The American Worker - Period 2

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The News Weekly

Nora Crowe, Esmeralda Fernandez, Elijah Eskridge


Table of Contents ~

¨The Struggle for Farmers in the 1920s¨ - Pages 1 & 2 ¨Henry Ford's Impact on Industry and Industrial Workers¨- Pages 3 &4 ¨Are the Child Labor Laws We Have in Place Working?¨ - Pages 5 & 6 Resources - Pages 7 & 8


The struggle for farmers in the 1920’s Elijah Eskridge The 1920’s was a boon time for many industries but not for all. During world war 1 farmers mad record profits. They supplied britain and France With food on a regular basis. Britain relied on imports of foreign food to feed its population and when Germans started to sink their ships, food supplies became even more important. But farming did not do well in the 1920’s. Although there is some negative effects with industry booming for farmers there are some positives. New machinery brought a number of improvements to farmers. In the 1920’s the gasoline- driven tractor came into its own greatly increasing the horsepower available to farmers. The McCormick Deering farmall introduced in 1924, was small enough to be used between rows of growing crops. It’s power takeoff meant that power could be transferred directly from it’s engine via a special shaft to the implements that it towed. Tractors made the mechanical picking of corn and harvesting wheat more efficient. The use of tractors to pull them led to a great reduction in their size making combines more efficient and cheaper.

During world war 1 American farmers had been called on to supply food to the allied forces and civilians in Europe to that end many farmers increased production by 15 percent a year or more. Farmers debt increased and their profit and number of people needed to farm reduced. Increased productivity combined with the decreased demand for American farm products world wide after the war resulted in a market flooded with an oversupply of food. Many farmers were forced to look for other jobs because of new technology.

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A search for solutions. Many farmers became desperate for a way out of their troubles. Farmers even turned to the government for help. The American Farm Bureau Federation helped entact the farmers loan act of 1923 to ease the repayment schedules on farm loans. They supported the federal highways act so that farmers could get their goods to market more easily. But still many farmers were barely making ends meet.

Farmers bought land tractors, Electrical Millers, and other electrical machines going into debt in the process. Farmers didn’t worry about making payments because prices for their goods were stable thanks in large part to government support. But when the war ended the government withdrew its price supports. With demand down, prices fell and farmers were left holding more debt than they could carry.

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Henry Ford's Impact on Industry & Industrial Workers Nora Crowe

How is Henry Ford changing the world of industry and what changes are taking place

Henry Ford created the first assembly line.

for the industrial worker? Henry Ford is a very

The assembly line created jobs for many

important man, without Henry Ford, we

people, the assembly line is run by a

would not have some of the advantages we

continuous flow, people create a part of

have currently. Now more people have cars

the car then send it to the next person in

than bathtubs! Henry Ford is helping our

line and they build the next part and so on.

country in many ways such as creating the

The invention of the assembly line

assembly line, growing industries, building

shortened the production time of cars, it

cars, and so much more. Henry is playing a

used to take about fourteen hours but now

large role in growing our industries and

it only takes about an hour and a half. Cars

developing our country.

are also a lot cheaper now, so a lot more people are able to afford cars and buy them. People also have a better opportunity to travel because of the cars being made so fastly and so cheaply. Many other factories liked the assembly line, so they started using that method of production as well. That is one reason Henry Ford is playing a large role in growing our industry and developing our country.

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Working for Henry Ford's factory was not

In conclusion, Henry Ford is

pleasant for many reasons. Although they

improving our country in so many

get paid well (about 5-6 dollars per day),

ways. He has changed working

there are many bad things that they go

conditions and income for many

through. Workers only get a 15 minute

people and families. Henry Ford has

lunch break and the food they are served is

made a major impact on america. So

disgusting. Workers get picked on by higher

far he has created the assembly line,

workers, they knock over their tools, they

he's helped other American

hide their things, and they do so much

industries grow, he has created many

more. That's another piece of evidence that

new jobs for americans, and so much

Henry Ford is playing a role in changing

more. Those are all reasons that

working conditions.

Henry Ford is helping impact the industry and all american workers.

