•March of the Mill Children•
"In Georgia where children work day and night they have just passed a law to protect song birds. What about the little children from whom all song is gone?" —Mother Jones [1]
In 1903, there were 10,000 textile mill child laborers on strike in Kensington, Pennsylvania. Mother Jones observed that many of the children were malnourished and missing hands or fingers [2]. Jones was savvy, knowing that since child labor increased the profits of factories, there was little incentive for owners to improve working conditions. Elected officials turned a blind eye to the horrors of child labor, focusing on the interests of the wealthy since that was where the money and power lay. Without public outrage, conditions were unlikely to change.
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"Philadelphia's mansions were built on the broken bones, the quivering hearts, and drooping heads of these children." —Mother Jones [3]
Vowing that "no child will be sacrificed on the altar of profit," Mother Jones organized an "army" of 300 children to march around the northeastern states to garner publicity [4]. With each location they visited, the public rallied around them, offering encouragement [5]. Everybody — from universities to newspapers to preachers — began talking about the unique campaign. The 92 mile trek ended at President Theodore Roosevelt's home in New York [6].
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"These little toilers who I have taken from the mills — deformed, dwarfed in body and soul, with nothing but toil before them — have never heard that they have a chance." —Mother Jones [7]
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