CHILD LABOR. Although children have always been used for employments accessory to ,those of their parents. it was the simpler re quirements of the factory system which made the child a cheap and convenient form of labor. or the source of support for lazy or unfortunate adults. The apprentice .system in England. by which the parish hired out. its pauper children to the factories, subjected little children to such inhuman hours, brutal treatment, and unsanitary conditions that the Government was urged to in terfere. Later, the children of the poor worked under similar conditions. The English Govern ment has published many valuable reports, and the course of English factory legislation has been to raise gradually the age for beginning work, to lessen the working and to require some education for the children. In the United States child labor has only become a question Within the last thirty years. The census of 1880 was. a revelation. showing children at work in many industries, some of whirl were extremely dangerous to health and morals. One of the worst forms, and the hardest to reach, is that of the sweat shops. State factory laws, which place testri•thins nn child labor, arc not uniform throughout the States. and are often wanting in the West and South. These taws tend to in
clude mercantile pursuits and other occupations. Many children are illegally employed. Even the most efficient factory inspector cannot eiremn vent the self-interest of employers. the greed and dishonesty of parents, or provide a remedy when the child is a necessary support for the family. The idea still prevails that the parents own the The evils to the ehild are disease, deform ity., and ignorance, with often no industrial training. the child being employed in drudg ery or some simple mechanical process. Child labor tends to depress wages and to develop in the community an ignorant, criminal, easily pauperized clement. accustomed to a low stan dard of living. The remedies proposed arc fac tory legislation and compulsory education laws. For full bibliography for the United States, consult : Amuri(1: a -Journal of .800toloqii, 111. 18990 (contains page references to factory inspectors' reports): ('hilcl Labor. in Anteriean Economic Association In:Hie:it ions, Vol. V. (Baltimore, 1899) : two prize essays by Taylor. The 11 ()devil Factory yst eau (Loudon, 1891 See NATIONAL EDFCATION", SYSTEMS. OF : 1..111(111 LEGISLATION ; SWEATING SYSTEM.