Abstract
In 18o2 the first child-labor act was placed upon the statute books of England; in 19o09 a leading actress and intelligent woman can seriously argue that a statute prohibiting the employment of children under the age of sixteen in theaters is not only futile but opposed to the artistic and dramatic interests of the community, and can openly admit that the success of her engagement in one of the great cities of America is dependent upon her successful evasion of the laws of the state.' In 1879 Illinois succeeded in prohibiting the employment of children under fourteen in underground mining operation,2 but at the present time the distribution of the morning papers in Chicago is accomplished through the utilization of twelve-year-old boys from two until seven o'clock, and the sight of boys and girls between the ages of ten and sixteen on the streets of the city until midnight is familiar to all members of the community. In 1843 Mrs. Browning was moved by a parliamentary report upon the condition of the child workers in English mines to write The Cry of the Children. In 19o8 Harriet Monroe was similarly moved by the condition of the child workers in American cotton mills to voice their helplessness and their fatigue in The ShadowChild. 3
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