Addie Card, 12 years. Spinner in North Pormal (i.e., Pownal) Cotton Mill. Vt. The image is in the Public Domain. 1902.
Workplace Accidents
Children workers during the Industrial Revolution era were marked by numerous workplace incidents. For the most part, they often went unreported, highlighting the dangerous conditions these young workers faced.
Many of these children workers of the Industrial Revolution faced dire circumstances that shaped their lives and futures.
The historical significance of children workers of the Industrial Revolution has in some ways paved the way for modern labor laws and regulations. The contributions of children workers of the Industrial Revolution cannot be overstated.
It was Friday morning the 28th of August, 1885 and Michael Markham, age 30, was eager to get to work. He was proud of his job at the screw factory in New Britain, Connecticut. Michael was a loyal and experienced industrial employee. He had worked his way up to be in charge of the largest machine called the nail heading machine. Soon after arriving that morning, however, he was involved in a terrible accident.
This is how the Boston Herald reported what happened, “He was bending down to see how it was running, and his head was caught between the balance wheel and bent over sides breaking his neck.”
Before others could switch off the machine, Michael’s body was badly mangled, and he died quickly. He was survived by his widowed mother and a sister. Michael was the family’s only source of income. The paper stated, “he lost his life from an overassurance of his ability.” The New York Times said that the worker’s death was due to his own “carelessness.” Other news articles echoed similar condemnation – – that Michael Markham accidentally killed himself.
The tragic story of Michael Markham is just one of many that illustrate the harsh realities faced by children workers of the industrial revolution period.
These children workers of the Industrial Revolution were essential to the industries that thrived during this era.
In industrial America, the story of Michael Markham was one of many frequent tales of blaming the victim. Ten men were killed in a mining accident in Hibbing, Minnesota and the local headline was “Company Not Blamed for the Clark Mine Disaster, One of the Victims Was Probably Responsible.”
Stories of children workers during the industrial revolution frequently surfaced, highlighting their struggle for basic rights and safety.
The plight of children workers of the Industrial Revolution reveals the harsh realities of their existence.
Placing Blame
The hastily prepared Commissioners Report determined, and without any proof, that one of the miners was probably smoking near dynamite. Placing blame was part of a system of protecting the industrial bosses from dealing with workers’ problems. More importantly, the system was structured to dehumanize workers. By erasing their human value, the worker was reduced to nothing more than a commodity. The same as the raw materials used in the factories. If a commodity was damaged or destroyed, it was discarded and forgotten. In industrial America, workers had no voice in the workplace. Moreover, they were desposable. The long line of new immigrants wanting work continued to grow.
Reports of accidents involving children workers of the Industrial Revolution illustrate the urgent need for reform.
Public Pressure
Public pressure was the enemy to the industrialist.Taking care of workers would be expensive, possibly disastrous; and a door industry bosses were determined to keep closed. There were no required safety standards and employers generally were held harmless when accidents or injuries occurred. In addition, the success of the industries depended on that silence. The laws of the land practically guaranteed it.
Children in the Workplace -High number of injuries and fatalities
The high number of injuries among children workers during the industrial revolution was alarming and demanded urgent attention from society.
Children workers of the Industrial Revolution were often subjected to extreme working conditions.
The official numbers of injuries and workplace fatalities are staggering. Furthermore, many industrial accidents were catastrophic in nature – – collapsed mines, derailed trains, factory explosions, and others. Between 1870 and 1910 there were over 10,000 major explosions from inside America’s factories. In 1910 alone, 3383 railroad workers were killed and another 95,000 railroad workers were seriously injured.
Factories had their own safety inspections
Some factories stated that they had their own safety rules and did factory inspections, but the numbers of accidents continued to increase. Dangerous machines and boilers did not have shut-off devices built into their mechanisms. And, it would be decades before workers’ eyes, ears, hands, and heads were protected from the growing number of workplace injuries.
Lack of Federal Regulation
The exploitation of children workers of the Industrial Revolution highlights the need for federal regulations.
