Child Labor in City Streets

by Edward Nicholas Clopper

Years	Number below Normal School Grade
10	10	out of	16	62%
11	12	out of	16	75%
12	16	out of	28	57%
13	25	out of	33	75%
14	11	out of	13	84%
	74		106	70%

These figures were copied by the writer from charts displayed at the child labor exhibit of the National Conference of Charities and Correction in St. Louis in 1910, but efforts to ascertain the method of determining these percentages were unavailing. Therefore they cannot be compared with the figures in the preceding tables, because it is by no means certain that the standard ages for normal school standing were adopted in the compilation of this table.

In Toledo, Ohio, there is no regulation governing street work by children, although a local association makes an effort to look after the welfare of newsboys. In October, 1911, the writer visited the four public common school buildings nearest the business district of this city and found 287 children in attendance who were regularly engaged in some form of street work out of school hours. The great majority of them were newsboys. The distribution of these children according to age and grade is given below:—

	Ages
Grade	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Totals
1	1	8	5	4	4	1							23
2			7	12	8	2	3		2				34
3			1	5	8	22	4	7	3	1			51
4				3	7	17	9	11	6	2	1	2	58
5						8	10	10	7	5	4		44
6							7	7	16	3	4		37
7							1	5	6	9	3	1	25
8									5	7	3		15
Totals	1	8	13	24	27	50	34	40	45	27	15	3	287

Adopting the same method for determining retardation as in the case of the New York figures, we find that of these 287 street-working school children of Toledo, 55 per cent are backward, 43 per cent are normal and 2 per cent are ahead of their grades. Or, selecting the children ten to thirteen years of age, as was done with the New York figures, we have the following results:—

Ages	Backward		Normal		Ahead		Total
10	25		25				50
11	16		17		1		34
12	28		12				40
13	34		11				45
Totals	103		65		1		169
Percentages	61	%	38	%	1	%	100	%

These percentages show that conditions in Toledo are only slightly better than in New York City. This is surprising because of the great difference in the working conditions of the two cities, the metropolitan street children being subjected to far greater nervous strain because of the more congested population and heavier street traffic.

Retarded Children in Elementary Schools (Toledo), 1910-1911

	Grades
	First	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth	Sixth	Seventh	Eighth	Total	Percent Of all Retardations
	Normal Age 7-8	Normal Age 7-8	Normal Age 8-9	Normal Age 7-8	Normal Age 10-11	Normal Age 11-12	Normal Age 12-13	Normal Age 13-14
Retarded 1 year	325	449	500	483	528	507	366	209	3,367	53.5
Retarded 2 years	91	170	215	346	384	324	194	72	1,796	28.5
Retarded 3 years	33	53	101	152	219	119	33	17	727	11.5
Retarded 4 or more years	16	42	74	131	105	19	3	5	395	6.2
Total retarded	465	714	890	1112	1236	969	596	303	6,285
Enrollment each grade	3114	2680	2548	2400	2209	1856	1284	901	16,992
Per cent each grade	14.9	26.6	34.8	46.3	55.9	52.2	46.4	33.6	36.9

Retarded Street Workers in four Toledo Common Schools, October, 1911

	Grades
	First	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth	Sixth	Seventh	Eighth	Total	Percent Of all Retardations
	Normal Age 7-8	Normal Age 7-8	Normal Age 8-9	Normal Age 7-8	Normal Age 10-11	Normal Age 11-12	Normal Age 12-13	Normal Age 13-14
Retarded 1 year	4	8	22	9	10	16	9	3	81	51.6
Retarded 2 years	4	2	4	11	7	3	3		34	21.7
Retarded 3 years	1	3	7	6	5	4	1		27	17.2
Retarded 4 or more		2	4	5	4				15	9.5
Total retarded	9	15	37	31	26	23	13	3	157
Enrollment street workers	23	34	51	58	44	37	25	15	287
Per cent	39.1	44.1	72.5	53.4	59	62.1	52	20	54.7