FREE ESSAY ON TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FIRE

TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FIRE

American History
October 10, 1999
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911)
What do we think of when we hear the word sweatshop? Many people associate that word with
female immigrant workers, who receive very minimal pay. The work area is very dangerous
to your health and is extremely unsanitary work place. The work area is usually
overcrowded. That is the general stereotype, in my eyes of a sweatshop. All if not more
of these conditions were present in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. This company was
located in New York City at 23-29 Washington Place, in which 146 employees mainly women
and girls lost their lives to a disastrous fire. 
"A superficial examination revealed that conditions in factories and manufacturing
establishments that developed a daily menace to the lives of the thousands of working
men, women, and children" (Cornell 29). Lack of precautions to prevent fire, inadequate
fire-escape facilities, unsanitary conditions were undermining the health of the workers.
The need for an investigation was starting to be recognized. The hazards to life because
of fire are: covering fire prevention, arrangement of machinery, fire drills, inadequate
fire-escapes and exits, number of persons employed in factories and lofts, etc. Some of
the dangers to life and health because of unsanitary conditions are: ventilation,
lighting and heating arrangement, hours of labor, etc. There was no insulation in the
winter, only a pot-bellied stove in the middle of the factory. In the summer you
suffocated with practically no ventilation. There was no drinking water, except maybe a
tap is in the hall, which was warm and dirty. 
New York is the first state in the Union to authorize a general investigation of the
conditions in manufacturing establishments within its borders. According to the
preliminary report of the census of 1910, there were 1,003,981 men, women, and children
employed in the factories and manufacturing establishments of New York State. New York
has already expended great sums of money to conserve its natural resources. The
conservation of human life, the most valuable of all things, has received but little
attention. Fires and industrial accidents are fortunately only occasional and
extraordinary events. Their effects are visible and immediate so they are impressed
forcibly upon our minds.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Company was in a fireproof loft building that was about 150 feet
high, and it is about 12 stories in height. These buildings are usually of such a height
that the Fire Department ladders and extensions and even the water towers do not reach
the upper stories. While the fireproof building itself will not burn, the merchandise,
wooden floors, and contents will burn. All fire experts assume that when a fire occurs on
any one floor, the contents of that floor will be destroyed. Ladders can not reach over
eighty feet high; therefore people must try the stairways or fire escapes to get out of
the building. "The fire escape was a lone ladder running down a rear narrow court, which
was smoke filled, one narrow door gave access to the ladder" (Boston, Bedford 1998). 
The conditions and reasons for death of many women in that fire was mainly overcrowded,
unsafe, sweatshop conditions. The Honorable Walter L. Fischer, Secretary of the Interior,
in an address before the Fifteenth Annual Meeting of the National Fire Protection
Association, states that the situation admirably:
"If the Government should suddenly lay an annual tax of $5.21 on every man, woman and
child in the United States on a promise of spending the money for some useful purpose,
that promise would not avail against the storm of protest which would be aroused.
Nevertheless, a tax which in the aggregate amounts to that is being paid by the people of
this country. It is the annual fire loss of the nation upon buildings and their contents
alone. It is expended not in productive enterprise, but in death and destruction, and an
even larger sum is annually expended upon fire protection and insurance premiums. Not
only is this property loss paid by our people, but also, in addition, annually 1,500
persons give up their lives, and nearly 6,000 are injured in fires. Possibly in no other
direction is the national habit of waste more clearly exemplified than in the comparative
indifference with which we permit such a sacrifice. In no other civilized country are
conditions so bad as they are here. It seems ridiculous that a people so apt and so eager
to seek out and destroy the mysterious and hidden enemies of mankind should be so slow
and sluggish in fighting a foe so plainly in sight and so readily vanquished. We have let
the world in seeking out the causes of pestilence and removing them. We are in the very
vanguard of the battle against tuberculosis, typhoid and yellow fever, and still we stand
apart and let older nations lead the fight against an enemy much more easily
conquered."(Cornell 28)
In conclusion, I found the sweatshops and the conditions leading up to the fire the most
interesting. How could people work in those conditions? I find that this sweatshop is not
much different from a modern day sweatshop. The people are working in the same poor
conditions for minimal wages. This is one of the most horrific tragedies in United States
history, and hopefully now the work environments are improving greatly.