With the introduction of the factory system in the textile industry in England in the latter part of the eighteenth century, it became possible to substitute in a large measure child labor for adult labor. Manufacturers found it profitable to take children from the parish workhouses or to purchase them from dealers in children for the purpose of keeping them employed in their factories practically as slaves, under conditions of utter brutality. In 1802 Sir Robert Peel succeeded in having a law passed which was considered very advanced legislation in that day and which provided that for these pauper factory children twelve hours should constitute a day's labor. But this law applied only to pauper apprentices. Other children were free to work longer hours. Then the Act of 1819 was passed, an act so radical that it was never enforced. It forbade the employment of children under nine years of age in certain factories and limited the hours of those between nine and sixteen to twelve hours per day. But as time went on public sentiment was developed and the laws became more restrictive and their enforcement more certain, until finally, through child labor legislation and educational restriction, the life of the child had been comparatively well safeguarded in England.

While the conditions of child labor in the United States have never been so bad as they were at their worst in England, there has always been much room for improvement. At the present time in states having more advanced legislation, children under fourteen years of age are not allowed to work in a great many occupations; young persons between fourteen and sixteen or fourteen and eighteen have had their number of hours per day limited to eight, and night work for minors has been abolished wholly or in part. On the other hand, some of the southern states have been very backward in legislating for the protection of the child. Extremely long days are still permitted for children of tender years and such protective legislation as there is, is seldom enforced. Since the children of to-day are the fathers and mothers of the coming generation it requires no extended argument to show that the state's duty to itself demands that it preserve their vitality. Fortunately, there are several agencies, such as the National Child Labor Committee, which are spreading the gospel of the need of adequate protection for children. The task is a very large one and the process must be slow, but it is gratifying to know that there is steady progress in this direction.