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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
CHILDREN’S BUREAU. M B B lB B

PUBLICATION*: 198

CH ILD REN i
IN FR U I#AND ^ B é T A B IÉ
I jS a n n e r ie s I

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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
JAMES J. D AVIS, Secretary

C H IL D R E N ’S B U R E A U
GRACE ABBOTT, Chief

CHILDREN
IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE
CANNERIES
A Survey in Seven States
By
E L L E N N A T H A L IE M A T T H E W S

Bureau Publication No. 198

U N ITE D STATES
GOVERNM ENT PR IN T IN G OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1930

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CO NTENTS
Page

Letter of transmittal_________________________ ___ ________________________ ^___
vu
Introduction _ _______________________ '_ _ _ ______ _______ _ _ ____________ 1
The Children’s Bureau survey___________________________________________
2
The labor supply__________ _____________________ _________________________
5
Character of labor supply________ ________________ ± 1 _______ _ ______
5
Migratory family labor_____________________ - - - - - ___ _ _ _ ___ _______
6
Child labor in canneries__________ __________________ _____________ _______
7
7
Extent of child labor____________________ _ _ _ l v _ _ _ _ ;_ _ _ _ _ __________
Kinds of work____________________________________ _;___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
9
Working conditions________________ _______________________________ 11
The canneries and child labor legislation._________________ ____________
13
13
Provisions of child labor laws_____ _________________________________
Enforcement of child labor laws_________ _______ ___________________
14
Conclusions___________________________________________ _________ _
; _ ;___
24
Delaware__________________________________ - - - - _____- ______ - - ________ _______
28
Introduction________ >_______________________ _•____________ _______________
28
The canneries_______________________________________ a_____________- i : ------28
Location, size, and product__________________________ ___________—
28
Equipment and sanitation_____ ____ ______ _ ___________________ _____
30
The labor supply__________________________________________________
33
Character of labor supply____________ ;__________ _ _ . _ _ __________—
33
Recruiting family labor in B altim ore._ _.__________ Ijt___ _________
34
Baltimore families migrating for work in Delaware canneries___
35
Child labor in canneries_________________________________________________...
36
The working children________________
36
Ages of children and violations of age standard of State child
labor law ___________________________________________________________
37
Kinds of work_______________________
39
Hours of work_______________________ _______________ _______________
41
46
Cannery work and schooling_______________________ _ _ _ '.y;_____________ _
Certification of minors and evidence of age___t l ______________________
49
Labor camps for cannery workers_____ : ----------------------------— _ _ — _ _ —
50
Size of cam p s.________________________ !_____________ _______ _
50
Housing________________ ____________ ______ _ _ ------------- _ _ _ _ _ _ ------- 50
52
Sanitation__________________________________________. _ _ _ _ -------—
Care of children_________________________________ _ _ _ __________ ___ _ _
52
Illnesses in migratory families_________________ ||i--------------------------53
Summary_____________ __________________________________________. — - - - - 53
Indiana___________________________________ ____________ ._ _
_ _ _ _ — 1_ _.—
55
Introduction__________________________________________ __________ _____ —
55
The canneries____________________ ____________ ____________ ------------------------55
Location, size, and product_________________----------------- _ _ _ _ _ i _ — _
55
Equipment and sanitation_____________________________
58
The labor s u p p ly .._____________ _______ _____,____ .___:_____ _ _ _ i ------------60
Laws regulating child labor in canneries________________________________
61
Child labor in canneries__________________________________________________
62
Ages of children and violations of age standard of State child
labor law________________________________^______J------ ------------ ____
62
Kinds of w ork_____________________ ____________________ — ------------64
Hours of work_____________________________________
67
Cannery work and schooling_____________________________________________
72
Certification of minors___________________
74
E xtent___________________ __________________ ______ _'___ '------- -------------74
Issuing officers__ _________ __________ _____________ i _____________ _I
77
Requirements for issuance________________________ ___ _________:___
78
State supervision_______________ _ ________ 1 _ _ _ a------- -------- - _ _.—
81
Sum m ary.:--------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- 83
hi

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CONTENTS
Page

M a r y la n d ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Introduction_____________________________________
85
The canneries__________________________________________________
-___
87
Location, size, and product---------------------87
Equipment and sanitation_____________________________
89
The labor supply___________________________________ ,-------------------------------92
Character of labor supply__________________________
92
Recruiting family labor in Baltimore______________________________
95
Baltimore families migrating for work in Maryland canneries. _
96
Laws regulating child labor in canneries________________________________
97
Child labor in canneries__________________________________________________
98
The working children___________________
.98
Ages of children and violations of age standard of State child
99
labor law______________________________________________?____________
Kinds of work____ ___________________________________________________
103
Prohibited or hazardous employment_____________________________ f106
Hours of work____________________________________________
107
Cannery work and schooling_____________________________________________
114
Certification of minors____________________________________________________
117
Extent______________________________________
117
Issuing officers_________________________________________________
Requirements for issuance___________________________
122
State supervision____________________________________________________
125
Labor camps for cannery workers_______________________________________
125
Size of camps_______________________________________________ ____________
125
126
Housing______________________________________________________________
Sanitation______________________________________________________
129
Care of children________________________________________________________
130
Illnesses in migratory families______________________________
Summary__________________________________________„ __________ ____________
131
Michigan_______________________________________________________________________
135
Introduction_______________________________________________________________
135
The canneries______________________________
__
135
Location, size, and product____________________:_______ ____________
135
Equipment and sanitation____________________________________________
137
The labor supply____________________________________________________________
139
Laws regulating child labor in canneries__________________________________
140
Child labor in canneries_____________________________.____________________
141
The working children____________________________________
Ages of children and violations of age standard of State child labor
law----------------------------------------------------------------- !______________________
141
Kinds of work__________________________________________________ .____
141
Hours of work___________________________________________________ _ _ _
143
Cannery work and schooling_______________________________________
146
Certification of minors________________________________________________________ 147
Extent____________________ _______________________________ ,________ _
147
Issuing officers___________________________________________________
149
Certificate forms_____________________________________________________
149
Requirements for issuance__________________________________________
151
State supervision_____________________________________________________
152
Summary__________________________________________________________________
153
154
New Y ork _______________________________________________ ____________ ,________ _
Introduction__________________________________________________________ ;___
154
The canneries_____________________
155
Location, size, and product__________________________________
155
Equipment and sanitation____________________________________ _ _____,
157
The labor supply_____________________________________________
159
Laws regulating child labor in canneries________________________________
160
Child labor in canneries_____________________________________________
161
Age and sex of children_____________________________________________
161
Violations of age standard of the State child labor law__________
162
Kinds of work________________________________________________________
162
Hours of work________________________________________________________
163
Cannery work and schooling__________________________________________ __
167
Certification of minors____________________________________________________
168
Extent_____________________________k_ _ _ _____________________ _________
168
Issuing officers_______________________________________________________
169

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121

CONTENTS

New York— Continued.
Certification of minors— Continued.
Page
Requirements for issuance______________ _____________________
_
170
State supervision________________________________ 173
Labor camps for cannery workers
. ___
__
_
VI^
Sum m ary------------------------------------------------1 “ I ZZZZï ZIZI Z1111Z111Z11111
i 76
Washington_____________________________ _______________ _
_
27©
Introduction_____________________ j ___________
~ ~ I III
178
Thé canneries_________________________________________ ~ _ ~
I I I 178
Laws regulating child labor in canneries___________ ._ ___________________
179
Child labor in canneries ^________________________________________
IgO
Age and sex of children __ ___.__ ;______ I__II
I _I _ 180
Kinds of work_____________ ____________________ ________ I_I~II_I_I
181
Hours of work______________________ ________________ ~~______ ”
jg j
Cannery work and schooling______________________ 31_I__IIII.III
182
Certification of minors________________________ _____________
~ I I 182
E xtent________________________________ _________~
~ _ 111_ 11 _
jg 2
Issuing officers.__________________________________ IIIII
133
Summary__________________________ _________________ I.I.” I””II_I~I ~ i «4
Wisconsin____ _________________________ ___________ ____________ I _ I __
”
185
Introduction__________________________________ _____
. j~~
~
185
The canneries_______________________________________ ~ _
_I_ I II
185
Location, size, and product___________________________________
Igg
Equipment and sanitation _____________ I I_IIII_ I~_
187
The labor supply_______________________________________ I_I_II. II I_
189
lg 9
Laws regulating child labor in canneries________________________________
Child labor in canneries__________
191
Age and sex of m in o rs. ________________________________ II..I _
191
Violations of age standard of State child labor law_______________
192
Kinds of work_________________________________________
~
~192
Hours of work_________________ _________________________ III.III I_
194
198
Cannery work and schooling _____________ I_I__I_III__ I
Certification of minors______ ________________________________
--Extent ___________________________I HI
I
199
Issuing officers____________________________________
I__III_I200
Requirements for issuance_________________________________________
202
State supervision_______________________________
__ _
“
203
Summary------------------------------------------------------------- II_I_I.II
~I__ II
205
Appendixes:
Appendix I. Statistics of fruit and vegetable canning establishments
in the United States, 1 9 2 5 _____ ^____________ ______________________ _
208
Appendix II.— State regulation of labor of minors under 18 in canneries
and other manufacturing establishments (January 1, 1930)_______
210
223
Appendix I II.— State regulation of labor camps_____ __________________
IL LU STR A TIO N S
S' Facing page
Housing of migratory workers in Maryland and Delaware_________________
50
Occupations of cannery workers— peeling tomatoes and snipping beans*
unloading tomatoes at a rural cannery__________________________
99

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LETTER OF TRANSM ITTAL

U n it e d S t a t e s D

of L a b o r ,
C h il d r e n ’ s B u r e a u ,

epartm ent

Washington, January 23, 1930.
There is transmitted herewith a report on Children in Fruit
and Vegetable Canneries, by Ellen Nathalie Matthews, director of
the industrial division of the Children’s Bureau. Mathilde Selig was
in charge of the field work for the study, except in the States of New
York and Washington. The New York inquiry was made and a pre
liminary account of the findings in that State prepared by Ethel
Hanks Van Buskirk. Assistance was given by Alice Channing, asso
ciate director of the industrial division, in the analysis of material
for the report, especially that relating to equipment and sanitation
of the canneries and housing of migratory workers.
Acknowledgment is made of the cooperation given the bureau in
the conduct of the inquiry by the management of the canneries,
members of State departments of labor, employment-certificate
officers, and especially State officials responsible for the enforcement
of child labor laws who read the sections of the report relating to
their own States.
Respectfully submitted.
G r a c e A b b o t t , Chief.
Hon. J a m e s J. D a v i s ,
Secretary of Labor.
Sir :

V II

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES
IN TRO D UCTION

Women and children have always formed the greater part of the
labor supply in fruit and vegetable canneries. The proportion of
women wage earners, about one-half, has remained constant, but the
employment of children has fluctuated, and in the last decennial cen
sus of manufactures has shown a marked decline.1 This decline set in
later than in other industries. Many child labor laws of 15 or 20
years ago exempted canneries from their provisions; it was alleged
that children were necessary to the industry because of the perishable
nature of the crops, the short season, and the scarcity of workers, and
it was urged that the cannery was a healthful place for children to
work. In more recent legislation such exemption has been far less
common. Investigations in important canning States, such as Mary
land and New York,2 gave publicity to the extensive employment of
• very young children in canneries and the deplorable conditions,
especially the long hours and the insanitary surroundings, under
which many of them worked. Perfection of canning machinery
changed the character of the cannery so that the old plea that cannery
work for children is1more like agricultural than factory work lost
whatever force it may have had, while at the same time the increasing
use of machinery, such as the corn-husking and the closing machine,
and the installation in an increasing number of canneries of these as
well as of such labor-saving devices as the mechanical conveyor,
eliminated much of the hand labor formerly done by children. Power
machinery requires adult operators, chiefly men, and between 1909
and 1919 the proportion of men among the wage earners in fruit and
vegetable canneries, hitherto almost stationary, increased from 42
to 50 per cent.3
No census figures are available as to employment of children in
canneries since 1919. Some of the factors influencing the decline in
the employment of children in canneries between 1909 and 1919 are
no longer operative. New machines are not being perfected so
1 The Decennial Census of Manufactures through 1919 gave the average number of wage earners in fruit
and vegetable canneries by sex under 16 years of age and 16 years of age and over. Th e proportion of the
total who were under 16 was 8 per cent in 1900, 9 per cent in 1909, and 2 per cent in 1919. (Computed from
figures in special reports of the Census Office: Manufactures, part 3, Special Reports on Selected Industries,
1905, p. 400, Washington, 1908; Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1919, vol. 10, Manufactures
Reports for Selected Industries, p. 66, Washington, 1923.) The percentages of workers under 16 are based
on the average number of wage earners for the entire year, a considerably smaller number than the average
for the actual time of operation in establishments idle a portion of the year, especially in the case of women
and children, whose employment is most likely to be in short-time canneries at the height of the season.
Hence, the proportions can not be regarded as absolute, but as merely indicative of the trend. For the
proportion of children under 16 among the workers in the representative canneries visited at the peak of the
season in the present survey in 1925, see p. 3. The Biennial Census of Manufactures issued since 1919
does not give the number of wage earners under 16 years of age.
2 See Employment of Children in Maryland Industries, in Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, U S Depart- '
ment of Commerce and Labor, N o. 96,1911, pp. 466-479 (Washington, 1912); Industrial Conditions in the
Canning Industry of N ew York State, in Second Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, 1913
vol. 2, pp. 759-915 (Albany, 1913).
» Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1919, vol. 10, Manufactures, Reports for Special Industries
p. 6c.

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

rapidly; no machine can sort and cap berries, and no satisfactory
machine has yet been invented to take the place of the tomato peeler.
Much hand labor is still essential, and the industry seems to be grow
ing steadily. The Federal Government has no control over child
labor as in 1920 (the Federal child labor tax law in effect at that time
applied to canneries as well as other manufacturing establishments),
and some States, including several in which canning is an important
child-employing industry, still exempt canneries from some or all of
the provisions of the child labor laws. The present inquiry, the only
extensive one in many years, showed that wherever fruit and vegeta
bles were being canned children were being employed. Although the
most flagrant abuses of the past have been corrected, many of these
workers are very young, and many are employed for exceedingly long
hours and at night. It is the intent of most of the laws to protect
children in canneries equally with those in other manufacturing
industries, but in actual practice the full measure of protection is
being withheld in many important canning districts.
T H E C H IL D R E N ’ S BUREAU SU RVEY

In the canning seasons of 1923, 1925, and 1926 the Children’s
Bureau made a series of studies relating to the extent and conditions
of child labor in fruit and vegetable canneries in seven States. The
first of these inquiries was made in the State of Washington in 1923
at the request of a number of State organizations interested in child
welfare, as part of a survey of the employment of women and children
in the fruit-growing and canning industries of the State made by the
bureau in cooperation with the Women’s Bureau of the United States
Department of Labor.4 In 1925 extensive surveys were conducted
in six other States— Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New
York, and Wisconsin— and in 1926 a supplemental inquiry was made
in New York.5
The study was made in the principal fruit and vegetable canning
sections of the country— the Atlantic Coast, Middle West, and
Pacific Coast States. The States in the survey had 41 per cent of the
establishments in the country canning vegetables, fruits, pickles,
jellies, preserves, and sauces and employed 36 per cent of the average
number of wage earners in the industry. Among them were the
principal tomato-canning State of the country, Maryland, and the
principal tomato-canning State of the Middle West, Indiana; the two
leading pea-canning States, Wisconsin and New York; three of the
leading corn-canning States, Maryland, Indiana, and New York; the
four States that lead in the canning of beans, New York, Maryland,
Wisconsin, and Michigan; and three States that hold high rank in the
canning of fruits, Washington, New York, and Michigan. (See table,
Appendix I, pp. 208-209.)
About half the canneries in these States (560) were visited. (Table
1.) They employed at the time of the inquiry 56,828 workers, 60
4 Child Labor in Fruit and Hop Growing Districts of the Northern Pacific Coast, TJ. S. Children’s Bureau
Publication N o. 151 (Washington, 1926), and W om en in the Fruit-Growing and Canning Industries in the
State of Washington, U . S. W om en’s Bureau Publication N o. 47 (Washington, 1926).
« The report for each State has been submitted to the State officials responsible for the enforcement of
the child labor law in that State, and such significant changes in enforcement procedure as have been made
since the date of this study ana were reported by these officials have been inserted in footnotes (see pp.
132,134,172,177,196.). Changes in legislation have also been noted, but practically no changes have been
made affecting the work of children under 16 in canneries.

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INTRODUCTION

per cent of the total number reported by the census as employed at
the peak month of the canning season in the canneries of the States
in which they were located.6 It was possible to include a larger pro
portion of establishments in some States than in others, but in all the
States the ones selected were scattered throughout the most important
canning districts and are probably representative of conditions
throughout these States.7
T a b l e 1.— Number of canneries visited, number employing children under 16 years
of age, average number of persons employed per cannery, and number and sex of
persons and number of children under 16 years of age employed in canneries in.
specified States

Canneries visited

State
Total

Total____ _____
Delaware____________
Indiana______________
M aryland_______
Michigan____________
New York___________
Wisconsin___________

Em ploy
ing chil
dren un
der 16
years

560
71
125
211
35
56
16
46

Persons employed

N ot em Average
number
ploying
of persons
children
employed
under 16
per can
Total
years
nery

Children under
16 years

A ll ages

Male

Female

Num
ber

Per cent
of total
persons
employed

447

113

101 156,828

25,615

27,508

3,403

6.0

69
66
201
31
34
15
31

2
59
10
4
22
1
15

7,427
105
114 14, 275
78 216, 379
2,428
69
128 3 7,171
3,364
210
5,784
126

3,233
7,088
6,919
1,003
3,695

4,194
7,187
9,336
1,425
3,259

3,677

2,107

662
493
1,564
229
121
133
201

8.9
3.5
9.5
9.4
1.7
4.0
3.5

1 Includes 3,705 for whom sex was not reported.
2 Includes 124 for whom sex was not reported.

s Includes 217 for whom sex was not reported.

Three hundred and seventy-nine canneries (70 per cent of the total
number visited 8), all located in Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, and
New York, were canning tomatoes or tomato products; 58 in the same
four States were canning com ; 43 in two States, New York and Wis
consin, were canning peas; and 29, in all the States in the study, were
canning beans, although in none of the States except Wisconsin were
visits made at the height of the bean season. Fruits were being canned
in the canneries visited in three States, Michigan, New York, and
Washington, including cherries in Michigan and New York, berries
of all kinds in Michigan and Washington, pears, peaches, plums, and
apples in New York and Washington. Other products being worked
on included beets, kraut, spinach, and pickles. Nine-tenths of the
canneries in the six States for which information was obtained as to
the crops canned were working on only one crop at the time they
were visited. The majority packed other crops at other seasons.
About half in Delaware and Maryland did so, canning chiefly string
beans or lima beans and corn. More than half in Indiana and Wis
consin and almost all in New York and Michigan also packed other
products, such as corn, beans, beets, squash, kraut, pickles, and in
New York and Michigan various fruits in addition to vegetables.
8
Computed from Biennial Census of Manufactures. 1925, p. 70. U . S. Bureau of the Census. W ash
ington, 1928. (See Appendix I, p. 208.)
i In Michigan the study was confined to the fruit-canning section in the western part of the State (see
p. 135).
.
. . .
.
s Exclusive of the 16 canneries visited in the State of Washington, for which information was not obtained
as to the crops being canned at the time of the survey.

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

A few canneries with a great variety of products in Indiana, Mary
land, Michigan, and New York operated throughout the year.
Because of the highly seasonal character of the industry the study
was concentrated into the peak months of the fruit and vegetable
canning season— July, August, and September— and in every State
except Michigan the canneries were visited in the month in which
the census reported that the largest number of wage earners were
employed. In New York, which has practically two peak months—
July and September— canneries were visited in both these months,
September, 1925, and July, 1926. It was not, of course, the height of
the season for each establishment when it was visited. In fact, so
brief and irregular is the canning season that a number of plants had
closed or were temporarily shut down for lack of work at the time
attempts were made to visit them, others were visited between crops
so that they had at the time little or no work to do, and some had not
yet opened for the season’s work. In some localities weather or other
conditions had affected certain crops so that although the years in
which the study was made— especially 1925, when most of the can
neries were visited— were in general good canning years, bad seasons
were reported in certain localities and for certain crops. But on the
whole the study presents a cross-section of conditions in fruit and
vegetable canneries during the principal months of a good canning
season.
Information was gathered as to the ages, hours of work, and
occupations of children under 16 years of age employed in canneries,
the physical conditions under which they work (except in the survey
made in Washington), and the enforcement of child labor laws
applicable to canneries. Special attention was given to the problem
of the migratory child worker in the canning ^industry, including a
study of migratory families from Baltimore.
In each State a study was made of the hours of labor of minors of
both sexes of employment-certificate age who were found at work in
canneries. Information as to hours was thus obtained in Wisconsin
for minors of 16 and in Indiana for minors of 16 and 17 years of age
(as employment certificates were required in these States for children
of these ages), making possible in these States a comparision between
minors whose hours were and were not regulated. Information as to
jhours was taken from time records wherever they were available
(see p. 17). For those with no time records statements as to the hours
of work were obtained in most cases from at least two adult witnesses
in addition to the statements of parents and employers. The child’s
own statement as to his hours of work, although always obtained,
was accepted only in the absence of time records and of statements
of adult witnesses and parents. Time records were usually taken
only for the last pay period, usually a week, preceding the date of the
bureau agent’s visit to the cannery. Where information for this period
was not available or was not representative of the usual running time
of the cannery or where the plant had been shut down, the last
preceding typical pay period was taken.

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INTRODUCTION

T H E LABOR SUPPLY
CH A R A CTER OF LABO R SU PPLY

The canning of fruit and vegetables is one of the most highly
seasonal of all manufacturing industries, requiring a highly mobile
labor supply. In its slackest month the canning industry employed
in 1919 less than one-tenth of the workers employed at the peak of
the season, whereas in all manufacturing industries combined the
slackest month shows nine-tenths of the number employed at the
peak.8a
.
Some canneries run the greater part of the year, filling in the winter
months when fruits and vegetables are out of season with work on such
products as spaghetti, hominy and breakfast foods, pickles, and pork
and beans, the raw material for which either can be kept indefinitely
or can be prepared for canning during the summer months. These
are in most cases large plants providing employment eight or nine
months of the year or even longer to a relatively stable working
force. The great majority of canneries, however, handle only one or
two crops grown in the immediate vicinity. Their “ run” is therefore
measured by the season of the particular fruit or vegetable in which
they specialize. As a rule they operate only during the summer, or
during the summer and early autumn, and their season in some cases
is only from six weeks to three months at best. The seasons are not
only brief but they are also highly irregular, the dates of beginning
and ending the season’s work being uncertain, for the delivery of
crops, owing to weather and farming conditions, is irregular. More
over, owing to their perishable nature, they must be worked on as
soon as possible after delivery. Such canneries are usually situated
in the rural sections in which the crops canned are grown, in places
convenient for the farmers to deliver the produce directly to the
canners, and the local labor supply in some cases is insufficient.
The labor needs of canneries vary greatly according to size and
product. Some employ fewer than 25 persons, but large plants
often need 500 or 600 workers. Establishments packing only toma
toes or only string beans, especially in rural districts, are likely to be
small. Those equipped with the necessary machinery for packing
tomato products, pulp or catchup, or for com and peas, or equipped to
handle more than one product at a time and operating for several
months are usually larger. The average number of persons employed
per cannery at the time of the survey in the canneries visited in the
seven States was 101. This average varied from 69 in one State to
210 in another. (Table 1.)
Women and children have always constituted a considerable part
of the working force in canneries. In nearly three-fourths of the
canneries in operation in 1925 and 1926 in the States included in the
Children’s Bureau study, 50 per cent or more of the workers were
women and children under 16 years of age. The proportion of can
neries in which at least half the workers were women and children
was highest in the tomato-canning State of Delaware and lowest
in the pea-canning State of Wisconsin. In the four States in which
tomatoes and small fruits were the principal products packed, more
than half the employees were women and minors under 16, the
proportion varying from 62 per cent in Michigan to 52 per cent in
8a Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, vol. 8, Manufactures, pp. 21-36.

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Indiana. In these four States women and girls alone constituted
at least half the working force. Only in Wisconsin, where peas
were being packed, and in New York, where corn, peas, and a variety
of other products were being canned, were men in the majority, no
doubt because of the large number of machine processes in both
pea and corn packing establishments.
M I G R A T O R Y F A M IL Y L A B O R

A great many canneries, even in small places, get all their labor
locally, either from the town in which the cannery is located or from
near-by towns and villages. In order to get together all available
labor in places where the transportation facilities are limited many
canners provide transportation for workers, sending out trucks for
them each morning and returning them to their homes at night.
During the rush seasons in some vegetable-growing localities the
canneries make a special appeal to the townspeople and to the farmers
and their families to work at the cannery to save the crop. Many
women who have no other gainful employment during the year go to
work in the canneries during the short canning season. In spite of
these sources of supply, however, local labor is not always sufficient
and must be supplemented by labor brought in to the cannery com
munity from the outside. The practice of supplementing local
labor by importing workers has been well established for many years in
the canneries of the Eastern States. About half the Delaware and
Maryland canneries visited by agents of the Children’s Bureau em
ployed migratory labor. The Pennsylvania Department of Labor
reports that Pennsylvania canneries, also, resort to it.9 In New
York, though some labor is imported for cannery work, the practice
appears to be decreasing; in 1912 more than two-fifths of the canneries
visited during the survey made by the New York Factory Investigat
ing Commission imported migratory labor;10 whereas in 1925 and
1926 only about one-fourth of the canneries visited by the Children’s
Bureau did so. Migratory labor is used to some extent in the fruit
and vegetable canneries of the Pacific coast11 and in the oyster and
shrimp canneries of the Gulf coast,12 but is uncommon in the Middle
West. No doubt custom has a great deal to do with the importation
of migratory labor, for, although the canneries in the Eastern States,
at least in Delaware and Maryland, where importation of labor is
most common, áre on the whole in smaller centers of population than
in the mid-western States, yet many canneries in the mid-western
States which do not import migratory labor are also in very small
places. Of the canneries visited in Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin
in places of less than 1,000 population almost none used migratory
workers, whereas a considerable number of the canneries in places of
this size in the three Eastern States brought in labor from the outside-—
one-third in New York, nearly one-half in Maryland, and more than
one-half in Delaware.
Most of the canneries of the Eastern States importing workers
recruit family labor, largely women and children, from the Polish or
9 The Canning Industry in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, voi.
12, no. 12, p. 3. Harrisburg, 1925.
10 Second Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, p. 884.
11 W om en in the Fruit-Growing and Canning Industries in the State of Washington, p. 42.
12 Child Labor and W ork of Mothers in Oyster and Shrimp Canning Communities on the Gulf Coast,
pp. 69-70. U . S, Children’s Bureau Publication N o. 98. Washington, 1922.

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Italian sections of the large cities; but Negro family groups, also,
usually from small towns or rural districts, are imported for cannery
work in Delaware and Maryland. The canners maintain labor camps
to house migratory families, give them their lodging rent free,
and usually pay for their transportation at least to the cannery.
Nearly 6,000 migratory persons, almost half of whom were children
under 16, were living in 126 of the 143 cannery labor camps of Dela
ware and Maryland included in the Children’s Bureau survey.13 Life
in the labor camps has obvious drawbacks for children in the over
crowding, the poor sanitation, and the lack of supervision of the
young children who stay in the camps while their mothers are at
work. A number of States, including all but one of those in the
present study, have regulations for labor camps, which in some
States fix much higher standards than in others. These regulations
deal with such matters as the material and construction of buildings,
window space and ventilation, cubic air space of sleeping rooms,
garbage disposal, toilets, water supply, and drainage. (See Appendix
III, p. 223.) Although legal regulation, especially where the regula
tions are specific in character and the State agency enforcing them
has been active, has been effective in some States in bringing about an
improvement in labor camps in recent years, the dirty, insanitary,
and dangerously overcrowded cannery labor camp is by no means a
thing of the past. Imported family labor means also that not only
the children who work but younger children in the migrant families
as well are away from their homes in many eases for weeks after the
schools have opened in the fall. Seldom do local school officials
compel or even encourage the children in cannery labor camps to
attend local schools.
CH ILD LABO R IN C AN N ERIES
E X T E N T O F C H IL D L A B O R

In the present survey the only children reported on were those
working at the time the canneries were visited. In cases where the
visit was made at the very beginning of the canning season, at the end,
or between crops, the labor force was considerably smaller than at
the peak. Many canneries in which no children were working at
the time of the Children’s Bureau visit had employed children earlier
in the season. Many, moreover, were visited in September after the
schools had opened. Nevertheless, children under 16 were found
employed in 80 per cent of the canneries. (Table 1.) In all, 3,403
children under 16 years of age, 6 per cent of the total number of em
ployees in the canneries included in the survey, were interviewed
at their work. Many others who had been employed recently were
interviewed outside the canneries. Undoubtedly many who were
temporarily absent or who had been sent out of the cannery on the
appearance of the bureau agents— a common practice in some places—
were never located. But judging only from the proportion of workers
under 16 actually found employed in these canneries, the number
employed in all the canneries of the seven States included in the
inquiry would have been at the season’s peak at least 5,500.

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The proportion of child workers was considerably greater in some
States than in others, ranging from 10 per cent in Maryland and 9 per
cent in Michigan and Delaware, where almost no canneries were with
out child workers, to 2 per cent in New York, where minors were
found in less than two-thirds of the canneries. This variation among
canning States in the extent to which children are employed in can
neries is further illustrated by California (the principal State in the
United States in the canning of fruits and vegetables), where, accord
ing to the State industrial-welfare commission, many establishments
employed no children under 16, the large city canneries of San Francisco
and Los Angeles employing practically none under 18 years of age.14
The extent to which minors are employed in canneries depends on a
number of factors, of which one of the principal is the nature of the
product canned. Tomatoes and berries, in the packing of which con
siderable work is done by hand processes that even quite young
children can do, are the leading products on which children are em
ployed. Formerly it was the custom to employ young children to
husk corn, but machinery has now largely taken the place of hand
husking, though in some rural canneries husking is still done by hand.
In earlier investigations of child employment in canneries bean snip
ping, also, was a leading occupation, and 15 or 20 years ago New York
State had large numbers of very young children doing this work.
And, in spite of the introduction of bean-snipping machines, the
practice of giving out a good deal of bean snipping to be done by hand
by workers in their own homes (see pp. 143, 161, 191), and the fact
that in none of the States except Wisconsin were the bean canneries
visited at the height of the bean season, the Children’s Bureau
found a number of minors under 16 in establishments canning beans.
Tomato canneries employ many more young children than any
other kind of canneries. (Table 2.) The great majority (70 per cent)
of the 3,403 children under 16 and 87 per cent of the children under
14 found employed in the Children’s Bureau study were in canneries
packing tomatoes and tomato products. In addition a small propor
tion were in canneries packing tomatoes and some other product. Of
the remaining children 5 per cent were working in establishments
packing only corn, 3 per cent in canneries packing only string beans, *
and 4 per cent in canneries packing peas. The number of children
employed in canning other vegetables, such as beets and lima beans,
or other fruits than berries, is negligible. The children in fruit can
neries, packing berries, cherries, pears, or other fruits, were 8 per cent
of the total number found at work in the canneries visited.
14Industrial Welfare Commission of California Bulletin N o . 1 (M a y , 1917), p. 65.

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Sacramento, 1917.

INTRODUCTION

T a b l e 2.— Number of canneries visited, number employing children under 16 years
of age, average number of persons employed per cannery, and number of persons
and number of children of specified ages employed upon certain products being
canned at time of visit
Canneries visited

Product

T o t a l . . . ...................... ...............

Average
Em
number
ploying of per
Total children sons em
under
ployed
16 years
per
cannery

Persons employed

Under 16 years
All
ages

Num
ber

Per cent
distri
bution

Under 14 years

Num
ber

Per cent
distri
bution

560

447

101

56,828

3,403

Total reporting product......................

558

446

101

56,470

3,397

100.0

1,127

100.0

Tomatoes o n l y _________________
Tomatoes and tomato products
Tomato products o n l y ________
C o r n ._______________
Peas____________________________
Green beans. __________________
Lim a beans____________
Cherries__________________
Berries. _____________
Pears__________ _____________
Peaches__________________
Other___________ _
More than one product______
Corn and tomatoes_________
Tomatoes and beans.............
Cherries and raspberries...
O th er........................................

272
67
19
43
41
20
2
11
12
10
1
9
51
12
6
8
25

248
46
5
28
28
13
2
11
11
8
1
4
41
10
6
7
18

70
137
142
114
137
89
79
76
52
244
25
50
172
251
121
74
178

19,007
9,189
2,696
4,902
5,601
1,770
157
841
624
2,437
25
453
8,768
3,011
724
589
4,444

1,953
398
17
178
132
118
21
93
69
52
2
ii
353
111
39
47
156

57.5
11.7
.5
5.2
3.9
3.5
.6
2.7
2.0
1.5
.1
.3
10.4
3.3
1.1
1.4
4.6

893
89
1
38
2
8
10
2
19
6

79.2
7.9
.i
3.4
.2
.7
.9
.2
1.7
.5

1
58
12
13
4
29

.1
5.1
1. 1
1. 2
.4
2.6

179

358

Product not reported........ ........... .......

1,127

The kind of crop, which determines the amount of machinery used
and the degree of skill required, is not alone responsible for varia
tions in the employment of children in the canning industry. To some
extent the differences between States have resulted from differences
in the standards of the child labor laws either directly, as where age
standards or educational or physical requirements vary, or indirectly,
as where the existence or absence of restrictions on hours of labor
tends to encourage or to restrict the employment of minors. Of con
siderable importance is the attitude of the canner toward compliance
with the law, depending largely upon the extent to which he is familiar
with it and the extent to winch he is stimulated to compliance by State
enforcing officials. In States where the latter take pains by frequent
inspections and other means to keep employers informed as to the
requirements of the law, and by checking up and prompt action in
regard to violations show that negligence in conforming with the law
will not be allowed, the proportion of child workers is in general rela
tively small, owing largely to the fact that few children under legal
working age are employed.
The extent to which children find employment in the canneries of
different localities depends also upon the local adult labor supply.
K IN D S OP W O R K

As a rule, adults in canneries pack the product into the cans, operate
the machines; oversee the cooking processes, and do the heavy un
skilled work. Girls and to so'me extent boys, as well as women, are
employed in connection with the preparation of vegetables and fruit
81531°— 30------ 2

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CHILDREN IN ERUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

for canning. Boys most often do odd jobs and miscellaneous work
about the plants. Even the youngest children, boys and girls, peel
tomatoes, husk corn by hand, snip beans, and hull and sort berries.
Such work as sorting tomatoes and inspecting peas and cherries
requires rather more care and is usually done by older girls.
Nearly half the children in all the canneries visited worked as tomato
peelers, taking out the core of the tomato with a sharp paring knife
and slipping off the skin which had been loosened by scalding. The
work is light except in poorly equipped canneries in which the peelers
are required to lift pails of waste from table to floor or from one table
to another. Relatively few children under 16 do any other work con
nected with the preparation or packing of tomatoes. Sorting and
trimming tomatoes used for tomato pulp (that is, removing defective
tomatoes and cutting out bad spots) requires more care and is usually
done by women and older girls. Filling cans is done in many tomato
canneries by machinery; where hand packers do the work they are
usually women with experience in packing, but these are jobs that
children sometimes do. In tomato canneries not equipped with
mechanical conveyors boys are sometimes found carrying heavy
pails of tomatoes over wet and slippery floors from the scalding ma
chines to the peelers or lifting and emptying heavy pails of tomato
waste.
In corn-canning establishments girls husk, sort or trim, and cut
corn. To some extent boys also do this work, though boys are
generally engaged in various miscellaneous jobs. Com husking
may be done by hand or by machine. Corn trimming and sorting
is done sitting or standing at moving belts conveying the husked
ears of corn, and consists of picking out defective ears and cutting
out bad places in the ears. Few children cut corn, which is usually
a machine operation.
In string-bean canning the chief occupation in which children
are employed is bean snipping, and in pea canning the only occu
pation of any importance for children is picking, the picker or in
spector sitting at a belt conveyor on which peas, previously shelled
by machine, pass, and picking out defective ones and bits of refuse.
Girls and occasionally boys in fruit canning and preserving estab
lishments clean, sort, and inspect fruit and pack it by hand in cans.
Inspectors and sorters of raspberries and blackberries in some
places stand at stationary tables equipped with sinks or bowls in
which they wash the berries and in others at moving conveyors
from which they remove defective fruit. Strawberry cappers
usually sit at stationary tables, removing the caps or hulls from the
berries. Inspecting cherries is generally done at moving belts, and
the workers sometimes complain of dizziness caused by watching
the continuously moving cherries.
In all kinds of canneries, regardless of the nature of the product
that is canned, children do miscellaneous work. Inspecting cans “ on
the line,” removing cans from the closing machine and piling them
in crates, trucking and carrying crates, boxes, and filled cans, han
dling empty cans, piling and stacking filled cans in warehouses, label
ing cans, making boxes, and stamping boxes are only some of the in
numerable kinds of general work, common to all canneries, in which
boys, and to some extent girls, are employed. A great many, including
many under 14 years of age, work as “ can boys” and “ can girls.”

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Stationed in the cannery lofts or on elevated platforms they take the
empty cans from stacks and drop them down chutes that carry
them to the filling machines on the floor below, or they help to
unload empty cans from freight cars and carry them in baskets
or truck them across the cannery yard to the warehouse or lofts
where they or others stack them. Boys and girls in “ line” jobs
work at the line, or moving belt, which conveys the filled cans in
single file from the packers or filling machine to the closing machine.
They guide or watch the filled cans, or add brine or juice to the
contents, or see that the cans pass freely into the exhaust, which heats
the cans before they are closed. Trucking and carrying, or piling
and stacking filled cans is much heavier work, and taking cans from
the closing machine and piling them in crates is perhaps one of the
most taxing jobs in which boys are employed in canneries. The boy
who “ piles in ” takes the cans as they drop down a chute from the
closing machine and piles them in large iron crates. In some can
neries the work is known as “ ringing” or “ strapping” cans, from the
leather strap the boy throws about the cans in order to move several
at a time.
Relatively few children operate machines, though many work in
connection with machinery.
The work done by children of different ages is described in greater
detail in the separate sections on the different States.
W O R K I N G C O N D IT IO N S

Wet floors and tables sloppy from water and juice, steam and heat
in poorly ventilated workrooms, dangerous stairways, constant stand
ing, and poor sanitation often add to the discomfort or to the actual
hazard of the work. In some of the large canneries putting out a
variety of products and operating a large part of the year, especially
in cities or large towns, conditions are similar to those in any up-todate factory. But rural canneries packing only one or at most two
crops, especially those packing only tomatoes, and operating only a
few weeks of the year, are in some cases little more than large barns or
sheds converted to factory use by the addition of machinery and
specially constructed floors, with but few or no conveniences to lessen
the discomfort of the workers.
One of the most objectionable features in canneries, even some of the
better type, are wet and sloppy floors. Although workers often wear
heavy shoes or galoshes or stand on boards or boxes, and wear news
papers or burlap tied about them, their feet are often wet and their
clothes saturated with fruit or vegetable juice. Water from scald
ing machines, washers, and cherry-soaking vats, and juice from
peeled tomatoes, cut corn kernels, and pears and other fruits drop to
the floor from tables and machines; waste, skins, and other refuse also
drop on the floors if the methods of disposing of it in pails or on con
veyors are inadequate, as is often the case. Wet floors are found in
the great majority of canneries in spite of improvements in recent
years in floor construction and drainage, though by proper construc
tion and drainage excellent conditions are maintained in some of the
larger, up-to-date factories, even where tomatoes are canned. In
many tomato canneries, however, conditions in this respect are no

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better than they were 15 or 20 years ago. It is not unusual to find
several inches of water standing in the uneven places of the old wooden
floors and in cracks of the concrete floors, and under the peeling
tables and filling machines. In canneries packing corn, peas, beans,
and fruit the floors are generally wet in places, especially near filling
and blanching machines.15
Steam from the scalders, blanching and filling machines, and tfie
cooking processes, rising through cracks in loosely constructed floors
and up stairway openings and collecting under low roofs, often com
pletely envelope can boys and girls, particularly those on elevated
platforms and in lofts, for the ventilating system m many canneries is
inadequate to take care of this condition. Tomato peelers, corn
huskers, and bean snippers in the “ open air” canneries are often more
fortunate in respect to light and air than cannery workers m some of
the more substantial plants, as their workrooms are usually mere
sheds open on two or three sides.
. Stairways in canneries, in constant use by can boys working in
cannery lofts and second floors, are often a source of danger. Some
canneries have no stairs, only upright ladders; others have steep stairs
without rails, poor lighting adding to the chance of accident. _
A great many children in canneries stand throughout a working day
of 10, 12, or more hours, in some cases because they can work faster
standing, but usually because seats are not provided. Many girls
under 16 in canneries in Michigan, Indiana, and New York stood at
their work, although practically all the canneries m these States fur
nished seats for at least some of the women workers. More than twothirds of the Delaware canneries and about three-fourths of tfie
Maryland canneries provided no seats for any of their women workers,
not even boxes, crates, or overturned pails,16 and the great majority of
the girls stood. The construction and height of conveyor work tables
in canneries puts certain difficulties in the way of seating^ the workers.
The Industrial Welfare Commission of California published m 1919 a
bulletin on the seating of women in canneries with recommendations
concerning the height, construction, and adjustment of work tables to
seats, and the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin has issued general
recommendations for adjustable seats in factories.
That seating
workers at conveyor tables is practicable was demonstrated m the
Wisconsin pea canneries visited in the survey, in which almost all tfie
girls who “ picked peas” were seated, although their seats were not
necessarily adjusted properly to the height of the table at which
they were working.
nj
Legislation in a few States prohibits girls under certain ages, vary
ing from 16 to 21, to engage in occupations that require constant
standing.18 In addition to such provisions the labor laws of all the
States included in the survey, except Maryland outside of Baltimore
u For a description of floors in fruit and tomato canneries see W
^ ^ V p ^ ta h te O a n n e r i^ fD e k Industries in the State of Washington, p. 96,
RPP also ReDort of
ware, p. 26, United States W om en’s Bureau Publication N o. 62 (Washington, 1927). See also Report oi
the Industrial Board of the State of Indiana for the year ending September 30,1922, p. *9.
W om en
1For a description of seats used in fruit and vegetable canneries of the State of Washington see Wom en
,
^
* _ • ______ j
•
t
^
t o t f l rtf W a c h i n c f t m i r\ Q7_
in the
Fruit-Growing
and Canning
Industries
m the aState
of Washington, p. 97.
. California
if Seating of W om en and M inors in the Fruit and Vegetable Canning Industry of C ^ifornm , Canforn a
Industrial Welfare Commission, Bulletin 2a (Sacramento,1919). Factory Equipment, Housekeeping, and
Supervision, p. 22, Industrial Commission of Wisconsin (September, 1920). A similar description is g v
in Report of the Industrial Board of the State of Indiana for the year ending September 30,1922, p 58.
*8 See I n d ., Acts of 1921, ch. 132, sec. 24; I o w a , Code 1924, sec. 1536;
M in n ., Gen. Stat. 1923, sec. 4186; O h io , Gen. Code 1910, sec. 13005, as amended b y Acts of 1913, p. 864, »Vis.,

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INTRODUCTION

City, provide that seats be furnished female workers in manufacturing
establishments, not excepting canneries. However, these laws re
quiring seats do not prohibit constant standing and generally contain
a clause that women and girls shall occupy the seats “ when the nature
of the work permits” or “ when not necessarily engaged” in their
work.19
Most of the States in which the fruit and vegetable canning
mdustry is of importance have some sort of legal provisions regulating
sanitary conditions in cannery workrooms. Laws and regulations of
this kind applying specifically to canning and food-packing establish
ments, or sufficiently general to cover such establishments, are
administered by State agencies, either departments of labor, of health,
of food and drugs, or of agriculture.20 Recommendations of a general
nature bearing on sanitation in canneries have been adopted also by
the National Canners Association.21 Although these recommenda
tions are not binding even on members of the association, they are no
doubt influential in raising the standards of the individual canner.
T H E C AN N E R IE S AN D CH ILD LABO R LE G ISL A TIO N
P R O V IS IO N S O F C H IL D L A B O R L A W S

Legal regulation of cannery labor has lagged behind legal regulation
of other factory work. When hours of labor for manufacturing
industries as a whole have been regulated canneries have frequently
i* For laws pertaining to seating of women in manufacturing establishments, see: A r k ., Digest of 1921, sec.
7100; C alif., Industrial Welfare Commission, Order N o. 4, dated Jan. 7,1919; D e l., Acts of 1917, ch. 231, sec.
2; 111., Rev. Stat. 1917, ch. 48, sec. 97; I n d ., Acts of 1921, eh. 132, sec. 23; Iow a, Code 1924, sec. 1485; M d .
Laws of 1882, ch. 35, as reenacted by Laws of 1898, ch. 123, sec. 505, and Laws of 1900, ch. 589; M ic h ., Acts of
1909, No. 285, sec. 24; M i n n ., Acts of 1919, ch. 491, sec. 16; N . Y . , Labor Law, art. 4, sec. 150 (see also Rules
Applying to Canneries, Rule 1, Employment of W om en in Canneries, Industrial Code, 1920, p. 187); M o .,
Rev. Stat. 1919, sec. 6797; N . J ., Comp. Stat. 1910, p. 3026, sec. 73; O h io , Code 1910, sec. 1008; O reg., IndustrialWelfare Commission Order N o. 22, July 3,1916; P a ., Stat. 1920, sec. 13547; V a ., Code 1919, sec. 1807 as
amended b y Acts of 1922, ch. 373; W is ., Stat. 1925, sec. 103.16; W a s h ., Acts of 1911, ch. 37, sec. 2.
2« Following are references to such regulations, which cover ventilation, floor construction, dry standing
room, handrails for stairways, toilets and washing facilities, as well as general sanitary regulations applying
specifically to canneries, found in the 20 States for which in 1925 the United States Census of Manufactures
reported either an average number of wage earners of metre than 1,000 or 50 or more establishments engaged
in fruit and vegetable canning. (Arkansas, California, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, M aine, Maryland,
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, N ew Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia,
Washington, and Wisconsin). (Biennial Census of Manufactures, 1925, Canning and Preserving, Table 11,
p. 84.) A rk ., Rules and Regulations of the State Board of Health of Arkansas, November, 1928, N o. 288
(requiring only lavatories in connection with toilets). C alif., Industrial Welfare Commission Order N o. 4,
Jan. 7, 1919; Food Sanitation A ct: Laws of 1909, p. 151 (Gen. Health Laws; 1927, issued by department of
public health, p. 106). DeL, Laws of 1917, ch. 231, as amended by Laws of 1921, ch. 187; Laws of 1915,
ch. 228 (declared unconstitutional by State attorney general in 1925). D l., Laws of 1911, p. 528 (Rev. Stat.
1917, ch. 56 b, secs. 40-53); Sanitary Food Law, published by department of agriculture, division of foods and
dairies; Laws of 1915, p. 418, secs. 11-13, 16, 20, 21, 29 (Rev. Stat. 1917, ch. 48, secs. 99-101, 104, 108, 109, 117.
I n d ., Laws of 1909, ch. 163 (Sanitary Food Laws); Burns’ Ann. Stat. 1914, secs. 8026, 8030, 8035. Iow a,
Code 1924, secs. 2809-2815, 2821-2824, 2854 (Law Relating to Sanitation in Food Producing Establishments).
M d ., Laws of 1914, ch. 678 (Ann. Code 1924, art. 43, secs. 201-207). M ic h ., Laws of 1909, No. 285, sec. 14,
as amended b y Laws of 1913, N o. 160; sec. 17, as amended by Laws of 1915, N o. 3; Laws of 1919, N o. 411.
M i n n ., Gen. Stat. 1923, secs. 4146-4147 (Laws of 1913, ch. 316, secs. 6-7); 4171-4190 (Laws of 1919, ch. 491).
M o ., Manual of Food and Drug Department, containing Rules and Regulations for Canneries, pp. 116-118
(January, 1928); Rev. Stat. 1919, secs. 5685, 5687-5689, 6794, 6796, 6839. N . J ., Board of Health of the State of
N ew Jersey, Rules Governing the Operation of Canning Factories, Circular 130, M a y , 1912; Laws of 1909,
ch. 231 (Department of Health of the State of N ew Jersey, Public Health Laws, Circular 151, p. 287, July,
1928); Comp. Stat. 1910, p. 3026, sec. 35, as amended by Laws of 1912, sec. 5. N . Y ., Labor Law, secs. 2,
272, 293-295, 299-300; Industrial Code, Rules 100-104,148-151,158-161,172,173,198 (see also Industrial Code
p. 187, Employment of W om en in Canneries). O h io , Gen. Code 1926, secs. 1006, 1009-1011, to 1090-1121;
Regulations of the Department of Agriculture, Nos. 54-58,132-150 (Ohio Public Health Manual, pp. 667-670,
705-707). O reg., Industrial Welfare Commission Order N o. 22, effective Sept. 1,1916; Order N o. 49, effective
July 25,1922. P a ., Department of Labor and Industry, Regulations [of the Industrial Board] for Canneries,
effective M a y 15,1926 (1927 edition); Stat. 1920, secs. 13540,13548. U ta h , Rulings of the Industrial Commis
sion Relating to Canning and Other Factories; Laws of 1923, ch. 79. V a ., Code 1919, secs. 1822, 1828, 1829
(relating only to toilets and to handrails on stairways). W a s h ., Industrial Welfare Commission Order
N o. 30, dated Jan. 19, 1922; Order No. 31. dated Aug. 28, 1922, subdiv. 9. W is ., Industrial Commission,
General Orders on Sanitation, Reprinted September, 1927, Orders 2000, 2010-2012, 2020-2025 (pp. 8-10)
2200-2213 (pp. 25-28); 2214-2219, 2223 (pp. 38-40); Industrial Commission, General Orders on Safety, Order
20; Industrial Commission, Building Code, 1925 Reprint, Order 5118 (p. 25), 5250-5256.
2i
Sanitary Code of the National Canners Association. Bulletin N o. 93A. National Canners Associa
tion. Washington, 1923.

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

been exempted on the pleas of the perishable nature of their material,
the shortness and variability of their season, and the alleged health
fulness of the surroundings of the workers. Efforts to place a
minimum age upon the employment of children have been resisted
not merely because of the ease with which young workers may be
used in canning processes but also on the ground that canneries
would be unable to get adult laborers if children were excluded
from the industry.22 Gradually, however, legal restrictions, both
as to hours of labor of women and as to the employment of children,
have been extended to canneries. The industry is still exempted
in a considerable number of the State laws regulating the hours of
women workers; and, although in general children under 16 at work
in canneries are subject at least nominally to the same restrictions
as child workers in other factories, some of the canning States have
fixed low child-labor standards for all industrial occupations, in
cluding canneries, and a few, including some of the most important
canning areas, still exempt canneries from one or more of the standards
of their child labor laws. (For provisions of the child labor laws
pertaining to canneries see Appendix II, p. 210.) One of the States
included in the Children’s Bureau survey, Delaware, specifically
exempts fruit and vegetable canneries from the minimum age of
14 for other regulated employment, fixing a minimum of only 12
years. Mississippi is the only other State that makes a similar
exemption, imposing no age limit on the work of children in fruit
and vegetable canneries, though Virginia permits the same exemp
tion for children of 12. or over when school is not in session and
Vermont permits the suspension of the minimum age of 14 for a
2-month period in establishments handling perishable products.23
In Washington, at the time of the study made in that State, no
minimum-age provision was in effect for work in canneries. (See
p. 180 and footnote 11, p. 180.) In three of the States in the survey
(Delaware, Maryland, and Michigan) and in two others (Maine and
Mississippi) children working in fruit and vegetable canneries are
exempted from the maximum-hour and night-work regulations appli
cable to other industries; Utah exempts these children from the
maximum-hour provision of its child labor law, and Vermont permits
the same suspension of the maximum-hour and night-work provisions
noted as applying to the minimum age.
E N F O R C E M E N T O F C H IL D L A B O R L A W S

The enforcement of labor laws in canneries presents many difficul
ties. Many canneries are in small communities, often in isolated
localities. Access to some of them, for factory inspectors at least,
is far from easy. Especially is this true in States on the Atlantic
coast, such as Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, where many
canneries are located on necks of land or islands. Although they
may have excellent shipping facilities from their docks on the rivers
or bays, they are almost inaccessible from inland points. More
over, in small communities where strangers are rarely seen, inspectors
are often recognized before they reach a cannery, so that children
employed in violation of the law can be hurried out before they
22 See Second Report of the Factory Investigating Commission (New York), p. 126, and Twenty-fourth
Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics and Information of M aryland, 1915, p. 210.
23 According to information from the Vermont Commissioner of Industries, three or four such suspensions
are usually granted per year.

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INTRODUCTION

are observed at work, and complete inspections are impossible.
With most canneries operating only a few months in the year and
practically all at the same season, the task of covering all the can
neries of a State even once a season makes a heavy .drain upon the
inspection staff, which in many States is too small to cover even
the all-year industries. Besides these drawbacks to thorough
inspection, cannery inspections in themselves involve more diffi
culties than inspections in other industries. Many canneries do
not keep time records and others only very incomplete ones, so
that it is exceedingly hard to check up on violations of the laws
relating to hours of employment. Ascertaining the correct ages
of children found employed, which is essential to thorough inspec
tion, is more difficult, also, in canneries than in other industries.
Many children obtain work in canneries without employment
certificates (see pp. 19-21) even in States in which certificates are
required by law, and the inspector must search in the original docu
ments for proof of their ages. The certificates on file in some
States have often been issued in small communities by officials
whose work is in greater need of checking up by inspectors than
that of well-organized employment certificate issuing agencies in large
cities. Inspection staffs are usually too small to insure such a verifica
tion of ages and checking up on the work of local issuing officers.
The isolation of the typical cannery means also that the general
public knows little about the cannery employees and the conditions
under which they work. Violations of the law, however general,
are not so likely to be observed and reported to the enforcing authori
ties as violations in urban industries. Moreover, residents of the
small farming communities in which many canneries are located are
not usually familiar with the restrictions of labor laws, as the only
kind of employment with which they are familiar, farm work, is
almost everywhere unregulated. In addition, the interests of many
of them— farmers who supply the canners with their produce and
relatives and friends of the cannery owners and employees— are too
closely connected with those of the cannery to enable them to take
an entirely unbiased view of the necessity of strict law enforcement.
Unfortunately this lack of understanding of the necessity of regu
lating the work of children in canneries is sometimes shared by local
officials, such as magistrates and school officials, in rural districts.
Minimum age.

One of the abuses most commonly reported in surveys of labor
conditions in canneries has been the extensive employment of young
children. The exemption of canneries from the operation of the
child-labor laws has been in part responsible, especially in earlier
years, for the large number of children employed. In States where
these exemptions have been removed the fact that, traditionally,
children of any age could work in canneries, and that the news of
changes in law penetrates slowly to small and isolated communities
(where factory inspections are few and far between) has meant that fre
quently little care has been taken to exclude children under legal
working age. Although investigations made in certain States before
the enactment of child labor laws effectively regulating cannery work,
such as those in Maryland in 1911 (see p. 85) and in New York in 1912
(see pp. 154-155) found more very young children than were found
in the same States in the present Children’s Bureau survey, young

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children are still extensively employed even in States where the
child labor law prohibits their employment. One-third (1,127) of
the 3,403 under 16 at work in the canneries included in the Children’s
Bureau survey were under 14 years of age. Of these 882 were under
legal working age according to the laws of the States in which they
were at work. Although all the States in the survey had some can
neries employing children under 14 years of age, the extent to which
children under legal working age were found varied considerably,
the proportions ranging from 2 per cent in two establishments in
one State to 43 per cent in four-fifths of the establishments in another.
Some very young children were found at work— 303 who were under
12, 57 under 10, and 9 under 8 years of age— practically all in two
States. (Table 3.)
T a b l e 3.— Number of children of specified ages employed in canneries visited in
specified Statesr
Children under lfi years employed

14 years, un
der 16

State

Under 14
years

Under 10
years

Under 12
years

Under 8
years

Total
Per
cent

N um
ber

303

8.9

114
4
181
2

17.2
.8
11.6
.9

1. 5

N um
ber

Per
cent

N um
ber

Per
cent

N um
ber

Total...................... 3,403

2,276

66.9

1,127

33.1

662
493
1,564
229
121
133
201

303
455
894
203
107
117
197

359
38
670
26
14
16
4

54.2
7.7
42.8
11. 4
11.6
12. 0
2.0

Delaware___________
Maryland ____________

45.8
92.3
57.2
88. 6
88.4
88.0
98.0

Per
cent

N um
ber

1.7

28
1
28

4.2
.2
1.8

Per
cent

0.3

•

The employment of children under legal working age is more usual
where the practice of importing migratory family labor is common.
Not only is the tendency for the whole family to work— including
the young children— greater among migratory than among resident
cannery workers, but less care appears to be taken to see that children
are not employed in violation of the law.
The violation of the age standard of the child-labor laws appears
to be chiefly the result of carelessness in ascertaining the correct
ages of the children on the part of those hiring them, although a
certain amount of deliberate or at least conscious violation of the law
exists. The isolation of many canneries and the rare visits of factory
inspectors make it easy to violate the law with little risk of discovery
and prosecution, and some canners admit that in the rush of the short
season the temptation to employ whatever labor is available is too
great to resist. To a considerable extent, however, violations can
be attributed to inadequate or illegal certification of cannery children
(see p. 19).
Hours of work.

Children work exceedingly long hours in canneries. Hours in
plants packing perishable fruits and vegetables are in general very
irregular, depending on the time of day delivery of produce is made
and the quantity on hand to be packed, the quantity in turn depend
ing on various other factors, such as the ripening of the crop and

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INTRODUCTION

the weather. Such circumstances as breakdowns in machinery
or delay in delivery of cans also often result in a complete shutdown
of a plant followed by increased speeding up and longer hours. A
plant in operation day and night on some days in the week may
operate short days of several hours or may close down entirely
other days in the same week. The day’s run in almost all the can
neries visited in this survey, when they were in full-time operation,
according to the statements of managers, was at least 10 hours,
and in many it was 12 or more. Except in Wisconsin and some New
York canneries, children usually worked as long hours as adults. More
than two-thirds (69 per cent) of the 3,156 in the six States in the
survey in which comparable information on hours was obtained, had
worked 10 hours or more, and more than one-fifth (22 per cent)
12 hours or more. (Table 4.) Nearly two-fifths (37 per cent) had
worked at night (that is, between 7 p. m. and 6 a. m.).
T a b l e 4.— Maximum daily hours1 of work of children under 16 years of age employed
in canneries visited in specified States

Children under 16 years employed

Total

___ »3,270 3,156 399 12.6 2,757 87.4 2,165 68.6 682 21.6 245

Delaware. ______
Indiana__________
Maryland________
Michigan________
New Y o rk _______
Wisconsin_______

Irregular daily hours

Per cent

Number

Per cent

Number

Per cent

12 hours 14 hours 16 hours
and over and over and over

Number

10 hours
and over

Number

Over 8
hours

Per cent

8 hours
and un
der

I Per cent

Total

State

Number

Reporting specified daily hours

7.8

2.0

662
628 28 4.5
600 95.5
562 89.5 256 40.8 84 13.4
493
473 119 25.2
354 74.8
219 46.3 61 12.9 19 4.0
1,564 1,523 51 3.3 1,472 96.7 1,155 75.8 281 18.5 111 7.3
221 16 7.2
229
144 65.2 52 23.5 16 7.2
205 92.8
121
120 16 13.3
104 86.7
83 69.2 31 25.8 14 11.7
191 169 88.5
22 11.5
201
1
1
1.0
.5
.5

18
2
37
2
2
1

2.9
.4
2.4
.9
1.7
.5

31
3
32
6
1

i Where used in this and similar tables the term “ maximum daily hours” means the maximum during
the period for which information as to hours was obtained. Where time records were available this was
usually-only one week (see p. 4). Where, however, the information was not obtained from records, the
length of the period covered varied, being in some cases more than a week, and can not therefore be defi
nitely stated.
* Comparable information was not obtained for State of Washington.

The enforcement of laws regulating the hours of labor in establish
ments operating with the irregularity of canneries presents almost
insuperable difficulties unless each plant is required to keep accurate
time records of the exact hours worked by each minor every day.
Wisconsin has recognized this fact, and in its rulings relative to the
hours and wages of women and minors in canneries the industrial
commission has required that individual daily records be kept for
boys under 17 and for all girls and women, showing the hours of begin
ning and ending morning, afternoon, and evening work each day,
and the length of the midnight lunch period if the work is at night.
A complete report based on these records must be sent not later than
December 1 of each year to the commission. None of the other States
included in the Children’s Bureau survey had laws or rulings specifi
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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

cally requiring such records to be kept for cannery workers.24 The
Federal Government under the first and second Federal child labor
laws required that such a daily record of hours actually worked be
kept for all boys and girls under 16.25
Records showing the hours of beginning and ending work and the
time off for lunch were kept in only 43 per cent of the canneries
visited in the survey. Employment of children in canneries for
longer hours than the law permits is the most common form of viola
tion of the child labor laws. Violations of the law relating to daily
hours of labor were reported for two-thirds of the minors under 16 in
the four States in the survey in which regulations were in effect, and
for more than half the girls of 16 or over for whom information was
obtained whose hours were also regulated by law. Many children
under 16, moreover, worked considerably longer hours than the legal
maximum; two-fifths of those in the four States with an 8-hour day for
children under 16 had worked at least 10 hours, one-seventh at least
12 hours, and a number 14 or 16 or even longer hours.
States differ in this respect chiefly according to the efficiency of the
administration of the law, but the restrictive influence of laws regu
lating the hours of labor, however inadequately enforced, is evident.
In the three States in which children in canneries were exempted from
the provisions of the child-labor laws regulating hours 96 per cent of
the children under 16 (including more than 90 per cent in each State)
worked more than 8 hours a day, as compared with 66 per cent in the
States having regulations, and 78 per cent, as compared with 40 per
cent, worked 10 hours or more. The States not restricting the hours
of minors in canneries and employing the largest proportion of minors
for long hours are also the States employing the largest number of
young children, and many of the children in these States who work
long hours are only 12, 11, or even 10 years of age. Excessively
long daily hours for workers do not occur only on isolated occasions;
excessively long weekly hours are also recorded for many whose time
records are available.
Because of the perishable nature of the product night work has
always been common in fruit and vegetable canneries at the peak of
the season, and the Children’s Bureau survey found that in all the
States except Wisconsin from one-third to two-thirds of the canneries,
according to the State, had employed children at night at some time
during the canning season. Two-fifths of the children under 16 in
the survey had worked at night. In four of the States (Maryland,
New York, Washington, and Wisconsin) they did so in violation of
the night work law. The percentage of children illegally employed
at night ranged from 7 in Wisconsin to 92 in New York.
That some regulation of the hours of labor of minors over 16 years of
age is necessary has been recognized in the legislation of a number of
States, especially for girls. The information obtained in two States
24
The N ew York law regulating hours of labor of minors in factories (including canneries) specifies that
in establishments where it is practically impossible to adhere to the posted schedule of hours required, a
special permit must be obtained from the industrial commission, and a time book, in a form approved by
the commission, must be kept showing the names of the employed subject to the hour regulations and the
hours worked by each of them in each day. (N . Y ., Labor Law, art. 5, sec. 174.)
2’ According to regulation 8 of the rules and regulations for carrying out the provisions of the Federal
child labor law cf 1916: “ S ec . 1. A time record shall be kept daily by producers or manufacturers showing i(
the hours of employment in accordance with regulation 6, for each and every child between 14 and 16 years
of age, whether employed on a time or a piece-rate basis. Sec. 2. Certificates of age for children employed
in any mine or quarry or in any mill, cannery, workshop, factory, or manufacturing establishment m ay be
suspended or revoked for failure on the part of a manufacturer or producer to keep time records as required
b y this regulation, or for false or fraudulent entries made therein.”

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INTRODUCTION

in this survey showed very long hours of work for boys of 16 and 17,
whose hours are in most States unregulated. For a third of the boys
of 16 and 17 years of age in Indiana working days of 12 hours or more
were reported. Some of these boys worked 14, 15, and 16 hours and
a few up to 19 and 21 hours; weekly hours of 60, 70, or 80 were
reported for two-fifths of the cannery boys of these ages for whom
such information was available, and night work also was common.
In Wisconsin, where compliance with the laws regulating the hours
of boys and girls under 16 and of girls of 16 and over was unusually
good, the older boys, whose hours were unregulated by law, worked
exceptionally long hours, time records showing that approximately
half the boys of 16 and 17 in the Wisconsin canneries for whom
information was obtained had working days of 14 hours or more,
including 10 who had worked 20 hours or more at a stretch. Half
the boys of these ages in Wisconsin canneries for whom information
as to the hours worked during a full week was obtained had been
employed 70 hours or more, and a number had worked 80 or 90
hours. Night work was reported for 70 per cent of these boys and
for 28 per cent of the girls, the majority of the boys having worked
more than 6 hours on one or more nights of the week for which time
records were obtained. Night work in canneries is not forbidden in
Wisconsin for girls of 16 and over, but the fact that their hours of labor
are restricted to 9 a day and 54 a week and that they are required to
take a period of rest of at least 9 consecutive hours between the end of
work on one day and the beginning of work on the next serves indirectly
to prevent excessive night work among them. (See footnote 23,
p. 196.)
Employment-certificate issuance.

Experience has shown that where the system of employmentcertificate issuance is defective the standards of the child labor laws
are generally disregarded. If children are employed without certifi
cates the employer has no reliable assurance that the children in his
employ are of legal working age. If certificates are issued on inade
quate evidence of age, official approval of the employment of children
below the legal working age is likely to be given by the issuing officer.
The special provisions regulating the hours of employment and pro
hibiting night work, applying as they do to specific age groups, are
also dependent upon the certificate system for their proper enforce
ment, for if the correct ages of employed children are unknown to
the employer, avoidance of violations of the hour regulations of the
law is often impossible. Moreover, if the machinery of certificate
issuance is recognizedly defective employers naturally tend to greater
carelessness in complying with all the provisions of the child labor
law.
Most child labor laws provide that no child shall be employed
without an employment certificate for at least the first two years after
he is legally eligible for employment. Except in the State of Dela
ware, where cannery employment is exempted from this provision,
all the States having a certificate law require children employed in
canneries to obtain certificates just as do children in other occupations.
In spite of the clear intention of the laws, many children in can
neries receive little of the protection that a well-enforced employment
certificate law provides. In the six States included in the Children’s
Bureau survey in which employment certificates were required for all

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

children of specified, ages employed in canneries, no certificates were
on file for half the minors of certificate age found at work, including
those of 16 and 17 years of age as well as those under 16. (Table 5.)
Moreover, in a large proportion of the certificates that were on file,
one or more errors or defects in issuing were found. Many of these
defects were serious. For example, the birth date on a number of
certificates was wrongly stated, in most cases the child being younger
than the age given on the certificates, in many instances under legal
working age. On a number of certificates in one State the evidence
reported as having been accepted by the issuing officer was found to be
nonexistent.
T a b l e 5.— Number of children of specified ages employed with certificates in speci
fied States

Children under 16 years employed

Under 16 years

14 years, under 16

Under 14 years

State
W ith certificates

W ith certificates
Total

Total
Number Per cent

W ith certificates
Total

Number Per cent

Total.................... .. i 2,741

1,203

43.9

1,973

935

47.4

768

268

34.9

493
1,564
229
121
133
201

221
639
105
24
19
195

44.8
40.9
45.9
19.8
14.3
97.0

455
894
203
107
117
197

216
383
105
24
15
192

47.5
42.8
51.7
22.4
12.8
97.5

38
670
26
14
16
4

5
256

38.2

M aryland_____________
Michigan . . . . .
. . .
N ew York_____________
Wisconsin_____________

4
3

1 Delaware has no certificating law.

There are various explanations why issuance should not be so satis
factory for work in canneries as in other industries. The cannery
in many places is the only industry of the town, and employment
certificates are needed only for the children who work in the cannery
during a brief period of the year. In such communities the system
of certificate issuance is not so well organized as in cities and large
towns. Where, as in many States, the law prescribes that certificates
be issued by school officials, they may be out of town during the school
vacation when cannery work for most children begins. Some of the
smaller communities have to depend upon a county or district super
intendent of schools or some other official whose office may be in
another town and so far away from the cannery as to be almost in
accessible to the children seeking employment there. In small
communities the children and their parents are often so well known
to the employer that he attaches no importance to obtaining legal
proof of the children's ages and permission for their employment.
Most fruits and vegetables are highly perishable, and it is the canner's
chief concern to get the produce canned in the shortest possible time
after it is ripe and delivered at the cannery. He needs all the labor
available and at the shortest notice; he feels that he can not wait for
children until they have obtained certificates even if they can do so
without much delay, and so he accepts them without certificates.
The chances of a cannery's being caught in a violation of the certi
ficate law are slight compared with other industries. As has been

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INTRODUCTION

stated, canneries are so scattered that inspections of them can not be
frequent, and in some States the practice of watching for the inspec
tor’s visits and sending employed children out of the cannery on his
approach still seems to be regarded by some canners as a means of
escaping the penalties of the law. Another reason why less attention
is paid to employment-certificate issuance in the case of children
going to work in canneries than in the case of children engaging in
other factory work is that whereas in other industries absence from
school may be used to check up on their employment, in the canning
industry the work usually begins, at least, during school-vacation.
Even when school opens in the fall no check-up on working children
is made in many canning communities. Moreover, public opinion in
the small community often condones absences for cannery work, just
as an agricultural district may condone absences from school for farm
work.
States differ greatly in respect to the employment of children in
canneries without certificates. Thus, in one State in the survey
(Wisconsin) only 5 per cent, but in another (New York) 78 per cent,
of the children at work were employed in violation of the certificate
law. The relationship between an adequate certificate system and
the enforcement of other provisions of the State child labor law is
indicated by the fact that Wisconsin, the State having the largest
proportion of children with certificates, had the smallest proportion of
children employed in violation of the age and hour standards of the
child labor law. On the other hand, New York, the State having the
smallest proportion of children on certificate, had the largest pro
portion employed in violation of its hour regulations (see Table 4);
and Maryland, the State having the largest proportion of defective
certificates, had the largest proportion of children employed in viola
tion of the legal standard as to age. The excellent record of some
States shows that the enforcement of the certificate law in can
neries, though presenting unusual difficulties of administration, is
not impossible.
Differences among the States in complying with the certificate law
are not due to differences in the seasonal character of the industry, the
size of the communities in which the canneries are located, or the laws
primarily. No crop is more highly seasonal or requires more haste in
canning than peas; yet the State in which the Children’s Bureau found
the fewest violations of the certificate laws was Wisconsin, where
almost all the canneries when visited were canning peas and running
day and night. Moreover, in each of the States included in the
Children’s Bureau survey a considerable proportion of the canneries
were in small towns. Only to a limited extent do differences in the
observance of certificate laws appear to arise from differences in
these laws. It may be that the large proportion of children working
in the canneries of New York State without certificates is due in part
to the fact that New York is the one State among those included in
the survey, and in fact almost the only important canning State in the
country, requiring children to obtain regular employment certificates
for summer employment in canneries, involving the necessity of
completing a specified grade in school and obtaining a certificate of
educational attainment. In general, however, the employment
certificate laws, at least in the States in which the survey was made,
contain about the same basic provisions, and the provisions relative to

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE C ANNERIES

the kind of evidence of age acceptable under the law are much the
same, so that differences in laws can not be regarded as the principal
cause of the variations from State to State in the thoroughness with
which the certification is enforced.
Such variations seem to depend chiefly upon variations in the admin
istration of the laws, particularly upon the type of issuing officer and
the degree of State supervision exercised over the issuing.
Properly
qualified and conscientious issuing officers who are easily accessible
to applicants for certificates are fundamental to satisfactory issuance.
The designation by law of certain public officials as issuing officers—
for example, school superintendents, as in four of the States in the
survey, Indiana, Michigan, New York, and Washington— has done
a great deal to develop a satisfactory system of certificate issuance in
good-sized communities having a sufficient number of children seeking
permits throughout the year to warrant delegating the work to one or
more persons who keep regular office hours at all seasons of the year.
In small communities there appears to be some advantage in having
issuing officers especially appointed by and responsible to a strong
State supervisory agency, as is shown by the success Wisconsin has
had with this method, if care is taken by the State agency to select
suitable persons, to supervise their work, and to revoke their appoint
ments if they are unsatisfactory. In States where the issuing officers
are designated by law and provision is also made for State supervision
of issuance, the advantages of both systems may be combined,
although the inability of the State enforcing agency in such a case to
revoke the appointment of an unsatisfactory issuing officer might
prove to be a disadvantage at times. The experience of Indiana
indicates that under a system of this sort a satisfactory system of
issuance can be worked out. Where the local issuing officers are
responsible to a State enforcing agency, they are usually familiar
with the provisions of the law and with the correct method to follow
in its enforcement provided the State authority makes full use of its
supervisory powers. For example, in Indiana, where all certificates
issued are reviewed by the State industrial board, school officials and
their deputies were usually found to be better informed as to the
provisions of the certificate law than in States where this was not
done; and in Wisconsin, where State supervision has been more fully
developed than in any of the other States included in the survey,
issuing officers were thoroughly conversant with the provisions of the
law and were accurate in carrying them out.
A most serious handicap in administering the law in canning com
munities is the absence or inaccessibility of issuing officers. When the
officers are school officials (who in many ways seem specially well
qualified for the work) they often take vacations or attend summer
school at the very time the canneries are in operation; and although the
law of most States permits issuing officers to delegate their authority
to others, absentees do not always appoint deputies, with, the result
that the children going to work in the canneries go without certifi
cates. Even when they are in town many officers do not keep regular
office hours, at least during the summer months, and applicants for
certificates have to make repeated visits to their homes. Many small
communities have no resident issuing officer, and in some places
applicants have to go to a neighboring town or to the county seat.
In some places they actually travel long distances to get certificates,

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INTRODUCTION

but in general the absence of a near-by issuing officer means that
children go to work in the canneries without them. Devices to provide
adequate facilities for certificating in small communities were found in
one or two States in the survey. In Wisconsin the State industrial
commission, which is the State enforcing agency, makes every effort
to see that a sufficient number of issuing officers are appointed to cover
all the canning communities; but in emergencies, and in some cases
where no local issuing officers have been appointed or during the
absence of the issuing officers, applications are made by mail to the
office of the industrial commission, which issues the certificates direct.
In Maryland at the time of the survey issuing officers went from
cannery to cannery issuing certificates. Although this method
probably results in the certification of a larger number of children
than would be the case if they all were obliged to go to the offices of
the issuing officials, it has a number of disadvantages, as the issuing
officers’ districts may be very large, visits to individual canneries
may be infrequent, and the issuing usually has to be done in the
confusion of the cannery during working hours at the height of the
season. (See pp. 121, 122, and footnote 63, p. 134.)
Not only must issuing officers be familiar with the law and be
accessible to applicants, they must also appreciate the importance
and value of careful issuance. Their most important responsibility
is the determination of the applicant’s correct age. The laws of
all the more important canning States, with the exception of Wash
ington, specify clearly the kind of proof of age that may be legally
accepted by the issuing officer, in most of these States giving prece
dence to birth and baptismal certificates, but issuing officers vary in
their observance of the requirements. Laxity in the observance of
the legal requirements as to evidence of age was much more marked
in some of the States in the survey than in others. In some States
the issuing officers with only a few exceptions claimed to follow the
provisions of the law to the letter. In others little uniformity
appeared in the procedure followed by different issuing officers,
according to their statements, except that in hardly any case did
they claim that they followed exactly the procedure prescribed by
law. Obtaining birth and baptismal certificates takes time and trouble
and frequently involves delay, and many issuing officers made no
attempt to do it. Others, though endeavoring to get birth certifi
cates from the county health officer for children born in the county,
made no effort to get them for children born elsewhere. Many, not
obtaining birth certificates, do not attempt to get baptismal cer
tificates or any other form of documentary evidence specified in the
law, but issue a large proportion of their certificates on parents’
affidavits with or without the corroborative evidence required under
the law. In some States in the survey some of the issuing officers
relied on the school census or on school records for proof of age,
although such records are not legally acceptable evidence under the
law. A considerable number in some States admitted that they
merely accepted the child’s or the parent’s word as to the child’s
age, saying that they could determine a child’s age by his appearance
or that they always knew whether or not the parent was telling the
truth or that as they, knew everyone in town they did not need to
obtain evidence of age. Almost one-fourth of the entire number of
children with certificates found at work during the survey had had a

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

wrong birth date entered on their certificates. The great majority
of these were found to be younger than the ages given on the certifi
cates, many of them under legal working age.
. .
Enough has been said to indicate the importance m the adminis
tration of the law of legal provision for State supervision of employ
ment-certificate issuance. The requirement that a central State
agency prepare and distribute forms for certificate issuance, found
in the laws of all except two of the States included in this survey, was
valuable in securing uniformity of issuance, particularly when these
forms are supplemented by instructions for their use. Even more
helpful appeared to be the provision that duplicates of the certifi
cates and of the evidence of age upon which they are issued must be
referred to the State agency for approval, and that the certificates
can be revoked if illegally issued. Some provisions of this sort were
contained in the child labor laws of three of the seven States surveyed,
in two of which their value in reducing the extent of illegal or defec
tive issuance was obvious. A further extension of the supervisory
power of the State over local certificate issuance provided by a few
laws is to give the State enforcing agency authority to appoint or
approve the appointment of local certificate officers throughout the
State. In two of the States in the survey, Maryland and Wisconsin,
a central State agency (in these States the labor department) had
this power. (See pp.125, 203.)
C O N C L U S IO N S

Children under 16 years of age are very generally employed in the
canning industry. In some States many children are employed with
out adequate legal protection because of the exemption of canneries
from the laws regulating the work of children in other manufacturing
industries. Even in States that have laws for their protection a
considerable number are employed in violation of these laws. The
extent of such violation varies widely in the different States. For
example, the proportion of those under 16 who were below the legal
worldng age (about one-fourth of the total number included in the
study) varied from 43 per cent in one State to 2 per cent in another,
and the proportion of minors employed in violation of legal working
hours varied from 12 per cent to 97 per cent. In spite of the greater
difficulty of enforcing legal standards in the canning than in other
manufacturing industries, this variation indicates that where a smcere
and well-considered effort is made on the part of the State to see
that the law is enforced it can be done. Although the employment
of children in canneries is to some extent a question of the crop being
canned and to some extent a question of the adequacy of the local
labor supply, it is chiefly and primarily a matter of the law and its
enforcement. Wh.ere the laws and the thoroughness with which they
are enforced discourage the exploitation of children, canners can and
do operate successfully without employing young children.
An adequate State child labor law that does not exempt canneries is
fundamental in any successful program for the protection of children.
Such a law should prohibit the employment in canneries of all children
under 14, at least, as the majority do. The arguments for extending
the minimum age from 14 to 16, generally admitted to be the years in
need of special legislative safeguards, in some respects have particular
force when applied to the canning industry.

