Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/405

 GREEKS IN CHICAGO Sgi

The other four were attending night school. The house was very clean and gave the general impression of thrift and industry. In the non-family groups the Greek boy presents a special problem. The boys often come with some neighbor who passes as their uncle or father and are apprenticed to one of their fellow-countrymen. They work as bootblacks, help around fruit- stands, or peddle fruit and vegetables. That many of these boys are worked under a system of peonage there can be little doubt. An investigation of this aspect of the padrone system was made by the United States Bureau of Immigration last year and as a result of the information secured, the report says: "Two pad- rones of Boston were obliged to plead guilty, while in Chicago fourteen were indicted, six of whom plead guilty, two were tried and found guilty, and proceedings against the remaining six are still pending. "^^ Some evidence of the existence of this system of peonage and a few cases where boys have suffered gross physical abuse from the older men with whom they lived have come to the attention of the League during the past year. And, in addition to these very ugly possibilities, an investigation of the shoe-shine parlors in the Loop District of Chicago showed the danger of their general mode of life. The ages of these bootblacks range from 13 to 36, the majority being 17. Their hours of work are extremely long, as the following table shows :

TABLE SHOWING HOURS OF WORK ON DAYS OTHER THAN SATUR- DAY AND SUNDAY OF GREEK BOOTBLACKS IN THE LOOP DISTRICT IN CHICAGO

Number working 9 hours per day 2

Number working lo-ii hours per day 10

Number working 12 hours per day 10

Number working 13 hours per day 6

Nnmber working 14 hours per day 6

Number working 15 hours per day i

Number working 16 hours per day 4

Number not giving hours 2

Total 41

^Annual Report of the Commissioner-General of Immigration, 1908, p. 130.