Factory Words
Shoes were once sewn by hand in homes. A business now makes them with powered machines in a factory. Name this economic change.
Industrialization: production shifts toward machines and factories.
Many families leave farms for jobs in Detroit factories. What term describes the resulting growth of Detroit? Name the job-related reason for the move.
Urbanization. People move toward available factory work, increasing the city’s population.
A worker earns $8 for a job. After paying all its costs, the factory has $25 left from sales. Name the worker’s payment and the factory’s remaining money.
The $8 payment is a wage. The $25 remaining after all costs is profit.
Workers create an organization to seek better pay and safer jobs. They have not stopped work. Name their organization.
A labor union. Forming a union is not the same action as going on strike.
Source A: Carnegie argued that competition promoted material progress, even though it could be hard on individuals. He said wealthy people should use surplus wealth to benefit the community.
A student says this proves that every worker benefited from industrialization. Does Carnegie’s account establish that? Give ONE reason.
No. An industrialist’s argument for material progress does not establish every worker’s experience; the account even acknowledges hardship for individuals. Worker evidence is needed to check the broader claim.
A company is owned by investors who hold shares. It competes with other privately owned businesses for profit. Name the business ownership form AND the economic system.
Ownership form: corporation. Economic system: capitalism. Share ownership describes the company; private ownership and competition describe the system.
A steel mill still receives coal and oil, but its iron ore shipments stop. Can coal and oil simply replace the missing iron ore? Explain the different roles of these resources.
No. Iron ore supplies material for steel. Coal provides energy and helps in steelmaking; oil supplies fuel and lubrication. Those uses do not make coal or oil a replacement for iron ore.
An owner buys a stapler that helps workers build paper chains faster. A student calls the stapler “capitalism.” Correct the vocabulary and explain why the stapler fits the correct term.
The stapler is capital: equipment used to produce goods. Capitalism is an economic system involving private ownership and competition for profit.
Union representatives meet with the owner to negotiate a shared pay request. Work continues during the meeting. Is this collective bargaining or a strike? Explain your choice.
Collective bargaining: representatives negotiate for workers as a group. A strike is a coordinated work stoppage.
Source B: “The machines go like mad all day because the faster you work the more money you get. ... I bind the finger up ... and go on working. ... I have over $200 saved now.”
Frowne described a needle injury before wrapping her finger. Do her savings erase the evidence of hardship? Explain how BOTH details can be true.
No. Saving money shows economic opportunity, while the injury and continued work show hardship. One person could earn and save while also facing unsafe or demanding work.
A factory employs 1,000 workers but faces several strong competitors. A student says, “It is a monopoly because it is big.” Correct the student and name the missing evidence.
Size alone does not establish a monopoly. We need evidence that one company controls nearly an entire industry; strong competitors make that claim doubtful.
A business can send products between cities by rail, but managers need quicker messages about orders and shipment changes. Which network should it add? Explain why railroads alone do not solve both problems.
Telegraphs. Railroads move goods and people; telegraphs carry information so managers can coordinate orders and shipments across distances.
A factory receives $150 from sales. Total wages are $60 and supplies cost $30. These are its only costs. Find profit and show your calculation.
$150 − $60 − $30 = $60 profit. Total costs are $90; sales are not the same as profit.
Workers strike, so the factory makes fewer goods to sell. An owner says, “I saved money on wages, so the strike must help my profit.” What is missing from this reasoning?
The owner also risks losing sales earnings because production stopped. Lower wage costs alone do not establish higher profit; revenue may fall too.
Source D: A young girl stands between long rows of machines taller than she is. Scraps lie on the floor. Hine made the photograph for the National Child Labor Committee. His caption reports that an overseer said she was regularly employed.
Which detail comes from the image description, and which employment claim comes from the caption? Explain why these are different kinds of evidence.
Image description: a young girl beside tall machines, or scraps on the floor. Caption: an overseer said she was regularly employed. The image shows the scene; the employment claim is a reported statement, not something the picture independently proves.
Chairs move from station to station. One worker attaches legs, another adds backs, and another sands each chair. Name the production method. Explain how it helps the factory make many identical chairs.
