I am not unmindful of the fact that the presentation of the darkest side
of England’s experience may have the effect of inducing in some minds a
certain spirit of content,—a pharisaical thanksgiving that we are “not
as other men” have been in a past that is not very remote. I accept,
gladly, the issue implied in that attitude. It is no part of my purpose
to discount the social and ethical gains which have resulted from the
struggle against child labor, or to paint in unduly dark colors the
problem as it presents itself to us in the United States to-day. No good
purpose is served by exaggeration; progress is not quickened by denying
the progress that has been made.
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