Industrialization, Was it Worth the Cost?

Though industrialization did start a whole new era of 20st century gadgets, the entire process of industrialization was not worth the cost. According to the article “Polluting the Environment,” pollution was a huge problem during the Industrial Revolution.  During the time of the Industrial Revolution, pollution was the worst that it had ever been.  This was because there was a greater number of factories that were established.  These factories let out so much pollution that street lights were needed on every street.  Also, the chemicals let into the air gave out diseases though the air.  The picture “Factory Smokestacks” published by the Detroit Publishing Company, illustrates all this information.  The smoke that is being produced by the factory is let into the air by the smokestacks which, as a result, caused many people to get diseases like typhoid fever.  This pollution also affected the water and hurt all the animals under the water.  Pollution was one of the many reasons that the industrialization was not worth the cost.  Along with the problem of pollution though factories, factories are also the culprit of the next issue, the numerous-work accidents. An Excerpt from “Report on Industrial Accidents in Pittsburgh” published by Crystal Eastman indicates that working in a factory is unsave.  In 1907, 526 men died by work-accident, and 509 men were injured. They got injured by all of the harsh conditions of the factory and dangerous machines that the factory used. This hurt many more people and the entire society because many of the jobs that the Industrial Revolution provided were unsafe and these jobs were mainly the ones to choose from.  Likewise, children working in factories was another issue due to the Industrial Revolution.  In the photograph “Making Human Junk,” by Lewis Hine Wickes, it shows the process of how kids look before and after working in a factory.  This picture is yet another visual representation of the damage that industrialization did to the children of America. By looking dirty and tired, this picture shows the price of a job at a young age.  Also working at these factories are preventing the children to receive an education or pursue their dreams.  For all of these reasons and more, the Industrial Revolution was not worth the cost.