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INTRODUCTION

The employment of children on machinery in canneries is suffi
ciently common to make it desirable that the law prohibit young
workers from employment in connection with the more dangerous
types of canning machinery.
It is not essential that children working only during school vacation
should be obliged to fulfill an educational requirement for work in
canneries, but in the omission of such a requirement unusual care
must be taken that children who have not completed the grade
requirement that makes them eligible for employment during school
hours return to school at the beginning of the school term. Special
arrangements should be made for the school attendance of children
living temporarily in cannery camps.26 The Ohio school attendance
law is one of the few laws relating specifically both to children who
migrate for work within the State and to those coming from outside.
It provides that every child actually resident in the State shall be
amenable to the laws relating to compulsory education and that he
shall not be excused from the operation of the law on the ground
that his residence is seasonal or that his parent is a resident of another
State. In the absence of such provisions local school authorities are
apt to take the position that temporary residents in the community
are not entitled to share in school facilities.
Whatever the minimum-age and other requirements for entrance
into the industry, it is essential that the hours of work of minors in
canneries should be restricted. A maximum 8-hour day, with a
prohibition of night work, is the prevailing standard for minors under
16 years of age in other industries. The extension of hour regulations
to minors up to the age of 18 in canneries is desirable because of the
unusually long hours prevailing in cannery employment. Although
in States in which a similar standard has been applied to cannery
work its enforcement has been found entirely practicable, provisions
regulating hours are more difficult to enforce in canneries than any
other legal regulations, so that it is essential not only that the hours
be restricted but that special attention be given to the enforcement
of provisions of the law relating to hours. Unusual success in
obtaining compliance with the regulations relating to the hours of
labor of women and children in canneries has been achieved by
requiring the keeping of time records showing the exact hours worked
by each employee each day, and such a provision should be included
in the labor law.
Basic to the enforcement of the child labor law in canneries as in
other industries is a well-administered employment-certificate system.
Such a system should require that all minors up to 18 years of age
have employment certificates before they can be employed, that only
the most reliable proof of age— such as birth certificates, baptismal
records, or other contemporaneous documentary evidence— be accept
able under the law, and that physical fitness proved through examina
tion by a designated physician be a requisite for employment. Within
these restrictions, however, it should be made as easy as possible for
applicants to obtain certificates even in the smallest communities,
so that canners can have no excuse for employing any child without a
m Attempts to solve this admittedly difficult problem have been made in a few States in the case of chil
dren migrating for agricultural work. For an account of these see Children in Agriculture, pp. 44-46.
U . S. Children’s Bureau Publication N o, 187, Washington, 1929,

81531°— 30----- 3

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

certificate. Local issuing officers should be within convenient
distance of applicants’ homes ; and where this can not be arranged,
the State should make provision for the issuance of certificates by
mail or by State representatives.
. The results of this survey show that errors and laxity in certifica
tion, and in consequence violations of other standards of the child
labor law in canneries, can be reduced by an intelligently and carefully
administered system of State supervision of certificate issuance. To
be effective such a system requires some legal basis; that is, the law
should provide at least that the State enforcing agency have power to
provide forms and instructions for issuance, to review certificates and
evidence of age, and to revoke all that are illegally issued. Further
power given the State agency to appoint and dismiss local issuing
officers adds to the effectiveness with which the State agency can
insure compliance with the law. In few States, however, has this
power been granted to the State agency; and it seems unlikely that
many of the larger industrial States will grant it, as in the larger cities
of such States well-organized systems of certificate issuance already
have been established by the local boards of education. But in the
small communities of these States better issuance might be insured by
giving the State enforcing agency some power of revoking the author
ity of issuing officers who are lax in fulfilling their duties and of
appointing other persons to take their places or by granting the State
agency power to issue certificates through its deputies. The success
of State supervision of issuance, however, depends chiefly upon the
intelligence and thoroughness with which the State department exer
cises its supervisory powers. Good supervision requires: (1) Careful
planning of instructions for issuance; (2) frequent visits to issuing
officers on the part of representatives of the State department to see
that the instructions are carried out properly and to observe the
methods followed in issuance; (3) careful checking of duplicates of
certificates for possible errors or violations and speedy reporting of
such errors to the issuing officer and the revocation of such certificates
where necessary; (4) verification from time to time of the evidence of
age accepted by issuing officers to determine whether or not better
evidence is available; and (5) frequent inspection of the establish
ments in which children are employed, to check up on the extent to
which children are working without certificates.
Working conditions in canneries would be improved if the more
advanced legal standards regarding construction and sanitation now
set up for manufacturing establishments were more generally in effect
in food-packing establishments. Difficulties peculiar to the canning
industry, particularly in regard to drainage and disposal of waste,
make it desirable that special regulations to meet these conditions be
formulated and enforced by a State agency. Success has been achieved
both in States in which a State agency is given power to make and
enforce detailed regulations for factories, inclusive of canneries, and
in States in which a State agency is empowered to make and enforce
regulations applying specifically to canneries. (See Appendix III,
p. 223.)
The seating of girls and women at work in canneries should be given
particular attention. Many young girls in canneries stand constantly
at their work, although it has been shown that cannery equipment can
be so adjusted as to insure the comfortable seating of women workers

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INTRODUCTION

in most of the occupations in which they are employed. The usual
laws requiring seats for female employees do not cover the situation
because they permit standing if the occupation requires it. Girls and
women should be prohibited from working in occupations necessitat
ing constant standing.
A State agency should be given authority to make and enforce
regulations covering the construction of buildings in labor camps and
the sanitation of buildings and grounds. Such regulations must be
detailed and specific, for general provisions such as those requiring
merely “ ample ventilation” or “ adequate drainage” are not effective
in preventing overcrowding and insanitary conditions.
The care of children too young to work in cannery labor camps is a
problem that has received little attention. Cannery labor camps seem
less safe for unsupervised children than agricultural labor camps
because the former are usually near railroad tracks and because
children in the cannery camps are likely to get into the cannery work
rooms where they are in danger from unguarded machinery. The
Council of Women for Home Missions in cooperation with canners
has conducted welfare centers in several places in Maryland, Dela
ware, Pennsylvania, and on the Pacific coast. Another approach
to the problem is indicated by the action of the division of housing and
sanitation of the California Department of Industrial Relations in
issuing to canners in 1927 recommendations for day nurseries and
playgrounds, including rules as to equipment and personnel. These
recommendations have been adopted by some California canners.

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DELAW ARE
INTRODUCTION

The canning of fruits and vegetables is the fourth industry in
importance in Delaware according to the value of the product and
the third according to the average number of wage earners employed
during the year.1 It is the most important child-employing industry
in the State. Although the majority of children are employed in the
canneries only during a part of the year, no other industry in the
State affords employment in the course of the year to so many
children.
In September, 1925, the Children’s Bureau found 662 children
under 16 at work in Delaware canneries, a much larger number than
the total number of children under 16 (405) reported as gainfully
occupied in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits at the last
decennial census,2 and more than the total number of children issued
general employment certificates in Delaware throughout a 12-month
period which included the canning season of 1925.3
Although the canning of fruits and vegetables may thus be regarded
as its most important child-employing industry, Delaware is among
the States having the lowest standards for the legal protection of child
workers in canneries.
(See p. 14.) The minimum age (12 years)
at which children can go to work is two years younger than that for
cannery workers in almost any other State, and it is also two years
younger than the minimum age fixed by the Delaware child labor law
for regular full-time employment in other occupations.4 Moreover,
children 12 years of age and over are permitted to work in Delaware
canneries without being subject to any of the legal regulations that
apply to children in other gainful occupations. Several other States5
exempt children under 16 employed in canneries from the statutory
hour and night-work regulations applicable to child workers in other
occupations; but Delaware is the only State in which the law exempts
them also from the employment-certificate provisions applicable to
other industries, thereby weakening the enforcement of the only
protective measure that it affords the cannery children, namely, the
12-year minimum age for employment.
THE CANNERIES
L O C A T IO N , S IZ E , A N D P R O D U C T

The Canners’ Directory for 1925 lists 85 fruit and vegetable
canneries in Delaware.6 Representatives of the Children’s Bureau
visited almost all of these in September, the peak month of the canning
industry in Delaware, and found 71 in operation. Of the canneries
1 Census of Manufactures, 1925, Statistics for Industries, States and Cities, pp. 33-34. U . S. Bureau of
the.Census. Washington, 1927.
2 Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, Children in Gainful Occupations, p. 115. Washington,
1924.
3 Unpublished reports of the Wilmington Public Schools and the child-labor division of the Labor Com
mission of Delaware.
4 Except work on farms and in domestic service in private homes, employments which, as in many other
States, are outside the provisions of the child labor law.
a Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, and Utah.
« Canners’ Directory, 1925, pp. 39-45. Compiled by the National Canners Association, Washington,
D . C,

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DELAWARE

visited, 10 were in New Castle County, 27 in Kent, and 34 in Sussex
(Table 6.)
T a b l e 6.— Number of canneries visited, number employing children of specified
ages, number of persons and^ number of children of specified ages employed in
canneries m Delaware counties
Canneries visited

Persons employed

Employing children
under 16 years
County
Total
Total

N ot
em
ploy
ing
chil
Under Under dren
14
12
under
years years
16
years

Under 16 years Under 14 years Under 12 years

All
ages
N um
ber

Per
cent

Per
Per
cent of
cent of
N um total N u m total
ber
under
ber
under
16
16
years
years

T otal____

7,427

662

8.9

359

54.2

114

17.2

K ent__________
New Castle____
Sussex.............. ..

27
10
34

25
10
34

21
10
30

14
7
18

2,579
866
3,982

234
118
310

9.1
13.6
7.8

119
81
159

50.9
68.6
51.3

38
26
50

16.2
22.0
16.1

The 71 canneries were reported as employing 7,427 workers at the
time of the inquiry, or an average number of 105 persons per cannery.7
The majority of the canneries employed fewer than 100 workers, 7
reported fewer than 50 at the height of the canning season, 7 reported
200 or more, including 1 with approximately 500 employees. The
proportion of large canneries was greater than in the neighboring
State of Maryland, where the average number of workers in the
canneries visited was only 78.
Almost 95 per cent of all the workers in the canneries visited and
also of the children under 16 found employed were engaged in work
in connection with canning tomatoes. (Table 7.) Although many
Delaware canneries put up peas, beans, corn, and other vegetables
and fruits, tomatoes are the principal canning crop. Tomatoes
and tomato pastes, purees, and sauces constituted approximately
half the output of the State in canned goods in 1925.8 All except
two of the canneries visited by agents of the bureau, where lima
beans or corn were being canned, were packing tomatoes at the time
of the visits in September. Nine canneries were also manufacturing
tomato pulp, catchup, or other tomato products, an undertaking
that requires more elaborate machinery and therefore better-built
factories than are needed for packing tomatoes. Half the canneries
also packed other vegetables at other seasons— corn, string or lima
beans, asparagus, or sweet potatoes. At the time of the bureau
inquiry, however, only two establishments were canning a second
crop in addition to tomatoes. This concentration of work on the
tomato crop was in part due to the fact that the inquiry was made at the
J According to the Federal census of manufactures for 1925, the peak of the canning season in Delaware
that year wasin September, the number of wage earners reported for September 15 being 6,008, or an average
Per establishment for the 55 fruit and vegetable canneries reported by the
census for the Sta,te. The fact that a larger number of canneries was listed in the Canners’ Directory than
toe census for that year was.doubtless due, at least in part, to the fact that the Federal census statistics
for 1925 were collected only from establishments reporting products of $5,000 or more. (Census of M anu
factures, 1925, Canning and Preserving, pp. 2, 8, and 22. U . S. Bureau of the Census, Washington, 1927)
Census of Manufactures, 1925, Canning and Preserving, pp. 18, 19, and 22, computed from Tables
9 and 11.

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT

and

vegetable

c a n n e r ie s

height of the tomato-picking season, when the peas and most of the
com had been canned, and in part also to the fact that in 1925 in
Delaware, as in other States, the tomato crop was especially large.9
7.— Number of canneries visited, number em-ploying children of specified
ages, number of persons and number of children of specified ages employed upon
certain products being canned at time of visit in Delaware canneries

T able

Persons employed

Canneries visited

Under 16
years

Employing children
under 16 years
Product
Total
Total

T o t a l ____ Tomatoes and tomato
products--------------------Tomatoes only_________
Tomatoes,
to m a to
pulp, and catchup---

Tomatoes,
Tomatoes

to m a to
and

lima

Under Under
12
14
years years

N ot
em
ploy
ing
chil
dren

All
ages

Under 14
years

Under 12
years

Per
Per
cent
cent
of
of
N u m Per N u m
Num
total ber total
ber cent ber
under
under
16
16
years1
years1

2 7,427

662

8.9

359

54.2

114

17.2

67
54

65
. 53

57
47

36
31

2 6,954
1 4,456

618 8.9
497 11.2

337
268

54.5
53.9

108
80

17.5
16.1

1 2,498

121

4.8

57.0

23.1

1
1
2

i
i
i

65
143
265

8 12.3
18 12.6
18 6.8

7
9
6

4
1
1

135

7.4

130

6.2

1 Per cent not shown where base is less than 50.
E Q U IP M E N T A N D S A N IT A T IO N

The cannery buildings varied greatly in construction and equip
ment. Some canneries visited consisted of one crudely built shed of
a single story, open at the sides, unpainted and weather beaten;
others were composed of a group of two or three large one-and-a-half
or two story buildings substantially built of wood, brick, or corru
gated iron, freshly painted, and in good repair, and were fitted with
windows with glass panes and with electric lights.
The grounds about many of the canneries were littered with refuse.
In one cannery that put up both corn and tomatoes the corn husks
were piled on the ground outside the husking shed, and the yard in
front of the cannery was a morass of mud and muck. The condition
of the ground about many of the canneries was partly due to the
dripping of juice and water from the storage bins into which waste
was dumped, to defective drains, and to the leakage of the carts that
hauled away the skins. Clean and dry yards were found about
some tomato canneries; one lima-bean cannery was unique in that it
had a neatly trimmed lawn and flower beds about the office building.
In canneries having several buildings one was sometimes used for
receiving and preparing the tomatoes or other vegetables, another,
adjoining, for filling, packing, closing, processing, and other canning
operations, and another, the warehouse, for storing cans to await ship9 The production of canned tomatoes in Delaware in 1925 exceeded that for any other year since 1917.
(U . S. Department of Agriculture: Yearbook of Agriculture, 1926, p. 954.)

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DELAWARE

ment. In many of the smaller canneries all the work was done in
one building. As canneries are usually in operation only during
the summer and autumn months and the machinery, at least in tomato
canneries, is comparatively simple, buildings of light construction
can be used. The main cannery building in the canneries visited
was usually of frame, but a number were of corrugated iron and three
were wholly or in part of brick. The warehouse in most canneries
was constructed substantially, but the peeling room where many of
the minors were working was in some canneries just a shed with open
sides, or in a building the upper part of the side walls of which could
be closed but were raised on hinges for ventilation. Some buildings
had high ceilings and outlets for the heat and steam which rose from
the machines and the cooking processes, but others had low ceilings
and the top of the room was filled with steam.
One-story buildings were common, but 32 of the 69 in which minors
were employed had a loft above the ground floor and 8 had two stories.
The 2-story buildings all belonged to large canneries that put up both
tomatoes and tomato products (purée, catchup, or chili sauce) and
required space for additional machinery and processes. The lofts
where the can boys and girls handled empty Cans were frequently
hot and stuffy. The loft was often located above the filling and
closing machines and the exhaust, and the steam rose from the
machines through the loosely constructed floors or up the stairway
opening and made the air in the loft hot and stifling. Owing to the
clouds of steam which filled the upper part of one cannery loft, the
inspector could see only the legs of the can boys who were 2 or 3
feet away. The stairs to the loft in some instances were unrailed and
inadequate; in four canneries ladders were fastened upright against
the wall or propped at an incline, and in one place not even a ladder
was provided, the can boys climbing up to the loft on a pile of empty
wooden cases. Bad lighting added to the chances of possible misstep.
In some of the better-buüt canneries the workroom floors were so
constructed that the torqato juice and waste could be disposed of
without difficulty; but in others, although the floors were of concrete
and sloped to central gutters, the drainage was insufficient to prevent
water from accumulating on the floor. The workroom floor in the
main cannery building was usually of concrete; but 17 of the 69
canneries visited had wooden floors, and 8 had no floor drainage except
holes or cracks in the wooden boards through which water dripped to a
gutter underneath or to a creek or a river over which the cannery
projected.
Wet and sloppy floors were common. Inadequate floor drainage, the
use of open wire-mesh pails for carrying tomatoes in canneries not
having automatic conveyors, loose construction of work tables so
that the juice and water dripped through the cracks or through the
trough of the table to the floor, all contributed to the accumulation of
water and waste. Floors were sloppy as well as wet in 26 canneries at
the time of the visits, including several visited as early as 9 a. m.;
where these floors were wood they were also slippery. In one cannery
in which the floor was only slightly wet at 9 o ’clock the operatives
said that the slop was over their shoe tops by the closing hour. In
spite of frequent floor flushing and an elaborate system of drains the
floors of one establishment employing 500 people was not only wet
but also cluttered with tomato skins and trimmings. The slop and

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muck on the floor of one cannery was several inches thick; in another,
where the concrete floor was old and broken, water settled in the
holes and cracks; in another, the cement floor under the peeling
table was not drained and near the peeling table was a hole 1 to 8
inches deep, filled with water and tomatoes, into which the workers
might easily have stumbled. In contrast to canneries such as these
the floors in 16 canneries, including 6 of those employing 150 or more
persons, were dry at the time of the visits. Three or four canneries
that had dry floors when visited between 8 and 9 a. m. might not
have been in such good condition when the plant had been in operation
longer, but a few canneries had such an efficient drainage and cleaning
system that there was little likelihood of an accumulation of water
and waste.
The equipment for conveying the product to and from the peeling
and packing tables and to the other operations and the type of table
furnished for the peelers varied with the cannery. Eighteen canneries
used automatic conveyors throughout, so that the lifting and carrying
of pails was_largely eliminated. No machinery was used for any part
of the carrying in 18 canneries; in 31 others part of the work was done
by machinery and part by hand; and for 2 no report was obtained.
In many of these canneries men or boys were employed to carry
pails of tomatoes from the scalder to the peeling tables, from the
peeling tables to the filling machine, and to carry out the waste.
In canneries where automatic carrying was the rule the peelers worked
at conveyor tables, usually the type known as the “ merry-go-round,”
elliptical in shape, with stationary edges and a slowly moving conveyor
in the center, which carried the pails of scalded and peeled tomatoes
to and away from the peelers who stood on each side. In 25 canneries
the peelers worked at stationary tables.10
To protect themselves from the wet and slop of the tables and floors
some of the women and girls wore aprons— sometimes only burlap
bags or newspapers tied about them— and some wore rubbers. Some
of the boys and other employees whose job was to carry buckets and
push skins down the drains wore rubber boots. Boards and plat
forms which the management furnished to keep the employees off
the wet floors or the boxes which the workers sometimes procured to
stand on were often insufficient to prevent wet feet. No platforms or
stands of any kind were found in five canneries with wet floors, includ
ing two of the largest canneries visited.
No seats were provided in 45 of the 67 canneries from which the
information was obtained, and all the workers stood; in 22 canneries
the employer either had furnished stools or chairs for at least some of
the workers or had allowed them to use packing boxes for seats.11
The peeling tables varied in height, but many were too high to allow
the peelers to sit at their work.
Toilet facilities for employees were usually inadequate but were
provided in all but 1 cannery. Eight of the 69 canneries visited had
flush toilets; the remainder with toilet facilities had outside privies.
Although some of the toilets were kept in as clean and sanitary
condition as the construction would permit others were in very poor
10 For further description of work tables in Delaware canneries see W om en’s Em ploym ent in Vegetable
Canneries in Delaware, pp. 22-24 (U- S. W om en’s Bureau Publication N o. 62, Washington, 1927).
• I,A,State law (Del., Laws of 1917, eh. 231, as amended by Laws of 1921, ch. 187) required seats to be furrushed in manufacturing establishments” where females were employed. Information from the office of
the State labor commission is to the effect that this law applies to canneries

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DELAWARE

condition.12 Those in 35 establishments were reported as in good
condition, and in 9 the toilets were cleaned daily. The number
provided, however, was usually insufficient. (See report on Maryland,
p. 92.) In 18 canneries the same toilets were used by both cannery
employees and camp occupants. Seventeen of 38 other canneries
about which reports were obtained had 25 persons or more for each
toilet. One of these had only one toilet for 65 persons. Good washing
facilities— sink, soap, and paper towels— were furnished in only a few
canneries.13
THE

LABOR

SU PPLY

CH A RAC TE R O F LA BO R SU PPLY

Both white and negro workers are employed in Delaware canneries;
judging from the children at work m the 69 canneries visited*
43 employed both white and negro workers, 19 only white, and 7
only negro. Part of the labor supply is local and part is migratory
family labor imported for the tomato and corn canning seasons.
Some of the Delaware canneries are in good-sized towns; but even
these can not always get a sufficiently large local labor supply for
their work, and many are on the outskirts of small towns or villages
and a few in rather isolated places in the open country, so that often
even though comparatively few workers may be required they must
be brought in from other places. Forty-one of the 69 canneries
imported workers, 23 all white labor, 12 all negro, and 6 both white
and negro. All but one of the canneries in New Castle County and
about half those in Kent and Sussex Counties employed migratory
family labor. Canneries employing 100 or more workers, even those
in towns of 2,000 to 4,000 inhabitants, and some of the smaller can
neries, also, especially those located in villages, generally imported
additional labor. A number of canneries situated in rural communi
ties, including some of those that brought in workers for the season,
transported some of their workers daily by truck to and from their
homes.
Most of the migratory labor was white— Polish families from
Baltimore or Italians from Philadelphia. Of the 251 white children
imported for work in the Delaware canneries, 208 came from Balti
more, 40 from Philadelphia, and 3 from other places in Delaware or
Pennsylvania. The negro migratory labor employed came from the
Eastern Shore of Maryland, from the vicinity of Norfolk or the upper
peninsula of Virginia, and from Baltimore and Philadelphia. Some
of them were apparently habitual migrants. For example, a negro
family which claimed Baltimore as a permanent home had gone to
four different places during the year to work; they had picked straw
berries and dug potatoes in Virginia, had stayed a short time in
Maryland, and had then gone to Delaware, where they had picked
beans on a farm before going to work in a cannery. White
seasonal workers for Delaware as for Maryland canneries are usually
recruited through a “ row boss,” who also supervises their work and
is in charge of the labor camp where they live during the season.
Some canners who use negro labor employ negro row bosses to recruit
12 Del., Acts of 1915, ch. 228, sec. 5, specifies that “ all toilet rooms shall be kept in a sanitary condition.”
13 A State law (Del., Laws of 1917, ch. 231, as amended by Laws of 1921, ch. 187) required that suitable
toilets be provided (at a ratio of 1 for every 25 females where 15 or more females were employed) in “ manu
facturing establishments” where females were employed, and that they be kept clean and in a sanitary
condition, and that washing facilities be furnished. Information from the office of the State labor commis
sion is to the effect that this law applies to canneries.

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workers of their own race, but others depend on workers to drift
in and apply for work.
Information as to the proportion of whites and negroes among local
workers was not obtained, but according to the figures for child
workers the proportion of each was about the same, 190 local negro
children having been found employed in canneries compared with 183
white.
Women and girl workers predominate in the canneries, constituting
56 per cent of the total number reported. In only 11 canneries were
male workers in the majority.
R E C R U IT IN G F A M IL Y L A B O R IN B A L T IM O R E

The row boss who procures workers for Delaware canneries is
generally a member of the community in which families accustomed
to migrate for seasonal work live. Ten of the fourteen row bosses
who were interviewed at their Baltimore homes during the course of
the inquiry concerning methods of recruiting cannery labor were born
in Poland; the others were native born but could usually speak Polish.
In the winter the row bosses work in the city at unskilled or semi
skilled work, and in the summer they go with their families to the
canneries for the six to eight weeks of the canning season. After
they reach the canneries they are paid a weekly or monthly wage for
their services; for recruiting labor in the city they are paid a weekly
wage while recruiting or, more often, they receive a commission for
each worker procured. Ten of the 23 Delaware canners who imported
only white labor paid the row boss a fixed sum for each worker,
usually from 50 cents to $1; 2 canners employed the same row boss
for recruiting workers and together paid him $125 for the work in
addition to a weekly salary.
Some row bosses, 9 of the 14 interviewed, have a written agreement
with the canner as to the number of workers needed, the rate at which
they are to be paid, and a statement about their transportation. A
statement concerning housing is seldom included. The terms under
which the row boss hires workers, whether written or unwritten, are
much the same in different canneries, according to well-established
custom. The employer houses the workers and provides water, fuel,
stoves, and lumber out of which bunks, tables, and benches can be
constructed; the workers provide their bedding and cooking utensils
and pay for their food. Some employers orally promise the row boss
that the shacks will be in good repair and the water supply satisfac
tory. The agreement as to transportation, whether oral or written,
is usually definite. Most canners provide transportation, by boat,
train, or truck, depending upon their location, at least to the cannery;
many provide it both ways if the workers remain until the end of the
season. Transfer of baggage, chests, bundles, feather beds, and
blankets is included in transportation. Of 26 canners who employed
white migratory workers during 1925, 21 paid transportation both
ways for their workers and 5 provided transportation either to or
from the cannery. It is not customary for employers to provide
medical attention, but a few promised to furnish a doctor or send the
patient to a hospital, if necessary. Practically all canners give the
row boss a sum of money to loan families who promise to go to the
country, and some also give a sum of money to “ treat” the workers.
All the row bosses interviewed reported that they had loaned the
families small sums, from $5 to $25, which would later be deducted

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DELAWARE

from their pay, to enable them to lay in a stock of groceries and make
other preparations before leaving the city.
Competition for workers between row bosses is keen. They usually
make a house-to-house canvass as well as visit families that they know
are in the habit of doing seasonal work. Sometimes one family has
visits from three or four different row bosses, each vying with the
other in praising his cannery. Hence the success of the row boss in
getting workers depends largely on his popularity and on the skill with
which he describes the advantages of his cannery. One row boss said
that engaging workers was a “ cut-throat business,” and gave as an
example that one row boss would tell a mother that her children of 11
and 12 would not be allowed to work, and another would tell her that
the children of these ages could work and so she could make more
money jn the cannery he represented. It is said to be easier to get
workers for Delaware than for Maryland canneries because the mini
mum age at which children can work is lower in Delaware than in
Maryland. Some of the row bosses interviewed claimed that it was
more difficult than it used to be to get workers to go to the canneries
because there are few new immigrants and those who have been in this
country a number of years do not wish to leave the conveniences of
city life for the conditions they will find in the camps. Working boys
and girls also are loath to leave their better paid city jobs;
Under these conditions the row boss is tempted to make the prospec
tive workers promises that they know can not be fulfilled, and as some
of the families interviewed said, forget all about their promises when
they get the workers to the cannery. As a consequence in one cannery
the men employees organized a strike after they discovered that the
canner was paying them only 40 cents an hour instead of the 45 cents
promised by the row boss. In another cannery where employees com
plained that the promises made to them had not been kept, it was
stated that one of the workers, when drunk, had shot and killed the
row boss.
B A L T I M O R E F A M IL I E S M I G R A T I N G F O R W O R K IN D E L A W A R E C A N N E R I E S

In connection with the Children’s Bureau study of the work of
children in Delaware canneries a special survey was made of the
white migratory families whose homes were in Baltimore, including
about 70 per cent of all the migratory children in the canneries. One
hundred and fifty white families in which were 202 of the 208 Baltimore
children under 16 who were working in Delaware canneries at the time
of the visits were interviewed.
The fathers of 126 of the families were foreign born and with 7
exceptions were Polish. They were chiefly unskilled laborers, steve
dores, or factory operatives, though some were skilled workers.
About one-half migrated with their families for cannery work.
Many of those who migrated for the tomato and corn seasons in
Delaware did other kinds of seasonal work. More than one-third of
the 150 families who had migrated the year of the survey had done
farm work in the early summer before going to the canneries, and 8
others besides working in the cannery had picked beans in the same
district. Fifty-two families had gone to various places in Maryland
in the early summer for truck-farm work, many of them remaining on
the truck farms during the strawberry, pea, and bean picking season
and returning to their Baltimore homes only about a month before it
was time to start for the Delaware canneries in September. One

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

family, after returning from the Delaware canneries in October, had
left soon after for work in an oyster cannery in South Carolina.
The children in such families are in the habit of going with their
mothers to the cannery camps every summer and, as soon as they are
old enough, start work in the cannery. Some of the children had
never migrated for cannery work before the year of the survey, but
125 (more than three-fifths) had gone to the cannery districts with
their families three years or more, 73 (more than one-third) five years
or more, and 32 ten years or more.
The families leaving the city for cannery work usually go about the
middle or end of August and remain at the canneries six to nine weeks,
returning to the city the first or second week in October. Of 183
children who reported the length of time they had been away from thè
city for cannery work, 116 had been away seven weeks or more and
52 eight weeks or more. Those picking strawberries, beans, or peas
leave the city toward the end of May and do not return until five or
six weeks later, after the end o f the school term. Of the 202 children
in the families interviewed in Baltimore 121 were away from the city
8 weeks or more for cannery or for cannery and truck-farm work and
59 were away 12 weeks or more.
C H IL D

LABOR

C A N N E R IE S

T H E W O R K IN G C H IL D R E N

Children under 16 were found at work in 69 of the 71 canneries
visited, their number being 662 (9 per cent of all the workers). (Table
7, p.30.) The majority (56 per cent) were girls. About one-third
(34 per cent) were negroes, among whom the proportion of girls was
64 per cent. Of the 662 children 289 (44 per cent), a considerably
larger proportion than in any of the other States in which the bureau
inquiry was made, were nonresident children who had migrated to
the canneries with their families for the season. Most of these chil
dren were white, 87 per cent contrasted with 78 per cent of the chil
dren working in the canneries of Maryland (see p.98). Table 8 shows
the raee and residence of children employed in canneries in the differ
ent counties.
T a b l e 8 .—

Race of local and migratory children under 16 years of age employed in
canneries in Delaware counties
Children under 16 years employed
Kent County

Total
Raee of local and migratory
children
Number

New Castle
County

Sussex County

Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
distri Number distri Number distri Number distri
bution
bution
bution
bution

T o ta l-________________________

662

100.0

234

100.0

118

100.0

310

100.0

■White_____________
Negro_____________________

434
228

65.6
34.4

139
95

59.4
40.6

108
10

91.5
8.5

187
123

60.3
39.7

373

56.3

143

61.1

17.8

209

67.4

27.6
28.7

65
78

27.8
33.3

13
8

11.0
6.8

105
104

33.9
33.5

Local_____ ___ _____ _______
W hite...... ............. ................
Negro___ _______ _________

183
190

Migratory.....................................

289

43.7

38.9

82.2

101

32.6

W hite_____________________
N e g ro ... - . __ _________

251
38

37.9
5.7

74
17

31.6
7.3

95
2

80.5
1.7

82
19

26.5
6.1

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DELAWARE

A G E S O F C H IL D R E N A N D V IO L A T IO N S O F A G E S T A N D A R D O F S T A T E C H IL D L A B O R
LAW

As Delaware is one of the few States where children under 14 years
of age are permitted by law to work in canneries (see p. 14), it would
be expected that a larger proportion of children under 14 would be
found in the Delaware canneries than in those of any of the other
States in which the bureau made investigations. Children under 14
were found at work in 61 of the 69 Delaware canneries visited, and
54 per cent of all the children employed were under 14 years of age.
(Table 6, p. 29.)
In 39 canneries 114 children (17 per cent of the total number under
16) were found at work who were under 12, the minimum age for
legal employment in canneries. (Table 9.) Twenty-eight children,
12 girls and 16 boys, were under 10, including 4 boys and 2 girls under
8 years of age.14
T a b l e 9.— Race of local and migratory children of specified ages employed in
Delaware canneries
Children under 16 years employed
Race of local and migratory
children

Under 14 years

Under 12 years

Under 10 years

Total
Number

Per cent

Number

Per cent

Number

Per cent

662

359

54.2

114

17.2

4.2

W h ite..............................
Negro_______ _________

434
228

238
121

54.8
53,1

80
34

18.4
14.9

18
10

4.1
4.4

Local_______________ ____________

373

161

43.2

10.7

3.8

W hite..........................................
Negro_______ ________________

183
190

64
97

35.0
51.1

15
25

8.2
13.2

6
8

3.3
4.2

Total—. ...........- ............. —

M igratory................................. .......
W hite.....................................—

289

198

68.5

25.6

4.8

251
38

174
24

69.3

65
9

25.9

12
2

4.8

Migratory children more than local children worked under the legal
minimum age. White migratory children constituted 57 per cent of
the children under 12, but only 38 per cent of the total number of
working children.
Although violation of the minimum age law was rather general,
children under 12 being found at work in more than half the canneries
visited, some variation in the extent to which young children were
employed appeared in different localities and in different canneries.
The largest proportion of canneries violating the law and the largest
percentage of child workers under 12 were found in New Castle
County. Here an unusually large proportion of the children em
ployed (81 per cent) were white migratory workers. Almost all the
canneries employing more than 1 or 2 underage children imported
their laborers for the season. Among the 39 canneries in which
children under 12 were found at work were a number in which onethird or more of the child workers were under 12. In each of 13
11 In connection with the home visits made for the purpose of verifying the ages of these children, inform
mation was obtained regarding 65 other children under 16 years of age who were employed on or about the
date of the visits in these canneries. Fifteen of these were under 12, and 5, including 3 girls, were under 10
years of age.

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CHILD KEN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

canneries employing an average number of 16 children under 16 years
of age were 4 or more children under 12 at work.
Undoubtedly a larger number of young children were employed in
the Delaware canneries than those actually found at work by bureau
agents. In many canneries a general exodus of children occurred
as soon as the bureau agents were seen entering the door. Some of
these children were brought back to their work places by the row
boss or manager or they returned voluntarily after the investigators
had explained that they were not there for the purpose of enforcing
the law, and others were interviewed later outside the cannery or
in the camps. In more than half the canneries where children had
been seen running out, the investigators reported that they believed
they had been able to interview all or most of them. In a number
of canneries, however, the children did not return, and it was impos
sible to get information about them from the management or from
adult workers.
In a few cases the action of the children could be traced definitely
to unwillingness of the canners to be caught in a violation of the State
child labor law. In most cases there was no evidence that the owner
or manager of the cannery had told the children after the appearance
of the inspectors to leave the premises, but the fact that they were
seen leaving the workrooms in many canneries (more than one-third
of those visited) indicated that a general understanding existed that
when strangers appeared it was advisable to leave. The manager of
one cannery said that the State inspector had caught young children
in the cannery twice earlier in the season and that it was because of
this that they had run out when the bureau representatives entered.
Another cannery, where the manager kept the bureau agents waiting
outside until he had sent the children out, had been fined shortly
before the interview by the State child-labor inspector for violation
of the law. The manager of another cannery visited at 7.15 p. m.
not only told the children to leave as soon as the bureau agents
entered the cannery, but also telephoned a neighboring cannery and,
as he later told the agents, warned them of the visit and advised
them to send away all their child workers. This manager said he
planned to have a guard constantly on the job another year watching
out for inspectors so that he would not be caught unawares.
Fear of being caught by school-attendance officers doubtless was a
direct cause of the flight of some of the children. All the schools in the
State except those in Wilmington had been running for at least a week
before the first Delaware cannery was visited, and the great majority
of the children found at work in the canneries were of the ages covered
by the Delaware school attendance law ^that is, they either were
under 14 or were between 14 and 16 and had not completed the eighth
grade. However, because of the exemptions allowing attendance
under certain conditions for only a part of the school term,15 their
absence from school at this time may not have been in fact a violation
of the law.
is In cases of “ necessary and legal absence” (to be determined by rule of the State board of education) a
child of any age might be excused from attendance, provided that he attended school at some time during
the session for at least 120 days. The rules of the board allow the assistant superintendent in charge of
elementary schools to grant such excuses to a child between 12 and 14 for “ agricultural or other work’ ’ when
“ necessity seems to justify’ ’ his action. Unless thus exempted, children between 7 and 14 years of age were
required to attend school for the miniumm term of 160 days. Children 14 or 16 years of age who had not
completed the eighth grade were required to attend also, but only for 100 days, beginning not later than
November 1. (Del., Laws of 1921, ch. 160.)

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In one cannery visited in which the labor was largely local a little
girl ran out of the peeling room as soon as the agents appeared.
When her older sister, who was working beside her, learned the reason
for the agents’ visit she called the younger child back and apologized
for her running out, saying that she thought they had come to take
her out of the cannery and put her into school.
In a few cases managers and parents said that the children who had
been seen running out of the cannery were not employed but merely
playing around while their mothers were at work. Almost all those
who were seen leaving and were later interviewed, however, said
themselves or their parents said that they had been at work, and in
many cases where no such admission was made, there were empty
places at the peeling tables where the children had first been seen.
In a few canneries in which young children were found at work the
management stated that no children under 16 were employed. In
one, in which 16 children under 16 (including 7 later found to be
under 14, 1 under 12) were found at work, almost all the children said
that they were under 16, but the row boss in giving information as to
the number and ages of the persons living in the camps reported no
children between the ages of 10 and 16, asserting that all those between
these ages had returned to the city.
Some canners were undoubtedly sincere in stating that they did
not wish to employ young children, and the reason for the children’s
leaving the canneries at the appearance of the agents was probably
largely fear that the management would discover their true ages.
In one establishment where 5 children under 16 (including 1 girl of
12 and 1 of 13) were employed the canner had told parents that he
did not want any child under 16 years, and the bureau agents had
great difficulty in getting information from the parents as to the chil
dren’s true ages. The parents had apparently falsified the children’s
ages to the canner in order to get employment and were reluctant to
give the true ages to the agent.
The results of the bureau’s inquiry indicate that few Delaware
canners are opposed to the employment of children of legal working
age in their plants, but that in many cases the employment of underage
children is the result of negligence rather than any definite policy on
the part of the management. Where part of the labor supply was
migratory and supplying the cannery with workers was customarily
the task of the row boss, one of his responsibilities at least in a number
of instances was to see that the canner did not get into trouble over
violations of the State labor laws. Some of the row bosses, however,
were ignorant of the legal restriction on the age for work in canneries.
K IN D S O F W O R K

Tomato peeling was the occupation in which the largest number of
the children were engaged, 337 (90 per cent) of the 374 girls and 55
(19 per cent) of the 288 boys. Can boys and can girls were the next
in number, 132 (46 per cent) of the boys and 11 girls. (Table 10.)
Few girls were employed in any other work. Ten sorted lima beans
(5 of these working on the line), 4 husked corn by hand, 4 packed
tomatoes, 6 sorted tomatoes on the line, and 1 salted and 1 juiced
tomatoes. No girls operated machines.

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

T a b l e 10.— Boys and girls of specified ages employed in specified processes upon
certain products being canned at time of visit in Delaware canneries

Children under 16 years employed

Under 14 years

Total

Under 12 years

Product and process, and sex of children

Number

Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
distri Number distri Number distri
bution
bution
bution

Under 10
years1

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

662

' 100.0

359

100.0

114

100.0

Special processes:
Tomatoes_____ _____________________
Peeling________________________ _
Carrying__________ _____________
Sorting_________________________
Other___________________________

426
392
11
6
17

64.3
59.2
1.7
.9
2.6

229
221
2
1
5

63.8
61.6
.6
.3
1.4

87
84

76.3
73.7

21
20

2.6

Lim a b e a n s ..._____ ________________
Sorting_____________ ___________
Taking off vines________ _____ _

11
10
1

1.7
1.5
.2

2
2

.6
.6

Corn_________ ______ _____________
H u sk in g ... ____________________
Operating silking machine_____

5
4
1

.8
.6
.2

4
4

1.1
1.1

2
2

1.8
1.8

General occupations____________________

220

33.2

124

34.5

21.9

Can boys and g irls.._______ _____ _
Piling cans in crates.. ____________
Packing and stacking filled cans.
Trucking and carrying____________
Other______________________ ______

143
17
16
11
33

21.6
2.6
2.4
1.7
5.0

90
9
6
3
16

25.1
2.5
1.7
.8
4. 5

13
3
2
3
4

11.4
2.6
1.8
2.6
3. 5

288

100.0

170

100.0

79
55
11
13

47.4
19.1
3.8
4.5

54
47
2
5

31.8
27.6
1.2
2.9

32
29

57.1
51.8

9
8

5.4

1
1

.3
.3

B oys....... ......................... ..............
Special processes:
Tomatoes_____ __________ _____
Peeling_______________________
Carrying......... ..........................
O th e r .._______ ______ . . .
Lima beans: Taking off vines_____
Corn: Operating silking m achine..
General occupations_______ _____
Can b o y s ____________
Piling cans in crates._______
Packing and stacking filled c a n s ...
Trucking and carrying______ ______
Other_______________________
Girls_________ ______________
Special processes:
Tomatoes__________________ .
Peeling________________
Sorting____________________
O t h e r ... _______________
Lima beans: Sorting_________
Corn: Husking_____________
General occupations_______
Can girl......... ........................
Other________________

2
3

207

71.9

116

68.2

42.9

132
17
16
11
31

45.8
5.9
5.6
3.8
10.8

82
9
6
3
16

48.2
5.3
3.5
1.8
9.4

12
3
2
3
4

21.4
5.4
3.6
5.4
7.1

374.

100.0

189

100.0

347
337
6
4

92.8
90.1
1.6
1.1

175
174
1

92.6
92.1
.5

55
55

94.8
94.8

12
12

10
4

2.7
1. 1

2
4

1.1
2.1

3 4

3. 5

4.2

1.7

H
2

2.9 '
.5

4.2

i. 7

2
3

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

The boys had a greater variety of work. Eleven operated power
machines, which were usually operated by adults, 6 running closing
machines, 3 operating the scalders, 1 a filling machine, and 1 a cornsilking machine. A number of other boys worked in close contact with
machinery, though they did not actually operate the machines.
Seventeen were “ piling in ” ; that is, they stood at the end of the line

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DELAWARE

and caught the hot cans which came off the closing machine and piled
them into iron crates, an occupation that requires constant lifting and,
stooping and a good deal of strength. One 17-year-old boy who was
“ piling in ” placed his hand too near the machinery, so that his finger
was caught and the nail torn off. Ten other boys, though not actually
operating machines, were employed in such jobs as watching the
filling machine or taking tomatoes off the scalding machine. Ten
boys were employed in light work “ on the line,” watching, straighten
ing, salting, or juicing the cans. Seven others were doing other types
of light work, sorting tomatoes, making cartons, or stamping and
stenciling cases in the warehouse. Most of the remaining 49 boys had
jobs that demanded exertion and strength. Eleven boys were
“ carriers,” or “ pan boys” — that is, they carried pans or pails of
tomatoes or waste from one operation to another; and 3 “ pushed
skins” — that is, pushed the waste with wooden paddles on the floors
into the gutters. Sixteen were engaged in piling and stacking filled
cans in the warehouse and 11 others in trucking or carrying, including
a few who did comparatively fight work such as carrying empty boxes
and others who did heavy work such as pulling racks on which catchup
bottles were stacked or trucking crates or cases of filled cans from the
cooker to the warehouse or from the warehouse to freight cars for
shipping.
All but 3 of the girls under 12 and all of those under 10 years were
employed as peelers, and the majority of the younger boys were also
engaged in this occupation. Fifteen boys under 12, however,
including 6 under 10 years of age, were employed in various other
occupations about the cannery, some in heavy jobs for young children.
Two boys of 10 and 1 of 11 years caught the hot cans as they came
from the closing machine and piled them into crates; 1 boy of 11
was employed in a tomato cannery to push the filled baskets away
from the end of the scalder; 1 boy of 8 years and 2 of 9 years carried
empty wooden boxes from the warehouse to the cannery, and 2 boys
of 9 were employed to pack filled cans in cases. One boy of 11 was
found operating a scalding machine, a responsible job usually filled
by an adult.
HOURS OF W ORK

Daily hours.

Delaware exempts workers in fruit and vegetable canneries from the
provision of its child labor law fixing a maximum 8-hour day and 48hour week for children under 16 employed in “ any establishment or
occupation.” 16 In the great majority of the canneries included in
the Children’s Bureau inquiry it was reported that children worked
the usual daily hours of the establishment.
Canners are not legally required to keep time records. Twenty-nine
of the 69 canneries visited kept satisfactory time records (that is,
records showing the hour of beginning and ending work and the time
out for lunch for workers who were paid on a time basis); most of the
other canneries kept some kind of time record showing at least total
daily hours for those employed on a time basis. For piece workers,
however, satisfactory time records were rarely found. More than
half of the children included in the study were tomato peelers, work
which is paid for on a piece basis. A statement of the hours of the
16 W ork on farms and in domestic service in private houses is also exempted.

81531°— 30----- 4

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

children for whom satisfactory time records were not available was
obtained from parents, employers or adults or, in exceptional cases,
from the children themselves.
Information as to daily hours of work was obtained for all but 3
of the 662 children under 16 found at work, but 31 worked such
irregular hours that the number could not be recorded. Of the 628
children for whom definite hours were reported, 600 (96 per cent)
worked more than 8 hours a day, 562 (90 per cent) worked 10 hours
or more, 256 (41 percent) worked 12 hours or more, and 84 (13percent)
worked 14 hours or more. (Table 11.) All canneries employing
minors under 16 had some children working more than 8 hours a day.
More than half the children working 10 hours or more a day, more
than two-fifths of those working 12 hours or more, and a considerable
proportion of those working longer hours were girls.
T a b l e 11 — Maximum number of daily hours of work reported by local and migra
tory children under 16 years of age of specified race in Delaware canneries
Children under 16 years employed
M axim um number of daily
hours of work

Total
Total

W hite

Local
Negro

Total

W hite

Migratory
Negro

Total

W hite

Negro

NUM BER
Total_________ _________

662

434

228

373

183

190

289

251

Total reported................ ...........

628

409

219

355

173

182

273

236

8 hours and under_______
Over 8 h o u r s ....... .............
10 hours and over___
12 horns and over___
14 hours and over___
16 hours and over___

28
600
562
256
84
18

9
400
380
195
75
15

19
200
182
61
9
3

23
332
300
120
18
7

5
168
153
67
12
6

18
164
147
53
6
1

268
262
136
66
11

4
232
227
128
63
9

1
36
35
8
3
2

Irregular__________________
N ot reported_____ _____ _____

31
3

22
3

17
1

9
1

Total reported_______________

100.0

4.5
95.5
89.5
40.8
13.4
2.9

2.2
97.8
92.9
47.7
18.3
3.7

8.7
91.3
83.1
27.9
4.1
1.4

6.5
93.5
84.5
33.8
5.1
2.0

2.9
97.1
88.4
38.7
6.9
3.5

9.9
90.1
80.8
29.1
3.3
.5

1.8
98. 2
96.0
49.8
24.2
4.0

1. 7
98 8
96.2
54.2
26. 7
3.8

P E R C E N T D IS T R IB U T IO N i

8 hours and u n d e r ...........
Over 8 hours_____________
10 hours and over___
12 hours and over___
14 hours and over___
16 hours and over___

(’)

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

Ten hours was the most usual period of daily employment, and 252
(40 per cent) of the children (including 31 per cent of the boys and
47 per cent of the girls) had a working day of between 10 and 11 hours.
The next largest number of children, 95 (15 per cent), 45 of whom
were girls, worked between 13 and 14 hours. Seventy-seven children
worked between 12 and 13, and 59 between 14 and 15 hours.
A larger proportion of the local children than of the migratory
children (50 per cent compared with 34 per cent) worked 12 hours
or more. (Table 11.) The longest hours were reported for the
migratory white children, of whom 54 per cent worked at least 12
hours, and 27 per cent, compared with 13 per cent of all the children
for whom hours were reported, worked 14 hours or more. In each
group the white children worked longer hours than the negro, 48 per
cent of the former for whom information as to daily hours was avail
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DELAWARE

able working 12 hours or more as compared with 28 per cent of the
total number of negro children. Of the 84 children working 14 hours
or more, only 9 were negro.
Many young children worked long hours. (Table 12.) Half (51
per cent) of those who worked more than 8 hours a day, and almost as
large a proportion (47 per cent) of the girls who did so, were under 14
years of age. Eighty-two (14 per cent) of the children who worked
more than 8 hours, including 12 per cent of the girls, were under 12
years, the legal age for employment. Thirteen children (10 boys
and 3 girls) under 10 worked more than 8 hours; 6 boys of 9 years
and 2 of 8 years, and 2 girls of 9 years, working 10 hours or more.
A 12-hour day was reported for one 9-year-old boy, 13 hours for
another.
T a b l e 12.— Maximum number of daily hours of work reported by boys and girls of
specified ages employed in Delaware canneries
Children under 16 years employed
M axim um number of daily
hours of work and sex of chil
dren

Total

Number

Total______________________

Under 14 years

Per cent
distribu
tion

Number

662

Per cent
distribu
tion

359

Under 12 years

Num ber

Per cent
distribu
tion 1

Under
10 years1

114

628

100.0

330

100.0

8 hours and under...............
Over 8 hours________________
10 hours and over_______
12 hours and over_______
14 hours and over_______
16 hours and over............

28
600
562
256
84
18

4.5
95.5
89.5
40.8
13.4
2.9

24
306
285
128
43
3

7.3
92.7
86.4
38.8
13.0
0.9

10
82
71
27
9

10.9
89.1
77.2
29.3
9.8

4
13
10
2

Irregular........................................... ..
N ot reported.....................................

31
3

Total reported...............................

26
3

B oys........................................

288

Total reported..................................

273

100.0

8 hours and under..... ........... ..
Over 8 hours________ _____
10 hours and over______
12 hours and over_______
14 hours and over.......... .
16 hours and o v e r...........

7
266
261
146
55
17

2.6
97.4
95.6
53.5
20.1
6.2

19
3

170

156

100. 0

7
149
144
76
27
3

4. 5
95. 5
92.3
48.7
17.3
1.9

Irregular_________________________
N ot reported................................... .

12
3

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

374

Total reported___________ _______

355

100.0

174

100. 0

8 hours and under__________
Over 8 hours_________ _____ _
10 hours and over............
12 hours and o v e r...........
14 hours and over............
16 hours and over............

21
334
301
110
29
1

5.9
94.1
84.8
31.0
8.2
.3

17
157
141
52
16

9. 8
90. 2
81. 0
29.9
9.2

Irregular________________ ________

11
3

16
12

8
3

189

56
45
3
42
39
15
3

47
7
40
32
12
6

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

The tomato peelers, especially local children, did not work as long
hours as the children who did miscellaneous or general work. A work
ing day of less than 10 hours was reported for 26 per cent of 195 resi
dent and for 7 per cent of 167 nonresident tomato peelers. A few of
them worked 8 hours or less. Of the 217 children who were can boys
or girls or did other general or miscellaneous work, 98 per cent worked
10 hours or more and 57 per cent 12 hours or more. Most of the 84
children who worked 14 hours or more were boys who did miscella
neous or general work, such as piling cans in crates, trucking, packing

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

and piling cans, or handling empty cans. One boy who operated a
scalding machine, 2 who operated closing machines, and 2 who did
trucking and carrying worked 16 hours or more. Twenty-two tomato
peelers, all nonresident children, were employed at least a 14-hour day.
Weekly hours.

Information as to weekly hours of labor was obtained for only 171 of
the 662 children who were found at work. Of these, 150 (88 per cent)
worked more than 48 hours a week; 91 (53 per cent) worked 60 hours
or more; 38 (22 per cent) worked 70 hours or more; and 8 worked
at least 80 hours. (Table 13.) Many of these children had worked
only five days in the week for which the information was obtained.
T a b l e 13.— Number of hours of work in a typical week of boys and girls of specified
ages employed in Delaware canneries
Children under 16 years employed

Num ber of hours of work in a typical
week and sex of children

Under 14 years

Total

Number

Per cent
distribu
tion

B oys......... ............................... .....................
Total reported___________________

- ---------

Under 12 Under
years i
10 years1

114

171

100.0

21
150
91
38
8
4

12.3
87.7
53.2
22.2
4.7
2.3

11
76
43
17
2

12.6
87.4
49.4
19.5
2.3

2
16
9
3

4
2

359

662
Total reported______________________________

Num ber

Per cent
distribu
tion

491

272

288

170

154

100.0

19
135
82
36
8
4

12.3
87.7
53.2
23.4
5.2
2.6

10
72
40
16
2

12.2
87.8
48.8
19.5
2.4

2
16
9
3

4
2

134

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

374

189

Total reported.-------------------------- -----------------

2
15
9
2

1
4
3
1

357

184

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

The time records showed a long working week for many of the
younger children for whom such information was available. Half
those working more than 48 hours were under 14. Nine boys under
12 worked a 60-hour week or more, and 3 worked at least 70 hours.
The children for whom information as to weekly hours was available
were not representative of the total number found employed. First,
90 per cent were boys, compared with 44 per cent of the total number
employed. Second, most of them were engaged in occupations paid
for on a time basis, such as shooting cans or other general work,
whereas the majority of the child workers in the canneries were on
piecework occupations, such as peeling. Thus weekly hours were

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

D ELAW ARE

reported for 88 of the 143 can boys and girls, but for only 1 of the
382 peelers. Third, as might have been expected from their occupa
tional distribution, they worked longer daily hours than the employed
children as a whole, 68 per cent working 12 hours a day or more as
compared with 41 per cent of the total number of children for whom
daily hours were reported. For 42 of the 91 children for whom time
records showed that they had worked 60 hours or more in one week,
a working day of 14 hours or more was recorded, and for 16 a working
day of at least 16 hours; 36 boys and 2 girls had worked a week of
at least 70 hours.
Night work.

The majority (58 per cent) of the children under 16 found at work
(including 52 per cent of the girls employed) had worked at night,
that is, after 7 p. m., one or more nights during the season of the
survey. In other industrial employment their work between 7 p. m.
and 6 a. m. would have been illegal. In 52 canneries some children
were found to have worked at night at some time during the season.
Eight children reported going to work between 5 and 6 a. m. at some
time or times during the season. Night work was more common
among migratory than among local children, 64 per cent of the former
compared with 54 per cent of the latter having worked at night.
The largest proportion (70 per cent) of children working at night was
found among the white migratory workers. (Table 14.) Night work
was less prevalent among the negro than among the white children.
T able

14.— Local and migratory boys and girls of specified ages employed between
7 p. m. and 6 a. m. in Delaware canneries
Children under 16 years employed

Total

Age and sex

Total__________

Employed
Employed
N ot
between 7
between 7
em
p. m . and 6 ployed
p. m . and 6
a. m .
a. m .
be
Total
tween Total
7 p. m.
N u m Per
and
N u m Per
ber cent1 6 a.m .
ber cent1
662

Under 8 years...............
Under 10 years_______
Under 12 years_______
Under 14 years.............
14 years, under 16____

6
28
114
359
303

Boys___________

288

Under 8 years...............
Under 10 years_______
Under 12 years.-.........
Under 14 years______
14 years, under 16___

4
16
56
170
118
374

G irls..................
Under 8 years..........
Under 10 years.............
Under 12 years.............
Under 14 years_______
14 years, under 16___

Local

2
12
58
189
185

387

58.5

275

373

8
56
201
186

49.1
56.0
61.4

6
20
58
158
117

4
14
40
161
212

191

66.3

156

5
28
106
85

50.0
62.4
72.0

4
11
28
64
33

2
7
18
73
83

196

52.4

178

217

48.3
50.3
54.6

2
9
30
94
84

2
7
22
88
129

3
28
95
101

1 Per cent not shown where base is less than 60.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

201

Migratory

Employed
N ot
between 7
em
p. m . and 6
ployed
a. m .
be
Total
tween
7 p. m .
and
N u m Per
6 a. m .
ber cent1

53.9

172

289

186

5
16
79
122

49.1
57.5

4
9
24
82
90

2
14
74
198
91

3
40
122
64

100

64.1

132

2
7
42
58

57.5
69.9

2
5
11
31
25

2
9
38
97
35

3
21
64
27

101

46.5

116

157

42.0
49.6

2
4
13
51
65

5
36
101
56

3
9
37
64

N ot
em
ployed
be
tween
7 p. m .
and
6 a.m .

64.4

103

1
6l! 6
70.3

2
11
24.
76
27

68.9

66.0

17
33
8

60.5

19
58
37

57.4
66.1

5
17
43
19

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

The number of nights worked ranged from one or two to every
night for three or four weeks at the height of the season. Half (49
per cent) of the 309 night workers for whom the number of nights
worked was reported were employed after 7 p. m. for at least six
nights during the season. Migratory workers had worked at night
more frequently than local workers, 58 per cent of the former com
pared with 42 per cent of the latter having worked six nights or more.
In one case the mother reported that her child, a boy of 15, had worked
most of the nights the cannery ran. Twenty-eight children had
worked as late as 11 or 11.30 and a dozen or so until midnight, and
for several children later hours were reported, but about four-fifths
worked until between 9 and 10.30 p. m. In general, the hours of
night work were from 6, 6.30, or 7 to 9, 9.30, 10, or 10.30.
Of the children who worked at night 201 (52 per cent) were under 14,
and 56 (14 per cent, one-half of whom were girls) were under 12, the
legal age for employment in the Delaware canneries. Five boys and
three girls were under 10. Of the children under 12, 29 had worked
until 10 p. m. or later. These included 3 boys and 1 girl of 9 and 1
girl of 8.
CANNERY

WORK

AND

S C H O O L IN G

Cannery work interfered with the school attendance of both local
and migratory children who worked in canneries packing tomatoes.
The tomato season extends into October, and almost all the Delaware
schools opened in the fall of 1925 on September 8, a week before the
first cannery was visited in that State. Although a few of the local
children employed in the canneries were reported to be attending
school part of the day, the great majority were working a full day in
the canneries at the time of the survey. As none of the children in
migratory families, whether employed in the canneries or not, was
attending the local schools, a considerable number of migratory
children of school age were in the camps in addition to the 289 found
employed in the canneries. Most of the migratory children came from
Baltimore, where the schools opened on September 8, or from Phila
delphia, where the schools opened September 9, and where school
attendance was compulsory for all children under 16 who had not
completed the fifth or sixth grade, respectively.17
Many of the migratory children migrated from their city homes
season after season. Sometimes they left home weeks before the close
of the school year and almost always returned after school had opened
in the fall (see p. 36), so that in spite of the advantages of a city school
system their opportunities for schooling often had been more limited
than those of school children in rural districts. Nine-tenths (91 per
cent) of the 195 white migratory children from Baltimore of com
pulsory school age who reported the date of their return home reached
the city three weeks or more after the public schools opened and more
than half (55 per cent) four weeks or more. Twenty-five per cent had
left the city in May at least four weeks before school closed. Infor
mation on the migrations of the few migratory negro families whose
children worked in the Delaware canneries was not obtained systemat
ically as for the white migratory families, but, judging from the in
formation that was obtained by the bureau agents, in many cases
their wanderings had covered a number of years arc had interfered
17 W ith certain exemptions for “ urgent” reasons or for “ necessary and legal absence,”

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

DELAWARE

at least as much with the children’s schooling as had the migrations of
the white families.
Information ,as to school grade was obtained for 639 of the 662
children under 16 found at work in the Delaware canneries. Of these
only 88 (14 per cent) had attended or completed the eighth grade,
completion of which is legally required in Delaware for children under
16 employed during school hours in other industries.18 Three hun
dred and ten (49 per cent) had not reached the sixth grade, although
more than four-fifths of the children were at-least 12 years of age and
according to standards used by the United States Office of Education18a
might have been expected to have entered at least the sixth grade. One
hundred and eleven children (17 per cent) had not entered the fourth
grade, although only 25 (4 per cent) were under 10 years of age, the age
when they might have been expected to have done so. Even among
the children 14 or 15, 78 (26 per cent) had not entered the sixth grade,
and 24 (8 per cent) had not reached the fourth. (Tables 15 and 16.)
T a b l e 15.— Last school grade attended or completed by boys and girls of specified
ages employed in Delaware canneries
Children under 16 years employed
Grade and sex
Total

10 years
11 years
and under

12 years

13 years

14 years

15 years

Total______________________

662

103

142

162

141

Total reported------- ---------------------

639

100

133

158

138

111
91
108
133
108
65
19
2
i
i

39
13
2

20
16
10
7
2

14
20
31
34
21
12
1

12
13
26
40
41
18
8

12
9
6
28
35
34
10
2
1
1

22
1

3
1

B o y s ......................................

288

Total reported..-------------------------

278

57
42
53
50
40
23
10
2
1

18
8
1

9
8
4
4

7
9
15
10
6

8
9
16
15
9
5
1

7
5
13
13
13
2
5

8
3
4
8
12
15
4
2
1

9
1

1
1

G irls_______ _______ - ............

374

' 28

102

Total reported___________________

361

100

54
49
55
83
68
42
9
1

21
5
1

11
8
6
3
2

7
11
18
14
3

6
11
15
19
12
7

5
8
13
27
28
16
3

4
6
2
20
23
19
6
1

Under 4th grade-----------------

14
20
33,
24
9

1: \

is The completion of the eighth grade, with certain exemptions, is required indirectly through the com
pulsory school attendance law. W ork on farms and in domestic service in private houses is also exempted.
is» These standards are as follows: Children of 6 or 7 years are expected to enter the first grade, children
of 7 or 8 the second grade, etc. Normally a child is expected to complete one grade each year; children
are considered retarded, therefore, if they have not entered the second grade by the tame they reach the
age of 8 years, the third grade at 9 years, the fourth grade at 10 years, etc.

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

T a b l e 16.— Last school grade attended or completed by 14 and 15 year old local and
migratory children of specified race employed in Delaware canneries

Children of 14 and 15 years employed

Grade

Local
Total

W hite

M igratory

Negro
Total

W hite

Negro

Total

W hite

Negro

NUM BER

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

303

196

107

212

119

Total reported............................

296

191

105

210

119

Under 4th grade_________
4th grade_________________
5th grade_________________
6th g r a d e ..._____________
7th grade._______ ________
8th grade_________________
9th grade_________________
10th grade________________
1 1 th grade________________
12th grade......................... ..

24
22
32
68
76
52
18
2
1
1

4
7
22
49
53
38
14
2
1
1

20
15
10
19
23
14
4

18
13
24
34
59
44
14
2
1
1

4
3
14
16
37
30
11
2
1
1

14
10
10
18
22
14
3

6
9
8
34
17
8
4

4
8
33
16
8
3

N ot reported____________. ____
.
Special grade_____________

6
1

4
1

6
5
1
1
1

P E R C E N T D IS T R IB U T IO N 1

Total reported.............................

100.0

100.0.

100.0

Under 4th grade_________
4th grade_________________
5th grade..............................
6th grade_________________
7th grade________________
8th grade___________ . . . _
9th grade_________________
10th grade________________
11th grade________ _______
1 2 th grade.........................

8.1
7.4
10.8
23.0
25.7
17.6
6.1
.7
.3
.3

2.1
3.7
11.5
25.7
27.7
19.9
7.3
1.0
.5
.5

19.0
14.3
9.5
18.1
21.9
13.3
3.8

8.6
6.2
11.4
16.2
28.1
21.0
6. 7
1.0
.5
.5

3.4
2.5
11.8
13.4
31.1
25. 2
9 .2
1 .7
.8
.8

15.4
11.0
11.0
19.8
24.2
15.4
3.3

7.0
10.5
9.3
39.5
19.8
9.3
4 .7

m o

5 .6
n. 1
4 5 .8
2 2 .2
11.1
4 .2

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

Migratory children had made even less progress in school than
children living in the vicinity of the canneries, although about half
the latter were negroes and rural negro school children usually have
a high rate of retardation. More than half (57 per cent) of the
migratory children had not entered the sixth grade and 21 per cent
had not entered the fourth. (Table 17.) The proportion of children
in the higher grades was also relatively lower than among local
children. Negro migratory children in the canneries numbered only
38; 32 of these had not entered the sixth grade as compared with
53 per cent of the migratory white children. Of the 14 migratory
negro children 14 and 15 years old, only 3 had reached the sixth
grade.
The slow school progress shown by local children working in the
canneries was largely due to the negro children; 54 per cent of the
local negro children for whom school grade was reported had not
entered the sixth grade and 22 per cent were below the fourth grade,
whereas 30 per cent of the resident whites were below the sixth and 7
per cent below the fourth. The proportion of negro resident children
who were under 12 years was somewhat larger than that of white
residents, so that a larger proportion in the lower grades might be

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DELAWARE

expected, but the older children, also, were backward in school, 37
per cent of those who were 14 or 15 years of age compared with 17
per cent of the white, being in the fifth or a lower grade.
T able

17.— Last school grade attended or completed by local and migratory children
under 16 years of age of specified race employed in Delaware canneries

Children under 16 years employed

Migratory

Local

Grade
Total

W hite

Negro
Total

W hite

Negro

Total

W hite

Negro

NUM BER

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

662

434

228

373

183

190

289

251

Total reported----- ------------------

639

419

220

361

179

182

278

240

Under 4th grade.................
Under 6th grade_________
Under 8th grade.................
8th grade and over_______
9th grade and over______

111
310
551
88
23

50
180
352
67
19

61
130
199
21
4

53
151
293
68
19

13
53
131
48
16

40
98
162
20
3

58
159
258
20
4

37
127
221
19
3

21
32
37
1
1

22
1

14
1

10
1

P E R C E N T D I S T R I B U T I O N *■

Total reported............................

100.0
17 4
48 fi
8fi 2

9th grade and over........ ..

3.6

100.0
119
43.0
84.0
1fi. 0
4.5

100.0
27. 7
59.1
90.5
9. 5
1.8

100.0
14. 7
41.8
81.2
18.8
5.3

100.0

7.3
29.6
73.2
26.8
8.9

22.0
53.8
89.0
11.0
1.6

20.9
57.2
92.8
7.2
1.4

15.4
52.9
92.1
7.9
1.3

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

C E R TIF IC A TIO N O F M IN O R S A N D EVID E N C E OF AG E

A great difficulty in enforcing the very slight legal safeguard given
children in Delaware canneries— namely, that they shall not work
under the age of 12— results from the fact that canneries are exempted
from the employment-certificate provisions of the State child labor
law. Employers and State factory inspectors are thus deprived of the
automatic means of checking up on the ages of the children employed
that is afforded in the case of child workers in other industries.
Sufficiently reliable evidence of age is required under the Delaware
certificate law 19 so that if it were applicable to canneries and were
adequately administered it would be possible to eliminate the employ
ment of children under 12. That reliable evidence of age could be
obtained for a great majority of the children employed in Delaware
canneries is shown by the fact that documentary evidence other than
school records, of a kind acceptable under the rules and regulations of
the two Federal child labor laws, was obtained by agents of the Chil
dren’s Bureau for three-fourths of the children found at work.
m One of the following proofs of age, to be accepted in the order indicated, is required: (1) Birth certificate;
(2) baptismal certificate; (3) passport; (4) other documentary evidence satisfactory to issuing officer, except
affidavit of parent; and (5) physician’s certificate of age accompanied b y parent s affidavit.

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CHILDREN IN FRtJIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES
LABO R C A M P S FO R C AN N ERY W O R K E R S
S IZ E O F C A M P S

Camps for migratory workers were maintained in connection with
41 of the 69 canneries visited. Four canneries had two camps each.
Children were living in the camps attached to all but 2 of these canner
ies. In the camps maintained by 33 canneries that reported the num
ber of persons housed, there were at the time of the visits nearly 2,000
persons, or an average of 60 persons a cannery. Sixteen camps housed
fewer than 50 persons, 2 had more than 100 persons, and 3 others that
did not give the exact number of migratory persons in camp had
probably at least 100. About half the 1,288 persons in the camps for
white families were children under 16 years, and about a fourth of the
475 persons in camps for negro families only were children under 16,
including many children too young to work in the canneries. Most of
the canners employed all white or all negro labor, but several housed
workers of both races in the same camp; two maintained separate
camps for the two races.
H O U S IN G

The camps varied a great deal in sanitation and equipment.
Usually the buildings were of the row-house type, but in several
camps they were old dwelling houses; two or three camps had twostory frame or brick buildings, like barns, partitioned into rooms;
one camp had 26 detached one-room shacks. None had a one-room
dormitory for the families, similar to the housing provided in many of
the labor camps maintained by truck farmers in Maryland,20 but two
of the older buildings were divided into compartments, one for each
family, by partitions that did not reach the ceding. Many of the row
houses were substantially built, were painted, and had glass windows
which could be opened and shut; but some of the older buddings
were of flimsy construction, and the air holes or window spaces could
be closed only with board shutters. In at least two camps some of the
buildings appeared to be ready to collapse; one of the buddings had a
leaking roof, and in another budding the stairway to the second floor
was unsafe, with wide cracks and rotten boards.
A Delaware law passed in 1915, relating to sanitation and inspection
of canneries, required that, where living quarters were provided by the
canners, provision should be made for the “ proper separation and
privacy of the sexes.” 21 Generally in the camps visited each famdy
had at least one room ; in 24 of 43 camps in which chddren were housed
two rooms were ado tied to some of the larger families and in a few
camps two or more rooms to each famdy. Privacy was lacking to the
extent that in many camps the whole family slept in one bunk or bed
space; in some camps each room was furnished with two bunks, one
built over the other; one famdy of 10 persons who slept in a room 12 by
9 feet square had four bunks, budt like berths. In one camp of white
workers and in two camps of negro workers a separate room for each
family was not furnished, and in one of these three girls and three
men, said to be unrelated, slept in the same room.
20 Child Labor on Maryland Truck Farms, p. 25. U . S. Children’s Bureau Publication N o. 123. W ash
ington, 1923.
21 D el., Laws of 1915, eh. 228, sec. 5. This law, however, was declared unconstitutional by the State
attorney general in 1925. For a summary of State laws and regulations relating to labor camps, in
cluding State board of health regulations in Delaware, see Appendix III, p. 223.

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H OU SING
50

M IG RA TO R Y W OR K ER S
DELAWARE

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MARYLAND

ANC

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D ELAW ARE

Many of the rooms were overcrowded. In 17 camps of white
workers, in 10 camps of negro workers, and in 4 camps where both
races were housed, the number of persons living in each room was
ascertained. In 56 per cent of the rooms of these camps three or
more persons lived and slept in a room and in 21 per cent of the
rooms five or more persons. Twenty-eight (6 per cent) of the rooms
inspected housed seven or more men, women, and children. The
extent of overcrowding, according to these figures, was nearly as
great as in the Maryland cannery camps. (See p. 127.) Conditions
were similar to those in camps for cranberry pickers in New Jersey
and in camps for berry pickers on the northern Pacific coast, which
are built on much the same plan as cannery camps in Maryland
and Delaware.22 The Delaware law above referred to had no pro
vision requiring a minimum amount of- cubic-air space a person,
but only a general requirement that “ ample light and ventilation”
should be provided. The rooms in the row houses inspected were
ventilated by a door and one or two windows half the ordinary size.
Many of the rooms were only 10 by 10 or 12 by 12 feet square, the
roof sloping up to a peak in the center.
As in other camps for migratory workers, the equipment in the
Delaware cannery camps consisted of bunks or bed spaces filled with
straw, benches, tables, and stoves. Most of the camps visited had
some raised bunks, but in 13 camps for white workers and in 5 camps
for negroes some of the occupants slept on the floor. The condition
of the straw bedding supplied by the canner was not always satis
factory, and some of the workers complained of damp or dirty straw.
Some camps had adequate cooking equipment; the stoves in these
camps were either on porches that had wooden floors and water-tight
roofs or in well-built sheds, of which a few were inclosed, though the
majority were open on one or two sides. In other camps the shelters
over the stoves and tables were roughly improvised, and in one camp
the stoves stood out in the open with no protection against the rain.
Several camps were equipped with oil stoves to heat the rooms, as
well as with cooking stoves outdoors. The migratory families usu
ally provided their own lamps, but a few canners, to lessen the fire
risk, furnished lanterns. Three camps were lighted throughout
with electricity, and two were provided with electricity for the
porches and kitchen sheds.
Screens for either doors or windows, but seldom both, were pro
vided by the canners in 14 camps. In some of the camps the workers
provided their own screens, and in one camp where the canner had
screened both doors and windows the workers had also draped their
bunks with mosquito netting. One canner protected the campers
from intruders by putting coarse wire netting over the windows.
In another camp, where the screens and articles from the rooms had
been stolen, the workers had boarded up the window spaces for
protection. In New York State the need of protection against
intruders is recognized, and the State industrial commission has
made a rule requiring wire netting or other screening in the windows
to prevent the entrance of any person, but not to prevent the free
circulation of air.23
22 See W ork of Children on Truck and Small-Fruit Farms in Southern New Jersey, p. 54 (U . S. Children’ s
Bureau Publication N o. 132, Washington, 1924); Child Labor in Fruit and H op Growing Districts of the
Northern Pacific Coast, p. 46 (U . S. Children’s Bureau Publication N o. 151, Washington, 1926).
23 N . Y ., Industrial Code, 1920, Rule 206.

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE C ANNERIES
S A N IT A T IO N

All the camps visited about which the information was obtained
had some kind of toilet facilities, though 18 of them had only the
cannery facilities for the camp occupants, including the children.
With a few exceptions toilets were separate for the sexes and the num
ber was adequate according to the standard of at least 1 toilet for
every 20 persons accepted for labor camps in some States.24 Outside
privies, unscreened and with open backs, were the rule; but in a few
camps they were better constructed, and one camp had flush toilets.
Some of the canners had taken the responsibility for the sanitation
of the cam ps25 and appointed an employee to clean or disinfect the
privies or to clean up the grounds and empty the garbage cans
periodically. In others the privies were in bad condition, and the
garbage was thrown carelessly on the ground and left to rot and
attract flies.
In many camps complaints were made about the inadequacy and
poor quality of the water supply. One or two pumps were usually
provided and conveniently located on the camp grounds. The num
ber of pumps was not always sufficient, as in one camp with only 1
pump and 75 occupants. In another, in which 117 persons were
dependent on 2 pumps for water for drinking, cooking, and washing,
complaints were made about both the inadequacy of the supply and
the quality of the water. Eight canners provided no water on the
camp grounds, and the campers had to get water at the cannery. In
one of these camps the occupants had to go inside the cannery for
all their water, including water for laundry, and carry their pails 100
feet across the road. In a few the occupants used the water at the
camp only for laundry and bathing and obtained drinking water from
neighbors or from the cannery, in one case from the cannery boiler.
C A R E O F C H IL D R E N

Almost no supervision was provided for children in the camps
while their mothers were working. As children of 12 years of age
were legally allowed to work in the canneries and many younger
than 12 did work, few were left in the camps who were old enough
to take responsibility for those younger than themselves. Spasmodic
attempts were made in some canneries to keep the children out of
the workrooms. In one camp housing more than 100 people the
canner hired a woman to see that the children were kept out of
mischief; in another large camp a watchman was hired for the first
part of the season to keep children away from the cannery. In
this camp and in two others the canners provided swings or ham
mocks; in another the canner had built a fence around the camp
grounds inside which the children were supposed to stay. The row
boss of one cannery where the camp was adjacent to the railroad
track allowed the mothers to look after the children in the cannery.
With these exceptions the children were left to shift for themselves.
Several serious accidents to children were reported. One child
was run over by the company truck and suffered a broken ankle;
24
N . Y ., Industrial Code, 1920, Rule 213; Pennsylvania Regulations, State Department of Labor, Rule
316; Oregon Industrial Welfare Commission, Order N o. 49.
2» T h e Delaware law which was declared unconstitutional in 1925 provided that “ no litter, drainage
or waste matter shall be allowed to collect in or around the buildings [including apparently both the cannery
and the living quarters], and the surroundings shall be kept in a clean and sanitary condition. Occupants
of living quarters provided b y the canner shall be required to keep the same in a clean and sanitary con
dition.” (Del., Laws of 1915, ch, 228, sec. 5.)

