Good
day. My name is Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper. I
am against Child labour. I believe
children are the young minds and future of the country we, (as
men of the world,) try so hard to bring to glory. However what
glory will we bring, if our children have been put down and
hurt, had their minds and bodies ruined by us, the people who
are supposed to be their leaders, their idols.
The future hopes of a country must, under God, be laid in the
character and condition of its children.
In
factories children work up to 16 hours per day, are as young as 5 or
6 years old. They are often injured, there are many deaths. And yet
they receive barely enough pay to stay alive. I ask you ladies and
gentlemen, those of you here who object, have you ever experienced
such cruelty as this? How do you have the right to give our
youngsters such suffering?
Factories
need new legislation, including abolishing child labour under the
age of 14 and bringing these children within the reach of education,
and within reach for a chance of happiness.
