Triangle Shirtwaist Factory

Economic Dignity
by Gene Sperling
Published 14 Sep 2020

Brooks, “How the First Woman in the U.S. Cabinet Found Her Vocation.” 34. Hadassa Kosak, “Triangle Shirtwaist Fire,” Jewish Women’s Archive, accessed November 10, 2019, https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/triangle-shirtwaist-fire. 35. Tony Michels, “Uprising of 20,000 (1909),” Jewish Women’s Archive, accessed November 10, 2019, https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/uprising-of-20000-1909. 36. Peter Dreier and Donald Cohen, “The Fire Last Time,” New Republic, March 11, 2011, https://newrepublic.com/article/85134/wisconsin-unions-walker-triangle-shirtwaist-fire. 37. Thomas R. Layton and Einer R. Elhauge, “U.S., Fire Catastrophes of the 20th Century,” Journal of Burn Care & Research 3, no. 1 (January–February 1982): 24, https://doi.org/10.1097/00004630-198201000-00003. 38.

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At the end of the strike, 85 percent of the city’s shirtwaist workers had joined the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU),35 but the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory remained anti-union.36 At the time, New York, like most states, had new factory safety laws on the books, but they were rarely enforced, with “standards for fire drills, fire escapes, and sprinkler systems [in New York] . . . followed ‘only where practicable.’”37 The Fire Department of the City of New York had cited the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory multiple times for failing to provide sufficient fire escapes, yet had taken no meaningful action against the owners.38 Following the tragic fire, a citizens’ Committee on Safety was established to spur workplace safety legislation.

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Her activism on worker safety took a turn when she was having tea with friends in New York’s Washington Square one spring afternoon in 1911, a full two decades before the start of the New Deal.30 At the time, Perkins, then just thirty years old, was deeply engrossed in the fight for workers’ rights through her role leading the New York office of the National Consumers League. On that day, Perkins heard commotion and cries for help coming from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and ran to the scene, where she witnessed the “horrifying spectacle”31 of more than fifty young female workers forced to jump to their deaths from the burning building.32 The women, Perkins recalled watching, “had been holding on until that time, standing in the windowsills, being crowded by others behind them, the fire pressing closer and closer, the smoke closer and closer.”33 The ninth-floor exits had been closed by management seeking to prevent theft, keep out union organizers, and prevent walkouts.

What's the Matter with White People
by Joan Walsh
Published 19 Jul 2012

See also class conflict; race relations Ignatiev, Noel Immigration Act (1921) income disparity “American Dream” and flattening of wages and “job creators” middle class and Reagan and whites and See also class conflict indentured servitude Institute for Research on Poverty intermarriage International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union In These Times In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York, 1626 to 1963 (Hughes) Iowa, 2008 primaries in Iran Contra Iraq War Irish Catholic Americans abolition and African American–Irish conflict and alcoholism and assimilation of “black Irish” class conflict and college education of contraception and Draft Riots Hard Hat Riot (1970) hierarchy among Irish immigrants indentured servitude of multiculturalism and 1930s New York City 1960s activism and as police September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Smith and Wright on See also race relations Isserman, Maurice Italian Americans, Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire and Jack and Jill Politics Jackson, Jesse, Jr. Jackson, Rev. Jesse Jealous, Benjamin Jefferson, Thomas Jewish Americans African American-Jewish relations assimilation of on New York City civilian review board Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire and “job creators” Johnson, Lyndon Civil Rights Act death of events leading to 1968 election and Great Society Hillary Clinton on Civil Rights Act and March on Washington (1963) and Moynihan and Vietnam War and Voting Rights Act War on Poverty John XXIII, Pope Jones, Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Van JPMorgan Kasich, John Kasten, Robert, Jr.

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Yet Smith deserves credit he rarely receives for assembling the New Deal coalition, even if he would later reject it. The half-Irish working-class son of the Lower East Side, Smith was propelled from state Assembly majority leader to national renown by the galvanizing tragedy of the Progressive era: the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire of March 1911. He would become a pivotal figure in the creation of New Deal policy as well as New Deal politics. FDR’s labor secretary, Frances Perkins, called the day of the Triangle fire “the day the New Deal began,” pointing to social welfare legislation Smith pioneered in the aftermath of the tragedy.

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assassination of characterization of in Chicago events leading to 1968 election and Hillary Clinton on Civil Rights Act and labor unions and Life on March on Washington (1963) Ocean Hill/Brownsville conflict and Poor People’s Campaign Quill and King, Rodney Know-Nothing Party Koch, Ed Kolchin, Peter Kratovil, Frank Kucinich, Dennis Ku Klux Klan Kuttner, Robert labor unions civil rights movement and declining influence of (1970s) Draft Riots and events leading to 1968 election and Hard Hat Riot and Lindsay and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) complaints Nixon and Reagan and Steamfitters’ Union Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire (March 1911) 2008 primaries See also individual names of labor unions Lacy, Dean LaPierre, Wayne Latinos African American–Latino relations hierarchy of immigrants Ocean Hill/Brownsville conflict and as Republicans (present-day) 2008 primaries See also race relations “Lenny Bernstein and the Radical Chic” (Wolfe) Lewis, Anthony Lewis, John L.

Hustle and Gig: Struggling and Surviving in the Sharing Economy
by Alexandrea J. Ravenelle
Published 12 Mar 2019

“So it’s really frustrating, but yeah, I took it off and I started doing some exercise, and my back sort of got to somewhat normal now.” Workers getting injured on the job isn’t anything new. The neighborhood where I conducted my research was within walking distance of the Asch Building, home of the notorious 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, in which 143 young women and men perished. The fire was one of the largest workplace accidents in US history and is often considered an impetus for changes to American labor law and for the New Deal.3 A SHORT HISTORY OF WORKERS’ COMPENSATION Workers’ compensation is hardly a new concept.

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Although Congress passed the Employers’ Liability Acts of 1906 and 1908, softening the restrictions of contributory negligence, the conditions of workers were still largely ignored.7 In early 1911, the states of Washington and Wisconsin passed comprehensive workers’ compensation laws, but the true movement toward workplace protections and compensation for injury didn’t occur until the March 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.8 In the year after the fire, nine other states passed regulations, followed by thirty-six others before the decade was done. In New York, the fire also led to the development of the Committee on Public Safety, headed by Frances Perkins—the future U.S. secretary of labor—and led to new legislation to protect workers, including the “54-hour bill” granting workers shorter hours.

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See also Hello Alfred algorithm-based acceptance and response rates, 5, 55; overview, 2, 5, 6; anti-trust law violations and, 71; deactivation and, 82–83; negative reviews and, 13; opaqueness of, 84–85; TaskRabbit, 1–2 alienation, 37 Amazon Family, 30–31, 73 American labor history: overview, 8, 89; accident rates, 93; breaks, 87; British law and, 64–65; collective bargaining attempts, 64–65; early 20th century strikes, 68–70; early strikes, 64; 19th century strikes, 65–66, 67, 68; piecemeal system, 68; ten-hour workdays, 65; textile industry and, 66–67; Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911, 92, 93, 226–27n3, 227n8; unionization attempts, 64–65, 93; workers’ compensation, 92–94 anonymity, 23, 48, 91, 156 apps, 2, 6, 50, 53 Arets, Martijn, 28fig. 2 Arieff, Allison, 231n4 Arkwright, Richard, 66 Aronowitz, Stanley, 37 Asch Building, 92, 226–27n3 Autor, David, 181, 186 background checks: criminal activity and, 140, 144; drivers and, 143; Googling clients, 170–72; screening mechanisms, 113–15; trust and, 29, 208; Uber and, 43, 167 Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency, 68, 69 Barnes vs.

Making It in America: The Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the U.S.A. (And How It Got That Way)
by Rachel Slade
Published 9 Jan 2024

The union even got into New York real estate, raising money to build affordable and cooperative housing, plus a vacation property for members in the Poconos featuring murals by Diego Rivera. No strike would shape the labor movement in the following decades more than the one following the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, which took the lives of 146 young women and men. The ten-story building was around the corner from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. Unable to escape the intense heat of the fast-moving conflagration, the stitchers and machinists died on the shop floor, piled up against blocked exits, in the elevator, and some on the concrete below when they leapt from windows eight to ten stories above to avoid the flames.

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An investigation later revealed that the factory doors had been illegally locked to prevent people from coming in and going out (possibly to prevent union organizers from talking to workers). It was also found that the fire escapes were underbuilt, the New York City fire truck ladders were too short to service most of the city’s buildings, and no one had bothered to train staff about fire safety. The Triangle Shirtwaist fire was the Titanic of the labor movement. (That ill-fated luxury liner would sink almost exactly one year later, another tragic example of corporate malfeasance and inadequate safety standards.) While countless American workers had died over the years—in the coal mines, while building railroads, or in other industrial accidents, some slowly and imperceptibly while handling toxic materials without protection—it was impossible to ignore the charred bodies of the young female stitchers, many of whom perished while clutching their scant weekly pay.

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While countless American workers had died over the years—in the coal mines, while building railroads, or in other industrial accidents, some slowly and imperceptibly while handling toxic materials without protection—it was impossible to ignore the charred bodies of the young female stitchers, many of whom perished while clutching their scant weekly pay. One person who witnessed the horror of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire was Frances Perkins, at the time the head of the National Consumers League. Profoundly moved by what she saw that day, she worked with the city to improve fire safety protocols. Just two years later, she would investigate another clothing factory fire, this time in Binghamton, New York, which would take the lives of thirty-one young needleworkers.

Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal
by George Packer
Published 14 Jun 2021

That afternoon she was having tea with a wealthy friend whose windows looked out on Washington Square. The noise of shouting and sirens rose from the street, and a butler came in to report a large fire across the park. Perkins rushed outside and saw flames consuming the upper floors of a ten-story building where the Triangle Shirtwaist Company had a factory. Perkins knew the place. Italian and Jewish seamstresses, most in their teens and twenties, had gone on strike to bring changes to working conditions there, including improved fire safety; they’d been beaten and jailed, the effort had failed, and exit doors in the sweatshop remained locked to prevent theft or unauthorized breaks.

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The social safety net was so shredded that millions of Americans had to go to work sick or lost health insurance during the pandemic, while state unemployment systems and public health departments nearly collapsed from malign neglect. The workplace safety administration had stopped doing the kind of inspections that were the legacy of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, causing injuries and deaths of American workers to soar. The federal minimum wage of $7.25 is worth barely half its value fifty years ago. Antitrust enforcement leaves monopolies in place while going after smaller competitors that have to cooperate in order to survive. Labor law enforcement consistently favors corporations over unions.

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In recent years a new anti-monopoly movement has emerged, partly inspired by the Progressives, with new ideas for the old desire to make all citizens capable of participating in our political and economic life. Its most famous advocate is Senator Elizabeth Warren, who often echoes Brandeis, and who told the story of Frances Perkins one night in a campaign speech in Washington Square, a block from the Triangle Shirtwaist building. A second antitrust age would increase innovation, decentralize power, revitalize depressed regions, and free both workers and small businesses to compete. Its strongest supporters should be Free Americans. * * * Creating the conditions of equality requires new structures and policies.

Worn: A People's History of Clothing
by Sofi Thanhauser
Published 25 Jan 2022

The eventual arrival to Washington Square Park of the so-called Mink Brigades, wealthy women who came downtown to join the striking seamstresses, helped turn the tide of public opinion by bringing attention to the brutality occurring daily in the park. When the strike ended in February 1910, union contracts had been signed at nearly every shop, although not at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU), which had been formed in 1900, but whose membership had languished, exploded in size and strength. Two years later, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory burst into flames, killing 146 garment workers. This ushered in a new and triumphant era in the battle against sweatshops. Three months after the fire, New York’s governor, under pressure from activists, created a commission that would investigate factories across the state.

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According to Rose Schneiderman, “What the woman who labors wants is the right to live, not simply exist—the right to life as the rich woman has the right to life, and the sun and music and art…. The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.” On November 22, 1909, there was an overflow audience crowded in Cooper Union’s Great Hall. In late September, three hundred women workers from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory had gone on strike, and were holding the picket line daily in the cold. While cops turned their backs, paid off with a hundred-dollar bill slipped in a cigar case, according to labor organizers’ accounts, the blows of company thugs rained down on strikers. Defying expectations of established unionists, who did not think either women or immigrant workers could be organized, these three hundred–some Italian and Jewish girls had been conducting an orderly strike for weeks.

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Frances Perkins and Robert Wagner, who headed the factory commission, would later help to create the nation’s most sweeping worker protections through the New Deal, in the National Labor Relations Act, guaranteeing federal protection for workers’ right to unionize. More radical still, however, was what the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union would accomplish. The ILGWU gained in size and stature after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and it adopted a strategy that would give responsibility for factory conditions to those who designed, purchased, and sold the garments produced by the small contract shops. About 70 percent of all women’s apparel workers in America were represented by the ILGWU by 1935. By the late 1940s, weekly wages in the garment industry had reached almost 85 percent of those in manufacturing overall.

We Are All Fast-Food Workers Now: The Global Uprising Against Poverty Wages
by Annelise Orleck
Published 27 Feb 2018

We’re trying to change that. And I think we will.”7 CHAPTER 8 1911—2011 History and the Global Labor Struggle FOR GARMENT WORKERS, March 25, 2011, was a critical moment. Hundreds poured into the Great Hall at Cooper Union in New York City to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Many famous political figures had spoken in the column-lined auditorium during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, President Abraham Lincoln, antislavery activists Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, Lakota chief Red Cloud and Arapahoe chief Little Raven.

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It was the largest women’s strike the country had ever seen.1 In the years that followed, women garment workers across the US organized, struck, and unionized. But they found that unionism could only take them so far. They also needed enforceable labor law. That need was indelibly burned into the national consciousness on March 25, 1911, when a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, in the heart of Greenwich Village, took 146 young workers’ lives. In a terrible half hour, thousands watched as young people jumped to their deaths from eighth-story windows, some burning even as they fell. Between 1911 and 1938, outrage over the fire galvanized support for the passage of minimum wage, maximum hours, and safety laws.

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Bangladesh has, since the 1980s, been the threat that hangs over the heads of garment workers the world over, says Cambodian union leader Ath Thorn. “If you keep asking for a higher wage, the factory will close and move to Bangladesh,” his members have been told anytime they ask for raises.3 It took an unbearable tragedy, a twenty-first-century Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, to make Bangladeshi workers finally, painfully, visible to the world. On April 24, 2013, the twenty-first-century garment industry was literally shaken to the ground when vibrations from a thousand sewing machines opened cracks in the Savar building in Dhaka and it collapsed, killing 1,134 workers.

Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion
by Elizabeth L. Cline
Published 13 Jun 2012

In 1909, twenty thousand New York City garment workers, many of them teenage girls, went on strike and demanded better pay and working conditions at their jobs. Garment workers at the time worked thirteen-hour days, had no days off, and made about $6 a week, according to historical information collected by the AFL-CIO. Some of the strikers were beaten up and taken to jail; some were even shot. Among the strikers were workers from the doomed Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, which made those ubiquitous turn-of-the-century blouses with the high collar, puffed sleeves, and cinched waists. Two years after the “Strike of 20,000,” the infamous fire at the Triangle factory occurred. The fire caused national outrage, with four hundred thousand people attending the funeral procession in New York.

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A., 53, 148 Frugal Fashionista, 34 Galliano, John, 115 Gap, 17–19, 23, 24, 29, 30, 52, 53, 70, 79, 87–88, 91, 100–102, 106, 141, 145, 166, 167 factories and, 146, 151 garment factories, 40, 50, 55, 138–60 Alta Gracia, 138–42, 151, 153–59, 216 in Bangladesh, 40–41, 43, 52, 145, 148–53, 165, 181–85 in China, 3, 6, 23, 43, 52, 74, 91, 150, 161–67, 169–71, 173–80, 213 and consolidation of clothing industry, 144 Fair Trade-certification of, 157–59 full-package, 166 import quotas and, 51–52, 54–55 local, 208, 212–15 in Los Angeles, 45–48, 54, 55, 56, 150, 162, 213 move from domestic to overseas manufacturing, 41–42 moving onshore, 213–14 in New York City, 37–41, 44–45, 55–58, 61, 142–43, 144 piece work in, 46–47, 48 safety and working conditions in, 145–50, 156 sweatshops, 44, 142, 143, 146–47, 159, 189, 215 Triangle Shirtwaist, 44, 142–43 unions and, 38, 44, 48, 51, 140–44, 154, 155, 163 wages in, 42–48, 53, 56, 61, 141–44, 146, 150–53, 154, 156, 159–60 Worker Rights Consortium and, 140–41, 142, 152, 158, 159 Garment Industry Development Corporation (GIDC), 36–38, 53, 214 Gas’d, 208 Gere, Richard, 65 Giardina, Sal, 84–85, 167, 171–72, 176 Gifford, Kathie Lee, 146 Gn, Andrew, 75 Goodwill, 119, 126, 127, 131, 132 Goody’s, 22 Gossip Girl, 63, 65, 79 Great American Apparel Diet, 191 Green Shows, 205 Grupo M, 141 Guess?

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W., 69, 72, 76, 77–78, 100, 117 Parker, Sarah Jessica, 33, 64, 94 pattern makers, 38, 43, 58 Perhac, Joyce, 193 Perkins, Francis, 143 Phillips-Van Heusen, 146 Polo Ralph Lauren, 67, 146 polyester, 83–85, 123, 124, 165, 177 Posen, Zac, 110 Prada, 68, 106 Miu Miu, 62, 63 Prairie Underground, 209 Project Runway, 65, 113, 158 Quan, Katie, 48, 55, 143–44 Quant, Mary, 86 Ralph Lauren, 17, 22, 39, 40, 66, 91, 109 Polo, 67, 146 Raustiala, Kal, 110 Recessionista, The, 34 Reclaimed in L.A., 210 recycling: of clothing, 122–23, 125, 128 of textiles, 128–31, 133, 135–37, 212 Reebok, 154 Refashion Co-Op, 201 refashioning, 134, 200–202, 206 ReFashionista, 200 Reference, 46 Reid, Sally, 44, 149–50, 165 Reilly, Joan, 75 repair: of clothing, 132, 193–94, 197, 201, 220 of shoes, 132–33, 218–19 Rice, Paul, 159 Richford, Rhonda, 31 Riley, Robert, 74–75 Rinaldi, Don, 132–33 Roark Collective, 211 Rock & Republic, 66 Ross, Robert, 144 Rucci, Ralph, 71–72, 75 Rudes, Jeff, 43 Rue 21, 2 Rykiel, Sonia, 68, 73 Saipan, 146 Salvation Army, 10, 119–20, 126–27, 130, 136–37 Sanchez, Julio Cesar, 138–39, 140 Sarazcloset.com, 202 Save the Garment Center, 87, 214 Scafidi, Susan, 105–9, 111, 112 Schenkenberg, Marcus, 30 Schrader, Abe, 39, 66, 85 Schullström, Ingrid, 145 Schultz, Lisa, 18 Schwartz, David, 98 Scott, Tristan, 207–12, 215, 217 Ship ’n Shore, 87 shopping malls, 26 ShopSmart, 121 seamstresses and tailors, 9, 10, 42, 58, 80–81, 87, 194 Searching for Style, 65 Sears, 21, 53, 81 Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles (SMART), 130 secondhand clothing, 201–2 exporting of, 135–36, 137 refashioning of, 134, 200–202, 206 thrift stores, 9–10, 119–21, 126–28, 130–32, 136–37, 188–89, 199, 204 see also vintage clothing Service and Style: How Department Stores Fashioned the Middle Class (Whitaker), 20, 80–81, 93 Seventeen, 23, 85–86 Sex and the City, 33, 64, 65, 76 sewing machines, 42, 138–39, 192–96 sergers, 82 sewing your own clothes, 9, 80–81, 85–87, 187–88, 190–200, 206 refashioning used items, 134, 200–201, 206 Sheen, Charlie, 19 shoedazzle.com, 122 shoes, 122, 132 repairing of, 132–33, 218–19 shopping hauls, 13–15, 122 Siegle, Lucy, 125, 135, 136 Simmel, Georg, 115 Single, 213 Six Items or Less, 191 slow fashion, 190, 208–10, 216, 220 slow food, 190, 208 Sonia Rykiel, 68, 73 South China Morning Post, 173 sportswear, 45 Sprigman, Chris, 110 Starbuck, Eliza, 60–61, 73, 89–90, 191, 203–6, 212 Starr, Malcolm, 39 Steele, Valerie, 80, 86, 103–4 Stone, Sharon, 19 Stubin, Eric, 129–31, 133 Sussman, Nadia, 55–56 Swapaholics, The, 202 sweaters, 214 Swimmer, Susan, 19–20 Syracuse University, 146–47 tailors and seamstresses, 9, 10, 42, 58, 80–81, 87, 194 Talbots, 146 Target, 2, 6, 15, 19, 22–24, 30–34, 69, 70, 77, 78, 91, 113, 131, 146, 213, 221 Isaac Mizrahi and, 24, 28, 33, 70 Missoni and, 69–71 Tech Talk, 71 textile manufacturing: in China, 123–24, 165 environmental impact of, 123–25 factories, 48–51, 123–24 with man-made fibers, 83–85, 124–25 textile recycling, 128–31, 133, 135–37, 212 Textile World, 84 Theory, 114 Thomas, Dana, 67, 68 thrift stores, 9–10, 119–21, 126–28, 130–32, 136–37, 188–89, 199, 204 Time, 22, 76, 98, 196 Times (London), 101 T.J. Maxx, 2, 8, 13, 30 TNS Mills, 50 Today Show, The, 19 Tommy Hilfiger, 18, 23, 24, 67, 91, 141, 146 Topshop, 100 Trans-Americas Trading Co., 129–30, 133 Trebay, Guy, 110 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, 44, 142–43 Trovata, 109 Tucker, 114 Ullman, Myron, 95–96 Umbro, 40, 148, 181 Uniform Project, 191 unions, 38, 44, 48, 51, 140–44, 154, 155, 163 UNIQLO, 2, 33, 70 UNIS, 60 UNITE HERE, 48 Universal Studios, 40 Urban Outfitters, 13, 43, 60–61, 73, 204, 205 USA Today, 202 Usigan, Ysolt, 71 Valentino, 62, 63 Van Meter, Jonathan, 17, 19 Variety, 31 Varsity, 148 Veblen goods, 77 Versace, 6 Very Sweet Life, 187–88 Very Sweet Life, 190 VF, 181 Victoria’s Secret, 189 videos, YouTube, 12, 13–15, 122 Vietnam, 165, 180 vintage clothing, 133–34, 135, 201–2, 204 designs copied from, 112–13, 120 refashioning of, 134, 200–202, 206 Vogue, 17, 22, 30, 31, 34, 64, 65, 114, 171 Vogue.com, 113 von Furstenberg, Diane, 62, 110, 171 Wagner, Robert, 143 Wagner, Stacy, 158 Wall Street Journal, 43, 92, 93, 95 Walmart, 2, 12, 13, 15, 18, 23, 24, 26–27, 30, 31, 70, 95, 96, 100, 131, 144, 181 factories and, 144–48, 151, 159 Walton, Sam, 95 Wanamaker’s, 1 Ward, Andy, 36–38, 41, 43, 45, 52, 53, 142, 214 Warner Brothers, 148 Washington Monthly, 53, 148 Washington Post, 132, 185 well-spent.com, 60 What’s in a Dress?

I Hate the Internet: A Novel
by Jarett Kobek
Published 3 Nov 2016

How else does one explain that ghastly thing known as Sarah Palin? All these crazy young ones are lining up to burn in their very own Shirtwaist Factories, screaming that they’re empowered by the very technology that’s set them aflame. Remember, the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was one of the great disasters in American life. It happened in 1911 on Washington Square in New York City. It happened in a building that is now part of New York University’s campus. Back in New York, whenever Baby and Adeline had walked past the building in question, Adeline asked odd questions like, “Baby, when you’re attending classes in that building, do you ever feel as if a shade will reach out from the netherworld and clutch you in its grasp?

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She had offended advocates of free speech. She had offended people who believed that copyright was copywrong. She had offended people on the Left. She had offended people on the Right. There was anger about her trivialization of the travails of women in the tech sector. There was anger on behalf of the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911. There was anger on behalf of the Arabs, still locked in political struggle and still not liberated by Twitter or Facebook. There was anger on behalf of the US Constitution, an inanimate document without feelings that had doomed millions to slavery. There was anger on behalf of the victims of incest and sexualized violence.

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They were offering services that changed the world and helped individuals achieve their greatest potential. Twitter could not be described as it was: a mechanism by which teenagers tormented each other into suicide while obsessing about ephemeral celebrities and on which Adeline argued about whether or not she hated the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911. Twitter was described as an outlet for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Twitter was changing the world. Twitter was headquartered in the Tenderloin on Market Street. Mayor Ed Lee had some eumelanin in the basale stratum of his epidermis. He had given Twitter a $22,000,000 tax break to move into the Tenderloin.

How to Fix the Future: Staying Human in the Digital Age
by Andrew Keen
Published 1 Mar 2018

In the summer of 1877, after New Yorkers came out in support of a national railway workers’ strike, the authorities—fearing a proletarian revolution—called out the National Guard, who descended on the protesters with guns and clubs. In 1886, streetcar conductors, having walked out in support of a twelve-hour workday and a dinner break, responded to police beatings by setting their streetcars on fire. Most notoriously, in 1909, in the largest work stoppage in US history, ladies’ garment workers from New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist Company walked out for shorter hours, better pay, and safety. In response, private detectives organized scab labor, and owners hired prostitutes to start fights with striking workers. On Seventh Street, workers packed into Cooper Union college roared in support as Clara Lemlich—a slight, dark-eyed girl who had endured six broken ribs from a beating—urged on the demonstrators.

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On Seventh Street, workers packed into Cooper Union college roared in support as Clara Lemlich—a slight, dark-eyed girl who had endured six broken ribs from a beating—urged on the demonstrators. “This is not a strike,” Lemlich cried; “this is an uprising!” Taylor Swift is no Clara Lemlich, of course—either in her personal bravery or in her economic need. But in principle Swift’s withdrawal of her work from Spotify and Lemlich’s withdrawal of her labor from the Triangle Shirtwaist Company aren’t fundamentally different. In both situations, workers have arrived at the last resort, withdrawing their labor from the market in order to reform the system. In both cases they are using one of our five tools to fix not only their future, but the future of generations of workers and artists too.

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See also competitive innovation; education; regulation; social responsibility; worker and consumer choice combinatorial strategy for, 42–51 human-centric design, 34–40 open technology platforms, 32–33 overview, 29–32 public sphere, 33–34 regulation, 33 social responsibility for, 40–41 “stack” metaphor for, 32–33, 38, 41 Toyota, 271 Triangle Shirtwaist Company, 229–230 Trump, Donald Bannon and Breitbart News, 94 economic advisory council, 255 on mainstream media as “fake news,” 66 on tariffs, 187 Thiel and, 139 2016 election and millennial electorate, 293 2016 election and Russia’s involvement, 95–97 trust China’s technology initiatives and, 123–124 Edelman Trust Barometer (2017), 15, 65–66, 80, 103, 117 Estonia and government accountability, 78–84 Estonia and government-as-a-service concept, 74, 79, 92–93 Estonia’s technology initiatives and, 87–91 Ilves on “digital identity and trust,” 87–91 public technology as “trustworthy layer,” 148 regulation and, 145–148 Singapore’s technology initiatives and, 116–119 social responsibility and, 198–199, 222–225 trust-busting by Roosevelt as, 127 (See also regulation) Twitter, 33–34, 58 “Two Nations” concept, 36–37, 40, 45, 51 Uber regulation and, 145 social responsibility issues of, 201–202, 220–221, 222 UberEATS, 255 worker and consumer choice issues, 245–257 Union Square Ventures, 166, 168–172, 175, 176, 180, 183, 190, 267 United Kingdom.

