Address to Parker School, March 27, 1907
Jane Addams had presented to the Parker School on March 27, 1907 in regards to child welfare. In this speech she intended to speak to children on the importance of attending school. In one instance she exclaimed how she visited a factory in which she witnessed a little girl who looked about five years of age, this girl, too tiny to even reach the machine she was using, had to step on a box to add extra height, and moved back and forth working in the middle of the night. Addams witnessed the young girl was also chewing on tobacco. Addams on March 27, 1907 claimed that she even spoke to the owner of the Factory and he was proud that this young child was able to work three nights a week over night without tiring out. Children as young as four years of age were put to work, and their young bodies unable to physically take the cost that working all day and night would cause. In this speech she kept her story short and simple for the listening children to grasp an understanding of the importance of school and the negative qualities of working children in America.
Addams, Jane.“Address to the Parker School, March 27, 1907,” Jane Addams Digital Edition, http://digital.janeaddams.ramapo.edu/items/show/5982.