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DELAW ARE

two other children were injured by bums. One of the children
burned both feet in hot ashes which had been thrown out of the
cannery boilers and was unable to walk for four weeks; the other, a
child of 5, died after he had been pushed by another child into an
open gutter of steaming water which flowed from the scalding
machine outside the cannery.
IL L N E S S E S I N M I G R A T O R Y F A M IL I E S

Typhoid fever was reported by eight of the migratory families
in the Delaware canneries who were visited in their Baltimore
homes. In these families were 15 persons, including 6 children,
who were working in the canneries at the time of the Children’s
Bureau survey, who became ill either while at the camp or soon
after their return to the city. The mother and three children in
one family had typhoid, and in another family a baby had died of
it. A baby in one of the eight families reporting typhoid fever
was ill of some form of “ intestinal trouble,” and in two others of
the eight families two babies died of an intestinal disease that had
not been diagnosed. In addition to the cases diagnosed as typhoid
fever, 13 other families reported that some one in the family— 25
persons in all— had been ill at camp of some kind of “ intestinal
trouble.” Three of these had died, two babies in camp and the
father of a family three days after returning home.
The 15 persons who were reported to have had typhoid fever
had been living in four cannery camps, two of which were in the
same district and were owned by the same company. An occupant
of one of these camps said that typhoid had always been present
there, and that two years before the bureau survey her sister had
been ill of the disease and her brother had died of it shortly after
his return from the cannery. From the records of the Baltimore
Bureau of Communicable Diseases it was learned that in 1922, 10
cases of typhoid fever occurred among members of the Baltimore
Polish colony who had gone to canneries in one Delaware town, and
in 1923, 10 cases of typhoid had been traced to canneries, 4 to the
same one. In 1925, nine cases, some of which had occurred in the
families visited during the course of the Children’s Bureau study
and four of which had resulted in deaths, were traced to Delaware
canneries.
SU M M AR Y

The canning of fruit and vegetables, chiefly tomatoes, peas, beans,
and com, is the third most important industry in Delaware, according
to the average number of wage earners employed. No other industry
in the State gives employment to so many children. The Children’s
Bureau visited 71 of the 85 fruit and vegetable canneries at the height
of the tomato-packing season, all except two of which were canning
tomatoes or tomato products.
Forty-one of the 71 canneries imported migratory, foreign-born,
or negro labor, largely in family groups. The migratory workers
were housed in labor camps, many of which were overcrowded and
insanitary.
Six hundred and sixty-two children under 16 years of age (9 per
cent of the total number of workers) were found at work in 69 can
neries. Fifty-six per cent of the children were girls. Forty-four

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEG ETABLE CANNERIES

per cent were migratory workers, nearly nine-tenths of whom were
white, generally of Polish or of Italian origin. Thirty-four per cent
of the total were negroes.
Delaware is one of the few States providing a lower age standard for
cannery work than for other occupations. Fifty-four per cent of the
child workers were under 14 years of age, and 114 (17 per cent),
who were at work in 39 canneries, were under 12, the minimum age
for employment in canneries under the Delaware child labor law.
The youngest workers found were 8. Sixty-nine per cent of the
migratory children were under 14, and 26 per cent were under 12.
Of the girls 90 per cent were tomato peelers and 3 per cent were can
girls; the remainder sorted lima beans, husked com, packed tomatoes,
or sorted, salted, or juiced tomatoes. Of the boys 46 per cent were
can boys, 19 per cent were tomato peelers, and the remainder were
engaged in various jobs, many of which demanded strength and exer
tion or were on or in connection with machines. Eleven boys operated
power machines.
Delaware exempts children in canneries from the 8-hour-day and 48hour-week provisions of the State child labor law. All the canneries
employing children had some children working more than 8 hours a
day. Ninety-six per cent of the children worked more than 8 hours a
day, 90 per cent 10 hours or more, 41 per cent 12 hours or more, and
13 per cent 14 hours or more. Migratory child workers had a longer
working day than others, 49 per cent, compared with 34 per cent of the
local children, working at least 12 hours.
Eighty-eight per cent of 171 children for whom a week’s time records
were obtained had worked more than 48 hours a week, 53 per cent had
worked 60 hours or more, and 22 per cent at least 70 hours.
Delaware exempts canneries from the night-work provision of the
child labor law, which prohibits work of children under 16 between 7
p. m. and 6 a. m. Of the 71 canneries 52 had employed children
under 16 between 7 p.m . and 6 a. m .; 58 per cent of the workers under
16, including 64 per cent of the migratory workers and 54 per cent of
the others, had worked at night. Two hundred and one of the children
were under 14, and 56 were under 12. The number of nights worked
was from 1 to 30 or more. Forty-nine per cent of the night workers
had worked 6 nights or more, including 58 per cent of the migrants.
Ninety-one per cent of the 195 Baltimore migratory children em
ployed in the Delaware canneries for whom reports were obtained
returned home from the canneries three weeks or more, and 55 per
cent at least four weeks, after the public schools had opened the year
of the survey; 25 per cent had left home at least four weeks before
school had closed.
The fall term of the Delaware county schools had opened a week
before the first cannery was visited in the State, and only a few children
working in the canneries were reported as attending school even part
of the day.
Canneries are exempted in Delaware from the employment-certifi
cate provisions of the State child labor law,

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INDIANA
IN T R O D U C T IO N

In the canning and preserving of fruits and vegetables Indiana in
1925 ranked fifth among the States according to the average number
of wage earners employed and seventh according to the value of the
product.1 Although not holding as important a place among the
industries of the State as it does in States like Maryland and Delaware,
the canning industry according to the number of wage earners employed
ranks eleventh among the 131 industries listed for Indiana in the
1925 census of manufactures.2 The number of persons employed in
the industry in September, 1925, at the peak of the canning season,
was reported as 17,007.3
T H E C AN N E RIES
L O C A T I O N , S IZ E , A N D P R O D U C T

The number of canneries in Indiana listed in the Canners’ Direc
tory for 1925 was 202.3a They were located in 66 of the 92 counties of
the State; 27 counties had but 1 cannery each, and 9 counties had
less than 3 canneries each. Only 11 counties had 5 or more canneries,
and only 2 had more than 10. Although the canneries are thus widely
scattered, the industry is concentrated largely in the east central and
south central sections of the State, 16 counties in this locality having
58 per cent of the canneries listed for the State.
The Children’s Bureau investigation covered 125 canneries in 62
counties, including all the principal canning counties. (Table 18.)
It was made in the period August 17-September 29, 1925, and all but
20 establishments were visited in September, the peak month in the
canning industry in Indiana.
1 Census of Manufactures, 1925, Canning and Preserving, p. 22. U . S. Bureau of the Census. Washing
ton, 1927.
2 Census of Manufactures, 1925, Statistics for Industries, States and Cities, pp. 41-44. U . S. Bureau of the
Census. Washington, 1927.
3 Census of Manufactures, 1925, Canning and Preserving, p. 8.
3a Canners’ Directory, 1925, pp. 57-65. Compiled by the National Canners Association, Washington,

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

18.— Number of canneries visited, number employing minors of specified ages,
number of persons and number of minors of specified ages employed in canneries in
certain counties of Indiana
______________________________________

T able

Persons employed
Canneries visited
Employing
N ot
Under 18 years Under 16 years
minors under 18 jmployUnder
years
County
ing
All ages
Total
Nyears1
minors
Per
Num
Per
N um
Under under
Total
cent
ber
cent
ber
16 years 18 years
38
493
3.5
8.1
1,154
27 14,275
66
98
125
Total_________
2
2
25
2.9
7
3
3
11.1
2
244
27
11.4
12
105
.7
1
5.1
1
137
7
2
2
2
10.6
26
20.0
49
245
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
10
16.8
1
1
21
125
1
105
2.9
2
10.0
1
1
1
70
7
,4
1
2.2
1
1
1
268
6
4.3
6
6
17
397
44.0
22
44.0
1
1
1
50
22
1
i
5
10.0
10
15.0
100
15
2
2
2
.8
1
9.9
1
1
1
13
131
3.3
2
16.7
1
1
1
60
10
13.0
7
13.0
1
1
1
54
7
.6
2.6
5
21
800
4
4
3
.8
2
4.4
3
3
1
11
250
2.0
4
4
11
5.5
4
3
199
1
6.1
10
17.0
28
165
2
2
2
7.6
8
1
1
1
21.0
22
105
5.9
17
10.0
29
1
289
4
3
3
.3
1
1.0
1
1
1
4
400
5
11.1
129
21.0
1,165
245
4
4
4
1.7
1
1
3
180
3
2.1
6
Ò. 9
17
287
1
2
4
3
Jefferson____________
7.2
9
21.6
27
1
1
1
125
1
1.1
7
5.8
37
640
2
5
5
1.0
3
6.7
1
1
1
300
20
1
35
1
1
2
1
1
12
1
1.0
21
3.2
2,011
65
4
11
7
15
M adison____________
.7
2
5
3.8
28
746
3
3
3
33
1
1
23
1
85
1
10.6
18
20.0
34
170
1
2
2
2
2
117
6
28.0
28
29.0
100
29
1
1
1
1.7
2
10.0
12
1
1
1
120
1.0
1
1.0
1
1
1
1
100
1
1
2
.8
25
1
1.3
1
8.8
1
1
1
7
80
4.1
2
7
170
4.8
6
11.2
14
1
1
1
125
11.8
7
87
23.1
170
735
3
3
3
1
1.5
3.2
8
17
537
4
3
4
2
1
2
30
1
1

W hite______________

1
2
4
1
1
1
3
1
1
1

1
2
4
1
1

2
2

1
3
1

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

25
75
785
150
85
400
50
115
90
125

9
26

12.0
3.3

2
11

2.7
1.4

25
1

29.4
.3

7.1

15.6

The total number of employees in the canneries visited by Chil
dren’s Bureau agents was reported as 14,275, an average of 114 persons
per establishment.4 In 76 (61 per cent of the total number of estab* The United States Census of Manufactures for 1925, for which statistics were collected only for estab
lishments reporting products of $5,000 and more, gives 124 establishments engaged in the canning and pre
serving of fruits and vegetables and the number of wage earners reported on the 15th (or nearest repre
sentative day) of September, 1925, as 17,007, or an average number of 137 wage earners per establishment.
The fact that a larger average number of employees was reported for the Census Bureau establishments
than those visited b y the representatives of the Children’s Bureau is due at least in part to the fact that
the Federal census statistics in 1925 were collected only from the larger establishments.

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IN D IAN A

lishments visited) less than 100 persons were employed at the time
of the visits, and in 32 less than 50. Twenty establishments re
ported 200 employees or more, 7 of them between 300 and 400, 4
of 400, and 2 more than 500. Almost all the large canneries were
in the east central and the south central sections of the State, in the
principal canning counties of the State.
Tomatoes are the principal crop canned in Indiana, which ranks
fourth among the States in the packing of tomatoes, second in the
canning of tomato paste, and first in the canning of tomato pulp
and catchup, and produces one-seventh of the tomatoes and tomato
products canned in the United States. But Indiana is also among
the leading States in the canning of beans, baked beans, corn, hominy,
pumpkin, squash, and kraut. Although many canneries put up a
variety of products, a considerable number put up only one or two
crops, such as tomatoes or tomato products or tomatoes with some
other product such as beans or com. At the time of the Children’s
Bureau visits, made at the height of the tomato-canning season, 25
establishments were packing only tomatoes, 54 tomatoes and tomato
products (that is, pulp, catchup, or chili sauce), and 18 tomato
products alone. (Table 19.) Thus, 97 of the 125 canneries visited
were working only on tomatoes and tomato products. Fifteen
establishments were canning corn, 6 both tomatoes and corn, 1
beans, and 6 other products, such as beets, pickles, or kraut. One
of the 6, a large city cannery, was canning tomato pulp and catchup,
hominy, kraut, pork and beans, red kidney beans, and chili con
came. In addition to the crop or crops being packed at the time
of the survey more than half the canneries for winch the information
was obtained packed other crops at other seasons.
T a b l e 19.— Number of canneries visited, number employing minors of specified
ages, number of persons and number of minors of specified ages employed upon
certain products being canned at time of visit in Indiana canneries
Canneries visited

Product

Persons employed

Employing
N ot
minors under employ
18 years
ing
Total
minors
under
18
Total Under
16
years

Under 18
years

Under 16
years

A ll
ages
N um
ber

Per N um Per
cent
ber cent

Total___________ ___________________

125

14,275

1,154

8.1

493

3.5

Tomatoes and tomato products................
Tomatoes o n ly.. _________ _______
Tomato products o n ly .. ___________
Tomatoes and tomato products___

97
25
18
54

79
18
11
50

53
15
4
34

18
7
7
4

10,021

836
145
86
605

8.3
14.3
3. 6
9.1

367
79
u
277

3.7
7 8
]_5
4.2

Corn________ _______________________
Beans___________________ ______ ____
Pickles________________________________
K raut__________ ______ _____________
M ore than one product____________
Tomatoes, tomato products, and
corn_________ ______ _
_____
Other____ ________ ___________

15
1
2
1
9

11
1

2,080

103
12

5.0
16.0

1.4
9.3

23
5
2,071

203

10. 0

4 8

6
3

5
2

4
2

1
1

1,341
730

177
26

13.2
3.6

89
1

6. 6
.1

81531°— 30------ 5

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1, 0 11

2,396
6,614

1
i

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES
E Q U IP M E N T A N D S A N IT A T IO N

The larger canneries had substantial buildings, especially those
operating the greater part of the year and putting up a variety of
products, such as breakfast foods, hominy, pork and beans, tomato
products, and other vegetables. Canneries in operation only during
the summer and fall months and canning only tomatoes and some
other vegetables could make use of buddings of a lighter and cheaper
construction, and some of the small canneries, especially m the
southern part of the State, were quite as primitive as any visited
in any State during the survey.
.
,
,
,
The largest cannery visited in Indiana, which employed nearly
600 persons, occupied a modern 7-story factory building of
brick and reinforced concrete, but some of the canneries were only
old framebarns converted to factory use, or small shedlike structures,
new but of flimsy construction. One such frame building, wine
housed 18 employees, was the size of a 3-car garage; the power
for the machines was derived from a small tractor engine outside
the budding. More typical were plants employing at least 75
workers, which consisted of two or three buddings of frame or brick,
one-and-a-half to two stories high.
. , ,
,,
i Ji
Usually the buildings, especially those occupied by the larger
canneries, were in fair repair. One large cannery that employed
more than 300 persons, however, consisted of 10 or 12 connecting
frame shacks, which were old and appeared to be dropping apart.
Some of the smaller canneries also were of flimsy construction and
in a tumble-down condition. The steps and stairs leading to the
lofts and upper stories were on the whole fairly adequate; two nad
only ladders leading up to the can loft or cooking room, although
the law requires hand rads on stairways.5
.
u . ,
The grounds about some of the larger canneries were well kept,
dry, and free from odor. It was not uncommon however to find
the cannery yards wet or muddy or cluttered with old crates, baskets,
and heaps of refuse, corn husks or tomato waste. The grounds of
one cannery, for example, were soggy and moldy about a pool burned
by the dripping of tomato juice and water from an overflowing
wooden bin into which the waste had been dumped; m another yard
where the water was standing in open drams and soaking mto the
ground was a heap of decaying tomato waste not far from the peeling
shed, an attraction for flies and the source of disagreeable stench.
Many of the larger establishments canning tomato products and
corn had installed modern equipment, but the small canneries, es
pecially those canning nothing but tomatoes or tomatoes and strmg
beans, generally had only the crudest kmd of machinery, tables,
and other equipment. Nearly all those employmg as many as 7^
persons used automatic conveyors for at least part of the work ol
carrying the product from one operation to another; 24, a number
of which canned corn or catchup, operations that require a good
deal of machinery, had eliminated hand carrying entirely and used
automatic conveyors throughout the plants. Modern machinery for
filling, capping, and labeling bottles had been introduced mto the
large canneries bottling catchup and chili sauce In 19 canneries
many of which were small, men or boys did all the carrymg by
i in d ., Burns’ Annotated Stat., 1914, sec. 8031,

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IN D IAN A

hand, usually in enamel pails or wooden buckets, but occasionally
in open mesh pails, through which juice and water might drop to
the floor.
Modern conveyor work tables, moving belts with stationary edges,
and special contrivances to hold dishpans or other receptacles into
which the tomatoes were peeled were used in 61 of the 79 plants
canning tomatoes when the visits were made. Usually these con
veyor tables extended along the length of the workroom; the rotary
form of conveyor table, known as the merry-go-round, frequently
seen in Maryland and Delaware tomato canneries, was not common
in canneries in Indiana. The 11 plants visited canning corn only
used modem conveyors, but in 2 of these having no machinery for
com husking no tables of any kind were provided for hand workers.
They sat on piles of corn ears or on boxes, threw the shucks on the
floor and the husked ears into washtubs or baskets, which were placed
on the floor before them. Fifteen canneries, most of which were
relatively small, were equipped only with old-fashioned stationary
tables.
The floors in the majority of the canneries visited were wet, although
some attention had been paid to floor construction. In the main
workrooms of all but very small canneries the floors were generally
concrete and sloped to gutters into which waste and water was drained.
The second floors of cannery buildings were usually of wood. Eight
canneries, 5 of which employed less than 50 persons, had no floor
drains. In spite of provisions for drainage, however, the floors of
68 of the 98 canneries employing minors under 18 were wet or damp
at the time of the visits. That modern floor construction and ade
quate drainage can overcome the wet floors common to canneries
is shown by the fact that in the two largest canneries, both visited
in the afternoon after they had been in operation some hours, the
floors were dry. Dry floors were also found in 13 other canneries
visited after 10 o'clock in the morning and also in a number of those
seen earlier in the day. Most of these establishments were canning
tomatoes.
In corn canneries the cutting room was wet from the milk from the
corn kernels; in tomato canneries drippings from the tomatoes accum
ulated under the peeling and sorting tables and near the filling and
pulping machines, places where many of the children and young
persons worked. Tomato juice and skins which dropped from the
end of the conveyor or from the edges of the table or which peelers
allowed to fall on the floor instead of into the pails or on the conveyor
which carried out the waste, caused the floors of some canneries to be
sloppy as well as wet. In one cannery the floor near the finishing
machine was described by the bureau investigator as covered with
“ thick red matter very slippery to walk o n "; in another it was impos
sible to “ move without stepping on parts of discarded tomatoes."
During the interview with the investigator a forewoman in a corn
cannery slipped and fell on the floor of the cutting room, but although
her light dress was covered with muddy water her only comment was
“ we get used to that."
The majority of the canneries in which the floors were wet provided
sorters and peelers with boards, planks, or raised platforms to stand
upon. One cannery not only had platforms but also provided the
girls with galoshes; another had erected a platform 2 feet high for its

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sorters. Twelve canneries in which the floors were wet furnished no
stands of any kind and others furnished stands that were inadequate
to keep the workers’ feet dry; in one cannery, for example, where
boards were laid on the floors, water was over the workers’ shoe soles.
The State child labor law of Indiana prohibits the employment of
any girl under 18 in any capacity where such employment compels her
to remain standing constantly.6 Seats for at least some of the women
workers— stools, benches, crates, boxes, and occasionally especially
constructed metal chairs with backs or with foot rests— were provided
in 86 of the 98 canneries visited in which minors under 18 were
employed. One cannery provided seats only for tomato corers, who
were men; 12 canneries had no seats at all. Seats in many of the
canneries were not used by the women while they were working.
In some places the seats for the sorters and peelers were too low or too
high for the conveyor tables; in others the room was so crowded that
sitting was impossible. A considerable number of the girls under 18
who were employed at the time of the visits were standing at their
work.
Toilet facilities were provided in all but 2 of the 98 canneries.
Except in five small canneries such facilities were separate for each sex
as required by the State law.7 Many canneries were located in rural
communities that had no town water supply and outside privies were
provided, but 47 of the 98 had flush toilets. Washing facilities
varied from old-fashioned wash troughs or sinks to modern wash
bowls and basins with running water, paper towels, and liquid soap.
Unusual features for the convenience of the employees were found
in some of the more modern canneries. One small cannery had sup
plied a restroom equipped with tables and benches where the workers
could eat their lunches. A city cannery, besides providing a cloak
room with small compartments where each worker could hang wraps
and the white caps and aprons worn at work, had a restroom, a
cafeteria, a store for selling cannery products at a discount, and a wellequipped first-aid room with a trained nurse in attendance.7a
T H E LABO R SUPPLY

The cannery workers in Indiana are mainly residents of the towns or
villages in which the cannery is located or of the surrounding country.
One cannery visited maintained a dormitory for from 16 to 20 men and
another ran a dormitory for girls. It was not the practice, as in Dela
ware, Maryland, and New York, to import negro or foreign-born
migratory labor. A few negro local workers were employed in the
canneries visited, but most of the workers were white.
It was reported that labor was hard to get in some sections. A
corn cannery advertised for workers by means of posters appealing to
“ the loyalty of the citizens to save the corn.” Some canneries
offered especial inducements to encourage piece workers to work full
time. One cannery paid all peelers who worked a whole day without
losing time a bonus of 50 cents a day; another paid 5)4 cents instead
of 5 cents for a bucket of peeled tomatoes to all who worked as much
as .90 per cent of the time. One large firm which had factories in six
« Ind., Acts of 1921, ch. 132, sec. 23. Th e State law also requires that employers furnish “ suitable” seats
for the use of each female employee (B u m s’ Annotated Stat., 1914, secs. 2628, 8030).
7 Ind., Burns’ Annotated Stat., 1914, sec. 8030.
?a See also Report of the Industrial Board of the State of Indiana for the year ending September 30,
1922, pp. 49, SO, 58.

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IN DIANA

different places sent out posters promising all peelers who worked in
any one of the six canneries $1.50 a week extra if they lost no time, $1 a
week extra if they lost not more than half a day, and 50 cents extra if
they lost not more than one day in the week. For the convenience of
workers who lived too far from the cannery to go home to dinner
without losing time, two canneries provided hot lunches of meat and
vegetables at a cost of from 10 to 20 cents; one of these gave coffee
free to employees who brought their lunches.
L A W S R E G U LA TIN G CH ILD LABOR IN C AN N E R IES

The present Indiana child labor law, enacted in 1921,8 ranks in
many respects among the best child labor laws in the country and
affords the same protection to child workers in canneries as to children
engaged in other industrial employments.9 The minimum age for
employment in canneries for both boys and girls is 14 years. Boys
under 16 and girls under 18 may not work more than 8 hours a day,
48 hours a week, or 6 days a week or between 7 p. m. and 6 a. m. A
child between 14 and 18 years of age must obtain an employment
certificate from the superintendent of schools before going to work,
and the law requires10 that this certificate is to be issued only to a
child “ whose employment is necessary,” so that the issuing officer
has discretionary power to refuse to grant it if no economic need exists
for the child’s work. The child must also be in sound health and
of normal physical and mental development, as shown by an examina
tion by a public-health or public-school physician,11 and if he is to
work during school hours he must have completed the eighth grade.
The child labor law contains, moreover, the administrative pro
visions generally held most necessary for effective enforcement.
The evidence of age that must be presented is the same as that required
under the former Federal child labor laws; the child must bring a
promise of employment from his prospective employer, and the cer
tificate is valid only for the employer to whom it is issued, who must'
notify the issuing officer immediately when the child leaves.
Under the law all these provisions except the requirement that
the child shall have completed the eighth grade apply both to work
done during school hours and to work done in vacation and outside
school hours; and they are all equally applicable to certificates issued
to minors under 16 and to those between 16 and 18. The regula
tions for issuing officers, however, adopted jointly by the State
industrial board and the State board of attendance,12 which have
the force of law, make important distinctions between certificates
issued to these different groups. For certificates issued to children
under 16 for work during school hours, thus releasing them from
school attendance, the regulations follow strictly all the requirements
8 Ind., Acts of 1921, eh. 132.
9 The previous law, enacted in 1911, fixed a minimum age of 14 for work in factories and in most other
employments but permitted children 12 years of age and over to work “ in the business of preserving and
canning fruits and vegetables” between June 1 and October 1. The employment-certificate provisions
in effect before 1921 were first enacted in 1913, applied only to work during school hours, and were much less
stringent than under the 1921 law.
10 For regulations in some respects modifying these requirements, see below.
11 The law exempts from this requirement, on written objection of parent, a child who, upon the parent’s
objection, had been exempted previously from the requirement of school physical examinations.
12 The law states that “ employment certificates shall be issued under” such rules and regulations as are
adopted by these boards, which are “ not inconsistent w ith” the law, and which will promote uniformity
and- efficiency in its administration. The blank forms to be used in issuing certificates, which accord
with the regulations adopted, are formulated and furnished to issuing officers by the industrial board.
(See p. 81.)

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of the law; for certificates issued to 14 and 15 year old children to
work outside school hours and during school vacation, and to 16
and 17 year old children to work at any time, the child need present
only proof that he is of legal age for employment. He is not required
to show economic necessity or physical fitness, or to bring a promise
of employment, nor is he required to have completed any specified
grade. Moreover, only in case of children under 16 receiving cer
tificates for work during school horns does the issuing officer retain
any supervision over the child’s employment through the fact that the
certificate is issued to one employer only, who must return it when
the child leaves. Vacation certificates and certificates issued to
minors between 16 and 18 permit a child to work wherever he can
find a job.
For the protection of employers of minors claiming to be oyer
18 years of age but in fact under that age, the law requires issuing
officers, upon request of employers, to issue certificates to minors
between 18 and 21. These certificates of age are in exactly the same
form as the certificates issued to minors between 16 and 18, and the
same evidence of age is required.
Work on specified machines and in specified processes is prohibited
for children under 16 and for those under 18 years of age, and a general
prohibition of employment in “ any other occupation dangerous
to life or limb or injurious to health or morals” of minors under 18
is added. But the occupations named are not those in which minors
under 18 were working in the canneries visited, and at the time
of the study no cannery occupations had been classified by the State
industrial board as coming under the general prohibition. A clause
in the dangerous occupations law that would apply to certain kinds
of cannery work, however, is the prohibition of the employment of
any girl under 18 in any capacity where such employment compels
her to remain standing constantly.
CH ILD LABO R IN C AN N E R IES
A G E S O F C H IL D R E N A N D V IO L A T IO N S O F A G E S T A N D A R D O F S T A T E C H IL D L A B O R
LAW

Children under 16 were found at work in 66 of the 125 canneries
visited, and 32 others employed minors between 16 and 18, who, as
explained above, are subject to certain provisions of the child labor
law. (Tables 18 and 19.) The 27 canneries employing no minors
under 18 were for the most part rather small establishments; 15 of
them had less than 50 employees, 11 less than 25.
Even where children were employed the management often stated
that minors were not employed when adults could be hired, as
employees who could work as many hours as needed13 were preferred
and employment certificates were a nuisance. One manager said
that his company, which operated five canneries in Indiana, had
made it a policy not to employ minors of certificate age in any of
its plants because it considered them not “ worth the bother they
caused.” In many other canneries the management stated that it
was contrary to the policy of the firm to employ them, but minors
under 18 were found at work. In some cases their employment
is Indiana has no law regulating the maximum hours of adult women in canneries. However, their
employment at night is prohibited between 10 p. m . and 6 a. m . in manufacturing establishments (inter
preted to include canneries),

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IN D IAN A

had been occasioned by inability to find adults for the work, but in
others employers were unaware that workers under 18 had been
hired, apparently because of lack of care in investigating the ages of
applicants on the part of those hiring them. In one cannery, the
manager of which stated that he had no minors under 18 in his
employ and that he would employ none, 14 young persons were
interviewed, of whom 4 reported their ages as 17 years and 2 as 16.
This cannery employed five girls between 16 and 18 without certi
ficates, although the State law requires certificates for all minors up
to 18 years of age.
Minors under 18 found at work in all the canneries visited numbered
1,154, 8 per cent of the total workers. Of these, 493 (4 per cent of
the total workers) were under 16. The working children under
16 were employed in 38 of the 62 counties in which canneries were
visited, but they were found most generally in the southern counties.
Three hundred and forty-three (70 per cent) were at work in 11
counties 14in the southern section, although this section gave employ
ment to only 22 per cent of the total number of persons reported
as working in the canneries. On the other hand, 11 counties15 in
the east central section of the State, which reported 6,092 (43 per
cent) of the workers in the Indiana canneries, gave employment to
only 86 (17 per cent) of the children under 16 found at work in the
State.
Girls constituted 67 per cent of the workers under 16 and 64 per
cent of those between 16 and 18 years, although women were only 50
per cent of all the cannery workers.
Approximately three-fourths (74 per cent) of the children under
16, and 71 per cent of those between 16 and 18, were employed in
canneries working exclusively on tomatoes or tomato products
at the time of the visits, and a number of others were working on
processes connected with the canning of tomatoes in canneries
that were also canning corn or other crops. (Table 19.) Their
employment was most common in establishments packing nothing
but tomatoes. Minors under 16 were 8 per cent of the total number
of employees in such establishments and 4 per cent of those in plants
which in addition put up pulp, catchup, or other tomato products.
In canneries putting up only corn or tomato products, in the canning
of which mechanical methods are very generally used, children under
16 constituted but 1 per cent of the total working force.
Thirty-eight children (including, 29 girls) who were below the
legal age for employment were found at work in 17 canneries. (Table
18.) The majority of the canneries employing children under legal
working age were in the south central part of the State; 26 of the
38 children under 14 were employed in seven of the southernmost
of these counties. Twenty-seven of these underage children were
13 years old, 7 were 12, 3 (including 2 girls) were 11, and 1, a girl,
was 9.
Violations of the age requirement appeared to have been chiefly
the result of carelessness on the part of those who hired the workers
in employing children without certificates or without even attempting
to ascertain their true ages. In some cases difficulty in obtaining
14 Clark, Crawford, Dubois, Floyd, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Jennings, Perry, Scott, and W ash
ington.
15 Delaware, Grant, Hamilton, Hancock, Henry, Johnson, Madison, Marion, Rush, Shelby, and Tipton.

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

employment certificates in the locality in which the cannery was
located was reported. (See p. 76.)
In a few cases there was evidence that young children had left or
had been sent out of the canneries on the approach of the bureau
agents. In one cannery the manager, on sight of the agents, entered
the shed and was seen checking out all the peelers until the peeling
table was empty although it was not yet 11.30 a. m. He volunteered
the information that he did not know much about his peelers— girls
would slip in, get a bucket, and start peeling. In another cannery,
which employed a considerable number of children, including six
under legal working age, a number of the younger children came
into the office where the bureau agent was copying time records and
asked for their pay saying they had been discharged. In a can
nery in which no certificate or proof of age had been required for any
of the minors employed the agent was told that a number of girls had
gone home as soon as they had heard inspectors were in the plant, as
they had misrepresented their ages as 16 and were afraid it would
be discovered.
No doubt a larger number of children under the legal working age
would have been found had the canneries been visited at the bean
season as several reported that they had employed large numbers of
children to snip beans. (See p. 67.)
K IN D S O F W O R K

The largest number of minors were at work at the time of the visits
on tomato peeling. (Table 20.) This work gave employment to
275 (56 per cent) of the children under 16, including 274 (83 per cent)
of the girls, and 281 (51 per cent) of those between 16 and 18, includ
ing 278 (66 per cent) of the girls of these ages. Only 4 boys were
tomato peelers.
T a b l e 2 0 .— Boys and girls of specified ages employed in specified processes upon
certain products being canned at time of visit in Indiana canneries

Minors under 18 years employed

16 years, under 18 14 years, under 16

Total
Product and process, and sex of minors

Tinder
Per cent
Per cent 14 years1
Per cent
Number distribu Number distribu Number distribu
tion
tion
tion

661

1,154
Total reported________________ ______
Special processes:
Tomatoes________________ _____ _
Peeling--------------------------------

Other........ ......... ......... .............
C o m ._ ______________ _____ _____
Sorting or trim m in g ______
Other............ ..................... .......

1,040

100.0

553

100.0

449

100.0

656
' 556
58
22
11
9

63.1
53.5
5.6
2.1
1.1
.9

343
281
36
12
8
6

62.0
50.8
6.5
2.2
1.4
1.1

288
251
22
10
3
2

64.1
55.9
4.9
2,2
.7
.4

25
24

85
46
19
7
13

8.2
4.4
1.8
.7
1.2

44
20
13
4
7

8.0
3.6
2.4
.7

36
21
6
3
6

8.0
4.7
1.3
.7
1.3

5
5

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

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

455

1 ,3

IN D IAN A

20.— Boys and girls of specified ages employed in specified processes upon
certain products being canned at time of visit in Indiana canneries— Con.

T able

Minors under 18 years employed

Total

16 years, under 18 14 years, under 16

Product and process and sex of minors

Under
Per cem
Per cent
Per ceni 14 years
Number distribu Number distribu Number distribu
tion
tion
tion
Total reported— Continued.
Special processes— Continued.
Beans__________________________
Snipping___________________
Other________________ ______

12
11
1

1.2
1.1
(2)

5
5

0.9
.9

7
6
1

26.3

Other products________________

General occupations. . . ......................

285

27.4

159

28.8

118

Can boys and girls_____________
Piling filled cans in crates_____
Packing, piling, stacking______
Trucking and carrying________
Other____ _______ _______________

55
54
39
18
119

5.3
5.2
3.8
1.7
11.4

18
32
21
11
77

3.3
5.8
3.8
2.0
13.9

36
20
17
7
38

N ot rep orted.._______________________ .

114

(2)

108

8.0
4.5
3.8
1 6
8.5,

8
1
2
1
4

B oys............... ........... ......................... .

402

Total reported__________________________

318

100.0

163

100.0

146

100.0

Special processes:
Tom atoes. ________________ .
Peeling____________ ________
Sorting or trim ming___. . .
Carrying tomatoes_________
Packing____________________
Other........ ..................... ...........

52
4
15
22
2
9

16.4
1.3
4.7
6.9
.6
2.8

28
3
7
12

17.2
1.8
4.3
7.4

15.8
7
55
6 8

3.7

23
1
8
10
2
2

1.4

C o m ____________________________
Sorting or trimming_______
Husking____________________
Bin boys______ _________
Other____________________

37
12
10
7
8

11.6
3.8
3.1
2.2
2.5

9.8

13.7

6
4
6

3.7
2.5
3.7

20
U
4
3
2

General occupations_______________

228

71.7

119

73.0

102

69.9

Can boys___________________...
Piling filled cans in crates_____
Packing, piling, stacking______
Tracking and carrying________
Other...............................

44
52
30
17
85

13.8
16.4
9.4
5.3
26.7

10
31
17
10
51

6.1
19.0
10.4
6.1
31.3

34
19
112
7
30

23.3
13 Ö
8.2
4 8
29.5

B eans________________________

N ot rep o rted .._____________

241

152

Girls_________ _____ _________

752

Total reported_____________ _______

722

100.0

390

100.0

303

100.0

Special processes:
Tom atoes_______ _____ ______
Peeling_____________________
Sorting or trimming_______
Packing__________________

604
552
43
9

83.7
76.5
6.0
1.2

315
278
29
8

80.8
71.3
7.4
2 1

265
250
14

87.5
82. 5
4 6

24
24

C o m _________________
Sorting or trimming_______
Husking_____________
Other........................... ..........

48
34
9
5

6.6
4.7
1.2
.7

28
20
7
1

7.2
5.1
1.8
.3

16
10

5.3
3.3

4
4

Beans: Snipping___________
Other products....................
General occupations.........................
Can girls__________________
Piling filled cans in crates____
Packing, piling, stacking_____
Trucking and carrying________
Other______ ______ ____ _____
N o trep o rte d .................. ................
-

s Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

420

303

11
2

1.5
.3

5
2

1.3
.5

2.0

7.9

10.3

11.
2
9
1
34

1.5
.3
1.2
.1
4.7

8
1
4
1
26

2.1
.3
1.0
.3
6 7

2
1
5

5.3
7

1.7
2.6

CHILDREN IN ERtriT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

Only 58 girls under 16 did any other kind of work. These were
usually employed in'connection with the preDaration of vegetables;
15 trimmed, sorted, or packed tomatoes, 18 sorted, trimmed, or husked
corn, and 6 snipped beans. Seventeen were employed in general or
miscellaneous occupations; 3 were can girls, 5 piled and stacked cans,
and 6 were engaged in handling bottles, capping, washing, polishing,
or inspecting labels. Two girls only, both 15 years of age, operated
machines, one a corn-cutting, the other a labeling machine, but some
of the others worked at moving conveyors, including about half the
tomato peelers, all who sorted or trimmed corn, 14 who sorted or
trimmed tomatoes, and 6 who were engaged in handling bottles.
The finger of one 15-year-old girl who capped and wiped bottles had
been injured by a bottle cap and as a result her whole* arm had
become infected. One girl aged 15 was engaged in an occupation
usually filled by men or boys— that is, taking off cans from a closing
machine and piling them in crates.
Of the 29 girls under 14, 24 (including a girl of 11 and 1 of 9)
were peelers, of whom 10 worked at a moving conveyor table; 1
(12 years of age) was a can girl; and 2 of 12, and 2 of 13 were inspect
ing, sorting, or trimming corn on the conveyor. Of the 9 boys under
14, 1 (11 years of age) was stationed at the end of a moving belt piling
filled cans in crates, a job which requires speed and is physically
taxing; another 11-year-old boy was husking corn by hand, a com
paratively simple task; a boy of 12 and 1 of 13 were working at a
moving belt, 1 guiding cans to the filling machine, the other trim
ming corn. The remaining 5, all of whom were 12 or 13, were engaged
in various kinds of general work, such as piling or stacking filled cans
or making boxes.
Girls between 16 and 18 had somewhat more varied work than
younger girls. Relatively more of them were employed at operations
connected with the packing of tomato products, in whch more ma
chinery and little hand peeling is necessary. Besides the 278 who
were tomato peelers, 37 trimmed, sorted, or packed tomatoes, 20
sorted or trimmed corn (at moving belts), and 13 (also usually at
moving, belts) washed, polished, or capped bottles or straightened
labels on bottles in canneries putting up catchup or chili sauce, 2
husked or cut corn by machine, 8 were can girls, and the remainder
were_ employed in miscellaneous jobs such as labeling, stenciling,
packing, and stacking cans.
The majority of the 161 boys under 16— 109 (68 per cent)— did mis
cellaneous or general work about the plants. (Table 20.) Only 23
boys were tomato peelers, sorters, or packers or were corn sorters or
trimmers, occupations usually filled by girls and women; 10 carried
pails of tomatoes. Thirty-four were can boys, though this occupation
was less common among cannery boys in Indiana than in Delaware or
Maryland. Twenty-one took the cans from closing machines and
piled them in crates; 13 packed, piled, and stacked filled cans, 6 did
trucking, 7 made or labeled boxes, and 6 inspected or put salt into
cans. Others lifted and stacked boxes, cleaned up floors, carried
water, and did other odd jobs in the cannery or cannery yard. Only
7 boys operated machines.
Boys between 16 and 18 years were employed in much the same
kinds of work as the younger ones, but relatively more did heavy
work, such as carrying, trucking, piling, and stacking cans and other

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

IN D IAN A

general work, or operated machines or worked in connection with
machinery. Of the 163 whose occupations were reported, 24 operated
machines and 33 took cans from the closing machines and piled them
in crates or“ took o ff” from other machines.
From information given representatives of the bureau at several
canneries it seems probable that a larger number of children would
•have been found at work had the visits been made at the height of
the bean-canning season. The owner of one cannery, in which no
minors under 18 were employed at the time of the bureau’s inquiry
(when the only work under way was putting up tomato purée), stated
that during June and July when string beans were being canned he
had employed on an average 125 children a day, most of them girls,
to snip beans in the sheds outside the cannery, which have been
considered by the industrial board as part of the cannery and subject
to the provisions of the child labor law. He said that he had not asked
these children their ages nor required that they have certificates.
The manager of another cannery said that during the bean season he
had had about 50 “ students” at work stringing beans; none had had
certificates, but each had brought a written statement from his parents
that they were willing to have the child work in the cannery.
HOURS OF W ORK

Although the Indiana labor law does not compel employers to keep
records of the hours worked by employees who are subject to the hour
regulations of the women and child labor laws, satisfactory 16 time
records were kept, at least for such workers as were paid on an hourly
or a weekly basis, in 48 of the 98 establishments in which minors under
18 were employed. In addition, some other sort of record of hours
was kept for the time workers in 32 other canneries, consisting in most
cases of a record of the total number of hours worked by these em
ployees during each day, but not showing the hours of beginning and
of ending work or the time off for lunch. In a very few cases time
records of some kind were found for pieceworkers, but in the majority
of cases information as to the hours worked by children under 16 who
were engaged in piecework was furnished by parents of the children,
adult witnesses, or employers.
Daily hours.

The hour regulations of the Indiana child labor law apply to girls up
to 18 years of age and to boys up to 16 years. Information as to daily
hours of work was obtained, however, for both boys and girls up to 18
years. Of the 1,002 minors under 18 interviewed at work for whom
daily hours were reported, 436 (44 per cent) were boys under 16 or
girls under 18 who were employed more than 8 hours a day in violation
of the provision of the State child labor law. (Table 21.) An even
higher proportion (75 per cent) of violations was found among boys and
girls under 16, all of whom are affected by the 8 hour law. Boys were
employed longer hours than girls, both in the group between 16 and
18 years of age, among whom 97 per cent of the boys and 82 per cent
of the girls reported more than an 8-hour day, and in the group under
16, among whom 87 per cent of the boys and 69 per cent of the girls
worked longer hours than the law allowed, although the law applies
to children of both sexes under 16.
16
Satisfactory time records for the purpose of this study are records which showed for every employee the
hours of beginning and ending work and the time off for lunch each day.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEG ETABLE CANNERIES

T a b l e 21.— Maximum number of daily hours of work re-ported by boys and girls of
specified ages employed in Indiana canneries

Minors under 18 years employed

M axim um number of daily
hours of work and sex of
minors

Total

Num ber

16 years, under 18

Per cent
distribu
tion

Number

Under 16 years

Per cent
distribu
tion

Number

Per cent
distribu
tion

Under 14
years i

Total_______________ ______

1,154

Total reported______ _____ ______

1,002

100.0

529

100.0

473

100.0

8 hours and under__________
Over 8 hours________________
10 hours and over_______
12 hours and over_______
14 hours and over_______
16 hours and over__ . . .

189
813
490
152
54
10

18.9
81.1
48.9
15.2
5.4
1.0

70
459
271
91
35
8

13.2
86.8
51.2
17.2
6.6
1.5

119
354
219
61
19
2

. 25.2
74.8
46.3
12.9
4.0
.4

8
19
12
2
1

Irregular___ .'................................
N ot reported____________________

3
149

B oys_______ ______________

661

493

3
17

132

402

241

161

Total reported........................ .........

316

100.0

162

100.0

154

100.0

8 hours and under........... ........
Over 8 h o u rs_______________
10 hours and over_______
12 hours and over_____
14 hours and o v e r ______
16 hours and over............

25
291
213
96
37
10

7.9
92.1
67.4
30.4
11.7
3.2

5
157
113
55
22
8

3.1
96.9
69.8
34.0
13.6
4.9

20
134
100
41
15
2

13.0
87.0
64.9
26.6
9.7
1.3

2
2

Irregular.............................................
N ot reported_________________

1
85

1
6

752

420

332

Girls...................................
Total reported______________
8 hours and under_________
Over 8 hours______________
10 hours and over____
12 hours and over.. .
14 hours and o v e r... . . .
Irregular.__________________
N ot reported____________

4
29

686

100.0

367

100.0

319

100.0

164
522
277
56
17

23.9
76.1
40.4
8.2
2.5

65
302
158
36
13

17.7
82.3
43.1
9.8
3.5

99
220
119
20
4

31.0
69.0
37.3
6.3
1.3

6
17
12
2
1

2
64

2
11

2
4

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

Violations of the 8 hour law were found in every county in which
minors under 18 were found employed in the canneries and in 82 of the
98 canneries employing minors of the age to which the law applied.
They were more numerous in the southern counties, however, where
in the 11 counties referred to on page 63, 65 per cent of the children
under 18 and 80 per cent of those under 16 were employed in violation
of the 8 hour law, as contrasted with 42 per cent of the minors under
18 and 48 per cent of those under 16 employed in the 11 counties in the
east central part of the State (see p. 63), where the canning industry
is chiefly concentrated.
Even in canneries in which a serious effort appeared to be made to
keep minors from working longer than the legal hours some violations
were found. Some of the older women workers in one such cannery
remarked that although the superintendent was constantly on the look
out to see that girls under 18 did not work more than eight hours and
they were constantly being reminded that they should not do so, some

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

IN D IAN A

girls would stay even against orders. In many canneries, however,
the management appeared to give the matter of hours but little con
sideration, and in most places, especially when the work was rushed,
little or no attempt was made to prevent minors subject to legal
restrictions on hours from working the same hours as others in the
plant. That the law prescribed an 8-hour day for minors seemed to
be generally known. In one cannery which had been visited shortly
before the Children’s Bureau survey by a State inspector the younger
boys when questioned as to their hours of work said they “ quit at 4
p. m., beginning yesterday,” a statement borne out by the time records.
The State inspector’s visit appeared to have effected no change for the
better in the working hours of the young girls employed in the corn
shed of this cannery.
Working hours differed considerably in different canneries and
varied from day to day and from week to week. At least half the
canneries reported their usual running time as 10 hours or longer.
Almost half (46 per cent) of the children under 16 had worked 10
hours or more, 13 per cent had worked 12 hours or more, and 4 per
cent had worked at least 14 hours. According to the time records one
boy had worked 18% hours; another had worked 24 hours one day,
5 the next, and 19 the next. Boys were apt to work longer hours than
girls; 37 per cent of the girls as compared with 65 per cent of the boys
had had a working day of 10 hours or more and 1 per cent of the girls
as compared with 10 per cent of the boys had worked at least 14 hours.
Minors of 16 and 17 years of age had somewhat longer working days
than younger children; 51 per cent had worked 10 hours more, 17
per cent 12 hours or more, and 7 per cent at least 14 hours. Although
the longest hours were reported for the boys of 16 and 17, whose hours
of work are not regulated, many of the girls of these ages had had a
working day of 10 or 12 hours, or in some cases even longer.
Boys and girls who did general work about the canneries had the
longest working hours, as a rule. These included can boys and
girls, those who did trucking, packing, and stacking cans or worked
on or in connection with machinery or “ on the line,” all occupations
that are paid for on a time basis. Tomato peelers, who are piece
workers, did not work as long hours. Sixty-five per cent of the boys
and girls under 16 who did general work and whose hours were
reported had been employed 10 or more hours, compared with 30
per cent of the tomato peelers under 16, and 30 per cent of the former
as compared with only 2 per cent of the latter had worked at least
12 hours. Among boys and girls between 16 and 18, also, general
workers had longer hours than tomato peelers. ^ The hours of work
were especially long in canneries which at the time of the visits were
packing corn only; all but 6 of 97 boys and girls under 18 in corn
canneries had worked more than 8 hours, including 33 of 37 girls
under 18 years of age and 19 of 20 boys under 16 years of age, all m
violation of the labor law. Thirty-two, including 8 girls, of the 97
boys and girls who had worked more than 8 hours had worked 14
hours or more.
W eekly hours.

Information regarding weekly hours of work based on time records
was available for 58 of the 493 children under 16, and for 62 of the
661 minors 16 and 17 years old, including 73 boys and 47 girls m
both age groups. (Table 22.) These minors were employed m

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

26 of the canneries visited. The canneries included 5 of the 11 pack
ing corn only, so that the hours of 27 per cent of the minors under
18 working in corn canneries but only 9 per cent of those in tomato
and other canneries was reported.
T a b l e 2 2 .—

Maximum number of hours of work in a typical week of boys and girls
of specified ages employed in Indiana canneries

Minors under 18 years employed

M axim um number of hours of
work in a typical week and
sex of minors

Total

Num ber

16 years, under 18

Per cent
distribu
tion!

1,154

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

Num ber

Per cent
distribu
tion!

Under 16 years

Num ber

Per cent
distribu
tion 1

493

661

Under 14
years1

120

100.0

18
102
48
13
4
2

5.0
85.0
40.0
10.8
3.3
1.7

14
48
27
10
4
2

2.6
7.4
43.5
16.1
6.5
3.2

4
54
21
3

6.9
93.1
36.2
5.2

1
1

1,034

599

435

402

241

161

100.0

6
67
29
6
3
1

8.2
91.8
39.7
8.2
4.1
1.4

2
28
13
4
3
1

4
39
16
2

329

211

118

752

420

332

12
35
19
7
1

12
20
14
6
1

15
5
1

705

388

317

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

The children under 18 for whom information as to weekly hours
was available represented those who, on the whole, had worked the
longest hours. For example, almost half worked 12 hours or more
a day as compared with 13 per cent of the total number of workers
of the same age group for whom daily hours were reported. More
over, 61 per cent were boys as compared with 35 per cent of the total,
and, as has been shown, the working hours of boys were longer than
those of girls. Further, reports on weekly hours were obtained
largely for workers on a time basis, whose hours were longer than
those working at piece rates; reports were obtained for 24 per cent
of those engaged in general work, such as “ rolling cans,” piling cans
in crates, piling and stacking cans and other miscellaneous work,
all of which was paid for on a time basis, whereas the weekly hours
of tomato peelers, who were pieceworkers^ werç reported in only

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

IN D IAN A

two instances, although peelers formed the majority of minors under
18 employed in the canneries.
It should be borne in mind in considering the following figures,
therefore, that the group was not really representative of the cannery
children as a whole. Of the 120 minors under 18 years of age for
whom weekly hours were reported, 102 (85 per cent) had worked
more than 48 hours, including 54 of the 58 children under 16 and 20
of the 32 girls between 16 and 18, whose work is prohibited by law
for more than 48 hours in any one week. Twenty-one of the children
under 16, including 5 girls, had worked 60 hours or more and 2 boys
of 14 and 15 years old and one girl of 15 had worked a week of 73 and
74 hours in a corn cannery. Of the 32 girls between 16 and 18, 14
had worked 60 hours or more, 4 girls had worked between 70 and 80
hours, and 2 boys had worked 84 and 95% hours, respectively, in a
tomato cannery, one taking off tomatoes from the scalding machine
and the other stacking filled cans.
Night work.

Work between 7 p. m. and 6 a. m. is prohibited in Indiana canneries
for children of both sexes under 16 and for girls under 18 years of
age. But 42 per cent of the children under 16 years of age (including
53 per cent of the boys and 37 per cent of the girls) and 25 per cent
of the girls between 16 and 18 were employed during the prohibited
hours. These included 18 children under 14, of whom 13 were girls,
and 37 per cent of the 14-year-old children. (Table 23.) Children
under 16 in 34 canneries, and girls between 16 and 18 in 28 establish
ments, were found to have worked at night. The canneries in which
these violations were found were located in 30 of the 45 counties in
which canneries employed minors under 18. Unlike the violations
of the 8 hour law, violations of the night-work provisions were found
to be somewhat more prevalent in the canneries of the east central
counties, the principal canning area of the State. In the canneries
in 11 counties (see footnote 15, p. 63) in this section 48 per cent of the
children under 16 had been employed after 7 p. m. or before 6 a. m.,
whereas in 11 southern counties (see footnote 14, p. 63), in which the
largest proportion of children and also of those employed in violation
of the 8 hour law were found at work (see p.68), 42 per'cent of the
children had been employed between these hours.
T able

23.— Boys and girls of specified ages employed between 7 p. m. and 6 a. m.
in Indiana canneries
Boys and girls under 18 years employed

Age
Total

14
15
16
17

Total

Boys

Girls

Employed be
tween 7 p. m .
and 6 a. m .

Employed be
tween 7 p. m.
and 6 a. m .

Em ployed be
tween 7 p. m .
and 6 a. m .

Num
ber

Per
cen t1
32.9
37.1
44.3
27.7
24.7

Total___________ _______

1,154

380

years............ .............................
years.________ _____________
years................................ .......
years__________________ . . . .

38
175
280
329
332

18
65
124
91
82

Total

Num
ber 3

Per
c e n t1

402

153

38.1

752

227

30.2

9
53
99
121
120

5
20
60
37
31

37.7
60.6
30.6
25.8

29
122
181
208
212

13
45
64
54
51

36.9
35.4
26.0
24.1

1 Per cent not shown where hase is less than 50.
2 Includes 1 boy of 11 years, 2 of 12 years, and 2 of 13 years.
3 Includes 1 girl of 11 years, 1 of 12 years, and 11 of 13 years.

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Total

Num
ber 2

CHILDREN IN FRU IT AND VEG ETABLE C ANNERIES

Eighteen of the 38 children under 14 found at work, 13 of whom
were girls, were employed at night; 2 boys and a girl in this group
were 12, and 1 girl and 1 boy were 11 years of age. .
In canneries packing only corn relatively more minors had worked
at night than in canneries packing other products; 79 of 103 minors
under 18 in com canneries, including huskers, cutters, sorters, trimmers,
and bin boys, as well as those engaged in general or miscellaneous
occupations, were night workers. Among these 79 were 27 girls
under 18 and 17 boys under 16 years of age. In canneries packing
tomatoes and other products than corn, night-work violations were
most prevalent among minors under 18 engaged^ in general or mis
cellaneous occupations and among those _sorting and trimming
tomatoes; tomato peelers had worked in violation of the law less
frequently.
.
,
Most of the children who reported the number of nights they had
been employed had worked only a few nights during the canning
season of 1925, prior to the date of interview; only 7 per cent of them
said that they had worked as many as 6 nights in the season, and
no child under 16 said he had worked more than 8 nights.
With the exception of one can boy of 15 who worked part of the
season throughout the night on the regular night shift (from 6.30 p. m.
to 6.30 a. m.), and 2 boys, one of 16 and one of 17, who also had worked
on a night shift, several times, almost all the minors who had been
employed between the prohibited hours had worked in the evenings.
The great majority of those for whom information as to the number of
hours worked at night was obtained— 85 per cent of the minors under
16 and 75 per cent of those between 16 and 18—had worked between
2 and 4 hours. The times most frequently reported were from 6.30
or 7 to 9, 9.30, or 10 at night. However, 19 children under 16 (of
whom 6 were girls), including 5 under 14 (of whom 2 were girls),
reported that they had worked until l i p . m. or later. One of these,
a boy, had piled cans in crates till 12 or 1 a. m. several mormngs. A
girl of 15 had worked “ a good many nights” feeding bottles to the
filler from 7 to 11, 12, or 1 a. m., and the time records of the cannery
in which she worked showed that during the week previous to the
interview she had worked a maximum day of 15% hours and a week of
64 hours. In addition to the children under 16, 20 minors between
16 and 18 had worked in the evening until 11 p. m. or later, 13 of
them girls for whom employment at night was illegal. Among the
20 were 3 girls and 1 boy who had worked after l a. m. The occupa
tions of those working late hours were varied and included sorting and
trimming corn, packing bottles, work on labeling and corn mixing
machines, and piling cans in crates.
C A N N E R Y W O R K A N D S C H O O L IN G

Cannery work in Indiana appeared to interfere little with school
attendance. Few children of compulsory school ages, that is, few
children under 14 and few of 14 and 15 years of age who had not com
pleted the eighth grade, were found working in canneries visited after
the local schools had opened. In many of the counties the schools
opened between the 7th and 15th of September and were in session
during the time the canneries were in operation; in several in the
southern part of the State they did not open until a week or two later.
In at least one town in this section of the State, where a large cannery

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IN D IAN A

was located, the opening of school was postponed until September 28
in order that children might work in the cannery. Several of the
cannery managers said that more children under 16 had been employed
before the beginning of the school term, and that after school started a
child was employed occasionally after school hours. The representa
tives of the bureau found a larger number of children under 16 em
ployed in canneries that they visited before school opened than in
canneries visited after school opened. In 20 canneries located in
towns where the date the local schools opened was ascertained and
which were visited before school opened, 10 per cent of the total num
ber were children under 16 as compared with 2 per cent in 18 canneries
visited after school opened. With few exceptions these children
under 16 were 14 years of age and had probably fulfilled the educational
requirements and if employed in accordance with the law were not
required to attend school.
Information as to school grade completed or last attended was
obtained for 479 of the 493 children under 16 and for 538 of the 661
children between 16 and 18 found at work in the Indiana canneries.
(Table 24.) Almost half (45 per cent) of the total number of minors
reporting their grades had entered high school, including 32 per cent
of the children under 16, and only 3 per cent had not attended or com
pleted the sixth grade. According to average standards children of 14
years of age are expected to have completed at least the seventh and
children of 15 at least the eighth grade. (See footnote 18a, p. 47.)
Eighty-eight per cent of the 171 children of 14 years of age who were
working in the Indiana canneries at the time of the survey and whose
grades were ascertained had attended or had completed the seventh
grade and 57 per cent had completed or at least attended the eighth
grade; and 78 per cent of the 272 children of 15 years of age had com
pleted or at least attended the eighth grade. The school attainment
of these children was in advance of that of cannery workers of the same
ages in Delaware and Maryland. One reason for this was that no
negro children and no migratory children of foreign parentage whose
school progress was found in both Delaware and Maryland to be
exceptionally poor were found among the Indiana children. The
school attainment of the minors between 16 and 18 in Indiana can
neries was also relatively high ; 57 per cent had attended high school,
of whom 34 per cent had attended or completed the second year, 18
per cent the third year, and 4 per cent the fourth year of high school.
T a b l e 24.— Last school grade attended or completed by boys and girls of specified
ages employed in Indiana canneries
Boys and girls employed
Grade and sex
Total

Under 14

14 years

15 years

16 years

17 years

T o ta l......................... ................... ...............

1,154

175

280

329

332

Total reported. . ...................................................

1,017

272

286

252

3
4

2
4
15
52
64
31
2

1
4
14
25
88
68
58
23
5

4
5
21
70
57
29
47
19

Under 5th grade......... ............_...................
5th grade.........................................................
6th grade....... ............................................. .
7th grade.........................................................
8th grade......................................................
9th g ra d e ........................................................
10th grade____________________ _______ _
U th grade______________________________
12th grade____________________ _________
High school; year not reported...............

81531°— 30-------6

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19
56
152
323
232
128
74
25

14
7
2

3
16
40
94
74
39
4

CHILDREN IN FRU IT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

• T able

24. — Last school grade attended or completed by boys and girls of specified
ages employed in Indiana canneries— Continued
Boys and girls employed
Grade and sex
Total

Under 14

14 years

15 years

16 years

17 years

N ot reported.............................. ......... ............... _

137

Boys........._....................... ........... .1_______

402

121

120

2
6
14
25
30
19
1

1
4
3
10
27
22
20
8
2

4
4
11
20
19
12
11
7

Total reported______ _____________________

342

• 52

Under 6th grade____ ______ ________ ____
5th grade_______________________________
6th grade - _________ ____________________
7th grade_______________________________
8th grade______ _________________________
9th grade ____________ ________________ _
10th grade______________________________
11th grad e-______________________ _____ _
12th grade__________________ _______
High school; year not reported________

3
13
20
48
92
85
51
20
9
1

1
1
1
2
2
1

1
2
6
11
18
13

N ot reported...................................... ...................

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

752

122

181

208

212

Total reported................... ................................. .

675

119

175

189

164

Under 5th grade_______ _________ ______
5th grade..................................... ....................
6th grade_________ ________ _ . _________
7th grade_______________________________
8th grade.........................................................
9th grade_____________________________
10th grade_______________ _______________
11th grade....................... ...............................
12th grade__________ ___________________

4
6
36
104
231
147
77
54
16

2
3
5
12
5
1

1
2
9
41
46
18
2

1
1
10
26
69
44
20
3
1

11
15
61
46
38
15
3

1
10
50
38
17
36
12

N ot rep orted ........................................................

C ER TIF IC ATIO N OF M IN O R S
EXTENT

Although the Indiana child labor law provides that all minors
between 14 and 18 must obtain certificates for employment in can
neries,17 certificates were not found on file for 640 of the 1,154 minors
under 18 employed in the canneries visited. (Table 25.) Certifi
cates were found for a slightly larger porportion of minors under 16
than of those between 16 and 18— 48 per cent as compared with 44
per cent. Thirty-three canneries had no certificates on file, and only
16 had certificates for all minors of certificate age who were found at
Work.
17 Under the rules and regulations prescribed for the enforcement of the law, three types of certificates are
issued in Indiana, the “ employment certificate” for minors under 16 leaving school for full-time employ
ment, the “ vacation and holiday employment certificate,” for children under 16 desiring to work outside
school hours only, and the “ minor’s certificate of age,” issued to all minors over 16 for work at any time.
(See p. 61.)
'

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IN D IAN A

25.— Number of canneries visited employing minors under 18 years of age,
number employing minors under 18 years of age without employment certifi
cates, and number of minors of specified ages employed without employment
certificates in canneries in certain counties of Indiana

T able

Canneries
visited em' ploying mi
nors under 18
years

Minors under 18 years employed

County
Em
ploying
minors
Total
without
certi
ficates

T o ta l..
Bartholomew.
Blackford___
Boone_______
Clark________
C lay-------------Crawford____
Daviess______
Delaware____
Dubois______
Floyd________
Fountain____
Franklin_____
Gibson_______
G r a n t ....____
Ham ilton___
Hancock_____
Harrison_____
Hendrick____
H enry_______
Howard_____
Jackson______
Jay....................
Jefferson.____
Jennings_____
Johnson______
K nox________
M adison_____
M arion______
Marshall_____
M organ______
Perry________
Pike_________
Posey________
Pulaski......... ..
Putnam_____
Randolph___
R ush........ .......
Scott..............
Shelby_______
Spencer______
Sullivan.:____
Tipton_______
Vermillion___
Vigo-------------W ashington..

Under 18 years

Total

16 years,
under 18

14 years,
under 16

Under 14 years

W ith
W ith
W ith
W ith
out cer Total out cer Total out cer Total out cer
tificates
tificates
tificates
tificates

1,154

640

661

368

455

239

3
1
2
2
1
1
1
6
1
2
1
1
1
4
3
4
2
1
3
1
4
1
3
1
5
1
11
3
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
3
4
1
2
4
1
1
1

3
1
1
2
1
1
1
5

27
12
7
49
21
7
6
17
22
15
13
10
7
21
11
11
28
22
29
4
245
3
17
27
37
20
65
28
3
34
29
12
1
2
7
7
14
170
17
2
9
26
25
1
14

20
4
2
41
6
7
3
9

20
12
6
23
21
5
5
17

16
4
2
15
6
5
2
9

1
24

2
1

13
7
10
1
11
9
7
25
8
8
2
35

5
12
8

5
7
8

16
9
7
18
14
12
3
116
3
11
18
30
17
44
23
3
16
1
10

9
7
3
16
4
5
1
16

1
6
7
8
83
9

1
1
6
7
72
9

7
15
19
1

7
7
19
1

2
1
1
1
3
3
3
2
1
3
1
4
2
1
4
1
10
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
3
3
1
2
3
1
1

13
6
23
12
58
3
3
20
28
6
2
1
6
13
150
15
2
9
16
25
1

7
3
16
10
38
3
3
11
1
6

22
10
1
2
7
5
2
4
9
8
17
1
124

8
2
1
2
2
4
8
4
3
1
16

3
9
6
3
20
5

3
3
6
2
19

17
22
2
1
1
1

8
21

1
6

6
80
7
2
2
4
5

6
72
5
2
2
2
5

7
1

6
1

7
1

These violations of the. certificate law were well scattered through
the State; they were found in 82 of the 98 canneries employing
minors under 18, and these canneries were located in 41 of the 45
counties having canneries in which minors under 18 were found
employed. (Table 25.) Some variation appeared between different
establishments and between different parts of the State. In the 11
southern counties previously mentioned (see p. 63), violations of
the certificate law were found in 18 of the 21 canneries employing
minors of certificate age, whereas in the 11 east central counties with

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CHILDREN IN F R U IT AND VEG ETABLE C ANNERIES

which these southern counties previously have been compared, viola
tions were found in 39 of the 48 canneries. Measured by the propor
tion of minors employed without certificates, the record of the east
central counties is again better than that of the southern group as a
whole, if the figures for one county in the latter group (Jackson) be
excluded. This county, the canneries of which employed the largest
number of children (245) of all those visited, had an unusually large
percentage of children on certificates— 86 per cent as compared with 25
per cent for the 10 other counties in the southern group and with 38
per cent in the east central group. In the second largest child-employ
ing county in the State (Scott County), also in the southern group, only
12 per cent of its 170 children under 18 were working on certificates.
Most of the Indiana canners appeared to be familiar with the fact
that certificates were required for workers under 18, and in the majority
o f the canneries some effort was made to comply with the certificate
law. In a number of establishments the management was found to be
careful about refusing employment to children without certificates,
although as one canner, in whose cannery five minors of 16 and 17
were employed and one girl of 17 was found at work without a cer
tificate, expressed it, “ occasionally some slip in in spite of all our
vigilance.” One company operating three canneries, though it kept
detailed records of all minors under 21 employed in its plants, required
that documentary proof of age be obtained and filed for each employee
under 18, and had ruled that “ children under 16 must not be employed
under any circumstances,” nevertheless in two of its plants had
employed some minors without certificates, including a few children
under 16.
.
Other canneries were not so careful. Several canners admitted that
although the children were told to get certificates, they allowed them
to work while waiting for them. One canner said that he had in
structed all applicants to get certificates^ but that some had been
unable to do so because of failure to establish their age and that as he
was so short of help he permitted them to work anyhow. A few
canners, although they appeared to know the law, had not even
asked the children for certificates. But in most cases failure to have
certificates on file seemed to be due more to carelessness than to any
opposition to the law or desire to disregard it. Reports like the fol
lowing from the investigators’ notes illustrate this attitude:
Means to conform with the law, but in the rush and confusion of getting
started two girls 17 years of age are working without age certificates.
This is a new cannery. Mr. — has been so busy getting started that he has
neglected to ask the children to get certificates. Agent explained State regulations
to M r. — , who said that he would proceed at once to get necessary certificates.
Everyone was rushed and all help available was being used and they had no
time to take care of certificates or inquire ages. * * * They knew the legal
requirements and apologized for their course of action, but M r.
said he did not
see what else could be done as the crop this year was so large and they wanted to
get as much canned as possible.

A few employers attributed the violations of the certificate law to the
difficulty of obtaining certificates in their locality. One canner
complained that some of the children employed by him had to go 18
miles to get certificates. Another explained that the children m his
cannery had no certificates because they were required to go for them
to the county seat, some 10 miles away, but the bureau agent later
learned that an issuing officer was located in the town where the cannery

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IN D IAN A

was. One cannery was in a town on the boundary line between two
counties and the children living on both sides of the line had to go to
their respective county seats for certificates— in one case the distance
being so great that the management considered it too great a hardship
to require the children to go. In a number of other cases the distance
of the cannery from the issuing office was a probable reason for the fact
that children had no certificates. A few canners complained that the
county or local school superintendent made it difficult for the children
to obtain certificates because it was too much trouble and he was not
paid for it.
In a very few cases the canners seemed to be ignorant of the exist
ence of the certificate law. One or two managers said they had never
seen a certificate. In most of these establishments the manager had
obtained a statement from the parents giving their consent to their
children’s employment in the cannery and usually containing a
statement of age.
Under the certificate law and the rules and regulations established
for its administration, issuing officers are authorized to issue minors’
certificates to all minors applying for them between 18 and 21 years of
age, and the majority of the issuing officers interviewed by the repre
sentatives of the bureau stated that they issued such certificates to
minors 18 and over from time to time. The use of these certificates is
optional with employers, however, and only a few canners seem to have
taken advantage of this method of protecting themselves against the
employment of minors who misrepresent their ages.
IS S U IN G O F F IC E R S

Under the child labor law of Indiana employment certificates are
issued by the local superintendent of schools in all cities and incor
porated towns having boards of school trustees or by some person
designated by him in writing, and in all other school corporations by
the county superintendent of schools or by someone he may designate
in writing, but no one can be so designated by the city or county
superintendents of schools without the approval of the State attend
ance officer. Representatives of the Children’s Bureau interviewed
113 issuing officers (45 of whom issued for the county and 68 for local
communities only) in 59 counties in' which canneries were visited.
Eighty-five of these issuing officers, in 42 counties, issued in localities
where children were found in the canneries. In the great majority of
cases the issuing for the county was done by the county superintendent
himself, although in 6 counties, most of them relatively well popu
lated, the county attendance officer had been designated as issuing
officer and in another the issuing was done by the secretary to the
superintendent. In the cities and towns in which local issuing officers
were visited, somewhat less than two-thirds of the local superintend
ents served in that capacity and in a number of these places most or
all of the actual work of issuing was done by the superintendent’s
secretary or an office clerk. In nine communities the local attend
ance officer had been designated as issuing officer and in five relatively
large communities the work had been assigned to the vocational
director of the public schools. In two large cities regular issuing
officers had been especially appointed, and in one place an officer
combined the duties of issuing certificates and taking the school

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CHILDREN IN FR U IT AND VEGETABLE C ANNERIES

census. In one small community a school principal was the issuing
officer, and in another a teacher. In another the work was done by
the president -of the local school board, a business man, in another,
by the president of the board of children’s guardians, a lawyer; in
two small towns certificates were issued by township trustees, both
local business men; and in one small village located at some distance
from the county seat the night watchman of the cannery had been
appointed to issue vacation certificates and minors’ certificates of
age for the cannery. These last five named were the only issuing
officers interviewed who were not connected with the public-school
system in a full-time salaried capacity.
R E Q U IR E M E N T S F O R IS S U A N C E

Evidence of age.

The Indiana child labor law is specific in its requirement that the
best proof of age available be obtained for all children issued certifi
cates for employment. This requirement, which is the same for
certificates of all kinds— regular, vacation, and minors’ certificates of
age (see p. 61)—is similar to that prescribed under the former Federal
child labor laws. It provides that the issuing officer shall require in
the following order (a) a birth certificate, (b) a baptismal certificate,
(c) a bona fide contemporary Bible record of the minor’s birth or
other documentary evidence (except school record or parent’s
affidavit) satisfactory to the State industrial board, such as a certifi
cate of arrival in the United States, a passport, or an insurance policy
(this evidence to be at least one year old, or in the case of an insurance
policy at least four years old), or (d) a certificate of physical age sworn
to by public-health or public-school physician or by the superintendent
of schools, corroborated by a parent’s affidavit as to the child’s age
and the record of age as given in the register of school first attended
by the child or in any school census if obtainable. The law provides
that the issuing officer shall require a birth certificate in preference
to any other type of evidence “ and shall not accept evidence of age
permitted by any later paragraph unless he shall receive and file
evidence that the proof of age required in the preceding paragraph or
paragraphs can not be obtained.” 18
A careful check of the evidence of age upon which certificates had
been issued to minors in the Indiana canneries was made by repre
sentatives of the bureau, and each of the 113 issuing officers inter
viewed was questioned regarding his practice in obtaining proof of age.
Indiana has had good birth registration for a number of years, and
the State industrial board, in its instructions to issuing officers, has
emphasized the necessity of obtaining the best possible evidence.
For 358 (71 per cent) of the 503 minors working on certificates for
whom information as to proof of age accepted by the issuing officer
was found on the certificates, birth records constituted the proof of
age accepted by the issuing officers. Only 7 children had been issued
certificates on the evidence of baptismal records, 26 on Bible or other
family records, 23 on insurance policies, and 56 (11 per cent of the
cases) on evidence “ d,” that is, a certificate of physical age, accom
panied by the parent’s affidavit and the school record. For 20 of
these 56 birth records were found by the agents of the Children’s
Bureau, for 3 others baptismal records, for 1 an insurance policy, and

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IN D IA N A

for 10 Bible or other family records. Better evidence of age than
that accepted by the issuing officers was found by the Children’s
Bureau for 52 cases in all, constituting about one-tenth of the total
number of children for whom certificates were on file, and including
34 of the 56 cases in which the issuing officers had accepted the lowest
grade of evidence permitted by the law. In only 11 of the 503 cases,
however, was the birth date entered on the child’s certificate by the
issuing officer different from that obtained by the agents of the bureau.
In 10 of these cases the children were found to be younger than the
ages accepted by the issuing officers, 4 of them being under legal
working age, although 14 was the age entered on the certificate.
In 27 cases the record showed that insufficient evidence had been
accepted, such as a school enumeration record, school record, school
record and parent’s statement, or parent’s statement alone. Twelve
of these certificates had been issued by one officer, who admitted
that he never attempted to obtain a birth record or any other kind
of legal documentary evidence. He had issued ah certificates on
the lowest grade of proof legally acceptable, that is, the parent’s
affidavit, a school record, and a certificate of physical age, the latter
in some cases signed by a physician but in many cases by himself.
Another officer had issued four certificates and another three, only
9 officers issuing the 27 certificates on insufficient evidence. In
most of these cases the mistakes appear to have been unintentional,
due to carelessness in issuing or to inexperience.
All except two of the issuing officers interviewed said that they
always dried to obtain a birth certificate before accepting another
type of evidence, though a few made this attempt only in the case
of children born in the county. The majority said they followed
the law in refusing to accept proof of a lower order before making
an effort to obtain evidence of the higher grades in the order pre
scribed, but a number stated that they issued certificates on only
two kinds of evidence, the birth certificate and the certificate of
physical age, school record, and parent’s affidavit. Some said the
difficulty of obtaining baptismal records or other types of docu
mentary evidence acceptable under the law caused them to accept
less satisfactory evidence and others that their failure to require
such records was due to the fact that they placed no confidence
in their accuracy. For the most part, however, it would appear
that the issuance of so large a proportion of the certificates on “ a ”
or “ d ” evidence might be attributed primarily to the trouble and
delay involved in getting baptismal and other documentary evi
dence compared with getting birth records from the county health
officer or a certificate of physical age (which the superintendent
was allowed by law to sign himself) accompanied by a parent’s
affidavit and a school record. As has been said, the agents of the
Children’s Bureau found documentary evidence that would have
been acceptable under the Indiana law for 34 of the 56 minors for
whom certificates had been issued on evidence “ d.” Baptismal
records were found by the bureau for 16 children of whom 8 had
been issued certificates on inferior types of evidence. Even in the
case of birth records, which the issuing officers very generally
attempted to obtain, the birth record was the type of evidence
accepted for only 71 per cent of the certificated minors, whereas
the Children’s Bureau found birth records for 80 per cent. The

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CHILDREN* IN FRtJIT AND VEG ETA B LE CANNERIES

difference appeared to be due at least in part to the fact that some
issuing officers apparently make little effort, if any, to obtain birth
records for children bom in other States, or even in Indiana outside
their own counties. In several cases, moreover, issuing officers
complained to bureau agents of the difficulty of obtaining birth
certificates in their own counties, or said they were in doubt as to
the reliability of the county' health officer’s search for birth records.
However, as the handbook of rules and regulations issued by the
State industrial board specifically informs issuing officers,19 birth
records for all children in the State can be obtained from the office
of the State board of health.
Proof o f physical fitness.

The Indiana child labor law provides that proof of physical fitness
based on a physical examination made by “ a school health officer
or a public health officer” should be a prerequisite for the employ
ment of “ any minor subject to the employment certificate law,”
that is, of any minor going to work between the ages of 14 and 18.
However, under the authority given the State industrial board
and the State board of attendance to prescribe forms and make
rules and regulations for the issuance of certificates “ which are not
inconsistent with the provisions of law,” these authorities have
specifically stated in their instructions to issuing officers regarding
the use of forms given them for the administration of the law that
the physical-examination blank and certificate of physical fitness
apply only to the “ employment certificate,” that is, the regular
certificate which releases children between 14 and 16 years of age
from school for work. Not many certificates of this sort are issued
in Indiana nowadays 20 and only a few of the children found at work
in the Indiana canneries for whom certificates were on file were
found to be working on regular employment certificates— almost
all of those under 16 for whom certificates had been issued being
employed on vacation certificates, and those between 16 and 18
on minors’ certificates. Under the State rules and regulations,
physical examinations were thus required for only a negligible
number of the minors employed in the Indiana canneries, although
a few issuing officers stated that they did in fact require a physical
examination of applicants for all kinds of certificates or of all appli
cants under 16. Although the canning season is relatively short
and most of the work performed by children in canneries does not
require great physical effort, some minors were found employed at
relatively arduous tasks (see p. 66), and the long hours worked by
many (see p. 68) together with the strain incidental to rush produc
tion, make the cannery a place of work decidedly unsuitable except
for persons whose health and physical vigor are unquestionable.
This is of course especially true with regard to workers who have
not reached physical maturity. The requirement of a certificate
of physical fitness is therefore especially desirable for the protection
of young workers in canneries. Whether the State authorities
had power to exempt applicants for vacation certificates and minors’
” Laws Relating to the Em ploym ent of W om en and Children and Rules and Regulations for Issuing
Certificates. Issued b y the Industrial Board of Indiana, Department of W om en and Children, 1923, p.
53.
2« In the year ending September, 1925 (the year of the Children’s Bureau inquiry), the State industrial
board received duplicates of only 1,212 employment certificates, as compared with 5,736 vacation and
holiday certificates, and 14,179minors’ certificates of age. (Year Book of the State of Indiana for the year
1925, p. 84. Indianapolis, 1925.)

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IN D IAN A

certificates of age in face of the apparent intention of the Indiana
child labor law to include all young workers under the ‘provision
of the law requiring a physical examination before issuance of work
permits is open to serious question, but at any rate by so doing they
have relieved the issuing officers of all legal obligation to see that a
test of physical fitness is given applicants for summer work in the
canneries.
Other.

Although the Indiana law provides that the parent or guardian of
a child under 18 applying for an employment certificate shall appear
with the child before the issuing officer, and the latter must certify
to that fact over his signature on all certificates issued, few of the
issuing officers reported that they required the parent to make a
personal appearance in all cases, and the majority of them di not
require it in the case of vacation certificates or minor’s certificates
of age. Some required the parent to appear only if the child was
under 16. On the form that is furnished by the industrial board
for the “ minor’s certificate of age” — used for minors over 16 no
statement is made that the parent has actually appeared, but this
statement is made on the forms used for minors under 16 for both
regular and vacation certificates. In many of the cases where the
issuing officer did not require the parent to appear the certificate or
some other paper was sent home to the parents to sign, and in other
cases the issuing officer called the parents up on the telephone and
asked if they wanted the child to work. In some cases the issuing
officer said that he did not require the parents to appear if he knew
them. Other defects in issuing were noted on a number of the
certificates, but most of them were of little importance, such as the
omission of the number of the certificate, the date of issuance, or
of information as to the child’s color or sex.
S T A T E S U P E R V IS IO N

Although in Indiana the State has no direct supervision over the
issuing of employment certificates, the law places upon State agencies
certain responsibilities which give them considerable indirect power in
this respect. These are as follows: (1) The right to approve issuing
officers designated by the local school superintendents; (2) the right
to prescribe forms and make rules and regulations for the issuing of
certificates; (3) the requirement that copies of all certificates issued
be filed with the State industrial board.21
. . .
In order “ to promote uniformity and efficiency” in administering
the law it is provided that employment certificates shall be issued in
such form and under such rules and regulations as shall be adopted
from time to time by the State industrial board and the State board of
attendance. An unusually well-planned set of forms to be used in
the issuance of certificates, as well as detailed rules and regulations,
has been prepared, and these, together with a number of useful
suggestions to issuing officers, attendance officers, and employers,
are published and distributed widely throughout the State by the
industrial board. Members of the staff of the department of women
and children of the State industrial board visit the issuing officers
from time to time when they are making inspections in the locality.
An effort is made to inspect all canneries at least once during the

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CHILDREN IN FRU IT AND VEG ETABLE CANNERIES

season by inspectors of the department of women and children of the
State industrial board. But with a staff of not more than two
inspectors and the responsibility for enforcing all the laws relating to
the employment of women and minors throughout the State it is not
possible for them to supervise carefully the methods of issuing
certificates. A considerable number of the issuing officers, however,
reported that an inspector called upon them about once a year, or
once in two or three years.
Undoubtedly the most effective provision for securing compliance
with the certificate Jaw and uniformity in procedure throughout the
State has been the requirement that issuing officers send duplicates of
all certificates issued to the State industrial board. Apparently this
requirement is now rather generally complied with throughout the
State. A few of the issuing officers in the smaller communities
visited said that they did not send in their duplicates as soon as the
law required. However, the industrial board receives annually
about 29,000 duplicates,22 all of which are examined carefully and those
with errors returned to the issuing officers for correction. If correc
tions are not made, it becomes necessary for the board to revoke the
certificates, and to notify the employer and employee as well as the
certificating officer that this has been done. Revoking certificates,
as the industrial board points out, “ works a hardship on both the
employer and employee on account of a condition over which they
have no control,” 23 and the board is justifiably gratified in being able
to point out a decrease in the number of certificates revoked in the
years following the inauguration of the present system of certificating
under the child labor law of 1921, as “ indicating better than anything
else the improvement in the issuance of certificates./ Most of the
issuing officers visited by representatives of the Children’s Bureau
stated that they had at times received certificates back for correction
or had received criticisms and suggestions about their methods of
issuing, and in at least one or two of the cases where no certificates
had been returned, the work of issuing appeared to be so well done
that the industrial board in all probability had found no errors. A
number of the issuing officers, moreover, reported that the industrial
board was “ very strict,” “ very particular regarding small details,”
“ returned cards for smallest error,” etc., thus indicating the care with
which the industrial board checks up on the issuance throughout the
State. Some of the issuing officers also reported that they consulted
the industrial board, chiefly through correspondence, on various
questions that came up in connection with the work of issuing certifi
cates. The pamphlet containing the rules and regulations, etc.,
distributed by the board to the issuing officers throughout the State,
calls attention to the fact that all questions relating to the certificate
law may be referred to the board. Failure to take full advantage
of the opportunity of consulting by letter with the State board was
doubtless in some cases due to the fact that the issuing officer was
new at the work and in others to the fact that he had so many other
duties and so few children applied for certificates that he had not
given much attention to the matter of issuing.
22 The number received in each of the years from 1924 to 1927, inclusive, has been between 29,000 and
30,000. Reports of the Department of Wom en and Children of the Industrial Board of the State of Indiana
contained in the Indiana Year-Books for 1924 (p. 472), 1925 (p. 82), 1926 (p. 558), and 1927 (p. 187).
22 Report of Industrial Board of the State of Indiana for the year ending September 30, 1923, p. 10.

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IN D IAN A

SU M M ARY

Indiana ranks fifth among the States in the canning of fruits and
vegetables according to the average number of wage earners employed.
Tomatoes are the principal crop canned, but the State also ranks
hio-h in the canning of beans, corn, hominy, pumpkin and squash,
and kraut. Agents of the Children’s Bureau visited 125 of the 202
canneries in the State, of which 97 were working only on tomatoes
and tomato products and 15 were canning only corn- at the time of
the visits.
1
. .
i
. i. i .
Most of the labor for the canneries visited was white and lived in
the vicinity of the canneries. Two canneries provided sleeping
quarters.
Minors under 18 found at work in 98 canneries numbered 1,154— 8
per cent of the total number of workers in these canneries. They
included 493 children under 16, who were 4 per cent of the total
workers.
Sixty-seven per cent of the workers under 16 and 64 per cent ol
those between 16 and 18 were girls.
Thirty-eight, less than 8 per cent of the working children under 16,
were under 14 years of age, the legal minimum for employment in
any industrial occupation in Indiana. These children worked in
17 canneries.
Seventy-four per cent of the children under 16 and 71 per cent of
the minors between 16 and 18 were in canneries packing only tomatoes
or tomato products.
Of the girls under 16, 83 per cent were tomato peelers and most ol
the remainder trimmed, sorted, or packed tomatoes, inspected,
sorted, trimmed, or husked corn, snipped beans, piled and stacked
cans, capped, washed, or polished bottles, or inspected labels, or were
can girls. Of the girls of 16 and 17, 66 per cent were tomato peelers;
the remainder did work similar to that of girls under 16.
Of the boys under 16, 21 per cent were can boys and 14 per cent
were tomato peelers, sorters, or packers or corn sorters or trimmers;
13 per cent removed cans from closing machines and piled them in
crates, 8 per cent packed, piled, and stacked filled cans, and the
remainder trucked, made or labeled boxes, inspected cans, lifted and
stacked boxes, cleaned up floors, carried water, and did various
other jobs. Boys between 16 and 18 did much the same kind of
work, though in many cases their work was heavier than that of the
younger boys. Only 7 boys under 16, but 24 of those between 16 and
18, operated machines.
Forty-four per cent of the working minors reported upon were
boys under 16 or girls under 18 who were employed more than 8
hours a day in violation of the provisions of the Indiana child labor
law. Seventy-five per cent of the boys and girls under 16, all of
whom are affected by the 8 hour law, had worked more than 8 hours
a day. Violations of this provision were found in 82 of the 98 can
neries employing, minors of the ages to which the law applied. Fortysix per cent of the children under 16 worked 10 hours or longer, and
13 per cent 12 hours or longer. Fifty-one per cent of the minors of
16 and 17 years of age worked at least 10 hours, and 17 per cent 12
hours or longer.
Fifty-four of 58 children under 16, and 20 of 32 girls between 16
and 18, for whom a week’s time records were obtained, for all of

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CHILDREN IN FRU IT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

whom work for more than 48 hours a week is prohibited by the
Indiana child labor law, had worked more than 48 hours.
Forty-two per cent of the children under 16 and 25 per cent of the
girls between 16 and 18 had been employed during the season of
1925 between 7 p. m. and 6 a. m., contrary to the provisions of the
child labor law. These violations were found in 43 of the 98 canner
ies employing minors subject to the night-work provisions of the
law. Seven per cent of the night workers had worked at least 6
nights. Eighteen of the children-working at night were under 14
years of age.
Cannery work appeared to interfere little with school attendance.
Few children of compulsory school ages were found at work in
canneries visited after the date on which the local schools opened.
Employment certificates were found on file for only 514 of the
1,154 minors under 18 at work in the canneries visited (45 per cent
of those under 16 and 44 per cent of those between 16 and 18), al
though the child labor law requires certificates for all employed
minors between 14 and 18. Thirty-three of the 98 canneries had no
certificates for working minors under 18.
Seventy-one per cent of the certificates had been issued on birth
records, the type of evidence required under the law, if available.
The Children’s Bureau, however, found that legally preferable evi
dence of age to that accepted was available for 10 per cent of the
certificated children. According to the documentary evidence ob
tained by the Children’s Bureau, 10 of the 514 minors with certificates
were younger than the age certified on the permit.
Seventy per cent of the children under 16 were at work in 11 coun
ties in the southern part of the State as contrasted with 17 per cent
in 11 east central counties, although the southern counties gave em
ployment to only 22 per cent of the total number of workers reported
in the canneries visited in the State whereas the 11 east central
counties employed 43 per cent of all the workers reported. In the
11 southern counties were found also a considerably larger percentage
of minors under 16 and between 16 and 18 employed in violation of
the maximum-hour standards than in the 11 east central counties
and (if one county where an unusually large percentage of children
were found to have certificates is omitted) a larger percentage of
minors employed in violation of the employment-certificate standards.
On the other hand, a slightly smaller proportion of the workers under
18 in the 11 southern counties were employed in violation of the
night work law than was the case in the 11 east central counties.
Although the State has no direct authority over the issuance of
employment certificates, the law places upon State agencies certain
responsibilities that give them a good deal of indirect power in this
respect. Chief among these is the right of the State industrial
board and the State board of attendance to prescribe forms and make
rules and regulations for the issuance of certificates, and the require
ment that copies of all certificates issued be filed with the State
industrial board. Through the exercise of these powers, especially
through the careful checking of duplicate certificates in the office of
the State industrial board, considerable uniformity was found in the
issuing practice thoughout the State.

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MARYLAND
IN T R O D U C T IO N

Maryland for years has been an important center for the canning
of vegetables, fruits, and sea foods of many kinds. Oyster packing
was started in Baltimore as early as 1841 and was followed in the
next decade by the canning of fruits and vegetables.1 To-day Mary
land is still one of the principal canning States, ranking third accord
ing to the average number of wage earners employed during the year
in the canning and preserving of fruits and vegetables.2 Canning is
one of the most important industries in the State, ranking third
according to the value of the products and second according to the
average number of wage earners employed.3 More than 25,000
persons were reported as employed in the industry on September 15,
.1925, at the peak of the canning season.4
In no other State in which the Children’s Bureau has conducted
inquiries (see p. 3) does the canning industry have such a large
percentage of children among its employees, not even the State of
Delaware, where children may be employed in canneries at 12 years of
age, two years younger than the minimum age under the Maryland
law. Although many children work in the canneries only a few weeks
during the year, no single manufacturing industry in the State employs
so many as the canning industry, as is shown by a comparison of the
number of employment certificates issued under the Maryland child
labor law for cannery work with those issued for employment in other
industries.5
Child labor in Maryland canneries has been the subject of study and
comment for many years. In the report of an inquiry into the employ
ment of women and children in the Maryland canneries made by the
United States Bureau of Labor in 1911, the statement was made that—
The most impressive thing about the Maryland canneries visited was the
large number of children at work, a great many of them, apparently, under 12
years of age, some of them unquestionably and often admittedly under 11.®

The author of this report estimated that the children in the canneries
visited “ were nearly as numerous as the women,” 7 who totaled
3,624 in the 42 establishments included in the study.8 When this
1 A History of the Canning Industry (Souvenir of the 7th Annual Convention of the National Canners
and Allied Associations, Baltimore, February 2 to 7, 1914), pp. 8, 9. Published b y The Canning Trade,
Baltimore, M d ., 1914.
2 Census of Manufactures, 1925, Canning and Preserving, pp. 22-23. U . S. Bureau of the Census. W ash
ington, 1927.
8 Census of Manufactures, 1925, Statistics for Industries, States and Cities, pp. 51-52. U . S. Bureau of the
Census. Washington, 1927.
4 Census of Manufactures, 1925, Canning and Preserving, p. 8.
8 See annual reports of the Commissioner of Labor and Statistics of M aryland. In 1925, the year of the
bureau’s inquiry, 2,090 children (including 1,863 in the counties and 227 in Baltimore City) were certificated
for work in canneries, 1,743 in the clothing industry being the next largest number certificated for work in
any single manufacturing industry. (Computed from Tables 6 (pp. 22-23) and 5a (p. 41), Thirty-fourth
Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor and Statistics of M aryland.)
« Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor (U . S Department of Commerce and Labor), N o . 96, September. 1911
p . 353. Washington, 1912.
’
1 1bid., p. 469.
8 Ibid., p, 349,

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C H IL D R E N

F R U IT

AND

VEGETABLE

C A N N E R IE S

inquiry was made, there was practically no legal regulation in Mary
land outside Baltimore City of the work of children in canneries,9
but soon afterwards a new State child labor law10was passed prohibit
ing the employment of children under 12 in canneries and requiring
employment certificates for those between 12 and 16. The passage of
this law (which became operative on December 1, 1912) was followed
by marked efforts on the part of the State authorities in the face of
many difficulties to work out an adequate program of enforcement in
the canning counties.
A second Federal inquiry as to the employment of children in
Maryland canneries was made by the Children’s Bureau in 1918,
seven years after the publication of the report of the Bureau of Labor,
and five years after the law regulating child labor in the Maryland
canneries became operative and a system of employment certificates
for the children in the county canneries had been inaugurated and
annual inspections of the canneries throughout the State had become
a routine procedure. The passage of the first Federal child labor
la w ,11 which became operative on September 1, 1917, and which in
effect prohibited the employment of children under 14 in canneries
throughout the country, and the passage of an amendment to the
Maryland child labor law,12 which became effective on June 1, 1918,
and which raised the minimum age for employment in the canneries
of the State to 14 years, thus conforming to the age standards of the
Federal law, had further discouraged the employment of young
children in the canneries. The Federal law was declared unconstitu
tional on June 3,1918, several months before the survey made by the
bureau, but the change in the State law was, of course, still effective.
Violations of the minimum-age provisions of the State child labor law,
however, were found in 172 of the 205 canneries inspected. Of 1,728
children found employed 741 were under 14 years; 230 were under 12,
75 under 10, and 29 under 8. (See also p. 100.) Moreover, the num
ber of children reported in this second survey was known to be much
less than the number actually employed because many children were
hurried out of the canneries on the approach of the inspectors.13
In 1911, when there was no legal reason why the children should not
be at work in the canneries, this does not seem to have been done.
A third general inspection of the Maryland canneries by Federal
agents was made in 1920 by inspectors operating under the United
States child labor tax law.14 This law, by imposing a tax of 10 per
cent upon the net profits for the entire year of any cannery employing
children under 14 years of age, should by the severity of the penalty
it imposed have proved a most effective deterrent to the employment
of young children. Of 441 children under 16 found employed in the
53 canneries inspected in this year, however, 250 were under 14,15 a
0 The child labor law in effect before 1912 (Laws of 1906, ch. 192) exempted from its provisions all establish
ments in the counties (i. e., outside the city of Baltimore) between June 1 and October 15, the exemption
thus covering practically all the canning season. There was a law fixing a maximum 10-hour day (Code
1903, art. 27, sec. 217) for children under 16, the enforcement of which was placed under the bureau of statistics
and information in 1910 (Laws of 1910, ch. 607), which applied to “ any manufacturing business or factory”
in any part of the State, but this did not specifically mention canneries.
10 M d ., Laws of 1912, ch. 731.
11 Act of Sept. 1,1916, 39 Stat. 675, ch. 432.
12 M d ., Laws of 1918, ch. 495.
is* Administration of the First Federal Child Labor Law, pp. 95-97. United States Children’s Bureau
Publication N o. 78. Washington, 1921.
ii Act of Feb. 24, 1919, 40 Stat. 1138, ch. 18.
i« From unpublished records of the former child labor tax division, Bureau of Internal Revenue, U . S.
Treasury Department.

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M ARYLAND

larger proportion than was found in the establishments inspected in
the Federal inquiry of 1918. (See p. 100.)
Maryland still has lower standards of legal protection for child
workers in the canning industry than for child workers in other factory
occupations. The age minimum for this work has been the same as
for other occupations since 1918 and employment certificates have
been required for children employed in canneries since 1912, but
canning and packing establishments are still exempted from all
State regulations restricting the hours of labor of child and women
workers.16 For children under 16 employed in other manufacturing
and mercantile establishments and in most other occupations, the
Maryland law provides a maximum 8-hour day, 48-hour week, and
6-day week, and prohibits night work between 7 p. m. and 7 a. m.
T H E C AN N E R IES
L O C A T IO N , S IZ E , A N D P R O D U C T

The Canners’ Directory for 1925 lists 407 establishments canning
(including pickling and preserving) fruits and vegetables in Mary
land,17 33 of which were located in the city of Baltimore and the rest
in 20 of the 23 counties of the State. In the present study, made in
1925, information as to the number and conditions of child workers
was obtained through visits by bureau agents for 211 establishments,
including 198 in the counties and 13 in the city of Baltimore.
(Table 26.)
T a b l e 26.— Number of canneries visited, number employing children of specified
ages, number of persons and number of children of specified ages employed in
canneries in the city of Baltimore and certain counties of Maryland

Persons employed

Canneries visited

Under 16
years

Employing children
under 16 years

County or city

T otal......... Baltimore (city).

Harford__________

Talbot___________
Worcester..............

N ot
em
ploy
ing
chSTotal
Under Under dren
under
14
12
Total
16
years years
years

211

201

165

6
13
1
21
18
6
15
42
6
9
23
16
19
16

6
12
1
21
18
6
15
35
6
9
22
15
19
16

2
4
1
18
15
6
15
25
5
9
20
12
17
16

1
3
1
12
4
4
8
11
3
4
5
3
9
8

All
ages

Per cent
Per cent
N u m Per N u m of total N u m of total
ber
cent ber under 16 ber
under 16
years
years

10 16,379 1,564
1

7
1
1

209
2,294
18
1,824
2,024
342
1,492
1, 756
300
900
1,815
893
1,466
1,046

Under 14 years Under 12 years

17
50
■7
213
164
63
166
165
27
90
165
105
170
162

9.5

670

8.1
2.2

5
5
5
100
57
36
77
69
16
47
69
43
73
68

11.7
8.1
18.4
11.1
9.4
9.0
10.0
9.1
11.8
11.6
15.5

42.8
10.0
46.9
34.8
57.1
46.4
41.8
52.2
41.8
41.0
42.9
42.0

181
1
4
2
26
17
12
21
19
5
8
11
8
22
25

11.6
8.0
12.2
10.4
19.0
12.7
11.5
8.9
6.7
7.6
12.9
15.4

M The exemptions to the hour regulations for female employees extend only to fruit and vegetable
canneries.
17 Canners’ Directory, 1925, pp. 83-107. Compiled b y the National Canners Association, Washington,
D . C. The United States Census for 1925 lists 322 establishments engaged in the canning of these products.
The census statistics were, however, collected only from establishments reporting products valued at
$5,000 or more. (Census of Manufactures, 1925, Canning and Preserving, pp. 2, 22.)

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C H IL D R E N

F R U IT

AND

VEGETABLE

C A N N E R IE S

The canneries visited were in all the principal canning counties of
the State, including all the counties on the Eastern Shore (the section
of Maryland which lies east of Chesapeake Bay), three counties north
of Baltimore City (Harford, Baltimore, and Carroll), and Anne
Arundel County south of Baltimore. The visits were made between
August 18 and September 30, 1925, and all but 21 establishments were
seen in September, the peak month in the Maryland canning industry.
The principal crops canned in Maryland are tomatoes, corn, beans,
and peas. Many of the Maryland canneries put up a number of
different kinds of vegetables and fruits at different seasons of the
year, but at the season of the bureau inquiry almost all the 211 visited
were canning tomatoes or com. (Table 27.) One hundred and
eighty-five, including all those visited in 9 counties (Anne Arundel,
Baltimore, Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Somerset, Talbot, and
Worcester), were canning nothing but tomatoes; 15 (5 in Harford
County and 10 in Carroll County) only com ; and 3 (2 in Baltimore
City and 1 in Carroll County) both tomatoes and corn. Three were
putting up string beans and 3 lima beans in addition to tomatoes or
corn, or both, and 1 (in Carroll County) was canning string beans
only.
T a b l e 27.— Number of canneries visited, number employing children of specified
ages, number of persons and number of children of specified ages employed upon
certain products being canned at time of visit in Maryland canneries
Canneries visited

Product

Persons employed

Employing
children
under 16 years

N ot
em
ploying
Total
chil
dren
under
Total Under
14 years 16 years

Under 16 years Under 14 years
All
ages

Percent
N um
Per N u m of total
ber
c e n t1 ber
under
16 years*

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

211

201

165

16,379

1,564

9.5

670

42.8

Tomatoes only______ ______ _________
Tomatoes and tomato products...
Corn__________________
Lima beans_______
M ore than one product:
Tomatoes and corn____
Tomatoes and green and wax
beans___________
Tomatoes and lima beans___
Tomatoes, corn, and green and
wax b e a n s..................
Corn and green and wax beans..

185
1
15
i

176

149

9
1

13,100
77

1,366

10.4

620

45.4

15
i

325

3.1

2
1

2
i

244
125

6
12

2 5
9.6

2
1

625
in

31
3

5 0
2.7

11
2

7.6

22.6
1
1

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

Not only is the tomato crop the chief canning crop of the State, but
Maryland leads all the States in the canning of this crop and produces
more than one-third of the tomatoes canned in the United States.
Fully four-fifths of the workers and at least 87 per cent of the children
in the canneries visited were engaged in work on tomatoes. The
visits were made, however, at the peak of the tomato-canning season,
and the 1925 tomato crop was an unusually large one. Had the
survey been made earlier in the season doubtless a larger number of
the canneries would have been working on corn, for com is included

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among the products of 99 of the 407 Maryland canneries listed in the
1925 Canners’ Directory, 40 of which were among those visited by the
bureau. The visits were also somewhat untimely for the work on
green beans, in the snipping of which many children find employment.
Maryland is one of the leading States in the canning of beans. Beans
are included among the products of 93 Maryland establishments
fisted in the 1925 Canners’ Directory, 41 of which were visited by the
bureau. On a visit to Baltimore canneries, early in October, 1926,
made for the purpose of obtaining photographs of children at work
on tomatoes and beans, 4 out of 5 establishments visited were found
to be canning beans, as compared with 2 of the 13 establishments
visited in August and September, 1925. The children at work in
these establishments at that time were not counted but a large number
of young children were observed, most of them snipping beans.
Baltimore, the birthplace of the canning industry in Maryland, is
still one of the most important canning centers of the State. Almost
all the Baltimore canneries are situated on the city water front where
in a few hours tomatoes from the farms of the Eastern Shore can be
delivered by barge to them. They are also within easy trucking
distance of the farms of Baltimore County and other near-by counties.
By canning a large variety of fruits and vegetables and in some cases
oysters, pork and beans, and other products many canneries can operate
throughout the year. The great majority of the Maryland canneries,
however, are in the tomato and com raising districts. Some o f these
small town or country canneries put up a variety of produce, and a
few run all through the year, but most commonly they can only one,
or at most two products (such as tomatoes, corn, tomatoes and com, or
tomatoes and heans), and are open only for the period in which the
particular crop or crops are in season, often not more than from five
to eight weeks. Half the Maryland canneries outside Baltimore
City fisted in the 1925 Canners’ Directory were reported as handling
only tomatoes, the canning season for which rarely lasts more than
six weeks.
E Q U I P M E N T A N D S A N IT A T IO N

Canneries in Baltimore are generally substantial buildings with
modern machinery and equipment. But the county canneries, which
compose the great majority in Maryland, are generally 1-story
frame buildings, whitewashed or unpainted and weather stained,
which can be distinguished from large sheds and bams only by their
tall smokestacks. The yards of many of those that were visited
were cluttered and untidy. Tomato waste had been dumped in piles
in the yard or left standing in the bins, old baskets were scattered
about, and the ground as a result of poor drainage was moist and ill
smelling.
Many of the Mainland canneries have but one building, occasionally
open on two sides, in which all the work of canning and packing takes
place. The larger ones have two or three buildings, including a ware
house for storing the product, which is usually more substantially
built than the main building. Usually the vegetables are prepared
and packed in the main building, but some canneries have a separate
shed or a platform with a roof over it where tomates are scalded and
peeled and corn is husked. In one corn cannery visited the corn was
81531°'—30-----7

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husked on the platform where it was dumped by the farm wagons,
with no roof or other shelter over it to protect the huskers from the
hot sun.
Information as to construction and equipment was obtained in this
study for 201 canneries in which children were employed. The main
building of more than two-fifths had .only one story; the others had
at least a loft for storing and handling empty cans. Facilities for
reaching the second story or the loft were often inadequate; 61 of 113
buildings having lofts or second stories had steps or stairs (though 15
had no railings and in others the railings were broken or the steps
narrow and far apart), 19 had only a ladder, and 2 had only an inclined
wooden plank. Poor lighting of stairways or ladders in several in
stances increased the possibility of danger.
In 109 canneries the floors in the workrooms of the main building
were of concrete and in 7 of wood. In most of the remaining ones the
floors in the workrooms where the tomatoes were scalded and peeled
were wood, but the floors in the workrooms where the vegetables were
packed were concrete. Warehouses and the second floors or lofts
also had wooden ones, loft floors often being so loosely constructed
that the heat and steam rose from below and completely enveloped the
workers.
In almost all canneries some special attention had been given to floor
construction. Ground floors generally had drains.18 Small gutters
under the peeling and packing tables into which the juice and other
waste from the tables dripped led into large gutters at the sides or in
the middle of the room and thence into a central drain outside the
building. Three canneries visited had no drainage system whatever,
10 others were drained only by holes and cracks in the wooden floors,
and 1 had only a slatted floor. Many floors were constructed to slope
toward the drains and this, as well as the running water which flowed
through the gutters, facilitated the drainage process.
In many tomato canneries bits of skin, seeds, and other vegetable
waste, and in corn canneries the milk from the kernels, dropped on the
floor and mixing with the water and vegetable juice made the floors
wet and slippery. The floors in 148 canneries were wet at the time of
the visit, 109 of them slushy. In only 46 were the floors dry— 6 of the
15 com canneries, 35 of the 176 tomato canneries, and 4 in which
several products were canned. Some of these were seen early in the
morning before the plant had been in operation long enough for the
floors to get wet. Refuse and water collected about the peeling tables
and filling machines and in spots where the^ floors were cracked and
broken. Many canneries had one or two inches of water standing
under the tables, and a few had several inches of slop on the floor
in places. Some kept the floors clean, if not dry, by washing or
hosing them several times a day; a few had a special worker to wash
and sweep refuse into the drains.
Although many country canneries had little modern equipment,
women and girls seldom were required to carry buckets and to empty
waste. Where automatic conveyors were not provided men or boys
did such work. In 119 of the 201 canneries the moving of pails of
tomatoes from scalders to peelers, from peelers to filling machines,
is “ Adequate drainage” to lead all waste liquids away from the building is required by the State law.
“ N o litter, drainage, or waste matter of any kind shall be allowed to collect in and around the buildings.”
(M d ., Laws of 1914, ch. 678, sec. 3, subdiv. (k) (1).)

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1, P E E L I N G T O M A T O E S A T A " M E R R Y - G O - R O U N D ” ; 2 , S N I P P I N G
B E A N S ; 3, U N L O A D I N G T O M A T O E S A T A R U R A L C A N N E R Y
90

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and the disposal of waste was done by hand. Usually enamel-ware
buckets were used, but in 61 canneries woven wire baskets and in a
few wooden boxes or baskets were also used, the drip and slop from
them adding to the wetness and slipperiness of the floors. Machine
conveyors are less common in the tomato canneries of Maryland than
in those of Delaware and Indiana. Only about one-third of the Mary
land tomato canneries conveyed all or part of the product by machine,
though most of the corn canneries had machine conveyors.
Tomato peelers and corn sorters and examiners worked at con
veyor tables in 53 of the 176 tomato canneries and in 11 of the 15
com canneries. The common form of conveyor table in use is known
as the “ merry-go-round,” constructed of metal, elliptical in shape,
with stationary edges and a slowly moving conveyor in the center
which carries the pails to and away from the workers, who stand on
each side. In 123 tomato canneries, peelers worked at stationary ta
bles, which in some cases, although especially constructed for the pur
pose, were very loosely built so that the juice and tomato pulp dropped
through the cracks to the floor or on the worker.
The boys and others who carried buckets of tomatoes or pushed the
skins down the drains had no protection from the wet and slippery
floors except rubber boots. Many peelers and packers also stood
constantly on damp floors or in water, some wearing rubbers or over
shoes. In a few canneries wooden slats had been placed over the
concrete floors, and in many either the employer or the worker
provided boards or boxes to stand on. These were in many cases
inadequate to protect the workers; in one cannery, for example,
the stands, raised by supports, were several inches high, but the
workers had wet feet. In 19 canneries in which the floors were wet
no stands of any kind were in use.
To protect themselves from the splash and drip of tomato juice
most peelers wore some kind of apron— rubber aprons in a few cases
but more often cotton aprons or newspapers or burlap bags tied around
them— and this was usually wet with water and juice. In some can
neries all the women and girls wore washable caps, as is required by
State law, but in others few complied with the requirement.19
Maryland has no law that requires canneries outside Baltimore
City to provide women and girls with seats,20 and a relatively small
number of those visited furnished them. In the five other States
included in the study for which this information was obtained, in
all of which seats are required by law, almost all the canneries visited
except in Delaware provided at least some seats for the women work
ers. In Maryland, 147 canneries furnished no seats; 50 for which
this information was obtained had some kind of seat— chairs, stools,
or packing boxes—in some cases provided by the workers. Tables
were usually high, so that the peelers and packers had to stand at
their work. Small children were frequently seen standing on over
turned boxes in order to reach up to the peeling table. In one wellequipped cannery unusual provision had been made for the workers’
comfort through stools adjusted to the height of the merry-go-round.
'» M d ., Laws of 1914, ch. 678, sec. 3. subdiv. (o).
20
A law applicable to Baltimore C ity only requires “ mercantile and manufacturing establishments”
to furnish seats for the use of female employees. (M d ., Laws of 1882, ch. 35, as reenacted by Laws of 1898,
ch. 123, sec. 505, and Laws of 1900, ch. 589.)

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The State law requires “ convenient toilet rooms” and separate
ones for each sex in every establishment canning food,21 but does not
set a standard for the kmd or the number of toilets. With two ex
ceptions some kind of toilet was provided for workers in the canneries
visited, but they were inadequate in number and little attention was
paid to keeping them in a sanitary condition. The toilets in two
canneries were in such bad condition that they were not used, and those
in another cannery had been condemned by the State sanitary in
spector. Outside privies were the rule, and only 23 of the 194 estab
lishments from which the information was obtained had flush toilets.
Usually separate toilets were provided for the sexes, but 16 canneries
did not meet this requirement and 7 others provided toilets only for
women. In 60 the occupants of the labor camp, including the chil
dren too young to be employed, shared the toilets with the cannery
workers. Information was obtained as to the number of toilets in
110 of the 137 canneries that were used by employees only; 45 had
less than one toilet for 23 or more persons, a lower standard than that
set up in a number of other States.
Washing facilities for cannery employees are required under the
Maryland State law, which provides that buildings in which food is
canned shall have lavatories “ supplied with soap, water, and towels.” 22
Reports as to washing facilities were made by 80 canneries in 11 coun
ties and in the city of Baltimore. Only 16 provided soap or towels
or both, and only 42 had sinks or receptacles for washing. One East
ern Shore cannery employing 150 workers had 12 faucets for this
purpose installed in the workroom, and a smaller Eastern Shore
plant had provided an enamel-ware sink with faucets in a shed adjoin
ing the peeling room. Thirty-eight of the 80 canneries had no washing
facilities of any kind.
The State Department of Health of Maryland under the law 22a
is given the duty of inspecting factories, canneries, and other estab
lishments and places where food products are manufactured, packed,
or sold, and of correcting insanitary conditions in such establishments.
T H E LABO R SUPPLY
C H A R A CTER OF LABOR SU PPLY

The total number of employees in the 211 establishments included
in the Children’s Bureau special study of child labor in the Mary
land canneries (see p. 87) was reported as 16,379, an average number
of 78 persons per establishment.23 (Table 26.) In 73 per cent of
the canneries fewer than 100 persons were employed at the height
of the canning season. In 64 of the 211 canneries visited in this
study fewer than 50 persons were employed, including 19 canneries
with less than 25 workers. Twelve of the 211 had 200 or more
employees. The Baltimore City canneries were almost all large,
21 M d ., Laws of 1914, ch. 678.
22 M d ., Laws of 1914, ch. 678, sec. 3, subdiv. (f).
22a M d ., Laws of 1914, ch. 678. (See footnote 62, p. 132.)
22 The number of wage earners reported by the U . S. Bureau of the Census as employed in the canning
of fruit and vegetables on the 15th (or nearest representative day) of September, 1925, was 25,897, or an
average number of 80 wage earners per establishment for the 322 fruit and vegetable canneries reported by
the census for the State. The fact that a larger average number of employees was reported for the Census
Bureau establishments than for those visited by the representatives of the Children’s Bureau is doubtless
due at least in part to the fact that the Federal census statistics for 1925 were collected only from establish
ments reporting products of $5,000 or more.

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11 of the 13 having 100 or more employees, 2 of them between 200
and 300, and 2 others between 300 ana 400 each. Harford, Kent,
and Anne Arundel Counties had the largest number of small canneries,
35 of the 54 canneries visited in these counties having fewer than
50 employees.
Canneries in the city of Baltimore depend to a large extent upon
resident labor, chiefly Polish and Negro. Even in good-sized estab
lishments working throughout the year much of the help is of the
casual variety. Methods of recruiting labor for the Baltimore
canneries vary. Some canners obtain an adequate supply by
employing those who come to the cannery looking for work; others
get their workers through row bosses, by advertising, or by telling
those they have that more are needed. In several places there is
no set daily hour for beginning, the cannery workers gathering in
response to the cannery whistle blown when the produce comes in
to be packed.
Outside the city of Baltimore most of the Maryland canneries
are in or near small towns or villages. Some are in such towns as
Salisbury or Cambridge on the Eastern Shore, or in places of 3,000
or 4,000 inhabitants, as Westminster in Carroll County, Havre de
Grace in Harford County, or Crisfield on the Eastern Shore, but
many are in places of less than 500 inhabitants. In many of these
sparsely settled communities and in some of the larger ones it is
impossible to get sufficient labor locally for work in the canneries
during the six to nine weeks of the tomato or com canning season.
Some canners obtain additional help from the immediate neighbor
hood by sending out trucks every morning through the country
side, returning the workers to their homes at night. Many, including
some of those in the larger towns as well as in the villages, supple
ment what local labor they can obtain by importing workers from
Baltimore or from near-by counties for the season ana housing them
in labor camps on the cannery grounds. Ninety-nine of the 198
canneries outside Baltimore visited in the Children’s Bureau inquiry
imported migratory workers for the canning season of 1925. In all
the counties where visits were made, exclusive of the city of Balti
more and Baltimore County, some of the canneries visited employed
migratory workers, but the practice was most common in Cecil,
Harford, Queen Anne, Caroline, Kent, and Talbot, counties north
of Chesapeake Bay or in the northern section of the Eastern Shore.
Of the 99 canneries using migratory labor, 59 employed white
laborers, 35 negro laborers, and 4 both white and negro laborers.
Almost all the canners in the upper part of the State (Carroll, Har
ford, Cecil, and Kent Counties) imported only white workers; in
the lower peninsular counties (Dorcester, Wicomico, Worcester,
and Somerset) the migratory workers were almost all negroes; in
the other counties (Talbot, Caroline, and Queen Anne) workers of
both races were brought in for cannery work.
Information was not obtained regarding the total number of
white and negro workers employed in the canneries. If the figures
for child workers are an index, half the workers were white and half
negro. (Table 28.) Among the migratory child workers the white
predominated, as 78 per cent were white. Of the local child workers,
58 per cent were negroes.

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T a b l e 28.— Race of local and migratory children under 16 years of age employed in
canneries in the city of Baltimore and certain counties of Maryland

Children under 16 years employed

Total

Local

Migratory

County or city
Total

W hite

Negro

Total

W hite

Negro

Total

W hite

Negro

NUM BER

T o ta l.................................

1,564

778

786

1,234

519

715

330

259

Anne Arundel............................
Baltimore (city)......................
Baltimore______________ _____
Caroline__________ - ....................
Carroll. — _________________
Cecil............. ......... ................. ..
D orch ester........... ................... ..
Harford. ____________________
K en t________ ________ ________
Queen Anne__________________
Somerset_____________________
Talbot_____________ _______ _
Wicomico ........... .....................
W orcester...................................

17
50
7
213
164
63
166
165
27
90
165
105
170
162

3
40
7
125
151
57
66
139
15
45
13
50
34
33

14
10

16
50
7
166
141
22
163
61
15
56
163
73
154
147

2
40
7
103
130
16
63
38
4
14
13
22
34
33

14
10

63
11
6
100
23
11
42
150
51
120
114

47
23
41
3
104
12
34
2
32
16
15

22
21
41
3
101
11
31

88
13
6
100
26
12
45
152
55
136
129

PER C EN T i

25
2
3
1
3
2
4
16
15

PE R C E N T OF T O T A L I

Total___________________

100.0

49.7

50.3

78.9

33.2

45.7

21.1

16.6

4.5

Baltimore (city)_____________
Caroline______________________
Carroll- ____________________
Cecil_________________________
Dorchester
_______________
Harford______________________
Queen Anne__________________
Somerset_______ _____ ________
T a lb o t .. ____________________
Wicomico ___________ ______
Worcester____________________

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

80.0
58.7
92.1
90.5
39.8
84.2
50.0
7.9
47.6
20.0
20.4

20.0
41.3
7.9
9.5
60. 2
15.8
50.0
92.1
52.4
80.0
79.6

100.0
77.9
86.0
34.9
98.2
37.0
62.2
98.8
69.5
90.6
90.7

80.0
48.4
79.3
25.4
38.0
23.0
15.6
7.9
21.0
20.0
20.4

20.0
29.6
6.7
9.5
60. 2
13.9
46.7
90.9
48.6
70. 6
70.4

22.1
14.0
65.1
1.8
63.0
37.8
1. 2
30.5
9.4
9.3

10.3
12.8
65.1
1.8
61.2
34.4

11.7
1.2

26.7

1.8
3.3
L_2
3.8
9.4
9.3

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

The migratory workers in the Maryland canneries are usually
employed in family groups. All the white migratory labor employed
in the canneries visited by the bureau in 1925 came from Baltimore.
Most of the negro migratory families lived in Maryland and Virginia.
Many came from the southern part of the peninsular counties or
from small settlements on Chesapeake Bay; others from Norfolk or
from Accomac County in the upper peninsula of Virginia; still others
from Baltimore or Philadelphia. A few of the negro families were
habitual migrants with no permanent homes. A cannery labor camp
on the Eastern Shore was the only home of some negro families;
they lived in it most of the year, working in the oyster canneries in
Crisfield near by during the winter months. The negro families work
ing in one cannery had migrated from Delaware, where they had been
picking apples the preceding autumn, to Norfolk for the oyster season
and had come to Maryland in M ay to pick strawberries. The negro
workers in another cannery had left Norfolk earlier in the season to
“ scratch ou t” potatoes and had worked their'way north for work in
the canneries.

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These seasonal workers, as in the case of such workers in Delaware
canneries (see p. 33) and on Maryland truck farms,24 are recruited
through a row boss, usually if they are white, less commonly if they are
colored. In 24 of the 34 cannery labor camps visited in which negro
workers were employed, however, an agent was found called a row
boss who had been sent into the neighboring negro districts to “ round
up ” workers or had brought them from the negro community of which
he was himself a member. Several cannery managers themselves en
gaged the negro help; several other canneries did no recruiting of
negro migratory labor but depended on workers migrating from
other places and applying for work.
R E C R U IT IN G F A M IL Y L A B O R I N B A L T IM O R E

The row boss who procures white family labor in Baltimore for
the canners is generally a member of the Polish or other foreign
community in which the workers live. Of 20 row bosses interviewed
in Baltimore, 7 were born in Poland and 2 in Czechoslovakia, and
most of the others, although native born, were of Polish descent and
could speak Polish. These men worked in the city during the winter
months, many as casual laborers like the men whose families they
engaged. Nine were laborers or stevedores; the others did various
kinds of more skilled work, including 4 who were machinists. Several
formerly had been of the rank and file of cannery workers. In the
summer they spend two or three months recruiting labor and super
vising it in the country. They take their families with them, and
their wives and children work in the canneries. The same men
usually act as row boss for several consecutive years and sometimes
go to the same cannery every summer.
Business between the canner and the migratory workers is trans
acted through the row boss in the same way in Maryland as in Dela
ware canneries. (See p. 34.) The row boss explains to prospective
workers the terms on which they will be employed at the cannery.
Free housing, free transportation, free fuel, advance loans, and plenty
of work for the women and children, are among the many induce
ments that he offers to them. In cases in which the canners and the
row bosses who were interviewed had a written agreement the hour
and piece rate to be paid the workers was specified, but seldom was
there a statement about the housing or water to be provided. A few
canners orally promised the row boss to provide medical attention for
the workers in case of illness or accident in the cannery. In one camp
visited a nurse was in attendance. Transportation free of charge
was usually furnished; 34 of 51 canners who employed white migra
tory labor and gave information on this point paid transportation both
to and from the cannery, but 13 paid the fare only to the cannery.
The row boss supervises the workers in camp, assigns them their
living quarters on arrival, sees that water, fuel for stoves, lumber for
benches, and straw for beds are furnished. He may also make adjust
ments in connection with their work in the cannery. One, for example,
said that he had procured from the canner peeling knives, aprons,
and caps for the workers; another had been instrumental in getting
better buckets and a better distribution of tomatoes in the workroom.
24 Child Labor on M aryland Truck Farms, p. 23.
123. Washington, 1923.

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Besides such duties many of the Maryland row bosses are also expected
to work in the cannery, either at odd jobs when labor is scarce or at
some regular work throughout the season.
Frequent misunderstandings arise between row bosses and workers
because the former do not keep promises made to prospective workers
regarding earnings, continuity of work, and living conditions. Some
times work is slack and earnings are smaller than the row boss had led
the workers to expect. One row boss misunderstood the number of
workers needed and brought two extra families, who on account of
lack of space had to either sleep outdoors or leave. Sometimes
families wishing to leave camp before the end of the season find that the
canner refuses to pay return fare as the row boss has promised. In
one such case a mother who left the cannery one week before the end
of the season because two of her children had contracted typhoid
fever was forced to pay her own fare. As the workers have no written
agreements with either the canner or the row boss, they have no
redress if they do not find on reaching the cannery the conditions
they had expected.
Part of the difficulty of enforcing the child labor law in canneries
is due to the ignorance of the row boss of the legal regulations and his
failure to pass on what he does know and the instructions the canner
has given him to the workers. Some canners notify the row boss
that children should obtain work certificates in Baltimore before they
go to the country and tell them where they can be obtained. Of the
20 row bosses interviewed, 14 stated that they had been told by the
canners that the minimum working age was 14 years.
B A L T IM O R E F A M IL IE S M IG R A T IN G F O R W O R K I N M A R Y L A N D C A N N E R IE S

As in Delaware a special inquiry was made regarding cannery work
ers whose permanent homes were in Baltimore. The families of 197
of the 252 white migratory children found at work at the time of the
cannery visits and those of 5 of the 11 negro migratory children were
interviewed in the city soon after their return from the canneries.
In four-fifths of the white families interviewed the fathers were
foreign bom ; 138 were Polish, a few were of other Slavic nationalities,
and several were Italian. Work in the canneries was not the chief
source of income in most of the families but a means by which the
mothers and children could supplement the fathers’ earnings. The
fathers in nine-tenths of the families were alive and living with their fam
ilies at the time they were visited in the city, and almost all of these
had jobs in the city. One hundred and eight (65 per cent) were
unskilled laborers, longshoremen, or factory operatives including four
cannery operatives in Baltimore plants. The remainder were en
gaged in miscellaneous occupations including a small number of skilled
workers. Fourteen were carpenters or other kinds of mechanics in
the building trades, 1 was a track foreman on a railroad, 1 an assistant
superintendent in a factory, and 1 an insurance agent. Although
many of the fathers had remained in the city to work while the mothers
and children went to the country for cannery work, one-third had ac
companied their families and got employment at the cannery.
The mothers in almost all the families had gone to the canneries
taking with them their children, often as many as six or seven. Boys
and girls seldom went without their mothers or fathers, but 16 had

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MARYLAND

gone with, other relatives or friends, and 6 others, including a 12-yearold boy, had been unaccompanied by an adult.
Many of the families of children who were found at work in canner
ies had been in the habit of going to the tomato and corn canneries
year after year, leaving the city about the middle of August and
returning the first part of October. Some also made a practice of
migrating about the middle of May for a month or six weeks to pick
strawberries or peas on truck farms, and still others of leaving the
city about the middle of July to pick beans before going to work in
the cannery. The families of the children who were found at work- in
the Maryland canneries were not in the habit of making migrations
for seasonal work outside the State. Only 1 of the 197 white families
visited in Baltimore had done so in 1925; this family had gone to
Biloxi, Miss., to an oyster cannery. Of the 197 white families threefifths had worked only in vegetable canneries, on tomatoes, corn, or
other vegetables; the remaining two-fifths had also worked on truck
farms. More than one-fourth of the families had been to more than
one district to work, generally picking strawberries and peas or beans
in the early summer and returning afterwards to their city homes to
await the opening of the tomato canneries.
Although 50 of the 252 children had never before migrated for
cannery or any other work, 146 (59 per cent) had gone to the canneries
at least three years (not necessarily consecutive) and 76 (31 per cent)
had gone eight or more years. Some had been migrating to canneries
or truck farms as long as they could remember— 40 children had gone
with their families for seasonal work each year since they were born.
As a rule the migratory families were away from their Baltimore
homes for cannery and other seasonal work at least two or three
months. Of the 252 white children visited in Baltimore, 169 had been
absent from home at least eight weeks in the summer of 1925; 83 had
been absent 12 weeks or more, including 16 who had been away at
least 16 weeks. Seven or eight weeks were usually spent in the cannery
districts. Of 212 children who reported the length of time they had
spent at the cannery, 173 had stayed at least seven weeks and 43 nine
weeks or longer. Some who had worked on corn or corn and beans,
as well as tomatoes, had stayed at the cannery at least 10 weeks.
LAW S

R E G U L A T IN G

C H IL D

LABOR

C A N N E R IE S

Maryland, like a number of other States,25 has lower standards of
legal protection as to hours of labor for child workers in the canning
industry than in other factory occupations. Canning and packing
establishments are exempted from the maximum 8-hour day, 48-hour
week, and 6-day week, as well as from the prohibition of night work
between 7 p. m. and 7 a. m. that applies to the work of children under
16 in manufacturing and mercantile establishments and in most other
occupations, and the 10 hour law for females does not apply to girls
in fruit and vegetable canneries.
The age and employment-certificate provisions of the child labor
law, however, have been, since 1918, the same for work in canneries
as for other occupations. The age minimum is 14, and employment
certificates are required for children between 14 and 16. To obtain
such a certificate a child must present reliable evidence of age such
25 Delaware, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, and Utah.

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(See Appendix II, p. 223.)

9©

c h il d r e n

IN Er u p t

and

vegetable

Ca n n e r i e s

as was required under the administration of the former Federal child
labor laws and get a certificate from a physician appointed by the
issuing officer stating that he is physically fit for employment. In
Baltimore completion of the fifth grade is required for work during
school hours;25a outside Baltimore completion of the seventh grade is
required for work during hours that he has to attend school, but this
requirement is weakened by the fact that school attendance after the
age of 13 is required for only 100 days if the child is employed during
the rest of the school year. For work at such times as the child is not
required to attend school there is no grade requirement, but the child
must be able to read and write simple sentences in English. The law
contains certain administrative features necessary for effective certi
fication : The requirement that the child present a promise of employ
ment, that the permit be issued to the employer and be returned
by him to the issuing officer when the child leaves his employ, and
that the child bring a new promise of employment and get a new
certificate when he goes from one position to another.
Provisions that might extend further protection to child workers in
canneries are those prohibiting the work of children under 16 “ on any
machine or machinery operated by power other than foot or hand
power” and prohibiting the employment of any girl under 16 in any
capacity where her work compels her to remain standing constantly,
or of any child under 18 in oiling or cleaning machinery jn motion.
CH ILD LABOR IN C AN N ERIES
T H E W O R K I N G C H IL D R E N

In 201 of the 211 canneries visited children under 16 years of age
were found at work. (Table 26.) These establishments employed
1,564 boys and girls under 16, who constituted 10 per cent of the total
number of employees in all the canneries visited. The proportion
varied in the different sections of the State included in the inquiry
from 2 per cent in the city of Baltimore to 18 per cent in Cecil County.
Girls were 56 per cent of the workers under 16, practically the same
proportion as were women of the total number of cannery workers.
The proportion of girls was larger (61 per cent) among negro than
among white children.
More than three-fourths (79 per cent) of the children employed at
the time of visit, including 519 (67 per cent) of the 778 white workers
and 715 (91 per cent) of the 786 negro workers, were residents of the
towns in which the canneries were located. Almost all the local chil
dren were native born of native parentage with the exception of a
number working in the Baltimore City canneries, who were of Polish
extraction. Of the migratory children 78 per cent were white, as
compared with 87 per cent of the migratory children working in the
Delaware canneries. (See p. 36.) The white migratory children
were for the most part, as in Delaware, city children of foreign par
ents who had migrated to the canneries with their families for the
season. All the migratory white children found at work in the Mary
land canneries in this investigation were from the city of Baltimore
and most of them were of Polish or other Slavic parentage, but a few
were of Italian extraction. The homes of the negro migratory chilMa In 1929 this requirement was raised to completion of the sixth grade.

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(Laws of 1929, ch. 491.)

M ARYLAND

dren were scattered; 36 of the 71 who were working in the canneries
at the time of the visits came from the Eastern Shore of Maryland,
13 from Virginia, 21 from the cities of Baltimore and Philadelphia, and
1 from Delaware.
A G E S O F C H IL D R E N

A N D V IO L A T IO N S O F A G E S T A N D A R D
LABOR LAW

O F S T A T E C H IL D

Although the age minimum for work in canneries, as in other in
dustries, in Maryland since 1918 has been 14 years,26 children under
14 were found at work in 165 of the 201 canneries in which children
under 16 were employed. These included some canneries in each
county in which visits were made and also in the city of Baltimore,
although the canneries differed in the extent to which they employed
underage children. In 81 at least half the children were under 14.
Every cannery in four counties (Baltimore, Dorchester, Queen Anne,
and Worcester) employed some underage children. (Table 26.)
Six hundred and seventy children (43 per cent of the total number
under 16 employed in the canneries visited) were under the legal
working age. More than half found at work were under 14 in four
counties (Baltimore, Cecil, Kent, and Queen Anne). On the other
hand, only 5 of the 50 in the canneries seen m the city ol Baltimore
were under 14, although the number might have been greater had
the visits been made during the season when green_ beans were bemg
canned, as many young children find work in snipping beans.
Almost as large a proportion of very young children were found at
work in Maryland as in Delaware, where the law fixes an age mini
mum of only 12 (see p. 28). Twelve per cent of the total number of
children employed in Maryland as compared with 17 per cent m
Delaware were under 12 years of age. These were 181 children,
including 110 girls. Among them 16 girls and 12 boys were under 10,
including 10 boys and 9 girls of 9 years of age, 5 girls and 1 boy ot 8,
and 2 girls and 1 boy of 7.27
,
, Although negro children more than white were employed below
legal working age, 37 per cent of the white child workers as well as 49
per cent of the negro child workers were under 14. (Iable ¿V.)
As in Delaware, migratory children more than local (55 per cent as
compared with 39 per cent) were employed contrary to the age
standard of the child labor law, and white migratory children con
siderably more than white local children. Thus, 54 per cent of the
white migratory children were under 14 and 20 per cent were under 12
whereas 28 per cent of the white local children were under 14 and 6
per cent under 12. Among the negro children 61 per cent ol the
migratory workers and 48 per cent of the local workers were under 14.
The study of child labor in Maryland canneries m 1925 covered
many of the establishments included in the study of 1918. .(oeep .
86.) The number of canneries visited was 205 m 1918 and 211 in iy2o.
f S

connection with the home visits made for the purpose of verifying t t e ages
at
in tho A/Tnrvland canneries visited, information was obtained regarding 56 other chnuren unaer 1 0

and 3, 7 years,

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C A N N E R IE S

Children under 16 were employed in both years in nearly the same
proportion of the canneries visited (96 per cent in 1918 and 95 per cent
in 1925), and in both years they formed nearly the same proportion
of the total number of persons employed (11 per cent and 10 per cent
respectively). The proportion of canneries employing children under
the legal working age was slightly less in 1925 than in 1918 (78 per
cent as compared with 84 per cent), but the proportion under 14 among
the working children was the same (43 per cent in both years). The
most noticeable change was in the employment of very young chil
dren, the number under 10 who were found at work in the canneries
having declined from 75 to 28 (from 4 per cent to 2 per cent) and the
number under 8 from 29 to 3 (from 2 per cent to 0.2 per cent). In
1918, 7 of the children were 6 years of age and 10 were 5 years or
younger, whereas in 1925 none was under 7. The reduction in the
number of very young children may be attributed at least in part to
the three years’ operation of the Federal child labor tax law, which by
imposing a tax of 10 per cent upon the net profits of establishments
violating the standards of the law made noncompliance prohibitively
expensive. The inspections that were made under this law in 1920
(see p. 86), in which 57 per cent of the children under 16 were found to
be under legal working age, resulted in the imposition of heavy
taxes upon a large number of Maryland canners, and although the
law was declared unconstitutional before the taxes were paid, the
experience was one not likely to be forgotten quickly.
T able

29.— Race of local and migratory children of specified ages employed in
Maryland, canneries

Children under 16 years employed
Race of local and migratory
children

Under 14 years

Under 12 years

Under 10 years

Total
Num ber
Total___________
W hite_________
Negro_________________
Local.................... ....

Per cent

Num ber

Per cent

Num ber

Per cent

1,564

670

42.8

181

11.6

1.8

778
786

286
384

36.8
48.9

83
98

10.7
12.5

17
11

2. 2
1.4
1.2

1,234

487

39.5

115

9.3

W hite_____
Negro_____________

519
715

146
341

28.1
47.7

31
84

6.0
11.7

6
9

1.3

Migratory_____________

330

183

55.5

20.0

3.9T

W hite______
Negro__________

259
71

140
43

54.1
60.6

52
14

20.1
19.7

11
2

2.8

Although the number of children under legal working age found at
work m the Maryland canneries in 1925 was very large, undoubtedly
Ln ? um^er actually working was larger. In a number of canneries
children were seen running away from their work places as the repre
sentatives of the bureau entered the cannery, or were seen running
out of the side or back doors before permission to enter had been
given. In other canneries the presence of many empty places at
peeling tables and of empty can lofts at the peak of th© busiest time
m an unusually busy canning season, indicated the probability that.

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M ARYLAND

101

children had been hurried away from these places as soon as word was
received that a visitor was coming. Some children were later inter
viewed in their homes or in the camps adjoining the cannery who
said or whose parents said that they had left or had been sent out of the
cannery on the appearance of the bureau agents. Some were seen by
the agents and interviewed before they could get away. Others
returned to work before the agents left the cannery or were brought to
the agents to be interviewed. But in a number of canneries the
children did not return, and it was impossible to obtain information
about them from the management or from adult workers.
Following are comments bearing on this point contained in the
bureau agents’ notes:
As we approached the cannery, a shrill sound was heard, and at least 10 young
children scampered out of the door and over the railings and ran off into the
woods. N o information could be obtained from anyone about these children and
they could not be found, and only 2 children under 16 were found at work in the
cannery.
The first impression on entering the cannery was that nearly everyone was a
child. M ost of the children ran out as soon as they saw agents and the other
workers were too suspicious to give out information about them.
M any places at the peeling tables were vacant. There were few children
present and all those were certificated. A t the vacant places at the peeling
tables there was evidence of recent use, sometime during the day. An effort was
made to secure information from the employees, but they seemed particularly
reticent and silent, which is not generally the case.
A number of small children were working in the cannery when the visitors
entered, but they disappeared in a short time. The names of most of them were
later secured from older relatives with whom they were working.
Some children ran out of the cannery when the visitors entered. One little
colored boy who had been working as a skin pusher, had run back to the camp and
put on a clean shirt so that the agents would not see his soiled shirt and suspect
that he had been working. He later admitted that he had been working and had
run out.

In a number of cases it was evident that children left the canneries
in response to direct instructions from the management, as indicated
by the following accounts:
W hen the agents entered the cannery there were a number of vacant places
at the peeling tables and only older girls were at work. After these were inter
viewed, a visit was made to the can loft. Older boys and men were found en
gaged in handling the cans. This cannery, under the same management for
years, had always employed a great number of children, having a camp attached.
Later it developed that the manager, having heard the agents were in the neigh
borhood, had gone through the cannery and sent out all children under 16
regardless of whether they had certificates on file or not. The mothers of the
children in camp frankly stated that the children had worked throughout the
tomato season.
One of the owners of the cannery was very much annoyed by the appearance
of agents and after he had given permission for inspection to be made was heard
to tell the foreman to go into the cannery and advise some of the younger chil
dren to leave their places. A number of young children were later rounded up
in some of the other parts of the building where they were hiding. One small
negro girl, aged 7, was huddled in a corner and insisted that she did not work
at the cannery, but the tomato juice on her dress contradicted this, and her
mother finally admitted that she stood on a box beside her mother and peeled.
The mother said the girl was a “ right smart peeler.”

The mothers of the children employed in another cannery said
that the owner of the establishment had told the women that their
children could work in the cannery as long as they were not caught
by inspectors. If they were caught and the cannery fined, the

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102

C H IL D R E N

F R U IT

AND

VEGETABLE

C A N N E R IE S

fine would have to be paid by the mothers out of money due them
for past work.
On the other hand in a few cases the management not only did
not instigate the running out of the children but told them to stay
at their work.
Fear of being caught by attendance officers was responsible for
the disappearance of some of the children. All but a few canneries
were visited after the opening of the schools for white children,
which in 1925 opened on September 8 in Baltimore and between
September 1 and 15 in the counties. Most of the negro schools
opened between the middle and last of September.28 In one cannery
visited on September 18:
As the agents entered one door they saw a number of children running out
another door. These children were ah found later at the camp, and many of
them came back to work when they found that the agents were not from school
and when the Polish row boss felt assured that they would not interfere with
the children working. One of the children told the agent that they had been
told to run whenever an automobile drove up to the cannery.

In a Harford County cannery visited on September 22:
The children (all from Baltimore) in a Harford County cannery ran out when
the agents appeared. They later told agents that it was the third time they
had been scared within two weeks. They knew they should be in school.

In another establishment visited on September 16:
A great many of the children left their places of work when the agents arrived.
M any of these were brought to agents by other children. Some came of their
own accord during the noon time. Some had left for home and could not be.
interviewed. Agent believes that manager had nothing to do with running the
children out, but they were frightened and ran of their own accord as they
thought the agent was from the school. (The schools in this county opened on
September 2.)

The understanding that they should leave the cannery at the
appearance of possible inspectors had been so well impressed on
the children generally that a number over 14 for whom employ
ment certificates were on file in the cannery office and who Were
not liable under the attendance law were found to have left.
Some managers said that the children in the canneries were not
employed, but were merely playing there. It is a fact that in many
canneries young children who do not work are brought in by their
mothers (see p. 130) so that they may keep an eye on them while
they themselves are at work. But in practically all the cases in
which managers claimed that the children seen in the canneries
were not working, wherever it was possible to interview either the
children or their parents it was admitted that the children had
been at work, and in other cases they had been seen working by the
visitors or^ empty places at the peeling tables where they had
been seen indicated that they had been working there. No doubt
the mothers’ desire to keep their children in sight has something
to do with the employment of many of the young ones, but the
extra money that the mother can make by having her child help her.
at the peeling table is a great inducement. The custom of using
the younger children as “ helpers” to the mother antedates the
passage of child labor laws affecting canneries in Maryland,29 and
28 The negro schools opened on September 28 in Caroline County and on October 1 in Talbot County.
29 Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor (U . S. Department of Commerce and Labor), N o. 96, September,
1911, pp. 353-354, 466-469.
’

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Ma r y l a n d

103

many women still undertake cannery work on the assumption that
their children of all ages will help them. The following quotations
from the reports of bureau agents show this tendency and the
attitude some employers take toward it:
M any little children were running around the plant playing and eating. The
manager said that it had been impossible to keep the children out of the plant
because the mothers insisted that the children come in and work with them if
they were tall enough to reach the tables. Those not big enough to work were
brought into the plant by them and permitted to. play around.
The owner of the cannery apologized for the large number of small children
he had employed at the tim e'of the visit. He said he knew some of them were
underage, but he had not wanted to turn them out because the parents were
more willing to work if the children were employed.

No special inquiry was made as to the individual canner’s policy
regarding the employment of children. A few said that they did
not hire children under 16, giving such reasons as that certificates
were a bother, that help that had to go back to school at the height
of the canning season was a nuisance, or that children wasted too
much time and material and their work was not satisfactory. In 9
canneries in which children under 16 were found at work the manage
ment claimed that none was employed. Five of these canneries
were employing children under 14.
One excuse that canners gave for employing children under legal
working age was the difficulty of getting certificates. A number of
establishments had had children working several weeks before the
certificate-issuing officer had come around. (See p. 120.) In some
establishments no certificates had been issued until the cannery had
been running three or four weeks; in a number no certificates had
been issued at all that year up to the time of the bureau survey.
The fact that until the children are certificated their employer has
really no way of knowing their true ages very naturally encourages
the employment of young children, and the inadequacy of the certifi
cating system is probably one of the most influential factors in the
wholesale violation of the age provision of the Maryland child labor
law in the county canneries. (See pp. 121-125.) •
Although an occasional canner would prefer to keep children under
16 out of the canneries if he could, and would probably do so if he had
any easy and certain way of determining the ages of children applying
for work, the bureau inquiry showed that on the whole few are averse,
at least during a busy season like that of 1925, to their employment.
Most of them are willing to employ children of 14 and over and few
have any objection, as indicated by their statements as well as by the
findings of the bureau agents, to the employment of even younger
children other than the possibility of being caught in a violation of
the law. To a considerable extent, however, the violations found in
the Maryland canneries are the result of simple negligence, and the
negligent attitude is probably encouraged bjr the difficulty of obtain
ing adequate evidence of age for children applying for work.
K IN D S O F W O R K

Tomato canneries employed 1,366 (87 per cent) of the 1,564
children working at the time of the survey; corn canneries employed
133; and canneries putting up more than one product, 62. (Table
27, p. 88.)

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104

CHILDREN IN Er TJIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

As in Delaware, the largest number of children were tomato
peelers, including 763 (88 per cent) of the girls and 165 (24 per cent)
of the boys. Few girls did any other kind of work. Twenty-six
(3 per cent) were employed in the hand packing of tomatoes; 48
(5 per cent) husked, cut, sorted, or trimmed corn in corn canneries,
including 15 who operated a husking machine and 4 who operated a
corn-cutting machine; 1 operated a power machine which closed
cans in a tomato cannery; 6 sorted beans in a lima-bean cannery,
working at a moving conveyor; and 3 snipped string beans. The
remaining 36 girls were employed in varied ways, 17 as can girls, 3
as check girls, and the others in general work such as labeling cans.
(Table 30.)
T a b l e 30.— -Boys and girls of specified ages employed in specified processes upon
certain products being canned at time of visit in Maryland canneries
Children under 16 years employed

Total

Under 14 years

Product and process, and sex of children

Number

Under 12 years

Under
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent 10 years1
distri Number distri Num ber distri
bution
bution
bution

Total___________ _______ __________

1,564

Total reported_____________ ____ ________

1,558

100.0

669

100.0

181

100.0

Special processes:
Tom atoes.____ ________ ________
P e e lin g ..._________________
Packing________ ______ _____
Carrying___________________
Other................................... ..

1,028
928
32
44
24

66.0
59.6
2.1
2.8
1.5

492
470
6
7
9

73.5
70.3
.9
1.0
1.3

145
143

80.1
79.0

21
21

1 1

Corn....................... ...........................
Husking____ _____ _________
C u ttin g ................ ....................
Sorting and trimming_____
Other___________ ______ _____

79
43
9
21
6

5.1
2.8
.6
1.3
.4

23
16
1
5
1

3.4
2.4
.1
.7
.1

8
8

4.4
4.4

Green and wax beans: Snipping................................................
Lima beans: So rtin g..................

3
6

.2
.4

2
1

.3
.1

1.1

General occupations_______ _______ _

442

28.4

151

22.6

14.4

Can boys and girls........................
Line jobs...........................................
Piling cans in crates............... ..
Packing, piling, stacking filled
c a n s ...............................................
Operating closing machine____
Trucking and canrying_______
Other..................................................

264
27
26

16.9
1.7
1.7

99
13
7

14.8
1.9
1.0

19
2
1

10.5
1.1
0.6

1
1

30
17
22
56

1.9
1.1
1.4
3.6

13
4
5
10

1.9
.6
.7
1. 5

1
2
1

.6
1.1
6

670

N ot reported__________ _________________

B oys___________________ __________

681

265

Total reported.._______________________

181

5
5

676

100.0

264

100.0

Special processes:
Tomatoes_________________ _____ _
Peeling......................................
Packing_________ __________
Carrying___________________
Other____ ________ _________

238
165
6
44
23

35.2
24.4
.9
6.5
3.4

116
98
2
7
9

43.9
37.1
.8
2.7
3.4

40
38

56.3
53.5

7
7

C o r n . .. ............................................
Husking___________ _______ _
Cutting...... ...............................
Sorting and trimming_____
Other_________________ _____

31
21
1
3
6

4.6
3.1
.1
.4
.9

9
8

3.4
3.0

6
6

8.5
8.5

4
4

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

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

105

MABYLAND

T a b l e 30 .— Boys and girls of specified ages employed in specified processes upon
certain products being canned at time of visit in Maryland canneries Con.
Children under 16 years employed

Product and process, and sex of
children

N ot reported .
Girls.
Total reported.
Special processes:
Tom ato canning.
Peeling.—
Packing------Other_______
Corn canning— ..................
H usking...........................
Cutting.............................
Sorting and trimming.

60.2

52.7

35.2

247
24
26

36.5
3.6
3.8

35.6
4.2
2.7

26.8
1.4
1.4

30
16

4.4
2.4
3.3

4.9

6.2

1.9
2.3

882

100.0

110

100.0

790
763
26

89.6
86.5
2.9

92.8
91.9

105
105

95.5
95.5

5.4
2.5
.9

22
42

1.1

1.4

2.8
1.4

5
883

22
8
18

376
372
4

1.0

2.0

Green and wax beans: Snippm g.....................- —
Lim a beans: Sorting.

3.5

2.0

1.8
1.8

1.2
.5

1.8

.2
3.0

General occupations.
Can girl................................... Line job________ _______ ——
Operating closing machine.
Other-------- -------------------------

Under 12 years

Under
Per cent 10 years
Per cent
Per cent
distri
Num
ber
Number distri Num ber distri
bution
bution
bution

Total reported— Continued.
General occupations.........
Can boy................................ - .........
Line jobs--------------------—
Piling cans in crates..............—
Packing, piling, stacking filled
c a n s .- - .---------------------- —— —Operating closing machine-----Trucking and carrying-------Other______________________ - —

Under 14 years

Total

1.9
.3

1.6

1.2
.5

.2
1.0

N ot reported.

The boys did a great many different kinds of work. As m Delaware,
the largest number (247, or 37 per cent) were employed as can boys.
This work was usually rather light, as can boys handled only empty
cans Some of them trucked empty cans from the freight cars to the
storeroom or can loft or unloaded them from freight cars; others were
stationed in the hot and steamy can lofts to carry cans and drop them
down the chute. The work of many of the 264 boys who were
neither peelers nor can boys required considerable strength or was in
connection with power machinery; 22 were employed to truck and
carry cases, boxes, or filled cans; 30 to stack and pile filled cans,
13 were “ skin pushers” — that is, they pushed tomato skins mto the
gutters with a wooden paddle; 44 were tomato carriers, lifting and
carrying heavy pails and in danger of slipping while walking over the
wet floors. Thirty-two boys (5 per cent) operated power machines,
16 operating closing machines, not only feeding the caps to the
machine but stopping the machine if the cans jammed and adjusting
the cans; 7 operated corn-husking machines and 1 a corn-cuttmg
81531°— 30----- 8

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

106

CHILDREN IN FRIJIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

machine; others ran filling machines, tomato scalders, and labeling or
boxing machines. Among the 36 boys who were “ taking off ” or doing
other work in connection with machines were 26 who “ piled in ” —
that is, caught the cans as they came from the closing machine and
piled them in crates— and 3 who took off the closed cans but were not
required to “ pile in.” “ Piling in ” requires strength and constant
lifting and stooping with machme-like regularity as the closing ma
chine seals as many as 100 cans a minute. A few boys tended a fillirig
machine or took tomatoes away from a scalding machine. The 92
remaining boys included 24 who were employed “ on the line” at
various jobs, such as juicing or salting the cans, comparatively light
work, and a small number who packed or sorted tomatoes or who
worked in corn canneries as bin boys or sorted com or husked it by
hand, and others in various kinds of general work such as stenciling
or stamping boxes, sweeping and cleaning in the cannery, carrying
empty baskets or piling empty boxes in the yard.
Many of the older children, especially the boys of 14 and 15 years
of age, were employed in a large variety of occupations in and about
the cannery. Half (51 per cent) of the local white boys, among whom
were a relatively large number aged 14 and 15 ye&rs, were employed
in occupations other than that of peeler or can boy; nearly one-third
(31 per cent) of the local negro boys and about one-third of the migra
tory boys were also employed in miscellaneous work. Although most
of the children under 14 were engaged in relatively fight work, some
of them, especially boys, were on work which was heavy for young
children, such as piling cans in crates, carrying buckets of tomatoes,
trucking and carrying boxes. Six girls under 14 worked on machines,
which in Maryland is illegal for children under 16.
P R O H IB IT E D O R H A Z A R D O U S E M P L O Y M E N T

Fifty-two children (3 per cent of those for whom information as to
occupation was obtained) were power-machine operators, an occu
pation specifically prohibited under the provision of the Maryland
child labor law forbidding the employment of children under 16 “ on
any machine or machinery operated by power and other than foot
or hand power.” 30 Of the 52, 23 operated corn-husking machines, 17
closing machines, 5 corn-cutting machines, and 7 labeling or f i l l i n g
machines. Ten were under 14, including 3 boys and 1 girl operating
closing machines and 5 girls operating corn huskers. In addition to
the above, 26 children were in occupations such as taking filled cans
off the closing machine and piling them in crates, watching cans on
the filling machines, and attending the scalding machine. Other
children (56) were in various occupations at the moving belts or
“ on the fine,” such as sorting or inspecting tomatoes or corn, juicing,
salting, or inspecting cans.
Seven hundred and seventeen of the 883 girls working in the can
neries visited were standing at their work because no seats were
provided, a violation of the provision of the child labor law that
prohibits the employment of girls under 16 in any capacity where
such employment compels them to remain standing constantly.30
Most of these girls were peelers or packers. Many of the peelers and
packers and also the boys who carried pails of tomatoes or cleaned
the floors and pushed skins into the drains or took off tomatoes from
30

M d ., Laws of 1912, ch. 731, secs. 7, 23, as amended b y Laws of 1916, ch. 222, secs. 7 ,2 3 .

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

MARYLAND

107

the end of the scalders, were obliged to stand or to walk all day on
wet and slippery floors, a hazardous element in their employment but
not one taken special cognizance of under the law.
Several accidents to children were reported-, both to those employed
in prohibited occupations or in close contact with machinery and also
to children not themselves engaged in employment usually considered
hazardous.
A 15-year-old boy operating a closing machine had
had his third finger cut off at the first joint. A 13-year-old boy,
while taking filled cans from the end of the line and piling them in
crates, had slipped on a wet floor, catching the first two fingers of his
right hand in the machinery. The nail on his index finger was shaved
off and the next finger severely cut, and he had been unable to work
for the rest of the season. The trousers of a can boy standing too
near a filling machine had been caught in the gear wheel and his leg
injured. A 12-year-old girl, while cutting com by hand, was jabbed
in the leg by the pitchfork of a man pitching com husks; five months
afterwards her leg was still stiff. A 13-year-old boy in a cannery,
though not working at the time, was caught in a revolving chain on
an elevator, so that a toe had to be amputated.
Several other accidents to children in Maryland canneries other
than those visited were reported in the newspapers during the sum
mer of the survey, but the details of the accidents were not learned.
One child was said to have been killed and four other children, three
aged 10 and one 9 years, badly injured as a result of the explosion
of a steam boiler. In another cannery a 13-year-old boy was fatally
injured when his clothing caught and he was drawn into the machinery.
H OU RS OF W O RK

Fruit and vegetable canners in Maryland are under no legal obliga
tion to keep time records as the hours of work in canneries are not
regulated.31 Where records are kept, it is usually only for workers
on an hourly or other time basis, and in most canneries these con
stitute less than half the employees. Even for time workers satisfac
tory records (that is, records showing the hour of beginning and of
ending work and the time off for lunch) were found in only 53 of the
201 canneries in which children were at work. Some other sort of
time record for the hourly workers was kept in about 113 other estab
lishments, in most cases a record merely of the total hours worked by
such employees each day. Time records of some kind were found for
a few pieceworkers, but for most pieceworkers information as to hours
worked was furnished by parents, employers, or other adults, or in a
very few cases, where no information could be obtained from parents
or other adult witnesses, by the child concerned.
Work in canneries is specifically exempted from provisions of the
State child labor law applying to manufacturing and mercantile
establishments and to most other occupations (see p. 97), as it is
also from the 10-hour law for women.32 With no restriction on
whatever hours such a highly seasonal industry may appear to require
of women and children, it is not surprising that children in the can
neries have long working days. All but 3 of the 201 establishments
All canning and packing establishments are exempted from the hour regulations for children under 16;
fruit and vegetable canneries are exempted from the hour regulations for females.
32
The exemptions to the hour regulations for female employee? extend only to fruit and vegetable can
neries.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

108

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

visited that employed minors under 16 had some who were employed
for more than an 8-hour day— prohibited for child workers in other
manufacturing occupations in Maryland; 179 had child workers
employed 10 hours or longer and 63,12 hours or longer.
Daily hours.

Information as to daily hours of work was obtained for all but 9 of
the 1,564 children under 16 found at work, including 32 whose working
hours were irregular. Almost all (97 per cent) of the 1,523 children for
whom definite hours were reported worked more than 8 hours a day.
The most usual number of daily hours, reported by 708 children, was
10; 1,155 (76 per cent) worked 10 hours or more, 281 (19 per cent)
12 hours or more, 111 (7 per cent) 14 hours or more, and 37,16 hours
or more up to 20 hours. (Table 31.)
31.— Maximum number of daily hours of work reported by local and migratory children under 16 years of age of specified race in Maryland canneries

T able

Children under 16 years employed
M axim um number of daily
hours of work

Total

W hite

Local

Negro

Total

W hite

Migratory

Negro

Total

W hite

Negro

NUM BER

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

1,564

778

786

1,234

519

715

330

259

Total rep orted...................... ...

1,523

757

766

1,206

507

699

317

250

8 hours and under.............
Over 8 hours_____________
10 hours and over___
12 hours and over___
14 hours and over___
16 hours and over___

51
1,472
1,155
281
111
37

24
733
617
224
101
37

27
739
538
57
10

49
1,157
871
170
58
26

22
485
385
119
50
26

27
672
486
51
8

2
315
284
111
53
11

2
248
232
105
51
11

67
52
6
2

Irregular........................................
N ot reported........................... ..

32
9

18
3

14
6

21
7

9
3

12
4

11
2

2
2

P E R C E N T D IS T R IB U T IO N 1

Total reported_________

____

100.0

8 hours and under_______
Over 8 hours........................
10 hours and over___
12 hours and over___
14 hours and over___
16 hours and over___

3.3
96.7
75.8
18.5
7.3
2.4

3.2
96.8
81.5
29.6
13.3
4.9

3.5
96.5
70.2
7.4
1.3

4.1
95.9
72.2
14.1
4.8
2.2

4.3
95.7
75.9
23.5
9.9
5.1

3.9
96.1
69.5
7.3
1.1

0.6
99.4
89.6
35.0
16.7
3.5

0.8
99.2
92.8
42.0
20.4
4.4

ICO. a
77.6
9.0
3.0

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

The counties varied in the extent to which children were employed
in the canneries for excessive hours. In Carroll and Cecil Counties, for
example, 32 per cent and 28 per cent, respectively, of the children
had worked 14 hours or more a day, whereas in the city of Baltimore,
and in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Dorchester, Somerset, and Wor
cester Counties, no evidence was obtained that any children were
employed for as long as 14 hours. Carroll County, where most of
the children were employed in corn canneries, had the largest
proportion of children working excessive hours, 18 per cent having

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

109

MARYLAND

worked 16 hours or more a day, as compared with 2 per cent of all the
children in the State for whom informationVas obtained.
Boys as a rule worked longer hours than girls. But a great many
girls had long hours; 36 of the 111 children working 14 hours or more
a day, and 7 of the 37 working 16 hours or more, were girls.' (Table
32.) Migratory children had longer hours than local children; 35
per cent of the former and 14 per cent of the latter had worked at
least 12 hours a day. White children in the migratory group workedthe longest hours—-42 per cent had worked 12 hours or more, and 20
per cent, as compared with 7 per cent of all the children for whom
specified hours of work were reported, had worked at least 14 hours.
In both the local and migratory groups negro children worked shorter
hours than white; 7 per cent of all the negro children worked 12
hours or more, compared with 30 per cent of the white, and 1 per
cent at least 14 hours compared with 13 per cent.
T

able

32.— Maximum number of daily hours of work reported by boys and girls
of specified ages employed in Maryland canneries
Children under 16 years employed

M axim um number of daily
hours of work and sex of chil
dren

Total

Num ber

Under 14 years

Per cent
distribu
tion

Per cent
Num ber •distribu
tion

Under 12 years

Num ber

Under
Per cent 10 years1
distribu
tion

Total______________________

1,564

Total reported..________________

1,523

100.0

634

100.0

153

100.0

8 hours or less......................... .
Over 8 hours________________
10 hours and over_______
12 hours and over............
14 hours and over............
16 hours and over_______

511
1,472
1,155
281
111
37

3.3
96.7
75.8
18.5
7.3
2.4

31
603
474
107
33
7

4.9
95.1
74.8
16.9
5.2
1.1

13
140
118
22
9

8.5
91.5
77.1
14.4
5.9

2
18
15
4
3

Irregular.............. ....................... .......
N ot reported......... ............. ..............

32
9

670

181

28
8

7
1

23
5

B oys_______ _________ _____

681

Total reported..................................

667

100.0

254

100.0

8 hours or less......................... .
Over 8 hours..............................
10 hours and over_______
12 hours and over_______
14 hours and over_______
16 hours and over_______

22
645
527
155
75
30

3.3
96.7
79.0
23.2
11.2
4.5

12
242
195
58
19
6

4.7
95.3
76.8
22.8
7.5
2.4

5
60
51
11
4

7.7
92.3
78.5
16.9
6.2

1
9
7
1
1

Irregular..............................................
N o t reported......... ............................

11
3

265

9
2

G irls.........................................

