Child Labor In History

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of child laborors. One child in a
textile mill testified that he began working when he was eight years of
age and since that time had been working from six o'clock in the morning
to eight o'clock in the evening, with one hour to break at twelve o'clock
in the afternoon. Sometimes, when business was brisk he would work a
sixteen hour span from five in the morning to nine in the evening. When
questioned on how he awoke and was on time for work, the boy said "I
seldom did awake spontaineously; I was most generally awoke or lifted out
of bed, sometimes asleep, by my parents." A girl who worked in the mines
said that she worked from five in the morning to five at night. She had no
time to stop for meals or rest, she would work continuously and eat as she
worked. When asked about her tasks that she had to perform in the mines,
she said "I carry the buckets (filled with coal) a mile and more under
ground and back. I carry eleven a day; I wear a belt and chain at the
workings to get the ...

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subsistence level. This was commonly referred to as the
"iron law of wages." Also at the time idle hands were believed to be the
devil's tools, while work was thought to be morally uplifting, so the
employers believed that they were helping the poor to become more morally
uplifted.

The eventual regulation of child labor resulted from many sources.
Working conditions were horrid; the children had to work in crowded and
unsanitary areas and thus many epidemics arose. Medical professionals
exclaimed that child labor gave rise to a permanently weakened work force.
People were concerned because children had no time for religious
instruction. There was no time for education. Concern grew to ...

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