ShmoopTube

00:02

Oh All right A pushers We've got a paragraph from

00:09

the North Carolina labor statistics people here We're going to

00:12

ask you two questions about him but let's skin this

00:14

thing first They're about two hundred of engaging in class

00:17

of working the male one hundred children with small children

00:19

and twelve years only trouble wages than I paid in

00:21

cash Traded an employee's goodbye within the company store not

00:24

rites and practices told back of factories Tell me cash

00:27

every week And I mean twelve hours only complaint Kind

00:30

of closing and work here Interesting Well what was the

00:33

primary reason so many children worked in the mills When

00:41

Mills and other businesses set wages for workers men were

00:44

paid the most women were paid less and children were

00:47

paid the least It was to the company's benefit to

00:49

hire as many children as possible Of course parents allowed

00:52

their children toe work because while many families were so

00:55

poor they just needed the added money a child could

00:58

earn It wasn't much money but for a poor family

01:00

it could mean the difference between you know eating and

01:02

going hungry So the answer here is See children could

01:05

be paid less than adults and their families needed the

01:08

money Well While it's true that a few people were

01:10

able to advance themselves by working in the mills most

01:13

people remained in poverty There were many systems in place

01:16

to keep them there like charging rent for machines used

01:19

and paying the workers in trade checks instead of cash

01:22

And then there were also while some jobs that were

01:24

more suited to children than two adults because of their

01:27

small physical size like a But it was not the

01:29

motivating reason so many children worked in the mills and

01:32

was not true for all jobs Finally most children would

01:35

have preferred to go to school rather than work in

01:37

the mills Yes School's not that bad Yeah moving on 00:01:41.21 --> [endTime] Are you see

Full Transcript