Page:Solution of the Child Labor Problem.djvu/10

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

CHAPTER I

THE CHILD LABOR PROBLEM[1]

I. What is the Child Labor Problem?

The child labor problem is generally looked upon as a fourteen-year problem. The dividing line between the land of schooling and the land of work has been set at fourteen, hence the child of thirteen and eleven months has been rigidly excluded from the factory, while to the child of fourteen and one day, the factory doors have opened wide. The fourteen-year limit has been recognized and accepted by the state legislatures, and everywhere laws exist which on the one hand prohibit the child under fourteen from working, and, on the other hand, require attendance at school up to the age of fourteen. By common consent, expressed through widely adopted legislation, fourteen has been

  1. Republished by permission of Educational Foundations.