The Harbinger Summary

During the early period of the early 19th century, women came to the mills of their own accord, for various reasons: to help a brother pay for college, for the educational opportunities offered in Lowell, or to earn a supplementary income for themselves. While their wages were only half of what men were paid, they became free from the controlling dozens of fathers and husbands which at first seemed to be a positive experience. As a result, while factory life would soon come to be experienced as oppressive, it enabled these women to challenge assumptions of female inferiority. The young working girls endured hard work hours, low wages, and spoor living conditions. For example, their working conditions of long hours on average of at least twelve to thirteen hours per day were rigid conditions for these young women. The low wages and harsh living conditions can take a psychological toll on the women. As told in her own story, “Amelia”, a working girl who used a pen name described her opinion of factory life. She said “receives therefrom a Regulation paper, containing the rules by which she must be governed while in their employ: and lo! Here is the beginning of mischief: for in addition to the tyrannous and oppressive rules which meet her astonished eyes she finds herself compelled to remain for the space of twelve months…in fact, constituting herself a slave, a

The factories housed the latest technology of the Gilded Age, such as the assembly line. The mass production that the assembly line brought about made the rich richer, but did nothing to help the poor. They were working long hours in sometimes extremely dangerous conditions. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was considered one of the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city. Since, the owners locked the doors to the stairwells and exits - due to theft and unauthorized breaks - many of the workers were trapped with nowhere to go. As a result 147 garment workers died from smoking inhalation and falling to their deaths. In response a newspaper published an article titled “Fire Trap Victims Buried Draft New Law to Save Shop Workers,” covers the stories of the survivors and witnesses as well as questioning who was at fault and what further actions would take place (Document

The writing portray the harsh conditions and explored lives of immigrants in the United States and meat packing industry conditions. America's meat production has always been a large industry met with demands from those both inside and outside of the United States, which is why it is important to ensure its' stability and success. By the late 1800s meat was in high demand, so companies were producing at a faster rate than they were comfortable with and discrepancies were growing with it. Meatpacking factories used the most recent immigrants and migrants as strikebreakers in labor actions taken by other workers, also usually immigrants or early descendants. Workers working in the factory would easily be infected by diseases carried out by the dead meat and animals. In addition, risks of injuries were resulted by machinery work and rat foods mixed into the machine. Rats and insects were everywhere and they would often being mixed up into raw meats. However, most readers were more concerned with the exposure of health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meatpacking

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.

In Document B, which was explained by David A. Wells, an engineer and economist, was informative on how working condition were analogous to a military organization, “in which the individual no longer works as independently as formerly, but as a private in the ranks, obeying orders, keeping step, as it were, to the tap of the drum, and having nothing to say as to the plan of his work, of its final completion, or of its ultimate use and distribution. In short, the people who work in the modern factory are, as a rule, taught to do one thing—to perform one and generally a simple operation; and when there is no more of that kind of work to do, they are in a measure helpless.” (Document B) Which meant that workers at the factory basically don’t hold responsibility to themselves, as workers mainly are only trained to one job, relating to David A. Well theory. Document F sourced by Samuel Gompers, also portrays how the conditions were explaining that there was too many workers trying to fit in one factory place, and poor conditions. This was how union were created, to regain benefits, as well for better working

The Industrial Revolution occurred in Britain and America around the late 1700’s to 1900. This revolution improved the production of goods using new mechanisms and machines. Human labor was in high demand in order for the highest production rates. Factories employed low to middle-class people that were as young as three years old (Document 9). These workers were benefited with money, shelter, and clothes, but the working and living conditions were not satisfying. The average industrial worker experienced a variety of factors that can be classified as good or bad, including the positive effects of labor, like the shelter, money, and food they were given; and the negative effects of the factory,

They spend 12 to 14 hours each day shut up in a low-ceiling rooms they are all sickly and emaciated, their bodies thin and frail, their limbs feeble, their complexions pale, their eyes dead. This is the horror that Flora Tristan witnessed; people were working more than half a day with no food, clothes, and the working conditions were full of toxic air and other harmful substances. Her standpoint in this statement can be said as being non-biased as she is a socialist and thus, she cares (Doc. 7). People reacted violently to these conditions, which forced the government to pass the Ten Hours Act, which limited the number of hours a worker could work to ten hours a day. This resulted in better condition of the workers. William Abram, a journalist and historian, noticed, the condition of the factory laborers has been vastly improved (Doc. 10). This shows the result of the reaction of the people. The point of view of William Abram is factual and accurate as he is a journalist and a historian, and his work is to provide people with the truth. As witnessed by Frances Kemble, actress, poet, and dramatist, people were [s]houting No Corn Laws when she arrived in Manchester during the inaugural of railway. This shows the reaction to the wages that workers got before some reforms in Manchester (Doc. 4). Document 10 also states that the [w]ages thanks