883

Total reported____ _____ ________

856

10C.0

380

100.0

8 hours or less...........................
Over 8 hours________________
10 hours and over_______
12 hours and over.......... .
14 hours and over_______
16 hours and over

29
827
628
126
36
7

3.4
96.6
73.4
14.7
4.2
.8

19
361
279
49
14
1

5.0
95.0
73.4
12.9
3.7
.3

8
80
67
11
5

9.1
90.9
76.1
12.5
5.7

1
9
8
3
2

Irregular
N ot reported................... .................

21
6

4C5

1 Per cent not shown where base is less than 50,

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

19
6

110

17
6

5
1

110

CHILDREN IN FRU IT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

A large number of the children working long hours were below the
minimum age fixed by the^M aryl and child labor law for work in can
neries, some of them considerably below it. Of those working more
than 8 hours a day 603 were under 14 years of age, 140 (including
80 girls) being under 12, and 18 (including 9 girls) being under 10.
Many of these younger children worked very long hours. Of the
181 children under 12, 118 worked 10 hours or more, and 22 worked 12
hours of more; 9 children from 8 to 11 years of age worked 14 or 15
hours a day.
Com huskers, can boys and girls, and general workers— chiefly
in machine operations or in jobs in connection with machinery—
worked the longest hours. Peelers worked shorter hours than chil
dren in other occupations, only 11 per cent reporting a working day
of 12 hours or more as compared with 18 per cent of the total number
employed, 33 per cent of the huskers, 27 per cent of the can boys and
girls, and 31 per cent of the children in miscellaneous work.
W eekly hours.

Information from time records as to weekly hours of work could be
obtained for only 270 of the 1,564 children. (Table 33.) Of these
185 (69 per cent) had worked more than 48 hours a week and 117
(43 per cent) at least 60 hours, including 40 boys and 14 girls who
had worked 70 hours or longer. Among them were 13 boys and
2 girls who had worked between 80 and 90 hours. At least one work
ing day of 14 hours or longer was recorded for 52 of the 117 children
and one of at least 16 hours for 29. The children for whom weekly
hours were reported were older than the group as a whole, but for
many of the younger children a long working week was recorded.
Of the children under 14, 70 per cent worked more than 48 hours and
46 per cent 60 or more. Five boys under 12 worked at least 60 hours
a week, of whom 3 had worked 70 hours or longer.
The small group for whom information as to weekly hours was
obtained was not representative of the cannery workers as a whole.
In the first place, 84 per cent were boys, whereas only 44 per cent of
the total number employed were boys; secondly, most of them
were in work paid for on a time basis, including chiefly the so-called
“ general” occupations, whereas the majority were on piecework
jobs, such as peeling, sorting, and packing tomatoes (weekly hours
were reported, for example, for 129 of the 264 can boys and girls,
but for only 3 of the 928 peelers); and thirdly, they worked longer
daily hours than the employed children as a whole, 47 per cent as
compared with 19 per cent of the total number reporting 12 hours or
more.
As an example of the hours that children may work at the height of
the tomato-canning season exact time records kept by the cannery for
3 can boys employed in a Queen Anne County cannery and paid by the
hour may be cited for the week preceding the interview.
Total daily hours

Friday— 4.3 0 -7 a. m ., 7.30 a. m .-1 2 p. m ., 12.30 p. m .-7 p. m ___________
13%
Saturday— 4 .3 0 -7 a. m ., 7.30 a. m .-12 p. m ., 12.30 p. m .-3 .3 0 p. m _________ 10
Monday— 6.30 a. m .33- 1 2 p. m ., 12 .30-5.3 0 p. m ., 6 -9 p. m _________ _______ 13%
Tuesday— 6.30 a. m .-1 2 p. m ., 12 .30-7 p. m __________ ________________________ 12
Wednesday— 6.30 a. m .-1 2 p. in., 1 2 .30-5.3 0 p. m ., 6 -9 p. m _______________ 13%
Thursday— 6.30 a. m .-1 2 p. m ., 12 .30-7 p. m __________________________________ 12
Total weekly hours__________ ___________ _________________________________ 74%
33

Six a. m for one boy, making 14 hours for the day.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

111

Ma r y l a n d
T a b l e 3 3 .—

Number of hours of work in a typical week of boys and girls of specified
ages employed in Maryland canneries
Children under 16 years employed

Num ber of hours of work in a typical
week and sex of children

Number

Total.
Total reported.
48 hours and under—
Over 48 hours.— ...........
60 hours and over.
70 hours and over.
80 hours and over.
90 hours and over.

Under 14 years

Total

Per cent
distri
bution1

Num ber

Per cent
distri
bution 1

670

1,564
270

100.0

85
185
117
54
15
3

31.4
68.5
43.3

30.0
70.0
46.3
22.5

20.0

1.2

5.6

1.1

169

N ot reported...

1,294

590

Boys........

681

265

Total reported.

228

100.0

77
151
93
40
13
3

33.8

30.3
69.7
42.4

48 hours and under_Over 48 hours_________
60 hours and over70 hours and over80 hours and over90 hours and over.

Under 12 Under 10
years1
years 1

66.2
40.8
17.5
5.7
1.3

21.2
1.5

N ot reported.

453

199

G ir ls ...

883

405

110

Total reported.
48 hours and under___
Over 48 hours_________
60 hours and over.
70 hours and over.
80 hours and over.
N ot reported______________

110

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

The parent of one of these boys, a migratory worker from Baltimore,
said when interviewed that the boy had worked in the cannery 3 nights
a week for 4 weeks. Two other children (girls of 12 and 13 years old)
in a cannery employing 7 children under 16, were peelers, and there
fore had no time records, but presumably they worked the regular
hours of the cannery, as according to the management the children
all worked the regular hours for adult workers. The mother of one of
these girls, also from Baltimore, said that she had worked 3 nights a
week for 3 weeks from 7 to 9 p. m.
A corn cannery, which puts up beans and peas also at other seasons,
was found to have time records for all the 17 children under 16 whom
it employed. For the 11 local children the records showed the hour of
beginning and of ending work and the time off for lunch, but for the 6
Baltimore children they showed only total daily hours worked. The
weekly hours of the local workers, who were employed the full 6-day
week, ranged from 72}£ to more than 90 hours.34 A typical week, that
34
The time records showed 95 hours as the time worked b y one child, a boy of 14, in 6 days, but made no
allowance for any stop for lunch or supper, so that the time actually worked was probably nearer 90 than 95
hours In the week for which the time record was transcribed this child worked as follows; Tuesday, 11
a. m .-1.30 a. m .; Wednesday, 7 a. m .-2.30 a. m .; Thursday, 7 a. m .-3 a. m .; Friday, 11 a. m .-2 a. m .; Satur
day, 8 a. m .-8 p. m ; M onday, 1 p. m .-3 a. m .

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

112

CH ILDREN IN FRU IT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

of a
of 14, who although her employment certificate stated she
was a helper,” actually operated a husking machine, an illegal oc
cupation for a child of her age (see p. 98), was as follows:
Total daily hours

Monday — 10 a. m .-12 p. m ., 1-6 p. m ., 7 -1 2 .3 0 a. m. Tuesday
Tuesday— 7 a. m .-1 2 p. m ., 1 -6 p. m ., 7 -1 0 .3 0 p. m
Wednesday— 7 a. m .-12 p. m ., 1-6 p. m ., 7-12 a. m. Thursday
Thursday— 7 a. m .-12 p. m ., 1-6 p. m :, 7-12 a, m. Friday
Friday— 9 a. m .-12 p. m ., 1-6 p. m ., 7 -1 1 p. m
Saturday— 7.30 a. m .-12 p. m ., 1 -5 .3 0 p. m
_ ____
Total weekly hours_____________________________________

— 12J*
------- ._ i3y2
___________15
-----------------15

______ 12
--------------

Hours for the 6 workers from Baltimore, 2 of whom were girls, were
longer: 2 had a working week of 87 hours, 2 of 88 hours, and 2 of 90
hours each. Following is the record of the hours worked by the 4
children working 87 and 88 hours:
Total daily hours

Friday_____
Saturday. _
M onday___
Tuesday___
Wednesday
T h u rsd a y ..

15 hours.
8}i hours.
14 hours.
16}£ hours.
16 hours.
17 or 18 hours.

Total weekly hours__________________________________________
Night work.

87 or 88.

Taking as a standard the hours between 7 p. m. and 6 a. m. during
which the former Federal child labor law prohibited the work of
children m manufacturing establishments, 516 of the 1,564 children,
more than half of them girls, had been employed at night on one or
more nights during the season of this survey. A few of the night
workers were reported as going to work between 5 and 6 a. m., but
most of them were employed after 7 p.m .
Children who had worked at night included 50 per cent of those in
migratory families and 29 per cent of the others. (Table 34.) More
of the white children (47 per cent) than of the negro children (19 per
cent) had worked at night, and more of the migratory white children
(62 per cent) than of any others. In 94 of the 201 canneries visited
m which children were employed some children had done night work
during the season. Huskers, can boys and girls, and miscellaneous
workers (among the boys chiefly those working on or in connection
with machinery and among the girls chiefly packers) reported night
work more frequently than children doing other kinds of work.
Night work was in general more common in corn than in tomato
canneries; it was found in two-thirds (10 of 15) of the corn canneries
visited but in only two-fifths (76 pf 185) of the tomato canneries,
oixty-two per cent of the children in corn canneries and 28 per cent
of those in tomato canneries had done night work.
The number of nights worked ranged from 1 or 2 to 30 or more,
or what was reported more frequently “ every night for a month at
the height of the season.” Fifty-three per cent of the night workers
had worked at night at least six times during the season. Night
work not only was more common among migratory children than
among children who lived in the neighborhood of the canneries, but
also night workers in the migl-atory group had worked more nights
than those among the local children; 70 per cent of the former as

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MARYLAND

113

compared with 35* per cent of the latter had worked six nights or
more.
T able

34.— Local and migratory boys and girls of specified ages employed between
7 p. m. and 6 a. m. in Maryland canneries
Children under 16 years employed

Local

Total

Age and sex

Employed
Employed
N ot
between
between
em
7 p. m. and
7 p. m . and ployed
a. m .
a. m .
be
Total
Total
tween
7 p. m .
N u m Per
and 6
N u m Per
ber cent1
ber cent1 a. m.

Total__________

1564

516

Under 12 years_______
Under 14 years_______
14 years, under 16___

3
28
181
670
894

6
45
200

Boys___________

681

33.0

1048

1234

316

24.9
29.9
35.3

136
470
578

3
15
115
487
747

247

36.3

434

531

1
12

Migratory

Employed
N ot
between
em
7
p. m . and
ployed
a. m.
be
Total
tween
7 p. m .
N u m Per
and 6
ber cent1
a. m .

N ot
em
ployed
be
tween
7 p. m .
and 6
a. m .

28.5

882

330

164

49.7

166

18
117
235

15.7
24.0
31.5

3
14
97
370
512

183
147

5
27
83
81

49.9
45.4
55.1

8
39
100
66

169

31.8

362

150

52.0

352

2
12

Under 14 years_______
14 years, under 16____

71
265
416

91
156

31.0
34.3
37.5

9
49
174
260

5
45
182
349

1
10
122

25.8
35.0

4
35
135
227

7
26
83
67

44
34

53.0
50.7

5
14
39
33

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

883

269

30.5

614

703

183

26.0

520

180

47.8

3
15
39
47

39.0
58.8

3
25
61
33

2
16
110
Under 14 years_______
14 years, under 16____

405
478

2
3
23
109
160

20.9
26.9
33.5

13
87
296
318

2
10

70
305
398

8
70
113

2
10
11.4
23.0
28.4

62
235
285

6
40
100
80

i Per cent not shown where base is less than 60.

From two to four hours beginning between 6 and 7 p. m. was the
most usual time for working at night; 37 per cent reported from two
to three hours and the same proportion from three to four hours,
beginning at that time. But 74 children (15 per cent) had worked
four hours or more after 7 p. m., a few as many as six or eight hours,
and 100 children (20 per cent) had worked until 11 p. m. or later.
Fifty-eight children had worked till midnight or later, in one case
until 3 a. m. Forty-seven of these 58 children worked in 11 canneries
in Carroll County, 14 of them in one establishment; the remaining 11
worked in four other counties.
Many of the children working at night were under the legal work
ing age. Two hundred were under 14 years, 45 were under 12, and
10 under 10. (Table 34.)
The following are instances of the more arduous night work re
ported for children:
In one cannery three peelers (two of them girls aged 10 and 12, respectively)
had worked every night for eight weeks from 6.30 to 10 p. m ., according to their
mothers. They were migratory workers from Baltimore.
An 11-year-old boy from Baltimore, a peeler, had worked every night for four
weeks from 7 to 9, and sometimes from 10 to 5 a. m . H e had worked as long as
i3 hours in one day,

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114

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

A 10-year-old can boy from Baltimore had worked every night from 7 to 11
p. m. or midnight for four weeks steadily, according to his mother. He also
began work at 5.30 on two days in the same week as shown by the time records
of the cannery.
Two girls and two boys had worked steadily in a corn cannery every night
throughout the season. One of the boys, 14 years of age, sorted corn on the line
until 11 or 12, sometimes as late as 2 a. m. His time record showed 87 hours
in one week, including one day of 17 hours. The other boy, 15 years of age,
husked corn usually until 12 p. m. His time record showed a week of 88 hours,
including one day of 17 hours. The two girls, both aged 14 and both corn cutters,
worked until 11 or 12, sometimes as late as 2, and.had a time record of 87 hours
a week, with at least one 17-hour day, and 88 hours a week and an 18-hour day,
respectively.
A number of children had worked in a corn cannery from 7 p. m . to 4.30 a. m.
at the end of a work day commencing at 7 a. m. and ending at 6 p. m ., with an
hour off for lunch, making a total working day of 19% hours.
C AN N E R Y W O R K A N D SC H O O L IN G

Cannery work interfered with the school attendance both of chil
dren who lived in the vicinity of the canneries and of those in migra
tory families. The Maryland comity schools for white children
opened between the first and the middle of September the year of the
Children’s Bureau survey, and most of the schools for negro children
opened about two weeks later. The great majority of the canneries
were visited after the opening of the schools for white children, and
most of the children found at work were employed a full day in the
canneries and did not attend school. In one town it was stated that
the school was being closed at 12 in order to let children work, as they
were needed in the canneries.
The school attendance of the children who migrate for cannery
work is necessarily interrupted. The Baltimore public schools
opened on September 8 the year of the survey, but the migratory
families do not ordinarily leave the canneries before the first or
second week in October, so that the children do not return to the city
until three or four weeks after the opening of the city schools. Ninetysix per cent of the 245 white migratory children for whom the informa
tion was obtained had returned to their Baltimore homes at least
three weeks, and 57 per cent at least four weeks, after school had
opened. Some of those who work in canneries leave the city for
work on truck farms in the early summer and lose time at the end as
well as at the beginning of the school term. Seventy-three of the
245 had left Baltimore before school closed the year of the cannery
visits, among whom were 49 who had left at least four weeks before
the end of the term. No special inquiry was made as to the school
attendance of the 71 negro children in the migratory families, but in
all probability the migration for cannery and other work had interferred with their schooling at least as much as in the case of the white
children. The migratory children, both those who work in the can
neries and their younger brothers and sisters, go year after year to
the cannery districts, and although the local schools are open a large
part of their sojourn they do not attend the local schools.
Maryland cannery children were found to be unusually backward
in school as compared with those in the other States studied. Infor
mation as to their last school grade was ascertained for 1,472 (94 per
cent) of those found at work in the canneries. (Table 35.) Of these,
414 (28 per cent) had not reached the fifth grade, including 197 chil
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

115

MARYLAND

dren who had not passed the third. Among the latter were 55 children
of 14 and 15 years, and 65 of 12 and 13. Only one-third of the chil
dren had either attended or completed the seventh or a higher grade,
although more than half of them were at least 14 years of age and
according to average standards would be expected to have completed
at least the seventh grade (see footnote 18a, p. 47); and only about
one-eighth had attended or completed the eighth or a higher grade,
although more than one-fourth were 15 years of age and would be
expected to have completed at least the eighth grade. Only 61 of the
14 and 15 year old children had attended high school.
T able

35.— Last school grade attended or completed by boys and girls of specified
ages employed in Maryland canneries

Children under 16 years employed
Grade and sex
Total

10 years
and
under

11 years

12 years

13 years

14 years

15 years

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

1,564

100

157

332

475

419

Total reported...................................

1,472

146

314

449

395

Under fourth grade.................
Fourth grade_______________
Fifth grade_________ ________
Sixth grade.................................
Seventh grade______________

197
217
279
292
301
117
54
13
2

47
15
8
3
2

30
24
24
11
4

30
34
42
27
10
3

35
56
66
78
59
12
8

29
59
71
93
130
46
19
2

26
29
68
80
96
56
27
11
2

N o t reported____________________

B o y s ........................................

681

141

209

207

Total reported...................................

634

134

193

194

Under fourth grade.................
Fourth grade.......................... .
Fifth gra d e.._______ ________
Sixth grade.................................
Seventh grade______________

93
104
106
128
118
54
22
7
2

23
5
3
2
2

13
8
2
5
2

9
11
17
7
3
1

20
32
22
32
21
6
1

14
30
27
42
51
21
7
1

14
18
35
40
39
26
14
6
2

N ot reported__________ _________

Girls______________________

883

104

191

266

212

Total reported.................................

838

180

256

201

Under fourth grade_________
Fourth grade.............................
Fifth grade...............................
Sixth grade____________ _
.

24
6
4
1

17
16
22
6
2

21
23
25
20
7
2

15
24
44
46
38
6
7

Tenth grade_________________

104
113
173
164
183
63
32
6

15
29
44
51
79
25
12
1

12
11
33
40
57
30
13
5

N o t reported____________________

Eighth grade________________

The negro children were more backward than the white. Of the
755 whose grades were reported, 38 per cent, including 105 of those
who were 14 or 15 years old, had not reached the fifth grade. Only
23 per cent had attended the seventh or a higher grade, though
51 per cent were at least 14 years of age, and only 8 per cent had

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116

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CAN NERIES

attended or completed at least the eighth grade, though 24 per cent
were 15 years of age. The negro migratory children were especially
backward in school, and only 4 of the 28 children of 14 and 15 years
had reached the seventh or a higher grade.
The migratory white children hying in Baltimore, though they had
had the advantages of attending city schools, had made less satisfac
tory progress than white children whose homes were in towns or vil
lages in the vicinity of the canneries. (Table 36.) Eighteen per cent
of the 110 white migratory workers 14 and 15 years of age, compared
with 27 per cent of the 345 white children of these ages who lived out
side Baltimore and worked in canneries near their homes, had attended
the eighth or a higher grade, and only 44 per cent, compared with 60
per cent, had attended even the seventh or a higher grade. (Table
37.) Forty-five per cent of the white migratory children under 14,
compared with only 26 per cent among white resident children under
14, had not reached the fifth grade. This difference is only partly
accounted for by the fact that the migratory group contained a larger
number of children under 12 years of age.
T a b l e 36. Last school grade attended or completed by local and migratory children
under 16 years of age of specified race employed in Maryland canneries
Children under 16 years employed
Grade

Local
Total

W hite

Migratory

Negro
Total

W hite

Negro

Total

W hite

Negro

NUM BER
Total...................................
Total reported____ • ...............
Under fourth grade______
Under sixth grade___
Under eighth grade______
Eighth grade and o v e r...
N inth grade and over___
N o t reported...............

1,564

778

786

1,234

519

715

330

259

1,472

717

755

1,163

478

685

309

239

197
693
1,286
186
69

56
248
593
124
48

141
445
693
62
21

145
516
1,003
160
68

27
130
379
99
47

118
386
624
61
21

52
177
283
26
1

29
118
214
25
1

23
59
69

P E R C E N T D IS T R IB U T IO N
Total reported................
Under fourth grad e...
Under sixth grade.
Under eighth grade..
Eighth grade and o v e r ...
N inth grade and over___

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

100.0

100,0

100.0

13.4
47.1
87.4
12.6
4.7

7.8
34.6
82.7
17.3
6.7

18.7
58.9
91.8
8.2
2.8

12.5
44.4
86.2
13.8
5.8

5.6
27.2
79.3
20.7
9.8

17.2
56.4
91.1
8.9
3.1

16.8
57.3
91.6
8.4
.3

12.1
49.4
89.5
10. 5
.4

32.9
34 3
93 0

MARYLAND
T able

117

37.—Last

school grade attended or completed by 1J, and 15 year old local and
migratory children of specified race in Maryland canneries
Children under 16 years employed

Grade

Local
Total

W hite

Migratory

Negro
Total

W hite

Negro

Total

W hite

Negro

NUM BER
Total______________

894

491

403

747

373

374

147

118

Total reported___________

844

456

388

705

345

360

139

111

Under fourth g ra d e... .
Fourth grade__________
Fifth grade..................
Sixth grade__________
Seventh grade_______
Eighth grade....................
N inth grade................
Tenth grade.................
Eleventh grade_________

55
88
139
173
226
102
46
13
2

13
25
63
99
144
68
35
7
2

42
63
76
74
82
34
11
6

45
72
107
143
195
83
46
12
2

10
17
40
71
115
49
35
6
2

35
55
67
72
80
34

10
16
32
30
31
19

8
23
28
29
19

N ot re p o r te d ...___________ _

P E R C E N T D IS T R IB U T IO N 1
Total reported........

. ______

100.0

Under fourth grade______
Fourth grade____________
Fifth grade.......................
Sixth grade____________
Seventh g r a d e ..................
Eighth grad e.....................
N inth grade.........................
Tenth grade........................
Eleventh grade__________

6.5
10.4
16.5
20.5
26.8
12.1
5.5
1.5
.2

2.9
5.5
13.8
21.7
31.6
14.9
7.7
1.5
.4

10.8
16.2
19.6
19.1
21.1
8.8
2.8
1.5

6.4
10.2
15.2
20.3
27.7
11.8
6.5
1.7
.3

2.9
4.9
11.6
20.6
33.3
14.2
10.1
1.7
.6

9.7
15.3
18.6
20.0
22. 2
9. 4
3.1
1.7

7.2
Il fi
23 0

2. 7

22 3
13.7

17.1

(1)

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

Although the white local children had made better school progress
than either white migratory children or negro children, they had made
less satisfactory progress than children working in canneries in other
States. Only 27 per cent of the white local children of 14 and 15 years
of age in Maryland canneries had reached the eighth or a higher grade,
compared with 38 per cent of the same group in Delaware, and 70 per
cent of the cannery workers of 14 and 15 years of age in Indiana, 83
per cent in Michigan, and 87 per cent in Wisconsin, practically all of
whom in each of these States were white and lived in the vicinity of
the canneries.
CERTIFICATION OF MINORS
EXTENT

Employment certificates are required under the Maryland child
labor law for all children between 14 and 16 employed in canneries.
Certificates were on file in the canneries visited for only 639 of the
1,564 children; 925 were without them. (Table 38.) In 76 of
the 201 establishments in which children under 16 were employed,
not a certificate was on file. Only 15 had them on file for all the
children. In 9 of these some of the children were under 14 and so
not legally entitled to certificates at all, and in 11 others the only

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118

C H IL D R E N

F R U IT

AND

VEGETABLE

C A N N E R IE S

children for whom certificates were filed were found on investi
gation to be under 14 years of age, the legal minimum for employ
ment. In all, 87 establishments had certificates on file for 256
children (40 per cent of all the children who had certificates) under
legal working age.
T a b l e 38.— Number of canneries visited employing children under 16 years of age,
number employing children under 16 years of age without employment certificates,
number of children of specified ages employed, and, number of specified ages
employed with and without employment certificates in canneries in the city of
Baltimore and certain counties of Maryland

Canneries
visited
employing
children under
16 years

County or city

Total____________________

Caroline_____________________ _
Carroll________ _____ __________
Dorchester ...............................
Harford-----------------------------------Somerset-------------- -------------------W ic o m ic o ____________________
Worcester.......................................

Children under 16 years employed

Under 16 years

14 years, under 16

Under 14 years

W ith cer
W ithout
W ithout
Em ploy
tificates
certificates
certificates
ing
children
under
T o ta l
T o ta l
Total
T o ta l
16 years
N u m Per
N u m Per
N u m Per
without
cent
ber
ber
cent
ber
cent
certifi
cates

201

185

1,564

925

6
12
1
21
18
6
15
35
6
9
22
15
19
16

5
10
1
21
16
6
13
32
6
9
19
14
18
15

17
50
7
213
164
63
166
165
27
90
165
105
170
162

16
24
7
108
92
32
73
89
27
44
109
70
87
147

59.1
48.0
50.7
56.1
50.8
44.0
53.9
48.9
66.1
66.7
51.2
90.7

894

511

12
45
2
113
107
27
89
96
11
43
96
62
97
94

11
20
2
61
54
12
42
45
11
22
62
42
44
83

57.2

54.0
50.5
47.2
46.9
64.6
67.7
45.4
88.3

670
5
5
5
100
57
36
77
69
16
47
69
43
73
68

256

38.2

1
53
19
16
46
25
25
22
15
.30
4

53.0
33.3
59.7
36.2
31.9
41.1
5.9

In three counties (Anne Arundel, Baltimore, and Kent) in which
13 canneries were visited, a certificate was found on file for only
one child. In Worcester County, no certificates were found for 147
of the 162 children found at work; 12 of the 16 canneries visited had
none. (Table 38.) Dorchester County had the largest percentage
of children with certificates, 56 per cent, and was the only county
in which certificates for at least some of the children employed were
found on file in all the canneries visited. About half the children
under 16 had certificates in the city of Baltimore (52 per cent, em
ployed in 10 of the 12 canneries employing children), in Queen Anne
County (51 per cent, in 7 of the 9 canneries), in Caroline County
(49 per cent, in 17 of the 21 canneries), and in Cecil County (31 of
the 63 children, in 5 of the 6 canneries). The percentage of children
below the legal working age who had been certificated as between
14 and 16 years of age varied from 1 of the 26 children for whom
certificates were on file in the canneries visited in the city of Balti
more to approximately half the children certificated (50 per cent, 51
per cent, and 54 per cent, respectively) in three counties, Dorchester,
Caroline, and Queen Anne,

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119

M ARYLAND

White children more generally than negro had obtained certificates
to work. (Table 39.) Among the whites more of the migratory
than of the local children had obtained them, but among the negroes
even fewer of the migratory than of the others were certificated.
Forty-six per cent of the white migratory workers, but 73 per cent
of the negro migratory workers, were without them. Certificates
were not on file for 54 per cent of the local white children working
in the canneries, and for 66 per cent of the local negro children.
T a b l e 39.— Race of local and migratory children of specified ages employed with and
without employment certificates in Maryland canneries
Children under 16 years employed

Under 14 years

14 years, under 16

Under 16 years
Race of local and migra
tory children

W ithout certifi
cates

W ithout certifi
cates
Total

W ith certificates
Total

Total

Num ber Per cent i

Num ber Per centi

Number Per cent

Total_____________________

1,564

925

59.1

894

511

57.2

670

256

38.2

W h ite............................
Negro............. ............. ..

778
786

398
527

51.2
67.0

492
402

233
278

47.4
69.2

286
384

121
135

42.3
35.2

Local........................ .............

1,234

754

61.1

747

431

57.7

487

164

33.7

W h ite............................
Negro________________

519
715

279
475

53.8 f 373
66.4
374

179
252

48.0
67.4

146
341

46
118

31.5
34.6

Migratory............................

330

171

51.8

147

54.4

183

50.3

W h ite_______________

259
71

119
52

45.9
73.2

119
28

54
26

45.4

140
43

75
17

53.6

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

Although white migratory children were certificated more generally
than others their certificated group had a larger proportion of children
who were under legal working age and therefore ineligible for certifi
cation than any other, except the negro migratory workers. This
proportion was 54 per cent for the migratory whites, 49 per cent for
resident negroes, and 19 per cent for resident whites. Seventeen of
the 19 migratory negro workers with certificates were under the
legal minimum age for employment.
The employment of children without certificates was variously
explained by cannery managers. A few admitted that they had made
no attempt to get them, some of them saying that they did not employ
children under' 16. Undoubtedly many children tell the canners
that they are 16 or over when applying for work, but a number of
children working in canneries in which it was claimed that children
under 16 were never employed told the Children’s Bureau agents
without hesitation that they were under 16. The great majority of
the canners attributed the employment of so many children in viola
tion of the certificating law to the difficulty in obtaining certificates.
Several stated that no issuing officer had come to their plants and that
they did not know who their local issuing officer was nor how to reach
him. Some complained that the issuing officers would not come to
the canneries to issue certificates but required the children to go to

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C H IL D R E N

F R U IT

AND

VEGETABLE

C A N N E R IE S

their offices, where in some cases they could be found only during
their office hours. Some of these, according to the canners, had their
offices in towns 10 or more miles away from the cannery— several
were more than 25 miles away— so that it would have been a hardship,
if not an impossibility, for the children and their parents to go to
them. In a few cases where such complaints were made, however,
the cannery was in or very near the town where the issuing officer
had his office, and the canners’ willingness to hire children without
certificates seemed to be the only reason why they should not have
gone to the officer, as requested. The issuance of certificates at a
central office (the advantages of which compared to issuance in the
canneries themselves are obvious) is a generally accepted practice in
canning communities in other States and would no doubt become
more common in Maryland if canners understood that they could
not employ children without employment certificates with impunity.
The most common complaint was that under the usual system
followed in the Maryland counties of issuing certificates at the
canneries, the visits of certificate officers were too infrequent to
insure the issuing of certificates to all children needed for the rush
season. The canners said that most certificating officers visited
each cannery only once during the season. In some cases this was
at the very beginning of the season or even before the season opened,
in others not until late in the season. In a number of canneries he
had not come at all that season up to the time of the bureau visits,
many of which were made after the canning season was well under
way and after the opening of the schools for white children. (See
pp. 103 and 114.) Several canners said that in employing children
during a considerable part of the season without certificates they
were acting on the advice of the issuing officers, who had told them
that they might do so if the children were needed before they had
time to visit the cannery. A not uncommon complaint was that the
issuing officers did not notify the canners of their intended visit in
advance, so that it was impossible to round up all the children for
whom certificates were desired.
In contrast to the cases where issuing officers had come so infre
quently that certificates could not have been issued at the cannery for
all the children, two complete sets of certificates were issued in the
summer of 1925 to the same children employed in one cannery. At the
beginning of the season the issuing officer of previous years, at the re
quest of the management, had come to the cannery and certificated all
the children; later another issuing officer had appeared and although
he had been told that the necessary certificates had been issued had
insisted the territory was his and had proceeded to issue a new set of
certificates. When this cannery was visited by bureau representa
tives a year later, in September, 1926, no certificates had been issued
to the children during that season. At the beginning of the season
as usual the company called up the original issuing officer who had
said that he was going on his vacation the next day and that the
children might work until his return. Somewhat later the second
officer had telephoned that he would be at the cannery to issue
certificates on a certain day. Up to the time of the visit by the
bureau agent, neither had appeared.

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I S S U I N G O F F IC E R S

. The child labor law requires that certificates shall be issued in the
city of Baltimore by the commissioner of labor and statistics, the
director of the State department enforcing labor laws, and outside
Baltimore either by the commissioner or by the county superintendent
of schools or his deputy. When this law first became operative
December 1, 1912, the issuing was done in the counties by the county
superintendents of schools or by school principals whom they depu
tized, except in several of the canning counties, where, because of the
great demand for permits during the school vacation, the physicians
appointed by the county superintendent of schools to make the physical
examinations of children applying for certificates, as required under
the law, were also authorized to issue certificates.35 At the end of the
first year of the operation of the law, because of the extra work that the
task of issuing certificates entailed upon county superintendents and
school principals, the Maryland Bureau of Statistics and Information
(as the State enforcing agency was called at that time) urged all the
county superintendents to authorize the physicians designated by
them to make the physical examination to issue the certificates, saying:
As between the overworked school official who received no remuneration for his
work in issuing employment certificates and the examining physician who is
compensated, though meagerly,36 it was decided that the responsibility could
most logically be placed on the latter. Moreover, the physician is practically
constantly at his post.37

Since 1914 certificates have been issued outside Baltimore by these
physicians except where branches of the State office have been
established. No such branch is located in the canning counties.38
Eleven of the physicians appointed to issue employment certificates
in canning counties were interviewed by Children’s Bureau agents.
The organization of certificate issuance appeared to differ considerably
in different counties. In one county west of Chesapeake Bay, a
number of local physicians had been appointed, each of whom issued
for a relatively small territory. In others, especially those on the
Eastern Shore, only one, or in some cases, two physicians issued for
the entire county. One physician was found to have been issuing
certificates in all or part of four counties in 1925. With one exception,
each of the issuing officers interviewed had his own private practice,
and a number were also county health officers and deputy health
commissioners.
Although, as has been paid, some of the issuing officers required the
children to come to their offices for certificates, the most common
practice was to issue the certificates in the canneries. This method
may have resulted, especially where canneries were widely scattered
and issuing officers had large territories, in the certification of a
larger number of children than would have been the case if (under
the county certificating system as organized) all had been required to
to go to the issuing officer. It had certain disadvantages, however,
Twenty-second Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics and Information of M aryland, 1913, p. 69.
. y nder the law passed in 1912 (ch. 731, sec. 47) the physicians were paid 50 cents b y the county comnnssioners on warrant from the county superintendent of schools for each applicant examined. In 1914
(ch. 840) the bureau of statistics and information was substituted for the county commissioners. In 1922
(ch. 350) this sum was raised to $1, to be paid by the commissioner of labor and statistics on the warrant of
the county superintendent of schools.
13 ^-Twenty-third Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics and Information of M aryland, 1914, pp.
88A t the time of this study such a branch was located in western Maryland,

81531°— 30---- - 9

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especially where the issuing officers had relatively large territories to
cover, as was the case in all the Eastern Shore counties visited.
Visits to individual canneries were too infrequent and issuing done at
the cannery during working hours at the height of the rush season was
apt to be done too hurriedly.
Most of the physicians authorized to issue did the issuing them
selves, but some delegated all or part of the work to others. One
physician had his son accompany him on his visits to the canneries to
fill in the forms, which he himself signed. Another turned over a
considerable part of the issuing in his territory to his secretary, who
issued certificates not only in the office in the physician’s absence but
also in some of the canneries. Another had his wife issue certificates
in his absence. Some reported that no provision was made for any
one else to issue in their absence.
R E Q U I R E M E N T S F O R IS S U A N C E

Evidence of age.

Evidence of age is required under the Maryland law to be submitted
in the following order :
(а) A duly attested transcript of the birth certificate filed accord
ing to law with a register of vital statistics or other officer charged
with the recording of births.
(б) A passport or duly attested transcript of a certificate of baptism
showing the date of birth and place of baptism of such child.
(c) A bona fide contemporary Bible record, a certificate of arrival,
or a life-insurance policy, “ provided that such other‘satisfactory
documentary evidence” has been in existence at least one year;
school record or parent’s statement or affidavit not to be accepted
except as specified under evidence (d).39
(d) In case none of the proofs required under (a), (6), or (c) can be
produced a parent’s affidavit may be accepted if accompanied by a
statement of the examining physician certifying that he has made a
physical examination of the child in question, and that in his opinion
the child is of legal working age.40
On the forms furnished by the Maryland Commissioner of Labor and
Statistics for use in the counties, a space is provided in which the issu
ing officer is expected to enter the kind of proof of age accepted.
Information as to the evidence upon which age was determined by the
issuing officers was entered on the certificate for 567 of the 639 chil
dren for whom certificates were found on file. In 341 (60 per cent) of
the cases a birth certificate was reported as the type of evidence
accepted, and in 74 cases a baptismal record, making in all 415
(73 per cent) reported as issued on the best type of evidence. Affida
vits of parents, only permissible under the Maryland law if no better
proof of age is available,41 were reported as accepted in 88 cases.
To determine the actual ages of the children found at work in the
canneries the Children’s Bureau agents made a thorough search for the
best type of evidence obtainable for these children. Better legal
evidence of age than that accepted by the issuing officers was available
for approximately one-fifth of the children certificated. For example,
39 Evidence (d ), however, makes no mention of school record as evidence.
40 M d ., Laws of 1912, eh. 731, secs. 13-15, as amended b y Laws Of 1916, ch. 222, and Laws of 1918, eh. 495.
41 A s the examining physician issues the employment certificate, the affidavit is necessarily accompanied
b y a “ physician’s certificate of age” as required b y law.

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birth, records were found for 27 of the 74 children issued certificates on
baptismal records, and birth or baptismal records for 68 of the 88
children for whom parents’ affidavits had been accepted as proof of
age. On the other hand, no birth certificates could be found for 223
(65 per cent) of the 341 children reported to have been issued certifi
cates on this type of evidence. For 9 other children the evidence
specified by the issuing officer could not be found. Thus, for 232
children, more than one-third of the total number for whom the nature
of the evidence was reported, the evidence specified on the certificates
was reported to be nonexistent. A large number of these permits
had been issued by one physician. He stated that he issued practically
all certificates on the evidence of birth certificates and practically all
the certificates seen by the bureau representatives which had been
issued by him had “ a ” entered as the type of evidence. In view of
the fact that birth certificates could not be found in the official birth
records for a large proportion of the children to whom this officer had
issued certificates, and that in many cases the evidence of age found
by the bureau for these children proved them to be under legal age for
certification, it would seem that at least the great majority of the
certificates issued by him were issued on no more reliable evidence
than the children’s word. This officer reported that he believed he
had refused about 6 permits in the summer of 1925 because he believed
the children to be underage; during the same period he had isused 963.
Several canners' regarded the methods followed by the issuing officers
in their districts in determining evidence of age as a joke, and said
that the officers only took the children’s or parent’s statements as to
their ages just as the canner himself would do when they applied for
work. One canner in expressing his views on this matter stated that
when his own son was issued a certificate he himself was not consulted,
the boy was not required to produce any proof of age, and no physical
examination was made.
The birth date entered on the certificate by the issuing officer was
wrong for 367 of the 639 children on certificate, according to documen
tary evidence obtained by the Children’s Bureau. In 336 cases the
child was younger- than the birth date entered on the certificate
indicated; in 323 the discrepancy between the child’s real birth date
and the birth date accepted by the issuing officer was sufficiently great
to change his actual age. The proportion of such cases varied in the
different localities, from only 1 of the 26 in the canneries visited in the
city of Baltimore to two-thirds or more in six counties, being 70 per
cent in Caroline, 71 per cent in Cecil, 74 per cent in Dorchester, 65
per cent in Queen Anne, 73 per cent in Somerset, and 66 per cent in
Talbot.
Migratory children more often than those living in the locality of
the canneries in which they worked were put down on their certifi
cates as older than they were— 63 per cent of the former compared to
42 per cent of the latter. The white children living in the neighbor
hood of the canneries had the smallest proportion who were proved to
be younger than their certificated ages (26 per cent), and the negro
migratory children had the largest, 17 of the 19 cases being below the
ages accepted by the issuing officers. More of the negro children
than of the white— 61 per cent of the one group and 38 per cent of the
other— had been represented on their certificates as older than they
actually were.

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The age entered on 249 of the 256 certificates issued to children
under 14 was either 14 or 15 years, on 4 it was 13 years, and on 3 no
age had been entered by the issuing officer. The documentary evidence
found by the Children’s Bureau agents showed that 165 of these
children were 13, 59 were 12, 26 were 11,5 were 10, and 1 was 9 years
of age.
Three of the five issuing officers interviewed who were county health
officers or registrars of vital statistics, reported that they examined the
birth records filed in their offices, but two of these issued most of their
certificates at the canneries. Most of the issuing officers said that
they accepted the parents’ affidavits or the child’s statements if the
children did not have documentary evidence with them when they
came for certificates. Documentary evidence could have been
procured for the great majority of the children. The Children’s
Bureau agents found birth records for 35 per cent of the children with
certificates whom they found at work in the Maryland canneries,
baptismal records for 21 per cent, and other documentary evidence
acceptable under the Maryland child labor law for 22 per cent.
Thus, for 78 per cent of the total number of children with certificates,
some kind of satisfactory documentary evidence was available.
For the 143 Baltimore children employed in the county canneries
who had certificates this proportion was 89 per cent, though but little
more than half of them were reported as having been issued certifi
cates on such evidence. In this connection it may be noted that when
the present child labor law first went into effect42 the State bureau of
statistics and information required all Baltimore children going to
work in the county canneries to obtain their employment certificates
at the Baltimore office of the bureau before leaving the city. The
reports of the State department do not show that this requirement
has ever been rescinded, but only 22 of the 143 children had obtained
certificates in Baltimore. (See footnote 63, p. 134.)
Proof of physical fitness.

Every child obtaining an employment certificate is required to have
a certificate from a physician, appointed in the counties by the county
superintendent of schools, stating that the child has been examined
by him, and that in the physician’s opinion he is physically able to
undertake the work for which the employment certificate is desired.43
The physicians appointed to issue employment certificates in the
counties do not receive fees for issuing them (see footnote 36, p. 121),
but they are entitled to a fee of $1 for each physician’s certificate
issued. Although entitled to payment only for the physician’s
certificate, 6 of the 11 issuing officers interviewed said that they made
no attempt to give applicants physical examinations, 1 examined
only children who were “ puny or undersized,” and 1 did not examine
all applicants. In regard to one of the three who said they gave the
required examination to all children, the only one of them in the East
ern Shore counties, several of the canners in his district denied that
he made any examination of the children during the course of issuing
at their canneries. If, as he himself stated, he issued 963 certificates
« The child labor law went into effect in December, 1912, but it did not affect the canning industry to any
extent until the summer of 1913.
„
,
....
, ____ ’
43 This is the requirement for a vacation certificate. For a certificate permitting employment during
school hours the physician must certify also that the child is of normal development. (M d ., Laws of 1912,
ch. 731, secs. 13-15, as amended b y Laws of 1916, ch. 222, and Laws of 1918, ch. 495.)

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in 15 days in 1925, it would seem as though physical examinations for
more than a small percentage of these children would have been an
impossibility.
Other.

Examination of the certificates on file for the children employed in
the canneries revealed failure to comply with certain other require
ments for issuance. A number of the defects found— such as the omis
sion of information as to the sex, color, or residence of the child, of
the child’s or issuing officer’s signature, or of the date of issuance—
were not of much significance so far as adequate enforcement of the
law was concerned. But others were of greater significance, such as
computing the child’s age incorrectly; omitting his name or birth
date; giving the birth place incorrectly; failing to record the nature of
the evidence accepted; and failing to enter or to state specifically the
occupation for which the certificate was granted (61 such cases were
found).
S T A T E S U P E R V IS IO N

The State commissioner of labor and statistics has general supervi
sion over employment certificates in the State. He prepares the
certification forms and supplies them to issuing officers with instruc
tions for their use. Duplicates of all certificates issued and also
records of all applications for certificates that have been refused must
be sent to him by the issuing officer. In Baltimore all certificates
are issued by him, and although in the counties the issuing officers
are appointed under the law by the county superintendents, in actual
practice the appointments, through cooperation with the superin
tendents, are subject to his approval. Machinery thus exists in
Maryland for effective supervision of issuance throughout the State
by the State agency enforcing the labor laws.
Most of the issuing officers interviewed, however, reported that
beyond receiving forms for certification and copies of the law they
had no supervision from the State. None reported that he had
visits or letters from representatives of the State department of labor
to advise him regarding the problems of issuance, although a few
said that they occasionally went to Baltimore and consulted the staff
of the department regarding matters of issuance. In order to
receive the fee of $1 for each child certificated the issuing officer had
to send in the duplicates of the certificates he had issued, and this
apparently was done by all, but a number said that they sent in dupli
cates only once a month and some that they sent them in only at the
end of the year or at the end of the canning season, so that it would
have been impossible for the State department to revoke the certifi
cates if they had been incorrectly issued.
LABOR CAMPS FOR CANNERY WORKERS
S IZ E O F C A M P S

Labor camps were maintained in connection with 93 of the 201
canneries in which children under 16 were employed, and in connec
tion with 6 of the 10 canneries in which children were not employed.
Children were found living in all but 3 of them. Ninety-three camps
for which the number of persons housed was reported had 3,842

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persons, or an average of 41 a camp. The camps ranged, in size from
two housing less than 10 person^ each to one housing 125 or more.
About half the total number in the camps, 1,895, were children, many
of whom were too young for cannery work.
H O U S IN G

Camps were usually near the cannery buildings, but a few were as
far as a quarter of a mile away. Some of the latter were built under
trees or at the edge of woods, and when the camp was near the cannery
it was likely to be near a highway or the railroad tracks. The build
ings in the majority of the camps were long, low, one-story frame
structures, weather stained or painted a dingy red, with roof of tar
paper or corrugated iron, consisting of a row of rooms, 8 or 10 in a
row, each with a window and an outside door. If there were two
buildings the second was usually placed at right angles to the first.
This type of building is known in other parts of the country as- a
row house; in the Maryland cannery camps each room is called a
“ shack” or a “ shanty.” The other camps had a variety of housing
arrangements, but only one had the dormitory type, in which the
workers all slept in one large room, such as was common in cannery
camps in earlier years and in Maryland truck-farm camps in 1921,
when the Children’s Bureau made a survey of the housing of truckfarm workers.44 In 1911 half the 20 cannery camps visited in Mary
land during a survey made by the United States Bureau of Labor
were of the dormitory type,45 and a few were found by Federal child
labor law inspectors in 1919.48 Five camps visited during the present
study might have been a development of this earlier type; they were
barnlike buildings of two stories, each floor partitioned off into 2
rows of rooms, 1 room for a family, each room with a door into the
hallway and the second floor reached by an outside stairway. Exist
ing buildings— old farmhouses, cabins built for negro tenants, or even
the second floor of the cannery warehouse— had been converted into
living quarters for migratory laborers in some places.
“ One room, one family” was the general housing arrangement.
In 53 camps families were assigned one room regardless of the number
of persons in the family. However, in 17 camps some of the larger
families occupied two rooms, and in 4 camps each family was given
two or more rooms. In one of the latter, a negro camp on the Eastern
Shore, each family occupied a 4-room house. On the other hand,
in 10 camps some families had to share their one room with outsiders.
Rooms varied greatly in size, although those in the same row house
were usually the same size. A floor space of about 120 square feet
was common, though rooms were both larger and smaller. In four
camps the size of the rooms was estimated to be 84 square feet or
less. In row houses the roof was sloping, so that the sides of the
rooms, 8 feet or so high at one end were 12 or even 20 feet high at
the other end, thus affording considerably more air space than if
the ceiling had been flat.
u

child Labor on Maryland Truck Farms, p. 25. U. S. Children’s Bureau Publication N o. 123. W ashBulletin of the Bureau of Labor (U . S. Department of Commerce and Labor), N o. 96, September, 1911,

^ 46 Administration of the First Federal Child Labor Law, pp. 101,102.
tion N o. 78. Washington, 1921.

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Overcrowding was common, as most of the family groups assigned
to one room were composed of 3 or 4 persons and some of as many
as 9 or 10. In 23 camps occupied by white families and in 18 camps
occupied by negro families the number of persons living in each room
was ascertained. Fifty-six per cent of the rooms occupied by white
families and 70 per cent of those occupied by negro families had
three or more persons in a room, and 22 per cent of the rooms occu
pied by white families, and 32 per cent of those occupied by negro
families, had five or more persons.
Legal regulations as to housing and sanitation in labor camps are
not so detailed in Maryland as in some of the other States having such
regulations. (See p. 223.) Since 1914, however, Maryland has had
a law on the sanitation of factories and canneries, administered by
the State board of health, which requires that “ living quarters,
provided by the canner, shall have water-tight roofs and tight board
floors and shall be provided with ample fight and ventilation, and
provision shall be made therein for the proper separation and privacy
of the sexes.” 47 The law does not set specific standards. For
example, several States in which labor camps are regulated specify
the amount of cubic air space to be provided for each person in sleep
ing rooms— the Washington State Board of Health requires 500 cubic
feet of air per person;48 the California State Commission on Immigra
tion and Housing advises this standard though it does not require it;49
the New York Industrial Commission requires 400 cubic feet of air
space for each person, except that a minimum of 200 cubic feet is
permitted for each child under 14 years;50 in Pennsylvania by recent
rulings of the State department of labor, 250 cubic feet of air space are
required for each person in sleeping rooms of seasonal labor camps
operated between April 1 and October 31, this being approximately
the amount of air space required for each person in Pullman sleeping
cars.51 In most of the camps in Maryland the amount of cubic air
space could not be estimated easily on account of the pitch of the
roofs of the row houses. A few examples, however, may indicate the
inadequacy of the cubic air space in many instances. In one camp,
a mother, father, and four children slept in one room having 1,040
cubic feet instead of the 1,500 that would be required by the Penn
sylvania standard. In another camp a mother and five children
slept in a room having 504 instead of 1,500 cubic feet.
The rooms in most of the camps with row houses were ventilated by
one door and one window (about 18 inches by 2 feet), both opening to
the outer air. In the newer buildings the windows usually had glass
panes, although these could not always be opened; in some of the
older buildings the windows were merely holes in the walls with board
shutters. Few windows had screens. According to a standard
adopted in New York State,52 every window opening must be at least
four square feet, set with glass and easily opened.
The provision of the Maryland law requiring “ proper separation
and privacy of the sexes’ 153 is not so specific as the provisions of the
« M d ., Laws of 1914, ch. 678, sec. 3, subdiv. (j). (See footnote 62, p. 132.)
48 Washington, Rules and Regulations of the State Board of Health, revised and adopted Aug. 29,1927,
secs. 63 and 64.
49 California Commission of Immigration and Housing, Advisory Pamphlet (Rev. 1926), p. 17.
60 N . Y ., Industrial Code, 1920, Rule 205 (p. 188).
61 Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, Regulations for Labor Camps, 1926, Rule 300,
subdiv. (c).
m N . Y ., Industrial Code, 1920, Rule 206 (p. 188).
» M d ., Laws of 1914, ch. 678, sec. 3, subdiv. (j).

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CANNERIES

New York and Pennsylvania regulations, both of which require that
families composed of husband and wife and a child 10 years of age or
older must be assigned two rooms.64 In Maryland cannery camps it
is the practice for all members of the family, mother, father, boys and
girls, and young children to sleep in the same room and usually in the
same bed. In 10 camps, where the usual rule of one family to a room
was not observed, in some cases a single man or woman shared the
same room with a married couple and their children, and in other
cases two married couples shared the same room. In the one house
of dormitory type found three family groups of nine persons in all,
men, women, and children, slept in the same room in three beds, each
in a different corner.
Rooms were generally used only for sleeping. The furnishings
consisted of one large bunk or bed space roughly constructed of
boards, the chests and boxes the workers had brought with them, and
an occasional table or bench provided by the canner. In a few camps,
both those for whites and those for negroes, the workers had brought
cots with them; in a few others the bunks were built like berths, one
above the other, and were the size of ordinary beds. In most of the
camps each room had but one bunk, about 6 feet wide and 8 or 10
feet long, frequently taking up two-thirds of the room. In this bed
slept all members of the family, regardless of age or sex. Generally
the bunk was raised 1 foot or 18 inches from the floor, but in 22 of the
91 camps inspected, 20 occupied by white families and 1 by negro
families, the bunks were not raised, the bed space being separated
from the rest of the floor only by a board about a foot high.65 The
bunks or bed spaces were filled with straw provided by the canner
over which were spread blankets or sometimes feather beds or com
forters provided by the workers. Workers expressed a good deal of
dissatisfaction regarding the straw furnished. One woman voiced a
general criticism when she declared that “ good farmers change the
straw for their cattle, but here where we human beings are, we use the
same stale straw, week after week. ”
Both cooking and eating, as a rule, were done out of doors except
in some of the old dwelling houses or in camps where families had two
rooms. The stoves were usually under some kind of shelter, a shed
or a projection of the roof of the row house, though in a few camps the
stoves had no shelters, a source of much inconvenience when it rained.
In some of the better-equipped camps each family had a separate stove
and table, but usually several families shared a stove, table, and
benches. In a camp for negro workers where the second floor of the
cannery warehouse had been turned into living quarters, the 47
occupants used two old stoves placed in a corner that had not been
partitioned off into sleeping compartments; in another camp for negro
workers, where one old kitchen range was provided for 27 persons,
one family had brought an oil stove and one woman was seen heating
water in an iron kettle balanced over a fire built on the ground. In
the camps for Polish workers the men had constructed stoves and
M N . Y ., Industrial Code, 1920, Rule 223 (p. 190); Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry,
Regulations for Labor Camps, 1926, Rule 300.
M In a few States, not including Maryland, specific regulations have been made concerning beds. The
N ew York Industrial Code, 1920, Rule 210 (p. 189), and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Indus
try, Regulations for Labor Camps, Rule 300 (c), each provide that beds, cots, or bunks must be provided
in “ sufficient numbers” for the occupants of the rooms, and that each bed must be raised at least 12 inches
from the floor. In California the law regulating labor camps (Acts of 1921, ch. 767) provides that ‘ ‘ the bunks
or beds shall be made of steel, canvas, or other sanitary material’ ’and that when straw is used “ a container
or tick must be provided,”

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ovens out of bricks and plaster after the fashion of those in the “ old
country.” No place to keep food was provided; some of the families
themselves had put up shelves or kept boxes for their food. Shacks
had no means of heating except in the camps where the cooking was
done indoors, although the weather is sometimes cold and damp
before the season closes toward the middle of October. Lighting
was usually by kerosene lamps or candles, provided by the workers,
but three camps were wired for electricity.
S A N IT A T IO N

Sanitation in the cannery camps was as a rule far from satisfactory.
Legal regulations do not apply in Maryland, as they do in some other
States, to toilets in labor camps, though a section of the law relating
to the sanitation of canneries requires that separate toilet rooms be pro
vided for each sex,56 not specifying the kind or the number. Privies
were generally provided for the occupants of the camps that were
visited. In 22 of the 91 camps separate provision for the sexes was
not made. In more than half the camps the occupants were expected
to use the toilet facilities at the canneries. and no others were pro
vided. In some of these cases the camps were some distance from the
canneries (one camp with no toilet facilities was a quarter of a mile
from the cannery and another was separated from the cannery by a
stretch of woods), and in some cases the cannery toilets were insuffi
cient for the number of persons. One of the larger canneries employ
ing 200 persons had a camp with 118, including many nonworkers;
it provided no toilets at the camp and only six at the cannery. Where
camps had toilets of their own, the number was usually adequate,
according to the accepted standard in some States of not less than one
toilet for every 20 persons,57 but in 4 of the 41 camps with toilet facil
ities even this standard was not maintained, and two had only one
toilet for 30 or more persons. One canner who had 125 workers and
110 persons in the cannery camp provided no toilets of any kind
either at the cannery or at the camp.
Only two labor camps had flush toilets. The privies were generally
of flimsy construction and not properly cared for. Frequently sheds
with open pits or portables with dug holes were used; there was no
screening nor protection against flies. In some camps located near a
was built over the water. In some, pails were pro
vided which were emptied periodically. The only provision in one
camp, in which there were children living but not working, was a
covered pail inadequately screened by some bushes. One camp had
separate toilets for the sexes but there were cracks in the partitions
between the compartments; in another camp the door of the privy
was off the hinges; in another the privy had no roof; in another there
were no seats; in another the floor boards of the privy were broken so
that it was unsafe for children. Except for some cases where the canners took the responsibility of keeping the privies cleaned out, they
were not in fit condition and the waste was sometimes not disposed
of until the end of the season.
The grounds were frequently littered with garbage, tin cans, and
other rubbish, m contrast to the living quarters, which were often kept
f o l d i n ’ Maryland* ca’nnerles’iif this t u r v l y . ) ® E S tlo n s fo r “

C a lp s fK m

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(Se® P’ 89 * * a statement regarding sanitary conditions

213 (P‘ ^ .P e n n s y l v a n i a Department of Labor and Industry,

130

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE C ANNERIES

clean and tidy by the families who occupied them. According to the
law “ the occupants of the living quarters provided by the canner
shall be required to keep same in a clean and sanitary condition.” 58
Responsibility for the grounds frequently was assumed neither by
campers nor by employers. About a fourth of the canners appointed
the row boss or another employee to collect and dispose of the garbage.
Some of these, and a few others who took no further responsibility,
furnished cans or pails for garbage. In the majority of the camps
refuse was thrown into the woods behind the camp buildings or on the
ground or in the creek or river. What can be done to keep the grounds
in a sanitary condition if the employer takes the responsibility, as
under the New York and California laws relating to labor camps he is
required to do,59was exemplified by the excellent condition of one of the
camps visited. The employee in charge of the grounds emptied the
garbage pails, which had covers, daily, swept the ground about the
shacks clean, and used a kerosene spray to destroy flies.
On account of the flies, which swarm in cannery camps, decaying
garbage and unscreened privies present a serious health problem. In
most camps windows and doors are not screened. Canners provided
screens at least for the windows in 7 of the 91 visited. Another can
ner gave cheesecloth to all families who asked for it. In 10 other
camps the workers had tried to cope with the fly evil by tacking up
netting which they themselves had bought.
According to the Maryland law relating to living quarters main
tained by canners “ an ample supply of pure drinking water” must be
provided.60 In the absence of chemical analysis no details can be
given of the extent to which the water was not pure. In more than a
third of the camps no separate well or faucet was provided for the
camp, and the families went to the cannery for all their water. The
water used by the occupants of 23, including some of those whose
water supply was at the cannery, was from artesian wells and in
5 was from the town water supply, and was probably satisfactory.
In the other 40 camps for which information was obtained drinking
water came from dug or driven wells or from springs. The occupants
of several camps said that they had been made ill by the water. In
one camp the workers so distrusted the water that they brought water
from the cannery, 400 feet away across railroad tracks. The source
of the water supply in another camp, a spring covered by a board, had
been condemned by an inspector from the State health department,
according to the row boss.
C A R E O F C H IL D R E N

During the day children who do not work are either left to amuse
themselves as best they can at camp in charge of children little older
than themselves or go with their mothers to the cannery (see p.102).
It is a common sight in the canneries to see young children standing
around or playing in less crowded parts of the workrooms or warehouse.
Both the camp grounds, because of their proximity to railroads and
highways, and the cannery workrooms are dangerous places for young
children.
88 M d ., Laws of 1914, ch. 678, sec. 3, subdiv. (m).
89 N . Y . , Labor Law, see. 298; Calif., Acts of 1919, ch. 164.
80 M d ., Laws of 1914, ch. 678, sec. 3, subdiv. (j).

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M ARYLAND

131

,A number of accidents to children during the season of the Children’s
Bureau visits were reported. One child fell off a wagon load of toma
toes on which she was playing and broke her arm, and another had her
leg broken by an automobile on the highway near the camp. Two
children in two camps were burned when they got too near cook stoves.
One of these, trying to get warm on a cold windy day, had set her cloth
ing on fire, and two and a half months later, when her family was
visited in Baltimore, was still in the hospital. The other, a 2-yearold child of the row boss, died as a result of burns.
Children playing about unsupervised in the cannery also were
injured. An 8-year-old boy was pushed by another child into a
scalding machine; both legs were burned up to his waist, and he was
in bed for two weeks. In another cannery a child of 4, playin g near
a process kettle, was stunned and unconscious for 24 hours when hit
by the lid of the kettle which had rolled off.
In many canneries the management tried to keep children out of the
cannery buildings, but in only two of those visited was a systematic
effort made to supervise the children. In one the canner had engaged
an elderly negro woman whose main duty was to see that children did
not get into the workrooms. In another a recreation center was pro
vided, with three welfare workers, of whom one had nurse’s training
and another had been a student at a medical school.61 Classes in
basketry, sewing, and cooking were held in a small frame building
outside the camp grounds, and here hot lunches costing the nominal
sum of 3 cents were served daily. Lessons in hygiene were also
given and the canner provided each child with a tooth brush.
IL L N E S S E S I N M I G R A T O R Y F A M IL I E S

The existence of typhoid fever and other less serious kinds of intes
tinal troubles among families migrating for cannery work gives
ground for concern over the water supply and general camp sanitation.
Nine of the 197 families interviewed at their homes in Baltimore said
that some member of the family had had some form of intestinal
trouble at camp. One baby according to the mother had died of
cholera infantum. Thirteen other families reported 17 cases of
typhoid fever, either while they were at camp or within a few weeks
after their return to the city, a number of which were registered at the
office of the bureau for recording communicable diseases of the State
department of health. Nine of the 17 cases of typhoid had occurred
among families which had migrated to one cannery in Queen Anne
County, 2 in families migrating to different canneries in Caroline
County, 1 in a family going to a Harford County cannery, and 5 in
one family which had gone to a cannery camp in Kent County. One
cannery was reported to have had an epidemic of typhoid for several
successive years, and the year of the survey the cannery owners had
advised mothers to have the children innoculated. (See also p. 53.)
SUM M ARY

In the canning and preserving of fruits and vegetables, Maryland
ranks third among the States, according to the average number of
wage earners, and canning is the second industry of the State. The
«i This project was organized b y the Council of W om en for Home Missions with the cooperation of the
cannery. Similar welfare stations have been carried on for migratory workers by the same organization in
other places in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and on the Pacific coast.

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132

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

principal crops canned are tomatoes, corn, beans, and peas. The
Children’s Bureau visited 211 of the 407 canneries, 185 of which, at
the peak of the tomato season, were canning nothing but tomatoes.
No other manufacturing industry in the State employs so many
children.
Of the 198 canneries outside the city of Baltimore visited by the
Children’s Bureau 99 employed negro or foreign-born migratory
labor in family groups. These maintained labor camps for the mi
grants, in many of which housing and sanitation were unsatisfactory.62
The equipment of many of the canneries, especially in the rural
sections, was not up to date. Poor ventilation and wet and sloppy
floors were common. Seats for the workers were seldom provided.62
One thousand five hundred and sixty-four children under 16 were
found at work in 201 canneries. They constituted 10 per cent of the
total number of wage earners. Twenty-one per cent were migratory
workers, of whom 78 per cent were white, usually of Polish or other
Slavic origin. Of the local children at work in the canneries, 58 per
cent were negro. More than half (56 per cent) of the child workers
were girls.
Six hundred and seventy children (43 per cent of those employed)
were under 14, though the age minimum for work in canneries in
Maryland is 14 years. Fifty-five per cent of the migratory children
were under 14. One hundred and eighty-one (12 per cent of the
employed children) were from 7 to 11 years of age, including 110
girls. The proportion under 14 was the same as was found in a
Children’s Bureau survey of Maryland canneries in 1918, but the
proportion under 10 was smaller in 1925 than in 1918.
Eighty-seven per cent of the children were working in tomato
canneries. Of the girls, 87 per cent were tomato peelers, 5 per cent
husked, cut, sorted, or trimmed corn, 3 per cent were employed in the
hand packing of tomatoes; the remaining 5 per cent sorted lima beans,
snipped string beans, worked as can girls and check girls, labeled cans,
and did a variety of other work. Of the boys 37 per cent were can
boys, 24 per cent were tomato peelers, and the remainder did a great
variety of work, much of which required a good deal of strength or
was done in connection with power machinery. Fifty-two children
operated machines, contrary to the provisions of the child labor law.
«a The State Department of Health of Maryland administers the law providing for the inspection of
factories, canneries, and other establishments and places where food products are manufactured, packed, or
sold and for the correction of insanitary conditions and practices in such establishments. This law also
sets up certain general standards in regard to living quarters provided b y the canner. (See p. 127.)
Information received from this department (January, 1930) regarding its work since 1925 in inspecting can
neries and cannery labor camps is as follows:
A t a meeting of the deputy State health officers in April, 1927, it was agreed that the bureau of
food and drugsoftheStatedepartmentofhealth should beresponsible for the enforcement of the
sanitary inspection law in canneries, and that the bureau of sanitary engineering should inspect
and make recommendations for water supplies and the proper sewage-disposal methods for all
canneries and cooperate with the bureau of food and drugs in putting into effect necessary im
provements. Following this meeting, a number of canneries where improvements in sewage
disposal and water supply were needed were visited by the inspectors of the bureau of sanitary
engineering and recommendations were made. In m any cases the examination of water supply
was confined to a sanitary survey and recommendations were made to the canner as to how to
protect the supply.
During the season of 1929 approximately 1,067 inspections of 375 canneries were made by the
representatives of the bureau of food and drugs. These inspections were confined primarily to
the detection of adulterated foods and to improvement of sanitary conditions in the canneries,
but inspectors were instructed, in connection with the inspections, to look over the living
quarters and make recommendations for improvements wherever necessary. They were urged
to see that surroundings were kept reasonably clean, that closed containers were provided for
garbage and other refuse, that toilets were available, and that good water was available within
a reasonable distance.

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MARYLAND

133

Cannery work has been exempted from the hour provisions of the
Maryland child labor law applying to manufacturing and mercantile
establishments.
In 198 of the 201 canneries employing children they worked more
than 8 hours a day; in 179, 10 hours or longer; and in 63, 12 hours or
longer.
Ninety-seven per cent of the employed children worked more than
8 hours a day, including 603 under 14 years of age and 140 under 12;
76 per cent worked 10 hours or longer and 19 per cent 12 hours or
longer. Migrants had longer hours than others; 35 per cent of them
had worked at least 12 hours a day.
Sixty-nine per cent of 270 children for whom a week’s time records
were obtained had worked more than 48 hours a week, and 43 per
cent had worked 60 hours or more.
Thirty-three per cent, including 50 per cent of the migrants and 29
per cent of the other workers, had been employed between 7 p. m.
and 6 a. m. one or more times during the season of 1925. Children
had worked between these hours in 94 of the 201 canneries.
The number of nights worked during the season ranged from 1 to 30
or more, 53 per cent of the night workers, including 70 per cent of the
migrants, having worked at least 6 nights.
Two hundred of the children working at night were under 14, and
45 were under 12 years of age.
Ninety-six per cent of the 245 white migratory children reported
upon returned to their city homes from the canneries at least three
weeks, and 57 per cent at least four weeks, after school had opened the
season of the survey; 20 per cent had left home at least four weeks
before school had closed.
Maryland county schools for white children opened from about two
to four weeks before the close of the cannery season, and those for
negro children from one to two weeks. The great majority of the
canneries were visited after the opening of the schools for white
children, and most of the children found at work were employed a full
day and did not attend school.
Employment certificates, required under the child labor law for all
children between 14 and 16 employed in canneries, were on file for only
639 of the 1,564 children. Seventy-six of the 201 canneries had no
certificates on file, and 87 had them on file for 256 children under the
legal working age.
Of the white migrants with certificates 54 per cent, and 17 of the
19 negro migrants for whom certificates were on file, were under the
legal age for employment. Of the local white children 19 per cent
and of the local negro children 49 per cent were under 14.
Seventy-three per cent of the certificates were recorded as having
been issued on birth or baptismal records, the types of evidence of age
given preference under the law. However, the Children’s Bureau
found birth records for only one-third of the children whose certifi
cates were alleged to have been issued on this type of evidence, and for
more than one-third in all of the children the evidence specified on
the certificate was apparently nonexistent. On the other hand, the
Children’s Bureau found that evidence of age legally preferable to
that accepted was available for one-fifth of the certificated children.
According to documentary evidence obtained by the Children’s
Bureau 336 of the 639 children with certificates were younger than

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134

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

indicated by the birth dates on their certificates, including 63 per
cent of the migrants and 42 per cent of the resident workers.63
63 The following information has been received from the office of the Maryland Commissioner of Labor
and Statistics regarding certain efforts to change child-labor conditions in the canneries since the date o '
this study:
.
,
.
,
In 1928 a special survey was made in four Eastern Shore counties where approximately onefourth of the canneries of the State are located. (See Child Labor in Vegetable Canneries in
M aryland, April, 1929, issued by the State Commissioner of Labor and Statistics.) In view
of the facts discovered, it was felt that special efforts should be made toward the improvement
of certificate issuance and thereby toward the prevention of the employment of children under
legal age. A t the beginning of the season of 1929, a letter was sent to each canner whose name
appeared upon the records of the office, calling his attention to the provisions of the child labor
law, giving instructions as to obtaining certificates, and asking that the nam e and address of the
row boss who obtained workers for the cannery be sent to the Baltimore office on a card which
was inclosed. Replies were received from 86 canners who were planning to operate in 1929,
48 reporting that they had row bosses (35 living in Baltimore and 13 outside). Letters were
written to those residing in Baltimore, instructing them to obtain certificates at the Baltimore
office, and to those outside Baltimore giving them instructions regarding compliance with the
law.
In all, 152 certificates were issued in the Baltimore office for children to work in county can
neries, as compared with 127 such certificates issued in 1928 and 62 in 1925. The certificates
issued in 1929 were for work in 49 canneries distributed in 11 counties, those issued in 1925 were
for work for only 25 companies in 9 counties. Of the 49 county canneries for which certificates
were issued in Baltimore in 1929, 24 had reported row bosses to whom letters had been written,
and 16 had row bosses whose names had not been reported to the Baltimore office.
Before the opening of the canneries, a further reminder as to the requirements of the law was
sent to each canner, with the name and address of the nearest physician authorized to issue
certificates. In a few districts where these physicians were not reasonably available to the
canneries additional issuing officers were appointed. It was intended that physicians should
not visit the plants to issue certificates, but it was later found that in some instances this was
necessary.
That inspections of canneriès for child-labor violations have been more thorough during the last few years
than in previous years is indicated by the increase in the number of children reported by the office of the
Maryland Commissioner of Labor and Statistics as found at work in violation of the law. In 1925, when
397 canneries were inspected, 239 oanneries were found employing 1,656 children under 16, of whom only 85
(5 per cent) were reported as “ working in violation of law” ; whereas in 1928, 170 of 261 vegetable canneries
inspected were employing 920 children under 16, of whom 223 (24 per cent) were reported to be under legal
age or without certificates, and in 1929, 243 of 367 canneries inspected were employing 1,276 children under
16, of whom 214 (17 per cent) were children between 14 and 16 without certificates and 121 (9 per cent) were
under 14 years of age.

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M ICH IG AN
INTRODUCTION

Michigan ranked fifth among the States in 19251in the canning and
preserving of fruits. The principal fruit crop canned is cherries, but
berries of all kinds (except loganberries) and pears, peaches, and
plums are also packed.2 Besides the fruit products, Michigan cans
many kinds of vegetables. Pickles and beans are the leading products
according to value, not even excepting cherries. Kraut, beets, com,
pumpkins and squash, and tomatoes and tomato pulp are the principal
other products canned in the State.3 The industry employed in
1925 an average number of 2,935 wage earners, but in August and
September, the peak canning months, the number rose to 7,200 and
7,629, respectively.4
The Canners’ Directory for 1925 lists 78 establishments canning and
preserving fruits and vegetables.5 These were located in 32 of the
83 counties of the State, chiefly in the counties bordering Lake Michi
gan and in the central and southeastern parts of the State. Fifty-one
were in the western counties of the lower peninsula on or near Lake
Michigan, from Antrim County on the north to the Indiana line on
the south, the principal fruit-raising section of the State. The eastern
canning counties specialized chiefly in tomatoes and tomato pulp,
the central counties in kraut and pickles, and the western counties in
fruits and beans.
THE CANNERIES
L O C A T I O N , S IZ E , A N D P R O D U C T

The Children’s Bureau inquiry in Michigan was confined chiefly
to establishments canning fruits. It covered 35 canneries in 13 counties
in the western part of the State, including almost all the important
fruit-canning counties. (Table-40.)
The western part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is famous for
its small fruits, especially cherries, raspberries, and strawberries.
The length of the canning season in this section varies from a few
weeks to the entire year, but in most cases the season begins in June
when strawberries are ripe and continues through the summer or into
the early fall, depending on the kind and number of products the estab
lishment cans. Sometimes slack periods occur between the end of one
crop and the beginning of the next; for example, one cannery closed
down for a couple of weeks after the cherry season untiHima beans
were ready for canning.
1 Census of Manufactures, 1925, Canning and Preserving, p. 20. U . S. Bureau of the Census. Washing
ton, 1927.
2 Ibid., p. 17.
a Ibid., pp. 16-17, 19..
4 Ibid., pp. 7-8.
’ ■
-'
6 P artners’ Directory, 1925, pp. 107-113. Compiled b y the National Canners Association, Washington,
D . C. The U . S. Census of Manufactures for 1925 lists 66 establishments in Michigan canning vegetables,
fruits, pickles, etc. but census statistics were collected only from establishments reporting products of $5,000
or more. (Census of Manufactures, 1925, Canning and Preservihg, pp. 2,22.)

135

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136

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

40.— Number of canneries visited, number employing children of specified
ages, number of persons and number of children of specified ages employed in
canneries in certain counties of Michigan

T able

Canneries visited

Persons employed

Employing
children under
16 years
County
Total
Total

Total...............................
Allegan_____________
Antrim _________
Benzie______
Berrien_______
Grand Traverse____
K en t_________ _
Leelanau_________
M ason_________
Muskegon_______
N ew aygo......................
Oceana_____________
Ottawa.......................
Van Buren______

N ot
employing
chil
dren
Under under
14 years 16 years

2
2
2
7
3
1
1
1
1
1
5
2
7

2
i
2
6
3
1
1
1
1
1
3
2

4
1

1
1
4

Under 16 years

Under 14 years

N um
ber

Num
ber

Per
cent
of total
under
16 years

11.4

5.9

lfi 7

All
ages
Per
cent

2,428

229

ISA
73
75
303
450
30
72
120
50
176
378

17
10
3
24
41
1
12
12
1
27

1ft ft
24 ft

437

8.5

9.4
13 7
4 0
7.9
9.1

7.1

9.1

40 7

18.9

At the time of the Children’s Bureau inquiry, which was made in
July, 3 establishments were canning strawberries, 10 cherries, 6
raspberries, 4 beans, 1 blackberries, 8 cherries and raspberries, 1
cherries and dewberries, and 2 raspberries and beans. (Table 41.)
A late frost had damaged the strawberry crop,6 and some of the can
neries which ordinarily started their season with strawberries had been
unable to begin operations until raspberries were ripe. The cherry
crop, also, was reported as only about 50 per cent normal in 1925.
41. Number of canneries visited, number employing children of specified
ages, number of persons and number of children of specified ages employed upon
certain products being canned at time of visit in Michigan canneries

T able

Canneries visited

Product
Total

Total............................
Cherries only________
Cherries and raspberries.
Raspberries_________
Strawberries...........
Green beans_______
Blackberries. . . .
Raspberries and string beans
Raspberries and kidney beans
Cherries and dewberries

Persons employed

Employing
N ot
children under employ
16 years
ing
children
Total Under under
14 years 16 years

10
8
6

i
i
i
i

1
i
i
i

1
1

Under 16 years
All
ages

Under
14 years
N um
ber

2,428

229

804
589
209
178
155
115
120
176
82

91
47

Per
cent

9.4
r,

26
’

8.0
19.6
12.4
1. 3
2.6
10.0

12.2.

22
2

2
4
7
11
1

and^boutadf o u A T a ^
in Michigan
1926
only about one-fifth as great as the crop for 1924,
as
as the average production for the years 1922,1923,1924, and 1926 (U S DeDartment of Agriculture: Yearbook of Agriculture, 1924 (p. 685) and 1926 (p, 917).)
' ' '
P

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MICHIGAN

137

Most of the canneries visited put up other crops at other seasons.
Fifteen kinds of fruits and 13 kinds of vegetables and other products
such as spaghetti and pork and beans were canned in these 35 estab
lishments. Twenty canned both fruits and vegetables, 14 fruits only,
and 1 vegetables only. One canned 19 products.
The 35 canneries visited were reported as employing 2,428 workers,
an average of 69 per establishment. They varied from the small
“ home” cannery, with as few as five workers, mostly members of the
owner’s family, to plants with 200 or more. Fifteen establishments
employed fewer than 50 persons, but 10 employed 100 or more, and 1
reported 250.
Proximity to the raw product seems to have been the determining
factor in the location of the canneries. In many instances canning is
the town’s only industry. Few of the Michigan canneries are in large
communities. Of the 35, 27 were in towns of less than 5,000 popula
tion, including 15 in places having less than 1,000 inhabitants and 6
in places having less than 500; 3 were in towns of between 5,000 and
10,000 population; and 5 were in towns of between 10,000 and 13,000
population.
E Q U IP M E N T A N D S A N IT A T IO N

The canneries visited were generally well built and in good
repair. A number were comparatively new structures and many were
freshly painted inside and out. Many of the canneries had only one
building in which all the work of receiving, canning, and storing the
product was done, though some had a group of two or three buildings,
with a receiving shed or porch and a warehouse. The porch or shed,
usually a part of the main building, was used not only as a receiving
station but also as a place for vats in which cherries were soaked or as
a workroom for snipping beans or sorting berries. Of the 35 can
neries visited 16 were frame. Nine had but one story, and 6 had
lofts up under the eaves used as storage spaces for empty cans, usually
very hot places in which to work because of the lack of ventilation and
low slanting roofs; 9 were two-story buildings, and several were three
or four stories high.
In buildings with more than one story especial attention was paid
to stairways. The labor law requires that stairways with substantial
hand rails shall be provided in manufacturing establishments.7 In all
but five canneries they were either inclosed or well-railed, and in
one of the five the stairway was railed though the steps had no backs.
Four establishments used ladders, in two of which they were steep
with flimsy railings along the side; in another cannery a ladder was
the only means of reaching the can loft.
Many of the Michigan canneries had up-to-date equipment.
Except in 7 canneries all used mechanical means for at least part of
the work of conveying the product from one operation to another and
usually also to bring empty cans to the packers. Mechanical con
veyors were used in 11 of 17 canneries putting up cherries; in the others
some hand carrying was done. Modern conveyors were used also
for part of the work in canneries packing berries. In plants in which
the fruit was not mechanically delivered to the women and girls who
sorted and washed it, men or boys were employed to carry or truck the
fruit to the workers and to take it away. The women and girls were
i M ich., Acts of 1909, N o. 285, sec, 14, as amended b y Acts of 1913, N o. 160.

