Industrial Revolutions (francis Cabot Lowell) Essay - 1,432 words

Industrial Revolutions (Francis Cabot Lowell) Among many factors that contributed towards making America great, the early industrialization of this country was probably the most important one. By introducing innovative industrial technologies early in 19th century, the American commercial elite of the time was able to turn United States into fully industrialized nation by the year 1860. It is practically impossible for any researcher of this period in the history of United States, to skip mentioning the role of Francis Cabot Lowell in deploying new manufacturing concepts on his textile mills, which were adopted by other American manufactures within very short time. Francis Cabot Lowell (1775-1817) was born in Newburyport in the family of judge John Lowell on April 7, 1775. He graduated at Harvard in 1793. After becoming a merchant in Boston, he went to England on several occasions, prior to the outbreak of 1812 war with England. There he discovered that many textile manufactures were using a new weaving system, when the whole manufacturing process was being done in one factory. This was unheard of in America at the time. Upon returning back home, Lowell decided to adopt the same practice on the new cotton mill that he was going to establish in Waltham.


Yet, he didnt understand the design of weaving machines that he saw in England, so he just described his visual impressions to his friend Paul Moody, who was a mechanic It marked the beginning of American modern textile industry. There is no doubt that Lowell would be totally in favor of the concept of Industrial Revolution, in contemporary sense of this word. At the beginning of 19th century, just like in our times, the economical trends used to define a socio-political situation in every particular country, long before these trends were being incorporated into economical theory. It is important to understand that Lowell had not only introduced the use of machines in textile industry, but he also formulated the whole new manufacturing philosophy. His role in American economy of the time can be compared to the role of Henry Ford, who introduced the principle of conveyor assembly. As a matter of fact, Lowell can be consider as Fords predecessor, because he applied a strict division of labor in his textile mills.


The task performed by each worker required a little professionalism, on his or her part. Nevertheless, Lowells cloth had much better quality, comparing to his competitors, which enabled him to easily enter the highly competitive U.S. textile market with the line of his products. Lowell began selling cloth at 25 cents a yard, after his first factory in Waltham became operational in 19814. Although it was more expensive than British cloth, people still preferred buying Lowells product, as it was much more durable. Industrial revolution resulted in developing new techniques to exploit workers to the full extent. From this prospective, Lowell appears to be nothing less but the establisher of what now refer to as corporate culture. He used to hire young women from the rural areas to work for his Boston Manufacturing Company.


It allowed him to cut the cost of production for one third, since these women were being paid a very low wages. Lowell used to attract the new recruits by offering them a cheep housing. He went even as far as building a church, in the immediate proximity of his mill in Massachusetts, where his workers could pray for the forgiveness of their sins, while being mercilessly exploited. In return, Lowell required his employees to work 12 hours a day, very often without providing them with any holidays. At the same time, he demanded the loyalty from his workers a practice that is being actively used by many contemporary companies like McDonalds, where employees are often asked to work extra hours when its needed, without getting paid. The only mean to encourage them to do so, is making such workers feel like they are the part of companys family Lowells brother in law Patrick Jackson showed his deep sense of sarcasm when he once said: One of the fundamentals of the mills would be that they were morally and intellectually upright (Dunwell, p.56) We cant imagine the modern industrys proper functioning if it wasnt sustained by financial investments. Such investments are mostly done ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Essay Tags: industrial revolution, lowell, textile industry, united states, united state

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