included.

"Fifty-six million and more inhabitants, and all faring so well
that only one fortieth part of one of these millions is employed
too early in this Empire State. Civilization could hardly do more.
See how America leads among all civilized countries as the
protector of the feeble, the guarantee of strength for the weakest.
No other country guards its children so well. There have been
errors, of course; such enlightenment is not reached at a bound;
but the last Legislature made further ones impossible, for it fixed
the minimum limit at which a child may be employed in factories at
thirteen years of age. By thirteen a child isn't likely to be
stunted or hurt by overwork. We protect all classes and the weakest
most."

Thus the political economist who stops at figures and considers any
further dealing with the question unnecessary. And if the law were of
stringent application; if parents told the truth as to age, and if the
two inspectors who are supposed to suffice for the thousands of
factories in the State of New York were multiplied by fifty, there might
be some chance of carrying out the provisions of this law. As it is, it
is a mere form of words, evaded daily; a bit of legislation which, like
much else bearing with it apparent benefit, proves when analyzed to be
not much more than sham. The law applies to factories only. It does not
touch mercantile establishments or trades that are carried on in
tenement-houses, and it is with these two latter forms of labor that we
deal to-day. In factory labor in the city of New York nine thousand
children under twelve years of age are doing their part toward swelling
the accumulation of wealth, each adding their tiny contribution to the
great stream of what we call the prosperity of the nineteenth century.
Thus far their share in the trades we have considered has been ignored.
Let us see in what fashion they make part of the system.

For a large proportion of the women visited, among whom all forms of the
clothing industry were the occupation, children under ten, and more
often from four to eight, were valuable assistants. In a small room on
Hester Street, a woman on work on overalls--for the making of which she
received one dollar a dozen--said:--

"I couldn't do as well if it wasn't for Jinny and Mame there. Mame has
learned to sew on buttons first-rate, and Jinny is doing almost as well.
I'm alone to-day