Lowell System of Labor
Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
(/Gale+Encyclopedia+of+U%7eR%7eS%7eR%7e+Economic+History/publications.aspx?pageNumber=1) | 2000 | 468
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COPYRIGHT 2000 The Gale Group Inc.
LOWELL SYSTEM OF LABOR
During the early 1800s factories went up throughout New England, where rivers were
used to power recently developed manufacturing machinery. One such factory was
established between 1812 and 1814 in Waltham, Massachusetts. At this site, on the
shores of the Charles River, industrialist Francis Cabot Lowell (1775–1817) built the
Boston Manufacturing Company, the first complete cotton spinning and weaving mill
in the United States. Here the raw cotton fibers were processed to produce cloth.
To attract the necessary work force to his plant, Lowell established an innovative labor
program. He hoped his program would prove an alternative to the system of child labor
that had long been in use in Britain and also prevailed in New England textile mills.
Called the Lowell System, or the Waltham System, farm girls and young women who
came to work at the textile factory were housed in supervised dormitories or
boardinghouses and were provided with educational and cultural opportunities. Lowell
believed that by providing safety in the workplace, comfortable living conditions, and a
socially positive living and working environment he could ensure a steady supply of
labor.
Lowell expanded his manufacturing interests, establishing larger mills on the
Merrimack River in present-day Lowell, Massachusetts (a town named in his honor).
But in the 1830s and 1840s the Lowell System faltered. Increased competition in the
textile industry (which was the model for other industries of the day) forced factory
owners to cut wages and lengthen hours to stay profitable and meet production
demands. In 1834 Lowell cut his workers' wages by 25 percent; the workers responded
by staging a strike and organizing the Factory Girls Association, a labor union. But the
union's efforts were unsuccessful. Two years later the "Lowell girls" struck again when
their housing rates were raised; again the strike failed, as workers found themselves
unable to make ends meet and were back on the job within a month.
Conditions deteriorated and in 1845 Lowell workers formed the Female Labor Reform
Association, which joined forces with other Massachusetts laborers to force
government to legislate improved work conditions in the state. The lobby helped to
pass laws that limited work hours, but textile mills continued to ignore the legislation.
The arrival of the Irish in Lowell, beginning in 1846, also contributed substantially to
the demise of the Lowell System of Labor. With unskilled labor available and willing to
work for low wages, the system was no longer needed. By the 1850s the Lowell System
was a failed experiment. New England farm girls were replaced by immigrant women
who were willing to work for longer hours and lower wages.
See also: Francis Cabot Lowell, Rhode Island System of Labor, Spinning Mills, Textile
Industry, Women in the Workplace
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