 percent) earned less than 20
cents a week (table 15). As in the case of newspaper sellers and
carriers, earnings increased with age. Thus the proportion earning
less than 20 cents a week was considerably lower among the 14- and 15year-old children than among those under 14. Only 15 percent of
the children 10 and 11 years old earned as much as 40 cents a week
compared with 25 percent of those 12 and 13 years old and 36 percent
of those 14 and 15 years old. Ninety-six children reported average
earnings of 80 cents or more; of these 79 were 12 years or older and
17 were under 12 years (table 16).
T able 15.

Percent distribution of weekly earnings of magazine carriers and sellers
of each age period in 17 cities, 193A
Magazine carriers and sellers
Weekly earnings >

Age at last birthday
Total
Under 10 10 and 11 12 and 13 14 and 15
years
years
years
years

Total.
Less than 20 cents.
20 cents, less than 40.
40 cents, less than 60.T
60 cents, less than 80.
80 cents or more.


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

100

100

100

100

100

46
30

73
16

49
35

44
31
11

36
28
13

10

44

C H IL D R E N I N N E W S P A P E R A N D M A G A Z IN E W O R K

T able 16 — Age and weekly earnings of magazine carriers and sellers in 17 cities,

1934
Magazine carriers and sellers
Age at last birthday
W eekly earnings1
Total

Total_______________
20 cents, less than 4 0 . -------

1,121
328
96
6
24

14 and 15 N ot re­
12 and 13
Under 10
10 and 11
years
years
years
years
ported
Total
report­
ed
N um ­ Per­ N um ­ Per­ N um ­ Per­ N um ­ Per­
ber cent ber cent ber cent ber cent
1,119
606
326
107
54
96
6
24

110
76
17
3
3
5
3
3

10

257

23

527

47

225

20

15
5
3
6
5

124
89
18
8
12
1
5

25
27
17
15
13

227
157
57
28
43
1
14

45
48
53
52
45

79
63
29
15
36
1
2

16
19
27
28
38

2
2

i The monthly Aaming? of children selling monthly magazines were divided by 4H weeks and added to
the amount earned by the sale of weekly magazines to secure total weekly earnings.

There is a wide range in the earnings and the hours of work. If a
child has regular customers only, he may dispose of his magazines in
a few hours. On the other hand, most of the selling is done casually
and irregularly, and for a number of children it involves long hours
and very small returns. The amount of earnings of these children is
on the whole incommensurate with the number of hours spent, partly
because a good deal of the time is spent in loitering, partly because
the number of children selling is too great for the demand. A boy
hit upon one of the bad features of magazine selling when he said he
took his bag of magazines and went out “ to sell and mess around. ”
An 1 1 -year-old boy worked 100 hours and sold 25 magazines at a profit of 3
cents a magazine, or % of a cent an hour.
A 10-year-old boy worked Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of the week
preceding the survey from 2:30 to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
with an hour off for lunch. During his 14 y2 hours he sold 15 weekly magazines,
getting 1 Y%cents each, and he was paid 22 cents, the company taking the fd cent.
A boy of 11 years was highly successful as a salesman; he had sold 29 magazines
on his first day. He usually sold 55 weeklies every week and 35 monthlies every
month. He worked 1% hours before school and again in the afternoon, and all
day Saturday. When asked if he found time to play, his answer was: “ Well,
seems as if I’d lost my taste for play. ”
A 12-year-old boy sold from 4 to 6 o’clock every school afternoon and 1 hour
on Saturday. His average weekly earnings were 15 cents, and he got a prize
about once a month. A 10 -year-old boy sold every school afternoon and all
day Saturday, more than 20 hours, and his average weekly earnings were 9 cents.

Among the highest average weekly earnings reported were those
of a 14-year-old boy who sold from house to house only. He sold

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

M A G A Z IN E S E L L E R S A N D

45

C A R R IE R S

before and after school 1 day a week, with 2 additional days for
monthly magazines; his earnings averaged $2.12 a week.
For the children who sold weeklies only it is possible to obtain
information as to both hours and earnings. One-fourth (78) of the
315 children for whom this information is fully available made less
than 10 cents a week, spending from % to 21% hours on the work.
Only 12 made as much as a dollar a week, with hours varying between
3 and 20%. The 78 who earned less than a dime and the 12 who
earned as much as a dollar reported about the same range of hours.
The following list shows for the children selling weeklies only a strik­
ingly similar range of hours in each earnings group and indicates a
lack of relationship between earnings and hours:
Num­
ber of

Rangeof
Tours

3L

Weekly earning»

Less than 10 cents__________________________
10 cents, less than 2 0 ________________________
20 cents, less than 30___ ;____________________
30 cents, less than 40________________________
40 cents, less than 50________________________
50 cents, less than $1____________________ ____
$1 or more------------------

