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The Muckracker Times
Macey Bearden, Hallie Cole, Mary Compton, Ricky Dillard, Chris Edwards
The Poor Child’s Day
by: Macey Bearden
A workerless factory is unable to make products, but who
is this workforce? To the factories, it doesn’t matter.
Anyone able-bodied, desperate to work, and willing to
accept a low payment is suitable to work. Poor men,
women, immigrants, and their children are forced to work
in horrid conditions to sustain their families. These
families are poor, hungry, and uneducated. They will be
trapped in this life of working in the dangerous factory
conditions for as long as they live, with all of their money
going towards just keeping themselves alive. The
generations to come will fall into this trap, as money is
typically the deciding factor for education. Children are
forced to work 12-14 hour work days for half of the pay
of adults, just to help their families. There is no time for
play, let alone school, for these children. If no change is
made, they will be forced to live in this life for the rest of
their days. I visited several of these factories, and I was
appalled to see the conditions of the child laborers.
Children were forced to run under running machines to
tie loose threads because they were small and agile. Many
children had
spinal
deformities,
limps, scars,
and other
injuries from
their assign
work. During
my visit, I
watched as
little boys
separated the
slate and
stone from
the coal that
was flowing
Molly Jackson in a cotton mill
in the “river”.
One child said
that if you fell in you would be mangled and killed, as
several of his friends had. In a cotton mill, I met a young
girl by the name of Molly Jackson. When I asked her why
she was coughing, she said that everyone in the mill had a
cough and that no one could afford to see a doctor. Both
of these children, and more, don’t know the simple joys
of being a kid. The factories are unacceptable, and they
display how low America will stoop to take advantage of
those in bad situations. I propose that we should put labor
laws in place to help these children, whose voice has been
taken from them.
The Rust in Our Gears
by: Mary Compton
For years, the government has cheated the common
man by making laws that appeal only to the rich
businessmen and factories. Common people and
their issues have been pushed aside in order for the
powerful political machines to line their pockets.
Through my investigative research I have mucked
up what is really going on in our government.
These horrific crimes have gone on long enough. In
this article I plan to discuss what our
representatives and President have really been
doing with our tax dollars and I urge you to take
action against these horrendous offences!
A political cartoon of the American government
elephants attacking the injured common man tiger
During my visit to the nation’s capital, I stopped to
visit the root of all corruption in this country:
Capitol Hill. Political machines work towards their
own ulterior motives. They partner with big
businesses in order to stay in power and make
money. The government has betrayed the common
man, such as making laws that benefit monopolies
and completely ignoring the Americans’ needs. In
fact, when I visited Congress, someone referred to
the Senate as the “Rich Man’s Club” because the
seats were sold out to the highest bidder. Now, the
lives of the working class and poor are in the hands
of these men. Even though political machines do
good deeds sometimes, they don’t do them with
good intentions. These men expect payment for
their “philanthropy.” Whatever happened to our
American morals? We will not allow our
government to ignore our pleas for help. Both men
and women must take action against these appalling
injustices and restore our government to its proper
structure.
13th April, 1907
The Injustice in our Fireplaces
by: Ricky Dillard
Terrible issues have been ignored by the middle and
higher classes of our society, yet have been raging
among the lower classes. They have been prevalent
all across the slums of the poor. These problems are
the coal that we take for granted every single day.
Through my investigations and discoveries, I plan
to expose the dirty truth of one of our most valued
resources and how it affects the poor. The coal dust
produced by the processors often clouds the air,
blocking out the sky from view. The coal machine
makes a constant grinding noise, shrieking in your
ears day on end. The coal billows out from the sides
of the machine, and men often come home to their
families covered in black sot. When I visited these
unfortunate, poverty ridden communities, I could
hardly breathe because of the deplorable conditions
and the coal dust. When I returned, confident I had
gathered enough information, I noticed my clothes
were stained black. I looked in the mirror, and I
could hardly recognize myself through the even
coating of black substance on my face. I have no
doubt that repeat exposure to this awful, stifling
substance causes chronic lung problems. In fact,
just standing in the dust for an hour left me with a
hacking cough that did not subside for days. These
people live their lives this way without rebelling,
and we throw a fit over petty arguments with the
next door neighbor. And the fact that all of us,
living comfortably in our homes, are unaware of the
problem that befalls the helpless, suffering
individuals beyond this social wall, astounds me.
A political cartoon of the injustices of coal
processing
Even children are forced to work in these terrible
conditions, leading to horrible diseases and
sometimes death. These disgusting issues shouldn’t
go on for a single minute more. If there is no
boundary to what horrors we are putting our own
people through, are we honestly able to call
ourselves constitutional Americans? Raise
awareness, and end these injustices once and for
all!

The Industrial Workers’ Musical Strike
by: Chris Edwards
A political cartoon demonstrating the
hardships of children in the workforce
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Through my visit and interviews with the common laborers, I have discovered a whole new form
of rebellion and revolution, which being songs. I will use this information to inform all of you
readers to help them make a change. The factories spreading rapidly around America are
constantly popping up and supplying us with new products. But you might not know all of the
grueling labor that goes into making them. I did not know either until I heard “The Shadow
Child” by Mindy Gledhill. It expresses how the work seems never ending and how they don’t get
to play like the used to.This is just one of the many songs calling out this problem. Such as “The
Land of Noonday Night” by Hull House Songs. In this example they say how tired working all
day has made them. The children were forced to quit school, they can provide for their families.
And in the coal factories the workers may ingest coal fumes which will poison their lungs. The
protests will jus keep rising up until we do something about it. We need to help these poor,
underprivileged people get better hours and conditions because they are practically holding up
america’s economy and they deserve equal treatment as us. We need to hire better bosses for
factories so that they will not become corrupt and dock their employees pay. If the children do not
receive an education, America will not be able to step into a better and brighter future. So today,
we must acknowledge the art they’re making to point out these horrific problems!