Pennies and a Crust of Bread:Child Labor in America

Millions of kids did crushingly hard workin the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Cast of CharactersLewis Hine, photographer for

the National Child LaborCommittee (NCLC)

JoeyTaggartMO "|workersataMilo Androvich*, 12 > PennsylvaniaForeman J coal mineRoselie Randazzo, worker at a

New York City sweatshopGirl, Roselie's co-workerWoman, sweatshop supervisorClerk, at a hospitalIrvine Luther Lenroot,

U.S. Congressman

byKathyWilmore photos by IiOWis Hine

Charlie Vasiersky, 15,textile mill worker

Chairman, of a Houseof Representativescommittee

CamellaTeoli, 14, textilemill worker

Helen Herron Taft,First Lady

William Howard Taft,U.S. President

Narrators A-C

IntroductionDo you have an after-school job? Do you helpwith a family farm or business? If you think of thatas child labor, consider the kinds of jobs kids in dieUnited States had a century ago.

By the late 19th century, the Industrial Revolutionhad taken a firm hold in the U.S. New machines,steam power, and other advances in technologybrought rapid change to the way people worked andlived. Suddenly, a single machine could do a job thatonce took the labor of many people. But people wereneeded to run the machines. Cities and industriesgrew as people left rural areas and farms to seek work.

•An imaginary character who is a combination of several real people. All other characters were real people.

I B J U N I O R S C H O L A S T I C

Many families were so poorthat every child and both parentshad to work to make ends meet.Factory and mill owners paid justpennies an hour in wages, becausethere were more people than jobs.Impoverished immigrants werecoming to the U.S. in great num-bers, hoping for better lives.Instead they were caught in thecompetition for low-paying,backbreaking jobs.

Factory, mine, and mill operatorsliked to hire children, who got thelowest wages. Kids also fit easilyinto small spaces, including mineshafts and crowded sweatshops.

In 1905, a photographer namedLewis Hine began to document thelives of young workers. Seeing themiserable conditions those kidsfaced, Hine and many other peopleworked to bring about child-laborreforms (changes for improvement).

In this play, JS looks at how thestruggles of those young workers,many of them immigrants, led tomore rights and protections for allchildren in the U.S.

SCENE 1KafraftM"A: Sometimes, Lewis Hineenters factories and mines to takepictures of kids on the job. Othertimes, he hangs around outside,photographing kids on their way to

• chure /SHOOT', a downward-angled ctiannelused to move things to a lower level.

• hearings official sessions at whictiwitnesses are questioned.

•mills buildings and machinery used 10 processraw maTerials into finished products.sweaTshap a factory where employees workunder unheaWiful conditions and for llnfe pay.

serious lung disease that is highly conta-gious, especially in crowded, dirty conditions

Boys working on a cotton-mill machine at Bibb Mill No. I inMacon, Georgia, in 1909.

or from work. One morning, out-side a Pennsylvania coal mine. . .Joey Taggart Hey, mister, why areyou taking pictures of us?Lewis Hine: I want Americans toknow what life is like for childrenwho work tough jobs like yours.The best way to tell them is to showthem. What do you do?Joey: I'm a breaker boy. Rocks dugout of the mine come down a chuteto us. and we sort them. We tossaway slate and useless rocks, and putthe coal down another chute.Hine: Your fingers are red andswollen. Can't you wear gloves?Joey: No, sir. They would whack uswith a broom handle, like they dowhen we make mistakes. In time,my skin will get tough, like theother boys'. But it is a scary job.Yesterday, a boy fell down thechute and was smothered to deathin the coal.Hine: What about you, lad?Milo Androvich: I was a breaker boy.But now I'm a trapper.

Hine: What do you do?Miio: There are doors between sectionsof the mine shaft, keeping out windand coal dust. I wait till I hear a mulecart coming. Then 1 open the doorand let the cart through.Hine: How long do you work?Milo: Nine or 10 hours a day, sir. I'malone 500 feet underground, so Italk to myself or draw on the wall.Hine: But it's pitch-dark down there!Milo: Cold too! I can't see what Idraw. I just imagine it.Foreman: Boys, get inside! Movealong, mister. You don't belong here.Hine: I'm just passing through. Thatlittle breaker boy has a nasty cough.Foreman: Yup, they breathe coal dustall day long. There are 20 boys inthat breaker, and I'll bet you couldshovel 50 pounds of coal dust out oftheir lungs!

SCENE 2Narrator B: Other reformers investi-gate problems faced by the girls andwomen working in sweatshops. One

F E B R U A R Y 6 , 2 0 0 B 1 9

&MFRICAN HISTnRY PLAY

such girl is Roselie Randazzo, anItalian immigrant who lives in NewYork City. On a typical wintermorning, she meets a co-worker...Roselie Randazzo: Good to see you! Iwas running because I thought Iwas late for work.Girl: Slow down! Thesestairs are steep, and youlook pale. Why are youholding your throat?Roselie: It hurts terribly.Girl:You should gohome.Roselie: I have to work.Narrator B: The girls sitside by side at a longtable. The room iscrowded with girls and womenhunched over their tasks. They arecutting, shaping, and putting togethersatin flowers. A stern woman plunks abox of materials in front of Roselie.Woman: Now get busy. Have theseroses ready by noon!Roselie: Yes, ma am.Narrator B: Suddenly, Roselie fallsfacedown into the flowers.Girl: She is coughing up blood!Woman (snatching away Roselie's

