Bicycle messenger boys often conjure up images of young boy riding an early morning newspaper delivery route. Long before the newspaper delivery boy, telegraph and shipping companies exploited child bicycle messengers as a cheap form of labor. Bicycle messenger boys worked long hours under dangerous conditions for little pay. Some worked overnight delivering messages and parcels to patrons and proprietors in red light districts. Some were injured or even killed on the job. This presentation will examine how bicycle messenger boys found themselves entwined in evolving American labor laws from 1890-1940. Anti-child labor organizations such as the National Child Labor Committee used exposés of the working conditions of messenger boys to help force passage of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act.

1. Bicycle Messenger Boys
and the Evolution of
American Labor Laws
CHRIS SWEET
ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
INTERNATIONAL CYCLING HISTORY CONFERENCE
GUILDHALL, LONDON, JUNE 13, 2018

2. Thesis
•The work of early 20th century bicycle messenger boys influenced
the evolution of American Labor Laws.
•Bicycle messengers specifically helped spur legislation due to both
the visibility and the hazards of their labor.
OLD BIKE MUSEUM: HTTP://WWW.OLDBIKE.EU/MUSEUM/1918-2/1918-WESTERN-UNION-
MESSENGER-DELIVERY-BICYCLE/1918_WESTERN_UNION_BICYCLE_60/#LIGHTBOX/0/

3. What’s new here?
Downey, 2002
Petty, ICHC, 2005

4. The First U.S. Bicycle Messengers
• 1869: Journal of the Telegraph recommended velocipedes for
messengers (Mar. 15, 1869)
• 1884: Private Messenger Service in New York uses bicycles to deliver
messages (NYT, July 4, 1884)
• 1884 Western Union in Washington DC used bicycles to deliver
messages (NYT, Nov. 9, 1884)
• 1885 Bicycle Messengers mentioned (Monmouth Inquirer, Oct. 8,
1885)

5. The First U.S. Bicycle Messengers
Safety Bicycle Era
• 1897 WU manager claimed his
Syracuse, NY office put messengers
on bikes in 1892
• 1896 Telegraph Age ran a photo of
24 boys, 15 of whom owned
bicycles, Omaha Nebraska. Claimed
starting date of 1893.
• 1894 Philadelphia ADT messengers
were using bicycles.
Telegraph Age, 1895

6. Western Union
• 1851: Western Union Telegraph Company of NY incorporated 1851
• 1866: After consolidations Western Union has 2000 offices and 37,380 miles of
telegraph wire
• 1865: One of the first eleven businesses to be added to NY Stock Exchange
• 1921: By 1921, 535 corporations had been merged into, purchased by, or controlled by
Western Union
(Wolff, Western Union and the Creation of the American Corporate Order, 1845-1893.)

7. 6. Shoes, bicycles and tires are for sale to
messengers at prices much lower than the
same quality equipment can be purchased in
the stores.
9. Caring for blisters: Heat the point of a
needle red-hot. When the needle is cool,
insert it under the skin near the blister. Push
through to the underside of the…blister and
press out the water.
42.If you ride a bicycle, it will pay you well to
keep both hands on the bars, your head up
AND EYES TO THE FRONT. Don’t try to beat
another vehicle to a crossing.
43. Do not hitch on trolley-cars, automobiles
or other vehicles.

8. Western Union: The Bicycles
1896 The Western Union Bicycle Mfg Co incorporated in Chicago by Lewi. D
Cartright Geo. R Bennett and Charles R Rode to manufacture bicycles. Capital stock
$150,000 . Out of business same year?
(Hardware: Devoted to the American Hardware Trade, Jan. 25, 1896, p. 60)
During the 20s and 30s Western Union bicycles were produced on contract from
Westfield Manufacturing. Westfield at the time owned the rights to the Columbia,
Westfield, Tribune, Rambler, Crescent, and Pope Brands. (Downey, Telegraph
Messenger Boys, 74).
1929 and 1930 WU bicycle orders for 5000 bicycles costing between $20 and $25.
These were re-sold to messengers, usually on an installment plan that garnished
their wages.

9. 1918 Western Union Messenger Special
SOURCE: HTTP://WWW.OLDBIKE.EU/MUSEUM/1918-2/1918-WESTERN-UNION-MESSENGER-
DELIVERY-BICYCLE/

10. 1913 & 1918 Columbia: “Pope Daily Service”
1913 COLUMBIA CATALOG AND HTTP://WWW.OLDBIKE.EU/MUSEUM/1918-2/1918-POPE-DAILY-
SERVICE-COMMERCIAL-BICYCLE/

11. c. 1940 Western Union Messenger Special
SOURCE: HTTP://WWW.OLDBIKE.EU/MUSEUM/1940S/1940S/1940S-WESTERN-UNION-
MESSENGER-BICYCLE/

12. Big Picture: US Child Labor Statistics
1890 one in five under 16 worked compromising 1/5th of
the total workforce. Exceeded unemployed adults.
1900 1.7 million
1910 1.6 million
1920 1.4 million
1930 667,000
(Child Labor in America, Rosenberg, 6)

