Triangle Fire Dbq

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. The shirtwaist trade was one that was relatively new, only about fifteen to twenty years old. A large

The owners of the factory were arrested and put on trial for first and second degree murder. “The indictments against them are for manslaughter in the first and second degree, and they are based, so the District Attorney states, on what he believes to be strong evidence that some at least of the doors through which the girls might have escaped were habitually kept locked and were locked at the time of the fire(document 20 p108).” Despite the incriminating evidence against both Isaac Harris and Max Blanck (owners of the factory), both men were acquitted by New York jury. Within the next couple of days Max Blanck was arrested again for having the doors locked during the fire and this time he was found guilty. His charge, however, was a mere twenty dollar fine. The hope was for prison time and a fine in order to intimidate any other manufacturer to not follow in their footsteps, with the fine however, many feared of a reoccurrence. The mourning over the loss of hundreds and the outrage over lack of punishment towards the company owners pushed everyone to make sure this did not reoccur. Protests to improve factory life mixed with the fear of more activism, like the uprising of twenty-thousand, made the officials decide to make some changes. “The reform movement began with the establishment of the Factory Investigation Commission by Governor Dix on June 30, 1911 (Argersinger p31).” The findings showed the unsafe and unhealthy conditions that the workers faced daily and the owners were unprepared for the negative exposure. The investigation involved thousands of factories across New York and eventually uncovered a serious need for reform. “They dealt with specific aspects of the Triangle fire, providing more stringent requirements for fire escapes and fire drills and stronger regulations against locked doors, blocked exits and aisles and the presence of combustible material (Argersinger p32).” The reform