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Living Conditions
Most immigrants lived in barbarric and unsanitary living conditions. They lived in congested tenements, because of the over crowding disease was spread very easily infecting everyone in the room. Streets outside these buildings were also not cleaned because of the trash being thrown out of the windows and onto the road. -
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Progressive Era
The Progressive era was a time in American history that will forever be known for its insurmountable amount of reforms and codes that were implemented to keep the people and the country happy. From food all the way to medicine to child labor, the Progressive era had a mastery for fixing the wrong things in their time. Without the Progressive era we would still have children at ages 6+ working in factories next to machines that if they were operated improperly would take that childs life. -
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Pollution
One major problem during the Progressive era was the pollution. During the Progressive era there was a lot of air, water and even land pollution. Land pollution did not only affect the people, but also the animals of the country. The land pollution made it impossible for land animals to find safe to eat food because there could be trash infecting the dirt. The water pollution hindered both humans and animals by infecting water, killing both species. -
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Child Labor
During the Progressive era, children were working an average of about 18-20 hours a day at the ages of 5 or 6. Employers hired children because they could be paid less and trained faster then adults. For that 18-20 hours children were exposed to a multitude of risks such as toxic fumes, heat, had long hours in cramped positions and had little to no actual education or had ever gone to an actual school, limiting their future jobs and lifestyles. -
Solution to child labor
1916-the "Tax on employment of Child Labor" had made it so that so there was a 10% tax on businesses that had employed a child under 14, making it so that employers were less inclined to hire children
1929-Every state had made it illegal to have a child worker under 14, and 36 of the states had banned children under the age of 16 to work to work more then eight hours a day -
New York State Tenement House Act
The New York State Tenement House Act prohibited the construction of dark inadequately ventilated tenement buildings. The effects of this law were better ventilation and even fewer number of people per tenement. -
Steel and Mining Work Conditions
From the years 1906 to 1910 immigrants injuries doubled due to the working conditions in mining and steel factories. The immigrant men worked through long hours, intense speed, noise and heat. Working in the steel factories was even dangerous for the experienced, and the immigrants that were unexperienced were careless. Working in the mines was also dangerous because of collapsing caves and inhalation of toxic fumes. -
Pure food and Drug act
When the Pure Food and Drug act was passed, the primary purpose was to completely ban the practice of inter-state and foreign traffic of adulterated or mislabeled food & drugs. A secondary outcome was that in reinforced the amount of truth used in labeling and raised the standard for drugs and food when it was signed by Theodore Roosevelt. Before the act was passed people were hospitalized every year because of food born illnesses, also causing many cases of deaths. -
Federal Meat Inspection Act
In 1906 the Federal Meat Inspection Act made it a crime to misbrand all meat products being sold as food and ensured meat is slaughtered and processed sanitarily. Disobeying this law could result in a fine or even being arrested. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Incident
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City on March 25, 1911 was the deadliest industrial fire in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S history. 146 deaths were caused by a fire smoke inhalation along with falling or jumping to their deaths. Because the owners locked the exits and fire escapes, which back then was a common practice to ensure workers from taking unauthorized breaks and to reduce thefts, the workers who could not escape simply jumped from the high windows. -
Reforms
Other reforms around the state included fire escape ladders a higher quality water supply and even a group of people that cleaned the streets. A group of men called the white wings began to pick up trash and clean the roads. This provided not perfect but better sanitation for the immigrants and around the state. -
Alcohol and its banning
During the Progressive era alcohol led to many things, domestic abuse, work related injuries, and overall health issues. In 1895 the Anti-Saloon League tried to completely ban the sale of alcohol.
