Reforming the Industrial Order
Chap 9 Sec 2 Notes
Reforming the workplace
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1900 the Avg. laborer worked 10hrs/day 6 days/week for $1.50/day women and
children were paid less
Female and Child Labor
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1900 ½ of women in jobs as factory workers, store clerks etc. earned $6 or less
per week
o Barely enough to survive
 Significant barriers when try to increase wages
o Piece workers penalized for working too fast
 “Outage for a girl too earn $25 a week”
 would be fired if you protest
 John Spargo “The Bitter Cry of Children “ in 1906 charged textile industry with
enslavement of children
 Few children had attended school or could read
 Child worked or family starved
Labor Laws
 Prohibit or limit child labor and improve conditions for female workers
 Florence Kelley persuade Illinois legislature to prohibit child labor and limit
number of hours women could work
o More than 2 million children worked in factories in 1910
o Girls working 16 hours in canning factories
 In 1904 Florence Kelley organized National Child Labor Committee to persuade
state government’s to pass child labor laws
o By 1912 39 states pass child labor laws
 Some limited older children’s hours to 8-10 hours/day – barred
from working at night and in dangerous occupations
 Others required that children be able to read and write
 Enforcement was lax- some owners refused to follow laws
 George Creel Children in Bondage 1913 describes problem of child labor
o Also campaigned for laws to force factories to limit hours employers
demanded
 1903 Florence Kelley helped pass a law in Oregon limiting laundry workers to 10
hour days
o Utah already had laws limiting workdays to 8 hours in certain jobs
 Fought for higher wage
o 30 million men 7.5 million women employed in 1910 1/3 lived in poverty
o Catholic monsignor John Ryan called for establishment of minimum wage
in 1910 level to approximate normal standard of living
o Massachusetts passes first minimum wage law in 1912-set wages for
women and children
o 1938 Federal gov’t pass minimum wage law
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
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March 25,1911 Saturday
o 500 employees mostly Jewish and Italian immigrant women
o Finishing shift- fire starts in rag bin
o 8th floor of 10 story building a blaze
o Escape impossible
 2 stairways- fire doors locked owners afraid girls would steal
fabric
 Elevator shaft jams
o 60 workers jump to deaths to escape fire
 143 die in fire
Popular outrage forces lawmakers to pass laws to help workers
o NY City enacted strictest fire safety code in U.S.
Progressivism and Supreme Court
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Business fought back through courts
14th amendment prohibits states from depriving “any person of life, liberty or
property w/o due process of law”
o Owners claimed regulatory laws deprived them of property
o Supreme Court sided w/business owners and declared early laws
unconstitutional
o Court also ruled some legislation violated freedom of contract
1905 Lochner vs. New York—overturned law limiting bakers to 10 hour work
days
o Workers should be free to negotiate and accept any conditions of
employment
Muller vs. Oregon (1908)
o Supreme Court upheld law limiting hours in laundries
Louis Brandeis argued for keeping law- “Brandeis Brief”-format for defense of
social legislation
Labor Unions
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Fought for closed shops- must belong to a union
o Most favored “working within system”
o Wanted changes but w/o replacing capitalism
Some favored socialism- government ownership of factories, utilities,
transportation and communication
AFL
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American Federation of Labor
o Samuel Gompers leader
AFL grew 4 fold from 1900 to 1914
o Excluded unskilled workers
o Mostly eastern European and African American workers excluded
Belief that skilled workers had greatest potential to cause change
By 1902 only 3% of African Americans were union members
ILGWU
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International Ladies Garment Workers Union
Established in 1900 in N.Y. City
o Unionize workers in sewing shops
1909 workers in 3 shops walked off job wanted ILGWU to call General strike
Nov 1909 “Uprising of 20,000”
o Workers walked off job and demanded recognition of ILGWU as union
o Strike lasted throughout winter
o Got assistance from Women’s Trade Union League
o Owners brought in African Americans to replace workers- some joined
strike
Results mixed
o Got wage increase
o Got reduced working hours
o However owners refused to recognize union
Membership grew from 400 to 65,000
IWW
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International Workers of the World
o “Wobblies” opposed capitalism
o Led by “Big Bill” Haywood
Denounced AFL cooperation w/business owners and failure to include unskilled
workers
o Enlisted African -Americans, Asians and Hispanics
Successes
o Philadelphia raised wages from $1.25/day to $4/day
o Pursued goals through boycotts, general strikes and sabotage
o 1912 led strike of 10,000 textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts
Failures – several strikes failed
o Many Americans grew weary of IWW tactics
o Government cracked down on union