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diff --git a/41703-8.txt b/41703-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index addd606..0000000 --- a/41703-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11244 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Women in Modern Industry, by B. L. Hutchins - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - - - - -Title: Women in Modern Industry - - -Author: B. L. Hutchins - - - -Release Date: December 25, 2012 [eBook #41703] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN IN MODERN INDUSTRY*** - - -E-text prepared by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -(http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by -Internet Archive (http://archive.org) - - - -Note: Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - http://archive.org/details/womeninmodernind00hutcrich - - -Transcriber's note: - - Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). - - Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). - - - - - -WOMEN IN MODERN INDUSTRY - - * * * * * - -"What is woman but an enemy of friendship, an unavoidable punishment, a -necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable affliction, a constantly -flowing source of tears, a wicked work of nature covered with a shining -varnish?"--SAINT CHRYSOSTOM. - - "And wo in winter tyme with wakying a-nyghtes, - To rise to the ruel to rock the cradel, - Both to kard and to kembe, to clouten and to wasche, - To rubbe and to rely, russhes to pilie - That reuthe is to rede othere in ryme shewe - The wo of these women that wonyeth in Cotes."[1] - LANGLAND: _Piers Ploughman_, x. 77. - -"Two justices of the peace, the mayor or other head officer of any city -(etc.) and two aldermen ... may appoint any such woman as is of the age of -12 years and under the age of 40 years and unmarried and forth of service -... to be retained or serve by the year, week or day for such wages and in -such reasonable sort as they shall think meet; and if any such woman shall -refuse so to serve, then it shall be lawful for the said justices (etc.) -to commit such woman to ward until she shall be bounden to -serve."--_Statute of Labourers_, 1563. - -"Every woman spinner's wage shall be such as, following her labour duly -and painfully, she may make it account to."--JUSTICES OF WILTSHIRE: -_Assessment of Wages_, 1604. - -"Sometimes one feels that one dare not contemplate too closely the life of -our working women, it is such a grave reproach."--Miss ANNA TRACEY, -_Factory Inspector_, 1913. - -"The State has trampled on its subjects for 'ends of State'; it has -neglected them; it is beginning to act consciously for them.... The -progressive enrichment of human life and the remedy of its ills is not a -private affair. It is a public charge. Indeed it is the one and noblest -field of corporate action. The perception of that truth gives rise to the -new art of social politics."--B. KIRKMAN GRAY. - - * * * * * - - -WOMEN IN MODERN INDUSTRY - -by - -B. L. HUTCHINS - -Author of "Conflicting Ideals" and (with Mrs. Spencer, D.Sc.) -"A History of Factory Legislation" - -With a Chapter Contributed by J. J. Mallon - - - - - - - -London -G. Bell and Sons, Ltd. -1915 - - - - -PREFACE. - - -It may be well to give a brief explanation of the scheme of the present -work. Part I. was complete in its present form, save for unimportant -corrections, before the summer of 1914. The outbreak of war necessitated -some delay in publication, after which it became evident that some -modification in the scheme and plan of the book must be made. The question -was, whether to revise the work already accomplished so as to bring it -more in tune with the tremendous events that are fresh in all our minds. -For various reasons I decided not to do this, but to leave the earlier -chapters as they stood, save for bringing a few figures up to date, and to -treat of the effects of the war in a separate chapter. I was influenced in -taking this course by the idea that even if the portions written in happy -ignorance of approaching trouble should now appear out of date and out of -focus, yet future students of social history might find a special interest -in the fact that the passages in question describe the situation of women -workers as it appeared almost immediately before the great upheaval. -Moreover, Chapter IVA. contained a section on German women in Trade -Unions. I had no material to re-write this section; I did not wish to omit -it. The course that seemed best was to leave it precisely as it stood, and -the same plan has been adopted with all the pre-war chapters. - -The main plan of the book is to give a sketch or outline of the position -of working women, with special reference to the effects of the industrial -revolution on her employment, taking "industrial revolution" in its -broader sense, not as an event of the late eighteenth century, but as a -continuous process still actively at work. I have aimed at description -rather than theory. Some of the current theories about women's position -are of great interest, and I make no pretence to an attitude of detachment -in regard to them, but it certainly appears to me that we need more facts -and knowledge before theory can be based on a sure foundation. Here and -there I have drawn my own conclusions from what I saw and heard, but these -conclusions are mostly provisional, and may well be modified in the light -of clearer knowledge. - -I am fully conscious of an inadequacy of treatment and of certain defects -in form. Women's industry is a smaller subject than men's, but it is even -more complicated and difficult. There are considerable omissions in my -book. I have not, for instance, discussed, save quite incidentally, the -subject of the industrial employment of married women or the subject of -domestic service, omissions which are partly due to my knowledge that -studies of these questions were in process of preparation by hands more -capable than mine. There are other omissions which are partly due to the -lack or unsatisfactory nature of the material. A standard history of the -Industrial Revolution does not yet exist (Monsieur Mantoux's valuable book -covers only the earlier period), and the necessary information has to be -collected from miscellaneous sources. In dealing with the effects of war, -my treatment is necessarily most imperfect. The situation throughout the -autumn, winter, and spring 1914-15, was a continually shifting one, and to -represent it faithfully is a most difficult task. Nor can we for years -expect to gauge the changes involved. With all our efforts to see and take -stock of the social and economic effects of war, we who watch and try to -understand the social meanings of the most terrible convulsion in history -probably do not perceive the most significant reactions. That the position -of industrial women must be considerably modified we cannot doubt; but the -modifications that strike the imagination most forcibly now, such as the -transference of women to new trades, may possibly not appear the most -important in twenty or thirty years' time. Even so, perhaps, a -contemporary sketch of the needs of working women; of the success or -failure of our social machinery to supply and keep pace with those needs -at a time of such tremendous stress and tension, may not be altogether -without interest. - -I have to express my great indebtedness to Mr. Mallon, Secretary of the -Anti-Sweating League, who has given me the benefit of his unrivalled -knowledge and experience in a chapter on women's wages. I have also to -thank Miss Mabel Lawrence, who for a short time assisted me in the study -of women in Unions, and both then and afterwards contributed many helpful -suggestions to the work she shared with me. To the Labour Department I am -indebted for kind and much appreciated permission to use its library; to -Miss Elspeth Carr for drawing my attention to the "Petition of the Poor -Spinners," an interesting document which will be found in the Appendix; -and to many Trade Union secretaries and others for their kindness in -allowing me to interview them and presenting me with documents. Miss Mary -Macarthur generously loaned a whole series of the Trade Union League -Reports, which were of the greatest service in tracing the early history -of the League. I regret that Mr. Tawney's book on Minimum Rates in the -Tailoring Trades; Messrs. Bland, Brown, and Tawney's valuable collection -of documents on economic history; and the collection of letters from -working women, entitled "Maternity," all came into my hands too late for -me to make as much use of them as I should have liked to do. - -B. L. H. - -HAMPSTEAD, _September 1915_. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - - PART I - - CHAPTER I - SKETCH OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN ENGLAND BEFORE THE - INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 1 - - CHAPTER II - WOMEN AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 31 - - CHAPTER III - STATISTICS OF THE LIFE AND EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN 75 - - CHAPTER IV - WOMEN IN TRADE UNIONS 92 - - CHAPTER IVA - WOMEN IN UNIONS--_continued_ 154 - - CHAPTER V - SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION OF PART I. 178 - - - PART II - - CHAPTER VI - WOMEN'S WAGES IN THE WAGE CENSUS OF 1906 213 - - CHAPTER VII - THE EFFECTS OF THE WAR ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN 239 - - APPENDIX TO CHAPTERS II., IV., AND VII. 267 - - AUTHORITIES 299 - - INDEX 305 - - - - -INTRODUCTORY - - -Little attention has been given until quite recent times to the position -of the woman worker and the special problems concerning her industrial and -commercial employment. The historical material relating to the share of -women in industry is extremely scanty. Women in mediaeval times must have -done a very large share of the total work necessary for carrying on social -existence, but the work of men was more specialised, more differentiated, -more picturesque. It thus claimed and obtained a larger share of the -historian's attention. The introduction of machinery in the eighteenth -century effected great changes, and for the first time the reactions of -the work on the workers began to be considered. Women and children who had -previously been employed in their own homes or in small workshops were now -collected in factories, drilled to work in large numbers together. The -work was not at first very different, but the environment was enormously -altered. The question of the child in industry at first occupied attention -almost to the exclusion of women. But the one led naturally to the other. -The woman in industry could no longer be ignored: she had become an -economic force. - -The position of the industrial woman in modern times is closely related, -one way or another, to the industrial revolution, but the relation cannot -be stated in any short or easy formula. The reaction of modern methods on -woman's labour is highly complex and assumes many forms. The pressure on -the woman worker which causes her to be employed for long hours, low -wages, in bad conditions, and with extreme insecurity of employment, is -frequently supposed to be due to the development of industry on a larger -scale. It is, in my view, due rather to the survival of social conditions -of the past in an age when an enormous increase in productive power has -transformed the conditions of production. New institutions and new social -conditions are needed to suit the change in the conditions of production. -It is not the change in the material environment which is to blame, so -much as the failure of organised society so far to understand and control -the material changes. The capitalist employer organised industry on the -basis of a "reserve of labour," and on the principle of employing the -cheapest workers he could get, not out of original sin, or because he was -so very much worse than other people, but simply because it was the only -way he knew of, and no one was there to indicate an alternative -course--much less compel him to take it. Much more guilty than the -cotton-spinners or dock companies were the wealthy governing classes, who -permitted the conditions of work to be made inhuman, and yet trampled on -the one flower the people had plucked from their desolation--the joy of -union and fellowship; who allowed a system of casual labour to become -established, and then prated about the bad habits and irregularity which -were the results of their own folly. - -Organised society had hardly begun to understand the needs and -implications of the industrial revolution until quite late in the -nineteenth century, and the failure of statesmanlike foresight has been -especially disastrous to women, because of their closer relationship to -the family. There is no economic necessity under present circumstances for -women to work so long, so hard, and for such low wages as they do; on the -contrary, we know now that it is bad economy that they should be so -employed. But the subordinate position of the girl and the woman in the -family, the lack of a tradition of association with her fellows, has -reacted unfavourably on her economic capacity in the world of competitive -trade. She is preponderantly an immature worker; she expects, quite -reasonably, humanly and naturally, to marry. Whether her expectation is or -is not destined to be fulfilled, it constitutes an element of impermanence -in her occupational career which reacts unfavourably on her earnings and -conditions of employment. - -The tradition of obedience, docility and isolation in the family make it -hard for the young girl-worker to assert her claims effectively; both her -ignorance and her tradition of modesty make it difficult for her to voice -the requirements of decent living, some of the most essential of which are -taboo--not to be spoken of to a social superior or an individual of the -opposite sex. The whole circumstances of her life make her employment an -uncertain matter, contingent upon all sorts of outside circumstances, -which have little or nothing to do with her own industrial capacity. In -youth, marriage may at any time take her out of the economic struggle and -render wage-earning superfluous and unnecessary. On the other hand, the -sudden pressure of necessity, bereavement, or sickness or unemployment of -husband or bread-winning relative, may throw a woman unexpectedly on the -labour market. It is a special feature of women's employment that, unlike -the work of men, who for the most part have to labour from early youth to -some more or less advanced age, women's work is subject to considerable -interruption, and is contingent on family circumstances, whence it comes -about that women may not always need paid work, but when they do they -often want it so badly that they are ready to take anything they can get. -The woman worker also is more susceptible to class influences than are her -male social equals, and charity and philanthropy often tend in some degree -to corrupt the loyalty and divert the interest of working women from their -own class. These are some of the reasons why associations for mutual -protection and assistance have been so slow in making way among women -workers. - -The protection of the State, though valuable as far as it goes, has been -inadequate: how inadequate can be seen in the Reports of the Women Factory -Inspectors, who, in spite of their insufficient numbers, take so large a -share in the administration of the Factory Act. Their Reports, however, do -not reach a large circle. The Insurance Act has been the means of a more -startling propaganda. The results following the working of this Act shew -that although women are longer lived than men, they have considerably more -sickness. The claims of women for sick benefit had been underestimated, -and many local insurance societies became nearly insolvent in consequence. -A cry of malingering was raised in various quarters, and we were asked to -believe that excessive claims could be prevented by stricter and more -careful administration. This solution of the problem, however, is quite -inadequate to explain the facts. There may have been some malingering, but -it has occurred chiefly in cases where the earnings of the workers were so -low as to be scarcely above the sickness benefit provided by the Act, or -even below it. In other cases the excess claims were due to the fact that -medical advice and treatment was a luxury the women had previously been -unable to afford even when they greatly needed it; or to the fact that -they had previously continued to go to work when unfit for the exertion, -and now at last found themselves able to afford a few days' rest and -nursing; or, finally, to the unhealthy conditions in which they were -compelled to live and work. As Miss Macarthur stated before the -Departmental Committee on Sickness Benefit Claims, "Low wages, and all -that low wages involve in the way of poor food, poor housing, insufficient -warmth, lack of rest and of air, and so forth, necessarily predispose to -disease; and although such persons may, at the time of entering into -insurance, have been, so far as they knew, in a perfectly normal state of -health, their normal state is one with no reserve of health and strength -to resist disease." Excessive claims may or may not, the witness went on -to show, be associated with extremely low wages. Thus the cotton trade, -which is the best paid of any great industry largely employing women, -nevertheless shows a high proportion of claims. Miss Macarthur made an -urgent recommendation (in which the present writer begs to concur), that -when any sweeping accusation of malingering is brought against a class of -insured persons, medical enquiry should be made into the conditions under -which those women work. If the conditions that produce excessive claims -were once clearly known and realised, it is the convinced opinion of the -present writer that those conditions would be changed by the pressure of -public opinion, not so much out of sentiment or pity--though sentiment and -pity are badly needed--but out of a clear perception of the senseless -folly and loss that are involved in the present state of things. Year by -year, and week by week, the capitalist system is allowed to use up the -lives of our women and girls, taking toll of their health and strength, of -their nerves and energy, of their capacity, their future, and the future -of their children after them. And all this, not for any purpose; not as it -is with the soldier, who dies that something greater than himself may -live; for no purpose whatever, except perhaps saving the trouble of -thought. So far as wealth is the object of work, it is practically certain -that the national wealth, or indeed the output of war material, would be -much greater if it were produced under more humane and more reasonable -conditions, with a scientific disposition of hours of work and the use of -appropriate means for keeping up the workers' health and strength. A -preliminary and most important step, it should be said, would be a -considerable reinforcement of the staff of women factory inspectors. - -Nor do conditions of work alone make up the burden of the heavy debt -against society for the treatment of women workers. Housing conditions, -though no doubt greatly improved, especially in towns, are often extremely -bad, and largely responsible for the permanent ill-health suffered by so -many married women in the working class, by the non-wage-earning group, -perhaps not much less than by the industrial woman-worker.[2] Two other -questions occur in this connection, both of great importance. First, the -question of the relation of the employment of the young girl to her health -after marriage--a subject which appears to have received little scientific -attention. Only a minority of women are employed at any one time, but a -large majority of young girls are employed, and it follows that the -majority of older women _must have been employed_ in those critical years -of girlhood and young womanhood, which have so great an influence on the -constitution and character for the future. The conditions and kind of -employment from this point of view would afford material for a volume in -itself, but the subject needs medical knowledge for its satisfactory -handling, and a laywoman can but indicate it and pass on. Second, the need -of making medical advice and treatment more accessible. This would involve -the removal of restrictions and obstacles which, however necessary under a -scheme of Health Insurance, appear in practice to rob that scheme of at -least half its right to be considered as a National Provision for the -health of women.[3] - -It will appear in the following pages that I see little reason to believe -in any decline and fall of women from a golden age in which they did only -work which was "suitable," and that in the bosoms of their families. The -records of the domestic system that have come down to us are no doubt -picturesque enough, but the cases which have been preserved in history or -fiction were probably the aristocracy of industry, under which were the -very poor, of whom we know little. There must also have been a class of -single women wage-earners who were probably even more easy to exploit in -old times than they are now, the opportunities for domestic service being -much more limited and worse paid. The working woman does not appear to me -to be sliding downwards into the "chaos of low-class industries," rather -is she painfully, though perhaps for the most part unconsciously, working -her way upwards out of a more or less servile condition of poverty and -ignorance into a relatively civilised state, existing at present in a -merely rudimentary form. She has attained at least to the position of -earning her own living and controlling her own earnings, such as they are. -She has statutory rights against her employer, and a certain measure of -administrative protection in enforcing them. The right to a living wage, -fair conditions of work, and a voice in the collective control over -industry are not yet fully recognised, but are being claimed more and more -articulately, and can less and less be silenced and put aside. The woman -wage-earner indeed appears in many ways socially in advance of the middle -and upper class woman, who is still so often economically a mere parasite. -Woman's work may still be chaotic, but the chaos, we venture to hope, -indicates the throes of a new social birth, not the disintegration of -decay. - -Among much that is sad, tragic and disgraceful in the industrial -exploitation of women, there is emerging this fact, fraught with deepest -consolation: the woman herself is beginning to think. Nothing else at long -last can really help her; nothing else can save us all. There are now an -increasing number of women workers who do not sink their whole energies in -the petty and personal, or restrict their aims to the earning and -spending what they need for themselves and those more or less dependent on -them. They are able to appreciate the newer wants of society, the claim -for more leisure and amenity of life, for a share in the heritage of -England's thought and achievements, for better social care of children, -for the development of a finer and deeper communal consciousness. This is -the new spirit that is beginning to dawn in women. