Present Laws and Ordinances
The following table shows all the laws and ordinances governing street trading by children in existence in the United States in 1911.
The city council of Detroit passed an ordinance in 1877 which forbids newsboys and bootblacks to ply their trades in the streets without a permit from the mayor. No age limit is fixed, no distinction is made between the sexes and no hours are specified. Applicants for the permit are customarily referred to the chief truant officer for approval, and as a rule permits are not issued to boys under ten years of age or to girls. An annual license fee of ten cents is charged, and the license holder is supplied with a numbered badge which must be worn conspicuously. Owing to its manifest weakness, this ordinance is of little avail.
It will be observed from the following table that the common age limit for boys in street trading is ten years. When we pause to reflect on the import of this, it is hard to realize that intelligent American communities actually tolerate such an absurdly meager restriction; yet the movement for reform has progressed even this far in only a very small part of the country—in most places there is no restriction whatever! Some day, and that not in the very remote future, we shall look back upon the authorized exploitation of the present period with the same degree of incredulity with which we now regard the horrors of child labor in England during the early part of the nineteenth century.
| States | Age Limit | Licenses | Hours | Enforcement | Penalties |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado, 1911 | Girls, 10; any work in streets | Factory inspectors | $5-$100 fine for first offense, $100-$200 fine or imprisonment 90 days for 2d offense for employers. $5-$25 fine for parents | ||
| District of Columbia, 1908 | Boys, 10; Girls, 16; bootblacking, selling anything | Boys, 10-15 | 6 A.M. 10 P.M. | Factory inspectors | Left to discretion of juvenile court |
| Missouri, 1911 | Boys, 10; girls, 16; selling anything | Factory inspectors | Max. fine $100 or max. imprisonment one year, for child | ||
| Nevada, 1911 | Boys, 10; girls, 10; selling anything | Child dealt with as delinquent | |||
| New Hampshire, 1911 | Boys, 10; girls, 16; publications or other mdse. Boys, 10; girls, 10; bootblacking | Factory inspectors; truant officers | $5-$200 fine or imprisonment 10-30 days, for employers and parents | ||
| New York, 1903 | Boys, 10; girls, 16; publications | Boys, 10-13 | 6 A.M. 10 P.M. | Police and truant officers | Dealt with according to law |
| Oklahoma, 1909 | Girls, 16; publications | Commissioner of Labor | $10-$50 fine or imprisonment 10-30 days for child | ||
| Utah, 1911, 1st & 2d class cities | Boys, 12; girls 16; publications or other mdse. | Boys, 12-15 | Not after 9 P.M. | $25-$200 fine or imprisonment 10-30 days, for employers and parents | |
| Boys, 12; girls, 12; bootblacking | Boys, 12-15 Girls 12-15 | ||||
| Wisconsin, 1909, as amended 1911, 1st class cities | Boys, 12; girls, 18; publications. Boys, 14; girls, 18, all others | Boys, 12-15 | 5 A.M. 6.30 P.M., winter 7.30 P.M., summer; publications | Factory inspectors | $25-$100 fine or imprisonment 10-60 days for parents permitting, and others employing, child under 16 to peddle without permit. Same for newspapers allowing boys under 16 about office between 9 A.M. and 3 P.M. on school days |
| Massachusetts, 1902 as amended, 1910 | Mayor and aldermen or selectmen may make regulations of bootblacking and sale of newspapers, merchandise, etc; may prohibit such sale or trades; or may require license to be obtained from them. School committees in cities have these powers as to children under 14 years. | Max. fine $10 for child; max. fine $200 or max. imprisonment 6 months for parent allowing, person employing, or any one furnishing articles to, a child to sell | |||
| Cities | Age Limit | Licenses | Hours | Enforcement | Penalties |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston, 1902, by school committee | Boys, 11; girls, 14; bootblacking, selling anything | Boys, 11-13 | 6 A.M. 8 P.M., winter 9 P.M., summer | Supervisor of licensed minors, police and truant officers | Revocation of license and fine as stated for Massachusetts |
| Cincinnati, 1909 | Boys, 10; girls, 16; bootblacking, selling anything | Boys, 10-13 | 6 A.M. 8 P.M. | Police, truant and probation officers | Fine $1-$5 for child |
| Hartford, 1910 | Boys, 10; girls, 10; selling anything | Boys, 10-13 Girls, 10-13 | Not during school hours or after 8 P.M. | Revocation of license by school superintendent | |
| Newark, 1904 | Boys, 10; girls, 16; newspapers | Boys, 10-13 | Not between 9 A.M. and 3 P.M. nor after 10 P.M. | Police and truant officers | Child placed on probation or committed to Newark City Home at expense of parent |
In an attempt to minimize the bad effects of street trading most of the communities which have enacted laws or ordinances on the subject provide for the issuance of licenses to boys, and in some cases also to girls, in the belief that in this way the work of the children can best be brought under some degree of control. However, this is merely temporizing, although it affords an opportunity to gather facts and undoubtedly marks a step toward a better solution of the problem. This is brought out clearly by a recent British report on street trading: "Our general impression, gathered in towns in which by-laws had been made, was that, though in exceptional cases much good had resulted from their adoption, on the whole this method of dealing with what we have come to consider an unquestionable evil, has not proved adequate or satisfactory. In many instances it has been pointed out to us that a system of licensing and badging is but a method of legalizing what is indisputably an evil, and that a set of by-laws, however rigorously enforced, can at best only modify the difficulties of the position."[141]
The social workers of Chicago, keenly alive to the menace of the situation, bewail the lack of protection for street workers in the following words: "The child labor law and the compulsory school law and the juvenile court law form the body of protective legislation which has been developing in behalf of the children of Illinois during the past twenty years. By none of the three, however, except in so far as street trading by a child under ten is counted an element in dependency, is the street-trading child safeguarded against parental neglect or greed, the vicious sights and sounds of the city street and the demoralizing habit of irregular employment."[142]