81531°— 30---- -10

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not as a rule required to lift or carry the fruit; in only 3 plants, 2 of
them small, did inspectors or sorters have to go to the crates to lift
out individual baskets of berries. In 1 of these canneries the girls
were also obliged to carry the large pans filled with washed berries
to the siruping table.
In canneries packing cherries inspectors worked at conveyor tables,
that is, at moving belts with stationary edges of wood or metal.
Establishments packing small fruits usually furnished only stationary
tables for the workers who sorted and washed berries; o'nly two used
conveyor tables for sorting berries. Stationary tables were usually
wood and in all but one cannery visited where the old, cracked, wooden
tables were littered and dirty, were clean and well kept. A few tables
were equipped with sinks and faucets for washing the berries after
they were sorted. Several of the smaller canneries had no tables, the
sorters sitting with the tin or enameled pans in which they sorted the
berries on their laps or on chairs or boxes beside them.
The floors of the cannery workrooms were especially constructed
to drain or carry off the waste. The most efficient systems had
sloping floors and a sufficient number of drains (often with auxiliary
drains in the wettest places), either screened or leading into a pipe
sufficiently large to carry away solid waste without clogging. In
31 of the 35 canneries the main floors were of concrete; in 2, a com
bination of wood and concrete; and in 2 of wood. Floors in the second
story, used largely for can storage, were often of wood. Notwith
standing the installation of drainage systems, floors were wet in
nearly all the canneries in which the machinery was in operation at
the time of the visits. In a number the floors of inspecting or sorting
rooms were dry, but those of processing rooms were very wet.
Boards, stands, or raised platforms were generally provided where
necessary, but in 11 canneries they were inadequate to keep the
workers’ feet dry. The women and girls at the inspection belt were
seated on raised platforms in some canneries (in one case this platform
was four feet from the floor), so that they were protected from the wet
floors as long as they remained at their work places. Packers and
weighers were more likely to have wet feet than inspectors and sorters,
as they stood near pitting machines where the floors were especially
sloppy from cherry juice dripping from the machines and the boards
on which they stood were seldom adequate. Many of the men and
boys working near the pitters and soaking vats wore rubber boots.
The State labor law provides that all persons who employ women
and girls in a designated list of establishments, including “ manu
factures,” shall be required to furnish “ proper and suitable” seats for
all such females, and shall permit the use of such seats “ as may be
necessary.” 8 Although seats for some of the women workers were
provided in all the canneries visited, a considerable number of girls
under 16, 42 out of 154 employed in the canneries visited, were stand
ing at their work. Girls who weighed cherries or packed or washed
fruit frequently stood. In one cannery stools were provided, but the
women and girls used them to rest crates of berries on. In another,
chairs were provided, but the women were standing and the super
intendent explained that the girls and women could work faster if
* M ich.. Acts of 1909. N o. 285. Sec. 24.

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they stood. The type of seat varied from metal chairs with backs,
to wooden stools, benches, or camp chairs, or, as in two establish
ments, boxes or pails with bags for cushions. In one cannery, sorters
were seated so closely together on a bench between the conveyor and
the wall that one could not get out unless all the others stood up and
she walked along the bench.
A sufficient number of separate toilets for each sex, plainly desig
nated, and at least one toilet for each 25 persons are required by the
Michigan labor law. Toilet facilities of 32 plants were inspected.
On the whole they were found in fairly good condition. With a few
exceptions the canneries had the number specified in the law. Only
6 provided toilets of the privy or hopper type but 1 cannery with
flush toilets for women had privies for men; all the others had flush
toilets. The flush toilets usually opened off the main workroom,
but privies were outside, in each case at some distance from the
cannery, properly screened and marked.
Most of the canneries provided some washing facilities as required
by law,9 either in the toilet rooms or in the dressing rooms. In seven
canneries sinks had been placed in the workrooms. Paper towels
were usually furnished, and some establishments supplied soap. One
cannery had installed a shower for men. In about half the canneries
dressing rooms were provided, a few of which were furnished with
lockers. One cannery had hooks just outside the dressing-room door
covered with a curtain. One plant which had its washing facilities
and hooks for garments in the cannery, had a small room behind the
office where workers left their lunch baskets. This room had a cot
and was used for first aid or in cases of illness. Another plant em
ployed a matron to look after its dressing room.
THE LABOR SUPPLY

The canneries generally depend on local labor. At the height of the
season several canneries sent out trucks daily to neighboring towns or
to the surrounding country for additional workers. Only one of the
canneries visited had imported labor in the year of the Children’s
Bureau survey. This cannery had brought in men workers from
Ohio and women and girls from the surrounding country, and had
housed both groups on the cannery premises. Living quarters,
which were on the second floor of the warehouse, and meals were
provided free of charge to these workers. A matron was in charge.
The sleeping quarters for each sex and for married couples were in
different parts of the building; the space assigned to each person,
the ventilation, and the sanitary arrangements appeared adequate.
The manager of another cannery said that in seasons of heavy crops
he imported girls and women workers from Chicago, but for the past
four years he had used only local labor. Almost all the local workers,
and most of the imported workers, were apparently native born,
chiefly of English or Irish stock, though a few were of German or
Scandinavian origin.
8M ich., Acts of 1909, N o. 285, sec. 17, as amended b y Acts of 1915, N o. 3. This law applies to all “ manu
facturing establishments where five or more persons are employed,” and “ every institution” in which two
or more children, young persons, or women are employed,

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LAWS REGULATING CHILD LABOR IN CANNERIES

Except for the long hours of labor permitted— 10 a day and 54 a
week— the Michigan child labor law applying to general industrial
employment 10 has fairly good standards, and it is one of the few laws
with a minimum age for employment higher than 14. But many of its
protective provisions do not apply to children in canneries. Its
minimum age of 15 applies only to employment during school hours,
and children of 14 are permitted to work at any time outside school
hours, or during vacation, the time of year when almost all cannery
work employing children is done. The provisions “ in relation to the
hours of employment” do not apply to or affect persons engaged in
preserving11 perishable goods in fruit and vegetable canning establish
ments. This qualification has been interpreted to exempt work in
canneries not only from the maximum 10-hour day and 54-hour week
fixed for boys under 18 and all girls and women employed in manufac
turing, mercantile, and many other types of estabhshments, but also
from the prohibition of the work of boys under 16 and girls under 18
in factories and workshops between 6 p. m. and 6 a. m.
A child 15 years of age working during school hours, or a child 14 or
15 years of age working at any other time, is required to obtain an
employment certificate.lla To obtain such a certificate a child must
present evidence that he is of legal working age. For work during
school hours he must be able to read and write English and must
have completed the sixth grade, and his wages must be essential to his
own support or to that of his parents. The certificate must state that
the requirements of literacy and economic need are met. For both
school-time and vacation employment the issuing officer must state
on the certificate that he has examined the child and that in his
opinion he is of the age represented and is of normal physical develop
ment, in sound health, and physically able to perform the work he
intends to do. The law further specifies that in doubtful cases the
physical fitness of the child is to be determined by a medical officer of
the board or department of health, thus making the requirement of an
examination by a physician optional with the issuing officer.
Except for the lack of provisions for State supervision of issuing,
the administrative provisions of the law—'for example, the nature of
the evidence required and the requirement that the employer return
the certificate when the child leaves— are such as make for successful
enforcement.
The provisions relating to dangerous occupations differ from those
of most State laws in that there are no lists of hazardous industrial
occupations which children must not enter. Minors under 18 are not
to be allowed to clean machinery while in motion or work at “ any
hazardous employment, or where their health may be injured or morals
depraved,” but if between 16 and 18 years of age they11b may engage
in any occupation (other than cleaning machinery in motion) provided
it is approved by the department of labor and industry as not injurious
10 Acts of 1909, N o. 285, as amended b y Acts of 1911, N o. 220; Acts of 1915, N o. 255; Acts of 1917, N o. 280;
Acts of 1919, N o. 341; Acts of 1923, No. 206; Acts of 1925, N o. 312.
.
n A n amendment to this law passed in 1927 (Acts of 1927, No. 21) adds here the words “ and shipping.
n a A t the time of this study certificates were also required for children 16 years of age m places where
continuation schools had been established, and in 1925 an amendment to the law (which did not go into
effect, however, until after the conclusion of the study) raised the age up to which employment certificates
were required throughout the State to 18 years. (Acts of 1925, N o. 312.)
i i b Before 1929 this provision applied to boys only. (Acts of 1929, N o. 102.)

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to health or morals or “ unduly hazardous.” At the time of this
study no rulings applying to canneries had been made under this
clause. The Michigan law also stipulates that females shall not be
“ unnecessarily required in any employment to remain standing
constantly.”
CHILD LABOR IN CANNERIES
T H E W O R K I N G C H IL D R E N

Children under 16 were found at work in 31 of the 35 canneries.
(Table 40.) Three of the four not employing children were small
establishments with less than 25 workers, and the other, which had
100 workers, belonged to a company operating canneries in a number
of States which made it a general policy to employ no one under 16.
(See p. 62.) In the 31 canneries employing children 229 were found
at work— 9 per cent of the entire working force. Sixty-seven per cent
of the employed children were girls, though female workers constituted
only 59 per cent of the total number employed.
A G E S O F C H IL D R E N A N D V IO L A T IO N S O F A G E S T A N D A R D O F S T A T E C H IL D
LABOR LAW

Twenty-six children, 16 girls and 10 boys, under 14 years of age,
the legal minimum for employment in canneries in Michigan, were
found at work in 11 canneries. (Table 40.) All except 10 were 13
years of age, and these 10 included 5 boys and 3 girls of 12, 1 girl of 11,
and 1 boy of 10. The underage children were 11 per cent of the
children employed in the Michigan canneries visited. One cannery
employed 11 of them, 9 girls and 2 boys, all of whom were capping
strawberries. The work of both boys and girls under 14 was usually
light— sorting and washing berries, packing berries in cans, straighten
ing cans on the line, handling empty cans— but one 13-year-old boy
crated cans. (Table 42.)
K IN D S O F W O R K

Canneries putting up nothing but cherries employed 91 of the chil
dren; canneries packing berries— raspberries, strawberries, or black
berries— employed 66, and those packing both cherries and berries
employed 57. All except 15 children (93 per cent) were found in
canneries packing cherries or berries or both, compared with 82 per
cent of the total number of workers in the canneries employing
children. Almost no children worked in the canneries packing only
beans or beans and other crops. (Table 41.)
At the time of the visits 82 of the 154 girls were on work connected
with the preparation of fruit, such as sorting and inspecting cherries,
sorting or washing raspberries or blackberries, or capping straw
berries. (Table 42.) The largest number of girls in any one occu
pation was the 46 who sorted or inspected cherries at conveyor tables,
work which demanded a good deal of speed and concentration; 18
others sorted and washed berries, and 18 capped strawberries, which
were simpler tasks. Twenty-three girls were packers, filling cans
with the prepared fruit; 13 were employed “ on the line” to weigh
berries or watch, inspect, and straighten the filled cans or put sirup in
them as they passed on the belt on the way to the closing machine; and
17 were can girls. The work of the girls was comparatively light with

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the exception of that of the can girls, of 3 girls who worked at the
cherry-pitting machine (putting empty cans under the machine and
removing them when filled), and of several others who piled and
stacked filled cans and trucked and piled wooden boxes, work that
boys usually do. No girl operated a machine.
T a b l e 42.— Boys and girls of specified ages employed in specified processes upon
certain products being canned at time of visit in Michigan canneries
Boys and girls under 16 years employed

Under 14 years

Under 16 years
Product and process, and sex of children

Total

Boys

. Girls

Total Boys Girls
Per
Per
Per
N u m cent N u m cent N u m cent
ber
distri
distri
ber
distri
ber
bution
bution
bution

229

154

227

100.0

153

100.0

Special processes:
68

30.0

20.3

34.6

47
9
7
4
1

20.7
4.0
3.1
1.8
.4

1
6
7

1.4
8.1
9.5

46
3

30.1
2.0

2.6

1.4

29.5

9.5

39.2

9.7

5.4

11.8

19
19
2
5

8.4
8.4
.9
2.2

1.4

18
19

11.8
12.4

3
2

2.7
5

3.3

40.1

70.3

25.5

17.2
9.7
13.2

22
8
22

29.7
10.8
29.7

17
14
8

11.1
9.2
5.2

6
1
3

Line jobs_________________________

39
22
30

1
1

N ot reported______________________________

Sorting or washing raspber3
2

Unlike the girls only a few boys (6) helped prepare fruit for canning.
The great majority did general work, including 22 can boys, 8 who
worked “ on the line” siruping cans or inspecting or guiding cans to
the closing and filling machines, and 22 who were employed in miscel
laneous jobs, some of which required physical strength, such as piling
and stacking cans or cases, loading boxes on trucks, and taking cans
from the closing machine and piling them in crates. Nine other
boys did such heavy tasks as carrying crates of boxes of cherries or
pans of berries from one operation to another. Only 1 boy operated a
power machine, but 6 removed cherries from pitting machines.
Undoubtedly more children would have been found at work in the
Michigan canneries had the strawberry and cherry crops been normal
or had the visits been made at the height of the bean-canning season.
According to an official who issued employment certificates in one
county where no strawberries were canned the year of the survey,

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strawberry capping called for more children than any other kind of
cannery work. Only 5 of the 12 canneries visited that packed green
beans in season were working on beans at the time the visits were
made, and only one child was found at work snipping beans. The
manager of one of these canneries which had just started its work
on string beans said that he had 12 or 15 permits on file for children
so that they could go to work as soon as needed. Another cannery,
which when visited during the cherry-packing season was employ
ing only 10 children under 16, when revisited three weeks later during
the bean-packing season had approximately 65 children snipping
beans. However, several canneries sent out their beans to be snipped
in the worker’s homes or sent them to snipping stations in other
parts of the State. Fruit picking gives employment to a large num
ber of children in Michigan some of whom might otherwise have been
employed in canneries. According to one cannery manager the
children preferred cherry picking to cannery work as it was steadier.
An issuing officer said that at least one-third of the children of work
ing age in his county engaged in the harvesting of fruit, particularly
grapes. In another county it was said that the largest employment
of children was in the fruit orchards.
H O U R S OF W O R K

In most of the canneries visited children followed the regular
schedule of the establishment which, if it was running full time,
was usually 10 hours. A number of canneries occasionally worked
at night also, and most of these employed the child workers as long
hours as the adults. Some, however, were running irregular hours
and owing to the shortage of the strawberry and cherry crops had
operated but few full days at the time that the visits were made;
others which had been operating on slack time had just begun to
run full time. The hours of work, therefore, were shorter no doubt
than in a normal canning season. One cannery manager said that
they were working only 50 per cent of the hours in normal years,
and several others said that although a day and a night shift had
been employed the year before the survey only one shift was working
at that time.
Although the hours of workers in Michigan fruit and vegetable
canneries are not regulated, satisfactory time records (that is, records
giving the hour of beginning and of ending work each day and the
hour of beginning and ending the lunch period) at least for persons
employed on an hourly or a weekly basis were found in 25 of the 31
canneries in which children were employed. Records of the total
number of daily hours worked were kept for time workers in 5 other
canneries. The only cannery having no records employed five
persons, all members of the family. Compared with canneries in
States that canned principally tomatoes, the Michigan canneries had
few children on piecework. No time records were found for these,
children- engaged chiefly in sorting raspberries or capping straw
berries, and information as to their hours was furnished by their
parents, adult witnesses of their work, or their employers.
Daily hours.

Information as to the number of hours worked a day was obtained
for 221 of the 229 children. Of these 205 (93 per cent) had worked
more than 8 hours a day. (Table 43.) What is more surprising

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is that, in spite of the poor canning season, 144 children (66 per cent)
had worked 10 hours or more, the maximum legal working day for
Michigan children engaged in industrial employment other than can
ning. Fifty-two children (24 per cent), including 31 girls, had worked
12 hours or more, 16, including 9 girls, had worked 14 hours or more,
and 2 boys had worked 16 hours or more. Two boys and 13 girls
under 14 years of age were employed more than 8 hours. Boys had
somewhat longer working hours than girls, a working day of 12 hours
or more being reported for 30 per cent of the boys and. 21 per cent
of the girls.
T a b l e 43.— Maximum, number of daily hours of work reported by boys and girls of
specified ages employed in Michigan canneries
Children under 16 years em
ployed

Total

M axim um number of daily hours of work and sex of children

Number

T o ta l,.........................
Total reported......................

Per cent
distributton

229
5

Under 14
years1

221

100.0

8 hours and under___
Over 8 hours_________
10 hours and over.
12 hours and over.
14 horns and over.
16 hours and over.

16
205
144
52
16
2

7.2
92.8
65.2
23.5
7.2
.9

4
15
12

Irregular___ _________ _____
N ot reported......... ...............

6
2

6
1

B oys.............................

Total reported.......................

100.0

8 hours and under____
Over 8 hours__________
10 hours and over.
12 hours and over.
14 hours and over.
16 hours and over.

6
64
51
21
7
2

8.6
91.4
72.9
30.0
10.0
2.9

3
2
1

Irregular.................. ................
N ot reported______________

4
1

Girls_______ ■________

154

Total reported.....................

151

100.0

8 hours and under____
Over 8 hours__________
10 hours and over.
12 hours and over.
14 hours and over.

10
141
93
31
9

6.6
93.4
61.6
20.5
6.0

1
13
11

Irregular............ ................... ..
N ot reported........... ..............

2
1

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

The kind of work appeared to have but little influence on hours.
Children who were preparing or packing fruit, nearly all of whom were
girls, worked about the same hours as children in miscellaneous or
general work, a majority of whom were boys. Of 108 children
reporting hours who sorted cherries or raspberries, capped strawber
ries, or packed fruit into cans, 64 per cent had worked 10 and 20 per

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cent 12 hours or more, and of 86 children employed as can boys or
girls, working “ on the line,” or in miscellaneous jobs about the plant
63 per cent had worked 10 and 27 per cent 12 hours or more. Nine
of the girls had had a working day of at least 14 hours; 5 of these
packed berries, 1 sorted cherries, 1 snipped beans, and 2 worked “ on
the line” inspecting cans. Two boys who took cans from the closing
machine and piled them into crates, 2 who did odd jobs, and 1 can
boy also worked 14 hours or more. The longest hours were those of 2
boys in the same cannery, of whom one, 15 years of age, had been
employed for a working day of 16% hours to carry crates of fruit, and
the other, 14 years of age, had operated a closing machine for 17
hours.
Weekly hours.

On account of the poor crops many of the canneries had been work
ing irregularly up to the time the visits were made and many of the
children had not been employed a full week. Information regarding
weekly hours of work based on time records of children who had
worked at least a five-day week was, therefore, available for only 17
boys and 17 girls (15 per cent of those found employed). These
children were employed in 11 of the 31 canneries employing children.
Thirty-one had worked more than 48 hours and 25 had worked 60
hours or more. All except five of the girls whose hours were reported
were cherry sorters, and most of the boys had done general or miscel
laneous work. Three boys— one of whom piled cans in crates, the
second stacked filled cans, and the third operated a closing machine—
had had a working week of more than 70 hours. (Table 44.)
T a b l e 44.— Number of hours of work in typical week of boys and girls o f specified
ages employed in Michigan canneries
Children under 16
years employed
Number of hours of work in a typical week and sex of children
Total

Total......... .........................................
Total reported__________________ .
48 hours and un der..____ ______________
Over 48 hours______________ .
60 hours and over_______________
70 hours and over____________
N ot reported______________________
Boys__________________________________
Total reported................. ...............
48 hours and under__________
Over 48 hours___________________
60 hours and over______________
70 hours and over__________
N ot reported..________________
G i r l s ..................................
Total reported______
48 bouis and under____
Over 48 hours__________
60 hours and over_______
N ot reported_______________

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Under 14
years

34
3
31
25
3
195

17
1
16
13
3
58

154

17
2
15
12
137

146

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

Night work.

In spite of relatively slack work in the Michigan canneries during
the year of the survey, 72 children (31 per cent) of the 229 had been
employed at night (that is, between 7 p. m. and 6 a. m.) on one or more
nights. These included two 13-year-old girls. They were employed
in 12 canneries, including most of those running at least full time when
the visits were made, which canned either cherries or raspberries or
both and were located in eight counties.
Up to the time the visits were made, when several canneries in
which night work was reported had just started to operate full time,
the children had worked but few nights. Of 48 children who reported
the nights they had worked, 11 had worked three nights and 4 had
worked four nights in the previous week, the others only one or two
nights. The majority had been employed from 2 to 3 hours in the
evening; in most cases these children had worked between 7 and 9
or 10 o ’clock, but 8 had worked 4 hours or more. Sixteen had worked
until at least 11, of whom 5 had not quit until 12 p. m. or later.
Most of the boys employed at night did general or miscellaneous
work, such as packing and stacking cans, piling them in crates, and
inspecting cans on the line, or they were can boys. Many of the girls
sorted or inspected cherries or packed raspberries. In one of the four
canneries in which children had worked until 11 p. m. or later five of
the girls working at night were raspberry packers; in another cannery
two girls who were cherry sorters worked until 11 and two others who
adjusted cans on the line worked until 12 p. m. In another cannery
a boy who carried crates of fruit had worked the week preceding the
visit until after 10.30 one night and until 12.30 another, and another
boy, who operated a closing machine and whose time record showed
a 74%-hour week, had worked four nights, one night until after 12.30
a. m.
CANNERY W ORK AND SCHOOLING

Information as to the school grade completed or last attended
was obtained for 221 of the 229 employed children. (Table 45.)
Seventy-six per cent had completed or attended the eighth grade,
including 42 per cent who had entered high school; only 3 per cent
had not attended or completed the sixth grade. According to average
standards (see footnote 18a, p. 47) children of 14 years who have not
completed the seventh grade and children of 15 years who have not
completed the eighth are considered overage for their grades. Of the
children in Michigan canneries who were 14 years of age, 90 per cent had
attended if they had not all completed the seventh grade and of the 15year-old children 93 per cent had attended or completed the eighth.
The school attainment of the children of these ages in Michigan
canneries compares favorably with that of children of the same ages
found at work in Indiana and Wisconsin canneries and is much higher
than that of the children working in Delaware and Maryland can
neries. (See pp. 73, 198-199, 47 and 114-115.)
Work on the principal crops canned in Michigan, at least in the
western counties where the Children’s Bureau visits were made,
does not interfere with school attendance, as the season for canning
cherries, berries, and beans falls in the summer vacation.

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T a b l e 45.— Last school grade attended or completed by boys and girls of specified ages
employed in Michigan canneries
Children under 16 years employed
Grade and sex
Under 14
years

Total

14 years

15 years

T otal......................................... — ..................................... j.-------------

229

115

Total reported_______ ____ _________________________________________

221

• 84

112

Sixth giade________ ______ _________ _________ _______ ______ . . .
Seventh grade_____________ _________ ___________ ______________
Eighth grade__________________________________________________

2
4
15
32
76
55
28
9

1
3
7
8
6

3
37

N ot reported_______________ _________ ___________

________________

1
1
7
18
31
21
5
1

1
6
39
34
23
8

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

Total reported______ _________________________-•... . . ■
_____________

1
7
9
27
14
10
3

1
5
3

2
4
14
5
1
1

2
13
9
9
2

Seventh grade_________________________ ______________________

154

Total reported________________ . . . _______________________________

150

Sixth grade____________________________________________________
Seventh grad e......................................................... 1----------------------Eighth grade_____ ________ _ ______________________ _________

1
4
8
23
49
41
18
6

3
2
5
6

1
5
14
17
16
4

N ot reported_______________________________________________________
Girls______________________ __________ ______ _______________

1
4
26
25
14
6
1

CERTIFICATION OF MINORS
EXTENT

Children of 14 and 15 years of age going to work in Michigan
canneries are required by law to obtain employment certificates.
(See p. 140.) The Children’s Bureau found 124 (54 per cent of the
employed minors under 16 years of age) working without certificates.
(Table 46.) Violations of the certificate law were found in 25 of
the 31 canneries visited employing children. In only 6 canneries
were certificates found on file for all the children of certificate age,
in only 13 for some of the children, and in 12 canneries, more than a
third of the total number, no certificates were on file for any of the
employed children.
In several canneries children working without certificates said they
had them at home but they had never been asked for them by the
cannery. The manager of a small cherry-pitting station employing
only one boy under 16, said that he did not know that certificates
were required. In general, however, Michigan canners appeared to
be aware that children under 16 had to have certificates for employ
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ment and some appeared to be careful in obtaining them, though
several were not sufficiently familiar with the provisions of the law
to know what persons were authorized to issue certificates in their
communities, or what was the proper form to be used in certification.
In two canneries statements from priests on church stationery had
been accepted as certificates. All the so-called certificates on file
in one cannery were merely letters, generally on plain stationery,
signed by the secretary of the local school board or by a school prin
cipal, or in one case by the superintendent of schools. (See p. 150.)
In another cannery all certificates on file had been issued on the forms
intended for applications for certificates, not on the regular certificate
forms. In the case of 10 children the certificates on file were made
out for employment in a different cannery from that in which they
were found working.
T a b l e 46.— Number of canneries visited employing children under 16 years of age,
number employing children without employment certificates, number of children of
specified ages employed, and number employed without employment certificates in
canneries in certain counties of Michigan

Canneries
visited

County
Total

Children under 16 years employed

Em ploy
ing ehildren
without
certifi
cates

Under 16 years

14 years, under 16

Under 14 years

Total

W ithout
certifi
cates

Total

W ithout
certifi
cates

Total

W ithout
certifi
cates

229

124

203

2
1
2
6
3
1
1
1
1
1
3
2
7

17
10
3
24
41
1
11
12
12
1
27
33
37

16
10
3
20
41
1
10
12
12
1
16
31
30

2
13
14

11
2
7

2
5
3
1
1
3
2
6

2
17
14
3
6
26
26
29

6
14
24
22

The lack of certificates was explained by the managers of several
canneries as the result of the difficulty in getting anyone to issue
them in their community. One manager said that when his establish
ment had opened he had been told by the local superintendent of
schools that he did not need employment certificates but that he had
finally persuaded the latter to issue them. A canner who had re
quested the local superintendent of schools to issue certificates had
been informed that the superintendent had no certificate forms and
that the canner would have to send to Lansing for forms if he wanted
them. As there was not time for this the canner had copies of an
old certificate form typed and had all the required information
filled in in the cannery office, the only responsibility the superin
tendent took regarding the certificates being to sign them.

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MICHIGAN

149

IS S U I N G O F F IC E R S

The Michigan law provides that employment certificates shall
be issued by the district superintendent of schools or the county
commissioner of schools (who is the county superintendent in
Michigan) or some one duly authorized by either in writing. Repre
sentatives of the bureau interviewed 31 issuing officers in the 13
counties in which canneries were visited. Ten of these were county
commissioners of schools and 10 were superintendents of schools
of towns or districts. In two of the larger communities the local
superintendent had authorized other members of the school staff
to issue for him, in one case the director of the continuation school,
in the other the superintendent’s secretary. In six towns in which
the local superintendent usually issued certificates, this officer was
on vacation, and the interview was held with the person authorized
to issue certificates in his absence— in one place the president and
in two others the secretary of the local school board, in another a
former secretary of the school board who was cashier of the local
bank, and in two other places local business men who had no con
nection with the school system. In one town, where the superin
tendent of schools had resigned at the close of the school year, the
township clerk, an insurance agent, had been appointed to issue
certificates until the arrival of the new superintendent in the fall.
The regular issuing officer in a number of communities was away
at summer school or on vacation at the time of the inquiry, and no
one had been appointed to issue certificates in his place. In one
such place the parents of a child who wanted to work in the local
cannery had applied to the judge of the probate court, who, thinking
that the law gave him power to issue certificates, had issued one
to the child. The other children working in these communities
had had to dispense with certificates unless they had obtained them
before the superintendent left town. In one town a priest was
issuing certificates to children attending a school of which he was
in charge, or who had been baptized in the church with which it
was connected, on forms which at his request had’ been furnished
him by the county superintendent of schools, though apparently
the latter had not given him due authority in writing to issue certifi
cates, as the law requires.
C E R T IF I C A T E F O R M S

The child labor law provides for two kinds of employment certifi
cates: The regular certificate for employment at any time during
the year, and the so-called “ limited vacation permit” issued for
work during vacation periods and on Saturdays or other days during
the school year when schools are not in session. The majority of
the children under 16 in the canneries for whom certificates were
on file were employed on limited vacation permits, but many had
been issued the regular permit used for children released from school
for employment, apparently with the understanding that they
were only for vacation employment and that the child would return
to school.
A number of children had been issued certificates on a certificate
blank which did not provide a space for the name of the employer.
The law does not require that the employer’s name be entered on

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEG ETABLE CANNERIES

the certificate but it requires that certificates be returned by the
employer to the issuing officer on the termination of each position,
and other forms used for both regular and vacation certificates
provide space for the name of each employer. Even where these
latter forms were used, however, in 43 cases the name of the employer
had not been entered on the certificate in the space provided.12
In several places papers had been filed purporting to be permits
for employment that did not in any way meet with the requirements
of the certificate law, which though not prescribing the use of any
particular form contains the following paragraph :
Every such permit or certificate shall be signed in the presence of the officer
issuing the same by the child in whose name it is issued; and shall state the
date and place of birth of the child, and describe the color of the hair and eyes
the height and weight and any distinguishing facial marks of such child, and
that the paper required by the preceding sections has been duly received,
examined, approved and filed, and that the child named in such permit or certifi
cate has appeared before the issuing official and been examined.13

The following are given as samples of the so-called permits found
on file in one cannery. It will be noted that two persons other
than the superintendent of schools and the secretary of the school
board, whom he had designated to issue certificates in his absence,
had signed them.
On plain stationery:
------------------- , Michigan, June 16, 1925.
To W hom It M ay Concern:
I hereby certify that I think — ------- , daughter o f ------------ should be allowed
to work in the canning factory during the present summer vacation.
----------- for Director of School
District No. —

On official stationery of superintendent of schools:
June 17, 1925.
The school records show M i s s ----------- to be sixteen years of age. Permission
is hereby given her to work.
„
, .
.
----------- Supt.

On plam stationery:

------------------- , Mich., June 17, 1925.
Jr
T o W hom It M ay Concern:
This is to certify th a t----------- is permitted to work during this summer vacation.
Respectfully yours,
----------- , Principal.

On envelope of school board:
W ork Permit. June 17, 1925.
Permission is hereby given ------------------- to work during the summer vacation
period.
Sec’y, Board of Education.

Another issuing officer, the president of the local board of education
who issued certificates only during the summer months, used the
following form typed on the stationery of the bank of which he was
an officer:
According to information received from the State department of public instruction, which has formu
lated and distributed employment-certificate forms, no standard forms were in use in the summer of 1925.
Standard forms have been since provided.
13 M ich., Acts of 1909, N o. 285, sec. 10, as amended by Acts of 1915, N o. 255; Acts of 1917, N o. 280; Acts of
1923, N o. 206; Acts of 1925, N o. 312. (A 1925 amendment, which did not go into effect until after the con
clusion of this study, related only to the age up to which certificates were required.)

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MICHIGAN

----------- Savings Bank,
July 14, 1925.
T o ----------- Canning Co.
W e hereby permit you to employ M is s ----------- age — and M is s -------------age —
in your factory.
----------- , Pres.,
Board of Education, Dist. —

In a city with a population of 12,000 where the issuing officer,
who was the local attendance officer, was away for the summer and
had appointed no one to issue in her absence, the following forms
were found on file in addition to a number of certificates issued on
proper forms:
June 4, 1925.
This is to certify t h a t ----------- is 14 years of age and permitted to work in the
----------- Canning Co. during school vacation.
Sec’y. of School Dist. N o.—June 17, 1925.
This is to certify t h a t ----------- has passed the eighth grade examination and
was granted a permit to work in a cannery.
Signed by
Director.
R E Q U I R E M E N T S F O R IS S U A N C E

Evidence o f age.

Under the child labor law, the evidence of age required for an
employment certificate is a passport or a transcript of a record of
birth “ kept by any duly authorized public authority,” a baptismal
or other religious record, or, in case none of these can be produced, a
statement from a physician connected officially with the board or
department of health, certifying to the age of the child and stating
that he is in sound health and physically able to undertake the work
he intends to do. The issuing officer may require also a parent’s
affidavit of the child’s age or other corroborative evidence in addition
to the physician’s certificate of age.
As the certificate forms used did nor provide a place for entering
the type of evidence accepted by the issuing officer, it was not possible
to ascertain, as in most of the other States included in the Children’s
Bureau study, on what type of evidence the certificates on file for
children employed in the Michigan canneries had been issued. Some
information regarding the kind of evidence accepted was obtained
from the issuing officers interviewed. Little uniformity in proce
dure had been followed by different issuing officers except that in
hardly any case did the issuing officer state that he followed exactly
the procedure prescribed by law, and only about one-third of the 32
issuing officers interviewed said that they required a birth record.
Some of these said they attempted to get birth records only for
children born in the local community or county. Those who tried
to get birth certificates did not make any attempt except in a very
few cases to obtain other documentary evidence, if birth records were
not available, but contented themselves^with a parent’s affidavit, in
some cases requiring also a statement of physical age as provided for
under the law, but more often not. Seven issuing officers relied on
the school census or school record, which is not legally acceptable
evidence under the Michigan child labor law, as proof of age for

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152

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

children who had attended the local schools. Ten said they made
no attempt to get any proof of age but took the child’s or the parent’s
word, one issuing officer declaring that he could tell a child’s age by
his appearance, and another that as he knew every one in town he
did not need to obtain evidence. Most of the issuing officers who
required no evidence were those who issued only in the absence of
the superintendent of schools (only two of the substitute officers
stated that they made any attempt to obtain birth records or other
legal evidence of age), but four regular issuing officers (two of whom
were county commissioners, one the local superintendent of schools,
and the fourth the secretary of the local board of education) said that
they accepted the child’s or the parent’s word as to age, at least in
issuing certificates for vacation employment.14
In spite of the fact that so many issuing officers admitted that
they made little attempt, if any, to obtain adequate documentary
evidence of age as provided under the law, on only 5 of the 105
certificates found on file in Michigan canneries was the birth date
found to be incorrect. In the case of each of these certificates, 3 of
which were issued by officers who said they accepted the child’s or
parent’s word as to age, the child was found to be younger than the
age given. That good evidence of age can be obtained for a large
proportion of the children employed in Michigan is shown by the
fact that the Children’s Bureau found birth records for 74 per cent
of those found at work in the canneries.
Proof of physical fitness.

None of the issuing officers visited had taken advantage of the
clause in the law allowing him to require an examination of the
child by a physician to determine his physical fitness for work (see
p. 140), with the exception of one officer who in granting regular
certificates for work during school hours required a physical examin
ation if the child looked“ weak. ”
S T A T E S U P E R V IS IO N

The child labor law makes no provision for the supervision of
certificate issuance by any State agency. The State department of
public instruction has drafted employment-certificate forms, however,
and these were used by all but a few of the issuing officers interviewed.
No instructions for the guidance of officers in issuing certificates had
been prepared by State authorities 15 as had been done in Indiana
(see p. 81), and in Maryland (see p. 125), and only one of the issuing
officers interviewed said that he had any supervision or assistance in
the issuance of certificates from a State agency. This one officer
had been visited shortly before the Children’s Bureau survey by a
State factory inspector who had explained to her the necessity of
entering the employers’ names on the certificates. No other issuing
officer reported a visit from a factory inspector, nor was there appar
ently any consultation by correspondence regarding problems of
certificate issuance.
14 The two county commissioners stated that they required documentary evidence from applicants for
regular certificates, in one case a birth record, in the other a school census record.
16 According to information received from the State department of public instruction directions for
issuing certificates were sent b y that department to issuing officers in the fall of 1925.

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MICHIGAN

153

SUMMARY

In value of product, Michigan ranks fifth among the States in
fruit canning, cherries being the principal crop, though many kinds of
vegetables also are canned in the State. Of the 78 canneries the
Children’s Bureau visited 35, canning cherries, berries, and beans.
Only 1 of the 35 had imported labor during the season of the survey.
Almost all the labor in the canneries visited was white and native born.
Two hundred and twenty-nine children under 16 were found at work
in 31 canneries (9 per cent of the entire working force). Sixty-seven
per cent of the working children were girls, and 26 (11 per cent of
those employed) were under 14, the legal minimum age for employ
ment in canneries in Michigan. The youngest working child was 10.
Girls sorted and inspected cherries, sorted and washed raspberries
and blackberries, capped strawberries, filled cans, worked “ on the
line,” doing such work as inspecting and siruping berries, were can
girls, and in a few cases did other kinds of work. Boys were can boys,
worked “ on the line,” piled and stacked cans or cases, loaded boxes
onto trucks, removed cans from closing machines and piled them in
crates, carried crates or boxes and pans of fruit, and in a few cases
operated or worked in connection with machines.
Ninety-three per cent of the children had worked more than 8 hours
a day, 66 per cent 10 hours or more, and 24 per cent 12 hours or more.
Boys had somewhat longer working hours than girls; a working day of
12 hours or more was reported for 30 per cent of the boys and 21 per
cent of the girls.
On account of poor crops canneries had been working so irregularly
that many children had not been employed a full week during the
season. Time records for at least a 5-day week were available for only
34 children.
Thirty-one per cent of the workers under 16 had been employed
between 7 p. m. and 6 a. m. in 12 canneries, or most of those running
full time. The maximum number of nights worked had been 4.
Cannery work in the Mighican counties surveyed did not interfere
with school attendance, as the canning season for cherries, berries, and
beans falls in the summer vacation.
Employment certificates were found for only 105 of the 229 children
employed, though the Michigan child labor law at the time of the
survey required all children under 16 employed in canneries to obtain
certificates. (See footnote 11a, p. 140.) Of the 31 canneries visited,
only 6 had certificates for all the employed children and only 13 had
them for some; 12 had no certificates on file.
A number of children had been issued certificates on papers that did
not in any way meet with the requirements of the certificate law.
According1 to documentary evidence collected by the Children’s
Bureau on only 5 Of the 105 certificates on file was the child’s birth
date found to be incorrect.
81531°— 30------ 11

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N E W YO R K
INTRODUCTION

In the number of wage earners employed in 1925, New York ranked
second only to California in the canning and preserving of iruits,
vegetables, pickles, jellies, preserves, and sauces. It is thus the¡princi
pal fruit-canning State east of the Pacific coast. Its product is
diversified— New York leads all the States in the canning of beans,
beets, kraut, cherries, raspberries, preserves, and sauces, and ranks
second in the canning of peas, apples, and catchup.1 The most impor
tant canning crops in the State, according to the value of the product,
are peas, beans, corn, and cherries.
In the canning and preserving of fruits, vegetables, jellies, pickles,
preserves, and sauces New York canneries employed in 1925 an aver
age number of 7,517 wage earners.2 During the four peak months,
July, August, September, and October the number of wage earners
reported was 14,638, 12,099, 14,377, and 11,129, respectively. Many
canneries work throughout the year— the number reported by the
census as employed on the 15th of February, the slackest month,
Was 3,184, or more than two-fifths of the average for the year, an
unusually large proportion for fruit and vegetable canneries. (See
Child labor in the canneries of New York has had a long and interest
ing history. In 1903 the canners of the State made an effort to put
through the legislature a bill which would entirely exempt fruit and
vegetable canneries during school vacation from the minimum age
of 14 and the employment-certificate requirement for children between
14 and 16 which at that time applied to children at work in all factories.
The bill failed of passage, but in 1905 the State attorney general
ruled that employment “ in connection with any factory” did not
apply to work in cannery sheds since these were “ devoid of machinery,
in the open air, unconnected with a factory and not subject to the
discipline and hours governing factory employment.” 4 Thus the
child labor law so far as canneries were concerned was practically
annulled. Although a study of cannery conditions conducted by
the State department of labor during the summer of 1907 revealed
extensive employment of young children for long hours, not until the
fruit and vegetable canneries of the State in 1912 was the real extent
New York Factory Investigating Commission made a study of the
of child labor in the canneries and sheds revealed. At that time,
1,355 children under 16 years were found doing cannery work in
the State, almost all of whom Were employed in the cannery sheds.
These included 952 children under 14 years of age and 141 under 10
1 Census of Manufactures, 1925, Canning and Preserving, pp. 16-23.
Washington, 1927.
2 Ibid., p. 22.

U . S. Bureau of the Census.

4 R enorton the W ork of W om en and Children in Canneries, in Annual Report of the Bureau of Factory
Inspection, for the year ended Sept. 30,1908, p p .337-340. N ew York State Department of Labor. Albany,
1910.
6 Ibid., pp. 416-421.

154
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N E W YO R K

155

years. The inspectors found children at work in the sheds from 4.30
a. m. until 10 p. m. Records of children under 14 working 14, 15,
16, and 17 hours were obtained.6
Following this investigation, the State law was amended in 1913 to
include cannery sheds by definition under the provisions of the labor
law. In 1914 State inspectors found approximately 300 children
under 14 at work in the cannery sheds of the State,7 in violation of
the law, compared with more than 900 at work two years before.
Two hundred and thirty of the 300 children were employed by two
canners. Although 30 prosecutions were instituted only two convic
tions were secured. It was encouraging, however, that the great
majority of the canners were obeying the law,
THE CANNERIES
L O C A T I O N , S IZ E , A N D P R O D U C T

According to the Canners' Directory for 1925, New York had 170
establishments canning and preserving fruits, vegetables, pickles,
jellies, preserves, and sauces.8 These were located in 28 of the 62
counties, chiefly the fruit and vegetable raising counties in the western
part of the State, the great majority being in the two northern tiers of
counties lying between Utica and Buffalo.
In the Children's Bureau survey 54 fruit and vegetable canneries
were visited in September, 1925, and 18 in July, 1926. These plants
were in 18 counties in the principal canning sections of the State.
(Table 47.) As 16 of them were not operating at the time of the visit
an investigation including a study of records and conditions of work
was possible in only 56 establishments in 16 counties. Of these, 45,
in 14 counties, were visited in September, 1925, and 11, in 6 counties,
in July, 1926.
The canning season, except for plants with a great variety of pro
ducts, opens in New York about the middle of June and closes by the
middle of November or the first of December. Pea canning begins
usually about July 15 and extends into the early part of August,
although some early peas are canned the latter part of June. Cherries
ripen about the same time, but the canning period is somewhat
longer than for peas. The canning of beans begins in August, about
the time the work on peas is completed, and lasts into September.
Three weeks, beginning during the first week in September, cover
the rush period on corn and tomatoes.
The chief perishable products being canned at the time of the
bureau inquiry in September, 1925, were corn and tomatoes or tomato
products: 19 establishments were canning corn and 15 tomatoes or
tomato products. (Table 48.) Four were finishing the season’s
work on string beans,9 5 were canning beets, 1, lima beans, 1, spinach,
and 1, kraut and pickles. Pears were being packed in 7 canneries,
peaches in 3, plums in 3, and apples in 1. Thirty-two of the 45 were
working on only one crop but at other seasons 40 canned other fruits or
vegetables, including asparagus, succotash, pork and beans, pumpkins,
squash, raspberries, strawberries, plums, and rhubarb.
6 Second Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, 1913, vol. 2, pp. 762-802. Albany, 1913.
7 Fourteenth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor, 1914, pp. 137-147. Albany, 1915.
8 Canners’ Directory, 1925, pp. 131-137. Compiled by the National Canners Association, Washington,
D . C . The United States Census of Manufactures for 1925 lists 211 establishments in N ew York canning
these products.
* One of these establishments did no canning but only graded the beans.

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CHILDREN IN ERtJIT AND V EG ETA B LE C ANNERIES

T a b l e 47.— Number of canneries visited, number employing children of specified
ages, number of persons and number of children of specified ages employed in
canneries in certain counties of New York
Persons employed

Canneries visited

Employing
chil
dren under 16
years

County

N ot em
ploying
children
under 16
Under 14
years
years

Total
Total

All ages

Under 16 Under 14
years 1
years

7,171

121

1925: T otal......... ................. .............

5,988

109

1
6
2
2
1
1
4
2
1
1
2
1
1
1

1
2

85
1,066
150
270
203
181
1,617
65
427
305
785
147
120
567

3
54
6
5
1
2
16
6
1
1
6
3
2
3

1
11

M onroe___1________ ________

1
6
2
2
1
3
10
2
6
2
3
1
1
5
11

1,183

2
2
1
2
3
1

2
1
1
2
2

165
590
75
102
101
150

2
2
2
3
3

T o t a l...........- .....................

1926: T otal......... ................................

Orleans.._____________________

2
6

5
1
1

1
1
1

i In 1925 all children under 14 were 13 years old.

T a b l e 48.— Number of canneries visited, number employing children of specified
ages, number of persons and number of children of specified ages employed upon
certain products being canned at time of visit in New York canneries
Persons employed

Canneries visited

Product

N ot em
Em ploy ploying
ing chil children
dren
Total
under 16
under 16
years
years

Under 16 years
Under
14 years

All
ages
Total Boys Girls

T o ta l...............................................................

7,171

121

1925: T o t a l - .............................................................

5,988

109

8
7
1

5
4
1

3
3

740
440
300

17
11
6

4
4

13
7
6

6
3
1
2
1

6
1
1
2

3
1
1
1

5
6
2
4
2

8
3
1
4

67
12
3
52

21
3
1
17

46
9
2
35

999
298
124
459
25
62
3,281
. 1,345
90
1,846

8
7
3
5
2

Tomatoes and green and wax beans.
O th e r ....................... ......... ........... ............

12
4
2
4
1
1
13
3
1
9

1926: Total— ________ ___________________ ____

1,183

7
1
3

5
1
2

1,005
37
141

7
2
3

Beets....... ......................... .................................

M o ie than one product___________ _____

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i
5

2
10

1
2

N EW YORK

157

At the time of the visits in July, 1926, peas and cherries were being
canned. (Table 48.) Seven establishments were canning only peas
and 1 only cherries; 2 both peas and cherries; and 1, cherries, currants,
and other berries. At other seasons 8 of the 11 canneries visited
canned other vegetables or fruits.
The 45 canneries visited in 1925, chiefly tomato and corn canneries,
were reported as employing 5,988 persons, an average number of 133
persons per establishment,10 the largest number reported for any of
the States except Washington included in the Children’s Bureau sur
vey. (See p. 3.) Establishments varied considerably in the number
employed; 22 of the 45 had under 75 employees, but 9 had 200 or more,
a larger proportion than was found in any of the other States. Three
of the large canneries reported 500 or more workers, including one
with 700. The larger canneries were in general those canning more
than one product at the time of the survey, the 13 in this group em
ploying an average of 252 employees as compared with 83 employees
for the 12 packing com only and 63 for the 7 packing tomatoes only.
The establishments visited in 1926, canning chiefly peas and cher
ries, averaged a somewhat smaller number of workers— 108— and in
cluded only one having 200 or more employees, the number of workers
reported for this cannery being 450. The number of employees in the
canneries working exclusively on peas averaged 144 or somewhat more
than the establishments canning other single crops.
E Q U IP M E N T A N D S A N IT A T IO N

Most of the canneries visited were relatively large establishments
with up-to-date equipment. Generally they had a main building with
a porch or shed attached, a storage building, and an office building;
a few had at least five or six buildings. Main cannery buildings in
which most of the work of preparing and processing was done were
seldom fireproof, but storage buildings or warehouses were frequently
brick or concrete. The main buildings of several canneries operating
from five or six months to the entire year were substantially con
structed of brick.
Sheds were usually of light frame construction and open on two or
three sides; several of them were like porches, with the main entrance
of the cannery opening on them. The work done in the cannery sheds
at the time when the New York Factory Investigating Commission
made its report in 1913— snipping beans or husking corn by hand—
has been lessened considerably by the installation of machinery.
Some of the sheds attached to the canneries visited in 1925 and
1926 were used only for receiving or washing the raw product; two
were used for hand husking, one for peeling tomatoes, and others
housed com-husking machines, pea-vining machines, and automatic
conveyors that carried the product into the main part of the cannery.
The buildings were on the whole in fair or good repair. Most of
them had well-constructed stairways inclosed or equipped with hand
rails as required by the State labor law.11 Main buildings and sheds
were lighted with electricity so that it was possible to operate at night.
io The number of wage earners reported by the United States Census as employed in the canning of fruits
and vegetables in New York in the two peak months of the canning season (July and September) of 1925
was 14,638 and 14,377, or an average of approximately 68 wage earners for the 211 canneries reported by the
census for the State. (Census of Manufactures, 1925, Canning and Preserving, pp. 7-8, 22.)
a N . Y ., Labor Law, sec. 272, par. 2.

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In several old buildings with low ceilings and small windows artificial
light was used all day. Ventilation appeared adequate in the majority,
but in two canneries the main workroom was so filled with clouds of
steam at the time the visit was made that it was hard to see
across the room; the can loft of one establishment was so filled with
steam that it could not be used, and in the loft of another a boy at
work could not be seen at a distance of 3 feet on account of the steam.
Most of the plants were equipped with modern machinery. Twentythree of the thirty-four in which children under 16 were employed,
including all those packing corn and peas, used conveyor tables; 5
used some conveyor and some stationary tables and 6 had only sta
tionary tables, depending on the product canned. Two which canned
both com and tomatoes used conveyor tables for sorting corn and
stationary tables for peeling tomatoes. Mechanical methods of con
veying the product from one operation to another were used exclu
sively in 9 of the 23 canneries which were furnished throughout with
conveyor tables. In most of the others the product was transferred
partly by conveyors and partly by laborers with pails or hand trucks;
only 3 had no mechanical means for conveying. One large pea can
nery which had particularly modern equipment resorted to hand labor
only to push hand trucks with boxes of peas a few feet from one
machine to another.
The main cannery buildings usually had concrete floors on the
ground floor, at least, but 6 of the 34 had wooden floors throughout.
Concrete floors are easier to drain and keep clean than wooden ones,
but two were cracked and uneven so that the water stood in places.
Most of the wooden floors were likewise in poor repair.
Although the cannery floors were equipped with drains, usually
open grooves or conduits leading to an open drain pipe, some if not all
floors were wet in 29 of the 34 establishments in which minors were
employed. Slippery and soft particles of tomato, corn, or other
products, water dripping from washers, condensed steam from
cookers, and frequent hosing combined to make floors wet. Compara
tively dry floors had been achieved in a few canneries by unusually
good drainage systems.
The New York State Industrial Code provides that when floor
drainage is inadequate, platforms, mats, or other dry standing places
shall be provided for women.12 Solid or slatted platforms were pro
vided in 19 canneries, one of which had iron foot rests constructed
under its peeling table at a convienient height from the floor. In
some plants these foot platforms were useless, as the water was over
the tops of them; girls in one plant wore rubbers but said that they
did little good as the juice ran into their shoes. No attempt was made
to provide dry standing places for the women in 6 canneries. Some
times the workers’ feet were wet on account of water and waste leak
ing down from the work tables or from the condensed moisture drip
ping from the ceilings.
The New York labor law requires that seats in sufficient number be
provided women in all factories.13 The provisions of the State child
labor law also prohibit the employment of girls under 16 in any occupa
tion which compels constant standing.14 Seats for some of the women
12 N . Y ., Industrial Code, Eule 172, p. 51.
w N . Y ., Labor Law, art. 4, sec. 150.
14 Ibid.. sec. 146.

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workers were found in each of the plants, although in some seats were
provided for workers only on certain processes. Packing the prod
uct into cans and feeding corn-husking machines were frequently done
standing. Of the 80 girls under 16,-21, employed in 12 canneries, were
obliged to stand constantly while working. Seats varied from painted
iron chairs with foot rests or wooden chairs with backs to a motley
assortment of stools, crates, or boxes. Nine canneries provided
chairs with backs; in five, workers had only boxes or crates for seats.
In one cannery the peelers were sitting on boxes piled on top of each
other to bring them to the right height for the work table.
The labor law also required that a sufficient number of suitable
and convenient waterclosets for each sex be provided in every fac
tory.16 Twenty-four of the thirty-one plants reported upon had
flush toilets, four had both flush and privy toilets, and three had only
privies. All maintained separate toilets for each sex. A number
were not kept in good condition.
Most canneries provided washing facilities, at least running water
and a sink or a bowl, but only 8 furnished both soap and towels as
required under the State industrial code in establishments in which
food is manufactured.16 Several canneries had well-equipped rest
rooms for women. One had a woman attendant in charge of the rest
room and first-aid supplies; another, a cannery that employed more
than 500 persons, employed a full-time nurse and had a first-aid room
with couch, screens, and supplies, as well as rest rooms for both sexes.
THE LABOR SUPPLY

The canneries visited were chiefly in towns of less than 5,000 popu
lation, including 8 in villages of less than 1,000, and 2 in communities
of 200 to 300. Only 3 were in towns of between 5,000 and 7,000 and 6
in towns or cities of more than 10,000, including 1 in the factory dis
trict of Rochester.
In the larger places the cannery is usually unobtrusive, partly
because it seeks the edge of the town, but also because it is usually
not the chief industry, is seasonal in character, and often imports
much of its labor from larger cities, so that the community pays little
attention to it. On the other hand, in an extremely small community
the cannery may “ make” the town. One plant employing 500
workers for a large part of the year made a fairly large community
with its imported labor in a town with a normal population of about
300.
The majority of the canneries visited in the bureau survey relied on
local labor. Several provided transportation to and from the can
nery for workers in near-by towns. One cannery, needing extra help
in the bean season, hired an Italian agent to recruit and bring a
truck load of Italians to the cannery for night work. Judging from
the children found at work, local workers were of varied nationalities,
including many of Italian origin.
Migratory family labor was imported and housed in labor camps by
12 of the 56 canneries operating at the time of the visits, and two of
these and one other establishment imported single men. Large num
bers of migratory workers were brought in by two canneries employing
M N . Y ., Labor Law, art. 11, sec. 295.
w N . Y ., Industrial Code, Rules 149,150, p. 47,

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from 500 to 700 persons, one in a town of considerable size, the other
in a very small community. Three other canners who raised their
own vegetables for canning used local labor in the canneries, but im
ported migratory family labor for bean picking and other agricultural
work.
Migratory family labor was usually recruited in Buffalo, a conven
ient center for canneries in the western or west central part of the
State. Besides workers from Buffalo two canneries obtained others
from Niagara Falls and one of them from a town in Pennsylvania
more than a hundred miles away. Most of the migratory family
groups were Italian and were recruited by a “ padrone” or “ overseer,”
as the Italian agent was called, though one cannery recruited Polish
labor from Buffalo. Migrants were usually transported to the can
neries at company cost, except in the case of a few canneries near
Buffalo, but less often had their transportation home paid by the
company.
Nearly half the workers in the canneries visited in September, 1925,
were women and girls, but in the canneries visited in July, 1926, female
workers constituted less than one-third of the workers. In July they
were engaged chiefly on peas, in which a smaller proportion of the
workers are women, whereas in September they were working chiefly
on tomatoes, beans, beets, corn, on all of which except corn, the ma
jority of the workers are women.
LAWS REGULATING CHILD LABOR IN CANNERIES

Fourteen years is the legal minimum age for employment in New
York State in canneries, as in other factories. Not only canneries
but also canning sheds and other places used for or in connection
with canning are covered by the law (see p . 154).17 The hour standards
for the employment of children between 14 and 16 years of age are
high; employment is prohibited for more than 8 hours a day, or
more than 6 days or 44 hours a week and between 5 p. m. and 8 a. m.18
The work of minors between 16 and 18 years of age is limited, with
certain exceptions, to 8 hours a day and 6 days and 54 hours a week,19
and the employment of girls under 21 years of age is forbidden be
tween 9 p. m. and 6 a. m. and of boys under 18 years between mid
night and 6 a. m. Hours of work for boys between 16 and 18 years
of age, however, with the exception of the night-work prohibition
just noted, are not regulated in canneries between June 15 and
October 15.20
A general employment certificate was required of every employed
child between 14 and 16 years of age in any factory in the State.21
The requirements for such a certificate are comparatively high. A
child of 14 years must have completed elementary school and one
17 N . Y . , Education Law, art. 23, sec. 626; Labor Law, art. 1, sec. 2, art. 4, sec. 130.
18 N . Y ., Labor Law, art. 5, sec. 170. The 44-hour week became effective Oct. 1, 1925. This study was
made in September, 1925, when a maximum 48-hour week was permitted, and in July, 1926; thus both
standards apply.
19 A law passed in 1927 (ch. 453, effective Jan. 1,1928) fixed a maximum 8-hour day and 48-hour week for
women and for girls 16 and over, allowing exemptions and permitting overtime under certain conditions.
20 N . Y ., Labor Law, art. 5, secs. 171, 172.
N . Y ., Education Law, art. 23, sec. 626; Labor Law, art. 4, sec. 131. Since September, 1925, employ
ment certificates have been required of all children 16 years of age but under 17 in cities with a population
of 5,000 or more, and amendments passed in 1928 (chs. 646, 725) made the requirement of an employment
certificate for children of 16 state-wide in application. A child of 16 years to obtain a certificate is required
to fulfill the same requirements as a child between 14 and 16 except that no educational qualifications are
necessary.

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of 15 must have completed the sixth grade, and a child of either age
must pass a physical examination showing that he is of normal
development and in sound health. The child must also have a
written promise of employment signed by his prospective employer
and must obtain a new certificate or a reissue of the former one for
each new job.22 In addition the State law prohibits employment in
certain dangerous occupations.23
Employers of minors under 18 years of age are subject to pay
ment of double compensation if the minor is injured while working
in violation of any provision of the labor law, and minors over 16
may obtain a certificate of age upon presentation of satisfactory evi
dence of age to an officer who issues employment certificates to chil
dren between 14 and 16.24 This certificate is conclusive evidence of
a child’s age for an employer and protects him under the workmen’s
compensation law.
CHILD LABOR IN CANNERIES
A G E A N D S E X O F C H IL D R E N

A smaller proportion of the cannery workers in New York were
under 16 than in any other State in which the Children’s Bureau
made a survey of canneries. In 26 of the 45 canneries seen in Septem
ber, 1925, 109 children under 16 were found at work, only 2 per cent
of the total number of workers in these plants, and in 8 of the 11
visited in July, 1926, 12 children under 16 were found, or 1 per cent
of the working force. (Tables 47 and 48.) Canneries in which no
minors under 16 were at work were somewhat smaller than the ones
employing children, though a number of them reported between 100
and 250 workers.
Possibly more children would have been found in the canneries
if they had been visited at the height of the bean-canning season,
although the installation of modern machinery in bean canneries no
doubt has eliminated a great deal of the hand snipping formerly done
by children in New York canneries. A few canneries visited in New
York as in other States, however, reported that bean snipping was
done by hand either in the cannery itself or at home, and that children
were employed in the work. One cannery, which had beans snipped
by hand in the cannery, also employed the women and children who
picked beans on the farm operated by the cannery to snip beans in
the farm sheds when there was no field work to be done. Moreover,
a number of the plants employing no minors at the time of the
Children’s Bureau survey hired children at other seasons. Some of
those visited in September said that children hired during the summer
had returned to school. One plant sometimes employed school
children under 16 on Saturdays in the fall to sort apples for cider and
vinegar. Other canners (including 2 in whose establishments children
were working) stated that they never employed children under 16,
the reasons most generally given being that they needed workers
who could work longer hours or that employing children of certificate
age involved too much trouble and risk. Some who hired children
said they preferred adults when they could get them, because of
22 N . Y ., Education Law, art. 23, secs. 630, 631.
23 N . Y ., Labor Law, art. 4, sec. 146.
24 N . Y ., W orkm en’s Compensation Law, sec. 14-a, as added by Acts of 1923, ch. 672.

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hour restrictions and the double liability in case of accident (see
p. 161).
Relatively more children worked in canneries packing tomatoes
and tomato products, beets, string beans, and cherries (the proportion
in such canneries was more than 2 per cent) than in canneries packing
peas or corn, where the proportion of the total workers who were
under 16 was less than 1 per cent. (Table 48.) Formerly many
children were employed in corn canneries to husk corn by hand, this
being one of the principal occupations in which children were found
employed during the surveys made in New York State in 1908 and
1913.25 Since that time, however, corn-husking machines have come
into general use, thus eliminating hand husking except in some poorly
equipped canneries.
In all but one of the counties in which canneries were visited
children were found working, but the employment of children was
more common in some counties than in others. (Table 47.) Almost
half were found at work in Chautauqua County, the canneries of
which employed less than one-fifth of the total number of workers in
the canneries visited. This was due in large part to one large
establishment, in which children under 16 constituted 8 per cent of
the working force as compared with between 1 and 2 per cent in all
the canneries visited.
The employed children included 80 girls, 66 per cent of the children
at work, a considerably larger proportion than that which female
workers bore to the total working force (40 per cent). Girls were
in the majority in canneries putting up all kinds of fruit and vege
tables except peas, in the canning of which no girls under 16 were
found employed.
Of the 121 children in the canneries visited, 28, in six canneries,
were migrants who had come out for the season, all except 6 of them
from Buffalo.
V IO L A T IO N S O F A G E S T A N D A R D O F T H E S T A T E C H IL D L A B O R L A W

In the canneries included in the survey in 1925, 13 children (12 per
cent of the total number) were 13 years of age, that is, under legal
age for employment, and in those visited in 1926, one child was 12.
These children were employed in four canneries in three counties,
but Chautauqua County canneries employed 11 of them. Nine of the
fourteen under age children were found in one large cannery. Six
were migrants living in labor camps. None of them had employment
certificates and most of them when interviewed by bureau agents
gave their ages as 16 or 17.
K IN D S O F W O R K
-M *

The majority of the girls working in the canneries prepared fruits
and vegetables for the canning processes. Of the 80, 18 peeled or
cored tomatoes, beets, pears, or peaches, 1 of these, a girl of 14,
operating a tomato-coring machine; 9 sorted string beans at a moving
belt after they had been put through snipping machines; 1 sorted
lima beans; 2 snipped beans by hand in a cannery having no snipping
machinery; two 15-year-old girls operated corn-husking machines and
25
See Report on the W ork of W om en and Children in Canneries, Annual Report of the Bureau of FactoryInspection for the year ended Sept. 30,1908, N ew York State Department of Labor, pp. 336-493; and Second
Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, 1913, vol. 2, pp. 762-802.

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1 a corn-cutting machine; and 2 girls sorted cherries. The remainder
did a variety of other work— 10 filled or packed cans with tomatoes,
pears, or- beets, 17 were can girls, and all but 1 of the others were
stationed at moving belts at various kinds of general work, such as
capping, washing, or labeling catchup bottles, and salting cans.
Twenty-seven of the forty-one boys included in the study did gen
eral work, but unlike boys in canneries of other States only five were
can boys. A few of the 27 took cans from closing machines, while
other workers piled them into crates. Others trucked crates, made
boxes, piled boxes, and did other kinds of miscellaneous work, some of
which was heavy. Among the remaining 14 boys were several who
carried filled boxes of tomatoes, beans, or peas. Four boys, one of
whom was 14 years of age, operated husking or cutting machines in
corn canneries, and two 15-year-old boys fed vining machines in pea
canneries. None husked com by hand.
The work of the 10 girls and 4 boys under 14 was similar to that of
the older children. The girls, all of whom were 13 years of age, pre
pared or packed fruit or vegetables or handled empty cans. One
13-year-old boy piled boxes, another took off cans from the closing
machine, another did odd jobs, and a 12-year-old boy in a pea cannery
picked out thistles from pea vines.
The operation of corn-cutting and com-husking machines and to
mato-coring machines, in which work eight children were engaged, is
hazardous unless the knives on the machines are properly guarded.
The knives of the tomato-coring machine and of one of the cornhusking machines being operated by children at the time of the visits
were not guarded; the other com-cutting machines were apparently
guarded as far as was practical. In 1925 the employment of children
on these machines was not specifically prohibited by the New York
child labor law,26 but in 1928 the industrial board adopted rules for
safeguarding dangerous machinery on which children are employed
which would have affected their employment.27 Minor cuts but no
serious accidents were reported by the 14-year-old girl who was found
operating a tomato corer.
H OU RS OF W ORK

Daily hours.

Children worked as long hours as adults in many of the canneries.
The regular running time of most of the establishments visited both in
1925 and 1926 was 10 hours during the day, from 7 to 12 and 1 to 6,
and 2 or 3 hours in the evening, from 7 p. m. to 9 or 10 p. m. or later.
Several operated until midnight and two worked all night at the height
of the season. The two operating all night had two shifts, the others
but one. Time records or parents’ statements showed that in only
2 of the 26 visited in 1925 which employed children were the hours of
all the children within the 8-hour limit set by the child labor law and
that in only 4 others did the children stop work at 5 p. m., in accord
ance with the law. In 16 of the 21 operating at night children as well
as adults were employed after 7 p. m. Although the canneries
included in the survey in 1926 operated as long hours as those visited
the previous year, children were employed more than 8 hours in only
2 of the 8, and after 7 p. m. in only 1.
M N . Y ., Labor Law, art. 4, sec. 146.
* N . Y ., Industrial Code, Rule 921.

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Satisfactory time records, giving the hours of beginning and ending
work each day and the time off for lunch, were kept in 26 of the 34
canneries employing children, and time records of some kind (as, for
example, records giving only the total hours worked per day or records
for time workers but not for piece workers) were kept in all. Three
with satisfactory time records and one other were unwilling to have the
bureau use their records. Information concerning the daily hours of
the children at work for whom satisfactory time records were not
available was obtained wherever possible from parents or adult wit
nesses of their work, though in a few cases the child’s statement was
accepted.
T able

49.— Maximum number of daily hours of work reported by boys and girls of
specified ages employed in New York canneries

Children under 16 years employed
M axim um number of daily hours of work and sex of children
Total

15 years

14 years

Under 14
years

T o t a l . . _____________ ________________ _______________________

121

1926: Total___________ __________ ____________________________

109

Total reported________ __________________ _______ __________________

108

8 hours and under_____________________________________ _______
Over 8 hours._________ ________________________________________
10 hours and over________ : . . . ______ . . . __________________
12 hours and over________________________________________
14 hours and over___________________ _____ ________________
16 hours and over_________________________________________

8
100
> 81
30
14
2

6
62
51
20
8
1

2
26
23
10
6
1

Irregular__________ _______ ________________________________ ______

12
7

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

8 hours and under.___________ ______ ______ _______________________
Over 8 hours____________ __________________________________________
10 hours and over_____________ _______________________________
12 hours and o v e r ._________ __________________________________
14 hours and over_______ _____________________________ ______
16 hours and o v e r ..___________________________________________

4
27
24
11
5
i

3
15
14
7
2

1
9
7
4
3
1

3
3
3

Girls__________ _____ ____ ______ ___________ _____ _____ _______

Total reported......................................... .................................. ...................

8 hours and under_________ ___________________ _____ _______
Over 8 hours__________ ______ ________________________________
10 horns and over. _____: _________________ ________ ______
12 hours and over_________ __________________ __________ _
14 hours and over....................... ................... ......... .....................
16 hours and over____________ _____ _________________ _____

4
73
57
.1 9
9
1

3
47
37
13
6
i

1
17
16
6
3

9
. 4

Irregular___________________________________________________________

1926: Total___________ ___________________ ________ __________

8 hours and under___________ ________ __________________ __________
Over 8 hours_____________________________________ ________ ________
10 hours and over_______ _____________________ _______ ________
12 hours and over_____________________________________________

8
4
2
1

2
4
2
1

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

7
3
2
1

2
3
2
1

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

8 hours and u n d e r .......................................................................................
Over 8 hours__________________________________ _____ ______ ________

1
1

8 hours and under................... ..................... ......... ............................... ..
Over 8 hours___ __________________ _____ _____ __________________
10 hours and over_____________________ _______ _________
12 hours and over____________ _________ _____ _____ _________

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N E W YORK

One hundred (92 per cent) of the 109 children employed in 1925 and
4 of the 12 employed in 1926 (84 per cent in all) had worked more than
8 hours a day, thereby violating the New York State child labor law;
81 (75 per cent) of those employed in 1925 and 2 of the children in
1926 had worked 10 or more hours a day. All except 1 of the 13
children under 14 had been employed more than 8 hours and 7 of them
10 hours or longer. Fourteen children, 5 boys and 9 girls, had worked
14 hours or more, including a boy of 14 who had worked 16% hours
carrying wire cages of blanched beans and a girl of 15 who had worked
18% hours one day taking bottles of catchup from a runway and
putting them in boxes. Girls and boys worked equally long hours.
(Table 49.) Children had longer daily hours in canneries packing
com, tomatoes, beans, and fruits, the principal crops being canned at
the time of the 1925 visits, than in canneries packing peas and cherries,
the principal crops in 1926, if the small number of children found
employed in pea canneries can be trusted as an index. (Table 50.)
The type of work appeared to affect hours but little. Several
children operating corn-cutting or tomato-coring machines, work
that is particularly taxing, worked 12 hours or longer a day.
The employment of so large a proportion of the working children for
a longer day than was permitted by law may be attributed at least in
part to the fact that so few had obtained employment certificates
(see p. 168) and so presumably were not subject to the hour regulation,
though actually they were below the age for exemption from this
provision of the law.
T

5 0 . — Maximum number of daily hours of work of children under 16 years of
age employed upon certain products being canned at time of visit in New York
canneries

able

Children under 16 years employed
D aily hours of work
Product
Total

Total____________ __________

121

Total
report
ed

120

8hours
and
under

10
hours
and
over

hours
and
over

14
hours
and
over

104

1925: T o ta l--.............- - ...........................

109

108

100

Tomatoes and tomato products..

13
7
3

More than one product.................

8
2

5
7
67

Tomatoes and green and wax
3
52
192a- Tot.nl

8
2
5
7

66
12
2

2
1

1
8

Over 8
hours

5
5
65

12
2

51
4
3

11
6
3

3
3
55

11
1

2
2

1
5
1
23
9

1
13

16
Irreg
hours
ular
and
hours
over

2
.

1
1

11
5

2
1

1
1

W eekly hours.

Time records of weekly hours for children who had worked at least
five full days a week were obtainable for only 27 children in the can
neries visited in 1925 and 2 in the canneries visited in 1926. These

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children were employed in 16 canneries. All of them were between
14 and 16 years of age. All but 2 of the 29 had worked more than 48
hours a week, thus violating the provision of the New York child
labor law that limited the hours of work of children under 16 to 48
a week in 1925 and to 44 a week in 1926. Eight had worked seven
days a week also, thus violating the law prohibiting more than six
days’ work a week for minors under 16. Some of those employed in
1925 worked excessively long hours; 17 had worked 60 hours or more,
and 9 (8 of whom were girls), 70 or more. Six girls, employed in two
canneries, worked at least 80 hours one week. The time records of
one of these girls showed 63%, 61%, 78%, and 81% hours, respectively,
for four successive weeks; that of another 76, 79, 68%, and 82 hours.
Both these girls removed catchup bottles from a runway and put them
into boxes. A can girl and a corn cutting machine operator had been
employed 13 or 14 hours a day on week days and 7% hours on Sunday,
a total of 90% hours for the week.
Night work.

The requirements of the New York child labor law prohibiting em
ployment of children under 16 after 5 p. m. and before 8 a. m. were
not observed in most plants seen in 1925. When the plants worked
regular hours— from 7 a. m. to 6 p. m.— and did not operate at night
(that is, after 7 p. m.) the children usually worked the same hours
as the adults. One hundred (92 per cent) of the 109 children found
at work in the canneries visited in 1925 and 7 of the 12 found in those
visited in 1926 were working during hours forbidden by the State
law. (Table 51.) Three of these children began work as early as
5.30 in the morning. All but one of the children under 14 found in
canneries in 1925 worked after 5 p. m. and before 8 a. m., in violation
of the hour provision in the State child labor law.
T a b l e 51. — Boys and girls of specified ages employed between 5 p. m. and 8 a. m. in

New York canneries
Children under 16
years employed

Age

1925: T o t a l.:...................
13 years________ _______ _____
14 years_______________________
15 years..........................................
Boys.....................................
13 years_______________ _____
14 years_______________________
15 years........................ .................
Girls.....................................
13 years________________ ______
14 years_______________________
15 years.................................... ..

Em
ployed
be
Total tween
5 p .m .
and 8
a. m .
109
13
28

100
12

Em
ployed
be
tween
7 p .m .
and 6
a. m .
43

1
10

26
•62

3
9
15

4
13

9
17
47

10
10
18
50

Children under 16
years employed

Age .

1926: T otal........................

12
1

Em
ployed
be
tween
7 p. m .
and 6
a. m .

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

Em
ployed
be
Total tween
5 p. m .
and 8
a. m .

10
1
4

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

2
1
1

1
1

The children who worked after 7 p. m. included 18 boys and 25
girls in 16 canneries visited in 1925 and 2 boys in a cannery visited in
1926. Except for one 13-year-old child these workers were 14 or 15
years of age. The majority had worked between 2 and 4 hours in

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the evening, from 7 p. m. to 9, 10, or 10.30 p. m.; 5 boys and 3 girls
had worked until 11 p. m. or later. Two boys, each 15 years of age,
had worked on the regular night shift. One, who washed pears,
had worked for two weeks from 7 p. m. to 12 p. m. and from 12.30
to 5.30 a. m. The other had worked from 6.30 p. m. to 5.30 a. m.
on four nights and until 11.45 p. m. and 1 a. m. on two other nights
of the same week with no time out for lunch, as required by the State
labor law for all workers. He operated a corn-husking machine,
which was not guarded, an occupation requiring constant attention.
C A N N E R Y W O R K AN D S C H O O L IN G

Peas and cherries are packed when the schools are closed for the
summer vacation, but work on corn, tomatoes, pears, peaches, and
other fall fruits interferes with school attendance.
Almost all the canneries visited in 1925 were inspected on or after
September 8, the date on which most of the schools in the cannery
districts opened. All but 1 of the 13 children under 14 years of age
found employed in that year, and also 4 of the 10 fourteen-yearold children who had not reached the eighth grade, were working after
the schools had opened in the districts in which the canneries were
situated. According to the State law, these children should have
been in school.28 Most of the 15-year-old children had completed
the sixth grade and so could legally have been out of school and
employed provided they had employment certificates.
The migratory families that work in canneries often do not return
to their city homes until after the beginning of school, so that not
only the children old enough to work but their younger brothers and
sisters also are out of school at least part of September. In Buffalo
and Niagara Falls in 1925 the schools opened on September 8, while
com and tomato canning, in which most of the children work, occu
pied the whole of the month. The principal of one of the Buffalo
schools in a district from which children migrate for cannery and agri
cultural work estimated that from 20 to 40 per cent of the children in
that school missed some part of the school year because of the canning
and fruit-picking industries. It was said that some of the families
go back to the city before the canning season is over in order that the
children may attend school. Children of school age, however, were
found living in most of the cannery labor camps visited after the open
ing of school. These children as a rule were not given the opportunity
to attend local schools, although New York was the only State among
those included in the Children’s Bureau survey in which any migrants
were found enrolled in school in districts where their families were
at work in the canneries. The children in two cannery camps attended
local public or parochial schools. (See end of footnote 48, p. 177.)
Although the children of 14 and 15 working in New York canneries
had progressed more rapidly in school than white children working
in Delaware and Maryland canneries, they compared unfavorably
in this respect with children in Indiana, Michigan, or Wisconsin.
Among the 111 children for whom information concerning school
grade was obtained, 60 had completed or at least attended the eighth
grade, including 18 who had entered high school. Five of the 29
children 14 years of age had not reached the seventh grade and 30
of the 69 children 15 years of age the eighth grade, as they normally
28

N . Y ., Education Law, art. 23, sec. 621; sec. 631 (sec. 632, as article was rewritten by Acts of 1928,
ch. 646).

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might be expected to have done. (See footnote 18a, p. 47.) Too few
migratory children in New York State were found working in canneries
to conclude that migratory children in New York canneries are more
backward in school than resident children, as was true of the migratory
children in Delaware and Maryland. Six' of the 11 migratory
children of 15 years as compared with 23 of the 53 resident children of
that age had failed to reach the eighth grade. Many of the resident
children as well as the migrants were of Italian and other non-Englishspeaking parentage, and children from such families are more likely
to be retarded in school than those from homes in which English is
spoken.
CERTIFICATIO N OF M IN O R S
EXTENT

Although the New York child labor law now requires employment
certificates for minors between 14 and 17 years of age (see p. 160),
at the time of the Children’s Bureau investigation in 1925 the law
including children of 16 had only just gone into effect. Because of
this and because at that time it applied only in cities with a popula
tion of 5,000 or more, and only 10 of the 34 canneries visited employ
ing minors were in such places, the Children’s Bureau did not include
16-year-old cannery workers in the survey in New York as in other
States where the certificate law covered minors of 16 or over.
The proportion of children under 16 years of age for whom certificates
were found was considerably smaller than in any of the other States in
the Children’s Bureau survey. Ninety (83 per cent) of the 109
children found employed in 1925, and 7 of the 12 in 1926, had no
certificates on file. In 21 of the 26 child-employing canneries visited
in 1925, and in 4 of the 8 in 1926, some or all of the child workers
were without certificates. Only 9 of the 34 had certificates on file
for all the children employed, that is, 13 children. Sixteen had no
employment certificates for their young workers under 16. Several
children with certificates had worked before they had obtained them.
In a few plants documents other than employment certificates, such as
a birth or baptismal record or a physician’s certificate of physical
fitness, were found on file in lieu of the certificates. One 14-year-old
worker had filed a physician’s certificate and a letter signed by the
president of the local board of education to the effect that.it could
be used in place of an employment certificate. The child and her
mother were both aware this was not a certificate but did not know
to whom to apply, and as the president of the board of education had
assured them his letter was sufficient they hoped no trouble would
arise.
Only 23 of the 92 local children, and only 1 of the 28 migratory chil
dren, had certificates. The common practice seems to have been to
require children to get their employment certificates in the towns in
which they lived and went to school, and not to issue them to children
in the districts to which they came for employment. The one migra
tory child worker in the New York canneries with a certificate on
file had obtained it in Buffalo, where he lived. The failure of local
children to get certificates is less easy to explain. A contributing
factor at least seems to be that vacation certificates are not issued in
New York State for factory employment, including cannery work,
and in order to obtain the regular employment certificate a school
record must be presented. Children who can not meet the educational

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requirements are not likely to apply for certificates at all if they find
they can get work without them. Even in the case of children who
qualified, the requirement might cause delay (see p. 172), and the incon
venience no doubt prevented some children from applying for certifi
cates. Another contributing cause of the failure to have certifi
cates seemed to^ be the practice of enrolling noncertificated working
children in continuation school as a substitute for requiring them to
get certificates in cases where difficulty was experienced in getting all
the necessary documents for certification.
Primarily the presence in the New York canneries of children with
out certificates was due to the willingness of the employers to put them
to work without verifying their ages. For the most part they appeared
to accept without investigation the child’s word that he was past certifi
cate age. Most of the children under 16 who did not have certificates
when interviewed by the agents of the bureau said that they were 16
or 17, and doubtless many of these had given the same ages when
aPPtyin£> f°r employment. Although some canners, while failing
to verify the children’s statements in regard to their ages, seemed to
be anxious to comply with the law, a number appeared to know1little
or nothing about it or to be only vaguely familiar with its terms.
Others seemed to be indifferent to their responsibility for compliance
with the employment-certificate provisions.
One of the results of the employment of children without certifi
cates, as has been noted, was the widespread violation of the law in
regard to^ hours _of ^work. (See p. 165.) Without certificates there
was nothing to indicate to employer or inspector whether or not the
children were within the ages to which the law applied.
IS S U I N G O F F IC E R S

Employment certificates were issued by local superintendents of
schools in cities and in school districts having a population of 4,500 or
more and employing a superintendent of schools, and elsewhere by the
district superintendents of schools. These superintendents were
authorized to deputize in writing any other school official or employee
except^ an attendance officer, to act as issuing officer.29
Issuing officers for 36 localities— 16 cities or school districts of 4,500
population or more and 20 so-called supervisory districts— were inter
viewed. In the supervisory districts the district superintendents in
most cases themselves did the actual work of issuance. In a few
places the superintendent’s wife or some other relative assisted or
issued during his absence, and in one district a school principal had
issued vacation certificates (not valid for work in canneries) which
were found on file in one cannery, though he had not been deputized
to do so. Three school principals had been officially deputized as
additional issuing officers in a district near Buffalo from which many
children went to work in the city. In one county, also, four district
superintendents with an office in the county building had a secretary
in common, who issued certificates for them. In most of the larger
districts, where the superintendent might live fro’in 15 to 30 miles
away from some of the schools in the district, he carried all the material
required for issuing employment certificates with him when traveling
29

N . Y ., Ediieation Law, art. 23, see. 631. (6). A n amendment to this law passed in 1928 (ch. 646) removed
tne restriction as to appointment of attendance officers as issuing officers.

