Was it Worth the Struggle?

The industrial revolution resulted in some amazing inventions but many people had to pay a huge price. To keep the factories running they needed kids to do some of the typical tasks. A poster composed by Hine Lewis Wickes (1912-1914) shows how kids were affected. At first, it shows a bunch of kids smiling who appear to be clean. It also shows what happens to the kids after working at the factories for a long time. Most factories used different types of machines and some of the kids had jobs monitoring the machines. These events result in sad, tired, kids who were dirty. These kids worked very hard even though their work resulted in low wages. Sometimes they had no choice because they needed to support their families. The Industrial Revolution affected the world too in many ways. According to the article "Polluting the Environment," by Discovery Education, the text says “For example, coal mining produces chemicals such as iron sulfates that enter streams and kill plants and animals living in the area.“ This means that the essential resources needed to run the factories caused lots of problems. These problems resulted in pollution, deaths of plants and animals, and more. That’s just the pollution before the factories use the resources. The photograph “Factory Smokestacks” taken by Detroit Publishing Company shows that the factories produced lots of air pollution. It shows about 6 factories producing air pollution near locals which most likely affects them too.  I know this affected lots of thin because the article "Polluting the Environment," on the Discovery Education website, “This process threatened other untouched natural areas, such as pure water springs, waterfalls, and swamps.“ In my opinion I’d rather have less technology if it would result in more happy kids and less pollution. In the end the Industrial Revolution is not worth the cost in my opinion and I think we could've found other ways to produce technology.