Because the world developed, the industry in the United States had to change to catch up the development of the world. Thus, the industrialization era appeared and revolutionized the old industrial ways. However, there were many problems occurring in the process of the industrialization. The problem was closely related to the workers during their jobs. Therefore, the progressive era fixed these problems that the industrialization brought and made it better.
The first point that was mentioned is that the progressives improved the damage from the workers' strikes over the working conditions. The workers complained about the hours for labor being too many. The work was commenced at 5 o'clock in the morning and continued until 7 o'clock in the evening with a half hour for breakfast and three-quarters hour for dinner. Therefore, it impacted a lot on the workers' health. The pregnant women were still working at the machines until a few hours before their babies were born. This was the problems with the working conditions of the workers. The bad conditions inside the factories was worse than the stress of the long hours they had to be there.. They had to work in the machine whose temperature was almost 110 or 120 degrees, it was humid, steamy, gluey without fans. Instead of fans, there were foreman working about, fuming and blowing, their voices liked dogs barking at other dogs. From the conditions of the workers, it led them to get some injuries, such as becoming blind or deaf( Working in the Sweatshops). The workers worked with the dangerously broken stairway, windows few and so dirty, hardly light. Moreover, the gas jet burning by day and by night and they drank no fresh water with mice and roaches.They had the low-wages that was from 1 to 1.5 dollars with the worst conditions. Because of the bad treatment, they created many strikes on the street or in front of their companies in order to be treated better than before, had comfortable wages for whole families. Based on the problems, the progressive era reforms helped make more opportunities for women to work. It protected the workers from the dangerous condition during their working time. It also had already pressurized the factories in order that the factories fixed some of the machines to decrease the injuries and increase the wages for the workers. Progressive also persuaded some states to pass laws limiting the workday to tens hours.
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During this time of development, the industrialization caused many problems including the treatment of the workers. One of the worst problems was when the Triangle Shirtwaist Company caught on fire in New York City in 1911. The fire killed many workers in a short amount of time. The reason that many workers died in the short time was because the owners of the factory were locking the door during the working time, so the workers could not exit from the room when the fire occurred. Because of the door opened inward, they could not open it and survive if having a lot of people in front of the door. Moreover not only the number of died people but also the damages had to bear. From the company fire, the workers felt scared for their lives while working at the unsafe offices. The progressive era came up with many options to fix this problem. They were particularly active in creating the safety standards. The attention was devoted to the dangerous nature of the works. They updated the workers on escaping the fire and also. Many states also adopted workers’ compensation laws, which set up funds to pay workers who were hurt on the job including women or children. Besides, most of factories had to be on the first floors in order to escape the fire easily. The progressive era required the fire escape in the factories and companies.
At the time, the children would not have gone to school because of their limited finance. Most of the children went to work at the coal mines, textile factories, or selling newspapers. They had no rights and did not make much money for working for a long time. The children had to work when they were too young; sometimes as young as 6 years old. Furthermore, they worked many jobs including the dangerous work like working in the coal mines. They could get many injuries while working, so they would not grow up normally as regular children. Because of working too soon, they did not go to school do the children could not read or write the words. The fact was that one out of every six children (1,118,000 total) under sixteen years of age in the United State were at work in factories and mines in 1880. The progressive era tried to help children have a better life. They got some right for the children when they working. Many laws restricting child labor were passed. In 1902, Florence Kelley helped form the National Child labor Committee, which successfully lobbied the federal government to create the U.S. Children's Bureau in 1912. Only the 13 and older could be at work in the factories and the coal mines. Moreover, the progress established the Keating-Owens Act for child labor and it was passed by the Congress.
In conclusion, the progressive era fixed many problems of the industrialization made during the developing of the United States. They also helped the workers have the many rights and opportunities they have now. From these things, that made the workers improve their lives for the better.
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