Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics and Information of Maryland. 1903. Thomas A. Smith, Chief. (Volume 1904) online

The most important feature developed by the Bureau's
work is the fact that household help is more in demand than
any other kind of labor. There is a universal complaint that
efficient cooks, chambermaids and general houseworkers ar^
not to be had, and that the wages demanded are exorbitant.
However much of this latter statement may be true, it is also
a fact that similar complaints come from those applying for
positions as household help, namely, that they are not well
paid; that the hours are long, and that they are ofttimes
under-fed or treated too much as menials. There is a modi-
cum of truth in both statements. Our housekeepers have
been used to the old system of having a general houseworker,
which meant a person who would do the cooking, washing
and ironing for the whole family, and it is very difficult to
induce them to change this system and sub-divide their labor.
The servant girl of the present day either wants to cook or
do housework, but she will not do both except in rare in-
stances. Many families cannot affi)rd to have two servants,
consequently they find it difficult to secure the help they
need. This change in our system of living has brought about
the apartment house or flat, where most of the work is done
by a janitor or keeper, and meals can be taken in the cafe or
restaurant attached to the flat, thus avoiding the employment
of cooks, and when the laundry of the household is given out,
eliminating the need to a large extent of general household
help.

There is room in this State for at least 3,000 good German,
Swedish or other help, who can do plain cooking and ordinary
housework, at fairl}^ remunerative wages.

There is no doubt some justice in the complaint on the part
of servant girls as to wages and long hours. Factories offer em-



98 REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF

ploj'ment, ten hours a day, with an opportunity of earning
from $3 to $6 per week; while the household servant finds
her time occupied from early morning until eight or nine
o'clock at night, nearly every day in the week, and is very
glad to secure one day ofi". Therefore, can they be blamed
for turning their eyes to the mill, the factory and the store,
in preference to the menial position and long hours of
drudgery work?

Another reason for the scarcity of domestic help is un-
doubtedly our educational facilities and economies in produc-
tion. Our public school system has enabled the poorest to
secure such intelligence as awakens aspirations for a higher
life, while our modern factory system offers clean surround-
ings, opportunities for increasing pay, and the constantly
growing employment of women and children in these fac-
tories is adding to the weekly stipend offered in competition
with the housekeeper.

Nearly all of the 746 applications for ^^\d to this Bureau
have been for household and farm labor; indeed, there have
been scarcely any applications for factory help, other than
the standard applications of shirt factories and candy fac-
tories, who solicit the same class of help as would naturally
find their way into the homes if no other avenue for making
a living were open to them. Of these 746 applications for
help, 490 were for males and 256 for females.

The Bureau has been successful in securing positions for
256 persons during the past year, 185 of these being males
and 71 females. A large proportion of the entire number have
been sent into the counties of the State, many of them find-
ing permanent and profitable homes, and becoming useful
citizens; whereas if they had remained in the city they would
have become, in many cases, shiftless and useless burdens on
the community.

The largest number of applications for employment came
from Americans (of which there were 366); negroes, 123;
German, 60: Irish, 26; English, 20; Scotch, 7; French,
Hebrews and Hollanders, each 5; Swedes, 4; Polish and
Italians, each 3; Bohemians, 2, and Canadians, Russians,
Nova Scotians, Norwegians and Austrians, each i.



STATISTICS AND INFORMATION. 99

Of the number applying for employment, 278 were willing
to go into the country, and 259 were not. These figures
would indicate that over half of them were willing to accept
employment in the country; but this is not entirely correct,
because ofttimes when offered such opportunities they would
finally refuse because they found it either too troublesome or
unpleasant to accept such work.

The applicants for employment to the number of 414 were
single, and 232 were married.

Of the male applicants, 88 desired positions as farm labor-
ers, 70 as ordinary laborers, 71 as clerks, 52 as drivers, 37 as
waiters, 19 as salespeople, 16 as watchmen, 15 as cooks, 11
each as bookkeepers, gardeners, porters and errand boys, 9 as
machinists, and the rest were divided up in small numbers
among the diflferent occupations.

Of the female applicants for employment the greatest num-
ber wanted positions strictly as cooks — 32 applying for such
positions; 25 wanted to do general housework, 14 were
stenographers, 9 were chambermaids, 6 were housekeepers,
and the balance were divided up among the various occupa-
tions enumerated.

