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The transition to industrialization was not without difficulty. For example, a group of English workers known as Luddites formed to protest against
industrialization and sometimes sabotaged factories. In other industries the transition to factory production was not so divisive.
Some industrialists themselves tried to improve factory and living conditions for their workers. One of the earliest such reformers was Robert Owen, known for his
pioneering efforts in improving conditions for workers at the New Lanark mills, and often regarded as one of the key thinkers of the early socialist movement.
By 1746, an integrated brass mill was working at Warmley near Bristol. Raw material went in at one end, was smelted into brass and was turned into pans, pins,
wire, and other goods. Housing was provided for workers on site. Josiah Wedgwood and Matthew Boulton whose Soho Manufactory was completed in 1766 were other
prominent early industrialists, who employed the factory system.
2.5.4 Child Labor
The Industrial Revolution led to a population increase, but the chances of surviving childhood did not improve throughout the Industrial Revolution although
infant mortality rates were reduced markedly. There was still limited opportunity for education, and children were expected to work. Employers could pay a child less
than an adult even though their productivity was comparable; there was no need for strength to operate an industrial machine, and since the industrial system was
completely new there were no experienced adult laborers. This made child labor the labor of choice for manufacturing in the early phases of the Industrial Revolution
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between the 18th and 19th centuries. In England and Scotland in 1788, two-thirds of the workers in 143 water-powered cotton mills were described as children.
Child labor had existed before the Industrial Revolution, but with the increase in population and education it became more visible. Many children were forced to
work in relatively bad conditions for much lower pay than their elders, 10-20 of an adult males wage. Children as young as four were employed. Beatings and long
hours were common; with some child coalminers and hurries working from 4 am until 5 pm. Conditions were dangerous, with some children killed when they dozed
off and fell into the path of the carts, while others died from gas explosions. Many children developed lung cancerand other diseases and died before the age of 25.
Workhouses would sell orphans and abandoned children as pauper apprentices, working without wages for board and lodging. Those who ran away would be
whipped and returned to their masters, with some masters shackling them to prevent escape. Children employed as mule scavenger by cotton mills would crawl under
machinery to pick up cotton, working 14 hours a day and six days a week. Reports were written detailing some of the abuses, particularly in the coal
mines and textile factories and these helped to popularize the childrens plight. The public outcry, especially among the upper and middle classes, helped stir change in
the young workers welfare. Politicians and the government tried to limit child labor by law, but factory
owners resisted; some felt that they were aiding the poor by giving their children money to buy food to avoid starvation, and others simply welcomed the cheap labor.
In 1833 and 1844, the first general laws against child labor, the Factory Acts, were passed in Britain: Children younger than nine were not allowed to work, children
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were not permitted to work at night, and the work day of youth under the age of 18 was limited to twelve hours. Factory inspectors supervised the execution of the law,
however, their scarcity made enforcement difficult. About ten years later, the employment of children and women in mining was forbidden. These laws decreased
the number of child laborers; however, child labor remained in Europe and the United States up to the 20th century.
2.6 The Term of Poetry 2.6.1 The Types of Poetry
