TONY

Day Laborers Before Their Time

A Story in Pictures by Lewis W. Hine
of the National Child Labor Committee

FOREWORD
Hartford, the capital of the State of Connecticut, is one of the most
prosperous and beautiful cities in New Englandand New England is not un-
commonly nor unreasonably supposed to be the most enlightened section of the
United States. The figures of the last census gave the city a population of
eighty thousand inhabitants, and its unusual wealth is indicated by the single fact
that the total assets of the fire and life insurance companies which have their

PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG
ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED
head offices in Hartford and are the creation of Hartford capital and skill
amount to one hundred and seventy-five millions of dollars. Hartford is the
seat of Trinity College and one of the chief theological seminaries of the Con-
gregational Church; moreover, its public school system is an admirable one, and
it spends annually on these schools a sum amounting to between three and four
hundred thousand dollars. Thomas Hooker, the famous clergyman and states-
man of colonial times, a graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, England,
in 1608, was a citizen of Hartford, and is by some historians called the-father of
American democracy, which gives Hartford an excellent claim to the title of
being the birthplace of that democracy. If, with all these historical, social, and
material advantages, such conditions can prevail among the newsboys and news-
girls of Hartford as are portrayed in the accompanying illustrations from Ufe, no
argument needs to be stated to prove the need of such an organization as the
National Child Labor Committee, in the process of some of whose investigations
the photographs were taken upon the streets of Hartford. Under the auspices
of the State Consumers' League and the National Child Labor Committee, a
bill was introduced last winter to remedy some of these conditions, but it was
rejected by the State Senate. Our able contemporary the Survey points out
the significant fact that on the same day that this bill was rejected the Connecti-
cut Senate passed a bill providing that women and children may be employed in
shops and department stores every night of the year until ten o'clock, and with-
out any limit whatever as to hours of work in the week preceding Christmas.
No doubt there are other cities where the conditions of newsboys and newsgirls
are quite as bad as those prevailing in Hartford, but the retort of tu quoque will
not serve to remove from Hartford the distinction of setting to-day a typical if
not a flagrant example of American indifference to the welfare of children made
day-laborers before their time.THE EDITORS.

TOMMY, NINE YEARS OLD

Began selling papers wh-en seven years old

PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG
ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED
yi/Slrt-rf-W''
--sa* '
r'niTit' I I iiiiiif>i '^-""
PROSPEROUS BUT TOO SOPHISTICATED

PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG
ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED
 ^^^^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^n
1
^1
W'^^k
1 V ^^^wMo-
'aP^iSEil
^^HHD

4*3 s ifffjiff ^a j
<i ^
T3
I^I/^^TW ' jJ^^^^^^^^^^^B ' '' ^1
''Vjli
- . *J^^^^^^^^^^^I ^1
-"--s'AfHM

\\' m ^^^^^^^^^^^^Ld^^^^llfll

\ ^.^^^^^^^H^^^H

-^^HR ^1
W&W\ HKA&EJ;
b ^ 3'1
****** .v,-4lj
^^^HSSI^I^^K '

attatsw^-i:-- S^^^^^^E^'^VT^^WWM
"'"'^Vi^.-^;;;^;^'

'-"-^ 1 ^^^^i
^ ^H^^^VH^feiffiHBHil
^^MnBlIn

VlB^^^K
WHAT CAN^ ^ ^ sYOU
^ ^ s T ' rEXPECT
^'^^lHB ' TWELVE YEARS OLD. SHE HAS
FROM SUCH AN ENVIRONMENT? BEEN IN THE BUSINESS ONE YEAR

^HK^^'
Hl^^aik. '
H^BK IIJF^^HHHB^^^
HB '
'
* ^^^^^B
^ 1
'*%y "'^^1#
P*'
'.' ' ^ ^ U'l , ^ B
' ?#" t '' *" ^
fi!
^y->
11

m *
^^p > ^ * ^^
^"^
# ' B
1
1 % *-l
A NINE-YEAR-OLD NEWSGIRL IN HARTFORD AND HER ASSOCIATES
She has been selling for two years. Works until eight in the evening 1

PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG
ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED
 f^i^^
^i&^^^Mi'^.f.M

SEVEN A.M. SELLING PAPERS BEFORE SCHOOL

EIGHT AND TEN YEARS OLD

They have been at it two years

PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG
ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED
 s

