This photograph emphasizes the bleakness associated with child labor during the early 1900s. A breaker boy is a child who separates good quality coal from other impurities to feed the burners and engines of the technology of the age of the steam engine. Hine exposes the harsh working conditions of these breaker boys in an attempt to fight for social reform, a very vital subject in New York’s history. Just looking at the soot and dirt on their emotionless faces shows how horrible child labor really was, and this picture helped bring that issue to the public.