81531°— 30----- 12

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from school to school so that children would not have to make the
trip to him, or the school principal mailed the required papers to him
and he mailed the certificate back to the principal, or he made a
special trip to the school when notified by the principal.
In only 3 of the 16 cities or school districts in which local superin
tendents of schools were the issuing officers, however, was the issuing
done by these officials themselves, and in these 3 places few certificates
were issued. In 4 cities or school districts, although the local superin
tendent was nominally the issuing officer, the work was done by some
other person— in one case by his clerk, in two by the secretary to the
attendance officer, and in one by a clerk in the office of the continua
tion school. In 3 cities the secretary to the superintendent or a clerk
in bis office had been formally deputized, but one of these had handed
over the work to a clerk in the attendance office. In 2 places the
directors of continuation schools and in 3 the directors of attendance
had been deputized to issue certificates, and in 1 (Buffalo) a special
employment certificate issuing officer and several assistants were
employed.
.
.
In some of the small towns children were often unable to obtain
certificates during the summer vacation. In several, however, the
local superintendent allowed a clerk to issue in his absence, and in
one town of 6,000 population the attendance officer, who was also a
school janitor, had issued certificates during one summer vacation
when the issuing officer was ill. Among the supervisory district
superintendents (where any special provision was made for issuance
when they were away) a fairly common practice was to allow their
wives to issue certificates in their absence.
R E Q U I R E M E N T S F O R IS S U A N C E

Evidence of age.

Under the New York law the following proof of the child’s age must
be presented,30 to be required in order indicated: (1) Birth certificate,
baptismal certificate, or passport, all of equal value under the law;
(2) other documentary evidence satisfactory to the issuing officer; and
(3) physician’s certificate of age.31
Although the law gives to the issuing officer the duty of examining
and approving the evidence of age, in some places visited the health
officers (who had formerly issued certificates under the New York
child labor law) approved the evidence, and although the issuing
officer often saw it he never questioned the finding of the health officer.
Practically all the officials interviewed who passed on evidence of
age, whether issuing officers or health officers, stated that they demand
ed first a birth or baptismal certificate and usually, if neither was
available for the foreign-born child, a passport. However, the school
census was the preferred evidence for public-school children in one
district and in one city. As the preferred evidence under the law—
birth or baptismal certificate or passport— is usually available, many
issuing officers, especially in the country districts, said that they had
seldom been confronted with the necessity of obtaining other proof.
Only about half had at some time accepted any other document, and
of these the majority had accepted a school record or the school census,
though a few had accepted Bible records or other kinds of documen30
Amendments to the N ew York law passed in 1928 (ch. 646) changed this requirement to some extent.
(See foonote 31a, p. 171.)
si N . Y ., Education Law, art. 23, sec. 631 (L L ).

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tary evidence. The physician’s certificate of age had been used in only
four places.
Instead of attempting to obtain secondary documentary evidence
or requiring a physician’s certificate of age, the usual practice in
many places, when a birth or baptismal certificate or a passport
was not produced, was to accept as final proof the parent’s unsupported
affidavit of the child’s age. This practice 31a was found to be followed
by 23 officials, including 6 health officers, though some of them had
accepted this evidence only occasionally over a period of several
years. One health officer said that when he knew the parent he did
not even obtain an affidavit but accepted his statement. A district
superintendent who had once looked up the birth records of some
children for whom he had accepted the parent’s unsupported affi
davits and found that the parents had told the truth felt confident
of his ability to gauge the parent’s honesty in making these statements.
A health officer who passed on evidence of age said that some Polish
children claiming to be 16 years of age had applied who had neither
birth records nor school records. He and his wife, who was also
a doctor, “ looked them over” and if they appeared to be 16, he made
a statement to that effect on his office stationery.
The practice of taking parents’ unsupported affidavits appeared to
be as common in communities of more than 4,500 population (except
in the cities of Buffalo and Rochester) as in the country districts.
Proof o f physical fitness.

Each of the issuing officers visited required all children between 14
and 16 to obtain a certificate of physical fitness from a medical
officer designated by the board of health, as is required by law.
The fact that in all but the largest cities the physician is entitled to
a fee not exceeding 50 cents for each examination, to be paid by the
city or town, tends to assure the child an examination which other
wise might be omitted. A few of the local health officers felt that
the physical fitness of an applicant for an employment certificate
was important enough to warrant a thorough examination, and they
had refused certificates to a few children because of physical dis
abilities. In the cities of Buffalo and Rochester particularly, children
were frequently refused employment certificates, at least temporarily,
until certain defects were corrected. But in some places the exami
nation was regarded merely as an annoying matter of routine. In a
city with a population of more than 100,000 the register of vital sta
tistics merely filled in the form provided for recording the physical
examination from replies to questions put to the applicant, and signed
the health officer’s name.
Proof of educational requirements.

In New York, alone among the States included in the Children’s
Bureau study, children under 16 years of age obtaining certificates
for work in the summer must have the same educational qualifi
cations 32 (see p. 21) as those going to work in the school year. The
si® The parent’ s affidavit was not included as one of the types of evidence of age acceptable under the law
in force at the time of the Children’s Bureau study unless it is permissible to classify such an affidavit as
"other documentary evidence of age,” when the evidence previously mentioned is “ birth certificate,
baptismal certificate, or passport.” Before 1916, affidavits were specifically mentioned in the section of the
law referring to papers which might be presented as documentary evidence. In 1916 when the law was
amended the term “ affidavits” was omitted, and this was the situation at the time of the Children’s Bureau
study. In 1928 when the law was again amended (ch. 646) the acceptance of the parent’s affidavit as evi
dence was specifically prohibited.
A child was required also to have attended school not less than 130 days in the 12 months: (1) Between
his thirteenth and fourteenth birthdays; (2) next preceding.his graduation; or (3) next preceding his appli
cation for the employment certificate.

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school-record certificate must be issued by the principal of a school
in first-class cities; by the superintendent of schools, if there is one,
in other cities and school districts with a population of 4,500 or more;
and in other school districts by the principal teacher of a school.
In addition, children under 16 not eighth-grade graduates must pass
a test in reading and writing simple sentences in English.33
In the three largest cities visited and in all the 20 supervisory
districts school principals issued the school-record certificate, and the
issuing officer accepted their statements without question. In the
smaller cities where the local superintendent was authorized to issue
the record, about half the issuing officers allowed the principal to
fill in the form and exercised no check over the authenticity of the
record, but the others looked up the child’s record in the school regis
ter filed in the superintendent’s office and themselves made out the
school-record certificates. In the supervisory districts it was always
necessary for an applicant to wait several days for his school record
even if he had fulfilled the grade and attendance requirements, as
the principal was required to write to the State office at Albany
requesting a school record certificate form for the specific child
applying. Although this practice was believed by the State depart
ment of education to be a check on indiscriminate issuance of schoolrecord certificates to unqualified children, it was said at the Albany
office of the department that the form was always sent as requested.33®
In many places little or no attention was paid to the requirement
of a literacy test.
Other.

The requirement of a promise of employment, specified in the
certificate law, was uniformly complied with in the cities and towns
where local superintendents or their deputies issued certificates;
but in the supervisory districts, where children sometimes had to
go long distances to get certificates, the promise was not always
demanded.
In only 8 of the 36 localities where issuing officers were interviewed
was the parent required to apply in person, as the law demands,
either at the issuing office or before the school principal for the schoolrecord certificate.
A special vacation certificate for which provision is made in the
New. York law but which is not valid for work in a cannery had been
issued for cannery employment by issuing officers in a number of
the supervisory districts and in about a third of the cities, and
vacation certificates were found on file in a few canneries. Some
of these officers stated that the work for which they issued such a
certificate was work in the cannery sheds, and one said that this
was “ really out-door work” and told the children that they must
not work in the cannery building “ proper” or around machinery.
These sheds, however, are by definition in the law part of the factory
and in many canneries house power-driven machinery.
Although the law requires that the promise of employment indicate
the kind of work the child is to do and that the certificate shall
contain a description of his work, in nearly half the certificates
33

N . Y ., Education Law, art. 23, sec. 631.
33a Since September, 1927, this delay is no longer necessary, as issuing officers have been empowered to
accept school-record certificates furnished b y the school principal.

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on file the job was designated in the blank space provided in the
certificate as “ canning/’ although most of the children had been
hired for the definite occupation at which they were found, such
as feeding viners, operating corn cutters, sorting fruit and vegetables,
and attending labeling machines. It did not appear that any of
these children were employed at a prohibited occupation, but the
use of such indefinite descriptions on the certificate removed the
safeguard intended by the law.
Other defects of issuing were noted, not, however, of great impor
tance, such as the omission of the number of the certificate, or the
details of the physical description of the child.
STATE

S U P E R V IS IO N

The State commissioner of education is given by law the general
duty to “ supervise the enforcement” of the compulsory school
attendance and employment-certificate provisions of the law, but
there is no requirement that duplicates of certificates issued be
sent to him or to the State department of labor, nor is the State
department of labor given such supervisory powers over the issuance
of certificates as is the case under the laws of many States. How
ever, the industrial commissioner had power to require the employer
of a child “ apparently under 16” years of age without a certificate
either to cease employing him or to furnish proof that he was over 16.
An opportunity to have such proof on file was given to the employer by
the law providing for the issuance of certificates of age to minors over
16, such a certificate to be conclusive evidence to the employer of the
minor’s age. (See p. 161.) The fact that so many children were
found without certificates in a State where visits of factory inspectors
were so frequent as appeared to be the case in New York would indi
cate that the inspectors did not often take advantage of this provision
to challenge the employment of young workers.
The section of the law defining the powers and duties of the State
commissioner of education states that he must prepare suitable
“ registers, blanks, forms, and regulations” for carrying out the
education law, which includes the employment certificate law, and
must transmit them to the officials intrusted with the execution
of the various duties.34 Under the article relating specifically to
compulsory school attendance and employment certificates, how
ever, the form for all “ certificates” 35 required by the law is to be
prescribed by the commissioner of education, the employmentoertificate form to have also the approval of the industrial commis
sioner, and the physical-examination record the approval of the
commissioner of health, but no provision is made for furnishing
the forms to issuing officers.36 Under a former la w 37 cities of
50,000 population or over were required to furnish their own forms,
which were subject, however, to approval by the commissioner of
education. In the cities and districts visited in the Children’s
Bureau study this plan was still being followed, the commissioner
furnishing forms to communities of less than 50,000 and to the rural
34 N . Y ., Education Law, art. 4, sec. 94 (9).
33Interpreted to include the subsidiary forms.
38N . Y ., Education Law, art. 23, sec. 631 (10).

37 N . Y ., Labor Law, secs. 75 and 166, prior to amendments passed in 1921.

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districts. The forms used in the cities of more than 50,000 were
based on the State forms.
A pamphlet summarizing the compulsory education and employ
ment certificate laws and containing instructions for the issuance of
certificates and copies of the blanks formulated by the department
was furnished by the State department of education to attend
ance officers, school superintendents, and certificate-issuing officers,
and the issuing officers interviewed reported that the department
notified them of any changes in the law. Although the department
of education attendance inspectors visited the officers of school
superintendents and other local school officials, practically all the
issuing officers interviewed reported either that these inspectors
paid no attention to the issuance of certificates or that they merely
would answer questions if asked. There was no indication that
any direct supervision of the methods of issuing certificates was
attempted. Issuing officers were required to send to the State
department of education quarterly and annual reports of employ
ment certificates issued, but these reports did not contain the detailed
information, as for instance, data on the evidence of age accepted,
that would enable the department to check up on methods of
issuance.38 (See footnote 48, p. 177 for present provisions.)
LABO R C A M P S FOR C AN N E R Y W O R K E R S

The housing and sanitation of New York labor camps is regulated
in detail by the rules of the State labor department and the State
board of health, and the camps are subject to inspection by officials of
both departments. The rules of the industrial commission cover such
matters as construction of buildings, roofs, floors and partitions,
ventilation, privacy, furnishings, toilet and washing facilities, water
supply, and removal of waste. The board of health rules include the
location and drainage of the camp, water supply, toilet facilities, and
removal of waste.39 The standards maintained in the New York
camps were on the whole much higher than in the camps for migra
tory family labor visited in the two other Eastern States, and a
general improvement seems to have taken place since 1913 when the
survey was made by the New York Factory Investigating Com
mission.40
The camps of 11 of the 12 canneries visited that imported migratory
family labor were open at the time of the study, but fewer families
were reported living in them than earlier in the season. The camp
that was closed had been occupied during the bean season. Fewer
than 40 persons were living in 5 of the camps; the others were larger,
one housing more than 300. The total number of persons living in
the 11 camps at the time of the study was not ascertained. Children
under 16 were living in 9 of the 11.
Two types of housing were found. Seven of the camps housed at
least some of the occupants in buildings known as barracks— long, 2story structures consisting of a row of rooms on each side of a central
hall, one window open to the outer air and a door into the hall from
each room. In these camps a separate house was provided for cook38

Sine® 1927 a more detailed report showing the evidence of age accepted has been required b v the
State department of education.
X'7Tln i i stiial c,ode, Sanitation of Cannery Labor Camps, Rules 200-232 (pp. 188-191); N . Y „ State
Health, Regulations for Labor Camps, ch. 5 of Sanitary Code, Regulations 1-22, For a summary
of State laws and regulations relating to labor camps, see Appendix III, p. 223.
i0 Second Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, 1913, vol. 2, pp. 884-890.
t. 39

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ing. In the other camps the buildings were divided into separate
apartments or tenements, each consisting of from two or three to six
rooms, and having both bedrooms and a kitchen.
According to the rules of the State labor department every family
composed of husband and wife and one or more children over 10
years of age must be assigned at least two rooms. In rooms used for
sleeping purposes not less than 400 cubic feet of air space must be
provided for each person, except that a minimum of 200 cubic feet is
permitted for each child under 14.41 The rules also require a window
with an area of at least 4 square feet and, in rooms with only one
window, a transom also communicating with the outer air.42 It was
the practice in the camps visited to assign at least two rooms to a
family; in five camps each family had at least 3 rooms, including one
camp which assigned to large families as many as 6. The sleeping
rooms as a rule were small, those of several camps having a cubic
air space of from 840 to 960 cubic feet, only slightly above the legal
requirements for two adults. In Maryland (see pp. 126, 127) and in
New York State in earlier days one room to a family in cannery camps
was the general rule 43; in Delaware at the time of the study about
half the families had only one room.
The department of labor has ruled that beds, cots, or bunks must
be provided in sufficient numbers in every room used as a sleeping
room, and at the beginning of the season all beds, bunks, and bedding
must be clean.44 In all but one of the camps visited beds, usually
iron, were provided by the canner, and in several mattresses also were
furnished. But in one camp, the largest visited, the beds were only
raised wooden platforms covered by a strawfilled tick, resembling
the bed places seen in the labor camps of Delaware and Maryland.
Although not required to do so by the rules of the commission, the
canners provided stoves and fuel in addition to bedsteads, and some
of them supplied tables and benches and screens for doors and win
dows.
One camp housing 200 persons at the height of the season main
tained particularly high standards. The houses were substantial
ones of concrete blocks. Each family had an apartment of two or
three rooms, one or two bedrooms and a kitchen. Each room had a
floor space of about 10^ by 16 feet and a large, well-screened window;
the bedrooms were furnished with one large iron bedstead and springs,
the kitchen with a good stove, and there were also serviceable tables
and chairs. These furnishings, with the exception of some of the
chairs and tables, were provided by the cannery.
The water supply of the camps visited appeared in most cases to be
adequate. Seven of the 11 camps were piped for city water, and
faucets supplying water for cooking, washing, and drinking were pro
vided in places easily accessible to the occupants of the camp. One
camp had city water piped to each apartment. Sinks were provided
in some camps, though not in all, as required under the rules,45
making it unnecessary to throw the waste water on the ground as is
commonly done in the labor camps visited in the two other Eastern
41N . Y ., Industrial Code, Sanitation of Cannery Labor Camps, Rules 205 and 223 (pp. 188,190).
42Ibid., Rules 206, 207 (p. 188).
43Second Report of the Factory Investigating Commission, 1913, vol. 2, p. 885.
44N . Y ., Industrial Code, Sanitation of Labor Camps, Rules 210,211,225 (pp. 189,190).
43“ Readily accessible slop sinks must be provided to carry off all liquid waste. The pouring of such waste
upon the ground near the living quarters is prohibited.”
Camps, Rule 221, p. 190.)

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

States. Two of the camps in which city water was available had
flush toilets, but only privies were provided in the others. With the
exception of three camps in which they were maintained in excellent
condition, little attention was paid to keeping privies clean and sani
tary. One exceptionally well-kept camp was supplied with two
enamel bath tubs, one for men and one for women, but no other camp
made arrangements for bathing, although the department of labor has
ruled that “ when there is no stream or lake accessible for bathing
and no baths are provided for the use of the camp, shacks or sheds
* * * must be provided for bathing purposes.” 46
In only two camps, one of them the largest visited, were the grounds
dirty or untidy. Covered garbage cans, as required by the regula
tions,4^ were provided in 6 of the 11 camps visited and were emptied
periodically by the padrone or other employee in charge of the camp.
Young children were as a rule unsupervised while their mothers were
at work in the cannery. Three camps, however, made some provision
for their care. In one camp the woman hired by the company to
clean the buildings looked after the children in addition to her other
work; in another, mothers of nursing babies and of very young chil
dren were not employed in the cannery and cared for their own children,
and the padrone’s wife was paid to look after the children who were
over 6 years of age. A third camp provided a makeshift nursery in
which between 40 and 50 young children were cared for at the time of
the visit by two elderly women. The room was only about 25 feet
square and had very inadequate furnishings, consisting of an old stove
used for warming milk, a broken and unused refrigerator, and six iron
cribs. The nursery had no screens, and when it was visited by the
bureau agent flies were swarming over the sleeping babies.
SUM M ARY

New York canneries have a diversified product. The State ranks
second in the canning of fruits, vegetables, pickles, jellies, preserves,
and sauces. The principal canning crops are peas, beans, corn, and
cherries. The Children’s Bureau visited 56 fruit and vegetable can
neries of the 158 in the State canning and preserving fruits, vegetables,
pickles, jellies, and preserves. These were canning chiefly corn and
tomatoes and tomato products, though other crops were being canned
to some extent when the establishments were visited.
The majority of the canneries visited used local labor, but 12
imported migratory family labor, chiefly Italian.
In 35 canneries visited 121 children under 16 years of age (about 2
per cent of the total number of workers in the canneries) were found at
work.
Girls constituted 66 per cent of the children at work.
Fourteen children (12 per cent of the children employed) were under
14 years o f age, the legal minimum age for employment in canneries in
New York State. The youngest worker was 12. Nine of the 14 were
at work in one cannery.
Girls peeled or cored tomatoes, beets, pears, or peaches, sorted
string beans, lima beans, and cherries, snipped beans, filled or packed
46

N . Y ., Industrial Code, Sanitation of Labor Camps. Rule 218 (p. 190).
Rule 226 (p. 190); N . Y ., State Board of H ealth, Regulations for Labor Camps, ch. 6 of Sanitary
Code, Regulation 14.

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cans with the product, were can girls, or did general work at moving
belts, such as capping, washing, or labeling bottles and salting cans.
Several ran com-husking, com-cutting, or tomato-coring machines.
Boys trucked crates, made and piled boxes, piled cans, removed
cans from closing machines, and carried boxes of vegetables. Rela
tively few, compared with other States, were can boys. A few
ran com-husking or com-cutting machines or fed pea-vining machines.
Eighty-four per cent of the employed children had worked more
than 8 hours a day, the maximum permitted under the State child
labor law, and 68 per cent had worked more than 10 hours.
Time records for a week were available for only 29 children. All
except 3 of these had worked longer than 48 hours, the legal maxi
mum for children under 16.
Eighty-three per cent of the workers under 16 had been employed
between 5 p. m. and 8 a. m., hours during which the employment of
children under 16 is prohibited. The majority of these had worked
between 7 and 11 p. m.
Peas and cherries are packed during summer vacation, but the
canning of corn, tomatoes, peas, peaches, and other fall fruits inter
fered with school attendance. Almost all the canneries putting up
these products in which children were found at work were visited
after the opening of school.
Children in migratory families were usually out of school at least
part of September. Although migrants as a rule did not attend
school in the districts in which they worked, New York was the only
State of those in the Children’s Bureau surveys in which any migrants
were enrolled in the local schools.
Employment certificates were found for only 24 of the 121 employed
children under 16, as required by the child labor law, a smaller pro
portion than was found in any other State included in the bureau’s
survey. One of the results of the lack of employment certificates was
the prevalence of illegal working hour3.
Only 9 of the 34 canneries employing child workers had certificates
for all children under 16 years of age; 16 had no certificates on file.48
48

The following information has been received (December, 1929) from the New York State Industrial
Commissioner regarding efforts made in 1929 to bring about better enforcement of the laws regarding the
employment of children in canneries:
In 1929 the commissioner endeavored to obtain the cooperation of the canners through the
Association of New York State Canners and the Associated Industries of N ew York State in
the elimination of child labor and illegal hours of children. N ot all the canners operating in
N ew York State were members of these associations. In the main the cooperative arrange
ment seemed to improve conditions.
All canneries and vineries operating in the State were inspected during the season. A total
of 511 inspections were made, 147 canneries and 48 vineries being found in operation.
Children
under 16 years of age totaled 227, or 1.8 per cent of the total number of employees found at work
in the canneries, approximately the same proportion as was found in the N ew York canneries
in the Children’s Bureau survey. The following numbers of children employed in violation
of the child labor law were found: Under legal age (14 years), 7, or 3.1 per cent of the total
number under 16; employed without certificates, 152, or 69.1 per cent of the children between
14 and 16 years of age; employed on vacation permit (illegal in cannery), 20; working illegal
hours, 82, or 36.1 per cent of the total number under 16.
In connection with the inspections of canneries made by the department, 444 orders regulat
ing sanitation and seating were issued to 134 plants, and 621 orders relative to the guarding of
machinery and apparatus were issued to 138 plants.
According to information received (March, 1930) from the director of the attendance division of the State
department of education, there has recently been a noticeable advance in the responsibility taken b y district
superintendents in connection with the issuance of employment certificates. Efforts are being made to
insure that issuing officers are available to issue certificates to children tgoing to work during vacation and
to assist them in obtaining the necessary documents. A pamphlet published b y the attendance division
in 1929 outlines the procedure of issuing certificates and gives mucli more detailed instructions than the
pamphlet previously distributed (see p. 174), and the inspectors of the attendance division are directed to
discuss with the superintendents their duties as certificate issuing officers and give advice as to procedure
where it is found to be needed. A s regards the school attendance of migatory children, the attendance
division is attempting to obtain the cooperation of canners who employ family labor in giving preference
to those who will arrange to have their children remain at home or go home when school opens.

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W A SH IN G T O N
IN T R O D U C T IO N

At the request of a number of Washington State organizations
interested in child welfare, an inquiry was made by the Children’s
Bureau during the summer of 1923 into the employment of children
working on fruit farms and in canneries in Washington.1 This
inquiry was made two years before the series of Children’s Bureau
surveys of children working in canneries, reports of which are con
tained in this volume, and it was confined to an inspection of the
canneries to find working children, an inquiry into the character of
their work in canneries and their hours of work, and an inquiry into
the extent and character of certification for employment. Although
information was not obtained by the Children’s Bureau as to working
conditions, equipment, and sanitation in the canneries, this phase of
the inquiry was covered by the Women’s Bureau of the United States
Department of Labor in a study of the work of women in Washington
canneries made simultaneously and in cooperation with the Children’s
Bureau study.2
Washington for many years has been an important fish-canning
State, the packing of Columbia River salmon having been started
shortly after the Civil War, but the importance of the State in fruit
canning has been of rather recent development. In 1923, the year
of the Children’s Bureau inquiry, it ranked eighth among the States
in fruit and vegetable canning according to the average number of
wage earners employed,3 but second in the canning of fruits alone,
canning about one-tenth of the quantity put up in the United States.4
The principal crops packed are berries and apples (in the canning of
which Washington holds first place), pears and prunes (in which it
holds second place), and cherries (in which it ranks fifth).5 Together
these packs constitute seven-tenths of the value of all fruits, vege
tables, pickles, jellies, and preserves canned in the State. The
average number of wage earners employed in the canning of fruits
and vegetables in 1923 was 2,235; the number employed during the
peak month— September— was 4,109.6
T H E C AN N E R IES

In 1923 Washington had 43 canneries packing fruits and vegetables,
pickles, kraut, preserves, and jellies.7 These were located in 16 of
1

A n analysis of the findings of the study of the work of children on Washington fruit farms is contained
in Child Labor in Fruit and H op Growing Districts of the Northern Pacific Coast (U . S. Children’s
Bureau Publication N o. 151, Washington, 1926).
The findings of the W om en’s Bureau study have been published in W om en in the Fruit-Growing and
Canning Industries in the State of Washington; a study of hours, wages, and conditions (U . S. W om en’s
Bureau Publication N o. 47, Washington, 1926).
Biennial Census of Manufactures, 1923, p. 76. U . S. Bureau of the Census. Washington, 1926.
Ibid., p. 74.
Ibid., p. 72.
« Ibid., p. 76.
Canners’ Directory, 1923, pp. 154-159. Compiled by the National Canners Association, Washington,
D . C. The United States Census of Manufactures for 1923 lists 36 establishments canning these products,
but census statistics were collected only from establishments reporting products of $5,000 or more. (Biennial
Census of Manufactures, 1923, p. 76.)

3
3
3
7

178

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the 39 counties of the State, chiefly in those east of Puget Sound,
the most important fruit-raising section of the State, and in the
counties bordering the Pacific coast, though a few, including 2 of the
largest, were inland in Yakima and Clarke Counties, both important
centers for orchard fruits.
The Children’s Bureau survey was made chiefly during the latter
half of August and the first week of September. It covered 16
establishments canning fruits and vegetables 8 in 14 towns or cities in
8 counties, or practically all the principal fruit-canning sections of the
State. Most of the canneries were putting up fruit at the time of
the visits, chiefly blackberries and pears, but several were canning
beans. They packed a great variety of fruits and vegetables and
were in operation several months during the summer and autumn,
the number depending on the nature of the products. One, for
instance, packing pears, tomatoes, and apples, operated from the
middle of August to the first of January. Several operated from 6
to 8 months; one, for example, opened with the strawberry season
in June and closed in December after the apple season was over, and
two had an 8-month run, beginning the season with spinach and
rhubarb and ending with apples. Some canneries packed only
fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, plums, logan
berries, cherries, pears, and apples. Others, in addition to fruits,
packed vegetables such as spinach, beahs, and tomatoes.
Some of the canneries were in cities and towns large enough to
afford an adequate local labor supply— one was in Tacoma, the second
largest city in the State, and others were in the large centers of popu
lation on or near Puget Sound and on the Columbia and Yakima Rivers.
Several, in the heart of the fruit-raising districts, were in small rural
communities.
The total number of employees in the 16 canneries visited was
reported as 3,364, an average of 210 persons a cannery, a larger
number than was reported for any of the States in which the Children’s
Bureau made surveys in 1925. Eleven were employing more than 100
persons, including 7 with more than 300, and 2 with more than 400
workers. One cannery, which was reported as employing 450 persons
normally, had a working force of 600 during the peak months of 1923,
but by October, when it was visited, many women had left to work
in the fields or in the fruit-packing sheds and the children had returned
to school. At another cannery visited in September, also after the
opening of school, it was reported that twice as many persons, includ
ing many more children under 16 (among whom were 40 school girls
who had left to return to school), had been employed on strawberries
earlier in the season.
Girls and women constituted almost three-fourths of the total
number of workers.
LAWS REGULATING CHILD LABOR IN CANNERIES

-In 1907 a law was passed in Washington 9 fixing a minimum age of
14 for work in factories, stores, and certain other occupations and
exempting children of 12 or over on account of poverty provided they
8 In addition inspections were made of 13 fish canneries. (Twelfth Annual Eeport of the Chief of the
Children’s Bureau, pp. 12-13.)
9 W ash., Laws of 1907, ch. 128 (Pierce’s Code 1921, sec. 3443),

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worked in occupations not dangerous nor injurious to health or morals
and obtained special permits from superior-court judges. In 1922
this law was held by an opinion of the assistant attorney general to be
repealed by the penal code passed in 1909,10 so that at the time of the
study no State law was in effect fixing a minimum age for work in
factories or canneries.11
A State law requires work permits issued by superior-court judges
for boys under 14 years of age and girls under 16 employed in factories
or any inside employment not connected with farm work or housework,
and the school attendance law requires school-exemption certificates
issued by school superintendents for all children under 15 employed
at any work during school hours.12 Under the Administrative Code of
Washington the industrial-welfare committee of the State department
of labor and industry has general supervision over the conditions of
labor of women and minors,13 and has issued employment permits to
minors above the ages covered by permits from judges; that is, to
boys between 14 and 18 years of age and girls between 16 and 18.14
Washington has no statute specifically regulating hours of children
working in canneries, but the industrial-welfare committee has issued
orders prohibiting the employment of minors under 18 years (with
exceptions not applying to work in canneries) in or in connection with
factories, including canneries, for more than eight hours a day, or
six days a week, or between 7 p. m. and 6 a. m.15
CHILD LABOR IN CANNERIES
A G E A N D S E X O F C H IL D R E N

The height of the berry season, with the exception of blackberries,
was over before the Children’s Bureau made its survey in Washington.
Otherwise it is believed that many more children would have been
found at work. In the fruit canneries which earlier in the season
had been canning raspberries, loganberries, and strawberries it was
explained, in some plants by the manager or the foreman, in others
by the timekeeper, that many more children, and more younger
children, had been employed on those berries than on the packs on
which the establishment was working when visited. Young children
are able to cap, sort, and pack berries as satisfactorily as adult
workers, and as the State law at the time of this study fixed no mini
mum age for work in canneries (see above), employers had no hesitancy
in admitting their employment. Moreover, in the majority of
places the local schools had opened, or were about to open, before the
visits were made, and many children had left their work in the can
neries to return to school. In one cannery 40 girls of school age and
in another 25 had left the week preceding the visit in order to attend
i° W ash., Laws of 1909, eh. 249.
11 Since the time of this study the office of the State attorney general has rendered an opinion, dated Oct. 1,
1924, that the earlier law is still fn effect.
u W ash., Laws of 1909, p. 890, sec. 195 (Pierce’s Code 1921, sec. 8833); Laws of 1909, ch. 197, sub-eh. 16,
sec. 2 (Pierce’s Code 1921, sec. 5220).
I3 This power was given to the industrial-welfare commission by the minimum wage law of 1913,,and
transferred to the industrial-welfare committee by the Administrative Code of 1921, Laws of 1913, ch. 174;
Laws of 1921, ch. 7, secs. 81 (5), 82.
u In addition, in places where attendance at continuation schools had been made compulsory, permits
issued by local school officials are required fortall minors leaving full-time day school to go to work, but such
schools had not been established at the time of this study in any of the places in which canneries visited
were located.
1S Washington Industrial Welfare Committee Order N o. 31, dated Aug. 28, 1922. The 8 hour law for
females exempted fruit, vegetable, and fish canneries from its provisions (W ash., Acts of 1911, ch. 37, as
amended by Acts of 1921, ch, 7),

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or get ready for school. One canneiy manager said that some of his
workers had left and he was expecting the school-attendance officer
to come any day for those who had remained. Another said that he
had not started children under 16 on the pear pack as they would
have to leave soon to go to school.
The Children’s Bureau agents found some children under 16 years
of age working in all except one of the canneries visited— a small
establishment employing eight persons. They numbered 133 (4 per
cent of the total number (3,364) of workers in the 16 establishments).
Of these 115 (86 per cent) were girls, whereas girls and women were
only 72 per cent of the total number of workers. They included 16
children (12 per cent) who were under 14 years of age, all but 2 of
whom were girls. Besides 10 girls 13 years of age, 3 girls of 12, and
1 of 10 years of age, were at work.
K IN D S O F

W ORK

Girls were employed chiefly in preparing and packing fruits and
vegetables, boys in a variety of odd jobs. Fifty-seven of the 115
girls were preparing pears, peeling, coring, splitting, or packing into
cans; 32 were snipping beans; 13 were sorting or packing berries;
and 4, in one cannery visited in October, were quartering apples. The
remaining 9 girls did various lands of miscellaneous work, such as
waiting on the tables and putting cans on trays, carrying pans, or
helping in the warehouse. Seven of the 18 boys waited on tables
“ traying cans,” 2 piled or packed filled cans into boxes or cases, 1, a
boy of 15, fed a bean-cutting machine, and the remaining 8 did odd
jobs such as nailing boxes, grading pears, sorting and paclang berries,
emptying pails of peelings, and stamping cans. Children under 14
did much the same kind of work as the older children; that is, the
girls peeled, split, or packed pears and snipped beans and the boys did
odd jobs. The youngest child found at work in the Washington
canneries, a girl of 10, was sorting berries.
HOURS OF W ORK

The hours of work were irregular and depended on the kind of
product and the amount on hand. The majority of the canneries
visited worked 10 hours a day when running full time, but they oper
ated much longer hours at the peak of the season. Long hours and
night work were more common during the berry season than at the
time when the visits were made, according to cannery managers.
Children as a rule worked the same hours as adults. The Washington
Industrial Welfare Committee in. 1922 had ordered a maximum
8-hour day and a 6-day week and had prohibited work between
7 p. m. and 6 a. m. for minors under 18.'!® Of the 15 canneries visited
employing children only 2 maintained these standards, and these 2,
according to pay-roll and office records, carefully observed the pro
visions as to hours of work and kept careful time records. In other
canneries time records were not satisfactorily kept to show actual
working time. Three kept no time records, but the others had kept
some sort of time record, usually only for time workers, whereas many
of the children, such as fruit peelers, corers, sorters, and packers,
were paid on a piecework basis. The information regarding hours of
18 Washington Industrial Welfare Committee Order N o. 31, dated Aug. 28,1922.

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work had to be based, therefore, on the statements of employers and
child workers.
One hundred and twenty-one (91 per cent) of the 133 children under
16 employed had worked more than 8 hours a day when the canneries
had been running on regular but not unusual hours, and 63 (47 per
cent) had worked 10 hours or more. Fifteen who had worked more
than 8 hours and 5 who had worked 10 hours or more a day were
under 14 years of age. Time records available for a few children
showed extremely long hours for some during the last pay period pre
ceding the visits. Five children (three boys who were 14 years of
age or over and two girls, one of whom was under 14) were recorded
as having worked 13 hours and one boy 14 hours. Thirty-three
children (2 of whom were under 14 years of age) had worked at night;
that is, after 7 p. m., the hour after which the employment of minors
under 18 was prohibited by order of the industrial-welfare committee.
At the time of the visits 2 had worked a 7-day week. As time
records were generally lacking and parents were not interviewed in
regard to the children’s work no satisfactory evidence exists as to the
number of hours of night work or the number of nights worked
during the season,
CANNERY W ORK AND SCHOOLING

Although raspberries, loganberries, and cherries are canned during
the summer vacation of the schools, blackberries, pears, and apples are
packed during September and October, and most of the schools in the
districts in which canneries were visited, opened, the year of the survey
at least, during the first week of September. In one district the open
ing of school was put off until September 17 to allow for the blackberry
harvest. In the five canneries that were visited on or after the day
school opened, two in October, 21 girls under 16 were found at work; 7
of these were 14 or 15 and 1 was 12 years of age, but only 2 had
school-exemption certificates as required under the compulsory school
attendance law (see p. 180).
The school attainment of the children in Washington canneries
compared well with that of children in canneries of Wisconsin, Michi
gan, and Indiana and was higher than that of children in canneries of
the Eastern States. Four-fifths (82 per cent) of the 115 children of 14
and 15 years of age reporting had attended or completed the eighth
or a higher grade, including more than two-fifths (44 per cent) who
had entered high school. A few children were below normal grades
for their ages (5 of the 40 children of 14 years of age reporting had not
reached the seventh grade and 11 of 75 children of 15 years reporting
had not reached the eighth), but the proportion is smaller than the
average among this age group who are overage for their grades. (See
footnote 18a, p. 47.)
CERTIFICATION OF MINORS
EXTENT

The provision of the State child labor law prohibiting the employ
ment of boys under 14 or girls under 16 in canneries without permits
was violated in 13 of the 15 canneries in which minors were found at

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work. Only 19 permits were found on file in the canneries visited,
and of this number 5 were found to have been issued for an age older
than the child actually was. In all, there were 99 violations; both of
the 2 boys under 14 found employed and 97 of the 115 girls under 16
were without certificates.
I S S U IN G O F F I C E R S

Issuing officers were interviewed in all but one county in which
canneries were found employing children under 16. Although re
sponsibility for the issuance of permits to boys under 14 and girls
under 16 (see p. 180) is definitely placed by the law with the superiorcourt judge of the county in which the applicant for a permit resides,
a number of the judges had delegated the power—in two counties to
subordinates in their offices, in two counties to local school officials
(one an attendance officer, the other the head of the vocational
department of the public schools), in one county to a city clerk, and in
another to the employers themselves. Wherever the authority was
delegated, the issuing was done over the rubber stamp of the judge
who supplied the signed blanks to the issuing officer.
The law contains no provisions as to the requirements that must be
met before the child is granted a permit, as to the procedure to be
followed, or as to the forms to be used. In view of this, and of the
frequent delegation of authority, it is not surprising that no uniformity
was found in practice. Usually the child when applying for the permit
was accompanied by his parent, but in two counties it was sufficient
for him to bring a statement of his age from his parent. In either
case, in most of the counties, the parent’s statement was accepted
without question as proof of the child’s age, and no other evidence was
sought. Several issuing officers stated that this lack of evidence was
of no moment because no minimum age had been established by law at
which children should be granted permits (see p. 180). Two officers
claimed that in practice permits were not issued to children under 12;
nevertheless they made no effort to determine whether the child’s
age was as claimed. In one of the two counties where school officials
had been delegated to issue permits, the school census was referred
to as evidence of the child’s age, and if no census record was available
he was required to bring some sort of documentary evidence; in the
other the school census was used to check the parent’s statement if
the child was to leave school to go to work, but not if he was to work
only in school vacation.
Except in one county where a city vocational-school official had
been delegated to issue permits, no promise of employment was re
quired and no inquiry was made as to what work the child was to do,
though some of the permits stated that he should not be employed
in a dangerous occupation or around machinery. In some of the
counties the permit form indicated that it was intended to permit
employment only during the summer vacation; one added that it
was valid also for Saturday work; in a few the consent of the school
superintendent was required before a child could be issued a permit
to work during school hours. In one county the form used contained
a statement that the child should not work at night.

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SUM M ARY

Washington holds eighth place among the States in the canning of
fruits and vegetables and second in the canning of fruits alone. The
principal canning crops are berries, apples, pears, prunes, and cherries.
The Children’s Bureau visited 16 of the 43 canneries in the State.
One hundred and thirty-three children under 16 (4 per cent of the
total number of workers in the canneries visited) were found employed
in 15 canneries. If the visits had been made at the height of the
berry-packing season there is evidence that many more children would
have been working in the canneries.
Girls were 86 per cent of the workers under 16.
Sixteen children (12 per cent of those employed) were under 14
years of age, including 2 under 12. Washington had at the time of
this study no minimum age for employment in canneries. (See p. 180.)
Of the girls 50 per cent peeled, cored, split, or packed pears, 28 per
cent snipped beans, 11 per cent sorted or packed berries, and 11 per
cent did various other work.
The majority of the boys did odd jobs. One 15-year-old boy fed a
bean-cutting machine.
Ninety-one per cent of the employed children worked more than 8
hours a day, and 47 per cent worked 10 hours or more. A few chil
dren worked 13 or 14 hours. Twenty-five per cent had been employed
after 7 p. m., contrary to the order of the State industrial-welfare
committee.
Employment certificates, required under the State child labor law
for boys under 14 and girls under 16, were on file for only 27 of the 117
children who should have had them. Thirteen of the 15 canneries
employing minors violated this provision of the law.
Responsibility for issuance of certificates, placed by law with the
county superior-court judges, was often delegated to others. The law
contains no provisions as to requirements for certificates, the procedure
of issuance, or forms, and no uniformity in these respects was found.

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INTRODUCTION

Wisconsin has attained importance in the vegetable and fruit can
ning industry within relatively recent years. The first cannery was
established in the State in 1889.1 Ten years later the census of 1900
reported 16 establishments with an average number of 676 wage
earners engaged in the canning and preserving of fruits and vege
tables.2 Since that time the industry has grown steadily. Ranking
twelfth among the States in 1900,3 according to the number of wage
earners employed in canning, by 1925 Wisconsin had risen to sixth
place,4 and in the canning of vegetables alone (92 per cent of the value
of the output of the canneries of the State in 1925 consisting of canned
vegetables and soups),5 it ranked fourth. The average number of
persons employed in the industry in 1925 was 4,426, but in July,
the peak month, 17,562 were employed.6
Although the canning industry ranks only fifteenth among the
manufactures of the State according to the average number of wage
earners employed,7it is one of the principal child-employing industries.
Outside Milwaukee more employment certificates are issued in Wis
consin for work in canneries than in any other industry or occupa
tion. In the State as a whole in 1925, the year in which the Children’s
Bureau survey of the canneries was made, the number of minors
issued certificates for work in canneries was exceeded only by the
number of those receiving certificates for work in one manufacturing
industry— the metal-working trades— and in mercantile establish
ments; 11 per cent of the minors receiving certificates in the State
were employed in canneries as compared with 12 per cent in metal
working industries and 15 per cent in trade.8 Outside Milwaukee
18 per cent of the minors receiving certificates were employed in
canneries.
THE CANNERIES
L O C A T IO N , S IZ E , A N D P R O D U C T

The Canners’ Directory for 1925 fists 177 establishments canning
fruits and vegetables in Wisconsin.9 These were located in 48 of the
71 counties of the State, chiefly in the southeastern and central
sections, though some of the western counties have a number of
canneries.
1 A History of the Canning Industry (Souvenir of the 7th Annual Convention of the National Canners
and Allied Associations, Baltimore, February 2 to 7,1914), p. 26. Published b y The Canning Trade. Bal
timore, M d ., 1914.
2 Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900, vol. 9, Manufactures, pt. 3, p. 471. Washington, 1902.
3 Ibid, pp. 469-471.
• 4 Census of Manufactures, 1925, Canning and Preserving, pp. 22-23. U . S. Bureau of the Census. W ash
ington, 1927.
* Ibid., p. 20.
8 Ibid., pp. 7-8,
. .
7 Census of Manufactures, 1925, Statistics for Industries, States and Cities, pp. 99-101. U , S. Bureau of
the Census. Washington, 1927.
8 Industrial Commission of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Labor Statistics, January and February, 1926. dd .
13-15.
’ >
9 Canners’ Directory, 1925, pp. 167-176. Compiled b y the National Canners Association, Washington,
D . C. The U . S. Census of Manufactures for 1925 lists 150 establishments engaged in the canning of fruits,
vegetables, pickles, etc. The Federal statistics for 1925 were, however, collected only from establishments
reporting products of $5,000 or more. Census of Manufactures, 1925, Canning and Preserving, pp. 2, 23.

81531°— 30-------13

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As a rule, the Wisconsin canneries are in or on the outskirts of towns
or small cities which are situated sufficiently near the farming district
for farmers to haul their produce directly to the cannery.
Representatives of the Children’s Bureau visited 55 canneries in 25
counties, 46 of which, in 23 counties, were operating at the time of the
visits. (Table 52.) The survey covered practically all the more
important canning counties in the southwestern, central, and western
parts of the State. It was made during the period commencing
July 3 and ending August 8, 1925, and all except 9 of the 55 establish
ments were visited in July, the peak month of the canning season.10
T

52.— Number of canneries visited, number employing minors of specified
ages, number of persons and number of minors of specified ages employed in
canneries in certain counties of Wisconsin

able

Persons employed

Canneries visited

County
Total

Employing
minors under
N ot em
17 years
ploying
Under
16
Total
years

Total

Dodge

________________

_______________________

Fond du Lac----------- ------------------

Winnebago. Lit---------- - - - ----------

46
4
1
3
1
3
2
2
2
1
1
2
i
2
7
2
1
1
1
4
1
1
2
1

under
17 years

3
1
2

2
i
i

3
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
2
. 7
2
1
1

2
i
2
i
i
i

4
1
1
2
1

1
1

1
2
6
1
1
1

Under 17
years

Under 16
years
Under
14 years1

All
ages
N um - Per N um - Per
cent
cent
ber
ber

5,784
676
227
500
176
309
347
291
166
121
150
102
100
261
611
469
12
57
200
571
75
83
190
90

423

7.3

201

3.5

10
5
27

1.5
2.2
5.4

2
1
18

.3
.4
3.6

a7
27
2.3
8
38 13.1
5.4
9
21 17.4
8.7
13
2.0
2
2 r- 2.0
45 17.2
72 11.8
3.4
16
5 41.7
6 10.5

15
1
18
2
16
1

4.9
.3
6.2
1.2
13.2
.7

23
41
3

8.8
6.7
.6

10.0

12.6
6.7
15.7
4.7
20.0

29
1
7
6
12

5.1
1.3
8.4
3.2
13.3

72
5
13
9
18

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

Peas are the principal crop canned, and constituted 71 per cent
of the total goods canned in the State in 1925. Wisconsin ranks
first among the States in the canning of peas and produces approxi
mately half the peas canned in the United States. Other canned
products include beans (almost 10 per .cent of the output of the
United States in 1925), corn, beets, kraut, and pickles.11 At the
time of the survey 34 establishments were canning peas; 10, beans;
and 2, both peas and beans. (Table 53.) All the^ canneries that
were not in operation when visited had been canning peas before
they had closed down, a short time before. In addition to the crops
10 Census of Manufactures, 1925, Canning and Preserving, pp. 7-8.
11 Ibid., pp. 16-19.

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b ^ g packed at the time of the survey, 26 establishments canned
other products— corn, beets, kraut, or pickles— in season. The
great majority of the Wisconsin canneries visited, however, packed
only one or two products, 16 of the 46 canning only peas, 3 only
beans, and 12 only two crops.
T a b l e 53. Number of canneries visited, number employing minors of specified
ages, number, of persons and number of minors of specified ages employed upon
certain products being canned at time of visit in Wisconsin canneries

Canneries visited

Product

Total

Persons employed

Employing
minors under N o t em
17 years
ploying
T o ta l
minors
under
Under 17 years
T o ta l
16

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

Peas..... ......................... ..............
Green and wax beans _____
Peas and green and wax
beans__________________

16 years

Under 16
years

All
ages

Under
14
years i

N um Per N u m Per
ber
cent
ber
cent

5,784

222

3.8

201

3.5

34
10

30
9

23
6

4
1

4,596
900

158
51

3.4
5. 7

125
74

2.7
8.2

1
3

288

4.5

0.7

1 Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent.
E Q U IP M E N T A N D S A N IT A T IO N

The pea canneries are substantially built, two or three stories in
height, and generally in good repair. Although they are as a rule
in operation only for six weeks to two months during the summer,
substantial buildings are necessary for the housing of machinery
used in canning peas.
Most of the canneries visited had at least two buildings, a main
canning building and a warehouse. A large porch or shed open on
three sides, which was known as “ the viner shed” for vining peas
adjoined the main building, which was usually frame, though 13 of
the 42 canneries that employed minors had buildings of brick, tile, or
cement; the warehouses were frequently of brick or of some other
fireproof material. Some of the canneries had been recently erected
and were well ventilated and well lighted with both natural and arti
ficial light.
Although a number of old buildings were used for canneries, especi
ally in the eastern part of the State where the industry had been longer
established, with two exceptions the old buildings as well as those
more recently built were in good repair. The yards of many of the
cannenes were well kept although there was occasionally a slight
odor from the stack on which pea vines were piled.
Up-to-date machinery for snipping beans, vining peas, and various
other processes such as grading, washing, blanching, filling, closing,
processing, and labeling, had been installed in many of the canneries.
Uxcept in the viner sheds little hand carrying was done in pea can
neries, moving belts and elevator or gravity carriers being in common
use. Although automatic conveyors were used in bean as well as in
pea canneries for part of the work, men or boys were also employed in
some establishments to carry the beans in wooden boxes from the

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snipping to the sorting table, to the cutting machines, or from the
blancher to the filling machine. Bean-snipping machines, which a
number of canneries had installed, had eliminated much hand labor.
Wet floors are not so serious a problem in pea and bean canneries
as in tomato canneries. Nevertheless, although in most of the Wis
consin canneries the floors, on the ground floors at least, were concrete
or asphalt and were especially constructed so that the water might
drain off into gutters, in all but 2 of the 30 canning peas at the time of
the survey, in 4 of the 10 canning beans, and in the 2 canning both
vegetables, the floors were damp or wet. In some the floors were
only damp, but in a few, puddles of standing water had collected.
Near blanching, filling, and closing machines especially, in both bean
and pea canneries, wet places were found. Girls working near the
filling machine in a bean cannery said that their rubbers did not keep
their feet dry, although in this as in other bean canneries the floor
about the snipping table was dry. In pea canneries the floor near the
packing or inspecting tables was likely to be wet, and it was here that
many of the women and girls worked. In one pea cannery conditions
were aggravated by overhead elevator conveyors enclosed in wooden
casings from which water leaked and dripped down on the floor apd on
the girls. In most of the canneries the floors even if damp were kept
clean by frequent washings with water and steam; in only one cannery
where the workers dropped the waste from the beans directly upon the
floor were the floors reported as dirty.
Some canneries furnished wooden platforms to protect workers’
feet. In one cannery where the platform at the filling machine was
inadequate, girl workers wore rubbers. Men and boys employed at
the blancher and in other wet places sometimes wore rubber boots.
Foot rests, attached to either chairs or tables, provided in many of the
up-to-date camieries, afforded satisfactory protection against the wet
floors for those who sat at their work.
Most of the canneries complied with the provision of the law that
requires “ suitable seats” for women workers.12 Seats of some kind
were found in the 39 canneries for which this information was obtained
and were used by the women and girls working at conveyor tables;
in some cases chairs and stools were adjusted to the height of the tables.
In seven canneries the boxes or benches that were furnished might not
be considered as “ suitable” under the law 13; in one of these, boxes
set end to end supplied seats which were not high enough for the
“ pickers” to work comfortably at the moving belt.
Toilets were provided in every cannery and, as the regulations of the
Wisconsin Industrial Commission require, were separate for the
sexes.14 More than half the canneries where minors were employed
had flush toilets; the others had outside privies. Some kind of
dressing room was also usually provided; in some canneries it was
merely a place for hanging wraps, but in others it was furnished with
chairs or rockers, a couch, and a table for lunches. Two canneries
were equipped with shower baths for men.
is W is., Stat. 1925, sec. 103.16, p. 1142.
„
12
The Wisconsin Industrial Commission, in Factory Equipment, Housekeeping, and Supervision,
Handbook for Employers, September, 1920, p. 22, recommends adjustable stools or chairs. For operations
where high chairs are necessary, foot rests, preferably attached to the work table, are recommended.
14 industrial Commission of Wisconsin, General Orders on Sanitation, 1921, Order 2201, p, 16,

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THE LABOR SUPPLY

The 46 canneries visited in Wisconsin were reported as employing
5,784 workers, an average of 126 persons per establishment.15 (Table
52.) The number of workers most frequently reported was between
100 and 200, the number reported by 24, or approximately half the
establishments. Six reported between 200 and 250 workers, but no
larger number was reported in any cannery visited in Wisconsin; 13
between 50 and 100 workers, 1 between 25 and 50, and 2 less than
25 workers.
Girls and women constituted only 36 per cent of the total employees
in the Wisconsin canneries, a smaller proportion than in any of the
States in which the Children’s Bureau surveyed canneries. In the 10
bean canneries this proportion was 46 per cent. Except in 7 establish
ments, 4 of which were canning beans at the time of the visit, female
workers were in the minority.
The towns or villages in which the canneries were situated or the
surrounding country supplied the labor for most of the Wisconsin
canneries. The female labor in some canneries consisted of daughters
of the farmers in the neighborhood. Some country canneries sent out
trucks each day to near-by towns for workers. A number of cannery
managers, even.those in small towns, said that local labor was easy to
get, though others gave the scarcity of labor as the reason for employ
ing minors. Two of the canneries visited, one of which employed
nearly 200 workers, maintained boarding houses for men whom they
brought in from a distance. Probably the greater part of the labor
supply was native bom, including many workers of German stock.
LAWS REGULATING CHILD LABOR IN CANNERIES

The Wisconsin child labor law 16 gives children at work in canneries
the same protection as children in other industrial occupations. The
minimum age is 14, and though work at 12 years of age is permitted
during the school vacation in stores, offices, and certain other employ
ments, this exemption does not apply to canneries or other factories.
Children between 14 and 16 years of age must not be employed more
than 8 hours a day, 48 hours a week, or 6 days a week, or between the
hours of 6 p. m. and 7 a. m.
Children between 14 and 17 years of age are required to obtain
certificates issued either by the State industrial commission, which
enforces the child labor law, or by a county, municipal, or juvenile
court judge or other person designated by the commission. To
obtain this certificate or “ perm it/’ as it is called in the Wisconsin law,
a child must bring a signed promise of employment from the person
desiring to employ him and must present such proof of age as is
required under the regulations of the industrial commission. (See
p. 202.) If he is to be employed during school hours, he either must
have completed the eighth grade or must have attended school for
nine years. The industrial commission or the issuing officer appointed
“ The number reported b y the United States Census as employed in the canning of fruits and vege
tables in Wisconsin at the peak of the canning season of 1925 (July) was 17,562, or an average of 117 wage
earners for the 150 canneries reported by the census for the State. (Census of Manufactures, 1925, Canning
and Preserving, pp. 6-7.)
’
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by the commission has power to refuse to issue a permit to a child who
in the opinion of the issuing officer seems physically unable to do the
work he intends to undertake, or to refuse to grant the permit if in his
judgment the best interests of the child will be served by the refusal.17
For the protection of employers of minors claiming to be over 17
years of age but in fact under that age, the law gives the industrial
commission power to issue certificates of age to minors under such
regulations as it shall deem necessary. These certificates are issued
to minors between 17 and 21 years of age by the officer authorized to
issue employment certificates, upon presentation of satisfactory
evidence of age.
Besides control over the method of issuing permits through the
appointment of issuing officers and the power to refuse certificates, the
law gives the commission other important supervisory powers. (See
pp. 203-204.)

A large number of occupations and processes are prohibited by law
to minors under 16, under 18, and under 21 years of age. The law
further states that no female and no minor shall work at any employ
ment dangerous or prejudicial to his life, health, safety, or welfare,
and the industrial commission has power to determine what occupa
tions shall be prohibited under this clause. Numerous rulings have
been made by the commission, but none apply to occupations peculiar
to canneries and with a single exception the occupations specifically
prohibited are not those carried on in canneries.18 This exception is
the prohibition of the employment of any female under 17 years of
age in any capacity where her work compels her to remain standing
constantly. Another statute provides that “ suitable seats” for
females must be provided in “ manufacturing, mechanical, and mer
cantile establishments, ” and the use of such seats must be “ permitted”
when the workers are not necessarily engaged in the active duties for
which they are employed. (See p. 188.)
The Industrial Commission of Wisconsin is given broad regulatory
powers over the employment not only of children but also of all
females. As regards the employment of female workers, these powers
extend to “ manufactories” and many other establishments, as well as
any trade, occupation, or process of manufacture in which any female
is engaged, and it is stipulated that no female shall be employed or
permitted to work for “ such periods of time during any day, night, or
week as shall be dangerous or prejudicial to the life, health, safety, or
welfare of such female. ” A schedule of maximum hours is prescribed
(9 a day and 50 a week for day work, and 8 a night and 48 a week for
night work), but these hours may be altered by the orders of the com
mission, and special orders applying to canneries have been made by
the commission each year since 1913 in the case of pea canneries and
since 1918 in the case of establishments canning beans and corn.19
These cannery orders for the season of 1925 fixed a maximum 9-hour
day and 54-hour week for all girls of 16, and specified that normally
the same provision should apply to girls and women 17 years of age
The commission has ruled that no permit shall he issued to a child under 17 in a number of occupations
including work given out by factories to be done in homes. This ruling, according to information from the
commission, would apply to any work sent into the home b y canning factories. Bean snipping was found to
be a type of work given out b y canneries to be done in homes on which children were employed.
w In addition, the law prohibits oiling or cleaning dangerous machinery in motion to minors under 18, and
oiling or assisting in oiling, wiping, or cleaning machinery in motion to children under 16. N o minors under
17 were found engaged in these occupations in the canneries visited.
19 Industrial Commission of Wisconsin, Biennial Report, 1918-1920, pp. 47-48.

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and over, except that in genuine emergencies, on not more than 8
days during the season, the latter might be employed for not more
than 11 hours a day in the case of pea canneries and 10 hours in
establishments canning beans, corn, cherries, and tomatoes, the weekly
total not to exceed 60 hours. Under the special cannery orders the em
ployment of girls of 16 and over at night was permitted, but a period
oi rest of at least 9 consecutive hours from the ending of work on any
day to the beginning of work on the next day was required, a “ day”
being considered the 24-hour period beginning at 6 a. m. of each cal
endar day.
The hours of labor of boys 16 years of age and over are not regulated
by law except that, in cities where vocational schools are established,19“
the total number of hours of work and required school attendance
must not exceed 55 for boys of 16.
The enforcement of the laws regulating the employment of minors
has doubtless been assisted by a provision of the Wisconsin workm ens compensation law (in effect since 1917) requiring compensa
tion double or treble the amount otherwise recoverable in case of
minors illegally employed.20
CHILD LABOR IN CANNERIES
A G E A N D S E X O P M IN O R S

Children under 16 were found at work in 31 of the 46 canneries
visited, and minors 16 years of age, who are subject to the certificate
requirements of the Wisconsin child labor law, in 10 others. (Table
52.) The group under 16 numbered 201 (130 girls and 71 boys), or 4
per cent of the total persons employed, and those of 16 years numbered
222 (116 girls and 106 boys). Although females were in the minor
ity among the workers as a whole, girls formed 65 per cent of the
working children under 16 and 52 per cent of those 16 years of age.
Boys under 16 numbered more than girls of that age in 12 canneries,
however, and boys of 16 numbered more than girls in 17 canneries!
Children were much more generally employed in bean than in pea
canneries— 8 per cent of the workers in the bean canneries and 3 per
cent in the pea canneries were under 16. (Table 53.) Sixty-two per
cent of the children under 16, and 71 per cent of those who were 16
years of age, were employed in canneries packing only peas, whereas
80 per cent of the total employees of the establishments visited were
in canneries the only product of which was peas. Bean canneries also
employed more girls than boys.
Besides the children working in the bean canneries children were
employed also in their homes; to snip beans. A number of the canneries visited reported giving out beans to be snipped, at least at
the height of the season. One cannery had all bean snipping done
outside but kept no record of the number or ages of persons doing
the work; another, which was equipped to do some snipping in the
plant, also employed from 14 to 20 families to do the work at home,
keeping no record of the number or ages of the children employed!
Bean-snipping machines, which had been installed in all but 2 of the
10 canneries packing beans, have eliminated a great deal of the
2 ° W i ? , StatW1925f s?“ ri02 09 (7)y ^

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hand snipping formerly done both at home and in the canneries. 21
One manager, for example, stated that in 1925 he had installed three
bean-snipping machines and employed no home workers, whereas
the previous year with only half as large an acreage of beans he had
employed about 100 families to snip beans at home.
V IO L A T IO N S O P A G E S T A N D A R D O F S T A T E C H IL D L A B O R L A W

Only 4 children under 14, the legal age for employment in Wiscon
sin, were found at work, all in two canneries. (Table 52.) A boy of
13 had gone to work feeding a vining machine without a certificate
by claiming to be 17 years old, but was later found to be only 13.
Three girls of 13 who snipped beans had had certificates properly
issued to them as 14 and 15 years of age and on file in the cannery
office.
K IN D S O F W O R K

Nearly all the girls in Wisconsin canneries either “ picked peas”
(that is, inspected peas as they passed on moving conveyors and
picked out foreign substances) or snipped beans; the great majority
of the boys did general or miscellaneous work. (Table 54.) Of the
218 girls whose occupations were reported 120 (55 per cent) were
pea pickers. These included 66 of the 67 girls under 16 working in
canneries packing peas at the time of the visits. Eighty-one (37
per cent), including 55 of the 60 girls under 16 in establishments
canning green beans, were bean snippers. Most of the bean snippers
were working at moving belts inspecting beans after they had gone
through the snipping machines and snipping those that the machine
had passed. Only 7 girls under 16 did other kinds of work such as
packing and sorting beans. Several 16-year-old girls were can girls.
The occupations of 147 boys were ascertained; 47 of 63 boys under 16
and 72 of 84 of 16 years of age were engaged in general or miscellaneous
work about the cannery. Among them were 39 can boys, of whom 16
were 14 or 15 years of age and 23 were 16. The largest number of
boys under 16 in any other one occupation was 8; these removed
empty cans from crates and packed them after they had been taken
by others from the closing machines. Only 3 boys under 16 did the
heavier work of taking the cans from the closing machine and piling
them into the crates. Seven boys under 16 were employed to make
cartons or boxes, which is comparatively light work, and 8 did various
kinds of odd jobs, such as sweeping and cleaning, washing boxes, or
carrying empty boxes. None under 16 operated a machine, but one
fed a vining machine and another a blanching machine, work that
involved lifting up boxes of peas and emptying them into the hopper
of the machine. Sixteen boys employed in special operations con
nected with pea or bean canning did work similar to that of boys
engaged in general work; these included 11 helping at the vining
machines, who either placed empty boxes under the machine or
removed boxes when filled, a few who carried boxes of peas or beans
from one operation to another, and a child of 13 who fed a vining
machine, which is heavy work usually done by adults. Boys of 16
did work like that of younger ones except that relatively more piled
cans in crates and carried boxes of beans or peas, which weigh about
30 pounds when filled.
21 Industrial Commission of Wisconsin, Biennial Report, 1920-1922, p. 32.

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W IS C O N S IN

T a b l e 54.— Boys and girls of specified ages employed in specified processes upon
certain products being canned at time of visit in Wisconsin canneries
Minors under 17 years
employed
Product and process, and sex of minors
Total

16 years

Under 16
years

423

222

201

Total reported.............. .............................................

365

175

190

Special processes:
Peas.......... ......................................................
Picking_______________ _____ ______
Feeding viner____ _____ ___________
Taking off viner__________________
Carrying b o x e s ..________________

139
120
1
13
5

60
54
2
4

79
66
1
11
1

Green and wax beans___________ _____
Snipping.................. ............................
Packing___________________________
Carrying boxes___________________
Other........................... ..........................

97
81
6
6
4

34
26
1
4
3

63
55
5
2
i

129

45
7
13
22
10
32

28
6
10
14
3
20

17
1
3
8
7
12

Total_____________________ __________ _

General occupations______________ _____ _
Can boys and girls________ __________
Piling and stacking cans_____________
Piling cans in crates__________________
Taking cans from crates and packing.
Making cartons or boxes..-___________
Others________ ____________. _ __________
N ot reported............. ..................................__...........

Boys_________ _____ ________________ _______

177

106

Total reported___ ______ ______ _______________ :

147

Special processes:
Peas____ .’______ '____ ______ ______ ____
Feeding viner_______ ______ ______
Taking off viner and carrying___
Carrying boxes__________________

19
1
13
5

13
1
11
1

Green and wax beans___________ _____
Carrying boxes____ ___________. . .
Packing....... ..........................................
Other____________________ ________

9
6
1
2

6
4

General occupations_________ _____________

119

Can boys.......................................................
Piling cans in crates__________________
Taking cans from crates and packing.
Piling and stacking filled cans_______
Making cartons or boxes.......................
Other —.................................... ...................

39
13
22
3
10
32

23
10
14
2
3
20

16
3
8
1
7
12

N ot reported................................................................

2
4

3
2
l

...........

246

116

130

Total r e p o r t e d ........................................................

218

127

Special processes:
Peas: Picking______ __________________
Green and wax beans..............................
Snipping__________________________
Packing........... ......................................
Other.......... ...........................................

120
88
81
5
2

54
28
26
1
1

66
60
55
4
1

General occupations............... ..........................

Can girls....... ................................................
Piling and stacking cans.........................

6
4

5
4

Girls_____________________________ . ______ _

N ot reported___________ ______________________

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C H IL D R E N

F R U IT

AND

VEGETABLE

C A N N E R IE S

H OURS OP W ORK

The Wisconsin Industrial Commission requires that permanent
time records be kept for all girls and women and for boys under 17
employed in canneries and that a detailed report of the hours worked
each day by such employees should be made to the commission by
the employer not later than November 1 of each year, on blanks
furnished by the commission.
Time records showing the hour of beginning and of ending work
and the time off for meals were kept as legally required for minors
in all but three of the Wisconsin canneries visited. Two of these had
time records of some sort; the other kept time records for workers on
peas but not for workers on beans, the crop being canned at the time
of the visit.
Daily hours.

Most of the canneries visited were in operation both night and day
when running full time. The regular day hours in most establish
ments were from 7 or 8 a. m. to 12 and from 1 to 5 or 6 p. m., but in
some the hour of beginning was irregular. One cannery, for example,
usually started at 1 p. m. because the farmers delivered the peas at
that time. Night hours were often irregular, from 7 p. m. to 11 or
12 or later, depending on the supply of peas or beans to be packed.
Total daily running hours of 15 or 16 or more were frequent. In
1911 when the Bureau of Labor Statistics made a survey of pea
canneries in Wisconsin, long runs were also common but there was
only one shift for women;22 in 1925 most of the canneries visited had
two shifts for women and one for men. This improvement was no
doubt due to the regulations fixed by the industrial commission
under powers given it in 1913, and to the special efforts of the com
mission to enforce the law. Only one cannery had two shifts for men;
another with one shift employed extra men to take the place of
regular workers who did not wish to work at night. The hours of the
women’s shifts varied. In some establishments the day shift was
regularly from 7 to 6 with an hour at noon and the night shift from
7 p. m. to 12 or 1 a. m.; in a few establishments women worked at
night on alternate days, one day for example, from 7 a. m. to 12 noon
and from 7 p. m. to 12 midnight and the next day from 1 p. m. to 7
p. m. Children under 16 worked regularly only during the day time;
girls of 16 were usually employed on the women’s day or night shifts
and boys of 16 worked the same hours as the men.
Children between 14 and 16 are not permitted by the child labor
law of Wisconsin to work more than 8 hours a day. Orders of the
State industrial commission (see p. 190) prohibit the work of girls of
16 in canneries for more than a 9-hour day.
Information as to daily hours of work was obtained for 405 of the
423 minors under 17 found at work. (Table 55.) Twenty-two
children under 16 (12 per cent of that group) had been employed
more than 8 hours a day, a smaller proportion than in any of the
other States included in the inquiry. (See p. 17.) Only 6 of the 16year-old girls (5 per cent of the girls of that age) reported a longer
working day than the 9 hours permitted by the industrial commission.
Only 2 children under 16— a boy of 13 and one of 15— had worked
22 Working Hours of W om en in the Canneries of Wisconsin, pp.Sand 33. United States Bureau of Labor
Statistics Bulletin 119, Washington, 1913,

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W ISCON SIN

10 hours or more in a single day. The boy of 15, according to his
time record, had worked 16 hours one day carrying boxes of peas.
Working days of 10 or 10% hours were reported for 4 of the 6 girls of
16 who worked overtime contrary to the provisions of the State
ruling. These girls piled and stacked filled cans ; 2 others had snipped
beans 12 hours a day.
T a b l e 55. — Maximum number of daily hours of work reported by boys and girls of

specified ages employed in Wisconsin canneries
Minors under 17 years employed

M axim um number of daily hours of work
and sex of minors

Number

Under 16 years

16 years

Total

Per cent
distribution

Number

Per cent
distribution

Num ber

Per cent
distribution

201

222

Total_______ |_______

423

Total reported_____________

405

100.0

214

100.0

191

100.0

8 hours and under.........
Over 8 hours..................
10 hours and over.
12 hours and over.
14 hours and over .
16 hours and over.

244
161
81
65
50
30

60.2
39.8
20.0
16.0
12.3
7.4

75
139
79
64
49
29

35.0
65.0
36.9
29.9
22.9
13.6

169
22
2
1
1
1

88.5
11.5
1.0
.5
.5
.5

N ot reported_________ _____

106

Boys_________________

177

Total reported............. .........

166

100.0

100

100.0

8 hours and under.........
Over 8 hours.................
10 hours and over.
12 hours and over.
14 hours and over.
16 hours and over.

74
92
75
63
50
.3 0

44.6
55.4
45.2
38.0
30.1
18.1

18
82
73
62
49
29

18.0
82.0
73.0
62.0
49.0
29.0

56
10
2
1
1
1

84.8
15.2
3.0
1.5
1.5
1.5

N ot reported______________

G ir l s ....................... . .

246

116

130

Total reported____________

239

100.0

8 hours and under____
Over 8 h o u rs...............
10 hours and over.
12 hours and over.

170
69
6
2

71.1
28.9
2 5
8

N ot reported.........................

114
57
57 ’
6
2
2

100.0

125

100.0

50.0
50.0
5.3
1. 8

113
12

90.4
9.6

In contrast to minors whose hours were subject to State regulations,
boys of 16 had markedly long hours of work. Reports of the daily
hours of 100 of the 106 boys of this age showed that 82 had a working
day of more than 8 hours; 75, over 9 hours; 62, 12 hours or more;
49 (approximately half), 14 hours or more; 29, 16 hours or more, of
whom 9 had worked between 18 and 20 hours; and 10, 20 hours or
more at a stretch. One boy had piled cans in crates 26% hours, from
8.30 one morning till 2.30 the next afternoon without stopping except
for meals. His time record for the previous week showed 75 hours
and included one working day of 15% hours and one of 18% hours.
Two other boys in this plant had worked more than 20 hours a day.
One of them, for whom a working week of 73% hours was recorded,
had worked almost 20 hours and 21% at a stretch, except for time out

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

for meals, on two occasions in the same week. The other had worked
one day of almost 20 hours and one of 22 hours in a working week
which totaled 77% hours. A boy in this cannery had worked at the
blanching machine 56% hours in the week, with a maximum working
day of 16% hours. The plant in which these boys were employed was
said to have operated two shifts for men the previous year, but the
year of the survey no special night shift was employed, so that at the
peak of the pea-canning season men and boys were working day and
night.
Another pea cannery had 3 boys of 16 for whom the time records
showed a 20-hour stretch. One can boy had worked 20/ hours in a
day in a working week of 93% hours. Two other boys had worked
19% hours, and one boy had carried boxes of peas 18% hours three
times in a working week of 94% hours. This cannery had two shifts for
women, but men and boys worked on busy days from 7 a. m. to 6 p. m.,
with an hour off for lunch, and from 7 p.m . until the day’s supply of
peas was canned. Children under 16 employed in this cannery worked
only 8 hours in accordance with the law—usually from 8 a. m. to
5 p. m., or 9 a. m. to 6 p. m., with an hour off for lunch— and girls of
16 worked 9 hours, from 8 a. m. to 12 and from 1 p. m. to 6.
Some of the 16-year-old boys who had worked long hours had done
heavy work. For example, 9 had piled cans in crates, 4 had carried
filled boxes of peas, and 2 had worked at a blanching machine either
emptying boxes of peas into the hopper or removing boxes of peas.
Two boys had operated a closing machine, each for a 16-hour day.23
Weekly hours.

The weekly hours of minors who had worked at least five days out
of seven were ascertained from time records for 94 children under 16
and for 109 of 16 years of age; that is, for nearly half the total number
of minors under 17, relatively the same proportion of boys and of girls.
Although time records were kept for most of the minors under 17
years of age found at work in Wisconsin canneries, information
regarding weekly hours was not obtained for all of them, either
because time records were not available for a full pay period or because
the children had not worked as many as five out of seven days.
Only one child under 16 whose weekly time record was obtained, a
girl, had worked more than 48 hours and for a 7-day week in
violation of the law. Many had worked much less than 48 hours in
one week owing to the arrangement of shifts. Some worked only in
the morning, others only in the afternoon, others a half day and whole
day, alternately. Sixty-two of the 94 under 16 had worked on as
many as six out of seven days, but only 21 of these had worked both
# The following information has been received (November, 1929) from the Wisconsin Industrial Com
mission regarding efforts made since the date of this study to reduce the hours of labor of boys 16 years of
age in canneries:
In 1926, 1927, and 1928 the commission wrote the canning companies urging them to limit
the hours of work of 16-year-old boys to 10 a day and 60 a week. In 1929, not being satisfied
with the response to these requests, the commission advised the companies that employment
certificates would be issued to 16-year-old boys to work in canneries only on the express con
dition that their hours of work should not exceed these hours, and that in case of violations
the permits not only would be revoked promptly but would be withheld for the employment of
boys of this age b y the offending companies. (The commission has power to refuse to issue a
permit if in its judgment the best interests of the child will be served by the refusal.)
The records of the commission showed that 61 of 123 companies in 1927 and 55 of abort 145
companies in 1928 had employed 16-year-old boys more than 10 hours a day and 60 hours a
week. In 1929, 23 of 144 companies inspected b y the commission employed boys in excess of
these hours. The number of boys involved was 58, as compared with 261 in 1928. The maxi
m um day in 1929 was 19)4 hours, whereas in 1928 the maximum day was 22 hours.
The commission states that the attitude of the great majority of the companies was most
gratifying and indicates that another season will find the situation well in hand.

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W is c o n s in 1

197

morning and afternoon each day; 32 others had worked on only five
days, 21 of them for five full days.
Sixteen-year-old girls often worked the same hours as women, either
on a day or a night shift. Twenty-two of the 61 who had worked five
days out of seven and whose hours were reported had worked more
than 48 hours, including 3 who had been employed more than 54 hours
in a week in violation of the law for girls of this age. These 3 girls had
worked seven consecutive days. Sixteen-year-old boys were often
employed excessively long hours, and not only on occasional days.
(See p. 195.) Of the 48 whose weekly time records were obtained 32
had worked 60 hours or more, including 9 who had worked 80 hours
or more. Five of these had been employed 90 hours in one week,
including one boy who had worked for seven consecutive days.
Night work.

The child labor law of Wisconsin prohibits the employment of
children under 16 between 6 p. m. and 7 a. m. The prohibited period
is longer than is common— the former Federal child-labor laws, for
example, in effect proscribed night work between 7 p. m. and 6 a. m.
During the course of the Children’s Bureau visits 15 children under
16— 12 girls and 3 boys— were found to have worked at night in viola
tion of the State law; all these children, 11 of whom were employed
in one cannery snipping beans, had worked after 7 p. m. (Table 56.)
Most of these children had worked from three to four hours on three
■nigh t s during the week preceding the visit, but a few had worked
longer, one boy’s record showing from 5 to 9 hours on two evenings
during the prohibited hours. The 11 children who were snipping beans
worked from 7 to 9, 10, or 11 p. m. after their regular day shift on two
or three nights of the week preceding the visit; the other children
worked till 11.30 or 12— one, the boy mentioned above, until 4 a. m.
on one morning of the week for which his time record was copied.
Information as to the number of nights children had worked throughout
the entire season was not obtained for the Wisconsin canneries.
T able

56.— Boys and girls of specified ages employed between 7 p.
Wisconsin canneries

to.

and 6 a.

to.

Boys and girls under 17 years employed

Girls

Boys
Employed
between 7 p. m .
and 6 a. m .

Age

Total

Total
Num
ber

Per
cent i

28.6
1.5
10.1
47.7

T o t a l ................................

423

121

16 years__________ _____ ______

4
68
129
222

1
1
13
106

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

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Employed
between 7 p. m .
and 6 a. m .

Employed
between 7 p .m .
and 6 a. m .

