Full text of Industrial Accidents to Employed Minors in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, Bureau Publication No. 152

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

CHILDREN'S BUREAU
GRACE ABBOTT, Chief

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO
EMPLOYED MINORS IN WISCONSIN,
MASSACHUSETTS, AND
NEW JERSEY
By

EDITH S. GRAY

Bureau Publication N o. 152

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1926

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ADDITIONAL COPIES MAY BE PROCURED FROM
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GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
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AT

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CONTENTS
Page

Letter of transmittals_________________________________________ _________
Introduction__ _______ _____________ __________________________ ________
State records of industrial accidents to employed minors________________
Wisconsin_________________________________________________________
Industries open to minors_____________________________________
Extent of disability from industrial injury_________ ____________
Location of injury_____________________ ______ ________________
Nature of injury________________
Compensation for injury______________________________________
Causes of injury___________________
Machinery__________________________________________
Handling obj ects_________________________________
Hand tools__ _______________
Falls of persons._________ ______________ j__________________
Vehicles_______
Stepping on or striking against objects____________________
Falling objects.______________
Other causes of injury_______________________ ____ ________
Occupational risk________________
Injury rates for boys____________t _______________ _________
Age and occupational risk for boys________ ._______________
Injury rates for girls------- ----------------------------Age and occupational risk for girls ________________________
Average time loss________________ .____________________________
Massachusetts_____*___________________
Industries open to minors_________________________
Extent of disability from industrial injury_____________________
Location of injury___ ______ __________
Nature of injury______ ________________________________________
Compensation for injury_____ _________________________________
Causes of injury--------- --------- .------------------------------------------------Machinery_________ - ________ ____ _______________________
Handling objects_______
Falls of persons___________________________________________
Hand tools_______________________________________________
Stepping on or striking against objects____________________
Vehicles_______________________________ ____________________
Falling objects____________________________________________
Other causes of injury__ ______________
New Jersey_____________________________________
Industries open to minors___________________
Extent of disability from industrial injury_____- ______ ________
Location of injury______________ :____________________ __________
Nature of injury___________________________________________
Compensation for injury______________________________________
Causes of injury_____ ______________________ .__________________
Machinery_______________________________________________
Handling objects_________________________________________
Falls of persons__ ________________ ._________ i ____ ________
Vehicles_________________________ ____________ 1___________
Hand tools_______ 'i__________________ :-------------------------- ---Falling objects____________________________________________
Other causes of injury_______________________
Occupational risk_____________________________________________
Injury rates for boys_________
Age and occupational risk for boys_____________
Injury rates for girls-________
Age and occupational risk for girls____________
Average time loss_____________
ni

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CONTENTS
Fage

Results of industrial injuries to employed m inors.,___________ _________
63
Summary and conclusions__________L________ __________________________
87
gi
Appendixes___________________ [____1________________________ ____________
A.— General tables___ _________________ ___________ ________________
93
B. — Selections from State laws prohibiting the employment of minors
in dangerous occupations__ _________________________________
105
G.— Brief list of references on industrial accidents to employed minors
in the United States, with annotations____ ___ ____ __________
110
GENERAL TABLES
,1. Extent of disability incurred by minors from industrial injuries,
by age and sex of injured; Wisconsin___________________________
II. Location of industrial injuries sustained by minors, by extent of
disability; Wisconsin__________________________________________
III. Cause of industrial injuries sustained by minors, by extent of dis
ability; Wisconsin____i___________________
IV. Cause of industrial injuries sustained by minors, by age of injured;
Wisconsin_________ r__ :_____ ________ _____________:___________
V. Extent of disability incurred by minors from industrial injuries,
by age and sex of injured; Massachusetts______ _______________
VI. Location of industrial injuries sustained by minors, by extent of
disability; Massachusetts____________________
VII. Cause of industrial injuries sustained by minors, by extent of dis
ability; Massachusetts____. . . ____ :_____ . . . . ________________ ___
VIII. Cause of industrial injuries sustained by minors, by age of injured;
Massachusetts____________ _________ :_____ ______ ____________
IX . Cause of compensable accidents to Massachusetts adults and
minors_______________________ ________________ _______________
X . Extent of disability incurred by minors from industrial injuries,
by age and sex of injured; New Jersey _________________________
X I. Location of industrial injuries sustained by minors, by extent of
disability; New Jersey
_________ .________ ________________
X II. Cause of industrial injuries sustained by minors, by extent of dis
ability; New Jersey___ ________________ ________________ ______
X III. Cause of industrial injuries sustained by minors, by age of injured;
New Jersey______ __ ___ ____ _;__________ j___ ______

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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

U. S. D epartment of Labor ,
C hildren’ s B ureau ,

Washington, August 10, 1925.
S i r : There is transmitted herewith a report on industrial accidents

to employed minors in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and New Jersey,
based on a study of records on file with the industrial-accident
boards of those States. The statistical material was assembled
and analyzed, and the report written, by Edith S. Gray, of the
statistical division of the Children’s Bureau, under the general
direction of Dr. Robert M. Woodbury, then director of that division.
The Children’s Bureau acknowledges with appreciation the interest
and cooperation of the officials of the Industrial Commission of
Wisconsin, the Department of Industrial Accidents of Massachusetts,
and the Workmen’s Compensation Bureau of New Jersey, who allowed
access to their files.
Respectfully submitted.
Grace A bbott, Chief.
Hon. James J. D avis ,
Secretary of Labor.
▼

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INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS IN WISCONSIN,
MASSACHUSETTS, AND NEW JERSEY
INTRODUCTION
This report presents the results of a study of industrial injuries to
employed minors in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, with
especial reference to the causes of such injuries and to their economic
and social effects.
These three States give their young workers a considerable degree
of special protection. Each has a minimum age limit for the employ
ment of children, prohibits their employment under specified ages in
certain dangerous occupations, and does educational work looking
toward the prevention of accidents through continuation schools
which young workers are required to attend. Moreover their
minors benefit equally with their adult workers from the protection
afforded through laws regulating the safety and sanitation of work
places, and from the stimulus which workmen’s compensation
legislation, in these States as in many others, has given to efforts to
reduce the risk of industrial injury.
Yet the records covering a 12 months’ period in each State 1
show a total of 7,478 industrial accidents to employed minors, result
ing in 38 deaths, 920 cases of partial disablement for life, and 6,520
cases of temporary disablement. These 7,478 cases, moreover, rep
resent only the minors who were entitled to compensation under
the law, and concerning whose injuries, therefore, complete records
were made. Still other employed minors were injured, for the laws
required compensation to be paid only to those workers whose injury
caused disability lasting beyond the waiting period of a specified
number of days— in Wisconsin 7 days, in Massachusetts and New
Jersey 10 days.2 The total number of injured therefore was much
larger than the number who received compensation.3 Moreover, not
all employments are covered by the compensation laws,4 nor are all
employers compelled to come under their operation.5
1The period covered by the study in Wisconsin and New Jersey was the year July 1,1919, to June 30
1920; in Massachusetts it was the year July 1,1921, to June 30,1922.
2 Wisconsin, Stat. 1923, sec. 102.09, subsec. (2); Massachusetts, Gen. Laws 1921, ch. 152, sec. 29; New
Jersey, Laws of 1911, ch. 95, Sec. II, subsec. 13, as amended by Laws of 1919, ch. 93, sec. 3. Since the date of
this study the waiting period has been diminished to 7 days by statutory amendment in the latter two
States (Massachusetts, Laws of 1923, ch. 163; New Jersey, Laws of 1925, ch. 163).
3In Massachusetts, of all the industrial injuries resulting in disability beyond the day, turn, or shift on
which the accident occurred, one-third caused disability of not more than 7 days and two-fifths disability
of not more than 10 days. (Mass., Annual Report of the Department of Industrial Accidents, 1922, Table
X , p. 92.) Comparable figures on noncompensable injuries were not available for the other States covered
by this study.
* It has been estimated that 75 per cent of the employees in Wisconsin, 87 per cent of the employees in
Massachusetts, and 99 per cent of the employees in New Jersey are in employments covered by the act
See Comparison of Compensation Laws of the United States and Canada up to Jan. 1, 1920, p. 31 (U. S
Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 275, Washington, 1920).
. * In all three States the compensation act is elective, that is, the employer has the option of either accept
ing or rejecting it. In Massachusetts and Wisconsin, however, the employer who rejects is deprived of the
customary common-law defenses in case of a suit for damages, i. e., assumed risk, fellow service, and con
tributory negligence, and in New Jersey the abrogation of these defenses is absolute and does not depend
upon rejection of the act. In Wisconsin and New Jersey the defense of contributory negligence is not
abrogated if the negligence was willful; in Massachusetts this defense is abrogated unqualifiedly. The em
ployee also has the right to accept or reject the act. See Wisconsin, Stat. 1923, sec. 102.01, subsec. (1):
Massachusetts, Gen. Laws 1921, ch. 152, sec. 66; New Jersey, Laws of 1911, ch. 95, Sec. I, subsec. 2.

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INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

The obligation of the State to protect all young workers is well
stated by the chairman of the Wisconsin Industrial Commission:6
Objection to the child labor law usually arises out of the fact that the child is not
permitted to work at the particular kind of work he has selected. These prohi
bitions arise because of the danger of the occupation. There are industries of such
proven hazard that no child should be permitted to enter them. The accident or
other dangerous conditions that made such prohibitions necessary have been dem
onstrated by years of experience. I£o promise of supervision by strangers can
justify the certification of a child into a work place from the hazards of which
adults find difficulty in protecting themselves. Children are children, and they
may not be depended upon to appreciate or guard against grave industrial dangers.
The moral obligation of the State, knowing these hazards, is to prohibit employment
of children in them. That is the safe and sane course. There are many employ
ments open to them which are comparatively safe. If they are to enter industry
their job should be in safe surroundings. Hazardous employment should be left
to the employee who has reached or at least approaches the age of discretion.
8 Wilcox, Fred M . (chairman, Industrial Commission of Wisconsin): “ The industrial commission and
its functions” (to be published in The History of Wisconsin). (In manuscript.)

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STATE

RECORDS OF INDUSTRIAL
TO EMPLOYED MINORS

ACCIDENTS

The records upon which this discussion is based were obtained
from the files of the State boards charged with the enforcement of
the workmen’s compensation laws 1— in Wisconsin the Industrial
Commission, in Massachusetts the Department of Industrial Acci
dents, and in New Jersey the Workmen’s Compensation Bureau.
These three States were chosen for study because they are industrial
States employing large numbers of minors, because they have good
laws for the protection of their young workers, and because their
records were so filed and indexed that the accidents to minors could
readily be located. Because the three States differ in their indus
tries, the occupations in which minors are employed, the kinds of
work prohibited to minors bv their child labor laws, and the provi
sions of their compensation laws, the data in regard to each State
are presented separately.
In the analyses of these accidents to minors emphasis has been
placed upon their causes, since an accurate knowledge of these causes
constitutes the only adequate basis for further preventive measures.
The classification of causes of injury used is that recommended by a
special committee of the International Association of Industrial Acci
dent Boards and Commissions,2 with slight modifications made
necessary by the varying conditions in' each State. In accordance
with the committee’s recommendation, also, the accidents have been
assigned to the proximate or immediate cause, defined as follows:
“ That the accident should be charged to that condition or circum
stance the absence of which would have prevented the accident; but
if there be more than one such condition or circumstance, then to
the one most easily prevented.” An illustration given by the com
mittee to make clear the meaning of the rule is that of a workman
passing through an aisle who “ stumbles upon a defective floor and
throws his hand into an open gear which mashes off two of his fingers.
Under the rule adopted this accident is to be charged to the gear and
no t to stumbling. Had the gear been properly covered the workman
might still have been injured by his fall, but the injury which did
occur, namely, the loss of two fingers, would not have happened.”
i The records of such State boards constitute practically the only general source of statistics of industrial
accidents to minors. Comparatively little of this information, however, is available in published re
ports. See Appendix C, p. 110, for an annotated list of references on industrial accidents to employed
minors in the United States.
„
„ ,, _
'
„1 .. ,.
s Standardization of Industrial Accident Statistics, pp. 32—51. Reports of the Committee on Statistics
and Compensation Insurance Cost of the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and
Commissions. U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin No. 276. Washington, 1920.
3

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WISCONSIN
INDUSTRIES OPEN TO MINORS

The Federal census of 1920 shows that in Wisconsin 34.1 per cent
(339,811) of the gainfully occupied persons of 10 years and over were
engaged in manufacturing and mechanical industries and 30.9 per
cent (308,050) in agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry. The
metal industries employed over one-third of all wage earners engaged
m manufacturing industries, with lumber and furniture (16.1 per
cent), food (8.5 per cent), and paper and wood pulp (4.8 per cent)
ranking next. Textiles, chiefly knit goods, were fifth in number of
wage earners employed. The 10 manufacturing industries employing
the largest number of wage earners were lumber and timber products,
foundry and machine-shop products, engines (steam, gas, and water),
paper and wood pulp, car and railroad shops, furniture, automobiles,
knit goods, boots and shoes, and leather.1
The child labor law prohibited the employment of children under
14 years of age 2 and required minors under 17 to obtain labor per
mits in order to be employed legally; the employment of minors
under 16 in certain dangerous occupations and the employment of
those under 18 in certain others was also prohibited.3
Of the total number of persons employed under 20 years of age4
namely, 114,094 (as of January 1, 1920), 35.7 per cent were engaged
in manufacturing and mechanical industries, 28.4 per cent in agri
culture, forestry, and animal husbandry. A slightly larger propor
tion of the working minors under 20 than of the workers 20 years of
age and over was evidently engaged in manufacturing and me
chanical industries, as seen by comparison with the figures for the
total of occupied persons 10 years of age and over given above; and
a slightly smaller proportion of the younger group than of the older
was to be found in agricultural pursuits.
EXTENT OF DISABILITY FROM INDUSTRIAL INJURY

The 2,282 compensable injuries to minors under 21 years of age
during the period under consideration resulted in 12 deaths, 259 cases of
permanent partial disability, and 2,011 cases of temporary disability.
The duration of nearly half (49.4 per cent) the cases of temporary
disability was but two weeks or less, only 18 per cent lasting longer
than four weeks. The duration of disability was in general somewhat
longer for the younger workers than for the older ones. Threefourths (74.3 per cent) of the temporary disabilities of the group of
workers 14 and 15 years old terminated in four weeks or less, as com1Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, Vol. IV, Population, pp. 1042,1045: Vol. I X Manufac
tures, pp. 1612, 1613. Washington, 1923.
’
’
2 Except that the employment of children between 12 and 14 years of age in certain occupations (but not
in manufacturing or mechanical establishments) was permitted during school vacations. Agricultural
pursuits were exempted from the operation of the law.
6
2 Wisconsin, Stat. 1923, sec. 103.05, subsec. 4. See also Appendix B, p. 105.
* The number of persons employed under 21 years of age is not available because the census includes
those 20 years of age in the group of persons 20 to 24 years of age.

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STATE RECORDS OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MINORS

pared with over four-fifths of the temporary disabilities to the groups
of workers 16 and 17 years old, and those between 18 and 21 years of
age (83.7 per cent and 81.8 per cent respectively). Disability contin
uing from four weeks to two months constituted 21.9 per cent of the
temporary injuries to workers 14 and 15 years old, 14.1 per cent to
those 16 and 17 years old, and 14.8 per cent of those to the group
between 18 and 21 years of age.
Extent of disability varied Dut slightly with sex and’ with age. A
slightly higher proportion of the injuries to girls was followed by
death or permanent partial disability than of the injuries to boys.
The percentage of permanent partial disability resulting from in
juries to minors 16 and 17 years old (9.6 per cent) was- somewhat
lower than that of such disability resulting from injuries to minors
under 16 years or to those of 18 years and over (11.8 per cent in each
group).
Table 1 shows the extent of disability from industrial injuries to
minors, by sex of the injured. Table 2 shows the extent of disability
from industrial injuries to minors, by age of the injured.
T a b l e 1.— Extent of disability from industrial injuries to minors, by sex of injured:

Wisconsin
Industrial injuries to minors
Girls

Boys

Total
Extent of disability

Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Number distribu Number distribu Number distribu
tion
tion
tion
Total.............. ........... ........... - ......... -

2,282

100.0

2,009

100.0

273

100.0

Death______________ ___________ _____
Permanent partial------------ ------- --------Temporary-------------------- - ------ -------------

12
259
2,011

.5
11.3
88.1

9
225
1,775

.4
11.2
88.4

3
34
236

1.1
12.5
86.4

T a b l e 2. — Extent of disability from industrial injuries to minors, by age of injured:

Wisconsin
Industrial injuries to minors
Extent of disability
Age of injured
Total

Permanent partial

Death

Temporary

Number Per cent1 Number Per cent1 Number Per cent1
22,282
26
93
3216
292
544
587
523

1
3
6
3

0.5

2259

.3
.6
.9
.6

4
10
17
32
66
72
57

i Not shown where base is less than 50.
* Includes 1 injury to a minor whose age was not reported,
aIncludes 6 injuries to minors under 17 ye%rs, age not otherwise specified.

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11.3

2,011

88.1

10.8
7.9
11.0
12.1
12.3
10.9

22
83
199
259
475
510
463

89.2
92.1
88.7
87.3
86.9
8A 3

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

The Wisconsin accident reports showed slight differences between
minors under 21 and workers of all ages in the extent of disability.
The total number of compensable injuries reported in 1920 was
16,246. There were 171 fatal accidents, 15 permanent total dis
abilities, 1,620 permanent partial disabilities,, and 14,440 temporary
injuries. Of the total industrial accidents 1.1 per cent caused death;
of those to minors 0.5 per cent caused death. The proportion of
permanent partial disability among accidents to minors was higher
than among accidents to all workers (11.3 per cent for minors, 10
per cent for the total). The percentage of temporary disability
was practically the same for the two groups (88.1 per cent for
minors, 88.9 per cent for the total), but 49.4 per cent of the cases of
temporary disability affecting minors lasted two weeks or less as
compared with 36.6 per cent of all cases of temporary disability.
LOCATION OF INJURY

Injuries to the head numbered 142, nearly one-half of which
involved the eyes, impaired vision or loss of an eye resulting in 12
cases. There was one case of complete deafness in one ear. Four
head injuries resulted in death.5 Of the 142 injuries to the trunk, 7
caused death. Thirty-four of the injuries were hernias.
Two-thirds of the injuries were to the upper extremities. These
consisted chiefly of injuries to the hands (1,219), causing 227 cases of
permanent partial disability. There were 264 injuries to the elbow
or lower arm, causing dismemberment in 4 cases and partial loss of
use in 8 cases. There were 25 injuries of the shoulder and upper
arm, resulting in 2 cases of permanent impairment of use.
One-fifth of the injuries were to the lower extremities. These
consisted chiefly of injuries to the foot (259) and to the knee and lower
leg (205). In only 20 cases was the injury to the leg above the knee.
In 3 cases toes were amputated, in 2 there was permanent impairment
of use of the leg; the other injuries to the lower extremities caused
only temporary disability.
Table 3 shows the location of industrial injuries to Wisconsin
minors. (See also Appendix A, Table II.)
T a b l e 3.— Location of industrial injuries to minors: Wisconsin
Industrial injuries
to minors
Location of injury

Location of injury

Trunk_____________________

Industrial injuries
to minors

Number

Per cent
distribu
tion

2,282

100.0

Upper extremities__________

1,508

66.1

6.2
6.2

Not reported.______________

142
142

Per cent
Number distribu
tion

« Injuries to the face and neck were not classified apart from other head injuries in Wisconsin as they
were in the other two States studied.

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STATE RECORDS OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MINORS

NATURE OF INJURY

Cuts caused three-fourths of the cases of permanent partial dis
ability. The upper extremities suffered most of the cuts (four-fifths),
as would be expected from the data given in the foregoing paragraph,
and three-fourths of this number were on the hands. The lower
extremities received one-fourth of the cuts, and the head one-twelfth.
Bruises were chiefly on the upper and lower extremities, one-twen
tieth being on the head. The lacerations or abrasions, which caused
7.7 per cent of the cases of permanent partial disability, were chiefly
on the hands; less than one-tenth were on the lower extremities.
Over one-half of the fractures (causing 4.6 per cent of the cases of
permanent partial disability) were of the upper extremities (onethird of the elbow and lower arm, one-fifth of the hands) and onethird of the lower extremities. Crushings (causing 7.7 per cent of
the cases of permanent partial disability) were chiefly o f the hands
(85.2 per cent). Not quite one-half of the sprains and strains
were od the upper extremities, while one-third were of the lower
extremities and nearly one-fifth were of the trunk (including 34 cases
of hernia). More burns affected the lower extremities than the
upper ones. Nearly one-fifth were on the head, half of them in
volving the eyes. One-half of the dislocations were of the elbow
and lower arm.
.
. . .
Table 4 shows the nature of injuries sustained by employed mmors
in Wisconsin.
T a b l e 4.— Nature of industrial injuries to minors: Wisconsin
Industrial injuries
to minors

Industrial injuries
to minors
Nature of injury

Nature of injury
Number

Per cent
distribution

Total_________________

2,282

100.0

Cuts and punctures.................
Bruises-------------- ---------------Lacerations and abrasions----Fractures..................................

784
418
264
236

34.4
18.3
11.6
10.3

Crushing................................
Sprains and strains-------------Burns............ ..........................
Dislocations-----------------------Concussions and shocks-------Not reported.............. ........—-

Per cent
Number distribution
230
181
118
18
2
31

10.1
7.9
6.2
.8
.1
1.4

Infection occurred in one-tenth of the cases of injury and caused
10 cases of permanent partial disability. It took place in onefifth (19.3 per cent) of the cuts causing disability of a compensable
duration. So large a percentage of infections shows that it is still
necessary to emphasize the importance of maintaining first-aid
stations and of training workers to go there promptly to have even
minor injuries properly treated.
COMPENSATION FOR INJURY

Compensation for injuries consisted in Wisconsin of weekly pay
ments during temporary disability, or for a fixed period in case of
death or permanent disability, of an amount equal to 65 per cent of

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INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

the average weekly wage,8 this amount, however, being limited by
a fixed maximum and minimum. On this basis the weekly payments
could not be less than $6.83 nor more than $14.63 (65 per cent of
a weekly wage of $10.50 to $22.50).7 Because of the low maximum,
only 55.6 per cent of the injured children received weekly compensa
tion equal to 65 per cent of their actual wages. Although 5.8 per cent
received more than this percentage, as many as 37.7 per cent received
less.
Increased compensation must be paid by the Wisconsin employer
under certain conditions. If a minor is injured while employed with
out the labor permit required by law or while employed in a prohibited
occupation, treble compensation must be paid.8 If an injury to any
worker is caused by failure of the employer to comply with the law or
with an order of the industrial commission, compensation is increased
15 per cent. But if the injury is caused by failure of the employee to
comply with a safety order, his compensation is reduced 15 per cent.®
In 135 cases of injuries to minors during the year of the study,
increased compensation was paid— in 51 cases because the. injured
minor had no labor permit, in 16 because the minor was at work in
a prohibited employment, and in 68 instances because the employer
had not obeyed the safety orders of the commission. On the other
hand, one minor had his compensation decreased 15 per cent because
the injury was caused by his disobedience of a safety order.
Violation cases constituted 17.6 per cent of the injuries to workers of
14 and 15 years; 11.8 per cent of thè injuries to minors of 16 and 17
years; 3.3 per cent of the injuries to minors 18 years of age and over.
Those under 18 years of age received the increased compensation in
most instances because of employment without permits or in pro
hibited occupations, but in 15 cases the employer had violated a safety
order. All violations in the cases of minors 18 years of age and over
were of safety orders.
In four-fifths of the cases where the injured minor was employed
without a labor permit temporary disablement resulted, in one-fifth
permanent partial disability, and in one case death resulted. Onethird of the injuries to minors employed in prohibited occupations
caused permanent partial disability. One-half of the injuries occur
ring through violation of safety orders caused permanent partial
disability, and one death resulted.
The violation cases cost industry in compensation payments
$27,000 in regular compensation and $23,000 in increased compensa-,
tion, besides $5,000 in medical aid— a total of more than $50,000.
The cost to the injured in terms of physical injury alone was an average
6 Wisconsin, Stat. 1923, sec. 102.09, subsec. (2), subdivs. (a), (b), (c); Acts of 1919, eh. 692, sec. 3. A maxi
mum of four years’ earnings was fixed in case of payments for temporary disability. Certain provisions
were also made for reasonable medical and hospital services, etc. If disability continued until the 28th day
(until the 22d by amendment passed since the period of the study) compensation must be paid for the first
7 days (Stat. 1923, sec. 102.09, subsec. (2), subdiv. (d)).
7 Since the period of the study the maximum weekly wage upon which the compensation is based has been
increased from $22.50 to $28. See Wisconsin Stat. 1923, sec. 102.11, subsec. (1).
8 The provision for treble compensation applies only to minors “ of permit age or over ” ; the permit age is
between 14 (12 in certain occupations during vacation) and 17 years of age. Children under permit age are
not included under the compensation law. (Wisconsin Stat. 1923, sec. 103.05, subsec. (4); sec. 102.07.)
Since the period of this study the law has been amended to require only double compensation in ease the
injured minor is employed without a permit, provided he is not employed in a prohibited occupation or
in an occupation for which the industrial commission has declared no permit shall be issued. In the
latter cases treble compensation is still exacted. (Wisconsin, Acts of 1925, ch. 384.)
9 The employer, and not the insurance carrier, is primarily liable for the increased compensation, and can
not insure himself against this liability. Wisconsin, Stat. 1923, sec. 102.09, subsecs. (7), (8); subsec. (5),
subdivisions (h), (i), (i).

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STATE RECORDS OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MINORS

of 27 days’ disability in 84 cases, permanent disability in 50, and
death in 2. The much higher proportion of severe injuries' among
the violation cases— two-fifths o f these in contrast to one-tenthof the
compensated injuries which were not violation cases resulting in
death or permanent disability— emphasizes the need of legal protection
for young workers.
CAUSES OF INJURY

Machinery was the most frequent cause of injury to minors, being
responsible for nearly two-fifths of their injuries. Handling objects
was the next most frequent cause of injury, being responsible for onefifth of all injuries. Then in order of frequency came hand tools,
falls of persons, vehicles, stepping on or striking against objects,
each of these groups being responsible for 6 or 7 per cent of the
injuries.
Three-fourths of all the injuries resulting in permanent partial dis
ability were due to machinery. Over one-fifth of all machine injuries
caused death or permanent partial disability, whereas less than onetenth of the injuries due to any other cause resulted in anything
more serious than temporary disability.
Table 5 shows the causes of industrial injuries to minors in Wis
consin. (For full list of causes of injury, with data concerning the
injuries, see Appendix A, Tables III and IV.)
T a b l e 5.— Cause of industrial injuries to minors: Wisconsin
Industrial injuries
to minors

Industrial injuries
to minors
Cause of injury

Cause of injury
Number

Per cent
distri
bution

2,282

100.0

864
491
166
159
147

37.9
21.5
7.3
7.0
6.4

146

6.4

Hand tools___ - ......... ..........
Vehicles------- --------- -----------Stepping on or striking
against objects..... ........... .

Number

Falling objects______ _______
Hot and corrosive substances.
Explosions, electricity_______
Rafting, river driving_______
Occupational diseases and
harmful conditions. ______
All other and not reported-----

Per cent
distri
bution

101
88
20
19

4.4
3.9
.9
.8

11
70

.5
3.1

MACHINERY

Machinery was the cause of 864 compensable injuries to minors in
Wisconsin. It was responsible for 32.8 per cent of the injuries to
minors under 16 years oi age, 46.4 per cent to those of 16 or 17 years,
and 35.5 per cent to those of 18 years and over. The percentage of
the injuries to all workers caused by machinery was only one-half
as high as the corresponding percentage of injuries to minors.
Motors and transmission apparatus caused 28 injuries, 15 were
caused by machines other than power-driven machinery, including
fans, blowers, and pumps, and 49 by hoisting machinery. The great
majority of injuries (772) were due to power-driven machines, three
kinds of which— metal-working, woodworking, and paper and paper
products making— caused nearly four-fifths (79.7 per cent) of the
injuries due to power-driven machinery and over one-fourth of all
the injuries. There are striking differences among the age groups,

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INDUSTRIAL. ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

however. Sixteen per cent of the accidents to children under 16
years were due to these three classes of machines, as compared with
32 per cent of the accidents to workers 16 and 17 years of age, and 26
per cent of those to minors of 18 years and over.
Power-driven machinery.

The great majority (73.3 per cent) of injuries due to power-driven
machinery occurred in the actual operation of the machine, less than
10 per cent taking place while the machine or work was being ad
justed, and only 4 per cent occurring while the machine was being
cleaned or oiled. In a still larger proportion of the cases (88.7 per
cent) the injury took place at the working point of the machine and
was not due to the worker’s being caught by gears, fly wheels, set
screws, or belts. Mechanical safeguards to prevent operators from
being caught in such apparatus and the regulations forbidding chil
dren to clean and oil machinery in motion seem to have reduced to
a comparatively small proportion the injuries due. to such causes.
Metal-woricing machinery.— Metal-working machinery caused 285
accidents— one-eighth of the total number. None was fatal, but 79,
or 28 per cent, resulted in permanent partial disability. Temporary
total disability for varying periods followed 206 accidents; 108 of the
injured returned to work within two weeks, 77 in from two to four
weeks, and 21 were disabled more than four weeks. The law pro
hibited children under 16 from employment on certain dangerous
metal-working machines, for instance, punches, drills, emery wheels,
shears, wire and iron straightening machines, and stamping machines.
Six children 15 years of age were injured (three on lathes, one on a
punch press, one on a riveting machine, one on a press on which he
was making small parts), and one child 14 years of age was injured
while working on a reamer. The operation of few metal-working
machines was specifically prohibited for minors of -16 and 17 years,
and machines o f this type caused 13 per cent of the accidents to minors
of these ages, in contrast to 5.9 per cent of the accidents to minors
under 16 years of age. Among the accidents to minors of 18 years
and over, 12.8 per cent were caused by metal-working machinery.
Punch presses caused not only more but also graver injuries than
any other metal-working machine, being responsible for 39 of the 79
cases of permanent partial disability among minors caused by these
machines. The importance of metal-working industries in Wiscon
sin might suggest the possibility of a large number of accidents on
such machinery, and in 1920 the Wisconsin Industrial Commission
issued a special bulletin 10 giving suggestions for guarding the presses
more adequately, and saying, “ There are too many punch-press acci
dents in Wisconsin. They are becoming more numerous and are
causing injuries that are growing more severe.” 11 In that year 397
accidents in the total of 16,246 were due to metal punch presses. In
1923, 349 injuries in a larger total (20,941) were due to tnem. This
was a reduction of nearly one-third in the proportion of punch-press
accidents to the total number of accidents. The commission’s bulle
tin does not show how many minors were injured by punch presses
10 Metal-working Press Accidents in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Industrial Commission Bulletin, Madison,
Wis., 1920.
11 The prohibition of the employment of all minors under 18 years of age on metal-cutting or stamping
machines is recommended by the New York State Industrial Commission in connection with a study of
industrial accidents to minors in that State. See Appendix C, p. 115.

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STATE RECORDS OE INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MINORS

in 1923, but a table 12 showing causes of injuries to 2,251 minors
whose cases were settled during that fiscal year shows that in three
years the number of compensable injuries due to all metal-working
machinery decreased from 285 to 174, or from 12.5 per cent of all the
injuries to minors to 7.7 per cent. How much of the decrease was
due to more adequate guarding of punch presses is not shown.
Table fi shows the kinds of metal-working machinery causing
injuries to minors of different ages.
T a b l e 6. — Kinds

of metal-working machinery causing injuries to minors, by age
of injured: Wisconsin
Industri al injuries to minors due to
m etal-working machinery

Kind of metal-working machinery causing injury

Age of injured
Total

Total.............................................. .....................................
Presses_______________________ __________
Punch____ ____ _________________ _____ _

______

Other presses______________ ________________ ___________
Lathes____________________________

_____

Turret_____________________ ____ _____ ____________
Other lathes___________________ _______________________
Milling machines____________________ ____ _______ ___

Under 16
years

16-17
years

18-20
years

285

212

119

91
8
20

17
1
7

73
7
12

10
22

1
2

2
4

7
16

Facing.___________ ___________________________________
Gear-cutting___ ____ _____________ _____ _____________

13
3

10
3

Drills_______________________________________
________
Emery wheels, abrasive________ ______ _____________________
Shears_____ ______________ ____ _____ _____ _________
Boring machines________________ ___________ _____________
Planers and shapers_________________ _______
Reamers________________________________ _________•
___
All other___________________ ________________

20
27
11
5
4
3
48

5
5
5
1

15
22
6
4
4
2
31

1
1

Woodworking machinery.— The percentage of permanent partial
disability resulting from accidents due to woodworking machinery
was practically the same as that for accidents due to metal-working
machinery. That is, 58, or 27.3 per cent, of the 212 injuries caused
by woodworking machinery resulted in permanent partial disability,
and 1 death occurred. Saws of various sorts were responsible for
one-half of all the accidents attributable to woodworking machinery.
Employment on certain dangerous woodworking machines was
prohibited to minors under 16 years. (See Appendix B, p. 106). If
the law had been complied with, only three of the nine woodworkingmachine accidents to children of this age group would have occurred.
The six employed in prohibited occupations were two 14-year-old boys
injured while working on cut-off saws, three children 15 years old
working on circular saws, and another 15 years old working on a glue
spreader. The two children 14 years of age and one of 15 years were
» Wisconsin Labor Statistics, Vol. 1, No. 10, p. 8, October, 1923.

61205°—26f----- 2

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INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

only temporarily disabled, but the three of 15 years injured on circu
lar saws suffered*permanent disability. (For example of such injufy
see case No. 25, p. 80).
Minors 16 and 17 years of age, for whom work on woodworking
machines was not specifically prohibited, suffered 70 accidents from
machines of this type— 13.8 per cent of all the accidents to minors of
these ages; in contrast, only 7.6 per cent of the accidents to workers
under 16, and only 8 per cent of those to workers between 18 and 21
years of age, were caused by these machines. Permanent partial
disability was caused by 17 of the 70 accidents. Nearly one-half of
the injuries which woodworking machines caused to workers 16 and
17 years of age were due to saws. Two of the four minors who were
injured on circular saws and permanently disabled by them received
an additional 15 per cent compensation because their machines had
not been guarded as the safety code required.
Table 7 shows the woodworking machines causing injuries to
minors, by age of the injured.
T a b l e 7.— Kinds of woodworking machinery causing injuries to minors, by age

of injured: Wisconsin
Industria ! injuries to minors due to
w<>odworkin{ machinery
Kind of woodworking machinery causing injury

A ge of injur« d
Total

Under 16
years

16-17
years

18-20
years

T o ta l..__________ _____________ _____________________

212

133

Saws__________ _______ ______________ ____ _________ __ ____

123

Circular__________________________ _____________________
Trim, cut-off.-._________ ______________________ _____

79
24
7
13

3
»3

20
8
2
4

56
13
5
8

7
• 4
4
4
4
1
1

7
a
3

Other____________ _______ _______ __________________ ___
Jointers.._____________________ _____ _____ ____ ____ _______
Matchers.______ ______ ___________________ ____ _______ ____
Press-box nailers_____________________ ____ _____ ___________
Planers .IT_________ _____ ___ ____ ___________ __________
Edgers_______________________ ______________________ ____ _
Glue spreaders_______________________ _____________ _______

14
12
8
8
6
5
5
4
4
4
3
3
13

3
1
2
6

4
2

4
4
4
1
4
g
]

1One of these 3 children was walking past the cut-off saw and was caught by it.

Paper and paper products making machinery.— None of the 118
accidents in connection with machines for making paper and paper
products resulted fatally, but 15 caused permanent partial disability.
This proportion of permanent disability (12.7 per cent) is lower thaD
that for accidents due to either metal-working or woodworking
machines (28 and 27 per cent, respectively). Accidents occurred to 3
children 15 years of age, one of whom was cleaning a paper-box cornerstaying machine, one operating a corner-creasing machine, and the
third operating a paper-cutting machine. One had a finger nail torn

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STATE RECORDS OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MINORS

off, and in the other cases infection developed, causing disability of
7 weeks for each child. As with metal-working and woodworking
machines, the proportion of accidents due to paper and paper products
making machines was greater among the workers of 16 years (12
injured) and 17 years (16 injured) than among those under 16 (5.5
per cent as compared with 2.5 per cent). There were 4 cases of per
manent partial disability. Table 8 gives further data on the injuries
of minors (by age groups) from paper or paper products making ma
chinery.
T a b l e 8 .—

Kinds of paper and paper products making machinery causing injuries
to minors, by age of injured: Wisconsin
Industrial injuries to minors due to
paper making and paper products
making machinery

Kind of paper and paper products making machinery

. Age of injured
Total
Under 16
years

Total______ ______________

118

Paper-making machinery________

Rolls and winders____________
Calendars__________ ________
Slitters_______ 1____________ _
Other_______________________

30
16
4
18

Paper products making machinery.

Lacers_________ _____________
Comer stayers.............. ............
Cutters_____________________
Comer creasers____________ _
Wire stitchers_______________
Other_______________________

6
5
-5
4
4
26

16-17
years

18-20
year?

i
i

25
11
3
17

1
1
2

5
3
2
3
2
16

3
1
1
1

2
10

Other hinds o f power-driven machinery.— Tanning machines caused
11 injuries, and leather-working machinery (especially cutters,
heelers, punches, presses), 38. Of these 49 injuries 3 occurred to
children under 16 years of age, 13 to minors of 16 and 17 years, the
remainder to minors of 18 years and over. Permanent partial dis
ability resulted in 14 cases. Food, beverage, and tobacco-working
machines caused 24 injuries— baking and confectionery machines 12,
meat choppers or slicers 4, and canning machines 4. Only 2 of the
injured were under 16 years of age, 10 were 16 or 17 years old, and
12 were 18 years of age and over. Permanent partial disability
resulted in 5 cases. Textile machinery (chiefly knitting and braiding
machines, sewing machines, cutters, looms, cards) caused 36 injuries.
Four of the injured were under 16 years of age, 11 were 16 or 17 years
old. Permanent partial disability resulted in 5 cases. (For example
of such injury see case No. 15, p. 74.)
Hoisting machinery.

