Saturday, February 4, 2012

LAD #29: Keating-Owen Child Labor Act





       Child labor in America was a rising problem during these times due to the fact that most of America was in poverty so families needed everyone to work. The conditions were so poor that children had 10-12 hours a day of work and unsanitary, dangerous conditions they would become injured and even killed because of these factors. The Keating-Owen act limited the log number of hours they had to work and goods made by children could not be sold over state borders. Over two million young boys and girls ranging from young children to teens were working in mines and factories along with other various jobs. The census that found these results sparked a movement towards reforming child labor. Muckrakers such as Lewis Hine were hired to further expose the terrible conditions with photographs and articles. Writers such as Charles Dickens wrote stories, such as Oliver that also exposed child labor. The Keating-Owens act was proposed in 1906 and the act "banned the sale of products from any factory, shop, or cannery that employed children under the age of 14, from any mine that employed children under the age of 16, and from any facility that had children under the age of 16 work at night or for more than 8 hours during the day." This act was passed by Woodrow Wilson although it was found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court case Hammer vs. Dagenhart. Eventually the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was created and is still in effect today.

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