Page:Solution of the Child Labor Problem.djvu/79

72 In western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, and eastern Ohio, there is a region of natural gas deposits around which a glass bottle industry developed. The glass bottle industry formerly employed a large number of boys, some of whom assisted the blower, while others carried the bottles when blown to the annealing-oven, where they were cooled. As this geographically centered industry comprised three states, any attempt at legislation in one state was met by a prompt statement, "If you raise the age in Pennsylvania, we move our industry to West Virginia. We've got to have the boys in our business. If you legislate 'em out of it, we move." This threat, combined with consistent lobbying, for years prevented the passage of child labor legislation in these three states.

In Pennsylvania and Ohio the minimum age for night work in glass houses was fourteen, and in West Virginia, twelve, while in Indiana and Illinois, the two states directly west, the minimum limit for night work was sixteen. Slowly the supply of natural gas was exhausted in the Pennsylvania-West Virginia