Hoisting machinery caused 49 accidents, 21 of them due to eleva
tors, 28 to cranes and derricks. The injuries most frequently resulted
from the worker’s being caught between the platform and floor of the
elevator, to his being caught by some part of the crane or derrick,

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INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

or to his being struck by the load on the crane or derrick. One of
the children injured was under 16 years of age, and 11 were 16 or 17
years old. One death resulted, when a girl was caught between the
elevator platform and the floor. Each of 3 boys lost a finger^ and 1
boy had a finger broken.
HANDLING OBJECTS

The group of injuries next largest after that caused by machinery
was that due to handling objects, which included over one-fifth of
the injuries. A larger number of injuries were due to handling
heavy objects than to handling sharp or rough ones, using hand
trucks, or loading or unloading objects. Heavy lifting produced 26
of the 34 cases of hernia recorded among minors and over two-thirds
of the 54 sprains and strains attributed to handling objects. Infec
tion followed many wounds, especially those caused by sharp or
rough objects. There were 101 cases of infection in 163 instances of
injury from sharp or rough objects causing compensable disability.
Permanent partial disability followed the injury in 26 cases of handling
objects, 23 of these involving amputation or loss of use of a finger, 1
the loss of the use of the wrist, 1 the loss of two fingers, and 1 the loss
of a toe. The percentage of the injuries to minors in each of the
three age groups due to handling objects was nearly the same, but
the percentage of these injuries caused by different types of objects
varied for the three groups. Sharp or rough objects caused over
one-half of the injuries from this cause to children under 16 years,
over two-fifths of those to workers of 16 and 17 years, and less than
one-third to those of 18, 19, or 20 years, whereas the percentage
caused by heavy objects increased in the older groups.
Table 9 shows the industrial injuries caused to minors by handling
objects.
T a b l e 9.— Manner of occurrence of industrial injuries to minors due to handling

objects: Wisconsin

Manner of occurrence of in
jury, and kind of object
bandied

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

D rop p ed .._____________
Catching worker..______
Catching worker against
Causing strain in handFalling

while

being

Falling while being piled.
Other.......................... ......

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Industrial injuries
to minors due to
handling objects

Number

Per cent
distri
bution

491

100.0

279

56.8

61
25

12.4
5.1

Manner of occurrence of in
jury, and kind of object
handled

Industrial injuries
to minors due to
handling objects

Number

Sharp or rough objects______

Protruding wires or nails.

Per cent
distri
bution

163

33.2

42
IS
16
92

8.6
2 fi
3.3
18.7

9.6

10.0

2.0

48
11
77

9.8
2.2
15.7

19
14
16

3.9
2.9
3.3

Object falling from______

5
}

STATE RECORDS OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MINORS

HAND TOOLS

Hand tools caused 7.3 per cent of all the accidents to minors. By
far the greatest number (103) of the 166 injuries from hand tools
resulted from the glancing of the implement.13 The injuries were cuts
or punctures, bruises, and lacerations in 90 per cent of the cases, with
4 cases of fracture and 5 of sprain or strain. There were no deaths
and only a few cases of permanent disability, nearly one-half of the
injured recovering within two weeks and only 24 (14.5 per cent)
being disabled longer than four weeks. Of the 10 cases of permanent
disability, 5 were injuries to the eye caused by the flying particles set
in motion by the tool (for example of such injury see case No. 24,
p. 79), and in 3 cases a finger was cut off. Twelve of the injured
minors were under 16 years of age, 36 were 16 or 17 years old, and
118 were 18 years of age and over. The percentage of their injuries
due to hand tools was highest for workers under 16, although the
variation in the three age groups was slight.
Table 10 shows the manner of occurrence of injury from hand tools.
T able

10.— Manner of occurrence of industrial injuries to minors due to hand
tools: Wisconsin
Industrial injuries
to minors due to
hand tools
Manner of occurrence of injury from hand tools
Per cent
Number distribu
tion

Total______________________________

166

100.0

Tool in hands of injured worker_______________

160

96.'*

Glancing or slipping of tool in use______
Flying particles set in motion by tool____
Other__________________________

119
16
26

71.7
9.0
15.7

3.6

Tool in hands of fellow worker___ ____

FALLS OF PERSONS

Injuries due to falls of persons constituted 7 per cent of the total
number of injuries to employed minors. Of the 159 injuries attrib
uted to falls, 49 resulted from slipping. These with 19 falls from
stairways and 18 instances of stumbling accounted for over one-half
of such injuries. Two accidents resulted fatally; one boy fell from
a scaffold as the supporting cable gave way, another boy was caught
by a log on a rollway and carried with it to the bottom of the pile.
There were two cases of permanent partial disability. A boy of 20
years, who was holder-on for a riveter, fell to the bottom of the boat
under construction when the plank on which he was standing broke.
Since .the safety order for scaffold planks had been disobeyed this
boy received an additional 15 per cent compensation for the partial
loss of use of two fingers which he suffered. The other boy who was
permanently injured was only 16 years old. Employed as a helper
m putting up electric wires, he tell from a pole with consequent
fractures of skull, jaw, and both arms (see case No. 14, p. 73).
13In Wisconsin the glancing or slipping of the tool was the most frequent cause of injury from hand
tools over a three-year period (Wisconsin Labor Statistics, Vol. I, Nos. II and 12 (November and Decem
ber), 1923, p. 3).

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INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

Since over one-half of the falls produced fractures, sprains, or
strains, the duration of disability was comparatively long— 22.6
per cent of the minors thus injured being disabled more than four
weeks. Falls caused 8.4 per cent of the accidents to children under
16 years of age, 5.7 per cent of those to workers of 16 and 17 years,
and 7.3 per cent of those to minors of 18 years and over.
Table 11 shows the manner of occurrence of falls injuring employed
minors.
T

able

11.— Manner of occurrence of industrial injuries to minors due to falls
of persons: Wisconsin
Industrial injuries
to minors due
to falls of persons

Industrial injuries
to minors due
to falls of persons
Manner of occurrence of in
jury

Manner of occurrence of in
jury
Number

Per cent
distribu
tion

159

100.0

34.6

19
6
6

11.9
3.8
3.8

Other__________________

8
16

5.0
10.1

Falling into excavations, pits,
and shafts________________

5.0

Bins or vats____________
Floor openings__________
Other__________________

4
2
2

2.5
1.3
1.3

Total

Ladders________________
Benches, boxes, chairs,

Falling on level_____________
Stumbling over loose objects.................... ...........
Stumbling over fixed obOther______________________

Per cent
Number distribu
tion
69

43.4

30.8

1.3

11.3

.27

17.0

VEHICLES

Vehicles caused 6 per cent of all the injuries to minors. Auto
mobiles or motorcycles were involved in over half of these 147 acci
dents, and the immediate cause of 56 of the 86 motor-vehicle acci
dents was the process of cranking.
Death resulted in two cases; one when a hoy of 17 was struck by a
train, the other when a boy of 18 was caught under an overturning
automobile. There were five cases of permanent partial disability.
A boy of 16 fell as he was getting out of a wagon and sustained a
compound fracture of the elbow, which caused 60 per cent loss of use.
Because he had been employed without a permit he received treble
compensation. A 17-year-old boy was caught under a load of ties
which overturned on top of him, so that his shoulder was broken, he
was badly bruised, and the use of his shoulder was impaired. A
street-car conductor, aged 19, put his head out of the door on the
wrong side of the car and was struck by a passing car. The hearing
of one ear was almost entirely destroyed. Another 19-year-old boy
lost his thumb at the distal joint by getting it caught between the
wheel and the box of a dump cart, and a third of the same age lost
three fingers which were injured by catching them in the chain of a
motor cycle.
Since over one-half of the injuries were fractures, sprains, or strains,
disablement due to vehicular accidents was comparatively long,

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STATE HE CORDS OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MINORS

Two-fifths of the injured workers were disabled longer than four
weeks, and only one-fourth recovered within two weeks.
A somewhat smaller proportion of the injuries to workers under 16
years were due to vehicles than of the injuries to workers in higher age
groups. The figures are 5 per cent for workers under 16, 5.7 per cent
or those 16 and 17 years old, and 6.8 per cent for those 18 years of
age and over.
Table 12 shows the manner of occurrence of industrial injurv
caused by vehicles.
T able 12.— Manner of occurrence of industrial injuries to minors due to vehicles:
Wisconsin
Industrial injuries
to minors due to
vehicles
Manner of occurrence of injury and kind of vehicle
Per cent
Number distribu
tion
Total_______________

147

100.0

Cars and engines__________

10.9

7
5
4

4.8
34
2.7

6.1

1.4

2
2
3

1.4
1.4
2.0

Struck by or caught between__________
Falls from or in..
Other____________
Mines and quarry cars........
Collisions and derailments.
Struck by or caught between____
Lifting or pushing cars___
Other..................

Industrial injuries
to minors due to
vehicles
Manner o f occurrence of in
jury and kind of vehicle
Per cent
Number distribu
tion
Automobiles and motorcycles.
Cranking___
Collisions___
Overturning.
Other______
Animal-drawn vehicles.
Struck by or run over by..
Falls from_____________
Other___________

58.5
38.1
6.1

1.4
12.9
24.5
4.8
10.2
9.5

STEPPING ON OR STRIKING AGAINST OBJECTS

Although 146 injuries were due' to objects struck or stepped on by
employed mmors only 3 of these were serious. Striking against
machines, protruding nails or wires, or other objects caused 126
injuries, and stepping on sharp objects (mostly nails) caused 20
injuries. Of the minors temporarily disabled 60 per cent recovered
within two weeks, and only 15 per cent were disabled longer than
lour weeks. There were 3 cases of permanent partial disability, 1
worker losing the sight of one eye and 2 others losing the use of a
finger joint. One-half of the injuries were cuts or punctures, and
infection resulted in one-fifth of the cases. Many workers ignored
the cut or laceration at the time, not reporting it nor securing medical
attention until the appearance of infection several days after the
accident. This may be one reason why the percentage of injuries to
workers under 16 years of age due to striking against objects or
stepping on them was nearly twice as high as the percentage from
this cause occurring to minors of more mature years.
FALLING OBJECTS

Falling objects caused 101 compensable injuries. Objects dropping
from machines and workbenches caused 27 of these, objects tipping
over caused 15. There were 9 cases of collapse of piles and 14 of

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in d u s t r ia l

a c c id e n t s

em ployed

m in o r s

objects falling off piles upon the workers below. Falling rocks and
trees caused 10 injuries. There were 2 deaths (of 19-year-old boys) ,
1 caused by a falling tree, 1 by a falling rock. The falling of such
objects as sheets of iron, rock, a piece of timber, a piece of iron, a metal
pattern, caused 5 cases of permanent partial disablement. The
nature of such injury was impaired use of the legs, toes, or fingers.
Although the injuries were chiefly cuts, bruises, and crushing, 26 frac
tures occurred. One-half (49.5 per cent) of the workers suffering
temporary disability recovered within two weeks, and only one-tenth
were disabled longer than four weeks. A smaller proportion of the
minors under 16 were injured by falling objects than were those of 16
and over, only 1.7 per cent of the accidents to the younger group being
due to this cause. Of the accidents to minors of 16 and 17 years 3.3
per cent were due to falling objects, and minors of 18 years and over
received 5 per cent of their injuries from falling objects.
Table 13 shows the manner of occurrence of injuries due to falling
objects.
T

able

13.— Manner of occurrence of industrial injuries to minors due to falling
objects: Wisconsin
Industrial injuries
to minors due to
falling objects
Manner of occurrence of injury

Per cent
Number distribu
tion
101

100.0

9.9

9
1

8.9
1.0

64.4

27
14
24

26.7
13.9
23.8

15
6
5

14.9
5.9
5.0

OTHER CAUSES OF INJURY

Of the 208 remaining injuries to Wisconsin minors (9.1 per cent),
87 causing temporary disability and 1 causing permanent disability,
were due to hot or corrosive substances. These substances were
molten metal in 24 cases, other hot liquids in 21 cases, flames and
chemicals each in 7 cases, and steam in 6 cases. Explosions— of
furnaces, molten metal, bottles, and (in 2 fatal cases) of a dust
collector— caused 13 injuries. Electricity caused 7 injuries (1 fatal),
19 occurred in connection with rafting or river driving, and 11 were
occupational diseases or were due to harmful conditions of work.
Draft animals injured 13 minors who fell off, were kicked or stepped
on, or hurt in runaways. Flying particles caused 17 injuries. (Tor
further data on the injuries due to these causes see Appendix A,
Tables III and IY.)

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STATE RECORDS OE INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MINORS

OCCUPATIONAL RISK

An estimate of occupational risk has been made based upon the
number of minors under 20 years of age 14 reported by the federal
census 15 as employed in Wisconsin on January 1, 1920 (the mid
point of the period studied). The exact hours of exposure to risk of
injury can not be computed because the precise number of minors
employed day by day through the year, and the number of hours
they worked, can not be ascertained. The three groups exempted
by the act (agricultural laborers, employees in interstate commerce,
and Federal employees) were omitted.18 Any minors reported
engaged in occupations which include only employers and inde
pendent producers (to whom, of course; the act does not apply)
were also omitted. But all minors engaged in occupations which
might include both independent producers and employees were
considered employees on the ground that few minors under 20 years
of age are independent producers. No attempt was made to omit
those excluded from compensation by operation of the numerical
exemption feature of the law or those whose employers refused to
accept the act.17
Other possible errors are involved in the assumption that the
number employed January 1, 1920, is equal to the average number
employed throughout the year. If the actual number employed
January 1, 1920, was greater than the average the rates tend to be
understated, and if it was less than the average the rates tend to be
overstated. The procedure assumes that the conditions of employ
ment and of industry in January were about average. So far as
comparisons between occupations and industries are concerned,
furthermore, the accuracy of comparison is of course lessened by
the fact that no allowance can be made for variations in average
hours per day or per week, for variations in relative volume of
employment, or for variations in seasonal industries. Nevertheless,
while such variations might easily cause difference in rates amount
ing to 10 or even 20 per cent, the differences in rates far exceed these
variations in many cases. Consequently, though not too much
emphasis should be placed upon the actual injury rates shown,
it is believed that in cases of important differences in risk they
indicate that such differences do actually exist and that certain
occupations are subject to a much greater hazard than others. It
must be remembered that the injuries reported were only the com
pensable ones, that is, the injuries to the employees who were
covered by the compensation act and whose disability lasted longer
than the waiting period of one week.
n i he number of persons employed under 21 years of age is not available because the census includes
those 20 years of age m the group of persons 20 to 24 years of age.
is From no other source was it possible to obtain, for so large a group of minors, figures showing both
the average number of minors, by age groups, employed in the year covered by the study, and also the
occupations in which they were engaged. Records of employment certificates, for instance, could rot be
used, as the age groups and the certificate provisions of the State child labor laws are different for the three
States. Moreover, available tabulations of certificate data give the total number of certificates issued
during the year, and not the number of children holding certificates at any one time, and they do not
m?iu<ie
jHegaUy^employed. Nor were the essential data obtainable from the industrial statistics
collected by the State labor bureaus.
J
16 A fF™ e.r might elect to be subject to the act, and if he so elected his agricultural laborers were thereby
covered (Wisconsin, Stat. 1923, sec. 102.05, subsec. (2); sec. 102.08).
17 See footnote 5, p. 1. Employers (other than farmers) having three or more employees in a common
employment were deemed to have elected to accept the act unless they filed notice of withdrawal of election.
An employer having less than three employees in a common employment was not subject to the act, but
he might elect to come under it. If he did not so elect, however, his defense of assumed risk was abrogated
(Wisconsin, Stat. 1923, sec. 102.01; sec. 102.05, subsecs. (1)» (2)).

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INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

The injury rates computed by this method are estimates only, but
in the absence of full data on the numbers at risk are the best avail
able. There is no doubt that the estimated number of employees
covered by compensation is somewhat larger than the actual number
so covered; but this procedure gives a conservative result since it
tends to understate the injury risk.
So much difference appears in the occupations of boys and girls
under 20 years of age that the sexes are best treated separately.
Nearly two-thirds of the boys (62.1 per cent) were in manufacturing
and mechanical occupations, but only a little more than one-third
of the girls were thus employed. Nearly one-fourth of the girls
were in personal and domestic service, and one-fifth in clerical work;
but only 2.4 per cent of the boys were in personal and domestic
service and 13.5 per cent in clerical positions. The injury rate per
1,000 minors employed was 37 for boys, but only 6 for girls.
INJURY RATES FOR BOYS

Different risks appear even in the general occupation groups, and
still greater differences appear when the occupations within the general
groups are considered. The injuries per 1,000 boys employed varied
from none in a few occupations to several hundred in others; and
although the number employed in some occupations was too small
to afford a base for an injury rate, the high risk in many others was
clearly evidenced.
The greatest risk was in some of the manufacturing and mechanical
occupations. The metal, lumber and furniture, and paper and pulp
industries were the most dangerous. The injuries per 1,000 boys
employed were 89 for iron and brass molders, founders, and casters,
and 112 for buffers, polishers, and metal grinders. Injuries to semi
skilled workers in iron and steel industries were 110 per 1,000, rising
to 124 in agricultural-implement factories, 164 in automobile factories,
and 202 in ship and boat building. The rates for the laborers in the
same industries were 29, 39, 16, and 22, respectively. In tinware and
enamelware factories the boys in semiskilled occupations had an
injury rate of 329, the laborers a rate of 54. The injuries to the
semiskilled in brass and other metal mills were 126 per 1,000 employed.
The lumber and furniture industries were as a group more dangerous
than iron and steel industries, causing 137 injuries per 1,000 boys in
semiskilled occupations and 35 per 1,000 laborers. Boys in semi
skilled work in furniture factories had an injury rate of 80 per 1,000,
in saw and planing mills of 153 per 1,000, in other woodworking
industries of 204 per 1,000. For thelaborers the rates were lower (10,
47, and 28, respectively). In paper and pulp mills the rate for semi
skilled workers was 198; for laborers, 27. In general, a semiskilled
operative was more liable to injury than a laborer— 90 injuries
occurring to every 1,000 boys in semiskilled occupations and 24 to
every 1,000 laborers.
For the other manufacturing and mechanical occupations the
liability to injury was somewhat less. In the food industries the
injury rate to the semiskilled boys was 68 (29 in butter, cheese, and
condensed-milk factories, 86 in candy factories, 55 in slaughter and
packing houses). Among the boys employed as laborers in food
industries 29 per 1,000 were injured (17 per 1,000 in butter, cheese,

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STATE RECORDS OE INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MINORS

and condensed-milk factories, 28 in slaughter and packing houses).
In printing and publishing industries the boys in semiskilled occupa
tions had an injury rate of 102. In rubber factories the rate was 76,
in tanneries 66, in the electrical-supply factories 107. The injury
rate in the textile industries was lower, being 22 for the semiskilled
and 18 for the laborers. For tinsmiths and sheet-metal workers there
were 53 injuries for every 1,000 boys employed, for metal pattern
and model makers 22, for stationary engineers 38, for electricians 22.
In transportation the injury rate was 30 per 1,000 boys employed.
The highest rate was 109 for telegraph and telephone linemen. For
chauffeurs it was 54; for draymen, teamsters, and expressmen, 31.
Among laborers in transportation the injury rate was 25, and for the
small group of street-car conductors it was 38 per 1,000.
Occupations in trade offered fewer risks as a whole, the rate falling
to 21 per 1,000. The highest rate of injury was 84 for laborers,
porters, and helpers in stores. Deliverymen had an injury rate of
33, but the rate for clerks in stores was only 10, and for salesmen in
stores 4.
In other occupations the rate of injuries was comparatively low.
Boys in personal and domestic service suffered only 12 injuries per
1,000 employed, although among those classed as “ servants” the
number of injuries was 23 per 1,000. Boys in public service suffered
15 injuries per 1,000 employed, those in professional service 3, and
those in clerical service 7. In the last-named group the bundle,
cash, messenger,18 and office boys received 9 injuries per 1,000 em
ployed.
Table 14 shows the number of industrial injuries to boys under 20
years of age and the rate per 1,000 employed in the various occupation
groups.
T able

14.— Number of industrial injuries to boys under 20 years of age, and
rate per 1,000 employed, by occupation groups: Wisconsin

Occupation group

Total.
Forestry______________________________
Extraction of minerals__________________
Manufacturing and mechanical industries.
Transportation____________ ______ _____
Trade_____ ___________________________
Public service_________________________
Professional service__________ __________
Personal and domestic service___________
Clerical occupations____ _____ __________

Industrial injuries to
boys under 20 years
Boys
under
20 years
employed1 Number
Per 1,000
employed
41,294

21,527

37.0

1,511
188
25,638
2,956
3,625
197
600
992
5,587

45.0
85.1
47.3
30.4
20.7
15.2
3.3
12.1

1,212

90
75
3
2
12

6.8

1 Estimated number covered by compensation law.
2Includes 11 injuries from agricultural pursuits which are not covered by compensation law (see
Wisconsin, Stat. 1923, sec. 102.05, subsec. (2)j.
AGE AND OCCUPATIONAL RISK FOR BOYS

In each age group the proportion employed in each of the main
occupation groups was approximately the same, although more of the
boys of 18 and 19 years than of the younger boys were S illed workers
18 Except telegraph messengers, who are classified under “ transportation.”

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INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT'S TO EMPLOYED MINORS

in manufacturing and mechanical occupations. In forestry, mining,
manufacturing and mechanical occupations, transportation, and
trade the boys of 18 and 19 years had the highest injury rate. In
public service, professional service, and domestic and personal
service the boys 16 and 17 years old had the highest rate. Clerical
service was the only group in which the rate for the youngest boys
was the highest, though even for these boys at 14 and 15 years the
rate reached only 8 per 1,000. In all the occupation groups except
in forestry, transportation, and clerical work the rate was higher for
boys of 16 and 17 than for the youngest group.
Three-fifths of the boys of each age group were employed in
manufacturing and mechanical industries, but their injury rates
varied, being 59 per 1,000 for the boys of 18 and 19 years, 37 for
those of 16 and 17, and 26 for those under 16. Among apprentices
the rate was four times as high for boys of 18 and 19 as for those
under 18 years, among laborers and semiskilled operatives it was
twice as high, but in skilled occupations it was only one-half that
of the younger boys. However, only 4.2 per cent of the older boys
were apprentices, 39.8 per cent were laborers, 28.3 per cent were
semiskilled, and 27.7 per cent were skilled workers, whereas for boys
under 18 years the percentages were 16.6, 43, 36.9, and 3.5,
respectively.
A comparison of the injury rates for the employed children under
16 years of age and those of 16 and 17 years of age was possible in
only a few occupations, because for many occupations the census
gave only the total employed under 18 years, and also because in
some occupations the number of persons in these two age groups
was too small to afford a base for computing an injury rate. In all
but two of the occupations for which a comparison was possible, the
injury rates for the boys of 16 and 17 years were higher than for
those under 16. The two exceptions were laborers in furniture
factories and laborers in sawmills and planing mills. In those
occupations the boys under 16 years had a higher rate of injury
than those of the next group, although even then it was lower than
that of the boys of 18 and 19 years.
In some occupations the highest injury rate was incurred by boys
of 16 and 17 years. In tinware and enamelware factories the rate
for laborers of this age (100 per 1,000) was more than twice as high
as for those of 18 and 19 years, and six times as high as for those
under 16. In the textile industries in which boys of 16 and 17 were
employed as laborers they had more than twice as many injuries as
the older boys, while no injuries at all occurred to the youngest
group of boys in these industries. In rubber factories both laborers
and semiskiiled workers of 16 and 17 had higher injury rates than had
those in the other age groups.
These differences in injury rates among the age groups are doubt
less to be attributed in part to the variations in legislative protection
afforded the three groups. All minors under 18 were prohibited from
employment in certain dangerous occupations, but in addition minors
under 16 were prohibited from working at many other occupations—
particularly the operation of many kinds of machines— permitted to
minors of 16 and 17 years. For those 18 years of age and over there
were no specific prohibitions of this type, although the law prohibited
in general terms the employment of all minors in occupations danger
ous or prejudicial to their life or health. The occupations with the

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STATE RECORDS OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MINORS

highest injury rates for the boys of 16 and 17 years were semiskilled
work m metal, lumber and furniture, and paper and pulp industries
where a large proportion of the accidents occurred in the operation
ot machines. Among the injuries to boys of 14 and 15 years in the
more dangerous industries a smaller proportion was due to machines
and a larger proportion to other causes, than was the case for boys
16. and 17 years of age.
Table 15 shows the injury rates per 1,000 boys under 20 years
ot age employed m the various occupation groups, by age groups.
T able

15.

Industrial-injury rates per 1,000 boys under 20 years of age, by occupa
tion groups and age: Wisconsin
Industrial-injury rates per 1,000 boys under 20
years
Occupation group

Under 18 years
Total

18-19
years
Total

16-17
years

Under 16
years

Total__________________________

37.0

46.5

26.5

29.1

19.4

Forestry1...................................... .........
Extraction of minerals_________ I . " I l l
Manufacturing and mechanical industrii
Transportation__________________
Trade_____ ______________________
Public service____ _____________ II.IIII
1111111!
Professional service..............
Personal and domestic service.. 1.11111!
Clerical occupations________
I

45.0
85.1
47.3
30.4
20.7
15.2
3,3
12.1
6.8

66.7
114.5
59.3
35.8
23.7
14.8
2.1
6.3
7.3

17.9
17.5
34.1
21.6
17.9
16.1
7.5
17.4
6.4

16.1
17.5
36.8
21.3
22.5
17.2
9.6
21.5
5.7

28.6
25.9
24.5
2.3
8.8
8.2

1 Agricultural laborers are excluded by the law (Wisconsin, Stat. 1923, sec. 102.05, subsec. (2)).
INJURY RATES FOR GIRLS

As has been stated, the injury rate for the girls was much lower
than that for the boys. Proportionately only half as many of the
girls as of the boys were in manufacturing and mechanical occupa
tions where the liability to accident is greatest, and a larger propor
tion were m personal and domestic service and in clerical occupations.
In every one of the main occupation groups the rate for girls was
lower than for boys.
Much of the difference is, of course, due to the different occupa
is1 0 01
and boys. In transportation, for example, 95 per cent
ot the girls were telephone operators (for whom the injuries were
only 3 per 1,000 employed) ; but the boys were employed at more
hazardous work, as, for instance, telegraph and telephone linemen,
chauffeurs, draymen, teamsters, and street and railroad laborers.
In trade 95 per cent of the girls were clerks or saleswomen in stores
receiving a negligible number of injuries; but over one-third of thé
boys were deliverymen or laborers (whose injury rates ran high)
rather than clerks or salesmen, and the boys m trade had a much
higher injury rate than did the girls. In clerical work the injury
rate for messenger, errand, and office boys and girls was practically
the same for both sexes. Four-fifths of the girls in professional
service were teachers. This general occupation group received no
injuries at all. The boys in professional service were chiefly drafts
men, reporters, and teachers. Only two injuries were reported
among these.

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INDUSTRIAL. ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

In manufacturing and mechanical occupations the injuries to girls
were similarly fewer than those to hoys, the rate per 1,000 being 13
for girls, 47 for boys. This seems to be due to the fact that many
of the girls were in industries in which the number of accidents to
minors was comparatively small. One-half of the girls but only
one-sixth of the boys in semiskilled occupations were in food, cloth
ing, and textile industries; and in these the injury rates for both
boys and girls were lower than in the metal and in the lumber and
furniture industries. Only 11 per cent of the girls but 38 per cent
of the boys in semiskilled work were in metal and lumber and fur
niture industries; yet even in the same industries the girls suffered
fewer injuries than did the boys. For example, the rates in clothing
industries were 44 for boys, 7 for girls; in food industries they were
68 for boys, 13 for girls; in textiles they were 22 for boys, 7 for girls;
in iron and steel industries they were 110 for boys, 22 for girls; and
in lumber and furniture industries they were 137 for boys, 35 for
girls. The census classification is not detailed enough to show
whether the boys and girls in the same group were actually doing
the same kinds of work, but it may be doubted whether girls, espe
cially the younger ones, were doing as heavy or dangerous work as
the boys were doing.
_
Table 16 shows the number of industrial injuries to girls under
20 years of age, and rates per 1,000 employed in the various occu
pation groups.
T able

16.— Number of industrial injuries to girls under 20 years of age, and
rate per 1,000 employed, by occupation groups: Wisconsin

Occupation group

Total---------------------- ------------------------- --------- -------------------

Girls under
20 years em
ployed 1

40,163
1
16,112
1,665
3,480
3
2,759
9,332
7,811

1 Estimated

number covered by the compensation law.

Industrial injuries to
girls under 20 years

Number

Per 1,000
employed

231

5.8

202
5
4

13.4
3.0
1.1

14
6

1.5
(2)

2Less than 1 per 1,000.

AGE AND OCCUPATIONAL RISK FOR GIRLS

Only among the girls employed in manufacturing and mechanical
industries were there any significant variations in injury rates with
age. In nearly every occupation in this group the injury rate
rose with the age, as might be expected from the fact that certain
dangerous occupations were prohibited to minors under 18 years,
and still further limitations existed for those under 16 years. Among
the few exceptions were the semiskilled workers in paper and pulp
mills, printing and publishing establishments, rubber factories, and
electrical-supply factories. Here the rate of injuries was highest
among the girls of 16 and 17 years. In clothing and textile indus
tries the highest rate was among girls 14 and 15 years of age.

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STATE RECORDS OP INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MINORS

For girls as well as for boys the most dangerous occupations in me
chanical and manufacturing industries were semiskilled work in metal
and woodworking industries. One-half of the injuries to girls of 18
and
yea^s and a11 injurie? to those of 16 and 17 years doing semi
skilled work in the metal industries were due to machines. Over
one-half of the injuries in woodworking occurred in the operation
oi machines. As with the boys, most of the injuries occurred on
presses, drills, power saws, jointers, and matchers.
Table 17 shows the injury rates per 1,000 girls under 20 years of
age employed m the various occupation groups, by age groups.
T

able

17.

Industrial-injury rates per 1,000 girls under 20 years of age by
occupation groups and age: Wisconsin
Industrial-injury rates per 1,000 girls under 20
years

Occupation group *

Under 18 years
Total

18-19
years
Total

TotaL
Manufacturing and mechanical industries
Transportation___________________
Trade__ ____ _____ _____ _____ ~.~f.
Personal and domestic service___ 1 .'... '.'. '.'.
Clerical occupations____________ _____

16-17
years

Under
16 years

5.8

5.7

5.8

5.7

6.3

13.4
3.0
1.1
1.5

15.7
3.2
1.5.
2.2

11.7
2.7
.7
.9
1.1

12.3
3.0
.8
.8

9.7

1.0
3.0

fessional service.
2 Less than 1 per 1,000.

AVERAGE TIME LOSS »

The average number of days lost through disability due to indus
trial accidents m Wisconsin bears out the facts shown by the injury
rates. The average time loss per person employed was higher for
boys than for girls, for minors 18 and 19 years of age than for those
under 18, and for minors of 16 and 17 years than for the more fully
protected group under 16 years of age. The greatest time loss
occurred among the employees in manufacturing and mechanical
industries, especially those in metal industries, in lumber and furni
ture factories, and in electrical-supply factories. In both number
of accidents and length of the resulting disability these industries
offered the greatest hazard.
hor

£atihon ®*posure to risk made it impossible to work severity rates; but the average numdays lost by the minors under 20 reported by the Federal census as employed in each occunation
SpecM COmmittee of

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International A s s o c S ^ K f i

MASSACHUSETTS
INDUSTRIES OPEN TO MINORS

The Federal census of 1920 shows that over one-half of the gain
fully occupied persons 10 years of age and over in Massachusetts
were engaged in manufacturing and mechanical occupations. Five
industries— textiles, metals, boots and shoes, food, and clothing—
employed two-thirds of all the wage earners in manuf actures. Threefifths of the employed minors under 20 years of age were engaged in
manufacturing and mechanical occupations, about one-fifth in
clerical pursuits, and not quite one-tenth in trade.1
The child labor law prohibited the employment of children under
14 years of age 2 and required children under 16 years of age to have
employment certificates in order to be employed legally. Employ
ment in certain dangerous occupations was forbidden to minors under
18 years of age, and employment in specified additional occupations
to minors under 16.3
EXTENT OF DISABILITY FROM INDUSTRIAL INJURY

The Massachusetts law required the reporting of all industrial
injuries,4 but only those injuries were compensable which disabled
the worker for longer than the 10-day waiting period. During the
year covered by the study there were 3,177 compensable injuries 5 to
minors, of which 12 were fatal, 159 resulted in permanent partial
disability, and 3,006 in temporary disability. Four-fifths were to
boys, one-fifth to girls. Of the permanent partial disabilities, 149
involved the hands or arms. The duration of the- temporary dis
abilities varied from less than two weeks to more than a year. In
18 per cent of the cases the duration of the disability was two weeks or
less; in 41.8 per cent, from two to four weeks; in 27.5 per cent, from
four weeks to two months.
Of the compensable injuries 268 were to minors under 16 years of
age, 848 to those of 16 and 17 years, and 2,061 to those of 18 years and
over. The extent of injury varied but slightly for the age groups.
Injuries causing temporary disability formed 94.8 per cent of the
injuries to minors under 16 years of age, 95.5 per cent of those to
minors 16 and 17 years old, and 94.2 per cent of those to minors of 18,
19, and 20 years. The variation in duration of temporary disability
1 Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, Vol. IV, Population, pp. 941, fl.; Vol. IX , Manufac
tures, p. 591.
s The 14-year minimum age applied to any work during school hours, and to a large number of employ
ments (including work in manufacturing, mechanical, and mercantile establishments, messenger service,
etc.) at any time.
8 Massachusetts, Gen. Laws 1921, ch. 149, sec. 60. See also Appendix B, p. 107.
* Massachusetts, Gen. Laws 1921, ch. 152, sec. 19.
* During the year covered by the study, the number of injuries to minors causing disability longer than
the remainder of the day, turn, or shift on which the injury was incurred was 6,440. Injuries causing this
extent of duration of disability are designated in the reports of the Massachusetts Department of Industrial
Accidents and in this report as “ tabulatable injuries” (in accordance with the definition recommended by
the committee on statistics and compensation insurance cost of the International Association of Industrial
Accident Boards and Commissions). These are the only reported accidents concerning which detailed
statistics are available. Annual Report of the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents, 1922,
Table V, p. 45.

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STATE records of industrial accidents to minors

was as slight. Permanent partial disability followed 5.2 per cent of
the injuries to minors under 16 years and to those of 18 years and over
and 4.4 per cent of those to minors of 16 and 17 years,- Only 1 fatal
injury occurred in the group of minors 16 and 17 years old, and 11
to those 18 years and over. In the year of the study there were in
Massachusetts 29,496 compensable mdustrial injuries 6 to workers
of all ages. Death followed 1 per cent of the injuries, permanent
partial disability 4.2 per cent, temporary disability 94.8 per cent
lh e duration of temporary disability was slightly longer for the total
group than for the minors alone. Tables 18 and 19 show the extent of disability from industrial
t®T
1^mors^
age and by sex of injured. (See also Appendix
A, Table V.)
T a b l e 18.- -Extent of disability from industrial injuries to minors, by sex of

injured: Massachusetts
Industrial injuries to minors
Total

Extent of disability

Boys

Girls

Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Number distribu Number distribu Number distribu
tion
tion
tion
Total.
Death_________ \__________________
Permanent partial_________II
Temporary.............................. IIIIIIIIIIIIIl

T able

19.

3,177

100.0

2,527

100.0

650

100.0

12
159
33,006
,006

.4
5.0
94.6

12
133
2,382

.5
5.3
94.3

26
624

4.0
96.0

Extent of disability from industrial injuries to minors, by aqe of
injured: Massachusetts
Industrial injuries to minors
Extent of disability

Age of injured
Total

Death
Number

Total.
14 years.
16 years.
16 years.,
17 years..
8 years..
19 years..
20 years..

3,177

Permanent partial

Per cent Number
0.4

Per cent Number Per cent
5.0

3,006

4.0
3.6
4.9
4.3
5.6
5.8

62
192
343
467
641
639
662

1 68

200
357
491
670
682
709

Temporary

91.2
96.0
96.1
95.1
95.7
93.7
93.4

1 Includes 1 injury to a boy 12 years of age.

LOCATION OF INJURY

Of 90 injuries to the head 6 resulted-fatally. The eyes were the
seat of injury m 39 of the cases, permanent partial disability doss
of one eye) resulting m 5 instances and temporary disability in the
sarion a c t 5’ S e ^ l e l n d l o o t o S t

61205°-—2 6 t------3

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the 1M ay waiting Period fixed by the compen-

I N D U S T R I A L A C C ID E N T S T O E M P L O Y E D

M IN O R S

rest. There were 287 injuries to the trunk. The hack was in
volved in 103 of these (1 being fatal), and 73 caused hernia. In
juries of the upper extremities were by far the most frequent (2,097).
There were 31 to the shoulder, 47 to the upper arm and elbow, 248
to the lower arm, and 1,671 to the hand. No injuries to the upper
extremities caused death, but 149 resulted in permanent partial
disability. Injuries to the lower extremities did not occur so fre
quently as to the upper extremities. Yet there were 579 of these,
278 involving the foot, 95 involving the ankle, and 73 involving the
knee.
Injuries to the upper extremities were more frequent among in
juries to minors than among the tabulatable 7 injuries to workers of
all ages occurring in the same year. They were 66 per cent of the
injuries to minors and 45.5 per cent of the total tabulatable injuries.
The proportion of injuries to the other parts of the body was smaller
for minors than among the total tabulatable injuries.
Table 20 shows the location of industrial injuries to minors in
Massachusetts. (See also Appendix A, Table VI.)
T able

20.— Location of industrial injuries to minors: Massachusetts
Industrial injuries
to minors

Industrial injuries
to minors
Location of injury

Location of injury

Face and neck_____ , ------------

Number

Per cent
distri
bution

3,177

100.0

Trunk_____________________

2.8
2.1

Lower extremities___________
Body and constitutional_____

90
67

Number

287
2,097
'679
57

Per cent
distri
bution
9.0
66.0
18.2
1.8

NATURE OP INJURY

Two-fifths of all the injuries to minors were cuts, punctures, and
lacerations,; a little less than one-fifth were abrasions, contusions, and
bruises. Fractures caused 6 of the 12 deaths, cuts and punctures
caused 2 deaths, burns and electric shocks each caused 1 death. The
nature of the injuries causing the remaining 2 deaths was not recorded.
Over one-half (57.7 per cent) of the abrasions, contusions, and
bruises were to the upper extremities, nearly one-third (31.3 per cent)
to the lower extremities, 4.8 per cent to the trunk, and only 1.9 per
cent to the head. The burns affected not only the upper extremities
(53.7 per cent) and the lower extremities (22.1 per cent), hut also
the face and neck (12.5 per cent) and the head (4.4 per cent). Five
of the head burns involved the eyes. Of the cuts, punctures, and
lacerations 83.7 per cent were on the upper extremities, 11.1 per cent
on the lower extremities. Of the fractures 5 per cent were of the
trunk and almost all of these cases (14 out of 16) involved the ribs.
There were 6 fractures of the skull, all fatal. The largest group of
sprains and strains (45.9 per cent) were of the trunk, including 87
sprains of the back and 73 cases of hernia. The next largest group
of sprains and strains were of the lower extremities (27.4 per cent),
7See footnote 5, p. 26.