The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again
by Robert D. Putnam
Published 12 Oct 2020

The ladies all rushed outside to find the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, just across the plaza, ablaze. Perkins ran to the factory, in the vain hope of offering some kind of help. Hundreds of workers were trapped inside with no way to escape, and a gruesome scene unfolded, as scores of helpless women and girls jumped to their deaths. Just two years earlier, those same women had engineered a strike to call for more humane working conditions, and a remedy to the very safety concerns that caused the fire. They had been met with violent resistance. The Triangle Shirtwaist fire was a turning point in Frances Perkins’s moral formation, which awakened her to the urgency of fighting for reform.

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Overall, however, only about 20 percent of women participated in the formal labor force as the century opened.7 The majority of these working women were single, poorly educated, and from low-income households, and thus seeking wage labor out of necessity.8 Their experience diverged markedly from their more privileged counterparts, and they often faced extremely adverse working conditions, as exemplified by the devastating fire at the New York City Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in 1911, which took the lives of 146 people, most of them immigrant women and girls. The fight for better pay and conditions for working-class women was thus an important early component of women’s activism. But tragedies such as the Triangle fire also galvanized a new generation of middle-class female reformers, who began to argue that as more and more women entered the industrial economy, issues of labor, poverty, and class should play a crucial role in women’s emancipation.

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Brooks, 131 Holocaust, 230 homosexuality/gay rights, 138, 141, 180, 192, 376n53 Hoover, Herbert, 66, 75, 76, 173–75 Research Committee on Social Trends, 436n7 taxation and, 58 unions and, 50 War Policies Commission, 175 Hopkins, Harry, 175 housing: access to homeownership, 77, 202, 213–14, 233, 239, 241 home size trends, 23–24 residential segregation, 219–20, 417–18nn68–70 Houston, Whitney, 306 Hout, Michael, 141 How Democracies Die (Levitsky and Ziblatt), 106 How the Other Half Lives (Riis), 167 Hull House, 319, 320, 331–32 identity, 190–91, 243 immigrants and immigration: American Dream and, 3 civic associations and, 110, 115 in the first Gilded Age (late 1800s), 3–4, 5, 7, 32–33 Great Migration and, 419n77 immigration reform and, 82, 222, 297–98, 300 income equality and, 45 I-we-I curve and, 296–98 religion and, 128–29, 132–33 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (1911), 247, 320 Immigration Act (1924), 222, 297 Immigration and Nationality Act (1965), 297–98, 300 Implicit Association Test (IAT), 380–81n86 income equality/inequality: age distribution of income, 59–61 executive compensation, 66–67 gender and, 256–60, 263, 264–65, 431n49, 431–32n56 government transfer payments and, 34, 35, 59–61 Great Migration and, 222–23 immigration and, 45 I-we-I curves, 33–36, 39, 52–53, 59, 63–64, 358–59n29, 363n61 minimum wage and, 54, 62–64, 80, 286, 321, 369nn115–16 race and, 202, 211–12, 241, 259 taxation and, 35, 54–59 wealth distribution and, 37–38, 46–47, 53 see also Great Convergence (1913–70); Great Divergence (mid-1970s–); unions Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 112, 116, 117 Index of Dissimilarity, 260–61 individualism, see cultural individualism vs. community needs Individualism Reconsidered (Riesman), 182 Industrial Revolution, 22, 166 infant mortality, 25–28, 42, 205, 240 infrastructure, in the first Gilded Age (late 1800s), 6 Inglehart, Ronald, 295, 304–5, 439n27 Institute for American Democracy, 231 Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 259 international trade: income equality/inequality and, 45, 364n65 I-we-I curves and, 296–98 International Women’s Strike for Equality (1970), 279 internet, 277, 292, 332–33, 336 Ngram analysis of books, 169–70, 172–73, 175–76, 190–95, 197–98, 311, 402–3nn18–23, 439n27 social media, see social media intersectionality, 245, 427n1, 427–28n10 Interstate Commerce Commission, 74 Interstate Highway system, 80 inverted U-curve, see I-we-I curve(s) isolation, see social solidarity vs. isolation Isserman, Maurice, 136, 300 It’s a Wonderful Life (film), 174 I-we-I curve(s), 12–18 causal analysis and, 286–88, 290–98 civic associations and, 112–13, 118–19, 123, 124–26 cultural individualism vs. community needs, 12–14, 169–76, 179–85, 191–99, 284–86, 339–41 cultural trends and, 10, 11 economic equality/inequality and, 33–38, 41–44, 47–48, 50, 51, 55–64, 67–68, 284–87, 294–96 economic trends and, 9–10 financial regulation and, 62, 63 gender equality/inequality and, 13–16, 281–82 globalization trend and, 296–98 health trends and, 43–44 income equality and, 33–36, 39, 52–53, 59, 63–64, 358–59n29, 363n61 intergenerational economic mobility and, 41, 42 international trade and, 296–98 marriage and, 147–50 nature and derivation of, 12–14, 352–53n4 1960s, as hinge point of twentieth century, 17, 285–86, 298–314 parenthood and, 155–56 pendulum metaphor and, 64, 165, 183–84, 192, 198, 289–90, 437n9 politics/political parties and, 10, 11, 69–71, 86–91, 97, 100–101, 103–8, 284–87 pronoun usage and, 196–98 racial equality/inequality and, 242–44, 281 religion and, 133–35, 139–42 social spending on elderly and poor, 60–61 social trends and, 10–11 social trust and, 159–62 Stimson composite summary curves, 9–11, 352–53n4 Stock-Watson composite summary curves, 352–53n4 taxation and, 55–59 union membership and, 50, 51, 144–45 wealth distribution and, 36–37, 39, 53 in wide-angle approach to history, 283–90 Iyengar, Shanto, 97 Jack-and-Jill, 118 Jackman, Mary, 241–42 Jackson, Jesse, 85 Jackson, Jimmie Lee, 237 Jahoda, Marie, 180–81 Jefferson, Thomas, 81 Jews/Judaism, 134 civic associations, 115, 118, 119, 121, 323 Nazi Germany/Holocaust, 178, 186, 230 Jim Crow segregation, 323–25 Brown v.

No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need
by Naomi Klein
Published 12 Jun 2017

Germany: 30 percent of energy comes from renewables US Energy Information Administration, “Germany’s Renewables Electricity Generation Grows in 2015, but Coal Still Dominant,” Today in Energy, May 24, 2016, https://www.eia.gov/​todayinenergy/​detail.php?id=26372. Howard Zinn: “The really critical thing isn’t…” Howard Zinn, Terrorism and War (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2002), 110. Remembering When We Leapt 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City: death toll “The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire,” Occupational Safety and Health Administration website, accessed April 18, 2017, https://www.osha.gov/​oas/​trianglefactoryfire-account.html. When Utopia Lends a Hand Gilded Age strikers: “cooperative commonwealth” Alex Gourevitch, From Slavery to the Cooperative Commonwealth: Labor and Republican Liberty in the Nineteenth Century (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015), http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/​files/​history-culture-society-workshop/​files/​introduction_and_chapter_4.pdf.

…

In the United States, after the carnage of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, Blacks and their radical allies pushed for economic justice and greater social rights. They won major victories, including free public education for all children—although it would take another century before schools were desegregated. The horrific 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City, which took the lives of 146 young immigrant garment workers, catalyzed hundreds of thousands of workers into militancy—eventually leading to an overhaul of the state labor code, caps on overtime, new rules for child labor, and breakthroughs in health and fire safety regulations.

Essential: How the Pandemic Transformed the Long Fight for Worker Justice
by Jamie K. McCallum
Published 15 Nov 2022

A cursory review of OSHA reports offers a grim portrait of the industry: “Employee’s arm amputated in Meat Auger.” “Employee killed when arm caught in meat grinder.” “Employee decapitated by chain of hide puller machine.” “Employee killed when head crushed by conveyor.” “Caught and killed by gut-cooker machine.”18 The modern slaughterhouse is the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory of the heartland. At the JBS plant where Tin worked—which slaughters 5,400 head of cattle daily—gory industrial accidents and deaths are high above the national average, and contagious diseases spread like gossip because workers are crammed body to body in freezing and unhygienic conditions.

…

Yet, unions and their allies have always been at the forefront of workplace safety fights. Those fights began long ago, and were often led by pioneering women policymakers, organizers, and scientists. On March 25, 1911, Frances Perkins, then thirty-one, was having tea at a friend’s house when she heard commotion from the street outside. A blaze had engulfed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory down the street, and Ms. Perkins gathered up her skirts and ran toward the smoke. When she arrived, workers, mostly young women, were gathered in the windowsills ten stories up as flames lapped at their backs. “They began to jump,” Perkins said later. “The window was too crowded and they would jump and they hit the sidewalk.… Every one of them was killed, everybody who jumped was killed.

…

In the end, their respective careers brought them both closer to workers and men in power, and their theories of social change were more aligned than is often thought. Policy is only useful to workers when they have the power to defend it. Such was Perkins and Schneiderman’s effect that their living enemies recognize their potency even today, decades after their deaths. In March 2011, almost one hundred years to the day after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, Maine’s anti-union Republican governor Paul LePage removed a thirty-six-foot-wide mural from Augusta’s Department of Labor’s building and remanded it to a secret location. Among the mural’s eleven panels are scenes from Maine’s labor history, one of which contains a portrait of Perkins, who was born in Maine, and Schneiderman.

The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power
by Joel Bakan
Published 1 Jan 2003

Patricia Anderson's family's burns-externalities; Wendy D's exploitation and misery-externalities . These and a thousand other points of corporate darkness, from Bhopal and the Exxon Valdez to epidemic levels of worker injury and death and chronic destruction of the environment, are the price we all pay for the corporation's flawed character." The 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory disaster stands as a notorious example of a company's callous disregard for its employees. The owners of the factory in lower Manhattan's garment district had kept their employees, mostly young immigrant women, locked in to prevent them from leaving their workstations and thus slowing production .

…

Just two years earlier, sixty thousand New York City garment workers, led by the recently formed International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, had taken to the streets to protest sweatshop conditions, low wages, and unsafe workplaces in what came to be known as "The Great Revolt." In the wake of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory blaze, half a million people protested in the streets of New York. The union continued to press for legal protections of workers, though it was not until 1938 that sweatshops, child labor, and industrial homework were finally banned by President Franklin Roosevelt's administration 's Fair Labor Standards Act.

The Road to Character
by David Brooks
Published 13 Apr 2015

Perkins spoke in the upper-crust tones befitting her upbringing—like Margaret Dumont in the old Marx Brothers movies or Mrs. Thurston Howell III—with long flat a’s, dropped r’s, and rounded vowels, “tomaahhhto” for “tomato.” A butler rushed in and announced that there was a fire near the square. The ladies ran out. Perkins lifted up her skirts and sprinted toward it. They had stumbled upon the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, one of the most famous fires in American history. Perkins could see the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors of the building ablaze and dozens of workers crowding around the open windows. She joined the throng of horrified onlookers on the sidewalk below. Some saw what they thought were bundles of fabric falling from the windows.

…

He shoved them aside and barreled his way onto the elevator and to safety. The fire department arrived quickly but its ladders could not reach the eighth floor. The water from its hoses could barely reach that high, just enough to give the building exterior a light dousing. Shame The horror of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire traumatized the city. People were not only furious at the factory owners, but felt some deep responsibility themselves. In 1909 a young Russian immigrant named Rose Schneiderman had led the women who worked at Triangle and other factories on a strike to address the very issues that led to the fire disaster.

…

And one sees this in people with a vocation—a certain rapt expression, a hungry desire to perform a dance or run an organization to its utmost perfection. They feel the joy of having their values in deep harmony with their behavior. They experience a wonderful certainty of action that banishes weariness from even the hardest days. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire wasn’t the only event that defined Frances Perkins’s purpose in life, but it was a major one. This horror had been put in front of her. And like many people, she found a fiercer resolve amid a flood of righteous rage. It wasn’t just that so many people had died—after all, they could not be brought back to life; it was also the “ongoing assault on the common order that the fire came to symbolize.”

The Next Factory of the World: How Chinese Investment Is Reshaping Africa
by Irene Yuan Sun
Published 16 Oct 2017

Rather than curbing industrialization to prevent its excesses, the experience of countries that have already developed show that paradoxically, further industrialization that leads to further excesses is what eventually creates the political and social pressures for regulation and reform. The history of labor protection laws in the United States makes this abundantly clear. Basic safety regulations were enacted only after horrific industrial accidents galvanized the public to press for reform. In 1911, a fire erupted at the Triangle shirtwaist factory, where young female workers had been locked in by an unsympathetic foreman, killing 146 young women in the deadliest workplace accident in New York City’s history. This tragedy was also the city’s deadliest building fire until September 11, 2001. Only in its sad aftermath were thirty-six new state laws regulating workplace safety conditions passed, even though the young women who worked and died in the factory had been agitating for better conditions for a year before the fire.11 Similarly, it took six disastrous mine blasts in 1940 for the US government to finally begin mine inspections.12 The point is not that these accidents were somehow necessary, or that we shouldn’t work toward better working conditions and accident-prevention mechanisms, but that history shows effective regulation to always come after industrialization swings into full motion, not before.

