Page:Solution of the Child Labor Problem.djvu/112

105 are coming to see more and more clearly that child labor is not necessary to industry, but is in most cases positively harmful. Tradition decrees that in glass bottle works, children of nine and ten must be hired to carry the bottles because they are "nimble" and can "handle themselves," yet in certain factories machinery has been introduced which replaces the boys and saves money.

What part does "Necessity" play among the causes of child labor? The necessary thing for a young American to do is to attend school. There is no necessity for his working in order to "learn the business." The necessity of child labor to the manufacturer is traditional rather than real. The only really important part played by necessity, is the actual need of the great group of parents whose wage is so low as to preclude the possibility of bringing up their family decently, in the absence of some addition to the man's wage. And this necessity of the unskilled worker's family is a real, vital cause sending children to work.