Page:Solution of the Child Labor Problem.djvu/98

91 are best for them to do, hence it is manifestly ridiculous to expect the child to be able to decide judiciously between the school, with its education, and work, with its freedom and pocket money.

The desire of the child to get money, and the things which money buys, can scarcely be classed as greed, nor can it be assigned as a moving cause of child labor. It is rather an incidental one. On the other hand, there is a greed of parents which deserves the most absolute condemnation.

In one soft-coal mining town a man was found who, though hale and hearty, spent most of his time carousing at the saloon. He was enabled to do this because his three boys, of nineteen, seventeen, and eleven, were steadily employed in the mines, where they were able to make an average of about $100 a month, when the work was good. The family owned a farm of sixty-five acres, a good house and barn, and a horse and cow. One sister was making good wages "working out," and the mother did her best. Thus, in spite of father's idleness, the family