The abuses of child labor are no longer a big issue in America. Child labor was a big deal in the latter part of the 19th century.
The Industrial Revolution
came to America as early as 1813, when the first water-powered textile mill
opened in Waltham, MA. Within a few decades, mills and factories were sprouting
along waterways everywhere, and workers streamed off the farms to join immigrants
who were employed at low wages.
The ongoing abuses of child
laborers were condemned (by unionized adults) as early as the 1830s. In the
following decades, regulation of the working conditions for kids occurred
piece-meal, state by state. By the end of the 19th century, 28
states had enacted laws governing (but not outlawing) the working hours and
conditions for children. Work by youngsters was finally outlawed in America
when the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed in 1938.
In 1881 eight-year-old textile
workers in Maine—some of them working for eight cents a day— started a strike when they discovered
that kids their age at another mill were making a penny more per day. The
three-day strike was partly successful.
Mill owners and factory
owners and other 19th century capitalists were forced, over
time, to cease exploitation of poor kids on the shop floor.
Imagine that you work in a 19th century mill making textile products. Imagine that you take your
eight-year-old son to work with you every day, so he can work for 10-12 hours
for pennies in grimy conditions with poor lighting, breathing air filled with
cotton lint and climbing barefoot on the huge humming machinery so he can
replace the empty spindles.
Imagine that you need his
paltry income to keep food on the table for your family.
Copyright © Richard Carl
Subber 2016 All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment