The 1820s led to various unions wanting to reduce the working day from 12 to 10 hours. This sparked interest in the idea of ​​a federation coming together to pursue common goals for workers. These early organizing efforts may have been ineffective, but they demonstrated the need for economic and legal protection of workers from these exploitative employers. The factory system began to become more common with the invention of the steam engine and the increasing use of water power to drive machinery. Beginning in the 1830s and accelerating even more with the Civil War, factories accounted for an increasing percentage of American manufacturing. It has produced great wealth for a few, but poverty for many. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayA growing number of local labor organizations grew steadily during the mid-19th century. Unions of various trades in various cities, united in city federations. The Nation Labor Union was founded in 1866. The NLU helped convince Congress to approve the eight-hour day for federal workers. However, it disappeared with the deep economic depression of 1873. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was founded by Samuel Gompers in 1886 and he was the first president of the federation. Samuel was born in 1850 in the Jewish slums of London. He came to America at age 13 with his parents in 1863. His father was a cigar maker and Samuel joined his first cigar makers union in 1864. Samuel devoted 38 years to the AFL until his death in 1924. 100,000 United Mine miners Workers went on strike on May 12, 1902 in northeastern Pennsylvania and kept the mines closed all summer. When the mine owners rejected a UMW arbitration proposal, President Theodore Roosevelt intervened on October 3. On October 16 he appointed a mediation and arbitration commission. The miners returned to work five days later. Five months later, the Presidential Commission granted them a 10 percent pay increase plus reduced working days, but they did not receive the formal union recognition they desired. A historic pre-World War I industrial strike took place in 1912 in the textile mills of Lawrence, Mass. This was not a strike by the AFL union, but by the industrial workers of the world, the IWW, or the Wobblies. They had a reputation as an organization engaged in frequent verbal and physical conflicts with the AFL and its affiliates. This strike began when factory owners responded to state legislative action by reducing the work week from 54 to 52. Factory owners cut wage rates by 3.5 percent without warning. This caused a strike of 50,000 garment workers, arrests, fervent statements by IWW leaders, police and militia attacks on peaceful gatherings, and high public support for the strikers. About 400 children of strikers were "adopted" by sympathizers. When striking women and their children were attacked by police at the train station after the authorities decided that no more young people could leave the city, a furious public outcry finally forced the factory owners not only to reinstate the wage cuts but to raise workers' wages down to more realistic levels. The AFL urged Congress to create a separate U.S. Department of Labor with a legislative mandate to protect and extend the rights of wage workers. An Office for Children was created with the concern of protecting victims of.