Page:Solution of the Child Labor Problem.djvu/16

9 standard of fourteen-sixteen appeared to the man on the street in the United States in 1850, or in England in 1800.

The whole thought of the early nineteenth century was opposed to any form of industrial regulation, and when it was proposed to correct unspeakable child labor abuses, through legislation, a howl of protest was raised. After a long struggle, the first English Child Labor Law was passed in 1802. Although it related to apprentices only, regulating their work up to the age of twelve, in an inadequate and insufficient manner, it was looked upon as the first step toward socialism and chaos.

With the development of modern productive machinery, the nation piles up year by year a greater and greater mass of wealth in the form of a social surplus. As this surplus grows, the community is better prepared to keep its children away from monotonous toil until they are so mature that the development of their bodies and minds will not be seriously impaired by it.

The existence of a social surplus makes