To The Master Manufacturers Of Great Britain On The Present Exhibiting Evils In The Manufacturing System, By Robert Owen
This document is an extract from an address written by Robert Owen in 1819 entitled “An address to the master manufacturers of Great Britain on the present exhibiting evils in the manufacturing system”. It is a primary source, which increases its value since it was written by a reliable author during the time of study.
This passage was written in 1818, near the end of the Industrial Revolution era, not long after Robert Owen, owner of the New Lanark mills in Scotland, started improving the working conditions of his workers, focusing primarily on the children. The author, Robert Owen, was a welsh manufacturer turned into a reformer. In 1800, after marrying the owner David Dale's daughter, Caroline Dale, he became the manager of the New Lanark …show more content…
First, they “complain of the wretchedness of our work-people, and yet we work them, from infancy to old age” meaning that they complain about how miserable and wretched their work-people look, although it is their fault for making them overwork, sometimes for more than 15 hours per day, whether they are children or adults. Indeed, during the Industrial Revolution, children as young as four years old were employed in production factories with really dangerous, and more often than not, fatal working …show more content…
But this threatens the foundation of the country, and Owen thinks everyone should be happy in what they do not just the factory owners only, because by making their workers work in these conditions also threatens their own happiness. He then calls on the other manufacturers to think about the way they are handling things, and to change them for the better, like he did for New Lanark. He advises them to stop child labor, to stop having their work-force overwork while there are plenty of work for them, and also those who are unemployed. This would be beneficial for their industry, their people, and so for the country. Robert Owen, in the last paragraph, shares his ideas to improve the working conditions in factories, no more child labor but they would educate the children instead, no more work for over 12 hours a day with intermission, and they would give their workers “sufficient wages to enable them to buy food and also useful articles of manufacture”, this way their industry would also profit from all these
This passage was written in 1818, near the end of the Industrial Revolution era, not long after Robert Owen, owner of the New Lanark mills in Scotland, started improving the working conditions of his workers, focusing primarily on the children. The author, Robert Owen, was a welsh manufacturer turned into a reformer. In 1800, after marrying the owner David Dale's daughter, Caroline Dale, he became the manager of the New Lanark …show more content…
First, they “complain of the wretchedness of our work-people, and yet we work them, from infancy to old age” meaning that they complain about how miserable and wretched their work-people look, although it is their fault for making them overwork, sometimes for more than 15 hours per day, whether they are children or adults. Indeed, during the Industrial Revolution, children as young as four years old were employed in production factories with really dangerous, and more often than not, fatal working …show more content…
But this threatens the foundation of the country, and Owen thinks everyone should be happy in what they do not just the factory owners only, because by making their workers work in these conditions also threatens their own happiness. He then calls on the other manufacturers to think about the way they are handling things, and to change them for the better, like he did for New Lanark. He advises them to stop child labor, to stop having their work-force overwork while there are plenty of work for them, and also those who are unemployed. This would be beneficial for their industry, their people, and so for the country. Robert Owen, in the last paragraph, shares his ideas to improve the working conditions in factories, no more child labor but they would educate the children instead, no more work for over 12 hours a day with intermission, and they would give their workers “sufficient wages to enable them to buy food and also useful articles of manufacture”, this way their industry would also profit from all these