The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 24, 1925, Page 7

| : ! ‘the devastation caused by capitalism " reason that the 1910 census was tak _ ity,” while the 1920 survey was taken _ ployment and at a season of the year - additional fact that the federal child dabor law was at that time on ' Statute books must be taken into con’ » sideration. It was the supreme court “The idea becomes power when it pene- trates the masses.” —Karl Marx. NCREDIBLY ghastly in its ravages among its helpless victims, child labor has become a blight that men- aces every human being in the nation. There are two types of child labor ir the United States today; the open employment of children in factories mills, mines, department stores and in agriculture; and the furtive slavery of children within the confines of the | SPECIAL MAGAZINE SUPPLEMENT on earth than these children. One little Italian girl had some sort of in fection in her eyes that caused : steady discharge. which she constant ly wiped with the back of her hands and every one of these victims of the inordinate greed of capitalism appear ed warped and stunted—with the bod ies of children in stature, their face: bore ghastly marks of agonizing toil far worse than the puny slaves of th hovels they call homes. It is the sec |C°tton mills of the south, ond category that merits close inves tigation, because it is more carefully concealed. Dry statistics from the last census conducted by the U. S. government (1920) inform us that there were a: that time 1,090,858 children between the ages of 10 and 15 years “gainfully employed” throut the country. Equal ly vague are the figures regarding the division of this group between indus- tries and agriculture. The same gov ernment report presents tables of sta- tistics to prove that child labor has decreased since the census of 1910 Like all government reports, this onc requires further investigation. It is poor policy to take the statements oi & capitalist government at their fac: value, especially when they deal wit) Granted that the figures were accurate: they do not prove a decline of th number of child slaves, for the simple en in a period of so-called “prosper. at the beginning of a period of unem- when employment, especially in agri- culture was at the lowest point, Th: decision declaring this law unconsti- tutional in 1922 that necessitated a constitutional amendment to give con- gress the power to enact a federa child labor law. So our glorious con- stitution that the one hundred per centers profess to uphold does no‘ ' even permit congress to legislate for the protection of helpless children from the jackal pack of capitalism. A Tale of Two Pest Holes. The census of 1920 informs us that in New York City there are 32,383 children between 10 and 15 years 0) age “gainfully employed,” and that in Jersey City, N. J., there are 2,735. But like the national total, these fig- _ ures are inadequate to convey the real facts regarding child slavery. Noth- ing is said here about those miserable half-starved and half clothed, prema . turely aged children UNDER TEN years of age that slave from morning until night in the most revolting sur roundings—their homes! Hearing re. perts of the conditions in certain dis. tricts, I, accompanied by other trad: unionists, investigated some of them both in New York and Jersey City an was staggered by the appalling con. ditions existing in a supposedly civil ized country. In New York City, in three differen: sections—the Bronx, the lower Fas‘ Side and Brooklyn—we found childrer both boys and girls, working on beaded gowns. There are designs drawn o1 these gowns and the children have to sew bright eolored beads on the de. signs, for which they are paid accord ing to the whim of the employers, whc deliver the dresses and beads at the “homes” of the workers and call fo them when finislied. Whole families and evon children as young as six ane seven years do this work. Sitting ir One position hours, at a time, strain. ing their baby eyes to get each bea’ in its proper place, browbeaten b: filthy, brutal, illiterate parents, ther: -is surely no more pitiable creatures Slaving their lives away in vile, un THE DAILY WORKER. January 24, 1925, Child Labor--A Modern Pestilence fof workers is rampant, a hasty survey j|was made there. The horrors of New York City were duplicated, if not sur. |passed. There were found children of |both sexes sewing bags for tea. One house investigated is typical of then jall. There was no electric light anc j the dingy halls were in total dark- ness, Inside the rooms, where peopl were huddled, one and sometimes twc families: in one room, whole families were engaged in the business of sew: ing little pieces of cloth into tea bags. SECOND SECTION This magazine supple- ment will appear every Saturday In The Daily Worker. By H. M. WICKS. And when they are removed from these home manufacturing establish- ments they are stuffed with tea ané placed upon_the market WITHOUT EVEN BEING WASHED in ordinary | water, say nothing of being disinfect. | ed. Menaces Everyone. Clearly child labor ought not to be &@ problem exclusively concerning the working class, tho, of course, it is only the working class that will ever abolish it. It is not only a blight up. HIS PROFITS—BLOOD MONEY sanitary, dark, cold and damp tene- ments in order that the indolent, de bauched, extravagant kept women o! the bourgeoisie may bedeck them- selves in beaded gowns and attend charity balls where their feigned con cern for the poverty of the workers ir a pretext for the gorgeous displays A short time ago, in an address be- fore the Woman’s Trade Union League one of the members who had investi- gated this very condition, stated that no woman with a spark of humanity knowing how beaded dresses are made, would ever wear one of them. Having occasion to be in Jersey City, where child slavery in “homes” There were the same signs of ocenpa tional depformities that were observed in New York. This work is so arduout and requires so much speed to earr the merest pittance that the ends oi tho children’s fingers constantly bleed from being stuck with needles, some of them are infected and exude puss. During a survey conducted two year: ago, Wassermann blood tests were taken of some of these children and many of them registered positive some of them “four plus,” indicating 100 per cent syphillitic infection, The tea bags, when finished, are thrown in heaps upon the floor, arouné which the family sits in a semi-circle. 1 on the childhood of the nation, but it menaces every person that patronizes & grocery store, or buys clothing o) on any msnner moves in this socioty. If the pest-holes of the Bronx, the low- er East Side, Brooklyn, Jersey City and hundreds of other places thruout the nation could be visited by intel- Ugent workers they would rise in their might and scourge from the face of the earth the contemptible scoundrels of capitalism that dare propose a con. tinuation of this foul plague. If the facts regarding child labor were once known it would not be a question of parliamentary discussion, of state ref- (Continued on page 8)