7g

92
4g
39

10

fa.21%
%-24%
J4-17J4
%-25%
23

36

1 -1 7 14

12

3

- 20 %

PRIZES

Agents of publishing companies and the children agreed that prizes,
rather than the small earnings, form the chief attraction in selling!
Prizes are awarded through coupons given on sale of each magazine,
for definite increases in the number of magazines sold per week or
month, and as special rewards in contests. Competition is keen.
The eagerness of these children accounts in part for the long hours
spent carrying magazines, in search of occasional customers. One
boy wrote: “ In a wheel (bicycle) contest I was so far ahead that it
took 3 weeks to catch me while I was sick. ”
A publishing-company representative who had had many years’
experience with two large companies felt that the 10- to 12-year-old
group was the most valuable to the company, because interest in
selling and winning prizes is keenest at these ages. However, the
information obtained during this survey does not bear out this policy
of preferring the younger child, since the child 14 or over was usually
found to be a more successful and effective salesman.
GIRL MAGAZINE SELLERS

Eight girls in five cities sold magazines. One was 9 years old, two
were 10, two were 11, and three were 13 years old. Average weekly
earnings varied between 10 cents and $3. A 9-year-old girl worked
three afternoons from 4 to 8 o’clock and sold 150 weeklies at a profit
of $3. She sold from house to house and in restaurants. A 10-yearold girl sold 6 hours on the streets QP Saturday and earned 10 copts.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

STREET TRADERS HAVING MORE THAN ONE JOB

Two hundred and sixty-four children interviewed worked at more
than one of the three types of jobs included in the survey. Thirteen
combined all three, selling papers, carrying papers, and selling or
delivering magazines. For 193 of these 264 children information
concerning the principal job has been included in the section of the
report covering that job. The information given by 71 children was
not so included because they were unable to designate the “ principal
job” or were unable to distinguish the hours or the earnings on the
several jobs. Information on hours and earnings for the total group
having more than one job is shown in table 17.
Children with more than one job were found with greatest frequency
in Chicago (68 children), Detroit (41), Baltimore (39), Los Angeles
(31), Washington (20), and San Francisco (15).
The median earnings for the week of children having more than
one job were $2.29, and the median hours were 17. As is to be ex­
pected, earnings were higher and hours longer than for children with
single jobs.
T able

17.— Total weekly hours and weekly earnings of children having more than
1 job in street trades in 17 cities, 1934
Children having more than 1 job
W eekly earnings
W eekly hours
Total

T otal---------------- --------

30 hours’or more— -------------

46


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

264
64
47
53
41
26
33

Less
than $1
41
23
4
4
5
3
2

$1, less $1.50,less $2, less $3, less $4, less
than
than $2 than $3 than $4 than $5
$1.50
36

37

63

47

16
6
9
1
1
3

11
6
7
6
6
1

11
16
13
12
7
4

2
11
9
11
5
9

17

$5 or
more
23
1
1

1

10

CITIES COVERED IN EARLIER STUDIES AND REVISITED
IN 1934

Four of the cities visited in this survey were included in the earlier
and more intensive street-trades studies1 by the Bureau. For these
cities—Atlanta, Ga.; Omaha, Nebr.; Paterson, N .J.; and WilkesBarre, Pa.—material is available which makes possible comparison
of conditions at the present time with those approximately 10 years
ago. It will be recalled that only children under 16 were included in
either the earlier studies or the present one, so that any change in
the number of street workers over 16 is not reflected in these findings.
ATLANTA
Legal regulation

At the time of the 1923 survey Atlanta had a street-trades ordinance
providing that no boy under 12 and no girl under 16 should sell news­
papers or periodicals upon the streets or in public places, that sellers
must obtain badges, and that no child under 14 should sell at night—
8:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. (The ordinance did not apply to newspaper
carriers.) Enforcement of the ordinance had been delegated by the
mayor to the juvenile court. The juvenile court, however, admitted
that enforcement was not effective. One newspaper was issuing its
own work permits, alleging that the power to do so had been granted
by the mayor. Representatives of the other papers admitted that
the ordinance was not observed, and some of them were unfamiliar
with its provisions. Frequent violations of the ordinance provisions
in regard to both ages and hours were disclosed in the survey. This
ordinance was repealed in 1927, and at the present time street selling
constitutes a case for court action only if a very young child is involved
and insufficient guardianship can be charged.
Newspaper sellers

In general, the situation in regard to the age of newspaper sellers
and late night selling on Saturday nights has improved. Also, condi­
tions in newspaper distributing rooms, which at the time of the earlier
study were notoriously bad, have changed for the better. A very
great increase, however, has taken place in magazine selling by
children.
In 1923, 76 percent of the newspaper sellers were under 14 years of
age, compared to 57 percent in 1934. The proportion 10 and 11 years
of age, which was 26 percent in 1923, was 8 percent in 1934. The
i Children in Street Work and Child Workers on C ity Streets (U .S. Children’s Bureau Publications
N os. 183 and 188, Washington, 1928).

