Melanie Salgado

Mrs. Howell

World History/Period 4

14 November 2016

The Truth Behind An Average Worker

Hundred, hundred thousand people men, women, and children died due to the Industrial Revolution,

although death wasnt always the outcome there was also near-death experiences and injuries that led to almost

permanent harm. Before the Industrial Revolution be the people would create the goods needed at home, which

took much more time leading inventors to create inventions to help the people. The start of the Industrial

Revolution began in the 18th century to the 19th century in England, it started there due to the natural resources

that it had. The Industrial Revolution was the era for improving and developing machine for the products

instead of having to sit at home and wait hours to have the finished product. Although the inventions were good

for the workers in efficiency but it was hard for the workers in many conditions. The sufferings of the people

changed how children worked, the overall working conditions of the workers, and how those suffering carried

into the workers everyday life. These sufferings were important and are still important today because these

sufferings affected the population of men, women, and children and it wasn't for the better for them as a human

but the better for their society which didn't help them.

From the ages five to ten children were already put to work, the small workers would work for long

hours from early in the morning to late at night. Children were mistreated, and were easy targets to die first

when encountering the machines. In an interview with Joseph Hebergam he states that a boy was caught in a

machine and both his thigh bones broke and from his knees to his hip the flesh was ripped up the same as if it
had been cut by a knife. His hands were bruised, his eyes were nearly torn out and his arms were broken. His

sister, who ran to pull him off had both her arms broke and her head bruised. The boy died.(Interview,

Hebergam). Another piece of evidence showing the life about an average worker was an excerpt from The

Philosophy of Manufactures and a pamphlet written by The Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing

the Comforts of the Poor both state how the children are well-treated with no signs of abuse. In the excerpt the

author states, never saw a single instance of corporal chastisement [beating] inflicted on a child. They seemed

to be always cheerful and alert, taking pleasure in the light play of their muscles...as to exhaustion, they showed

no trace of it( The Philosophy of Manufactures, Ure). This excerpt also correlates with a pamphlet 500

children who are entirely fed, clothed, and educated by Mr. Dale. The others live with their parents in the

village and have a weekly allowance for their work...3000 children employed in the mills from 1785 to 1797,

only fourteen have died.(The Society for Bettering the Condition and Increasing the Comforts of the Poor).

The interview meant to state that the factories weren't ideal places for children to work especially when the

factories have machines that cant be maneuvered by small workers. As seen in the interview the boy and his

sister weren't expected to live after having those kinds of injuries, the boy died and the girl wasn't expected to

live showing that children can't be expected to handle the type of work. Whereas the excerpt and pamphlet

showed the positive parts of children working in the mills like actually being safe and have decent clothing. The

deeper meaning of having children working in these sort of conditions is that during this time children needed to

work to help out families but once a child is dead the family is not only devastated but they wont be able to

provide enough needed that can help the family due to them missing a child that made life easier for the family,

also with children working in factories or caves they are feared of doing a poor job leading them to do a horrible

job and be fired again not being able to help the family out.

Like the children the older workers had much stronger bodies so they were able endure the hardships of

working much better than the smaller workers. However the age separation didnt matter because the
environment of their work place were still equally terrible for their health and other physical appearance. A

source that shows what it was like for the workers to live in their homes was from a book, The young women

are well and decently clothed...the houses inhabited by the work people form long and large streets

(Manchester, Faucher). Another source that supports that workers werent being treated with the correct

environment was demonstrated in a reply about the merchants in the manufacture of woolens, the scribing mill,

the spinning frame, and the flying shuttle, have reduced manual labour nearly one third and each of them has at

its first introduction carried an alarm to the work people, yet each has contributed to the advance of wages and

to increase the trade so that if an attempt was now made to deprive us of the use of them,there is no doubt, but

every person engaged in business would exert himself to defend them.(Letter from the Leeds Cloth Merchants,

Merchants). The book is stating how especially the women were when they were working, however in this

particular source the writer wrote about one small town and how they were able to function the writer only

specified therefore not knowing in an overall country how the factories or jobs are run. In the letter it mostly

specialized on how the workers were feeling about the use of machines with machines coming into play the

amount of jobs would increase or decrease based in the factory whether they wanted more workers or just be a

factory relying on machines. These two sources showed what workers experienced in their everyday jobs

because most people could be treated well or some could be treated poorly and it could affect their family on

how to afford essentials or they could lose jobs due to the movement of inve tors creating more machines that

use less manpower.

Each worker is different when they arrive home from work. Some continue to work, some just go home

and some stay later at the factories due to their unfinished shifts. Your houses are better built, your clothes are

cheaper, you have an infinite number of domestic utensils.(The Working Mans Companion, Knight) In the

book a German socialist wrote about the specific living environment the different types of social class lived in

and in this case the writer spoke about the people living in the slum areas. The streets are usually unpaved, full
of holes, filthy and strewn with refuse The view of Manchester is quite typical. The main river is narrow,

coal-black and full of stinking filth and rubbish which deposits on the bank(The Conditions of the Working

Class in England). A picture from 1872 demonstrates what it's truly like to live in small compacted houses due

to there being a lot of workers living above or next to each other. (Over London-By Rail). The work conditions

were important because they correlated with the workers living conditions, based on the two sources there are

two different perspectives that the writers experienced, in the book there was a more positive outlook on how

the workers live for example in a clean and safe environment whereas in another book it talked about how the

streets are filthy and unfit for workers to live in, due to them already working in the factories and the conditions

of the factories carries on to the workers home. In a painting it also demonstrates the condition of the streets

and how tightly packed the workers must live in. This is relevant to the average living conditions a worker

endures because whatever they are used to will become a habit and after a habit it becomes an obsession, since

the workers work in factories that are in poor conditions they will get so used to living in a filthy environment

that they will make their homes into that dirty atmosphere. With their being so much filth around it can carry

disease and affect the children and adults not only endangering their lives but also their jobs.

A worker should be tested to their limits but after exceeding the limits that is called over exertion of

power. Children have died and have close to death experiences, the working expectations are set too high even

for workers nowadays, the workers can not handle it and ones working environment leaks into ones living

arrangments. All the sources prove that the workers didnt have it easy they needed to work hard to provide for

their families and to maintain their jobs because by maintaining the jobs they are able to fix their future step by

step and create a healthier lifestyle. Overall the hardships of workers were immense there are people who died

to bad working environments, living arrangements became too much like work, and labor for children were too

harsh. This leads to the conclusion that the Industrial Revolution was successful but at a cost which was the

death of many people.