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The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire: Isaac Harris And Max Blanck

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The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire is often said to be one of the most historically changing incidents in job history. Before the reforms created in result of the fire, the working conditions at the Shirtwaist factory and the like were treacherous. The women worked on floors 8 and 9 of the building, and got to those floors in a wooden elevator. You were expected to work a 14 hour day with a pay of $2. Speed mattered the most, and mistakes cost you in the form of docking from your pay. There was no stopping for the bathroom or for a drink, just continuous work. The owners of this company that was so dangerous were Isaac Harris and Max Blanck. These men feared the consequences of a union within their factory walls, and were very insistent that no …show more content…

They saw themselves as benefactors for the poor, and if the poor complained, they were biting the hand that fed them. Harris and Blanck paid police officers, prostitutes, and bodyguards to do as much damage as possible to the Shirtwaist employees. Anne Morgan, a daughter of a rich businessman, took up the Shirtwaist workers cause and helped them fight for fairer wages and hours. When Harris and Blanck realized that sales were dropping from the lack of shirts being made, they offered a deal to the workers: shorter hours and more pay, but no union. The workers did not like this request and turned it down, causing Morgan to leave their efforts, saying she wasn’t for the socialist cause. Eventually, the employees realized they would not win the battle, and returned to work. The founders of this company were selfish in their actions, only stopping to help it’s employees when they started to lack personal gain. After going back to work, a cigarette, still lit, was dropped onto the workroom floor of the 8th floor. The loose fabric and wicker baskets quickly wicked this up, creating a deadly fire. The stairwell was locked, and no one had the key to open

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On March 25, 1911, a fire started at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory that claimed the lives of one hundred and forty-six workers. As a result of the fire, trials and debates occurred that contended the factory owners right to control their business against their duty to implement safe working conditions for their employees. Despite the trial resulting in no charges for the business owners the triangle fire is responsible for stricter safety codes and brought attention on the labor movement. In order to fully understand the changes that resulted because of the shirtwaist fire, you must first know what life was life prior to the fire.

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Despite the death and destruction it caused, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire ultimately benefited America by opening the eyes of mistreated factory workers and inspiring them to fight for better working conditions. Though it was unbeknownst at the time, the fire would inspire mistreated workers to rise out of the ashes and work tirelessly not for a factory, but for their own wellbeing. The history, the fire, and the trial that are all connected to the Triangle Shirtwaist Company are the events that led to the exploration for better working conditions. While we may not wish to remember all of the suffering the conflagration caused, we see its imprint it left on society whenever we see someone at work. This just imprint is one of safety.

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The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire’s Role in Women’s Suffrage Fire swept through the eighth floor of the Asch Building at 4:40 P.M. on Saturday, March 25, 1911. Five minutes later, the fire alarm was pulled down the street, and firefighters arrived at the scene just two minutes later. By 4:57, the fire was over, and one hundred forty-six people had died. In those seventeen minutes, panic ensued as six hundred workers on the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors rushed to escape. This was incredibly difficult since the rooms were crowded with equipment, the floors were littered with piles of fabric, and the air was filled with lint.

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The book Triangle: The Fire That Changed America written by David Von Drehle recounts the dreadful incident of fire that broke out in a Triangle Shirtwaist factory on March 25, 1911 and its aftermath. In the earlier part of nineteenth century Triangle Shirtwaist factory was running a lucrative business in a multistory building in the New York City. The factory was owned by the two men Isaac Harris and Max Blank and it was located on the upper three stories of the Asch Building which was back then considered and projected as an efficient fireproof building (History). On that unfortunate day, fifteen minutes of fire gulped one hundred and forty-six innocent lives who were struggling to keep themselves and their families afloat(CBS).

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One of the main reasons the fire took such a psychological toll on the New Yorkers was because of the workers jumping to there deaths. One witness even remarked the event saying quote 'I know a new sound a terrible sound the sound of a body hitting the pavement". The inferno was also not an uncommon occurrence the triangle shirt was burned before the tragedy to collect insurance money. Knowing this information, many Jewish and women workers went on strike to secure improved working conditions. There strike in fact proved successful with the New York state legislature creating the Factory Investigating Commission.

