Lowell Mills Article

April 26, 2018 | Author: Anonymous | Category: History, European History, Europe (1815-1915), Industrial Revolution
Share Embed Donate


Short Description

Download Lowell Mills Article...

Description

Lowell System of Labor Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History (/Gale+Encyclopedia+of+U%7eR%7eS%7eR%7e+Economic+History/publications.aspx?pageNumber=1) | 2000 | 468 words COPYRIGHT 2000 The Gale Group Inc.

LOWELL SYSTEM OF LABOR During the early 1800s factories went up throughout New England, where rivers were used to power recently developed manufacturing machinery. One such factory was established between 1812 and 1814 in Waltham, Massachusetts. At this site, on the shores of the Charles River, industrialist Francis Cabot Lowell (1775–1817) built the Boston Manufacturing Company, the first complete cotton spinning and weaving mill in the United States. Here the raw cotton fibers were processed to produce cloth. To attract the necessary work force to his plant, Lowell established an innovative labor program. He hoped his program would prove an alternative to the system of child labor that had long been in use in Britain and also prevailed in New England textile mills. Called the Lowell System, or the Waltham System, farm girls and young women who came to work at the textile factory were housed in supervised dormitories or boardinghouses and were provided with educational and cultural opportunities. Lowell believed that by providing safety in the workplace, comfortable living conditions, and a socially positive living and working environment he could ensure a steady supply of labor. Lowell expanded his manufacturing interests, establishing larger mills on the Merrimack River in present-day Lowell, Massachusetts (a town named in his honor). But in the 1830s and 1840s the Lowell System faltered. Increased competition in the textile industry (which was the model for other industries of the day) forced factory owners to cut wages and lengthen hours to stay profitable and meet production

demands. In 1834 Lowell cut his workers' wages by 25 percent; the workers responded by staging a strike and organizing the Factory Girls Association, a labor union. But the union's efforts were unsuccessful. Two years later the "Lowell girls" struck again when their housing rates were raised; again the strike failed, as workers found themselves unable to make ends meet and were back on the job within a month. Conditions deteriorated and in 1845 Lowell workers formed the Female Labor Reform Association, which joined forces with other Massachusetts laborers to force government to legislate improved work conditions in the state. The lobby helped to pass laws that limited work hours, but textile mills continued to ignore the legislation. The arrival of the Irish in Lowell, beginning in 1846, also contributed substantially to the demise of the Lowell System of Labor. With unskilled labor available and willing to work for low wages, the system was no longer needed. By the 1850s the Lowell System was a failed experiment. New England farm girls were replaced by immigrant women who were willing to work for longer hours and lower wages. See also: Francis Cabot Lowell, Rhode Island System of Labor, Spinning Mills, Textile Industry, Women in the Workplace

Related newspaper, magazine, and trade journal articles from Questia Including press releases, facts, information, and biographies

The Lowell High-Tech Success Story: What Went Wrong? (http://www.questia.com/library/1G1-16992903/the-lowell-high-techsuccess-story-what-went-wrong) Magazine article from: New England Economic Review ...vision of Francis Cabot Lowell, its growth and development...owners were attracted to Lowell by its labor force and by the Merrimack River and power canal system, which provided the...technology and spurred Lowell's transition from an...

Lowell Revisited: Dickens and the Working Girl (http://www.questia.com/library/1G1-186900792/lowell-revisited-dickensand-the-working-girl) Magazine article from: Dickens Quarterly ...the town's factory system (American Notes 75...of the day he spent at Lowell in the travel

book suggests...of Dickens's day at Lowell are, then, well known...Dickens's visit to Lowell "inspired him and helped...women and industrial labor in the first half of...

The Lowell Spinners and the Yankee Elimination Project: A Case Study... (http://www.questia.com/library/1P3-1492612701/the-lowell-spinners-andthe-yankee-elimination-project) Magazine article from: Sport Marketing Quarterly ...Sox player development system and supplied to the Spinners...championship series. In calling Lowell home, and through their...least one would go into labor during the game (eight...Park that night. * Mike Lowell Spinners night: In 2006...renaming the team the "Mike Lowell Spinners." The ...

Lowell Weicker - Third Party of One (http://www.questia.com/library/1G116448461/lowell-weicker-third-party-of-one) Magazine article from: The Nation ...Hartford, Connecticut On Lowell Weicker's mahogany...to have settled over Lowell Weicker, as he rails...s moribund political system by balancing the budget...unsettled, unsettling time. Lowell Weicker entered the Senate...in Washington. On the Labor Committee in the early...

Now on Broadway: Stagehands' Strike (http://www.questia.com/library/1P232632869/now-on-broadway-stagehands-strike) Newspaper article from: The Christian Science Monitor ...time ago," he avers. However, Lowell Peterson, a labor lawyer with Meyer, Suozzi, English...they are able to control their labor costs more it would help," he...production to find out how the system worked. "The show was a dramatic...

Junior Achievement Plans to Reach More Students (http://www.questia.com/library/1P2-5485221/junior-achievement-plans-toreach-more-students) Newspaper article from: THE JOURNAL RECORD ...from Midwest City. Rex Lowell met his wife Jolane square...said Rex. They moved Lowell's Place to a 4,000...Main St. in Moore on Labor Day. Lowell's Place is more than...computerized

vinyl lettering system plus two computerized...

Labor Freedom Makes Sense (http://www.questia.com/library/1P3320229871/labor-freedom-makes-sense) Magazine article from: Ideas on Liberty ...figure than the American labor movement's founder...preference to compulsory systems which are held to be...does not join a union of labor. It is his legal right...met by most organized labor leaders with scorn and...economists Richard Vedder and Lowell Gallaway demonstrated...

Texas Arbitration Act Allows What Hall Street Doesn't: Broader Judicial Review (http://www.questia.com/library/1P3-2439127721/texas-arbitrationact-allows-what-hall-street-doesn-t) Magazine article from: Dispute Resolution Journal ...litigating their dispute entirely in the civil justice system. Texas now recognizes a third optionarbitration...an expanded scope of judicial review." Allyn Lowell of Ford & Har rison, a labor and employment firm, wrote on the firm's Web...

Labor and Laborers of the Loom Mechanization and Handloom Weavers, 1780-1840 (http://www.questia.com/library/1P3-1289379751/labor-andlaborers-of-the-loom-mechanization-and-handloom) Magazine article from: Journal of American Culture (Malden, MA) Labor and Laborers of the Loom...manufacturing lingered behind the Lowell system in Massachusetts...the handloom quickly in Lowell, interestingly the Slater/Rhode Island System reinvented the British...Eventually the outwork system withered in woolen weaving...but not the industrial ...

Regional Roundup (http://www.questia.com/library/1G1-92325619/regionalroundup) Newspaper article from: The Register Guard (Eugene, OR) ...3656. Work session on update of transportation system plan; public hearing on Safeway proposal to expand...Ridge. Executive (nonpublic) session regarding labor negotiations. 2659211. LOWELL TODAY School Board - 7 p.m., district office...

For more facts and information, see all results (/searchresults.aspx? q=Lowell+System+of+Labor&src=ART&docclass=FREE&refinesearch=false)

Encyclopedia.com is operated by Cengage Learning (http://www.cengage.com) © Copyright 2015. All rights reserved.

View more...

Comments

Copyright � 2017 NANOPDF Inc.
SUPPORT NANOPDF