Review Of ' Child Labor And The Nation '

Throughout history, children have always worked, either as apprentices or servants. However, child labor reached a whole new scale during the time period of the Industrial Revolution. Throughout the time frame of late 1800s-early 1900s, children worked long hours in dangerous factory conditions for very little wages. They were considered useful as laborers because their small stature allowed them to be cramped into smaller spaces, and they could be paid less for their services. Many worked to help support their families, and by doing so, they forwent their education. Numerous nineteenth century reformers and labor groups sought to restrict child labor and to improve working conditions.

When one hears the term “Child Labor”, an image of children making low quality clothing in some dingy third world sweatshop inevitably comes to mind. While this imagery is unfortunately founded in fact, the third world is not the only area complicit with this heinous practice. Truthfully, we, as a nation are also guilty of propagating this heinous practice. For over a century, this nation’s youth were subjugated to exploitation and abuse at the hands of captains of industry in the hopes of extracting every ounce of profit they could. Fortunately, sympathetic individuals recognized the children’s need for advocacy and rose to their defense in the form of organized dissent that appealed to the highest powers of this country to fight for those who could not fight for themselves. In this paper, we will look at what exactly child labor is, the circumstances that gave rise to the widespread acceptance of child labor usage, what working condition these children experienced, and how the United States eventually made its use illegal.

Children would breathe hot air, would have sweat dripping down their faces and would taste the dirt and salty tears. Their backs and every other part of their body would start aching by the age of 14. This is what happened during the early 1900's when child labor existed. Families in the early 1900's (also known as the Progressive Era) would work their own children for 16 hours a day in awful conditions with very little pay. The abolishment of child labor made modern children not have to feel the pain that children would experience. The end of child labor in the United States affected children today because if the end of child labor never happened then child labor would still be a tremendous problem in the United States today.

This quote I found from an online article explains what kids went through during this harsh time. It almost sounds like they were slaves by how low they were getting paid. Most of us have never even heard of kids working late at nights doing jobs that today no one can possibly do because they have been replaced with machines from the dangers they carry. Children worked some of the most dangerous factory jobs that existed and they didn’t by choice. They had no choice but to work because either their family was poor or they were orphans.

Between 1860 and the 1910 the United States population tripled. Because of this, industry was in high demand for skilled and unskilled workers, and the abundance of immigrants helped keep it supplied. This helped the empowerment of bosses of the leading industries the Unites States. Working in a 17th century factory did not have ideal working conditions, on average, a 12 hour work day was not uncommon, as well as child labor. Often time’s, factory owners neglected worker rights and safety in factories leading to accidents, such as chopped off fingers, and other injuries without compensation. If a worker was seriously injured or refused to work they were gladly replaced with another.

The speaker begins her speech by introducing the topic of child labor by stating powerful facts that support her case and using poignant diction to create sympathy; these devices work together to bring attention to the problem of children being overworked from very young ages, and to get people to initially agree with her opinion and see her as a credible source on the matter. Kelley refers to a census regarding the different groups of people making up the “wage earning class” and saying that “no contingent so doubles from census period to census period…as does the contingent of girls between twelve and twenty years of age.” The rate of young girls working, earning a living, increases faster than any other group of people. The reference to

Before child labor was really a thing, there were strikes that the adult employers were holding because of low wages and other problems. The reason the employers chose to hire children instead of adults is because they would work for low wages, and also faster when it came to production and easier to train. The reason children have to go to work in the first place is to be able to aid their families in need. My question is how can children aid their families, when they can't even aid

Minors were employed for less wages than other workers with the same amount of work and hours of labor.

