Notes on talk by Prof. Larry Gross

"Movement of People from Farms to Factory"

There was no easy translation from farming.

It was a vast movement psychologically.

The Farm

• In New England everyone farmed within a community existence. It was household-based and patriarchal, with traditions carried over from England.

• Members of the family had different tasks: the men and boys worked in the field; the women and girls worked in the household and adjacent gardens.

• Time was general and varied according to task, season.

• They made everything within the family and community, and everyone could do a lot of things. They traded with each other and settled up accounts the end of the year. (E.g. a harness for pottery or cloth, for which each had a set value.)

• Rights and responsibilities were clear within community, toward apprentices, trading agreements etc.

• Small-scale technology emerged but didn't change things. E.g. water for grist mills, saw mills, etc was regulated by the community.

The Factory

• 1790, changes began with Samuel Slater setting up a factory mill in Pawtucket, RI that made cotton by the yard. New approach to labor spread to many towns with water power.

• Agriculture in decline at end of 18th c. and manpower available, including women and children.

• New system was built on hours and wages rather than barter and trade. Clock became important. Factory production became new way of life that supplanted old values and assumptions.

• People grew apart from community: wealthy v. poor differences increased.

• Market economy encouraged competition at all levels: between towns, factories and individuals. In 1800 12% were wage earners; By 1865 $40%. Factory discipline controlled working conditions: different way of working meant many didn't fit in.

Factory system in Mass. began with Francis Cabot Lowell, who brought back machinery plans from England. He brought together financial associates and built factory in Waltham. It was successful but not enough water, so they decided on Lowell (Chelmsford) with location for dam.and canal connections. (they envisioned enough water power for 110 factories)..At time of Lowell beginnings, no state regulation of water.

Young Yankee women hired at first, with housing and promises of education, who could be spared from farms. New techniques to standardize work, divide into piece work. Easier to learn and control through separation of labor and cheaper. Workers began to complain about long hours, small wages, management of time and relentless machines.

Workers had reservation about new way of life— Look out for # 1. Controls different from old way where merriment, meeting, singing and drinking took place while working. Protests from writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson who saw arrogance in attitude of factory owners to take over water and resources belonging to many, to ruin farms and to cheat farmers out of lands. Emerson saw treatment of workers as a "hatred of labor" with workers as slaves, many of whom became tainted by the new economy. Emerson decried the selfish attitude of owners who took land and labor like theft, not through honest bartering with workers.

Many mill women complained, wrote about it and organized. Sarah Begley was a strong voice. Strikes began in the 1820s and increased. Sarah Begley visited the Concord prison where prisoners had more rights and free time than Lowell workers. She also saw factory owners got ahead through theft but weren't in jail. Amelia Sargent of Lowell called the owners "drivelling cotton lords" who had a "mushroom aristocracy" trying to lord it over laborers. So gradually the young Yankee women refused to go along and left.

But there were always new workers who arrived. Famine in Ireland brought many desperate unskilled workers to Mass. willing to take the jobs. One group after another came in ever more dire situations, willing to work harder. Conditions became more violent and difficult for each new group. French Canadians next, and some of the Irish were able to move up into higher positions. Greeks and other "ethnics" followed throughout the 19th c.

During this time, government was on the owners' side with special legislation, incentives, and did not regulate. Owners weren't forced to negotiate, give concessions because they could fire difficult ones and there were always more influxes of workers. Courts were on their side too. Cities grew as a result, where ethnic workers settled. Poverty increased.

Q. How did factory life affect poverty?

Some farmers who lived within communities might have been poorer than other farmers, but they still had a sustainable living. The numbers needing welfare escalated with the growth of factories. Many in the household had to work in order for the family to survive.

Q. How did areas that didn't have factories fare under new market system?

The market economy affected even those who remained on farms or with small trades. They began to sell outside the community, to raise food for market sales, e.g. It was hard to stay outside the system. Some towns lost residents.

Q. Did educational opportunities increase or decrease within the factory system?

For the first "Mill Girls" who were in their 20s and already educated, there were opportunities to broaden their education, and that was the appeal in recruiting them. But these opportunities weren't so available with long hours of work. New immigrants who sought work were often hired as a family. As younger children became workers, their education was minimal and there were no opportunities to broaden. The jobs weren't a springboard to something higher and many workers were just stuck in menial labor.

Q Did Mass. have the factory town that encompassed every facet of life?

The large factory towns like the Lowell system (Lawrence, Manchester, e.g.) were too big for this kind of concept to take hold. Some aspect of control over workers took place, but not like in the south or rural PA, where the factory built the town and the company had complete power, and workers could owe money and never get out of debt. In New England there were towns before the companies and institutions of government, churches etc.

Q. Were there differences between the American and European experiences with factory system?

Europe didn't experience the same immigration influx and the workers there won more rights because they were better organized and had bargaining power. Just compare the health benefits, vacation days etc. that the Europeans have had for some time with the results of American worker efforts.

Q. Compare poverty related to the factory system with today?

Nineteenth century poverty was related to the market economy which created big discrepancies between the owners and the workers. Mill owners had huge homes and lands and workers often with large families lived in tenements, usually paying rent to the owner. Workers did not have power until changes began to occur in the 20th century. Government began to exercise some control (over worker hours etc.) and unions began to gain power. AFL & CIO in the 1930s, Depression effects etc. Today workers do much better in manufacturing and make more $ than the service industry. Today there are fewer high paying jobs including manufacturing,.and more jobs in services which don't pay well. To understand poverty today you have to look at the whole global picture because we compete with other countries like China who pay workers less and their products undersell ours. And to really understand all aspects of poverty would take a long discussion.