What were factory conditions like in 1700s

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What were factory working conditions like in 1750-1900?

        Before the Factory era people tended to work from home in there cottages. It was a bit cramped and there was hardly any where else to move so you couldn’t work as quickly. Inside the cottages it was smelly, due to the open sewers in the middle of the street, next to the house. Generally speaking, the Domestic System was hard, but it could be said that the Factory System was harder.

        All the factory owners wanted, was profit. They would employ people as young as six to work at the factories, just because they wouldn’t demand for more money. Doing so, the factories earned more money because the six year olds didn’t get paid as much for the work they do.

        Everyone who worked at the Factories, worked for 13 to 16 hours a day, six days a week. If you think that’s bad try standing in one place for thirteen hours. The kids and adults would have to work the same machine all day every day, which means standing still for all that time. I can barely stand still for more than five minutes let alone thirteen hours. They hardly got any breaks, but when they did go for lunch, he or she would put it forward thirty minutes just so that people would get back to work quicker, and when it drew closer to the end of the day they would put the clock back a couple of hours, just so they would work a couple of hours longer.

        Kids and adults were treated with no respect. They would be severly beaten for falling asleep and would be fined for doing practically anything. You weren’t aloud to whistle, eat, drink, talk, looking out of the windows (which was practically impossible as the windows were so high up), and so many more even I forget about them. Also, you would be sack if you worked too slowly. If you think this is a horrible way for people to be treated, you couldn’t do anything. Factory Owners were in charge and could do whatever they wanted to do.

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        The trip to work for most people was a long one. Usually, three to four miles there and three to four miles back, so no time to muck about. Well you wouldn’t muck about in those times anyway because you would probably get fined.

        And the machinery wasn’t much better either. There was no protection against dangerous chemicals or gases. Plus there were no guards on the machines to stop you getting parts of your body caught, and the owner of the factory was not liable for any injuries, so even if you did get injured, there was nothing your ...

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