Florence Kelly, a late 19th century factory inspector, described the plight of the “Cash Child” at a conference in Geneva, New York. As a newspaper clipping describes it: "She called attention to the fact that, absorbed in our efforts to celebrate the birth of the Christ child, we ignore the presence of the money child, whose young life is a sacrifice to our indifference. .” Adolescence is the beginning of many positive changes for individuals, and giving children more time to develop would result in far greater benefits than those provided by underpaid child labor. While the use of children for labor has long been a feature of agrarian societies, where adding another child to the family also added another worker to the family farm, 19th century industrialization had the effect of eliminating the need for farm workers for many menial tasks. , while making jobs in more urban environments more lucrative. This centralization of low-skilled employment opportunities, coupled with rapid immigration of foreign workers at a time when growing demand demanded increased productivity while attempting to maximize profits by hiring easier-to-control children, led to a perfect storm of job opportunities, and beyond. exploitation, working children. While these children were able to provide some income for their families in a manner similar to that of their ancestors working in agriculture, this also created a rapidly growing underclass by ensuring that children who survived the dangers of industrial employment remain uneducated beyond the narrow confines of their lives. occupation. These issues paved the way for Progressive Era reforms against child labor. From 1916 to 1941, national efforts to reduce and...... middle of paper...... Labor. Geneva: International Labor Office, 2004. Kelly, Florence. “Florence Kelly talks about child labor.” American Memory from the Library of Congress. Accessed November 23, 2013. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/rbcmiller:@field(DOCID+rbcmilscrp1015201).Norton, Mary Beth. A People and a Nation: A History of the United States, 9th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2012. Smith, Ken. “United States Unemployment Rates 1910-1960.” CurrentsOfChange. Accessed November 23, 2013. http://currentsofchange.net/map/unempoyment-rate/.Trattner, Walter I. Children's Crusade; A history of the National Committee on Child Labor and child labor reform in America. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1970. Yellowitz, Irwin. “Child Labor – History.com Articles, Videos, Images, and Facts.” History.com. Accessed November 23, 2013. http://www.history.com/topics/child-labor.