Excerpt from Child Labor and the Republic Vice-chairman of the National Child Labor Committee, New York. The history of efforts for child labor legislation shows that they usually pass through three stages before reaching final success. When an agitation for a child labor law is started the first objection raised to it is that there are no children employed, or not at least any considerable number. After good people have gone to the mines and factories and have counted the children, and have gath ered undeniable data disproving that statement, the next objection that is brought forward is that while there may be some 'children employed, after all such employment is a good thing for the chil dren, and some very eminent men are named' as having been employed in their childhood, by reason of which they became very distinguished when grown up. After further research as to the evil effects of child labor, such as has been made at great length by our two assistant secretaries, and by many others, and after it has demonstrated beyond question that this employment of children is bad for the children, there still remains one stronghold to be taken. It is then said: Well, yes, there are some children employed, and that perhaps it is not altogether exactly what one would regard as ideal, but nevertheless the earn ings of these children are absolutely necessary 'for the maintenance of their families. Many of them, it is said, are the children of widows. In other cases their fathers have deserted or are ill, and, except for the earnings of these children, the families would suffer and might starve. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.