In the early twentieth century, child labor was a serious problem in America. Children as young as six worked in the cotton mills of Georgia, and eight-year-olds toiled in the coal industry of Pennsylvania. One of the strongest advocates for the abolition of child labor was social worker and reformer Florence Kelley. On July 22, 1905, she gave a speech in front of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia. In the speech, Kelley uses appeals to logic and emotion as well as loaded words to convey the message that child labor should be banned under the law. Initially, Kelley appeals to her audience’s sense of logic. She accomplishes this by bringing up various facts and figures about child labor. One such fact says, “No other portion of the wage earning class increased so rapidly decade to decade as the young girls from fourteen to twenty years… no contingent so doubles from census period to census period (both by percent and by count of heads), as does the contingent of girls between twelve and twenty…” (Kelley 10).
Kelley brings up these statistics to alert the audience of the growing severity of the child labor issue. By saying that the children in the work force are increasing in percent and count of heads, she informs her audience that the amount of child laborers is going up, and they are composing a constantly-growing fraction of the work force. Since this continues to happen from decade to decade, the listener can reasonably deduce that the trend will continue unless some action is taken. In this case, that action would be the creation of laws banning child labor. Thus, Kelley identifies the growth of child labor through statistics to suggest to her audience that legal action must be taken to reverse the trend. Furthermore, Kelley appeals to her audience’s emotions throughout the speech. Specifically, she tries to make her listeners feel guilty and want to do something to cleanse their consciences. When addressing how the people assembled can help defeat child labor, she says, “No one in this room tonight can feel free from such participation. The children make our shoes… they knit our stockings… they spin and weave our cotton underwear…” (Kelley 10). This excerpt makes the listener feel guilty because it proves that everyone is involved in the prevalent issue of child labor. Kelley points out all the common clothing items that have been made by children to make the audience see that they have been supporting child labor by buying these products. This also makes the listeners feel angry towards themselves for unknowingly supporting such a horrible institution. Since Kelley showed that the audience played a role in the rise of child labor, the people feel as if it is also their responsibility to end it. This again provokes a hunt for an effective solution to the problem, which Kelley has explained to be anti-child labor legislation.
Overall, Kelley draws support for her cause by making the listener feel guilty and responsible for the prevalence of child labor. Finally, Kelley uses loaded words to evoke a passionate reaction from her audience. When discussing ending child labor, she repeatedly brings up “freeing the children” (Kelley 11). By phrasing their struggle this way, she depicts the children as people who are deprived of liberty and need help. To her audience, a group of Americans, liberty is an intense topic, so making it seem like the children lack liberty succeeds in eliciting an angry, emotional reaction. This garners more support for her cause and the children because the people will want to help groups that lack freedom, a pillar of American society, and they can pursue this goal through Kelley’s legal plan. To conclude, Kelley used a loaded phrase to draw fervent support for her plan to help child laborers. All in all, Florence Kelley appealed to her audience’s emotions and sense of logic and used loaded words to notify her listener of the seriousness of child labor in America and amass support for her plan to abolish it. After listening to her speech, one can be more aware of the need to assist oppressed people who cannot help themselves.
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