I have carefully abstained from drawing a comparison between these factories and those of our own land. Many of the circumstances whose strong influence has been at work for years in our manufacturing towns have not arisen here; and there is no manufacturing population in Lowell, so to speak: for these girls (often the daughters of small farmers) come from other States, remain a few years in the mills, and then go home for good. The contrast would be a strong one, for it would be between the Good and Evil, the living light and deepest shadow. But . . . pause and reflect upon the difference between this town and those great haunts of desperate misery.
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Background information: Charles Dickens visited the United States in 1842. Due to his interest in the treatment of factory workers, he visited the Lowell Mills in Massachusetts. This is an excerpt from his observations.
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Which of these generalizations does Dickens support in the passage?

a. The factories in Britain produce finer goods than the ones in Lowell.
b. The working and living conditions in Britain are far more miserable than in Lowell.
c. The factories in Lowell and Britain are very similar.
d. Both the British and American governments have worked to improve working conditions.