Read Britain's Industrial Advantages And The Factory System By Edward Baines, Report

Read Britain's Industrial Advantages and the Factory System by Edward Baines, Report to Child Labor by Sadler Commision and Factory Rules. Use the sources to assess the advantages and disadvantages of Industrialization. What picture do you get of child labor in the nineteenth Century? Do the rules for adults workers seem fair. Overall, were the new advances in technology and production worth the cost in terms of human labor? Try to see the problem from both the side of the factory worker and the factory owner. In the Industrial Revolution many things changed like urbanization. Also the working class increased around that this time. Many families were getting jobs. Men, women and children were in factories making money. This industrial revolution was in Europe. The three reading were about different parts of the Industrial Revolution. The first one was about the advantages of the industrial revolution. The second reading was about a report about child labor in the factories and how children
suffered and the last reading was on the factory rules that the workers had to follow. Edward Baines who wrote the first reading Britain's Industrial Advantages and The Factory System.
There were so many advances that happened during the revolution. One is that at first they had just three items that put some of these inventions into place. It mentions in the beginning of the reading that “importance for the successful prosecution of manufactures, namely, water-power, fuel, and iron.”(Perry 88). This is very impressive because things like the steam engine was created and revolutionized which was big at the time. Many things at this time advanced like canals were built and railways were made. This was time for people to get transportation to places that they need to go. Also at this time the government was improving and trying to find the right government. I believe that the new advantages were not worth the turmoil that some of the people had to go through. People died working and did not have time to have time with their families and have any
enjoyment. Child labor in the nineteenth century had been very bad. Many of the children were physically harmed. In the sources book there was an interview with Michael Thomas Sadler. He was in the courthouse talking about what happened in the factories. He was asked more about the children in the factory. He was asked questions from the examiner Mr. Matthew Crabtree. He was asked about the conditions of the factories and how the children were treated. Sadler was twenty-two. Sadler stated that he was eight years old when he first started in the factory. Based what Sadler stated it seems like most children in the factory were really young. When I was reading this is seems like the children were working under people who were very cruel. The children had to hurry to do task and if they did not do them right they were punished. The people in the factories also had to work long hours which made the people very fatigued. Because they were so tired they were not able to work at the speed intended which meant that they were punished even more. At age eight I was in school and just going to school for six hours made me tired. When theses children had to go to work earlier than six in the morning I couldn’t even image what that would be like. I also have a little sister who is about to be eight years old. The thought of her working in a factory of very poor conditions is hard. It was even harder to think about if she did not finish her work what would happen to her. It mention in the reading that when a child did something they were punished with a strap or a roller. He also mentioned that he was not beaten worse than the children. He believed that the mortality if the factory was disgusting. Also there was mention of how long Sadler had to walk to and from home. When working over twelve hours in day and then walking two miles I couldn’t even imagine the hardship that went on. The children were probably in bad shape and couldn't really do anything to help that. I could image that the children were very week and sleep deprived often. Also during such a young age children should be learning but since children had to work they were unable to get a good education compared so some children in the 21st century. I would hate to live in a time period where I would have to work long hours and not even get time to be a child and have fun. The last reading was not as hard to read because it talked about the hours and the rules that the factory worker had to follow. The factory owner had to follow a very strict rules and made sure that the workers understood and followed the rules. It states in the the book “The normal working day begins ats all season at 6 a.m. precisely and ends after the usual break of half and hour breakfast, and hour for dinner and half an hour for tea,at 7pm and it shall be strictly observed.” (Perry 101). The first rule of discipline sounded reasonable. They get a break for eating and tea. One concern I had was that there was not a time for lunch. Another concern was that based on the first rule it sounded like the worker were in jail and not at work. They had to be strictly watched, to me that sounds like a jail. Reading further the book also mentioned that there was a bell that rang when time was up and they needed to get back to work. I also that is was strange that workers were unable to talk to the other worker. On the other hand it made sense because when I am at work and I talk to co-worker I get less accomplished. A lot of the rules sounded pretty reasonable because the owners of the factory wanted to get as much work done as possible. If a worker was late then they were docked some of their pay, unfortunately the people who worked in the factories needed the money to help their families. I understand the problem the workers had to face. They had to walk a lot just to get to the factories. Then the workers had to make to work on time on the dot or they would get penalized. In addition to that they were not able to talk to anyone while doing their work. Also the workers a very tired and have to try to get there work done. I also see how the factory owners had to get work done so they had to be very strict but based on the last reading in the child labor and just the labor in general There were many problem that happened during the Industrial Revolution had good things happen like the creation of tools and the rise of the middle class. The working class however suffered. They had to go to factories with their children who also worked and work for hours on end. The children were suffering and not being treated right. In addition the children were being beaten and because they were little it was hard to get the job done efficiently. I truly could not imagine living in this time where so many things happened for the good and bad. I also could not image being the working class and trying to do my job right. Some of the rules seemed fair but not all the rules. It just seems very cruel.