Danger: Children at Work--A Bibliographic Time Capsule

Prepared by Henry P. Guzda,
Historian/Industrial Relations Specialist
U.S. Department of Labor
January 23, 1998

"Our little boys should not be forced into the mines so early in life; our little girls should not be compelled to work in the mills and factories at an age when they should be in school...."

Recent publicity on onerous child labor exploitation throughout the world might lead one to believe that this statement refers to the sweatshops of Indonesia, Pakistan, India, or Saipan. The Department of Labor, among other institutions, has focused on the unacceptable use of children to produce "sweated" clothes, sporting equipment, and even the toys we give our own children. Trade union publications have devoted considerable editorial space to enlighten readers about both domestic and international child-labor abuses. Industry giants such as Levi Strauss, manufacturer of the popular blue jeans wearing apparel, have pledged not to employ children for their production.

While the Department of Labor always had some oversight responsibilities for the protection of young workers, the past several years have seen even more intense activity in this area. Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, his Wage and Hour Division Administrator, Maria Echeveste, and the Bureau of International Labor Affairs have engaged in high-profile projects to expose the worst violators. One departmentally sponsored conference revealed an almost Dickensian scenario where 7 and 8 year-old children in Pakistan hand-sewed soccer ball panels together - this sport has had an almost epidemic increase in popularity among American youth. At still another conference involving the apparel industry and the department, testimony focussed on young girls in Central America putting "Made in the USA" labels on locally made, sweated goods. An exhibit at the Department of Labor, sponsored by its International Labor Affairs Bureau, presented photos of child-produced oriental rugs. Considering this exposure, one might guess that our introductory quotation addressed such modern problems. Yet, it did not stem from protests against child labor in the jungles of Indonesia or the hovels of New Delhi, but from the Anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania at the turn of the 19th century. During the great 1902 Anthracite Coal Strike, John Mitchell, President of the United Mine Workers Union, agonized over the plight of child workers stating, "These boys in the hard coal region are men. As I saw those eager eyes peering at me from eager little faces, the fight had a new meaning for me; I felt I was fighting the battle for innocent childhood." [See: Proceedings of the Anthracite Coal Commission: 1902-1903 Nos. 1-56 (original stenographic copies); and John Mitchell, Organized Labor, Philadelphia, 1903.]

As the U.S. embarked on the age of industrial capitalism, beginning in the 1890s, an unwholesome byproduct was child labor. It was a serious stain on the fabric of American society: young boys worked 12 to 16 hours a day in the coal fields and glass factories of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio; young girls sweated similar hours in the textile factories of both New England and in the post-reconstruction new South; homeless newsboys -"newsies"- in many urban areas sold papers during the day and slept in alleys at night. Some of this tragedy violated rarely enforced state child labor laws. [See: Bulletins of the Bureau of Labor Statistics 1886-present and Child Labor Bulletin: of the National Child Labor Committee 1904-1920 (publications under various titles).]

The state reports of various bureaus of labor and industry contain Gothic horror stories of breaker boys mangled or killed in coal mine accidents or children disfigured by hot molten glass. The Department of Labor Library has one of the richest collections of these state reports, with special emphasis on industrial areas such as New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Massachusetts, as well as those from agricultural regions such as Kansas.

Dating to 1869, the Reports of the Bureau of Labor, Massachusetts are the oldest of state reports. Another such report is from The New York State Factory Investigating Commission, which reported to the state Industrial Commissioner and future Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, it investigated the plight of legally employed children 14 and 15 years-old suffering from amputated fingers and lacerated flesh by the constantly moving machinery parts in their workplaces. Perkins convinced her fellow commissioners to tour basement bakery operations in the middle of the night, to see both children and adults working amid horrific conditions, where animal droppings fell into flour bins used in making bread. [See: Reports of the New York Factory Investigating Commission, 1911-1915.]