Child Labor By Rachael Oliver

Problems There was child labor before Industrialization, but it was this time period that started the call for reform. Children were quick, easy to train, and willing to work for lower wages. 1890: 1 million children between 10-15 years old were working in America. That number doubled by 1910. Some industries employed kids as young as 5-6 years and had them working 18-20 hours a day. Coal mine workers sorted slate out of coal for ten hours only earning 50-60 cents a day. Injuries included cut, broken, and even crushed fingers. They were small and easy to fit into small tunnels in the mines. Factory workers sometimes worked 19 hours with a total of a 1-hour break. Some children who too young to work the machines and worked as assistants, then were beaten by the workers they assisted. The factories were dangerous, and the conditions they worked in were awful.

Solutions The National Child Labor Committee was formed in 1904. Laws were passed in nearly every state to ban child labor and set maximum hours and minimum age requirements for minors in the workforce. The Department of Labor was formed in 1913 by President Taft.

Lewis Hine-A Progressive Reformer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mplPjjex4I8 Lewis Hine-A Progressive Reformer “There is work that profits children, and there is work tht brings profit only to employers. The object of employing children is not to train them, but to get high profits from their work.” -Lewis Hine, 1908