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To determine this, many sources and ideas must be recognized and appointed. One of the ideas that has come to mind was that a cigarette butt from the workers who had secretly been smoking had made it's way into the cloth bin and, because of the highly flammable material the blouses were made of, it set the bin and the building ablaze. Another idea that has come to mind is that maybe the owners of the establishment, Max and Isaac, burned the building down on purpose, making this an even more interesting topic. Some of the evidence that has risen up from the possible dark truth below is that the doors leading out of the building on the ninth floor, where the doors were supposedly locked and/ or were designed to be pushed outwards instead of inwards. Max and Isaac claim that this was because of a theft concern, and that this would keep minimal thefts happening (Martin par 8).

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Earlier in 1913 August, Max Blanck was charged for locking doors to the factory and a fine of $20 was served. However, Harris and Blanck continued their defiant attitude, operated until 1918 when it ceased

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The front doors of the factory would always be locked because the owners Isaac Harris and Max Blanck thought one of the employees might steal something from the factory. When they tried to go downstairs, the flames of the fire burned them that prevented them to try leave the building. The factory owners were charged for manslaughter after the fire. A few years later they were acquitted and let out of

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The exposure of these circumstances during the fire led to the attraction of Progressives and confirmed the arguments they were trying to make about the American economy. The fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company caught the imagination of many Progressives because

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For example, Von Drehle cites that when Blanck and Harris went into business they “coincided precisely with the maturing of the garment industry” (72). This would allow the owners to make billions of dollars on their way to the top of the clothing industry. This progress, however, could not have happened without modern factories and the people working in them. These workers were treated with a lack of respect and with brutality by their managers, especially those who chose to join Unions to fight for better conditions. Conflicts between the management and workers would erupt frequently and often became violent.

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The Knights of Labor, founded by Terence Powderly and Uriah Stephens in 1869, helped create a union contract with Carnegie’s Braddock Mill. While the Knights of Labor were trying to have broad social reform around the country, they created a lockout in the Braddock Mill. Workers like Kratcha did not care as much about the union’s goals, instead they wanted the mills to be open so that they could earn money (25). Large business owners, like Carnegie, tried, and usually succeed, at breaking strikes and unions in their mills. In Homestead and Braddock, Kratcha experienced the effects of strikes, and they were not positive.

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The fire raged to high in the building for the fire department’s ladders to reach it. With workroom doors illegally locked by the employers, the workers, mostly young women, were trapped.” This horrible event proved fatal when “Some fled the flames by throwing themselves out windows. Others burned. When it was over, 146 had died”.

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The “Shirtwaist Kings,” Issac Harris and Max Blanck were immigrants from Russia that owned the Triangle Shirtwaist factory. The factory was modern with high ceilings and large windows located in New York’s Greenwich Village, not far from mansions and the elegant shops of the Ladies Mile. Even in a modern factory like The Triangle factory the life of an American industrial worker was far from easy. Factory work meant wages as low as $0.13 an hour, long 14 hour days seven days a week, in hazardous working conditions.

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The detrimental Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire is considered to be one of the most tragic disasters in history. On March 25th, 1911, a fire broke out and killed 146 garment workers who were mostly women. These women worked countless hours with low wages and inhumane working conditions in a factory. Even though this event was tragic, the triangle shirtwaist fire helped to shape the new world for the better. The multitude of workers trapped within the inferno to their demise was the final straw for the mistreatment of America’s workers.

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Gilded means to be covered with gold and it is exactly why it is used to describe the United States from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The Gilded age shaped The United States into a new world. With the growth of industries, growth of cities, and new technology, the United States way of life completely shifted. However, under all the amazing shining gold was a thick layer of dirt and harsh reality from the Gilded Age. Although this age was filled with many improvements, it was also filled with massive poverty, unequal wealth and political corruption.

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