These figures indicate that three-fourths of those out of
employment are generally unskilled labor, and that few
mechanics secure employment through an agency similar to
this, because they know generally through the organizations
to which they belong where and when employment is to be
obtained.

It is interesting to note that the wages demanded by those
seeking employment average about $7 per week for males, and
about $5 per week among the females; while the offers of
wages from employers, especially in the case of females, do
not average over $3 a week.



lOO



REPORT OP THE BUREAU OF



In the following table is enumerated the number of
applicants and applications for help, according to occupation^
and may prove interesting as indicating the trend of indus-
trial conditions: '





Applications
for
Employ-
ment.


Number of
Positions


Applications
for
Help. '


Occupation of Applicant.


Number
Filed.


Secured.


Number ,
Filed.


*


6


a


^

n
.s


6

ctf

â–  s


Male.

Female.

-


Barkeepers


6
I












Bakers












Berry pickers




â– â– "â– fl l"


130

I
I
I




Blacksmiths












Bookkeepers


II
I

I
3


I




I




Boilermakers..:






Brakemen








Butchers




3

2




2




Butlers




Candymakers


2
2

4

I

71






5a


Canmakers











Carpenters












Cashiers


2
2

9










Clerks ,


lO








Chambermaids


7




7


Coachmen


2
2

15

I
I
6

2








Compositors








Cooks


32




31




ifr


Correspondents






Collarmakers




Collectors












Dairymen




2




2


2


Demonstrators


I

2






Dishwashers


2

52




I






Drivers


3

I


I
I




Drug clerks






Dyer and scourers


2

6
3

2
II

88

3

I

II

I

I








Engineers..












Electricians












Elevator conductors




I
63




2
156




Errand boys






2




76


Firemen






Foremen












Gardeners




5


20


5

I




General houseworkers


25


85.


Hod-carriers


1





STA'IJSTICS AND INrOKMATION.



lOI





Applications
for
Employ-
ment.


Nunil


)erof


Applications

for

Help.


Occupation of Applicant.


Number
Filed.


vSecured.


Number
Filed.


1




a

v


'c3


3


6




Hostlers or tesnisters


8
I




3




















6




2




2




I

2
70
2
I
9

2

I
I

6


I
















Laborers




8




126




I




3


LitlioE^rapliers








Machinists




I




5




Machinists' helpers




















2




2




II


Office work


I






Office boys






I
I






6

I

4
2
I
2
2
I
I

II
2
I

19










Oyster shuckers










Packers












Painters












Paper hangers












Photographers

Pipe-Fitters






















Piano Polishers












Plumbers' helpers

Porters






















Pressers












Pressmen












Salespeople


3

2

14
3


6




15


I


Seamstresses






Stenographers

Scrub women


7




4
2




I






2








15

I




Tailors


3
2
2
I

I
I

37
16

I




I




t


Teachers ,


I






Timekeepers










Ticket agents












Tobacco workers




Valets ;...












Waiters


I


3




3




Watchmen




Woodworkers












Woodchoppers








20
















Total


543


109


185


71


490 256





I02 re;port of the bureau of



EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN IN MER-
CANTILE ESTABLISHMENTS.



Much has been said and written about the employment of
children in the manufacturing establishments throughout the
country, including Maryland. However much complaint can
be made of this evil, the same complaint could be made two-
fold in regard to the employment of children in the mercantile
establishments in all large cities.

With a view of ascertaining to what extent this evil exists in
Baltimore, the Bureau made an inquiry into twenty-nine de-
partment, dry goods and notion stores in the city of Baltimore
during the last week of May and the first week of June, 1903.

The purpose of the investigation was, if possible, to find out
the number of male and female employees, the number under
sixteen years of age, the number under fourteen years of age
and number of hours of employment. No attempt was made
to ascertain wages, nor was any attempt made to investigate
the environment of the employees at home.

Many of the stores have adopted a rule that they will not
employ children under fourteen years of age, and there is no
doubt that the proprietors of some of them have given such
orders to their managers and superintendents, but in many
cases the rule is not observed, or is winked at, especially during
the fall and winter months, when the schools open, and many
of th^ children who are employed during the summer return
to school.

