Question

Why wasn't Nathan Appleton able to live up to the standards and ideals he hoped would guide how he treated his workers?

Answer 1

He was was a merchant, manufacturer, financier, politician and philanthropist, best known as a pioneer in establishing textile manufacturing in New England. Appleton's belief that people of good will could create non-exploitative economic institutions reflected his optimistic view of human nature and his faith in a generous God who showered bounty on his creatures. His unique view of looking at the society at the time gave a new face to philosophy and his ideas were further pondered upon by various thinkers of the time. The ideas gave route to hope and freedom of thinking. He spread across the thought of being humble, compassionate, grateful and kind to near and dear ones. The same was not with an idea to gain something, but to stay true to one's true essence which is an embodiment of love itself.  He developed an early form of market research to help him predict what products were likely to do well. This enabled him to give marketing advice to the owners of other mills. During the 1850s, Appleton's optimism was challenged by the growing political crisis and by an economic depression which revealed previously unsuspected weaknesses in the American textile industry. The market was becoming saturated, the original mill owners were retiring or dying, and the new directors did not always adhere to the system established in the first generation. Appleton criticized them for paying high dividends instead of reinvesting in the mills. He continued to argue the merits of high pay and humane treatment for workers, not realizing how much conditions had deteriorated even his own mills. His child died and unfateful and terrible death which led to become further devastated. His last days of life were sad and full of disappointment, unlike his freshness & optimistic ideas proposed in his youth years. His agitation and treatment of owners was such that he received criticism for not adhering to his own ideas and ways of being.