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -SKETCH OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN ENGLAND BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL -REVOLUTION. - - -The traces of women in economic and industrial history are unmistakable, -but the record of their work is so scattered, casual, and incoherent that -it is difficult to derive a connected story therefrom. We know enough, -however, to disprove the old misconception that women's industrial work is -a phenomenon beginning with the nineteenth century. - -It seems indeed not unlikely that textile industry, perhaps also -agriculture and the taming of the smaller domestic animals, were -originated by women, their dawning intelligence being stimulated to -activity by the needs of children. Professor Karl Pearson in his -interesting essay, _Woman as Witch_, shows that many of the folklore -ceremonies connected with witchcraft associate the witch with symbols of -agriculture, the pitchfork, and the plough, as well as with the broom and -spindle, and are probably the fossil survivals, from a remote past, of a -culture in which the activities of the women were relatively more -prominent than they are now. The witch is a degraded form of the old -priestess, cunning in the knowledge of herbs and medicine, and preserving -in spells and incantations such wisdom as early civilisation possessed. In -Thüringen, Holda or Holla is a goddess of spinning and punishes idle -persons. Only a century ago the women used to sing songs to Holla as they -dressed their flax. In Swabia a broom is carried in procession on Twelfth -Night, in honour of the goddess Berchta. The "wild women" or spirits -associated with wells or springs are frequently represented in legends as -spinning; they come to weddings and spin, and their worship is closely -connected with the distaff as a symbol. - -Women are also the first architects; the hut in widely different parts of -the world--among Kaffirs, Fuegians, Polynesians, Kamtchatdals--is built by -women. Women are everywhere the primitive agriculturists, and work in the -fields of Europe to-day. Women seem to have originated pottery, while men -usually ornamented and improved it. Woman "was at first, and is now, the -universal cook, preserving food from decomposition and doubling the -longevity of man. Of the bones at last she fabricates her needles and -charms.... From the grasses around her cabin she constructs the floor-mat, -the mattress and the screen, the wallet, the sail. She is the mother of -all spinners, weavers, upholsterers, sail-makers." - -The evidence of anthropology thus hardly bears out the assertion -frequently made (recently, _e.g._, by Dr. Lionel Tayler in _The Nature of -Woman_) that woman does not originate. A much more telling demonstration -of the superiority of man in handicraft would be to show that when he -takes over a woman's idea he usually brings it to greater technical -perfection than she has done. "Men, liberated more or less from the tasks -of hunting and fighting, gradually took up the occupations of women, -specialised them and developed them in an extraordinary degree.... -Maternity favours an undifferentiated condition of the various avocations -that are grouped around it; it is possible that habits of war produced a -sense of the advantages of specialised and subordinated work. In any case -the fact itself is undoubted and it has had immense results on -civilisation." - -Man has infinitely surpassed woman in technical skill, scientific -adaptation, and fertility of invention; yet the rude beginnings of culture -and civilisation, of the crafts that have so largely made us what we are, -were probably due to the effort and initiative of primitive woman, engaged -in a hand-to-hand struggle with the rude and hostile forces of her -environment, to satisfy the needs of her offspring and herself. - -I do not propose, however, to enter into a discussion of the position of -primitive woman, alluring as such a task might be from some points of -view. When we come to times nearer our own and of which written record -survives, it is remarkable that the further back we go the more completely -women appear to be in possession of textile industry. The materials are -disappointing: there is little that can serve to explain fully the -industrial position of women or to make us realise the conditions of their -employment. But as to the fact there can be no doubt. Nor can it be -questioned that women were largely employed in other industries also. The -women of the industrial classes have always worked, and worked hard. It is -only in quite modern times, so far as I can discover, that the question, -whether some kinds of work were not too hard for women, has been raised at -all. - -_Servants in Husbandry._--It is quite plain that women have always done a -large share of field work. The Statute of Labourers, 23 Edw. III. 1349, -imposed upon women equally with men the obligation of giving service when -required, unless they were over sixty, exercised a craft or trade, or were -possessed of means or land of their own, or already engaged in service, -and also of taking only such wages as had been given previous to the Black -Death and the resulting scarcity of labour. In 1388, the statute 12 -Richard II. c. 3, 4 and 5, forbids any servant, man or woman, to depart -out of the place in which he or she is employed, at the end of the year's -service, without a letter patent, and limits a woman labourer's wages to -six shillings per annum. It also enacts that "he or she which use to -labour at the plough" shall continue at the same work and not be put to a -"mystery or handicraft." In 1444 the statute 23 Henry VI. c. 13 fixes the -wages of a woman servant in husbandry at ten shillings per annum with -clothing worth four shillings and food. In harvest a woman labourer was to -have two pence a day and food, "and such as be worthy of less shall take -less." - -Thorold Rogers says that in the thirteenth century women were employed in -outdoor work, and especially as assistants to thatchers. He thinks that, -"estimated proportionately, their services were not badly paid," but that, -allowing for the different value of money, women got about as much for -outdoor work as women employed on farms get now. After the Plague, -however, the wages paid women as thatchers' helps were doubled, and before -the end of the fifteenth century were increased by 125 per cent. A statute -of 1495 fixed the wages of women labourers and other labourers at the same -amount, viz. 2-1/2d. a day, or 4-1/2d. if without board. At a later -period, 1546-1582, according to Thorold Rogers, some accounts of harvest -work from Oxford show women paid the same as men. - -In the sixteenth century the Statute of Apprentices, 5 Eliz. c. 4, gave -power to justices to compel women between twelve years old and forty to be -retained and serve by the year, week, or day, "for such wages and in such -reasonable sort and manner as they shall think meet," and a woman who -refused thus to serve might be imprisoned. - -_Textiles. Wool and Linen._--No trace remains in history of the inventor -of the loom, but no historical record remains of a time without some means -of producing a texture by means of intertwining a loose thread across a -fixed warp. Any such device, however rude, must involve a degree of -culture much above mere savagery, and probably resulted from a long -process of groping effort and invention. From this dim background -hand-spinning and weaving emerge in tradition and history as the customary -work of women, the type of their activity, and the norm of their duty and -morals. The old Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, and German words for loom are -certainly very ancient, and Pictet derives the word _wife_ from the -occupation of weaving. In the Northern Mythology the three stars in the -Belt of Orion were called Frigga Rock, or Frigga's Distaff, which in the -days of Christianity was changed to Maria Rock, rock being an old word for -distaff. - -Spinning, weaving, dyeing, and embroidering were special features of -Anglo-Saxon industry, and were entirely confined to women. King Alfred in -his will distinguished between the spear-half and spindle-half of his -family; and in an old illustration of the Scripture, Adam is shown -receiving the spade and Eve the distaff, after their expulsion from the -Garden of Eden. This traditional distinction between the duties of the -sexes was continued even to the grave, a spear or a spindle, according to -sex, being often found buried with the dead in Anglo-Saxon tombs. - -In the Church of East Meon, Hants, there is a curious old font with a -sculptured representation of the same incident: Eve, it has been observed, -stalks away with head erect, plying her spindle and distaff, while Adam, -receiving a spade from the Angel, looks submissive and abased. - -In an old play entitled _Corpus Christi_, formerly performed before the -Grey or Franciscan Friars, Adam is made to say to Eve: - - And wyff, to spinne now must thou fynde - Our naked bodyes in cloth to wynde. - -The distaff or rock could on occasion serve the purpose of a weapon of -offence or defence. In the _Digby Mysteries_ a woman brandishes her -distaff, exclaiming: - - What! shall a woman with a Rocke drive thee away! - -In the _Winter's Tale_ Hermione exclaims: - - We'll thwack him thence with distaffs (Act I., Sc. ii.). - -Spinning and weaving were in old times regarded as specially virtuous -occupations. Deloney quotes an old song which brings out this idea with -much _naïveté_: - - Had Helen then sat carding wool, - Whose beauteous face did breed such strife, - She had not been Sir Paris' trull - Nor cause so many lose their life. - Or had King Priam's wanton son - Been making quills with sweet content - He had not then his friends undone - When he to Greece a-gadding went. - The cedar trees endure more storms - Than little shrubs that sprout on hie, - The weaver lives more void of harm - Than princes of great dignity. - -There is also a little French poem quoted and translated by Wright, which -runs thus: - - Much ought woman to be held dear, - By her is everybody clothed. - Well know I that woman spins and manufactures - The cloths with which we dress and cover ourselves, - And gold tissues, and cloth of silk; - And therefore say I, wherever I may be, - To all who shall hear this story, - That they say no ill of womankind. - -Spinning and weaving, as ordinarily carried on in the mediaeval home, -were, Mr. Andrews thinks, backward, wasteful, and comparatively unskilled -in technique. It is uncertain exactly at what period the spinning-wheel -came into existence--certainly before the sixteenth century, and it may be -a good deal earlier; but doubtless the use of the distaff lingered on in -country places and among older-fashioned people long after the wheel was -in use in the centres of the trades. Thus Aubrey speaks of nuns using -wheels, and adds, "In the old time they used to spin with rocks; in -Somersetshire they use them still." Yet weaving among the Anglo-Saxons had -been carried to a considerable degree of excellence in the cities and -monasteries. Mr. Warden says that even before the end of the seventh -century the art of weaving had attained remarkable perfection in England, -and he quotes from a book by Bishop Aldhelm, written about 680, describing -"webs woven with shuttles, filled with threads of purple and many other -colours, flying from side to side, and forming a variety of figures and -images in different compartments with admirable art." These beautiful -handiworks were executed by ladies of high rank and great piety, and were -designed for ornaments to the churches or for vestments to the clergy. St. -Theodore of Canterbury thought it necessary to forbid women to work on -Sunday either in weaving or cleaning the vestments or sewing them, or in -carding wool, or beating flax, or in washing garments, or in shearing the -sheep, or in any such occupations. - -Tapestry, cloth of gold, and other woven fabrics of great beauty and -fineness, besides embroidery, were produced in convents, which in the -Middle Ages were the chief centres of culture for women. So much was this -the case indeed, that the spiritual advisers of the nuns at times became -uneasy, and exhorted them to give more time to devotion and less to -weaving and knitting "vainglorious garments of many colours." In that -curious book of advice to nuns, the _Ancren Riwle_, composed in the -twelfth century, the writer showed the same spirit, and opposed the making -of purses and other articles of silk with ornamental work. He also -dissuaded women from trafficking with the products of the conventual -estates. These injunctions seem to indicate that women were showing some -degree of mental and artistic activity and initiative. Royal ladies worked -at spinning and weaving, and Piers Plowman tells the lovely ladies who -asked him for work, to spin wool and flax, make cloth for the poor and -naked, and teach their daughters to do the same. - -It is evident from old accounts that a good deal of weaving was done -outside by the piece for these great households, and of course spinning -and weaving were largely carried on in cottages as a bye-industry in -conjunction with agriculture. Bücher gives a very interesting account of -spinning as an opportunity for social intercourse among primitive peoples. -In Thibet, he says, there is a spinning-room in each village; the young -people, men and girls, meet and spin and smoke together. Spinning in -groups or parties is known to have obtained also in Germany in olden -times, and girls who now meet to make lace together in the same sociable -way still say that they "go spinning." Spinning-rooms exist in Russia. In -Yorkshire spinning seems to have been done socially in the open air, in -fine weather, down to the eve of the industrial revolution. - -Spinning was one of the first works in which young girls were instructed, -and thus spinster has become the legal designation of an unmarried woman, -not that she always gave up spinning at marriage, but because it was -looked upon as the young unmarried woman's chief occupation. Old -manuscripts also show women weaving at the loom, illustrations of which -can be found in the interesting works of Thomas Wright. - -In 1372 a Yorkshire woman spinner was summoned for taking "too much wages, -contrary to the Statute of Artificers." In 1437 John Notyngham, a rich -grocer of Bury St. Edmunds, bequeathed to one of his daughters a -spinning-wheel and a pair of cards (cards or carpayanum, an implement -which is stated in the _Promptorum Parvulorum_ to be especially a woman's -instrument). In 1418 Agnes Stebbard in the same town bequeathed to two of -her maids a pair of wool-combs each, one combing-stick, one wheel, and one -pair of cards. An illuminated MS. of the well-known French _Boccace des -Nobles Femmes_ has a most interesting illustration showing a queen and two -maidens; one maiden is spinning with a distaff, another combing wool, the -queen sits at the loom weaving. Women often appear in old records as -combers, carders, and spinners. Chaucer says rather cynically: - - Deceit, weeping, spinning God hath given - To women kindly, whiles that they may liven. - -And of the wife of Bath: - - Of clothmaking she had such an haunt - She passed them of Ipres and of Gaunt. - -The distaff lingered on for spinning flax. As late as 1757 an English poet -writes: - - And many yet adhere - To the ancient distaff at the bosom fixed, - Casting the whirling spindle as they walk; - At home or in the sheep fold or the mart, - Alike the work proceeds. - -Walter of Henley says: "In March is time to sow flax and hemp, for I have -heard old housewives say that better is March hards than April flax, the -reason appeareth, but how it should be sown, weeded, pulled, repealed, -watered, washen, dried, beaten, braked, tawed, heckled, spun, wound, -wrapped and woven, it needeth not for me to show, for they be wise enough, -and thereof may they make sheets, bordclothes (_sic_), towels, shirts, -smocks, and such other necessaries, and therefore let thy distaff be -always ready for a pastime, that thou be not idle. And undoubted a woman -cannot get her living honestly with spinning on the distaff, but it -stoppeth a gap and must needs be had." Further on, in reference to wool -(probably spun by wheel?), he draws the opposite conclusion: "It is -convenient for a husband to have sheep of his own, for many causes, and -then may his wife have part of the wool, to make her husband and herself -some clothes.... And if she have no wool of her own she may take wool to -spin of cloth-makers, and by that means she may have a convenient living, -an many times to do other works." - -Irish women were noted for their skill in dressing hemp and flax and -making linen and woollen cloth. Sir William Temple said, in 1681, that no -women were apter to spin flax well than the Irish, who, "labouring little -in any kind with their hands have their fingers more supple and soft than -other women of poorer condition among us." - -In the old Shuttleworth Accounts, reprinted by the Chetham Society, there -are minute directions to the housewife on the management and manipulation -of her wool. "It is the office of a husbandman at the shearing of the -sheep to bestow upon the housewife such a competent proportion of wool as -shall be convenient for the clothing of his family; which wool, as soon as -she hath received it, she shall open, and with a pair of shears cut away -all the coarse locks, pitch, brands, tarred locks, and other feltrings, -and lay them by themselves for coarse coverlets and the like. The rest she -is to break in pieces and tease, lock by lock, with her hands open, and so -divide the wool as not any part may be feltered or close together, but all -open and loose. Then such of the wool as she intends to spin white she -shall put by itself and the rest she shall weigh up and divide into -several quantities, according to the proportion of the web she intends to -make, and put every one of them into particular lays of netting, with -tallies of wool fixed into them with privy marks thereon, for the weight, -colour, and knowledge of the wool, when the first colour is altered. Then -she shall if she please send them to the dyer to be dyed after her own -fancy," or dye them herself (recipes for which are given). - -"After your wool is mixed, oiled and trimmed (carded), you shall then spin -it upon great wool wheels, according to the order of good housewifery; the -action whereof must be got by practice, and not by relation; only this you -shall be carefull, to draw your thread according to nature and goodness of -your wool, not according to your particular desire; for if you draw a fine -thread from wool which is of a coarse staple, it will want substance ... -so, if you draw a coarse thread from fine wool, it will then be much -overthick ... to the disgrace of good housewifery and loss of much cloth." - -_Weaving and Spinning as a Woman's Trade._--The employments carried on by -women in the household may have yielded money occasionally, as we have -seen from some of the foregoing quotations, but the work appears in these -excerpts to have been carried on rather as a bye-industry, as a means of -utilising surplus produce, than as a recognised trade for gain or profit. -Did women carry on the manufacture of woollen goods definitely as a craft -or trade? The evidence on this head is not very clear. A statute of Edward -III.[4] expressly exempts women from the ordinance, then in force, that -men should not follow more than one craft. "It is ordained that Artificers -Handicraft people hold them every one to one Mystery, which he will choose -between this and the said feast of Candlemas; and Two of every craft shall -be chosen to survey, that none use other craft than the same which he -hath chosen.... But the intent of the King and of his Council is, that -Women, that is to say, Brewers, Bakers, Carders and Spinners, and Workers -as well of Wool as of Linen Cloth and of Silk, Brawdesters and Breakers of -Wool and all other that do use and work all Handy Works may freely use and -work as they have done before this time, without any impeachment or being -restrained by this Ordinance." The meaning of this ordinance is rather -obscure, but the greater liberty conferred on women would seem to imply -that they were not carrying on the trades mentioned as organised workers -competing with men, but that they performed the various useful works -mentioned at odd times, incidentally to the work of the household. Miss -Abram says women were sometimes cloth-makers (see 4 Edw. IV. c. 1), and -often women cloth-makers, combers, carders, and spinners are mentioned in -the Parliamentary Rolls. There were women amongst the tailors of -Salisbury, and amongst the yeoman tailors of London, also among the dyers -of Bristol and the drapers of London. Women might join the Merchant Gild -of Totnes, and some belonged to the Gild Merchant of Lyons. - -There appear to have been women members of the Weavers' Company of London -in Henry VIII.'s time. Again at Bristol, in documents dating from the -fourteenth century, we find mention of the "brethren and sistern" of the -Weavers' Gild. - -In the next century, in the first year of Edward IV., complaint was, -however, made that many able-bodied weavers were out of work, in -consequence of the employment of women at the weaver's craft, both at home -and hired out. It was ordered that henceforward any one setting, putting, -or hiring his wife, daughter, or maid "to such occupation of weaving in -the loom with himself or with any other person of the said craft, within -the said town of Bristol" should upon proof be fined 6s. 8d., half to go -to the Chamber of Bristol and half to the Craft. This regulation was not, -however, to apply to any weaver's wife so employed at the time it was -made, but the said woman might continue to work at the loom as before. - -Professor Unwin quotes a rule of the Clothworkers of London, in the second -year of Edward VI., imposing a fine of 20 pence on any member employing -even his own wife and daughter in his shop. At Hull, in 1490, women were -forbidden working at the weaver's trade. But in 1564 the proviso was -introduced that a widow might work at her husband's trade so long as she -continued a widow and observed the orders of the company. The London -Weavers clearly recognised women members, for they enacted that "no man or -woman of the said craft shall entice any man's servant from him." But -another rule prohibited taking a woman as apprentice. The statutes of the -Weavers of Edinburgh in the sixteenth century provided that no woman be -allowed to have looms of her own, _unless_ she be a freeman's wife. -Probably it was felt in practice to be impossible to prevent a woman -helping her husband, or carrying on his trade after his death, although -there was evidently a desire to keep women out of the craft as much as -possible. By the seventeenth century Gervase Markham writes as if women -did no weaving at all. "Now after your cloth is thus warped and delivered -up into the hands of the Weaver, the Housewife hath finished her labour, -for in the weaving, walking, and dressing thereof she can challenge no -property more than to entreat them severally to discharge their duties -with a good conscience." At Norwich, in 1511, the Ordinance of Weavers -forbade women to weave worsted, "for that they be not of sufficient power -to work the same worsteds as they ought to be wrought." - -Records of rates of pay to journeymen weavers, tuckers, fullers, etc., -1651,[5] ignore women as textile workers altogether; the only women -mentioned in this assessment are agricultural workers and domestic -servants. Nevertheless, old accounts of the seventeenth century do show -payments to women, not only for spinning, but for weaving and "walking" -woollen cloth, and we can only conclude that while the progress of -technical improvements had made weaving largely a men's trade, it was yet -also carried on by women to a considerable extent. - -_Apprenticeship._--It seems appropriate here to give some little space to -the subject of apprenticeship. Miss Dunlop points out, in her recent -valuable work on that subject, that the opposition of some of the gilds to -women's work was not hostility to women as women, so much as distrust of -the untrained, unqualified worker. "At Salisbury the barber-surgeons -agitated against unskilled women who medelled in the trade." "In the -Girdlers' Company the officers forbade their members to employ foreigners -and maids, not out of any animosity to the women, but because unscrupulous -workmen had been underselling their fellows by employing cheap labour." At -Hull, as we have seen, the employment of women was forbidden, but so was -the employment of aliens. According to Miss Dunlop, the great difficulty -in the way of women was the onerousness of domestic work, which prevented -girls undertaking apprenticeship to a skilled craft. It appears that women -and girls were largely employed as assistants to the husband or father, -and that the requirement of apprenticeship by the Elizabethan Statute did -not check the practice, as it was so widespread and so convenient that the -law was difficult to enforce. It is exceptional, Miss Dunlop remarks, to -find a gild forbidding the practice, and in point of fact, the services of -his wife and daughter were usually the only cheap casual labour a man -could get. Apprentice labour was cheap, but could not be obtained for -short periods at a sudden pressure. "Girl labour, therefore, had a -peculiar value, and we may suppose that more girls worked at crafts and -manufactures than would have been the case if they had been obliged to -serve an apprenticeship." There was no systematic training and technical -teaching of girls as there was of boys, though in some cases they were -apprenticed and served their time, and in others, though unapprenticed, -they may have been as carefully taught. "But apprenticeship played no part -in the life of girls as a whole: they missed the general education which -it afforded, and their training tended to be casual and irregular": on the -other hand, their lives gained something in variety from the change of -passing from household to industrial work and _vice versa_. The system -must, however, have tended to keep women in an inferior and subordinate -position. "For although they worked hard and the total amount of their -labour has contributed largely to our industrial development, it was only -exceptionally that they attained to the standing of employers and -industrial leaders." The exceptions are rather interesting; it is evident -that London was broad-minded in its delimitation of the woman's sphere of -activity and there were many instances of girls being apprenticed. - -There were also women who, though unapprenticed, had the right of working -on their own account, and this, though never very common, was not so -unusual as to arouse comment or surprise. These were mostly widows who -carried on the work of their deceased husbands; others were the daughters -of freemen who claimed as such to be admitted to the gild or company, -basing their claims on rights of patrimony. This taking up of independent -work by no means implied that the women had themselves served -apprenticeship in youth; it seems merely to have meant the inheritance of -the goodwill and privileges along with the craftsman's shop. In the -Carpenters' Company Mary Wiltshire and Ann Callcutt took up their freedom -by right of patrimony, and there are other instances. - -_The Development of Capitalistic Industry._--The growth and development of -a capitalistic system of industry can be traced from the fifteenth -century, and forms one of the most interesting and dramatic episodes in -economic history. It is, however, not very easy to determine in what way -the change influenced women's employment. The more prosperous among the -weavers gradually developed into clothiers, employing many hands, but the -majority tended to become mere wage-earners. A petition of weavers in 1539 -stated that the clothiers had their own looms and weavers and fullers in -their own houses, so that the master weavers were rendered destitute. "For -the rich men the clothiers be concluded and agreed among themselves to -hold and pay one price for weaving, which price is too little to sustain -households upon, working night and day, holy-day and work-day, and many -weavers are therefore reduced to the position of servants." The Petition -of Suffolk Clothiers, 1575, says that the custom of their country is "to -carry our wool out ... and put it to sundry spinners who have in their -houses divers and sundry children and servants that do card and spin the -same wool." In the north of England also large clothiers employing many -hands were to be found as early as 1520. The subsequent development of the -industry, Professor Unwin tells us, took place in a very marked degree in -those districts which were exempt from the operation of the statutes -forbidding clothiers to set up outside market-towns. In other parts of the -country the struggle was acute. "The protection of industry from all -competition was the first and last word of the crafts. To employers and -dealers the monopoly of trade chiefly meant their own monopoly of -production and sale, while the wage-earner's predominant anxiety was to -keep surplus labour out of the craft, lest the regular worker might be -deprived of his comfortable certainty of subsistence." - -There was, however, a great expansion of trade and industry going on, and -labour was needed. The master who had accumulated a little capital perhaps -moved out to the valleys of Yorkshire or Gloucestershire in search of -water-power for his fulling mills or finer wool for his weavers, or -forsook the manufacturing town for some rural district where labour was -plentiful and he could escape the heavy municipal dues which his business -could ill afford to pay. The ordinances of Worcester, for instance, -contain regulations intended to prevent the masters giving out wool to the -weavers in other parts so long as there were people enough in the city to -do the work, "in the hindering of the poor commonalty of the same." - -The struggle between these two forms of industry, the craft carried on in -the towns and the dispersed industry under a more definitely capitalistic -organisation in the country, went on for centuries. From the earliest -years of the reign of Henry VIII. to the accession of Elizabeth, a -constantly increasing amount of legislation was devoted to the protection -of the town manufacture against the competition of the country. This -legislation was interpreted by Froude as a genuine endeavour to protect a -highly skilled, highly organised industry of independent craftsmen against -the evils of capitalism, but the closer researches of Professor Unwin show -that this is idealism; the craftsmen were merely pawns in the hands of -town merchants who dreaded to see some of the trade pass into the hands of -a new class of country capitalists. This is an historical controversy too -difficult to follow closely here; what we have to note is the part played -by women in the change. - -We may as well admit that women's work during this industrial transition -appears mostly as part of the problem of cheap unorganised labour. "The -spinners seem never to have had any organisation, and were liable to -oppression by their employers, not only through low wages, but through -payment in kind, and the exaction of arbitrary fines." Irregularity of -employment was another trouble: in the play of _King Henry VIII._ the -clothiers were shown making increased taxation a pretext for dismissing -hands. - - The clothiers all, not able to maintain - The many to them 'longing, have put off - The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers. - -To compensate their masters' greed and extortion they had recourse to -petty dishonesties on their own part, and were frequently accused of -keeping back part of the wool given out, or of making up the weight by the -addition of oil or other moisture to the yarn. In 1593 a Bill was -presented to Parliament which imposed penalties on frauds in spinning and -weaving, but also pointed out that the workers were partly driven to fraud -"for lack of sufficient wages and allowance," and proposed to raise the -wages of spinners and weavers by one-third.