Machines have changed Humanity’s lives. This is usually seen as a change for the better, but it came with a price. The industrial revolution brought with it many useful and incredibly productive machines to help humanity, but many were injured by working around them. While some may argue that industrialization had primarily positive consequences for society because of fast production of goods, it was actually a negative thing for society. Industrialization’s negative effects were the twelve to sixteen hour work days, work being done by small children, and the pollution that the factories put out. Firstly, the hours workers were expected to work were outrageous. Employees had little time for family, eating, or sleeping. The factories overworked …show more content…
They would get seriously injured by the machines, which had no safety devices. The children would balance on milk crates with no shoes, as evidenced by pictures of the time. Elizabeth Bentley again states that until she was thirteen, “I was as straight a little girl as ever went up and down town.” (Document 7) The factories had to be held responsible somehow. People worked in these factories all day, for 6 days a week, without any safety equipment. Some people like Bentley, developed deformities from working long hours around the equipment. “This [weak knees and ankles] is brought on by stopping the spindle” (Document 7). Most injured people were children that were still growing, and would grow with these deformities. Committees like the National Child Labor Committee made “efforts to end the practice [of child labor]” (Document 8) Unions were formed to put restrictions on how long children could work, but not on the safety of the …show more content…
The pollution of the factories was impacting the environment greatly. “By the late 1800s America emerged as the world’s largest industrial power.” (Document 3) Factories brought goods to people, and made money. “This success did not come without a price, however, and industrial growth brought with it a host of environmental pollution problems” (Document 3) some factories, being built next to bodies of water, polluted the drinking water for the entire community. The trash from the factories was thrown into the streets, due to the lack of waste management. “Pollution is a negative impact this factory would bring” (Document 3) the people got sick, and were choking on the black smoke that the coal burning put out. Although not as bad in America, as in Britain, people and streets were covered in soot. The children growing up working in the factories, again, were being injured and sick from the breathing problems they
Factory workers worked twelve to fifteen hours a day in hazardous condition. There were no protective rules for women and children and no insurances for job-related accidents or industrial illness. The workers were obliged to trade at company store
The owners of these factories had no incentive to look out for the child’s safety or health. The workers also followed a very strict schedule. All workers had to be at the same place at the same time allotted to them. If a worker was injured, he was easily replaced. Another negative was the working conditions.
This confusion can be seen in two reports from separate journals that differ greatly--so much so that the ability to attribute them to the same issue seems unlikely and unrealistic. William Alexander Abram, a journalist and historian in the 1860’s, wrote an article about the vast improvements made during the industrialization process (Doc 6). Abram specifically mentions the Hours of Labor in Factories Act of 1844 that prohibited excessively long work days. Additionally, Abram mentioned the increased wages and the subsequent increase quality of life. Abram attempts to justify any issues with the industrialization by addressing the new, more spacious cotton mill and the lower sickness and mortality rates. Abram describes the positive forces that arose during the industrialization to outweigh the mass concerns people had about the laboring class’s working conditions. This positive opinion is counteracted by an image included in a magazine from the 1870’s that shows the visual of a bridge and its surrounding factories at the time (Doc 7). The Graphic, a weekly magazine that dealt with social issues, included the view from Blackfriars bridge over the River Irwell that contained the numerous factories concentrated in the one location. The Graphic was famously influential within the art world for its use of imagery and attempt to conquer grand social issues with art. The factories are all emitting gas and the general conditions of the streets and buildings is less than ideal. This negative portrayal of the industrialization sheds a different light on the effects of industrialization. Between these two conflicting articles, it is difficult to see the true extent of the industrializations process’s benefits and harms. This uncertainty also supports the proposed
During the Industrial Revolution, children were used for labor to do the more dangerous activities in the factories. For example, children were often used to squeeze into tight places, because they were much smaller than men. (Labor) Most children worked in the mills to support their families, but had to give up their education in return. (“Modern World History”) In document four, Hebergram’s brother died by being cut from a machine, and later dying from infection. This shows that the factories did not have protection of covering the machines, causing many workers to die. Also, in document four it says, “...A boy was caught in a machine and had both his thigh bones broke and from his knee to his hip the flesh was ripped up the same as it had been cut by a knife.” This shows how unsafe the machines were because the shaft was not covered.
The Industrial Revolution had positive and negative issues/ events but most were negative assumptions.During the Industrial Revolution, ways of living progressed. Some progression was fair for others, some people not really. The Industrial Revolution changed how factory owners and workers do the job today. The revolution had pros and cons. Most were cons because, industrialization had begun.
