Stevens wrote on child labor in "Child Slavery in America" a chapter entitled "The child, the factory, and the state" ("The Arena", vol. 10, June 1894), while an assistant factory inspector for Illinois. It was written from the standpoint that systematic wage labor on the part of children is an unmitigated evil as it is in childhood that all the habits are formed which are to determine what a man or woman will be disposed to do, or will be able to do, when grown. A child reared into an adult without participating in productive work is more often spoiled than benefited by the exemption. The discussion was more of a judicious and instructive study than hyper-fervid diatribes. The real question she probed was how early in life does productive labor become essential to the best growth of body, mind and ability.