Assembly line. Repeated, specialized tasks help speed production and support mass production of many identical products.
Map evidence: Detroit connects to Great Lakes shipping and railroads. A second town has nearby iron ore but few transportation connections. Give TWO reasons Detroit could be a useful factory location even without an iron mine inside the city.
Shipping and rail routes can bring distant raw materials to Detroit and send finished goods to wider markets. Both receiving supplies and reaching customers matter.
FOUR workers each earn $5. Sales are $100 and supplies cost $20. After bargaining, each worker earns $10. Wages and supplies are the only costs; sales and supplies stay the same. Find profit BEFORE and AFTER. How much does EACH worker gain?
Before: total wages $20; profit $100 − $20 − $20 = $60. After: total wages $40; profit $100 − $20 − $40 = $40. Each worker gains $5. Higher wage costs reduce profit when other amounts stay fixed.
Source C: The Knights of Labor sought safer workplaces, union recognition, limits on child labor, equal pay for equal work, and an eight-hour workday.
A factory has dangerous machines and pays two workers differently for the same work. Choose TWO demands that address these problems. Explain why making shared requests could help workers.
Safer workplaces address dangerous machines. Equal pay for equal work addresses different pay for the same work. Shared requests and organization can give workers more influence than isolated requests. These are problems with working conditions and pay.
Source D: A young girl stands between long rows of machines taller than she is. Scraps lie on the floor. Hine made the photograph for the National Child Labor Committee. His caption reports that an overseer said she was regularly employed.
Choose the best-supported claim and explain ONE detail.
A. The photograph proves the girl worked twelve hours that day.
B. The caption proves the girl received less pay than adults.
C. The scene could raise concern about children working near machinery.
D. The scraps prove the girl had already suffered a serious injury.
C. A young girl beside machinery taller than she is could raise concern about child labor and safety. The evidence does not establish her hours, comparative wages, or an actual injury.
A town has coal deposits, a port and railroad, and people seeking factory jobs. Match these to THREE vocabulary terms. Why would the coal deposits alone not be enough to run a factory?
Coal: natural resources. Port and railroad: infrastructure. Workers and their work: labor. A factory also needs workers and ways to move supplies or products; resources alone do not produce and distribute goods.
A student says, “New residents helped industrial cities only by becoming workers.” Correct this claim using workers, markets, and city growth.
New residents also become customers who buy goods, expanding markets. Their work supplies labor, and population growth contributes to urbanization.
An owner’s fortune grows while employees struggle to pay for basic needs. Name the term for the wealth gap. Explain why this situation helps explain the name “Gilded Age.”
Economic inequality. The Gilded Age displayed impressive wealth while poverty and difficult work persisted beneath the surface, like a thin gold covering over problems.
A factory uses children for long, exhausting shifts. Workers want changes but worry about losing pay during a strike. Name the labor problem, describe ONE risk of striking, and explain why workers might choose group negotiation first.
Child labor. Striking workers risk losing wages; owners risk lost production and sales. Collective bargaining lets representatives seek changes together while work continues, although an agreement is not guaranteed.
FINAL: REPAIR THE ARGUMENT
Source A: Carnegie argued that competition promoted material progress, even though it could be hard on individuals. He said wealthy people should use surplus wealth to benefit the community.
Source B: “The machines go like mad all day because the faster you work the more money you get. ... I bind the finger up ... and go on working. ... I have over $200 saved now.”
Frowne described a needle injury before wrapping her finger.
Weak claim: “Industrialization helped everyone because businesses grew.”
Rewrite this as a 4–5 sentence evidence paragraph. Make a defensible claim, use BOTH sources, include a benefit and a hardship, and explain how the details support your judgment.
Example: Industrialization created both opportunity and hardship. Carnegie argued that competition brought material progress, showing his view of its benefits. Frowne’s savings show economic opportunity, but her needle injury and continued work show hardship. Her experience suggests that earning money did not remove dangers at work. Together, these sources support a mixed judgment rather than a claim that everyone benefited. Accept any defensible judgment supported by evidence from both sources, a benefit, a hardship, and reasoning.