They would have no nails,-they had worn them off pulling hides; their knuckles were swollen so that their fingers spread out like a fan.”(Sinclair, 1906) He stated this to point out that the workers had horrible conditions in the workshops and they needed to be justified in that state. Similarly, a recent article ,Labor in Progressive Era Politics, expressed an event of deaths in a workshop located in New York in 1911; this event is well known by the name The Triangle Fire. In the article it states that the “Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York killed 146 garment workers in 1911, public outrage prompted the creation of a state commission to study the origins of the fire and the conditions of industrial workplace.”(Unknown) This event was not only tragic, but also a huge spark of the idea that the marginalization shall be no more. They were going to do what they needed to overcome the working conditions.

Rebecca Harding Davis’ “Life in the Iron Mills’ illustrates class conflict and the exploitative nature of American industrialization. It has been regarded as one of the first notable examples of American realism that portrayed the burdens of industrial factory workers. Davis uses slavery comparisons throughout the novella, this rhetoric threatens the potency of her work.

Many visitors discovered the working and living conditions of the suffering people. “If you visit a factory, it is easy to see that the comfort and welfare of the workers have never entered the builder’s head” (Doc 7). A women’s rights advocate in 1842 implies if you haven’t seen the city conditions, then you can’t appreciate how your belongings are made. People are furthering looking into how workers are being treated since they are working around fourteen hours straight every day of the week ingesting the fumes from the contents their working with. A medical journal presents that life expectancy is lower than rural areas for industrial jobs; In Manchester, an artisan would only live until their late teens, while in Rutland, an artisan would live until their late thirties (Doc 8).

Textile factories were not safe for working class families for the reason that the people were injured and unhealthy. A few people entered into the textile factories unhealthy which could´ve made their health issues worse. The interviewee , Dr. Holme says that the people employed were in great health. He also said that the children he had seen were all in health and that the hours they worked were not injurious to their health. John Birley says that they had good food and good beds. He also says that they were treated kindly. Dr . Holme says that Mr. Pooley employed 401 people and 363 people were in good health. Dr. Holme also said that the factories were as healthy as any other part of the working classes of the community. His conclusion was

The working conditions of the average laborer during the industrial revolution were oftentimes harsh and dangerous as seen in documents in 1,2,3 and 5. According to the Sadler Committee of 1832, men were forced to work excessively long hours and were whipped to stay awake. (Doc. 1) Additionally, the Sadler Committee revealed that many workers have suffered from infections, disease and muscle problems. (Doc. 2) This shows that industrial factory owners oftentimes exploited their laborers for profit. Andrew Ure’s The Philosophy of Manufactures reveals that children in the factory

In “Life in the Iron Mills”, by Rebecca Harding Davis, worker treatment and employer attitude is quite negative throughout the story. Deborah and Hugh do not have the benefits that were offered to workers of other mills such as the workers mentioned in the New England mills video. They were simply given a low wage and expected to survive in poor living conditions. The narrator would describe the iron mill workers as “Masses of men, with dull, besotted faces bent to the ground, sharpened here and there by pain or cunning; skin and muscle and flesh begrimed with smoke and ashes”, which is completely different in comparison to the clean linens that were provided to the cotton mill workers. Worker treatment was similar in the cotton mills as in the iron mills because the workers often felt undervalued. A lack of

At the same time, as we learned in class, America’s population grew because of labor mobility. People began to migrate from rural to urban areas, and from Europe to North America, in search of better economic opportunities, and to improve their lives. The job market became more and more competitive Hubert Gutman’s “Work, Culture, and Society in Industrializing America 1815-1919” sheds light on the struggle of farmers and tradesmen who were forced into unskilled labor positions during the industrial revolution and the many new immigrants that were finding their way to America Gutman states, “A factory worker in New

Though many people know that the working conditions were not particularly great, not all factories were hard on the workers. In an excerpt from a letter written by a young girl working in a textile factory in Lowell, Massachusetts it is stated that she has sufficient food and a good place to sleep. Mary Paul clearly states, to her father, that she enjoys where she works. “I think that the factory is the best place for me and if any girl wants employment, I advise them to come to Lowell.” (Paul, 1846) She says she likes where she works and she likes her boss. This just shows that not all conditions were bad. Some, as a matter of fact, were very good. These good conditions set a basis for other factory workers to compare their working conditions to. They eventually fought for the right to better conditions which then increased the standards