Child labor is a worsening issue in our growing country. Factories are in need of many workers for little pay, so they have resorted to children. Factory work is dangerous and labor intensive; therefore it should definitely not be a job for children. A father of two sons gave us an overview of his kids’ job, “My two sons (one ten, the other thirteen) work at Milnes’s factory at Lenton. They go at half past five in the morning; don’t stop at breakfast or tea time. They stop at dinner half an hour. Come home at a quarter before ten. They used to work till ten, sometimes eleven, sometimes twelve. They earn between them 7 cents, per week. One of them, the eldest, worked at Wilson’s for two years, at 2 cents per week. He left because the overlooker beat him and loosened a tooth for him. I complained, and they turned him away for it. They have been gone to work sixteen hours now; they will be very tired when they come home at half past nine. I have a deal of trouble to get ’em up in the morning. I have been obliged to beat ’em with a strap in their shirts, and to pinch ’em, in order to get them well awake. It made me cry to be obliged to do it.”
The expansion of manufacturing has increased child labor. One out of every three American factory workers is between the ages of seven and twelve. About ten years ago, one out of every three children worked full time, employing a total of about 1,750,000. In that same year, industrial accidents killed around 35,000 children, and maimed 500,000. With early and long hours, children are more likely to be injured or killed on the job, not to mention the children are very unskilled and in a dangerous environment. Also, a mother told us about how the children are treated in the factories and the effects working there have had on them, “I have worked in the same mills myself. The same man was there then. I have seen him behave shocking to the children. He would take ’em by the hair of the head and drag ’em about the room. He has been there twelve years. There’s many young ones in that hot room. There’s six of ’em badly now, with bad eyes and sick headache. This boy of ours has always been delicate from a child. His appetite is very bad now; he does not eat his breakfast sometimes for two or three days together. The little girl bears it well; she is healthy. I would prefer their coming home at seven, without additional wages. The practice of working overhours has been constantly pursued at Milnes’s factory.”

Very little has been done to try and stop child labor. The NCLC (National Child Labor Committee) was created in 1904 to focus on child labor reforms. Some states have tried to limit hours, but most factories did not obey. Five years ago, President Roosevelt was urged to establish a federal bureau to investigate and report on the children working in the factories; there has been no progress with that so far.

Child labor is a major issue that is happening in this country. Nothing is more valuable than these kids’ lives, and they are being ruined. The conditions in the factories are hazardous and unsanitary, and not fit for a child. For our country to continue to thrive, our children must be getting an education, not working in a dangerous factory.