Iron Dbq

Throughout history, children have always worked, either as apprentices or servants. However, child labor reached a whole new scale during the time period of the Industrial Revolution. Throughout the time frame of late 1800s-early 1900s, children worked long hours in dangerous factory conditions for very little wages. They were considered useful as laborers because their small stature allowed them to be cramped into smaller spaces, and they could be paid less for their services. Many worked to help support their families, and by doing so, they forwent their education. Numerous nineteenth century reformers and labor groups sought to restrict child labor and to improve working conditions.

Near the last decades of the 19th century, America’s industrial economy skyrocketed. As these industrial leaders like Carnegie and Rockefeller not only lead the expansion through their respective industries, but revolutionized businesses while crushing free-market competition in the process. As

The working conditions in factories were so bad during this time that it often led to sickness, injuries and death. People who worked in mines had to face many dangerous disadvantages every day. The working conditions in mines were very unsafe,

Not only were the workers not treated well, the building was also very unsanitary and unsafe. They worked on top of each other in cramped spaces where there were just lines and lines of sewing machines. The exit doors were locked in order to stop the workers from leaving to go to the bathroom. Only the foreman had the keys to unlock the doors.There were four elevators that had access to the factory floors but only one of them were in working condition. In order to get to the working elevator, the workers had to go down a long narrow hallway. This elevator was only able to hold 12 people at a time. Factory floors had no sprinkler system and the entire building only had one fire escape that was not big enough for all of the people in

The working conditions of the new arrivals were hardly any better, as employees of factories were often overworked, underpaid, and penned up in dangerous conditions. Perhaps the horrors of these conditions can be highlighted by the devastating 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. Tragically, over one hundred young women lost their lives in the fire, as there was no way to get out, and the doors were locked, trapping the women inside. Safety was not the only problem, as workers initially were not given the right to organize into unions, essentially doomed to the repetitive motions of factory operation. This meant that they had no way to protest against child labor, wage slavery, and unhealthily long working hours. Eventually, with their growing clout and ever-present industrial dependence on their labor, workers organized and demanded reform along all aspects of hazardous working conditions.

Children would work for paid or unpaid labor. Girls were mainly used for unpaid labor in the homes, to do chores. Girls were also used to do the grocery shopping for the family. When families did not have girls, the boys were used for these tasks. The Federal Department of Labor said that child labor was usually for the work for the pay of children under the age of 14. As time went by more jobs were offered to children. Boys found jobs delivering items to homes, from age 8 to 9. They would take fifteen deliveries a week making one dollar and fifty cents, but through the 1950s their income increased. They also found jobs selling newspapers on the streets. They would buy the papers from the companies as wholesale, rent out a corner in the city, and start selling the papers for retail value. They were known as creative businessmen. Girls found part time paid labor, doing babysitting at homes, or becoming store clerks. After world war two jobs for adults had decreased, because the business owners would start hiring the many children that finished school. Throughout the century, child labor had decreased because of the rising of the standards of living in Canada. Children in the present do not have to be forced to work to bring home money. They are influenced to go to school, develop an education and accomplish a strong profession.

The growth helped transport goods more efficiently and diversify the market. Document 5 shows that from 1850 to 1900, industry based on animals and humans decreased while industry bases on water and coal increased. This provides evidence that industry was more reliant on resources instead on animals and humans. Water and coal resources effectively created power sources and pushed forward industrialization (Doc 5). Document 7 states “In 1882 the Carnegie Steel Company.. Inaugurated a policy whose object was to control all the factors which contributed to the production of steel, from the ore and coal in the ground to the steel billet and the steel rail.”

