HOW WAS INDUSTRIALIZATION

CHANGING DAILY LIFE?

How do you use technology in your life? You may be so used to the technology in your life that you are not even aware of it. For example, consider how you get ready for school each day. How does technology help? You wash with hot water from a water heater, get dressed in clothes that were most likely made in a factory, use electricity to make your breakfast, and pack a lunch with food that was harvested and transported using machines. Technology makes all of this possible. What changes in technology affected the lives of Canadians at the turn of the 20th century?

The period from 1890 to 1905 was significant in the history of industrialization in Canada. Industrialization is a process in which technology and machinery replace the bulk of traditional manual labour tasks. Before industrialization, people had produced goods by hand. During the industrialization period, newly invented machines were being used in factories to produce goods more quickly and at a lower cost. For example, previously, one carpenter would have made a chair from start to finish. In the new industrialized model, several people using machines would each make a part of the chair.

Examine Figure 5.1, which is a photo of a water fountain in Toronto. Many homes did not yet have indoor plumbing. How do you think a public water fountain would affect the daily lives of people living in those homes?

CHANGES IN FARM LIFEBefore industrialization, farm life required very hard work with basic tools. New farm machines that were available in the late 1800s were usually too expensive for people living on small, family-run farms to buy. Examine Figure 5.2, which shows a farmer using horses and technology to do work that had previously been done by hand. What would be the advantages and disadvantages of using these new technologies?

Owners of large farms could afford to buy new machines that would enable them to work more land. Since owners of smaller farms could not afford the new machinery, they could not compete and struggled financially. In an attempt to improve their financial situation, many moved to cities to find work. This trend of moving away from the countryside occurred across Canada. Read the excerpt in Figure 5.3, which describes what was happening to many farming families. How are the farmers’ perspectives revealed in this article?

“Farming districts are becoming depopulated in many places,

and both young men and young women would almost do anything rather

than stay on the farm. It is well known that the greater number of those

who abandon the land do not better their condition. But the failure of

so many who leave the farms to seek their fortunes does not act as a

warning to the young people of the rural districts [the countryside]. They

are becoming more and more impatient [with] what they consider the

dull life and the hard work of the farm, and are continually on the look out

for some opening in the cities of their own or other countries.”

— Victoria Daily Colonist

FIGURE 5.3 This is an excerpt from a news article in the Victoria Daily Colonist, published February 12, 1891. Analyze: Why do you think this article says that many young people do not find a better life in the cities?

FIGURE 5.2 This image was part of an early 1900s advertisement for a Canadian farm equipment company. It shows a farmer using new technology to harvest wheat. Analyze: Aside from the new farm equipment, what skills would be required to accomplish this task?

FIGURE 5.1 This photo was taken in 1899 and shows a boy using a water fountain on Spadina Avenue in Toronto. Analyze: In addition to the water fountain, what other signs of technology can you see in this photo?

industrialization a process in which machines replace manual labour as the dominant method of production

140 UNIT 2: Canada’s Changing Society: 1890–1914 CHAPTER 5: Canada’s Industrial Age: 1890–1905 141NEL NEL

u02-c05-f01-hist8sb

Crowle Art Group

2nd pass

History 8 SB

0-17-671035-3

FN

CO

Pass

Approved

Not Approved

0

200 000

400 000

600 000

800 000

1 000 000

1 200 000

1 400 000

1 600 000

1 800 000

Canadian Population Trends,1891–1911

2 000 000

Po

pul

atio

n

Population trends

Increase in ruralpopulation

Increase in urbanpopulation

A B

ECONOMIC IMPACTSIndustrialization caused important changes in the economic status (the income or financial well-being) of different groups in society. Factories and machinery lowered the cost of manufacturing goods, so profits rose. However, building the factories and buying the machines required a lot of money before any profits could be made. This meant it was easier for wealthy people to take advantage of the advances in technology. In addition, there were no laws about a minimum amount employees had to be paid. Business owners became wealthier as a result, while the economic situation of their employees often did not improve, or got worse.

Wealthy people lived mainly in cities where their businesses were located. They had large homes and hosted elaborate parties. Many wealthy people had a second residence where they would spend their holidays.

Life for the people who worked in factories, in offices, and in the homes of the wealthy was less pleasant than that of their employers. People from the working class made an average wage of $32 per month at a time when the cost of living for a typical family of five was $48 per month. Read the quote in Figure 5.6. It was written by Herbert Brown Ames, a Montréal businessperson and politician. Ames conducted a study of poverty in the Montréal neighbourhood of Griffintown and wrote a book about his findings. How does the situation of the families he studied contrast with the lives of wealthy people?

Figure 5.7A shows a home in a working-class district of Montréal. Figure 5.7B shows the home of a wealthy Montréal business owner. What can you learn about the daily living conditions of the families living in these homes?

CHANGES IN CITY LIFEMontréal was the largest city in Canada in 1901, with a population of 267 730. Toronto’s population was close behind, with 208 040 people. Within 10 years, the population of Montréal increased dramatically to 490 504. Smaller Canadian cities also experienced rapid growth. Ottawa’s population grew 47 percent in the same decade, to reach 87 000. Examine Figure 5.4, which shows a street scene in Ottawa. What features do you see in this photo that might have attracted people to city life?

IMMIGRATIONThe movement of people from farms to the cities was not the only reason the urban population was increasing. Before the 1850s, most new immigrants began their lives in Canada as farmers.

During the industrialization period, some immigrants still sought land to farm, especially in the Prairies. Many, however, moved to industrial cities to find work in manufacturing or service industries (such as working in shops or restaurants). While many of these urban workers hoped to make enough money in the cities to buy farmland, others wanted either to find ways of making a good living in the city or to return to their home country with their savings.

In this period, the majority of immigrants came to Canada from Britain, the United States, and some countries in Europe. Europe was overcrowded, and there was neither enough farmland nor industrial jobs available for everyone. In some countries, minorities were mistreated, and they hoped to move to a country where they could live in peace and security. For most of the 1800s, European immigrants hoping to improve their lives moved to the United States. After 1890, most of the available farmland there had already been taken up by settlers. Canada advertised relatively cheap farmland. Its industrial cities offered wage-paying jobs, and its lumber and mining industries needed labourers. Close to 2 million immigrants came to Canada between 1891 and 1911. Examine Figure 5.5, which shows trends in the Canadian population during this period. What does the graph tell you about where immigrants were settling? How do you think this trend in immigration affected Canadian cities?

FIGURE 5.6 In this passage from his 1897 book, The City Below the Hill, Ames describes a working-class neighbourhood of Montréal. Analyze: What can you conclude from this description about the living conditions of the working class in Montréal?

“[Griffintown] is thickly

sprinkled with [industrial chimneys]

and the air hangs heavy with their

smoke ... [the plumbing] is a disgrace

to any nineteenth century city on this

or any other continent. I presume there

is hardly a house in all the [wealthy

neighbourhood] without modern

plumbing ... In Griffintown only one

home in four is suitably equipped.”

— Herbert Brown Ames, businessperson

and politician

FIGURE 5.4 This photo taken in 1898 shows Rideau Street in Ottawa. Analyze: What forms of transportation do you see in this photo?

Canadian Population Trends, 1891–1911

FIGURE 5.5 This graph shows the changes in population between 1891 and 1911 and where in Canada people settled. Analyze: Based on this graph, what is the most significant change in Canada’s population?

FIGURE 5.7 (A) This 1903 photo shows housing in a working-class neighbourhood of Montréal near the factories. (B) This 1901 photo shows the home of businessperson Charles Hosmer, located on the outskirts of Montréal. Analyze: What are the most striking features of each home?

142 UNIT 2: Canada’s Changing Society: 1890–1914 CHAPTER 5: Canada’s Industrial Age: 1890–1905 143NEL NEL

MAKING CONNECTIONS 1. Choose a historic site that was restored in your

city, town, or province. Research its history and find

information about its restoration. Share what you

learn with a classmate.