…

See also capital-intensive production labor protection laws, 79–81, 83–84 labor supplies, 92–94, 99 Lawrence, Robert, 44, 57 Leakey, Richard, 175–177 leapfrogging, 22 Lebanon, 120 Lee Group, 42, 46–47, 63 Lesotho, 7, 11, 23–24, 49–66 clothing manufacturing, 49–50, 71–72, 114–115, 184n5 comparative advantages of, 73 exchange rates in, 56 failure rates in, 114–115 foreign investment in, 73 GDP, 62, 184n13 government loans in, 65 industrialization in, 8 infrastructure, 62–63, 67–69 local ownership of factories in, 113–119 textile manufacturing, 57–61 unions in, 102–105 US trade policy and, 66, 184n3 Lesotho National Development Corporation, 72–73 Levi’s, 56 Lin, Alan, 71–72, 136 Lin, Justin Yifu, 25–26, 93 living standards, 6, 29, 89–91, 94–95 Lomé Convention, 54, 63–64 macroeconomics, 32–33, 35–41, 44–45 management experience in, 65 local elites in, 115–116 local ownership and, 113–119 manufacturing African ownership of, 109–127 attractions of Africa for, 44–47 benefits of jobs in, 94–96 Chinese investment in African, 42–44 complaints about workers in, 91, 96–100 difficulty of learning to work in, 91, 100–101 dishonesty in, 74–81 diversity and resiliency in, 51–54 education and jobs in, 95 employment share from, 43–44 failure rates in new, 114 flying geese theory of, 9, 23–30, 93, 112–113 global competition in, 70 global output, 179n1 growth of Chinese, 29–30 human chain in the spread of, 17–30 individuals’ influence in, 32–33, 45–47 input management in, 113 learning by doing, 17–19, 23–26, 89–91 life, death, and rebirth of, 31–47 negative effects of, 7–8 Nigeria, 31–47 obsolete technology in, 37 owners in, 64–65, 109–127 product/location drivers of, 61–66 rebirth of African, 41–42 risks in, 67–85 societal transformations from, 91, 97–98, 101–107 uneven growth in, 51 wealth creation from, 7 markets, 7 in-country vs. exports, 52–57, 62–63 McKinsey & Company, 42, 92 migrants and migration, 123–127 Millennium Development Goals, 22, 153 Millennium Villages, 136 mindset, 136 Modern Times, 100–101 Mohapi, Chris, 114–115, 119 Mothabeng, Thabiso, 116–117 Mountain Textile Screening Company, 116–117 M-Pesa, 142–146, 190n14 Multi Fibre Arrangement (MFA), 63–64 Nairobi National Park, 175–177 Namibia, 3–4, 151–153 National Youth Service, Kenya, 133 Ndemo, Bitange, 144–145 Ndung’u, Njuguna, 145, 146 New Development Bank, 12, 174 Nien Hsing Textile Company Limited, 58–61, 184n7 Nigeria, 10, 31–47 cardboard box factory, 89–91 ceramics factory, 17–19, 21, 22–23, 74–75 corruption in, 39, 40–41, 63, 75–78 customs corruption in, 136–140 demographics of, 93–94 foreign investment in, 33–34, 73 Four Great Families in, 34–35 GDP, 36, 62 global competition and, 37–39, 40–41 good enough governance in, 136–140 industrialization in, 8 Lee Group in, 42, 46–47 market growth in, 7 oil in, 34 pharmaceutical industry, 157 protectionism in, 53 smuggling in, 40–41 special economic zones, 137–140, 141–142, 169 steel production in, 61–66, 75 Structural Adjustment Program in, 21, 37 textile manufacturing, 33–41, 61–66 unemployment rate, 94 Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, 73 non-traded sectors, 94–95 Obama, Barack, 43, 154 Ogun Guangdong Free Trade Zone, 137–140, 141–142, 169 oil production, Nigeria, 34, 35–37, 39 Omidyar Network, 82 optimism in Africa, 6 Chinese commitment and, 167–169 good enough governance and, 131–132, 136, 142, 149–150 Hiding Hand and, 165–166 about local ownership, 118–119 Oqubay, Arkebe, 166 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 29 ownership, local, 109–127 African-Chinese collaboration for, 120–123 in Lesotho clothing factories, 113–119 natural progression toward, 119–120 optimism about, 118–119 relationships in, 123, 126–127 trust and, 123–124, 126 partnerships, 115–117 patent laws, 162 pharmaceutical industry development of in China and India, 161–163 Ethiopia, 121–123, 156–157, 163–169 international aid and, 154–158 pivoting, 146–148 plastic wrap, 28–29 poverty Africa, 6 China, 2–3, 180n10 President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), 154, 159 productivity, 20, 71–72, 94, 96–101, 115 profit margins, 23, 56 property rights, 135 protectionism, 174 export-oriented manufacturing and, 63–64 Nigeria, 37–39, 40–41, 53 US, 72 Protestant work ethic, 135 Qi Lin, 132–134 racism, 92, 97–101 Reagan, Ronald, 20 realism, 136 Reebok, 50, 56 regulation, 70, 74–75 development of with industrialization, 83–84 innovation and, 143–148 working conditions and, 79–81 See also government relationships, 123, 126–127 rentier states, 38–39 research and development, 158 resiliency, 51–54 resource curse, 35–36, 38–39 risk, 65–66, 67–85 Chinese willing to accept, 70–71 good enough governance and, 131–132, 140–142 in labor- vs. capital-intensive production, 54 local ownership and managing, 113 partnerships and, 115–117 robotics, 9, 172–173 Rodrik, Dani, 20, 21 Royal Dutch Shell, 35–36, 137 rule of law, 135 Rushdie, Salman, 123–124, 126 Sabel, Charles, 134 Sachs, Jeffrey, 136 Safaricom, 144, 145 safety issues, 79–81 Saich, Tony, 147 Seiso, Mabereng, 115–116 Setipa, Joshua, 67–68 Shen, Mrs., 49–50, 54–57, 64, 172 Siemens, 137 Sigei, Stephen, 109–112, 126 Silk Road, 173–174 Singapore, 29 Sino-Africa Centre of Excellence (SACE) Foundation, 129–132 Sino-Africa Industrial Skill Upgrading Center, 149–150 Sino-Ethiop Associate Africa PLC, 121–123 Skyrun, 93 Smith, Adam, 165 smuggling, 40–41, 136–140 social media, 124–127 societal transformations, 91, 97–98, 101–107 sourcing raw materials, 75 South Africa, 62–63, 73, 103–104, 163 South Korea, 29, 39 special economic zones (SEZs), 137–140, 141–142, 169 standardization, 46–47 state-owned enterprises (SOEs), 43 structural justice/injustice, 159–163 Sun, Mr., 17–19, 21, 22–23, 73–74 supply chains, 55–57, 113 Taiwan, manufacturing in, 19, 26, 29, 184n6 Taiyuan clothing factory, 71–72 Tanzania, 41, 157 Teachers Service Commission (TSC), 131 technology automation and, 9, 55, 58–61, 172–173 downtime from malfunctioning, 114, 115 obsolete, 37 test and learn approach, 145–146 textile manufacturing, 61–66 Asian, 39 automation in, 58–61 clothing manufacturing vs., 52 Nigeria, 33–41 Thatcher, Margaret, 20 Thompson, E. P., 98, 101–102 time, concepts of, 101–103 timeshare models, 133–134 traded sectors, 94–95 Trans-Pacific Partnership, 72 Transparency International, 77, 136–137 transparency programs, 82 Triangle shirtwaist factory, 83 Trump, Donald, 72, 174 trust, 110, 123–124, 126 in local institutions, 140–141 Tung, Lawrence, 31–32, 42, 45, 61 Turkana Boy, 175 “Unable to Remain in Africa, Unable to Go Back to China” (Xiao Nie & Sang Bu), 125–126 undertakers, 85 unemployment rates, 94 union movements, 8, 102–105 women in, 102–107 working conditions and, 79–81 United Nations, 20, 93–94 Conference on Trade and Development, 146 Millennium Development Goals, 22, 153 United Nigeria Textiles, 35 United States entrepreneurial failure rates in, 114 investment in Africa, 43 labor protection laws, 83 peak manufacturing employment in, 93 size of economy in, 179n2 trade policy with Lesotho, 66, 72 USAID, 154 Uzbekistan, 73–74 Vaccine Alliance, The, 154 Vietnam, 60–61 Vodacom, 146 Vodafone, 143–144 Volkswagen, 2 vulnerable jobs, 94 Walmart, 47, 56, 95 Wang Yuan, 129–132 Washington Consensus, 20–22, 29–30, 37, 135, 180n4 Weber, Max, 135 WeChat, 124–127 Wempco, 31–32 Williamson, John, 180n4 women, in union movements, 102–105, 106 worker skills training, 129–134 working environments, 79–81 World Bank, 20–21, 37, 63, 73, 94, 114–115, 159, 174 World Health Organization, 157 World Trade Organization, 162 Wu, Mr., 84–85, 93 Xi Jinping, 173–174 Xue, John, 138–140 Zaf Gebretsadik, 120–123, 127 Zi Ran, 124–127 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am deeply grateful to the people whom I’ve had the privilege of writing about in this book.

Still Broke: Walmart's Remarkable Transformation and the Limits of Socially Conscious Capitalism
by Rick Wartzman
Published 15 Nov 2022

“This is about responsibility and it’s about basic human morality.” Walmart did its best to downplay the bus tour, dismissing it as “a union-funded publicity stunt.” But the unrelenting onslaught from both Wake Up Walmart and Walmart Watch had, without question, succeeded in making the company “nearly as infamous as Enron or the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory,” as Salon magazine characterized it. Lee Scott called the unions’ barrage “one of the most organized, most sophisticated, most expensive corporate campaigns” ever waged. No longer, though, was Walmart going to just sit there and get pounded. The week before the UFCW bus took to the road, the company fortified itself and prepared to hit back hard.

…

“I would have thought if Walmart was this bad… we’d have people falling all over themselves: ‘Let me tell you about this, let me tell you about that,’” he said. “That was not there at all. These were very proud Walmart employees.” The reality was, even back when Walmart was being spoken of in the same breath as Enron and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, there were still many workers who were grateful to the company for the opportunities it gave them. Trying to make sense of it all was a bit like parachuting into a big city and asking, “Is this a good place to live?” Well, what neighborhood are you in? Who are you talking to? With more than a million workers and constant turnover, Walmart was always going to be a corporate Rashomon.

Midnight in Vehicle City: General Motors, Flint, and the Strike That Created the Middle Class
by Edward McClelland
Published 2 Feb 2021

(Later, she, like the sit-down strike’s organizers, will attempt to conceal this affiliation.) On the afternoon of March 25, 1911, Perkins is drinking tea with a wealthy patron on Washington Square, when her hostess’s butler informs the women that the screams and fire bells they’re hearing from the street are responses to a fire at a nearby clothing manufacturer, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Rushing outside, Perkins witnesses dozens of young women jumping from the high windows—the only way to escape the fire, since the doors have been locked to prevent the employees from leaving the factory floor. In the aftermath of the fire, which claims 146 lives, Perkins is appointed executive director of a Committee on Safety, formed by New York State to advocate for labor and workplace safety laws.

…

See arrests/violence Toledo, Ohio: Chevy transmission plant strike, 27–28, 60; Toledo Agreement, 161–62, 165 Trade Union Unity League, 22 Transue, Andrew Jackson, 122–23 Travis, Bob: during evacuation march, 177; and GM’s removing of dies at Fisher One, 48; organizing activities, 27–29, 80, 86–87, 107–8, 150; personality, 141; preparations for striking, 33–34, 139–41; prosecution of, 103; response to National Guard troops, 86 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, 114 unemployment insurance, 12 union organizing. See labor organizing, unions United Auto Workers of America (UAWA/UAW): chartering of, 17; Cleveland Fisher Body strike, 47–48; convention in South Bend, 19; decision to strike against GM, 12, 43, 48, 49, 139; demand for recognition/ exclusive bargaining rights, 58–59, 72, 104, 119, 151–52, 162–63; and the development of a true middle class, 185–86; election of Martin to head, 19; formation and membership, 12; impacts of the Flint strike, 179, 181–85; Local 156, 19, 22, 25, 27, 42, Local 581, 187, 44; membership increase following successful Fisher One sit-in, 39; negotiations/agreement with GM, 45, 99, 110, 150, 171–72, 179; recruitment of members, 40–41; sympathy strikes, 81.

Your Computer Is on Fire
by Thomas S. Mullaney , Benjamin Peters , Mar Hicks and Kavita Philip
Published 9 Mar 2021

Employee pushback got the board disbanded, but the company now has no AI ethics board, nor is it required to have one.15 Labor unrest and consumer complaints can only pressure corporations into better behavior when governments enforce laws and regulations meant to protect our lives instead of the companies’ bottom lines. In 1911, workers throwing themselves out of the upstairs windows of a burning factory in New York City sparked a worldwide labor movement. These workers, mostly young immigrant women, jumped from the top floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory because the building was on fire and they had been locked in by their employers. In this case, the horror of seeing more than one hundred crumpled, charred bodies laid out on the city streets was able to shock the world, and particularly the wealthiest and most powerful in New York society, into believing how bad things had gotten, winning them over to the workers’ side.