* ^ - ^ W ; . , ^ : H^-te? 1
-iJS.,..^;^..- ii ' ; ^ #
ZA*

- -

.^ :-.[V'-VJ- ;:;i . -j^-'i

/ '

.f ^

d.| -"

^ P ^ ^ ^ f l ll : i ^ ^ ^ ^
H^^WMrajOHB^ R^F
E B ^ S I S ^ ^ ^ S ^ S E H I ^ ^ K ^ ' r.'"' "?' 4^3 t]^E-_ _
' '^'^''^
fl';'?jajrf;i'ajjP*Mt 'i-'
"^^^
". 1V^'*J
^1 ' ^ l
?lS3
s

mv^"^^^^^?^:-i ^rM fmKBMtMKPQi^i 1

1^^ ^ M H y H ^iv ' .^M^hjHjti^^^^^HP^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^I
[[B.i!3^^vi
^1
^^^^- 'V?^^^^^ BPf; <
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1 ^BB^ *' :iii
SJ3
i . , " ^ ':L.j
^ 1 i'B^fi ji
, .*.,.";;' '.?> " ' f ' i : : .fl ' o S

-'.fi#-'d:"-^^'%3|.i W:;-:;'!:
L 1

y.".
, '

^^'i' " J ^
1
B '^^' B ^ k H' ,
f "' l g i^ls
u """ - I' ^B
B^H ^
.'.-\^<:*i!:..^^SH^^^Hi 1HK/P^ ^
... f^^'^f^H^BIl 1BIHa
9 K '' ' '
if
' !3lHit-'-'-'-'S^^^JH^^^^^HK^H - ! -1 ^s>.

H
^ M f:'V ^^"CflSP^ilHfllBI
^ t e M
m'^U^^SSf^
' .^Mfy'-'i^'^^^^i^''^'-^^' ^'y= ^^'
'
>" '/;;r.":'fe";--
'''iT'> i^^^KcSiWiS'ii
^6^- 4' WHM^'I
. - ' ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ I ^ V ^ ^ ^ K r f l w B l '-t
J ^B
- i
B ^ ^ ^ S ' ';'r:l ':%Of:V:V"^:^''-; ^ s . ^|'i|'
t
!l
-
I ^^3' ''''.'"i/'rWH't "^^BL^. 'im J^^H, Ss
H ^^^m /->''ii"S='jf-'''" ^^^^^K ** ^m>i^^... ^S- a
H i ' i ' ^ ' 'dsBBPn 1 ^ F J^^^^^^K. J ^^^^m ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H1. S jH^H^B fe-
IH^HK E rSrt
El
f _ lliflUHHlfi
H i i ff 1: i"?]
' j . ' '- '^^^^^^^Hi^^^^^^B
i^^Mv^^^H ^ ^^^^^^^^^^^H['
^ ^ ^ ^ l ^ B -M 'iS
n^^HC^
43 . :' t?'-^ ^^^^^BK^^^^^^L.
wI-j-aunkVji<lipiBH^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^B H
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ B m
h 1-
-Sg
^s^K^v
' '^^^^^^^^^^Bflj^^^yi^^^^^^^^^^L. 1
'.: ..:.^PH^^^^^^^H^^^^^^^^H^^^ ^ ^ ^ H t
[n| > ^s
^^^Iv
^s
Ho
- ' 'k^' ' ' ~ ' M E ? ' ' ' " ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ H
^^-.-Lj, - ^^Y''"'^ilimSB?f^ ^ ^ ^ B ^ B W I i am ^ '
m - . . 1 H^v
mm^m- ' ^ ^1
1 ; iS .^^ 2 : i f t ' 1
B .. .- 1 . . .. ... H. * 't

PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG
ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED
 PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG
ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED
 A T NINE P.M.
T h e smallest boy began his business career when five years old. T h e boys all sell late at night

ELEVEN YEARS OLD

She must listen to the bad language at the news delivery office

PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG
ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED
ttat-,^ii,.- .-aati^SSS

": . I

> *
t THE TWINS BEGAN SELLING PAPERS WHEN SIX YEARS OLD
The older brother has been selling papers for seven years

' I T ' S T O U G H T O START WORK SO EARLY !"

PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG
ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED