ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by settlement houses,

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everyone's third choice when searching for a new home.

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All right, check out the picture, right here. Child labor.

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Right there. Non-union.

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Workers organized to fix the issue shown in the image with the help of... what?

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And here are your potential answers.

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[ mumbles ]

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All right, well the men who owned factories and large businesses were often

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too strong for individual workers to criticize on their own.

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So let's see which answer best describes who exactly

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lent a hand to these hands in need.

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Did workers organize against child labor with the help of A -

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settlement houses?

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Well, settlement houses were specifically meant to help immigrants

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adapt to the United States, not aid laborers in their fight

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for fair conditions. So we can move on from A.

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Did workers unite against unfair labor practices

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with the help of C - business owners?

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Many business owners were too busy counting their cash

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to walk the floors of their factories,

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so they often showed little concern for their workers.

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And that takes C off the case.

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All right, would workers have united against unfair labor practices

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with the help of D - legislators?

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Well, actually, many legislators frequently found themselves

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distracted by the shiny coins in the pockets

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of these wealthy industrialists, so they weren't too concerned, either.

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Which means workers organized to fix abuses with

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the help of B - labor unions.

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When the individual workers cooperated with each other,

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they were able to form labor unions that could fight against

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business owners as well as encouraged legislators to make changes.

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So B is the right answer.

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Because union members often came from rival ethnic groups,

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some of them saw this cooperation as a marriage of, well,

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inconvenience. But a marriage.

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