Owen Isenberg

9/24/19
3-4

Timed Writing
When we think of the industrial revolution we rarely think of the negatives, we
rarely think of the negative ways that it affected people's lives at the time. In the late
1800s to early 1900s when the industrial revolution was at its peak the working class
were working in the worst conditions imaginable, getting paid a wage that made living a
chore. The men, women, and children were working up to 12hrs day. While the men
made up to 10 shillings a week the women were making up to 5 and the children made
1. This means the average wage for a family with 1 child were making 16 shillings per
week at the most.
The article “Waifs of New York City's Slums” Sheds light on the lives that the
poor single mothers lived. “Of the 508 babies received at Randall's Island Hospital last
year 333 died, 65.55 percent, but if the 508 only 170 were picked up in the streets.” This
is evidence that if you weren't wealthy at the time life was rough. Life for the poor single
mothers was horrible, they could barely take care of themselves but most couldn't take
care of their babies. Most of the mothers that couldn't take care of their babies would be
left outside of a police station of left outside an orphanage. Almost 90 percent of these
died due to the harsh conditions. Even if these mothers could take care and raise their
babies they would end up working in the factories starting around 10 years old.
Children as young as 10 were working in factories for around 1 shilling per week.
These children worked 9 to 12hrs a day for 5 or 6 days a week. They would be working
in the same conditions as their parents and had little to no working rights. The book
“The coal is hard, and accidents to the hand, such as cust, broken, or crushed fingers,
are common among the boys. Sometimes there are worse accidents: a terrified shrike is
heard and a boy is mangled and torn in the machinery.” This book came out in 1906
and was spreading the message about how poor and dangerous the conditions for the
conditions are for adults and young children to work in. This was a common thing during
the revolution, working like that for only 50 to 60 cents a day. Many of the kids that
worked in the coal mines would end up with lung diseases as they got older, many of
these kids had never seen the inside of a school, some of them attended night school
after they got off work but that was a small percentage.
In the end, the industrial revolution is responsible for almost everything that we
use and take advantage of today from an iPhone to a car to a windmill. I think it's
important to understand some of the negatives that came along with the industrial
revolution and understand how that impacts our jobs and our working conditions like
minimum wage, max working hrs per week. The only thing we can do is learn from this
a think about how we are treating people and making sure we have a system that cares
and supports the working class. A system where are taking care of the people that can
barely take care of themselves.