Children suffered enormously as a result of the poor working life of in the Industrial Revolution. By 1788, over two-thirds of workers in textile factories were children. Some factories employed children as young as the age of five or six. Other factories forced children to work as long as 16 hours a day. Children worked in gas works, nail factories, construction sites, shipyards and as chimney sweeps. The use of child labour in factories raised many social problems. Families, trapped by poverty, were forced to send their children to work in poor conditions for equally poor pay. Most children worked in cotton mills. Although children were accommodated, fed and dressed,

Children, sometimes as young as two or three were forced to work in canneries. They worked long hours and in dangerous situations. The children were subjected to machines that they should not be around and “unguarded belts, wheels, cogs, and the like” (Hines 1909). They received little pay for their work, and were forced to be up by 3am, where they worked till around 4pm. That is 13 hours a day, six days a week. This would be treacherous work for adults, let alone young children. Hines interviewed about five different people, and most of them described the horrible conditions similar. They compared it to slavery, some stating working in the cannery was worse. One of them Mrs. Meishell said, “You can talk about days of slavery, being over, but this is worse.” Another one, Mrs. Kawalski said, “Call this slavery!” (Hine 1909) The living conditions weren’t any better. The canneries provided the homes, but they were just small one-room tattered shacks that lacked privacy. One mother claimed, “it is bad for the children. They get to know too much” (Hine 1909). They also provided the transportation, however the families had to purchase their own food at the stores that were owned and operated by the canneries, where the quality of the food was poor, and extremely overpriced. The children needed to work to help the families earn enough money to get by. The canneries often promised higher pay to the families coming

Many of the poor worked in unpleasant circumstances. Mayhew revealed that before prostituting, the girl started working, at an early age, for a merchant’s family (Mayhew, 210). The merchant’s wife was abusive towards her, hitting the then child excessively and leaving her with bruises all over her body (Mayhew, 210). The child was so mistreated that she saw no other option for survival, but escape (Mayhew, 210). Moreover, reminiscing of the time when she was a factory worker, Bouvier, who also started working as a child, recalled having to work for 13 hours rather than the 8 hours that were the law imposed limit for children (Bouvier, 213). At one point, she did not sleep before going to work at the factory (Bouvier,

Every day, Pablo wakes up at 5:30 and takes the bus into Bogota, Colombia, where he works unloading trucks carrying produce to sell in the food market. He brings home between $5-$8 a day, which goes to food and clothing for his mother and younger siblings. Pablo is twelve years old. He doesn't work because he wants to; he works because he has to, in order to provide enough for his family to survive. Pablo's situation is not uncommon around the world. In fact, there are more than 200 million children working as child laborers. Though some of these children are forced into work by human traffickers, the majority of children work out of necessity. If they do not work, or help their parents with the farm, their family may starve. This issue is

It is not surprising to point out that the products we purchase daily became cheaper and better due to industrialization. However, I can guarantee you barely know about who actually account for the cheap products that you buy. Generally, people would think the labor force is only made up of adults, especially men. But surprisingly enough, the school-age children are part of the labor force. In fact, 25% of the labor force consisted of children between the ages of ten and fifteen,(Byerly, 43) this percentage will continue to grow unless it can be regulated. The child workers work at various positions, “including working on machines in the factories, selling newspapers on street corners, and as chimney sweeps.”(Nelson) A typical child laborer has to work at least 10 to 14 hours a day for 6 days a week. Which gives them no time to play and go to school.(“The Source-Child Labor”)

According to the speaker, the women were working as labour around 25 companies and 8500 people. Moreover, five thousand women employees were working in the New York.

‘Forms of child labor, including indentured servitude and child slavery, have existed throughout American history.’ (http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/us_history.html) During the years following the Civil War, (http://americanhistory.about.com/od/industrialrev/a/indrevoverview.htm) the American working class made an abrupt transition away from farm work and home chores. Workers shifted over to the ever-growing factory production industry. Many factory production jobs became available following the year 1820, mid way through Industrial Revolution. This era of mechanic and industrial growth created new social divides in American society, forming new castes of entrepreneurs and splitting the population into the middle and the lower class (http://www.eiu.edu/eiutps/childhood.php). Many families relocated from rural neighbourhoods to seek employment. American citizens from the suburbs traveled to nearby cities, searching for a better life and employment. In the newly established industrial empire the jobs available often required long hours working in dangerous conditions. The work offered was in exchange for little pay– families would often have no choice but to accept the conditions. In the cases of unfavorable lines of work, children were often proffered. Children were favored because of their small stature, ability for nimble precise work, and