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See also Gender inequality anti-, 144 Ferraiolo, Angela, 235 Fibonacci sequence, 275–277 Fido, Bulletin Board System, 322–324 FidoNet, 322–326, 327, 333 demise, 326 nodes, 322–324 zonemail, 322 Fire crisis, 6, 22–24, 159 crowded theatre, 363, 373 flames, 267, 368 gaming, 233, 242, 245 infrastructures, 313–333 passim, 322 optimism, 309 physical, 5, 44, 321 pyrocene, 364 spread, 6–7 and technologies, relationship to, 13, 111, 313 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, 22 typography, 213, 227 your computer is on, 4, 232 First Round, 265 Fiber optic link around the globe (FLAG), 101 FLAG, 101 Flanagan, Mary, 235 Flickering signifier, 284 Flores, Fernando, 79 Flowers, Tommy, 143 Forecasting, 6, 57, 110 FOSS (Free and open-source software), 191 414 gang, 287–288 Fowler, Susan, 254 France (French), 39, 117, 145, 216, 219, 221, 320 French (language), 341, 344, 380 Free and open-source software, 191 Free speech, 59, 61–62, 373–374 Friedman, Thomas, 308 Friendster, 17, 313 Future Ace, 299 Games big game companies, 245–246 computer, 232–233 limits of, 232–233, 243, 244–245 rhetoric vs. reality, 232 skinning, 233–236 video, 241, 246 Garbage In, Garbage Out (GIGO), 58 Gates, Bill, 18, 29 Gem Future Academy, 299 Gender inequality, 4–6, 8, 21, 136, 184, 187, 381 artificial intelligence, 121, 127–128 British civil service, 140, 144–145, 148, 150–152 hiring gaps, 253–257, 259–260, 267, 367 and IBM, 159–175 passim internet’s structural, 97, 99, 102, 109–110 and robotics, 199–204 stereotyping, 106 technical design, 370 of work, 302–303, 307–309, 367, 375 Gender Resource Center, 298 Gendered Innovations initiative, 200 Germany, 221, 290, 341 IBM and West, 160–161, 166–175 Nazi, 15, 63, 143 Gerritsen, Tim, 238 Ghana, 45, 149f, 330 Gilded Age, 13, 32 Glass ceiling, 136, 143 Global North, 191, 324–325 Global South, 91–92, 94, 309, 325, 333, 367 Global System for Mobile (GSM) Communications network, 327–328 Global Voices, 331 Glushkov, Viktor M., 77–78, 83 Google, 5, 7, 84, 87, 160, 201, 254, 263, 318, 321, 329, 333 advertising, 136–137 Alphabet, 31, 54 AlphaGo, 7 business concerns, 17 Docs, 224 Drive, 224 employees, 23, 207, 262 ethics board, 22 hiring, 257 Home, 179, 180, 184, 189, 190t image recognition, 4, 120 original motto, (“don’t be evil”), 17, 22 Photos, 265 search, 66, 203, 328 voice recognition, 188 Graham, Paul, 256 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, 245 GRC (Gender Resource Center), 298 Great book tourism, 366–367, 374 GreenNet (UK), 324–325 Grubhub, 210 Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, 327–328 GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) network, 327–328 G-Tech Foundation, 298, 301 Guest, Arthur, 217 Hacking, 15, 81, 87, 256, 266, 287, 291 hacker, 263–264, 266, 287, 291 tourist, 100–102 Haddad, Selim, 216–218, 220 Hangul, 7, 341–344, 351 Hanscom Air Force Base Electronic Systems Division, 274 Harvard University, 14, 257, 349 Hashing, 57, 66, 124–126, 129 #DREAMerHack, 266 #YesWeCode, 253, 264–266 Hayes, Patrick, 52 Haymarket riots, 168 Health insurance, 53 Hebrew, 217, 222, 224–225, 341, 343–344, 354 Henderson, Amy, 265 Heretic, 237 Heterarchy, 86t, 87 Heteronormative, 139, 154 Hewlett-Packard, 318 High tech, 12–13, 21, 35, 37, 46, 147–148 sexism in, 136–138, 152–153 High-level languages (HLL), 275, 277–278, 284, 290 Hindi, 190, 215, 342, 355f Hiring.

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See also Accent, bias; Voice technologies Stalin, Joseph, 78 Standard Oil, 31 Stanford University, 200, 209, 257 Star Wars: The Old Republic, 243–244 STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), 4, 7–8, 257 Stephenson, Neal, 102–104, 106–107, 110 Stevens, Ted, 97–98, 101 Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, 118 Streaming, 5, 118 Strife, 237 Subaltern, 304, 306 Surveillance, 74–75 carceral state, 208 corporate, 4, 19 data, 206 global, 86–87, 119 mass network, 85 network, 72, 85 National Security Agency, 99, 103 state, 78, 86–88, 86t, 130 technology, 126–127, 129, 308 Swift, 275 Switchboard, 191 Syria, 216, 219 Tajikistan, 227 Tanzania, 188, 189t, 330 Tata, 103 TCP/IP (Transmission control protocol/internet protocol), 317, 323 IP (internet protocol) blocking, 57 Technocrat, 21, 79, 142, 151 Technologists, 4, 85, 345, 365, 368, 373 diverse users, 154 history, 369, 371 and language, 338–339 women, 144 Technology bias, 214, 218, 232 Cold War, 17–18, 94, 137 Digital, 40, 64, 123–124, 200, 382 and dying well, 378 emergent, 199 and empire, 19, 187 environment and, 44–46, 76, 321, 339 Euro-American, 100, 221 fire and, 13, 111, 313 gender inequality in design, 370 inequality and, 152–154, 227, 309 information, 15, 30, 32, 40, 110, 291, 298, 308 large technical systems, 316–317 and modernity, 98 and oppression, 179, 200, 202, 204, 372–373 progress, 19–20, 65, 98 and racism (see Racism) small, 219–220 speech (see Voice technologies) surveillance, 126–127, 129, 308 technocolonialism, 103–104 technocrats, 21, 79, 142, 151 technologists (see Technologists) technoneutrality, 4 technophobia, 3, 363, 365 techno-utopia, 4, 365 training, 253–254, 265 Technoneutrality, 4 Technophobia, 3, 363, 365 Techno-utopia, 4, 365 Telecommunication companies, 13, 35, 87, 93, 155 cable-laying, 101, 103–104 India, 330 network, 315, 325 Telecom Regulatory Authority, 330–331 Telepresence, 5 Terms of usage, 4 Tesla, 45 Tetris, 234–236 Thailand (Thai), 102, 342, 354 Thompson, Ken, 273–275, 277, 286–289, 291–292 “Reflections on Trusting Trust,” 273–274, 278 Thompson hack bootstrapping, 281–284 in real life, 289–291 replication, 278–281 Trojan horse, 284–286 Tiltfactor Lab, 235 T9, 7 Toyota, 175 Train, 234 Transgender people, 136, 141 Transportation, 30–31, 37, 319 Travel narratives, 101 Treadmill of reforms, 78 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, 22 Trinidad, 184–185, 193, 367 Trojan Horse, 273, 284–292 Trucking, 30, 46, 313 Trump, Donald J., 20, 23, 54, 207 Trust, problem of, 36, 38 Tumblr, 224 Turing, Alan, 18 Turing Award, 273 Turkopticon, 370 Turkey, 62–63, 214, 216, 218–219 Twitter, 12, 17, 54, 322, 379 and diversity, 254, 260–261 and Donald Trump, 20, 54 and language, 214, 227 as news media, 23 and policing, 120 2K Games, 237 Typeface, 216–218, 225 Typewriter (typing), 41, 337 Arabic, 213–221 Arabic language and software, 221, 223, 227–228 Chinese, 346, 350 electric, 220–221 mechanical typesetting, 339–340, 357 Mingkwai, 346–349, 347f, 353 orthographies, 341–344, 346, 350, 353–354, 356 QWERTY, 342–343, 349–350, 354 Siamese, 343 typing as obstacle, 356 typographic imperialism, 226 Underwood Typewriter Company, 218 Uber, 23–24, 31, 35, 254, 261, 267 and systems, 313, 319, 332 Uber Eats, 210 UGC (user-generated content), 54–56, 61–62, 66 Uighur, 227 Underrepresented, 253–255, 258–260, 264–267 UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), 304, 309 Unions, 23–24, 159–160, 368, 373 IBM in Germany, 170–172 IBM in the United States, 161, 166–167, 173–175 India, 301, 308 United Arab Emirates, 226 United Kingdom, 83 accent bias, 180–183, 182t, 185–186, 188, 190t Anglocentrism, 344 civil service, 138–139, 141, 144, 150 classism, 138–139 early computing leader, 138 empire, 381 industrial technology, 221, 327 Ministry of Technology, 150 NGO (nongovernmental organization) networks, 324 Shirley, Stephanie “Steve,” 143–147, 146f Submarine cable networks, 93 United Kingdom (cont.)

The Rough Guide to New York City
by Martin Dunford
Published 2 Jan 2009

NYU and south of the square The south and east sides of the square are lined with bulky New York University buildings, although even nonstudents will be interested in the university’s innovative Grey Art Gallery, 100 Washington Square E (Tues, Thurs & Fri 105 The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire THE WE S T V I L L AGE One of New York’s most infamous tragedies occurred on March 25, 1911, at the corner of Washington Place and Greene Street, when a fire started on the eighth floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist garment factory, one of the city’s most notorious sweatshops. A terrible combination of flammable fabrics, locked doors, collapsing fire escapes, and the inability of fire-truck ladders to reach higher than the sixth floor, resulted in the deaths of 146 workers – almost entirely women, primarily immigrants, and some only 13 years old – in less than fifteen minutes.

…

Nearly half its residents were foreign-born, with Ellis Island, the depot that processed arrivals, handling two thousand people a day. Many immigrants worked in sweatshops for the city’s growing, notoriously exploitative garment industry. Although workers began to strike for better pay and conditions, it took the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (see p.106) to rouse public and civic conscience; within months the state passed 56 factory-reform measures, and unionization spread through the city. On the upside of New York’s capitalist expansion, the early 1900s saw some of the city’s wealth going into adventurous new architecture.

…

(Experimental Theater Club) ................ 362 New York Theater Workshop ...................................... 362 Ontological-Hysteric Theater ...................................... 362 Performing Garage........... 362 P.S.122 ............................. 362 St Ann’s Warehouse......... 362 Theater for the New City... 363 Tribeca Performing Arts Center ........................... 363 Tiffany & Co............75, 130 time................................. 39 Time & Life Building ..... 150 Time Warner Center .... 189, 390 & New York Architecture color section Times Square .......33, 143, 147–149, 422, 441, 452 Times Tower ................. 148 Tin Pan Alley................. 116 TKTS.....................148, 360 Tompkins Square Park ...............................93, 98 tour companies ........22, 23 tourist offices.........33, 245, 256 tours......................... 33–35 Tower of Freedom .......... 55 & New York Architecture color section trains...................19, 23, 24 transit information .......... 23 travel agents.............22, 23 travel insurance .............. 36 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire ...........................106, 436 Tribeca...................... 71–74 Tribeca ........................... 72 W Waldorf-Astoria Hotel ...................124, 134, 281 Walker, Jimmy ......108, 436 477 I ND E X | 478 walking ...................30, 154 walking tours .................. 34 Wall Street ....... 50–54, 436 Warhol, Andy .........93, 115, 119, 142, 170, 181 Washington, George...... 52, 56, 60, 104, 117, 213, 215, 263, 434 Washington Heights ........... 202, 214, & Ethnic New York color section Washington Heights .... 212 Washington Market Park ..................................... 73 Washington Mews........ 107 Washington Square ..... 101, 104–106 Waterfront Museum and Showboat Barge........ 230 Water Street ................... 60 Water Taxi Beach ......... 247 Wave Hill...............256, 263 Weather Underground, the ................................... 107 Weeksville & Ethnic New York color section ................................... 236 West Broadway .............. 77 West Indian-American Day Parade ............237, 420 & Ethnic New York color section West Village......... 101–110 West Village ......... 102–103 bars .................................. 345 cafés..........................295–297 restaurants ................317–320 Wharton, Edith......436, 445 White Horse Tavern ...... 114 Whitman, Walt ............ 222, 223, 435 Whitney Museum of American Art.............. 180 Wildlife Refuge, Jamaica Bay ............................ 255 Williamsburg .............. 219, 241–243 & Ethnic New York color section Williamsburg Bridge ...... 91, 243, 452 Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower ......................... 225 Winter Garden ................ 59 Wollman Memorial Rink ................................... 155 women travelers ............ 40 Woodlawn Cemetery .... 263 Woodside...........245, 251 & Ethnic New York color section Woolworth Building ....... 64, 65, 66, 436 & New York Architecture color section work visas ...................... 37 working.......................... 37 World Financial Center…55, 59 World Trade Center ....... 50, 54, 55, 56, 71, 438, 439 & New York Architecture color section Y Yankee Stadium......... 256, 258, 404, 410 YMCAs ......................... 287 yoga.............................. 415 Yonah Schimmel’s ......... 90, 293 Yorkville ........................ 184 Z Zabar’s Café .........197, 301 Zenger, John Peter......... 53 Map symbols maps are listed in the full index using colored text 0ROVINCIALªBOUNDARY (OSPITAL  )NTERSTATE 0OSTªOFlCE  53ªHIGHWAY )NTERNETªACCESS  3TATEªHIGHWAY ,IGHTHOUSE 4UNNEL -ONUMENT &ERRYªROUTE 3YNAGOGUE 2AILWAYª "UDDHISTªTEMPLE 0EAK #EMETERY )NTERNATIONALªAIRPORT #HURCHªTOWNªMAPS 'ATE 3TADIUM 3UBWAYªSTATION "UILDING 0OINTªOFªINTEREST #EMETERY 4OURISTªOFlCE 0ARKFOREST 'ARDENS "EACH | ,IGHTHOUSE MAP SYMBOLS #HAPTERªBOUNDARY 479 We're covered.

Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture
by Ellen Ruppel Shell
Published 2 Jul 2009

Kristof reminds us that just a century ago the United States suffered similar growing pains on its march toward industrialization and prosperity. Such arguments, while compelling, tend to oversimplify historic events. Workers’ rights in this country were forged in a crucible that was highly visible to consumers. The Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911, the worst workplace disaster in the history of New York City for ninety years, ignited the American labor movement for the very reason that the victims of this tragedy were within sight of other Americans, most of them workers themselves. It is this identification that led to the strikes, riots, and union efforts that forced reform.

