In the early 1900’s during the progressive era, child labor had become widespread throughout the United States. Children were useful workers for factories due to the fact that they were small and on often be paid less than the adult working in same factory. The work area that they underwent were exceedingly hard and dangerous often times leading to death. John Spargo, a progressive writer, wrote a book called The bitter cry of children. In his book he exposed the conditions that children faced in their working environment to the public. One job in particular he wrote about was the coal mines stating, “The coal is hard, and accidents to the hands, such as cut, broken, or crushed fingers, are common among the boys. Sometimes there is a worse