November 1913. Fort Worth, Texas.
"Some results of messenger and newsboy work. For nine years this 16-year-old boy has been newsboy and messenger for drug stores and telegraph companies. He was recently brought before the Judge of the Juvenile Court for incorrigibility at home. Is now out on parole, and was working again for drug company when he got a job carrying grips in the Union Depot. He is on the job from 6 A.M. to 11 P.M. (seventeen hours a day) for seven days in the week. His mother and the Judge think he uses cocaine, and yet they let him put in these long hours every day. He told me 'There ain't a house in "The Acre" [Red Light] that I ain't been in. At the drug store, all my deliveries were down there.' Says he makes from $15 to $18 a week. Eugene Dalton."Photograph by Lewis Wickes Hine. - - Shorpy Historical Photo Archive :: Hard Worker: 1913
I'm thinking about what I would have done in his shoes. 16 years old, pharmaceutical cocaine and hookers, and he gets paid on top of it all. I wonder why he slacked off for seven hours a day. He must have had a poor work ethic, or something.
Posted by: Roger Drew Williams at November 20, 2013 4:37 PMWhatever the true state of that kids condition, he was free. I expect that his life lived now would be nothing but misery and hopelessness. I doubt there is an incorrigible kid out there who wouldn't benefit from working seven days a week.
Posted by: james wilson at November 20, 2013 7:33 PMWorking 17/7, the kid deserved a little "blow" to get him through the day. Oh by the way, how incorrigible can he have been at home after a seventeen hour work day? Was it before he slept or after?
Posted by: tripletap at November 21, 2013 6:14 AMOne reason for a shorter life span.
Posted by: Jim at November 21, 2013 8:07 AMI wonder what happened to him later in life.
Posted by: Phil Fraering at November 21, 2013 9:05 AMBig businesses who support illegal immigration and all those H1B visas want all of us to be like that kid.
Posted by: Gary in Texas at November 21, 2013 9:50 AM
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