Sweatshops from "summary" of How The Other Half Lives by Jacob August Riis
The dark, cramped rooms crammed with rows of weary workers, bent over their machines like slaves in a sweatshop, are a common sight in the tenement districts of New York City. These sweatshops are the heart of a system that grinds out the daily bread for thousands of families, a system that feeds on the lifeblood of the poor. In these sweatshops, men, women, and children toil long hours for meager pay, their bodies worn down by the ceaseless grind of the machines. The air is thick with the smell of sweat and the hum of industry, the only sounds that break the silence of the crowded rooms. The workers are like machines themselves, their movements mechanical and unceasing, their faces set in a grim mask of resignation. The products of their labor - garments, shoes, toys - are sold in the shops and markets of the city, where they fetch a handsome price for their owners. But the workers themselves see little of this wealth, living from hand to mouth, never sure if they will have enough to eat or a roof over their heads. They are the invisible hands that keep the wheels of industry turning, their faces blurred in the haze of poverty and despair. The sweatshops are a world apart, hidden fro...
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