Oscar Gradilla US History October 18, 2012

Pain worth the Gain? During the Industrial Revolution the worst event that ever occurred was child labor. During the United States Industrial Revolution the factories were so dangerous, that childrens fingers, arms, and legs could off easily been cut off. The pain caused to civilians was immoral due to poor living conditions, exploited immigrants and citizens, and horrible working conditions. Before the Industrial Revolution the streets were not necessarily clean. The living conditions were bad during this time due to the new factories being developed. When the revolution was occurring a picture of the time period depicts the streets as garbage cans, because there is trash all over the floor and it is just disgusting. Since there was no sanitation the streets were basically garbage cans (Photo from PowerPoint). In the streets, there was no sanitation because the government would not pay for public sanitation and the factory owners didnt care for people, so they would throw out their trash on the streets. All the employers were more concerned with making a profit; they didnt care for anyone, but for themselves. Also during the Industrial Revolutions, families were living in tenement apartments and also the city itself was over crowded and filthy (PowerPoint). The fact that the city was over crowded, means there was a higher probability for disease to spread. A disease like cholera was spreading rapidly because of the over population. Since the disease was spreading, people would get sick, and since the cities were already filthy people were dying. However, the living conditions in the house and city were not the only negative effects of the Industrial Revolution. When the Industrial Revolution was occurring urbanization was happening and then immigrants started coming to America. Most immigrants came from Southern and Eastern Europe to look for better opportunities, like a job. What the immigrants didnt expect was to be exploited. In the jungle it talks about Jurgis being cheated for his money. Jurgis asked a

Oscar Gradilla US History October 18, 2012

bartender for change of a one hundred dollar bill, and the bartender only gave him back ninetyfive cents (The Jungle). He was just cheated of the money that he was given, since Jurgis was accept he fought and was unfortunately sent to prison. He was still sent to prison even though he had had a reason to be upset, but since he was nothing but a worker no one honestly cared for him. The reason no one would care was because most of the people were corrupt and money hungry like the city bosses. The immigrants and citizens were basically slaves to their jobs since they all needed money. This was all basically known as slave wage (Otto). Since some of the immigrants couldnt afford a trip to come to America, they borrowed money from someone who could afford the trip. Then the immigrants were in debt and had to work to pay off the debt and be able to live their own lives, which was a horrible experience for all the workers. They made little money in the factories and they had to be able to provide for their families and pay off the debt. Which basically made the life of these immigrants much tougher than it need to be. This was definitely where most of the pain from this revolution came from, but not where most of the injuries happened. The streets were filthy, the people were slaves to their jobs, but the working conditions themselves were just horrible. There were children working in factories which were unsafe. During the Industrial Revolution 5% of the children were the labor force (Otto). The children couldnt reach the machines like the adults, so one wrong move on the machine and the child could have easily lost a hand, arm, finger, or even his life. The machines were dangerous and with children there, it was a greater hazard. Then the meat factories in the Jungle were a disgusting. In the Jungle there were fertilizer men who served in the cooking room. These people couldnt be shown to the visitor (Otto). In the story it talks about how the smell of a fertilizer man would frighten people. Just by knowing that someone that the smell would frighten

Oscar Gradilla US History October 18, 2012

anyone that was around the food youre going to eat; meant that the factories were not the cleanest at the time. Also in the jungle the way the meat was treated it was abominable, the chemistry department preserved it with borax and colored it with gelatin to make it brown (The Jungle). In the factories the workers treated the products like experiments with all of the chemicals. The chemicals were hazardous since the workers could have poisoned themselves and might have poisoned the customers that bought the meat. The workers were around all the chemicals, hurting themselves with the machines, and getting cut which caused the death and harm of innocent people. The Industrial Revolution brought great ideas to the world, but nothing we have today was worth the pain people went through. That is why during the Industrial Revolution, the pain caused to civilians was vile due to poor living conditions, exploited immigrants and citizens, and horrible working conditions. None of the pain faced was worth the things we have now and during the time the children that worked missed out in an education. They need to fill in for their parents as well in order to get income. Overall child labor was the worst since it caused a generation of uneducated people. The life of these children was damaged thanks to the ignoble revolution of machinery.