Page:Solution of the Child Labor Problem.djvu/60

53 Again and again writers emphasize the premature independence from family control enjoyed by the child wage-earner. Miss Jane Addams tells of a working-girl who was being anxiously watched by the Hull House authorities. The girl had a good home and a hard-working, conscientious mother, but she was gradually being led into worse and worse ways by the bad company that she kept on the streets at night. Finally a protest was made to the girl's mother. "Why do you allow your daughter to run the streets at night? Don't you know what she is getting into?" they asked her. The mother was heart-broken, and replied that she feared to say anything to her daughter, because she contributed to the family income, and would leave home if crossed in her wild whims. The girl's attitude was plainly expressed when she said: "My ma can't say anything to me,—I pay the rent."

The same point is emphasized by Mr. Emil G. Hirsh, an employer: "If I dared venture into the moral bearings of this part of the subject, I should insist with good reason that