capitalist system of competition was also in full force as corporations grew and fell in the economy. As men work to improve their position the society as a whole will thrive. “And yet, although each is free to go wherever his acquisitive nose directs him, the inter-play of one man against another results in the necessary tasks of society getting done”(Borg 73). The Gilded Age, taking place in a period of government inactivity, helped the people through freedom of choice, mobility, and opportunity. This age resulted in the split between some people who became successful in the economy, and others that failed to do so because of the consensus for a system of private interest where all were free to compete and a wide range of results usually occurred.Due to the low level of Government interaction with the economy and the people, there were high levels of abuses in the workplace. Fewer laws were made to constrain these and looser regulations were obeyed. Many of these abuses were brought on by the employers to reach optimum profits without consideration for the effect it would have on the workers. One of the worst abuses that the employers took advantage of was child labor. Companies could use child labor as a cheap and large pool of laborers because most of the parents weren’t making enough money to support the family alone. Children could also be paid even less than the adults were. “In 1890, for example, the federal census reported 5,426 children in the factories of Illinois…These little fellows go to work in this cold dreary room at seven o’clock in the morning and work till it is too dark to see any longer. For this they get $1 to $3 a week”(Meltzer 27). Both children and women were chronically abused for labor in the factories and companies so that families could merely survive. In comparison, the wages of the women were even worse than those of the children. “Women worked 14 to 16 ho...