It must also be remembered that these twenty-nine estab-
lishments represent only the larger concerns, and that thou-
sands of children are employed in various capacities in other
mercantile establishments not herein enumerated.

In the table following it will be found that 5,088 persons
were employed in the twenty-nine establishments, of which



Establishment


Character of Business.


Total Number
of Employees.


Number of Em-
ployees under 16
years.


Number of Em-
ployees under 14
years.


Number

of hours

store is

open.




Number,


Male.


Female.


Male.


Female.


Male.


Female.








Notions


7
SO

ISO
SO
4
15
88

6

10

3
5S
49

3

137
100
40
50
4

IS6

170

6

â– 23


28

7
54

415
50
60
35

132
40

25
225
17

17s

^l
7S
300

500
120

25

46
19

7,
28
42




9

80








^


Dry Goods Department Store


5








2










Dry Goods and Ladies' Furnishings..


5
3




4

4










6

I


. o e n I^j,






epar men








9^ Saturdays, 8 A. M. to 10 P. M.


D t c t Store


5








Df Pnndf;


6


â– 




13

g'A

9

9

10

9'A






D r n 1 and Notions






10


Ladies' Ready Made Garments


â– 














Saturdays, 8 A. M. to ii P. M.


Denartnipnt Store


ID


4


15






Denartment Store




Saturdays, 15 hours, and engage 14 extra hands on Saturday.
Summer months, 9 hours; Saturdays, 5 hours.


Denartment Store


25
8










iB


9


6


is




Saturdays, 15 hours.
Saturdays, 8 A. M. to 10 P. M.


Denartment Store




6
5
20

3




*


t '9




13
25

5










15


Saturdays, 8 A. M. to 11 P. M. ; summer months, close at 5 P. M.

8.30 A. M. to 6 P. M., winter months ; 8 to 5 in summer.

Summer months, a half day on Saturday.

Saturdays, 8 A. M. to 10 P. M.

Saturdays, 8 A. M. to 10.30 P. M.

Saturdays, 8.30 A. M. to 10 P. M.

Saturdays, 8 A. M. to 11 P. M.

8.30 A. M. to 6 P. M. ; in July and August, 8.30 A. M. to 5 P. M.

Mondays, 13 hours, and Saturdays, 16 hours.

Mondays, 13 hours, and Saturdays, 15 hours.








22


Denartment Store






23
24




5


4
















35
3


15
5
2


'â– 


21






28


China Ware and Tots




I




Ladies' and Gents' Furnishings

Totals














1,509


3.599


201


204


41


55













STATISTICS AND INF'ORMATION. I03

1,509 were males and 3,579 were females. Of these numbers
there were 201 male and 204 female employees under sixteen
years of age. There were also reported forty-one males and
fifty-five females under fourteen years of age. Of course,
these figures welfe from the employers, and must be taken
with a degree of allowance. None of the stores visited were
complying with the Compulsory Education Law, not a single
establishment having on file the required certificates from the
parents or teachers of the children so employed, and it is safe
to say that many more than the numbers enumerated were
under sixteen and under fourteen years of age.

That the work of these little ones is arduous is plainly shown
by the columns devoted to the number of hours worked, there
being fifteen stores that work ten hours a day, one being open
eleven hours and one eleven and a-half hours a day ; six being
open nine and a-half hours and two eight and a-half hours,
while nearly all of them worked from twelve to fifteen hours
per day on Saturdays and some of them on Mondays.

This Department is by no means satisfied with the results
of this investigation, as we have had to rely entirely upon the
statements of managers of these stores for our information.
However this is sufficient to warrant the statement that the
employment of children in mercantile establishments is an
evil that should be ameliorated.

The details of the investigation are found in table No. i.



I04 REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF



EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN AND
CHILDREN.



Through a number of years the problem of child labor has
presented itself in many perplexing aspects, and theoretical
deduction as well as practical inquiry have been the most
potent means of enlightenment. The phases of the subject
are many and varied, each involving the other and bearing
a dominant significance according to the interests concerned.
The moralist, the educator, the manufacturer, the trade
unionist, have each a purpose at stake, and whether those pur-
poses conflict or not, each is bent upon a determination of the
problem most satisfactory to his convictions.

