laborers on the farms.

The causes of child labor lie in the poverty and greed of parents, the
demands of employers, and often the desire of the children to escape
from school and earn money. In spite of agitation and legislation, the
indifference of the public permits it to continue and in some
sections to increase.

The harmful effects of child employment are numerous. It is true that
two-thirds of the boys and nearly one-half of the girls employed in
the United States are occupied with agriculture, most of them with
their own parents, an occupation that is much healthier than indoor
labor, yet agriculture demands long hours and wearisome toil. In the
cities there is much night-work and employment in dangerous or
unhealthy occupations. The sweating system has carried its bad effects
into the homes of the very poor, for the younger members of the family
can help to manufacture clothing, paper boxes, embroidery, and
artificial flowers, and in spite of the law, such labor goes on far
into the night in congested, ill-ventilated tenements. Children cannot
work in this way day after day for long hours without serious physical
deterioration. Some of them drop by the way and die as victims of an
economic system and the social neglect that permits it. Others lose
the opportunity of an education, and so are mentally less trained than
the normal American child, and ultimately prove less efficient as
industrial units. For the time they may add to the family income, but
they react upon adult labor by lowering the wage of the head of the
family, and they make it impossible for the child when grown to earn a
high wage, because of inefficiency. The associations and influences of
the street are morally degrading, and in the associations of the
workroom and the factory yard the whole tone of the life of
individuals is frequently lowered.

56. =Child-Labor Legislation.=--Friends of the children have tried to
stop abuses. Trade-unions, consumers' leagues, and State bureaus have
taken the initiative. Voluntary organizations, like the National Child
Labor Committee, make the regulation of child labor their special
object. They have succeeded in the establishment of a Federal
Children's Bureau in Washington, and have encouraged State and
national legislation. Most of the States forbid the employment of
children under a certain age, usually twelve or fourteen years, and
require attention to healthful conditions and moderate hours. They
i