Remembering the Lessons of the Triangle Fire

We are told in middle school that we study history to learn from it and not make the same mistakes. We like to think we do that, but do we? I wonder sometimes, like now. One hundred years ago there were two disasters that could have been avoided but weren’t. Both disasters had lasting repercussions. Both had human tragedy beyond the storyline and statistics. One was the sinking of the Titanic (but I hold off on that one till next Month)
The other one I write about here is: The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of March 25, 1911.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire of March 1911 took place in New York City. Located near Lincoln Park (lower east side), the ten storied Triangle Shirtwaist Company occupied the 8-10th floors of the Asch Building that was made of wood and brick. It had only one older outside fire escape near the tenth floor (many buildings in NYC had none). That fire escape was broken and when people climbed on it, it gave way sending 30 people 100 feet to their deaths. The building did have a functioning elevator inside and that elevator is credited with saving many lives. The fire broke out on the 8th floor near the 5pm closing time, and most of the employees on that floor were able to get out. The fire spread quickly largely because the place was piled high with highly flammable material (cotton, silk etc). The alarm was given by phone to the 10th floor where the bosses and secretaries, were and most all of them escaped serious harm. Some got down the inside stairs before they became impassable (about 3-4 minutes) and the rest made it up to the roof (including the 2 owners of the company) where they were eventually rescued.

The real problem was on the crammed, cramped 9th floor. This floor had close to ninety women working in spaces and conditions that would not be tolerated today and shouldn’t have been then. One sewing machine operator station was only 6-9 inches from the next. Over 90 women and (11) male workers were on the 9th floor BUT the operator did not alert the 9th floor about the fire because the 9th floor had no phone!! BY the time the employees saw smoke coming in from under the two doors located at each end of a long rectangular room it was already too late! Why was it too late? When they ran to the two doors to get out they were horrified to discover both doors had been locked from the outside and they could not get out. Why were the doors locked? The owners said later (in a trial) it was to prevent thefts but it was more commonly believed they were locked so that these women would not have any distractions from people walking in and out. That way they could work with no break in concentration! These workers had only minutes to live.

The fire spread very quickly, choices were few. The only way to avoid death by smoke inhalation or being burned alive (as several were) was by jumping. The vast majority of deaths occurred from women (and some men) jumping 9 stories to their deaths. The first to go was a man, and then another man seen kissing a girl before jumping. Some jumped holding hands, some in embrace; some were on fire when they went out the windows. Some continued to burn when they hit the ground. To their credit, the fire department did arrived amazingly soon for that era, (9 minutes) but their ladders only went as high as the 6th floor. In total, 146 people died: 14 were men; another 6 middle aged women supervisors and the rest were young women (mostly Italian and Jewish immigrants) working for meager wages, in awful conditions. The youngest were 2 14 year old girls.

The 2 owners were indicted (involuntary manslaughter) but they were soon exonerated of all charges. They hadn’t broken any laws, and no one could prove why they locked the doors. Maybe the laws of decency and common sense were broken but those laws weren’t listed on the statutes (just as they aren’t today).

Just 1 ½ years before this fire, many of these same women went on strike to get better wages, better working hours, and what they thought would be better, safer, working conditions. It’s clear whatever concessions they did get in terms of safe working conditions, it wasn’t enough. The owners did come up with a bit more money and they cut the twelve hour shifts to 9-10 hours but still there was no air conditioning, fire escapes, proper ventilation, escape routes and photos show how crammed in the women were. The scenario was this: hundreds of people working 9 stories up jammed in with piles of flammable fabric and the doors to the room locked with no outside escape possible. One carelessly tossed cigarette near closing time and it was death for 146 people. This is still the 4th largest loss of life from an industrial tragedy in U.S. History.

The upshot is, shortly thereafter in NYC, working fire escapes became mandatory on all buildings two stories or higher and workers in all manner of industry in NYC soon had relatively safe working conditions. The International Ladies Garment Workers Union was started and they demanded better, safer conditions. By 1915 many reforms were put in place although ironically one of the owners of the Triangle Company, a few years later, was cited and fined 20.00 for still locking his his doors. Oh yes, the owners were sued for civil compensation and held liable at the rate of 75.00 per loss of life. However, the owners were also given an insurance payout that came to 400.00 per death. You do the math.

Here is my point about the Triangle fire of 1911: During those years many workers united for better work conditions and pay. Garment workers, iron workers cobblers, machinists, steel workers unions and the list is long, long, long. They had to unite because they were clearly being exploited, and worked in extremely poor and dangerous conditions. In 1910 the estimate is no less that 50 unions across the country went on strike at one point in time or another. That is how the laborers of this country were able to rise to a level where they could be middleclass, send their kids to school, own a home and be productive members of society. Have American’s today forgotten how exploited, abused, and degraded workers in this country were at the turn of the 20th century? Have Americans forgotten how important Unions were then? So tell me, why would Americans today look the other way when unions are being attacked? Why would American’s today think its okay for the Governor (Walker) of Wisconsin to unilaterally decide to limit or try to end unions altogether in his state?

Look, I know there are abuses of pension funds. I’m not naive to the many sweetheart deals, bad deals, and potential bankrupting deals. In my own backyard of San Diego, you could write a dissertation on the mangled, mismanaged (some say criminal) city employee pension fund.

Should tax payers just accept that unions can maneuver cities and companies into retirement deals that are ludicrous and unsustainable? Of course not! Those bad union-company deals can spell financial ruination, but the alternative knee jerk reaction to end unions altogether is also bad thinking. The one thing workers (white collar or blue) need to remember is that often times the union is all that stands between you and being exploited and kept down. Remember, the goal of any company, be it private or public, is to make money not worry about worker conditions. If the workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company had a union forceful enough to make sure all doors were kept unlocked, that outside fire escapes were provided for on the buildings their workers occupied, and that workers were not packed in like sardines, then it’s reasonable to conclude that many if not all of the dead would have lived.

I know it’s been a hundred years; but aren’t we supposed to learn from and remember the lessons history teaches us. A hundred forty six mostly under age 25 people were burned to death, choked to death on toxic smoke or hurled themselves to death from 9 stories because they didn’t have any other choices, BUT we do have a choice: a choice to NOT forget the lessons that tragedy taught us.