Question

Suppose you were a typical industrial worker in the United States during the late nineteenth century. Describe the conditions under which you would probably be working and how you might resist.

Answer 1

Working.During the Industrial Revolution, that took place in the late nineteenth century, many cities in the United States were booming with large factories that were usingnew advances in technology to expand their business. Many industrial workers now worked in factories or mines (Nash, 531).In Chicago you had the Chicago Meat Packing Industry, the largest slaughter house in the world that could now control every aspect of the meat packing industry. Over 25 thousand men, women, and children worked for the Chicago Meat Packing Industry. Processing 14 million animals a year (BOA Episode 14). With advances in shipping methods, and the invention of the refrigerated railroad car, an animal could now be shipped to, killed, butchered, and sent out for sale all in the slaughter house. The workers in the slaughter house were often not very skilled labors and the company took advantage of that. To keep wages and complaints low, the packing house would pick workers each morning that would come and line up, hoping for work. This meant that you never knew if you would have a job at the packing house because there was always someone else trying to take your place. The working conditions were disgusting at the packing house. In the winter time many workers would put their feet inside of a freshly killed animalto keep warm, as the factory was not heated and Chicago would become very coldin the winter months.