The following table gives the sex, age, nationality, standing in school, orphanage and occupation of seventeen children found by one person in a single trip through the markets of Cincinnati:—
| Boys | Girls | Age | Grade | Nationality | Father Living | Mother Living | Selling | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | Yes | No | ||||||
| 1 | 9 | 2d | Italian | 1 | 1 | baskets | |||
| 1 | 10 | 4th | American | 1 | 1 | fruit | |||
| 1 | 10 | 3d | German | 1 | 1 | vegetables | |||
| 1 | 10 | 2d | Italian | 1 | 1 | fruit | |||
| 1 | 10 | 4th | Italian | 1 | 1 | fruit | |||
| 1 | 10 | 3d | Italian | 1 | 1 | baskets | |||
| 1 | 11 | 4th | Italian | 1 | 1 | fruit | |||
| 1 | 11 | 3d | Italian | 1 | 1 | baskets | |||
| 1 | 11 | 6th | German | 1 | 1 | vegetables | |||
| 1 | 12 | 4th | American | 1 | 1 | vegetables | |||
| 1 | 12 | 3d | American | 1 | 1 | baskets | |||
| 1 | 12 | 4th | American | 1 | 1 | sassafras | |||
| 1 | 12 | 6th | Italian | 1 | 1 | fruit | |||
| 1 | 13 | 5th | Italian | 1 | 1 | baskets | |||
| 1 | 14 | 3d | American | 1 | 1 | sassafras | |||
| 1 | 14 | 8th | American | 1 | 1 | vegetables | |||
| 1 | 14 | 4th | Italian | 1 | 1 | fruit | |||
Of these seventeen children nine were Italians, six were Americans, two were Germans. Five of the children, all of whom except one were Italian, were engaged in selling baskets to the passers-by in markets. Six of the children, all of whom except one were Italian, were selling fruit. Six of the children were selling vegetables and herbs, all of them being Americans and Germans. The occupational characteristics of these different peoples are shown by their children, the Italians predominating in the sale of fruit, the Germans in the sale of the products of their market gardens, the Americans, all of whom were boys, in the sale of the herbs they had gathered or the vegetables cultivated on their home farms.
Of these seventeen children nine were in their normal grades at school, while eight were backward and none ahead of their proper grades. This large percentage of retardation is due principally to the lack of time for preparation of school lessons on the part of these children, as much of their afternoons and evenings is taken up either with the work of selling in the markets or with the work of assisting with the garden duties at home. Of the eight backward children, four were Italians and four were Americans. One of the backward Italian girls was fourteen years of age and had left school three weeks prior to the inquiry; she was the oldest of six children; her father was dead, and she was working for her mother in their fruit store selling the fruit from early morning until midnight every day in the week except Sunday. As she was the oldest child in the family, it is of course easily seen that her retardation in school was largely due to her having been kept at work in the shop during the afternoons and evenings while she was still attending school. An American boy, who, although twelve years of age, was only in the third grade at school, was employed by his parents to sell baskets in the market, in spite of the fact that his father had a store and was fully able to support the child properly. This boy was found, as were many other such children, selling baskets in the market at eleven o'clock at night after having been there since early in the morning. A thirteen-year-old Italian boy was only in the fifth grade; he was selling baskets in one market in the morning and in another market during the afternoon and evening; both of his parents were living, and his father had a "city job." There were six children in the family, two of whom were older and employed. The entire family of eight persons occupied two rooms.
It is noteworthy that the fathers of twelve of the children were living, only five being dead; while the mothers of fifteen were living, only two being dead. Not a single child was a full orphan. In the great majority of cases it was not necessary for these children to work so prematurely.
[CHAPTER V]
MESSENGERS, ERRAND AND DELIVERY CHILDREN
Accustomed to seeing messenger boys engaged during the day in the unobjectionable task of delivering telegrams to residences and business offices, one is likely to regard this service as an occupation quite suitable for children and to give it no further thought. However, the character of the work done by the messenger boy changes radically after nine or ten o'clock at night. At that hour most legitimate business has ceased, and the evil phases of city life begin to manifest themselves. From that time on until nearly dawn the messenger's work is largely in connection with the vicious features of city life. The ignorance of the general public as to the evil influences surrounding the night messenger service is strikingly illustrated by what one Indiana boy told an investigator; he declared that if his father knew what kind of work he was doing, a strap would be laid across his back and he would be compelled to abandon it. But the father did not know; he thought his boy was simply delivering telegrams.
The delivery of telegrams forms but a small part of the boy's work at night, because few messages are dispatched after business hours. Instead, calls are sent to the office for messengers to go on errands. The boys wait upon the characters of the underworld and perform a surprising variety of simple tasks; they carry notes to and from the inmates of houses of prostitution and their patrons, take lunches, chop suey and chile con carne to bawdyhouse women, procure liquor after the closing hour, purchase opium, cocaine and other drugs, go to drug stores for prostitutes to get medicines and articles used in their trade, and perform other tasks that oblige them to cultivate their acquaintance with the worst side of human nature. One instance was found in which the boy was required to clean up the room of a prostitute and to make her bed. The uniform or cap of the messenger boy is a badge of secrecy and enables him to get liquor at illegal hours or to procure opium and other drugs where plain citizens would be refused; hence these boys are thrown into associations of the lowest kind, night after night, and come to regard these evil conditions as normal phases of life. Usually the brightest boys on the night force become the favorites of the prostitutes; the women take a fancy to particular boys because of their personal attractiveness and show them many favors, so that the most promising boys in this work are the ones most liable to suffer complete moral degradation.
Messenger service not only gives boys the opportunity to learn what life is at night in "tenderloin" districts, but the character of the work actually forces them into contact with the vilest conditions and subjects them to the fearful influences always exerted by such associations. Some believe that this evil could be prevented by forbidding the office to allow messenger boys to go on such errands, but this is not practicable for two reasons: first, because an essential feature of the messenger service is secrecy—the office does not inquire into the nature of the errand to be performed, and even if it did so, a false statement could easily be made by the patron over the telephone; and second, it would be necessary to send a detective along with the boy on each trip to see that he observed the rules. Boys are eager to run errands for prostitutes for various reasons, one being the extra income assured, as these women give tips with liberal hand.
Like other street occupations, the messenger service is a blind alley; it leads nowhere. A very few boys are promoted to the position of check boy in the telegraph office, and fewer still have an opportunity to learn telegraphy. Some of the boys become cab drivers because they have familiarized themselves with the city streets; others become saloon keepers because they have become well acquainted with this method of making a livelihood; some are attracted by the life of "ease" which opens before them and enter into agreement with prostitutes, upon whose earnings they subsist; others have the courage to get away from these influences and secure work as office boys or in some other line entirely different from the messenger service.