By Alison Elliott
Today, many states have a minimum legal working age of sixteen and provide for minimum wages. This was not always the case. For example, in the post-Civil War period through the turn of the 20th century, the legal working age for many occupations, such as the silk industry, was twelve (Stepenoff, 106) and in other occupations, such as cigar making, there were no age restrictions (Stepenoff, 106).
Allentown and the Lehigh Valley were viewed as oysters with vast cheap labor that never ran out. Silk industries during this period originally relocated to Pennsylvania because of the unlimited cheap labor. The industry grew to such an extent that the Sixth Ward became known as the Silk District (Stepenoff, 104). [See Figure 1 below, which indicates children ages 17 and under who were participating in the labor force.] Reasons for such cheap labor in Pennsylvania were deeply rooted in the coal mining industry. Coal miners were principally male workers with families. Low wages were often not enough to support an entire family. In addition, wages were earned only if a worker actually worked. This hazardous occupation did not provide income if a man were unable to work due to injury, or worker’s compensation insurance benefits in the event illness or death, putting additional financial strain on his family. As a result, wives and school age children were by economic necessity required to enter the labor force.
Figure 1. Red dots show children under 18 who are employed.
The jobs were low paying and very dangerous, particularly for young children. Children were employed as patchers, mule drivers, runners, breakers, and door boys (Blatz, 102-103). These jobs consisted of running ahead of the mule carts and sticking wooden blocks under the rapidly moving wheels in an attempt to slow the mule carts while headed downhill, which often resulted in mule cart crashes, deaths of the boys and the mules, and loss of fingers and limbs (Blatz, 107). These positions also consisted of danger due to air contamination. Door boys were placed at every entrance where the air from separate rooms could not mix for too long resulting in a methane explosion causing all kinds of problems and accidents (Blatz, 103). As shown in figure 2, children under the age of 16 were more likely in the labor force because of the low percentage of children from the 1880 census enrolled in school.
In the early 1900’s many labor strikes and protests arose which eventually led to government intervention and a change in the labor force. Specifically, in 1904, the National Child Labor Committee was founded (Nationalchildlabor.org) and incorporated three years later by an act of Congress with a “mission of promoting the rights, dignity, well-being and education of children and youth as they relate to work and working.”
There is no question that for many in America today working conditions, fair labor payment, and age restrictions have vastly improved since 1865. Today’s working teens earning a minimum mandated wage, may find it hard to imagine what it must have been like to be a child laborer in the late 19th century.
The jobs were low paying and very dangerous, particularly for young children. Children were employed as patchers, mule drivers, runners, breakers, and door boys (Blatz, 102-103). These jobs consisted of running ahead of the mule carts and sticking wooden blocks under the rapidly moving wheels in an attempt to slow the mule carts while headed downhill, which often resulted in mule cart crashes, deaths of the boys and the mules, and loss of fingers and limbs (Blatz, 107). These positions also consisted of danger due to air contamination. Door boys were placed at every entrance where the air from separate rooms could not mix for too long resulting in a methane explosion causing all kinds of problems and accidents (Blatz, 103). As shown in figure 3, children ages ten through seventeen were employed in a variety of jobs, ranging from tobacco manufacturers to fabric mill workers to railroad and railway express services
In the early 1900’s many labor strikes and protests arose which eventually led to government intervention and a change in the labor force. Specifically, in 1904, the National Child Labor Committee was founded (Nationalchildlabor.org) and incorporated three years later by an act of Congress with a “mission of promoting the rights, dignity, well-being and education of children and youth as they relate to work and working.”
There is no question that for many in America today working conditions, fair labor payment, and age restrictions have vastly improved since 1865. Today’s working teens earning a minimum mandated wage, may find it hard to imagine what it must have been like to be a child laborer in the late 19th century.
Bibliography
http://www.nationalchildlabor.org/
Blatz, Perry K. The Rebellious Boys of Anthracite: Youthful labor protest in the Wyoming valley, 1898-1902.
Stepenoff, Bonnie. Pennsylvania History: Quarterly Journal of the Pennsylvania Historical Association Vol. 59 no. 1 (January 1992). Child Labor in Pennsylvania’s Silk Mills: Protest and Change, 1900-1910.
