IRON AND STEEL WORKER English
Earnings—Of father $1,420 Of son, aged fourteen 300 Total $1,720
Condition—Family numbers 6—parents and four children; two boys and two girls, aged from seven to sixteen years. Three of them attend school, and the other works in the shop with his father. Family occupy their own house, containing 9 well-furnished rooms, in a pleasant and healthy locality. They have a good vegetable and flower garden. They live well, but not extravagantly, and are saving about a thousand dol- lars per year. Father receives an average of $7 per day of twelve hours, for his labor, and works about thirty-four weeks of the year. Belongs to trades union, but carries no life insurance. Had but little sickness during the year.
Food—Breakfast—Bread, butter, meat, eggs, and sometimes oysters. Dinner—Potatoes, bread, butter, meat, pie, cake or pudding. Supper—Bread, butter, meat, rice or sauce, and tea or coffee.
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Chapter 2 Using Primary Sources: Industrialization and the Condition of Labor34
Cost of Living— Fuel $ 55 Meat 100 Groceries 300 Clothing 75 Boots and shoes 50 Dry goods 50 Books, papers, etc. 10 Trades unions 6 Sickness 12 Sundries 50
Total $708
No. 159 ROLLER BAR MILL American
Earnings—Of father $2,200
Condition—Family numbers 5—parents and three children, two boys and one girl, aged four, six and eight years. Do not attend school. Family oc- cupy house containing 3 rooms, well furnished in healthy locality, but the surroundings are not of the best. Family ordinarily intelligent. Father works eleven hours per day for 37 weeks in the year, and receives $10 per day for his labor; he saves about $1,400 per year, which he deposits in the bank. Family live well, but not extravagantly.
Food—Breakfast—Bread, meat, eggs, and coffee. Dinner—Bread, meat, vegetables, fruits and coffee. Supper—Bread, fruits, coffee and meat.
Cost of Living— Rent $120 Fuel 40 Groceries 200 Clothing 55 Boots and shoes 35 Dry goods 60 Books, papers, etc. 8 Sickness 50 Sundries 75
Total $768
Copyright 2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial Review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Sources 35
3 In the first years of the twentieth century, a philanthropic foundation funded a sweeping study of conditions in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the center of the nation’s iron and steel industry. The result was one of the early twentieth
century’s best documented descriptions of life in industrial America. Lawyer and so- cialist Crystal Eastman wrote the survey’s volume on industrial accidents.
“Human Power. . . Is What We Are Losing” (1910) CRYSTAL EASTMAN
In a year when industrial activity was at its height—that is, from July 1, 1906, to June 30, 1907—526 men were killed by work-accidents in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. During three months, April, May and June, of the same year, the hospitals of the county received over 509 men injured in such accidents. It is impossible to state the total number of injuries during that quarter, be- cause there is no available record except of cases received at the hospitals. But even were an accurate estimate of the number of injuries in a year possible, it would be of little value. A scratched finger and a lost leg can not be added together if you look for a useful truth in the sum. It is better, therefore, not to try to estimate the total number of injuries in a year, but to concentrate our attention on the permanent loss of health and power involved in the injuries we are sure of. In 294 of the 509 non-fatal accident cases of which we have record (those received at the hospitals during the three selected months), it was possible to learn the nature and extent of the injury. One hundred and twenty-seven of the men escaped without permanent injury. Ninety-one sus- tained what is here called a slight permanent injury; for instance, a lame leg, arm, foot hand, or back, not serious enough to disable a man, the loss of a finger, slight impairment of sight or hearing, and the like. Seventy-six men (25.5 per cent) suffered a serious permanent injury. Lest there should be doubt as to what is meant here by “serious,” it will be better to state exactly what these injuries were. Seven men lost a leg, sixteen men were hopelessly crip- pled in one or both legs, one lost a foot, two lost half a foot, five lost an arm, three lost a hand, ten lost two or more fingers, two were left with crippled left arms, three with crippled right arms, and two with two useless arms. Eleven lost an eye, and three others had the sight of both eyes damaged. Two men have crippled backs, two received internal injuries, one is partially paralyzed, one feebleminded, and two are stricken with the weakness of old age while still in their prime. Finally three men suffer from a combination of permanent injuries. One of these has a rupture and a crippled foot; another a crippled left leg, and the right foot gone; the third has lost an arm and leg.
Source: Crystal Eastman, The Pittsburgh Survey: Work-Accidents and the Law (New York: Charities Publication Committee, 1910), pp. 11–14.
Copyright 2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial Review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.