Child Labor Gazette

6 Pages 1486 Words

Child Labor Gazette Pg. 1
Headlines for Today:
March 23, 2003 Edition
By Ryan Pittman—Block 4

LEADING STORIES……
Reformers Help End Child Labor Practices.
What is a reformer, anyway? Reformers are people who want to make positive changes for the good of society. They wanted to help put an end to unfair child labor practices that went on for years and no one did anything to stop them. They believed that the more people were informed about the poor working conditions of young children that they had to endure, the better their message would be spread and their cause would be made public. Reformers would help to convince voters to create and pass a law to end child labor for good. These reformers would go to the newspapers and give speeches to inform others. With the help of Lewis H. Hines’s photographs of the children in the mines and in the mills, the reformers were able to convince more and more people that a law to stop child labor needed to be put in place and practiced now.
In 1904, in an effort to end child labor altogether, the reformers formed a committee, which was called the National Child Labor Committee. Lewis Hines’s graphic pictures helped convince the majority of people in America that child labor was going on then and that it was not right. Reformers and activists urged people not to buy clothing or products from these companies who made it a habit to put children to work and turn out their products by force. By conducting this “strike,” the reformers had hoped that by not supporting child labor practices, that the children would no longer be forced to make products like clothing, ropes and cotton in the mills.
The United States Congress passed laws in 1916, and again in 1919, but the Supreme Court struck down these laws. However, in 1938, the Supreme Court ended up passing the Fair Labor Standards Act, which did not permit children under a certain age to work, and for those...