Of the total number of delinquent boys, both working and non-working, under twelve years of age, 22.4 per cent were workers, while of those twelve to thirteen years old, 42.4 per cent were workers, and of those fourteen to sixteen years old, 80.8 per cent were workers. As comparatively few children under twelve years are at work, the fact that more than one-fifth of the delinquent boys in this age group are working children "becomes exceedingly significant." Of all children twelve to thirteen years of age, the great majority are not employed because of the fourteen-year age limit prevailing in all the states studied except Maryland; hence the larger proportion of working offenders cannot be explained by the influences of age. The increase of working delinquents above fourteen years is to be expected, because so many children go to work on reaching that age.
Remembering that the proportionate excess of workers varies from two to nine times the ratio of non-workers, it is evident that this excess cannot be explained by a corresponding excess of orphanage, foreign parentage, bad home conditions or unfavorable age. As the report says, "It seems rather difficult to escape the conclusion that being at work has something to do with their going wrong."[116]
The strongest argument against street work by children is to be found in the following table[117] of occupations pursued by the largest number of delinquents and giving the percentage of total delinquents engaged in each.
As the report says, the following classification shows that the largest number of delinquent boys were found in those occupations in which the nature of the employment does not permit of supervision—namely, newspaper selling, errand running, delivery service and messenger service. Boys engaged in these occupations, together with bootblacks and peddlers, all work under conditions "which bring them into continual temptations to dishonesty and to other offenses."[118]
| Boys Industry or Occupation | Per Cent of Total Delinquent Boys | Girls Industry or Occupation | Per Cent of Total Delinquent Girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newsboys | 21.83 | Domestic service: | |
| Errand boys | 17.80 | Servant in private house | 32.18 |
| Drivers and helpers, wagon | 7.30 | In hotel, restaurant or boarding house | 5.44 |
| Stores and markets | 4.23 | Home workers | 16.33 |
| Messengers, telegraph | 2.59 | Total in domestic service | 53.95 |
| Iron and steel | 1.84 | ||
| Textiles, hosiery and knit goods | 1.84 | Textiles, hosiery and knit goods | 12.36 |
| Bootblacks | 1.77 | Stores and markets | 5.44 |
| Peddlers | 1.71 | Clothing makers | 4.95 |
| Building trades | 1.64 | Candy and confectionery | 4.45 |
| Theater | 1.57 | Laundry | 1.98 |
| Office boys | 1.43 | ||
| Glass | 1.30 |
The offenses with which the boys were charged are divided in the report into sixteen classes. The messenger service furnishes the largest proportionate number of offenders charged with "assault and battery" and "immoral conduct"; the delivery service those charged with "burglary"; bootblacking those charged with "craps and gambling," "incorrigibility and truancy"; peddling those with "larceny and runaway," and "vagrancy or runaway." The report calls attention to the greater tendency of messengers to immorality, and remarks that it is easy to see a connection between bootblacking and the offenses in which bootblacks lead. The report continues: "It is worthy to note that neither the newsboys nor errand boys, both following pursuits looked upon with disfavor, are found as contributing a leading proportion of any one offense. They seem to maintain what might be called a high general level of delinquency rather than to lead in any particular direction, errand boys being found in fourteen and newsboys in fifteen of the sixteen separate offense groups."[119]
For the purpose of clearly defining the connection between occupation and delinquency, and determining whether the delinquency inheres in the occupation or in the conditions under which it is carried on, there were selected six kinds of employments which are generally looked upon by social workers as morally unsafe for children, and a comparison was made of conditions as to the parentage, home surroundings, etc., prevailing among the workers in these occupations, the working delinquents generally, and the whole body of delinquents, both working and non-working. Of the delinquent boys under twelve years engaged in these six groups of employments (delivery and errand boys, newsboys and bootblacks, office boys, street vendors, telegraph messengers and in amusement resorts), nearly three-fourths were found to be newsboys and bootblacks. As four-fifths of the working delinquents under twelve years of age in all occupations are found in these six groups, it is evident that this class is largely responsible for the employment of young boys, and "comparing these figures with those for the working delinquents in all occupations we find that 58.6 per cent, or nearly three-fifths of all the working delinquents up to twelve, come from among the newsboys."[120]
It was found that 54.6 per cent of all the working delinquents had both parents living, while newsboys and bootblacks, street vendors and telegraph messengers were found to be more fortunate in this respect than the great mass of working delinquents, even surpassing the whole body of delinquents, working and non-working. As the report says, "One so frequently hears of the newsboy who has no one but himself to look to that it is rather a surprise to find that the orphaned or deserted child appears among them only about half as often relatively as among the whole group of workers."[121]
Of the delinquent delivery and errand boys, 78.9 per cent were found to have fair or good homes, of the newsboys and bootblacks 75.8 per cent, of the street vendors 65 per cent, and of the telegraph messengers 78.9 per cent, and in this connection the report declares, "Certainly the predominance of these selected occupations among the employments of delinquents cannot be explained by the home conditions of the children entering them."[122]
The findings with respect to the messenger service fully corroborate the charges brought against it by the National Child Labor Committee. The report says: "Turning to the messengers, it is seen that they are in every respect above the average of favorable conditions. Moreover, it is well known that boys taking up this work must be bright and quick; there is no room in it for the dull and mentally weak. Plainly, then, in this case the occupation, not the kind of children who enter it, must be held responsible for its position among the pursuits from which delinquents come ... the chief charges brought against it are that the irregular work and night employment tend to break down health, that the opportunities for overcharge and for appropriating packages or parts of their contents lead to dishonesty, and that the places to which the boy is sent familiarize him with all forms of vice and tend to lead him into immorality."[123] Referring again to the messenger service, the report says: "The unfortunate effects of the inherent conditions of the work are, however, manifest. Its irregularity, the lack of any supervision during a considerable part of the time, the associations of the street and of the places to which messengers are sent, and the frequency of night work with all its demoralizing features, afford an explanation of the impatience of restraint, the reckless yielding to impulse shown in the large percentage of incorrigibility and disorderly conduct. A glance at the main table shows that the two offenses next in order are assault and battery and malicious mischief, both of which indicate the same traits. On the whole, there seems abundant reason for considering that the messenger service deserves its bad name."[124]