A field inquiry was therefore made by the bureau during the year 1921 along the canals in Maryland and New York State, a similar study of the situation on the Pennsylvania canals being undertaken simuitaneously by the Pennsylvania Public Education and Child Labor Association. The findings of these inquiries indicate that while the number of children living on canal boats in this country is small, the conditions under which they are living and working present unusually serious problems. School attendance is difficult, hours of work are excessively long, doctors are inaccessible, and proper recreation is lacking.
Canal operation in the United States began early in the nineteenth century and reached the height of its activity about 1870. With the extended development of railroads, however, came a decline in the importance of canal transportation. In 1908, when the last comprehensive report on the subject was issued by the Government, 45 canals were listed as in operation and 54 as abandoned. Despite this fact, considerable attention has been given during the last decade to the development of inland waterways. In 1918 New York State opened the new State Barge Canal, having greater depth and width than the old Erie Canal which it supersedes, and modern locks capable of use by large steam-towed vessels. Gradually the canals which were constructed with so little width and depth that only small mule-drawn boats could use them have been abandoned, until now the only important canals on which mules are used are the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Lehigh Canals.
In all, 354 children were found living on canal boats during the year of the study. The canals surveyed include both old and new systems and illustrate strikingly the differences and the similarities between them. On all canals the fact that the inherent nature of the work necessitates long periods away from a home on shore is an impelling motive to boatmen to take their wives and children with them. On the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal the large majority of the captains had their wives and children with them; on the Lehigh and the Delaware Division Canals, probably because of the small size of the boat cabins, the captains usually took with them only those children who could assist in the work; on the New York canals, as on the Chesapeake and Ohio, the majority of the captains had their wives and their children with them, but because of the arrangement of the boats in fleets, there were few captains compared with the number of boats operated and consequently fewer children. The principal difference between life on the old and on the new canals, so far as the children are concerned, lies in the fact that on the older canals child labor is profitable and practically indispensable while on the newer canals there is little place for it. Except for this decrease in the work of children the newer canals have most of the evils of the old. On the new canals, to be sure, boats are being constructed with larger cabins and better sanitary arrangements, but under both systems there are the same conditions in regard to irregular school attendance, improper medical care, inadequate recreation, and exhausting hours of labor for those children who work.
While the bureau's study did not include vessels other than canal boats it can safely be assumed that similar conditions exist for children living on other types of watercraft.