Don’t raise unruly people in extreme cold weather

Chapter 314 Child Labor Act
The coal mine's production conditions did not exceed Purficott's expectations, and she was mentally prepared for the issue of child labor.

But when she actually saw 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 10% of the total population.

This figure 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 perform daily 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.

In fact, most of them can understand the benefits of learning a craft or technology, or having a good academic degree.

It’s not that these parents are too ignorant to understand the benefits of having their children read.

China, which has the highest literacy rate in the world, has raised its population's literacy rate to 97% thanks to its miraculous literacy campaign and compulsory education.

So, do you expect all these children to go to school in this era? Unless Purficott ordered it 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.

After all, the wages offered by the factory are real. You can be a foreman or monitor if you have studied in elementary school. If you graduate from middle school and can understand drawings, it will be even better. You may be the technical supervisor in the factory. And a serious engineer who graduates from university That is a figure that all factory owners hold dear.

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.

They can even be said to be indispensable key technical jobs.

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.

Correspondingly, there are not only huge education expenditures, but also labor shortages caused by the lack of these "little workers" in various industries.

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 the wages of child laborers are about a quarter of that 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 reach adulthood and get married and 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 to change even for Purficott.

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. Children under the age of 16 must not work more than eight hours a day, and are not allowed to engage in heavy physical labor such as coal mining, steel, etc., or those with physical disabilities. Dangerous work with risk of damage." 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 be compulsorily enrolled in school, ensuring that they spend at least half a day in school every day."

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.

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 make major changes in this matter at this critical moment.

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!" A man with a huge The hook-nosed bald head shouted in front of Purficott, dancing and looking very excited.

But Purficott just looked at him with cold eyes and asked in a tone that couldn't tell whether he was happy or angry: "Then what do you think I should do?"

"You should take back your orders and let those children go to work. That's the right thing to do! They should work instead of wasting time in school." The bald head seemed to feel that Perfectcott had given in, so he showed a triumphant expression on his face. , sat down in front of her, took out a cigar and said: "I also agree to let those brats read more books, so that we can get more useful workers.

But those brats are not that 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 not bear it anymore, raised his hand: "Who allowed you to be so presumptuous in front of me?"

(End of this chapter)