[6] This Bill (which may be -regarded as a kind of ancestor of Mr. Winston Churchill's Trade Boards -Act, 1909) failed to pass. - -In the seventeenth century the rates of spinners' wages appear very low, -even measured by contemporary standards. Mr. Hamilton has reproduced the -wages assessed at Quarter Sessions by the Justices of Exeter in 1654. -Weavers were to have 2-1/2d. a day with food or 8d. without. It is -difficult to guess whether these weavers were supposed to be men or women; -the rates fixed are less than those for husbandry labourers (which were -fixed at 3d. and 10d.), but rather more than those for women haymakers, -which were 2d. and 6d. Spinsters, however, were to have "not above" 6d. a -week with food or 1s. 4d. without. In 1713 at the same place spinsters -were to have not above 1s. a week, or 2s. 6d. if without board, which -again compares very unfavourably with the other rates mentioned. It is -difficult to understand the extreme lowness of these rates of pay to -spinsters, unless on the assumption that they were intended to apply to -servants actually living and working in the clothiers' houses; or that -spinning was supposed not to occupy a woman's whole time, which no doubt -was often the case. But the rates fixed on that assumption should of -course have been piece rates. Altogether Mr. Hamilton's research here -raises more questions than it can settle. - -No doubt the Poor Law helped in some degree to depress wages, for another -form taken by this many-sided industry of wool was that of relief work -under the Poor Law. Spinning was the main resource of those whose duty -under the Poor Law was to find work for the unemployed, and in -institutions such as Christ's Hospital, Ipswich, children were set to card -and spin from their earliest years. Such instances might be multiplied -indefinitely. A charitable workhouse in Bishopsgate used to give out wool -and flax every Monday morning to be spun at home to "such poor people as -desire it and are skilful in spinning thereof."[7] Nevertheless we do -occasionally get glimpses of women as an important factor in industry. For -instance, in Edward VI.'s time, there had been an attempt to require -clothiers to be apprenticed. This law was repealed in the first year of -Queen Mary, with the remark that "the perfect and principal ground of -cloth making is the true sorting of wools, and the experience thereof -consisteth only in women, as clothiers' wives and their women servants and -not in apprentices." - -A still more remarkable development of female employment, perhaps, was the -beginning of the factory system in the sixteenth century. These were -chiefly in the west of England industry, and in Wiltshire. Leland in his -_Itinerary_ mentions a man called Stumpe who had actually taken possession -of the ancient Abbey of Malmesbury and filled it with looms, employing -many hands. A still more celebrated instance was the factory of John -Winchcomb, a prudent man who married his master's widow and had a fine -business at Newbury, described in a ballad which shows him employing 200 -men weaving, each with a boy helper, and 100 women carding wool: - - And in a chamber close beside - Two hundred maydens did abide - In petticoats of stammel red - And milk-white kerchiefs on their head. - - * * * * * - - These pretty maids did never lin - But in that place all day did spin. - -In 1567 the Weaver's Gild of Bristol prohibited its members from -underselling one another in the prices of their work, and also forbade -them to allow their wives to go for any work to clothiers' houses, which -at least implies that there was some demand for their labour. Now, -although the growth of capital may have seriously affected the position of -the male craftsmen, as Professor Unwin tells us, and reduced them to be -mere wage-earners, it seems not impossible that the economic position of -women may have been improved by the opportunity of work for wages outside -the home. Women had worked for the use and consumption of their own -households, and, as wives of craftsmen, they had worked as helpers with -their husbands. The new organisation of work by a capitalist employer -opened up the possibility to women and girls of earning wages for -themselves. The additional earnings of wife and children even if very -small make a great difference in the comfort of a labourer's family. It is -likely enough, indeed it is evident that their work was often grievously -exploited, and the reduction of the craftsman to the position of a mere -wage-earner may have diminished the spending power of the family. Of all -this we know little or nothing definitely, but it seems probable that the -supersession of handicraft by a quasi-capitalistic form of organisation -affected women less adversely than men. In the eighteenth century, the -palmy days of the domestic system, some women in the industrial centres -were earning what were considered very good wages. Arthur Young says of -the cloth trade round Leeds: "Some women earn by weaving as much as the -men." Of Norwich he says: "The earnings of manufacturers (_i.e._ -hand-workers) are various, but in general high," the men on an average -earning 5s. a week, and many women earning as much.[8] - -It must be also remembered that each weaver kept several spinners -employed, so that unless his family could supply him, he might easily be -forced to have recourse to the services of women workers outside. Mr. -Townsend Warner quotes an estimate that 25 weavers might require the -services of 250 spinners to keep them fully supplied with yarn. - -Mantoux thinks this excessive, though it has to be remembered, as Mr. -Townsend Warner points out, that the spinners usually did not give their -whole time. Again, the description of the organisation of the trade, end -of eighteenth century, quoted by Bonwick, conveys the impression that -women, in some cases at all events, were taking a responsible part. - - I went to York, to buy wool, and at that time it averaged about 1s. - per pound. I then came home, sorted and combed it myself. After being - combed, it was oiled and closed, that is, the long end of the wool and - the short end were put together to form a skein. It took a number of - skeins to make a top, each top making exactly a pound. Then I took it - to hand-spinners 20 or 30 miles distant. The mother or head of the - family plucked the tops into pieces the length of the wool, and gave - it to the different branches of the family to spin, who could spin - about 9 or 10 hanks per day; for the spinning I gave one half penny - per hank, and sometimes 1/2d. for every 24 hanks over. - -Another interesting account is given by Bamford: - - Farms were most cultivated for the production of milk, butter and - cheese.... The farming was mostly of that kind which was soonest and - most easily performed, and it was done by the husband and other males - of the family, whilst the wife and daughters and maid servants, if - there were any of the latter, attended to the churning, cheese-making, - and household work, and when that was finished, they busied themselves - in carding, slubbing, and spinning of wool and cotton, as well as - forming it into warps for the loom. The husband and sons would next, - at times when farm labour did not call them abroad, size the warp, dry - it, and beam it in the loom, and either they or the females, whichever - happened to be least otherwise employed, would weave the warp down. A - farmer would generally have 3 or 4 looms in his house. - -Of course it is not to be inferred that the women thus employed were -always free to control or spend their own earnings; in law they -undoubtedly were not, if married. The domestic system so picturesquely -described by Defoe (in his _Tour_), under which the family worked -together, each, from the oldest to the youngest, doing his or her part, no -doubt often involved a quite patriarchal distribution and control of the -resulting earnings. Still the mention of women as separate and individual -earners that occurs often in eighteenth-century works on the subject must -indicate that they were attaining a greater measure of individual -recognition and self-determination than formerly.[9] - -It is interesting also to notice that the cloth industry was sometimes -carried on socially in the eighteenth century. Bradford Dale was covered -with weavers and spinners, and the women and children of Allerton, -Thornton, and other villages in the valley, used to flock on sunny days -with their spinning wheels to some favourite pleasant spot, and work in -company.[10] - -_Frame-Work Knitting._--The frame-work knitting trade has many points of -resemblance with the woollen weaving trade. Hand-knitting, we are told by -Felkin, was not introduced till the sixteenth century. It became extremely -popular and was pursued by women in every class of life from the palace to -the cottage. A kind of frame or hand-machine was invented in the -seventeenth century by Lee. It is said that Lee invented this machine in a -spirit of revenge and bitterness against a young lady he had fallen in -love with, who was so intent on her knitting that she could never give him -her attention when he made love to her. From watching her at work he -acquired a mastery of the mesh or stitch, and anger at her being so -engrossed with her employment impelled him to make a machine that would -deprive her of her work. - -The frame-work knitters were incorporated under Charles II., and the -company made rather drastic rules, trying to exclude women from -apprenticeship, though they might become members on widowhood, as in so -many of the old guilds. Frame-work knitting also gave employment to women -and children in seaming up the hose. In the eighteenth century the trade -became sweated and underpaid. The hours of work were as much as fifteen a -day. Women, however, were paid at the same rates per piece, and were -subject to the same deductions, and some of them were good hands and could -earn as much as men. - -_Silk._--The broad difference between linen and woollen on the one hand, -and silk and cotton on the other, is that the two former, so ancient that -their origins are lost to history, arose as household industries at the -very early stage of civilisation in which the family is self-sufficient, -or nearly so, providing for its own needs and consumption by the work of -its own members; the two latter, on the contrary, appear chiefly as trades -carried on not for use but for payment, and are also sharply -differentiated from the more ancient industries by the fact that the raw -materials--silk and cotton--are not indigenous to these islands, but have -to be imported. - -In the manufacture of silk, women early appear as independent producers -and manufacturers, for in the fifteenth century they were sufficiently -organised to be able collectively to petition Parliament for measures to -check the importation of ribbons and wrought silk, and on their behalf was -passed an Act (1455) 33 Hen. VI. c. 5, which states that "it is shewed ... -by the grievous complaint of the silk women and spinners of the mystery -and occupation of silk-working, within the city of London, how that divers -Lombards and other strangers, imagining to destroy the said mystery and -all such virtuous occupations of women in the said realm, to enrich -themselves and to increase them and such occupations in other strange -lands, have brought and daily go about to bring into the said realm such -silk so made, wrought, twined, ribbands and chains falsely and deceitfully -wrought, all manner girdels and other things concerning the said mystery -and occupation, in no manner wise bringing any good silk unwrought, as -they were wont to bring heretofore, to the final destruction of the said -mysteries and occupations, unless it be the more hastily remedied by the -King's Majesty." The importation of silk, ribbons, etc., was forthwith -prohibited, and we find similar prohibitions in 3 Edw. IV. c. 3 and c. 4, -22 Edw. IV. c. 3, 1 Rich. III. c. 10, and 1 Hen. VII. c. 9. Henry VII. -dealt with several silk women for ribands, fringes, and so forth, as -recorded in his accounts. A statute of Charles II. 14 Ch. II. c. 15 says -many women in London were employed in working silk. - -The manufacture of silk was introduced into Derbyshire at the beginning of -the eighteenth century. John Lombe's silk mill was the first textile mill -at work in that county. A rather considerable manufacture of piece silks -and silk ribbons and braid grew up in Derby and Glossop, a large -proportion of women and girls being employed. The numbers of operatives in -this industry increased up to the census of 1851 and 1861, when about 6000 -operatives were employed, after which it began to go down, reaching the -low figure of 662 in the county in 1901; in 1911, 442. - -In Macclesfield silk-throwing mills were erected in 1756, the manufacture -of silk goods and mohair buttons having been already carried on for -centuries. The silk throwsters of Macclesfield for many years worked for -Spitalfields and supplied them with thrown silk through the London -manufacturers. In 1776, it is recorded, the wages paid to the millmen and -stewards were 7s. a week, the women doublers 3s. 6d., children 6d. to 1s. -The manufacture of broad silk was established at Macclesfield in 1790. We -know by inference that many women must have been employed, but information -is unfortunately scanty in regard to the social conditions of this trade, -so specially adapted to industrial women. It is evident, however, that -women kept their place in it, for the apprenticeship rules laid before the -Committee on Ribbon Weavers in 1818 expressly included women, both as -apprentices and journeywomen. - -The inherent delicacy of many of the processes, and the fact that silk as -a luxury trade is especially susceptible to changes of fashion, have -retarded the use of machinery and preserved the finer fabrics as an -artistic handicraft. But this, in itself a development to be welcomed, -must also indicate that capital and labour can be more advantageously -employed in the industries that have evolved more fully on modern lines, -for the silk trade is undoubtedly declining in England. - -_Other Industries._--If information respecting the traditional employments -of women in the linen and woollen trades is sparse and unsatisfactory, -much more is it difficult to trace out their conditions in other -industries of a less "womanly" character. Yet even in such callings it is -sufficiently evident that women were employed. Traill's _Social England_ -tells us of women making ropes as early as the thirteenth century. Women -are known to have worked in the Derbyshire lead mines, _temp._ Edward II. -They washed and cleaned the ore at 1d. a day, and were assisted by four -girls at 3/4d. a day, men being employed at the same time at 1-1/2d. a -day. Mr. Lapsley, in his account of a fifteenth-century ironworks, records -that two women, wives of the smith and foreman respectively, performed -miscellaneous tasks, from breaking up the iron-stone to blowing the -bellows. In 1652 a Parliamentary commission found that many of the surface -workers employed in dressing the ore (_i.e._ freeing it from the earth and -spar with which it was mixed) were women and children. An _Account of -Mines_, dated 1707, tells us that vast numbers of poor people at that time -were employed in "working of mines, the very women and children employed -therein, as well as the men, especially in the mines of lead." Women -worked in coal-mining at Winterton, "for lack of men," in 1581, and with -children were employed in the "great coal-works and workhouses" started by -Sir Humphrey Mackworth at Neath. They evidently worked underground, as -several deaths of women in mine explosions are recorded. In 1770 Arthur -Young found women working in lead mines and earning as much as 1s. a day, -a man earning 1s. 3d. - -In Birmingham trades, especially the making of buttons and other small -articles, women were employed as far back as we can find any records. At -Burslem, Young found women working in the potteries, earning 5s. to 8s. a -week. Near Bristol he found women and girls employed in a copper works for -melting copper ore, and making the metal into pins, pans, etc. At -Gloucester he found great numbers of women working in the pin manufacture. -In the Sheffield plated ware trade he found girls working, but does not -mention women. Of the Sheffield trades generally he says that women and -girls earn very good wages, "much more than by spinning wool in any part -of the kingdom." - -It is unfortunate that we have, so far, very little information in regard -to women's work in non-textile trades previous to the industrial -revolution. It is tolerably safe to infer that the above scattered hints -indicate a state of things neither new nor exceptional. There can be -little doubt that women constantly worked in these trades, either -assisting the head of the family, or as a wage-worker for an outside -employer. But we know so little that we cannot attempt to enlarge on the -subject. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -WOMEN AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. - - He! an die Arbeit! - Alle von hinnen! - Hurtig hinab! - Aus den neuen Schachten - schafft mir das Gold! - Euch grüsst die Geissel, - grabt ihr nicht rasch! - Das keiner mir müssig - bürge mir Mime, - sonst birgt er sich schwer - meines Armes Schwunge: - - * * * - - Zögert ihr noch? - Zaudert wohl gar? - Zittre und zage, - gezähmtes Heer! - WAGNER, _Das Rheingold_. - - -The cotton trade is the industry most conspicuously identified with the -series of complex changes that we call the Industrial Revolution. Its -history before that period is comparatively unimportant; we have therefore -left it over from the previous chapter to the present. - -Cottons are mentioned as a Manchester trade in the sixteenth century, but -it seems probable that these were really a coarse kind of woollen stuff, -and not cotton at all. Cotton wool had, it is true, been imported from the -East for some time, but was used only for candle wicks and such small -articles, not for cloth. In the Poor Law of Elizabeth, cotton is not -included among the articles that might be provided by overseers to "set -the poor on work." The first authoritative mention of the cotton -manufacture of Manchester occurs in Lewis Roberts' _Treasure of Traffike_. -It appears from this tract, which was published in 1641, that the Levant -Company used to bring cotton wool to London, which was afterwards taken to -Manchester and worked up into "fustians, vermilions, dimities, and other -such stuffs." The manufacture had therefore become an established fact by -the middle of the seventeenth century, but its growth was not rapid for -some time. Owing to the rudeness of the spinning implements used fine yarn -could not be spun and fine goods could not be woven. In the second quarter -of the eighteenth century, however, Manchester and the cotton manufacture -began to increase very markedly in size and activity, and the resulting -demand for yarn served to stimulate the invention of machinery. "The -weaver was continually pressing upon the spinner. The processes of -spinning and weaving were generally performed in the same cottage, but the -weaver's own family could not supply him with a sufficient quantity of -weft, and he had with much pains to collect it from neighbouring -spinsters. Thus his time was wasted, and he was often subjected to high -demands for an article on which, as the demand exceeded the supply, the -spinner could put her own price." Guest says it was no uncommon thing for -a weaver to walk three or four miles in a morning, and call on five or six -spinners, before he could collect weft to serve him for the remainder of -the day, and when he wished to weave a piece in a shorter time than usual, -a new ribbon or a gown was necessary to quicken the exertions of the -spinner. The difficulty was intensified in 1738 by Kay's invention of the -fly-shuttle, which enabled the weaver to do twice as much work with a -given effort, and consequently of course to use up yarn in a similar -proportion. John Hargreaves, a Blackburn weaver, contrived a spinning -machine which multiplied eightfold the productive power of one spinner, -and was, moreover, simple enough to be worked by a child. Subsequent -developments and improvements were effected by Paul Wyatt and Arkwright, -and the latter being a good business man, unlike some other inventors, -made money out of his ideas. - -The changes effected in rural social life by the industrial revolution are -excellently described by W. Radcliffe. In the year 1770, when Radcliffe -was a boy nine or ten years old, his native township of Mellor, in -Derbyshire, only fourteen miles from Manchester, was occupied by between -fifty and sixty farmers; rents did not usually exceed 10s. per statute -acre, and of these fifty or sixty farmers, there were only six or seven -who paid their rents directly from the produce of their land; all the rest -made it partly in some branch of trade, such as spinning and weaving -woollen, linen, or cotton. The cottagers were employed entirely in this -manner, except at harvest time. The father would earn 8s. to 10s. 6d. at -his loom, and his sons perhaps 6s. or 8s. each per week; but the "great -sheet-anchor of all cottages and small farms," according to Radcliffe, was -the profit on labour at the handwheel. It took six to eight hands to -prepare and spin yarn sufficient to keep one weaver occupied, and a -demand was thus created for the labour of every person, from young -children to the aged, supposing they could see and move their hands. The -better class of cottagers and even small farmers also used spinning to -make up their rents and help support their families respectably. - -From the year 1770 to 1788 a complete change was effected in the textile -trade, cotton being largely used in substitution for wool and linen. The -hand-wheels were mostly thrown into lumber-rooms, and the yarn was all -spun on common jennies. In weaving no great change took place in these -eighteen years, save the increasing use of the fly-shuttle and the change -from woollen and linen to cotton. But the mule twist was introduced about -1788, and the enormous variety of new yarns now in vogue, for the -production of every kind of clothing--from the finest book-muslin or lace -to the heaviest fustian--added