Child Labor in City Streets

by Edward Nicholas Clopper

Section 1728 q. No boy under fourteen years of age, shall, in any city of the first class, work at any time, or be employed or permitted to work at any time, as a bootblack or in any other street trade, or shall sell or offer any goods or merchandise for sale or distribute hand bills or circulars or any other articles, except newspapers, magazines or periodicals as hereinafter provided.

Section 1728 r. No girl under eighteen years of age shall, in any city of the first class, work at any time, or be employed or permitted to work at any time, as a bootblack or at any other street trades or in the sale or distribution of hand bills or circulars or any other articles upon the street or from house to house.

Section 1728 s. No boy under sixteen years of age shall, in any city of the first class, distribute, sell or expose or offer for sale any newspapers, magazines or periodicals in any street or public place or work as a bootblack, or in any other street or public trade or sell or offer for sale or distribute any hand bills or other articles, unless he complies with all the legal requirements concerning school attendance, and unless a permit and badge, as hereinafter provided, shall have been issued to him by the state factory inspector. No such permit and badge shall be issued until the officer issuing the same shall have received an application in writing therefor, signed by the parent or guardian or other person having the custody of the child, desiring such permit and badge, and until such officer shall have received, examined and placed on file the written statement of the principal or chief executive officer of the public, private or parochial school, which the said child is attending, stating that such child is an attendant at such school with the grade such child shall have attained, and provided that no such permit and badge shall be issued, unless such officer issuing it is satisfied that such child is mentally and physically able to do such work besides his regular school work as required by law.

Section 1728 t. Before any such permit is issued, the state factory inspector shall demand and be furnished with proof of such child's age by the production of a verified baptismal certificate or a duly attested birth certificate, or, in case such certificates cannot be secured, by the record of age stated in the first school enrollment of such child. Whenever it appears that a permit was obtained by wrong or false statements as to any child's age, the officer who granted such permit shall forthwith revoke the same. After having received, examined and placed on file such papers, the officer shall issue to the child a permit and badge. The principal or chief executive officer of schools, in which children under fourteen years of age are pupils, shall keep a complete list of all children in their school to whom a permit and badge has been issued, as herein provided.

Section 1728 u. Such permit shall state the place and date of birth of the child, the name and address of its parents, guardian, custodian or next friend, as the case may be, and describe the color of hair and eyes, the height and weight and any distinguishing facial marks of such child, and shall further state that the papers required by the preceding section have been duly examined and filed; and that the child named in such permit has appeared before the officer issuing the permit. The badge furnished by the officer issuing the permit shall bear on its face a number corresponding to the number of the permit, and the name of the child. Every such permit, and every such badge on its reverse side, shall be signed in the presence of the officer issuing the same by the child in whose name it is issued. Provided, that in case of carrier boys working on salary for newspaper publishers delivering papers, a card of identification shall be issued to such carriers by the factory inspector, which they shall carry on their person, and exhibit to any officer authorized under this act, who may accost them for a disclosure of their right to serve as such carriers.

Section 1728 v. The badge provided for herein shall be such as the state factory inspector shall designate, and shall be worn conspicuously in sight at all times in such position as may be designated by the said factory inspector by such child while so working. No child to whom such permit and badge or identification card are issued shall transfer the same to any other person.

Section 1728 w. No boy under fourteen years of age shall, in any city of the first class, sell, expose or offer for sale any newspapers, magazines or periodicals after the hour of six-thirty o'clock in the evening, between the first day of October and the first day of April, nor after seven-thirty o'clock in the evening between the first day of April and the first day of October, or before five o'clock in the morning; and no child under sixteen years of age shall distribute, sell, expose or offer for sale any newspapers, magazines or periodicals or shall work as a bootblack or in any street or public trades or distribute hand bills or shall be employed or permitted to work in the distribution or sale or exposing or offering for sale of any newspapers, magazines or periodicals or as a bootblack or in other street or public trades or in the distribution of hand bills during the hours when the public schools of the city where such child shall reside are in session. Provided, that any boy between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years, who is complying and shall continue to comply with all the legal requirements concerning school attendance, and who is mentally and physically able to do such delivery besides his regular school work, shall be authorized to deliver newspapers between the hours of four and six in the morning.

Section 1728 x. The commissioner of labor or any factory inspector acting under his direction shall enforce the provisions of this law, and he is hereby vested with all powers requisite therefor.

Section 1728 y. The permit of any child, who in any city of the first class distributes, sells or offers for sale any newspapers, magazines or periodicals in any street or public place or works as a bootblack or in any other street trade, or sells or offers for sale or distributes any hand bills or other articles in violation of the provisions of this act, or who becomes delinquent or fails to comply with all the legal requirements concerning school attendances shall forthwith be revoked for a period of six months and his badge taken from said child. The refusal of any child to surrender such permit, and the distribution, sale or offering for sale of newspapers, magazines or periodicals or any goods or merchandise, or the working by such child as a bootblack or in any other street or public trade, or in distributing hand bills or other articles, after notice, by any officer authorized to grant permits under this law of the revocation of such permit and a demand for the return of the badge, shall be deemed a violation of this act. The permit of said child may also be revoked by the officer who issued such permit, and the badge taken from such child, upon the complaint of any police officer or other attendance officer or probation officer of a juvenile court, and such child shall surrender his permit and badge upon the demand of any police officer, truancy or other attendance officer or probation officer of a juvenile court or other officer charged with the duty of enforcing this act. In case of a second violation of this act by any child, he shall be brought before the juvenile court, if there shall be any juvenile court in the city where such child resides, or, if not, before any court or magistrate having jurisdiction of offenses committed by minors and be dealt with according to law.

Section 1728 z. Any parent or other person who employs a minor under the age of sixteen years in peddling without a license or who, having the care or custody of such minor, suffers or permits the child to engage in such employment, or to violate sections 1728 p to 1728 za, inclusive, shall be punished by a fine not to exceed one hundred dollars nor less than twenty-five dollars, or by commitment to the county jail for not more than sixty days or less than ten days.