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involving the ankles in 17.2 per cent of the cases. Only 25.2 per cent
of the sprains affected the upper extremities. Amputation or loss
of use 8 involved the eyes in 5 cases, the toes in 5 cases, and the upper
extremities (usually only 1 finger) in the remaining cases.
Employed minors suffered proportionately fewer abrasions and
bruises and fewer sprains and strains than occurred among the
tabulatable injuries to workers of all ages, and on the other hand
they suffered proportionately more cuts, punctures, and lacerations,
more fractures, and more amputations and cases of loss of use of
members (that is, more permanent partial disabilities) than occurred
to the whole group. But although the whole group of workers
suffered infection in but 9.4 per cent of their injuries, the minors
suffered infection in 16.7 per cent of the cases.®
Table 21 shows the nature of industrial injuries to minors m
Massachusetts.
T able

21.— Nature of industrial injuries to minors: Massachusetts
Industrial injuries
to minors

Nature of injury
Number

Per cent
distribu
tion

Total____________ ____

3,177

100.0

Cuts, punctures, lacerations..
Abrasions, contusions, bruises.
Sprains and strains.
Fractures_________________

1,292
584
453
316

40.7
18.4
14.3
9.9

Industrial injuries
to minors
Nature of injury
Per cent
Number distribu
tion
Amputations and loss of use..
B u r n s .......
Occupational diseases...
Dislocations_______
All other and not reported___

159
136
24
15
198

5.0
4.3
.8
.5
6.2

COMPENSATION FOR INJURY

Among the minors receiving the 3,177 injuries causing disability of
more than 10 days, only those whose employers had accepted the
operation of the law were entitled to compensation. In 3,027, or 95
per cent of the cases, compensation was paid under the law, but in
the remaining 150 cases the injured employee had no redress except
to bring a suit for damages in the courts.10 The indemnity to be
paid during total disability11 or for a fixed period in case of perma
nent partial disability or death, was placed at two-thirds of the work
er’s average weekly wage. It was limited, however, by fixed maxima
and minima, so that the weekly payments could not be more than $16
or less than $7 during total disability, or more than $10 or less than
$4 in case of death or permanent partial disability.12 The result of
the maximum and minimum limitations was that in 1.9 per cent of
the cases of permanent partial disability the weekly payment was
larger than two-thirds of the minor’s wage, in 45.9 per cent it equaled
\ Lnder this heading are classified all injuries resulting in amputation or loss of use of a member, regardless
of their original nature.
' 4Hnual RePort of the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents, 1922, pp. 17-19
1« The employer, however, who did not accept the act was deprived of his usual common-law defenses
in case of such a suit. See footnote 5, p. 1.
11
“ Otfor more than a specified number of weeks—300 in case of temporary and 400 in case of perma
nent disability.
“ Mass., Gen. Laws 1921, ch. 152, secs. 31,34. Certain provisions were also made for reasonable medical
and hospital services, etc. While the incapacity for work resulting from the injury was partial, the weekly
compensation was to be two-thirds of the difference between the average weekly wage before the injury
and that which could be earned thereafter, but not more than $16 a week (ibid., sec. 35).

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two-thirds, and in over half— 50.9 per cent— it was less. The cor
responding percentages in the cases of temporary disability were
16.3, 70.7, and 8.1. In 1.3 per cent of the permanent partial dis
abilities and in 4.8 per cent of the temporary disabilities no com
pensation payments were made, because the employer had not
accepted the act.
. . .
.
,
„
Of the noncompensated injuries— 150 m number—five were fatal,
but in these cases the minor left no dependents to whom compensa
tion would have been paid even had the employer been subject to
the act.13 Two others resulted in permanent partial disability, a
boy of 15 years losing the first and second fingers of his right hand
and a boy of 19 losing his index finger. The remaining 143 cases
were of temporary disability varying from 11 days to 180 days. In
one-fourth of the cases the disability terminated in two weeks or less,
in seven-tenths in four weeks or less, and in over nine-tenths in two
months or less.
CAUSES OF INJURY

More injuries to minors were due to machinery than to any other
cause. It was responsible for nearly one-third of the injuries, 3
resulting fatally. Handling of objects, falls of persons, and the use
of hand tools were the next most frequent causes of injury; falls of
persons caused 4 of the 12 deaths due to industrial injuries. >
More cases (85.5 per cent) of permanent partial disability were
due to machinery than to any other cause. Only 7.5 per cent of
the cases of permanent partial disability were due to handling ob
jects, 3.1 per cent to hand tools, and a very small percentage to any
other cause. (See Appendix A, Table VII.)
The child labor law prohibited boys and girls under 16 years of
age from operating many of the dangerous machines permitted to
those of 16 and 17, and the effect of these prohibitions is seen in the
much smaller percentage of the injuries to minors under 16 which
were due to power-driven machinery—-particularly woodworking,
metal-working, and paper and paper products making machines—
than of the injuries to minors 16 and 17 years of age (see Appendix B,
p. 107). Machinery caused 29.5 per cent of the injuries to the work
ers of 18, 19, and 20 years, 37.9 per cent of those to workers of 16
and 17 years, and 36.6 per cent of those to workers under 16 years.
Minors of 18 years and over suffered most of their injuries in hand
ling objects (28.1 per cent), in operating machines (29.5 per cent),
in falls of persons (11.6 per cent), and from vehicles (6.9 per cent).
The two younger groups received more of their injuries from machin
ery than from any other cause. For workers of 16 and 17 years hand
ling objects, falls, stepping on objects or striking against them, and
the use of hand tools came next in frequency as causes of injuries;
for those under 16 years falls caused the second largest group of in
juries, and handling objects came next, but caused only 16.4 per
cent of their injuries in comparison with 24.2 per cent of those to
minors of 16 and 17, and 28.1 per cent of those to minors of 18 years
and over. Stepping on or striking against objects was a frequent
13 Beneficiaries under the act must be actually dependent, wholly or partially, upon the deceased em
ployee, except in case of certain relationships where dependency is conclusively presumed.

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3 j

cause of injury to children under 16 years, and vehicles also caused a
number of the accidents to this group.
Among the tabulatable injuries to employed persons of all ages in
Massachusetts, in the period covered by the study, the most frequent
cause of injury was handling objects—29.2 per cent. Machinery
caused only 16.6 per cent of the tabulatable injuries, falls of persons
15.5 per cent; vehicles, hand tools, and striking against objects or
stepping on them each caused between 7 and 8 per cent. When from
these injuries are subtracted those occurring to minors and those
whose duration did not exceed the 10-day waiting period, leaving
only compensable injuries to adults,14 it is found that the proportion
of machine injuries to adults was only half as high as to minors. On
the other hand, the proportion due to handling objects was somewhat
less for minors, 26.1 per cent, as against 29.5 per cent for adults.
The proportions due to striking against objects or stepping on them
and the use of hand tools were practically the same, and every other
cause played a smaller part in the injuries to minors than in those
to adults. These comparisons emphasize the danger of machinery
to minors.
Table 22 shows the causes of industrial injury to Massachusetts
minors. (See also Appendix A, Tables VII, VIlf> and IX .)
T a b l e 2 2 . — Cause

of industrial injuries to minors: Massachusetts

Industriad injuries
to minors

Industrial injuries
to minors

Cause of injury
Number

Per cent
distribu
tion

Total_________________

3,177

100.0

Machinery_____________ __
Handling objects___________
Falls of persons..............__
Hand tools............................
Stepping on or striking
against objects.......... ...........

1,028
829
382
212

32.4
26.1
12.0
6.7

209

6.6

Cause of injury
Per cent
Number distribu
tion
190
Hot and corrosive objects

Animals. . . . . .

Electricity........ ............ .........
All other and not reported___

10
71

2.8

.3
2.2

MACHINERY

Machinery was the cause of 1,028 compensable injuries to Massa
chusetts minors. It was responsible for over four-fifths of the cases
of permanent partial disability and for 3 of the 12 deaths.
Hoisting machinery caused 71 injuries; motors and transmission
apparatus caused 7; and 11 were caused by machines other than
power-driven machinery, including fans, blowers, and pumps. But
the great majority of machine injuries (90 per cent) were due to
power-driven machinery.
Power-driven machinery.

Power-driven machinery caused 939 compensable injuries to minors.
Most of the accidents (62.3 per cent) occurred in connection with
starting, stopping, or operating the machines. Only 13.7 per cent
occurred in adjusting the machine, tool, or work, and 13.4 per cent
14Hereafter in this section, whenever industrial injuries to adults (i. e., persons 21 years of age and over)
are compared with those to minors, the injuries referred to are the compensable injuries, that is, the
injuries causing disability for longer than the waiting period of 10 days.

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in connection with cleaning or oiling machines. Somewhat smaller
percentages of the tabulatable machine injuries to workers of all
ages occurred in starting, stopping, or operating the machines (53.5
per cent), in adjusting the machine, tool, or work (10 per cent),
and in cleaning or oiling machines (11 per cent), and a much greater
percentage was due to flying objects (11 per cent of machine injuries
to all workers, 2.4 per cent of those to minors) ,15
The point of operation was the part of the machine involved in
four-fifths of the power-driven machine injuries to minors. In 8.9
per cent it was the gears, and in 2.9 per cent it was the-belts. On
all except textile machines the injury occurred at the point of opera
tion in more than four-fifths of the cases. On the textile machines,
on the other hand, less than two-thirds of the injuries occurred at
the point of operation, and in over one-fifth of the cases the gears
were the part involved. The percentage among the tabulatable
machine injuries to workers of all ages was but slightly different.
In 78.4 per cent of the cases the injury occurred at the jpoint of
operation; in 4.9 per cent the belts and in 4.5 per cent the gears
were the part of the machine causing the injury.
On all except textile machines the majority of injuries to minors,
varying from two-thirds to four-fifths with the kind of machine,
occurred in starting, stopping, or operating the machine. On textile
machines only a little over one-third (35.7 per cent) of the injuries
occurred while starting, stopping, or operating the machine. Onethird occurred while the minor injured was cleaning or oiling the
machine. This high proportion was one of the striking facts about
the textile-machine injuries. On none of the other main classes of
machines did the proportion of injuries occurring during the cleaning
or oiling of the machine rise above one-twelfth.
Table 23 shows the manner of occurrence of power-driven machine
injuries to employed minors in Massachusetts.
Table 24 shows the parts of power-driven machinery at which the
injury occurred.
T a b l e 23. — Kinds of power-driven machinery causing injuries to minors, by

manner of occurrence: Massachusetts
Industrial injuries due to power-driven machinery
Manner of occurrence

Kind of power-driven ma
chine causing injury

Total

Starting, stopping,
or operating ma
chine or adjust
ing machine or
work

Cleaning or oiling
machine

All other

Number Per cent Number Per cent Number Per cent
Total______________ ____

939

714

76.0

126

13.4

10.5

Textile.........................................
Metal-working_______________
Leather-working______________
Woodworking________________
Paper and paper products mak
i n g ..........................................
All other____ ________________

294
183
122
87

155
158
110
72

52.7
86.3
90.2
82.8

97
4
6
2

33.0
2.2
4.9
- 2.3

42
21
6
13

14.3
11.5
4.9
14.9

65
188

55
164

84.6
87.2

5
12

7.7
6.4

5
12

6.4

7.7

1* Annual Report of the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents, 1922, p. 22. The injuries
for workers of all ages are all machine injuries, not merely power-machine injuries.

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24.— Kinds of -power-driven machinery causing injuries to minors, by
part of machine inflicting injury: Massachusetts
Industrial injuries due to power-driven machinery
Part of machine at which injury occurred

Kind of power-driven
machinery causing injury
Total

Point of operation

Gears

Other

Number Per cent Number Per cent Number Per cent
Total..................................

939

756

80.5

8.9

10.5

Textile__ ____ ____________
Metal-working______________
Leather-working___________
Woodworking........... .........
Paper and paper products
m aking...._________ _______
All other___________________

294
183
122
87

178
166
111
81

60.5
90.7
91.0
93.1

64
8
3
1

21.8
4.4
2.5
1.1

52
9
8
5

17.7
4.9
6.6
5.7

65
188

57
163

87.7
86.7

4
4

6.2
2.1

4
21

6.2
11.2

Textile machinery.— The Massachusetts child labor law contains
certain general prohibitions relating to cleaning and oiling machinery,
adjusting belts, or working in proximity to dangerous machinery, but
does not specifically prohibit the employment of minors on any textile
machines except pickers, which workers under 16 are forbidden to
operate or assist in operating. Textile machinery caused 41 injuries
to minors under 16, 87 to those of 16 and 17, and 166 to those 18
years of age and over. Although this class of machinery caused no
deaths it was found to be responsible for 35 cases of permanent partial
disability, a percentage (11.9 per cent) which was, however, lower
than that for any of the other main classes of machine injuries. The
textile machines on which the greatest number of injuries took place
were looms, spinning frames, jacks and mules, speeders, and carding
machines. More than one-half (56 per cent) of the injuries received
from carding and combing machines were received while cleaning or
oiling the machines, 30 per cent in starting, stopping, or operating
the machines, and 8 per cent while adjusting the machine or work.
Over one-third of the injuries from weaving machines were received
during the cleaning or oiling of the machine, 23.2 per cent during the
starting, stopping, or operating of the machine, and 19.6 per cent in
the adjusting of the machine, tool, or work. Spinning machines were
the only ones on which more injuries occurred in starting, stopping
or operating the machines (40 per cent) than in cleaning or oiling
them (30.1 per cent). Adjusting the spinning machines or the work
caused 14.3 per cent of the injuries. Cleaning or oiling_the machines
caused 18 injuries to children under 16 years of age. Three children
of this age group suffered permanent partial disability, each of two
boys losing part of one finger, and a third boy losing three fingers.
Cleaning and oiling the machines caused 25 injuries to boys and
girls of 16 and 17 years. Among minors of this age group there were
11 cases of permanent partial disability caused by textile machinery
four to boys, seven to girls. Two o f the boys were loom cleaners
whose fingers were caught in the gears while they were cleaning the
machines. One girl, a speeder tender, lost part of her right thumb
m the same way. The right index finger of another girl was caught
m the gears of her loom and amputated at the first joint. Another

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was cleaning the rolls of her finishing machine when her right hand
was caught (see case No. 21, p. 77).
The flesh was stripped from her
fingers, so that the first, third, and fourth fingers had to be ampu
tated, and the second remained stiff and useless. Another girl was
feeding blankets into a cutting machine when the machine blade
dropped, cutting off the ends of the four fingers on her right hand
(see case No. 18, p. 75). Injuries causing permanent partial disability
occurred to 21 minors 18 years of age and over.
Table 25 shows the kinds of textile machinery injuring employed
minors, by age, in Massachusetts.
T able

25.— Kinds of textile machinery causing injuries to minors, by age of injured:
Massachusetts
Industrial injuries to minors due to
textile machinery
Age of injured

Kind of textile machinery causing injury
Total

Under 16
years

18-20
years

16-17
years

Total_______________________________________ ________

294

166

Carding and combing m achines....-------------------- ------------------

18
5
25
2

1
4

4
1
5
1

13
4
16
1

20
12

6
2

11
10

8
2

Opening and cleaning machines....... ........... ............................. .

10
2
Spinning machines_____________________ _____ _____________

i Minors under 16 were prohibited from employment on pickers.

<>)

19
41
11
10
10

11
7
1
3
1

4
18
5
2
1

4
16
. 5
5
8

56
13
7
45

4
3
1
2

20
3
3
12

32
7
3
31

See Appendix B, p. 107.

Metal-worinng machinery.— One-fifth (19.5 per cent) of all injuries
to minors from power machinery were due to metal-working machines.
Although there were no deaths there were 32 cases of permanent
partial disability, a higher proportion (17.5 per cent) than resulted
from any other cause. Three-fourths of the accidents occurred in
starting, stopping, or operating the machine and one-tenth in ad
justing the work. Nine of the injuries were to minors under 16 years
of age, causing temporary disability. Employment on a number of
metal-working machines was prohibited for children under this age
(see Appendix B, p. 107). There were 46 injuries to minors of 16
and 17 years. Permanent partial disability resulted for nine boys of
17 years of age and one boy of 16 years, one being blinded in one eye,
the others losing one or more fingers (see case No. 19, p. 76; case
No. 29, p. 82). The proportion of injuries on metal-working machines

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resulting in permanent disability was higher for this age group than
for either the oldest or the youngest age group. There were 22
instances of permanent partial disability among the injured minors
18 years of age and over.
Table 26 shows the kinds of metal-working machinery causing
injury to Massachusetts minors.
T able

26.— Kinds of metal-working machinery causing injuries to minors, .by age
of injured: Massachusetts
Industrial injuries to minors due to metal
working machinery

Kind of metal-working machinery causing injury

Age of injured
Total
Under 16
years1

Total ______________ ____ ________ ___________

16-17
years

18-20
years

183

128

Punch presses_______________________________ 1 .

Power.__________________________________
Foot and hand................. ..................................

20
59

1
4

7
11

12
44

19
17
15
10
4
839

2
1

4
2
7
2

*13

13
15
7
8
4
25

Abrasive wheels___________________________
Lathes and automatic screw machines____ ____
Milling and gear-cutting____________________
Drills____________________________________
Hammers and forging machines________________
All other and not reported_______________________
~

1For list of machines whose use was prohibited to m inors under 16 see Appendix B, p 107
*Includes 3 injuries caused by polishers and wire-working machines.

Leather-working machinery.— Leather-working machinery caused
140 injuries, 17, or 12.1 per cent, of which resulted in permanent
partial disability. This is not so high a proportion as among metal
working, woodworking, or paper and paper products making
machinery but is slightly higher than among the injuries due to
textile machinery. Almost all the injuries occurred while the machine
was in operation, starting, or stopping, or while the machine or
work was being adjusted. Three of the 15 injuries to children under
16 years of age resulted in permanent partial disability. The most
serious injury was sustained by a 14-year-old boy whose task was to
catch pieces coming through a splitting machine which was being
fed by some one else. He tried to feed the machine while standing
behind it, and his right hand was caught and cut off. A second
14-year-old boy who was operating a shank-cutting machine cut
his left forefinger so that it had to be amputated at the first joint.
A girl of 15 had her right middle finger caught when she was adjusting
the work in a leather-stamping machine— one of the machines which
children under 16 are forbidden by law to operate. (See Appendix
B, p. 107.) The finger was so crushed and burned that she lost the
use of the last joint. There were 48 injuries to minors 16 and 17
years of age, but there were only three cases of permanent partial
disability— a much smaller proportion than among the younger
workers. The right hand of a 16-year-old boy was caught in a
stamping machine and so injured that his whole forefinger had to be
amputated.. The left hand of a girl of the same age who was operat
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ing a glazing machine in the manufacture of glazed kid was caught
in the machine and her thumh so badly crushed that amputation
was necessary. A boy of 17 years who was feeding skins Idto a
wringing machine had his right hand drawn into the rolls and so
crushed and cut that he lost the use of his third finger (see case No. 27,
p. 8). The injuries to minors of 18 years and over caused 11 cases
of permanent partial disability.
Table 27 shows the kinds of leather-working machinery causing
injuries to Massachusetts minors.
T able

27.— Kinds of leather-working machinery causing injuries to minors, by age
of injured: Massachusetts
industrial injuries due to leather-working

machinery
Age of injured

Kind of leather-working machinery causing injury
Total

Leather-produets machinery----------------------- ------ ------------------

Under
16 years

18-20
years

16-17
years

140

122

4
1
4
4

2
1

12
11
11
9

7
5
4
4

8
8

7
5
7
2
3

2
2

2
1
1
2

3
3

3
3
3
41

1
1
7

2
18

3
2
10

1
1

3
6

2
4

Woodworking machinery.— The 87 injuries due to woodworking
machinery caused 14 cases of permanent partial disability and two
deaths— the only deaths due to power-driven machinery. The
proportion of cases of permanent partial disability resulting from
woodworking machine injuries was higher than among those resulting
from any other power-driven machinery except metal working.
Two children under 16 years of age were injured—both by circular£aw machines, the operation of which, with certain other woodworking machines (see Appendix B, p. 107), was prohibited for minors
under tkat age. The law contained no specific prohibition against
the employment of minors of 16 and 17 years m the operation of
any types of woodworking machinery. Among workers of these
ages there were 26 injuries, of which three resulted in permanent
partial disability. Two of these occurred on power saws, one
17-year-old boy losing two joints of his right forefinger, another all
four fingers of his right hand (see case No. 26, p. 80). The third,

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S T A T E R ECOR DS

OF I N D U S T R I A L A C C ID E N T S

M IN O R S

also a boy of 17 years, was using a sticker when his hand slipped
upon the knife and he lost one phalange of his left second finger.
Eleven of the 59 injured workers of 18, 19, and 20 years of age
were permanently disabled. The two minors killed were 19-year-old
boys. One of them was struck on the head by a board which flew
iron} a saw, the other fell upon a saw machine.
Table 28 shows the kinds of woodworking machinery causing in
jury to minors in Massachusetts.
T a b l e 28. — Kinds of woodworking machinery causing injuries to minors, by age of

injured: Massachusetts
Industrial injuries to minors due to
woodworking machinery
Kind of woodworking machinery causing injury

Age-of injured
Total
Under 16
years

Total.

16-17
years

18-20
years

S aw s....__________ !____ . . . ______

Band_______ . . . . . . ___ ____ . . .
Circular________________
Other............ .................... ........

3
18
24

1
5
8

2
11
16

Planers. . . . . . . . . ____ £ i ...________
Broom and brush making machines
Boring machines and d rills....____
Jointers and matchers......... ...........
Molders_____ __________ ________
Stickers.____________ . . . . ______ ....
All other and not reported J .___;___

13
6
5
3
2
1
12

5
2
1

8
4
4
3
2

1
3

Paper and paper products making machinery.— No fatal injuries
were due to paper making and paper products making machines, but
nine accidents resulted in permanent partial disability (a percentage
of 13.8)
Two-thirds of the injuries were received while the machines
were being started, stopped, or operated, and nearly one-fifth while
the machine or work was being adjusted.
The employment of children under 16 years of age to operate or
assist in operating certain paper and paper products making machines
was prohibited by the child labor law. (See Appendix B, p. 107.)
Only one child under that age was injured, a 14-year-old boy who
was working on an automatic box-making machine and was tempo
rarily disabled. There were 24 injuries to minors of the next age
group, including two cases of permanent partial disablement to 17year-old boys working on paper-cutting machines, the operation of
which was forbidden to minors under 16. One of these two boys lost
the last joint of his left middle finger when his hand slipped into the
machine; the other sustained a compound fracture and dislocation
of the little finger of his right hand, resulting in the loss of its use,
from the same sort of accident. The 40 injuries to minors 18 years
of age and over resulted in 7 cases of permanent partial disability,
the most serious being a 20-year-old boy’s loss of use of the right hand.
Table 29 shows the kinds of paper and paper products making
machinery causing injuries to minors in Massachusetts.

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38
T able

INDUSTRIAL) ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

29.— Kinds of paper or paper products making machinery causing injuries
to minors, by age of injured: Massachusetts
Industrial injuries due to paper and
paper products making machinery

Kind of paper or paper products making machinery causing
injury

Age of injured.
Total

Under 16
years1

Paper products making machinery............. .................... - ..............

18-20

16-17
years

years

7
2
2
6

48
12
7
4
1
8
6
5
4
3
10-

23
5
3
2

7
4
2
1
3
4
1
2
1
6

4
2
4
2
2
4

i
list of paper and paper products making machines whose use was prohibited to minors under 16 see
Appendix B, p. 107.

Other hinds o f power-driven machinery— Printing and bookbinding
machines were responsible for 46 injuries, printing presses causing
over half of them. In 10 cases permanent partial disability resulted.
Minors under 16 years of age were forbidden to work on job or
cylinder printing presses operated by power other than foot power
(see Appendix B, p. 107). One 15-year-old child working on a job
platen press was injured. Eighteen workers 16 and 17 years of age
were injured, including 9 injured by printing presses and 4 injured by
job platen presses. Two 16-year-old boys whose hands were caught
in the printing presses which they were operating suffered permanent
disability, each losing one finger while in one case the remaining
fingers of the hand were left stiff. A girl of 16 operating a book
binding machine lost the first phalange of the second and third
fingers of her left hand when it was caught in the machine. Per
manent partial disability resulted from 7 of the 27 injuries to minors
18 years of age and over.
. , . «
Various food, beverage, and tobacco-workmg machines (cmeny
cutting machines and Milling and grinding machinery) caused 49
injuries, including 6 to minors under 16 years of age. There were
18 injuries to minors 16 and 17 years of age, and 25 to minors of 18
years and over. Permanent partial disability resulted m 8 cases.
Two of these were children of 14 years whose hands were caught m
the machines while they were packing ice in ice-cream freezers (see
case No. 28, p. 8). Two others were children of 15 whose hands
were caught in milling and grinding machines.
. . .
Rubber and composition machinery caused 22 injuries, 1 to a 15year-old boy, 7 to minors 16 or 17 years of age, 14 to minors oi 18

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S T A T E R EC O R D S O F I N D U S T R I A L

A C C ID E N T S T O

M IN O R S

years and over. Permanent partial disability resulted from two of
these injuries, both to 20-year-old minors.
Clothing machinery was involved in 29 cases of injuries (14 in the
operation of sewing machines, most of the others in the operation of
such machines as button-sewing, snap-sewing, buttonhole, and eyelet
making machines). One minor 20 years of age was injured while
operating a cutting machine. Six of the injured were 15 years old,
11 were 16 and 17 years of age. There were no cases of permanent
disability.
Hoisting machinery.

Hoisting machinery caused 71 injuries, 60 of them due to elevators,
11 to cranes, derricks, and conveyors. In the larger number of cases
the injured person was caught between the car and the floor or between
the car and the gates.
Minors under 18 years of age were forbidden to operate or manage
hoisting machines, and operators of either freight or passenger
elevators had to obtain a license 16 which could not legally be granted
to a minor less than 18 years of age. Minors under 16 years of age
were forbidden to operate, clean, or repair freight elevators. Most of
the 13 children under 16 years who were injured were caught between
the car and the floor or gates. In 11 cases this disability was tem
porary, but one 15-year-old boy lost the great toe of his right foot,
and another lost the great toe and part of the second toe of his right
foot. Temporary disability resulted'from the 21 injuries to minors
of 16 and 17 years, the majority of whom were caught by the cars or
gates. The one fatal accident occurred to a boy of 20 who fell into
an elevator shaft.
HANDLING OBJECTS

Handling objects caused 26.1 per cent of the injuries to minors,
including 12 cases of permanent partial disability. Heavy objects
caused most of the more serious injuries. In four cases the object
was dropped on a hand or foot, causing consequent amputation or
loss-of use of fingers or toes. In three cases the fingers of the injured
worker were caught between the heavy object and something else
and so injured that amputation or loss of use of one fin g er resulted.
In one case metal tire rims fell from a pile, catching a boy’s finger so
as to cause a compound fracture which necessitated amputation.
The remaining four injuries were cuts or scratches made by sharp
or rough objects, causing wounds which became so infected that
amputation of the injured digit was necessary.
Handling objects was a more frequent cause of the injuries to the
older boys and girls than to the younger ones and caused the largest
number of the injuries to adults. Injuries due to handling objects
were 16.4 per cent of the injuries to minors under 16 years, 24.2 per
cent of those to minors of 16 and 17 years, 28.1 per cent of those to
minors of 18, 19, and 20 years, and 29.2 per cent of those to adults.
For all ages the class of objects causing the largest number of these
injuries was heavy objects; and for this class too there was a steady
increase in frequency from the youngest group to the adults. The
widest difference was in the percentage of injuries from strain in
!» With certain specified exceptions, chiefly for automatic elevators, etc. Department of Public Safety,
Elevator and Escalator Regulations, taking effect June 19, 1914, including alterations and amendments,
taking effect Dec. 26, 1923, framed by the Board of Elevator Regulations, p. 38. Boston.

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i n d u s t r i a l a c c id e n t s t o e m p l o y e d m in o r s

handling heavy objects, the percentage among workers under 16
being much lower than among workers of 16 and 17. Only two minors
under 16 years were injured in this way, in contrast to 45 who were
16 and 17 years old. A high proportion of hernia resulted from
strains. Sharp or rough objects caused proportionately more of the
injuries among m in ors than among adults, and more of the injuries
to the minors under 18 than to those 18 years of age and over.
Hand trucks, carts, and wheelbarrows caused a slightly lower pro
portion of the injuries of this group among minors than among
adults, but the proportion decreased, instead of increased, from the
youngest to the oldest age groups among the minors.
_
Table 30 shows the manner of occurrence of injuries to Massa
chusetts minors due to handling objects.
T

able

30.— Manner of occurrence of industrial injuries to minors due to handling
objects: Massachusetts

Manner of occurrence of
injury and kind of object
handled

Industrial injuries
to minors due to
handling objects

Number

Per cent
distribu
tion

Total_________________

829

100.0

Heavy objects.........................

529

63.8

195
103

23.5
12.4

66
20
11
16
118

8.0
2.4
1.3
1.9
14.2

Sharp or rough objects............

244

29.4

Wood or metal slivers____

9.7

Causing strain in handling.................................
Dropped...........................
Catching worker against
other object............. ......
Falling while being loaded.
Falling while being piled..
Thrown...........- ................
Other___,_______ — ------

Manner of occurrence of
injury and kind of object
handled

Sharp or rough objects—Con.
Protruding wires or nails..
Glass........................... ......
Sheet metal and sheetmetal objects_________
Bones____________ _____
Other__________________
Hand trucks, carts, wheelbarrows----- --------------------Striking worker-------------Catching worker against
other object—............ —Object falling from---------Other__________________

Industrial injuries
to minors due to
handling objects
Per cent
Number distribu
tion

49
36

5.9
4.3

26
3
50

3.1
.4
6.0

6.8

2.4

17
7
12

2.1
.8
1.4

FALLS OF PERSONS

Death resulted from 4 of the 382 falls of persons. These fatal
falls were one from a loading platform, another with a falling staging,
the third into a floor opening, the fourth into a stepping pit. The
workers killed were all boys, one of them 16 years of age, the others
20 years of age. Falls also caused 2 cases of ^permanent partial
disability. A boy of 15 slipped and fell against a heel-skiving
machine, cutting three fingers. The first phalange of the right
forefinger had' to be amputated. Of the mjuries of temporary
duration one-fifth terminated within two weeks, over one-half within
four weeks, and one-tenth lasted longer than two months (see case
No. 31, p. 83).
I
.
Falls caused 12 per cent of the injuries to minors (but 17.2 per
cent of the injuries to adults). The proportion of falls among the
injuries to minors of 16 and 17 years, and of those to minors of 18
years and over was the same—between 11 and 12 per cent. The
proportion was highest for those under 16 years (17.2 per cent).
More than one-half of the falls of minors took place on level surfaces

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STATE RECORDS OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MINORS

and were due chiefly to slipping. Of the 46 falls of children under
16 years, 21 were due to slipping and 10 others were from stairways.
Minors of 16 and 17 years sustained 97 falls, 38 due to slipping and
21 others from stairways. Only 1 worker under 16 fell from a ladder
and 1 from a scaffolding, but 9 minors of 16 and 17 years fell from
ladders or scaffolding. Minors under 16 were prohibited by law
from working on scaffolding, and the boy injured had stepped up
to pass a water pail to the men working there. He fell about 4 or 5
feet, striking a concrete buggy. His right side was bruised and
strained and a kidney was ruptured, finally having to be removed.
Table 31 shows the manner of occurrence of industrial injuries to
Massachusetts minors due to falls of persons.
T a b l e 31. — Manner

of occurrence of industrial injuries to minors due to falls of
persons: Massachusetts

Manner of occurrence of
injury

Industrial injuries
to minors due to
fails of persons

Number

Per cent
distribu
tion

382

100.0

170

44.5

72
23

18.8
6.0

Total___ .
Falling from elevation '

Stairs and steps
Ladders________________
Benches, boxes, chairs,
tables..........................
Scaffolding and staging...
Other........ ....................

20
14
41

5.2
3.7
10.7

Falling into excavations_____

4.2

Floor openings_____ ____
Other excavations_______

9
7

2.4
1.8

Manner of occurrence of
injury

Industrial injuries
to minors due to
falls of persons
Per cent
Number distribu
tion

Slipping........................
Stumbling over loose obStumbling on fixed objects.............. ..............

196

51.3

136

35.6

7.9

9
21

2.4
5.5

T a b l e 32. — Manner of occurrence of industrial injuries to minors due to hand

• tools: Massachusetts

Manner of occurrence of
injury

Industrial injuries
to minors due to
hand tools

Number

Per cent
distribu
tion

212

100.0

Total....... ............... ......
Tool in hands of injured
worker_____ . . . . .

199

93.9

Glancing or slipping of
tool in use............ .
Other........ . . . . . . . .

159
40

75.0
18.9

Manner of occurrence of
injury

Industrial injuries
to minors due to
hand tools
Per cent
Number distribu
tion

Tool in hands of fellow worker.

6.1

1.9

Glancing or slipping of
Other.....................

HAND TOOLS

Hand tools were a frequent cause of injury, their glancing or slipping
while in use being responsible for four-fifths of the accidents due to
this cause. They injured 10 minors under 16 years of age, 54 of 16 or
17 years, and 148 of 18 years and over. Such injuries constituted

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INDUSTRIAL. ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

3.7 per cent of those to minors under 16 years, and from 6 to 7 percent
to the two older groups of minors and to adults. Among boys of 18
years and over there were five cases of permanent partial disability.
Three occurred because of the glancing or slipping of tools and one
because the tool caught. The resulting cuts caused the loss of a
finger in two cases, a thumb in another, and two toes in the fourth.
The fifth boy lost the use of his left eye, injured by a chip of stone set
flying by his tool.
Table 32 shows the manner of occurrence of industrial injuries to
Massachusetts minors due to hand tools.
STEPPING ON OR STRIKING AGAINST OBJECTS

Three-fourths of the 209 injuries due to stepping on or striking
against objects were caused by striking against nails, sharp projec
tions from walls or structures, or other fixed objects, and one-fourth
were caused by stepping on sharp objects, usually nails. One case
of permanent partial disability resulted, consisting of the loss of the
middle finger of the right hand through development of infection in
a puncture made by a nail. The other injuries caused temporary
disability. One-fifth terminated within two weeks or less, one-half
in from two to four weeks, one-fifth in from four weeks to two months,
and all within three months. Age, with its greater experience and
better muscular coordination, apparently decreased slightly the likeli
hood of injuries from this group of causés. They formed 10.4 per
cent of the injuries to minors under 16 years of age, 7.9 per cent to
those of 16 and 17 years, 5.5 per cent to those of 18 years and over,
and 6.6 per cent of all the injuries to minors. They caused 6 per
cent of the injuries to adults.
VEHICLES

Vehicles were the cause of 190 injuries to minors. Two of the
injured died, the rest suffered only temporary disability. The fre
quency of injuries due to vehicles varied in the different age groups.
Among the minors under 16 years vehicles caused 6.3 per cent of all
injuries; among those of 16 and 17 years they caused 3.7 per cent ;
among those of 18 years and over they caused 6.9 per cent. For all
under 21 years the percentage was 6; for adults, 8.5. The possibility
of injuries to children was lessened by the clause of the child labor
law forbidding the employment of any minor under 18 years of age
to operate motor vehicles of any description (see Appendix B, p. 107).
The manner in which the injuries due to vehicles occurred shows
why this prohibition apparently effected only a slight decrease in
the number of injuries to minors. Automobiles and other power
vehicles caused 150 injuries, 75 of which were sustained in cranking
automobiles, 17 in collisions, 16 by being struck by the vehicle, and
11 by falls from the vehicle. Animal-drawn vehicles were involved in
29 injuries, 16 accidents being due to falls from them and 4 to being
struck by them. Eight injuries were due to cars and engines.
Four, among them 2 fatal injuries, were due to being struck by the
car or engine, 3 to falls from them, and the other to being struck by
an object falling from them. Children under 16 years sustained 17
injuries from vehicles, among which were 9 incurred in cranking
automobiles, and 6 caused by bicycles. There were 31 injuries to
minors of 16 and 17 years, among them 10 from cranking automobiles,

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STATE RECORDS OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MINORS

4 to falls from them, 4 from being struck by them, and 2 from colbsions.
More than one-third (36.8 per cent) of the injuries from vehicles
were fractures, 18.4 per cent were sprains and strains, 21.6 per cent
abrasions, contusions, and bruises, and 14.2 per cent punctures and
lacerations. Cranking automobiles resulted in 52 fractures, 11
sprains and strains, 7 lacerations, 1 dislocation, and 4 other injuries.
Table 33 shows the manner of occurrence of industrial injuries to
Massachusetts minors from vehicles.
T able

33.— Manner of occurrence of industrial injuries to minors due to vehicles:
Massachusetts
Industrial injuries
due to vehicle

Industrial injuries
due to vehicles
Manner of occurrence 9 f in -'
jury and kind of vehicle

Cars and engines and plant
trucks on tracks..................
Falls from or in_________
Struck by or caught be-

Per cent
distri
Number
bution

Manner of occurrence of in
jury and kind of vehicle
Number

190

100.0

Automobiles and other power

Collisions______ ____ ___

1.6

4
2

2.1
1.0

Animal-drawn vehicles...........
Water craft....... ...... ......... ......

