In this published excerpt of a lecture given on March 25, 1902, Addams describes how Hull-House provides a cheaper form of theater entertainment for the neighborhood.
Addams discusses the many programs at Hull-House that appeal to its immigrant neighbors and the additional value that their neighbors bring to the programs.
Addams makes a reasoned argument against a bill in the Illinois State Senate that would make child actors exmept from the provision of the 1903 Illinois Child Labor Law.
Addams led a contingent to oppose efforts to exclude child actors from child labor laws. She testified before the State Senate committee considering the bill, along with Will J. Davis (speaking for the bill), Mrs. Coonley-Ward, Mrs. A. T. Aldrich, Margaret Halsey, and Anna Nichols.
A published version of Addams' lecture on March 11 at the National Child Labor Committee Conference in Birmingham, Alabama, in which she presents arguments against an exception to the 1903 Illinois Child Labor Law for child actors and offers some Tolstoyan allegory to buttress her arguments.
