The subsequent advance of capitalism created new social pressures. The medieval guild system introduced children to the trades. When these groups separated into families, children continued to work by caring for livestock and crops. 9 During early human history when tribes wandered the land, children participated in the hunting and fishing. One of the authors who noted that “children have always worked” is Walter Trattner. 7 Most families simply could not afford the costs of raising a child from birth to adulthood without some compensating labor. 6 Large families with less work than children would often send children to another household that could employ them as a maid, servant, or plowboy. 5 The agrarian lifestyle common in America required large quantities of hard work, whether it was planting crops, feeding chickens, or mending fences. 4 At an age as young as 5, a child was expected to help with farm work and other household chores. As numerous authors on the subject have remarked, “Children have always worked.” 3 In the 18th century, the arrival of a newborn to a rural family was viewed by the parents as a future beneficial laborer and an insurance policy for old age. The move away from engaging children in economically productive labor occurred within the last 100 years. Now, nearly 110 years after the story of the chieftain was told, the overt presence of widespread child labor in New York or any other American city no longer exists. From the Industrial Revolution through the 1930s was a period in which children worked in a wide variety of occupations. Upon the completion of the chieftain’s journey, several Christian men asked him, “What is the most surprising thing you have seen?” The chieftain replied slowly with three words: “little children working.” 2Īlthough the widespread presence of laboring children may have surprised the chieftain at the turn of the 20th century, this sight was common in the United States at the time. He observed the comfortable masses gathered in amusement at the circus and the poor huddled in tenements. On this excursion, he saw the soaring heights of the grand skyscrapers and the majesty of the Brooklyn Bridge. The chieftain was given a tour of the modern city of New York. The September 1906 edition of Cosmopolitan magazine recounts a story once told of an old Native American chieftain.

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