Labor conditions at the beginning of the century were dangerous, dirty and miserable.

Why did employers like to use children?

Why were industrial conditions so bad?

Why did these conditions go unchecked?

Why weren't workers able to organize and unionize for better conditions?

Why did employers like to use children?

The condition of labor in the early twentieth century was problematic due to opposition to labor unions, weak labor protections. Industrial operations and factories operated without and outside of government regulation. Many industrialists were opposed to unions and relied on child labor because children were cheap labor and were unlikely to unionize or mobilize. Wages were very low. Minimum wages and hours had not been established either.