With some Tea Party Republican extremists calling for the elimination of regulations, going so far as to eliminate regulations against Child Labor — and, with the possibility of a Republican President who allow this and other extremist legislation from a Republican Congress to pass without a veto — we take a look at a few cartoons published during the days when Child Labor was legal in America.

Above, by Art Young, from the August 4th, 1909 issue of Puck magazine, we have The Galley. Sub-titled “Dedicated to the States Where Child Labor is Still Permitted” — U.S. child labor laws at this point were a state-by-state matter.

National Child Labor laws in the U.S. (as we currently understand them) were not established until 1938. Republicans in Congress repeatedly fought to prevent laws against child labor, arguing it would violate childrens’ right to employment. When F.D.R. did get laws passed, the conservative Supreme Court of that time, knocked those laws down. It was only late into the Depression (again, 1938), when Republicans finally relented to public pressure, that cheaply-paid children were taking jobs from adults.

Click on the above & below pictures, to view the cartoons in detail, and read their captions.

Below, a close-up on the sign seen over the shoulders of the overseer: “Child-Labor investigators, sentimentalists, charity organizations, and all meddling old women, KEEP OUT.”

Above, Child Labor, by Robert Minor, Jr., originally published in the December 22nd, 1924 issue of The Daily Worker, and reprinted in the 1926 edition of Red Cartoons.

Beneath, from the October 1912 issue of Cartoons Magazine, “No; got all the help I need”, by Hal Coffman.
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Children were not the only ones endangered when they were employed as industrial laborers. Above, from the centerspread of the October 4th, 1882 issue of Puck magazine, we have Discrimination, The Selfish Millionaire — How He is Taken Care of, and How He Takes Care of His Patrons, by Frederick Graetz. It depicts the September 23rd, 1882 collision of two passenger trains (one moving at full speed, the other stopped). It’s direct cause was the failure of a flag operator to signal the moving train to switch tracks at the correct moment. The underlying problem, though, was that rather than employ adults, who wanted a wage high enough to support their families, W.H. Vanderbilt hired less expensive children. Children who, standing around all day waiting for the correct moment to switch track settings, became easily bored & distracted, and didn’t fully comprehend the consequences of inattentiveness in such a work environment. Note the inset cartoon, showing four hired boys watching, as Vanderbilt tallies on a sheet of paper, “Full Grown Man — $30.00. Half Grown Boy — $10.00. Profit $20″. Behind Vanderbilt is a sign reading “Boys Wanted to do Mens’ Work”. Below the inset panel, we see two signal boys playing jacks, rather than paying attention to what is happening around them. To see more cartoons on the above incident, click here.

We close with a cartoon, below, by Syd Hoff. It appeared in Hoff’s 1935 published collection, The Ruling Clawss.

To find prior episodes of this series,click on Wall Street Frauds Make Wonderful Cartoons. And, to find earlier posts concerning financial reforms in general, click here.

Doug Wheeler

Financial Reforms