"To the Christmas holiday season, when children are employed for a few weeks in the department stores, can be traced the direct cause of the large numbers of young children deserting the schools for the shop or factory life. After having tasted the pleasure of bringing home her first week's earnings, and entering into the excitement of the work, the child does not care to go back to the school, and after this first little experience in the big commercial world, prefers to forsake the school life for the shop or factory."
"Of course," said Miss [Addams], "the parents in a measure are to blame for this state of affairs, for during the summer months, when there is no school, parents in needy circumstances set their children to work, arguing that it is better for them to be at work than on the street. However, I would rather children were allowed to run in the streets than to have them working in factories. I believe that the little street gamin is stronger physically and mentally than the boy in the factory, and I believe his morals are apt to be better than those of the boys confined in the shops and factories, where they see nothing of the brighter side of life."
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