Life in Industrial America
Prerana Ramadurgum 2nd Period
Housing
Housing in Industrial America was crowded and dirty with immigrant populations living in tenements. There was no "fresh air," instead the air outside was “redolent with a mixture of soot, factory vapors, and animal stenches”. Some immigrants had to resort to squatter camps and slums, especially in large cities like New York and Chicago.
Crime
Crime was a large problem during the Industrial Age. Street crime went up along with prostitution and the amount of grafts the police accepted. Policemen were regarded as corruption since their behavior "ranged from minor graft-taking to covert alliances with criminals." Children were prosecuted like adults since there was no established Juvenile Court System at the time. Many were jailed without reason and many African Americans were too. Prisons themselves were unethical and prisoners were subject to beatings and torture at the hands of their guards. All in all, the law was not something to be respected, but instead, circumvented.
Work
Working conditions were horrid during the Industrial Age. People worked 7 days a week at less than minimum wage in toxic conditions . Most American workmen were "subject to peril of life and limb as great as a soldier in time of war." Child labor was abundant and there were no laws to ensure their safety nor were there laws that set age limits on working. Many women labored in sweatshops where they not only earned less than their male counterparts but went on working for sixteen hours at a time subsisting on only tea and bread. Strikes began to start for better work conditions but they soon earned a bad reputation and demands weren't met. There were only a handful of strikes that changed labor conditions. This was a time before machines could replace humans and so women and children found themselves in factories and sweatshops.
Food and Drink
The quality of food hit an all time low during the Industrial Age. Meet was often rotten and spoiled due to the lack of refrigeration and cows were maimed and starved so they could be transported and butchered. Milk was often diluted and chalk was added whenever it lost it's opaque white color or it spoiled. Cows were abused and constantly milked, surviving in inhumane conditions. Better was more often than not, fake and consisting of mashed potatoes and gelatin. Children, never having tasted real food, preferred their lower quality hash instead, insisting on pickles above all other foods. Alcohol was not restricted nor was the number of bars, drinking was at an all time high.
Health
Health conditions, well, there were no health conditions during the Industrial Age. There was no sterilization nor any anesthesia, poor sanitation was the only standard in hospitals. Doctors were often uneducated or unqualified and charged much more than the average family could afford. Cholera and other diseases spread like wildfire in the dirty conditions of the hospitals. However, standards did improve a little after the opening of John Hopkins Medical School in 1893 but hospitals were still looked upon as a last resort. Mentally ill patients were treated as objects, not people, and were often subject to beatings and torture.