Monday, January 18, 2010

✖Working Conditions

:)

I will take you to the factories in the 1800s today for seeing working conditions in that time!
You would guess it must not be good working conditions, do not you?
No, it is not good at all.

As we have known from US history class. Besides that terrible living conditions, working conditions in the 1800s are awful.
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Let's go inside the factory.

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Inside of factory are dark, dirty and crowdes with a lot of workers. It looks pretty dangerous.
Passageways are narrow. There are no any safty system, window, air conditioner, or good bathroom. I see many young children in here. They are too young to be working like this.

Source : clike here

I am walking around with one lady telling experiences about working in factory.

''Children as young as six years old are working hard hours for little wages or no pay. Sometimes they work up to 19 hours a day. Not only are those children work long hours, but they also are in horrible conditions. Dangerous machines are very common for children to be using or working near. Many accidents injured or killed children on the job.''

Source : clike here

''Some metal workers don't have all of the eye protection. People got stuff like lung cancer. Some died due to diseases spreading through the cramped living conditions, Chest diseases from the mines.
''The fire escapes are in disrepair.''

There are machines in here. I thought that is good if they are helped by machines. But then I realized when this lady told me that machines are really good helpers but people would be placed by those machines and lost their job.

She said the workers often work twelve hours and six to seven days a week. The pay is low and working conditions are poor.

''The factory owner does not care anything but money.''
That was the last sentence of her.

But the sentence from her which surprised me was ''They feel lucky because they have a job.''

✖Living Condition'

Today is the second day of second week since I have been here.

I am walking around the town, looking at people are rushing down the streets. My target is the area where immigrants are living, to see their living conditions during this time, the 1800s.

I feel like I am a stranger here. Almost everything are different. I hardly see a car. There are no Cub food, Rainbow, or Walmart. Even what I am now wearing are so different that I do not comfortable. (Many people looked at me when I walked through.)

Here I am on cramped street where are so many small houses. The streets are overcrowded. I see those children are playing outside with their bare feet.


I decided to come in this small house, which is on the last corner of cramped street. I asked an old man at the front door for seeing their house. Lucky me. they allowed me.

At first glance, I can tell that I would not be happy if I had to live in the house like this.
That does not mean I want to live in a very big house. But this is too bad. Listen to me.

There are just two small rooms in this house, no bathroom, kitchen, living room or anything.
There is no even indoor water supply.

''There are 4 families in this house.'' a man said.
''How many people in total?'' I asked.
''17'' He answered.

'What? that shocked me so much. How they all can live in this small house'
I am thinking to myself.

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They told me that many people caught diseases from the filth left outside the streets. even worse, children played in the filth with bare feet. this spread lots of disease.
Children would go to work when they were young, probably leaving school at about twelve years old, or even younger. There is no time to hang out with friends like children in 21st century.

It is bad living conditions, nobody should be treated like that. They deserve better than they recieved. They work so hard, and they have to live in the unhealthy place.




I am still on this cramped street. Some families live in apartment which is not good living conditions either. Watching them live like this makes me feel bad. Even if they work pretty hard, living in the place like this. But they never give up.

Why many people today in the modern era give up so easily?
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Sunday, January 10, 2010

✖Greeting Inventors, 1800s

Do you want to come with me to go visit the inventors in the 1800s?
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Let's take a carriage !!

Source : click here

The late 1800s have seen many new inventions. People's mind was turned on when the year 1800 began. I wonder if they were light bulbs? Theie efforts brought a technology revolution that changed people's daily lives until nowadays. We owe them for that to the inventions of the 1800s.

The first inventor we will see is Thomas A. Edison who invented the electrical light in 1879.
People in 1865 did not have any indoor electric lightning. After the sunset, they lit candles or oil lamps or some houses did not have any.

Source : click here

Mr. Edison told me that he and his fellow inventors began experimenting with electric lighting, they tried different ways to produce the light bulb.

We have to thank to his desire to "let there be light". Today we can do anything at night with his invention.

say good bye to him!

The second one is Samuel Morse. He did not invent the telegraph but he prefected it. His system was called Morse code. He started of a communications revolution. So, people who left their homes like immigrations, they may have to leave their love ones. But they could make speedy contact with their families or friends through the written word.


Source : click here


Next, let's talk to Alexander Graham Bell! He experimented for several years with an electric current to transmit sound. In 1876, he invented the ''talking telegraph'' which developed to telephone. The one that so useful for us today.

Source : click here

These were the big inventions in America. There still were so many inventions were patented in the late 1800s all over the world !

Many of the conveniences that we could not live without today did not exist 300 years ago. And some didn't even exist 25 years ago. think of it, how could people in that time live without these things? and how could not we live without these things?

I appreciate how genius those inventors are.

Thank you all for these conveniences today!