Now first there is Child Labor, child labor is where you have children and you have them work a full time job and usually it is an inhumane job. So what companies would do is that they would have these kids working in the factories with no shoes no protection horrible conditions and payed them $1 - $3 dollars a week. Many kids would die in the factories and the and the families didn’t
The dangers of the factories to working children were very real. In document one it outlines the life a child worker from the perspective of William Cooper. In his testimony it was said that he had been working since he was ten years old. Their working hours were five in the mornings to nine at night. It also states that out of the many hours the now eighteen year old had been working, only one forty minute period in those sixteen hours were used as a free meal time. In document one it states “At times we were frequently strapped.” This was used as a response when Cooper was asked if there were steps taken to keep them awake and attentive. In document two it states that there were frequent accidents happening due to the large and intricate
While some might argue that Industrialization had primarily negative consequences for society because there was economic growth and the standard of living did improve, it was actually a negative thing as society. Industrialization’s negative effects were long work hour with little, low pay and separated family life unfair labor, working rights.
The Industrial Revolution was a time of great inventiveness and insight that would change the world, forever. Machines were being developed that did not require manpower or horsepower, and did work at a far greater output than its human counterparts could ever hope to match. Likewise, thanks to the invention of mass transit, resources, products, and people were being transported across the country in greater numbers, at far greater rates. Of course, this in turn had great impact, not only on the American’s whose world was built through these new machines and factories, forged in the Industrial Revolution, and who, themselves, came to enjoy the products of such inventions; It also had tremendous effect on how American society came to view progress, and success, and its own standing in the world, in material/economic terms.
As the Industrial Revolution began, many factories were constructed and along with that, bad air to the environment. Pollution came about and filled up the entire sky with black smoke, as shown on document seven. While the factories produced not only materials but also pollution many people, especially factory workers, got sick and eventually died. Many factory workers got sick due to the enclosed areas that they worked in. Not only that many of the workers were surrounded by massive and dangerous
Industrial Revolution, which took place over much of the nineteenth century, had many advantages. It provided people with tools for a better life; people were no longer dependent on the land for all of their goods. The Industrial Revolution made it possible for people to control nature more than they ever had before. However, now people were dependent on the new machines of the Industrial Age (1). The Revolution brought with it radical changes in the textile and engine worlds; it was a time of reason and innovations. Although it was a time of progress, there were drawbacks to the headway made in the Industrial Revolution. Granted, it provided solutions to the problems of a world without industry. However, it also created problems with its mechanized inventions that provided new ways of killing. Ironically, there was much public faith in these innovations; however, these were the same inventions that killed so many and contributed to a massive loss of faith. These new inventions made their debut in the first world war (2) ).
As factory system began to grow, factory owners wanted workers to work more hours to produce more goods. At the same time working conditions got worse. By 840 employees worked for around 11.4 hours each day. It wasn't easy working in a factory back then. Long leather belts that connected the machines to the factory’s water powered had no protective shield. Without a protection shield workers got injured. Those injuries lead to fingers cut out, and bones broken. Children also had to work in the factories and for them it was more risky of them getting hurt. Working conditions where even worst in the summer and winter. Working in the summer in a factory meant hot days ahead of you, the machines reales heat and made the factory hotter. Then in
Working shifts were beyond the control of the workers and the job was not necessarily stable because workers could be fired at any time for any reason (OI: “Working Conditions”). Moreover, the working environment was cramped and caused many problems to arise, such as the death of workers. The working class suffered greatly from the consequences of the Industrial Revolution. However, they also experienced many improvements in life, such as the decrease in prices of goods. The price of goods was able to decrease because of the increase in production.
To begin, many factories opened up for business and gave the opportunity for many workers, including children. This was an advantage for those who lived in the rural side of the land, and farming was becoming a difficult job to handle, due to soil and climate change. Some factories that opened their doors to the poor to work were cotton factories, and iron factories. The use of machines made the labor work easier, since it was a mixture of machinery and hands on jobs. Dr. Andrew Ure believed this was true. He said the use of machines made it easier for workers to get the job done. “it has been said, for example, that the steam-engine now drives the power-looms with such velocity as to urge on their attendant weavers at the same rapid pace” (Ure, 456). Also the products produced by these factories brought in a large amount of investments for the owners. That was the main g...
The invention of machines became widely applauded during the agricultural revolution, which led to doubling agricultural economic activity every 1000 years. Then, there was the industrial revolution which led to the economic activity doubling every 15 years. This is where the fear of the future impacts of machines on mankind was raised. Technological development did not stop there. Cars replaced horses, typewriters replaced pen and paper, ATM machines replaced human tellers, and the list goes on. Are these developments helpful for mankind or just a mean to transform humans to greatly dependable creatures, not on their physicality and brains but on machines?