…

Sold American (McGovern) Southdale Spartan stagflation staleness factor standard of living post-World War II era during World War II, Starbucks steam engine Stichting Ingka Foundation strikes subsidies, farm subsistence farming suburbs decentralized shopping Korvette’s move into Subway Sudan Summers, Lawrence supermarkets Suri, Rajneesh ”A Survey of Outlet Mall Retailing: Past, Present and Future” (Coughlan and Soberman) Sysco Corporation tainted goods, from China Target taste, cheap food and Taylor, Frederick Winslow television Testament of a Furniture Dealer, The (Kamprad) textile industry Thailand Thaler, Richard Thomas, Dana thrift Tiffany Time Timmer, Peter Tommy Bahama ”Toward a Positive Theory of Consumer Choice” (Thaler) toy imports traditional marketplace Treasure Island Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911 Truman, Harry Trump, Donald Tversky, Amos Two Guys Ultimatum Game unemployment in 2008, Feds targeting of employment to fight inflation in Great Depression Uniform Product Code [UPC] unions. See labor unions United Auto Workers United Steelworkers Union United Textile Workers U.S.

Do You Mind if I Cancel?: (Things That Still Annoy Me)
by Gary Janetti
Published 21 Oct 2019

During this time, I’m working the overnight shift four days a week. I’m off the other three. More time to not write. I live in a sixth-floor walk-up on Christopher Street in a rent-controlled apartment. The kind of tenement building that you usually see in movies about Italian immigrants or the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Walking my bicycle up and down the six flights of stairs to ride to and from the hotel. In my early twenties I work as a bicycle teen-tour leader for American Youth Hostels, an organization that has long since gone out of business, probably because they had people as unqualified as myself leading their tours.

Alistair Cooke's America
by Alistair Cooke
Published 1 Oct 2008

There must be no more ‘hyphenated Americans.’ Roosevelt’s aim was a double one: to liberate the immigrant from his daily grind in a polyglot compound, and to set him free from the hampering liabilities of his native tongue. The first aim did not begin to be achieved until 1911, when there was an appalling fire in New York’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. It took a hundred and forty lives, roused the needle workers to go on strike, and wakened the public conscience. And at the end of it, the airless sweatshop, with its two exits leading to one rickety staircase, was abolished by New York State law. So was the peddling out of piecework to the immigrant’s home.

…

John 51, 52–3 Smith, Sir Thomas 49 Smithsonian Institution 288 Spanish explorations 20–37. see also New Spain Spice Islands 21 Staël, Mme de 205 Stamp Act 78, 92 Standard Oil Company of Ohio 195 Stanford, Leland 174 steamboats 151, 152 steel industry 196–7 Stevenson, Adlai E. 225 stock market crash (1929) 245–6 stockyards 176 Strategic Air Command 272–6 suburbs 283–5, 286 Supreme Court 113–16, 155, 156, 164, 222, 223, 249, 289, 290 Sutherland, Justice George 115 Sutter, Johann August 135–6 Szilard, Leo 263 Taft, William Howard 224, 225 Talleyrand, Charles 129 Tammany organization 217, 230 taxation of the colonies 77–9, 81–2 Tecumseh (Shawnee chief) 132 telegraph, invention of 190 Teller, Edward 263 Thoroughgood, Adam 55 Tippecanoe, battle of 132 tobacco 52–3, 55, 56 Tocqueville, Alexis de 13, 15, 153 Tojo, Gen. Hideki 259 Torrio, Johnny 245 Toussaint L’Ouverture, Pierre 128 Townsend, Charles 79 Tracy, Marquis de 40–41 transcontinental railroad 171–5 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory 225 Truman, Harry 164, 235, 247, 266, 290 Tudor, Frederic 282–3 Turkey Red wheat 11, 178 Turner, Nat 291 Twain, Mark 1, 4, 7 Tweed, William Marcy “Boss” 217 United Nations 102, 266–8, 271, 293 United States Steel Corp. 197, 223 Ustinov, Peter 71 Valley Forge, Pa. 89, 293 Vanderbilt, Cornelius 200 Vanderbilt, William K. 201 Verrazano, Giovanni 37 Versailles, Treaty of 231, 231–2, 234 Vespucci, Amerigo 19 Victoria (queen) 119, 178, 181, 206 Vietnam War 269–70 Vinci, Leonardo da 22 Voltaire 46 wagon trains 137–43, 145 Walker, Thomas 123 War of 181–2, 132 Warren, Chief Justice Earl 116, 290 Warren Joseph 80 Washington, George 74, 78, 87–90, 91, 99, 102, 103, 105, 107, 108, no, 132, 162, 209, 253, 254, 258, 293 Washington, Martha 88, 89 Wells, H.

The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living Since the Civil War (The Princeton Economic History of the Western World)
by Robert J. Gordon
Published 12 Jan 2016

The iron and steel industry after 1870 gradually eliminated hot and dangerous jobs. Hideous conditions in meat-packing and other food-related industries were substantially improved during the Progressive Era of 1900–1920. Sweatshops producing apparel in appalling conditions attracted the searchlight of public opinion after the catastrophic New York Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911, a precursor of the deadly conditions in Bangladesh apparel factories revealed in recent years. A consistent theme of working life before 1940 was its insecurity, including not only the risk of cyclical unemployment, but also of arbitrary dismissals when a firm fired an employee who was no longer capable of doing brute-force labor, as well as the risk of seasonal or firm-specific plant shutdowns that left the worker before 1940 without any income at all.

…

The female immigrant workers who dominated work in the apparel industry, in addition to receiving low wages and working long hours, suffered from unsafe working conditions. Needles could pierce fingers and sometimes require finger amputations. Workers were typically locked in the rooms. Perhaps the best-known disaster in U.S. manufacturing history was the New York City Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in March 1911, in which 148 employees died, most of them young women, in conditions very similar to those of the Bangladesh clothing factory fires of 2012–13: As flames spread throughout the eighth floor, workers jumped to their deaths. Scores of charred bodies were found piled against closed doors.

…

See movies Motorola 8000 (mobile phone), 431 motor vehicles: registrations of, 161–62, 376–77; See also automobiles movies, 7, 173, 198–205, 322; invention of, 197–98; television’s competition with, 410, 420–21; during World War II, 414–15 MP3 (file format), 435 Mumford, Lewis, 104 Muncie (Indiana): automobile ownership in, 165; diet in, 68; gardens in, 46; heating systems in, 126; home ownership in, 301, 303; housing in, 110–13; migration to, 101; running water in, 124; telephones in, 182; work hours in, 260 municipal water systems, 217 municipal waterworks, 123, 124 Munos, Bernard, 479 Murphy, Kevin, 243 Murray, Charles, 631, 632 Murrow, Edward R., 196, 414 music, 411; digital media for, 435–38; on phonograph records, 186–90, 204, 411; post-World War II, 427–29, 439; on radio, 192, 195, 196, 421 Myspace (social network), 456 Nader, Ralph, 400 nails, 110 narcotic drugs, 222–23 National Broadcasting Company (NBC), 194, 413 National Bureau of Casualty and Surety Underwriters, 309 National Bureau of Standards, 562 National Cancer Act (1971), 470 National Industrial Recovery Act (1933–1935), 542 National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act; 1935), 543 natural gas, 634 NBC Symphony, 196 Nelson, Richard, 573 Netflix, 436–37 net investment, 586–87 networks: for cell phones, 430–31; Internet as, 442–43, 453–57; for medical care, 494–95; radio, 194; social, 456–57; television, 416–17, 425–26 Newcomen,, Thomas, 568 New Deal, 15, 18; legislation and programs of, 315–17; Social Security during, 516; wages increased during, 541–43, 548 new molecular entities (NMEs), 479 New Orleans, Battle of, 4 news, 433–35; Internet for, 443; movie newsreels, 200; post-World War II broadcasting of, 411; radio broadcasting of, 196; World War II broadcasts of, 413–14 newspapers, 172, 174–77; in 1870, 49; decline of, 433–35 Newsweek (magazine), 434 New York (New York): air travel between Chicago and, 396–97; air travel between Los Angeles and, 398; bacteriological laboratory in, 218; buses in, 160; early television in, 415–16; elevated trains in, 147; General Slocum disaster in, 239; housing in, 102–3; Ladies’ Protective Health Association in, 221; long-distance telephone service for, 183, 185; omnibus service in, 143–44; rail transport between Chicago and, 133, 135, 136, 140; subways in, 130, 148; tenements in, 97; Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in, 272; World’s Fair (1939–1940) in, 356, 363, 413, 592 New York Stock Exchange, 582 nickelodeons, 198–99, 205 Nixon, Richard, 357, 419 nonwhites: life expectancy of, 212; See also blacks Nordhaus, William: on global warming, 634; on Moore’s Law, 446; on price of light, 119; on value of health and life expectancy, 242–44, 323 nursing schools, 230 nutrition.

Operation Chaos: The Vietnam Deserters Who Fought the CIA, the Brainwashers, and Themselves
by Matthew Sweet
Published 13 Feb 2018

In Warren’s little apartment in Frankfurt, packed with deserter revolutionaries, Cooky Pollack told stories of pre-war radicalism. She spoke of her flight from Russia after the failed 1905 revolution. How she’d done political organizing among the cloth cutters and prostitutes of New York. She told the story of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in which 146 New York garment workers, mostly Jewish immigrants like her, were burned or choked to death; how some had jumped to their deaths because the owner had locked the exits to prevent workers taking unauthorized breaks. She told them of the optimism she had felt in the 1920s and ’30s.

…

John Bosco High School Stockholm Stockholm Research Collective Stockholm University Stone, Roger Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, “Star Wars”) 175 Strollo, Vincent Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) Suall, Irwin Suburban Life Sullivan, Ed Svahnström, Bertil Swarthmore College Sweden deserters find asylum in draft resisters find exile in EAP and elections of 1968 elections of 1979 elections of 2014 GLADIO and Palme assassination and political neutrality of public cools toward American exiles in Vale moves to welfare state withdraws asylum for deserters Sweden: Heaven and Hell (film) Swedish Aliens Commission Swedish anti-war movement Swedish Committee for Vietnam Swedish Death Index “Swedish Deserters” (CIA précis) Swedish Film Institute Swedish intelligence Swedish Ministry of the Interior Swedish National Archives Swedish police Sylvia, Robert Symbionese Liberation Army Syvriotis, Nick Takman, John Talbott, Strobe Tarpley, Webster Tate, Charles Tavistock Institute Taxi Driver (film) Taylor, Thomas Tegin-Gaddy, Kerstin Temple University, Third World Solidarity rally Terrorists, The (Sjöwall and Wahlöö) Terry Whitmore, for Example (film) There Are No Naughty Children (Israel and Israel) They Would Have Died Anyway (Ekberg) Third State of Imperialism, The (LaRouche) Thorsson, Inga Three Fs of Charm, The (Foley) Tibet Tidsignal (student newspaper) Time Time to Live, A (film) Tito, Josip Broz Tokyo University Tomkiewicz, Stanislaus Torres, Jose Torsåker farm torture Tracy, Spencer Trap, The (TV drama) Treml, Vladimir Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Trier, Lars von Trotsky, Leon Trotskyists Trotsky: The Prophet Armed (Deutscher) Trump, Donald Trump, Melania Tuesday (newspaper supplement) Turgenev, Ivan Turk, Larry Turkish-Syrian border Turner, Stansfield Tyresö suburb UFOs Ukraine Ulvaeus, Björn Umiliani, Piero Underground Railway Underwood, Lamont Claxton Union of American Exiles in Britain United Committee of South Slavic Americans United Nations Conference on the Human Environment United Press International (UPI) U.S.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)
by Mindy Kaling
Published 1 Nov 2011

I know the demographic for Ghostbusters is teenage boys, and I know they would kill themselves if two ghostbusters had a makeover at Sephora. I just have always wanted to see a cool girl having her first kiss with a guy she’s had a crush on, and then have to excuse herself to go trap the pissed-off ghosts of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire or something. In my imagination, I am, of course, one of the ghostbusters, with the likes of say, Emily Blunt, Taraji Henson, and Natalie Portman. Even if I’m not the ringleader, I’m definitely the one who gets to say “I ain’t afraid a no ghost.” At least the first time. Contributing Nothing at Saturday Night Live I WAS A dreadful guest writer on Saturday Night Live.

The Fissured Workplace
by David Weil
Published 17 Feb 2014

Other companies in the sector—notably HP—have similarly accepted greater responsibility to ensure adherence to labor and environmental standards among their principal suppliers, with notable success.47 But two tragedies in Bangladesh reemphasized the fragility of such monitoring arrangements in the presence of the competitive pressures placed on extended supply chains. In late 2012, a factory fire at Tazreen Fashions, a large Bangladeshi apparel company, killed 112 workers. Conditions that resulted in the deaths had parallels with the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911 in New York City: locked fire exits, supervisors demanding that workers return to their stations in the face of alarms, and people jumping to their deaths from a burning building. Notably, the facility provided products for a number of major U.S. brands and retailers and had been covered by a workplace monitoring arrangement with Walmart, one of its major customers.48 Less than six months later, in April 2013, a multistory building in Savar, Bangladesh, collapsed, killing 1,127 people who worked in the numerous apparel manufacturing companies located in it.

…

May, 342n17 Trade: and supply chains, 168–171; benefits of, 337n27 Transaction cost economics, theory of, 30–31 Transocean, 19 Transparency: as regulatory instrument, 234–235, 241, 349n63; in international supply chains, 262–264; political economy of, 349n66 Transparency in Supply Chains Act (California), 356n49 Triangle Shirtwaist, fire at, 176 T. Rowe Price, 46 Trucking, and information costs, 61–62 Turfer model of subcontracting, 94–95, 109–111 Ultimatum game, 82, 310n11 United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), 101–104 United Service Companies, 157 UNITE HERE!, 155, 365n36 UPS, 57–58; as logistics provider, 161 Ureche, Tudor, 3, 113 U.S.

