Chapter 314 Child Labor Act
The production situation in the coal mine did not exceed Purficott's expectations, and she was mentally prepared for the problem of child labor.
But when she really saw those children younger than her working naked in the mine, she still couldn't stop.
Those are teenagers, or even younger. After all, only children of this age can get into the narrow tunnels to work, while adults can only lie on the ground.
This is not to say that the mines are deliberately using child labor.
Perficott had no control over what was going on in the old world countries, but in her own territory in the north, she could still ensure that child labor would not be deliberately used in the mines.
But in this era, these child laborers will really starve to death if they don't work.
Expect them to study? Sorry, there are not so many schools in this era, and they can't afford the tuition.
Perhaps this sounds difficult to understand, but in fact, even in the original world that has entered the information age, the proportion of functional illiterates in the United States, the world's largest economy, still exceeds the total population. 10%.
This number means that more than 20% of adults in the United States do not have the ability to read and use words. They are unable to do daily life tasks such as understanding instructions, reading a newspaper, or looking up a dictionary.
Sound outrageous? But that’s what it is, and America isn’t even that bad.
China, which has the highest literacy rate in the world, has raised its population literacy rate to 97% through its literacy campaign and compulsory education, which are said to be miracles.
So, do you expect all these children to go to school in this era? Unless Purficott gave the order in the name of the Northern Lord, and she opened her own school without charging tuition, it would be possible to provide food and accommodation for these children.
Correspondingly, it is not only the huge education expenditure, but also the labor shortage caused by the lack of these "little workers" in various industries.
You must know that in this era, many small and crowded places rely on these children to use their thin bodies to pass smoothly and get into tunnels, machinery and other places to clean or repair.
They can even be said to be indispensable key technical jobs.
And even if Purficott didn't care about this and forced the universalization of compulsory education and sent all the children in the north to school, the parents of those children would not be willing to send their children to school.
It’s not that these parents are too ignorant to understand the benefits of letting their children read.
In fact, most of them can understand the benefits of learning a craft or technology, or having a good academic degree.
After all, the wages offered by the factory are real. If you have studied in elementary school, you can be a foreman or monitor; if you graduate from middle school and can understand drawings, it will be even better. You may be the technical supervisor in the factory; A serious engineer who graduated from university is a figure that all factory owners look up to.
So it’s not that these parents don’t want to send their children to school, it’s that they can’t afford the reduction in expenses and income that would result from having a child study completely off-the-job.
This is a very real problem.
Take textile workers as an example. In Langton's textile factory, skilled male textile workers can earn about half to one gold pound a week, while child labor wages are about a quarter of adults. If there are two or three children in the family, one person's salary can be increased.
And as the children grow up, this income will gradually increase until the children become adults and get married to start their own family.
In fact, in a considerable number of families, children will still live with their parents even after they get married as adults, because they cannot afford the expenses of independent living.
Children and minors are workers in social production and supporters of the family economy. This cruel social reality is difficult for even Perfect Cote to change.
But that doesn't mean she doesn't do anything.
“From now on, all workplaces in the North must restrict the use of child labor. Any child under the age of 16 must not work more than eight hours a day, and must not engage in heavy manual labor such as coal mining and steel. work, and dangerous work that risks loss of limbs." Purficott exercised his full power as Lord of the North and promulgated new laws.
Not only that, she also issued another order: "The order of the Lord of the North requires that all settlements in the North must establish primary schools, and children between the ages of five and twelve must attend school compulsorily, ensuring that they have at least half a day every day. Time is in school ”
Although this is still cruel, or it is still exploiting the poor child laborers, it is already a huge improvement compared to the time before they had to work in dangerous environments for at least 14-18 hours a day.
Although this may greatly affect the income of child laborers and have a huge impact on their family economy, Purficott does not want to see places such as child labor mines appearing in the northern lands. superior.
As for implementing compulsory education laws and requiring all children to attend school compulsorily, as in the original world, this is unrealistic.
We must know that it took Britain in the original world more than half a century from 1802 to 1870 to gradually solve the problem of child labor. It is impossible for Perfectcott to do anything about this matter at this critical moment. Make big changes.
Being able to provide them with education, improve the working environment, and shorten working hours within a limited scope is the limit of what she, the northern lord, can do.
However, even so, some people were still opposing this matter, and some even came to protest in front of Purficott.
“The new law you enacted is so unrealistic! Letting those children stop working and go to school will cause the factory to lose a lot of labor force! I can’t find qualified workers to run the machines now "Go!" A bald man with a huge aquiline nose shouted in front of Purficott, looking very excited as he danced.
But Purficott just looked at him with cold eyes and asked in a tone that could not tell the joy or anger: "Then what do you think I should do?"
"You It's only right to let those children work! They should work instead of wasting time in school." The bald man seemed to think that Perfectcott had given in, so he showed a triumphant expression on his face. She sat down in front of her, took out a cigar and said: "I also agree to let those brats read more books, so that they can get more useful workers.
But those brats are not that good. Material! You don’t know, they learn things very slowly even in factories. Poor people shouldn’t waste their time learning anything. They need a whip to learn to work..."
Just as the bald man continued to talk nonsense and wanted to light the cigar in his hand, Perfectcott, who could no longer bear it, raised his hand: "Who allowed you to be so presumptuous in front of me?"
(End of this chapter)