150
75
17
16
42
29
2

Per cent
distri
bution

78.9
39.5
8.9
8.4
22.1
15.2
1.0

FALLING OBJECTS

Falling objects (accounting for 3.1 per cent of all the injuries to
minors) caused 2.6 per cent of the injuries to minors under 16 years,
2.4 per cent to those of 16 or 17 years, and 3.4 per cent to those of
18 years and over, in contrast to 5.6 per cent of the injuries to adults.
One death occurred when a 19-year-old telephone lineman had his
skull fractured bv a brace that slipped down a pole. A case of
permanent partial disability resulted when several rocks in a quarry
became loose and fell, carrying with them an 18-year-old boy who
was barring them down. His right arm was broken and the muscles
so torn that amputation at the elbow was necessary.
Table 34 shows the manner of occurrence of industrial accidents
to Massachusetts minors due to falling objects.
T able

34.— Manner of occurrence of industrial injuries to minors due to falling
objects: Massachusetts
Industrial injuries
to minors due to
, falling objects

Industrial injuries
to minors due to
falling objects
Manner of occurrence of injury

Manner of occurrence of injury

100.0

Objects tipping over...............
Other and not reported...........

Collapse of piles------ ------------ -

2.0

Objects falling from elevations

80.6

Machines or work benches
P ile s ................................
Other__ <.________ _____

26
4
49

26.5
4.1
50.0

61205°—26t----- 4

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Per cent
Number distribu
tion

Number

Per cent
distribu
tion

12
2
3

12.2
2.0
3.1

INDUSTRIAL. ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS OTHER CAUSES OF INJURY

Of the 229 remaining injuries to employed minors in Massachusetts
90 were caused by hot and corrosive substances. Most of these (65)
occurred to minors 18 years of age and over, but 19 occurred to minors
of 16 or 17 years and 6 to those under 16. Molten metal caused 16
injuries, flames 11, hot water 9, other hot liquids 13. Acids caused
14 injuries, asphalt, pitch and tar 9, contact with hot surfaces 10.
There were 23 cases of occupational disease which caused compens
able temporary disability, 2 among minors under 16 years oi age,
4 among those of 16 and 17 years, and 17 among those of 18 years and
over. The diseases included 2 cases of lead poisoning, 2 of mica
poisoning, 1 of nickel itch, 1 of chrome poisoning, 1 of anthrax, and
1 of cocobola poisoning.
Infections not otherwise diagnosed on the accident reports were
received from handling skins in a tannery, from cleaning snoe linings,
from using stain on shoes, from scraping the inside of a boiler, from
handling chemicals in a dye factory, from picking tobacco, from mak
ing rubber water bottles. A plumber’s helper became affected with
dermatitis; a laundress in a hospital developed an infection in both
hands; and a boy subjected to continual kneeling to put bands on
frames in the spinning room of a cotton factory suffered a serious
affection of one knee.
Animals caused 20 injuries, 5 to minors 16 and 17 years of age, 15 to
minors of 18 years and over. Horses were responsible in 16 instances,
including 7 runaways, 7 cases where the worker was kicked or stepped
on, 1 accident due to sudden starting while being hitched, and 1 due to
crowding the boy against a partition. There were 3 injuries caused
by cattle, and 1 caused by a dog (which bit the boy who was holding it
■for a veterinary surgeon). Among the injuries there were 6 fractures,
5 cuts, punctures, or lacerations, 5 abrasions, contusions, or bruises,
and 1 multiple injury. Explosions of steam, gasoline, alcohol, and
other materials caused 15 injuries (1 fatal). Of the minors thus
injured 3 were under 16 years of age, 5 were 16 or 17 years, 7 were 18
years and over. Electricity caused 10 injuries (1 fatal), 9 to minors
18 years of age and over, 1 to a 17-year-old boy who was using a damp
extension cord and received a shock which stunned him, disabling him
for 19 days. Of the remaining 71 injuries 31 were caused by doors,
gates, windows, and covers, and 3 were due to wrestling and
horseplay.17
17
No estimate of occupational risk has been made for Massachusetts because the necessary occupation
statistics were not available for the year in which the accidents occurred (July 1, 1921, to June 80, 1922)
whereas in Wisconsin and New Jersey the midpoint of the year covered by the study (July 1,1919, to June
30,1920) coincided with the date of the Federal census. See pp. 19,58.

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NEW JERSEY
INDUSTRIES OPEN TO MINORS

The Federal census of 1920 shows that 48 per cent of the persons
engaged in gainful occupations in New Jersey were engaged in manu
facturing and mechanical occupations. One-third of those in manu
factures were in the metal industries, one-sixth in the textile indus
tries, and one-tenth in clothing, food, and chemical industries. The
10 principal manufacturing industries in order of the number of wage
earners employed were shipbuilding, silk goods, electrical supplies and
machinery, foundry and machine shop products, dyeing and finishing
textiles, iron and steel works and rolling mills, worsted goods, chemi
cals, rubber goods, and phonographs.1
The child labor law prohibited the employment of children under
14 ye^rs of age and required children under 16 to obtain work permits
(“ age and schooling certificates” ), in order to be employed legally.
The employment of children under 16 in certain dangerous occupa
tions was prohibited.2
EXTENT OF DISABILITY FROM INDUSTRIAL INJURY

During the period covered by the study, 2,019 compensable injuries
occurred to New Jersey minors, of which 14 were fatal, 502 resulted
in permanent partial disability, and 1,503 in temporary disability
lasting longer than the 10-day waiting period (see p. 1).
The percentage of the injuries classed as causing permanent partial
disability was much higher in New Jersey than in either Wisconsin or
Massachusetts (24.9 per cent as compared with 11.3 per cent and 5
per cent, respectively). As the waiting period was shorter in Wis
consin (7 days; see p. 1) than in New Jersey, one would expect the
Wisconsin percentage of injuries causing permanent partial disability
to be lower because its total number of compensable injuries would
include a greater percentage of injuries which Caused merely tem
porary disablement. But as the waiting period in Massachusetts
was the same (see p. 1) as in New Jersey during the periods studied, the
difference between the Massachusetts percentage of injuries classed as
causing permanent partial disability and that of New Jersey must be
due to some other cause. It is evidently attributable in part to the
fact that under the New Jersey law a number of partial disablements
were classified as entitling the injured worker to compensation as
permanently disabled, whereas in Massachusetts the same injuries
would have been classified as requiring compensation for only tem
porary disablement. Measured by the Massachusetts standard, the
percentage of the New Jersey injuries causing permanent partial
1 Fourteenth

Census of the United States, 1920, Vol. IV, Population, pp. 972 ff.; Vol. IX , Manufactures,

Agricultural pursuits were exempted from the operation of the child labor law, and provision was made
for certain exemptions relating to the work of children outside school hours. New Jersey, Comp. Stat. 1910,
Vol. 3, Labor, secs. 16 (as amended by Laws of 1914, chs. 60, 236, and 252), 18 (as amended by Laws of 1914,
ch 252)- Laws of 1911, ch. 136, secs. 1 (as amended by Laws of 1918, ch. 204), 2 (as amended by Laws of 1919,
ch! 37), 15 ( as amended by Laws of 1918, ch. 204); Laws of 1914, ch. 23. See also Appendix B, p. 108.

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INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT'S TO EMPLOYED MINORS

disability would have been 13.1 per cent instead of 24.9 per cent.3
Yet even this is higher than the corresponding percentage of the
Massachusetts accidents. It may be that the injuries sustained by
New Jersey minors really had more serious results; or that r roportionately fewer of the less serious injuries were reported to the com
pensation board of New Jersey than to those of the other two States.4
In 267 of the 1,503 cases of injury causing temporary disability the
disablement terminated within two weeks, in 635 cases it terminated
in from two to four weeks. In 441 cases it lasted from four weeks to
two months, in 116 from two to three months, and in 41 cases longer
than three months. That is, about one-sixth of the temporary disa
bilities (17.8 per cent) lasted two weeks or less, three-fifths (60 per
cent) lasted four weeks or less, and one-tenth (10.4 per cent) exceeded
two months in duration.
Approximately four-fifths of the injuries were to boys, one-fifth to
girls. The percentage of injuries causing death or permanent partial
disability was 26.9 for girls, 25.3 for boys. Among the injuries causing
temporary disability 69.8 per cent of those to girls caused disability
of four weeks or less, and 30.2 per cent caused disability of more
than four weeks. For boys the percentages were 58.1 and 41.7,
respectively.
Children under 16 suffered 109 of the injuries, workers of 16 and
17 suffered 682 of them, and 1,228 injuries occurred to those 18 years
of age and over. In these three age groups the percentage of the
injuries causing death or permanent partial disability was 22.9 per
cent for the youngest group, 27.1 per cent for minors of 16 and 17
years and 24.9 per cent for the oldest group— a somewhat larger
percentage for minors of 16 and 17 than for the workers in either
the younger or the older group— and proportionately a few more of
the injuries causing temporary disability terminated in 4 weeks or
less for minors under 16 years and those 18 years and over, than for
the 16 and 17 year old group.
Tables 35 and 36 show the extent of disability to New Jersey
minors, by sex and age of the injured.
* Of the 502 injuries which were classified in New'Jersey as causing permanent disability 237 would not
have been so classified under the Massachusetts law. Under both classifications a high percentage of per
manent partialdisabilities is found among the injuries due to certain types of power-driven machinery.
By the New Jersey classification permanent partial disability resulted from 47.9 per cent of the wood
working-machine injuries, from 48.5 per cent of the metal-working machine injuries, and from 56.3 per
cent of the injuries due to paper and paper products making machines. Under the Massachusetts classi
fication the corresponding percentages, though somewhat lower, are still relatively high—35.4 per cent of
the woodworking-machine injuries, 29.1 per cent of the metal-working machine injuries, and 34.4 per cent of
the injuries due to paper and paper products making machines. On the other hand, only 22 of the 42 injuries
due to handling objects which under the New Jersey law were classified as causing permanent partial disa
bility (see p. 54), and only 1 of the 8 injuries due to hoisting machines so classified (see p. 103) would have been
compensated as permanent partial disabilities under the Massachusetts classification. Hoisting machines
and the handling of objects, however, caused only 1.6 and 8.4 per cent, respectively, of the 502 injuries
resulting in permanent partial disability to New Jersey minors, whereas power machinery caused 66.3
per cent of them.
* In Massachusetts and Wisconsin all reports of accidents were made by the employer direct to the State
board having charge of the administration of the compensation law, but in New Jersey at the time of this
study the employer’s first report of an industrial accident was not made direct to the compensation bureau,
but was transmitted to that bureau through the insurance carrier. Since the date of the study a law has been
passed requiring all reports of accidents to be made by the employer directly to the compensation bureau
(see New Jersey, Laws of 1924, ch. 187).

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T able

35.— Extent of disability incurred by minors from industrial injuries, by
sex of injured: New Jersey
Industrial injuries to minors
Girls

Boys

Total
Extent of disability

Total............................................. .
Death_________________ _______________
Permanent partial-------- ------ ----------------Temporary__________ _____ ___ -------- ----T able

Per cent
Per cent
Number distribu Number distribu Number
tion
tion

Per cent
distribu
tion

2,019

100.0

1,684

100.0

335

100.0

14
502
1,503

13
413
1,258

.8
24.5
74.6

1
89
245

.3
26.6
73.1

24.9
74.4

36.— Extent of disability incurred by minors from industrial injuries, by
age of injured: New Jersey
Industrial injuries to minors
Extent of disability
Age of injured
Total

Permanent partial

Death

Temporary

Number Per cent1 Number Percent1 Number Per cent1
Total.

2,019

10-13 years.
14 years___
15 years.— :
16 years___
17 years— ..
18 years___
19 years____
20 years___

5
48
280
402
442
414
372

14
1
1
2
1
4
2
3

0.7

502

1.8
.7
.2
.9
.5
.8

1
11
11
74
108
106
106
85

24.9

1,503

74.4

19.6
26.4
26.9
24.0
25.6
22.8

4
36
44
204
293
332
308
284

78.6
72.9
72.9
75.1
73.9
76.3

i Not shown where base is less than 50.

LOCATION OF INJURY

Most of the injuries were to the upper extremities, and the great
majority of these were to the hands. More of the injuries to the
upper extremities (especially the hands) caused permanent partial
disability than of those to any other part of the body, except in the
case of injuries to the face and neck. Nearly one-half of the injuries
to the lower extremities were to the foot, the next largest numbers
involving the ankle, lower leg, and knee. One-half of the head
injuries were to the eyes, nearly half of these causing some reduction
of vision. One-fourth of the injuries to the trunk (one fatal) were
to the back.
Table 37 shows the location of industrial injuries received by New
Jersey minors. (For further details in regard to the location of
injuries see Appendix A, Table X I.)

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T able

37.— Location of industrial injuries to minors: New Jersey
Industrial injuries
to minors

Location of injury

Total________________
Head....................................
Face and neck________ ___

Number

Per cent
distribu
tion

2,019

100.0

80
64

4.0
2.7

Industrial injuries
to minors
Location of injury
Per cent
Number distribu
tion

U pper extremities___________
Lower extremities__________
Body, general..........................

80
1,381
382
42

4.0
68.4
18.9
2.1

NATURE OF INJURY

Two-fifths of the injuries were cuts, punctures, and lacerations;
nearly one-sixth were fractures, one-eighth abrasions, contusions,
and bruises, and one-tenth amputations.5
Four-fifths of the cuts and punctures were on the upper extremities.
One-tenth were on the lower extremities, and most of the rest on the
head, face, and neck. Some degree of permanent partial disability
resulted from 181 of them. Even more of the amputations were of
the upper extremities (91.9 per cent). Thus 125 minors lost a part
or all of one finger, 35 lost two fingers, 5 lost three fingers, 4 lost
four fingers (see case No. 6, p. 67), and 17 lost all or part of a thumb.
Of the injuries causing permanent partial disability, 209 resulted in
amputations, 293 in loss of use o f a member. Two-thirds of the
fractures were of the upper extremities, 121 of the lower arm or wrist,
56 of fingers or thumbs, 15 of the shoulder or upper arm. There
were 80 fractures of the lower extremities, including 25 fractures of
the leg below the knee, 15 of the ankle, 30 of the foot (19 involving
toes), 6 of the leg above the knee, 2 of the knee, 1 of the hip, and 1
whose location on the leg was not definitely specified by the accident
report. Fractures caused 3 deaths and 53 cases of partial loss of
use of the injured member. There were 6 cases of fractured ribs
and 1 of fractured sternum. The abrasions, contusions, and bruises
were on the upper extremities in one-half of the cases, on the lower
extremities in a little more than one-third of the cases. Twelve
were on the head (7 involving the eyes), 16 were on the trunk, and
9 to the body in general. Abrasions, contusions, and bruises caused
22 cases of permanent partial disability. More burns were on the
lower extremities (35.3 per cent) than on the upper (31 per cent),
the eye was affected in 7 cases, the face and neck in 14 cases, the
trunk in 2, and the body in general in 14 cases. Burns caused 2
deaths and 7 cases of permanent partial disability. Sprains and
strains were chiefly of the ankle (30 cases), the lower arm and wrist
(24 cases), and the trunk (31 cases), and there were 15 cases of
hernia and 6 cases of strained or sprained backs. Sprains and strains
caused 4 cases of permanent partial disability.
Infection developed in 168 (8.3 per cent) of the cases (137 injuries
to the hand and 10 to the foot), producing permanent partial dis
ability in 19 instances.
their^rfgin^natoe118

^ classifled ^ in^uries resulting in amputation of a member, regardless of

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STATE RECORDS OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MINORS

Table 38 shows the nature of the injuries to employed minors in
New Jersey.
•
T a b l e 38. — Nature of industrial injuries to minors: New Jersey
Industrial injuries
to minors
Nature of injury

Total________________
Cuts, punctures, lacerations..
Fractures................................
Abrasions, contusions, bruises.

Number

Per cent
distribu
tion

2,019

100.0

809
308
270

40.1
15.3
13.4

Industrial injuries
to minors
’ Nature of injury
Per cent
Number distribu
tion

Bums___________
All other and not reported___

209

in 4

116
21
158

5.7
10
7.8

COMPENSATION FOR INJURY

Under the New Jersey law compensation consisted of weekly pay
ments of an amount equal to two-thirds of the worker’s average
weekly wage, to be paid during total disability 6 and for specified
periods in case of death or permanent partial disability. The weekly
payments, however, were limited to a maximum amount of $12 and
a minimum of $6 or the actual wage if less than $6.7 On this basis
3.7 per cent of the injured minors received compensation amounting
to more than two-thirds of their wages, 45.3 per cent received twothirds, and 50.2 per cent received less. In 17 cases wages were not
reported.
CAUSES OF INJURY ®

Machinery alone caused two-fifths of the injuries. Handling ob
jects caused one-sixth, falls of persons approximately one-eighth,
vehicles one-tenth. Furthermore, machinery caused 69.3 per cent
of the injuries producing permanent partial disability; handling ob
jects, only 8.4 per cent; injuries due to falls of persons, 6 per cent;
vehicles, 5.2 per cent; and hand tools, 3.4 per cent. «Over 40 per
cent of the injuries due to machinery caused permanent partial dis
ability, in contrast to 18.7 per cent of those due to hand tools, and
13 per cent of those due to handling objects, falls of persons, and
vehicles. Permanent partial disability resulted from less than 10
per cent of the injuries due to any other cause.
Injuries caused by machinery constituted 44.7 per cent of the in
juries to minors of 16 and 17 years, 43.1 per cent of those to minors
under 16 years, 37.6 per cent of those to minors of 18 years and over.
6 But not for more than a specified number of weeks—300 in case of temporary and 400 in case of perma
nent disability.
I New Jersey, Laws of 1911, ch. 95, Sec. II, subsec. 11, as amended by Laws of 1919, cb. 93, sec. 1 Cer
tain provisions were also made for reasonable medical and hospital service, etc. Since the period of the
study the maximum and minimum weekly payments have been raised from $12 and $6, respectively, to
$17 and $8, and compensation has been granted for the first 10 days after the injury, provided the disability
extends over seven weeks (ibid., as amended by Laws of 1923, ch. 49). It has also been provided that if a
mmor under 14 is injured while employed in violation of the labor law, or if a minor between 14 and 16 is
injured while employed without the required work certificate or at an illegal occupation, he shall receive
double compensation (Laws of 1924, ch. 159).
* At, the time of the study the New Jersey compensation law did not cover occupational diseases, but
since that date the following have been made_ compensable: Anthrax, lead poisoning, mercury poisoning,
arsenic poisoning, phosphorus poisoning, poisoning from benzine and its homologues and derivatives,
wood-alcohol poisoning, chrome poisoning, caisson disease (New Jersey, Laws of 1911. ch. 95. See II.
gubsec. 22, as added by Laws of 1924, ch. 124).
*

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INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

Table 39 shows the causes of industrial injury to New Jerseyminors. (See also Appendix A, Tables X II, X III.)
T

able

39.— Cause of industrial injuries sustained by minors: New Jersey
Industrial injuries
to minors

Industrial injuries
to minors
Cause of injury

Cause of injury
Number

Per cent
distribu
tion

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

2,019

100.0

Hand tools..'............................
Falling objects.........................

814
323
238
206
91
89

40.3
16.0
11.8
10.2
4.5
4.4

Hot and corrosive substances.
Stepping on or striking
against objects____________
Draft animals______________
Electricity_________________
All other and not reported___

Per cent
Number distribu
tion
84

4.2

60
18
18
8
70

3.0
.9
.9
.4
3.5

M ACH INERY

Machinery caused 814 compensable injuries, or over 40 per cent
of the total injuries to employed minors, the greater part of these
(over 90 per cent) being due to power-driven machinery. Hoisting
apparatus caused 54 o f the remaining injuries; motors and trans
mission apparatus caused 20 (see case No. 9, p. 69); and machines
other than power-driven machines, such as fans, blowers, and pumps,
caused 6.
Power-driven machinery.

Power-driven machinery, to which were due 734 of the 814 injuries
caused by all kinds of machinery, caused 35.8 per cent of the injuries
to boys and girls under 16 years, 41.3 per cent of those to minors of
16 and 17 years of age, and 33.6 per cent to those of 18 years and
over. Nearly one-half (45.6 per cent) of the injuries due to powerdriven machinery caused death or permanent partial disability.
Almost three-fourths of these accidents occurred while the workers
were starting, stopping, or operating the machine or while they were
adjusting the machine or work. The point of operation was the
part of the machine involved in seven-eighths of the injuries, except
m the case of textile machines. The three classes of power-driven
machinery causing the largest number of injuries to minors were
metal-working, rubber and composition working, and textile ma
chines.
Metal-working machinery.— Of the 734 injuries due to power-driven
machinery, 344 were due to metal-working machinery (punch
presses in nearly one-half of the cases). The percentage of severe
injuries among those caused by metal-working machines (48.5 per
cent resulting in permanent partial disability) was higher than among
those due to any other cause.
Employment in the operation of certain dangerous metal-working
machines was prohibited for minors under 16 (see Appendix B, p. 108),
but no such prohibition existed for older workers. Thirteen of those
injured were less than 16 years old. Permanent partial disability
of varying degrees of loss of use or due to amputation of one or more
fingers resulted from 6 of those injuries. Metal-working machines
injured 118 minors of 16 and 17 years, causing 54 cases of permanent

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STATE RECORDS OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO MINORS

partial disability. 'Punch presses (see case No. 20, p. 77), hand and
foot presses, lathes, shears, abrasive wheels (see case No. 2, p. 64),
milling and gear-cutting machines, drills, and saws caused the largest
numbers of their injuries. Permanent partial disability followed 19
of the injuries received on punch presses and 8 of those due to hand
and foot presses. Drills caused 3 cases of permanent partial dis
ability, milling and gear-cutting machines 3, abrasive wheels, planers,
and hydraulic presses each 2, and shears 4. Minors of 18 years and
over suffered 213 injuries on metal-working machines, 107 of which
produced permanent partial disability.
Table 40 shows the kinds of metal-working machinery injuring
New Jersey minors, by age groups.
T a b l e 40. — Kinds of metal-working machinery causing injuries to minors, by

age of injured: New Jersey
Industrial injuries to minors due to
metal-working machinery
Age of injured

Blind of metal-working machinery causing injury
Total

Under 16
years 1

18-20
years

16-17
years

Total______________________________________________ -

344

118

213

Punch presses------ ------- ---------- ------------------------------------------

162

105
54
3

2
4
1

33
25
2

70
25

5
6
4
6
3
3
1
2
3

14
10
12
6
9
5
6
4
3
4
3
42

19
17
16
14
12
8
7
6
6
5
5
67

1
2

2
23

_____

i For list of machines whose use was prohibited to minors under 16 see Appendix B, p. 108.

Rubber and composition working machinery.— Rubber and composi
tion working machinery was involved in a smaller number of injuries
than was metal-working machinery, but the proportion of severe
injuries was nearly as high. Permanent partial disability followed
in 39 of the 83 cases— a proportion of 47 per cent. Work on calen
der rolls or mixing rolls in rubber manufacture was prohibited for
children under 16 years of age (see Appendix B, p. 108).
Table 41 shows the kinds of rubber and composition working
machinery causing injury to New Jersey minors, by age of the
injured.

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IN D U STRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

T a b l e 41. — Kinds of rubber and composition machinery causing injuries to minors,

by age of injured: New Jersey
Industrial injuries to minors due to
rubber and composition machinery
Kind of rubber and composition machinery causing injury

Age of injured
Total

Under 16
years1

16-17
years

18-20
years

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

Presses____________ :______
Foot and hand operated.
Power............ ^................
Grinding, washing, and milling machines
Cutting and slitting machines..,............
Cutting and punching machines________
Rubber-band choppers and cutters______
Tire and tube making machines________
All other and not reported_____________

1 For list of machines whose use was prohibited to children under 16 see Appendix B, p. 108.
1 No data obtained other than that these two minors were machine operators.

Textile machinery.— Textile machines— most frequently spinning
and weaving machines, winders, doublers, and quillers— injured 67
minors, causing death to a boy of 18 years and producing 18 cases
of permanent partial disability (see case No. 1, p. 63). Of the
injured 17.9 per cent were hurt while cleaning or oiling the machines
and 14.9 per cent were caught in the gears. These two percentages
are higher than those for the injuries due to any other class of powerdriven machines.
Table 42 shows the kinds of textile machinery causing injury to
New Jersey minors, by age of the injured.
T a b l e 42. — Kinds of textile machinery causing injuries to minors, by age of injured:

New Jersey
Industrial injuries to minors due to
textile machinery
Kind of textile machinery causing injury

Age of injured
Total
Under 16
years

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

16-17
years

18-20
years

Looms_______________ _______
Warpers................... .....................

13
1

Spinning machines______________________

Weaving machines..........................................

- j

Spinning frames________________________
Other.________ ___________________
Winders, doublers, and quillers................. ............
Carding and combing machines____________
Dyeing, finishing, and printing machines..—.................
Opening and cleaning machines...1___ ____ _______
All other and not reported____ ____ _____________

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8
5
5
2
23

6
2
4
1
3

STATE RECORDS OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS 'TO MINORS

Other hinds o f 'power-driven machinery.— Woodworking machinery—
especially saws, jointers, and planers— caused 48 injuries, 23 of which
resulted in permanent partial disability (see case No. 3, p. 65 case
No. 10, p. 70). Employment on certain dangerous woodworking
machines was prohibited for minors under 16 (see Appendix B,
p. 108), and only two children under this age were injured. There
were 17 injuries to workers of 16 and 17 years (for whom no such
prohibition -existed).
Table 43 shows the kinds of woodworking machinery causing
industrial injuries to New Jersey minors, by age of the injured.
T a b l e 43 .— K i n d s

w o o dw ork in g m a ch in ery ca u sin g
age o f in ju r e d : N e w J e r s e y

in ju r ie s

m in o rs ,

1For list of machines whose use was prohibited to minors under 16 see A ppendix B , p. 108.

Food, beverage, and tobacco-working machines injured 40 minors.
Tobacco machines were responsible for 1,2 of the injuries, cutting
machines for 5, milling and grinding machines for 3. Four of these
40 minors were under 16 years of age, 15 were 16 or 17 years Id.
There were 17 cases of permanent partial disability.
Paper and paper products making machinery caused 32 injuries
(see case No. 7, p. 67). Employment on certain dangerous machines
of this type was prohibited for children under 16 (see Appendix
B, p. 108), and only 3 of the injured were under this age. But 12
workers 16 and 17 years of age, and 17 of 18 years and over were
injured by them. Over one-half of the injuries resulted in permanent
partial disability.
Table 44 shows the kinds of paper or paper products making
machinery causing injury to New Jersey minors, by age of the injured.

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INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

T able

1 For

44.— Kinds of paper or paper products making machinery causing injuries
to minors, by age of injured: New Jersey

list of machines whose use was prohibited to minors under 16 see Appendix B, p. 108.

Printing and bookbinding machines caused 29 injuries, 14 of which
resulted in permanent partial disability. Printing presses caused 18
of the injuries. Employment on certain dangerous machinery of
this type was prohibited for children under 16 (see Appendix B, p. 108).
Only 2 of the injured were under this age, but there were 14
injuries among the minors 16 and 17 years of age, and 13 among those
of 18 and over.
A
Clothing machines (one-half of which were sewing machines)
injured 24 minors. Various chemical-making machines injured 17;
and clay, glass, and stone-working machines injured 13.
Hoisting machinery.

Hoisting machinery caused 54 accidents (26 due to elevators.,-28
to cranes or derricks), 2 of which were fatal. In most of the elevator
accidents the worker was caught by the gates or between the floor
and the car, but there were four cases of injury from falling into the
shafts. The injuries due to cranes or other conveyors resulted
usually from the worker’s being struck by the cable or load. Thirtyfour of the minors injured by hoisting machinery were 18 years of
age and over, 14 were 16 and 17 years old, and 6 were under 16.
HANDLING OBJECTS

Accidents due to handling objects, especially heavy ones, caused
323 injuries, resulting in 42 cases of permanent partial disability.
There were no deaths from this cause. Fractures, cuts, and bruises
resulted in equal numbers from the dropping of objects (see case
No. 12, jp. 72). The minors caught between objects handled most
often suffered cuts and bruises, but 7 had bones fractured, and 7 were
so seriously injured that amputation of a member was necessary.
In h a n d ling sharp or rough objects the workers were cut or bruised,
suffering injuries which may have been slight in themselves but in
one-half of which infection developed. Two of the 21 injuries re
ceived in accidents with hand trucks necessitated amputation, and

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there were four sprains or fractures. In the three age groups the
same percentage of injuries occurred from handling objects.
Table 45 gives the manner of occurrence of industrial injuries
received by New Jersey minors while handling objects.
T a b l e 45. — Manner of occurrence of industrial injuries to minors due to handling

objects: New Jersey

Manner of occurrence of in
jury and kind of object
handled

Industrial injuries
to minors due to
handling objects

Number

Per cent
distribu
tion

Total___________ ;_____

323

100.0

Heavy objects.........................

210

65.0

22.0

15.8

7.4

22
42

6.8
13.0

Catching worker against
other object....................
Causing strain in handling...................... ........
Falling while being loaded

Manner of occurrence of in
jury and kind of object
handled

Industrial injuries
to minors due to
handling objects
Per cent
Number distribu
tion
92

28.5

Protruding wires or nails..
Sheet metal and sheet-

7.4

Glass___________________
Wood and metal slivers...
Other__________________

21
14
12
21

6.5
4.3
3.7
6.5

Sharp or rough objects........

Hand trucks .

Catching worker against
other object.................. .
Other............................... .

6.5

4.3

4
3

1.2
.9

FALLS OF PERSONS

Falls caused 1 death, 30 cases of permanent partial disability, and
207 cases of temporary disability. The percentage of falls among
the injured minors of the three age groups was about the same. But
10 of the 14 falls suffered by children under 16 years of age were
caused by slipping on level surfaces, while the falls of nearly one-half
of the older minors were falls from elevations. Minors under 16
could not legally be employed on scaffolding or staging (see Appen
dix B, p. 108).
Table 46 shows the manner of occurrence of falls injuring employed
minors in New Jersey.
T a b l e 46. — Manner of occurrence of industrial injuries to minors due to falls

of persons: New Jersey
Industrial injuries
to minors due to
falls
Manner of occurrence of in
jury
Number

Total________
Falls from elevations.
Stairs__________________
Ladders....... . ..............
Scaffolding and staging...
Benches, boxes, chairs,
tables...................... ......
Other.................................

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Per cent
distribu
tion

238

100.0

105

44.1

27
25
24
7
22

Manner of occurrence of in
jury

11.3
10.5
10.1
2.9
9.2

Industrial injuries
to minors due to
falls
Per cent
Number distribu
tion

Falls into excavations.

4.6

Floor openings__
Other....................

3
8

1.3
3.4

Falls on level__________ ____

122

51.3 ’

Slipping_____________ ...
Stumbling over loose ob
jects................. .............
Stumbling over fixed ob
jects............ ..................
Other..... ..........................

33.6

11.3

3
12

1.3
5.0

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS
VEHICLES

The most noticeable facts about the 206 injuries due to vehicles are
that 102 of them were received in cranking the engines of automo
biles, and that 76 of these 102 injuries were fractures and 10 were
sprains, strains, or dislocations. General accident statistics have
shown the greatest dangers from motor vehicles to result from being
struck by them or being in collisions with them; but only 25 of the
industrial injuries to minors were attributed to this cause. Cars
and engines caused 18 injuries, usually because the workers fell from
or in the cars or were struck by or caught between them.
Three minors were killed in accidents due to vehicles, and 26 were
permanently partially disabled. Bones were fractured in 110 cases
(see cases No. 5, p. 66, No. 13, p. 72) , and there were 20 cases of sprains,
strains,' and dislocations, all injuries causing disablement for rather
long periods of time. Approximately one-tenth of each age group
were hurt by vehicles.
.
Table 47 shows the manner of occurrence of injury from vehicles.
T a b l e 47. — Manner of occurrence of industrial injuries to minors due to vehicles:

New Jersey
Industrial injuries
to minors due to
vehicles

Industrial injuries
to minors due to
vehicles
Manner of occurrence of
injury and kind of vehicle

Manner of occurrence of
injury and kind of vehicle

Total________ _____ —
Automobiles and other power

Number

Per cent
distribu
tion

206

100.0

159

77.2

102
18
7
2
30

49.5
8.7
3.4
1.0
14.6

Cars and engines and plant
trucks on tracks---------------Striking (or c a t c h i n g
worker against other

Per cent
Number distribu
tion

11.2

Falls from or in____;_____
Other. ^________________

6
5
12

2.9
2.4
5.8

Animal-drawn vehicles--------Other and not reported---------

17
7

8.3
3.4

HAND TOOLS

Three-fourths of the 91 hand-tool injuries were due to the slipping
or glancing of the tool. There were 17 cases of permanent partial
disability. The percentage of permanent partial disability (18.7)
was lower than for injuries due to machinery but was higher than
for injuries due to any other cause. Hand tools caused 2.8 per cent
of the compensable injuries to minors under 16 years of age, 3.4
per cent of those to minors of 16 and 17 years, and 5.3 per cent of
those to minors 18 to 20 years of age.
.
Table 48 shows the manner of occurrence of industrial injuries
caused by hand tools to New Jersey minors.

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S T A T E R ECO U D S OE I N D U S T R I A L A C C ID E N T S

M IN O R S

T a b l e 48. — Manner of occurrence of industrial injuries to minors from hand

tools: New Jersey
Industrial injuries
to minors due to
hand tools
Manner of occurrence of injury
Per cent
Number distribu
tion
Total_______________________ _____ _____

Glancing or slipping of tool in use___________ ______
In hands of injured worker_____________ 1 .. . ........
In hands of fellow worker_________________
Other and not reported........... ..........................................

100.0

76.9

65
5

71.4
5.5

23.1

FALLING OBJECTS

Falling objects caused 89 injuries resulting in 8 cases of permanent
partial disablement. Over one-half of the injuries consisted of cuts
and bruises. There were 17 cases of fracture, 8 sprains, and 3
dislocations. Falling objects caused 1.8 per cent of the injuries to
minors under 16 years of age, 2.9 per cent of those to minors 16
and 17 years old, and 5.5 per cent to those of 18 years and over.
Table 49 shows the manner of occurrence oi industrial injuries
caused to New Jersey minors by falling objects.
T a b l e 49. — Manner of occurrence of industrial injuries to minors due to falling

objects: New Jersey
Industrial injuries
to minors due to
falling objects
Manner of occurrence of
injury
Number

Per cent
distribu
tion

Total_____

100.0

Objects collapsing

7.9

Piles________
Other_______

1
6

1.1
6.7

Industrial injuries
to minors due to
falling objects
Manner of occurrence of
injury
Per cent
Number distribu
tion
Objects falling from elevations.
Machines and work benches
Piles____________________
Other— . ___________ ____
Objects tipping over________

80.9
22.5
4.5
53.9
11.2

OTHER CAUSES OF INJURY

Hot and corrosive substances, which caused 1 death and 5 cases of
permanent partial disability, were responsible for 84 of the 258
remaining injuries to New Jersey minors. Molten metal caused
15 and hot water 11 of the 37 accidents involving hot liquids. Hot
material such as sand, ashes, grease, fat, or cinders caused 11 inju
ries, acids caused 10, flames and hot metal (not molten) each caused
7, asphalt, pitch, or tar caused 3, and contact with hot surfaces
caused 4. Four of the injured minors were under 16 years of age,
24 were 16 or 17 years of age, 56 were 18 years and over. A boy who
worked as tending boy in a glass factory was burned by hot glass;
a boy employed in a jewelry factory was burned by the explosion of

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industrial accidents to employed minors

molten lead; a boy employed as messenger in a chemical factory
tripped and in falling caught at a jar of acid, upsetting it so that the
acid burned him.
.
Stepping on or striking against objects injured 60 minors, causing
5 cases of permanent partial disability. There were 46 accidents
due to striking against objects and 14 due to stepping on sharp
objects—mostly nails. The injuries included 35 cuts, 13 bruises,
and 4 fractures. Infection developed in 16 cases, necessitating 1
amputation (see case No. 23, p. 79). There was little difference
among the age groups, the percentage of injury due to this cause
varying from 2.8 to 3.2.
. .
Explosions were responsible for 18 injuries, causing 2 deaths and
2 cases of permanent partial disability. Of these injuries 7 were due
to exploding steam or steam pipes or the escaping steam or hot water,
7 to exploding gasoline or other substances. All the injured were
18 years of age and over. Draft animals caused 18 accidents, 8 by
kicking or stepping on the person injured, 5 by running away, 1 bv
biting. One of the injured minors was under 16 years of age and
5 were 16 or 17 years old. Electricity caused 8 injuries, which
resulted in 2 deaths, 1 case of permanent partial disability, and 5
cases of temporary disablement lasting for various periods from 11
days to 339 days. The remaining 70 injuries, due to miscellaneous
causes, produced 18 cases of permanent partial disability.
OCCUPATIONAL RISK

For New Jersey, as for Wisconsin, an estimate was made of the
occupational risk of injury to minors under 20 years of age.9 Because
of differences in the occupational distribution of boys and girls, the
risks to each sex are treated separately. Although relatively the
same proportion of the boys as o f the girls employed under 20 years
of age were in manufacturing and mechanical industries, a higher
percentage of the boys were in agricultural pursuits, in trade and in
transportation, and a higher percentage of the girls in clerical occupa
tions and in domestic and personal service. The injury rate per
1,000 employed was 16 for boys, 4 for girls.
INJURY RATES FOR BOYS

Different risks appear in the general occupation groups. Next
after extraction of minerals, where the high rate was due to injuries
suffered by iron-mine operatives, manufacturing and mechanical in
dustries presented the greatest risk. Those in which the highest
injury rates occurred were the lumber and furniture industries; metal
industries; chemical manufacturing; printing, publishing, and en
graving industries; and the manufacture of electrical supplies. In
the lumber and furniture industries the laborers had an injury rate of
37 per 1,000 and the semiskilled operatives a rate of 72 per 1,000,
rising to 91 per 1,000 in the case of furniture factories. In the iron
and steel industries the rate was 51 among the semiskilled operatives
68 per 1,000 for those employed around blast furnaces and steel rolling
» For a discussion of the method and assumptions involved in estimating occupational risk, see p. 19.
The New Jersey workmen’s compensation law covers all employments, both private and public, exclud
ing^nly public officials receiving more than $1,200 per year and those holding elective offices (Laws of
1911, ch. 95, Sec. I, as supplemented by Laws of 1913, ch. 145).