13. Counting Bicycle Messengers?
DOWNEY, TELEGRAPH MESSENGER BOYS, P. 4

14. Jacob Riis (1849-1914)
• Progressive reformer
• One of the first to use photographs
• How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the
Tenements of New York, 1890
“There is still another kind of employment that
absorbs many of the boys and ought to be prohibited
with the utmost rigor of the law. I refer to the
messenger service of the District Telegraph
Companies especially. Anyone can see for himself
how old some of these boys are who carry messages
about the streets every day; but everybody cannot
see the kind of houses they have to go to, the kind of
people they meet, or the sort of influences that
beset them hourly at an age when they are most
easily impressed for good or bad.” (Riis, Children of
the Poor, 1892)
SOURCE: HTTPS://COLLECTIONS.MCNY.ORG/GALLERY/24UFQEC_H

15. National Child Labor Committee (NCLC)
Founded 1904
Goals of the NCLC:
• Develop a clearing house for information on child
labor practices
• Initiate legislation that would create fair
industrial conditions for child labor.
(Rosenberg, Child Labor in America, 171)
POSTER FROM "HIGH COST OF CHILD LABOR" NATIONAL CHILD LABOR COMMITTEE, 1915

16. 1904
HTTPS://WWW.HUFFINGTONPOST.COM/PETER-DREIER/THE-RADICAL-IMAGES-OF-
LEW_B_5893064.HTML
1930s
Lewis Hine, 1874-1940
• 1900 Attended Univ. of Chicago
• 1901 Principal of the Ethical
Cultural School in NY
• 1904 Began documenting school
activities with a 5X7 camera
• 1908-1918 went to work full-time
for NCLC. Sometimes covered
50,000 miles a year.
• Took over 5000 photos for the
NCLC.

17. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: NATIONAL CHILD LABOR COMMITTEE COLLECTION

18. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: NATIONAL CHILD LABOR COMMITTEE COLLECTION

19. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: NATIONAL CHILD LABOR COMMITTEE COLLECTION

20. 1910 interview with a messenger boy: “Well, there is a greater
variety of work for messengers to do than any other job I know
of. You get calls to buy hats for men and women in the
whorehouses, they send you out with notes and telegrams, they
get chop-suey, and regular meals, cigarettes, drinks, clothing,
groceries. I once had a whore send me out for a box of matches,
gave me a dollar, and told me to keep the change. I have been
sent out for corsets, and once for a pair of shoes. I have lots of
calls for women's drawers, corset covers. I have gone for
medicine and doctors, and got lots of cocaine for them when the
sale was open.”
(Hindman, Child Labor An American History, 213-226)

21. Selected Legal Cases
A Lexis-Nexis search of state cases mentioning bicycle messengers from 1896-1950 resulted in almost
7,000 state cases. 1,200 Federal cases.
1901 American District Telegraph Co. (ADT) 1901 messenger killed by an automobile around midnight
while delivering messages in NY.
1904 Albert Jahn, a 15 year-old bicycle messenger boy for the Western Union Telegraph Company in
Louisville KY, was struck and instantly killed by a delivery wagon drawn by a runaway horse
1924 Western Union paid 12,000 for a personal injury suit on behalf of Thomas Malarkey who died
after being struck by a bicycle messenger.
1924 15 year old messenger working illegally after 7pm was killed by a car in Tennessee. Western
Union found liable, mother awarded $13,500.

22. Implications for the Evolution of American Labor Laws
Workers Compensation Laws: Wisconsin passed the first comprehensive workers’
compensation law in 1911, while Mississippi was the last state to jump onboard in
1948. Bicycle messenger injury cases helped refine workers comp laws.
Employer liability and the question of private contractors. When faced with
lawsuits messenger companies frequently argued that they were not liable since
messengers owned their own bicycles and operated as private contractors. In
cases where riders were at work for a company the company was usually held
liable.
Lawsuits move Western Union to purchase business insurance for bicycles and
autos in 1926. (Downey, 79)

24. Implications for the Evolution of Federal Labor Laws
• 1916 Federal Child Labor Act, deemed unconstitutional by Supreme court in 1918
• 1918 and 1922 Congress passes child labor laws but the Supreme Court declared both
unconstitutional.
• 1924 Congress proposed a constitutional amendment prohibiting child labor, but the states did
not ratify it.
• 1935 Social Security Act provided adults with a safety net that alleviated some of the need for
child labor.
• 1938 Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act. Established a minimum wage and fixed
minimum ages of 16 for work during school hours, 14 for certain jobs after school, and 18 for
dangerous work. Set maximum hours.

25. What About Messenger Girls?
• Few worked as messengers, even
fewer as bicycle messengers.
• Large increases during WWII
• “There are over 25,000 women in
the Western Union organization
now...The number of women
employees has increased... 90%
including messengers, since June 30,
1940. 57% of employees were
women. About 2500 girls are
serving as messengers.”
(Quotation and image from: Western Union Messenger Girls,
Dots and Dashes, Vol XVIII, no. 4, 1942)

26. Conclusions
•Bicycle messengers (and news boys) were particularly influential to changing
public opinion regarding child labor because they were more publicly visible than
factory, mine, and farm workers.
•The hazards of bicycle messenger work were used to advocate for the end of
child labor by social reformers from the 1890s to 1938.
•American labor laws, and child labor laws in particular, were shaped in response
to child labrorers such as bicycle messengers.
•Questions?
Chris Sweet
Illinois Wesleyan University
csweet@iwu.edu
BLUE EARTH COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
HTTPS://WWW.BECHSHISTORY.COM/RESEARCH/INDEXES