to the demand for weaving, and put all -hands in request. The old loom shops being insufficient, every -lumber-room, even old barns, cart-houses, and out-buildings of every -description were repaired, windows having been broken through the old -blank walls, and all were fitted up for weaving. New weavers' cottages -with loom-shops also rose up in every direction, and were immediately -occupied. It is said that families at this period used to bring home 40s., -60s., 80s., 100s., or even 120s. a week. The operative weavers were in a -condition of prosperity never before experienced by them. Every man had a -watch in his pocket, women could dress as they pleased, and as Radcliffe -records, "the church was crowded to excess every Sunday." Handsome -furniture, china, and plated ware, were acquired by these well-to-do -families, and many had a cow and a meadow. - -This prosperity was, however, ephemeral in duration. With the increased -complexity and elaboration of machinery, a change came. The profitableness -of the trade brought in larger capital, and led to the erection of mills, -with water power as the motive force. In such buildings as these machinery -could be set up, and labour could be drilled, organised and subdivided, so -as to produce a far greater return on the invested capital than in the -weavers' shops. These mills were built in places at some distance from -towns, and often in valleys and glens for the sake of water-power; they -were, however, kept as near towns as possible for the sake of markets and -means of transport. The first mills were exclusively devoted to carding -and spinning. The gradual increase of this system soon influenced the -prosperity of the domestic manufacturer--his profits quickly fell, workmen -being readily found to superintend the mill labour at a rate of wages, -high, it is true, but yet comparatively much lower than the recently -inflated value of home labour. The introduction of steam-power -considerably hastened the evolution of the factory industry. - -The power-loom was invented, or rather its invention was initiated, or -suggested, not by a manufacturer, or even by any one conversant with -textile work, but by a Kentish clergyman, named Cartwright. He heard of -Arkwright's spinning machinery in 1784 from some Manchester men whom he -met, apparently quite by chance, at Matlock. One of these remarked that -the machines which had just been perfected would produce so much cotton -that no hands could ever be found to weave it. Cartwright replied that in -that case Arkwright must invent a weaving mill. The Manchester men all -declared this to be impossible, and gave Cartwright all sorts of technical -reasons for their belief. He, however, went home and rapidly thought out a -rude contrivance which he employed a carpenter and smith to make under his -orders, got a weaver to put in a warp, and found that the thing worked, -though in a rough and unwieldy manner. Unfortunately, like so many -inventors, he had little or no business ability. His first factory was a -failure. He made a second attempt, in 1791, and erected considerable -buildings. By this time the weavers were already up in arms. Cartwright -received threatening letters, and the factory was burnt. Nevertheless, the -change was progressing, and where one failed, others were destined to -succeed. Several weaving factories were started in Scotland, at the end of -the century, and in 1803 Horrocks put up some iron automatic looms at -Stockport, which were soon copied in other towns of Lancashire. The -power-loom, however, was still imperfect in detail, and did not come into -general use until about 1833. The downfall of prices in weaving, which for -the workers concerned was as tragic as it was astonishing, can be seen in -a table in "Social and Economic History," _Victoria County History, -Lancashire_, vol. ii. p. 327. Miss Alice Law gives the prices for the -whole series of years 1814-1833; as the work is fairly accessible I -reproduce only samples, which show the trend sufficiently well. - -PRICES FOR WEAVING ONE PIECE OF SECOND OR THIRD 74 CALICO. - - +------------------------------------------------------------------+ - | | 1814. | 1820. | 1821. | 1833. | - |--------------------------|---------|---------|---------|---------| - | |_s._ _d._|_s._ _d._|_s._ _d._|_s._ _d._| - |Average price per piece. | 6 6 | 2 11 | 3 2 | 1 4 | - |Average weekly sum a | | | | | - | good weaver could earn | 26 0 | 11 8 | 12 7 | 5 4 | - |Sum a family of 6, 3 being| | | | | - | weavers, could earn. | 52 0 | 23 4 | 28 3-3/4| 12 0 | - |Indispensable weekly | | | | | - | expenses for repair of | | | | | - | looms, fuel, light. | 5 3 | 5 3 | 5 3 | 4 3 | - |Sum remaining to six | | | | | - | persons for food and | | | | | - | clothing per week. | 46 9 | 18 1 | 23 0-3/4| 7 9 | - +------------------------------------------------------------------+ - -Subjected to the competition of power-looms, the hand-weavers were -compelled either to desert their employment and seek factory work, as in -fact the younger, more capable and energetic of them actually did, or to -reduce their rates of pay, which in time reached the point of starvation. - -It is extremely difficult to find much definite information as to the -condition of industrial women in this period. The technical changes, -commercial and political controversies, the startling growth of wealth, -and the conflicts of labour and capital that made up the more striking and -dramatic side of the industrial revolution have naturally impressed the -imagination of historians. Little attention has been given to the state of -women at this time. It is by inference from known facts rather than by -actual documentary evidence that we can arrive at an estimate of the -effects on women of these extraordinary changes. A certain proportion of -women, no doubt a very small one, must certainly have arrived at wealth -and prosperity through the rapid accession of fortune achieved by some of -the weavers and yeomen farmers, who became employers on a large scale. -This is scarcely the place to treat of this subject, though it is by no -means destitute of interest.[11] There were, further, women who distinctly -benefited by the improved wages of men in certain industries, when the -spending power of the family was increased by the new methods. This was -the case temporarily in the weaving trade during the period of expansion -through cheaper yarn noted above; Dr. Cunningham says that "the improved -rates for weaving rendered the women and children independent, and -unwilling to 'rival a wooden jenny.'"[12] Baines also tells us at a later -date, that where a spinner is assisted by his own children in the mill, -"his income is so large that he can live more generously, clothe himself -and his family better than many of the lower class of tradesmen, and -though improvidence and misconduct too often ruin the happiness of these -families, yet there are thousands of spinners in the cotton districts who -eat meat every day, wear broad cloth on the Sunday, dress their wives and -children well, furnish their houses with mahogany and carpets, subscribe -to publications, and pass through life with much of humble -respectability."[13] - -The effects of the industrial revolution on women other than the two -classes just indicated are more complicated. In the first place, the rural -labouring class suffered considerably from the loss of by-industries, -which in some districts had been a great help in eking out the wages of -the head of the family. - -_Decay of Hand-Spinning._--In regard to this subject the facts are fairly -well known. Towards the end of the eighteenth century spinning ceased to -be remunerative, even as a by-industry. As the work became more -specialised, as the machines came more and more into use, it became more -and more difficult for a mere home industry to compete with work done -under capitalistic conditions. Numbers of families, previously -independent, became unable to support themselves without help from the -rates. Sir Frederick Eden gives some concrete cases. At Halifax he notes -that "many poor women who earned a bare subsistence by spinning, are now -in a very wretched condition." He ascribes this to the influence of the -war in reducing the price of weaving and spinning, but no doubt the -competition of the machine industry was already an important factor. At -Leeds, where the new methods had been largely introduced, the workers were -better off. In another place he gives some instances of workers at Kendal -where the earnings of a whole family, the father weaving and the wife and -elder children weaving, spinning, or knitting, were insufficient to -maintain them without the aid of the Poor Law. In an article in the -_Gentleman's Magazine_ (May 1834, p. 531), the writer remarks, as if -noticing a new phenomenon, that the families of labourers are now -dependent on the men's labours or nearly so; and adds rather brutally -"they [the families] hang as a dead weight upon the rates for want of -employment." - -The loss of these by-industries as a supplementary source of income was no -doubt one of several causes that impelled the drift of labour from the -country to the town. It is also worth noting that the women lost, not only -their earnings, but something in variety of work and in manual training. - -_The Hand-Loom Weaver's Wife._--More miserable still was the fate of those -hand-weavers who found the piece-rates of their work constantly sagging -downwards, and were unable or unwilling to find another trade. It appears -that there was a kind of reciprocal movement going on between the spinners -and weavers during the transition, which is of interest as illustrating -the kind of skill and intelligence that was required. The weavers, who had -been enjoying a period of such unusual prosperity and might be expected -therefore to have more knowledge of the progress of trade and to be -possessed at least of some small capital, not infrequently abandoned the -loom, purchased machinery for spinning, and gradually rose more and more -into the position of an employer or trader rather than a mere craftsman. - -On the other hand, the spinner of the poorer sort, being unable to keep -pace with the growing expense of the improved and ever more elaborate -machinery, not infrequently threw aside the wheel and took to weaving, as -the easier solution of the immediate problem of subsistence for a -hand-worker who had neither capital nor business ability to enable him to -succeed in the new conditions of the struggle. Thus the ranks of the -hand-weavers tended to be swollen by the failures of other industries and -depleted of the most capable men, and as Mantoux notes, "the fall in -weavers' wages actually preceded the introduction of machinery for -weaving." - -From 1793 the reduction of weavers' rates was constant. The weaving of a -piece of velvet, paid at £4 in 1792, brought the worker only £2 : 15s. in -1794, £2 in 1796, £1 : 16s. in 1800. At the same time the quantity in a -piece was increased. This violent depreciation of hand-work was caused at -first by surplus labour, and was subsequently aggravated by machinism. The -workers who were most capable cast in their lot with the new system and -the new methods. But the misery of the slower, older, less energetic -worker was terrible. - -In the Coventry ribbon trade wages were lowered by the employment of young -people as half-pay apprentices, who were taken on for two, three or five -years, and bound by an unstamped indenture or agreement. These were -principally girls; the boys, for the sake of the elective franchise, were -generally bound for seven years. It was stated before Peel's Committee in -1816, by the Town Clerk of Coventry (p. 4), that in 1812, the demand for -labour being very great, numbers of girls had been induced to leave their -situations, for the sake of the higher wages in the ribbon trade. The boom -collapsed, and many of them came upon the poor rates, or, as it was -alleged, on the streets. Weavers' earnings were reduced by one half. -Another witness, a master manufacturer, saw in the system a transition to -the factory system, and prophesied that if the half-pay apprentice system -were not done away with, it would "cut up the trade wholly, so that there -will be no such thing as a journeyman weaver to be found.... We shall all -build large manufactories to contain from fifty to a hundred looms or -upwards, and we must all have these half-pay apprentices, and the -journeymen will all be reduced, and they must come to us and work for so -much a week or go to the parish." - -The effects of industrial change are felt by women directly as members of -the family; the impoverishment of the male wage-earner whose occupation is -taken away by technical developments means the anguished struggle of the -wife and mother to keep her children from starving. The wife could often -earn nearly as much as her husband, and the intensest dislike to the -factory could not stand against those hard economic facts. The Select -Committee on Handloom Weavers, 1834, took evidence from disconsolate -broken-hearted men, who showed that their earnings were utterly inadequate -for family subsistence and must needs be supplemented by the wives working -in factories. One poor Irishman said that he and his little daughter of -nine between them minded the baby of fifteen months. Another weaver, a man -of his acquaintance, must have starved if he had not had a wife to go out -to work for him. The bitterness of the position was accentuated by the -fact that the weaver's traditions and associations were bound up with the -domestic system, and in no class probably was factory work for women more -unwelcome. - -The change was resented as a break-up of family life. Hargreaves' spinning -jenny, Cartwright's combing machine, Jacquard's loom, to mention no -others, were at different times destroyed by an angry mob. With desperate -energy the unions long opposed the introduction of women workers. What -drove the men to these hopeless struggles was the lowering of wages that -they discerned to be the probable, nay, certain result of both changes. -The tragedy of the man who loses his work, or finds its value suddenly -shrunken by no fault of his own, is as poignant as any in history. It -means not only his own loss and suffering, but the degradation of his -standard of life and the break-up of his home. It is not simply man -against woman, but man _plus_ the wife and children he loves against the -outside irresponsible woman (as he conceives her) whose interests are -nothing to him. - -_The Factory._--The great inventions were not, as we so often are apt to -imagine them, the effort of a single brain, of "a great man" in the -Carlylean sense. Mechanical progress, in its early stages at all events, -is often the result of the intelligence of innumerable workers, brought to -bear on all kinds of practical difficulties, and mechanical problems. Thus -one of the many attempts at a spinning machine was set up in a warehouse -in Birmingham in 1741; the machine was set in motion by two asses walking -round an axis, and ten or a dozen girls were employed in superintending -and assisting the operation! This highly picturesque arrangement proved -unworkable and was given up as a failure. Again, at a later date, the -first spinning machines that came into general use by the country people -of Lancashire were small affairs, and the awkward position required to -work them was, as Aikin tells us, "discouraging to grown-up people, who -saw with surprise children from nine to twelve years of age manage them -with dexterity." In these cases and others like them, we still call the -work spinning, because the result is the same as from hand-spinning, viz. -yarn; but in reality the process is new, the work is a rearrangement of -human activity, rather than a transfer. - -We may very well admit, in the light of present day knowledge, that the -transfer of the occupation from the home to the outside factory or -workshop was by no means an unqualified loss, was indeed a social advance. -The discomfort of using a small and restricted home as a work place, the -litter and confusion that are almost inevitable, not to mention the -depression of being always in the midst of one's working environment, are -such as can hardly be realised by those who have not given attention to -industrial matters. But this was not the aspect that the poor weavers -themselves could see, or could possibly be expected to see. The break-up -of the customary home life endeared to them by long habit and association -was only a less misfortune than their increasing destitution. The family -ceased to be an industrial unit. The factory demanded "hands." The -machines caused a complete shifting of processes of work, a shifting -which, I need hardly say, is going on even up to the present time. Much -work that had previously been regarded as skilled and difficult, demanding -technical training and apprenticeship, became light and easy, within the -powers of a child, a young girl, or a woman. On the other hand, work that -had been done in every cottage, now was handed over to a skilled male -operative, working with all the help capital and elaborate machinery could -give him. - -The effects of the factory system were the subject of much keen and even -violent controversy during the first half of the nineteenth century. -During the first two or three decades child-labour was the most prominent -question; women's labour appears to have been very much taken for granted -(Robert Owen, for instance, says little about it) and it became a subject -of controversy only about the time of the passing of the first effective -Factory Act, in 1833. Baines, Ure, and the elder Cooke Taylor, may be -mentioned among those who took an extremely optimistic view of factory -industry and devoted much energy and ingenuity to proving it to be -innocuous, or even beneficial to health, and on the other hand were P. -Gaskell, John Fielden, Philip Grant, and others, who violently attacked -it. Even in modern times Schultze-Gävernitz and Allen Clarke have -presented us with carefully considered views almost equally divergent. The -modern reader, who tries to reconcile opinions so extraordinarily -antagonistic may well feel bewildered and despair of arriving at any -coherent statement. How are we to account for the fact, for instance, that -the development of the factory, with its female labour and machinery, was -viewed with the utmost hostility by the workers, and yet on the other hand -that the rural labourers streamed into the towns to apply for work in -factories, and could seldom or never be induced to go back again? How are -we to account for the extraordinarily different views of men of the same -period, intelligent, kind-hearted, and with fair opportunities of judging -the facts of social life? I am far from expecting to solve these questions -entirely, but a few considerations may be helpful. In the first place we -have to remember that the change brought about by the great industry and -the factory system was so far-reaching and so complex that it was -impossible for any one human brain at once to grasp the whole. Thus it -happened that one set of facts would appeal strongly to one observer, and -another set, equally strongly, to another observer. Each would overlook -what to the other was of the greatest importance. Political sentiment also -counted for a good deal, the landed interest (mostly Tories) being -extremely keen-sighted to any wrongdoing of the manufacturers and their -friends (mostly Liberal), while these last were not slow to reciprocate -with equally faithful criticism. By taking the optimists alone, or the -reformers alone, we get a consistent but inadequate view of industrial -conditions. By combining them we arrive at a contradictory, unsatisfactory -picture, which may, however, be somewhat nearer the truth than either can -give us alone. - -It is also necessary to bear in mind the unspoken assumptions, the -background, so to speak, existing in any writer's brain. It would make a -great difference in a man's view of social conditions in 1825, say, if he -was mentally contrasting them with the terrible scarcity and poverty that -prevailed at the turn of the century, or if his recollections were mainly -occupied with that bright period of prosperity enjoyed by the weavers some -years earlier, a prosperity brief indeed, but lasting long enough to make -a profound impression on the minds of those who shared in or witnessed it. - -Another consideration which is of use in clearing up the chaos of -historical evidence on these questions, is the immense variety in -conditions from one factory to another. This is the case even at the -present day, when the Factory Act requires a certain minimum of decency -and comfort. The factory inspectors record the extraordinary difference -still existing in these respects, and, as a personal experience, the -present writer well remembers the extreme contrast between two match -factories visited some years ago at a very short interval; the one -crowded, gloomy, with weary, exhausted, slatternly-looking girls doing -perilous work in a foul atmosphere; the other with ample space, light, and -ventilation, the workers cleanly dressed, and supplied with the best -appliances known to make the work safe and harmless. Such an experience is -some guide in helping the modern student to comprehend more or less why -Fielden wrote of _The Curse of the Factory System_, while Ure could -maintain: "The fine spinning mills at Manchester ... in the beauty, -delicacy and ingenuity of the machines have no parallel among the works of -man nor _in the orderly arrangement_, and the value of the products." - -There is no doubt that the early factories were often run by men who, -whatever their energy, thrift, and ability for business, did not mostly -possess the qualities necessary to a man who is to have the control, -during at least half the week, of a crowd of workers, many of them women -and children. Men like Owen and Arkwright were working out a technique and -a tradition, not only for the mechanical side, but for the human side of -this new business of employment on a large scale. But not all employers -were Owens or even Arkwrights. P. Gaskell writes: "Many of the first -successful manufacturers were men who had their origin in the rank of mere -operatives, or who had sprung from the extinct class of yeomen.... The -celerity with which some of these individuals accumulated wealth in the -early times of steam spinning and weaving, is proof that they were men of -quick views, great energy of character, and possessing no small share of -sagacity ... but they were men of very limited general information--men -who saw and knew little of anything beyond the demand for their twist or -cloth, and the speediest and best modes for their production. They were, -however, from their acquired station, men who exercised very considerable -influence upon the hordes of workmen who became dependent upon them." - -Here Gaskell has brought out a point which is singularly ignored by the -writers of what may be called the optimistic school. We may fully agree -with these last in their contention that the working class benefited by -the increased production, higher wages, and cheapened goods secured by the -factory system, or "great industry," as it is called. But they overlook -the point of the immense power that system put into the hands of -individual masters, over the lives, and moral and physical health of -workers. For the whole day long, and sometimes for the night also, the -operative was in the factory; the temperature of the air he breathed, the -hours he worked, the sanitary and other conditions of his work were -settled by those in control of the works, who were not responsible in any -way to any external supervising authority for the conditions of -employment, save to the very limited extent required by the early Factory -Acts, which were ineffectively administered. In a curious passage the -elder Cooke Taylor, who was in many ways a most careful and intelligent -observer, shows how completely he fails to grasp the position: - - A factory is an establishment where several workmen are collected - together for the purpose of obtaining greater and cheaper conveniences - for labour than they could procure individually at their homes; for - producing results by their combined efforts, which they could not - accomplish separately.... The principle of a factory is that each - labourer, working separately, is controlled by some associating - principle, which directs his producing powers to effecting a common - result, which it is the object of all collectively to attain. - Factories are therefore a result of the universal tendency to - association which is inherent in our nature, and by the development of - which every advance in human improvement and human happiness has been - gained. - -Every sentence here is true; but the combined effect is not true. Taylor -ingenuously omits one important fact. The "associating principle" is the -employer working for his own hand, and the "common result" is that -employer's profit. Marx saw that the subordination of the workman to the -uniform motion of machines, and the bringing together of individuals of -both sexes and all ages gave rise to a system of elaborate discipline, -dividing the workers into operatives and overlookers, into "private -soldiers and sergeants of an industrial army." But it is not necessary to -call in the rather suspect authority of Marx. Richards, the Factory -Inspector, who by no means took a sentimental view of mill work, had -written quite candidly: - - A steam engine in the hands of an interested or avaricious master is a - relentless power, to which old and young are equally bound to submit. - Their position in these mills is that of thraldom; fourteen, fifteen, - or sixteen hours per day, is exhausting to the strength of all, yet - none dare quit the occupation, from the dread of losing work - altogether. Industry is thus in bonds; unprotected children are - equally bound to the same drudgery.