Child Labor

Child Labor

Madison Normenet

   Children had always worked on their family farms. But then they were moved in to mines, factories, textile mills, and department stores which presented more dangerous and unhealthy working conditions.

   In 1906 John Spargo wrote a book The Bitter Cry of the Children which gave evidence of child labor conditions. It told of coal mines that hired many nine or ten year old “breaker boys” to pick slag out of coal who only got paid sixty cents for a ten hour day. Work bent their backs permanently. Their hands were crushed, cut and bruised, and most often became crippled. Harsh fumes would be breathed in and some boys got caught in the machinery.

  There were boys from the ages of fourteen and fifteen who were taking risks as men.By 1910 two million children were working in these places.
Reports convinced states to pass laws that set a limit on the age for employment. It also established maximum hours that those children could work.