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Building a Great Nation on the Backs of its Youth. Child Labor in America. When is Child Labor Okay?. When is child labor a useful and healthy introduction to work? How do you distinguish between freedom and idleness, which may be less wholesome than some other types of work?
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Building a Great Nation on the Backs of its Youth Child Labor in America
When is Child Labor Okay? • When is child labor a useful and healthy introduction to work? • How do you distinguish between freedom and idleness, which may be less wholesome than some other types of work? • Is some work suitable for young children? How do you distinguish “suitable?”
Factors for Child Labor • Reflected socio-economic class stratification • Immigration and tenement living • Availability of children and economic forces
The Facts • In 1870, the first U.S. census to report child labor numbers counted 750,000 workers under the age of 15, not including children who worked for their families in businesses or on farms. • By 1911, more than two million American children under the age of 16 were working
Types of Labor • Street Trades- newsies, delivery and errand boys, shoe shiners • Industrial factory workers • Textiles, food preparation, garment/ piece goods • Breaker Boys- coal miners • Agriculture/Farm labor
Miners Breaker Boys, Pennsylvania Work at breaking up large chunks of coal Young Mine Driver, works 7 AM to 5:30 PM daily
Agricultural Work Boy working in berry fields outside Baltimore. Six year old picking cotton in Oklahoma
Labor Conditions • 68-72 hour work weeks • From “Can till Cain’t” • Lived in company owned houses, towns • Paid in company script for overpriced goods at the company store
Labor Conditions • Tenement living in slums • Homework after shifts were over • Immigrant families targeted because some state laws did not apply to immigrants
Regulation • Started slowly at the state level banning employment of underage children • Motivations for regulation varied: • Economic • Humane • Social • Children were viewed as a source of low-wage labor that was in competition with adults
Reasons for Regulation • Products of child labor competed against adult made products causing market pressures to force down wages and living standards • Health and safety hazards as well as exhaustion left children ill prepared for education • As adults they were ill-prepared for employment elsewhere, which led to cyclical poverty
Unions and Child Labor • AFL leader Samuel Gompers favored child labor laws • 1904 the National Child Labor Committee was formed to end child exploitation in the workplace • State labor laws were loosely constructed and difficult to enforce
Opponents of Child Labor Regulation • Arguments: • Unavoidable stage of development • Necessary for survival • Essential for regional competition • Southern manufacturers viewed labor restrictions as an “effort of northern agitators to kill the infant industries of the south”
Advocates for Child Labor • “I believe there are just about as many children spoiled by indulgence as there are by overwork.” • -Daniel A. Tompkins Carolina mill owner • “There is such a thing as too much education for working people sometimes.” • -Charles Harding, Merchants Woolen Co.
Fair Labor Standards Act • Set a 40 hour work week • Minimum wage of 40 cents per hour • Prohibited child labor under 16 and restricted when and for how long children could work
