England vs. America Mill Conditions

Some people are desperate for money, and will work through dangerous conditions to make even the slightest bit of money. A place where people could work in the 1800’s to get money to support their families, were the mills. There were mills in England and in America, but the conditions of these mills differed. They ultimately ended up the same way, but how they got there is a different story.

England had bad conditions from the start. England had an abundant supply of cheap labor because some families had no other option but to send their daughter to work in the mills. Due to this almost “never ending” supply of girls going to work at the mills, England took advantage of the desperate matters. They made the girls work days long, with no time to break for food. They beat the children when they were not doing exactly what was wanted of them. A quote to show this is, William Crookes is overlooker in our room; he is cross-tempered sometimes. He does not beat me; he beats the little children if they do not do their work right… I have sometimes seen the little children drop asleep or so, but not lately. If they are catched asleep they get the strap…” (Doc D) This quote shows that little children got beat and whipped if they made one little mistake. They did not take care of the equipment which was big and heavy and caused many deaths. They also payed the girls very cheap wages, which is unfair compared to the amount of work they put into their job. The people who ran the mills in England were very manipulative and only cared about getting money.

America had a mill in Lowell and it was called the Lowell Experiment. The Lowell Experiment tried to make a mill that would ultimately be the opposite of the mills in England. The mills in Lowell started out very nice, making a good impression on many families, which attracted more and more families to send their daughters to the mills in Lowell. The mills in Lowell needed to be very nice because the families living in that area could have took their daughters and moved west to make a farm, which would take the labor force away at the mills. The mills gave the girls time to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. They also gave the girls free time to do as they pleased at the end of the day. But, eventually as more and more girls came to the mills, the maintenance of the equipment was not up to par. The dangerous machinery caused many injuries and deaths and here is a quote that shows that, “My life and health are spared while others are cut off. Last Thursday one girl fell down and broke her neck which caused instant death. She was going in or coming out of the mill and slipped down it being very icy. The same day a man was killed by the [railroad] cars. Another had nearly all of his ribs broken. Another was nearly killed by falling down and having a bale of cotton fall on him.” (Doc C) This quote shows the decay of the mills and shows how dangerous it was to work there. The people running the mills did not care about the girls health, and eventually their good reputation was ruined.

Picture of Lowell Mill

The conditions of the mills in Lowell and England in the end were unacceptable. They caused many deaths and disabilities to so many of the young girls working there. Though America did not start off as bad as England did, the low maintenance of the machines and dangerous conditions were ultimately visible later on in the mills existence. The people working in the mills put their life on the line to make money to most likely feed their families. It is not okay that the factory owners let the conditions get so dangerous and did not do anything about it. The conditions for both America and England were life threatening to every single worker in the factory,