19 - -
REFORMERS AND PROGRESSIVE S
13)' 1 )lM)theUnitedSt at eswastherichestandmost
prod uctiveIndustrial coun rryIIIt heworld.It
p rod uce d31.9per centofth e wo rl d 'scoal. 34. 1
percentofirs i ro nand36.7percento f its steel.About
twenty milliono f its seventy-fo ur millio npeople
earnedJlivingfromj o bsin industry.
Men,womenandch ildrenlabored forlong hou rsin
factories.m in esandworkshops.Manylin -din cities,
fo r g ro w in gindustrial cen ters like Pitt sb ur g hand
Chicagoneededmore an dmoreworkers. T he
workers'homeswered irtyandovercro wded slum s.
Yca rslatertheSOno f immigrants fro m anItalian
v illag ere memberedhismother' s unhappiness.H e
descr ibedho w shewou ldsit for hours at the wind ow
ofthe family'sroomin a cro w d edN ew York
tCOl..'IIlCiH,orapartmen tbuilding."staring Up;1[th e
Iinlcpatchofskyaboveth etenements. "
Wag esw er e often lo w.In 1900 theaveragein d ustri al
work erw aspaidni ned oll ar sforworkin gfifty-nine
hour sa.week.Many wo rk edlongerandearnedless.
Incorro ns pinm n gmills th eusual\...orkingweek was
sixty-twohoursforw ag esoften cents anhour.
Oftenthework w asunhealthyo r d an gero u s.Inone
plantbdong mgto the United States Steel
Corporatio nfo rty-sixmenwerek illed inl lJ06- byXIIburn s, explosions.electric sh o cks .su ffoc ation,
fallingobjectsorbybeing crushed. Ifworkerswere
k illedo r i njured like th is,neithertheynortheir
f atuilu-s receive dcompensation. Whentilt'owner of a
coalminewaschallengedaboutthe d angersand
hard ship st hat hisworke rsfaced, hi s replyw assho rt
and cruel:..The...don'tsu ffer. "he said."Whv, th ey
can' tt.'WIlspeakEngli sh."..Workers t ried to formtr ad e,orlabor. un io nsto
Impro...cth econdition s of theirlin 'S.These an em pts
oftenfailed.Onereasonfo rthis w asth e com petitio n
forjobsben...ecn American-bornand immig rant
workers.Anotherw asth e v io lentopposition unions
facedfro memployers.Employerswouldd ismiss
union membersandputtheirnames 011 a"blacklist. "
If aworker'sn am eappe aredono n e oftheselists,
other em ployerswould refusetog l\Th imajob.
Emplo yerswered et erm inedtoallowneitherth eir
workersno r anyone else tointerfereIIIth e w aythey
ran their bu sinesses. Sometimesth eype rsuaded
politicians to sendsoldierstob reakupst rjkcs.A t
othertimesthey hired the irownprivat earrmcs to
controltheir workers.T hishappenedw-hc nworkers
atAndrewCarnegie'sHomesteadSteelMillm
Pennsylvaniawentonstri kein 1892 .The mill's
m.allagcr hired 300"det ectives"tostopth e strike.In