News Up North
This article is a tribute to manafacturing in the past years
January 8th, 1850
Daily People Chat
Eli Whitney
Samuel Slater's Help on Improving Textile Manufacturing
A Citizen Interview on Textile Industry
Columnist: What exactly is textile to you?
Citizen: I think it's just cloth made by weaving and knitting.
Columnist: How do you think the textile Industry has improved today?Citizen: Well, with the mills, it's a lot easier for us farmers. Before it was invented, it was difficult to weave the cloth and it took forever because the machines weren't as effective.
Columnist: Would you have shared your ideas for textile manufacturing like Samuel Slater did?
Citizen: If I came from the east, I would probably share my ideas because I would want the new country that I'm living in to be successful.
Trending Technology
These are a few inventions that help us today.
Three Cheers for the Telegraph!
The Power of Steam
Real Steel
A Better Home
Another invention to improve homes is the icebox. Iceboxes store fresh food safely for a longer time period. This invention will be very successful for many years to come.
Big Opinions
The Transportation Revolution
Steamboat Speech
I think steamboats are a great transportation method. Steamboats are good for river travel. Rafts cannot travel upriver, but steamboats breeze right by. Second of all, steamboats increase trade and profit because goods can be shipped quickly and cheaper. Another good thing about them is that they don't rely on wind power. It would be very difficult to operate these smart inventions if they were.
-Kaylee Wojcik of Vermont
Railroads Letter
Dear Mr. President,
The increase of railroads is growing. I love this transportation method because it's faster and I can travel down to Illinois in less than a week now. My horses had begun to get tired and couldn't handle the long distant traveling. It was very stressful using the horses as a transportation method because they could only run two miles per hour. Though sometimes it is dangerous when the railroad cars slip off the tracks, I believe it's worth the risk if I want to get to places fast.
-Andrew Norris of Virginia
The Working Life
Changing a Worker's Life
Later on, Samuel Slater started to hire entire families who were moving to Pawtucket. Both parents and children were put to work. Children who aren't in school are given tasks simple enough for them to complete. Owners of mills profit by paying children low wages; adults get paid as much in a day, than what their children make in a week. Housing was built to attract families to the mills. Mills in Pawtucket will continue to be successful.
Lowell or Rhode Island?
-Water powered textile mills.
-Employ only young, unmarried women from local farms.
-Looms can spin thread and weave cloth in the same mill.
-Women live in boarding houses
-Women are paid between 2 dollars and 4 dollars a week. Room and board are $1.25.
Rhode Island System
-Hire people mostly in families.
-Factory work is divided into simple tasks.
-Recruit people from poor communities.
-Will employ machine part makers and dam builders
-Towns provide tailors and dressmakers, butchers, and other workshops.
Working Smart
An important person or the union movement is Sarah G. Bagley, who founded the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association. The association's goals were to influence an investigation of working conditions and obtain a 10-hour workday. In1840 President Van Buren granted a 10 hour workday for federal employees. Private business employees were working 12 to 14 hours a day, six days a week. The New England Working Men's Association elected Sarah as vice president because most people supported her campaign. In the end, the unions achieved some victories and some states passed the 10-hour workday laws.