47

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

48

CHILDREN IN NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE WORK

proportion under 10 years of age, however, remained fairly constant—
11 percent in 1923 and 10 percent in 1934.
In both studies few boys reported selling in the morning before
school.
Late night selling on school days was.more prevalent in 1934 than
a decade earlier; nearly half the children reporting in 1934, compared
to 14 percent of those reporting in 1923, sold until 8 p.m. or later.
With regard to Saturday night, however, which in Atlanta as else­
where is the big selling night, there was a marked reduction. In the
earlier study 61 percent of the children who sold on Saturday, but
in the later study only 31 percent, sold until 10 p.m. or later; the
proportion working until midnight or later had decreased from 29
percent to 16 percent. Yet Atlanta still stood out in 1934 as a city
with a big Saturday-night problem with regard to newsboys.
Weekly hours of newspaper sellers in Atlanta appeared to be much
shorter in 1934 than in 1923, the median having decreased from 22.8
hours to 13.3 hours. This is connected with the reduction in late
selling on Saturday nights and indicates that children are selling more
irregularly than they were in former years.
Earnings diminished proportionately more than hours. In 1923
almost all the boys (89 percent) made at least $1 a week, while median
earnings were between $4 and $5. In 1934 half the boys earned
less than $1 a week; and only 5 boys (out of 62 reporting) earned as
much as $4.
In 1934 newspapers were making greater efforts to prevent boys
from congregating and loitering around the distributing rooms and
sleeping there at night. Improvement in conditions was noted by
school-attendance officers and by the chief probation officer of the
juvenile court.
Newspaper carriers

In 1923, 64 percent of the carriers were under 14 years of age, and
in 1934 only 37 percent were under 14. The circulation managers
said that the turnover had been smaller in recent years because the
older boys were glad to keep paper routes in the absence of other jobs.
In 1923 carriers did not report that they were urged to build up
their routes, although small cash awards and occasional prizes were
given for obtaining new subscriptions. There is a great contrast
between this situation and the pressure for new subscriptions found
in 1934. The two afternoon papers depended almost entirely on
their boy carriers to build up circulation. Activity was stimulated
not only by a cash award for each subscription but by a succession of
prize offers—trips to the World’s Fair, to Washington, and to other
places; a second-hand automobile; college scholarships; and many
small things that boys want, such as bats, balls, and flashlights.
Carriers were seldom free from pressure to solicit, a situation that was

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

CITIES OF EARLIER STUDIES REVISITED IN 1934

49

deplored by teachers and social workers. In a recent contest carriers
had worked day and night, neglecting school work, play, and health.
In 1923, 59 percent of the carriers under 16 in Atlanta made their
own collections—an unusually high percentage at that time. In
1934, all the carriers made their own collections. One paper paid a
straight 20 percent commission on collections, but carriers for the
others assumed full responsibility for collections and were paid 40
percent of the subscriber’s bill. In 1923 it was found that carriers
in Atlanta spent more time on their routes than was customary in
other cities, undoubtedly a result of the little-merchant system.
One-fourth of the boys spent at least 2 hours a day on their routes,
and 38 percent worked 3 hours or more on Saturdays.
The hours, long in 1923, were still longer in 1934. The median
total hours a week for carriers in 1923 were 11.2; and in 1934, 14.3.
This increase is probably accounted for by an increase in the amount
of collecting and soliciting done by carriers. For delivering papers
the median hours for the week were only 8, but 73 percent of the
carriers who reported collecting spent 3 hours or more during the
week at this, 46 percent spent 4 hours or more, and 21 percent spent
6 hours or more. Fifty-nine percent spent 2 hours or more during
the week soliciting new subscriptions, and 20 percent spent 4 hours
or more, with the result that the median for all the activities combined
was raised to 14.3 hours.
Few boys in Atlanta—11—reported making early-morning deliv­
eries. One paper, in fact, had been using men as carriers for a con­
siderable period of years and was well satisfied with the arrangement
because it meant fewer bad debts, fewer complaints, and no dis­
ciplinary problems.
Of the 11 boys who reported making early-morning deliveries (5 of
them working as helpers to other carriers), all but 1 started thenwork before 6 a.m.; 2 boys started earlier than 4 a.m.; 3 between 4
and 5 a.m.; 5 between 5 and 6 a.m. One 11-year-old boy reported
leaving home at 2 in the morning, returning at 5.
Magazine sellers and carriers

Representatives of social agencies and of schools said that magazine
selling by children had increased markedly in recent years. At the
time of the earlier Children’s Bureau survey only 78 children of 881
interviewed sold magazines. In the present survey magazine sellers
were found in about the same proportion as newspaper sellers.
Furthermore, in 1923, children doing magazine work were referred to
as the “ aristocrats of the street workers”, because they came from
the more prosperous homes. In 1934 they were found in equal pro­
portions in very different types 6f neighborhoods ranging from middle
class to extremely poor.