The Rough Guide to New York City
by Rough Guides
Published 21 May 2018

The centre itself, operated by the American Institute of Architects, is a bright and stylish hub for conferences, lectures, film screenings and off-site tours (check the website for details). The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire One of New York’s most infamous tragedies occurred on March 25, 1911, at the corner of Washington Place and Greene Street, when a fire started on the eighth floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist garment factory, one of the city’s notorious sweatshops. A terrible combination of flammable fabrics, locked doors, collapsing fire escapes and the inability of fire-truck ladders to reach higher than the sixth floor resulted in the deaths of 146 workers – almost all women, primarily immigrants, and some only 13 years old – in less than fifteen minutes.

…

Nearly half its residents were foreign-born, with Ellis Island, the depot that processed arrivals, handling two thousand people a day. Many immigrants worked in sweatshops for the city’s growing, notoriously exploitative, garment industry. Although workers began to strike for better pay and conditions, it took the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire to rouse public and civic conscience; within months the state passed 56 factory-reform measures, and unionization spread through the city. On the upside of New York’s capitalist expansion, the early 1900s saw some of the city’s wealth delving into adventurous new architecture.

Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea
by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge
Published 4 Mar 2003

Yet, between 1897 and 1904 union membership multiplied almost fivefold. In 1906, the AFL began to focus on electoral politics, supporting Democratic Party candidates and forming close relations with the big political machines that now dominated city politics. Union bosses seized on tragedies like the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire in New York in 1911 to agitate for safer working conditions. In 1914, the Wilson administration granted unions immunity from antitrust suits, and in 1916, it passed a series of bills that restricted working hours and child labor. Politicians also slowly succumbed to popular pressure to break up the empires of the “malefactors of great wealth.”

The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation
by Carl Benedikt Frey
Published 17 Jun 2019

Among the many casualties, one proprietor of a large paper mill in Lambertville, New Jersey, got his clothing caught in the shafts and “was thrown violently to the floor and the top of his head was torn off.”14 Another engineer in Newark, New Jersey, was “crushed to a pulp” after he was trapped in the shafts of the engine. Beyond machinery accidents, explosions and fires were a constant threat. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 in New York City, described by the news media as the “the worst calamity that has befallen us since the burning of the Slocum,” cost the lives of 148 workers, most of them young women.15 As fire ravaged the factory, many people jumped out of the windows—only to be picked up either squashed or fearfully injured.

…

P., 90 3D printing, 22 three-field system, 42 Tiberius, Roman Emperor, 40 Tilly, Charles, 58 Tinbergen, Jan, 14, 213, 225 Tocqueville, Alexis de, 147, 207, 270 Toffler, Alvin, 257 Torricelli, Evangelista, 52, 76 tractor use, expansion of, 196 trade, expansion of, 68 trade unions, emergence of, 190 treaty ports, 88 Trevithick, Richard, 109 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (1911), 194 truck driver, 340–41 trucker culture, ending of the heyday of, 171 Trump, Donald, 278, 280, 286, 331 Tugwell, Rexford G., 179 Tull, Jethro, 54 Turing test, 317 Turnpike Trusts, 108 Twain, Mark, 21, 165, 208 typewriter, 161–62 typographers, computer’s effect on jobs and wages of, 247 unemployment, 246, 254; AI-driven, 356; American social expenditure on, 274; average duration of, 177; blame for, 141; fear of, 113; mass, fears of, 366; technological, 12, 117 union security agreements, 257 United Auto Workers (UAW) union, 276 United Nations, 305 universal basic income (UBI), 355 universal white male suffrage, 270 unskilled work, 350 urban-rural wage gap, 209 Ure, Andrew, 97, 104, 119 U.S.

Adaptive Markets: Financial Evolution at the Speed of Thought
by Andrew W. Lo
Published 3 Apr 2017

As an adult, Pete has experienced so many injuries to his left knee that his leg may require amputation. Why does this happen? Because people with congenital analgesia lack the feedback to prevent the injurious behaviors that pain warns us about. Many regulations arise from pain. I learned in grade school about the horrible fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Manhattan on March 25, 1911, when 146 young garment workers—129 women and 17 men—died, many by jumping from the flames from the upper stories of the factory building. New York State passed sixty new laws regarding worker safety over the next two years and new organizations such as the American Society of Safety Engineers were formed.

…

Gary, 262 short selling, 26, 223, 229–230, 233, 326 Siegel, Jeremy, 253, 255 Siegel, Stephan, 161 sigma (measure), 232 SIMON (risk management process), 388–389, 392 Simon, Herbert, 172; academic background of, 177; artificial intelligence research by, 101, 181, 182; bounded rationality notion of, 34, 36, 185, 188, 209, 213, 215, 217; environmental complexity viewed by, 198; heuristics notion of, 66, 179, 217; optimization viewed skeptically by, 178–180, 183; satisficing conceived by, 180–182 Simons, James, 6, 224, 225, 244, 277, 350 Sinclair, Upton, 319 Singapore, 411 single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), 102 Siri, 132, 396 Sirri, Erik, 308, 311 60/40s rule, 252, 255 skin conductance, 93–94 slot machines, 91–92 Slovic, Paul, 84 “SM” (patient incapable of fear), 83, 104, 106, 107, 144, 158, 323 small-cap stocks, 250, 259 smallpox, 344 smiling, 105 Smith, Adam, 28, 211 Smith, David V., 100 Sobel, Russell, 206 social Darwinism, 215 social exclusion, 85–86 social media, 55, 270, 405 Société Générale, 60–61 Society of Mind, The (Minsky), 132–133 sociobiology, 170–174, 216–217 Sociobiology (Wilson), 170–171 Solow, Herbert, 395 Soros, George, 6, 219, 222–223, 224, 227, 234, 244, 277 sovereign wealth funds, 230, 299, 409–410 Soviet Union, 411 Space Shuttle Challenger, 12–16, 24, 38 specialization, 217 speech synthesis, 132 Sperry, Roger, 113–114 “spoofing,” 360 Springer, James, 159 SR-52 programmable calculator, 357 stagflation, 37 Standard Portfolio Analysis of Risk (SPAN), 369–370 Stanton, Angela, 338 starfish, 192, 242 Star Trek, 395–397, 411, 414 stationarity, 253–255, 279, 282 statistical arbitrage (“statarb”), 284, 286, 288–291, 292–293, 362 statistical tests, 47 Steenbarger, Brett, 94 Stein, Carolyn, 69 sterilization, 171, 174 Stiglitz, Joseph, 224, 278, 310 Stocks for the Long Run (Siegel), 253 stock splits, 24, 47 Stone, Oliver, 346 Stone Age, 150, 163, 165 stone tools, 150–151, 153 stop-loss orders, 359 Strasberg, Lee, 105 stress, 3, 75, 93, 101, 122, 160–161, 346, 413–415 strong connectedness, 374 Strong Story Hypothesis, 133 Strumpf, Koleman, 39 “stub quotes,” 360 subjective value, 100 sublenticular extended amygdala, 89 subprime mortgages, 290, 292, 293, 297, 321, 327, 376, 377, 410 Sugihara, George, 366 suicide, 160 Sullenberger, Chesley, 381 Summers, Lawrence (Larry), 50, 315–316, 319–320, 379 sunlight, 108 SuperDot (trading system), 236 supply and demand curves, 29, 30, 31–33, 34 Surowiecki, James, 5, 16 survey research, 40 Sussman, Donald, 237–238 swaps, 243, 298, 300 Swedish Twin Registry, 161 systematic bias, 56 systematic risk, 194, 199–203, 204, 205, 250–251, 348, 389 systemic risk, 319; Bank of England’s measurement of, 366–367; government as source of, 361; in hedge fund industry, 291, 317; of large vs. small shocks, 315; managing, 370–371, 376–378, 387; transparency of, 384–385; trust linked to, 344 Takahashi, Hidehiko, 86 Tanner, Carmen, 353 Tanzania, 150 Tartaglia, Nunzio, 236 Tattersall, Ian, 150, 154 Tech Bubble, 40 telegraphy, 356 Tennyson, Alfred, Baron, 144 testosterone, 108, 337–338 Texas hold ’em, 59–60 Texas Instruments, 357, 384 Thackray, John, 234 Thales, 16 Théorie de la Spéculation (Bachelier), 19 theory of mind, 109–111 thermal homeostasis, 367–368, 370 This Time Is Different (Reinhart and Rogoff), 310 Thompson, Robert, 1, 81–82, 83, 103–104 three-body problem, 214 ticker tape machine, 356 tight coupling, 321, 322, 361, 372Tiger Fund, 234 Tinker, Grant, 395 Tobin tax, 245 Tokugawa era, 17 Tooby, John, 173, 174 tool use, 150–151, 153, 162, 165 “toxic assets,” 299 trade execution, 257, 356 trade secrets, 284–285, 384 trading volume, 257, 359 transactions tax, 245 Treynor, Jack, 263 trial and error, 133, 141, 142, 182, 183, 188, 198, 265 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, 378–379 tribbles, 190–205, 216 Trivers, Robert, 172 trolley dilemma, 339 Trusty, Jessica, 120 Tversky, Amos, 55, 58, 66–67, 68–69, 70–71, 90, 106, 113, 388 TWA Flight 800, 84–85 twins, 159, 161, 348 “two-legged goat effect,” 155 UBS, 61 Ultimatum Game, 336–338 uncertainty, 212, 218; risk vs., 53–55, 415 unemployment, 36–37 unintended consequences, 7, 248, 269, 330, 358, 375 United Kingdom, 222–223, 242, 377 University of Chicago, 22 uptick rule, 233 Urbach-Wiethe disease, 82–83 U.S.

In Pursuit of Privilege: A History of New York City's Upper Class and the Making of a Metropolis
by Clifton Hood
Published 1 Nov 2016

It was the Homestead strike outside of Pittsburgh that ensnared Carnegie and Frick and the Ludlow massacre in Colorado that besmirched Rockefeller’s reputation, not anything that took place in Manhattan or Brooklyn. By contrast, the worst labor incident of this period in New York City, the Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911, involved a small company owned by a pair of Russian Jews (Max Blanck and Isaac Harris) that had subcontracted much of the work to other immigrants. They were decidedly not part of the upper class. A similar ownership pattern typified the garment companies that were caught up in the massive strikes led by the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union before World War I.

…

De Witt, 188 Tammany Society, 152 Tappan, Lewis, 113 Tarkington, Booth, 289 The Theory of the Leisure Class (Veblen), 248 “third places,” 33 This Side of Paradise (Fitzgerald), 264 Thompson, Charles, 68 Tiger Inn, 330, 333 Todd, George B., 224–26 Todd, Henry A., 224–26 Tories. See Loyalists Torrey, John, 159–60 Town & Country magazine, 249, 308, 316–18, 326, 328–29, 464n104 Town Topics, 201, 202–3, 233 trading post, New York City as, 1–2, 4 transportation revolution, 88–89 Treaty of Westminster, 15 Tredwell, Seabury, 114–18, 115, 124, 124 Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911, 182 Trollope, Fanny, 180 trusts, in late-19th century, 183–84 Tucker, St. George, 63, 67 Tuxedo Club, 288–89 Twombly, Henry B., 273 Union Club, 104–5, 171–72 Union League Club: clubhouse reception, 196; expanding membership in, 200–201; founding of, 407n44; ideological contribution of, 138; moral leadership and, 150–55, 408–9n58 universities, social mobility and, 329–40 University Cottage Club, 330 upper-class households, mid-19th century, 114–26, 115.

A People's History of the United States
by Howard Zinn
Published 2 Jan 1977

In these disease-breeding holes we, the youngsters together with the men and women toiled from seventy and eighty hours a week! Saturdays and Sundays included! . . . A sign would go up on Saturday afternoon: “If you don’t come in on Sunday, you need not come in on Monday.” . . . Children’s dreams of a day off shattered. We wept, for after all, we were only children. . . . At the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, in the winter of 1909, women organized and decided to strike. Soon they were walking the picket line in the cold, knowing they could not win while the other factories were operating. A mass meeting was called of workers in the other shops, and Clara Lemlich, in her teens, an eloquent speaker, still bearing the signs of her recent beating on the picket line, stood up: “I offer a resolution that a general strike be declared now!”

…

Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Mask of Anarchy.” . . . “Rise like lions after slumber In unvanquishable number! Shake your chains to earth, like dew Which in sleep had fallen on you— Ye are many, they are few!” The conditions in the factories did not change much. On the afternoon of March 25, 1911, a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company that began in a rag bin swept through the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors, too high for fire ladders to reach. The fire chief of New York had said that his ladders could reach only to the seventh floor. But half of New York’s 500,000 workers spent all day, perhaps twelve hours, above the seventh floor.

…

Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1964. *Lerner, Gerda, ed. Black Women in White America. New York: Random House, 1973. *______. The Female Experience: An American Documentary. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1977. London, Jack. The Iron Heel. New York: Bantam, 1971. Naden, Corinne J. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, March 25, 1911. New York: Franklin Watts, 1971. Sanger, Margaret. Woman and the New Race. New York: Brentano’s, 1920. Schoener, Allon, ed. Portal to America: The Lower East Side, 1870–1925. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967. Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. New York: Harper & Row, 1951.