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S T A T E REC O R D S OE IN D U S T R IA L A C C ID E N T S T O M IN O R S

mills, 56 for those engaged in ship and boat building, 52 for those
employed in car and railroad shops and 28 for those in automobile
factories. In metal industries other than iron and steel 103 semi
skilled operatives among every 1,000 employed were injured. Al
though in the metal industries the rates were lower for the laborers
than for the semiskilled operatives they were 34 per 1,000 for the
laborers around blast furnaces and steel rolling mills, and 46 for
laborers in metal industries other than iron and steel. In chemical
manufacturing 38 laborers an'd 48 semiskilled operatives per 1,000
were injured. The injury rate for the semiskilled in printing,
publishing, and engraving industries was 64 per 1,000, ana for the
semiskilled in the manufacture of electrical supplies 56.
In the other manufacturing and mechanical industries the liability
to injury was not so great. In the textile industries the rate was 11 per
1,000 for the laborers, 12 per 1,000 for the semiskilled employees. It
was higher in the textile dyeing, finishing, and printing mills (22 for
laborers, 57 for semiskilled) than in any other kind of textile mill.
For the semiskilled in cotton mills it was 21, in knitting mills 8, in silk
mills 4. In clothing manufacture 17 semiskilled employees per 1,000
employed were injured. In food industries the rate was 44 for the
semiskilled, and 26 for the laborers. In paper and pulp mills the
semiskilled had an injury rate of 34 per 1,000, in petroleum refineries
37, in rubber factories 30, in tanneries 29, in shoe factories 14, in
potteries 14. In the glass factories the rate was 14 per 1,000 for the
semiskilled and 8 per 1,000 for the laborers employed.
In occupations other than those in manufacturing and mechanical
industries the rates in general were somewhat lower. In transpor
tation it was 12 per 1,000, being higher for garage laborers and for
chauffeurs than for others employed in transportation.
In trade the rate of 16 per 1,000 is attributable to the high rate of
injuries to laborers, porters, and helpers in stores (68) and to deliverymen (58). Clerks in stores had a rate of 5 injuries per 1,000 employed,
and salesmen in stores 3 per 1,000.
Table 50 shows the number of industrial injuries to boys under 20
years of age, and rates per 1,000 employed in the various occupation
groups.
T

able

50.— N um ber o f industrial in ju ries to boys under 20 years o f age, and rates
per 1,000 em ployed, by occupation grou ps: N ew J ersey

Industrial injuries to
Employed boys under 20 years
boys under
20 years
of age1
Number Per 1,000
employed

Occupation group

TotaL.....................................................................................

86,695

1,352

Agriculture......... .............. ................... ............................... ...........
Extraction of minerals_________________________________ ____
Manufacturing and mechanical industries____________________
Transportation____________ __________________________ ______
Trade........... .............. .......... ...... i .................................................
Public service___________ _________________ ____________ . . . .
Professional service_____________________________________ . ..
Personal and domestic service_______________________________
Clerical occupations............ ..................................
.... .

3,439
191
48,196
7,258
7,055
359
730
v P',.1,794
M 17,-£73

18
7
1,067
87
113

5
37
22
12
16

___rtTrr

i Number estimated covere^ys^thëxnmpansation law.

61205° 20t----- 6 Q Q U jE & E 0 Î

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JÌ

Jt,

14
42

Vft 11

8
2

IN D U S T R I A L A C C ID E N T S T O E M P L O Y E D M IN O R S
AGE AN D OCCUPATIONAL RISK FOR BOYS

The rate of injury varied for the three age groups— the boys of 14
and 15 years (wno were protected by the child labor laws), those of
16 and 17 years, and those of 18 and 19 years. It was 7 per 1,000
for the youngest boys, 16 per 1,000 for the second group, and 19 for
the oldest boys. In manufacturing and mechanical industries, in
trade, and in agriculture (the three classes in which two-thirds of
the boys of each age group were employed) the injury rate rose with
the age of the groups considered. The prohibition of employment
of children under 16 years of age in certain dangerous manufacturing
and mechanical occupations was reflected in their injury rate of 9
per 1,000 employed in these occupations, while for the boys of 16
and 17 years it was 23 per 1,000, and for those 18 and 19 years 27
per 1,000. As a smaller proportion of the boys under 16 years of
age than of those of 16 and 17 years were apprentices and laborers
and more were semiskilled operatives, among whom the injury rates
in general are higher than among laborers, the difference in the injury
rates for the two age groups becomes more significant.
Table 51 shows, by age groups, the injury rates per 1,000 for boys
under 20 years employed in the various occupation groups.
T

able

51.— In d u stria l-in ju ry rates per 1,000 boys under 20 years o f age, by occu pa
tion groups and age: N ew J ersey

Industrial-injury rates per 1,000 boys under 20
years
Under 18 years

Occupation group*
Total

18-19
years
Total

16-17
years

Under 18
years

Total______________________________ :______

Agriculture...................................... ....... ................... -

5
37
22
12
16
6
8
2

6
54
27
15
20
2
9
2

4
20
19
8
13
16
7
3

3
24
23
8
17
21
6

Manufacturing and mechanical industries.________
Transportation___________________________ _______
Trade______________ __________ _________________
Domestic and personal service____________________
Clerical occupations......................... .......... ..............

9
10
8
11
3

1 No injuries were received by boys employed in public service.
INJURY RATES FOR GIRLS

That the injury rate for the girls was not so high as for the boys
was due in part to differences in their occupations. Not only were
a higher proportion of the girls than of the boys in domestic and
personal service and in clerical occupations (occupations in which
the injury rates were relatively low) and a smaller proportion in
manufacturing and mechanical occupations, but there were differ
ences within the main occupation groups.
Thus in manufacturing and mechanical industries a larger propor
tion of the girls were engaged in lines which offered relatively fewer
risks. Nearly one-half were in textile manufacturing and clothing
industries, where the likelihood of injury was less than in other
manufacturing industries. However, their injury rates were also

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S T A T E R E C O R D S O F I N D U S T R I A L A C C ID E N T S T O M IN O R S

lower than those of the boys in the same industries. For semiskilled
workers in the textile industries, for example, the injury rate for girls
was 5 per 1,000, in silk mills 2, and in textile dyeing, printing, and
finishing mills 10, whereas for boys the rates in the same kinds of
mills were 12, 4, and &I, respectively. The girls in semiskilled occu
pations in the clothing industries had a rate of 3 injuries per 1,000
employees, the boys a rate of 17 per 1,000. In chemical and allied
industries the rate for semiskilled operatives was 13 for girls, 48 for
boys; in iron and steel industries 24 for girls, 51 for boys. The lower
rate of injuries to girls might be due in part to their being employed
at less dangerous occupations.10
The differences in the injury rates of girls and boys employed in
transportation (2 per 1,000 for girls, 12 for boys) was cleany due to
their different occupations. Over 90 per cent of the girls in trans
portation were telephone operators, whose occupation offered but
few risks, whereas more than two-thirds of the boys were chauffeurs,
draymen, and laborers, with high injury rates. This was also true
of minors employed in trade. The difference between the rate of
16 injuries per 1,000 boys employed and the rate of 2 injuries per
1.000 girls is attributable to the fact that a large proportion of the
boys were delivery men and laborers, porters, and helpers, whereas
the girls were almost exclusively clerks and saleswomen. In personal
and domestic service a large number of boys were elevator tenders
and janitors, whose occupations present many risks, whereas most
of the girls were domestic servants. For laundry operatives the
rates were very nearly the same— 9 per 1,000 for the boys and 8 per
1.000 for the girls. In all clerical occupations the girls had a lower
rate of injury than the boys.
Table 52 shows the number of industrial injuries to girls under 20
years of age, and rates per 1,000 employed in the various occupation
groups.
T able

52 .— N um ber o f industrial in ju ries to girls under 20 years o f age, and rate
;per 1,000 em ployed, by occupation grou ps: N ew J ersey

Occupation group l

Total........................................
Agriculture..............................
Manufacturing and mechanical industries___
Transportation.______________
Trade______________ _________
Professional service.......
Domestic and personal service______________
Clerical_______________ .

Industrial injuries to
Employed girls under 20 years
girls
under 20
years of
Per 1,000
age»
Number employed
73,649

295

235
39,172
2,629
4,726
1,200
4,865
20,810

260
4
7
2
9

4
7

1 No injuries were received by girls employed in extraction of minerals or in public service.
1Number estimated covered by the compensation law.
AGE AND OCCUPATIONAL RISK FOR GIRLS

Although the girls employed in New Jersey had lower injury rates
in general than the boys, their rates showed the same fluctuations
with age groups as did those of the boys. In many occupations the
io The census classification of the semiskilled operatives in the various manufacturing and mechanical
industries is not detailed enough to show the kind of work that the different persons were doing.

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IN D U S T R IA L A C C ID E N T S T O E M P L O Y E D M IN O R S

girls of 16 and 17 years had a higher injury rate than did those under
16 years.
Table 53 shows, by age groups, the injury rates per 1,000 for girls
under 20 years of age employed in the various occupation groups.
T

able

53.— In d u stria l-in ju ry rates p er 1,000 girls under SO years o f age, by occupa
tion groups and age: N ew J ersey

Industrial-injury rates per 1,000 girls under 20 years

Under 18 years

Occupation group1
18-19
years

Total

Total
Total....... ......................................................
Agriculture................................ ..................
Manufacturing and mechanical industries_________
Transportation............................... ......
Trade...................... ........... .................
Professional service__________________________ ..
Domestic and personal service_______________ _____
Clerical occupations_______________________ _____

4
4
7

2
2
2
2

4
9

2
2

Under 16
years

16-17

Ifi
8

1
5
1
1

6
* 2
i

1No injuries were received by girls employed in extraction of minerals or in public service.

AVERAGE TIME LOSS 11

As in Wisconsin, so in New Jersey the average time lost in the
various occupations again emphasizes the dangers of certain indus
tries. Minors employed in metal industries and chemical industries
lost more time because of accidents than did those in any other
industry. In food industries, electrical-supply factories, and rubber
industries the duration of disability was somewhat less, and in the
textile mills and in clothing factories it was comparatively low.
Boys had a greater time loss than girls, and the older and less pro
tected minors lost more time than did the younger ones.
u fo r method of computing time loss see footnote 19. p. 25.

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RESULTS OF INDUSTRIAL INJURIES TO EM
PLOYED M INORS 1
During January, February, and March, 1925—from three to nearly
six years after the occurrence of the injuries discussed in the preced
ing section of this report— a supplementary study was made through
interviews with the injured workers themselves, with a view to dis
covering how their industrial and social lives had been affected by
the injuries which they had received before they were 18 years of
age. The study was limited to the minors who had been permanently
disabled, and of this group practically all of those who could be
located were visited and interviewed. No industrial handicap had
been suffered by some of them; for others their industrial injury had
roved a permanent barrier to the occupation or career which they
ad planned. In some cases in which there was no industrial handi
cap the injury was slight, perhaps the loss of one joint of a third or
fourth finger. In some cases almost identical injuries had quite
different effects, depending upon whether deftness of touch, accu
racy of movement, keen vision, or physical strength was necessary in
a given occupation. Sometimes a minor forced out of his occupation
by his injury went into another occupation which promised as good
an industrial future; his success in making such a change depended
on one or more conditions—his education, his ability to do mental
rather than manual labor, the occupations available in his commu
nity, and opportunities for vocational rehabilitation. In other cases
he was forced out of a chosen occupation or career into an unskilled
trade or one which offered little opportunity. In many cases the
injured worker had experienced great difficulty in finding work of
any kind that he could do.
The effect on other phases of the worker’s life than the industrial
one was more difficult to discover. There were instances where a
child had been working during vacation only, intending to return to
school, but did not return because of his injury. A number of young
persons, sensitive over their deformities, felt themselves shut out of
the social life and activities which they had enjoyed formerly; some
of them had become discouraged and bitter because of their pro
longed dependency on others and their small hope of economic inde
pendence m the future.

CASE N O .

(N E W J E R S E Y )

A 17-year-old girl obtained work as operator of a carding machine
in a textile mill m a small town. The family (in which mere were
five girls) had come from an adjoining State because they heard
there was “ lots of work for girls” in this town. The father’s wages
1 This supplementary investigation, made by means of personal interviews with workers who had suf
fered injuries causing permanent partial disability when under 18 years of age, was made in Wisconsin by
Harriet A. Byrne and in Massachusetts by Jane Kinsey, agents of the industrial division of the Children’s
Bureau, and in New Jersey by Edith S. Gray and Jane Kinsey.

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in d u s t r ia l

a c c id e n t s

em plo yed

m in o r s

as a day laborer were not enough to support the family. The girl
had operated the machine one week when she was injured. She said
the foreman had told her that if the wool stuck she was to put her
hand into the machine and pull the wool loose. When she attempted
to do this, her right hand was caught and severely' torn by the teeth
of the carding machine.
The company sent the girl to the hospital and supplied medical
attendance; for several months she was treated daily by the doctor.
Her hand not only was badly disfigured but was seriously disabled.
The middle finger is bent and stiff, and the others are too stiffened to
close over a pencil; on her fingers is a network of scars; and a large
rough scar, which tears open if she tries to grip anything with any
force, covers one-half of the back of her hand. The use of the hand
has been reduced 50 per cent.2
The family knew nothing of the compensation law. The parents
were foreign bom , could not read English, and spoke it very brok
enly. A lawyer of their own nationality heard of the accident and
promised to get them some money for it. The records of the State
compensation board show a payment of $850. The family received
much less, however; they said, “ 'the checks went to the lawyer, and
he took something out of each one.”
The girl’s hand was healed after three months, but it was over a
year before she tried to return to work. The experience made her
very nervous and timid, and fearful of all power machinery. She
returned to her old work but gave it up after two weeks, as she was
afraid of it. One of her sisters, a weaver, tried to teach her to weave,
but when the thread broke and had to be tied the girl screamed and
ran, refusing to put her hands near the machine. In the four years
that have elapsed since the accident she has worked less than six
months; twice she tried to work in a canning factory, packing cans,
but could not do the work. When interviewed she had been working
in a pants factory on a power sewing machine for one week, earning $7.
The family need this girl’s earnings. Her father, who is 60 years
old, has been unable for two years to get work; one sister, under 16
years of age, is in school; a second is “ weak, coughs all the time, and
can’t work” ; a third has a steady job in a canning factory at $11 a
week; a fourth is a weaver at $10 a week when work is steady, but
during this winter she has had only three days’ work a week.
CASE NO. 2

(N E W J E R S E Y )

A 16-year-old boy who wanted to be a toolmaker worked at odd jobs
during the summer, and in the fall got a job as apprentice toolmaker
in a plant manufacturing steel novelties. In the third week of his
employment, as he was grinding a tool, a bit of emery flew into his eye.
He said that he had not oeen told of the danger in operating an emery
wheel, nor had he been warned to wear goggles. The insurance
carrier had the boy treated by three physicians; one, an eye specialist,
performed two operations and treated the eye daily for four months.
The eye was so injured that the boy’s total vision was reduced 35
per cent.
>The final determination of the extent of the permanent disability suffered, on which depends the amount
ofcompensation to be paid, is made by the State compensation bureau, board, or commission administering
the compensation law, on the basis of a report from its own physician or an impartial physician.

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R E S U L T S OP I N D U S T R I A L I N J U R I E S

TO E M P L O Y E D M IN O R S

At the end of four months the boy returned to his work as apprentice
toolmaker but was forced to quit after two months. He said, u You
have to have good eyes for that, it's close work, and I can’t see well
enough to do it.” He then learned to be a knitter in a factory that
used small hand machines. At? first this promised to be a good
occupation; it was piecework, and he made from $25 to $30 a week.
But he soon found it highly seasonal. For the last two years he had
not had more than seven months’ work a year.
In the dull times in his trade the boy filled in with any odd jobs
he could get. At the time of the interview a lay-off had lasted more
than two months, during which time he had had one month’s work
driving a truck, substituting for a sick friend; at other times he had
worked for the street railway, but work was slack there and temporary
workers were laid off.
The only other wage earner in the family of three is the father, who
is working at his trade of baker only irregularly because of injuries to
his back sustained at his place of employment. The money received
as compensation for the boy’s injury, as well as all other savings of the
family, have been spent in the times of slack work. At the age of
21 this boy is cut o ff from the occupation he wanted to follow, that of
toolmaker, has learned a highly seasonal trade, and says, “ I suppose
I ’ll have to learn something new. ” He is a slight boy, not fitted for
any heavy work, and his defective vision will be a handicap in any
close work.
CASE

NO. 3

(N E W

JE R SE Y)

A 16-year-old boy who had completed the second year of high school
obtained work in the sawmill department of a trunk factory during the
vacation, in order to earn spending money. (His father is a skilled
worker earning about $50 a week, and the boy expected to finish his
high-school course and go to a professional school.) Although he had
understood that he was to run errands and be a trucker, he made no
objection when he was told to operate a disk saw which was power
operated.
Several weeks later a knot in a board he was sawing struck the saw
edge, and the board jumped and slipped out of his hand. Such saws
are usually guarded at all places except the point at which they come
in contact with the work; this one was not, and the boy’s right hand
was exposed to the edge of the saw on the whole area above the level
of the table. His first finger was cut off at the first joint, the second
and third fingers below the second joint, and the fourth finger at the
first joint.
The boy was in the hospital for a short time, and his hand was in
bandages until school opened 10 weeks later. He returned to school,
although he was very nervous and his hand was very sensitive. The
summer after his graduation from high school he obtained work as
helper to a civil engineer. He became interested in this profession,
and in the fall went to a technical school in a near-by city, enrolling
for a three-year course in civil engineering. He remained in school
one year but found that he was at too great a disadvantage. Because
of his injured hand he could not use or adjust the necessary instru
ments. On his return home the boy applied for a number of positions
but was rejected for all of them. His injury prevented bim from
writing well enough to do clerical work. The town in which he lives

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I N D U S T R IA L A C C ID E N T S T O E M P L O Y E D M IN O R S

is small and offers only limited opportunity for employment. Finally
a family friend gave him a position as salesman in a hardware store,
where he is earning about $20 a week. He is sensitive, dreads meeting
strangers who notice his injury, and is unhappy and discouraged
about his future.
CASE N O . 4

(W IS C O N S IN )

A 15-year-old boy left school after one and one-half years of highschool work because he wanted to supplement the family income.
The family of three (his mother, brother, and himself) were living
on his brother’s wages of $22 a week, plus $15 a week received by his
mother as alimony. Vacation work as a printer’s devil had roused
in this boy a determination to be a printer. At first he was unable to
obtain work in a printing establishment. After a year as a salesman
in a store he welcomed an opportunity to become an apprentice
pressman, although the beginning wages were less than half the
amount he received as salesman, because he was looking forward to
the larger wages of a printer. But he was in his chosen occupation
only three months. While he was helping to thread up a press, a
revolving shaft pinched his left thumb between it and part of the
folding mechanism; involuntarily he jerked his hand away, pulling
off the nail and end of the thumb. At the hospital it was necessary
to amputate part of the thumb.
Since his accident the boy has been employed as a salesman m
stores, earning $20 a week. He hopes to get clerical work which
will pay more; but opportunities for such positions are few in the
small town in which he fives, and the accident has shattered his hope
of becoming a printer.
CASE N O . 5

(N E W

JE R SE Y )

A 14-year-old boy went to work as delivery boy for a department
store during the summer after he graduated from grammar school.
He continued working after school opened in the fall, although there
was no economic necessity for his doing so. His father owned a
small candy and cigar store from which he cleared enough to. support
the family of seven. The boy had been at work three years when
he was hurt. As he was crossing the street to deliver some goods
an automobile struck him, fracturing his leg half-way between hip
and knee. The bone was so shattered that at first it was thought
the leg would have to be amputated; but a silver plate was inserted,
and the leg was saved. When the boy came out of the hospital,
several months later, his injured leg was 1}/% inches shorter than the
other, and, as he said, “ it sort of doubled u p ” when he walked.
Compensation was given on the basis of 20 per cent loss of use of
the leg.
After more than a year he returned to work with his former em
ployer. For several months he was shifted from one job to another,
all of them necessitating more standing or walking than he was
able to do. Finally, completely discouraged, he left his employer
and went to help in his father’s store.
Now, five ana one-half years after the accident, he walks with
a slight limp and can not walk far nor stand long; he is incapaci-

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tated for any active work and would have great difficulty finding
employment.
CASE NO. 6 (NEW JERSEY)

A 14-year-old girl who had graduated from grammar school
obtained work in an electrical factory for nine months, then went to
a soap, powder, and perfumery factory, where she wrapped and
packed cakes of fancy soap. (At night she attended a commercial
school.) One day the forewoman asked her to substitute for a girl
working on a blanking machine. She fed pieces of metal into thet
machine, operated by another girl, which cut out metal shaving cups.
Two hours after she began this work a piece of metal stuck in the
machine; as she tried to dislodge it with her left hand, the operator
accidentally touched the lever and started the machine. Her
second ana third fingers were cut off close to the hand, the first and
fourth fingers at the second joint.
After four months her hand had healed sufficiently for her to return
to work. The employer had promised to give her work she could do,
and when she objected to pasting labels (given her on the first day of
her return), she was given clerical work in the office. There she has
remained, her wages increasing from $14 to $23 a week. She can
use the typewriter a little with her right hand and her left thumb,
but seldom attempts to do it. She did not return to the commercial
school.
In this instance a severe injury has not been apparently a great
industrial handicap because the employer has given other work to this
girl, now 21 years old, but it has made her very sensitive and averse
to mingling with people who might notice her deformity.
CASE NO.

(NEW JERSEY)

A bright, ambitious boy, small for his age, worked during vacation,
as he wanted to earn something while he was finishing his high-school
course. He was the oldest of four children, all under 16 years of age.
His father was earning $50 a week. When he was 15 he obtained
work during the summer as a general helper in a paper-box factory;
sometimes he operated a press which cut out paper boxes, although
he was so small that he had to stand on a box to feed the machine.
The next summer, after his second year of high school (when he was
16 years of age), he returned to the paper-box factory and was given
work operatmg the press. This press was an automatic power
machine, fed at the top, the two cutting plates closing at regular
intervals. Such presses usually had a guard at the feeding point to
push the operator’s hand out of the way before the plates closed,
but the machine on which he worked was a new one on which the
guard had not been installed. The boy told the story of the accident
as follows:
,,
I was too short to reach the top of the plates to feed the machine so I had to
stand on a box. I could not get a good balance on the box and often fell over
toward the machine. At the time of the accident I think I slipped when I
reached to put the pasteboard in and lost my balance. M y right hand was
between the plates. If the guard had been attached my hand would have been'
pushed up before the knife and plate came together, but it had not been in
stalled, so the knife and plate came together and crushed my right hand. After:

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IN D U S T R I A L A C C ID E N T S T O E M P L O Y E D M IN O R S

my accident the boss put another man on the machine, without guards, and he
lost his right hand the next week. Then the boss installed the guards.

The boy was rushed to a hospital, and his hand was amputated at
the wrist before his parents were notified of the accident.
At the opening of school, two months later, the stump was still
bandaged; six months elapsed before it was sufficiently healed to
permit the fitting of an artificial hand. The boy completed his
high-school course, learning to write with his left hand. He had
received $1,200 compensation, which he now used to pay his expenses
at a school of business administration in a near-by city. In June,
i924, he graduated as a trained accountant and bookkeeper, but at
the time he was interviewed, nine months later, he had been unable
to get work. He says that when he applies for a position he is not
even given an interview if the employer notices his artificial hand.
He is now 22 years old, bitter and unhappy, doubting whether he
will ever be able to earn his living. He is very sensitive about his
deformity, hiding his artificial hand as much as possible, and dreads
meeting strangers.
CASE NO. 8 (NEW JERSEY)

A 15-year-old Italian boy (and his twin brother) left school to work
in order to supplement the family income. There were three younger
children in the family, and the father’s earnings of $30 a week were
insufficient for the family needs. After a year’s work in different
kinds of factories this boy entered the garment trades. In a year
he had become coat operator and assistant marker and cutter in a
men’s clothing shop, acquiring enough speed as an operator to earn
$40 a week during the busy season. As a cutter he expected in
another year or so to earn $45 to $50 a week throughout the year.
During the dull season in his trade he obtained temporary work
as a press helper in a waxed-paper mill. After two months he was
injured while inserting a new roll of waxed paper in the cylinder
press which stamped designs on the paper. The boy told of his
accident as follows:
I had pulled back the hand switch to stop the press and was unscrewing a
nut, preparing to take out the roll and put a new roll of paper into the press.
M y wrench slipped, and my hand fell against the impression cylinder. The
press was slightly out of order and had not come to a full stop, so the cylinders
were still turning and my hand was drawn in between them. There was a guard
for the machine, around the cylinders, but it was “ u p ” at the time. M y four
fingers on my right hand were crushed. The bones were broken in all four.

He was taken to a hospital where the second and third fingers were
amputated at the second joint. The first and fourth fingers were
saved but were stiff and useless for a year. This injury barred him
from his chosen occupation, although he tried to return to it. He
found that with the injured hand he could not operate the sewing
machine as a coat maker, which required a deftness of touch in direct
ing the feed impossible for him, nor hold scissors in cutting, nor
manipulate a disk or straight electric cutter.
For a time he worked in the waxed-paper mill as general helper in
the stenotype department and later returned to the garment trades
as a presser, one of the least-skilled and lowest-paid occupations in
the traded He uses both a hand iron and a steam presser. The
first and fourth fingers are no longer stiff, but the grip of his hand is

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RESULTS OF INDUSTRIAL INJURIES TO EMPLOYED MINORS

much weakened, and even in this occupation he is handicapped.
His wages never go above $25 a week. His employer says he is
industrious and a good worker.
C A SE N O . 9

(N E W J E R S E Y )

A 15-year-old boy, eager to go to summer camp with his Boy Scout
troup, got a vacation job to earn money for his expenses. He was a
bright, energetic boy, president of his first-year class in high school
ana prominent in school athletics and activities. He obtained work
as helper in the assembling department of a machine shop at $10 a
week. Less than a month after he began work he was injured. He
was helping a machinist attach a new belt to an emery wheel, and as
he stood on a work bench adjusting the belt above while the machinist
adjusted it below, he lost his balance; tffiowing out his left arm to
steady himself he brought it in contact with the belt and shaft of an
adjacent idle machine. Just what happened is not known, but from
the position in which his arm was found afterwards it was thought that
he had pushed his fingers between the belt and shaft, dislodging the
belt, which doubled back, drawing in and crushing his hand and arm.
The arm was broken in four places, the muscles torn, and the flesh
lacerated.
He was rushed to the hospital by a physician who was in the factory,
and his arm was amputated just below the shoulder. He remained m
the hospital 10 days and for 3 months was under treatment. The
shock, loss of blood, and worry over his future made him nervous and
anemic.
He returned to high school in the fall and completed his course after
three years, graduating with high scholastic standing. His deform
ity shut him out of the sports he loved, and his arm stump was so
sensitive and painful that he was forced to lead a very inactive life.
The boy had a talent for drawing, and wished to become an illus
trator or an advertising sketch artist. His stepfather’s salary was
not sufficient to enable him to send the boy to college as there were
two younger children in the family; but the boy himself hoped to
earn his way through a college in an adjacent State which offered the
courses he wanted. He went there with letters of recommendation
for four positions (waiter in a fraternity house, chauffeur for a private
family, and houseman for other families). He found, however, that
with only one arm he could not fill any of these positions, and he was
unable to obtain clerical work. After a month he returned home,
much discouraged. During that winter he made various unsuccessful
attempts to earn money to complete his education. Part of the time
he was ill from two fans in which he dislocated the stump of his left
arm, tearing the muscles.
. .
,
During the following summer he sold books on commission for three
months, earning from $25 to $30 a week. With this money he is now,
at 19 years of age, attending an academy of fine arts in a neighboring
city to which he commutes. But he is working there at a disadvantage
due to the loss of his arm and is not able to progress as rapidly as the
other students. The money which he earned by selling books is
almost gone. He has failed to obtain clerical work for, as he says,
“ nobody wants a one-armed man when there are plenty of two-armed

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IN D U S T R IA L , A C C ID E N T S T O E M P L O Y E D M IN O R S

men to be had.” Yet unless he can earn money to secure adequate
training he will not be able to use the one special talent which he has.
C A SE N O . 10

(N E W J E R S E Y )

A 14-year-old boy, oldest of five children, left school to go to work.
His father’s ealnings of- about $25 a week as a day laborer were the
sole income of the family. Through a friend the boy got a job in a
furniture factory at $12 a week. He fed boards into a glue machine
operated by another worker, and had been employed about nine
months when he was injured. As he glanced down at the pile of
boards to see if the supply was running low, his right hand was caught
by the machine; he cried out to stop the machine, but the operator
thought he was only joking. He succeeded in pulling out his hand,
but the palm was caught and badly tom by a screw.
He was in the hospital for five weeks. He has little use of the third
and fourth fingers, and the grip of the hand is practically destroyed.
In winter his hand soon becomes numb, so that he can not do outdoor
work.
When he was able to work again he tried to get back his old job but
was told there was no work for him. He tried unsuccessfully to get
other work. After two and one-half years of unemployment ne
obtained work with a meat-packing concern for which his father had
worked for 15 years. The first day he was put at piling boxes, but
this work was too heavy for him. The next day he was made assistant
foreman’s helper, at $20.40 a week. After a year and a half in this po
sition he had a dispute with his immediate superior and quit. In the
seven months that have elapsed he has been able to get only one job.
This was work in a bed factory, but it was too heavy, and he had to
give it up after a week and a half.
The boy’s father is also incapacitated now for heavy work, as he
suffered a serious industrial injury over a year ago, when a box fell on
him, striking him in the abdomen. He spent five months in the
hospital, then was given light work by the company by which he had
been previously employed, but after six months was discharged.
Although the father and son apply daily at the various factories of
the good-sized manufacturing town in which they live, neither one
has been able to obtain work. Since the other children are all too
young to work, the family is living on its small savings.
CASE N O .

(N E W

JE R SE Y )

After his father’s death a boy and his mother were living on the
mother’s earnings of $1.50 a day and on the $5 a week paid by a
maternal uncle who lived with them. For three years they were
forced to draw heavily on the insurance money left by the father, and
ih seemed necessary for the boy to go to Work as soon as possible.
After he completed the eighth grade at 14 years of age, his teacher
obtained a position for Him at $10 a week as office and messenger boy
in the office and warehouse of a chain of grocery stores. Two weeks
after he began work he was injured; the next four years, with two
intervals of about two months each, he spent in hospitals.
The accident occurred when the freight elevator on which the boy
was riding from one floor to another with a message was stopped by

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¿he operator to put off a truck. The boy, thinking that another
truck which was on the elevator was to be taken off also, started to
step off. His right heel was caught between the floor of the car and
the steel door jamb, and the flesh and part of the bone were torn off.
As the boy said, “ If the elevator man hadn’t stopped when I yelled,
my whole leg would have been taken off.”
During the four years in the hospital 14 or 15 operations were
performed. Twice the heel was grafted into the left leg. The first
graft (into the shin) failed. When the heel was removed the wound
in the shin did not heal and an'ulcer developed, persisting more than
a year. The second graft (into the calf of the leg) was more success
ful. The heel was partly built up and the wound in the leg healed
more readily. Numerous skin-grafting operations were performed,
the skin being taken from the boy’s thighs.
Eight months ago the boy was discharged from the hospital, with
the use of his foot reduced 50 per cent. He lacks almost an inch on
the bottom of his right heel. Wearing an ordinary shoe, which he
pads with cotton, he walks with a slight limp. Without the shoe he
can not walk at all. He can not remain standing for any length of
time, nor walk far.
Since his discharge the boy has worked less than three months.
He was orderly in the hospital at $90 a month and meals for three
weeks, but he was too slight to do the required lifting. For nearly
three months he tried unsuccessfully to get work he could do. At his
mother’s request his former employer hired him as clerk at $10 a
week in one of the chain stores. Part of his work was to take adver
tising cards to six branch stores with distances of several blocks
between. The manager of the store objected to the length of time it
took him to walk from one store to another, and at the end of five
weeks, after a dispute over the way he served a customer, the boy
quit. After two weeks a friend got him the place in a meat-packing
company, which he had when he was interviewed. * His work is to
lift empty boxes off a truck and slide them down a chute. The work
is light (the boxes weigh about 5 pounds), but he has to stand all the
time, and his foot gets tired and sore. A box struck his left shin,
and the scar (which he says opens easily) has opened again. He has
worked two weeks, earning $22.98 each week, but he does not know
whether he can continue the work.
While the boy was in the hospital he was paid compensation of
$6.67 weekly, and the employer himself paid a voluntary contribu
tion of $4 a week. This was practically the only income of the fam
ily, as there was no money remaining from the father’s insurance,
and the uncle was working irregularly and able to contribute but
little. The storekeepers, who had known the mother for 20 years,
gave her liberal credit, and some aid was received from relatives and
other persons.
The final hearing on the case took place soon after the boy left
the hospital. The weekly compensation of $6.67 had been paid for
217 weeks; and medical and hospital bills amounting to $1,605. 50.
The compensation bureau determmed the permanent disability to be
50 per cent loss of use of the foot, and ordered the payments to be
continued for 62)^ weeks more. This will make the total compensa
tion, paid in a period of five years, $1,864.27. But when the further
payments cease (in 10 months) the family do not know how they

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INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

will get along. It is not known how long the former employer will
continue his purely voluntary contribution; the mother is no longer
physically able to go out to work by the day; the unde (now almost
70 years old) is out of work, and the injury to the boy—who is not
yet 19 years of age—has greatly limited the kinds of work open to
him. Spending four years in a hospital at this impressionable period
of his life has circumscribed this boy’s horizon and concentrated his
thoughts to an unfortunate degree upon his accident and the various
operations which he has undergone.
CASE NO.

(N E W

JE R SE Y)

A 15-year-old boy, retarded in school, left school to go to work.
He was the oldest of five children whose father earned $30 a week.
The'boy worked in various factories for a few months, and soon after
he was 16 he obtained work as a rivet passer in a shipyard at $15.84
a week. He had worked less than six months when a rivet dropped
by a passer on the upper level struck him in the left eye. He was
given Jiospital care, and two specialists in a neighboring city treated
him for several weeks but could not save the vision of his eye. Two
months later he returned to his work, but as another man was hit in
the eye by a rivet soon afterwards the boy was afraid to remain in
this occupation and obtained a transfer to a job of picking up bolts
at the same wage.
He left the shipyard after six months and obtained work as a truck
driver. This was not full-time work; but he had been rejected by
several factories at which he applied for other work, when the physical
examination which they required disclosed his defective vision, and
no examination was required for truck driving. His eye looked nor
mal, and he said that he could drive in a straight line but had
trouble turning corners. He says that he has not had any accident
on his truck.
A year ago, while he was out of employment, the boy suffered a
severe injury from being struck by a truck. His right leg was broken
and crushed at the thigh; he was in the hospital for two months and
for six months was unable to stand. His right leg is short, and he
walks with a perceptible limp. He could not obtain damages be
cause the accident was due to his own negligence and not to that of
the truck driver. Since this second injury the only work he has been
able to obtain has been an occasional job as truck driver. He says
he can not find other work because most of the factories of the city
where he lives require physical examinations, and will not hire him
when his eye defect is discovered. With the handicap of his two
injuries, his driving a truck is dangerous to himself and to others.
Although now 22 years old, he is still dependent upon his father for
support.
C A S E N O . 13

(N E W

JE R SE Y)

In one family it was necessary for each of the 12 children to go to
work as soon as possible. The father earned $25 a week and was
furnished a house by the gas company for which he worked. The
second child in the family completed the sixth grade a few months
before he was 15 years old, and at the close of the school year he

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RESULTS OF INDUSTRIAL INJURIES TO EMPLOYED MINORS

obtained work as a plumber’s helper at $5 a week. When he was 16
he worked for nine months for the gas company. After this he was
employed as the driver of a delivery wagon for a local store at $15 a
week. He had been in this position three months when he was hurt.
A laundry automobile backed into his delivery wagon, throwing
him to the ground. He fell between the wheels and the curb, striking
his head and falling in such a position that he could not move. His
horse, becoming frightened, lunged forward, pulling the heavy wagon
over the boy’s left arm just below the shoulder. The automobile
driver got the unconscious boy from under the wagon. At the hos
pital it was feared that the arm would have to be amputated, as the
bone was crushed to splinters. The mother would not consent to
the amputation, however, until a specialist was consulted. The
specialist inserted a six-inch silver plate and saved the arm. The boy
spent three months in the hospital and was incapacitated for work
for three months more.
As the injury, though received in the course of his employment,
was caused by a third party, a suit'was brought3 against the laundry
owner; the jury gave a verdict for $1,500 on the testimony of physi
cians that the use of the boy’s arm was reduced 35 per cent. The
lawyer’s fee was $450, the operation $150, and there were other
medical expenses (the hospital bills were paid through another
source).
The boy returned to his work at the store at his former salary.
After six months he obtained a better-paid position with the gas
company earning $25 to $30 a week. He can not raise his arm
above his shoulder, and in wet weather it is so painful that he can
not drive the car in which he goes about to read meters. He is
incapacitated for heavy work but can usually do the work required
in his present position.
C A S E N O . 14

(W IS C O N S IN )

A 16-year-old boy was working as construction helper for an electric
light and power company. He had been at work a month when he
was sent to the top of a pole to pull wires through it. The pole
was decayed and gave way, and the boy fell to the ground. His
skull and jaw were fractured, and both arms were broken. He left
the hospital after six weeks, badly scarred, with the use of both hands
reduced 20 per cent, and unable to remember anything from one
day to the next.
The boy had left school a short time before he would have com
pleted the eighth grade, because he “ wanted things the other boys
had,” which his father could not buy for him. When he had partly
recovered from his injuries he enrolled in a commercial school but
remained only a week, as his head hurt him badly.
Because he had been illegally employed he received treble com
pensation amounting to $3,898. For a few months payments were
made weekly, after which the rest was given in a lump sum, and a
guardian was appointed (the boy’s parents were divorced).
» When a third party is legally liable to the injured employee for an injury, the existence of a right of
compensation under the compensation law is not a bar to an action by the employee against the third party
(New Jersey, Laws of 1911, ch. 95, sec. 23 (f), as amended by Laws of 1919, ch. 93).

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INDUSTRIAL. ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

For a year and a half he was not strong enough to attempt any
kind of work. Since then he has worked intermittently as a barber,
but is out of work much of the time because of his poor health. He
is 21 years old now and much discouraged about ms future.
CASE N O .