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

50

C H IL D R E N I N N E W S P A P E R A N D M A G A Z IN E W O R K

Magazine sellers and carriers were younger than either newspaper
carriers or sellers; their average age was 11.1 years in 1923 and 12.1
in 1934. In the earlier survey 30 percent were under 10 years of age,
and in the present survey 14 percent. In both studies it was reported
that the chief inducement to sell magazines lay in the prizes that were
offered. Cash weekly earnings had been just about cut in half;
the median in 1923 was 41 cents, in 1934 it was 20 cents.
OMAHA

A striking improvement was found in the working conditions of
newspaper sellers in 1934 as compared with 1923 in Omaha. Abuses
that were flagrant at the time of the earlier study and that had shown
little improvement in June 1926, had been to a large extent eliminated
by April 1934. This was traceable to better cooperation between the
school-attendance department, the newspapers, and the juvenile
court.
Carriers in Omaha were found in both studies to be working under
high pressure. Omaha was one of the cities in which boys were for
the most part making their own collections, even in 1923, and where
evening circulation drives were being pushed. Carriers’ hours were
very long on this account both in 1923 and in 1934.
Legal regulation

The only legal basis for regulating street trades in Omaha is still,
as in 1923 and 1926, a State-wide dependency law whereby any child
under 10 who is found peddling or selling any article upon the street,
or who accompanies or is used in the aid of a person so doing, may be
deemed dependent and neglected and may be declared a ward of the
court. The juvenile court has attempted in recent years to regulate
street selling by requiring that sellers under 16 must be off the streets
by 7 p.m., except that on Fridays and Saturdays boys 14 to 16 years
of age may sell the late editions until midnight. This requirement
was in force prior to the newspaper code.
Newspaper sellers

In 1923 a circulation war was in progress. Every comer had its
quota of newspaper sellers, many of them under 12 years of age.
Professional “ hustlers” were employed; and, according to the younger
newspaper boys, one paper gave these hobo newsies room and
board in addition to a cash bonus and a commission on sales.
Some of the distributing rooms from which the boys obtained the
first editions were in basements. One of them was without ventila­
tion. Here, at almost any time of the day or night, men and boys
could be found. On Saturdays the bbys frequently slept in the rooms
waiting for early-morning editions. Gambling, encouraged by the
“ hobo newsies” who were more skilled at the game, was prevalent.

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

C IT IE S O F E A R L IE R

S T U D IE S

R E V IS IT E D

IN

1934

51

The boys claimed that the hoboes also encouraged stealing and disposed
of the goods thus obtained.
Later editions of the paper were brought to the boys on their corners
by truck drivers. There was a great deal of complaint by the boys
about being required by the truck drivers of one company to “ eat”
papers; that is, to take more papers than they could sell without being
permitted to return any that were not sold. Truck drivers were also
accused of cruelty to the boys.
In 1934 conditions were altogether different. The “hobo newsies”
had disappeared. The type of men employed as truck drivers and
sellers had improved. Distributing rooms were on the street floors,
well ventilated and well lighted. Many of the objectionable features
associated with street life, such as loitering, gambling, and sleeping
in distributing rooms, had been eliminated. Boys were called for at
school-closing time by company trucks and taken to their corners,
together with their papers. At 7 p.m. the truck started making the
rounds of the corners, picking up the children and taking them to their
homes. These trucks are closed and provided with benches inside.
Unsold papers are now returnable.
In 1923 it was found that progress had been made in eliminating
some of the youngest sellers; the proportion of sellers under 10 years
of age was smaller in Omaha than in most of the other cities included
in the 1923 survey. This progress has continued; the 12 percent
under 10 in 1923 has been reduced to 3 percent. There was a slight
increase in the proportion aged 10 and 11 years, and a still more
marked increase in those aged 12 and 13 years, but a slight decrease
in those aged 14 and 15 years.
A distinct change has taken place in the hours of Saturday selling.
Selling appears to be heavier during the early hours of the evening
and less spread out over the day and night than was formerly the
case. In 1923, 23 percent of those selling quit some time before 6
p.m., but in 1934 only 16 percent did so. While formerly nearly a
third (31 percent) stayed out until 10 p.m. or later (and 25 percent
until midnight or later), in 1934 only 7 percent worked as late as 10
o’clock, even on Saturday nights. The proportion quitting between
6 and 8 p.m. had increased from 43 to 56 percent, and the proportion
quitting between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. had increased strikingly (from
3 to 22 percent).
In spite of the elimination of much of the late selling on Saturday
nights, the boys’ total hours spent in selling were somewhat longer in
1934 than in 1923—a tendency contrary to that found elsewhere.
In 1923 half the boys interviewed worked more than 22 hours a week,
and in 1934 half worked more than 27 hours a week.
At the same time earnings decreased, mainly because the practice
of paying bonuses to comer boys had been discontinued. These

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

52

C H IL D R E N I N

N E W S P A P E R A N D M A G A Z IN E W O R K

bonuses in some cases had amounted to $3 and $4 a week.
median earnings were $3.52 and in 1934, $1.28.

