Baines does an excellent job of presenting both sides of this issue.
Chadwick, on the other hand seems bent on presenting the deplorable sanitary conditions of factories during this time. He was active in the reform of the Poor Law, and thusly all of his attention is focused on the negative aspects of working conditions for the factory workers. His Commission's report is chock full of the adverse sanitary conditions of the laboring population of England during this time. There is no doubt that not all workers during this time worked in conditions that Baines described. The conditions that Chadwick describes were probably true for many, but he neglects to mention the condition of the workers that Baines describes. Baines at least looks at both sides of the coin whereas Chadwick only focuses on one side and neglects to mention that not all workers in all manufacturing industries had to endure the conditions he lists in his report. For this reason, he is not the most reliable source to use as a reference for learning about workers and their conditions during this time period.
Sadler was part of a commission that investigated the working conditions of those in the textile industry. The testimonies from workers that we read about are disheartening and unfortunate. They attest to the rough working conditions of the children working in textile factories and how they were treated. Some of the testimonies deal with the mistreatment...
The issue with Sadler's point-of-view is that the people interviewed were asked leading question that were constructed in such a way that the person had no choice but to answer the question negatively. Had the questions not been leading, the answers could have been different or not seemed as harsh. Sadler, much like Chadwick was biased in that he only questioned the workers and there was no representation from the side of the employer. The leading questions and lack of equal representation are the main reasons Sadler view carries very little weight.
We have examined in detailed three different views of the factory working conditions during the industrial revolution in England. Two views were determined to be biased and did not give the full picture of the issue. One view gave information on both sides of the issue and turned out to be more credible than the other two because not only were both sides presented, evidence was given to support the information given. For this reason, Edward Baines presents the most accurate depiction of the working in a manufacture setting during this era.
Works Cited
Baines, Edward. History of the Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain.. Newark: H. Fisher, R. Fisher, and P. Jackson, 1935.
http://www.victorianweb.org/history/worker1.html .
http://www.victorianweb.org/history/chadwick2.html .
