Factories During The Progressive Movement

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Progressive tries to tackle many of the issues that we face today. The Progressive movement addressed the issues in factories and the liberties given to the people. With vast growth in population in concentrated areas came more technological advances. Many acts of legislation were passed during this era, especially those in the labor market. Mainly the Progressive Era had a lot of focus on the social issues of the time. But, at the same time, how the government should be run was a big issue as well. Some restrictions were put on those in society who were able to vote, at the time being predominately white middle class protestant males. Wilson’s New Freedoms Act shaped the current state of regulations for the labor market. The Progressive Era …show more content…

It was owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris. The factory employed young children and women who had poor conditions to say the least. The factory had doors that locked from the outside to prevent workers from taking too many bathroom breaks. The building had four elevators, only one being fully functional, but in order to reach it one would have to walk down a long narrow hallway. There were two stairwells down to the bottom floor. One being locked for safety purposes; the other only being able to be opened from the outside. The one fire escape would not have been adequate enough to sufficiently evacuate the workers. Blanck and Harris were known to have burned down their factories for the fire insurance, so they refused to install a sprinkler system. The fire was started from a rag bin. Someone tried to put the fire out with a hose, but the hose was rotted and the valve rusted shut. People tried to escape, but the elevator broke down. The doors to the stairwells were locked, and many girls, in a desperate attempt jumped to their deaths. 145 girls and women either burned alive or suffocated. Despite there being sufficient evidence, the courts failed to indict the owners on manslaughter charges. To prevent further disasters from happening, the Sullivan-Hoey Fire Protection law was passed, which was a crucial win for the