In 1923

• Newspaper carriers

There has been a change in the age level of the carriers in the last
11 years, carriers being older in 1934 than in 1923. This change was
more decided for carriers than for sellers. Seventy-six percent of the
carriers under 16 who were interviewed in 1934 were 14 or 15 years
of age, compared with 41 percent in 1923.
Although the hours worked by carriers have increased somewhat
(the median being 11 hours in 1923 and 12.9 in 1934) their earnings
were decidedly lower at the time of the later survey. In 1923 half
the carriers earned at least $4.08, whereas in 1934 the median was
only $2.76. This drop occurred in spite of the fact that the com­
plaints, so frequent at the time of the earlier study against enforced
taking of “ extras” for which the carrier must pay, were not en­
countered in 1934.
There were, at the time of the second study, many complaints con­
cerning “ bad pays.” One boy, who had succeeded in collecting only
$1 the week prior to the survey on a route which should have yielded
$2.50, had worked a total of 30^ hours during the week: 14 hours
delivering; 11 ){ hours collecting; 5 hours attending meetings and
keeping records.
The proportion of carriers working under the little-merchant
system, although high in Omaha, in 1923, was still higher in 1934.
Fifty-three percent of all carriers interviewed in 1923 reported “ work­
ing for themselves” ; in 1934 about three-fourths reported that they
were responsible for bad debts—an equally good indication of the
carriers’ status.
Magazine sellers and carriers

The number of children selling magazines in Omaha in 1923 was
larger than in most of the other cities studied at that time. In 1934
children not only sold within the city, but those whose sales records
were highest were taken into near-by towns on Saturday for all-day
selling. These expeditions had been organized within the last few
years.
Whereas in 1923, 84 percent of the children peddled their magazines
only in residential areas, 73 percent at the time of the 1934 survey
sold at least part of their magazines in public places.
There is a marked variation in the age distribution of the children
handling magazines, showing a shift to the older children in the later
year. In 1934, 15 percent were 14 and 15 years of age, compared
with 2 percent in 1923; but there was also a slightly larger proportion
under 10 in the later study (26 percent compared with 22 percent).
In spite of the larger number of older boys and girls selling maga­
zines in 1934, and in spite of the fact that children tended to go

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

C IT IE S

OF E A R L IE R S T U D IE S R E V IS IT E D I N 1 9 3 4

53

further afield with their “ books”, into business districts, there oc­
curred a pronounced drop in weekly cash earnings. The median in
1934 was only half the median in 1923—17 cents per week, compared
with 33 cents per week.
PATERSON
Legal regulation

In 1925 newspaper selling in Paterson was regulated by a city
ordinance, which fixed the minimum age at 10 years, required permits
renewed annually for children 10 to 16 years, and prohibited selling
by children under 16 years after 9 p.m. or before 4 a.m. (except that
on Saturdays they might sell until 10 p.m., and on Sundays selling was
prohibited after 1 p.m.). The duty of issuing the permits was lodged
with the school-attendance department, which, in addition, made
surveys on Saturdays of the down-town streets. The police depart­
ment also had the general duty of enforcing the ordinance. A check
with the records at that time, however, showed that only 18 percent
of the newsboys included in the survey had permits.
At the time of the 1934 survey enforcement of the ordinance had
been replaced by use of the provision of the State law allowing a child
between 10 and 16 years of age wishing to assist in the support of
himself or his family to engage in fight work such as selling news­
papers, blacking boots, or running errands, upon obtaining a permit
from the school-atteu dance authorities. The night-work prohibition
under this law is much more stringent than that in effect in 1925,
work being prohibited between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. On account of the
limited staff adequate enforcement is not possible; this is shown by the
fact that only 50 certificates were outstanding for all street workers,
whereas the small sample of newspaper and magazine sellers in the
Children’s Bureau survey exceeded that number.
Newspaper sellers

Newspaper sellers in Paterson at the time of the earlier study were
very young. Children of 5 and 6 years were seen getting their papers
from a distributing room. In the 1934 study the proportion of boys
over 12 years was found to have increased greatly. In 1925, 15 per­
cent of the sellers were under 10 years of age, as compared with 4
percent in 1934; 41 percent in the earlier study were under 12 years,
as compared with 23 percent in 1934. The proportion who were 14
and 15 years old increased from 27. percent to 39 percent.
In 1925 the median age of sellers in Paterson was 12.5 years. It
had gone up by almost a year in 1934, when it was 13.4 years.
In neither of the Children’s Bureau studies were many boys found
engaged in early-morning selling. The evening editions of the local
papers present no special problem because the sale of these is mostly
discontinued before 7 o’clock to make way for the early-morning
editions of the New York papers. The big profits are to be made on