(W IS C O N S IN )

A 16-year-old boy left school in 1918 and did farm work till late in
the fall, not returning to high school (he. had completed the third
year). That winter he remained at home; in the summer he went
into the hemp factory owned by the uncle with whom he lived.
When he had been there four weeks he was hurt. Helping at a
hemp-breaking machine operated by another man, he misjudged the
length of time before the hemp would be adjusted and the machine
would be started. His right hand was caught and crushed, and only
the quickness of the operator prevented the boy’s whole arm and
body from being drawn into the machine. At the hospital his arm
had to be amputated midway between the wrist and elbow. Total
compensation of $3,535 was paid, as well as the hospital and medical
expenses. Later an artificial hand was secured.
The boy did not recover sufficiently to attempt work for nearly a
year. He was shut out from any manual labor. For two years
he attended vocational schools in near-by cities, learning to write
with his left hand and studying bookkeeping and accountancy.
Through the second school he vattended he obtained a position as
timekeeper and accountant in an automobile factory. He is now
23 years of age and is self-supporting.
CASE N O .

(W IS C O N S IN )

A 14-year-old boy left school as soon as he could legally, and
obtained work as errand boy in a general job printing and binding
establishment. His father had been ill for five years, there were seven
in the family, and this boy’s earnings were needed.
After working one week the boy, not realizing the risk he was
running, investigated a round-cornering machine while the operator
was absent. While his right hand was in the machine he touched a
lever which caused the knife to descend, and his first and second
fingers were cut off at the first joint.
Compensation was awarded by the commission, but the employer
and the insurance carrier contested the case, on the ground that the in
jury did not occur in the course of the boy’s employment. The lower
court affirmed the award, thus supporting the commission’s conten
tion that a boy of that age naturally would be attracted to machinery,
and that the employer should have provided better supervision to
prevent the occurrence of such an injury.
The State supreme court, however, reversed the decision, and the
child received no compensation. The employer gave $35 to the
family. The doctor canceled his bill when he found that the boy’s
mother would have to pay it, but she did pay the hospital bill of $15.
For six weeks the boy was unable to work. Then he returned to
his former employment as errand boy at his former wage of $8.64.
During the next five years he held a number of jobs, most of them
for only a short time. At the time he was interviewed he had been

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R E S U L T S OF I N D U S T R I A L I N J U R I E S

T O E M P L O Y E D M IN O R S

out of work for a month. He thinks that his injury is a serious handi
cap in obtaining work. In at least one instance when he had been
hired he was rejected as soon as his injured hand was noticed. Now,
at 19 years of age, he can obtain work only very irregularly.
CASE N O .

(N E W

JE R SE Y )

Retarded in school and disliking the work, a boy left school as soon
as he could do so legally, and obtained work in a cigar factory,
spreading out tobacco in the warehouse and rolling away empty
hogsheads. He earned $10 a week which he gave to his father, who
allowed him $2 for spending money. He had been working about
four months when he was mjured. He described the accident as
follows:
We had been spreading out the tobacco to dry on the floor and were rolling
the empty hogsheads away. We had hooks to catch the hogsheads. The boss
sent a deaf and dumb boy to help me. I caught a barrel with my hook. He
was on the other side of it. I told him to roll it away from me toward the wall.
He could not hear me and rolled it toward me instead, knocking me down while
the hook handle was still in my hand and the hook fastened in the barrel. The
handle was jammed into my arm as I fell, dislocating it at the elbow.

The company physician strapped the boy’s arm and sent him back
to work. He was put on easy work for a few days and when the
pain grew intolerable was sent to the hospital, where he remained
two months. Finally the doctors said they could do nothing more
for him, and he returned to the factory. He received $252 as com
pensation for a 15 per cent reduction in the use of his left arm. He
remained in the cigar factory, sorting cigars at $12 a week, for two
and one-half years, was laid off in a dull season, and obtained a job
cutting threads of gas mantles at $11. After six months he began
washing windows of engine cabs for a railroad, earning $20 a week,
and sometimes more by working overtime. He tried to become a
fireman on the railroad but failed to pass the physical examination
because of his weak arm, and knows of no other work on the railroad
which he is physically able to do. Though he is strong and of good
physique he can not lift heavy weights because the bone of the lower
arm is still out of place. The bone protrudes on the inner side of
the elbow. He is now 18 years old and would like to do more skilled
work, feeling the need of earning better wages. He continually hurts
the arm through overexertion, and is discouraged about his future.
C A S E N O . 18

(M A S S A C H U S E T T S )

A 14-year-old girl obtained work as helper in the sample depart
ment of a blanket factory. Her father was dead, and the two sisters
and a brother who supported the family of seven on their earnings of
$47 a week thought the younger children should go to work as soon as
possible. The girl’s work was to cut samples with hand scissors and
to prepare sets of blankets for delivery. She occasionally helped to
cut blankets on an old-fashioned cutting machine controlled by a hand
lever. After three years she was told to help an inexperienced
operator (another girl of 17) on this cutting machine. As she was
arranging the blankets in the machine, which cut 8 or 10 at once, the
operator let go the lever, and the heavy knife blade dropped, cutting
6 1 2 0 5 °— 2 6 t ------- 6

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off the ends of all four fingers of the helper’s right hand. The first
finger was severed at the base of the nail, the second finger below the
first joint, the third finger at the first joint, and the tip of the fourth
finger was cut off.
The girl was given first aid at the factory and was then taken to the
hospital. The bones were rounded off and the ends of the fingers were
closed with stitches. The third finger was left with almost no flesh
pad, only the skin over the end of the bone. The girl returned to her
work after 11 weeks, but found it very difficult. Not only were her
fingers very sore and sensitive, but she could no longer grasp firmly
with her injured hand and was continually letting objects drop.
She is able to hold her position only because a friend who works with
her does all the cutting: she herself can not use the scissors and finds it
difficult to wrap the blankets. Thè loss of blood at the time of the
accident, the nervous shock, and the pain of contacts with her injured
hand have caused several nervous collapses, which have forced her to
give up her work for periods of several months. She is now 20 years
old, thin, pale, and nervous. Her wages rose from $12.30 a week to
$16.85 but were recently reduced to $15.50 when the wages throughout
the mill were cut.
CASE

N O . 19

(M A S S A C H U S E T T S )

A 17-year-old boy had been taking violin lessons for eight years and
was looking forward to a career as a concert violinist. He wished to
earn money to pay for his music lessons, as his father’s earnings of $30
a week were the sole income for the family of three, and during the
summer vacation applied for clerical work in a surgical-instrument
factory. He was told that before he could be given clerical work he
must work for a short time in the shop. He was placed temporarily at
operating a punch press, which cut out frames to be used as holders
for hypodermic needles. On the fourth day he received an injury
which ended his hope of a musical career. One of the frames caught
in the machine, and the boy, not accustomed to the machine and
awkward in handling the materials, put his left hand under the die to
dislodge the frame; at the same time he unconsciously pressed the
lever, and the die descended, cutting off his second and third fingers
at the first joints.
In the fall the boy returned to school. His fingers were Very
sensitive. The physician reported to the State industrial accident
board that “ the stumps show poor flaps, skin thin and adherent with
crusts.” That year the boy completed his high-school course. He
obtained a clerical position during the day and went to a school of
business administration at night, paying his tuition with the $460 he
had received as compensation for the loss of his fingers. ' In the two
years that have elapsed his finger stumps have hardened enough for
him to become a typist with a fair degree of speed, earning $25 a week.
He is attending night classes at a university, planning to take a degree,
and thinks he has found a means of earning a living, but concert work
or any use of the violin is now permanently closed to him, and he feels
that nothing can compensate him for this.

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CASE N O . 20

TO E M P L O Y E D M IN O R S

(N E W J E R S E Y )

A 16-year-old boy, whose father and brother had irregular work as
street laborers (earning about $24 a week), left school to go to work.
His first job was cleaning spools in a sewing-machine factory. He
remained at this factory several months, turning his wages over to his
mother, then obtained work as a punch-press operator in a metalnovelties factory. He had been at work six days when he was injured.
As he stated, “ I was talking to a boy across the room while I was
feeding the press. I had my hand under the knife, and I guess I must
have put my foot down on the lever without noticing. Anyway the
knife came down all of a sudden and cut my hand.” His left thumb
and index finger were amputated at the second joint.
When he tried to return to work, six months after the injury, the
grip of his left hand had been destroyed. As he could not operate a
press with one hand, he was transferred to a laborer’s job in another
department; but the work was too heavy for him. He tried to obtain
work as a street laborer with his father but could not handle the
shovel or other tools. Since his accident, four and one-half years
ago, the boy has never had a job which made any wage return,
although he has applied for work at a number of factories in his own
and near-by towns. Recently he has been helping, without pay, at
a lunch stand where “ quick lunches” are served. He has learned to
cook and thinks he could do the work necessary, but the owner
refuses to employ him as a relief worker because of his hand. “ He
said he could not leave me alone at the stand because I could not
handle things right with only one hand. He said I could help
around, but he does not pay me.” The boy is bitter and discouraged.
He would like to have a lunch stand of his own, but this seems im
possible. The wages of his father and brother now amount to $37
a week, and this, supplemented by his mother’s earnings of $5 a
week from laundry work, is the income for a family of four.
CASE N O . 21

(M A S S A C H U S E T T S )

A 17-year-old girl left school to work, although her father was
willing for her to remain in school. She thought she should get
work so that she could buy her own clothes and. pay board at home,
as the family consisted of 13 persons, 8 of whom were under 16 years
of age. She obtained work in an elastic-webbing factory at $14 a
week. Here she took care of the starch tank and fed the strips of
web into the finishing machine. As the web passed through the
machine it left threads on the rolls. These had to be cleaned off so
that they would not stick to the next strip of web and mark it. The
finishers had been warned not to clean the rolls in motion, but they
disregarded the warning because if they stopped the machines the
heated rolls burned the threads, making them very difficult to
remove. After two months, as the girl was rubbing the threads off
the rollers, her foot slipped on the wet floor; and as she fell forward
her right hand was drawn into the rollers and crushed.
She was taken to a hospital where her hand was treated for three
weeks, but her fingers could not be saved. The first, third, and fourth
fin|(ers were amputated at the hand; the second became crooked and
stiff. Because the flesh had been badly torn, the hand was very

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slow in healing. She remained in the hospital ten and one-half
weeks, and for a year or more was treated at the out-patient depart
ment. She carried her hand in a sling because it was very sensitive;
and she could not use it at all for a year and a half.
She was unable to do her former work; and though her employer
offered her a position in the office she was very nervous and did not
want to work at the scene of her accident. Through friends she
obtained a place as telephone operator, her wages beginning at $8 a
week and gradually increasing to $13.50. In this work she can use
her other hand almost entirely. Although the skin on her injured
hand is thin and badly scarred, she says the hand is better, and not
so sensitive to heat and cold and to contacts. She manages to write
and to iron with it. The accident and long disability have been a
severe strain upon the girl, and she is thin and nervous; however, she
is ambitious and eager to work, and tries to make the best of her
situation.
CASE N O . 22

(N E W J E R S E Y )

A 16-year-old boy left school on completing grade 7B. He did
not wish to continue in school, and it seemed best for him to go to
work, as his father earned only $18 a week and there were four in
the family. His first job was winding armatures in an electricalsupply factory, where he earned $20 a week. After eight or nine
months he went to another electrical-supply factory, where he worked
with the fan-motor crew cutting wire and winding springs and earned
about $24 a week. He had been at -this factory nearly a year when
he was injured.
He said he called the foreman’s attention to the fact that the wire
supplied to him was split but was told to use it anyway. As he cut
the wire a piece flew up and hit his left eye. The doctor to whom he
was sent said the blow had caused a hemorrhage. He put a shield
over the eye, and the boy remained at home nine days. The foreman
sent for him, and he went back to work with his eye bandaged. He
tried to do Ins old work but could not see well enough; he was given
other work on the fan motors, at 25 cents an hour, but much of this
he could not do. The other men in the crew used to “ give tim e” to
help him, as they knew that his father was then out of work and the
family was dependent on the boy’s earnings.
The first compensation payment was not made until 9 or 10 months
after the injury, when the State compensation bureau determined
that 90 per cent of the vision of the left eye was lost. A lump sum of
$200 was paid, and after that $24 every two weeks till the total award
of $1,080 had been paid.
The boy remained at the factory for nearly two years after his
injury, until after a disagreement with a new foreman the whole
fan-motor crew quit. Then he obtained work as a truck driver at
$25 a week. He said that he could do this work “ except when he got
caught in a jam ,” but “ when your eye is gone you get to feel things
coming up on that side of you. ” Two months ago work became slack,
and he was laid off. He has found no other work yet but says he
must, as he can not afford to be idle. His father can get only three
days’ work a week and is earning only $20. His 18-year-old sister
has to stay at home as their mother has been ill for several months.
The boy is now 22 years old, big and strong, yet he is handicapped

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for many kinds of work as the sight of his left eye is practically
destroyed. Recently a glaze has come oyer the eye, but he has not
gone to a physician for examination.
C A S E N O . 2 3 (N E W J E R S E Y )

From the time he was 11 years old a boy had gone after school and
on Saturdays to the basket factory where his father worked to help
him prepare the materials for the next day’s work. The year he was
16 he failed to pass the eighth grade of school. That summer, and
until the following spring, he worked in the basket factory at piece
work. His earnings varied from $15 to $35 a week. This money
he turned over to his mother, who gave him spending money and
bought his clothes out of it. In the spring he returned to school,
completed the eighth grade, and planned to enter high school in the
fall.
During the vacation he returned to the basket factory, where he
received in August an apparently slight injury which nevertheless
had serious results. He stepped on a tack on the factory floor; he
said that as tacks were always lying about, and as he had stepped on
them before, he had pulled it out and thought no more aoout it.
Three days later, however, not only his great toe (which the tack
had pierced) but his whole foot was badly swollen, as infection had
set in. For four months he was under the care of aphysician, who
lanced his toe, drained it, and poulticed it. An X ray then dis
closed that the bone was affected. The boy was taken to a hospital,
and most of the toe was amputated. He could not walk again until
March, and then only with a perceptible limp. Compensation of
$700 was paid him.
«»
As he was discouraged about losing so much time from school he
did not go back, but returned to work at the basket factory, where he
has remained ever since. His toe is in bad condition and “ gathers %
with slight provocation. Two years ago this forced him out of work
for two months, and last winter he lost five weeks because of it. The
doctor advises an X ray, believing that the bone is affected and that
the rest of the toe must be amputated. Since the boy already limps
because of the injury he fears that walking will be still more diffi
cult if the whole toe is amputated.
CASE N O . 24

(W IS C O N S IN )

A 16-year-old boy had to leave school to go to work just before
completmg his second year in high school. His father, the only
wage earner, was ill, and the burden of supporting the family of five
fell upon this oldest son, who gave up his hope of a medical education
to become a timekeeper and apprentice in an electrical-supply
factory. He had been working three months when a chip of steel
from a casting he was cleaning flew into his left eye. The factory
nurse and two local physicians treated the severe hemorrhage whicn
followed but did not realize that the piece of steel was in the boy’s
eye. They thought he was “ bluffing” when he returned to work a
few days later with his eye still bandaged and complained of the pain.
The compensation commission awarded compensation of $227 for
what was determined to be a 10 per cent reduction of vision. Nearly

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nine months later, when he was working at night as a toolmaker,
the boy suddenly discovered that the vision of the eye was nearly
gone. He could only distinguish between light and dark. A
specialist in a near-by city, to whom he was sent by his employer,
discovered and removed from the eye a piece of steel nearly a quarter
of an inch long. The vision, of the eye could not be saved, and the
eyeball had turned brown from the rusting of the steel. The case
was reopened before the compensation commission, and an additional
$1,880 was paid in three installments.
Since the loss of the vision of his left eye the boy has had a number
of positions. When interviewed he was working as tool and die
maker, earning $35 a week. But he can not judge distance and
works under a constant strain, fearing an injury to his other eye.
CASE N O . 25

(W IS C O N S IN )

A 15-year-old boy began to work after completing the eighth grade
of school. The father contributed little to the support of the
mother and eight children. Although three of the children were
already at work the mother felt that this boy's earnings were needed
also. He obtained employment assembling boxes in the wood
working department of an electrical-supply factory, earning $9.90
a week. After working two weeks, as he was cleaning a saw machine,
his right hand was caught in the saw, and his second, third, and
fourth fingers were cut off at the second joint. Because he was
illegally employed, treble compensation of $977 was paidf For two
years he continued to work for the same employer but found himself
so seriously handicapped by his injury that he wished to fit himself
for some other occupation. His mother decided that he should go
to a technical high school in a near-by city.
The father deserted the family some time ago; three children are
still contributing to the support of the home. His mother has
helped the boy all she could although the financial burden has been
heavy; the boy has helped himself all he could by doing odd jobs
during the school year and by working during vacations. For two
summers he worked in his home town for the electric company. He
is now completing his last year in the technical high school. He
feels that the time has been well spent and that he can become selfsupporting.
CASE N O . 26

(M A S S A C H U S E T T S )

A 16-year-old boy, disliking school, was glad to leave to go to
work. His father’s earning of $25 to $30 a week would have been
sufficient to support the family of three (father, mother, and boy),
but an older brother had been disabled by war wounds and the father
contributed to the support of this son and his family.
The boy obtained work in an oilcloth factory as trucker and as
operator of a cooling machine. He earned $16.80 a week, of which
he gave $10 to his father. He had been at work a year and four
months when he was injured. At the request of a fellow worker he
attempted to shape a scraper handle on a circular saw, knowing
nothing of the danger he was incurring. He let the board slip and
his right hand came in contact with the saw, which cut off au four
fipgers at the second joint.

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TO E M P L O Y E D M IN O R S

Compensation for the loss of his fingers was refused at first on
the ground that operating the saw was not part of his work. But
the State industrial accident board ruled that the accident occurred
in the course of his employment, and a total compensation of $332
was paid.
For six months the stumps of the boy’s fingers were too sore and
sensitive to use. Then he returned to his former employment but
found that he was unable to operate the cooling machine and that
there was not enough trucking to keep him busy. He worked on
part time for seven months, then was laid off and not recalled. At
present he is a driver of a delivery wagon at $18 a week and is able
to do the work required, although it is difficult for him. He can
grip the reins with only one hand— the horse he drives is easily
managed. He can use his right hand only as prop under the cases
and bags of groceries he must lift, holding and manipulating them
with his left hand, and they often slip from his grasp. ID cold
weather his hand is very painful and soon becomes numb. He is
afraid that he will lose this job and that he will be unable to find other
work on account of his physical handicap.
CASE N O . 27

(M A S S A C H U S E T T S )

A 15-year-old boy, the oldest of eight children, left school to go
to work because his father thought he ought to do so. The family
income consisted of the father’s earnings of $27 a week. For more
than a year the boy worked at odd jobs in leather tanneries and
shoe-shining parlors, then obtained work as helper on a wringing
machine in a tannery at $13 a week. On the third day of his employ
ment he was feeding the wet skins into the wringer, and one skin
went in faster than he had expected. His right hand was drawn
into the machine, his fingers were crushed, and the palm of the
hand was cut.
The boy was sent to the hospital to have his hand dressed; and
continued under treatment for two months. He lost the use of his
third finger, which became stiff and crooked, and for five months he
was unable to work. He wished to become a mechanic and tried to
work in a garage but found that he could not use the tools with his
injured hand. Returning to his former employment at the tannery
he found that no advance in wages was possible in this occupation
nor in that of hanging skins, which he also did for some time. He
is now tacking skins (stretching them by means of pliers and fasten
ing them on boards). He can earn $31 a week at this, but the pliers
irritate his finger so that it is swollen and purple and has a deep
ring indented in it. He fears that he must give up this work; he is
much discouraged and thinks that he can never hold more than a
laborer’s job.
CASE N O . 28

(M A S S A C H U S E T T S )

To earn spending money a 13-year-old boy started to work after
school and on Saturdays in a candy store, preparing pans in the
candy kitchen, freezing ice cream, and running errands. As soon
as school closed he worked full time, earning $5 a week. Early in
the summer, when he was barely 14 years old, he was severely injured.
As he was shoveling ice into the power-driven ice-cream freezer the

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em plo yed

M IN O feS

shovel slipped and his right hand went into the unguarded gears.
His little finger was ground off, and the flesh on his other fingers
and on his hand up to the wrist was badly lacerated. At the hospital
a part of his hand was amputated so that the line of the hand is
straight from the third finger to the wrist. Skin from his arm was
grafted on the torn flesh. He was in the hospital seven weeks and
for three months was under treatment.
The State factory inspector reported:
I noticed that a guard, which had formerly been provided for the bevel gears
open to contact, was not in its place on the machine. * * * After questioning
the proprietor relative to the guard he stated that it had been taken off some
time ago, and they had neglected to put it back again. * * * If this safeguard
was on the machine where it belonged it would have been utterly impossible for
above accident to happen.

Compensation of $1,500 was paid by the insurance carrier 18
months after the accident, but part of this went to the lawyer whom
the father had hired because at first only $600 had been offered.
The father tried to save the rest for the boy but during the past year
has had to use some of it for family expenses. There are six in the
family, and the father and sister, the only wage earners, have had
very irregular employment.
The injured boy, now 16 years old, is completing his first year in
high school. He is handicapped in school because he can no longer
write legibly with his right hand and has not been able to learn to
write well with the left one. His wrist and fingers were very weak
for a long time. They are gradually growing stronger, but he can
lift very little with that hand. “ It gives out, he says, “ and I drop
things.
The hand is very sensitive to contacts and to heat and cold;
the skin is scarred and discolored and breaks easily. The boy hopes
to obtain work as salesman in the candy store when he finishes high
school. He probably will never be able to use tools nor to operate
any kind of machine in the mills which are the chief industries of his
community.
CASE

NO. 29

(M A S S A C H U S E T T S )

An orphan boy, dependent upon an uncle and aunt, went to work
when he was 14 years old. His uncle, a mixer in a rubber plant, was
the only wage earner, and there were three children in his family.
The boy had been in the hospital with a septic leg for several months
during the winter. When school closed he obtained work as a doffer
in a textile mill so that he could buy his own clothes and pay some
board. He kept this position more than a year, his wages rising
from $7.60 to $14.50. He then obtained a better position, operating
a bolt-threading machine. He was on piecework, earning from $18
to $20 a week. As he wished to become a mechanic, so that he
might later earn the wages of a skilled workman, he took a job as
mechanic's helper in an automobile factory, although he earned only
$12. He had Deen in the factory 10 months and felt that he was
making progress, even though ms wages had not risen, when he
received an injury that barred him from skilled work. As he was
grinding a tire plate, either his hand or the plate slipped, and his
right hand came in contact with the grinding wheel. His thumb
was ground off to the first joint.

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Three weeks later he returned to the factory but found that the
loss of his thumb prevented his doing his former work. He »could
not pick up tools or small parts, nor do other necessary things that
required deftness of touch and ability to grasp small objects.. This
also prevented his return to his former employment as doffer in
the textile mills and as operator of bolt-threading machines. The
company transferred him to the stock room as assistant to the stock
clerk at the same wage of $12. He saw no prospect of advancement
and after several months left to become a drill-press operator. He
could operate the drill but his inability to pick up small objects
made him so much slower than the other operators that he was laid
off. The only work he could find was the unskilled job of trucker
in a gun factory.
The boy is now 20 years old and is still a trucker, earning $26 a
week when the factory is running full time. He says that he can earn
his living at unskilled jobs like his present one— jobs which have no
future—but that he can never learn a trade. “ Of course I ’d be a
good deal better off if I could become a mechanic, but I know I
can’t now, so I don’t make any fuss over it. I just take my mind
off it. ”
C A SE N O . 3 0

(M A S S A C H U S E T T S )

To earn spending money a 12-year-old boy ran errands for a meat
market and grocery store during summer vacations. He had
operated the meat-grinding machine without injury several times;
but one day during the second summer as he was feeding meat into
the machine his right hand went too far, and the index and second
fingers were so badly cut that it was necessary to amputate them at
the hand. He spent three weeks in the hospital and was unable to
use his hand for three months. The wound did not heal well and
broke open easily.
He returned to school but did not like it; he wrote with great
difficulty, and his hand was still sore and very sensitive. He left
school as soon as he could do so legally but had difficulty in finding
work that he could do. The grip of his right hand was destroyed
so that he could not handle tools nor operate a machine, and he
constantly dropped things. He is now 17 years of age and a helper
on the delivery wagon of a furniture store, earning $12 a week.
He can not lift heavy pieces of furniture and in helping with other
pieces often strikes his hand till it is raw. His mother is eager
to have him become an electrician, but it is doubtful that he could
learn such a trade thus handicapped.
C A SE N O . 31

(M A S S A C H U S E T T S )

During the summer vacation a 15-year-old boy worked as general
helper in a grocery store, and after school opened he worked there
two hours each afternoon. His father was dead, his older brother
was out of work, and his mother and two sisters earned only $32.50
to support the family of five. He hoped to earn enough to buy his
school books and some of his clothes. In December of that year,
as he was coming out of the stock room with his arms full, he stepped
into a space between the floor boards, turning his ankle. The pain
was not severe enough to make him quit work that day, but the

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following day his ankle was so painful that the family physician had
it X-rayed, and discovered a separation of the small bones. A cast
was put on. A week later the boy’s temperature was high, and a
discharge began to seep through the cast. He was sent to the hospital
and the cast was taken off. Slivers of bone were removed from the
foot, and the ankle bone was scraped. The wound was kept open
for drainage for a month.
The boy remained at the hospital for three months and was paid
$287 compensation. He walked on crutches until the following
September. When he reentered school he was walking with a cane
and could walk only to and from school. During the Christmas
holidays he tried to work in the grocery store again but found that
he could not stand on his foot. He was nervous and below par
physically, and at the end of the year his physician advised him to
give up school as too confining. This was his first year in high
school; he was retarded on account of his long absence the previous
year.
He returned to the grocery as clerk at $12 a week and has remained
there for the eight months that have elapsed. He limps slightly, and
his leg tires puickly. He is a pale, thm, nervous boy of 18 years,
very much discouraged about the future. He has not the physical
endurance for harder work, yet his wages would not support him
were he not living at home. His brother and one sister are now away
from home, his mother is not well enough to work, and the only
income of the family is his wage of $12 and his sister’s of $15.
C A SE N O . 32

(M A S S A C H U S E T T S )

A 14-year-old boy who had completed the eighth grade left school
because his two older sisters, who together earned $27 in a textile
mill, thought he should contribute to the support of the family.
The father, who had been injured five years before, could not even
walk without help. The boy was so small for his age that he could
not find employment for some time after leaving school. He was
compelled by an attendance officer to attend continuation school five
days a week for seven months of the following school year until the
next April, when he obtained work in a shoe factory, cementing
soles, at $6.15 a week. After five months he went to another factory
where he tacked heels and cemented soles. He liked his work and
developed enough speed so that he was earning $12 a week at the
time of his injury seven months later. A she was looking for more
heels for his work in the room where the skiving machine was, he
stumbled over a box and fell against the machine. He threw out his
hands to save himself, his right hand went under the blade of the
machine, and his body struck the treadle. This brought down the
knife, which cut off his index and second "fingers at the first joint.
Compensation of $139.43 was paid.
When the boy’s fingers healed he returned to work but found he
could no longer tack heels because he could not pick up the tacks
nor hold the tools. He could still cement soles by grasping the brush
with his fist, but this was awkward and he was so slow that his emloyer transferred him to other work. He tried several kinds of work
lit found none that he could do, as the grip of his right hand was
too badly impaired. After four months he left the shoe factory to

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R E S U L T S OF I N D U S T R I A L I N J U R I E S T O E M P L O Y E D M I N O R S

work in a textile mill. Here he tried several kinds of work before
he found any that he could do satisfactorily. He tried to be a folder,
but stacking the doth made the ends of his fingers bleed, causing him
pain— also staining the cloth. He was transferred to work as a
washer, but the chemical soap irritated the stumps of his fingers and
his whole hand became numb from the water. Again he was trans
ferred, this time to become a feeder for an inspecting machine. This
was comparatively easy work as he did not handle the cloth enough
to irritate his hand. He acquired speed in feeding and now earns
$27.30 a week. But he dreads a- slack season in the mill which may
cause him to be laid off, because there are so few kinds of work that
he can do.
CASE N O . 33

(M A S S A C H U S E T T S )

A 14-year-old boy left school to look for work. His father was
dead ana the family (consisting of five persons), was dependent on the
earnings of the two older sisters, each of whom earned $14 a week in
the textile mills. After the slack season (two or three months later)
this child obtained work as a band boy in a worsted mill, sewing
bands, oiling machines, and collecting waste and wheeling it away in
a hand truck. For this he received $10.26 a week. He had worked
11 months when he was injured.
As he was waiting at the elevator shaft with his truck, a passer-by
hit the truck, and it rolled toward the elevator shaft, which was
open except for a board across it 3 or 4 feet from the floor. In
pushing the truck back to prevent its falling into the shaft the boy
put his right foot partly over the edge of the shaft, and the descend
ing elevator caught his foot and crushed it to the instep. He was
given first aid at the mill, then taken to a doctor, who found that the
toes were crushed and that there was a compound fracture. He took
the boy to the hospital in a near-by city and operated, succeeding
in saving the foot, although the other physicians thought part of it
would have to be amputated. The boy was in the hospital 65 days
and could not walk without crutches for 11 months after his injury.
When he could walk he returned to the mill. His foot became tired
very quickly, pained him after standing, and was extremely sensitive
to cold. He was given work in the roller room where his duties were
much the same as in his former occupation, but the work was lighter.
Later he was transferred to the weaving room, supplying the weavers
with yarn, at an increased wage of $18. At present he is a “ fixer”
in the spinning room, changing the frames on the spinning machines,
earning $20 a week. In all these occupations he has had to stand con
tinuously, which is difficult for him. He has lost the use of his
second toe, which folds under the great toe in such a manner as to
make standing and walking uncomfortable, although he does not limp
perceptibly.
Although compensation of $413 was paid, and all hospital and
medical bills were settled by the insurance carrier, the accident was a
severe financial burden on the family. The compensation did not
cover the loss of the b o y ’s wages, and many extra expenses were
necessarily incurred for him.

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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Within 12 months 7,478 industrial injuries occurred to employed
minors under 21 years of age in* three States, 38 resulting fatally,
920 in partial disability for life, and the remaining in disability last
ing for more than a week (for more than 10 days in case of injuries
occurring in two of the States).
Machinery— the most frequent cause of injury—was responsible
for over one-third (36.2 per cent) of the injuries. In Massachusetts
and Wisconsin (the two States where comparable statistics were
available), it caused twice as high a percentage of the accidents to
minors as of the accidents to workers 21 years of age and over, not
withstanding the fact that the employments forbidden to young
boys and girls are chiefly the operation of dangerous machines.
Table 54 shows the causes of industrial injuries to employed
minors in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. Table 55
shows the extent of their disability, by cause of injury.
T able

54.— Causes of industrial injuries to minors in Wisconsin, Massachusetts,
and New Jersey

Cause of injury

Number

Per cent
distribu
tion

7,478

100.0

2,706
l ’ 643
'779
543

36.2
22.0
10.4
7.3

Machinery_________________
Falls of persons___ ____ _____
Vehicles_______ _____ _______

Cause of injury

Stepping on or striking against
Hot and corrosive substances.
All other and not reported___

Per cent
Number distribu
tion
469

6.3

415
288
262
373

5.5
3.9
3.5
5.0

Most of the machines now used are power operated. In each of
the three States the great majority of the power-machine accidents
to minors occurred during the operation (including starting and
stopping) of the machine, not while the machine was being adjusted,
cleaned, or oiled. Furthermore, most of the injuries took place at
the working point of the machine. Apparently the mechanical
safeguards to prevent operators from being caught in gears, fly
wheels, set screws, and belts, together with the laws forbidding
children to clean or oil machinery in motion, have been effective^ in
reducing to a comparatively small proportion the injuries due to
these causes.
87

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IN D U ST R IA L * A C C ID E N T S T O E M P L O Y E D M IN O R S

88
T able

55.— Extent of disability, by cause of injury, to minors employed m
Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and New Jersey
Extent of disability

Extent of disability
Cause of injury
Death

Perma Tem
nent
porary
partial

0.5

12.3

87.2

25.3
4.9
4.4
5.7
6.8

74.4
95.1
94.7
93.0
93.2

.9
1.3

Cause of injury
Death

Stepping on or striking
against objects----------Falling objects.— -----...
Hot and corrosive subAU other and not reported.

Perma Tem
nent porary
partial

2.2

97.8
94.1

2.3

97.3
89.3

4.9
.4
2.7

8.0

The types of power-driven machines on which most of the injuries
occurred were in each State those used in its chief industries. In
Wisconsin metal-working, woodworking, and paper and paper
products making, in Massachusetts textile, metal-working, and leatherworking, and in New Jersey metal-working, rubber and composition
working, and textile machines were the most frequent cause ot tne
machine injuries.
, r
..
. £ - ii ^
Operation of certain dangerous power-driven machines is forbidden
to children under 16 years of age in all three of the States m which the
study was made; and the prohibition of these occupations to minors
under 18 years would materially decrease the number of injuries to
young workers. There were proportionately more accidents from
power-driven machinery to minors 16 and 17 years of age than to
those under 16, who were more adequately protected by the law, or
to those of 18 years or over, who had more experience, more nearly
mature judgment, and better powers of muscular coordination.
Moreover, minors 16 and 17 years old suffered proportionately more
severe injuries than either the younger or the older workers. Death
or permanent partial disability resulted from 13.4 per cent of all the
injuries to workers 16 and 17 years of age; for workers under 16 the
corresponding percentage was 10.7, and for workers of 18, 19, and
20 vears it was 12.7.
, ,
,
•
The necessity of providing legal safeguards for young workers is
indicated by the severity of the injuries to Wisconsin minors em
ployed under illegal conditions.1 One-third of the injuries occurring
to minors at work in illegal occupations, and one-half of the injuries
caused by violation of safety orders (as compared with only one-tenth
of the injuries to minors employed under legal conditions) resulted in
death or permanent partial disability.
. . . ,
A comparison of the extent of disability resulting from injuries due
to the different causes may best be made on the basis of the accidents
occurring in Massachusetts, because, as has been previously stated,
this information is available in Massachusetts for all accidents causm&
disability for more than the day, turn, or shift on which they occurred.
The percentage of deaths, permanent total disabilities, and permanent
partial disabilities resulting from these injuries was twice as high
among the injuries due to machinery as among those due to any
»Wisconsin is'the only State of the three covered by the study where statistics are available on this
point (see p. 8).
*

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S U M M A R Y A N D C O N C L U S IO N S

shocks.2 1Injuries
irom some
classes VA
of Amachinery
were
-----V V*VIWWVM
A A a V I X lllU l V
W O IO
J
1« received---------------m A r n
lilrA liT
____ .1___________ J*
i
m i
*
more
likely
to kbe
severe than
those from iothers.
The
percentage
of deaths and permanent disabilities, either total or partial, was
j

cent), rubber and composition working machines (18.1 per cent),
printing and bookbinding machines (16 per cent), and machines
used m tanneries (15.5 per cent). Among injuries due to paper and
paper products making machinery the percentage of injuries causing
more than temporary disability was 11.9, among metal-working ma
chine injuries 10. The machines which caused the highest percentage of severe injuries (the same ones that caused large numbers
of the accidents to minors in all three States) were wood planers (26
per cent), metal punch presses (23 per cent), circular saws, (20.8
per cent), other wood saws (19.4 per cent), wood-tenoning and
molding machines (17.3 per cent), leather-cutting machines (17.3
per cent), textile dyeing, finishing, and printing machines (18 per
cent), textile carding and combing machines (10.9 per cent).
This analysis supports the evidence from other sources that a
high proportion of injuries to minors is due to machinery, that some
of the machines which minors under 16 years of age are forbidden
t.o operate are causing not only frequent but also severe injuries to
workers of 16 and 17 years (for whom they are not prohibited), that
most of the machine injuries occur while the worker is operating the
machine, and that most of them take place at the working point of
the machine.
^hf^dhng objects was the second most frequent cause of injury in
all three of the States covered by the study. The most serious
results of handling heavy objects are strains, the number of which
could be reduced by prohibiting young workers from doing work which
involves heavy lifting. This is especially necessary in view of the
large number of cases of hernia (122) resulting from strains. The
percentage of hernia cases among all the injuries to minors was 1.5
m Wisconsin, 2.3 in Massachusetts, 0.7 in New Jersey.3 Another
class of objects handled— namely, sharp or rough objects—was the
cause of many injuries. Probably many of these injuries were slight
m themselves, but infection developed in a large proportion of them.
In New Jersey^ for example, infection developed in one-half of the
is an important factor in increasing the disability resulting
1 T"l 1 1 1 TM A O

i v « I-

^ w*.

__________ J

• -- H1——
iui utnmanent partial disability m 10 cases); in Massachusetts it was
present m 16.6 per cent of all the cases, and in New Jersey in 8.3 per
cent of them. It is still necessary to lay stress upon the desirability
of maintaining first-aid stations, and of educating the workers in
regard to the importance of prompt treatment for even slight injuries.
The need of such education for the protection of especially the
younger workers is to be seen in the fact that in Massachusetts 4 the

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IN D U S T R IA L » A C C ID E N T S T O E M P L O Y E D M IN O R S

percentage of the injuries to minors followed by infection was twice
as high as the corresponding percentage of the injuries to all workers.
Among all the causes of industrial injuries to minors, falls of persons
ranked third in the number of injuries caused. Seven deaths were
due to falls, but the percentage of permanent partial disability from
this cause was comparatively low. Most of the injured fell on level
surfaces because o f slipping and stumbling over objects. The falls
from elevations were mostly from stairs.
A noteworthy fact about injuries caused by vehicles was the large
number due to cranking the engines of automobiles. So many of
these caused fractures that the duration of the consequent disability
was long. The proportion of deaths and permanent partial disability
resulting from injuries caused by vehicles was higher than for any
other cause except machinery and electrical shock.
Injuries fromjaand tools were due chiefly to the glancing or slipping
of the worker’s tool. No deaths resulted from these injuries; the
proportion of permanent partial disability was 6.8 per cent, as com
pared with 12.3 per cent of the injuries from all causes.
Stepping on or striking against objects did not usually cause
severe injuries. Sharp objects, protruding nails, and wires caused
many of these injuries, and most of the wounds gave little trouble
if treated promptly.
Objects falling from machines and work benches caused the largest
number of injuries due to falling objects. Three deaths were caused
by falling objects, and one-twentieth of the injuries caused permanent
partial disability.
The handicap placed by these accidents on young workers was
disclosed by personal interviews with minors who suffered permanent
artial disablement before they were 18 years of age. Although some
ave been able to follow the same occupation or a more promising
one, in the three to six years that have elapsed, others have been
forced by their injuries out of chosen occupations into work with
smaller industrial opportunities, and some have been unable to find
any kind of employment. Many of these young people, now in their
early twenties, are sensitive over their deformities, discouraged by
their prolonged economic dependence upon their families, and hope
less over the future.
Industrial risks for minors as well as for adults can be reduced by
requiring more adequately guarded machinery and safer work places,
but the findings of this study indicate that for young workers special
dangers exist. One is indicated by the high proportion of injuries
in which infection developed. If this proportion is to be decreased
the natural carelessness of youth must be overcome. Although this
would not reduce the number of injuries, it would prevent many of
them from disabling the young worker. Another danger is seen in
the high proportion of the injuries to minors _due to machinery.
The analysis which this report presents , of accidents to minors m
three States shows not only the large number of machine injuries
but their severity. It shows also the great need of further protection
for boys and girls 16 and 17 years of age whose employment—particu
larly in the operation of dangerous machines—is far less safeguarded
than is the employment of younger workers.

