"The tiny, slender bodies of the little children crawled in and about under dangerous machinery, oiling and cleaning. Often their hands were crushed. A finger was snapped off." -Textile Mill Child Workers. Child Labor Document.

 They were put into conditions that could leave them with disease. They weren’t treated or paid very well either. 

"If they fell asleep, cold water was dashed in their faces, and the voice of the manager yelled…. Tiny babies of six years old with faces of sixty did an eight hour shift for ten cents a day." -  Rope Factories. Child Labor Document.

A business owner said that they didn’t care about the workers and or the working conditions. 

“Companies would sign pool agreements to each charge a certain price. As soon as they left the meeting, one of them would drop their price below the one specified in the agreement in order to steal customers from the other businesses. … John D. Rockefeller demanded and got the secret rebates, then used them to drive out almost all his competitors from the oil-refining business….All the companies eventually sold out to Rockefeller or went out of business. The ones that sold out earlier got a better deal.” - Business and Ethics Outcomes Doc.

Since Rockefeller drove out many businesses he was free to raise his prices as high as he wanted. Making customers pay the ultimate price.

“The accident rate in the steel mills at that time was tremendous. Deaths and injuries from explosions, burnings, asphyxiation, electric shocks, falls, crushing, and other causes were frequent.”

Skilled and unskilled workers usually lived in a house that the company owned. If the owner didn’t like what they did or said, they could be evicted at anytime. Sometimes there would be a fence built around the plant and the houses. Limiting the workers’ ability to go outside of that place. 

“Although skilled and unskilled workers lived in different neighborhoods, their houses were often owned by the company. People who opposed management could be evicted without warning. Losing one’s job automatically meant losing one’s home.”

“Frick built a twelve-foot-high fence, three miles long, around the entire plant, topped it with barbed wire, and bored holes for guns every twenty-five feet. Then he gave the workers an ultimatum: take a pay cut—even though business was still booming in the steel industry—or the union will be broken. Two days before the old contract was to end, he closed the mill and locked out the workers. In response, the union’s advisory committee voted to strike. ”

Soon businesses discovered that they can spend less money if they broke down tasks the skilled workers did and gave jobs to people who were unskilled. They could then get rid of the skilled workers and pay everyone else less. 

“Carnegie had begun laying plans to reorganize his steel mill. Complex tasks, until then done by skilled workers, were to be broken down into single motions and divided among lower-paid, unskilled people. Machines were to be brought in. Those troublesome skilled workers would no longer be needed, the union would be eliminated, and productivity and profits would soar.” - Homestead Strike Doc.

Immigrants usually got jobs that named them unskilled workers because of the lack of knowing English. Putting them in bad working conditions also. 

“The major purpose of settlement houses was to help to assimilate and ease the transition of immigrants into the labor force by teaching them middle-class American values. Hull-House helped to educate immigrants by providing classes in history, art, and literature. Hull-House also provided social services to reduce the effects of poverty, including a daycare center, homeless shelter, public kitchen, and public baths.” - Settlement House Movement.

Muckrakers at this time exposed unethical business practices. They helped the workers in these places by showing everyone what was going on there. 

“Upton Sinclair, for example, wrote The Jungle to illuminate Americans about the corruption and terrible working conditions in the meatpacking industry in Chicago. These muckrakers sometimes had great success: The Jungle, for example, horrified so many people, including President Roosevelt, that laws were passed in an attempt to regulate the meatpacking industry.” - Muckraker Breaking News Video Doc.

Mother Jones lead marches to make the public aware of child labor. These marches made it possible for states to enforce child labor laws. 

“Mother Jones also held a dramatic march by mill children in 1903. They marched about 125 miles over the course of 20 days in order to see President Roosevelt. The President didn’t meet with them, but news coverage of the march increased awareness of the problem of child labor. In the years after the march, many states passed laws that outlawed child labor (some states had had child labor laws before the march.)” - Child Labor 1900 Outcomes Doc.

“Over 70% of the Cambodian “orphans” have at least one living parent, Susan said, but families were lured into giving up their children by the promise of Western education….were charging volunteers up to $3,000.00 dollars a month whilst her orphanage director told her he only received $9.00 per volunteer, per week. Demi also claimed that orphanages were keeping children in deliberate poverty to attract more donations.” - Cambodia’s Orphanage Business article by Juliana Ruhfus