[14] - -This cast-iron regularity of the factory system was felt as a terrible -hardship, especially in the case of women, and often amounted to actual -slavery. - -Wholesale accusations were brought against the factory system as being in -itself immoral and a cause of depravity. Southey said of the factory -children, that: - - The moral atmosphere wherein they live and move and have their being - is as noxious to the soul, as the foul and tainted air which they - inhale is to their bodily constitution.... What shall we say then of a - system which ... debases all who are engaged in it?... It is a wen, a - fungous excrescence from the body politic. - -Here we may as well admit that the agitators, though possibly right in -their facts, did not represent them in a true perspective. Perhaps the -worst feature of working-class life at this time was the scandalous state -of housing. The manufacturing towns had grown up rapidly to meet a sudden -demand. The progress of enclosing, the decay of home industry, and the -call of capital for labour in towns had caused a considerable displacement -of population. The immigrants had to find house-room in the outskirts of -what had but lately been mere villages. Sanitary science was backward, and -municipal government was decadent and could not cope with the rush to the -towns. The immigrant population and the existing social conditions were of -a type favourable to a rapid increase in numbers, economic independence at -an early age not unnaturally tending towards unduly early marriage and -irresponsibility of character. Dr. Aikin writes: - - As Manchester may bear comparison with the metropolis itself in the - rapidity with which whole new streets have been raised, and in its - extension on every side toward the surrounding country; so it - unfortunately vies with, or exceeds the metropolis, in the closeness - with which the poor are crowded in offensive, dark, damp, and - incommodious habitations, a too fertile source of disease.[15] - -There is abundant evidence of equally bad conditions in other towns. Such -circumstances are inevitably demoralising, and they served to give the -impression that the factory population, as such, was extraordinarily wild -and wicked. But these particular evils were not specially due to the -factory system. In the matter of sanitation and housing there can be -little doubt that the rural population was no better, perhaps even worse -cared-for than the urban or industrial, the main difference of course -being that neglect of cleanliness and elementary methods of sewage -disposal are less immediate and disastrous evils among a sparse and -scattered population than they are in towns. - -Much has been written and spoken about the evils of factory life in -withdrawing the mother from the home, and causing neglect of children and -infants. Yet even this, an evil which no one would desire to minimise, is -not peculiar to factory towns. A report on the state of the Agricultural -Population says that: - - Even when they have been taught to read and write, the women of the - agricultural labouring class (viz. in Wilts, Devon, and Dorset), are - in a state of ignorance affecting the daily welfare and comfort of - their families. Ignorance of the commonest things, needlework, - cooking, and other matters of domestic economy, is described as - universally prevalent.... A girl brought up in a cottage until she - marries is generally ignorant of nearly everything she ought to be - acquainted with for the comfortable and economic management of a - cottage ... a young woman goes into the fields to labour, with which - ends all chance of improving her position; she marries and brings up - her daughters in the same ignorance, and their lives are a repetition - of her own. - -Material progress had completely outdistanced the social side of -civilisation. It was easy to see that old-fashioned restrictions on -commerce needed to be swept away, as a trammel and a hindrance; but where -was the constructive effort and initiative to shape the new fabric of -society that should supply the people's needs? - - It was the misfortune of the factory system that it took its sudden - start at a moment when the entire energies of the British legislature - were preoccupied with the emergencies of the French Revolution.... The - foundations on which it reposes were laid in obscurity and its early - combinations developed without attracting the notice of statesmen or - philosophers.... There thus crept into unnoticed existence a closely - condensed population, under modifying influences the least understood, - for whose education, religious wants, legislative and municipal - protection, no care was taken and for whose physical necessities the - more forethought was requisite, from the very rapidity with which men - were attracted to these new centres. To such causes may be referred - the incivilisation and immorality of the overcrowded manufacturing - towns.[16] - -It is curious to compare the criminal neglect here indicated with the -self-complacency of the governing classes of this country, and the immense -claims for admiration and respect often put forth on account of their -control of home and local administration. In this tremendous crisis in the -social life of the country, the complex changes of the industrial -revolution, the classes in power sat by, apathetic and uninterested, -taking little or no pains to cope with the problem, or interfered merely -with harsh or even cruel repression of the workers' efforts to combine for -self-defence. Although Dr. Percival and Dr. Ferrier had drawn attention to -the disease and unhealthy conditions existing in factories as far back as -1784 and 1796, it was not until 1833 that a Factory Act was passed -containing any administrative provisions that could be deemed effective. -Public health measures came later still. Much as the industrial employers -were abused by the landowners, it is a fact that reforms and ameliorative -projects were started originally by the former. Sir Robert Peel, who owned -cotton factories, was the pioneer of factory legislation, and Robert Owen -gave the impetus to industrial reform by the humanity and ability that -characterised his management of his own mill, and the generosity of his -treatment of his own employees. - -_The Woman Wage-Earner._--The initiation of the factory system undoubtedly -fixed and defined the position of the woman wage-earner. For good or for -evil, the factory system transformed the nature of much industrial work, -rendering it indefinitely heterogeneous, and incidentally opening up new -channels for the employment, first, unfortunately, of children, afterwards -of women. - -In the case of spinning, the division of work between men and women was -attended with considerable complications, and it appears that the masters -confidently expected to employ women in greater proportions than was -actually feasible. A comparison of the evidence by masters and men -respectively given before the Select Committee on Artizans and Machinery -throws some interesting sidelights on the question, though it does not -make it absolutely clear. Dunlop, a Glasgow master, had frequent disputes -with the "combination" as the union was then called. He built a new mill -with machinery which he hoped would make it unnecessary to employ men at -all. In a few years he was, however, again employing men as before, and -his account of the matter was that this change of front was due to the -violence of the men's unions. Two of the operative leaders, however, came -up at a later stage to protest against Dunlop's version. They showed that -the persistent violence attributed to the men really narrowed down to a -single case of assault some years before, when there was not sufficient -evidence to commit the men accused. They denied the alleged opposition to -women's employment and declared that there was absolutely no connexion -between the outrage complained of and the substitution of men for women, -which had in fact been effected by Dunlop's sons during his absence in -America, and was due to the fact that the women could not do as much or as -good work on the spinning machines as men could. Dunlop also had given an -exaggerated account of the wages paid, making no allowance for stoppage -and breakdown of machinery, which were frequent. - -A few years later we find some interesting evidence as to the efforts of -further developments in spinning machinery. A Mr. Graham told the Select -Committee on Manufactures and Commerce that he was introducing self-acting -mules, and did not yet know whether women could be adapted to their use, -but hoped to get rid of "all the spinners who are making exorbitant -wages," and employ piecers only, giving one of the piecers a small -increase in wages. He was also employing a number of women upon a -different description of wheels, and others in throstle spinning. -According to him the women got about 18s. a week, a statement which it -would probably be wise to discount. Being asked whether the self-acting -mules or the spinning by women would be cheapest, he replied that it was -hoped the spinning by self-acting mules would be cheapest, as even the -women were combining and giving trouble. In 1838, Doherty, a labour man, -showed that although women were allowed to spin in Manchester, "whole -mills of them," the number was being reduced, the physical strength of -women being insufficient to work the larger wheels which had come into -use. It is useful to obtain some idea of the views of the employing class -at a time of such complex changes, and it seems evident that some at least -were almost taken off their feet by the exciting prospects opening out to -them, and hoped to dispense very largely with skilled male labour, or even -with adult labour altogether. - -At the present time though there have been great developments in -machinery, spinning is the one large department of the cotton industry in -which men still exceed women in numbers. The employment of women in -ring-spinning is increasing, but there are special counts which can only -be done on the mule, which is beyond the woman's strength and skill. -Between 1901 and 1911 male cotton-spinners increased in numbers 31 per -cent, female 60 per cent. The totals were in 1911 respectively 84,000 and -55,000. - -The introduction of the power-loom was a very important event in the -history of women's employment. Even in 1840 a woman working a power-loom -could do "twice as much" as a man with a hand-loom, and the assistant -commissioner who made this observation added the prophecy that in another -generation women only would be employed, save a few men for the necessary -superintendence and care of the machinery. "There will be no weavers as a -class; the work will be done by the wives of agricultural labourers or -different mechanics." Gaskell, a writer who gave much thought and -consideration to the problems before his eyes, and saw a good deal more -than many of his contemporaries, also thought that machinery would soon -reach a point at which "automata" would have done away with the need of -adult workmen. - -He says, however, on another page, that "since steam-weaving became -general the number of adults engaged in the mills has been progressively -advancing inasmuch as very young children are not competent to take charge -of steam-looms. The individuals employed at them are chiefly girls and -young women, from sixteen to twenty-two." - -Gaskell attributed the employment of women in factories, not so much to -their taking less wages, as to their being more docile and submissive than -men. - - Out of 800 weavers employed in one establishment, and which was ... - composed indiscriminately, of men, women, and children--the one whose - earnings were the most considerable, was a girl of sixteen.... The - mode of payment ... is payment for work done--piece-work as it is - called.... Thus this active child is put upon more than a par with the - most robust adult; is in fact placed in a situation decidedly - advantageous compared to him.... Workmen above a certain age are - difficult to manage.... Men who come late into the trade, learn much - more slowly than children ... and as all are paid alike, so much per - pound, or yard, it follows that these men ... are not more efficient - labourers than girls and boys, and much less manageable.... Adult male - labour having been found difficult to manage and not more - productive--its place has, in a great measure, been supplied by - children and women; and hence the outcry which has been raised with - regard to infant labour, in its moral and physical bearings. - -This passage, involved as it is in thought and expression, is not without -interest as a reflection of the mind of that time, painfully working out -contemporary problems. Gaskell confuses women's labour with child labour, -and it is difficult to discover from this book that he has ever given any -thought to the former problem at all. The family for him is the social -unit, and women are classed with children as beings for whom the family as -a matter of course provides. He omits from consideration the woman thrown -upon her own exertions, and the grown-up girl, who, even if living at -home, must earn. It is not difficult to find other instances of similar -_naïveté_; thus in the supplementary Report on Child Labour in Factories, -it was gravely suggested that it may be wrong to be much concerned because -women's wages are low. - - Nature effects her own purpose wisely and more effectually than could - be done by the wisest of men. The low price of female labour makes it - the most profitable as well as the most agreeable occupation for a - female to superintend her own domestic establishment, and her low - wages do not tempt her to abandon the care of her own children. - -Here again, there is apparently no perception of the case of the woman, -who, by sheer economic necessity, is forced to work, whether for herself -alone, or for her children also. - -It is hardly necessary to remark that the estimate quoted above, according -to which the girl weaving on a power-loom could do twice as much as a man -on a hand-loom, has since been enormously exceeded. Schultz-Gävernitz in -1895 thought that a power-loom weaver accomplished about as much as forty -good hand-weavers, and no doubt even this estimate is now out of date. -Partly for technical, partly for other reasons, the woman's presence in -the factory is now much more taken for granted. - -The girl who is to be a weaver begins work usually at twelve years old, -the minimum age permitted by law, and may spend six weeks with a relation -or friends learning the ways. She thus becomes a "tenter" or "helper," and -fetches the weft, carries away the finished goods, sweeps and cleans. At -thirteen or fourteen she may have two looms to mind, and will earn about -12s. a week. At sixteen she will be promoted to three looms, and later on -to four, beyond which women seldom go; a man sometimes minds six looms, -but needs a helper for this extra strain. The work needs considerable -skill and attention. Often a four-loom weaver will be turning out four -different kinds of cloth on the four looms. It is also fatiguing, as she -is on her feet the whole ten hours of her legal day, sometimes, -unfortunately, lengthened by the objectionable practice known as -"time-cribbing," which means that ten or even fifteen minutes are taken -from the legal meal times, and added to the working hours. It takes some -years to become an efficient weaver, and the drain on the weaver's -strength and vitality is considerable. Where steaming is used, colds and -rheumatism are very prevalent. It is noticed by the weavers that the -sickness rate is lower in times of bad trade, and indeed slack seasons are -regarded as times for much-needed recuperation. Women, although they equal -or here and there even excel men in skill and quickness, fail in staying -power. Many get fagged out by three o'clock in the afternoon. The great -increase in speed is also a factor in sickness. Weavers are now said to be -doing as much work in a day as in a day and a half twelve or thirteen -years ago, and the wages have increased, but not proportionately. The work -involves not only physical, but mental strain, and many cases of nervous -break-down and anaemia are known to occur among weavers. It should not be -forgotten that many women and girls have domestic work to do after their -day's work in the mill is over, and the high standard of comfort and -"house pride" in Lancashire makes this a considerable addition. - -Another large class of women cotton operatives are the card-room workers, -officially described as "card-and blowing-room operatives." In this -department men and women do different work. The men do the more dangerous, -more unhealthy, and also the better paid work. Women's work also is -dangerous, and unhealthy from the dust and cotton fibre that pervade the -atmosphere. An agitation is on foot to have a dust-extractor fixed to -every carding-engine. The operatives suffer chiefly from excessive speed -and pressure. They are continually pressed to keep the machines going, and -not to stop them even for necessary cleaning, and I am assured by a -card-room operative that in the card-room the highest percentage of -accidents for the week occurs on Friday, when the principal weekly -cleaning takes place, and the lowest on Monday, when cleaning is not -required; also that the highest percentage of accidents during the day -occurs on an average between 10 A.M. and 12 noon, when the dirtiest parts -of the machinery are usually wiped over. The chief cause of these -accidents is cleaning while the machinery is in motion. The present rate -of speed produces extreme exhaustion in the workers, and some consider -that card-room work is altogether too hard for women, and not suitable to -their physical capacity. It is said to be done entirely by men in -America. - -The male weaver is by no means extinct, as the prophets we have quoted -seemed to expect. Cotton-weaving offers the very unusual, perhaps unique -example of a large occupation employing both man and woman, and on equal -terms. The earnings of the male weaver are, however, very inferior to -those of the spinner, and he cannot unaided support a family without being -considerably straitened, according to the Lancashire standard. But, in -point of fact, a weaver when he marries usually marries a woman who is -also working at a mill, and if she is a weaver her earnings are very -likely as good as his. In this industry women attain to very nearly as -great skill and dexterity as do men; in some branches even greater. In -Lancashire the standard of working-class life and comfort is high, and a -woman whose husband is a weaver will not brook that her next-door -neighbour, whose husband may be a spinner or machine-maker, should dress -their children better, or have better window-curtains than she can. She -continues to work at her own trade, and the two incomes are combined until -the woman is temporarily prevented working at the mill. An interval of -some months may be taken off by a weaver for the birth of her baby, but -she will return to the mill afterwards, and again after a second; at the -third or fourth child she usually retires from industry. Later on the -children begin earning. Thus the male weaver's most difficult and troubled -times are when his children are quite young, his wife temporarily -incapacitated, and his earnings their sole support. When both husband and -wife are earning, their means are good relatively to their standard; and -again as the young people grow up, the combined income of the family may -be even ample. The young children whose mother is absent at work are -looked after in the day-time by a grandmother, or by a neighbour who is -paid for the work. It was stated, half-ironically, perhaps, before the -Labour Commission that there was a "standard list for this sort of -business." Opinions differ as to whether the children are or are not -neglected under this system. There is, however, evidence to show that many -Lancashire women, at least among those who are relatively well paid, are -good mothers and good housekeepers even though they work their ten hours a -day. They go to work because their standard of life is high, and they -cannot live up to it without working. - -_The Industrial Revolution in Non-Textile Trades._--This subject, though -sociologically of great interest, cannot here be treated at length; it -must suffice to indicate a few points in regard to women, trusting that -some later writer will some day paint for England a finished picture on -the scale of Miss Butler's fine study "Women and the Trades," of -Pittsburgh, U.S.A. - -The factory system has now invaded one manufacturing industry after -another, and the use of power and division of work in numerous processes -have opened a considerable amount of employment to women. There have been -two lines of development; on the one hand, occupations have been opened -for women in trades with which previously they had nothing, or very little -to do; on the other hand, industries hitherto almost entirely in the hands -of women, and carried on chiefly in homes or small workrooms or shops, -such as dressmaking, the making of underclothing, laundry work and so on, -have been to some extent changed in character, and have in part become -factory industries of the modern type. - -In 1843 the sub-commissioner who investigated Birmingham industries for -the Children's Employment Commission, was struck by the extent of women's -and children's employment. Very large numbers of children were employed in -a great variety of manufacturing processes, and women's labour was being -substituted for men's in many branches. In all trades there were at the -same time complaints of want of employment and urgent distress, involving -large numbers of mechanics. Mr. Grainger saw women employed in laborious -work, such as stamping buttons and brass nails, and notching the heads of -screws, and considered these to be unfit occupations for women. In screw -manufactories the women and girls constituted 80 to 90 per cent of the -whole number employed. A considerable number of girls, fourteen and -upwards, were employed in warehouses packing the goods, giving in and -taking out work. Non-textile industries were as yet quite unregulated, and -many of the reports made to this commissioner indicate very bad conditions -as to health and morals. The sanitary conditions were atrocious, except -where the employers were specially conscientious and gave attention to the -subject; there was little protection against accident, and child-labour -was permitted at very early years. Most of the abuses noted had to do -either with insanitary conditions or with child-labour. The women and -girls are described as having been often twisted or injured by premature -employment, and as being totally without education. One witness who gave -evidence considered that the lack of education was more disastrous for -girls than for boys. - -In 1864 the Children's Employment Commission found that the number and -size of large factories had grown since 1841, and the number of women in -the Birmingham district employed in metal manufactures was estimated at -10,000. - -In 1866, when the British Association visited Birmingham, Mr. S. Timmins -prepared a series of reports on local industries, the index of which gives -no less than thirty-six references to women, which is some indication how -widely they were employed. In the steel pen trade, for instance, which had -developed from a small trade in hand-made pens, costing several shillings -each, into a large factory industry, numbers of girls and women were -employed, and a comparatively small proportion of men. In 1866, there were -estimated to be 360 men, 2050 women and girls employed in Birmingham -pen-works. Women were employed extensively in the light chain trade, also -in lacquering in the brass trade, and in many other occupations. -Successive censuses show very rapid increases in the employment of women -in the metal trades generally, though, of course, they bear a much lower -proportion to men in these trades taken as a whole than in the textile -trades. - -Similar developments are taking place in food and tobacco trades, soap, -chemicals, paper and stationery. The boot and shoe trade is a good example -of the rapid opening-out of opportunities for women's employment. At the -time of the Labour Commission (1893) it was noted that Bristol factories -were mostly not up to date or efficient. Since that time there has been a -rapid extension of factory work for women, and the methods in the boot and -shoe trade have been revolutionised by the introduction of the power -sewing-machine, and by production on a large scale. The new factories in -or near Bristol have lofty rooms, modern improved sanitary and warming -apparatus, and the best are carefully arranged with a view to maintaining -the health and efficiency of the workers. - -In 1903 a committee of the Economic Section of the British Association -found in Sheffield that machinery had been displacing file cutlery made by -hand for fifteen years past, and some women were already finding -employment on the lighter machines. In Coventry the cycle industry -employed an increasing number of women; watchmaking was becoming a factory -industry, and the proportion of women to men had increased rapidly. Women -are even employed in some processes subsidiary to engineering, such as -core-making. But it should be remembered that these openings for women do -not necessarily mean permanent loss of work for men, though some temporary -loss there no doubt very often is. The rearrangement of industry and the -subdivision of processes mean that new processes are appropriated to -women; and it is likely enough that among factory operatives women are, -and will be, an increasing proportion. But therewith must come an -increasing demand for men's labour in mining, smelting and forging metal, -and in other branches into which women are unlikely to intrude. - -In the clothing trades