Children Cooking Cupcakes?

     Once upon a time, in a speech to the National Woman Suffrage Association, Florence Kelley used child labor to propel her argument. I think this was an extremely good idea because of the pathos she conveys, and the rhetoric she uses to advance her argument makes her justification seem very intelligent..
     Imagine this: you're enjoying a "Pink Elephants" cupcake (yes, this is a real thing http://pinkelephantcupcakes.com) and then find out that a child laborer slaved over it for hours. Does it taste as good now? No, and now you feel bad for having enjoyed something that put another in pain, especially a helpless child. This is how everyone that heard her speech felt; they empathized with these children and did not want them to suffer.  When Kelley refers to women sleeping through the issue, she implies that without a vote, women are completely helpless. This was a win-win situation, however, because if women could gain the right to vote they would indeed help the children.
     Maybe Jesus played a role in this too--not just conscience. Jesus wants the children protected, and women too.  It is a common moral (or religious belief) that all people should be treated fairly, and providing children with wretched conditions and prohibiting women to vote based on a simple, biological factor is completely unfair and immoral.
     Today, this does not seem like as big of an issue but it is only because of heroes like Florence Kelley that devoted their lives to helping others. Her speech also shows how combining to issues to benefit each other can have a very successful result.


(We had Pink Elephant cupcakes for my brother's grad party and I can assure you that they tasted better knowing that whomever made them earned at least minimum wage and worked in a building with safety regulations).