Florence Kelley's Speech On Child Labor
Florence Kelley, a member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1905, issued a speech about the harsh and unjust treatment of children in factories. Kelley starts her speech in an authoritative tone with “in this country, two million children under the age of sixteen years who are earning their bread.” Her audience, the members of the NAWSA, is immediately hit with the knowledge, and emotions, that such a vast number of children are in such dangerous conditions.
Furthermore, facts are not always enough, and Kelley goes on to say “tonight while we sleep several thousand little girls will be working in textile mills… silks and ribbons for us to buy.” This imagery is harsh and unforgivable, and paired with the tone Kelley sets …show more content…
The ‘best’ preventative child labor law in the south is from Alabama and even then, it's still not very preventive. Their law states that “a child under 16 years of age shall not work in a cotton mill at night longer than eight hours.” What about the children who work in different types of factories? Does it not matter the length of time in which they are forced to stay awake while working around large, dangerous machines? Kelley goes on to continue that while this law in Alabama still leaves loopholes, it's better than nothing, like Georgia has. She expresses that a “girl of six or seven years, just tall enough to reach the bobbins, may work eleven hours by day or by night.” Kelly then ties in her views as a suffragist and states that if “the mothers and the teachers in Georgia could vote, would the Georgia Legislature have refused… to stop the work in the mills of children under twelve years of age?”
Lastly Kelley speaks about how the children are making “our shoes...our stockings, our knitted underwear.” Her words suggest that it is the consumer's fault for child labor, and the repetition of the word ‘our’ reinforces that the children are producing what the people want and need. The strict tone, in which Kelley conveys herself leads to both a shameful and guilty
Furthermore, facts are not always enough, and Kelley goes on to say “tonight while we sleep several thousand little girls will be working in textile mills… silks and ribbons for us to buy.” This imagery is harsh and unforgivable, and paired with the tone Kelley sets …show more content…
The ‘best’ preventative child labor law in the south is from Alabama and even then, it's still not very preventive. Their law states that “a child under 16 years of age shall not work in a cotton mill at night longer than eight hours.” What about the children who work in different types of factories? Does it not matter the length of time in which they are forced to stay awake while working around large, dangerous machines? Kelley goes on to continue that while this law in Alabama still leaves loopholes, it's better than nothing, like Georgia has. She expresses that a “girl of six or seven years, just tall enough to reach the bobbins, may work eleven hours by day or by night.” Kelly then ties in her views as a suffragist and states that if “the mothers and the teachers in Georgia could vote, would the Georgia Legislature have refused… to stop the work in the mills of children under twelve years of age?”
Lastly Kelley speaks about how the children are making “our shoes...our stockings, our knitted underwear.” Her words suggest that it is the consumer's fault for child labor, and the repetition of the word ‘our’ reinforces that the children are producing what the people want and need. The strict tone, in which Kelley conveys herself leads to both a shameful and guilty