Total

N um
ber

Per
cent i

N um
ber

Per
cent i

177

43.5

246

17.9

1
25
45
106

1
69.8

3
43
84
116

1
11
32

13.1
27.6

2
74

198

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

Thirty-two of the 16-year-old girls (28 per cent of the 116 girte
of that age) and 74 of the 16-year-old boys (70 per cent of the 106 boys
of the same age) were reported as having been employed after 7 p. m. or
before 6 a. m. Neither boys nor girls of this age were subject to nightwork regulations, but the smaller proportion of girls than of boys 16
years of age employed at night may have been due to some extent to
the indirect restriction imposed upon hours of girls by a cannery order
requiring a period of rest of at least 9 consecutive hours from the ending
of work on any day to the beginning of work on the next day, a “ day”
being considered the 24 hours following 6 a. m. Girls also worked
shorter hours at night than boys, the majority having been employed
less than 6 hours on one or more nights, whereas the majority of the
boys had worked six hours or more. Although 6 girls employed in
two canneries had worked on 6 nights or more in one week, on some
nights for 8 hours or longer, stopping work at 4 or 4.30 a. m., all of
them had worked on the second shift for women, which in one cannery
started at 5 or 7 p. m. and in the other either at 2 p. m. or at 7 p. m.
The total daily working hours of 4 of these girls did not exceed 9,
but 2 had worked 10 hours. Some of the other 26 girls who did night
work were employed only on the second shift for women, the hours
of which varied in the several canneries, and the remainder worked
irregular hours. In one cannery, for example, in which time records
showed night work for 10 girls, their hours were usually from 1 to 6
p. m. and from 7 to 11 p. m.; in another cannery employing 7 girls
after 7 p. m. the hours were irregular but were frequently from 9.30
а. m. to 12, from 1 p. m. to 6 p. m., and from 7 p. m. to 8.30 p. m. One
girl in this cannery worked only on the night shift, from 7 p. m. to
1.15 a. m. In still another cannery one girl worked on the women’s
second shift, one day from 7 a. m. to 12 and from 7 p. m. to 11 p. m.
and the alternate day from 1 to 6 p. m. The daily hours of only 2
of the 26 exceeded 9 and none failed to have the 9 hours of consecutive
rest as prescribed by law.
Fourteen of the boys with night-work records had worked from 8 to
10 hours, and 9 had worked 10 hours or longer. Of these, 11 had
worked all night till 4 or 5 a. m., 2 till 5.15 or 5.30 a. m., 6 till 6 or
б. 30, and 1 till 7 a. m. All except 2 of these 23 boys were employed
day as well as night hours during the week they had worked all night;
16 had worked four mornings or more in the week, beginning usually
between 7 and 9.30 a. m., and on five or six afternoons as well as at
night. Fifteen had spent at least four nights out of seven at work,
including five who had each had a record of six consecutive nights.
These boys had at least one working week of from 89 to 94 hours; the
boy with an 89-hour week had begun on two of five mornings as early
as 7.45 though his work on the previous nights had not terminated
until 2 a. m. and 1.30 a. m., respectively.
C A N N E R Y W O R K A N D S C H O O L IN G

Cannery work on peas and beans interferes but little with school
attendance, as most of the work of packing these crops is done during
the school vacation.
The school attainment of minors working in Wisconsin canneries
was high. Children of 14 and 15 years were more advanced in school
than children of these ages found working in canneries in the other
States included in the Children’s Bureau survey in 1925, with the

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199

exception of Michigan. The school grade completed or last attended
was reported for 364 of the 423 minors under 17. Ninety per cent
had either completed or at least attended the eighth grade, including
59 per cent who had attended high school. Of the 14 and 15 year
old children, 87 per cent had attended or completed the eighth grade,
and 46 per cent were in high school. All except 12 of the 59 fourteenyear-old children and all except 10 of the 112 fifteen-year-old children
had attended or completed the eighth grade.
C ER TIF IC ATIO N OF M IN O R S
EXTENT

The child labor law of Wisconsin requires that all minors between
14 and 17 years of age obtain an employment certificate before they
can be employed. (See p. 189.) All but 20 (95 per cent of the 419
minors of these ages found at work) had certificates on file, a con
siderably larger proportion of the minors of certificate age than in
any of the other States in which canneries were visited by the Chil
dren’s Bureau. (See p. 21.) The 20 without certificates were em
ployed in 14 canneries in 11 counties. In only 4 of these canneries was
more than one minor employed without a certificate: Three employed
2 minors and one, 4. Only one of the workers without a certificate was
under the legal age for employment, and the rest were 15 or 16 years
of age, generally 16. In most cases these children had given their
ages as 17 or 18, but in at least 2 of the canneries employing more
than one minor under 17 without a certificate the children in question
did not attempt to disguise their ages, and their employment was
apparently due to their being taken on at the height of the rush sea
son, when the management had exercised less than the usual care in
seeing that employed children were provided with certificates.
The small number of violations found indicates that almost all the
Wisconsin canners were punctilious in their observance of the certifi
cate law. The general respect for the industrial commission as a lawenforcing agency probably resulted partly from the fact that some of
the canners had recently been detected in violations of the law by the
commission, but in general it appeared to be the result of thorough
acquaintance with the requirements of the law based on years of
experience, the frequent inspections made by the staff of the com
mission, and the care with which the commission kept employers
informed of the requirements of the law.
In the effort to prevent possible violations of the law, several can
neries required that birth or baptismal records be produced, in most
cases before the season began, by all applicants claiming to be 17 or
18, or at any rate all whose ages they did not know or whose state
ments they doubted. Some of them kept birth or baptismal records
on file for all such minors in their employ. A number kept a record
from year to year of the permits of the children whom they had
employed so that they knew the birth date of many applicants. One
canner kept a copy of the school census on file in the cannery office,
referring to it for the ages of all applicants under 21, and in the case
of those not listed in it he demanded birth records.
The provision of the workmen’s compensation law relating to
the illegal employment of minors (see p. 191) is undoubtedly a factor
in making the employers careful in complying with the requirements

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEG ETABLE CANNERIES

of the child labor law. One cannery, visited shortly after a fatal
accident had occurred to a 16-year-old boy, had discharged all boys of
permit age immediately after the accident and had put the respon
sibility for hiring minors on a new man.
IS S U I N G O F F I C E R S

Certificates are issued by the office of the State industrial commisr
sion in Milwaukee and by a county, municipal, or juvenile court
judge or some other person designated by the commission in other
parts of the State. Every county has one or more such permit
issuing officers. In addition, the women inspectors of the industrial
commission, in connection with their inspection trips, issue cer
tificates in emergency situations in the smaller towns, and in some
cases where the locality has no issuing officer or the local issuing
officer is absent applications are made by mail to the Madison office
and certificates issued from there direct.
Issuing officers outside Milwaukee serve without compensation
for this work. The industrial commission which appoints them has
no funds for payment, and the collection of any fee from the child or
employer has been held illegal in an opinion of the attorney general.24
In the larger cities which have a number of minors of certificate age
seeking employment throughout the year and where continuation
schools have been established,25 the director of the local continuation
school in many cases had been designated as the local certificating
officer, and in other communities the school superintendent or other
school official has been so designated. In these cases the local school
board bears the cost of the work of issuance. In the,smaller towns,
especially in those which have practically no child-employing indus
tries except the canneries, the work of issuance is done almost entirely
by persons who give their services.
The issuing officer’s appointment expires each year and his author
ity to issue permits ends unless he is reappointed. His appointment
also may be revoked at any time by the commission. As no pay
ment can be given for the work by the commission, few are likely
to be willing to undertake it who do not have some interest in doing
it and in doing it well. Moreover, the commission takes pains to
see that the best persons available are appointed and checks up on
their work sufficiently to discourage the continuance in office of per
sons who are not really interested in discharging the responsibility
satisfactorily.
A few issuing officers complained that too much time was required
in view of the lack of compensation, but in general they seemed to
appreciate the value of the work and were willing to do it without pay.
Representatives of the Children’s Bureau interviewed officials
responsible for the issuance of certificates in 29 of the 40 towns in
which children were found working in the canneries. Besides these,
the issuing officers in 3 towns in which the canneries were not in opera
tion at the time of the visits were interviewed, and in one community
24 Industrial Commission of Wisconsin, Handbook for the Use of Permit Officers in the Administration
of the Child Labor Permit Law, p. 21. Madison, M ar. 10, 1923. (Mimeographed.)
22 The law relating to the establishment of continuation or “ vocational” schools, as they are called in
Wisconsin, provides that a board of industrial education m ay be established in any town, village, or city
of the State, and must be established in every town, village, or city of over five thousand inhabitants.
T o these boards is given the duty of establishing and maintaining vocational schools, and they must estab
lish such schools on petition of 25 persons qualified to attend. (Stat. 1925, secs. 41.15 (1), 41.15 (9).)

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in which the issuing officer was absent the details of certification
were obtained from others familiar with the work. Thus information
was obtained regarding the methods of 33 issuing officials in 36
communities.
The regular occupations of the 33 issuing officers were varied.
Fourteen were public-school officials, of whom 6, all in cities of more
than 5,000, were directors of the vocational or continuation schools,
and 6, in towns of between 1,000 and 5,000 population, were the super
intendents of local schools. Four local postmasters, each in a town
of less than 1,000 population, and the municipal judge in a somewhat
larger town, served as issuing officers. Town or city clerks in 4 small
communities and justices of the peace in 3 others issued certificates.
The 7 remaining issuing officers in towns of from 200 to 3,500 popu
lation were all local business men, 4 being bank officials or employees,
2 insurance agents (1 of whom also worked in a cannery), and 1 the
vice president of the local cannery. Three of the school superintend
ents who had been designated to issue certificates also worked in the
canneries during the summer time. Children employed in a cannery
in a small village obtained certificates from the clerk of the circuit
court in a neighboring county seat, a town of 3,000 to 4,000 popula
tion.26
Most of the issuing officers had made no provision for the issuance
of certificates in their absence from town, but few of them were away
from town during the summer for any length of time. In the six
cities where certificates were issued by the directors of the vocational
school, their secretaries attended to the work in their absence. The
fact that such a large proportion of the minors in the Wisconsin
canneries had certificates bears witness to the availability of the local
issuing officer. Moreover, the industrial commission maintains such
close supervision of the certification throughout the State that an
issuing officer who spent much time out of town, thus causing incon
venience to children and employers, would not be kept on long in that
capacity.
Three canneries reported that they sent to Madison for their per
mits as the community had no permit office. The management of
one of these canneries, which was very careful about the employment
of young persons, reported that they preferred to obtain their certifi
cates from Madison because of the care taken in issuing them. In
one other town where the local issuing officer’s appointment had
recently been canceled, certificates were being issued at the time of
the inquiry by the Milwaukee office of the commission. A few other
canneries in towns having no local issuing officer had their young
workers obtain permits from neighboring towns. One canner said
that as his town had no issuing officer he did not hire minors of certifi
cate age.
26 According to the report of the industrial commission, of the 204 commissioned permit officers in the serv
ice of the commission on July 1, 1925, 76 (37 per cent) were connected with thé local public schools in a
professional capacity— 55 being superintendents of schools, 17 directors of vocational schools, 2 truant offi
cers, 1 a teacher, and 1 a school nurse. In addition, permits were issued b y members of the local school
boards in 14 communities. In 29 cases judges served as permit officers, in 15 the local justice of the peace.
In 12 other communities permits were issued b y other town or county officials. Postmasters served as
permit officers in 8 communities. In one town the secretary of the local Red Cross issued the permits, in
another a “ housewife.” In the remaining 48 cases (24 per cent of the total number), local business men
served as permit officers; 19 were bank employees, 9 merchants, 5 insurance agents, 5 attorneys, 3 physicians,
3 editors of local publications, 2 superintendents of manufacturing companies, and 2 in other occupations.
(Industrial Commission of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Labor Statistics, November, 1925, p. 6.)

81531°— 30------ 14

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202

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEG ETABLE C ANNERIES
R E Q U I R E M E N T S F O R IS S U A N C E

Evidence of age.

The Wisconsin child labor law does not prescribe the kinds of proof
of age that are legally acceptable for employment certificates but
gives to the State industrial commission authority to determine the
nature of the proof required. The following proof has been pre
scribed by the commission, to be required in the order designated:27
1. (a) Birth certificate; or (b) record of baptism which took place
at least 10 years prior to the date of application for the certificate.
(Note: The commission has ruled that a record of baptism as specified
in (b) may be accepted as first-class proof without effort to obtain a
birth certificate.28)
2. Record of baptism of any date.
3. Bona fide contemporary Bible record or other documentary
evidence satisfactory to the industrial commission.
4. Physician’s certificate of age, corroborated by school record and
parent’s certificate
Of the 402 certificates found on file in the Wisconsin canneries, 44
per cent had been issued on evidence of age furnished by birth cer
tificates and 48 per cent on baptismal certificates, a total of 92 per
cent issued on evidence regarded as first class by the industrial
commission.29 In 14 cases certificates had been issued on other
legally acceptable documentary evidence, such as Bible records,
other religious or family records, insurance policies, and passports.
Seventeen (4 per cent of the certificates issued) had been issued upon
lower-grade evidence, such as physician’s certificates of age and school
records. In 11 of these cases evidence other than that permitted by
law had been entered op the certificate as the proof accepted. In 3
cases physicians’ certificates only, in 1 a physician’s certificate and a
school record, in 2 physicians’ certificates and parents’ statements,
in 1 a school record, in 1 parents’ statements corroborated by school
record, and in 3 parents’ statements apparently uncorroborated by
other evidence. These 11 certificates were issued by 6 officials, 3 of
whom issued 8 of the defective permits. One of these issuing officers
had recently been dropped by the industrial commission as a result of
laxity in obtaining proof of age.
Better evidence of age than that accepted by issuing officers was
found by the agents of the Children’s Bureau in 16 cases, in 11 of
which the birth date accepted by the issuing officer was found to be
wrong'according to the better evidence. Nine of the 11 Certificates
had been issued by the same official who, although he reported having
obtained birth records for all the children to whom he had issued
certificates, had entered the ages of 3 children as older and of 6 as
younger than their actual ages. Three children issued certificates
by this officer were found to be 13 years of age according to birth
records, although their ages as entered on their employment cer
tificates were 14 and 15. In 3 other cases in which an issuing officer
claimed birth records as the evidence accepted, no such records of
birth were found in the records of either the State or the county
board of health. In all, the evidence reported as accepted could not
” Industrial Commission of Wisconsin, Handbook for the Use of Permit Officers in the Administration
of the Child Labor Permit Law, pp. 2, 8.
28 Ruling of industrial commission adopted M ar. 30, 1920.
28 Birth certificates could have been obtained for a larger number of these children as is shown b y the fact
that they were obtained b y the Children’s Bureau for 117 of the 192 minors issued certificates on baDtismal
records (see, however, p. 203).

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203

be found by the agents of the Children’s Bureau for 13 certificates, 7
of which had been issued by the officer referred to above; all 13 were
reported as having been issued on the evidence of birth records.
All the issuing officers seemed familiar with the State regulations
regarding the kinds of evidence that should be accepted as proof of
age, and with almost no exceptions seemed to follow these regulations
carefully. Recourse to the physicians’ certificate of age apparently
was had only when higher types of evidence could not be obtained.
Some issuing officers said they always or usually tried to get birth
records, but a considerably larger number gave baptismal records
precedence as they were much easier to get. The impression that
baptismal records were quite as good as birth records in Wisconsin
seemed to be generally prevalent, doubtless because so many of the
working children in the State had been baptised in Roman Catholic
or in Lutheran churches, where children are baptised in infancy and
good church records are kept. One issuing officer said that he had
undertaken to check with birth records a number of baptismal records
that he had accepted and had found that they agreed completely.
This was true, also, of the records checked by the agents of the Chil
dren’s Bureau, who obtained birth records for 117 children in 19
counties who had been issued certificates on baptismal certificates,
the ages in birth records and baptismal certificates being identical
in every case except one, in which the birth record reported the child
a year older than the age entered on the baptismal certificate.
Other.

An examination of the certificates on file revealed a few minor de
fects, such as the omission of the child’s or issuing officer’s signature,
of the parent’s consent, or of the place of the child’s birth or his ad
dress, the date of the issuance or expiration of the permit, or the
omission of the personal description of the child. In 57 cases no
record was made on the certificate, as provided by the form, of the
receipt of a letter from the employer, which is required by law for
both regular and vacation certificates. The Wisconsin law also re
quires that all certificates for vacation as well as for regular work be
returned to the issuing officer, but the name of the issuing officer was
not entered on 50 certificates and on 17 his address was not entered
as required on the form. In a number of cases old and obsolete forms
or forms intended for other purposes were used for certificates.
S T A T E S U P E R V IS IO N

Wisconsin provides more fully for a unified system of issuance of
employment certificates under careful State supervision than any of the
other States included in the Children’s Bureau survey of canneries.
The State industrial commission not only is given by law authority
to issue all certificates throughout the State and to appoint the issuing;
officers in communities in which it does not itself issue, a power held
by similar bodies in only six other States,30 but also has more com
prehensive powers in administration of the certificate law than have
been granted to the State labor department of any other State.31
Under the law establishing the commission it is given the duty of
30 Connecticut, N ew Hampshire (State board of education enforces the certificate law and appoints the
local school superintendents, who issue certificates), North Carolina, Oregon. In South Carolina the
commissioner of agriculture, commerce, and industries, and in Vermont the commissioner of industries,
issues all certificates.
31 In Connecticut the State board of education, which issues certificates through its agents, has com
parable powers.

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204

CHILDREN IN E llU lT AND VEG ETABLE C ANNERIES

administering and enforcing all laws relating to child labor and au
thority to adopt reasonable and proper rules and regulations relative
to the exercise of its powers.32 Under the child labor act the commis
sion is authorized to make rules and regulations governing the kinds
of proof of age that may be accepted for certificates (see p. 202), and
under the authority given it to refuse permits if in its judgment the
best interests of the child would be served by such refusal the com
mission had ruled that permits may not be issued for a number of
occupations.
In addition to the control over the method of issuing permits given
through the appointment of issuing officers and the power to make
rulings, the law requires that permits shall be issued on forms fur
nished by the commission, that duplicates of all permits issued shall
be returned “ forthwith” to the commission together with a “ detailed
statement” of the character and substance of the evidence offered
prior to the issuance, made on blanks furnished by the commission.
The commission may also revoke any permit improperly or illegally
issued, or if it finds that the physical or moral welfare of the child
would best be served by its revocation.
Ample evidence was found that the commission exercised this au
thority with considerable thoroughness. Detailed instructions for is
suing certificates have been drawn up by the industrial commission
and are furnished each issuing officer. A special department has been
established in the office of the commission in Madison, which not
only issues certificates requested by mail (see p. 200) but also has
general supervision over the issuance of permits throughout the State.
When the duplicate permits are received from the issuing officers
they are carefully checked for error, the proof of age is examined and
if questioned is verified, the nature of employment is studied and if
considered to be at all questionable more information is requested
from either the permit officer or the employer.
Regarding the requirement that duplicates of all certificates issued
be sent to the State industrial commission “ forthwith,” some of the
issuing officers stated that they sent duplicates in as soon as certifi
cates were issued, others that they sent them in about once a week,
others once or twice a month, depending on the volume of the work.
At the Madison office of the commission it was said that the law
could be enforced more effectively if duplicates were sent in more
promptly.
Where errors are found or any uncertainty exists as to the legality
of the issuance, the local issuing officer is informed promptly by letter
and the certificate revoked if necessary. Representatives of this
department or factory inspectors engaged in the enforcement of the
child labor laws visit the issuing officers from time to time to see how
the work is being done, and to give advice or suggestions. Through
these visits and the careful examination of the duplicates of the
certificates issued, the commission is able to keep a close watch upon
the work of the issuing officers, so that officers not performing the
work satisfactorily may be replaced.
One reason why the commission exercises such care in examining
duplicate certificates is the treble-compensation clause of the Wiscon
sin law. (See p. 191.) If a child is issued a certificate on insufficient
evidence, which makes him older than his actual age, and is then
» W is., Stat. 1925, secs. 101.02,101.10.

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WISCONSIN

205

employed in an occupation that is illegal for a minor of his actual age
and is injured, he is denied the extra compensation that the law
intended to give him.
The issuing officers interviewed bore testimony to the careful
supervision given their work by the State commission. A number
of the issuing officers reported that a deputy of the woman and
child labor department of the commission called on them about once
a year, or whenever she made her regular rounds, to talk over the
problems of issuance. Following are typical statements made by
issuing officers with reference to the amount of supervision and
assistance furnished them by the State:
Industrial commission supervises very closely. Checks each permit very
closely and detects any errors. A deputy visits about once a year and sends
frequent letters of instructions and explanations if a mistake has been made.
Industrial commission is very particular how permits are issued and checks
them over for errors; if incorrect they are returned or revoked. Deputy comes
around once in a while. Also receive circular letters or instructions in case of
mistake. Am kept well posted on all changes in the law.
Personal visit from deputy about once a year. Have m otto “ If in doubt
write M adison.”
Do not issue any permits unless they will stand the inspection
given them in Madison.
Industrial commission supervises very closely. W ill answer any questions at
length and frequently sends out instructions and suggestions. * * * Madison
checks up every item on the permit and if not in harmony with the law or if
occupation is not clear will immediately write back for more information.
Industrial commission is very strict and checks over the permits when they
are sent in to Madison. If incorrect, they are immediately returned for correc
tion. Circular letters are sent whenever anything important happens. Personal
letters are sent whenever I ask for information.
The industrial commission supervises everything very closely and checks the
duplicate permit the date it arrives in Madison and. if anything is wrong notifies
me immediately. I issued a permit on altered birth record, but Madison dis
covered the mistake and notified the company by telephone immediately to
discharge the girl and notified me by letter the next day. You can’t fool Madison.
They’re pretty strict. Am visited once or twice a year personally, and receive
written instructions and criticisms.

Only two issuing officers said that they had not had much super
vision. One of these, who seemed an unusually concientious officer,
apparently had not received much supervision unless asked for
because of the excellence of his work as issuing officer, as he reported
that he had never received any certificates back for correction. One
other issuing officer, who appeared to be very painstaking in his work,
stated that although he had received advice from the commission by
letter, he had never received a visit from a representative of the com
mission and was not sure that he was doing the work correctly.
In general the issuing officers seemed to understand the law and to
be in sympathy with its purpose and to understand the necessity for
careful issuance. One school superintendent, however, said he
thought each permit officer should be allowed to “ use his own discre
tion” in issuing permits, and another issuing officer, also a school
superintendent, said he thought the law was too strict and that the
permit officer in some cases should be allowed to use discretion.
SUM M ARY

Wisconsin ranks sixth among the States, according to the number
of wage earners employed in the canning industry. The principal
products are peas, but beans, com, beets, kraut, and pickles are

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CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

canned to some extent. The Children’s Bureau visited 46 of the
177 canneries, 34 of which were canning nothing but peas when the
visits were made.
Canning employs more children than any other industry or occupa
tion outside Milwaukee, and in the State as a whole only the metal
working trades and mercantile establishments employ more than
canning.
The labor supply for the canneries visited was local, generally
white and native-born, but two canneries kept boarding houses for
men imported into the communities for cannery work.
Two hundred and one children under 16, and 222 16-year-old
children were found at work in 31 canneries. These included only 4
children under 14, the minimum age for employment in Wisconsin.
Sixty-five per cent of the workers under 16, and 52 per cent of the
16-year-old workers, were girls.
Fifty-five per cent of the girls inspected peas, 37 per cent snipped
beans, and the others packed beans, sorted beans, or were can girls.
Twenty-seven per cent of the boys were can boys; the others did a
variety of work, including removing cans from crates, packing cans,
taking cans from closing machines and piling them in crates, making
boxes, sweeping and cleaning, washing boxes, carrying empty boxes
and boxes of peas or beans, and helping on vining machines.
Twelve per cent of the children under 16 had been employed more
than 8 hours a day, contrary to the hour provision of the State child
labor law, although only 1 child under 16 had worked as long as 10
hours. One child for whom a report on weekly hours was obtained
had worked more than 48 hours.
Five per cent of the 16-year-old girls had worked more than the 9
hours a day, and 5 per cent had worked more than the 54 hours a
week, permitted by the State industrial commission for girls of 16.
Eighty-two per cent of the boys of 16, whose hours were not subject
to State regulation, had worked more than 8 hours, 62 per cent 12
hours or more, and 49 per cent 14 hours or more; 60 per cent of those
for whom reports were obtained had worked at least 60 hours a week.
(See footnote 23, p. 196.)
Eight per cent of the children under 16 had worked between 6 p. m.
and 7 a. m. during the season of 1925 in violation of the State child
labor law.
Twenty-eight per cent of the 16-year-old girls and 70 per cent of
the 16-year-old boys, also had worked at night, but minors of 16 are
not subject to night-work regulations.
Cannery work did not interfere with school attendance in Wisconsin.
Most of the children are employed on peas or beans, the packing of
which is done largely during school vacation.
Employment certificates, required under the law for all minors
between 14 and 17 years of age, were on file for all except 20 (5 per
cent of the minors under 17 found at work). Only 1 of the workers
without a certificate was under the legal working age.
Ninety-two per cent of the certificates had been issued on birth or
baptismal records, types of evidence prescribed as preferable by the
State industrial commission. The Children’s Bureau found that for
13 of the 177 certificates issued on birth certificates, no birth records
were in existence. It also found that legally preferable evidence of
age was available for 16 of the 402 children with certificates, of whom
3 were younger and 6 older than the age entered on their certificates,

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APPENDIXES

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Wage earners

Value of products

Selected products

State

N um ber
Num ber em
of estab Average
ployed on
lishments number
15th day or
employed nearest repre- ’
in year
sentative day
of peak month

Canned vegetables and soups
Total

United States______________________

2,403

85,866

(Sept.) 220,115 $616,070,748

Alabam a______________ ___________________
Arkansas__________________________________
California_______________________ _______ . .
Colorado___________ _______________ _____

5
51
309
21
5
65
8
7
100
124
62
26
14
99
322
31
66
38
8
105
7
3
66
211

132
822
23,384
563
89
1,261
107
121
3,633
4,663
2,181
994
272
1,067
6,949
417
2,935
1,309
325
1,767
276
27
4,814
7,517

(N ov.)
(Sept.)
(Aug.)
(Sept.)
(Sept.)
(Sept.)
(M ar.)
(July)
(Sept.)
(Sept.)
(Sept.)
(Sept.)
(July)
(Sept.)
(Sept.)
(Nov.)
(Sept.)

Delaware. _______________________________
Florida____________________________________
Georgia_________________________ ________
Illinois_________ _____ _____________________
Indiana___________________________________
Iow a._______________ . . _________ ______
K e n t u c k y .__________________________ ____
Louisiana________________________ . . . . .
M aine__________ _______ ______ ___________
M aryland____ __ _______; ________________
Massachusetts____________ ________ _____
M ichigan__________________ . ______ . . .
Mississippi_____
____________________
Missouri____ ____ ____________________
N ew H am pshire.. ______________________
N ew Jersey_______________________________
N
Y o r k ...:____________________________
forew
FRASER

Digitized
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

517
909,774
2,327, 226
3,233
181, 272, 830
52,481
4,317,787
2,051
206
556, 203
6,008
6,541,403
255
416,984
421
521,816
10,625
35,031, 035
17,007
31,674,387
10,264 . 14,056,368
2,159
6,173,128
1, 280, 711
409
5,452
7, 838, 923
32, 678, 257
25,897
452
6,071, 080
14,332, 863
7,629
4,539
8,086, 091
(Nov.)
562
' 713; 685
(Sept.) 7,183
7,325, 507
1,154
1,233. 046
' 305. 309
' 216
62,366,712
(Sept.) 9,337
59, 461, 252
(July) 14,638

Canned fruits

Selected vegetables
Total
Tomatoes

Corn

Beans

Peas

$282,891,245

$42,680,352

$51,346,305

$19,653,296

$42,887,057

$102,638,209

0
0
28,601,152
2,501,192
51,759
0
1,800
113,339
13,637, 778
23,380,114
10,697,482
871, 699
0
6,251,301
27,962,028
0
6,055, 245
5,164,967
0 '
3,042, 312
1,037,468
' 305,309
54, 586; 779
22,475,652

0
1, 638,698
5,323, 519
1,037,652
0
2,641,801
0
0
509, 052
3, 282, 014
364,718
605, 747
0
0
•
13,407, 007
0
381,472
0
0
2,876,429
97,653
0
1,197,969
1,106, 981

0
0
0
0
0
621,415
0
0
8,463,338
3,949,066
9, 265,827
0
0
4,486,011
6,543,802
0
767,405
3,645,959
0
0
630,649
296,327
0
3,771,940

0
0
314,366
957, 717
0
936,224
0
0
1,535,280
986, 750
36,318
0
0
534,638
2,378, 294
0
1,770,197
119,058
124; 420
148,707
0
0
1,082,042
4 ,163,323

0
0
909,335
0
0
542,633
0
0
961,506
227,038
0
0
0
0
2,132, 564
0
0
1,078,422
0
0
0
0
0
7, 240,809

0
0
70,132,828
187, 794
0
178,998
270,376
44,156
0
0
0
0
1,337,357
332,427
0
2,746,173
0
0
72,883
6,821, 562

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEG ETABLE C ANNERIES

Number of establishments canning fruits and vegetables, 'pickles, jellies, preserves, and sauces, average number wage earners employed in year,
number employed in peak month of year, and value of total and selected products, by States; 1925 1

208

APPEN DIX I— STATISTICS OF FRUIT AN D VEGETABLE CANNING ESTA BLISH M E N TS IN TH E U NITED
STATES, 1925

Ohio......... .........
Oklahoma____
Oregon.............Pennsylvania.
Tennessee------Texas_________
U tah__________
Vermont______
Virginia______
Washington.
Wisconsin.
A ll other States3

102
3
67
73
40
26
32
10
81
55
150
31

2,616
30
2,420
3,621
616
249
1,782
90
812
2,835
44 2 6
744

(Sept.) 8,524
163
(Sept.)
(Sept.) 4.910
(Sept.) 5.911
(Aug.) 2,055
371
(June)
(Sept.) 5,457
482
(Sept.)
(Sept.) 3,363
(Sept.) 6,090
(July) 17,562

18, 375,009
113,305
513,211
208,238
858,157
745,979
127,554
688,114
719,744
242,892
870,848
115,320

i Compiled from Biennial Census of Manufactures, 1925, pp. 68-70,-7789, 82, 84-85.
!£ “

7, 544,471

1,090,693
13,367,249
1,842,844

8,894,848
633,114
2,352,571
1,196,289
27,756,457

531,368

(2)

57,829
837,604
887,838
47,091
, 520,616
(2)
,736,013

U . S. Bureau of the Census.

, 634,781
(2)

, 103,129

8
517,086

, 216,544

(2)

323,179

426,034
685,798
113,944

(2)

236,806

(2)

83,834
465,590
1,858,364
(2)

712,469

129,856

(2)

0
331,793
0 -

8,229,260
775,532

4 085,620
(2)

301,191

m
0

21,385,711

(2)

442,*390
8,401,228

0
0

Washington, 1928.

2 e ^ a b l S e n t s ;- District of Columbia, 2; Idaho, 4; Kansas, 3; Montana, 3; N orth Carolina, 1; North Dakota, 1; Rhode Island, 1; South Carolina, 3; W est Virginia, 11.

APPEN DIXES

to
CO

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210/

APPENDIX I I — STATE REGULATION OF LABOR OF M IN O R S UNDER 18 IN CANNERIES AN D OTHER
M ANUFACTURING ESTABLISH M ENTS (JANUARY 1, 1930)
{Prepared in the industrial division of the Children’s Bureau, b y Ella Arvilla Merritt and Lucy Manning]

Hours per day, horn's per week, and days
per week

M inim um age
State

In canneries 2

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

In canneries 2

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

In canneries 2

In manufacturing
establishments other
than canneries

14 (except boy 10 to 14 in nonharmful
occupations outside school hours on
permit).

•

*8-48-6 (under 16).

*8-48 . . . (boy under 16, girl under 18).

*14 (except during school vacation,
child under 14 employed b y parent,
etc., in occupation owned or con
trolled b y him).

*8-48-6 (under 16).
*10-54-6 (16 to 18).
9-54- 6 (any female).4

C A L IF .

*15 during school hours, except, that
child 14 who is eighth-grade graduate
m ay obtain permit for work if work is
needed for family support; 14 outside
school hours; 12 in school vacation or
on weekly school holidays.

8-48-6 (under 18) .6

COLO.

14 (except child 12 or over during sum
mer vacation on permit).6

8-48 ...'(u n d e r 16).6
per day (any female).7

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

*7 p. m .-6 a. m . (under 16).

*7 p. m .-7 a. m .
under 18).

(boy under 16, girl

*7 p. m .-6 a. m . (under 16).
p. m .-6 a. m . (under 18).
9 p. m .-7 a. m . (girl under 18).

*10

10p. m .-6 a. m .

In canneries 2

*14 to 16 (regular certificate).
Child 16 (age certificate).

*14 to 16.3

(under 18) .6

*15 during school hours— requirement
extends to 18 where continuation schools
are established; 14 to 16 outside school
hours or during school hours on special
permit (see column 2); 12 to 16 during
school vacation or on weekly school
holidays.

*After 8 p. m . (under 16).6
p. m .-7 a. m . (under 14).

14 to 16 during school term; 12 to 16 during
summer vacation.

VEGETABLE CANNERIES

ARK

*14.

Employment certificates required 1

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

ALA.

A R IZ .

Night work prohibited

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND

(The legal standards shown in this table apply, unless otherwise specified, until the child reaches the maximum age given; for example, if the age group specified is “ 16 to 18”
the standards apply from the time the child reaches the age o f 16 until he reaches the age o f 18)

14.

CONN.

DEL.

*8-48-6 (under 16).

N o regulation for child
under 16 in estab
lishments used for
canning or preserv
ing or preparing for
canning or preserv
ing perishable fruits
and vegetables.9

*7 p. m .-6 a. m .
(under 16).

N o regulation for
child under 16 in
establishm ents
used for canning
or preserving or
preparing
for
canning or pre
serving perish
able fruits and
vegetables.9

10-55-6 (any
male).10

N o regulation for fe
males employed in
canning or preserv
ing or preparing for
canning or preserv
ing perishable fruits
and vegetables.11

10 p. m .-6 a. m .
(any female).

N o regulation for
females employ
ed in canning or
preserving
or
preparing
for
canning or pre
serving perish
able fruits and
vegetables.11

*14 to 16 (regular certif
icate) . Girl 14 to 16,
boy 12 to 16 (pro
visional certificate
for work when not
required to attend
school).

None required in
establishments
used for can
ning or preserv
ing or prepar
ing for canning
or preserving
p e r i s h a b.l e
fruits and vege
tables.9

*14 to 18.

9-54-6 (under 16).

8 p. m .-5 a. m. (under 16).

14 to 16.

60 hours per week in cotton and woolen
factories (all employees).12

7 p. m .-6 a. m . (under 16).

14 to 16.

14.

*8-48-6 (under 18).

FLA.

14.

GA.

14.

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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

14 to 16.

*7 p. m .-7 a. m . (boy under 16; girl
under 18).
*10 p. m .-6 a. m . (boy 16 to 18).

D . C.

See footnotes at end of table, pp. 221-222.

6 p. m .-6 a. m . (under 16) .8
10 p. m .-6 a. m . (any female 16 or
over).8

APPEN DIXES

*14 (except (1) boy 12 in establish
ments used for
12 or over, on
canning or pre
permit, in occu
serving or pre
pations not dan
paring for can
gerous or injuri
ning or preserv
ous, when not
ing perishable
required by law
fruits and vege
to attend school,
tables.9
and (2) child
whose labor is
necessary
for
family support,
with permit from
State labor com
mission).

8-48-6 (under 16).
1 0 - 5 5 ... (any female).

II.

State regulation of labor of minors under 18 in canneries and other manufacturing establishments {Jan. i , 1980)— Continued
Hours per day, hours per week, and days
per week

M inim um age

ID A H O .

Employment certificates required 1

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

In canneries 2

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

In canneries 2

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

In canneries 5

In manufacturing
establishments other
than canneries

9-54___(under 16).

Same as in other man
ufacturing establish
ments.
N o regulation for fe
males employed in
packing,
canning,
curing, or drying
perishable fruits and
vegetables.14

14 (except 12 or over during school vaca
tion of two weeks or more) ,13

9 per day
female).

(any

*9 p. m .-6 a. m . (under 16).

N o system of employment certificate is
suance. Employer must keep age rec
ord of children between 14 and 16 em
ployed in factory.

IL L .

14 (except child under 14 doing volun
tary work of a temporary and harm
less character for compensation, when
school is not in session).

*8-48-6 (under 16).
10 per day (any female).

*7 p. m .-7 a. m . (under 16).

14 to 16.

IN D .

*14.

*8-48-6 (boy under 16; girl under 18).

*7 p. m .-6 a. m . (boy under 16; girl un
der 18).

*14 to 18.

IO W A

14 (except child working in establish
ment operated by parent).

6 p. m .-7 a. m . (under 16).

14 to 16.

K AN S.

14.

8-48—

8 -4 8 -6 ls (under 16).
8-49H -6 (minor 16
to 18; any fe
male).15

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

(under 16).

Same as in other man
ufacturing establish
ments.
Same as in other man
ufacturing establish
ments, but canneries
are allowed
hours
overtime per week
for 6 weeks during
any one year.

6 p. m .-7 a. m . (under 16).
9 p. m .-6 a. m . (any female).

In canneries2

14 to 16.

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

State

Night work prohibited

212

A p p e n d ix

8-48-6 (under 16).
*10-60— (girl under 21).

14 to 16.

14.

6 p. m .-7 a. m . (under 16).

KY.

*14.

* 8-48— (under 16).
* 1 0 -6 0 ... (boy 16 to 18; girl 16 to 21).

*7 p. m .-6 a. m . (boy under 16; girl
under 18).

*14 to 16.

LA.

M E.

15 during school hours; 14 outside
school hours.

14.

N o regulation for child
under 16 in manu
facturing establish
ment or business the
materials or prod
ucts of which are
perishable and re
quire immediate la
bor thereon to pre
vent damage.

9 - 5 4 - ..17 (any fe
male).

N o regulation for fe
males in manufac
tu rin g e s ta b lis h
ment or business the
materials of which
are perishable and
require immediate
labor thereon to pevent damage.

8-48-6 (under 16).

N o regulation for child
under 16 in canning
and packing estab
lishments.
N o regulation for fe
males employed in
canning or preserv
ing or preparing for
canning or preserv
ing perishable fruits
and vegetables.

10-6018„ . (any fe
male) .

M ASS.

14.

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

7 p. m .-7 a. m . (un
der 16).

N o regulation for 15 dining school hours; 14 to 16 outside
school hours.
m anufacturing
e s ta b lish m e n t
or business the
materials
or
p r o d u c t s of
which are per
ishable and re
quire immedi
ate labor there
on to prevent.
damage.

N o regulation for
child under 16
in canning and
packing estab
lishments.

*6 p. m .-6.30 a. m . (under 16).
10 p. m .-5 a. m . (6 p. m .-5 a. m . in man
ufacture of textiles) (boy 16 to 18;
girl 16 to 21).

14 to 16.

*14 to 16 (regular employment certificate).
16 to 21 (educational certificate).

213

See footnotes at end of table, pp. 221-222.

*8-48-6 (under 16).
9 - 1 8 ... (boy 16 to 18; girl 16 to 21).>8

6 p. m .-6.30 a. m .
(under 16).

A P P EN D IXE S

MD.

(under

8- 5 4 1« ....
16).

State regulation of labor of minors under 18 in canneries and other manufacturing establishments {Jan. 1, 1980)— Continued
Hours per day, hours per week, and days
per week

M inim um age

In canneries 2

15 during school hours;
school hours.

In canneries 2

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

In canneries 2

In manufacturing
establishments other
than canneries

1 0 -5 4 ... (boy un
der 18; any fe
male).

N o regulation appli
cable to person, cor
poration, or associa
tion engaged in pre
serving and ship
p in g p e r is h a b l e
goods in fruit and
vegetable canning or
fruit-packing estab
lishments 20

6 p. m .-6 a. m.
(boy under 16;
girl under 18).

N o regulation ap
plicable to per
son, corporation,
or
association
engaged in pres e r v i n g and
shipping perish
able goods in
fruit and vege
table canning or
fruit-packing es
tablishments.20

* 8 -4 8 ...
16).

Same as in other man
ufacturing establish
ments.
N o regulation for fe
male employees en
gaged in preserving
perishable
fruits,
grains, or vegetables
where such employ
ment does not con
tinue for more than
75 days in any one
year.14
Do.

9 - 5 4 ... (any fe
male) (cities of
first or second
class).17

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

15 to 18 during school h ours; 14 to 18 outside school hours.

*14 to 16 during school hours.

C A N N E R IE S

10- 58__ (any fe
male) (outside
cities of first or
second class).17

*7 p. m. ~7 a. m .

VEGETABLE

(under

In canneries 2

AND

14.

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

F R U IT

M IN N .

14 outside

Employment certificates required '

M IC H .

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

N ight work prohibited

C H IL D R E N

State

214

A p p e n d ix II.

M IS S .

14.

N o regulation for
fruit and vege
table canneries.9

8 - 4 4 ... (under 16).

N o regulation for fruit
and vegetable can
neries.9

* 1 0 -0 0 ... (any fe
male).21

Same as in other man
ufacturing establish
ments.
Do.

1 0 -6 0 ... (any em
ployee).22

MO.

(under

Same as in other man
ufacturing establish
ments.

9-54_._ (any fe
male) (places of
more than 3,000
population).

N o regulation for fe
males in establish
ments canning and
packing perishable
products in places of
less than 10,000 pop
ulation for 90 days
annually.14

* 8 -4 8 -6
16) .*>

N o regulation for
fruit and vege
table canneries.9

*7 p. m .-7 a. m . (under 16) ,23

N o system of certifi
cate issuance, but
employer must re
quire parent’s affi
da v i t
s h o w in g
child’s age and last
grade attended for
child 14 to 16.

N o regulation for
fruit and vege
table canner
ies.9

*14 to 16.

APPENDIXES

*14 (except work or service performed
for or under control of child’s parent
or guardian or, in hours when school
is not in session, in industries em
ploying less than 6 persons).

7 p. m .-6 a. m .
(under 16).

M ONT.

16.

Work in factory or place where any ma
chinery is operated prohibited under 16
at any time.
8 per day (any female).

W ork in factory or place where any ma
chinery is operated prohibited under
16 at any time.

Work in factory or place where any ma
chinery is operated prohibited under 16
at any time.
Where continuation schools are established
child 16 to 18, with certain exemptions,
is required to have employment certifi
cate for work in any occupation during
school hours.
Certificate of age required for minor 16
to 21 in any occupation for which mini
m um age is 16 (see columns 2 and 3).

NEBR.

14.

8 - 18___(under 16).
9 - 54___(any female) (in cities of first and
second class).

8 p. m .-6 a. m.
10 p. m .-6 a. m . (any female) (in cities
of the first and second class).

14 to 16.

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

215

See footnotes at end of table, pp. 221-222.

A p p e n d ix

I I .— State regulation of labor of minors under 18 in canneries and other manufacturing establishments (Jan. 1, 1930)— Continued
Hours per day, hours per week, and days
per week

M inim um age

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

In canneries2

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

In canneries 2

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

In canneries 2

In manufacturing
establishments other
than canneries

NEV.

14 in any business or service during
school hours.24

N . H.

14.

*10)4-64___ (boy under 18; any female).28

N . J.

14.

8-48-6 (under 16). Same as in other manu
facturing establish
ments.
10-54-6 (any fe N o regulation for fe
male).
males in canneries
engaged in packing
perishable products
such as fruits or veg
etables.11

N. MEX.

Em ploym ent certificates required 1

14 in any gainful occupation during
school hours.

*8-48_ _ . (boy under 16; girl under 18).

*8-44___ 28 (under
16).»
8 per day (any fe
male) ,28

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

Same as in other manu
facturing establish
ments.
N o regulation for fe
males in canneries or
other establishments
engaged in prepar
ing for use perish
able goods.14

N o provision.

*7 p. m .-6.30 a. m . (under 16).

7 p. m .-7 a. m .
(under 16).
10 p. m .-6 a. m .
(any female).

Same as in other
m anu facturing
establishments.
N o regulation for
females in can
neries engaged
in packing per
ishable products
such as fruits or
vegetables.11

*7 p. m .-7 a. m . (under 16) .27

In canneries 2

Permit from judge required for boy under
14 and girl under 16.
Certificate from school authorities re
quired under continuation school law
for ehild 14 to 18, for any work during
school hours.

14 to 16.

14 to 16 (for work in any gainful occupa
tion during school hours).

CHILDREN IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CANNERIES

State

N ight work prohibited

fcO

ÌH

*14.

81531
8
1531°
30 ---------- 15
N . C.

8- 44-6 (under 16).

Same as in other manu
facturing establish
ments.
954-6 (boy
to
N o16regulation
for boys
18).«
16 to 18 employed in
canning or preserv
ing perishable prod
ucts in fruit and
canning establish
ments between June
15 and Oct. 15.31
8-48-6 (girl 16 to Same as in other manu
18).33
facturing establish
ments.

5 p. m .-8 a. m . (under 16).

*14 to 17.3

12 midnight-6 a. m . (boy 16 to 18).

9 p. m .-6 a. m . (girl under 21).
■

8-48-6 (child under 16, except child be
tween 14 and 16 who has completed
fourth grade).
11-60— (under 21).33

7 p. m .-6 a. m . (under 16).

14 to 16.

14.

*8-48-6 (under 16).
8)4-48-6 (any female).33

*7 p. m .-7 a. m . (under 16).

14 to 16.

O H IO .

16 during school hours; 14 outside
school hours.34

8-48-6 (boy under 16; girl under 18).
10-64-6 (boy 16 to 18).

6 p. m .-7 a. m . (boy under 16; girl
under 18).
10 p. m .-6 a. m . (boy 16 to 18).

16 to 18 during school hours; 14 to 18 out
side school hours.

OKLA.

14.

8 - 48— (under 16).
9- 6 4 . .. (any female).35

6 p. m .-7 a. m . (boy under 16; gir’
under 18).

14 to 16.

OREG.

14 (except child 12 or over during
school vacation in nonharmful
work, on permit).

*8-48-6 (under 16).
*9-48-6 (girl 16 to 18).38
*10-60-6 (boy 16 to 18) .3«

*6 p. m .-7 a. m . (under 16).
*After 6 p. m . (girl 16 to 18).38

14 to 18.3

*8 p. m .-6 a. m . (under 16).
*9 p. m .-6 a. m . (girl under 21).

*14to l6 (age certificate required for child
16 to 18.)37

N. DAK.

PA.

*14.

*9-51-6 37 (under
16).
*10-54-6 (any fe
male).38

Same as in other
manufacturing es
tablishments.
N o regulation for fe
males engaged in
canning fruit and
vegetable
prod
ucts.14

APPEN DIXES

14.

to
See footnotes at end of table, pp. 221-222.

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

t— i

•<1

II. — State regulation of labor of minors under 18 in canneries and other manufacturing establishments (Jan. 1, 1980)— Continued
Hours per day, hours per week, and days
per week

M inim um age

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

In canneries2

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

In canneries2

In manufacturing
establishments other
than canneries

In canneries 2

In canneries2

9„

*15 during school hours;
school hours.

14 outside

14.

S. C.

TENN.

*14.

* 1 0 -5 4 ... (child under 16 and any female) .41

*8-48-6 (under 16).

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

15.

8 p. m .-6 a. m . (under 16) .40

14 to 16.

N o regulation.

14 to 16.

Same as in other m an
ufacturing
estab
lishments.
N o regulation for fe
males in fruit and
vegetable can
neries.14

*7 p. m .-6 a. m . (under 16).

*14 to 16.

W ork in factories prohibited under 15 at
any time.
9 - 5 4 ... (any female).

W ork in factories prohibited under 15
at any time.
N o regulation for child 15 or over.

N o certificate required for child 15 or
over.

C A N N E R IE S

10)4-57— (any fe
male) ,42

TEX.

N o regulation.

*15 to 16 during school hours; 14 to 16 out
side school hours.

VEGETABLE

14 (except child'w hose services are
needed for family support, on per
m it).

10-55—. (ah em
ployees in cotton
or woolen manu
facturing estab
lishments) .a#

*7 p. m .-6 a. m . (under 16).

AND

S. D A K .

9 - 48— (under 16).
10- 54.... (any female).

F R U IT

ft. I.

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

Em ploym ent certifie ates required 1

C H IL D R E N

State

Night work prohibited

218

A p p e n d ix

UTAH.

N o regulation except that resulting in
directly from compulsory school at
tendance law s.«

* 8 -4 8 ... (boy un
der 14; girl under
16).
8 - 4 8 ... (any
male).44

VT.

VA.

14.«

*14.

8-48-6 (under 16).«
10)4-66— (minor 16 to 18; any female) ,45

*8-44-6 (under 16).

10 per d a y 47 (any
female).

8 per day 47 for child
under 16 in fruit
and vegetable can
neries “ where pub
lic schools are not
actually in session ”
(under 16).«
No regulation for fe
males in factories
packing fruits or
vegetables.14

N o regulation.

*14 to 18 (under continuation school law)
for work during school hours.

7 p. m .-6 a. m . (under 16).«

*6 p. m .-7 a. m .

14 to 16.

*14 to 16.

12 to 16 in fruit
and vegetable
canneries
“ where public
schools are not
actually in ses
sion.” 48

W ASH.

14 (except child 12 or over whose serv• ices are needed for family support, in
occupations not dangerous or injuri
ous to health or morals, on permit).48

8-48-6 48 (under 18).

7 p. m .-6 a. m .49 (under 18).

( 50)

W . VA.

*14.

*8-48-6 (under 16).

*7 p. m .-6 a. m. (under 16).

*14 to 16.

A P P E N D IX E S

12 in fruit and veg
etable canneries
“ where public
schools are not
actually in ses
sion.” 46

N o regulation for boy
under 14 or girl un
der 16 engaged in
fruit or vegetable
packing.9
N o regulation for fe
male employees in
establishments en
gaged in the packing
or canning of perish
able fruits or vege
tables.14

See footnotes at end of table, pp, 221-222.

219

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

Hours per day, hours per week, and days
per week

M inim um age

Em ploym ent certificates required 1

In canneries 2

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

In canneries2

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

In canneries 2

In manufacturing
establishments other
than canneries

In canneries

*8-48-6 (under 16).

Same as in other man
ufacturing establish
ments.
9-50— (any female in
pea-canning facto
ries) 83 (any female
in factories canning
cherries, beans, corn,
strawberries, or to
matoes.84 88

*6 p. m .-7 a. m.
(under 16).

Same as in other
m anufacturing
establishments.
During the season
of actual can
ning of the prod
uct there is no
prohibition
of
night work for
females 16 or
over in factories
canning peas,
beans, cherries,
corn, strawber
ries, or tomatoes,
but there must
be a period of
rest of at least
9 con secutive
hours between
the ending of
work on any day
and the begin
ning of work on
the next day.88

*14.«

*7 p. m .-7 a. m. (under 16).'

N o system of certificate issuance.

C A N N E R IE S

”8 ^ -5 6 — (any fe
male) .87

Same as in other man
ufacturing establish
ments.
N o regulation for fe
males engaged in the
curing, canning, or
drying of any vari
ety of perishable
fruit or vegetable.14

VEGETABLE

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

*8-48-6 (under 16).

AND

N o m inim um age except that resulting
indirectly from the compulsory
school attendance law. (N o child
whose attendance at school is re
quired by la w 56 shall be employed
' in any occupation.)

6 p. m .-6 a. m.
(any female).

F R U IT

* 9 -5 0 .-. (any fe
male).82

*14 to 17.81

In manufacturing
establishments
other than can
neries

W IS .

W YO.

Night work prohibited

C H IL D R E N

State

Continued

State regulation of labor of minors under 18 in canneries and other manufacturing establishments (Jan. 1, 1980)

220

A p p e n d ix I I.

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

221

28
2810

APPEN DIXES

* Laws apply to "a n y occupation," any “ gainful” or “ remunerative” occupation, or “ any establishment,” or to a list of specified occupations or establishments (including
factories) and in addition to “ any other place of labor” or “ any other occupation whatsoever.” Some of these laws have certain exemptions, however, which do not affect employ
ment in factories or canneries, such as employment in agricultural pursuits, domestic service, theatrical performances, street trades, etc. (All specific exemptions applying to can
neries are noted in the table.)
1 Requirements for employment certificates are in general the same for work when school is in session as for work during vacation (when most cannery employment takes place),
except that in most States the requirement that a child shall have completed a specified school grade is waived for vacation work. In this table, if there is no footnote indicating the con
trary, it is to be understood that the educational requirement is waived.
2 Regulations applying to all factories or manufacturing establishments are classified as applying to canneries, as according to the usual interpretation canneries are held to be
manufacturing establishments.
3 The educational requirements are not waived (see footnote 1) for certificates for work during vacation in the following States: Arizona (fifth grade), Arkansas (fourth grade),
K entucky (fifth grade), N ew Jersey (sixth grade), N ew York (eighth grade for child 14, sixth grade for child 15, no requirement for child of 16), Oregon (eighth grade for child
under 16).
4 Where compliance with the act would work irreparable injury to any industry engaged in handling products, such as canning or candy factories, exemption permitted for 90
days a year, provided permission of industrial-welfare commission is obtained; time and one-half is paid for overtime.
3 Rulings of industrial-welfare commission (orders 8a, 6a, 3a, applying specifically to manufacturing establishments, to the fruit and vegetable canning or packing industry, and
to the fish-canning industry).
3 The law states that a child 14 to 16 (12 to 16 during sum m er vacation) m ay be exempted from its provisions upon obtaining a special permit from the city or county superin
tendent of schools or his deputy, but the provisions in regard to the issuance of these permits appear to limit them to employment in theatrical exhibitions.
7 1ndustrial commission m ay allow overtime in case of emergency, provided the minim um wage is increased.
3 In event of war or other serious emergency governor m ay suspend the night-work limitation for such industries and occupations as he m ay find demanded b y such emergency.
6 Minors in other canneries would be covered by the regulations for minors in all establishments or in manufacturing establishments. (See columns 2, 4, 6, 8.)
10 2 hours overtime permitted on 1 day weekly, provided weekly maximum is not exceeded. If any part of work is performed between 11 p. m . and 7 a. m ., not more than 8
hours in any 24 hours is permitted.
11 Females in other canneries would be included under the regulations for females in manufacturing establishments. (See columns 4 and 6.)
12 Engineers, watchmen, etc., exempted. Time lost on account of accident to machinery m ay be made up under certain conditions. N o regulation for other factories except a
provision that the hours of labor for persons under 21 shall be from sunrise to sunset, allowing the usual and customary time for meals.
13 Compulsory school attendance law appears in effect to raise minimum age for employment during school hours to 15 (child under 15 whose bodily or mental condition renders
attendance at school inexpedient is exempted from school attendance).
14 Females in other canning or packing establishments would be included under the regulations for females in factories. (See column 4.)
15 The 6-day week for minors and the hours-of-labor provision for females are b y order of the public-service commission (now commission of labor and industry).
13 The provision for a maximum 54-hour week does not apply to boys. Employers engaged in public service are exempted in certain cases of public emergency.
17 To obtain 1 short day per week, overtime permitted if maximum weekly hours are not exceeded.
13 8 hours per day, 48 hours per week, if any part of work is done before 6 a. m . or after 10 p. m .
18 In manufacturing establishments in which employment is determined by the department of labor and industries to be seasonal the maximum hours m ay be 52, provided total
hours in any year shall not exceed average of 48 per week. Law applies to “ laboring” in manufacturing establishments. In employments not coming under this provision the
maximum hours are 10 per day, 54 per week, and 6 days per week.
20 Such employment shall he approved by the department of labor and industry as not injurious to the health of the persons so engaged. Boys under 18 and females in other
canneries would be included under the regulations for work in manufacturing establishments. (See columns 4 and 6.)
21 Except in case of emergency or where public necessity requires.
22 30 minutes additional daily permitted for first 5 days of week, to be deducted from last day of week. Oases of emergency or where the public necessity requires are exempted.
For night work, 11)4 hours permitted on first 5 nights of week and 3% hours on Saturday night, provided weekly hours do not exceed 60. Act does not apply to employers engaged
in the handling or converting of perishable agricultural products who employ only adult male labor.
23 Exempting (1) work or service performed for or under personal supervision or control of child’s parent or guardian; (2), industries employing less than 6 persons, in hours when
school is not in session.
24 N o limitation, apparently, on employment outside school hours, other than requirement of permit for boy under 14 and girl under 16 employed in factories or any inside em
ployment not connected with farm or housework.
23 8 hours during any 24 hours, 48 per week, if employment is at night.
23 Except under “ special circumstances” to be determined b y permit-issuing officer and in no case to exceed 48 horns per week.
27 Child working for parent or guardian on premises or land owned or occupied b y him is exempted.
4 hours weekly overtime allowed if time and a half is paid and total hours of labor for a 7-day week do not exceed 60
hours per day allowed to make shorter work day one day per week.

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so 9 hours pef day, 49 H hours per week, permitted to make 1 shorter work day each week of not more than 4J4 hours. In addition, 78 hours of overtime is permitted during
any calendar year, in the distribution of which a maximum of 10 hours per day, 54 hours per week, and 6 days per week is allowed.
3i W ork in oanneries at other times would be covered by the regulations for boys between 16 and 18 given in column 4.
si The maximum 11-hour day applies to all employees; the 60-hour week to all females as well as to minors under 21. Engineers, watchmen, etc., are exempted.
8310 hours per day and 7 days per week permitted in emergencies, provided weekly hour limit of 48 hours is not exceeded. (An emergency is dom ed to exist in the case of sick
ness of more than 1 female employed, in which case a physician’s certificate must be furnished.)
si Exemptions: (1) Child employed in vacation and outside school hours in irregular service, which is defined as work not forbidden b y Federal laws, not involving confine
ment, and not requiring more than 4 hours a day or 24 hours a week (it must also be interrupted by rest or recreation periods, and the district health commissioner must determine
whether any given employment comes within this classification); (2), child determined incapable of profiting substantially b y further school instruction (but such child can not
be employed in a factory or manufacturing establishment under 14 except in “ irregular service,” as previously defined, and, with this exception, m ust obtain special certificate for
such work if between 14 and 18 years of age).
3* Manufacturing establishments outside towns or cities of 5,000 population or more and employing less than 5 females are exempted.
36 Ruling of State industrial-welfare commission.
87 6-day week (column 4) and provision for age certificate (column 8) are b y rulings of industrial board of State department of labor and industry.
38 2 hours additional allowed on not more than 3 days of the week if a legal holiday occurs during the week and the maximum weekly hours are not exceeded.
w Engineers, watchmen, etc., exempted. Time lost on account of accident m ay be made up under certain conditions.
<o Employment permitted until 9 p. m . to make up time lost on account of accident to machinery.
1112 hours daily is permitted on the 5 days before Christmas.
M 10H hours per day permitted only for the purpose of providing 1 short day in the week.
43 Certain specified dangerous or injurious occupations in factories, however, are prohibited in the case of employees under 16.
*3 Law exempts manufacturers of containers for perishable fruits and vegetables during the packing season. Cases of emergency when life or property is in imminent danger
also exempted.
« Commissioner of industries, with the approval of the governor, m ay suspend provision for period not exceeding 2 months in any 1 year in the case of a manufacturing estab
lishment or business the materials and products of which are perishable and require immediate labor thereon to prevent decay or damage.
46 Fruit a n d vegetable canneries at other times, as well as other types of canneries, would be covered b y the regulations for all gainful occupations. (See columns 2, 4, and 8.)
47 6-day week through enforcement of section 4570 of the Code of 1919, prohibiting work on Sunday, would result in a 60-hour week for females in manufacturing establishments
(column 4) and a 48-hour week for children under 16 in fruit and vegetable canneries where public schools are not in session (column 5).
48 A t the time of the study of fruit and vegetable canneries made b y the Children’s Bureau in Washington (1923) no minimum-age provision was in effect, owing to the fact that
this law (passed in 1907) was, under an opinion of the State attorney general, held to be repealed b y the Penal Code of 1909. According to a later attorney general’s opinion, how
ever (Oct. 1,1924), the minimum age of 14, with the exemptions specified, is now in effect.
49 Order of industrial-welfare committee of State department of labor and industry.
80 Judges issue permits to boys under 14 and girls under 16 in factories or any inside employment not connected with farmwork or housework; local school authorities in places
where continuation schools are established issue employment certificates to minors between 14 and 18 leaving school for work. The school attendance law requires school-exemption
certificates issued b y school superintendents for all children under 15 employed during school hours. In addition the industrial-welfare committee of State department of labor and
industry has the duty of supervising the administration of the laws relating to child labor and issues certificates to boys between 14 and 18 and to girls between 16 and 18 (i. e., above
the ages for which judges issue permits).
61 Child 12 to 14 m ay be employed during school vacation, on permit, in certain specified establishments and occupations, but not in factories or canneries.
S310 hours daily m ay be worked dinring emergency periods of not more than 4 weeks in any year if time and a half is paid for overtime and if the weekly hours worked do not
exceed 55. If work is at night, the maximum hours fixed are 8 per night.
83 9 hours per day, 54 hours per week are allowed in pea canneries during the season of the “ actual canning of the product.” In emergencies women 17 years of age or over m ay
work 11 hours daily, 60 hours weekly, on not more than 8 days during the season, if 33 cents an hour is paid for all hours in excess of 9 per day
64 9 hours per day, 54 hours per week are allowed in factories canning cherries, beans, com, strawberries, or tomatoes during the season of the “ actual canning of the product.”
In emergencies women 17 years of age or over m ay work 10 hours daily, 60 hours weekly, on not more than 8 days dining the season, if 33 cents an hour is paid for all hours in excess
of 9 per day.
85 Females employed in the specified canneries before and after the season of the “ actual canning of the product” and females employed at any time in other canneries would
be covered b y the regulations for females in factories. (See columns 4 and 6.)
56 The following children are required by law to attend school: Children between 14 and 17 years of age except those who (1) are physically incapacitated; (2), have completed
the 8th grade; (3), are excluded from school for legal reasons; (4), are excused by district board because law would “ work a hardship” to the child.
57 Indefinite overtime allowed when an emergency exists or unusual pressing business or necessity demands it, if time and a half is paid for every hour of overtime in any 1 day.

APPENDIX III.— STATE

REGULATION

LABOR C A M P S 1

[Prepared in the industrial division of the Children’s Bureau, b y Ella Arvilla Merritt and Lucy Manning!

State laws or regulations specifically regulating camps for housing industrial
workers2 are found in the following States, in which the canning industry is
important.8
Arkansas (labor camps).
California (labor camps).
Delaware (labor camps).
Maryland (cannery camps only).
Michigan (labor camps).
Minnesota (labor camps).
New Jersey (labor camps).
New York (department of labor regulations cover camps for
factory and cannery workers; board of health regulations cover
all labor camps).
Oregon (board of health regulations cover all labor camps; indus
trial-welfare commission orders cover hop yards, berry fields,
orchards, and packing houses where women or minors are
employed).
Pennsylvania (labor camps).
Utah (labor camps).
Washington (labor camps).
Wisconsin (labor camps).
These provisions are briefly summarized as follows:
Arkansas.— The State board of health, under its authority4 to make all
necessary and reasonable rules for the protection of the public health, has pro
mulgated rules for camps and resorts,5 which apply to all industries requiring
the establishment of camps. All buildings shall be kept in a clean and sanitary
condition and shall be screened, and pure and wholesome water shall be fur
nished in sufficient quantities for drinking and domestic purposes. All garbage
and refuse shall be disposed of so as not to create a nuisance or to contaminate
drinking water. Other regulations relate to location of toilets and cleanliness
of walls and floors of buildings.
California.— The California law 6 applies to all camps in which five persons
or more are employed and covers sanitary conditions in bunk houses, tents,
and all other sleeping and living quarters. The provisions of the law relate
to structural conditions, cleanliness, sufficient air space, construction of beds
and bunks, screening, bathing and toilet facilities, disposal of garbage, and
general cleanliness and sanitary conditions. The State commission of immi
gration and housing had charge of enforcement until 1927.
(Since that time
the law has been enforced by the division of housing and sanitation of the
department of industrial relations.) An advisory pam ph let7 has been issued
setting out supplementary and explanatory rules and recommendations and
giving detailed directions, with illustrations, as to location and layout of camps,
1 Information as of Jan. 1,1929.
2 Omitting laws relating only to camps for workers on highways and public,improvements and those
relating only to boarding houses for laborers.
* This summary is limited to the 20 States for which in 1925 the United States Census of Manufactures
reported either an average number of wage earners of more than 1,000 or 50 or more establishments engaged
in fruit and vegetable canning; i. e., Arkansas, California, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, M ary
land, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, N ew Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vir
ginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. (Biennial Census of Manufactures, 1925, Canning and Preserving,
Table 11, p. 84. U . S. Bureau of the Census. Washington, 1928.)
* A rk., Laws of 1913, N o. 96.
Sfi
* Rules and Regulations of.the State Board of Health of Arkansas, November, 1928, Nos. 267-277 (Regu
lations for Camps and Resorts).
!
e Calif., Laws of 1913, ch. 182, as amended b y Laws of 1915, ch. 329, Laws of 1919, ch. 164, and Laws of
1921, ch. 767; Laws of 1927, ch. 440.
v
_
7
Advisory Pamphlet on Camp Sanitation and Housing (revised, .1926, reprinted, 1928). Commission
of Immigration and Housing of California.

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water supply, sleeping quarters, disposal of garbage and sewage, toilets, baths,
and other sanitary aspects. Under the rules set forth in this pamphlet, sleeping
quarters with wooden floors and provided with bunks or beds should be fur
nished, with at least 500 cubic feet of air space for each person and a window
area equal to one-eighth of the floor space. Toilets, separate for the sexes,
should be provided in a sufficient number to give one seat for every 15 persons.
Bathing facilities, with at least one shower for each 15 persons, should be sup
plied. The commission offers to cooperate in the solution of camp problems
and, whenever necessary, to send a camp expert for personal consultation and
advice at no expense to the owner or operator of the camp.
Recommendations for day nurseries and playgrounds for children, as adjuncts
to canneries, including rules as to equipment and personnel, have also been
formulated by the division of housing and sanitation in cooperation with repre
sentatives of a number of canneries.
Delaware.— The State board of health has made regulations,8 effective in 1920,
concerning the sanitation of labor and other camps, including those incident to
canneries. Camps are required to be located on high ground. The water supply
must be abundant for all purposes, including baths, and if spring water is used
the source and course must be kept free from pollution. The regulations also
extend to construction and location of toilets, disposal of garbage, and screening
of food supplies.9
Maryland.— In Maryland the only legal provisions relating to labor camps 10
are a part of the general sanitary law regulating canneries, factories, bakeries, etc.,
enforced by the State board of health. They specify in general terms that living
quarters provided by the canner shall have waterproof roofs and tight board
floors, that “ ample light and ventilation” and proper separation and privacy of
sexes must be provided, and that the occupants shall keep the quarters in a clean
and sanitary condition. An adequate supply of pure drinking water must be
furnished within reasonable distance. Both the cannery and the living quarters
apparently are covered by the general provision that no litter, drainage, or waste
matter of any kind shall be allowed in or around the buildings, and the surround
ings shall be kept in a clean and sanitary condition.
Michigan.— The Michigan law,11 which is part of the general factory law, is
administered by the State department of labor and industry. It applies to “ any
employer engaged in construction of railroad or other work” and relates to
premises for sleeping or living accommodations furnished by the employer for his
employees, requiring that they “ shall be maintained in a cleanly and sanitary
condition and kept sufficiently heated and well lighted and ventilated.” The
powers of inspection given in the act are limited to factories (including canneries),
stores, and hotels, but the law creating the department of labor gives the com
missioner and his appointees under his direction power to inspect “ all manufac
turing establishments, workshops, hotels, stores, and all places where labor is
employed.”
Minnesota.— Regulations relating to industrial camp sanitation 12 have been
issued by the State board of health under its authority to regulate the construc
tion, equipment, and sanitary conditions of lumber and other industrial camps.13
These regulations apply to all industrial camps where 10 or more men are
employed and housed in temporary quarters. Every temporary building or inclos
ure, except tents, occupied as sleeping quarters shall contain at least 225 cubic
feet of air space for each occupant and must be supplied with windows of such
size that the total net window area equals 5 per cent of the floor area. The regu
lations also extend to bunks, construction of floors, construction of toilets, sepa
rate toilet facilities for men and women (in a ratio of one seat for every 10 persons
if 100 persons or fewer are employed), cleaning and screening, provision for an
ample and safe water supply from a source that will meet the requirements of the
State board of health, and the disposal of all refuse, garbage, and other waste
matter.
s Regulations of State board of health, ch. 14, Sanitation of Camps.
8
A Delaware law passed in 1915 (Laws of 1915, ch. 228) relating to sanitary conditions in canneries and
canning camps was held unconstitutional in 1925 by the State attorney general. It contained provisions
in regard to cannery camps practically identical with those of the Maryland law, requiring that living
quarters furnished b y the canner should have waterproof roofs and tight board floors, that provision should
be made for “ ample light and ventilation” and for proper separation and privacy of the sexes, and that
the surroundings should be kept in a clean and sanitary condition.
10 M d ., Laws of 1914, ch. 678, secs. 3, 4; Ann. Code 1924, art. 43, secs. 203, 204.
11 M ich., Laws of 1909, N o. 285, sec. 17, as amended by Laws of 1915, N o. 3.
12 Regulations of State board of health, issued Feb. 15, 1928, Nos. 231-245, Industrial Camp Sanitation.
13 M inn., Gen. Stat. 1923, sec. 5345.

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New Jersey.— The Sanitary Code of the State department of h ealth 14 requires
that every person or corporation establishing any labor camp or temporary
living quarters for workmen shall notify the local health officer or secretary of
the local board of health. The local health officer is require^ to inspect the
camp promptly, or to have such inspection made, and to examine into its sanitary
condition. All tents, buildings, and surrounding grounds shall at all times be
kept free and clean from refuse accumulations.15
New York.— The New York law empowers the industrial commissioner to enter
and inspect all labor camps 16 and gives the department of labor power 17 to regu
late sanitary conditions of such camps in cases where an employer conducts a
factory 18 and furnishes to his employees living quarters at a place outside the
factory. The employer is required to maintain such living quarters in a sanitary
condition and in accordance with rules adopted by the State industrial board of
the State department of labor. Rules have been promulgated by the board which
apply specifically to the sanitation of cannery labor camps. Roofs and walls
must be water-tight, floors must be kept in repair, and regulations are made as
to the construction of floors and interior partitions. N ot less than 400 cubic feet
of air space for each person must be provided in sleeping quarters, except th at a
m inim um of 200 feet is sufficient for each child under 14. A t least two rooms
must be provided for each family composed of husband and wife and one or more
children above the age of 10 years. All living quarters except tents must be
built with windows, with at least one window with an area of at least 4 square feet
to each room, and the window openings must be screened. The arrangement and
spacing of bunks is also regulated. Separate toilets for the sexes shall be provided,
constructed, and placed on the grounds in accordance with specified rules, the
number required being one to each 20 persons of each sex occupying the living
quarters.19 W ater obtained from a source and in quantities satisfactory to the
commissioner of labor must be furnished for drinking and washing purposes.
Provision is also made for bathing and laundry facilities and for proper drainage
of the grounds and the disposal of garbage and waste matter. The employer is
responsible for the enforcement of these rules.20
In addition to these provisions, the regulations established by the State publichealth council for labor camps in general should also be considered. These
require that notice of any labor camp occupied by 5 or more persons shall be given
to the local health officer, and a permit must be obtained if the camp is to be
occupied by more than 10 persons for a period of more than six days. The provi
sions apply chiefly to drainage, water supply, pollution of waters, sewage, waste
and garbage disposal, and communicable diseases.21
Oregon.— The State board of health under its power 22 to make and enforce rules
and regulations for the preservation of the public health has adopted a regulation 23
requiring permission to be obtained from the jurisdictional health officer for the
establishment of any labor or industrial camp in which there are five or more
persons. This official must inspect the site and pass on the purity of the water.
H e must also prescribe such rules and regulations as he m ay deem necessary for
the preservation of the health of those employed and of the general public. The
location of all such camps must be reported to the State health officer by the
county health officer. In addition, the board has issued certain instructions and
recommendations relative to the proper sanitation of camps, placing upon the
management of the camps the responsibility for failing to comply with them.
The supply of water shall be carefully decided upon, and if a camp is to remain
several weeks the water shall be provided from an absolutely uncontaminated
source. Bunk houses must be provided with suitable roof ventilation so that each
person shall have at least 3,000 cubic feet of fresh air per hour, and there must be
14 N . J., Comp. Stat. 1910, p. 2656.
u N . J., Sanitary Code, ch. 10, Regulations Governing the Conduct of Camps enacted b y the State
department of health, July 6,1920, Regulations 1-4.
16-N. Y ., Labor Law, sec. 212.
m n . Y ., Labor Law, sec. 298.
is “ Factory” includes a mill, workshop, or other manufacturing establishment and all buildings, sheds,
structures, or other places used for or in connection therewith, where 1 or more persons are employed at
manufacturing, including making, altering, repairing, finishing, bottling, canning, cleaning, or laundering
any article or thing, in whole or in part, except certain establishments not pertinent to the present discus
sion.
18 For camps housing more than 100 persons the ratio may be 1 to each 25 persons.
88 N . Y ., Industrial Code, 1920, Rules 200-232, p. 188.
81 Sanitary Code, State public-health council, ch. V ., Regulations 1-22 (reprinted in Industrial Code,
1920, p. 191).
88 Oreg., Laws of 1920, sec. 8360.
83 State board of health Regulations, N o. 82.

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a minimum of 500 cubic feet of air space per person in sleeping quarters. . Roofs,
walls, and floors shall be weather-tight.
In addition, the State industrial-welfare commission has issued an order24
relating to sanitary conditions in hop yards, berry fields, orchards, and in packing
houses for fruit, vegetables, and fish, which requires that dry closets be provided
at convenient places in camp grounds and that they be disinfected weekly. This
order also requires employers to provide every camp ground with receptacles for
garbage and refuse and at least twice each week to empty such receptacles and
make sanitary disposal of the garbage.
Pennsylvania.— Rules have been prescribed by the Industrial Board of Penn
sylvania which apply to all types of labor camps.28 A license, effective for one
year, must be obtained from the department of labor and industry for the opera
tion of any such camp. The license is revocable at any time after a hearing.
Each room used as sleeping or living quarters, except tents, shall have not less
than one window opening directly to the outer air with an area of not less than 6
square feet. In rooms occupied by more than three persons the window space
shall not be less than 2 square feet for each occupant, and 400 cubic feet of air
space for each occupant shall be provided in each room used for sleeping purposes
except in railroad mobile camp equipment and in seasonal camps, operated
between April 1 and October 31, in which 250 cubic feet shall be accepted. Living
and sleeping quarters shall be screened during the fly season. Families with one
or more children 10 years of age must be provided with two rooms, and, except in
the housing of families, sleeping accommodations shall be provided in rooms which
are separate for each sex. An adequate supply of pure water shall be provided
for drinking, culinary, bathing, and laundry purposes. The rules also cover
construction of buildings, arrangement and spacing of beds, cots, or bunks, con
struction of toilets, washing and bathing facilities with separate provision for
the sexes, and drainage of premises. The number of toilets to be provided in
camps without sewer connections shall be one for each 20 persons of each sex, with
one additional for each 25 additional persons or fractional part thereof of each
sex.26 Responsibility for compliance with these rules is placed upon the owner
and upon the lessee or manager of the camp.
Utah.— The Utah law requires 27 that any contractor or other person or corpora
tion establishing an industrial camp of any kind shall report its location to the
State board of health and shall comply with the regulations of that board regard
ing their maintenance.28 These regulations require that the location of all labor
camps to be occupied by 5 or more persons shall be reported to the board of health,
and if the camp is to be occupied by 10 or more persons for more than six days a
permit must be obtained. The arrangement, drainage, and location of camp
buildings are regulated. Sleeping quarters must have a minimum of 400 cubic
feet of air, 50 square feet of floor space, and 3 square feet of window area a person.
The water supply, unless chlorinated, must be obtained from an approved source.
Suitable and convenient toilets approved by the State board must be provided,
and provision must be made for adequate bathing facilities, for screening of
kitchen, eating, and bunk houses, and for the disposal of garbage and other waste
matter. Cam p buildings and surrounding grounds must be kept in a clean and
sanitary condition.
Washington.— The State board of health under its general powers29 has made
regulations concerning labor cam p s30 practically identical with those made by
the State board of health in Oregon (see above).
Wisconsin.— The regulations of the State board of health 31 require persons
establishing permanent or temporary individual camps of whatever nature to
** Industrial welfare commission Order N o. 49.
25 Department of labor and industry, Regulations for Labor Camps, effective Sept. 24, 1926 (reprinted
1927). Stat. 1920, sec. 13613.
m In camps with sewer connections the number to be provided varies according to a ratio based on the
maximum number of persons of each sex living at any one time in the camp; for less than 10 persons the ratio
is 1 to 10; for 10 to 25 persons, 1 to 12%; for 25 to 50 persons, 1 to 16%; for 50 to 80 persons, 1 to 20; for 80 to
125 persons, 1 to 25; for each additional 45 persons, 1 additional toilet.
U tah, Laws of 1921, ch. 149.
28 State Health Laws and Regulations, issued b y State board of health, 1925, pp. 68-61 (Regulations
Relating to Industrial or Construction Camps, Nos. 1-28).
29 W ash., Remington’s Comp. Stat. 1922, sec. 6011.
89
Rules and Regulations of the State board of health, revised and adopted Aug. 29, 1927, secs. 63 and 64,
pp. 44-47.
31 Wisconsin State Board of Health, Regulations Relating to Cam p Sanitation, as amended June 29,
1920.

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report the location to the State health officer. The regulations cover location
of the camps, disposal of garbage, refuse, and waste water, cleanliness, construc
tion and location of toilets, and construction of floors. Every inclosure occupied
as sleeping quarters shall contain 225 cubic feet of air space for every occupant
and shall be supplied with windows, constructed so as to open. In addition to
windows, other means of ventilating the sleeping, dining, and living quarters by
having inlet and outlet ducts of sufficient area must be provided to keep the
atmosphere reasonably pure, such provision to meet the approval of the State
board of health. All kitchen, eating, and bunk houses should be screened during
the summer months. The water supply must be adequate and pure.

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