In Philadelphia on July 22, 1905, social worker and reformer, Florence Kelley, stands before mothers and wives of men who can vote at the National American Woman Suffrage Association convention. During his convention Kelley delivers a successful speech on the importance of child labor laws. As fellow suffragette, Kelley incorporates rhetorical strategies such as the appeal to guilt, rhetorical questions, and imagery in order to place a sense of urgency on the importance of child labor laws.
In paragraphs nine and eleven, Kelley appeals to guilt in order to make her claim on child labor clear. In paragraph nine, Kelley refers to her audiences consciences being under a great burden of evil. The horrid evil will continue to haunt their mind until there are no longer small white girls working ten to twelve hours a night while they peacefully sleep. To further their guilt Kelley goes into detail of the children's work, about how they made the exact clothing the audience are wearing at that moment. Kelley blames America for the children being "...robbed of school life..." so that "...they may work for us".
In paragraphs eight and nine, Kelley directly addresses mothers and women of all kind with rhetorical questions. Without expecting an answer Kelley asks, "...if mothers in New Jersey were enfranchised?", meaning that if women had the right to vote would the change the conditions of child labor. Since the audience is made up mainly of women, some whom may be married, they have an automatic motherly instinct towards children. Those who may be married are more likely to go home and persuade to their husbands to vote for the necessity of child labor laws.
In paragraph three Kelley employes imagery to make the situation more real. Kelley describes the conditions of the factories to be dangerous to the girls health. Kelley uses the word to "deafening" in order to prove the horrendous conditions the girls are being put...