Lowell Reading Questions

Questions to answer from Lowell reading, pp. 39-56 (handout): 1. What were some ways (name 3) that the owners of the Lowell Mills minimized competition (that is, make competition less of an issue) among the other mill companies they controlled? 2. Why did the owners do this? 3. What other aspects of life in Lowell appealed to the "Mill Girls"? 4. Look at the timetable on p. 41. Why do you think the work day was so tightly organized around the clock? (Also read pp. 50-51.) 5. Read pp. 52-56:

• a) Why did the owners cut wages beginning in the mid-1830s?
• b) How did the managers treat workers who went on strike?
• c) Summarize how the members of LFLRA tried to change the work day to only ten hours?