the industrial revolution has made some way, and is -doubtless going to make still more way, but it is unlikely that the -older-fashioned methods of tailoring and dressmaking can ever be -superseded as completely as was the hand-loom weaving in the cotton trade. -Dress is a matter of individual taste and fancy, and much as the -factory-made clothing and dressmaking has improved in the last ten or -twenty years, it is unlikely ever to supply the market entirely. -Stay-making is a rapidly developing factory industry at Bristol, Ipswich -and elsewhere. In underclothing and children's clothing also the factory -system is making considerable advances. It is startling to see babies' -frocks or pinafores made on inhuman machines moved by power, with rows of -fixed needles whisking over the elaborate tucks; but if the resulting -article be both good and cheap, and the women operatives paid much better -than they would be for the same number of hours' needlework, sentimental -objections are perhaps out of place. - -In such factories as I have been permitted to visit, mostly non-textile, I -have noticed that men and women are usually doing, not the same, but -different kinds of work, and that the work done by women seems to fall -roughly into three classes. My classification is probably quite -unscientific, and indicates merely a certain social order perceived or -conceived by an observer ignorant of the technical side of manufacturing -and chiefly interested in the social or sociological aspect. In the first -place, there is usually some amount of rough hard work in the preparing -and collecting of the material, or the transporting it from one part of -the factory to another. Such work is exemplified by the rag-cutting in -paper-mills, fruit-picking in jam factories, the sorting soiled clothes in -laundries, the carrying of loads from one room to another, and such odd -jobs. I incline to think that the arrangements made for dealing with this -class of work are a very fair index to the character and ability of the -employer. In good paper-mills, for instance, though nothing could make -rag-cutting an attractive job, its objectionable features are mitigated by -a preliminary cleansing of the rags, and by good ventilation in the work. -In ill-managed factories of various kinds the carrying of heavy loads is -left to the women workers' unaided strength, and is a most unpleasing -sight to those who do not care to see their sisters acting as beasts of -burden, not to mention that heavy weight-carrying is often highly -injurious, provoking internal trouble. In the case of trays of boiling -fruit, jam, etc., it may lead to horrible accidents. In well-managed -factories this carrying of loads is arranged for by mechanical means or a -strong porter is retained for the purpose. - -The second class of work noticed as being done by women is work done on -machines with or without power, and this includes a whole host of -employments and an endless variety of problems. Machine tending, -press-work, stamp-work, metal-cutting, printing, various processes of -brass work, pen-making, machine ironing in laundries, the making of -"hollow ware" or tin pots and buckets of various kinds; such are a few of -the kinds of work that occur to me. Many of them have the interesting -characteristic of forming a kind of borderland or marginal region where -men and women, by exception, do the same kinds of work. It is in these -kinds of work that difficulties occur in imperfectly organised trades; it -is here that the employer is constantly pushing the women workers a little -further on and the male workers a little further off; it is here that -controversies rage over what is "suitable to women," and that -recriminations pass between trade unions and enterprising employers. These -kinds of work may be very hard, or very easy, they may need skill and -afford some measure of technical interest, or they may be merely dull and -monotonous, efficiency being measured merely by speed; they may be badly -paid, but on the other hand they include some of the best paid of women's -industrial occupations. They are in a continual state of flux, responding -to every technical advance, and change in methods; they represent the -industrial revolution at its tensest and most critical point. And to -conclude, it is here that organisation for women is most necessary and -desirable in the interests of all classes. - -The third kind of work noted by the detached observer is more difficult to -define in a word; it consists in the finishing and preparing goods for -sale, and in the various kinds of work known as warehouse work. As a -separate class it results mainly from the increasing size of firms and the -quantity of work done. Paper-sorting or overlooking in paper-mills is -typical of this class of work; it consists in separating faulty sheets of -paper from those that are good, and is done at great speed by girls who -have a quick eye and a light touch. It is said to be work that men -entirely fail in, not having sufficiently sensitive finger-tips. In nearly -all factories there is a great deal of this kind of work, monotonous no -doubt, but usually clean in character, and less hard and involving -considerably less strain than either of the two former classes of work. In -confectionery or stationery works, for instance, to mention two only, -troops of girls are seen busily engaged at great speed in making up neat -little packets of the finished article, usually with an advertisement or a -picture put inside. In china or glass works girls may be employed wrapping -the goods in paper, and similar jobs are found in many classes of work. In -a well-known factory in East London where food for pet animals is made or -prepared, I was told some years ago that no girls at all had been employed -until recently, when about forty were taken on for the work of doing up -the finished article in neat packets for sale. It is noticeable that the -girls who are thus employed are usually of a social grade superior to the -two former classes, though they by no means always earn better wages. They -are very frequently the daughters of artisans earning good wages, and -expect to marry in their own class and leave work. The women employed in -the second class of work indicated, viz. chiefly on or about the machines, -are on the whole more enterprising, and more likely to join unions. These -again are socially superior to No. 1. No. 1 class, those who do the rough -hard kind of work, are mainly employed for the sake of cheapness, are -often married women, and are probably doing much the same kinds of work -that were done by women in those trades before the transformation of -industry by machinery. (This is merely an inference of mine, and can -scarcely be proved, but it seems likely to be true.) The more perfectly -the industry develops and becomes organised, the more machinery is used -and different processes are adapted to utilise different classes of -skilled effort, the less need will there be for class No. 1 work to be -done at all. - -It should be noted before we leave this subject that No. 2 class work is -especially liable to change and modification, which means change in the -demand for labour, and often means a demand for a different class of -labour, or a different kind of skill. There are some who think -pessimistically that improved machinery must mean a demand for a lower -grade of skill. No doubt it often _has_ meant that, and still does in -instances. But it is far from being universally true. As the hand-press is -exchanged for the power-press, the demand occurs for a worker sufficiently -careful and responsible to be trusted with the new and more valuable -machinery. Again, when a group of processes needing little skill is taken -over by an automatic machine that performs the whole complex of -operations, several unskilled workers will be displaced by one of a higher -grade. The new automatic looms worked by electric power are, I am told, -involving the employment of a class of young women superior in general -intelligence and education to the typical weaver, though not necessarily -so in manual skill. - -_Conclusion._--Frau Braun sees in the machine the main cause of the -development of woman's industrial employment.[17] A more recent writer, -Mrs. Schreiner, takes exactly the opposite view: - - The changes ... which we sum up under the compendious term "modern - civilisation," have tended to rob woman, not merely in part, but - almost wholly, of the more valuable of her ancient domain of - productive and social labour; and where there has not been a - determined and conscious resistance on her part, have nowhere - spontaneously tended to open out to her new and compensatory fields. - It is this fact which constitutes our modern "Woman's Labour Problem." - Our spinning-wheels are all broken; in a thousand huge buildings - steam-driven looms, guided by a few hundred thousands of hands (often - those of men), produce the clothings of half the world; and we dare no - longer say, proudly, as of old, that we, and we alone clothe our - peoples.[18] - -It is a striking instance of the extraordinary complexity of modern -industry that two distinguished writers like Frau Braun and Mrs. -Schreiner, both holding advanced views on the feminist question, should -thus come to opposite conclusions as to the influence of the machine. In a -sense, the opposition is more apparent than real. Mrs. Schreiner is -thinking of production for use by the woman at home, and there is no -question that production for use is being superseded by production for -exchange. Frau Braun, in the passage quoted, is writing of wage-earning -employment. There can be little question that the evolution of machinery -has favoured woman's employment. Woman has no chance against man where -sheer strength is needed; but when mechanical power takes the place of -human muscle, when the hard part is done by the machine, then the child, -the girl, or the woman is introduced. The progressive restriction of -child-labour has also favoured women, so that over the period covered by -the factory statistics, the percentage of women and girls employed has -increased in a very remarkable way. - -It is possible to exaggerate the extent of the change made by the -industrial revolution in taking women out of the home. We must remember -that domestic service, the traditional and long-standing occupation of -women, is always carried on away from the home of the worker, and does in -fact (as it usually involves residence) divide the worker from her family -far more completely than ordinary day work. The instances given in Chapter -I. also show that not only agriculture, but various other industries, -afforded employment to women, long before the industrial revolution, in -ways that must have involved "going out to work." To the working classes -it was nothing new to see women work, and, in point of fact, we do not -find even the employment of married women exciting much attention or -disapproval at the outset of the factory system. In the non-domestic -industries the question of the wife taking work for wages was probably -then, as mainly it still is, a poverty question. The irregular employment, -sickness or incapacity of the male bread-winner that result in earnings -insufficient for family maintenance, occurred probably with no less -frequency in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries than now, -and these are causes that at all times drive married women to work, if -they can get work to do. The class that felt it most keenly as an evil and -a wrong, were the hand-loom weavers whose earnings were so depressed that -they could not maintain their families, and found at the same time that -the labour of their wives and daughters was more in demand than their own. -Where the industry had been carried on by the family working together, -and, for a time at least, had been sufficiently lucrative to afford a -comparatively high standard of comfort, the disintegration of this -particular type of organisation was, not unnaturally, resented as an -outrage on humanity. The iron regularity of the factory system, the -economic pressure that kept the workers toiling as long as the engines -could run, the fixation of hours, were cruel hardships to a class that had -formed its habits and traditions in the small self-contained workshop, and -made continuous employment a terrible strain on the married woman. As the -home centres round the woman, the problem for the working woman has been, -and is, one of enormous difficulty, involving considerable restatement of -her traditional codes and customs. - -Whatever may have been the social misery and disorder brought about by the -industrial revolution, one striking result was an increase in the earning -power of women. Proof in detail of this statement will be given in -Chapter VI.; for the present it will suffice to point to the fact. The -machine, replacing muscular power and increasing the productivity of -industry, does undoubtedly aid the woman in quest of self-dependence. In -the era of the great industry she has become to an increasing extent an -independent wage-earner. Low as the standard of women's wages is, there is -ample proof that it is on the whole higher under the factory system than -under other methods, and as a general rule the larger and more highly -organised factory pays higher wages than the smaller, less well-equipped. -The cotton industry, which took the lead in introducing the factory -system, and is in England by far the most highly organised and efficiently -managed among trades in which women predominate, has shown a remarkable -rise of wages through the last century, and is now the only large industry -in which the average wage of women is comparatively high. Another point is -that factory dressmaking, which has developed in comparatively recent -years, already shows a higher average wage than the older-fashioned -dressmaking carried on in small establishments, and a much smaller -percentage of workers paid under 10s. a week. Monsieur Aftalion, in a -monograph comparing factory and home work in the French clothing trade, -finds wages markedly higher under the factory system. Yet another instance -is offered by Italy, where women's wages are miserably low, yet they are -noticeably higher in big factories than in small. - -The development of the single young woman's position through the factory -system has been obscured by the abuses incidental to that system, which -were due more or less to historical causes outside industry. The absence -of any system of control over industrial and sanitary conditions -undoubtedly left many factories to become centres of disease, overwork and -moral corruption, and the victims of this misgovernment and neglect are a -reproach that can never be wiped out. On the other hand, later experience -has shown that decent conditions of work are easier to secure in factories -than in small work places, owing to greater publicity and facility for -inspection. The very fact of the size of the factory, its economic -importance, and its almost dramatic significance for social life, caused -attention to be drawn to, and wrath to be excited by, evil conditions in -the factory, which would have been little noticed in ordinary small work -places. - -The initiation of the "great industry" resulted in a kind of searchlight -being turned on to the dark places of poverty. State interference had to -be undertaken, although in flat opposition to the dominant economics of -the day, and the better sort of masters were impelled by shame or worthier -motives to get rid of the stigma that clung to factory employment. Now the -girl-worker has profited by this movement in a quite remarkable degree. -Domestic service is no longer her only outlook, and the conditions of -domestic service have probably considerably improved in consequence. Her -employment is no longer bound up with personal dependence on her own -family, or personal servitude in her employer's. - -The wage contract, though not, we may hope, the final or ideal stage in -the evolution of woman's economic position, is an advance from her servile -state in the mediaeval working class, or parasitic dependence on the -family. The transition thus endows her with greater freedom to dispose of -or deny herself in marriage, and is an important step towards higher -racial ideals and development. Grievously exploited as her employment has -been and still is, the evolution of the woman wage-earner, her gradual -achievement of economic individuality and independence, in however limited -a degree, is certainly one of the most interesting social facts of the -time. The remarkable intelligence and ability of Lancashire working people -was noticed by Mrs. Gaskell in _Mary Barton_, as long ago as 1848. And to -this day the Co-operative Movement and the Trade Union Movement flourish -among Lancashire women as they do not anywhere else. The Workers' -Educational Association draws many of its best students from these women -who toil their ten hours in the mill and use their brains for study in the -evening after work is over. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -STATISTICS OF THE LIFE AND EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN. - - -No very detailed or elaborate statistics will be here employed, the aim of -this chapter being merely to draw attention to certain broad facts or -relations disclosed by the Census and the Registrar-General's Report. - -_The Surplus of Women._--It is a well-known fact that in this country -women exceed men in numbers. The surplus increased slightly but steadily -from 1851 to 1901, and remained almost stationary from 1901 to 1911. In -1901 and 1911 there were in every 1000 persons 484 males and 516 females. -The excess of females varies at different ages. The number of boys born -exceeds the number of girls in a proportion not far from 4 per cent, -sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. But boy infants run -greater risks at birth and appear to be altogether more susceptible to -adverse influences, for their death-rate is usually higher up to 3, 4 or 5 -years old. The age-group 5 to 10 varies from time to time; in 1901-1910 -the average mortality of girls was the higher: in 1912 the average -mortality of boys was very slightly higher. From 10 to 15 the female -death-rate is higher than the male. - -The age-group 15 to 20 shows very curious variations in the relative -mortality of males and females. From 1894 onwards the males of that group -have had a higher mortality than the females, whereas previous to that -date the female mortality was the higher, in all years of which we have a -record save two--1876 and 1890. The Registrar-General can suggest no -explanation of this phenomenon.[19] It may be remarked, however, that -girls generally now obtain more opportunity for fresh air and physical -exercise than in former years, which may account for some of their -comparative improvement in this respect; also that in the industrial -districts a great improvement has taken place in the administration of the -Factory Act since the appointment of women inspectors and the general -raising of the standard after the Act of 1891, and girls may naturally be -supposed to have profited more by this improved administration than have -youths of the other sex, who are not included under the Act when over 18 -years, and in many cases pass into industries unregulated by law. - -The following table shows the death-rates per 1000 of male and female -persons in England and Wales, 1913, and the ratio of male per cent of -female mortality at age periods, as calculated by the Registrar-General. - -DEATH-RATES AT AGES, 1913. - - +----------------------------------+ - |Ages.| M. | F. |Ratio M. per| - | | | | 100 F. | - |-----|-------|-------|------------| - | 0-1| 120 | 96 | 125 | - | 0-5| 39·2 | 32·2 | 122 | - | 5- | 3·1 | 3·1 | 100 | - | 10- | 1·9 | 2·0 | 95 | - | 15- | 2·7 | 2·5 | 108 | - | 20- | 3·5 | 3·0 | 117 | - | 25- | 4·6 | 3·8 | 121 | - | 35- | 8·0 | 6·5 | 123 | - | 45- | 15·0 | 11·5 | 130 | - | 55- | 30·7 | 23·0 | 133 | - | 65- | 64·5 | 51·1 | 126 | - | 75- | 140·4 | 117·5 | 119 | - | 85- | 266·8 | 241·0 | 111 | - |-----|-------|-------|------------| - |Total| 14·7 | 12·8 | 115 | - +----------------------------------+ - -As might be expected from these figures, the Census shows that males are -in excess of females in very early life, but are gradually overtaken, and -in later years especially men are considerably outnumbered by women. The -disproportion of women is mainly due to their lower death-rate, but also -in part to the fact that so many men go abroad for professional or -commercial avocations. Some of these are accompanied by wives or sisters, -but a large proportion go alone. - -The disproportion of women is more marked in town districts than in rural -ones. This may be partly due to the lower infant death-rate in the -country, for a high rate of infant mortality on an average affects more -boys than girls. But no doubt the large demand for young women's labour in -factories and as domestic servants is another cause of the surplus of -women in towns. In rural districts there is a surplus of males over -females up to the age of 25. The disproportion of women does not show any -marked tendency to increase except among the elderly, the preponderance -becoming increasingly marked towards old age. It would overload this -chapter too much to give figures illustrating the changes in the last half -century; those who wish to make themselves acquainted with the matter can -refer to the very full and interesting tables given near the end of Vol. -VII. of the Census, 1911. - -_Marriage._--The preponderance of young women, though not very -considerable in figures, is, however, in fact a more effective restriction -of marriage than might be expected, because women are by custom more -likely to marry young than men, and thus the numbers of marriageable young -women at any given date exceed the corresponding numbers of men in a -proportion higher than the actual surplus of young women in particular -age-groups. - -The old-fashioned optimistic assumption that women will all get married -and be provided for by their husbands, cannot be maintained. It is -possible, however, to be needlessly pessimistic on this head, as in a -certain weekly journal which recently proclaimed that "two out of every -three women die old maids." If we are to regard marriage as an occupation -(an idea with which, on the whole, I disagree), it is still the most -important and extensively followed occupation for women. In 1911 over -6-1/2 millions of women in England and Wales were married, or rather more -than one-half the female population over 15; and considerably more than -one-half of our women get married some time or other. In middle life, say -from 35 to 55, three-fourths of all women are married. In early life a -large proportion are single; in later life a large proportion are widows. -Or we might put it in another way. From the age of 20 to 35, only two out -of every four women are married, nearly all the rest being still single, -and a very small proportion widowed; from 35 to 55, three in every four -women are married; over 55, less than two in every four are married, most -of the others having become widows. The proportion of women married has -increased since the previous Census, but has decreased slightly at all -ages under 45. - -The following table displays the proportion married and widowed per cent -of the different age-groups. - - +-------------------------------------+ - | Ages. | Single.| Married.| Widowed.| - |--------|--------|---------|---------| - | 15-20 | 99 | 1 | 0 | - | 20-25 | 76 | 24 | 0 | - | 25-35 | 36 | 62 | 1 | - | 35-45 | 20 | 75 | 5 | - | 45-55 | 16 | 71 | 13 | - | 55-65 | 13 | 59 | 28 | - | 65- | 12 | 31 | 57 | - | | | | | - |All ages| 39 | 51 | 10 | - +-------------------------------------+ - -If the figures were drawn in curves, it would be seen that the proportion -of single women falls rapidly from youth onwards, and is quite small in -old age; that the proportion married rises rapidly at first, remaining -high for 20 or 30 years, and falls again, forming a broad mound-shaped -curve; while the proportion widowed rises all the way to old age. - -It will be seen that, even on the assumption that all wives are provided -for by their husbands, which is by no means universally true, a very -large proportion of women before 35 and after 55 are not thus provided -for, and that an unknown but not inconsiderable proportion never marry at -all. In the case of the educated middle class, as Miss Collet pointed out -in 1892, the surplus of women over men is considerably above the average, -and consequently the prospect of marriage is less in this than in the -working class. "Granted an equal number of males and females between the -ages of 18 and 30, we have not therefore in English society an equal -number of marriageable men and women. Wherever rather late marriage is the -rule with men--that is, wherever there is a high standard of comfort--the -disproportion is correspondingly great. In a district where boy and girl -marriages are very common, everybody can be married and be more or less -miserable ever after: but in the upper middle class equality in numbers at -certain ages implies a surplus of marriageable women over marriageable -men."