More than one-third of the families included in the study of the New York canals were interviewed in New York Harbor. Inasmuch as many of the canal boatmen bring their boats to New York at the close of the canal season and become harbor workers for the winter months the conditions in New York Harbor have an important bearing upon the lives of the canal-boat families.
The vastness of the activities of this largest port of the United States is suggested by the fact that over 6,000 vessels are registered at the New York customhouse. Many of these, of course, are passenger or freight steamers engaged in foreign or coastwise trade; but it is estimated that more than 3,000 boats, including both registered and unregistered vessels, are used for purely local traffic. As the canal boatmen come down to the harbor they pick up cargoes wher ever they can find them and thus come, for the time being, into close contact with the life of the harbor.
Harbor conditions necessitate the presence of someone on the boats at all times of day and night. As piracy is reported to be common and the danger from fire is great, it is customary for the boat owners and operators cither to employ captains who are willing to remain on board all 24 hours of the day or to employ watchmen in addition to the day workers. The irregularities, however, which exist under a system in which some boats are manned by one person for 24 hours and other boats are operated on a 10 to 12 hour day with a watchman at night give rise to dissatisfaction on the part of both employers and employees. A boatman who lives on board his vessel with his family may be, from some points of view, an advantage to the employing company; but many of the boatmen feel keenly that conditions on the boats are not favorable for women and children, giving the following as the principal reasons for their attitude: Congestion in cabins and lack of sanitary facilities, fostering immorality and disease; inaccesibility of schools and doctors; lack of opportunities for recreation; and dangers from fire.
Unsuccessful attempts were made both in 1920 and 1921 to secure legislation forbidding the presence of women and children on boats. While the proposed laws were intended to regulate conditions in New York Harbor they were not restricted in their application and would, if passed, affect all waterways in the State. Already a number of the more progressive transportation companies, both on the canals and in the harbor, have forbidden employees to have women and children with them on the boats; and it is noteworthy that leaders among the boat employees are in accord with this decision.