"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.]
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