The majority of one's life is being spent by working. People work towards their goals in life, they work to win a sport, and they even work to gain money. All of these examples of work are done by some sort of labor. Children mainly work on playing and being, well, a kid! Adults, on the other hand, are the ones who work to earn money for their families, and the labor is mainly done through physical labor. Although this is how the working system is done in the present day, it used to be completely different. Children were forced to work in factories for adults which caused a negative impact for the children. The letter, Letter from Mary Paul consists of a long paragraph concerning the working conditions and labor of children in a factory. The …show more content…
Based on evidence from the long paragraph, the children were not healthy and several of them were starving. In the letter, the girl enlightens, "My life and health are spared.." The little girl starts her letter off by explaining how she is somewhat healthy. It is clear that the children are fed a minimal amount of food that must not be very healthy, good, or proportional enough for a person. The pictures linked with the letter make it obvious that the children are ill. The boy in the first picture looks as though he is pale and has bagged eyes. Speaking for itself, the picture shows how the children are not gaining the vitamin and nutrition they need and deserve. The bags under the boy's eyes tell the audience that the boy most likely wasn't receiving enough time for resting, which also affects his health. In the second picture, however, displays a gruesome image of a little girl in a factory. The factory looked extremely dirty which would ruin the children's' hygiene. From what the little girl describes in her letter, and the photos that are provided, it is obvious that the children in this factory are …show more content…
Moreover, the letter elaborates how there were several female child workers that died due to the working environment. To extend further, the letter informs, "Last Thursday one girl fell down and broke her neck which caused instant death." Apparently the girl that died, fell due to the ice on the mill. There were also several other cases in which people had died because of the dangerous working conditions. Along with dangerous working conditions, the uncleansed factories also are inappropriate and should not let any human beings work in. On the inside of the factories, by a hard glance of the photos, the machinery looked unsafe for use as well. With this in mind, several of the children have a chance of injuring themselves on the equipment which could, evidently, lead them to death. Children should not be placed into labor factories, for they are
English textile factories were very bad for the health of the working class families. As Dr. Ward stated, “Last summer I visited three cotton factories with Dr. Clough of Preston and Mr. Barker of Manchester, and we could not remain ten minutes in the factory without gasping for breath...¨ This shows that the conditions were so bad that they had trouble breathing because how bad the air was. Dr. Ward also says, ¨Cotton factories are highly unfavourable, both to the health and morals of those employed in them. They are really nurseries of disease and vice. These factories were very unsafe and you could get many diseases and injuries, especially if you were a kid as a lot were. The kids were in many accidents in the factories, as Dr. Ward states,
With the gradual advancements of society in the 1800’s came new conflicts to face. England, the leading country of technology at the time, seemed to be in good economic standing as it profited from such products the industrial revolution brought. This meant the need for workers increased which produced jobs but often resulted in the mistreatment of its laborers. Unfortunately the victims targeted were kids that were deprived of a happy childhood. A testimony by a sub-commissioner of mines in 1842 titled Women Miners in the English Coal Pits and The Sadler Report (1832), an interview of various kids, shows the deplorable conditions these kids were forced to face.
Many times the factory owner could get away with paying them nothing at all. The children obviously got little to no education. Many orphans were treated as slaves, they would say that the
The labor conditions that children faced were very demanding for a human being from such a small age. For example “In the Manayunk district of Philadelphia, children as young as seven assisted in spinning and weaving of cotton and woolen goods” (Wolensky 2). The children working in the factories had their childhood freedom taken away from them. “In 1830 in a sample of 43 Manchester mills, 22.3% of the workforce was under 14 and 32.4% under 16” (Cunningham 412). This means that about 50% of the workforce in the mills were made up of children under the age of 16 and in today in the United States, a person cannot work until the age of 16. “And it is a hard thing for small children to be confined in a tight close room all day long. It affects their growth, makes them pale and sickly” (Nason). The time these children spent in the factories prevented them from spending time with their neighbors, friends, and family. The fact that young children had to work in these textile mills, created changes to American culture on how childhood years are supposed to be spent.
Many factories and mines hired children, because they were able to fit in smaller spaces and the factories could pay them less. They also hired children, because children were easier to control. During this time it was just common for kids to work; most people were okay with child labor at the time. “In colonial America, child labor was not a subject of controversy. It was an integral part of the agricultural and handicraft economy. Children not only worked on the family farm but were often hired out to other farmers
In the early years while the profits were high working conditions looked promising to the mill girls in their brief opening experiences of factory work. Jobs required little skill because the machinery was mostly self-acting. It looked very pleasant at first, the rooms were so light, spacious, and clean, the girls so pretty and neatly dressed, and the machinery so brightly polished or nicely painted (Harriet Farley, Letters from Susan, Letter Second).
“Child labor is work that harms children or keeps them from attending school.” Back then in the U.S., children were working between ages 5 to 17. Between the 1800s and 1900s, many children worked in agricultural fields, fishing, mining, manufacturing, and even drug trade and prostitution. Even though child labor laws are still avoided around the world, the effects on child labor in the US, before, was unbelieveable. Children were suffering from health issues, reform movements grew and other countries followed enforced child labor too.
