Workers rights were very minimal and their was uproar among the workers. Many lower class impoverished workers forced to terrible conditions and
The people worked dangerous jobs to provide for themselves and family with little pay. Children were even working in dangerous factories and constructions barely little to no pay. Workers would try to go on strike,
The odds The time period of 1865 to 1900 was an era called the Gilded Age. The citizens of America saw a change in the way the country operated. The country started to become more industrialized based, while the agriculture industry decreased. Due to these changes in the economy, industrial workers and farmers struggled.
During the years 1880-1920 there were many issues because of urbanization and industrialization. The industrial revolution brought many new job opportunities with low wages making companies focus on women and children. These opportunities were available but at a cost, they were paid less and they were forced to work up to ten hours. The industrial giants made labor a tough and unfair lifestyle. They wanted more riches, but they were making people suffer in order to obtain the money.
Industrial child labor was first developed when different forms of government were being created to help run the countries more efficient and make the most money. These new types of government made it so factories were booming and more and more worker were needed, until the factories soon turned to child labor, which was a con of this new way of running things but might have been the best way to do things in this time of desperate need. Germany’s child workers in the industrial revolution were very similar to Britain 's in the way of how they treated their workers and the harsh/abusive working conditions. They were also very different in the way that Germany had not as packed factories and were paid more for their work, even though the pay wasnt much more than England 's (Approximately 1 shilling more), they still paid them more contrary to Britain 's system of pay. This source is reliable because the information found was similar to other sources written by authors who have published this information before.
Everyone, unless you were richer, had to work approximately 14 to 16 hours per day, six days per week. Child labor was a big problem, most of them worked as often as their parents did. It was better for the factory owners to hire children. They, for one, were easier to control than the adult. THey could also fit in the machines to get things out because of how small they were.
During the 1900’s working conditions were undeniably horrible. In Packingtown everyday got more difficult as the days went on. In the meat packing business things were supposed to be done quick. Inside the factories packing, chopping, inspecting and people actions didn’t mix. Not only did the people in the factories suffered, the people outside of the factory also suffered.
These workers faced dangers everyday and received little pay. At the same time, many other people also had more money and leisure time. Henry George’s book, Progress and Poverty, talks about this divide. “ It was as though an immense wedge were being forced, not underneath society, but through society. Those who are above the point of separation are elevated, but those who are below are crushed down” (Document 3).
The life in the 19th-century for labor worker was from far easy. With all the wealth being generateing during the Gilded age very little of its wealth were given to the wokers. Even the best wages for a industrial worker were low, with long hours, working in awfully poor conditions. With safety rules and regulations being unexisted, it was hard to blame employers responsible. It was worse for women and children, who worked as hard or even harder than men, often time only revcieved only but a fraction of what a man earned.
The factories would hire women because they could pay them less than men. The abhorrent conditions in which people were subjected to make a living was unconscionable. It was common for companies to use child labor, and despite working long hours still lived in dirty conditions.
Child labor was another problem presented at this time. At the rate they were going back in 1900, 26% of boys between ten and fifteen were already working, and for girls it was 10% (Background Essay). Child labor was increasing as fast as the children working were dying. An example of this tragic scenario was Dennis McKee, a 15-year-old boy who was smothered to death by coal (Document B). This boy had a family, and that family had to deal with the loss of their son, all to the fault of an industry that thought to use young, able-bodied boys for their work was a fantastic idea.
Farmers and Industrial Workers in the Gilded Age In a time when industrialization was booming, immigrants were racing towards the “American Dream”, and cities were growing towards the sky, the United States was thriving. As a country, the United States went from rural, to mostly urban, which made America “the world’s largest industrial power” as stated by John Green. Since the U.S. had become mostly urban, this left the very few rural workers (farmers), and even some of the industrial workers unhappy. This period of industrialization is called the Gilded Age than spans from 1865 to 1900.The farmers and industrial workers responded to the Gilded Age in significantly negative ways including unions against their authority, strikes and political
The workers were often subjected to sweltering heat in the summer and frigid conditions in the winter. But, that was not it, at the time there were no laws in place that required businesses to ensure their employees' safety, and this regularly lead to many injuries and fatalities in the workplace on a daily basis. There was not a single work place that did not have injured or mutilated employees, and this was due to the unsafe working conditions of the factories, “Let a man so much as scrape his finger pushing a truck in the pickle-rooms, and he might have a sore that would put him out of the world; all the joints in his fingers might be eaten by the acid, one by one… There were men who worked in the cooking rooms… in these rooms the germs of tuberculosis might live for two years, but the supply was renewed every hour.” (109).
In a time after the civil war, America improved their financing by switching to the gold standard, improved communication by boosting the telegraph, improved transportation by building railroads, and improved wealth by giving contracts for clothes to multiple companies. The economy was also improving massively also due to natural resources, demography, and law. Railroads allowed people as well as supplies to be transported quicker, safer, and cheaper. Companies bought each other out and formed monopolies which made the price go up and the owners very wealthy. Aside from all of these positives, there are also various problems that took place during the Gilded Age (1865-1900).
Conditions were hazardous and grueling. They worked long hours for little pay. Most of them could not read or write and they could not attend school because they needed to work. They suffered from malnutrition and exhaustion. They were innocent children that were locked up in factories, like they had committed a crime.
