Letter To Editor Complaing of Conditions of Child Labor During English Industrial Revolution

Dear Mr. Editor,

Recently you sent me on an assignment to document the latest fashion trends in the textile industry but as I have been spending more and more time at Mr. Samuel Greg's factory, it has occurred to me that this article should be based on the conditions of the factory's employees. Although this was not my assignment I am sure the public would eat up the article based on the shocking scenarios that I have witnessed here at the factory,

First of all I would like to share with you exactly who the employees are. About 50% of the employees that I have seen are under 10 years of age. These children although still quite young are treated with very much responsibility and if they do not follow through with their orders they are often beaten or whipped. Just the other day I witnessed a 7 year old male named William who was beaten so severely for showing up just ten minutes late for work that he could barely walk to his workstation afterwards. Although he is lucky he can walk in the first place for many of the children here are starting to develop weak knees, shoulders and elbows because of the long, strenuous days of standing up. Many of the children also look like they should receive medical treatment immediately just based on how thin and pale they look. The amount of food that they receive does not help much either, usually just some rations of Derbyshire cake and water porridge along with a small amount of milk. But of course the children had to stand and tend to their machines all while eating this.

The amount of money that these child adults are paid is also ridiculous. For all the hard work and effort that each one of these children puts into their sometimes 14 hour days they are still only paid 2-4 pence per day. This amount of money is ridiculous based on the current economic conditions where that type of payment can barely feed and house one person let alone a whole family the child may be trying to support. Often family's must send many of their children to the factories just to get by.

I ask you to please reconsider my assignment; the current conditions of these factories are horrendous and must get attention from the public for change immediately. I believe that the response of the article if changed upon my request could get enough attention to strongly boost the readers of the newspaper and could substantially be a large gain for the corporation. Please get back to me on this as soon as possible.

Thanks,

Reporter: