Page:Solution of the Child Labor Problem.djvu/65

The probable effects of child labor on the home of its parents are, therefore, three:—

1. The child becomes prematurely independent and indifferent to home restraint.

2. The wage of the father is lowered by the competition of the child.

3. The child who goes to work at fourteen

is capable of earning less in the aggregate than the child who goes to

work at sixteen.

Were these the sole effects of child labor on the family, the problem might well be called a serious one, but the family life of the whole present generation of child laborers is threatened by the existence of child labor. It is sad to think of children growing to manhood and womanhood, incapable of attaining even a normal physical or mental standard; but it is far more terrible to think that a large percentage of these low standard men and women will marry, and in their turn raise children to a similar mode of life.

The standard of the community can be maintained only by maintaining a high stand-