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Appendix A.— GENERAL TABLES
T

able

I .— Extent of disability incurred by minors from industrial injuries, by
age and sex of injured: Wisconsin
Industrial injuries to minors
Extent of disability

Age and sex of injured

Total
Death

Both sexes.____ ____ ___________

»2,282

14 years...______________________ ____
15 years....... ............ ..............................
16 years........... ................ ......................
17 years....................................................
18 years................. .................................
19 years....................................................
20 years................................_.................
Under 17 years, not otherwise specified.

26
93
210
292
544
587
523
6

Boys....... ........:■................. ..;___

»2,009

14 y e a r s...:........... ................................ .
15 years.................................. ............
16 years....... ...... ...................... ...............
17 years__________ ______ ___ ________
18 years................. ............... ..................
19 years................. ............ ......... ......... :
20 years......................... ..........................
Under 17 years, not otherwise specified.

20
72
180
243
477
531
481
4

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

273

14 years.................................................. .
15years.......... ................... ^------ -------16 years------------- ------------------------------17 years................................................. .
18 years......................... ...... ....................
19 years.............................. ....................
20 years.......... .........................................
Under 17 years, not otherwise specified..

6
21
30
49
67
56
42
2

1 Includes 1 injury to a minor whose age was not reported.

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1
3
5
3
9

1
2
3
3
3

1
2

Perma
nent
partial

Tempo
rary

»259

2,011

4
10
15
32
66
72
57
2

22
83
195
259
475
510
463
4

»225

1,775

4
9
13
27
57
63
49
2

16
63
167
215
418
465
429
2

236

1
2
5
9
9
8

6
20
28
44
57
45
34
2

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

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APPENDIXES

T a b l e II I .— Cause of industrial injuries sustained

by minors, by extent of

disability: Wisconsin
Industrial injuries to minors
Extent of disability
Cause of injury

Total
Permanent par
tial
Per cent
Num distribu
ber
tion

Temporary

Death1
Num Per cent
distribu
ber
tion

Num
ber

Per cent
distribu-.
tion

Total__________ _______ _________

2,282

100.0

259

100.0

2,011

100.0

Machinery____________________________

864

37.9

200

77.2

662

32.9

1.2

1.9

15
772
212
285
68
50
24
11
38
24
36
4

.7
33.8
9.3
12.5
3.0
2.2
1.1
.5
1.7
1.1
1.6
.2

4
187
58
79
8
7
8
2
12
5
5

1.5
72.2
22.4
30.5
3.1
2.7
3.1
.8
4.6
1.9
1.9

11
584
153
206
60
43
16
9
26
19
31
4

.5
29.0
7.6
10.2
3.0
2.1
.8
.4
1.3
.9
1.5
.2

14
6
49
21
28

.6
.3
2.1
.9
1.2

2
1
4
1
3

.8
.4
1.5
.4
1.2

12
5
44
19
25

.6
.2
2.2
.9
1.2

147
101
159
146
166
491
88
7
13
19

6.4
4.4
7.0
6.4
7.3
21.5
3.9
.3
.6
.8

5
5
2
3
10
26
1

1.9
1.9
.8
1.2
3.9
10.0
.4

1
1

.4
.4

140
94
155
143
156
465
87
6
10
18

7.0
4.7
7.7
7.1
7.8
23.1
4.3
.3
.5
.9

11
70

.5
3.1

1.9

11
64

.5
3.2

Motors and transmission__________
Machines other than power-driven
machinery______________________
Power-driven machinery___________
Woodworking_________________
Metal-working________________
Paper-making............. .................
Paper products making________
Printing and bookbinding_____
Tanning___________ ___________
Leather-working______ _____ _
Food, beverages, and tobacco...
Textile___________________ ____
Laundry.........................................
Rubber and composition mak
ing................................................
Other_________ !_______________
Hoisting machinery_______________
Elevators._____ _____ _________
Cranes, hoists, derricks________
Vehicles___________ ____________ ______
Falling objects........... ................... ...........
Falls of persons________________________
Stepping on or striking against objects .
Hand tools____________________ _______
Handling objects........................................
Hot and corrosive substances__________
Electricity___________ _________ _______
Explosions_____ _____ ___________ ï_____
Rafting and river driving................. .........
Occupational diseases or harmful con
ditions______________________________
All other causes and not reported........ .

1Per cent distribution not shown where base is less than 100.

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1
1

1
1
2
2
2

1
2

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

Table IV.—Cause of industrial injuries sustained by minors, by age of

injured: Wisconsin

Industrial injuries to minors
Under 16 years 16-17 years of
age
of age

Total
Cause of injury

18-20 years of
age

Per cent Num Per cent Num Per cent
cent
Num Per
distri
distri
distri Num distri
ber bution
ber bution
ber
bution ber bution
100.0

119

100.0

509

M achinery..._____________ ___ _______

864

37.9

32.8

238

46.8

587

35.5

Motors and transmission__________
Machinery other than power-driven.
Power-driven machinery------ --------Woodworking_________________
Metal-working------- ----------------

28
15
772
212
285
68
50
24
11
38
24
36
4

1.2
.7
33.8
9.3
12.5
3.0
2.2
1.1
.5
1.7
1.1
1.6
.2

4
1
33
9
7

3.4
•8
27.7
7.6
5.9

3
4
2
1
2
4

2.5
3.4
1.7
.8
1.7
3.4

7
3
217
70
66
12
16
12
3
10
10
11
1

1.4
.6
42.6
13.8
13.0
2.4
3.1
2.4
.6
2.0
2.0
2.2
.2

17
11
522
133
212
56
31
8
6
27
12
21
3

1.0
¿7
31.6
8.0
12.8
3.4
1.9
•5
.4
1.6
•7
1.3
.2

14
6
49
21
28

.6
.3
2.1
.9
1. 2

5
1

8
5
37
13
24

•5
.3
2.2
.8
1.5

147
101
159
146
166
491
88
7
13
19

6.4
4.4
7.0
6.4
7.3
21.5
3.9
.3
.6
.8

6.8
5.0
7.3
6.2
7.1
22.6
3.9
.4
.5
1.0

11
70

.5
3.1

.7
3.1

Paper products making...............
Printing and bookbinding..........
Tanning........................................
Leather-working.........................
Food, beverages and tobacco___
Textile__________________ ____
Rubber'and composiiton making.............................................
Hoisting apparatus______ _________
Cranes, hoists, derricks________
Vehicles_____________________________
Falling objects...... ....................................
Falls of persons..------------------------------Stepping on or striking against objects.
Hand to o ls....____________ ________ —Handling objects...................... ................
Hot or corrosive substances___________

Occupational diseases or harmful conAU other causes and not reported---------

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100.0 1,654

100.0

Total_________ _______ __________ 2,282

.8 .

8
3

1.0
.2
2.2
1. 6
.6

6
2
10
14
12
23
9

5.0
1.7
8.4
11.8
10.1
19.3
7.6

29
17
29
30
36
94
15

5.7
3.3
5.7
5.9
7.1
18.5
2.9

4
2

.8
.4

112
82
120
102
118
374
64
7
9
16

2.5

2.9

11
52

APPENDIXES

T a b l e V.— Extent of disability incurred by minors from industrial injuries, by

age and sex of injured: Massachusetts
Industrial injuries to minors
Extent of disability

Age and sex of injured
Total

Death

Both sexes.
14 years_______
15 years_______
16 years_______
17 years_______
18 years_______
19 years_______
20 years_______
Boys.
14 years___
15 years___
16 years___
17 years__
18 years___
19 years___
20 years___
Girls.
14 years.
15 years.
16 years.
17 years.
18 years.
19 years.
20 years.
1Includes 1 injury to a boy 12 years old.

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Perma
nent
partial

Tempo
rary

3,177

159

3,006

i 68
200

6
8
13
24
29
38
41

62
192
343
467
641
639
662

133

2,382

153 ..........

360......

539 ...............
567
5
608
6

6
7
8
18
21
35
38

47
136
248
342
518
527
564

650

624

357
1
491 ...............
670 ...............
682
5
709
6

2,527

143 ...............
257
1

4 15
57
100

131
131
115
101

15
56
95
125
123
112
98

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

T a b l e V I.— Location of industrial injuries sustained by minors, by extent of

disability: Massachusetts

Industrial injuries to minors
Extent of disability
Total

Location of injury

Permanent partial
Num
ber

Per cent Death i Num
distri
ber
bution

Temporary

Per cent
distri
bution

Num
ber

Per cent
distri
bution

Total__________________________

3,177

100.0

159

100.0

3,006

100.0

Head_____________________ __________

2.8

3.1

2.6

39
4
47

1.2
.1
1.5

3.1

34
4
41

1.1
.1
1.4

67
287

2.1
9.0

67
286

2. 2
9.5

103
IS
73
96

3.2
.5
2.3
3.0

102
15
73
96

3.4
.5
2.4
3.2

2,097

66.0

1,948

64.8

31
47
248
1,671
82
817
107
24
15
294
332
95
5

1.0
1.5
7.8
52.6
2.6
25.7
3.4
.8
.5
9.3
10.5
3.0
.2

31
47
246
1,525
82
705
97
21
13
280
327
94
5

1.0
1.6
8.2
50. 7
2.7
23.5
3.2
.7
.4
9.3
10.9
3.1
.2

Lower extremities____________________

597

18.2

573

19.1

Hip.....................................................

11
73
30
95
278
102
176
77

.3
.5
2.3
.9
3.0
9.0
3. 2
5.5
2.4

11
15
73
30
95
272
97
175
77

.4
.5
2.4
1.0
3.2
9.0
3. 2
58
2.6

51
6

1.6
.2

47
6

16
.2

Upper extremities____________________
Elbows and upper arm___________

Thumb_______ ______________

Knee________________________ _
Foot...................................................

1Per ceht distribution not shown where base is less than 100.

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

149

1
1
4

93.7

2
146

1. 2
91.8

112
10
3
2*
14
5
1

70.4
6.3
1.9
1.3
8.8
3.1
.6

3.1

5
5

3.1
3.1

APPENDIXES
T a b l e VII.

Cause of industrial injuries sustained by minors, by extent of
disability: Massachusetts
Industrial injuries to minors
Extent of disability
TViiol

Cause of injury

Permanent partía
Num
ber

Per cent Death
dis
tribution

Temporary

Num Per cent Num Per cent
dis
dis
ber tribution
ber
tribution

Total___________________ ________

3,177

100.0

159

100.0

3,006

100.0

Machinery______ j_____________________

1,028

32.4

136

85.5

889

29.6

Motors and transmission__________
Machines other than power-driven
machinery........................................
Power-driven______________________
Woodworking___________ _____
Metal-working____________ . . . . .
Paper-making_________________ I
Paper-products making________
Printing and bookbinding_____
Tanning________ ___ _____ ____
Leather-working!______________
Food, beverages, and tobacco..
Textile________________________
Laundry........... ......................HH
Rubber and composition mak
ing....................................... .
Building and engineering______
Clothing_______________________
Other_________________________
Hoisting machinery____________ II”
Elevators........................... ...........
Cranes and derricks___________

11
039
87
183
17
48
46
18
122
49
294
5

.3
29.6
2.7
5.8
.5
1.5
1.4
.6
3.8
1.5
9.3
.2

19
81.8
8.8
20 1

807
71

2¿"f
2.4

22
5
29
14
71
60
11

.7
.2
.9
.4
2.2
1.9
.3

190
98
382
209
212
829
10
15
90
20
23
71

6.0
3.1
12.0
6.6
6.7
26.1
.3
.5
2.8
.6
.7
2.2

Vehicles_____ :_________________________

Falling objects...... ...............IIIIIIII
Falls of persons___________
I
Stepping on or striking against objectsl
Hand tools..............................................
Handling objects...............
II
Electricity..................
II
Explosions................................
.H I
Hot and corrosive substances_________
Animals_______ _____ _________ _______

Occupational diseases________________
All other causes______________________II

1Par cent distribution not shown where base is less than 100.

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

1
2
2

1
1
2
1
4

1
1

3
130
14
32
1
8
10
2
15
8
35
1

ft.0
ft 3
1.3
94
5.0
22.0
.6

2
1

1.3
.6

1
2
2

.6
1.2
1.2

1
2
1
5
12

.6
L2
.6
3.1
7.5

1.2

41
259
4

L4
8.6
.1

20
4
29
13
68
57
11

.7
.1
1,0

188
96
376
20»
207
817
9
14
90
20
23
69

2.3
L9
(L3
Z.2

12.5

-6

3j )

2.3

100
T able

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS
V III.— Cause of industrial injuries to minors, by age of injured:
Massachusetts
Industrial injuries to minors

Cause of injury

Under 16
years of age

Total

16-17 years
of age

18-20 years
of age

Num Per cent Num Per cent Num Per cent Num Per cent
distri
distri
distri
distri
ber
ber
bution ber bution ber bution
bution
T o ta l............................................ 3,177
Machinery__________________________ 1,028
Motors and transmission............ .
Machinery other than power-driven
Power-driven machinery_________
Woodworking_______________
Metal-working_______________
Paper-making..... ..................
Paper products making....... .
Printing and bookbinding........
Tanning._____ ______________
Leather-working........................
Food, beverages, and tobacco.Textile. ..................
Laundry....... ...........................
Rubber and composition making..........................................
Building and engineering-.____
Clothing _ _ _____ ______
Other______ ____ ___________
Hoisting machinery..........................
Elevators....................................
Cranes and derricks________ _
Vehicles...................................................
Falling objects............... ................... .
Falls of persons......................................
Stepping on or striking against objects..
Hand tools____________________ _____
Handling objects.....................................
Electricity_______________ __________
Explosions................................... ...........
Hot and corrosive substances.................
Animals_____________________ _______
Occupational diseases.............................
All other causes......................................

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

32.4

7
11
939
87
183...
17
48
46
18
122
49
294
5

.2
.3
29.6
2.7
5.8
.5
1.5
1.4
.6
3.8
1.5
9.3
.2

22
5
29
14
71
60
11

.7
.2
' .9
.4
2.2
1.9
.3

190
98
382
209
212
829
10
15
90
20
23
71

6.0
3.1
12.0
6.6
6.7
26.1
.3
.5
2.8
.6
.7
2.2

1Includes one injury to a boy 12 years of age.

)

100.0 1 268

100.0

848

100.0

2,061

100.0

36.6

321

37.9

609

29.5

85
2
9

31.7
.7
3.4

1
6
293
26
46

.1
.7
34.6
3.1
5.4

1
1
1
14
6
41

.4
.4
.4
5.2
2.2
15.3

24
18
10
38
18
87
2

2.8
2.1
1.2
4.5
2.1
10.3
.2

6
5
561
59
128
17
23
. 27
7
70
25
166
3

.3
.2
27.2
2.9
6.2
.8

7
1
11
5
21
18
3

.8
.1
1.3
.6
2.5
2.1
.4

14
4
12
6
37
29
8

.7
.2
.6
.3
L8
1.4
.4

31
20
•97
67
54
205
1
5
19
5
4
19

3.7
2.4
11.4
7.9
6.4
24.2
.1
.6
2.2
.6
.5
2.2

142
71
239
114
148
580
9
7
65
15
17
45

6.9
3.4
11.6
5.5
7.2
28.1
.4
.3
3.2
.7
.8
2.2

6
3
13
13

2.2
1.1
4.9
4.9

117
7
46
28
10
44

6.3
2.6
17.2
10.4
3.7
16.4

3
6

1.1
2.2

2
7

.7
2.6

1.3
.3
3.4
1.2
8.0
.1

APPENDIXES

101

I X .— Cause of compensable accidents to Massachusetts adults 1 and minors

T able

Percent distribution
Cause of accident
Adults
Total__________________ _________

Minors

100.0

Machinery___________________ ¿-________
Power-driven machinery____________

16.5
14.1

32.4
29.6

Woodworking______ ___________
Metal-working__________________
Paper and paper products making.
Tanning and leather working_____
Textile__________ ________ t
___
Other___________________________

2.3
3.5
.7
1.6
4.4
1.8

2.7
5.8
2.0
4.4
9.3

Hoisting machinery_________________
Other machinery____________________
Vehicles__________ ________________ _____
Falling objects........................................ ......
Falls of persons_________________________
Stepping on or striking against objects........
Hand tools__________ ___________________
Handling objects________________________
Electricity_____________________________
Explosions.....................................................
Hot and corrosive substances___________ _
Animals_________ ______________________
Occupational diseases_________________
Miscellaneous___________________________

1.9
.4
8.5
5.6
17.2
6.0
6.6
29.5
.5
.8
3.3
1.2
1.3
3.0

2.2
.6
6.0
3.1
12.0
6.6
6.7
26.1
.3
.5
2.8
.6
.7
2.2

5.4

•Annual report of the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents, 1922, Table X. From the
totals given in this table of tabulatable accidents injuries causing disability of 10 days or less and injuries
to minors were subtracted
T able

X .— Extent of disability incurred by minors from industrial injuries, by
age and sex of injured: New Jersey
Industrial injuries to minors
Extent of disability

Age and sex of injured
Total

Death

Per
manent
partial

Tem
porary

Total .

2,019

502

1,503

10-13 years..
14 years____
15 years____
16 years.......
17 years____
18 years.....
19 years.___
20 years___ _

5
48
56
280
402
442
414
372

1
1
2
1
4
2
3

1
11
11
74
108
106
106
85

4
36
44
204
293
332
306
284

Boys..

1,684

413

1,258

10-13 years..
14 years____
15 years____
16 years____
17 years____
18 years____
19 years.......
20 years____

5
43
48
221
321
357
357
332

1
1
2
1
4
2
2

1
10
11
60
91
81
84
75

4
32
36
159
229
272
271
255

Girls..

335

245

4
8
45
64
60
35
29

14 years.
15 years.
16 years.
17 years.
18 years.
19 years.
20 years.

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

5
8
59
81
85
57
40

14
17
25
22
10

INDUSTRIAL. ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINOES

102
T a b l e X I .—

Location of industrial injuries sustained by minors, by extent of
disability: New Jersey
Industrial injuries to minors
Extent of disability
To tal

Permanent
partial

Location of injury

Temporary

Death i

Total_________________ __________

Num
ber

Per cent
distri
bution

2,019

100.0

Head........- ................... ..............................

Other......................................................

2
39
1
38

Trank.... .......................................................

54
80

Back.......................................................

20
1
6
9
15
11
18

4.0

1,503

100.0

3.8

3.6

20
3

4.0
.6

34
76

1.0

(s)

.3
.4
.7
.5
.9

1 finger______ ______ __________

Lower extremities.....................................

382

18.9

6
21
28
45
62
176
66
110
44

.3
1.0
L4
2.2
3.1
8.7
3.3
5.4
2.2

2.1

1Per cent distribution not shown where base is less than 100.

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

100.0

1.1
1.2
9.2
3.6
52.6
1.9
29.9
5.3
1.1
.8
6.9
6.8
.7

‘ Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent.

502

2.7
4.0

1.9
(»)
1.9

22
24
186
72
1,063
38
603
106
23
16
139
138
14

Body, general................................ ........

Num
ber

2
21
1
33

68.4

Hand......................................................

Per cent
distri
bution

(2)

1,381

Upper extremities............................ ..........

1
1

Per cent
distri
bution

Num
ber

.1
1.4
(*)

2.2
2.3
5.1

18
1
6
9
15
11
16

424

84.5

956

63.6

3
17
4
399
1
255
56
12
8
43
24
1

.6
3.4
.8
79.5
.2
50.8
11.2
2.4
1.6
8.6
4.8

22
21
169
68
663
37
347
50
11
8
96
114
13

1.5
1.4
11.2
45
441
2.5
23.1
3.3
.7
.5
6.4
7.6
.9

6.8

348

23.2
.4
1.1
L9
2.6
3.8
10.7
3.9
6.8
2.7
2.1

1.0

6
5
15

8
3

1.2
1.0
3.0
1.4
1.6
.6

6
16
28
39
57
161
69
102
41

1.2
(*)

.4
.6
1.0
.7
LI

1UÖ

A P P E N D IX E S

T able

X II.

Cause

industrial in ju ries sustained
o f d isability: N ew J ersey

m inors,

extent

Industrial injuries to minors
Extent of disability
Total

Cause of injury

Permanent
partial
Num
ber

Per cent
distri
bution

Death

Temporary

Num
ber

Per cent
distri
bution

Num
ber

Per cent
distri
bution

Total.

100.0

502

100.0

1,503

100.0

Machinery.

40.3

348

69.3

461

30.7

1.0

1.2

.3
36.4
2.4
17.0
.6

1
333
23
167
5
13
14
2
5
17
12
18
39
4
4
10
8
2
6

.2
66.3
4.6
33.3
1.0
2.6
2.8
.4
1.0
3.4
2.4
3.6
7.8
.8
.8
2.0
1.6
.4
1.2

5
399
25
177
6
8
15
4
4
23
5
48
44
9
20
11
44
23
21

.3
26.5
1.7
11.8
.4
.5

26
8
30
5
17
42
1
2
5

5.2
1.6
6.0
1.0
3.4
8.4
.2
.4
1.0

177
81
207
55
74
281
5
14
78

11.8
5.4
13.8
3.7
4.9
18.7
.3
.9
5.2

3.6

3.5

Motors and transmission_________
Machines other than power-driven
machinery............ .......................
Power-driven m achinery............. .
Woodworking____________ ___
Metal-working____ ___ ______
Paper-making_________ _____
Pajper products making.............
Printing and bookbinding____
Tanning_____________________
Leather-working________ _____
Food, beverages, and tobacco..
Chemical..................................
Textile........................................
Rubber and composition_____
Clay, glass, and stone________
Clothing_________ i __________
Other________________ _______
Hoisting machinery.........................
Elevators________________ . . . .
Cranes and derricks ..............
Vehicles.,.......................................... .
Falling objects...................I.HIIIII'
Falls of persons______________________
Stepping on or striking against objects"
Hand tools______ _______;............ .........
Handling objects_________ ______
Electricity_____________________

Explosions............... ...........

rrrmrri"

Hot and corrosive substances___
Animals____________________________
All other causes_____________

734
48
344
11
21
29
6

9
40
17
67
83
13
24
22

1.0
1.4
.3
.4

2.0
.8

3.3
4.1

1.2
1.1

64
26
28

2.7
1.3
1.4

206
89
238
60
91
323
8
18
84
18
70

10.2
4.4
11.8
3.0
4.5
16.0
.4
. .9

4:2

.9
3.5

1Per cent distribution not shown where base is less than 100.

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

1
2
1
1
3
1

2
2
1

1.0

.3
.3
1.5
.3
3.2
2,9
.6
1.3
.7
2.9
1.5
1.4

104

T-NrnTTS.r R .T A T .

T able

A C C ID E N T S T O E M P L O Y E D

M OTORS

X I I I .— Cause o f industrial in ju ries sustained by m inors, by age o f in ju red ;
N ew J ersey
Industrial injuries to minors
Under 16 years 16-17 years of
age
of age

Total
Cause of injury

18-20 years of
*
age

Per cent Num Per cent Num Per cent
cent
Num Per
distri
distri
distri
distri Num
ber
ber
ber
bution
bution ber bution
bution
100.0

109

100.0

682

100.0

1,228

100.0

40.3

43.1

305

44.7

462

37.6

1.0

1.8

1.0

6
734
48
344
11
21
29
6
9
. 40
17
67

.3
36.4
2.4
17.0
.5
1.0
1.4
.3
.4
2.0
. .8
3.3

2
282
17
118
2
10
14
2
4
15
4
29

.3
41.3
2.5
17.3
.3
1.5
2.1
.3
.6
2.2
.6
4.3

4
413
29
213
9
8
13
4
5
21
12
30

.3
33.6
2.4
17.3
.7
.7
1.1
.3
.4
1.7
1.0
2.4

83
13
24
22
54
26
28

42
4
9
12
14
10
4

6.2
.6
1.3
1.8
2.1
1.5
.6

39
8
15
7
34
10
24

3.2
.7
1.2
.6
2.8
.8
2.0

206
89
238
60
91
323
8
18
84
18
70

132
67
136
35
65
198
7
18
56
12
40

10.7
5.5
11.1
2.9
5.3
16.1
.6
1.5
4.6
1.0
3.3

Total............................. ................ 2,019
Machinery___________ _________- ........
Motors and transmission_________
Machinery other than powerPower-driven machinery_________
Woodworking________________
Metal-working_______________
Paper products making.......... .
Printing and bookbinding------Food, beverages, and tobacco. .
Chemical____________________
Textile................. .......................
Rubber and composition making................................... ........
Clay, glass, and stone________
Other_____ __________________
Hoisting machinery______________
Elevators........................... ......
Vehicles............. .....................................
Falling objects_____ _________________
Falls of persons________ _____ ________
Stepping on or striking against objects..
Hand tools............ ..................................
Handling objects.___________________
Hot and corrosive substances-------------Animals___________________ __ ______
All other causes........................ ..............

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

814

39
2
13

35.8
1.8
11.9

3
2

2.8
1.8

4
1
8

3.7
.9
7.3

4.1
.6
1.2
1.1
2.7
1.3
1.4

2
1

1.8
.9

3
6
6

2.8
5.5
5.5

10.2
4.4
11.8
3.0
4.5
16.0
.4
.9.
4.2
.9
3.5

11
2
14
3
3
17

10.1
1.8
12.8
2.8
2.8
15.6

63
20
88
22
23
108
1

9.2
2.9
12.9
3.2
3.4
15.8
.1

4
1
7

3.7
.9
6.4

24
5
23

3.5
.7
3.4

Appendix B — SELECTIONS FROM STATE LAWS PROHIBITING
THE EMPLOYMENT OF MINORS IN DANGEROUS OCCUPA
TIONS 1
WISCONSIN *

(a) No employer shall employ or permit any minor or any female to work in
any place of employment, or at any employment dangerous or prejudicial to
the life, health, safety or welfare of such minor or such female, or where the
employment of such minor may be dangerous or prejudicial to the life, health,
safety or welfare of other employees or frequenters.
(b) It shall be the duty of the industrial commission, and it shall have power,
jurisdiction and authority to investigate, determine and fix reasonable classifi
cations of employments and places of employment, minors and females, and to
issue general or special orders prohibiting the employment of such minors or
females in any employment or place of employment dangerous or prejudicial
to the life, health, safety or welfare of such minor or female, and to carry out
the purposes of sections 103.05 to 103.15 inclusive, of the statutes. [Stat. 1 9 2 3 ,
sec. 1 0 3 . 0 5 , subsec. ( 2 ) .]
Until such time as the industrial commission shall investigate, determine and
fix the classifications provided for in paragraph (b) of subsection 2 of this sec
tion, the employments and places of employment- designated in the following
schedule shall be deemed to be dangerous or prejudicial to the life, health, safety
or welfare of minors or females under the ages specified:
(а) Minors under twenty-one years of age: In cities of the first, second, and
third class, before six o ’clock in the morning and after eight o ’clock in the even
ing of any day, as messenger for a telegraph or messenger company in the dis
tribution, transmission, or delivery of messages or goods.
(б) Minors under eighteen years of age:
1. Blast furnaces; in or about.
2. Boats and vessels engaged in the transportation of passengers or merchan
dise; pilot; fireman; engineer.
3. Docks; in or about.
4. Dusts; operating or using any emery, tripoli, rouge, corundum, stone car
borundum, and abrasive or emery polishing wheel, where articles of the baser
materials, or of iridium, are manufactured.3
5. Electric wires; on the outside erection and repair of electric wires.
6. Elevators; in, the running or management of any elevators, lifts or hoist
ing machines.4
7. Explosives, in or about establishments where nitroglycerin, dynamite,
dualin, gun cotton, gunpowder, or other high or dangerous explosives are manu
factured, compounded or stored.
8. Matches; in dipping, dyeing or packing.
9 . Mine or quarry; in or about.
10. Oiling or cleaning; in oiling or cleaning dangerous or hazardous machin
ery in motion.
11. Railroads; street railways and interurban railroads; switch tending, gate
tending, or track repairing; as brakeman, fireman, engineer, motorman, conductor,
telegraph operator.
12. Wharves; in or about.
i In effect during the period of the study (see footnote 1, p. 1).
* In addition to the restrictions placed by statute upon the employment of minors in dangerous occupa
tions, the further restrictions made by resolutions of the Wisconsin Industrial Commission are given in
this appendix.
* By order of the industrial commission, becoming effective Sept. 27, 1920, this provision does not apply
to apprentices indentured under section 2377 of the statutes grinding their own tools on emery wheels
under supervision, if all general orders of the industrial commission relating to such work are observed.
* By order of the industrial commission, becoming effective Sept. 27,1920, this provision does not apply
to apprentices indentured under section 2377 of the statutes using hand hoists in bringing material from
machinery at which they are employed as a part of their training under the terms of their indenture.

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13.
Females: in the distribution or delivery of messages for any telegraph or
telephone company or other employer engaged in similar business.
(c) Children under sixteen years of age:
1. Bakeries; dough brakes or cracker machinery of any description.
2. Belts; adjusting belts (in motion); sewing belts (in any capacity).
3. Boilers; operating any steam boiler or steam generating apparatus.
4. Bowling alleys; as pin boys.
5. Building trades; on scaffolding, or on a ladder or in heavy work.
6. Burnishing machines in any tannery or leather manufacturing.
7. Corrugating rolls in roofing or washboard factories.
8. Dusts; occupations causing dust in injurious quantities.
9. Emery or polishing wheel for polishing metal.
10. Immoral purposes; manufacture of goods for.
11. Iron and steel, wire or iron-straightening machinery, punchers or shears.
12. Laundry machinery.
,
•.
,
13. Liquors; in or about any store, brewery, distillery, bottling establishment,
hotel barroom, saloon, saloon dining room or restaurant, any pla.ce in connection
with a saloon or a similar place of any name, or in or about any dance hall, bowl
ing alley, pool room, beer garden, or similar place of any name, in which strong,
spirituous or malt liquors are made, bottled, sold or given away.
14. Machinery; oiling or assisting in oiling, wiping or cleaning any machinery
in motion. Operating or assisting in operating or taking material from any
circular or bandsaw, or any crosscut saw or slasher, or other cutting or pressing
machine from which material is taken from behind.
,
15. Paints and poisons; manufacture of paints, colors or white lead. Manu
facture of any composition in which dangerous or poisonous acids are used.
Manufacture or preparation of compositions of dangerous or poisonous dyes.
Manufacture or preparation of compositions with dangerous or^ poisonous gases.
Manufacture or preparation of compositions of lye or in which the quantity
thereof is injurious to health.
16. Presses; cylinder or job, boring or drill.
.
17. Rubber; washing, grinding, or mixing mill of calender rolls in rubber
manufacturing.
, .
, , .
,
18. Stamping machines; in sheet-metal and tinware manufacturing, in washer
and nut factory, in lace, paper, and leather manufacturing.
19. Theater or concert hall.
t ....
,
20. Tobacco; in any tobacco warehouse, cigar or other factory where tobacco
is manufactured or prepared.
, ; v :,
21. Woodworking; woodshaper, woodjomter, planer, sandpaper, wood-pohshing, or wood-turning machine.
.
. ,
22. Wool, cotton, hair, upholstering; carding machine or machine used in pick
ing wool, cotton, hair, or any upholstering material.
. . .
23. Any other employment dangerous to life or hmb, injurious to the health,
or depraving to the morals.
(d) Females:
„
.,
,
;
1. Any female under seventeen years of age in any capacity where such em
ployment compels her to remain standing constantly.
2. Any female in or about any mine or quarry. [Ibid., subsec. (3).J
RESOLUTIONS OF TH E WISCONSIN INDUSTRIAL C O M M ISSIO N

Resolutions adopted March 11, 1918:
That no permit shall hereafter be granted for the following employments or
places of employment:
.
(1) Minors under seventeen years of age in bowling alleys.
(2) All minors under seventeen years of age in or about any brewery, distillery,
liquor bottling establishment, barroom, saloon, saloon dining room o r restaurant,
beer garden, any place in connection with, a saloon or a similar place of any name,
or in or about any dance hall, pool room, hotel, store other than a drug store, or
similar place of any name in which strong, spirituous or malt liquors are made,
bottled, sold, served or given away.
(3) All minors under fourteen years of age in any drug store, and ail minors
under sixteen years of age in any drug store which has a Government license for
the sale of strong, spirituous or malt liquors.
.
,
,
,
(4) Female children under seventeen years of age in any hotel, restaurant,
boarding or rooming house.
.
(5) Male children under sixteen years of age in any hotel.

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Resolutions adopted March 3, 1919:
That no permits shall hereafter be granted for the following employments or
places of employment:
(1) Children under sixteen years of age in lumbering and logging operations.
(2) Minors under seventeen years of age in any pool room or billiard hn.ll
Resolutions adopted August 11, 1919:
That no permit shall be granted to any child to work in any place of employ
ment in which an active strike or lockout of the employees is in progress.
Resolutions adopted since the period o f the study (i. e., since June 30, 1920):
That no permit shall be granted for the following employments or places of
employment:
_ All minors under fourteen years of age in any drug store and all minors under
sixteen years of age in any drug store which has a Government permit to fill
physicians’ prescriptions for the use of strong, spirituous, or malt liquors.8
Female child under seventeen years of age in any hotel, club house, restau
rant, boarding house or rooming house, including boarding and rooming places
conducted by industrial plants for their own employees.8
That no permit shall be granted to any child for employment upon work
given out by factories to be done in homes.
That all permit officers be instructed to hereafter issue no child labor permits
for the employment of minors in messenger service on the streets by employers
who are operating outside of the provisions of the compensation act. * * *
all minors under seventeen years of age to work in dance pavilions, street carni
vals, or other traveling shows. * * * in road construction or threshing
crews.
MASSACHUSETTS
No person shall employ a minor under sixteen or permit him to work in
operating or assisting in operating any of the following machines: (1) Circular
or band saws, (2) wood shapers, (3) wood jointers, (4) planers, (5) picker
machines or machines used in picking wool, cotton, hair, or any other material,
(6) paper-lace machines, (7) leather burnishing machines, (8) job or cylinder
printing presses operated by power other than foot power, (9) stamping machines
used in sheet metal and tinware or in paper or leather manufacturing or in
washer and nut factories, (10) metal or paper cutting machines, (11) corner
staying machines in paper box factories, (12) corrugating rolls such as are used
in corrugated paper or in roofing or washboard factories, (13) steam boilers,
(14) dough brakes or cracker machinery of any description, (15) wire or iron
straightening or drawing machinery, (16) rolling mill machinery, (17) power
punchers or shears, (18) washing or grinding or mixing machinery, (19) calender
rolls in paper and rubber manufacturing or other heavy rolls driven by power,
(20) laundering machinery, (21) upon or in connection with any dangerous
electrical machinery or appliances, or in adjusting or assisting in adjusting any
hazardous belt to any machinery, or in oiling or cleaning hazardous machinery,
or in proximity to any hazardous or unguarded belts, machinery or gearing
while such machinery or gearing is in motion; nor on scaffolding; nor in heavy
work in the building trades; nor in stripping, assorting, manufacturing or pack
ing tobacco; nor in any tunnel; nor in a public bowling alley; nor in a pool or
billiard room. No such minor shall be employed or permitted to operate, clean,
or repair a freight elevator. * * * [Gen. Laws 1921, ch. 149, sec. 61.]
No person shall employ a minor under eighteen or permit him to work: (1) In
or about blast furnaces; (2) in the operation or management of hoisting machines;
(3) in oiling or cleaning hazardous machinery in motion; (4) in the operation or
use of any polishing or buffing wheel; (5) at switch tending; (6) at gate tending;
(7) at track repairing; (8) as a brakeman, fireman, engineer, motorman or con
ductor upon a railroad or railway; (9) as a fireman or engineer upon any boat
or vessel; (10) in operating motor vehicles of any description; (11) in or about
establishments wherein gunpowder, nitroglycerin, dynamite or other high or
dangerous explosive is manufactured or compounded; (12) in the manufacture
of white or yellow phosphorus or phosphorus matches; (13) in any distillery,
brewery, or any other establishment where malt or alcoholic liquors are manu
factured, packed, wrapped or bottled; (14) in that part of any hotel, theatre,
* Amending resolution of March 11,1918 (see above).

