My dad taught me cashflow with a soda machine After a brief, failed experiment paying me to do chores, my dad tried something really neat. It clearly took a bit of legwork, but maybe there are some transferrable lessons for parents who want to lay an entrepreneurial foundation. He gave me a vending machine.
posted by elemenopee on Nov 11, 2011 - 100 comments

"Family working in the Tifton Cotton Mill. Mrs. A.J. Young works in mill and at home. Nell (oldest girl) alternates in mill with mother. Mammy (next girl) runs 2 sides. Mary (next) runs 1½ sides. Elic (oldest boy) works regularly. Eddie (next girl) helps in mill, sticks on bobbins. Four smallest children not working yet. The mother said she earns $4.50 a week and all the children earn $4.50 a week. Husband died and left her with 11 children. Two of them went off and got married. The family left the farm two years ago to work in the mill." [more inside]
posted by apricot on Oct 16, 2011 - 38 comments

Not a Dry Eye in the House. Maggie Doyne — Why the human family can do better. Maggie's story, and Maggie's blog: Life at Kopila Valley Children's Home. Instead of going home to the States to start her University education, Maggie decided there were more urgent things that needed doing right there and then in Nepal. More background and story from NJ.com..
posted by thisisdrew on Jan 13, 2011 - 9 comments

In the early twentieth century, photographer Lewis Hine took now-famous photographs of American child laborers. In the nearly hundred years since Hine took those photos, surely many viewers have wondered what became of the children he documented. Freelance historian Joe Manning has taken it upon himself to find out. [more inside]
posted by craichead on Jan 16, 2008 - 20 comments

When life imitates Simpsons (i.e. skittlebrau), it's generally funny. With the Onion, not so much.
posted by 445supermag on Oct 28, 2007 - 17 comments

Labor Day in the U.S. -- at least these folks care. Who could forget the joys of child labor? Or the beatings utilized by Ford and other companies to keep workers in line? Or the 11 children killed during the Ludlow Massacre? If you could use a refresher course on the General Textile Strike of 1934, the Pullman Strike of 1894 or the explosive Haymarket Affair, here's a good place to start. People strike in other countries, too, you know. It's always good to remember how you earned Your Rights As Workers. [Feel free to post more labor history links inside]
posted by mediareport on Sep 2, 2002 - 40 comments

"Do loose numbers do more harm than good?" That's the question asked by Norimitsu Onishi in a thought-provoking article in today's NY Times (reg req). Inflated numbers have often had an impact on policy and people's thinking, but when the truth comes out it can make a difference, for good or ill. (More inside.)
posted by languagehat on Aug 18, 2002 - 8 comments

Your chocolate bar contains beans picked by child slaves. From the Philadelphia Inquirer. Part of an excellent report into the Ivory Coast cocoa trade. Awful stuff, especially for a corporation like Hershey Foods, which exists for the benefit of a school for disadvantaged children. Apparently boycotts won't help. If we shouldn't boycott, can't take direct action, what can we do? (Via TurksHeadReview.)
posted by ftrain on Jun 25, 2001 - 26 comments