File:Street-land; its little people and big problems (1915) (14758792796).jpg

Identifier: streetlanditslit00davi (find matches)
Title: Street-land; its little people and big problems
Year: 1915 (1910s)
Authors: Davis, Philip, 1898-
Subjects:
Publisher: Boston, Small, Maynard
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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vice resorts instead of attempting to prohibitboys from working at night ? These arguments must have completely con-vinced the committee. The bill passed. According to the Census of 1910, there areabout eighty-six hundred messenger, office andbundle boys in the employ of the telephone andtelegraph companies, and over eighty thousandin trade. The Census classifies messengerboys with office and bundle boys, but they aremore nearly related to newsboys and boot-blacks. While they are not working for them-selves in the sense that newsboys are, neverthe-less, they spend most of their time on thestreets. Indeed, they are subject to evengreater temptations than most street vendors.The worst pitfalls are due to the night service. There are twelve States in the Union whichhave, to date, no time or age limits for nightmessenger service. Thirty States permit mes-senger boys eighteen to twenty-one years oldto work after ten oclock at night, and eighteenallow boys of sixteen to eighteen to work be-
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CHILD WORKERS IN STREETS 161 tween seven and ten. There is much hopein the fact that seven States have already estab-lished the minimum age limit of twenty-oneyears. New York, New Jersey, Massachu-setts, Rhode Island and Kentucky forbid mes-senger boys under twenty-one to work afterten oclock at night. The model law, urged bythe National Child Labor Committee and al-ready adopted in Wisconsin, prohibits boys un-der twenty-one from being used as messengersafter eight oclock. This should be our na-tional standard. This model law, unlike the model newsboylaw, aims not merely to regulate but totally toprohibit, night work. There was a time when the work of the mes-senger boy, like that of the newsboy, seemedjustified on grounds of promotion. It was saidthat the messenger boy eventually became atelegrapher and the newsboy, a printer. In thelanguage of the boys, theres nothing to it.Newsboys everywhere complain that they donot get a look-in as apprentices. The mes- 162 STREET-LAND senger bo

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