CHAPTER V
THE CAUSES OF CHILD LABOR
I. The Discussion of Causes
In the voluminous literature which, has recently appeared on the general subject of cMld labor, little careful attention has been devoted to the causes underlying the problem. The history of child labor has been related; its evils have been depicted in minutest detail; remedies innumerable have been suggested; but nowhere has particular emphasis been laid upon the reasons for its existence. Child labor literature clearly shows that many of the writers have assumed certain causes and then, with this assumption as a basis, they have proceeded to devise and apply remedies.
This chapter aims to show that the coercive, legislative remedies that have been adopted are not calculated to work a perma-
