In 1908, Hine left his teaching position at the progressive Ethical Culture School in New York to become a staff photographer for the National Child Labor Committee. Over the next decade, he made thousands of negatives-often undercover-of children working in mills, sweatshops, factories, and various street trades, usually complementing his images with notes and inquiries. On the verso of this print, he wrote: "(Called 'Bologna'). Tony Casale-11 yrs old. Been selling 4 yrs. Sells until 10 pm some times. His paper boss told me the boy had shown him the marks on his arm where his father had bitten him for not selling more papers. He (the boy) said 'Drunken men say bad words to me'." The straightforwardness of the picture echoes the roughness of the words.