With an absence of rules and regulations, employers further widened the demands of workers. Coal mining companies employed children as young as 5 years old. They used them to slip through the small tunnels and cracks where men could not fit. Children, both male and female, were sometimes strapped to coal sledges which they dragged while crawling on their hands and knees. Many of the textile factories employed large groups of women and children in their sweatshops. The buildings were usually unsafe and the employers kept the windows and doors locked to prevent employees from leaving prematurely. The risk from fire was enormous.
Child labor during the children workers industrial revolution exemplified the exploitation rampant in factories and mines.
The narrative of children workers of the Industrial Revolution is a testament to their resilience amidst adversity.
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City, March 25, 1911, killed 146 people. The whirling machines injured or killed many other workers. Numerous stories describe how workers’ hair got caught in machines, or limbs were crushed or torn off. Additionally, just like in the coal mines, supervisors made the smallest children crawl under these working machines to collect fallen material.
Many tragedies involving children workers of the Industrial Revolution went unnoticed by society.
Long work days
The work days were very long, sometimes twelve hours, and even fourteen hours was not unusual. Between the years 1830 to 1880 the overworked generation of Americans reached adulthood with hunched backs, weak knees, bowed legs, and damaged pelvises from carrying heavy loads and standing too many hours a day. And then, this all created a generation of individuals with missing limbs, damaged vision and hearing. The average mean height of an individual had reduced by 2 inches. Industrial work had taken a toll.
The long work days for children workers during the industrial revolution resulted in severe physical and mental strain.
Many dangers in workplace
Children workers of the Industrial Revolution were often the first to suffer from unsafe practices.
The dangers of the workplace extended past the gyrating machines, explosions and cave ins. Match companies employed women to dip the match heads into tanks of phosphorous. Over time, the inhaling of the fumes caused many of the workers to suffer from a horrible disease. It was called plossy syndrome. They endured terrible pain in their jaw and teeth, and eventually disfigurement to the face. Bone and tissue would die and rot away causing foul odor and a disgusting discharge.
The dangers faced by children workers during the industrial revolution were exacerbated by the lack of safety measures in factories.
The lack of safety measures for children workers of the Industrial Revolution was a significant concern.
In time these workers suffered brain damage and ultimately death. Workers in glass factories regularly suffered burns, sometimes severe. Additionally, too many glass workers became blind from the intense heat.
Meatpackers
Meatpackers, who were unfortunate enough to be assigned to the pickle rooms (pickling meats and sausage was fashionable before freezers became widespread), frequently developed a very nasty infection from constantly handling cold meat. Workers referred to the painful infection as pickled hands. The skin would crack and open to the bone. The palms and back of the hands would become one aching and oozing sore. Unless the worker stopped handling the meat, the infection would worsen, and even then, it took months for the hands to heal.
Meatpackers working alongside children workers often endured painful infections that went untreated.
In many industries, children workers of the Industrial Revolution faced health risks that were largely ignored.
Lung infections
Some of the deadliest work for both meatpackers, as well as coal miners, had to do with air-borne exposures that led to lung infections. Miners who breathed in coal dust for years frequently developed black lung disease. Meatpackers were at risk of coming down with infected lungs when working in areas that contained air particles of ground hair, wool, bone and fertilizer. For both, the lung infections sometimes developed into fibrosis, and in the worst cases,necrosis.
Both children workers of the Industrial Revolution and adults suffered from the same dangerous conditions.
Both children workers industrial revolution and their adult counterparts were at risk for serious health issues related to their work environments.
Captains of Industry
The exploitation of children workers of the Industrial Revolution ultimately led to calls for reform.
With the absence of government regulation, the “Captains of Industry” had an easy formula for financial success. They simply figured out what a product would sell for on the open market, and then determined the cheapest way to produce it. There were lots of fixed expenses – land, facilities, equipment, raw material, and more. Labor, however, was not a fixed expense. It was the most important investment the industrialist made, and the one that was abused.
The absence of government oversight allowed the exploitation of children workers during the industrial revolution to flourish.
Many children workers of the Industrial Revolution had their childhoods stolen from them.
