Children’s work in Maine’s sardine factories spurred national controversy. Labor activist John Spargo’s 1906 book, The Bitter Cry of Children, used anonymous local reports describing dangerous working conditions for children working in Eastport’s canneries. He was criticized in Maine for publishing reports he did not personally investigate. A year later, a Maine Department of Labor investigator found the earlier reports exaggerated.
"I cannot speak of this industry from personal investigation, but information received from competent and trustworthy sources gives me the impression that child slavery nowhere assumes a worse form than in the ‘sardine’ canneries of Maine. Says one of my correspondents in a private letter: ‘In the rush season, fathers, mothers, older children and babies work from early morn till night — from dawn till dark, in fact. You will scarcely believe me perhaps, when I say, ‘and babies,’ but it is literally true. I’ve seen them in the present season, no more than four or five years old, working hard, and beaten when they lagged. As you may suppose, being out here, far from the center of the State, we are not much troubled by factory inspection. I have read about the conditions in the southern mills, but nothing I have read equals for sheer brutality what I see right here in Washington county."
John Spargo, The Bitter Cry of Children
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From Inspector Eva Shorey’s report,
“There is…no comparison between the southern mills, or any mills, and the sardine factories. Most of the work in which the children are employed is done practically in the open air, and not in hot, stifling, noisy rooms; there are no regular hours, the work depending on the amount of fish received. In the ‘rush season,’ there is an immense amount of work from the nature of the business, and the factory owners often have great difficulty in finding enough help. This does not last very long, the entire season being seven months and the busy time from the last of August to the middle of November.
Many of the families, depending on this business for their year’s income, are willing to work hard for a short time. There is no ‘slave driving.’ The young children come and go as they wish. It may not be very attractive or desirable work for one of tender years, but it is honest and healthy and does not continue day in and day out nor for any great length of time consecutively. The children appear to enjoy it and are very proud to tell how many boxes they have cut.
After observing the work in the different factories, I questioned many people who had lived in Eastport all their lives as to their knowledge of the work of the children. I could not find a person who had ever seen or heard of any of the brutal conditions described. They were all quite aghast at [John Spargo’s] statement.”
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