To the student and the scientist the question does not remain
one of empirical content, nor indeed a question for prejudice
and argument, but, affording the opportunity for examination
and analysis, it urges him to lay bare the facts in the pure
light of reason and truth.

Any just investigation undertaken in this direction, there-
fore, should not be mistaken for an attempt to definitely and
dogmatically conclude a solution to such a dynamic and far-
reaching problem. And the present inquiry into the subject
may be correctly understood as an examination into a purely
local phase of the question, with the hope of truthfully reveal-
ing the facts of the case, indicating suggestive relations, creat-
ing reasonable impressions and finally affording a just basis
for scientific deduction.

The employment of women and children and their environ-
ment while daily engaged in earning a livelihood has long been
complained of and earnestly protested against by labor organi-
zations. Sometimes these complaints have found origin in
the supplanting of male labor by the cheaper labor of the
female minor, but more often, and originally, the protest has



STATISTICS AND TNI'ORMATION. 105

come from those, who, studying the social question from a
broad standpoint, believed they saw in this steadily growing
evil the degradation and destruction of American childhood
and womanhood.

This view of the case has appealed particularly to the men
and women who, with broad sympathies and warm hearts,
have believed that man was his brother's keeper, and it was
their duty to help those whom misfortune or environment pre-
vented from helping themselves.

Many investigations have, been made into the employment
of females and minors throughout the country in various
States. Labor organizations have worked unceasingly for
laws restricting this employment. Many States have such
laws on the statute books, and many — most of them — are
either ineffective through non-enforcement or some flaw in
the statute, or because the police authority have neither the
disposition or incentive to enforce the same. This is undoubt-
edly true in Maryland.

The most favorable field for inquiry was found to be a
manufacturing establishment of Baltimore city, engaging an
almost total quota of child labor. The factory has two
branches, situated in the same general section of the city, but
at a distance considerably apart.

The method of work comprises. First: An examination
into each branch alike according to factory inspection routine,
which includes the summary of questions found in the general
factory inspection report, with particular stress laid on the
following: Number of hours of labor per day; number of
hours on Saturday ; time allowed for lunch ; character of lunch
rooms, if any ; fines ; overtime ; summer vacation, ventilation,
heat, light, drainage, machines used, size of room inspected,
number of cubic feet allowed for each person, means of egress
in case of fire, toilet facilities, number of closets to the build-
ing, separation of closets for the sexes, and general sanitary
condition.

Second: Each child was separately questioned regarding
age, address, school, grade in school, reading and w^riting



Io6 REPORT OF THE BUREAU OE

qualifications, occupation of father and mother, wage earnings,
length of time at work, condition and class of work and gen-
eral characteristics of employment.

This mode of procedure represented the first part of the
plan of- investigation, and was intended to explain actual fac-
tory environment, while a second part of the inquiry extended
to the homes of fifteen children as affording typical examples
of home conditions necessary to a complete understanding of
the life of the child employee.

No extensive investigation of the subject has ever been
made in this State. Through the agitation of the Knights of
Labor and the Federation of Labor several Acts have been
passed by the Maryland Legislature bearing on the subject
as far back as 1874, as follows :

HEALTH.— HOURS OF LABOR OF CHILDREN.
Acts 1874, Chapter 3; Acts 1876, Chapter 125.

Section 139. No child under the age of sixteen years shall be em-
ployed in laboring by any person, firm, or corporation, in any cotton,
woolen, or other manufacturing establishment in this State more than
ten hours in any one day.

Sec' 140. Any such person, firm or corporation who shall employ
any children under sixteen years of age, contrary to the provisions
of the preceding section, and any superintendent, overseer or other
agent of any such person, firm or corporation, and any parent or
guardian of such minor, who permits such minor to work or be so
employed contrary to the provisions of said section, shall, for each
offence be punished by a fine not exceeding fifty dollars for each and
every case, to be recovered on complaint in any court of competent
jurisdiction; and all prosecutions for offences under this section shall
be begun within one year from the commission thereof.

Sec. 141. The two preceding sections shall not apply to children
engaged in agriculture, household or mercantile pursuits.