Henry Ford's factory is also helping other industries and companies grow! Since cars use materials like glass, rubber, steel, and oil, those industries are starting to grow larger. This growth in industry is providing millions of more jobs for a diverse group of people. Now more jobs are created ike taxi drivers, bus drivers, and truck drivers. The construction industry also is starting to grow, because since more people are starting to buy cars, more people want better roads to drive on in their cars. People also are making tourist camps where people can stop and rest while they are traveling! These are all reasons Henry Ford is playing a large role in growing our industry and developing our country.

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Are the child labor laws we have in the place working. In the late 1700's and early 1800's, power-driven machines replaced hand labor for making most manufactured items. Factories began to spring up everywhere, first in England and then in the United States. The factory owners found a new source of work hard to run their machines and children. Operating the power-driven machines did not require adult strength, and children could be hired more cheaply than adults. By the mid-1800's, child labor was a major problem. Children had always worked, especially in farming. But factory work was hard. A child with a factory job might work 12 to 18 hours a day, 6 days a week, to earn a dollar. Many children began working before the age of 7, tending machines in spinning mills or carrying heavy loads.

The factories were often dark, and dirty. Some children worked underground, in coal mines. The working children had no time to play or go to school, and little time to rest, they often became more ill. By 1810, about 2 million between 6 and 18 years of age children were working 50- to 70-hours weeks. Most came from poor families. When parents could not support their children, they sometimes turned them over to a mill or factory owner. One glass factory in Massachusetts was fenced with sharp-spiked wire "to keep the young little troublemaking children inside.

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These were boys under 12 who carried loads of hot glass all night for a wage of 40 cents to $1.10 per night. Britain was the first to pass laws controlling child labor. From 1802 to 1878, a series of laws slowly shortened the working hours, improved the conditions, and raised the age at which children could work. Other related to Europe countries started obeying almost the same laws. In the United States it took many years to make illegal child labor. By 1899, 28 states had passed laws controlling child labor. Many efforts were made to pass a national child labor law. The U.S. Congress passed two laws, in 1918 and 1922, but the Supreme Court declared both going against something in the Constitution. In 1924, Congress proposed an addition or change to the Constitution prohibiting child labor, but the states did not approve it. Then, in 1938, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act.

It fixed minimum ages of 16 for work during school hours, 14 for certain jobs after school, and 18 for dangerous work. Today all the states and the U.S. government have laws controlling child labor. These laws have relieved the children of working in factories. But some kinds of work are not controlled. Children of traveling workers, for example, have no legal protection. Farmers may legally employ them outside of school hours. The children pick crops in the fields and move from place to place, so they get little education.

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Resources: Works Cited - Nora Crowe Kallen, Stuart A. The Roaring Twenties. San Diego, Greenhaven Press, 2002. Yancey, Diane. Life during the Roaring Twenties. San Diego, Lucent Books, 2002

Works Cited (Esmeralda Fernandez) Child Labor. Chelsea Amack, www.kawvalley.k12.ks.us/schools/rjh/marneyg/05_history-projects/05_amack_childla bor.htm. Hart, Diane, and Bert Bower. History Alive!: Pursuing American Ideals. Student edition. ed., Rancho Cordova, Teachers' Curriculum Institute, 2013. https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/history-child-labor/. Milton Fried. Robinson, J. Dennis. Striking Back: The Fight to End Child Labor Exploitation. Mankato, Compass Point Books, 2010.

.Works Cited (Elijah Eskridge) Hanson, Erica. The 1920s. San Diego, Lucent Books, 1999. Rancho Cordova, Teachers' Curriculum Institute, 2013. O'Neal, Michael. America in the 1920s. New York, Facts On File, 2006. U.S.A. 1920s. Danbury, Grolier, 2005.

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Works Cited (Elijah Eskridge Hanson, Erica. The 1920s. San Diego, Lucent Books, 1999. Rancho Cordova, Teachers' Curriculum Institute, 2013. O'Neal, Michael. America in the 1920s. New York, Facts On File, 2006. U.S.A. 1920s. Danbury, Grolier, 2005.

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Elijah Eskridge


By: Nora Crowe


Worked in factories


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