British Factories vs. American Factories

           During the Industrial Revolution factories were a main working place. There were factories in both America and in England. Even though these factories were built for the same reason it doesn't mean they were run the same way. In America the factories were seen in a positive way in the beginning. The mill girls were given independence when in Lowell working at the mills. When they weren't working they were allowed to explore the town. For example, some girls went to see plays. They were promised protection and nice living quarters in the form of boarding houses. It was mandatory that the girls were given an education so for a couple months out of the year they left work to go to school. The most ideal thing about the American factories was that the job was temporary. Once they were of age to marry they could leave to start a family. As you can see in the beginning the working conditions were great. They were like this because America didn't have such a high work demand or a high demand for an abundance of cheap labor forces. This lead to less factory accidents and an overall safe working environment. Sadly, work conditions couldn't stay like this. During down turns in the demand for the factories products they were wage cuts. The workers went on strike as a form of protest. 800 women protested but in the end new workers were brought in to replace whoever refused to work. This happened again two years later where the protesters had more success in bringing entire mills to a stop.

An American Factory

http://keepingmeinstitchestqp.blogspot.com/2014/02/made-in-america.html

           British factories were extremely different compared to the American factories. They were much higher demands for cheap labor which resulted in lots of children working. The children were in charge of cleaning the machines. This was a dangerous job since the children had to clean the machines while they were still in use. This resulted in broken bones(mostly fingers) and even death from being crushed. Going off of this the factories were not safe for the workers. Since they were an abundance of workers replacing lost ones wasn't a big deal. Most accidents happened in the morning and involved children. The most common accidents  were clothes or hair being caught in the machine, broken fingers, and the workers being lifted up by the machines to be mangled. Accidents could also lead to a slow, painful death. Because of these accidents physical deformities were common as well. Some included deteriorating bone marrow, femur and pelvis breaks, and missing limbs. In American factories the workers are given time off to eat their meals. British factories didn't give their employees a break to eat. There was no time for breakfast, no time for dinner, and no time for sitting.

Deformed British Factory Workers

http://spartacus-educational.com/IRdeformities.htm

           In my opinion the British factory workers had it tougher than the American factory workers. I feel this way because the work conditions were always poor and lacking for the British. They never went through a good phase and a bad phase like the Lowell Mills. It was like one long, bad phase that couldn't be broken. Also, they were more factory accidents and deaths because of the ability to replace workers quickly and the high labor demand.