"There are20 boys inthat breaker,and I'll betyou couldshovel 50pounds of coaldust out oftheir lungs-"

-FDreman

flowers): What a mess! These rosesare ruined!Narrator B: Roselie is taken away. Thenext morning, Roselie's friend visitsthe hospital.Girl: Excuse me. Where can I

find Roselie Randazzo?She was brought hereyesterday.Clerk (reading)'. RoselieRandazzo, 17. Takenfrom Mark's ArtificialFlower Factory. Died at12:30 p.m.Giri: She was so youngand beautiful!Clerk: She probably hadtuberculosis. This cli-

mate is hard on people not usedto the cold. If the climate doesn'tfinish them, the sweatshops do.

SCENE 3Narrator C: Gradually, the efFons ofchild-labor reformers gain atten-tion as Americans learn moreabout the problem. Some milland mine kids go on strike,demanding better pay and work-ing conditions. Soon, concern

about abuses reaches the halls of theU.S. Congress. In March 1912, aHouse of Representatives committeeholds hearings. Several adults and 16child workers testify [make statements

S . R U S S G I I , t2aNewYorkCity newsboy, in 1910. He worked5 hours a day except Saturdays,when he worked II hours. Heearned about 20 cents a day.

UPDATE

U.S. laws now bar kids from working in indus-try, mining, and other kinds of hard labor. Butkids as young as 10 are allowed to do agricul-tural work. That loophole was left so kids couldhelp on family-owned farms. Today, however, anestimated 40,000 to 50.000 kids in the U.S. aremigrant workers, who move from place to place,doing hard labor on someone else's land.According to a 2005 National ConsumersLeague (NCL) report, many of them work 10 to 12hours a day in unsafe situations. About 90 per-cent of Americans answering an NCL survey

said that farmworkers should have the same legalprotections as people in other kinds of work.

Labor organizations distinguish childlaborUomchild work. The latter is light work done by kids 12or older that does not interfere with schooling orpose a threat to life or health.

For about 246 million kids aged 5 to 14 world-wide, child labor is a harsh fact of life. The UnitedNations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates thatat least 75 percent of those kids do tasks that putthem in great peril. Some care agencies andnational governments are trying to eliminate childlabor. That will be tough. In most cases, extremepoverty is the root of the problem.

2 0 J U N I O R S C H O L A S T I C

under oath]. Two of the speakers aremill workers from Massachusetts.Congressman Irvine Luther Lenroot:How much does your job pay, lad?Charlie Vasiersky: My first job. I got$3.55 for five weeks' work. Now Ishould get $6.44 a week, but usuallyit's just three or four days for $5.27.Lenroot: What about school?Charlie: I went till I was 14.But our family didn't haveanything to eat, so I had togo to work.Lenroot: What food do youhave now?Charlie: Well, sir, a meal isn'tmuch. Just a piece of breadwith some molasses on it.Committee Chairman: How much doyou earn a week, Camclla?CamellaTeoli: About $2.60 to $6.55.But the mill makes us pay 10 centsevery 2 weeks for drinking water.Chairman: You started working lastyear. Weren't you too young?Camella: Yes, sir. But a man came toour house and told my father that hewould make up papers saying I was

14. That's old enough for a mill job.When the papers came, I startedwork. Two weeks later, I got hurt.Chairman: What happened?Camella: My hair got caught in amachine, and the machine pulled offbig sections of my scalp. 1 was in thehospital for seven months.Narrator C: One of the audience

members listening toCamella's testimony isHelen Herron Taft,President Taft's wife.That night...Helen Herron Taft {"/c?her husband): Thepoor girl—and somany others! They are

laboring without childhoods, with-out hope for the future.President William Howard Taft: Suchstories—and Mr. Hine's photo-graphs—are shocking more andmore people. Congress is sure toact soon.Narrator C: It does. On April 9,1912, President Taft signs a new billinto law. It creates a federal agency.

the Children's Bureau.The Bureau's mission isto investigate "all matterspertaining [relating] tothe welfare of childrenand child life among allclasses of our people."

AFTERWORDThe Children's Bureauhelped improve conditionsfor child workers some-what. But true reform wasa long time coming.

In 1938, the FairLabor Standards Actbecame law. Amongother requirements, it setminimums for workingage and salaries. At longlast, millions of young

Americans had some protectionagainst lives of misery and pain. JS

Your Turn

"Our familydidn't haveanything toeat, so I had togo to work."

- Charlie Vasiersky

WORD MATCH1. chute A. improve

2. hearing B. make a statementunder oath

3. mill C. channel formoving objects

4. reform D. official session inwhich witnessesare questioned

5. testify E. where raw materi-als are processed

THINK ABOUT IT1. Why did so many children work

in factories, mills, and mines atthe turn of the 20th century?

2. Write a poem describing someof the conditions faced bythose child workers.

THE PHOTOS OFLEWIS W. HINEhistoryplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor

FEB RUARY 6 , 2 D 0 6 2 1