Page:Solution of the Child Labor Problem.djvu/120

113 he "hates school." Often, both reasons are operating.

Family necessity is a prime cause of child labor. It is not, as many writers would lead us to believe, dire poverty which sends children to work. The wolf could be kept from the door without the aid of the children, but then there is a difference between warding off starvation, "the wolf," and maintaining the family on a wholesome diet. The wages of the father alone will buy food and keep back the wolf. An additional $3 a week will buy more food and insure a better diet. The parent chooses the better diet for the family, and the child goes to work. The child goes to work because the father cannot earn enough to support the family; the father's earning power is low either because his training has been defective, or because low-standard people, usually immigrants, are bidding against him for jobs, and are willing to live on very little; in the competitive struggle for jobs, the lowest bidder gets the work, and sets a standard to which the others must conform; and this