It was this way in the West as well. In 1697 John Locke urged families to put their children to work at age three or else they would have only “bread and water, and that very scantily too.” "These children were destitute...Their only refuge was the factory,” which “saved them from death by starvation.” ~Ludwig von Mises
"Before the Industrial Revolution pretty much everyone other than the Kings and the Priests lived like this. Incomes in 1600 AD England, one of the richer countries at the time, were not above $2 a day (yes, in modern money and modern prices). Incomes in China in 1978 were also about this level. Sad as it is to say this, this is normal, the natural state of mankind over the past 10,000 years. Nineveh, Rome, Medieval Italy, Elizabethan England and, even sadder to say, some 500 million of our current fellow human beings, all lived or currently do live at around this level." Tim Worstall
When the factories in the West were shut down, children were forced to look for usually lower-paying and more dangerous jobs in the countryside. Over time, conditions improved to where children did not have to work so hard. I however appreciate the work my parents made me do when I was a child. I hated it at the time, but in looking back I am glad they did it. To this day, I think less of someone who has never picked up a hammer or a shovel. Oh, and keep the above picture handy for the next time someone wants to talk to you about "white privilege."
How "Sweatshops" Help the Poor
In Praise of Cheap Labor
Bad jobs at bad wages are better than no jobs at all.
By Paul Krugman
“Africa desperately needs Western help in the form of . . . sweatshops.”
Buy this published Kindle book on Amazon on the Strange History of Medicine and Buy this book: The Folly of Socialism (40 Chapters)
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