Supertall: How the World's Tallest Buildings Are Reshaping Our Cities and Our Lives
by Stefan Al
Published 11 Apr 2022

The writer Henry James described skyscrapers as the “monsters of the mere market,” overshadowing churches, which were “mercilessly deprived of their visibility.”9 A landscape architect saw the towers as “a revolt against the laws of Nature . . . piling humanity up in heaps like bees or ants, absorbing and disgorging them twice a day until the streets become too narrow for the traffic and the sewers too small for the drainage they have to carry away.”10 Soon enough, disaster struck. In 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, a ten-story building. The owners, fearing theft, had blocked the only accessible fire exit. The fire became the deadliest industrial disaster in New York, killing 146 garment workers, including girls as young as fourteen. In response to this tragic fire, the city created its first high-rise building code.

The Narcissist Next Door
by Jeffrey Kluger
Published 25 Aug 2014

Clothing makers Max Blanck and Isaac Harris were so concerned with cutting losses at their sweatshop on the upper floors of a building near Washington Square Park in Manhattan that they locked the doors from the outside to prevent their workers—mostly young women and girls—from making off with the merchandise. The company was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, and when a fire broke out there on March 25, 1911, many of the trapped girls had no choice but to jump to their deaths on the sidewalk below. Ultimately, 146 of them perished. The workplace has never been a democracy, and it wasn’t designed to be. Companies without a clear organizational chart and well-defined lines of power sound wonderfully collaborative, except for the fact that they almost always fail.

Two Nations, Indivisible: A History of Inequality in America: A History of Inequality in America
by Jamie Bronstein
Published 29 Oct 2016

Members of the IWW worked toward the elimination of the capitalist state, which they thought to be incompatible with democracy.40 They also campaigned in favor of free speech, suing state and local governments, and their radicalism left them open to state repression.41 In New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, garment workers’ unions, supported by the Socialist Party, mounted great strikes under the aegis of the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL).42 White, male craft union leaders asserted that employees could negotiate fair contracts with their employers; women employees, who were paid less as a matter of course, did not agree.43 The WTUL supported “protective legislation” that used assumptions about women’s greater physical weakness or their importance as mothers to target women for shorter hours and for minimum wages. Protective legislation established entities like wages boards and arbitration tribunals and supported the appointment of female factory inspectors, interposing the power of the state between employer and employee.44 The sacrifice of 146 women to industrial excess in the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire showed just how necessary these protections were. The employers of these young, immigrant workers had locked the exit doors of the building in order to deter theft, so that women had a choice between flinging themselves from the ninth-floor windows of the ten-story Asch building or burning to death.45 Democrats and Republicans attempted to appeal to workers by claiming that their platforms promoted economic prosperity for all.

Servant Economy: Where America's Elite Is Sending the Middle Class
by Jeff Faux
Published 16 May 2012

Furthermore, he argues, “Having slipped catastrophes like the 1914–1945 worldwide conflicts (with 100 million dead), or the nuclear threat of the 44 cold war years that followed, there are also reasonable grounds to believe we can work out our problems. The daily advances in science and technology lend hope that on balance things can be even better.”17. Unfortunately for them, the nineteen-year-olds whose futures were blown to pieces at Verdun, Iwo Jima, or Khe Sanh; the young immigrant women incinerated in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire; and the kidnapped slaves from Africa worked to death on cotton plantations did not “slip the catastrophes” of history. We cannot ask them if their sacrifices were worth it. If we could, it is unlikely that most of them would have volunteered to die or suffer in order to produce our world.

Higher: A Historic Race to the Sky and the Making of a City
by Neal Bascomb
Published 2 Jan 2003

The board positions at Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and Riordan’s County Trust Company eased some of the financial pressure of losing his salary, grand residence, staff, and the only job he had known for the last decade. Still, he was a career politician without an office to hold, and his supporters, some of whom were among the reporters crowded in his living room, wanted Al Smith to have a mission, much as he had in fighting for the rights of the underclass, most famously in the wake of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire that claimed 146 lives, the majority teenage immigrant girls. In the eight months since his defeat, he refused to comment much on the mayoral election slated for that fall, nor on how Hoover was faring in the White House. Today, he was surrounded by reporters for the first time in months, brushing off their incessant questions: Would he reenter politics?

System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot
by Rob Reich , Mehran Sahami and Jeremy M. Weinstein
Published 6 Sep 2021

,” New Yorker, September 10, 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/09/17/can-mark-zuckerberg-fix-facebook-before-it-breaks-democracy. employment in sweatshops doubled: “History of Sweatshops: 1880–1940,” National Museum of American History, https://americanhistory.si.edu/sweatshops/history-1880-1940. “broad discretion in the investigation”: Karen Bilodeau, “How the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Changed Workers’ Rights,” Maine Bar Journal 26, no. 1 (Winter 2011): 43–44. Though telegraphs were expensive: Richard Du Boff, “Business Demand and the Development of the Telegraph in the United States, 1844–1860,” Business History Review 54, no. 4 (Winter 1980): 459–79. “was able to charge monopoly prices”: Tim Wu, “A Brief History of American Telecommunications Regulation,” Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History 5 (2007): 95.

The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule
by Thomas Frank
Published 5 Aug 2008

But this is a clinical examination of conservative governance, not a catalog of horrors, and once we have recovered from our initial shock, what intrigues us about this story is how, with no evident expertise in nineteenth-century history, the leaders of the Saipan garment industry proceeded to reconstruct the “satanic mills” of a century before in astonishing detail: the indebted workers, the company stores, the tricks used to extract unpaid hours, the exits that one researcher found to be nailed shut. A nice touch, that last. Very Triangle Shirtwaist. Very realistic. This wasn’t the work of some robber-baron reenactment club, however. It was simply the market doing what the market will always do, should it somehow get loose from the political cage. The animal is predictable. It will bid wages down and push profits up by any means it is permitted to use.

Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences
by Edward Tenner
Published 1 Sep 1997

Tragedies still happen in manufacturing and food processing—for example, the fire at the poultry processing plant operated by Imperial Food Products in Hamlet, North Carolina, which claimed twenty-five lives in September 1991. But this was far from the record toll of 145 in the fire eighty years earlier at New York's Triangle Shirtwaist Company; and while Triangle's owners were never charged, the owner of the North Carolina plant accepted a twenty-year prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter. Between the 193os and the 199os, worker death rates fell 75 percent. In California, there were only eighteen deaths per 100 million hours worked in 1985, down from 127 in 1939• 6 None of this implies that workers are now adequately protected from potential trauma.

The Future Won't Be Long
by Jarett Kobek
Published 15 Aug 2017

Like the way in which an entire society, regardless of individual affiliations, can internalize and metastasize bad ideas as solid actualities despite all the evidence to the contrary. Like how if there is a hell, every American citizen is going there and when we arrive we will see these images projected on rocky walls in a random and repeating order: a manacled slave, a Cherokee walking on bloody stumps, the charred flesh of a woman throwing herself out of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, a Vietnamese girl inhaling Agent Orange, a queen being bashed at the corner of Sullivan and Houston, and a ten-year-old Chinese boy building a television. Like the way my mother used to tuck me into bed when I was eight years old. Like the way that my father hugged and kissed me. Like the way that my family wouldn’t tell me that my grandmother was dead until she was buried.

Golden Holocaust: Origins of the Cigarette Catastrophe and the Case for Abolition
by Robert N. Proctor
Published 28 Feb 2012

A Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) editorial from 1986 deplored the “tobaccoism holocaust,” and Michael Rabinoff in his 2006 book, Ending the Tobacco Holocaust, highlights tobacco’s unparalleled carnage while deploring complacency: “and yet we do nothing.” Similar expressions can be found prior even to the Second World War, as when Max MacLevy in his 1916 Tobacco Habit Easily Conquered pointed to news reports of “fresh holocausts on the altar of the nicotine devil,” referring to the many lives lost from fires caused by cigarettes (the Triangle Shirtwaist conflagration in New York City, just to name one example). The word holocaust means literally “total burning,” with the added implication of catastrophe, malfeasance, and crimes against humanity. The death of one innocent is sometimes said to be the death of all humanity—and there is great truth in this—but the Holocaust also teaches us that ethics often has much to do with scale.

…

The largest single industrial accident in the United States was directly caused by smoking: in 1947 careless handling of cigarettes was blamed for igniting 2,600 tons of ammonium nitrate on a ship in the harbor of Texas City, Texas, killing six hundred people and causing an explosion so powerful it knocked planes from the sky. Smoking caused the crash of a Russian-made Ilyushin-18 plane on Christmas Eve 1987 at Canton, killing twenty-three passengers. And cigarettes caused the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, killing 146 New York City garment workers. Tobacco fires don’t get a lot of attention, but in the United States alone from 1970 through 2000, fires killed about four thousand people per year, with about a quarter of these being traceable to cigarettes.11 The tragedy is magnified by the fact that it is not that hard to make (relatively) fire-safe cigarettes: all you have to do is wrap a few tiny bands of thickened paper around the rod; these bands extinguish the cigarette unless a smoker is actively pulling on it, preventing a dropped cigarette from kindling a fire.

The Forgotten Man
by Amity Shlaes
Published 25 Jun 2007

Frustrated town leaders would send a wire to their senator, Hugo Black: “Telegram you received from Muscle Shoals this morning framed by city fathers, in City Hall by light of kerosene lamps, though within 2 miles of tremendous power tumbling to waste over Wilson Dam with administration’s consent.” Factories were another area that might be improved by foreign study. From the Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911, in which close to 150 perished, to the sweatshops of the West Coast, American industrialization seemed to them not progress but proof that Thomas Hardy was right: factories debased. Stuart Chase, for one, was hoping Soviet industry might provide a model to solve some of these problems.

More: The 10,000-Year Rise of the World Economy
by Philip Coggan
Published 6 Feb 2020

The match girls at Britain’s Bryant and May factory worked from 8am in winter and 6.30am in summer and continued until 6pm, with breaks of 30 minutes for breakfast and an hour for lunch. The work was done standing up and paid 4 shillings a week, but girls could be fined 3d for talking or going to the toilet without permission.96 In 1911, 146 workers died (123 of them women) when the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York caught fire. The owners had locked the doors to the stairwells to prevent theft and unauthorised breaks.97 The growing militancy of unions across Europe worried governments, who feared that they might form the basis for a broader revolutionary movement. This may have encouraged some governments to take a more aggressive approach to foreign policy and to use patriotism as a way of distracting workers from their economic concerns.

The power broker : Robert Moses and the fall of New York
by Caro, Robert A
Published 14 Apr 1975

Now the face bent over the pile of bills was Considerably fuller than the face that had been bent over the pile seven years before; it was redder and its teeth, once so white, were capped with gold and yellowed by the cigar butts clenched unendingly between them. Now there was a considerable paunch beneath the pinstripes. But the face still bent over the bills. And now a new element was added to the background of the picture. Sweatshops didn't close on Saturday, and on the Saturday afternoon of March 26, 1911, hundreds of employees of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, most of them girls from the Lower East Side, were still bending over swatches of material on the eighth, ninth and tenth floors of a building overlooking New York's Washington Square. Someone in the tenth-floor work- room lit a cigarette and tossed the match away. It hadn't burned out when it fell into the ankle-deep litter around the sewing machines.

…

.\ plans for, 900-1; rush hour, 931; Triborough aid for, proposed, 918-19, 920, 1118, 1119; see also transportation: mass transportation; and individual lines traffic congestion, 926, 940; and accident rates, 914; aggravated by more construction, 515-18, 897-8, 9iiI2 > 930; increased, 5^5, 516-20, 715, 836, XXXll TRANSPORTATION (cotlt.) 885, 895, 900, 956-8; Long Island, 515, 516-17, 519, 545, 943-4, 949-51, 955-8; RM's solutions, 515-18, 525, 556, 669, 895-7, 900, 902, 905, 911-12, 918, 949, 950; and need for mass transportation, 515, 614, 897, 901-3, 1072; N.Y.C., 20, 328-31, 34i, 515, 516-19, 525, 545, 547, 563-4, 610, 614, 639, 742, 765, 769, 786, 895, 900, 902-6 passim, 910-17, 942; public and, 914; public resignation about, 912-13, 914, 917-18; see also individual roads Transportation Workers Union, 757, 759 Travia, Anthony, 1124-8 Triangle Shirtwaist Company, 122-3 Triborough Bridge, 6, 340-4 passim, 360, 386-95, 396-7, 454, 493, 508, 517, 619, 628, 633, 659, 898, 923, 925, 1129, 1147; approaches to, 386, 390, 391, 392-3, 448, 476-7, 626, 838; CWA employees for, 392, 394; cost, 391-2, 626; earnings, 617-18, 698; funds for, 387-95 passim, 428, 435-6, 439; opening of, 441-3, 516; tenant eviction for, 386; traffic congestion on, 516, 517-18, 715, 897, 912, 913 Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority: amendments to, 625-31; audit of, 716-17 and n.; autonomy, 13-16, 17-18, 640, 657, 716, 1140; banks and, 18, 725, 733-5, 927, 934, 1048; Battery Crossing fight, 645-7, 653, 657-75, 676; bonds, 345, 625, 730-4, 750-1, 762, 920; bonds, covenants of, 1119, 1120, 1122, 1128, 1134, 1137-8, 1139-41; bonds, interest rates on, 732; bonds, underwriting of, 18, 733, 734; cooperation with Port of N.Y.

New York
by Edward Rutherfurd
Published 10 Nov 2009

Every evening, he and Angelo would wait beside the statue for Anna to appear. Sometimes she’d be told she had to work late; and if she didn’t appear, he’d take Angelo back. But usually she arrived, and then they would all walk home together, once in a while stopping for an ice or a cookie on the way. Anna was happy. The Triangle Shirtwaist Company, as it was called, occupied the top three of the ten floors of the big square building. The factory mostly made the ankle-length skirts and the white, narrow-waisted, Gibson Girl blouses, called “shirtwaists,” that were fashionable for working girls and women. Most of the work was arranged at long tables where rows of sewing machines were driven by a single electric engine.