2. What skills do you have that could contribute to

restoring a historic site?

Have you ever seen an old and

crumbling historic building? How do

people restore it back to its original

glory? Donald Luxton (Figure 5.9A)

is a heritage consultant. He has built a

career conserving and restoring historic

sites in Canada. How did Luxton

become a heritage consultant? He

began with two university degrees: one

in art history and one in architecture.

He also volunteered, did research,

gave talks, and led historical walking tours. Luxton

believes history is vital to understanding who we are.

He says, “Every one of us has a significant history,

and, collectively, that is what defines us as people,

communities, and a country.”

One example of Luxton’s restoration

work is the Flack Block (Figure 5.9B).

The Flack Block is a four-storey

building constructed around 1900 in

Vancouver, British Columbia. It was

built by Thomas Flack, who had made

a fortune in the Klondike gold rush.

At that time, it was one of the largest

buildings in Vancouver. By the end of

the 1900s, the Flack Block building was

in poor shape, so Luxton and his team

had a lot of restoration work to do.

There are many steps involved in conserving and

restoring historic sites: research, analysis of the

site, making conservation plans, and working with

the city or town where the site is located. Luxton

also works with many different people, such as

archivists, museum curators, architects, engineers,

archaeologists, and construction workers.

Heritage BC has an annual awards program that

recognizes significant contributions toward heritage

conservation. In 2010, Luxton and his associates

were awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award

for the Flack Block restoration.

HISTORY AT WORK HERITAGE CONSULTANT

A

B

BICYCLESBicycles were an important method of transportation in the 1890s, and they grew in popularity as bicycle technology improved. The new bicycles had two wheels of equal size, making them easier and safer to ride.

A bicycle craze broke out in Canadian cities, particularly among women. They were able to travel with greater ease and independence. Cycling also influenced how women dressed, with the introduction of shorter skirts and split skirts. In what other ways do you think the availability of bicycles would ease the daily lives of many women?

CHANGES IN TRANSPORTATIONIn factory areas such as Griffintown in Montréal and the Distillery District in Toronto, workers lived in crowded housing near the factory buildings. There was not enough housing close to factories for all of the workers, so working-class districts expanded. Workers living farther away from the factories needed transportation to get to work.

Gas-powered automobiles like the LeRoy were available for purchase by the early 1900s, but very few people could afford to buy one. The price of the Canadian-made LeRoy in 1903 was $650. The average Canadian yearly income of male and female production workers in 1905 was $375. Most people had to use other means of transportation developing at that time.

ELECTRIC STREETCARSBetween 1880 and 1900, large cities in Canada adopted new transportation methods to move people around. These included replacing horse-drawn streetcars with electric streetcars. Improved transportation systems meant that people could get around more easily and live farther from where they worked. This caused the cities to spread out. Examine the photo in Figure 5.8, which shows the installation of many electric streetcar tracks in Toronto. How do you think the availability of new electric streetcars would change the lives of city residents?

FIGURE 5.8 In this 1892 photo, electric streetcar tracks are being installed in Toronto. This is the same intersection depicted in the painting by Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith on the chapter opener image. Analyze: What challenges in daily life do you think the city residents may have faced during the construction phase of this new transportation system?

FIGURE 5.9 (A) Donald Luxton (B) Flack Block building in Vancouver, British Columbia

What impact has the automobile had on where people work

and live today?

144 UNIT 2: Canada’s Changing Society: 1890–1914 CHAPTER 5: Canada’s Industrial Age: 1890–1905 145NEL NEL

A B

SCHOOL ATTENDANCEClass sizes were quite large compared to today’s standards. In Ontario, the average class size was 70 students for every teacher. Many Canadian cities had schools similar in size to modern-day schools. This was because the cities had larger populations with sufficient numbers of students to attend. By contrast, rural communities had much smaller schools. Many rural schoolhouses had one room, with students from all grades taught by one teacher. Some one-room schoolhouses could accommodate large numbers of students from the surrounding countryside. Others served just a few students. Read Figure 5.11, which describes the first schoolhouse built in Leduc, Alberta. How do you think the number of students attending class would affect students’ learning?