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

54

CHILDREN IN NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE WORK

Saturday nights, because tips are more readily given then and because
a relatively high commission is earned by selling the early-morning
editions of the New York Sunday papers—from 2.5 cents to 2.8 cents
a copy. At the time of the 1925 study all but 8 of the 108 sellers under
16 interviewed sold on Saturday nights. In 1934, however, it de­
veloped that 40 percent of those interviewed did not sell on Saturdays.
A comparison with the earlier survey shows that there is a tendency
in 1934 for those who sell at night to stay out later. In 1925 only
3 percent of the boys stayed out later than 10 p.m. on school days,
and a little over one-fourth stayed out until 10 p.m. or later on
Saturdays. Of the 41 boys who reported selling on school days in
1934, 21 quit selling at 10 p.m. or later. Of the 34 boys who reported
selling on Saturdays, 20 sold until 11 o’clock or later, the last quitting
between 2 and 4 a.m. In spite of the fact that Saturday-night selling
was not so common among the boys interviewed in 1934, 9 boys out
of the 34 who did sell on Saturdays sold until midnight or later, com­
pared with 5 boys out of 100 in 1925.
Earnings of newsboys under 16 had decreased very markedly in
1934 as compared with 1925. The median was $1.43 in the 1931
study; in 1925 it had been $3.17. This drop is in part explicable by
the fact that boys were selling more casually and irregularly at the
time of the later study, and that fewer were selling on Saturday nights.
Newspaper carriers

Just as among the sellers, a decided rise since 1925 had taken place in
the age of carriers in Paterson. Whereas 7 percent of the 177 carriers
reporting age in 1925 were under 10 years, none of the 43 carriers
interviewed in 1934 was younger than 10, and only 4 were under 12.
In 1925 the largest age group consisted of boys 12 and 13 years old;
by 1934 it had shifted to 14 and 15 years.
Although the age level had risen, a smaller proportion of carriers
with early-morning routes was found in 1934 than in 1925. Apparently
these morning routes are now to a large extent cared for by boys 16
years and over.
At the time of the earlier study nearly all the boys worked for news
dealers at a flat salary. Of the carriers interviewed in 1934 more than
half worked as helpers to other carriers—no doubt older boys. The
custom of distribution through boys hired at salaries by news dealers,
which was characteristic of Paterson in 1925, still prevailed. Some
carriers, at both dates, built up and owned their own routes, buying
their papers outright and making their own collections. Few carriers
worked directly under the supervision of the newspapers.
In 1925 median earnings of carriers for a typical week were $2.85
and close to a fifth earned $4 or more, although few earned more than
$5. Of the 39 boys reporting earnings in 1934, only 10 made as much
as $3 during the week before the study, and half made less than $2 a

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

CITIES OF EARLIER STUDIES REVISITED IN 1934

55

week. Little change had occurred in hours, the majority of children
interviewed in both studies working less than 12 hours a week. The
drop in earnings is perhaps accounted for by the fact that many of the
boys under 16 now work as helpers rather than as regular carriers.
Magazine sellers and carriers

Only three children were found*who had peddled magazines in
Paterson at the time of the earlier study. In 1934 also this type of
selling was relatively unimportant. In 5 schools, in which 58 news­
paper sellers and 43 carriers were interviewed, only 14 children were
engaged in m jgazine distribution.
Legal regulation

WILKES-BARRE

There has been no change in legal regulations governing street
work in Wilkes-Barre in the interval between the 1922 and the 1934
study. Wilkes-Barre is covered by a State-wide street-trades law
which provides for a minimum age of 12 for boys selling or delivering
papers or magazines, and 21 for girls and which prohibits street work
for boys under 16 between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. No badges or licenses
are required. This law is enforced by the school-attendance depart­
ment, the city police, and the State department of labor, an unsatis­
factory state of divided responsibility.
Whereas at the time of the earlier study, and even as late as
January 1927, when a check-up was made by the Bureau, the regu­
lations were largely disregarded, a great improvement was noted in
April 1934. Within the last year girl sellers have been taken off the
street, through the efforts of the vocational-guidance department of
the schools. There is no longer any night selling of out-of-town
papers by children. These papers must now be purchased from
news stands.
The newspapers were endeavoring to live up to the State streettrades law by refusing to supply papers to boys under 12 years
Younger boys, however, might obtain papers from other boys. It
used to be possible for children between 14 and 16 wishing to leave
school to obtain all-day selling permits, but such permits have not
been issued since the N.R.A. came into effect.
Newspaper sellers

The severe depression affecting the principal local industry, coal
mining, has reduced the profits from newspaper selling and has helped
to keep down the number of newsboys. Scarcity in jobs available to
children has caused older boys to keep their routes and comers past
the usual age, instead of turning them over to younger brothers and
sisters, or others.
As a result of these various factors the swarm of young street traders,
noticeable in 1922 and even more prominent in 1927, have all but

