DBQ: Twist Factory Fire And The Labor Reform Movement

The shirt waist fire opened the public’s eyes to how unsafe work places were at the time. Many people wanted justice for all of the deaths that occurred during this fire between people jumping out of the building to the people that burned alive inside the building. There were different reporters that wrote or drew about the incident. One cartoon showed a person that committed suicide with the caption “This is one of a hundred murdered. Is anyone to be punished for this?” (Document 2). This cartoon voiced the people looking for someone to blame and for those that weren’t already upset by this fire were now seeing that something needed to be done. In response the people started pushing for improved fire safe laws, and within the first six months, the Building department complied by changing the inspection; making the inspections more strict, they …show more content…
At the funeral of the victims of the Triangle Shirt Waist factory fire, organizer of the women’s trade union league , Rose Schneiderman, gave a speech of how this wasn’t “the first time girls have been burned alive” and that if there was not a change in the way things were run this wouldn’t be the last an incident like this happened (Document 1). Numerous changes came when the people started to fight for the reform. One change came two years later and was discussed in a speech by Woodrow Wilson where he talks about making a Department of Labor; the purpose of the Department of Labor was to “foster, promote and develop welfare of the wage earners” and “improve working conditions and advancing opportunities” ( Document 6). By making the department of labor, it made employer and worker almost equal along with making the working conditions for laborers healthier and safer. Along with creating the Department of Labor, there were several laws and acts that were