Threatening child labor
By: Emma Wallestad 1917
Young children are working long hours in dangerous jobs instead of having an education.
One job that boys did was working underground separating tons of rock from coal. They were given the name of breaker boys and suffer greatly. They work for about 14 to 16 hour work days with air "thick from coal dust". These young boys inhaled lots of the coal which damaged their lunges causing illness and dust plague. Sharp blades and sulfur on the coal made their fingers swell up and even bleed.
This horrid treatment is happening because of no laws against or decreasing the intensity of child labor. Also, bosses can pay children less to work, so they hire as many as they can. Even the wages of parents and adults are really low, so they need their kids to work so they can pay for expenses. Lastly, there aren't laws making kids attend school, so they can skip it for work instead.
Follow up, problem fixed!
citations:
Article: fighting to keep children out of factories and in school, and child labor.