Industrialization and why it was unfair to

children.
I am going to be talking about why industrialization was unfair to children, children
were often employed in the industry during the first century of industrialization. The
reason being that their smaller fingers were often better at working the machinery.
Despite working 16 hours a day, 5 days a week, or longer, they typically were paid
very little cash. There were miserable working conditions that included crowded and
unclean factories, there was a big lack of safety, and long hours were the normal thing
in the workplace. In reality, children could be paid less, were less likely to organize
into riots, and their small hands and bodies enabled them to complete tasks in
factories or mines that would be challenging for adults. Estimates show that over 50%
of the workers in some British and Canadian factories in the late 1800s were under the
age of 14.

The Industrial Revolution was the time when there were very few government
regulations on working conditions and hours. Children often had to work with
conditions that were very dangerous. They sometimes lose limbs or fingers working
on high powered machinery with some little training. They worked in mines with bad
ventilation and sometimes developed lung diseases. Sometimes they worked around
dangerous chemicals where they became sick from the fumes.
Back then, factory owners wanted to employ children for several reasons. First of all,
children generally made a lot less than adults did for doing the same amount, or even
more work. For example, some estimates show that children were paid between
10-20% of the money that an adult would make. Therefore, the owners saved money
by hiring children. Second, children were generally more obedient than adults in
terms of completing work and accepting punishment. Factory managers were known
to whip or beat employees that were late for work. For example, in an interview in
1889, Unknown commented that he had seen his master “​with a horsewhip standing
outside the mill when the children have come too late and he lashed them all the way
to the mill.​” Therefore, the factory owners hired children because they were easier to
control and more likely to accept punishment.

Spinning machines in mills were often left unguarded and posed a very serious risk.
For instance, a report from the British House of Commons in 1894 commented that
“There are factories, no means few in number, nor confined to the smaller mills, in
which serious accidents are happening again and agian, and in which,
notwithstanding, dangerous parts of the machinery are allowed to remain unfenced.”
This situation caused children to become injured, as they were working dangerously
close to spinning belts and shafts that powered the machines. Furthermore, children
were often required to work on machines that they were not tall enough to operate
safely.

If I were to have one opinion, it would be that industrialization for kids was the worst.

Bibliography
“Child Labor in the Industrial Revolution.” ​History Crunch - History Articles,
Summaries, Biographies, Resources and More,​
www.historycrunch.com/child-labor-in-the-industrial-revolution.html#/.

“Chapter 5.” ​Canadian History,​ historymiddleblyth.weebly.com/chapter-51.html.

National Geographic Society. “Industrialization, Labor, and Life.” ​National

Geographic Society,​ 9 Dec. 2019,
www.nationalgeographic.org/article/industrialization-labor-and-life/7th-grade/.