On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
This table clearly establishes the fact that where the factory system prevails , life is of much shorter duration than where the domestic manufacture is carried on ; the medical men who were examined by the committee , whether the most eminent physicians and surgeons of London , or those of extensive practice in Yorkshire , Lancashire , and Cheshire , all agree in opinion that the
system is destructive to health and life . Mr . William Sharp of Bradford , who professionally attended one of the best regulated spinning factories , has given an interesting report of his patients in that establishment ; there were 550 children employed , and in the six months from January to June 1832 he had 168 patients , of whom 5 died , 146 recovered , 3 much relieved , 14 remained under treatment .
Mr . Thackrah , who had made the subject his peculiar study , and has published a very able book upon the effect of arts , professions , and trades on health and longevity , says , ' that the factory system reduces the nervous powers , that it renders persons more feeble , more subject to suffer from attacks of disease , and
that persons so employed are shorter lived than others ; and he recommends that instead of working from six o ** clock a . m . to seven o ' clock p . m . allowing half an hour for breakfast and forty minutes for dinner , the master should be restricted to working the children not exceeding ten hours per day , and that number of hours he thinks is too long .
So far , therefore , as the investigation has proceeded , two points have been established—excessive labour to children of tender age , and a great proportion of death amongst young people . The evils of the system have been proved , the difficulty is to find a cure
without producing a greater evil ; and in order clearly to understand that subject , it is desirable to give a brief sketch of the rise and progress of our different branches of manufacture , to show how they have been extended , and how distressing a check would be in them to a dense population .
The manufactures of this as well as of other countries were , about half a century ago , strictly speaking domestic ; the raw materials were spun and woven into cloth in cottages , by the individuals of the family , each taking such department according to age and strength as they were able to perform ; and a man with a small capital gave employment to his poorer neighbours ,
bringing around him a population dependent upon him for their maintenance ; the chief manufacture at that time was woollen , and the only machine worked by power was the fulling mill ; every other process , scribbling , stubbing , spinning , weaving , and finishing was performed by hand labour , ; the woollen manufacture was considered the most important and valuable branch of industry , and attained the title of the staple trade of the country . The spinning department was first improved by the application of power and machinery j fi rst , indeed , by machinery without
Untitled Article
148 Oh the Factory System .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1833, page 148, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2610/page/4/
-