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concert hall, place of amusement or other establishment where intoxicating
liquors are sold. This section shall not prohibit the employment of minors in
drug stores. [Ibid ., sec. 6 2 .]
The department of labor and industries may, after a hearing duly held, deter
mine whether or not any particular trade, process of manufacture or occupation,
in which the employment of minors under the age of sixteen or eighteen is not
forbidden by law, or any particular method of carrying on such trade, process of
manufacture or occupation, is sufficiently dangerous or is sufficiently injurious
to the health or morals of minors under sixteen or eighteen to justify their
exclusion therefrom. No minor under sixteen or eighteen shall be employed
or permitted to work in any trade, process or occupation thus determined to be
dangerous or injurious to such minors, respectively. [Ibid ., sec. 3.]
NEW JERSEY«
No minors under sixteen years of age shall be employed, permitted or suffered
to work at any of the following occupations or in any of the following positions:
Adjusting any belt to any machinery; sewing or lacing machine belts in any
workshop or factory; oiling, wiping or cleaning machinery or assisting therein; oper
ating or assisting in operating any of the following machines; circular or band saws;
Wood choppers; wood jointers; planers; sand paper or wood-polishing machinery;
wood-turning or boring machinery; picker machines or machines used in picking
wool, cotton, hair, fur or any other material; carding machines; paper lace
machines; job or cylinder printing presses operated by power other than foot
power; boring or drill presses; stamping machines used in sheet metal and tinware
or in paper and leather manufacturing, or in washer and nut factories; metal or
paper cutting machines; corner staying machines in paper box factories; corru
gating rolls, such as are used in corrugated paper, roofing or washboard factories;
steam boilers, dough brakes or cracker machinery of any description; wire or iron
straightening or drawing machinery; rolling mill machinery; power punches or
shears; washing, grinding or mixing machinery; calender rolls and mixing rolls
in paper and rubber manufacturing; laundering machinery; or in proximity to
any hazardous or unguarded belting, machinery or gearing, which, in the judg
ment of the Commissioner of Labor, is a menace to the safety of such minor.
No minor under the age of sixteen years shall be employed, permitted or suffered
to work in any capacity in, about, or in connection with any processes in which
dangerous or poisonous acids are used; or in the manufacture or packing of paints,
colors, red or white lead; or in any process in which lead or its compounds are
employed; or in soldering; or in occupations causing mineral, animal or vegetable
dust in injurious quantities including flint, clay, metal and talc dust; tobacco,
rubber and cotton dust; silk, fur, wool and leather dust; or in the manufacture or
use of dangerous or poisonous dyes; or in the manufacture or preparation of com
positions with dangerous or poisonous gases or fumes; or in the manufacture or
use of compositions of dye in which the quantity thereof is injurious to health;
or in any trade process which shall offer such exposure to excessive heat, cold,
muscular exertion or other physical risk as shall, in the judgment of the Commis
sioner of Labor, be harmful to the health and future working efficiency of such
minor. * * * [C o m p . S ta t. 1 9 1 0 , vol. 3 , L a b o r, sec. 2 2 (as a m e n d e d
b y L aw s o f 1 9 1 4 , ch . 2 5 2 , sec. 4 ).]

No child under the age of sixteen years shall be employed in any mercantile
establishment7 coming within the provisions of this act in any employment that
is detrimental to health or is dangerous to life and limb of a child of that age,
or that exposes him to excessive heat or cold, or that requires an excessive
muscular exertion that is detrimental to the health and strength of a child of that
age, or in the handling of any goods, wares or merchandise that are poisonous or
that give off dust, fumes or gases, or in working around any heated metal, com
bination of metal or metals or their salts, that give off any dust, fumes or gases
that are detrimental to the health, or on, in or around any scaffolding of any
character whatsoever, or on, in or around any building that is under construction,
or in any employment whatsoever which exposes him to conditions that will
retard his growth or injure his health, or in any place that is damp and unhealthy,
6In addition to the restrictions placed by statute upon the employment of minors in dangerous occu
pations the further restrictions made by orders of the New Jersey commissioner of labor are given in this
a^ “ Mercantile establishment” is defined b y section 15 of this act, amended by Laws of 1918, ch. 204, as
"any employment of any person for wages or other compensation other than in a factory, workshop, mill,
place where the manufacture of goods is carried on, mine, quarry, or in agricultural pursuits.

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or that is injurious in any way to the health and strength of a child, or in any place
where, on account of the light or the nature and character of the work, the child’s
eyesight or hearing will be injured. * * * [Laws o f 1911, ch . 136, sec. 5
(as am en d ed by Laws o f 1918, ch. 2 0 4 , sec. 5).]
No minor under sixteen years of age shall be required, allowed or per
mitted to clean any part of the gearing or machinery in any place coming under
the provisions of this act [factory, mill, workshop, newspaper plant, printery, or
place where printing or the manufacture of goods of any kind is carried on], while
the same is in motion, or to work between the fixed or traversing parts of any
machinery while it is in motion by the action of steam, water or other me
chanical power. [Com p. Stat. 1910, vol. 3, Labor, sec. 36.]
Boys under 18 shall not be employed underground in a mine. [Laws o f 1919,
ch . 187, sec. 25.]
ORDERS OF TH E COM M ISSIO N ER OF L AB O R 8

By order of the Commissioner of Labor, permits for employment must be
refused to children under sixteen years of age for the following employments:
Corkworking machines (unless fully guarded); drill presses; spindle drills; furs
(curing skins and counting skins); hemstitching machines (unless fully guarded);
hydraulic presses; polishing wheels; lathes; milling machines; power ragrolling
machines; shear tables; certain textile machines— warping, weaving, winding,
redrawing, twisting— (unless fully guarded); fireworks plants; munitions plants.
(By “ fully guarded” it is meant that guards must be inspected and approved by
the State labor department.)
• These orders have all been issued since the period of the study. List furnished August, 1924. by the
director of the child labor bureau, New Jersey Department of Labor.

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Appendix C.— BRIEF LIST OF REFERENCES ON INDUSTRIAL
ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS IN THE UNITED
STATES, WITH ANNOTATIONS1
1 . F in a l R e p o r t o f th e In d u s tr ia l C o m m issio n , V o i. X I X , p. 9 1 7 . W a s h
in g to n , 1 9 0 2 .

The problem of industrial accidents as it relates to working children is not
a new one, and even before the beginning of the present century a realization
of the need of special protection for young workers had resulted in the enact
ment in a few States of laws prohibiting children under certain ages from working
at some kinds of especially dangerous machines or processes. This report of
the Federal Industrial Commission, appointed under act of Congress in 1898 to
“ consider and recommend legislation to meet the problems presented by labor,
agriculture, and capital,” recognized the importance of the subject, and in
connection with the commission’s recommendation of “ more comprehensive
and efficient laws for the protection of children,” it was stated that
“ It has been found that children are much more liable to ac
cidents in factories than are adults. Thus, a recent report of the
Minnesota bureau of labor shows that boys under 16 have twice
as great a probability of accidents as adults, * * * while
practically all of the accidents to female operatives occur to the
young girls. It is hardly to be expected that a young giri or boy
will take the necessary care to avoid accidents in a factory.”
2 . U n ite d S ta te s B u re a u o f L a b o r R ep o rt o n C o n d itio n o f W o m e n
a n d C h ild W a g e -E a r n e r s in th e U n ite d S ta te s, V o i. I (C o tto n T extile
In d u s tr y , pp . 3 8 5 - 3 9 6 ) . W a s h in g to n , 1 9 1 0 .

In this extensive investigation made under authorization of an act of Congress
passed in 1907, information was obtained relative to accidents to workers in the
cotton manufacturing industry. It was found that although children were
generally employed in the less hazardous occupations and were not working on
very dangerous machines, the accident rate in the southern cotton mills was
48 per cent higher for workers 14 and 15 years of age than for those 16 years
of age and over— this in spite of the fact that in the latter group are included
occupations of relatively high accident liability. Moreover, the young child was
found to be apparently not only more liable to all kinds of accident, but especially
liable to more severe ones. In cases of injury from shafts, belts and gears, where
the loss of part of a finger is usually the mildest result, the rate was two and onethird times as high for children 14 and 15 years of age as for the workers of 16
years and over, and in gear accidents alone the rate was three and one-third
times as high. In conclusion, it is said (p. 386):
,
, ...
“ It appears then that comparison of the number employed with
the number injured in each age group, the consideration of a group
of particular severity, and the examination of particular kinds of
injury all point in the same direction— the hazard of the child is
high.”
3 . “ T h e a cc id e n t h a z a r d o f w orkin g c h ild r e n .” S ta tistic a l B u lle tin ,
M e tr o p o lita n L ife In su r a n c e C o., M a r c h , 1 9 2 2 , p p . 7 , 8.

This article cites the industrial-mortality experience of the Metropolitan Life
Insurance Co. as evidence of the fact that
...
. , u
“ One of the most serious indictments of child labor is the heavy
accident toll paid by young wage-earners. In spite of safety devices
and safety campaigns, a high rate of injuries is sustained by boys
and girls engaged in our mines and factories.”
1Prepared by rciia. Arvilla Merritt, of the industrial division of the Children’s Bureau.

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An analysis of the statistics of the company for 1921 shows:
“ Of all the deaths of boys 13 to 17 years old who had been gain
fully employed, one death out of every three was due to accidents.
Among those not gainfully employed, one death out of every four was
due to accidents. There was a total of 199 accidental deaths among
working boys aged 13 to 17 in this year, and of this number, 43 were
actually industrial accidents. These deaths resulted directly out
of the work in which these boys were engaged. There were eight
deaths in mines and quarries, seven in machinery accidents, three
in railroad accidents, three deaths by electricity, and six in vehicu
lar accidents, all related to occupation.
“ As one would expect from the existence of so many fatal ac
cidents, there are, undoubtedly, a very large number of both
permanent and temporary disabilities resulting from the employ„ment of young workers. Unfortunately, the material of the Metro
politan is limited to fatal accidents only, but there are many other
sources of information which bring this point out.”
Summaries of a number of accident studies are given, and the article
concludes:
“ Notwithstanding our ‘ back-to-school’ campaigns and our
realization that entering industry at an early age only too often
leads to blind-alley occupations and future industrial ineffective
ness, the number of children engaged in industry in the United
States is steadily growing. If, therefore, a further analysis of
mortality and accident disability of adolescents bears out the
findings of this small study that the chief difference between work
ing children and those not gainfully employed lies in their sus
ceptibility to accidents, it certainly is necessary to intensify our
safety campaigns in the factories and mills, safeguard our danger
ous machines and entirely prohibit minors from engaging in those
pursuits where industrial accident hazard is greatest.”
4. “ S tu d y o f a cc id e n t records in a tex tile m i ll,” prep ared u n d e r th e
d irectio n o f A m y H ew es. T h e J o u r n a l o f In d u s tr ia l H yg ien e, O cto ber,
1 9 2 1 , pp. 1 8 7 - 1 9 5 .
The article listed above as reference No. 3 mentions this study as one of the
“ other sources of information” which give evidence of the large number of
disabilities resulting from the employment of young workers:
“ A recent study made in a textile mill in Connecticut showed
that 1,221 accidents occurred in 1920. In this report, contrary to
the usual custom, the figures included accidents which did not cause
any lost time. Moreover, conditions in this mill may not be typical
for the textile industry in general, as the mill in question is one of
the finest silk plants in the country, and, therefore, conditions would
probably be more favorable than in less capably managed factories.”
An analysis of the results of this report shows clearly the importance of age as
a factor in the accident rate. Over one-fourth of the 1,164 accidents to workers
whose ages were known occurred to persons under 20 years of age, although these
comprised only 15 per cent of the total number employed. Moreover, the acci
dent rate per 100 workers was much higher for the workers under 20 than for
those above— 42.9 per cent for workers between 15 and 20 years of age as com
pared with 21.6 per cent for workers 20 years of age and over. It is further stated
(p. 195) that—
“ An examination of the individual records also showed that the
young people tended to encounter more than one injury to a greater
degree than did older persons. Approximately one half (47.2 per
cent) of the 212 persons who had more than one accident were
between 14 and 25 years old, though this group constituted less than
one-third (31.4 per cent) of the whole number of employees.”
5 . A n n u a l R ep orts o f th e M a ssa c h u se tts In d u s tr ia l A c c id e n t B oard ,
1 9 1 6 - 1 9 1 7 , pp . 1 9 , 2 1 3 - 2 2 0 ; 1 9 1 7 - 1 9 1 8 , p. 1 2 0 ; 1 9 1 8 - 1 9 1 9 , p. 7 1 .
A n n u a l R ep orts o f th e M a ssa c h u se tts D e p a r tm e n t o f In d u s tr ia l A c c i
d e n ts ; 1 9 1 9 - 1 9 2 0 , p . 6 3 ; 1 9 2 0 - 1 9 2 1 , p . 6 7 ; 1 9 2 1 - 1 9 2 2 , p . 4 5 .

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6. C on servin g C h ild ren in th e In d u str ie s o f M a ssa c h u se tts. In d u s tr ia l
B u lle tin N o. 1 5 , M a ssa c h u se tts D e p a r tm e n t o f L a b o r a n d In d u strie s,
D iv ision o f In d u s tr ia l S a fe ty . B o sto n , 1 9 2 0 .
7 . Eaves, L u c ile : O n e T h o u sa n d In d u s tr ia l A c c id e n ts S u ffered b y
M a s s a c h u s e tts C h ild ren .
(See rep rin t in T h e A m e r ic a n C h ild , V o l. 2 ,
N ov ., 1 9 2 0 , pp . 2 2 2 - 2 3 2 , N a tio n a l C h ild L a b o r C o m m itt e e , 2 1 5 F o u r th
A ve., N ew Y o rk .)

The reports of the Massachusetts Industrial Accident Board and the Depart
ment of Industrial Accidents show for the six years between July 1, 1916, and
June 30, 1922, a total of 7,813 accidents to children under 16 years of age suffi
ciently severe to cause a loss of time beyond the day or shift on which the worker
was engaged at the time of his mishap. Thirty-one of these accidents resulted
fatally.
The Massachusetts Department of Labor and Industries analyzes, in the
bulletin cited, the accidents occurring in the year ended June 30, 1919. In that
year 1,691 children 14 and 15 years of age suffered injuries necessitating a longer
absence than the remainder of the day or shift on which the accident occurred.
There were 62 cases of permanent disability and 10 fatalities— that is, practically
one child out of every 23 injured either was killed or suffered the amputation or
loss of use of some member, as finger, arm, hand, or eye. Machinery caused 1,163
injuries (69 per cent of the total injuries)— 113 of them occurring in connection
with cleaning and oiling the machines and 99 in adjusting tools and belts.
According to the special study of 1,000 of these accident records (reference No.
7, p. 3) a larger proportion of the accidents to the children under 16 resulted
in permanent partial disability than the accidents to the workers of 16 years of
age and older. This report also points out the fact that these accidents occurred
in spite of the legal safeguards established in Massachusetts for the purpose of
restricting the employment of children to the “ safe areas of industry.” The
law does not permit children to enter industrial employment until they are 14
years of age, and those under 16 are prohibited from working in a large number
of manufacturing and other occupations generally regarded as dangerous. It is
further stated (pp. 7-8) that—
“ Exceptionally vigorous efforts are being made by Massachu
setts officials for the promotion of the safety of working children.
Yet the inspectors reported that 89 of the injured children were
working without the certificates required by law and 125 were em
ployed in occupations other than those specified on their employ
ment certificates. Thus over 200, or 20 per cent, of the children
were employed without the legal safeguards which the State pro
vides. The elaborate regulations by which the Massachusetts
legislators have sought to palliate the evils which must result from
the employment of children who have not reached years of discre
tion are extremely difficult to enforce. When a boy or girl enters
a busy factory or workshop there is a natural tendency to fill spare
time with any tasks for which help is needed, and a bright child is
eager to experiment with the interesting machinery operated by
fellow workers.”
Administrative difficulties are emphasized also in the report issued by the
department of labor and industries (p. 13):
“ The development of modern industry is very largely the his
tory of new processes in production. Hazards incidental to com
plex machinery have multiplied in rapid succession. The constant
invention of machine methods in manufacturing establishments
renders difficult the grouping of existing dangerous employments
for children under statutory designation. In this Commonwealth
the entire system of legal enactment for the conservation of youth
in industry rests upon the principle that no child under 16 years of
age should be employed or permitted to work in proximity to an
industrial hazard in which he may sustain occupational injury.
In many lines of employment deemed to be of an extra hazardous
nature a minor under 18 years of age is not permitted to work.
Effective administration of the statutes Intended to control the
welfare of children is necessary to save the child from the danger
ous hazards existing in the mills and factories of the State.”

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APPENDIXES

113

After quoting the legal provisions relating to the employment of minors ip
hazardous occupations in Massachusetts, this report continues (pp. 12,13):
“ Notwithstanding the plain .requirements of these statutes,
many serious violations take place.

“ Some typical cases cited from the experience of the inspectors
attached to the Division of Industrial Safety illustrate clearly the
type of accidents taking place.
“ In one of the larger cities of the Commonwealth, where the
inspector was ordered to investigate an injury to a minor 15 years
of age, he found that the child was employed in a wood-chopping
establishment in proximity to a hazardous saw, and that he sus
tained serious lacerations to his right hand, making amputation at
the wrist necessary.
“ In another part of Massachusetts a girl 15 years of age, em
ployed in a meat market, while operating a motor-driven machine
used for the purpose of grinding meat, suffered the loss of four
fingers on her left hand.
“ In 1919, 233 orders were issued by this Department for the
exclusion of minors in hazardous trades, and 43 prosecutions
occurred during the same year for the employment of minors on
dangerous machinery. While flagrant violations of the statutes
meet with prompt prosecutions, such action does not constitute an
adequate remedy for the evil. Imposing the maximum penalty
under the statutes does not appear effective enough to prevent
injuries to children.”
8.
N ew Y o rk D e p a r tm e n t o f L a bo r, D iv isio n o f W o m e n in In d u s t r y :
C h ild ren ’s W o rk A c c id e n ts. S p ecial B u lle tin N o. 1 1 6 , J an u a ry , 1 9 2 3 .

This study of accidents to young workers in New York engaged in occupations
covered by the workmen’s compensation law, shows that in the year July, 1919,
to July, 1920, nearly 2,000 3 boys and girls under 18 years of age were injured
seriously enough to disable them for two weeks or more— 12 of them being
injured fatally. Only accidents causing disablement for a two-weeks’ period are
compensated under the law, and it was only for these compensable accidents
that an accurate statistical record was kept. The report ignores, therefore, the
much larger number of accidents causing disablement for a shorter period (of
all the accidents reported to the industrial commission in that year Only 14.8
per cent were compensable) as well as accidents to the minors— as messengers
errand boys and girls, and workers in agriculture and domestic service— who are
not covered at all by the compensation law.
Under the New York law the industrial employment of minors under 14 years
of age is illegal, and the employment of those between 14 and 18 is subject to
certain restrictions, these restrictions being much more numerous, however, for
workers under 16 than for those 16 and 17 years old. It is pointed out (p. 11)
that 9 of the injured children were nevertheless under 14 years of age (3 only 12
years and one 11 years old); 19 children between 14 and 16 were working on
machines the operation of which was forbidden by the law; and there were 15
cases of injury when the worker was cleaning machinery while it was in motion.
This latter work was prohibited by law not only to all minors under 18 but to
girls up to 21 years of age. In 8 other cases jninors were hurt while adjusting
the machine when it was in motion. The report states that although these 8
cases could not technically be called violations the “ spirit of the law was un
doubtedly violated,” adding (p. 11) :
“ In the 37 total accident cases when the accident occurred
during adjustment or cleaning, it is probable that many more cases
than those so recorded (i. e., 23) occurred while the machinery
was in motion, or when it was started accidentally. Serious con
sideration should be given to the advisability of permitting chil
dren so young to do this type of work.”
Of the 1,817 accidents 4 for which tabulations are made 1,472 happened to
boys, 345 to girls. Manufacturing occupations were responsible for nearly four‘ The number of accidents reported was 1,983; the number of children injured was slightly smaller, since
in a few cases a child suffered two accidents during the year.
<While this report was in preparation, reports came in from district offices of 166 additional compensation accidents (bringing the total number of accidents up to 1,983) which had occurred during the yeaf*
but which were not sent in early enough to be included in the statistical study.

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114

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

fifths (79 per cent); trade accounted for 117 accidents; transportation and public
utilities for 120; construction had 76 to its discredit. Classified by causes, 1,021
or considerably over half of the 1,817 accidents, occurred in connection with
machines. Metal-working machines led— 392 accidents (348 to boys and 44 to
girls) being attributed to them; textile machines (including sewing machines)
ranked second with 118 accidents. The metal stamping and trimming power
presses were the most dangerous. The following description is given of the
type of accidents on these presses (p. 14):
“ A 17-year-old girl employed in a large can factory was operating
a * * * power press piercing holes in fHj-inch round shells;
one of the shells stuck in the die and as the girl was trying to
remove it with her fingers, she accidentally tripped the press catch
ing her fingers between the die and the punch, which caused a
mashing of the first finger of the right hand so bad that the finger
had to be amputated. The machine was not guarded; the girl was
supposed to use a fork in taking shells in and out from the die.”
Other presses or machines operating on the same principle played a large part
in these accidents. In the metal-working group alone, there were 120 accidents
on foot or hand presses, drill presses, and milling and gear cutting machines, mak
ing 307 accidents on presses in the metal industry. In addition to these, 147
accidents occurred in connection with presses in other industry groups, including
printing presses, celluloid presses, and punches and similar machines in the paperproducts, leather-working, and woodworking industries.
Among other causes of accidents were physical strain, where young workers
were lifting or pushing weights beyond their strength; the glancing or slipping
of a hand tool, as where a screw driver which an electrician’s helper was using
slipped and entered his eye, injuring it so badly that he lost his sight; explosions:
burns from hot water or molten metal; and acid bums caused by the spilling of
carbolic or nitric acid.
One of the most important considerations is the extent of disability resulting
from accidents. Over 21 per cent of these children suffered more than tem
porary disability. The fatalities numbered 12, as has been shown, and in 214
cases the child suffered a total loss of the use of the part hurt, or dismemberment;
in 173 cases impairment of use resulted; and in 32 additional cases there, was
permanent partial disability. In other words 12 boys were killed and 348 boys
and 73 girls were maimed for life because of industrial accidents.8 The report
gives the following details concerning 10 of the fatal accidents (pp. 9-10) :
A 17-year-old boy was working as a laborer for a contractor on
concrete work fell from the roof into the engine room, suffering a
fractured skull and laceration of thé brain.
A 16-year-old boy who was working as an errand boy jumped off
the elevator at the second floor and fell through the shaft down to
the basement.
Another 16-year-old boy, also an errand boy, was struck by an
automobile while he was making a delivery.
A 15-year-old boy was caught and crushed between the elevator
and the shaft wall while the elevator was in motion and under the
guidance of the operator. He had a compound fracture of the
skull.
A 17-year-old boy died from a 35-foot fall from a ladder where he
was working as an electrician’s helper.
A 17-year-old helper in the canning department of a condensed
milk manufacturing concern was cleaning sanitary pipes. He
slipped and fell off a platform while carrying an iron pipe. He
was so injured internally that he died two weeks later.
A 17-year-old boy working as a general helper in a manufacturing
concern ran to stop the elevator from which he had just taken some
supplies. Instead of stopping it by the rope he jumped on. He
was caught between the upper floor and the car, landing on his
knees. The cervical vertebrae were fractured and death resulted.
A 16-year-old boy fell from a roof when working as a laborer.
His skull was fractured.

iThis informationis basedupon tha 1,983compensableaccidentsfinally reportedfortheyear.
16, referenceNo. 8.

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See p.

APPENDIXES

115

A 17-year-old boy, an elevator operator, caught his foot between
the shaft and the elevator as it began to ascend. A combination of
very serious injuries resulted and death ensued in four days.
A 17-year-old boy working as a laborer was caught on the exposed
end of a line shaft extending through the wall of the machine room
to the outside of the building. Both arms were twisted off at the
shoulder joints, he suffered a fracture and other severe injuries and
shock, and died in about 20 minutes.
The fact that 9 of these 10 fatal accidents occurred to boys 16 and 17 years
old is in itself an indication of the need of greater protection for workers of these
ages. It is significant of the steps already taken in protection of the workers
under 16, for whom employment at hazardous occupations and in dangerous sur
roundings is much more restricted than for the older group, that only 8 per cent
of the accidents occurred to children 14 and 15 years old. More than 9 out of
10 accidents were suffered by boys and girls between 16 and 18 years of age.
Slightly over a third (611) of all the accidents to minors under 18 occurred in
operating the machines or working at the processes which have been found so
dangerous that the State law entirely prohibits them for workers under 16. Over
half of these (307) occurred in connection with the operation of metal cutting or
stamping machinery, and for this reason the report recommends (p. 17) the ex
tension of the prohibited age to 18 for work on such machines. The fact that the
injuries of so large a proportion of the minors of 16 and 17 years resulted from
work already recognized as dangerous for youthful and immature employees
shows that even at 16 or 17 years of age the young worker should not be per
mitted to take such risks.
9.
R eports o f th e In d u stria l B oard o f th e State o f In d ia n a : Y ear 1 9 1 8 19, pp. 32, 6 0 ; year 1 9 1 9 -2 0 , pp. 31, 102, 1 0 3 ; year 1 9 2 0 -2 1 , pp. 30,
1 1 1 ; year 1 9 2 2 -2 3 , p. lO ^ y e a r 1 9 2 3 -2 4 , p. 15.
The experience of Indiana, another State where the law gives minors under
18 years of age special protection— in greater degree to those of 14 and 15 than
to those of 16 and 17 years— shows the need for very careful administrative pro
visions to make these legal prohibitions effective. During the three-year period
ending September 30, 1921, the State industrial board reported 4,940 accidents
to minors under 18, 14 per cent of them to boys and girls not yet 16. Many of
these workers were illegally employed. A special investigation of 122 minors 16
years of age and under injured in a period of two months in 1919 showed that 31
per cent of them were illegally employed; out of 282 injured workers under 16
whose cases were investigated the next year 47 per cent or nearly half were
working contrary to law. A study covering 850 boys and girls under 18, victims
of industrial accidents in the year ending September 30, 1921, revealed 448 cases
of illegal employment. This means that in 53 per cent— over half— of the cases
where young persons under 18 met with injury they were working without the
safeguards with which the State law purported to protect them. These boys and
girls are not entitled to compensation, since minors illegally employed are not
under the workmen’s compensation act. This system, the report states, is liable
to work a hardship on minors who do not know of their right to recover damages
at common law and those who fall into the hands of unscrupulous lawyers.
In the year 1922-23 the industrial board investigated the cases of 1,221 minors
reported as under 18 years of age who had been injured in industry. It was
noticed that there was during the year a decided decrease in the number of acci
dents reported for boys and girls under 18 years of age and a corresponding in
crease in the number reported for young persons 18 and 19 years of age. A
special study of all accidents reported for young persons of this age during a 10day period in July revealed the fact that 25 per cent of those injured during this
period and claiming to be 18 or 19 years of age were under 18, one being only 14
years of age. The 25 per cent were unlawfully employed and therefore not cov
ered by the compensation law. A supplementary investigation of 656 accidents
to young persons claiming to be 18 or 19 years old showed that in fact 122 of them
were under 18 years of age. During the next year (1923-24), 125 injured minors
claiming to be 18 years of age proved on investigation to be under that age, and
in 291 other cases of injury to minors under 20 years of age, their employment
was found to be illegal.

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116

INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS TO EMPLOYED MINORS

10.
D e L im a , A g n es, a n d M c C o n n e ll, B ea tric e: C asu a lties o f C h ild
L abor. T e n C h ild ren Ille g a lly E m p lo y e d in P e n n sy lv a n ia a n d W h a t
H a p p en e d to T h e m . C o n su m e r s’ L ea g u e o f E a ste rn P e n n sy lv a n ia , 8 1 8
O tis B ld g ., P h ila d e lp h ia , P a ., D e c e m b e r, 1 9 2 4 .

Pennsylvania is another State where the child labor law prohibits the employ
ment of minors under 16 and under 18 years of age in many hazardous occupa
tions and where the compensation law excludes illegally employed minors from
its provisions. This brief report describes the first 10 cases in a study of inju
ries to working children. The following are typical:
“ A certain firecracker company was accustomed to doling out
home work to children to do after school. Wrappers and cases for
bombs and torpedoes were commonly made in this way. When
vacation time came the boss suggested to a number of his youthful
helpers that they come and work in the factory, although the law
prohibits children under 18 from being employed where high ex
plosives are manufactured. Thirteen of those who responded were
under the legal age. The children were supposed to prepare the
cases and wrappers and pass them on to an older employee at the
same work table, who put the explosive in the wrapper. One boy
stretched the paper casing over two nails driven in the table in
front of him. Another workman, in attempting to drive one of the
nails in a little more deeply, struck a torpedo with his hammer.
The torpedo promptly exploded and ignited a large vessel of powder
that was also on the work table. In the resulting explosion and
fire one child, George, 15 years old, was instantly killed— literally
blown to bits.”
Three other children were also injured— a 14-year-old boy who
was so severely burned that the middle finger of his left hand had
to be amputated, the remaining fingers are stiff, and the fleshy
part so burned that no normal tissue can grow; and a 13 and a 14
year old boy whose burns, though in the case of one boy very seri
ous, have not resulted in permanent disability.
“ In comparison with a firecracker factory, a grocery store may
seem to offer safe employment. But Frank, 13 years old, and
thus below the legal working age, lost the use of his right hand as
a result of attempting to operate a meat-slicing machine in one of
the chain stores of the X Grocery Co. The knife struck his_ right
wrist, cutting it severely and permanently affecting a nerve in the
forearm. The boy has no control over the third and fourth fingers,
the tissues have wasted away and the hand looks dead and un
sightly. Two costly operations have been performed in an effort
to restore the normal use of the hand, but to what avail remains to
be seen.
. . .
,
, ...
,
“ Josephine, a Polish girl, 13 years old when employed without a
working permit, on a dangerous machine without proper super
vision, will go through life mutilated and incapacitated. She was
put to work at a machine commonly known as a ‘ picker, in which
sharp, needle-like spines pick or separate the strands of yarn. A girl
working at the next picker was told to show Josephine how to run
her machine. No other instructions were given, although the
machine is so dangerous as to come under the prohibited section
of the child labor law. Josephine’s job was to watch this picker
and remove the rolls when they were filled. If the yarn broke, she
had to shut off the power and tie the broken ends together. On the
second day of her employment the yarn broke, and when she at
tempted to stop the machinery to mend the break, not being far
miliar with the machine, which was not well guarded, her right hand
was caught and literally ‘ picked’ to a pulp before she could be
extricated. Almost the entire hand had to be amputated. The
third and little fingers are left, but are stiff and useless. *The hand,
save for a strip the width of the remaining fingers, is gone. .
“ John, a victim of unguarded machinery and a foreman s care
less and unlawful order to oil it while in motion, suffered a mangled
leg and other injuries to head, body, eyes, and arms that have per
manently incapacitated him. The boy’s leg was caught in the
machinery of the mountain scenic railway of the amusement com
pany where be was illegally employed.”

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APPENDIXES
1 1 . W is c o n s in In d u s tr ia l C o m m is s io n : W isc o n sin
O cto ber, 1 9 2 3 , p. 8 ; M a r c h , 1 9 2 4 , p. 7.

lit
L a b o r S ta tistic s,

In Wisconsin boys and girls up to 18 years of age not only are prohibited from
work in a large number of dangerous occupations, but are further protected by
the so-called treble-compensation feature of the workmen’s compensation act,
under which three times the usual compensation must be paid in case of a child
injured while illegally employed, the employer, and not the insurance carrier,
being primarily liable for the additional two-thirds.® Yet these reports show
that in spite of such protection the toll of injuries is large. A summary of the
compensable cases settled by the commission during the calendar years 1919,
1920, and 1921 gives 13.7 per cent of the injuries to all workers as occurring to
minors under 21 years of age, and these young workers show a somewhat higher
incidence of injuries causing permanent partial disability than is the case for
workers 21 years of age and over. Of the 19,058 accident cases settled under the
workmen’s compensation act during the year ending June 30, 1923, 2,251 (12 per
cent) were injuries to minors under 21 years of age. Ten of these accidents were
fatal and 164 caused permanent partial disability for life.
1 2 . M in o rs in A u to m o b ile a n d M e ta l-M a n u fa c t u r in g In d u str ie s in
M ic h ig a n , pp. 4 8 - 5 6 .
C h ild ren ’s B u re a u P u b lic a tio n N o. 1 2 6 , W a s h
in g to n , 1 9 2 3 .

The records of the State industrial accident board, which were examined' in
connection with this study of minors in automobile and metal-manufacturing
industries in Michigan, showed a total of 1,905 compensable accidents 7 to em
ployed minors during the year 1918. Of these, 28 resulted fatally, 238 involved
dismemberment, and the balance (1,639) temporary disability for 15 days or
longer.
The large majority (77 per cent) of these accidents occurred in the manufac
turing industries, and in this group metal-working factories were responsible for
over half. An analysis according to occupation rather than industry shows that
863 accidents (45 per cent of the total) were accidents to machine operators; of
these, 56 per cent were accidents to operators of metal-working machines and 22
per cent to operators of woodworking machines. When the cause of accident
was considered, machinery was shown to have been responsible for 984 acci
dents, or 52 per cent of the total number; and nearly all of these— 45 per cent of
the entire number of accidents— were caused by power-driven machinery. In
this power-machine group, metal-working machines caused 56 per cent of the
accidents, and punch presses headed the list of specified types of machines, being
responsible for a far larger number of accidents than any other machine. W ood
working machines caused nearly one-fourth (24 per cent) of the accidents due
to power-working machinery.
GENERAL COMMENT ON THE REFERENCES CITED
During the quarter century since the Federal Industrial Commission made its
report (see reference No. 1) the development of safety standards and increased
legislative protection have brought about a very considerable reduction in indus
trial hazards for all workers. But the studies here discussed show that it is still
true not only that “ the hazard of the child is high’ ’ (see p. 110) but that the large
percentage of injuries suffered by boys and girls as compared with older workers
continues, in spite of the fact that as a rule children are at work in the safer occu
pations. These reports indicate that present legal restrictions do not sufficiently
protect young workers from the hazards of industry. This may be due to a
number of causes: Some laws do not cover a sufficient number of occupations;
others are worded in too general terms; administrative provisions may be lacking
or not carried out; inspection may be inadequate. Most of the reports and
investigations cited above deal with conditions in States where the child labor
laws give probably more than the average protection to young workers8 and
* Wisconsin, Stat. 1923, sec. 102.09, subsec. (7), subdivisions (a), (b). Since the period of this study the
law has been amended to require only double compensation in case the injured minor is employed without
a permit, provided he is not employed in a prohibited occupation or in an occupation for which the indus
trial commission has declared no permit shall be issued. In the latter cases treble compensation is still
exacted. (Wisconsin, Acts of 1925, ch. 384.)
* That is, causing death or causing disability for at least 15 days.
* In 29 States there are either no restrictions or very few extending up to the age of 18 relating to occupa
tions generally recognized as physically dangerous. In 6 others there are no prohibitions (or practically
none) relating to dangerous occupations for children of any age.

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IN D U S T R IA L A C C ID E N T S T O E M P L O Y E D

M IN O R S

where the impetus of compensation legislation has focused public interest and
effort upon the reduction of industrial accidents.,
^
.
.
A number of factors are mentioned as important in causing a high accident
rate for young workers. For instance, it is said (p. 194 of reference No. 4),
“ The peculiar susceptibility of'young people to accidents is probably due to a
combination of influences, of which inexperience and unfamiliarity with the
work and the necessary precautions, carelessness and a form of bravado, lack of
attention and concentration due to lack of training, as well as possible greater
exposure to the objective dangers of their trades play a part.”
The same idea is expressed in a recent publication treating the general aspects
of child welfare: • “ The child is more prone to accidents than the adult, and will
suffer even in industries regarded as comparatively safe, since young boys and
girls are naturally careless. Children can not concentrate their attention on
their work, and are therefore frequently the victims of accidents which maim
them for life and lessen or destroy their economic capacity.”
The Massachusetts study discussed above as reference No. 7 states (p. 4) that:
“ Inability to control perfectly the machinery or tools with
which [the children] worked was the chief cause of the accidents
reported. * * * Nearly one-third of the accidents were due
to the difficulties which children experience in gaining control over
the new powers given by machinery and tools. The awkwardness
of children of the adolescent age, particularly of the boys, proves
that they have not learned to direct perfectly the activities of their
own bodies, so their inability to control fully any additional force
is not surprising.”
The conclusion given (p. 18) in the New York report discussed above as ref
erence No. 8 is that “ The carelessness, the irresponsibility, the natural curiosity
of children, coupled with the lack of coordination in children of the adolescent
age would seem to point to the fact that children by the very nature of their
youth are less able to protect themselves than those more mature and conse
quently more steady.”
The greater hazard for the younger workers than for adults is thus emphasized
in the same New York study (p. 7):
“ Even in carefully managed factories and workshops, even with
frequent and adequate factory inspection, the natural irresponsi
bility, carelessness, and above all the curiosity of youth subjects
young workers to a greater accident hazard than more mature
people. * * * It is often impossible to secure from adolescents a
certain cooperative spirit which is almost necessary in the effective
prevention of accidents. * * * The question of age is always
an important one. Young employees are generally accepted as
being subject to a greater accident risk and, therefore, in need of
special protection. * * * The younger the years the more
stringent should be the care in reducing to the minimum the ac
cident risk.”
Another phase of the problem suggested by these studies is the fact that an
accident with its consequent injury often has more serious consequences
for a child than would be the case for an adult. For example, the United States
Bureau of Labor report on women and child wage earners discussed above as
reference No. 2 emphasizes this aspect (p. 386):
“ A given injury is a more serious matter for the child. Surgeons
always hesitate to perform operations upon the young whieh would
instantly be used with more mature patients. The shock of an
operation disturbs the poise of an immature organism much more
than where the progress of time has hardened the resisting powers.
With the adult there is usually little beyond the direct disability of
the accident itself. With the child there is much more likely to be
far-reaching series, the intrusion of infectious disease at an un
guarded moment, a lasting damage to the functions of the nervous
system, leading forward to consequences of the most serious kind
in after years. A long history of degeneracy and dependence may
have its beginning in exposure to industrial hazard.”
•Mangold, George B.: Problems of Child Welfare, p. 362. New York, 1924.

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a p p e n d ix e s

1X 9

One of the Massachusetts studies discussed above (reference No. 6) states
(p. 16):
“ The loss of a hand or an arm imposes upon the child a serious
burden for life. The loss of fingers or thumbs frequently results in
their exclusion from certain processes in industry and a substantial
loss in their earning power.”
The New York report previously mentioned (cited as reference No. 8) contains
the following statements (pp. 6, 19):
“ Accidents collect a large toll and socially their cost is obvious, es
pecially when the injury permanently disables a child— a member
of society who is but beginning to play his part in the community.
* * * There is no doubt but that even when the accident is not
fatal, a total or partial disability to a younger person is a greater
social loss than the same accident to an older person. The loss
of a hand to a 17-year-old boy affects his entire working life and
determines in large measure his contribution to the community.
For this reason alone the protection of working boys and girls from
industrial accidents is highly important.”

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Full text of Industrial Accidents to Employed Minors in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, Bureau Publication No. 152

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