Carpenter not only disclosed her personal experiences, but she also recorded the experiences of the other children with the master. Namely, she remembered Mary, a young girl who “accidently knocked her food can to the floor. The master kicked her where he should not do, and it caused her to wear away until she died.” Carpenter’s heartfelt account of Mary’s innocence revealed her compassion and sympathy towards Mary and her undeserved punishment. Furthermore, she wrote of Caroline Thompson, who “was beat till she went out of her mind.” Her narrative relates directly to the context, as it is living proof of why children regularly suffered “mental and physical deficiencies” while laboring in factories. Statistics give further evidence to these deficiencies, as average weights, heights, and cognitive development significantly decreased in children during the time of the Industrial Revolution. Shown by her compelling stories of eight other children who were abused by the master, Carpenter felt sympathy for all of the other children that toiled alongside her, as she spent more time in the entry lamenting the other children’s lives instead of her own. Notably, Carpenter frequently uses the word “we” when discussing feelings toward factory work and the master, demonstrating
The working conditions are horrible. Rodents running across the ground, sharp objects lying on the floor while being barefoot, and unreliable emergency exits are just a few examples of what working in these factories were like. Document B shows a picture of breaker boys working. The air was full of many things that one should not be breathing in.The windows were covered in dust and were not allowed to be opened. The workspace was crowded and unsafe. The picture showed how hard the boys were working and that the task wasn't easy. If the boys were caught doing something they weren't supposed to, they would be beaten.Two boys were injured and killed at the Lee Breaker according to Document B. Girls don't have it so great either. At the triangle shirtwaist factory 146 young women died in the fire. They were locked in and the emergency escapes failed. We NEED to prevent these types of things from happening. Children should not be forced to work in areas that are highly unsanitary and unsafe. Stopping this issue will result in less incidents like
Many businesses and factories hired children because they were easier to exploit; they could be paid less for more work in dangerous conditions. Plus, their small size made many children idea for working with small parts or fitting into small spaces. Children as young as four could be found working in factories, though most were between eight and twelve. Despite the economic gains made by the business that employed them, many children suffered in the workplace. The industrial setting caused many health problems for the children that, if they lived long enough, they would carry with them for the rest of their lives. Children were also more likely to face accidents in the workplace, often caused by fatigue, and many were seriously injured or killed. Despite efforts by reformers to regulate child labor, it wasn’t until the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 that children under 14 were prohibited from
Young girls were not allowed to open the windows and had to breathe in the dust, deal with the nerve-racking noises of the machines all day, and were expected to continue work even if they 're suffering from a violent headache or toothache (Doc 2). The author of this report is in favor of employing young women since he claimed they seemed happy and they loved their machines so they polished them and tied ribbons on them, but he didn 't consider that they were implemented to make their awful situations more bearable. A woman who worked in both factory and field also stated she preferred working in the field rather than the factory because it was hard work but it never hurt her health (Doc 1), showing how dangerous it was to work in a factory with poor living conditions. Poor living conditions were common for nearly all workers, and similar to what the journalist saw, may have been overlooked due to everyone seeming
"Hunger and Malnutrition." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. Ed. Mary L. Gavin. The Nemours Foundation, 01 May 2012. Web. 12 May 2014.
Factories were utilizing children to do the hard work. They employed children as young as five or six to work as many as twenty hours a day. According to Document C, children worked in factories to build up muscles and having good intellect in working rather than getting an education. They became a different person rather than conventional children. There were additionally health issues due to child labor: rapid skeletal growth, greater risk of hearing loss, higher chemical absorption rates, and developing ability to assess risks. Progressive Era reformers believed that child labor was detrimental to children and to society. They believed that children should be protected from harmful environments, so they would become healthy and productive adults. In 1912, Congress created the Children’s Bureau to benefit children. The Keating-Owen Act was passed in 1916 to freed children from child labor only in industries that engaged in interstate commerce. However, it was declared unconstitutional sinc...
Exposure to severe food insecurity leaves an indelible mark on children’s wellbeing, manifesting in greater risks for health conditions (Shimmin, 2016) Food insecure children have the highest rate of hospitalization due to poor overall health. Food insecure children are at least twice as likely to report being in fair or poor health and at least 3 times more likely to have asthma, compared to food secure children. (Lee, 2012) Food insecure children often do not get the nutrients and nutrition to develop, leading to a long line of health problems.
For example, factory workers were expected to work 14-16 hour days, six days a week. The dusty, dirty, unlit mills along with few break times made working there a living hell. “Breaker boys suffered from chronic throat trouble and respiratory illnesses that were caused by inhaling coal dust. Above ground machinery, particularly coal crushers, were dangerously loud. If a breaker boy worked long hours around the coal crusher he often suffered from hearing loss (Wagner). Due to the fact that there were no safety laws in place, ear plugs and masks were not used. In fact, no safety equipment was. The dangerous machines with unprotected parts made children susceptible to injury and death. If someone were to get injured, they were immediately fired and not paid compensation for their health care. “If a boy was caught wearing gloves, the boss would beat him. A skin condition that miners termed “Red tips” was brought about by prolonged contact with sulfur from the coal. Breaker boys’ fingers often became cracked, bloody, and swollen from sorting (Wagner)....