One hundred years ago there was a great fire in New York City. Now, there’s a fire in every large city every day. Only a few impact more than a few people. The great Chicago fire of the 1870's, which destroyed most of the city, led to the building of what later became the modern metropolis of Chicago. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911 cost over 146 lives (bodies recovered) all but 23 were young women workers the youngest of which was 11 - most were in their teens or early twenties. But that fire led to the United States becoming a nation that for the last 100 years has, as a matter of public policy, supported the government, state and federal, using its powers to protect workers and try to assure safe working conditions.
The Triangle Fire of 1911 in addition to bringing popular awareness to the sweatshop factory conditions in the garment industry in New York City also caused a number of public personages to become supportive of the concept of worker safety. Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, Al Smith, Robert Wagner and Frances Perkins all knew the intimate details of the fire as publicized in the press and in their subsequent public careers became leading advocates of worker safety laws. The press with the new media of the day - photo journalism - spread the gruesome details of the Fire throughout the nation. Labor unions began, finally, to get large public support as organizations that could protect workers especially women and children from harsh conditions. The deaths of those young women saved countless lives as America responded by changing working conditions. Child labor laws began to be enacted by the states and a movement began for a federal constitutional amendment to limit the hours of child workers -- when that failed of ratification new Deal legislation sponsored by Sen. Wagner and signed by Pres. Roosevelt accomplished the goal.
Today the memory of that horrific Fire recedes. In Maine radical Republicans seek to weaken child labor laws and allow those who should be in high school to spend more time making less money at fast food establishments. The Ryanites would slash the budget of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration by 20%. As currently understaffed that Agency today has only enough inspectors to inspect every covered workplace once every 143 years.
We are too quick to forget. While much improvement has been made with fire protections and factory design there remains many hazardous jobs in the US. In a time of great recession of course there are those who believe that any job is better than none and we should remove these regulations that cause employers to limit their work forces. But our country will not always be in a Great Recession. Had the leaders of this nation during the Great Depression decided to plan for an America that would never recover we would be a third rate country today. But they had the vision to believe that in enacting programs that would make this a better country that would build a strong middle class, care for our elderly, and create the path to a better future for out young people they were doing so for a great America. One that would become the economic envy of the world and one that would be a society where we cared most for those who could not care for themselves.
America has always looked forward. We have always been a nation optimistic about our future. Whether building the Erie Canal or the Transcontinental Railroad or going to the Moon we did so because it would get us some where further. We have always been a compassionate nation - opening new lands cheaply to those who would settle and cultivate; training our young people in CCC camps, public schools, community colleges; and making sure that our elderly could, with the assistance of Social Security insurance and Medicare insurance, live on their own and allow their children to raise and care for their grandchildren without the economic burden of caring for their elderly parents. Today a group of radical Republicans want to undo all that and they believe in a mythical Hooverite rugged individualism that never was and never should be. They believe that we can’t lead the world in the sunshine of human rights and we can’t build here in America that Great Society that has been our goal as a people since Jamestown was founded over 400 years ago. YES WE CAN !
5-9-2011
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