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

56

CHILDREN IN NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE WORK

vanished from Wilkes-Barre’s public square and down-town streets.
The shouting of wares, which on Saturday nights was kept up until
late hours by even very young children, has faded into an occasional
single voice of an older boy or man. A tour of the city streets in
the vicinity of the square, once swarming with tiny youngsters until
8 o’clock and well populated for, several hours later with boys from
10 years up, convinced the agents that a great change had taken
place. Not a single boy who seemed under 16 was seen in the square
or on any of the side streets—not even around motion-picture thea­
ters—after 8 o’clock. Very few were seen even at 7 o’clock, the streets
having been fairly well cleared of all street traders, except adults, as
soon as the local papers were sold out, which usually occurred between
6 and 7 o’clock.
The 1922 report on newsboys in Wilkes-Barre found one-fifth under
10 years of age and more than one-half under 12; only 14 percent were
14 and 15 years old. Although the 1934 survey did not cover the
elementary schools so thoroughly as did the earlier study, it included
three high schools and junior high schools and two large parochial
schools. Sixty-eight percent of the sellers were 14 and 15 years of
age. The youngest child found selling was 11 years old.
Whereas in 1922 more than half the Saturday sellers interviewed
stayed out till 8 p.m. or later (one-third quitting between 8 and 10 A
p.m. and 11 percent between 10 p.m. and midnight), in 1934 practi­
cally all the children who were interviewed and who sold on Saturdays
reported quitting by 8 p.m., thus confirming the agents’ general
observations. Three boys 14 years of age reported selling till after
midnight. In 1922, 12 percent of those selling at night on school
days stayed out till 8 p.m. or later; in 1934, only 2 boys out of 36 did
this. A few boys were found who sold morning papers, beginning
before 5 a.m., as had been the case in 1922.
The total number of hours for which children sold had been reduced;
the median was 12.7 hours per week in &22 and 10.4 hours in 1934.
Earnings had not changed as much as the change in hours and the
elimination of Saturday-night late selling might lead one to expect.
Median earnings in 1922 were $1.66 per week, and in 1934, $1.37.
The same proportion of boys (31 percent) in both studies made less
than $1 a week. Only 7 boys of those reporting in 1934 made as
much as $3 per week.
Sellers of the evening dailies continued to come to the main dis­
tributing rooms for their papers and to buy them outright on a cash
basis, as they did in 1922. Wilkes-Barre was one of the few cities
covered in 1934 in which most of the boys reported that they could
not return papers. J h e one local Sunday paper allowed returns up
to 5 percent of the number pf copies taken out, After the boys left


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

CITIES OF EARLIER STUDIES REVISITED IN 1934

the distribution rooms they were entirely free
street-sales supervisors were not employed.

from

57

supervision, as

Newspaper carriers

In 1922 the majority of the regular carriers were employed by the
papers at a flat monthly salary—$8 for morning routes «nd $3.50 to
$6.50 for evening routes. About one-fifth worked on their own
account, purchasing their papers outright, like the sellers. In 1934
about two-thirds of the carriers were still employed on a salaried
basis; the remainder, comprising practically all the carriers of one
paper and about a fourth of the carriers of another, worked on the
little-merchant system, which had been recently introduced.
A remarkable change in the age distribution of carriers had occurred.
In 1922, 13 percent were under 10 years, and 33 percent were under
12. In 1934 no carriers under 10 were found in the group of 86
interviewed, and only 2 were younger than 12. The proportion
aged 14 and 15 years was 27 percent in the earlier study and 78
percent in the later. The younger boys work mainly as helpers,
although some worked for news dealers on salaries.
The median weekly hours of carriers had remained about the same,
less than 8 per week—considerably lower than the median of all car­
riers in the 1934 study combined, which was 10.3 hours. Average
weekly earnings showed a very slight increase from $1.41 to $1.60,
which is significant in view of the decided change in age level. Boys
of 14 and 15 in 1934 were earning little more than boys of 11 and 12
years had earned in the earlier years. Out of 80 boys reporting
earnings in 1934, 25 earned less than $1 a week, 28 made between $2
and $o, and only 3 boys earned between $3 and $4; none earned more.
Of the 87 carriers interviewed in the 1934 study 16 reported morn­
ing deliveries; all but 1 started before 6 a.m. The proportion deliver­
ing morning papers was much larger than this in 1922, indicating
that in Wilkes-Barre, as in the other cities, the tendency is now to
assign early-morning routes to carriers 16 years of age or older.


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

LEGAL REGULATIONS APPLYING TO SELLERS AND CARRIERS OF NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES

g

(The 17 cities included in the Children’s Bureau survey, 1934]

Occupations to which regula­
tions apply

Girls

Hours during which night
work is prohibited

Boys

Children for whom permit is
required for work outside
school hours

New England and Middle Atlantic
Fall River, Mass.:
State street-trades law ------------------

Paterson, N.J.:
State child-labor and education law .
Buffalo, N .Y .:
State street-trades law, applying to
cities of 20,000 or more.
Wilkes-Barre, Pa.:
State street-trades law---------------------

18 ».

