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    Chicago Tribune: Plight of Workers! As Individuals and Families and The Side of The Employers

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    The document summarizes the difficult conditions faced by workers in the late 19th/early 20th century including long hours, dangerous jobs, low pay that required entire families to work, unsanitary living conditions, and the formation of early labor unions to demand better treatment and wages from employers. Industrialization led to pollution, overcrowding in cities, and cheap labor as massive immigration lowered wages. While some saw the American Dream as unattainable, the document argues that through hard work, immigrants could improve their lives and achieve their goals.

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    Chicago Tribune: Plight of Workers! As Individuals and Families and The Side of The Employers

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    82 views9 pages
    The document summarizes the difficult conditions faced by workers in the late 19th/early 20th century including long hours, dangerous jobs, low pay that required entire families to work, unsanitary living conditions, and the formation of early labor unions to demand better treatment and wages from employers. Industrialization led to pollution, overcrowding in cities, and cheap labor as massive immigration lowered wages. While some saw the American Dream as unattainable, the document argues that through hard work, immigrants could improve their lives and achieve their goals.

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    The document summarizes the difficult conditions faced by workers in the late 19th/early 20th century including long hours, dangerous jobs, low pay that required entire families to work, unsanitary living conditions, and the formation of early labor unions to demand better treatment and wages from employers. Industrialization led to pollution, overcrowding in cities, and cheap labor as massive immigration lowered wages. While some saw the American Dream as unattainable, the document argues that through hard work, immigrants could improve their lives and achieve their goals.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    82 views9 pages

    Chicago Tribune: Plight of Workers! As Individuals and Families and The Side of The Employers

    Uploaded by

    api-346618257
    The document summarizes the difficult conditions faced by workers in the late 19th/early 20th century including long hours, dangerous jobs, low pay that required entire families to work, unsanitary living conditions, and the formation of early labor unions to demand better treatment and wages from employers. Industrialization led to pollution, overcrowding in cities, and cheap labor as massive immigration lowered wages. While some saw the American Dream as unattainable, the document argues that through hard work, immigrants could improve their lives and achieve their goals.

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    Workers in the late 1800s to early 1900s

    By: Renaja Pringle & Alandra Rangel


    CHICAGO TRIBUNE
    November 4, 2015

    PLIGHT OF WORKERS! AS INDIVIDUALS


    AND FAMILIES AND THE SIDE OF THE
    EMPLOYERS

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    CHICAGO TRIBUNE

    The plight of workers--families and employers


    The dangerous, difficult and unfortunate situations for the workers, families and
    employers have broken the news scale. The situations are getting worse by the
    minute. Conditions for the workers are of course, nasty, solitary, and hard. Women
    and children starting to have to work, to help out with income. Now, because of this,
    early unions are starting to form. The Knights of Labor were organized as of 1896,
    known as a Noble and Holy Order. These Knights are a secret protestant group,
    banded together by Uriah Stephens. This group, are firm reformers of equal pay for
    equal work. Next came the American Federation, led by Samuel Gompers. They are
    somewhat like the Knights, But on a more, limited level. They looked to the Knights
    for some guidance, and were more about enforcing shorter hours for better wages.
    Groups and movements have formed, because of the plight of these workers. They
    are demanding a better way of life, because what they have now is not right. The
    jobs that these workers--women, children, and men--are working in tend to be
    extremely dangerous. The food the immigrants eat on a daily bases is contaminated
    with fecal matter, urine, and the contents of dead animals such as: rats, dogs, etc
    People fall ill from eating this stuff, and living in what theyre eating--human
    excrements and dead animal meat--making them not as healthy when they work.
    Talk about a living hell.

