Crazy how so many social services from the 1800’s were created in order to maintain capitalism. Like they wanted to finally give poor people running water in their homes not because they were dying from cholera but because if they interacted with the upper classes (working for them, etc.) and had cholera, then they might pass on the disease. And that they only started making more public bathrooms for women because they wanted to encourage them to shop.

It’s also sad as hell how chimney sweeps were treated. They were young boys who started at like four or six years old after being sold by their parents or something. Their age mattered partially because small bodies could fit better inside chimneys. They would have various deformities and illnesses from it, they were abused by their “bosses,” they walked around covered in soot without shoes on–just mad shit. And with all that, one of the first labor laws about it was just to not start them until at least ten years old, which people mostly ignored.

Interesting to see how bad things need to be before legislation changes.