Earnings of boatmen.- As was the case on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal the company controlling the canal owned the boats and employed captains to operate them. The captains secured such help as they found necessary. Captains were paid on a ton-mile basis, the rate for carrying one ton of coal from Coalport to Bristol being 81 and the rates for intermediate stations being in proportion to the distance. Each boat carried from 90 to 95 tons. Assistant boatmen were paid by trip or by the day or week. Although the conditions of employment were similar to those on the Chesapeake and Ohio the working expenses of the captains on these canals were heavier. Whereas on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal the company usually furnished not only the boat but the mules, their feed, harness, and "lines," on the Pennsylvania canals the captains were required to supply the mules and their upkeep. Mules were furnished by the company to those who did not own them, the terms being an installment payment on the purchase of the animals, usually $5 a trip; this was deducted from the captain's pay and at the close of the season interest was charged on the amount remaining unpaid. The captains also had to meet other expenses, such as feed, "lines," and other equipment. Frequently a man's working expenses amounted to one-third or more of his gross receipts.
Earnings from boating alone did not constitute a sufficient income for men with families. Every captain interviewed had had other sources of income; all of them had had some occupation during the winter and some had had positions which they had kept during the entire 12 months. For example, several of the men were lock tenders and by depending on the services of other members of their families they were able to keep these positions while operating boats. Earnings for boat work for the season studied in no case exceeded $1,250. The additional earnings from winter employment raised the general average of the men's earnings for the year between $300 and $400. The largest annual income reported by any captain for the year in question was $1,977. In six families the father's earnings laid been supplemented by the wages of other members of the family; in this group the largest family income reported for the year was $2,286.83.
Boat work done by children.- Probably because of the small size of the cabins the fathers usually took with them only those children who could be of service in operating the boat. A total of 33 children were reported by the 16 families as having made canal trips during 1920. Of the 33 children, 25 were boys and 8 were girls. None of, the girls had assisted on the boat during the 1920 season, but 21 of the boys had done so. Of the boys who had helped with the boat work, 4 were between 5 and 10 years of age, 6 between 11 and 13 years, and 11 between 14 and 17 years, inclusive.
Although few in number, proportionately more of the children on these canals than on any of the other canals included in the study were violating State laws, inasmuch as Pennsylvania forbids the employment on boats of children under 16 years of age. Every child over 10 years of age on the boats was assisting with the work, and 5 of them were receiving pay.
The terms on which these children worked were interesting. One 14-year-old lad who worked for a man not related to him, had been engaged to drive mules at $7 per trip. The captain paid the boy's wages to his father who allowed the child to keep $2 a trip. One 15-year-old boy who was ordinarily his father's assistant, was given a temporary position as captain. For 27 days this boy had full responsibility for a boat. He hired an older boy as deck hand, met all the incidental expenses of his trips, and received pay from the company at regular rates. One captain employed his two sons to operate the boat while he himself remained on shore as a lock tender. In this case the older of the two boys, who was over 18 years of age and therefore not included in this study, received wages. The younger boy, 15 years of age, worked with his brother for 6 months without pay. According to the father's statement, the boat was operated 6 days a week, 18 hours a day, usually from 3:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. The boy said he got up at any time in the morning between 3:30 and 6 o'clock and went to bed between 9:30 and 11 at night.