Making Human Junk from Children, 1914

JF Ptak Science Books  Quick Post

"There is work that profits children, and there is work that brings profit only to employers. The object of employing children is not to train them, but to get high profits from their work." --Lewis Hine, 1908

These broadsides are tough going. They are the work of advocates and reformers who sought to give children an even chance at growing up as children, rather than joining the hundreds of thousands of 6-12 year olds already in the workforce in America in the first decade or two of the 20th century. They were a simple and very powerful appeal to business-owners and parents to resist the temptation of child exploitation--none though so far as I can tell directly addressed the children.  See my other posts on this topics here:

•  Children at Work, 1934, an Appeal by the Great Dorothy Kenyon

• Map of Newsboy Work Violators, 1914--Child Labor & Child Scavengers

• Ancient Myths Modern:  the Other Statue of Liberty,1911

[Source for the following images at Inquiry Unlimited, follow the link for other examples. ]