The following are excerpts from Home Work in the Tenement Houses of New York City, a memorandum submitted to the New York State Legislature by Owen R. Lovejoy, General Secretary of the National Child Labor Committee 573, March 1, 1912.

Evils of Home Work

Spreading of Disease                                                                                                                                          Manufacturing in tenement homes is often conducted under very insanitary conditions. The photographs reproduced in Appendix 7 are illustrative of the filth and personal uncleanliness which exist sometimes in the preparation of food products. Manufacturing and preparation of various articles of wearing apparel and food products are in many cases carried on by diseased workers. The danger from this source, particularly in the case of food products prepared in the tenement homes and distributed widely for consumption requires no emphasis. Cases of work done in tenement homes by children suffering from contagious scalp and skin diseases, chicken-pox and tonsillitis are numerous.

Men, women and children suffering with tuberculosis and attending tuberculosis clinics were found picking nuts and working on feathers and dolls' clothes. In one family three members were attending the dispensary for treatment, all suffering from tuberculosis. All were working at picking nuts. In another case, a child eight years of age, sent home from school because of active tuberculosis, was later found working at willow plumes in a room lighted by gas in the daytime.

It is said that the evils of child labor prevail in connection with tenement house manufacture to an alarming degree. The number of children of school age found at work in their homes during school hours by our inspectors was quite small, but this fact should not be regarded as proof that the alleged growth of child labor in tenements is unfounded. It is probably quite true that many small children under school age are required or permitted to perform certain simple and easy tasks in connection with the various processes and operations incident to the work done in these homes. The work done by such small children cannot be very difficult nor can it be very heavy, but if the little ones are compelled to remain at work for long periods of time, an intolerable condition is brought about, and no effort should be spared to relieve their sufferings. As to the children of school age, it would be well if they were not permitted to engage in any manufacturing pursuit in their homes until they had reached twelve years of age. But in dealing with this phase of the subject, great care should be exercised so as not to foster willfulness and disobedience to parents. The sacred right of parents to order the conduct of their offspring and to teach them habits of industry and thrift should not be lightly invaded. Indeed, it should not be thought of except where the welfare of society demands that such a course be pursued. No legislation based upon any theory of regulation or prohibition, however plausible, should be enacted until the subject has been very carefully considered and the true state of facts ascertained.

Effect of School Attendance                                                                                                                                               A study made in one section of the city of New York of the average school attendance of a hundred children doing home work, disclosed an absence of twenty-nine and a half days per child out of an eighty-nine days' term. Children four years of age and upwards were found working after school hours, during meal hours and on Saturdays. The school work suffers and is neglected, and the education of the child seriously interfered with. In one case, a child eight years of age was reported for the defective class because she slept in the classroom in the morning. Investigation showed that the child was obliged to sew buttons on knee pants, and had to do a certain amount of work at home, irrespective of the time it took, so that every morning the child came to school in an exhausted condition.

Low Wages of the Home Worker                                                                                                                                    The tenement industry is without standards of any kind, and is essentially parasitic in its nature. The wage received represents the total earning of the family group, the mother (in some cases, the father, also) and the children. In nut picking, for example, the average day's work will net about forty cents for the family, which means at least five hours work a day for from five to six people. The highest wage was $12.00 a week for operating on dolls' clothes earned by the combined labors of the father, mother and three children from eight to twelve years of age, the children working after school hours and on Saturday.

The competition between the home workers themselves and between the home workers and factory hands reduces wages to a minimum. In some industries when work in the factory is slack, employees are laid off and put on part time, yet large amounts of work are given out to the home workers. In the manufacture of brushes, practically the entire article is made up in the home, only a small group of workers being employed in the factory to put the materials in shape for the jobber.

Cost of Home Work to the Community                                                                                                                              By home work or tenement work is meant any kind of manufacturing done for a manufacturer, contract, or agent by persons not working on the premises or under supervision, the wages and rates of payment for these workers being fixed by the persons giving out the work. In its essence home work as thus defined is beyond control by law. In this State we have a Labor Code, certain sections of which expressly regulate conditions under which manufacturing may be carried on, but by giving out home work a manufacturer is actually able to evade his responsibility for complying with any of these provisions. His work may be done in unclean, unsanitary surroundings. It may be performed by little children or minors working long hours after 5 p.m. when the law frees the girl and boy workers in the factories, or by young girls working far into the night. Home work means unregulated manufacturing carried on beyond the possibility of control as to hours of women's work, child labor, night work of minors or cleanliness and sanitation of work places. From the point of view of the community, the greatest objection to home work is its lawlessness.                                                                                                                                                                     

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This is one of the first group of photos I starting researching when I began this project in June of 2006. I found the family right away in the census, then found Joseph Salvia's California death record. He died in San Diego. When I could not obtain his obituary, I went to the Internet White Pages and looked up all the Salvias in the San Diego area. Amazingly, the first one I called, Ted Salvia, was his son. I emailed him the photo, and got this reply several days later:

"I received the photo. We shared the photo with cousins and my Aunt Anne. We are sure it is a photo of our family. My dad always said that his sister Anne looked like his mother, and the photo proves it for sure."

According to the 1920 and 1930 census, Thomas Salvia, the father in this family, came to the New York from Italy in 1890, probably landing at Castle Garden. His wife, Lucia Tancredi, arrived in at Ellis Island in 1894. They were married about 1899. They had 10 living children in 1930. I interviewed Ted, who connected me with Camille's son, Peter, whom I also interviewed. The following is my interview with Ted Salvia.