Employees worked long hours, received low wages, and benefits were rare. Many times they worked in unsafe and unhealthy conditions. Fresh immigrants and an abundance of children, as young as 8 years old, made up their work force. The largest new influx of workers, however, were women.
Women workers
Women and children workers of the Industrial Revolution were often treated as expendable labor.
The numbers of women working in America’s factories rose from 2.4 million in 1880 to 8.6 million by 1900. Employers, however, paid women half of a man’s wages, and children made one-tenth. Inexperienced in the operation of fast moving machines, they were also innocent to the possibilities of unexpected disasters. These individuals made up the working collateral of the industries.
Cora Flipse
The stories of children workers of the Industrial Revolution illustrate the need for advocacy.
The tragic tale of Cora Flipse is emblematic of the dangers faced by children workers of the Industrial Revolution period.
Cora Flipse was only fourteen years old when she was killed in a tragic elevator accident at the Bryant Paper industrial plant on February 17, 1900. She and her friend Mary Bouterse were paper sorters at the factory. On a work break, Cora wanted to have some fun and encouraged Mary to ride the work elevator with her. Most elevators did not have doors, and were primarily used to transport heavy items from floor to floor.
The loss of young lives among children workers of the Industrial Revolution serves as a reminder of the dangers they faced.
Dangers for children workers
In 1900 an elevator in a building was rare. And, for a young girl to ride one would be exciting, especially since it was against the rules. Cora was not able to persuade Mary to jump on the lift, even telling her that they could lie down so the foreman couldn’t see them. Sadly, Cora’s head projected just outside the elevator, as if to look back at Mary, and as the lift went up Cora’s head got caught between the edge of the lift and floor. Cora was instantly killed while Mary Bouterse observed the horrible sight.
The company did its own investigation, and found that Cora was negligent, which, of course she was. An inspection was done on the elevator and it was widely announced that the elevator was in good working order. The press, like the legal system, worked in tandem by continuing to distance the industrial owners from workers and their issues.
The investigation into Cora’s death highlighted the systemic issues surrounding the safety of children workers of the Industrial Revolution.
The systemic issues surrounding children workers of the Industrial Revolution continue to resonate today.
Growth of the nation was due to cheap labor
There is little doubt that the combination of cheap labor and the determined work ethic of the American worker made the vision of Industrial America a reality. Much of the nation’s population moved into the cities, and the once agrarian country started to change. In time there would be more growth of jobs, better wages, cities created bringing real stability to families, as well as to the nation.
The sacrifices made by children workers of the Industrial Revolution were often overlooked in the narrative of progress.
The price paid
The price to get there, however, was high. In its path for success in industrial American the wheels of industry had crushed the financial life out of millions of workers. Moreover, many would never recover.
As industrial America advanced, the stories of children workers of the Industrial Revolution remind us of the human cost.
While industrial America prospered, the human cost, especially for children workers of the Industrial Revolution, was devastating.
In 1910, the first modern workmen’s compensation law in America was passed in the state of New York. The new law provided compensation to injured workers and their families without regard to fault. And, within ten years the large majority of the nation also accepted the new law.
Changes in the law were made partly due to the advocacy for children workers of the Industrial Revolution.
Sources:
February 18, 1900, Kalamazoo Gazette (Kalamazoo, Michigan
December 21, 1898, New York American (New York, New York)
Age of Industrial Violence, 1910-15: The Activities and Findings of the United States Commission on Industrial Relations
By Graham Jr. Adams
Caught in the Machinery: Workplace Accidents and Injured Workers in Nineteenth-Century Britain , by Jamie Bronstein.
Family Life in 19th-Century America, By James M. Volo, Dorothy Denneen Volo
A Survey of American History, By Joseph R. Conlin
“The Transformation of Work and the Law of Workplace Accidents, 1842-1910”
By Witt, John Fabian | The Yale Law Journal, March 1998
http://www.faqs.org/childhood/A-Ar/Accidents.html
http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/cwc/american-labor-in-the-20th-century.pdf
Understanding the experiences of children workers of the Industrial Revolution is crucial for future labor rights.
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