The employment of children continued, though some individual employers reduced it as much as possible without seriously crippling their forces.

This was a real danger so long as there were no legal restrictions on child labor.

Children worked upon the farm as children have done since farming began, and the average farmer who moved to the mill was unable to see the difference between working on the farm and working in the mill.

In fact, to his mind, work in the mill seemed easier than exposure on the farm to the summer sun and the winter cold.
Men who were not conscious of deliberately exploiting their children urged the manager of the mill to employ a child of twelve or even ten.
If the manager refused, he was threatened with the loss of the whole family.

A family containing good operatives could always find employment elsewhere, and perhaps the manager of another mill would not be so scrupulous.