8 p.m. to 6 a.m. (boys under
14). 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. (boys
between 14 and 16).

Boys between 12 and 16.

Selling newspapers or periodi­
cals.

N o mini­ N o minimum age..
mum age.;

8 p.m. to 3 a.m. (children un­
der 14).

N o permit or badge required.

Selling newspapers or doing
other light outdoor work.

7 p.m. to 6 a.m. (children un­
der 16).

Children between 10 and 16.

Selling or distributing news­
papers or periodicals.

7 p.m. to 6 a.m. (boys under
17).

Boys between 12 and 17.

Selling or distributing news­
papers, magazines, or other
publications.

8 p.m. to 6 a.m. (boys under
16).

N o permit or badge required.

Southern
Baltimore, Md.:
State street-trades law, applying to
cities of 20,000 or more.

Washington, D.C.:
Act of Congress, applying to District
of Columbia (street-trades law).


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

.do.

Selling or distributing news­
papers, magazines, or periodi­
cals in any street or public
place.

16.

12 (10 for distribut­
ing newspapers on
regular afternoon
route).

Selling or distributing news­
papers, magazines, or periodi­
cals.

18.

12 (10 for distribut- 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. (boys under
ing on fixed route).
16). No prohibition for boys
10 or over distributing on
fixed route.

Boys between 12 and 16 (10 to
12 for distributing news­
papers on regular route be­
tween 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m.).
Boys between 12 and 16. No
badge required for boys 10 or
over distributing on fixed
route.

N E W S P A P E R A N D M A G A Z IN E W O R K

N ew Haven, Conn.:
C ity charter..'...

Selling newspapers, magazines,
or periodicals.

C H IL D R E N I N

Minimum age
C ity and type of regulation

Atlanta, Ga.:
No provision.
Louisville, Ky.:
State street-trades law, applying to
cities of 1st, 2d, and 3d classes.

None for selling or distribut­ None for selling or distributing
ing newspapers. 8 p.m. to
newspapers. Boys between
6 a.m. for selling or distribut­
14 and 16 selling or distribut­
ing magazines or periodicals
ing magazines or periodicals.
(boys under 16).

10 for selling *.

8 p.m. to 6 a.m. (boys under
14).

No permit or badge required.

11

7:30 p.m. to 4 a.m. (8:30 p.m.
to 4 a.m. during school vaca­
tion).

Boys between 11 and 16 selling
(boys under 11 upon suffi­
cient showing made to issuing
officer by judge of superior,
municipal or juvenile court).
N o badge issued for distrib­
uting.

M emphis, Tenn.:
in practice children under 16 are not
permitted to sell on the streets. Under
the juvenile-court law, which gives
the court jurisdiction over dependent
children up to 17 years of age, it is
specifically provided that a child
under 14 found selling any article may
be declared dependent and subject to
the control of the court.

North Central
Youngstown, Ohio:
N o provision.
Chicago, ill.:
City ordinance______________
Detroit, Mich.:
N o provision.*
Des Moines, Iowa:
State street-trades law, applying to ____do__________________
cities of 10,000 or more.

LEGAL REGULATIONS

14.

The minimum age of 18 applies to all cities in Massachusetts of 50,000 or more; 16 elsewhere in the State.
B y informal police ruling girls are not permitted to sell on the streets.
Although the city ordinance does not fix a minimum age for boys, any child under 10 found selling any article m ay be declared dependent under the juvenile-court law.
Detroit has a city ordinance which requires a “ new sboy” to obtain a permit but which sets up no standard as to age or hours.

Ct

CD

https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

LEGAL REGULATIONS APPLYING TO SELLERS AND CARRIERS OF NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES—
Continued
Minimum age

Occupations to which regulations apply
Girls

Hours during which night
work is prohibited

Children for whom permit is
required for work outside
school hours

10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (State-wide
law applying to any minor
under 18 “ vending or selling
goods or engaging in any
business.”)

N o permit or badge required.

Boys

Omaba, Nebr.:
Under juvenile-court ruling boys under
10 and all girls are prevented from sell­
ing and boys under 16 are not allowed
to sell after 7 p.m., except on Friday
and Saturday nights, when boys be­
tween 14 and 16 may work until mid­
night. The juvenile-court law specifi­
cally provides that a child under 10
found selling on the street may be de­
clared a dependent child and subject
to the control of the court.

Pacific
San Francisco, Calif.:
State street-trades law, applying to
cities of 23,000 or more.

Selling or distributing news­
papers, magazines, or periodi­
cals.

Los Angeles, Calif.:
State street-trades law, applying to ____ do________________________
cities of 23,000 or more.

18

18

10

.........

O


https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

10.

. ..

Do.

CHILDREN IN NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE WORK

City and type of regulation

cs>
o