CHAPTER 443-

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact with amendments. Sections 139 to 141,

inclusive, of Article 27 of the Code of Public General Laws, title

"Crimes and Punishments," sub-title "Health, Hours of Labor

of Children."

Section i. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,

That Sections 139 to 141, inclusive, of Article 27 of the Code of Public



STATISTICS AND INFORMATION. I07

General Laws, title "Crimes and Punishments," sub-title "Health,
Hours of Labor of Children," be and the same are hereby repealed
and re-enacted, so as to read as follows :

Sec. 139. No child under sixteen years of age shall be employed
in laboring more than ten hours a day in any manufacturing business
or factory established in any part of the State, or in any mercantile
business in the city of Baltimore.

Sec. 140. Any person who shall so employ a child or suffer or per-
mit such employment is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Sec. 141. The words "suffer or permit," includes every act or omis-
sion, whereby it becomes possible for the child to engage in such labor.

Sec. 2. Be it enacted. That this Act shall take effect from the
date of its passage.

Approved April 7th, 1892.

CHAPTER 317-

AN ACT to amend Article 100 of the Code of Public Local
Laws of Maryland, title "Work, Hours of, in Factories," by ad-
ding thereto a section, to be known as Section 4, regulating the
employment of children under twelve years of age in mills and
factories in this State.
Section i. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Article 100, of the Code of Public General Laws of Maryland,
be amended by adding thereto the following section, to come in imme-
diately after Section 3 of said Article, and to be known as Section 4.

Sec. 4. No proprietor or owner of any mill or factory in this State,
other than establishments for manufacturing canned goods, or man-
ager, agent, foreman or other person in charge thereof, shall, after
the first of October, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-four,
employ or retain in employment in any such mill or factory any per-
son or persons under twelve years of age; and if any such proprietor
or owners of any such mill or factory, or manager, agent, foreman or
other person in charge thereof, shall wilfully violate the provisions
of this section he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on
conviction thereof shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars
for each and every offence so committed, and pay the cost of prosecu-
tion, one-half of the fine to go to the informer and the other half to
the school fund of the county or city in which the offence shall have
been committed; provided, that nothing in this Act shall apply to
Frederick, Washington, Queen Anne's, Carroll, Wicomico, Caroline,
Kent, Somerset, Cecil, Calvert, St. Mary's, Prince George's, Howard,
Baltimore, Worcester and Harford counties.

Sec. 2. And be it enacted, That this Act shall take effect from
the date of its passage.
Approved April 6th, 1894.



IfoS REPORT OF THE BUREAU OE

CHAPTER 566, ACTS OF 1902.

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact Section 4 of Article 100 of the Code
of Public General Laws as enacted by Chapter 317, Acts of 1894,
title "Work — Hours of, in Factories" regulating the employment
of Children.

Section i. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That
Section 4 of Article 100 of the Code of Public General Laws, title
"Work — Hours of, in Factories," be and the same is hereby repealed
and re-enacted, to read as follows :

Sec. 4. Be it enacted, That no proprietor or owner of any mill or
factory in this State, other than establishments for manufacturing of
canned goods, or manager, or agent, or foreman, or other person in
charge thereof, shall after the first day of October, in the year eighteen
hundred and ninety-four, employ or retain in employment in any
such mill or factory any person or persons under fourteen years of
age, unless said child is the only support of a widowed mother, invalid
father, or is solely dependent upon such employment for self-support,
and if any such proprietor or owner of any such mill or factory, or
manager, or agent, foreman or other person in charge thereof, shall
wilfully violate the provisions of this section he shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor and on conviction thereof shall be fined not less than
one hundred dollars for each and every offence so committed and pay
the cost of prosecution, one-half to go to the informer and the other
half to the school fund of the county or city in which th^ offence shall
have been committed; provided, that nothing in this section shall apply
to Frederick, Washington, Queen Anne's, Carroll, Wicomico, Caro-
line, Kent, Somerset, Cecil, Calvert, St. Mary's, Prince George's,
Howard, Baltimore, Worcester, Garrett, Talbot, Montgomery and
Harford counties.

Approved April 11, 1902.

CHAPTER 269.

AN ACT to amend Article 77 of the Code of Public General Laws,