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    CHICAGO TRIBUNE

    The problems with Industrialization


    Recently, problems with industrialization have surfaced. Industrialization itself isnt
    the issue, its the way its being brought about. Workers are being paid very little,
    theyre not being properly supplied/looked after. The pay is so lousy, it is to the
    point where entire families are going in, to work--women and their young children.
    Many children are being injured and killed on the job because of these dangerous
    machines and lack of surveillance. The hygiene, and neighborhoods are just down
    right disgusting. Since the making of factories, cities, and neighborhoods have just
    gotten nastier and nastier. Human excrements fill the streets as well as the
    carcusses of animals. The food that is sold, is has fecal matter and blended rat meat
    all over it. The hygiene is horrible, and no one has tried to clean up this repulsive
    mess. Its really sad, these workers have to face these harsh conditions, and then

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    CHICAGO TRIBUNE

    dont even get paid enough to feed half of a person. The problems we face in this
    situation are the unfair loan sharks. These loan sharks suck the money from the
    poor and end up being rich without having to work for it. While immigrants break
    their backs to get by, there are the loan sharks who run everything while just
    watching the workers suffer without a care in the world. They make money off of the
    backs of the poor and wont try to help the situation with it. thats the biggest
    problem we face.

    The Environmental impact of Industrialization


    Due to the excess smoke constantly driving into the air, pollution has
    started to take effect, limiting the natural use of the environment. Most of
    the environment is now starting to be occupied, by factories. As most
    should know, smoke is damaging to the environment. It will and has now
    become harder to find land and water that has not been polluted by the
    oil, gas and smoke. Since these factories are lined up by rivers, and

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    CHICAGO TRIBUNE

    streams, and powered by water, the oils and gas have started to seep into
    the once fresh water making it not as healthy to drink. without good,
    healthy water, then it will now be harder to farm and grow crops. However,
    dont get it wrong, although there are still perfectly, unaffected
    environmental areas, the ones we currently occupy are polluted. the
    better environments are miles upon miles away, and in this situation, that
    would be too draining to the economy having to spend all that money for
    the transportation of goods.

    The impact of massive immigration and or


    movement of into an area resulting in cheap
    labor
    Since the drastic amount of immigrants allowed into America so far, the minimum
    wage for workers, has gone down enormously. This is because there are too many
    people with jobs, and not enough money, to give everyone a reasonable amount.
    That would just leave everyone else bankrupt and poor. There is also not enough

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    CHICAGO TRIBUNE

    places to live, and the workers are now, only being paid enough to get them by--
    living. The flood of workers impacts the employers as well. They have two choices.
    Since they dont want to go poor, they pay the workers very little, but the workers
    arent happy with it and quite, leaving the employer with no work force, costing
    even more money and possibly putting the employer out of business. Or the
    employer can pay the immigrants/workers a lot of money, leaving even more
    overcrowdedness, and sapping the money from the employer. The movement of
    immigration, has put everyone else, in a pretty tough spot, to help the immigrants,
    and themselves.

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    CHICAGO TRIBUNE

    The Purpose of labor Unions


    THE REBELLIONS HAVE STARTED! Recently there have been outbreaks, of
    workers going on violent strikes against their employers. Demanding that
    they get paid, and treated better. Workers--as the public should know--are
    treated as servants. They live in poorly structured/tended to homes a.k.a
    tenements. Often times workers get injured and killed during their jobs in
    the factories, because no one looks after them. While also being paid
    barely enough to even feed themselves, let alone their families. Thus the
    labor unions are forming. These rebellious groups come up with ways to
    go on strike, forcing their employers, to either fire the entire work force,
    (everyone in the workforce usually goes on strike, and they threaten the
    people who would take their places in order to make it so that the

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    CHICAGO TRIBUNE

    employer wont have anyone left to hire) which would drive them out of
    business, or raise their paychecks. The choice is obvious. To try and
    prevent this, employers are hiring guards to fight back, but the workforce
    keeps growing.

    Is The American Dream a real thing or is it a


    Myth?
    Some folks might question, is the American dream real, or is only a dream that can
    not be achieved? Well like all dreams, the only way to make them a reality, is to
    work for, and that is what makes it real. Just as anything else, what you want
    doesnt just fall in your lap. You have to work towards that goal. The American
    Dream is real because everyone all over the world comes to U.S to have a better life
    and have better things. This dream becomes real when they--immigrants--hop on
    that boat or train or walk to the U.S to make their lives into better ones. It all

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    CHICAGO TRIBUNE

    depends on if they want to work for it, because--as we all should know--things do
    not come easy. These people want to be better, in order to have/save a family or to
    feed one. They absolutely can be better if they really wanted to. Most of the
    immigrants that come to the U.S are poor so they want to go bigger and better. I
    mean who doesnt, right?

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