Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Essay

The Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire was one of the most tragic events in America’s industrial history. A dropped lit cigarette on caused a fire that killed twenty-three men and 123 women, some as young as fourteen years old. Because the regular exit was already blocked by flames and the only other exit was locked, fifty-five Shirtwaist employees jumped or fell from windows on the ninth floor to escape the flames, twenty jumped or fell into the elevator shaft, twenty fell from the fire escape, and fifty burned alive. One year earlier, these same women went on strike and agitated for safer workplace conditions, as well as better pay, shorter hours, and unions. Though horrific, the Triangle Shirtwaist conflagration did help catalyst legislative

reform among industrial America.
Workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company held enviable jobs--the factory rooms had high ceilings and windows; it was a much more modern factory compared to the dark, dusty, cramped spaces of others. Even still, the workers decided to strike. The women campaigned for shorter work days, higher wages, safer working conditions, and unions. At first, the strike was only somewhat successful; within forty-eight hours, seventy of the smallest and most vulnerable shirtwaist manufacturing shops gave in to their employees’ demands. However, because public opinion still favored the factory owners’ arguments, the major shirtwaist manufacturers, such as Triangle Shirtwaist, refused to agree to the workers’ demands.
Factory owners saw themselves as benevolent, job-providing men, and viewed their wealth as a “reward for exercising individual freedom”.

New York was built on these men; their private wealth built public parks, libraries, skyscrapers, museums, and hospitals. The public viewed these men as individuals who should not be interfered with, because “to interfere with them is to place inhibiting obstacles in their path that will restrain prosperity and industrial growth”. It was not until J.P. Morgan’s daughter, Anne Morgan, decided to join the women strikers that public opinion shifted to support the workers’ demands: the press became very interested in the strike, police became much more careful about beating the strikers, newspapers began to write sympathetic pieces about the workers. This caused the factory owners to finally agree to raise wages and shorten hours, if the workers agree to drop their demands for unions. However, because strike leaders refused to the aforementioned agreement, shirtwaist shop owners gradually gave in to union-only shops--all except Harris and Blanck at

Triangle.
Without a union, the Triangle workers still lacked real power to improve the conditions of the factory floor, otherwise the resulting casualties of the Triangle Fire could have been prevented.

Instead, at the time of the fire, the factory room had only two stairwell exits, one of which was kept locked in order to prevent the pilfering of shirtwaists, a small passenger elevator, one rusty, overburdened fire escape, and a dozen red pails of water in the corner--the only precaution the owners had taken in the event of a fire. Two weeks after the fire, Harris and Blanck were brought on trial for manslaughter but were soon

acquitted.
After the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, the public began to realize that unregulated industrialization can simply no longer happen. Industrialization must be regulated by public policy in order for safe business success. Within two years after the fire, an enraged public compelled the government to form the New York Factory Investigating Commission. The Commission held months of hearings, collected testimonies of owners and workers, and inspected 2,000 factories. The resulting findings led to the creation of more than thirty new laws, including standards for minimum wage, maximum work day hours, and workplace conditions, as well as gave teeth to child labor laws, and addressed each and every failure at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company.
In the film, PBS utilizes various types of primary sources, such as pictures, videos, and personal accounts. The pictures and videos come straight from the time period, which helps deepen the viewer’s understanding of the time and environment. The personal accounts of workers and bystanders are enthralling and help contribute to the information presented in the film.
Although the Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire was one of industrial America’s greatest tragedies, it did ultimately lead to greatly-need factory legislative reform. The conflagration resulted in the creation of the Factory Investigating Commission, which inspected nearly 2,000 factories, and established more than thirty new laws, including standards for minimum wage, maximum hours, and workplace conditions. It eliminated private American factory industry, and forced a public-policy regulated industry in New York. Thus, New York became a model for the rest of the nation. Unfortunately, “women had to burn first…”