Show ai About J lower er Ors On Your I Summer ummer o Most artificial flowers are made by children in in infested disease tenement houses under very bad working condi condi- n Efforts made to stop the evil m 1 I I. I F ALL the artificial flowers made in the United States 74 per cent are made in New York city says a government re re- port A report of at the Consumers' Consumers league r of ot that city shows that a n large proportion proportion tion of ot these there flowers are made In tenement tenement tenement tene tene- ment houses and that most of or the workers work ers are children whose ages range from tram eleven down to four tour It would be shocking to some to see with their own eyes how the beautiful flowers which adorn their hats are made by the tiny hands of ot young children some somo of them mere babies who work vork from early morning until late at night and earn from tram ten to fifteen c cents a day Yet the purpose of this article is not to shock anyone's any ones one's sensibilities but to lay bare bar facts and describe conditions as they are says Israel in the New Nw York Herald Some ten or twelve years ago a few tew men and women women wom wom- en were sitting in the assembly room of ot a settlement house listening to the talk of a charity investigator who among other things told a story of ot how on a cold old winter night a poor family were sitting huddled together round a small stove and burning up a pack of old papers which the Jobless head of ot the tho family had dug up in some place That was the only fuel they were able to get the Investigator said The children were clapping their hands with Joy feeling the warmth of ot the flames penetrating their frail fran bodies Suddenly one of the children a thoughtful little girl stopped for a moment and becoming serious asked her mother Mamma dear please tell me what do those poor children who have no old papers do doon doon doon on a cold night like this The women and men laughed they thought it was clever But there was one man who did not laugh All night the vision of ot those hose pale emaciated children children chil chU dren sitting around the stove haunted him and for tor fora tora a long time he was tortured tor 1 by the heartache ef ef- 1 feet of at the grim Joke He Gs is now one of at the chief chiet 1 workers of the movement t tto f to abolish child labor f It is not pleasant these ta facts ts relating to the work of children Some of them almo almost t challenge ity For how could any mother all allow ow her tiny baby three or four years old who is even too young for tor the kindergarten to sit ait indoors h d ors all day long and Work work making imitations a of flowers the child h has as never seen 1 Some Startling Cases And yet I have havo seen children begin to learn to tomake tomake tomake make artificial flowers when they were only two years old I Ido do not say that children of ot that age are compelled or cr coaxed by their mothers mother to work but it is this way The baby sits in a chair by the table watching mother and the other children work The baby stretches out its hands grabbing a petal or a leaf leat leatTo To satisfy his desire the mother gives the baby a few tew petals showing him how to pull them apart At three or four the child is already an efficient worker able to earn about ten cents a day Here are some of the facts A mother and two daughters living and working working work work- ing in a rear tenement so dark that an oil lamp must be kept burning all day in order that they may see to work make not forget wreaths They receive seven cents for one dozen wreaths and can earn every 15 days A frail delicate mother of five children sits at a table in their two room flat fiat from morning until late at night putting artificial berries on stems She earns from ten to fifteen cents a day In a room four flat where three children have died of tuberculosis and two others were suffering from It a mother and an year old girl made artificial roses at 15 cents a gross In one home on a Saturday morning four tour children children chil chil- dren ten nine nino six and four years old were found sitting by a table near the one window making cherries They had been there since six o'clock Inthe in inthe inthe the morning and worked each day until eight o'clock at night No child above four or five Is considered too young to work The hours for all aU whether children children chil chil- dren or adults are determined not by law not by physical welfare but by the amount of work the tho factory gives out to be done If there Is an extra amount of at work the tho whole family work from halfast half half- past ast five in the morning until ten or eleven at night light and sometimes even until one or two o'clock In n the tho morning stopping only long enough to eat their scanty meal of spaghetti dry bread and coffee cof cof- fee ee eo on which they seem to subsist Breaking the Labor Law In the families studied by the Investigator for the Consumers' Consumers league children were found More than 18 per cent of at these were fourteen years fears and over and were contributing something to o the family income about 36 per cent were five live years rears and under too young to work though in a afew afew few ew cases children of ot this ago age were found helping with the tho flowers Out of ot the remaining 46 per cent Between the ages of six and fourteen who might bo be found round helping 14 per cent were busily at work at atthe atthe the time of at the Investigators investigator's call caU At least 14 per percent cent cont then of the children who were able ablo to do this work were violating the child labor law of NewYork Now New York k state How many more could be included in t this ls list It was impossible to ascertain Many families were visited during the morning when the children were at school and it was on only y through the word of t the mother that wo we were ably abla to determine whether or not the children helped with the flow flow- ars rs after school hours For th the most part only uses ases of at children who were actually found at work were listed Therefore the tho estimate Is a very con con- P f one r 4 N J 1 r iT r i i 1 I 4 il lidS mir mi- mi r 1 o A Ae e 1 r. r I t- t l lJ n r ra a 7 1 VII o G co- co c Of Ot O- O I I 11 11 g f r t 1 UN y T r t r The tenement nt houses where most of ot the flowers are made are of the worst type with dark and shaky stairways The crowded tenement houses of ot the congested East side of ot which so much has been said in print are palaces In comparison compari son to those rickety old structures And in them the children of at sunny Italy spend their days and nights Ostensibly it Is their Inherent love for flowers that Is drawing them to this work It is not an easy matter