Safety was an issue; industries had no laws to protect the condition of workers. For example, 1911, Triangle fire, a hazard caused the life of some workers. Workers faced with environmental pollution such as toxic air, enamel dust and lead from the industries left several sick. The cities had no law enforced children

The Industrial Age was an era of great change for the United States. It had both positive and negative affects on many Americans, depending on their economical status. Overall, the rise of industry was good for the United States. For instance, inventions such as steel from Henry Bessemer “became important in the formation of our nation”. It gave rise to railroads for transportation and also helped expand trade between the East and the West. It brought goods from the farmers to the markets. Steel also gave rise to better farming machinery, skyscrapers and structures such as the Brooklyn Bridge. Other new inventions arose from this Industrial Era such as the sewing machine and the typewriter. This gave rise to many new jobs for women and children,

No one knew how to properly use the equipment because they were never taught and there was no directions to help them. It's diffucult to work with equipment that can be very dangerous. Often times there were fires because an error happened with the machinery. One of many, The Shirtwaist Factory Fire hurt many people, one hundred and seventy five died and more than one hundred were injured. They were unable to escape because  the fire was on the eighth, ninth and tenth floors. Also because the employers locked the doors to make sure they kept on working. There was no fire escape plan either, many had to jump to their death. The company refused to install sprinkler systems. There were many ways were the bosses could have avoided that

By 1860 the manufacturing industry was growing fast, there were approximately 140,000 factories mostly located in the north with about 1.5 million factory workers. Each worker made a median of 2 real dollars in income per week. As can be seen, 2 dollars isn't much to keep an average family size of 5 persons afloat. Due to this all family members needed to work, including children.Furthermore, Women were happily employed by factory owners because companies could pay them less. Due to their size, children were willingly employed to fix arduous places to approach in factory machines. As a result of all the people

In the 19th and 20th centuries, factories were very unsafe places to work, yet they were where most people found jobs. Factories had accidents all of the time, but the most notable of the tragedies is the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. The results of this event and many other factory accidents in the late 19th and early 20th centuries led to better overall conditions for workers, especially immigrant workers. In the case of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, employees were forced to work under horrible conditions. Many times, the employers abused their workers by setting clocks in the factory backwards which forced their workers to unknowingly work longer shifts for the same amount of pay. Also, most factory buildings in this time were highly unsafe, especially the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911.

Those who lived there faced similar problems to the people from Packingtown. The steel industry was in high demand because of the architecture advancements in skyscrapers and railroads. Again, the Poles found themselves in the blast furnace department as unskilled workers (Pacyga 87). It wasn't that they were not skilled, it was the language barrier keeping them from higher pay. As generations passed, English became their second language, and they were able to obtain skilled jobs. For those that did not speak English, the working conditions were difficult. For the Poles working in the furnace, it was the unbearable heat that proved to be the worst. Lung disease was another common health factor. Frequent accidents were also a great problem with the steel industry. Many cases were taken to court, but the liability was hard to prove (Pacyga 91). Falling objects, suffocation, and electrocution caused serious accidents and even death. Eventually the steel corporations released a safety program promoting the wellbeing of steelworkers. “The safety and welfare programs of the steel companies were also an economic success. The workforce became more stable and efficient” (Pacyga 97). It was a huge improvement for both the workers and the industry alike. At that point, Steel City was the best place to live. The rent was high compared to other neighborhoods, but the average Polish worker was able to scrape

They were kept in small rooms and often did not have ventilation. Not having the ventilation made it so an enormous amount of toxins are released into the small room that they were in. They would also make it really hot with all the toxins. So it made it extremely dangerous for a factory of workers. The machines claimed over 500,000 lives in 1900.

Later, many Third World countries such as Brazil built their own steel industries and large U.S. steelmakers faced increased competition from smaller, nonunion mills. The U.S. produced about half of the world's steel in 1945; by 1991 it was the third largest producer, with only 11% of the world market, behind the former Soviet Union and Japan. Since the 1970s, growing competition and the increasing availability of alternative materials, such as plastic, slowed steel industry growth; employment in the United States steel industry dropped from 2.5 million in 1974 to 1.6 million in 1991. Global production stood at 736 million tons in1991, down from 786million tons in 1988 (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 1993).