The photos in Figure 5.12A and Figure 5.12B show a country school and a city school in a similar time period. How similar or different do you think daily school life would have been for children in the city and the country?

CHANGING CHILDHOODBetween 1890 and 1905, there was great variation in the daily lives of children in Canada. Some children attended school, while others worked on their family farms or in factories, and still others did a combination of all three. A child’s life was largely determined by the economic status of his or her family. During most of the 1800s, children were considered to be young adults by the age of 13. In working-class families, they had to begin helping to support the family early in life. By the age of 10, most boys and girls in urban areas had left school to work, some of them in factories and others as servants in people’s homes. Some children worked on the city streets delivering newspapers, shining shoes, or running errands. Look again at the chapter opener image. What type of work do you see some children doing?

Examine Figure 5.10, which shows a boy selling newspapers to earn a living in Montréal. The minimum working age in Québec at this time was 13, but the law did not apply to newspaper vendors. How do you think this child’s daily life might be different from the daily life of a child who did not have to work?

LAWS FOR CHILDRENBy the end of the 1800s, common attitudes about children were changing. Many people in the middle class began to see childhood as a time for education and play, and they no longer saw children as young adults. Laws were passed that prevented children from participating in activities now considered to be part of the adult world. Child labour was discouraged. Children were banned from entering saloons, pool rooms, and dance halls. They were no longer allowed to beg or perform on the street. Parliament passed legislation in 1892 that allowed the provinces to create separate courts for children up to the age of 16 who had been accused of a crime.

PUBLIC EDUCATIONProblems associated with immigration, industrialization, and urbanization were becoming more apparent. There was a growing sense that schools were needed to educate all children to meet the challenges of adulthood. Like today, in the late 1800s provincial governments controlled education. For example, in 1871, the Ontario government made it mandatory for children to attend elementary school for a few months a year. By 1900, elementary school was mandatory in all provinces except for Québec.

Despite the new laws, only the children of wealthy families were able to attend school for long periods of time. In 1911, 40 percent of Canadian children aged 5 to 9, and 50 percent of children aged 10 to 19, were attending school. Children in rural areas would attend school seasonally, outside of busy planting and harvest times.

FIGURE 5.10 In this 1905 photo, a boy sells newspapers in Montréal. Analyze: How do you think this child may have felt about having to work at this age?

FIGURE 5.11 This passage is from a memoir Cook wrote in 1968. She was a student in Leduc, Alberta, when the first schoolhouse was built. Analyze: How does Cook’s experience compare to your own experience of elementary school?

“In 1900 when there were six

school-age children in the area, a school

district was formed. Logs were hauled

in and a small building was erected,

and that fall a high school student from

Edmonton was installed as teacher…. In

1901 we had a four month term and also

in 1902, each with a different teacher.”

— Maisie Emery Cook, student

1. CAUSE AND CONSEQUENCE Why were people moving

to the cities? What impact did this have on

Canada’s population?

2. CONTINUITY AND CHANGE How is transportation

in Canadian cities today similar to what it was

around 1905? How is it different?

3. INTERPRET AND ANALYZE Looking back at the

sources in this section, what were some of the

similarities and differences between the lives

of wealthy people and working-class people at

this time?

CHECK-IN

FIGURE 5.12 (A) This 1896 photo shows a school in Renfrew County, Ontario. (B) This 1905 photo shows a school in Pembroke, Ontario. Analyze: What similarities and differences can you see between these two schools?

How does this situation compare

to the experience of First Nations children in

residential schools?

146 UNIT 2: Canada’s Changing Society: 1890–1914 CHAPTER 5: Canada’s Industrial Age: 1890–1905 147NEL NEL