Chloe Coose May 1, 2013 Summative Assessment OT (Speech) FD

Child labor is a brutality that haunts this earth in the most cruel, dark, wretched places imaginable, and lurks in the shadows of lost childhoods that were dissolved by its looming power. But who gives it that power? We do, the people of America, who sit idly while sending our children to work, and who profit off of their labor and do nothing to stand in the way of the abusive treatment that is being bestowed upon these poor little souls. But there seems to be a light at the end of this almost never-ending tunnel. An act, the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act, is at the desk of Congress and is waiting eagerly to be approved. Currently the bill does not allow distributors to sell goods in other states that have been manufactured by children under the age of fourteen, and applies certain limitations to companies who hire fourteen to sixteen year olds. The Keating-Owen Child Labor Act should be passed but with the following amended restriction: children under the age of sixteen should not be permitted to work in factories under any circumstances if the employer plans to distribute his/her products outside of the state.

Childrens health, even when they are over fourteen, can still be affected by the strenuous and wicked labor that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Children who work in the factories, mills, and mines experience bad working conditions and long, hard hours of continuous labor. This can lead to several health conditions such as: rapid skeletal growth, lack of development of organs and tissues, hearing loss, higher chemical absorption rates, smaller size, and lower heat tolerance (Health Issues). Proof of such injury and disease lies in a picture taken by Lewis Hine of a fifteen year old boy standing against a dirty brick wall with a deep cut

Chloe Coose May 1, 2013 Summative Assessment OT (Speech) FD

on his right leg. The incident occurred when the boy was pulling a heavy load in a basket across the filthy floor, but when the basket hit a loose board, it sent him flying towards the loom which cut the poor boys leg (Hine). Rather than letting the wound heal, the mill owner would more than likely put the child back to work, perhaps with a punishment for being clumsy. We need to take children under the age of sixteen out of the mills before they ruin their body and do damage that they cannot undo. Even though a bill is about to be voted on to help put an end to child labor, if it doesnt keep children under sixteen out of the factories, then child labor will continue to be a massive problem in the United States.

Not only does child labor destroy childrens health, but it also puts them on track to an awful future. Children who are sent to work before they are mature often lead bad lives and end up in a world of poverty and crime. Jane Addams, leader of the Hull House and well-known campaigner of social justice, states that the murder rate in America is very high: a stunning two hundred sixty-nine murders. Even more intriguing, over 90% of those murderers were sent into a life of hard labor before they were fifteen years of age (Addams). By exposing young minds to such awful conditions and abusive treatment, children tend to pick up on that. When they get older, they know no better, and not only do they end up hurting themselves, but they end up hurting others. Is this really what we want America to be? An awful, ill-mannered, uncivilized, inhumane country with murderers, criminals, pickpockets, and dirty, scrawny, uneducated, pitiful children at every corner? I think not, which is why we need to take action and put an end to child labor before it puts an end to us.

Chloe Coose May 1, 2013 Summative Assessment OT (Speech) FD

That brings me to my next point: when children spend their youth working in treacherous factories, mills, and so on, they lose the opportunity of a good education and the joys of childhood go down the drain. As said by John Graham Brooks, the play instinct is crippled in mill and factory and mine (Brooks). The children lose the liveliness and inspiration needed to succeed in life, as they hope just to simply live through another day, if they even still have the desire to live anymore. Even worse, if they still do wish to pursue a prosperous life and get a good job when they grow older, the opportunity is crippled. Having a worthy occupation, such as being a lawyer, takes years and years of schooling and study, something out of the question for working children, especially if they are put to work before age sixteen (Brooks). Children need a good education if they want to do well in life, and child labor isnt providing them with anything but a heavy burden that will only get heavier as they trudge through life.

Child labor is cruel at all ages, but is worse than a crime before the age of sixteen. It makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. Childrens health plummets, the tendency of crime and poverty is significantly higher, and the opportunity of a good education and memories of a happy childhood will vanish. The Keating-Owen Child Labor bill needs to protect children under sixteen from working or the next generation of America will be demolished. We, as Americans who love and are willing to protect our children against child labor, need to get the KeatingOwen Child Labor bill passed, before it is too late.