to ta get the tho confidence of ot some vf Nt the woolen WOllen and to make them answer questions s. s They are Sore always suspicious that tirs are from the board of at health with a mission to l rake lake trouble In some houses no amount of ot arguing or coaxing will bring results results not not even the assurance of at the children who return from s school hool and are appealed to However there are some somo who are quite willing willingto to talk and to shed light on the situation They are not greedy but they are very ambitious ambitious ambi ambi- and It is their ambition that impels them to every possibility of making money Average 8 a va Week Thy are all honest working hard-working people The children are orderly and respectful and there was wasa wasn a n world of love in tho the mothers' mothers eyes on seeing them return from school and resume their work separating petals and pasting leaves on stems The earnings of heads of the families were found to average eight dollars a 3 week which according to to the tho standard of living in th that t locality is a fair Income A good many of the men work in flower factories and from them they take work home The rhe others are mostly shoemakers bootblacks and pushcart peddlers One of ot the places where children were found at work after school hours had a restaurant and poolroom poolroom pool pool- room on the tho ground floor of the tho building In which the family lived When there are no diners In the restaurant the long dining table Is covered with wreaths and bunches of ot cherries and me forget nots note a mother and her children working diligently at them The proprietor of this restaurant was also In the rag business In one place a young woman Margarita who looked quite different from the general type type type- she sho being blonde and having blue eyes was eyes was at work with her little girl who seemed to be a willing willing will wUI ing and ambitious helper Little Giovanna three years old looked Iced like a miniature of at her mother mother- gOld golden n haired and eyes of the color of at violets I dont don't want her to help me the he mother said but she Insists on doing that that And she accentuated her words by bending over the child and kissing her with all tho the fondness of a mother The children ono one me meets ts here In fn the streets are all pretty but their beauty fades before maturity Their physical development Is stunted by long hours of work and very little play Their childhood childhood child child- hood does not last long A g girl rl who Is married at fourteen is no rare caso case Here they make the step from childhood right to manhood and womanhood womanhood woman woman- hood skipping over the period perio of youth and maid maid- Why Tony Sells Flowers Such a child was Tony who at thirteen n became the breadwinner for the tho family selling flowers flowers- real flowers flowers flowers-by by day and helping his mother make artificial flowers by night Tony was never a boy he never nover played In tho the streets with other children never threw a ball in the air Tonys Tony's father kept a fruit stand on a corner where he ho al also o shined shoes i A ail and roasted peanuts You could see him at this tilts stand in the early morning before people went to work and late at night after they returned home from the theater He was there In all kinds of ot weather and he had been on the same spot for 15 years During this period his wife and later his children helped to swell his bank account by making making mak make ing artificial flowers When the war began there was a run on the bank where Tonys Tony's father kept his savings The bank was closed and then the poor mans man's reason gave way He was taken to an insane asylum and Tony not being able to keep up his fathers father's business took to s selling lUng flowers as his trade And Tony Is not the only man at the early age of at thirteen Owners of ot flower factories find it Il more profitable to have work done in the tenements by women and children The flower factories give out parts of at flowers petals flowers petals leaves and stems stems to to be made up Into whole flowers and wreaths by tho the workers In their homes Usually the oldest child in the family family fam tam ily calls for oJ the these e parts which she carries home ina ina in ina a huge pasteboard box When the flowers are done she brings them back to the factory and the boss pays her for the work The petals which usually come from the factory In bunches must be separated and then pasted together together together to to- gether with the leaves and stems Sometimes there are arc as many as nine pieces which must be joined before the flowers are ready to be returned to th the factory Buds are made by tying pieces of sll silk over a round ball of at cotton The work worl though slow and tedious is not hard and can be done with wit very little skill and practice Whole families were found busily working around a table table table-in in the kitchen or living room pasting and twisting and bunching tho gayly colored flowers which sometimes give th the only bright note to an otherwise desperately dingy home Worst Paid Work The price paid for tor the work is perhaps the lowest lowest low low- est In any trade Prices vary from two cents a gross for tor pasting leaves on stems to a gross for making flower wreaths One girl of at fifteen who had trouble with her spine was was found at work putting berries on the ends of at stems and receiving for the work only one cent a gross She told the Investigator investigator In in- that she made usually ten cents a day But when my little sister helps me she added I 1 can make fifteen cents a day It is these conditions that the Consumers' Consumers league Is striving to abolish And the activities of the Consumers Consumers' league are not limited to the flower In The he members of at the league are working hard bard to improve conditions in fn other occupations in In which women and young children ar are employed and have been doing great work In educating the people on the dangers of woman and child chUd labor under unsanitary conditions By pointing out the dangers to the consumer through goods made in dark and airless homes where scarlet fever and other contagious us diseases were found to o exist the leaders of tho the league have bave already accomplished many good results But there is much work to be done Few realize how closely connected are our own lives with the lives of the workers along certain Industrial lines Jines It Itis Itis Itis is not only the health of the workers that Is often orten at stake b but t the tho conditions are a menace to the consumers as well ell and the danger to society Is great t r I I. 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