[20] - -In some quarters the adoption of professions, even of the teaching -profession, by women, is opposed on the ground that women are thereby -drawn away from marriage and home-making. It is difficult to understand -how such an objection can be seriously raised in face of the facts of -social life. The adoption of occupations by women may in a few cases -indicate a preference for independence and single blessedness; but it is -much more often due to economic necessity. It is perfectly plain that not -all women can be maintained by men, even if this were desirable. The women -who have evolved a theory of "economic independence" are few compared -with the many who have economic self-dependence forced upon them. Human -nature is far too strong to make it credible that any large number of -women will deliberately decline the prospect of husband, home and children -of their own for the sake of teaching little girls arithmetic or -inspecting insanitary conditions in slums. If a woman has to choose -between marrying a man she cares for and earning her own bread, I am -sentimental enough to believe that nearly all women would choose the -former. The choices of real life are seldom quite so simple. When a woman -has to choose between an uncongenial marriage and fairly well-paid work, -it is quite likely that nowadays she frequently chooses the latter. In -former days the choice might easily have been among the alternatives of -the uncongenial marriage, the charity, willing or unwilling, of friends -and relations, and sheer starvation, not to mention that even the bitter -relief of the uncongenial marriage, usually available in fiction, is not -always forthcoming in real life. The case grows clearer every year, that -women need training and opportunity to be able to support themselves, -though not all women will do so throughout life. - -_Occupation._--If we have any doubt of the fact that there is still "a -deal of human nature" in girls and women, we have only to compare the -Census statistics of occupation and marriage. We have already seen that -the numbers married increase up to 45. As the number married increases the -number occupied rapidly falls off. The percentage of women and girls over -15 who are occupied was, in 1911, 35.5; an increase of 1.0 since 1901. - -This does not, however, mean that only a little more than one-third of all -women enter upon a trade or occupation. In point of fact a very large -proportion are workers in early youth, as the following tables show. In -order to illustrate the relation of occupation to marriage, we place the -two sets of figures side by side. - - +---------------------------------------+ - | |Percentage|Percentage| - | | Occupied.| Married. | - |-----------------|----------|----------| - |Girls aged 10-13 | 1·0 | .. | - | " 13-14 | 11·3 | .. | - | " 14-15 | 38·7 | .. | - | " 15-16 | 57·6 | } | - | " 16-17 | 66·8 | } | - | " 17-18 | 71·9 | } 1·2 | - | " 18-19 | 74·3 | } | - | " 19-20 | 73·4 | } | - |Women aged 20-25 | 62·0 | 24·1 | - | " 25-35 | 33·8 | 63·2 | - | " 35-45 | 24·1 | 75·3 | - | " 45-55 | 23·1 | 70·9 | - | " 55-65 | 20·4 | 58·4 | - | " 65- | 11·5 | 31·3 | - +---------------------------------------+ - -The highest percentage of employment therefore occurs at the age of 18. - -The next table shows the proportions of workers in age-groups. - -WOMEN AND GIRL WORKERS OVER TEN YEARS OLD. - - +--------------------------------------+ - | | Number. |Per cent of Total.| - |-------|-----------|------------------| - | 10-15 | 182,493 | 3·8 | - | 15-20 | 1,156,851 | 23·9 | - | 20-25 | 1,037,321 | 21·5 | - | 25-35 | 1,057,275 | 21·9 | - | 35-45 | 604,769 | 12·5 | - | 45-55 | 422,464 | 8·7 | - | 55- | 369,561 | 7·7 | - | |-----------|------------------| - | | 4,830,734 | 100·0 | - +--------------------------------------+ - -Over 49 per cent of the total are under 25, and are therefore in ordinary -speech more commonly termed girl than women workers. The rise in the -proportion married compared with the drop in the proportion occupied as -age advances, indicates how strong the hold and attraction of the family -is upon women. Conditions in factories are undoubtedly improved; many a -girl of 20 or 22, perhaps earning 18s. a week, with her club, her classes, -her friends, and an occasional outing, has by no means a "bad time." On -the other hand, the life of the married woman in the working class is -often extremely hard, taking into account the large amount of work done by -them at home, cooking, cleaning, washing, mending and making of clothes, -in the North also baking of bread, tendance of children and of the sick, -over and above and all but simultaneously with the bringing of babies into -the world. Moreover, the working girl is not under illusions as to the -facts of life, as her better-off contemporary still is to some extent. -Taking all this into consideration, the Census results shown above form an -illuminating testimony to the strength of the fundamental human -instincts. - -The distribution of women in occupations illustrates both the deeply -rooted conservatism of women and, at the same time, the modifying tendency -of modern industry. The largest groups of women's trades are still their -traditional activities of household work, the manufacture of stuffs, and -the making of stuffs into clothes. Two-thirds of the women occupied are -thus employed. - - +------------------------------------------------------+ - | | Number. | Per cent of | - | | |Total occupied.| - |----------------------------|---------|---------------| - |Domestic offices and service| | | - | (including laundry) |1,734,040| 35·9 | - |Textiles | 746,154| 15·5 | - |Dress | 755,964| 15·6 | - +------------------------------------------------------+ - -It is convenient to picture to oneself the female working population as -three great groups: the domestic group, the textile and clothing group, -and the other miscellaneous occupations, which also form about one-third -of the total. Now, while it is true that the two former groups, the -traditional or conservative occupations of women, are still the largest, -they are not, with the exception of textiles, increasing as fast as -population, whereas some of the newer occupations, the non-textile -industrial processes that have been transformed by machinery and brought -within the capacity of women, are, though much smaller in numbers, -increasing at a rapid rate. The following table shows the change from 1901 -to 1911 in the most important industrial groups including women. It -should be read bearing in mind that the increase of the female population -over 10 in the same period is 12·6 per cent. - -ENGLAND AND WALES, 1901-1911. - - +------------------------------------------------------------+ - | | Numbers. | | - | Occupations of Women |-------------------|Percentage| - | and Girls. | 1901. | 1911. | Change. | - |-----------------------------|---------|---------|----------| - |Domestic offices and service |1,690,722|1,734,040| +2·6 | - |Textiles | 663,222| 746,154| +12·5 | - |Dress | 710,961| 755,964| +6·3 | - |Dressmakers | 340,582| 339,240| -0·4 | - |Tailoresses | 117,640| 127,115| +8·1 | - |Food, drink, and lodging | 299,518| 474,683| +58·5 | - |Paper, books, and stationery | 90,900| 121,309| +33·5 | - |Metals, machines, etc. | 63,016| 101,050| +60·4 | - |Increase of female population| | | | - | over 10 | .. | .. | +12·6 | - +------------------------------------------------------------+ - -But even with the occupations I have dubbed "conservative," or -traditional, modern methods are transforming the nature of the work done -by women. The statistical changes in the so-called domestic group are an -interesting illustration of the changes we can see going on in the world -around us. Note especially the tendency towards a more developed social -life outside the home indicated by the large percentage increase in club -service, hotel and eating-house service; the tendency to supersede amateur -by expert nursing, shown in the large increase in hospital and -institutional service; and the slight but perceptible tendency for -household work to lose its domestic character. Not only do the charwomen -show an increase much larger than that of the group total, while the -domestic indoor servant has decreased, but a new sub-heading, "day -servants," has had to be introduced. The laundry is fast becoming a -regular factory industry, and shows a decrease in numbers, no doubt due to -the introduction of machinery and labour-saving appliances. - -CHANGES IN EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN CERTAIN DOMESTIC OCCUPATIONS. - - +---------------------------------------------------------------+ - | | | | - | | Numbers. | | - | | | | - | Occupation. |--------------------|Percentage| - | | | | Change. | - | | 1901. | 1911. | | - | | | | | - |-------------------------------|---------|----------|----------| - |Hotel, eating-house, etc. | 45,711| 63,368 | +38·6 | - |Other domestic indoor servants}|1,285,072|1,271,990}| +0·8 | - |Day girls }| | 24,001}| | - |College, club, etc. | 1,680| 3,347 | +99·2 | - |Hospital, institution, etc. | 26,341| 41,639 | +58·1 | - |Caretakers | 13,314| 18,633 | +39·95 | - |Cooks, not domestic | 8,615| 13,538 | +57·1 | - |Charwomen | 111,841| 126,061 | +12·7 | - |Laundry | 196,141| 167,052 | -14·8 | - +---------------------------------------------------------------+ - -Textiles, which as a whole have increased exactly in proportion to -population, show a great variety in movement. The following shows the -movement in the numerically more important groups. - - +-------------------------------------------------------+ - | | Numbers. | Percentage | - | |-------------------| Change. | - | | 1901. | 1911. | | - |----------------------|---------|---------|------------| - |Cotton-- | | | | - | Card-room operatives| 46,135 | 55,488 | +20·3 | - | Spinning | 34,553 | 55,448 | +60·5 | - | Winding, warping | 64,742 | 59,171 | -8·6 | - | Weaving | 175,158 | 190,922 | +9·0 | - |Wool-- | | | | - | Spinning | 35,782 | 45,310 | +26·6 | - | Weaving | 67,067 | 67,499 | +0·6 | - |Hosiery | 34,481 | 41,431 | +20·2 | - |Lace | 23,807 | 25,822 | +8·5 | - +-------------------------------------------------------+ - -In "Dress" the most noticeable feature is that in a decade of rapidly -increasing wealth and certainly of no diminution in the feminine tendency -to adornment and display, the numbers of dressmakers decreased by a few -hundreds. Tailoresses, on the other hand, increased considerably more than -the increase in the whole group, and "Dealers" also show a large increase. -The Census unfortunately throws very little light so far on the -development of the various factory industries for making clothes, and the -Factory Department statistics are now so considerably out of date as to be -of little value. In default of further information we may guess that a -very considerable economy of methods has been effected in the making of -women's clothes by the introduction of machinery and the factory system, -and that some of the large mass of customers of moderate incomes are -tending to desert the old-fashioned working dressmakers and buy ready-made -clothes, which have noticeably improved in style and quality in recent -years. But the older-fashioned methods probably hold the larger part of -the field, even now. - -The increasing employment of women in metal trades is certainly a very -remarkable feature of the present Census, the numbers having jumped up -from 63,000 to 101,000 in ten years. The cycle and motor manufactures, -which employed less than 3000 women in 1901, employed not far short of -7000 in 1911. Nearly all the small groups and subdivisions of metal work -show an increase of female employment. For instance, women employed in -electrical apparatus-making increased from 2490 in 1901 to over 9000 in -1911. - -The whole subject is one of great interest, as illustrating the progress -of the industrial revolution in the trades affected, but is impossible to -treat here at length. - -_The Reaction of Status on Industry._--In spite of the increased range of -occupations open to women, it must be added that the position of woman is -a highly insecure one, and that she is considerably handicapped by the -reaction of status on occupation. We have seen that while most women work -for wages in early life, their work is usually not permanent, but is -abandoned on marriage, precisely at the time of life when the greatest -economic efficiency may be looked for. On the other hand, the superior -longevity of women and the greater risks to which men are exposed, leave -many women widows and unprovided for in middle or even early life. Some -women are unfortunate in marriage, the husband turning out idle, -incompetent, of feeble health or bad habits, and in such circumstances -women may need to return to their work after some years' cessation. But -factory industries and indeed nearly all women's occupations make a -greater demand for the young than for the middle-aged or old. Wages are -supposed to be based upon a single woman's requirements. Even if the -destitute widow or the deserted wife can succeed in obtaining fairly -well-paid work, there emerges the difficulty of looking after her home and -children simultaneously with doing work for wages. - -The ordinary view of the subject is that a woman need not be paid as much -as a man, because her requirements are less, and she is likely to be -partially maintained by others. The question of wages will be discussed in -a later chapter, but it may here be pointed out that the facts revealed by -the Census show that the status of women is a very heavy handicap to their -economic position. Normally, women leave their occupation about the time -when they might otherwise expect to attain their greatest efficiency, and -those who return to work in later years are under the disadvantage of -having spent their best years in work which by no means helps their -professional or industrial efficiency, though it may be of the greatest -social usefulness. If a woman cannot expect to be paid more than the -commercial value of her work when she has children entirely dependent on -her, it seems inconsistent that she should be expected to take less than -the value of her work when she is partially maintained at home; surely the -wiser course would be to strive to raise the standard of remuneration so -as to benefit those who have the heavier obligations. - -The same kind of thoughtless inconsistency is seen in dealing with the -problem of married women's work. Many observers of social life are struck -by the fact that it is sad and in some cases even disastrous for a woman -to go out to work and leave her infant children unprotected and untended. -The proposal is constantly forthcoming to prohibit married women's -employment. But many persons, even those who dislike the employment of -married women, think that when a woman is left a widow, the best thing is -to take her children away from her and get her into service.[21] In point -of fact, the young children of a widow need quite as much care and -attention as those who have a father living; and neither a married woman -nor a widow can give her children that care and attention if she is -without the means of subsistence. - -The pressure on widows to seek employment, whatever their home ties, is -seen with tragic pathos even in the bald figures of the Census. - - +-----------------------------------------------------+ - | |Single.|Married.|Widowed.|Total.| - |--------------------|-------|--------|--------|------| - |Percentage of women | | | | | - | and girls occupied| 54·5 | 10·26 | 30·1 | 32·5 | - +-----------------------------------------------------+ - -Although widows in the very nature of the case are older on an average -than married women, although the whole tendency of modern industry is -towards the employment of the young, yet the percentage of widows occupied -is three times as great as the percentage of married who are occupied. - -There are no short and easy paths to the solution of the difficulties of -woman, but those who uphold such measures as the prohibition of employment -to married women, are bound to consider, firstly, how the prohibition -should be applied in cases where the male head of the family is not -competent or sufficiently able-bodied to support it; secondly, whether -the children of widows can flourish on neglect any better than the -children who have a living father, and, if not, why it is more desirable -for the widow than for the married woman to go to work outside her home -and away from her children. - -_Conclusion._--The following points summarise the results obtained from a -study of the statistics in regard to women, supplemented by facts of -common knowledge. Women outnumber men, especially in later life. Not all -women can marry. A large majority of girls and a small minority of adult -women work for wages. A large majority of women marry some time or other. -The majority of young women leave work when they marry. Some women depend -upon their own exertions throughout life, and some of them have -dependents. Some women, after being maintained for a period by their -husbands, are forced again to seek work for wages; and many of these have -dependents. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -WOMEN IN TRADE UNIONS. - - -_Early Efforts at Organisation._--It is probably not worth while to spend -a great deal of time in the endeavour to decide what part women played in -the earlier developments of trade unionism, very little information being -so far obtainable. It seems, however, not unlikely that some of the loose -organisations of frame-work knitters, woollen weavers, etc., that existed -in the eighteenth century and later, may have included women members, as -the Manchester Small-Ware Weavers certainly did in 1756, and Professor -Chapman tells us that women were among the members of the Manchester -Spinners' Society of 1795. At Leicester there appears to have been an -informal organisation of hand-spinners, called "the sisterhood," who in -1788 stirred up their male friends and acquaintances to riot as a -demonstration against the newly introduced machines.[22] We find some -women organised in the unions that sprang up after the repeal of the -Anti-Combination Act in 1824. The West Riding Fancy Union was open to -women as well as men, and although the General Association of Weavers in -Scotland expressly excluded female apprentices from membership it added -the proviso, "except those belonging to the weaver's own family." - -In December the Lancashire Cotton Spinners called a conference at Ramsey, -Isle of Man, to consider the question of a national organisation. The -immediate motive of the conference was the failure of a disastrous six -months' strike at Hyde, near Manchester, which convinced the leaders that -no local unions could succeed against a combination of employers. At the -Ramsey Conference, after nearly a week's discussion, it was agreed to -establish a "Grand General Union of the United Kingdom," which was to be -subject to an annual delegates' meeting and three national committees. The -Union was to include all male spinners and piecers, the women and girls -being urged to form separate organisations. The General Union lasted less -than two years.[23] - -A few years later, in 1833, an attempt which met with limited success was -made by Glasgow spinners to procure the same rates of pay for women as for -men, in spite of the masters' protest that the former did not turn out so -much or so good a quality of work as the latter. No doubt the men's action -was taken chiefly in their own interests. Many of the male operatives -objected altogether to the employment of women as spinners and for a time -hindered it in Glasgow, though shortly after the great strike of 1837 as -many women were spinning there as men. In Manchester women were spinning -in 1838, and, indeed, had done so from early times. One regrets to note -that they acted as strike-breakers (along with five out of thirty-three -male spinners) in a mill belonging to Mr. Houldsworth, as the latter -reported in evidence to the Committee on Combinations of Workmen. A -representative of the Spinners' Association, Glasgow, J. M'Nish, gave some -rather interesting evidence before the same Committee. He said it was not -the object of the association that the employment of women should cease, -although they were "not fond of seeing women at such a severe employment," -but it was their object to prevent the women from being "paid at an under -rate of wages, if possible." Although the women spinners were not members -of the association, they were in the habit of appealing to it for advice -in the complicated business of reckoning up their rates of pay, and the -association had occasionally advised them to strike for an advance.[24] - -Some years later women were to be found among the members of the Spinners' -Unions in Lancashire. Objections were raised to their employment on the -grounds of health and decency, as the spinning-rooms were excessively hot -and work had to be done in the lightest possible attire. Probably the -strongest objection was the danger to wages and to the customary standard -of life through women's employment. The feeling was that women would not -resist the encroachment of the masters, that their customary wage was low, -and that many of them were partially supported at home, consequently that -when men and women were employed together on the same kind of work, the -wages of men must fall. The hand-loom weavers of Glasgow would not admit -adult women to their society, though many were in fact working; and the -warpers discouraged women warpers. In 1833, however, the Glasgow women -power-loom weavers are said to have had a union under the direction of -the male operatives.[25] - -The great outburst of unionism in 1833-34 fostered by Owen, the formation -of a "Grand National Consolidated Trades Union" did not leave the women -untouched. A delegates' meeting was held in February 1834 at which it was -resolved that the new body should take the form of a federation of -separate trade lodges, usually of members of one trade, but with provision -for "miscellaneous lodges," in places where the numbers were small, and -even for "female miscellaneous lodges." Within a few weeks or months this -union obtained an extraordinary growth and expansion. About half a million -members must have joined, including tens of thousands of farm labourers -and women, and members of the most diverse and heterogeneous classes of -industry. Among the women members we hear of lodges for tailoresses, -milliners and miscellaneous workers. Some women gardeners and others were -prominent in riots at Oldham. At Derby women and children joined with the -men in refusing to abandon the union and were locked out by their -employers. The Grand National endeavoured to find means to support them -and find employment, but the struggle, though protracted for months, ended -in the complete triumph of the employers. The Grand National did not long -survive. - -In some of the strikes and disturbances that took place in the following -years there is clear evidence that women took part, but very little can be -ascertained as to their inclusion in unions beyond the bare fact that the -Cotton Power-Loom Weavers' Union, as is generally stated, has always had -women members. In cotton weaving the skill of women is almost equal to -men's, in some cases even superior; and as the power-loom came more and -more into use, women were more and more employed, as we have seen. The men -had thus in their industry an object lesson of the desirability of -association and combination in the interests of both sexes. A Weavers' -Union of Great Britain and Ireland was formed in 1840 on the occasion of -the Stockport strike. But the establishment of unions on a sound basis was -a little later, about the middle of the century. - -_Cotton Weavers._--Numerous strikes occurred in Lancashire about the -middle of the nineteenth century, and several unions of cotton weavers -formed in those years are still in existence. The first sound organisation -of power-loom weavers was established at Blackburn in 1854, but the -Padiham Society and the Radcliffe Society can trace their existence back -to 1850. The organisation of cotton weavers thenceforward proceeded -rapidly. The Chorley weavers date from 1855, the Accrington Society from -1856, Darwen and Ramsbottom from 1857, Preston, 1858, Great Harwood and -Oldham and District, 1859. The East Lancashire Amalgamated Society was -also formed in 1859, and was afterwards known as the North-East Lancashire -Amalgamated Society. - -For many years, however, contributions were too small to admit of forming -an adequate reserve, and before 1878 the unions were not really effective. -A number of local strikes about that date led the Union officials to -perceive that higher contributions were necessary for concerted action, -and cases of victimising of officials brought home the need for larger -Unions with officials who could be placed beyond the risk of -victimisation. The new demands made upon the workers no doubt caused some -dismay. Some members were lost at first, but most of these returned after -a few months. In course of time the weavers have built up an organisation -which as far as women are concerned is without parallel in this country. - -The Weavers' Amalgamation was formed in 1884. It includes 38 districts in -Lancashire and Yorkshire, and one or two in Derbyshire, with nearly -200,000 members, the majority being women. In one or two districts -political forces have favoured the growth of rival Unions outside the -Amalgamation, and these also include a large proportion of women. This -division in the weavers' camp is greatly to be regretted, but the rival -societies do not appear so far to have done any great harm to the great -Amalgamation, whose lead they usually follow, save in political matters, -and from whose influence they, of course, indirectly benefit considerably, -though they pay no contributions to its funds. - -Piece rates in textile trades are extremely complicated. The lists and -exceptions are indeed so technical in their nature that many of the -operatives themselves do not understand them, and it is quite possible -that some employers do not fully grasp the working of the lists. - -The weaving operation begins when the warp, or the longitudinal threads of -the piece to be woven, has been fixed in position on the loom. The threads -used for the warp are what in spinning are called "twist." These long -threads, or "ends" as they are sometimes called, when placed on the loom -pass through the openings of the "reed," a sheet of metal cut like a comb -into spaces of the width required for the special coarseness or fineness -of the material to be woven. The twist also passes through loops known as -"healds." Thus the first element to be taken into account is the thickness -of the threads of the warp, the number of threads going to make up an inch -of width, and the total width of the piece to be woven. The work of the -loom is to throw across the warp the cross threads or "weft." These -threads are carried in the shuttle which flies to and fro and passes over -and under the warp threads alternately, or at such angles and intervals as -are provided for by the arrangement of the warp in the "healds" and -"reed." The weft or cross threads are termed "picks." Thus the second -element in determining the price is the fineness and closeness of the -weft. The fineness is determined by the number of counts of the yarn. The -closeness may be determined by counting the number of threads or picks in -a given length actually woven, or by a calculation based upon the -mechanical action of the machine. In many cases the number of picks can be -easily settled by counting, but in almost every instance the most exact -method is by calculation, based upon the sizes and divisions of the wheels -and of the "beam" in the loom. The "beam" is the bar or pole round which -the cloth is rolled in process of weaving. The third element is the total -length woven, and a fourth is the nature and quality of the material used. -This latter is an especially important element in price. The smaller the -openings in the "reed" through which the threads pass, the finer and -closer the crossing of the weft, the greater in number and more delicate -are the threads to be watched by the weaver, and the greater is the -liability to breakage of threads. Closer attention and greater dexterity -are needed in the weaving of fine than of coarse materials, but on the -other hand the weaving of the coarser yarns may mean harder physical -labour though not requiring so much skill. The harder work is paid for at -an increased rate, though less wages may be earned by the operative. - -The weavers' work is to fetch the cops of weft (unless they have tenters -or assistants to do the fetching and carrying), keep the shuttles full, -and repair broken threads. The standard upon which the uniform list is -based is calculated on the capacity of an ordinary loom, forty-five inches -in the reed space, weaving according to certain particulars given in the -list, which are somewhat too technical to set down here. The standard -conditions are in practice varied in every conceivable way, and exceptions -of every kind have to be provided for by making additions and deductions -per cent. There are also subsidiary lists for special kinds and qualities, -and local lists for special characters of goods made in certain districts. -To find the price of weaving the various allowances have to be deducted or -added one by one. A minute fraction of a penny per yard may make a -perceptible difference in a weaver's earnings. - -These lists are a comparatively modern development, and date from the time -of the labour troubles mentioned above. In 1853 the Blackburn Society -prepared a list of uniform prices for weavers as a basis for a permanent -agreement. This list was based upon prices previously paid at the various -mills in the town, on an average of a month's earnings. The Blackburn list -was in operation till 1892, and was the most important of all the lists -regulating weavers' wages. It was then, with many others, replaced by the -uniform list, which is now generally recognised throughout Lancashire, -but rates for some subsidiary processes are still regulated by local -lists. - -The complication of these lists has necessitated a high degree of -specialised skill in the secretaries, who must possess practical and -intimate experience of the work and a competent knowledge of arithmetic -for elaborate calculations. Subjects of complaint and suspected -miscalculations can be referred to the secretary, who immediately inquires -into the matter. If he considers the complaint justified or the -calculations incorrect, he visits the mill and puts the case before the -employer. The matter can very likely be settled amicably, as in point of -fact these matters often are, but if dispute occurs, it is referred first -to the local association, and may be settled by negotiation. In case of -failure there is a machinery needless to detail here by which meetings of -employer and employed can be arranged through successively higher grades -of representative authority, until in the last resort, if all attempts at -settlement fail, a strike is called. The impressive feature about all this -negotiation from our present point of view is that the whole strength of -the Union, the brains and time and care of the secretary, can be invoked -for the protection of the woman, the youthful or childish worker, as much -as for the adult skilled worker at a craft. - -Cases of wrongful withholding of earnings, as for instance unfair fines, -can be taken into the County Courts. In at least one district the -secretary has successfully asserted the right to visit the mill and -inspect cloth, when the employer claims deductions. The cotton weavers' -secretaries have in fact to play a part not unlike that of the solicitor -in other social grades. They have to look after their clients' interests, -protect them from fraud and injury, and advise them in cases of doubt as -to their legal rights and position. - -A fertile source of trouble is in bad cotton. Most of us have probably -laughed over the story of the pious weaver in the cotton famine who prayed -for supplies of raw material, "but, O Lord, not Surats!" The matter is far -from amusing to the workers themselves. Every breakage of a thread means -that their wages are stopped by so much, and defective material means that -they have to work harder and with more harass and interruption, and -accomplish less in the time. If inferior material is persistently -supplied, the cotton-workers consider themselves entitled to an increase -of 5 per cent or 7-1/2 per cent on earnings, and it is the secretaries' -duty to get it for them. - -It is perhaps worth while to note the peculiar sense given in Lancashire -speech to the expression "bad work." In Lancashire "bad work" means bad -cotton, and is actually so used in the terms of an agreement between -employer and employed as a subject for compensation to the worker. - -Constant anxious care is needed to safeguard the payment of wages. A -Weavers' Local Association advises their members that "whenever the earned -wages of a female or young person is being detained for being absent or -leaving work, except to the amount of damage their employer has sustained -in consequence, such a young person should at once lay their case before -the Committee."[26] Even at the present time it is not unknown for a girl -to be fined to the amount of a whole week's earnings, but, as my informant -added, such a case is now rare. As a rule the Trade Union Secretary will -be appealed to, will take the steps necessary, and the fine will be -returned or considerably reduced. - -Any one who is used to considering the case of the girl and women worker -in the unorganised trades of London or other great towns, any one who has -read in the Women Factory Inspectors' Reports of the difficulty of -enforcing the Truck Act and of the special proneness of the woman worker -to be oppressed and cheated out of what is morally or even legally her -due, will appreciate at once the extraordinary difference between her -position and that of the cotton weaver who is backed up by her -Association, and has an expert adviser to appeal to. - -The position of women (and of course of other members also) has been -greatly improved since the early days of power-loom weaving by the greater -financial strength and security of the Unions. The history of the Burnley -weavers is instructive on this point. The Union dates from about 1870, and -started with a few hundred members on penny contributions. Numbers, -however, increased, in spite of some troubles and persecution from -individuals of the employing class. In 1878, Lancashire, as we have seen, -was involved in a great industrial struggle. The Burnley Society, on its -penny contributions, was unable adequately to sustain its members through -the crisis, and only survived the crisis after a very severe strain. It -was decided to adopt a sliding scale of payments and higher contributions, -with the result that a good reserve was established, and benefits were -granted on a higher scale. Considerable sums are paid not only in this, -but in other Unions for breakdown or stoppage of work from various causes, -such as fire, accident, or failure of trade, stoppage of machinery for -repairs, dissolution of partnership, etc. The weavers give benefit to -members losing work through scarcity of cotton, or waiting for wefts or -warps. Whether it is altogether wise from the tactical point of view for -trade associations to devote so much of their funds to provident purposes -of this nature is not a question I propose to discuss; the relevant point -is the economic security given to the worker. The following shows the -contributions graded according to benefit, and the benefit accruing either -for strikes brought on by the Society's action, or for stoppage of work at -the mill. - -CHORLEY WEAVERS. - - Weekly Payments. Benefits. - 1d. per week (Tenters). 1/6 per week. - 3d. " 7/6 " - 4d. " 11/ " - 5d. " 13/6 " - 6d. " 16/ " - -The Weavers' Unions do not, as a rule, pay sick or maternity benefit save -under the Insurance Act. On the other hand, funeral benefit appears to be -the invariable custom, and disablement through accident also entitles -members to benefit. A penny per member per week is paid to the -Amalgamation towards a Central Strike Fund, the remainder of the -contributions being in the hands of the local branch. - - * * * * * - -The unusual strength of this Union, combining men and women in a single -organisation, seems to be due in the first place to the increasing local -concentration of the industry. In towns where many large mills are placed -near together the ease and rapidity with which a secretary can call a -meeting is surprising. In the second place, it must be remembered that -the organisation of women has been of great importance to the men, the -women forming the majority of the workers. It has been worth the men's -while to consider the women, and so far at least as the economic position -is concerned, they have done it with considerable effectiveness. The -organisation is utterly dependent on the membership and solidarity of -women, and it has successfully safeguarded their economic interests, but -it has been built up mainly by the initiative and under the control of a -minority of men. - -As a general rule, in spite of the exceptional success of the Weavers' -Unions in retaining the continued membership of women, the fact remains -that it is still unusual for women to be actively interested in the work -of organisation. As a general rule the women rarely attend meetings unless -they have a special grievance to be removed, and they seldom nominate one -of themselves for the Committee. There are places where no woman has ever -been nominated at all. This is a subject of regret and surprise, not only -to the secretaries, but to those women here and there who are themselves -keenly interested. These would fain see women representatives on the -Committee, and some proportion of women acting as secretaries and -collectors. Such women feel strongly that "we need the two points of -view," and it is disheartening and incomprehensible to them to find that -they cannot get their women friends to turn up at meetings and support the -nomination of a woman. There appears to be little ground for the -supposition that men would object to share their Committee labours with -women, and even if they did, it is obvious that in an industry where women -predominate, the latter could have no difficulty in packing the Committee -with their own representatives. In all these weavers' Unions the women -have precisely the same rights and privileges as men. All positions are -open to women, and women command a majority of votes. It is not the men's -fault that the management so often is mainly left in their hands. - -If we enquire as to the reasons for this apathy among women-workers, a -great many can be given. One is the danger of victimisation, which may -fall very hardly on collectors and Committee members. Another is the -fatigue of the long day in the mill, the natural desire for a little -amusement, or the amount of house-work to be done. Lancashire women are -"house-proud" to an extraordinary degree, and cannot be satisfied without -a high standard of comfort in such matters as cleanliness, food, and -furniture. All this means work, and though the high wages current in the -cotton towns might seem to make it possible to pay for household help, -such help is not very easy to come by. Domestic service has hitherto been -demanded only by a limited class in the community, because very few -outside that class could afford to pay for it. A highly paid industry like -the cotton trade makes servants scarce, and anything like a general demand -for domestic help on a broad democratic scale could not possibly be -satisfied as things are now. Even help in washing is not easily had. So -the Lancashire woman or girl contrives to work her ten hours in the mill, -and come back to a second day's work in the evening, with such assistance -as may be given by the older members of the family. Lancashire is really -suffering from the service question in an acute form, so acute that it is -taken for granted it cannot be answered. A surprising part of the matter -is that a class of women so intelligent, so industrious, and -comparatively so well-paid, should not ere this have made a concerted -demand for better labour-saving devices in their houses. - -But after all the domestic difficulty does not explain the whole problem -of woman's apathy and indifference in Trade Unions. Supposing the meeting -occurs only once a quarter, as in some places, house-work cannot be an -insuperable obstacle to attendance at such rare intervals. One weaver told -me she had been "bread-winner, nurse, and cleaner" at home, and yet had -found time to attend meetings. Probably the real explanation of the -attitude of women generally towards the Union is to be found in their -education and outlook. Lloyd Jones, in his life of Robert Owen, explained -the failure of the early co-operative societies by the fact that at that -time the working-class had no habit of association. The old forms had -gone; the new had been legally suppressed. Under the changed conditions of -modern life the working-class has had to evolve a new set of social habits -and a new code of social duty. The habit of association has developed more -slowly among women than among men, because to some extent it does -undeniably come in conflict with the traditional moralities of women. To a -great many women the idea of home duty means duty within the home; they -are only beginning to find out by slow degrees that their home is largely -dependent for its very existence on outside impersonal forces about which -it is incumbent on the home-maker to know something, even if she has to go -outside to get knowledge. The Weavers' Secretary, even in Lancashire, -still finds that "females are a deal more arduous to organise than males"; -he supposes, because "they've been brought up to be different." They cost -more in collecting expenses, and the propensity of girls to get married, -to leave work or change their occupation is a constant source of anxiety. -"They are always on the move," and perpetual watchfulness is needed to -enrol the young ones as they enter the mill. Tact and diplomacy are -expended in inducing the women-workers to keep an eye on the younger -members, to bring them in as early in their industrial careers as -possible. Even such homely arguments as "it saves your money from stamps," -are not disdained in the effort to persuade the women to use their own -personal influence to keep the flame alive. Small commissions are given to -a member of a Union who brings in a new member. But without commissions -women do a good deal of recruiting in the mills. The Lancashire cotton -Unions do not run themselves; their efficiency is very largely the result -of constant watchfulness and patient effort on the part of the officials, -backed up by the pluck, tenacity, and high standard of comfort of the -Lancashire woman herself. - -A strong feeling, however, is now arising that there is a need for -organisation of women within the Union, to induce them to come out more, -to take more pains to understand the civic machinery of life which so -largely controls their work, their livelihood, and the possibilities of -health and strength both for themselves and their children. There is -always a splendid remnant in Lancashire who feel themselves to be -citizens; but a more general movement seems now to be beginning. This -movement is partly due to economic changes in the distribution of the -industry. Some mills nowadays employ scarcely any men. Such are mills or -sheds for ring-winding, cop-winding, reeling and beaming, occupations -exclusively appropriated to women. In such mills there will be a man -employed as overlooker, and a mechanic to repair or look after the -machines, and there is or should be a man or strong lad to carry the -"skips," But the industry itself is here carried on by women, and in such -cases women often develop powers hitherto latent for undertaking the -Committee work and management of the Union. The same thing happens in -districts where the demand for male labour in other occupations is -sufficiently urgent to draw men away from weaving altogether. - -At Wigan the Committee is wholly staffed by women. At Stockport all but -the president, secretary, and one member are women. At Oldham about half -the Committee are women. In the largest centres of the industry things are -moving more slowly. In one very large and important Union the first woman -representative has recently been elected to the Committee. At Blackburn -two places on the Committee are now appropriated to the winders and -warpers, who are all women; this has the effect of reserving two places -exclusively for women. Here also the practice obtains of appointing a -worker in each mill as a representative of the Union, to keep the -secretary in touch with what is going on, and about twenty women, chosen -chiefly from the winders, now fill the post of mill representative. The -Insurance Act also has had the indirect effect of bringing in a certain -number of women as sick visitors or pay stewards. Women are thus gradually -being drawn forward, with results that indicate that custom is to blame -for their previous isolation, rather than any inherent incapacity or -unwillingness on their part. - -There is a good deal that men might do to meet the women half-way. The -secretary may regretfully remark that the women members make no use of the -handsome institute and comfortable rooms that are at the disposal of all -members of a Union, but the women complain privately that there is no room -appropriated to their use. This is felt as a difficulty by women, while it -is unnoticed and unconsidered by men. However heartily one may agree that -men and women would be better for the opportunities of social intercourse -such as an institute provides, however much one may wish to see women -making use of its amenities yet, as a beginning, perhaps always, it would -obviously be advisable to set apart for them a sitting-room of their own. -Women would like to go in to look at the papers and so on, but are -deterred by the idea that they are not expected, or not wanted, or that -their appearance may cause surprise in the minds of their male colleagues. -"They did stare a bit, but they weren't a bit disagreeable," one woman -weaver remarked after having valiantly entered her own institute and read -her own magazines. Pioneers may do these doughty deeds; the average young -woman, even in Lancashire, is singularly shy in some ways, however much -the reverse she may appear in others. There is no doubt that social life -in England suffers from the unwholesome segregation of women from the -affairs of the community. They are too much cut off from the interests of -men, most of which ought rather to be the interests of human beings. The -beginnings of better things are now being made, but comradeship and -consideration on both sides are needed. - -A movement for shorter hours is going on in the Cotton Operatives' Unions, -and has been sympathetically regarded for many years by the Women Factory -Inspectors, who realise the intensity of the work in cotton factories as -few outsiders can do. The actual operations of joining threads, removing -cops, replacing shuttles and so forth are not in themselves very -laborious. The strain occurs in the long hours the women are at work, most -of them having to stand all the time, and the close attention that has to -be given. Every broken thread means _pro tanto_ a stoppage of wages, and -eyes and fingers have to be constantly on the alert to see and do -instantly what is necessary. All this time, in most cases, the women are -on their feet; all this time, in many cases, breathing an unnaturally -heated air, sickened by the disagreeable smell of the oil and size, the -ceaseless din of machinery in their ears, dust and fluff continually ready -to invade the system. In recent years the increased speed has enormously -increased the strain of work. It would seem that here is a clear case for -shorter hours by law, but strange to say in practice some women are found -to be rather nervous about such a measure. I know one highly intelligent -girl who fears that shorter hours may mean increased speed, and thinks -that that would be "more than flesh and blood could bear." Others fear a -loss in earnings. These fears, however, are not shared by all, and after -considerable discussion with different persons, I incline to hope that -they are not justified. It is, of course, true that in the cotton trade -conditions are very different from those in certain trades where shorter -hours have resulted in an actual increase of output. The machinery is of -enormous value, and is already speeded up to such an extent that no great -increase of output on the present machines seems possible or thinkable. On -the other hand, there might quite possibly be a very much smaller deficit -on shorter hours than the uninitiated would expect. One result would -probably be a greater regularity of output through the day. Girls will own -that they literally cannot keep going all the time, that they are forced -to relax at intervals, and they add; "if we had shorter hours we should be -able to work right through." There are masters who think the early morning -hours' work is hardly worth the trouble. The Trade Union secretaries with -many years' knowledge and experience of the working of the Factory Acts -behind them, do not fear any permanent reduction of wages. A forty-eight -hours' week, or an eight hours' day would quite likely result in -diminished earnings for the first few weeks or months. But given time to -work itself out, it would regularise production and tend to smooth out -alternatives of "glut" and slack time. A second probable result would be -some increase in piece rates, and the workers would in no wise be worse -off. No doubt this change will meet with considerable resistance, but -judging by past history, it will probably not cause any permanent injury -to the interests of either labour or capital. - -_Winders._--Winding is the process of running the yarn off the spinner's -cop on to a "winder's bobbin." There are two processes, "cop-winding" and -"ring-winding," the latter being a comparatively new process. The winders, -though included usually in the same unions with weavers, are far less -strongly organised. Neither process has as yet a uniform list, but the -cop-winders have lists which cover large areas. The ring-winders are still -less protected, and as a result they are underpaid. - -Increasing discontent among the winders at Blackburn lately caused a -demand for direct representation on the Committee. The position is -curious, there being a woman winder and a warper now serving on the -Committee while the weavers, a larger and better paid body of women, are -represented only by men. Winding is said to be harder and worse paid than -weaving, and "driving" has been introduced in recent years. "If there is -one operative who earns the money she receives it is the winder."[27] -Nevertheless, there are some women who cannot stand the strain of weaving, -and take to winding. Further enquiry into this apparent inconsistency -elicited the fact that winding, although hard and monotonous work with its -continual removing cops and joining threads, is in some ways a less -continuous, unremitting strain than weaving.[28] Winders do not often work -on Saturday morning, and they may occasionally have short intervals of -rest. They also have the chance of promotion to be a warper, a post which -admits of much more sitting down than either of the other two, and is -consequently coveted. - -The defective organisation of the winders appears to be due to the absence -of men among the ranks. The close community of interests which produced -the exceptional success of the Weavers' Union has been lacking, and the -winders appear to have been overlooked. Faults in quality or mistakes made -in the spinning-room are often credited to the winder, beamer or reeler. -It is, however, constantly pointed out in the reports of the Amalgamation -that they have the remedy in their own hands, and should organise more -strongly to get the advantages enjoyed by the weavers. The recent -awakening at Blackburn, indicated above, is a most hopeful sign. At -Stockport also, the secretary is making a special effort to organise the -winders, and at Padiham it has recently been proposed to give them special -representation on the Committee as at Blackburn. - -_Card-room Operatives._--Unions of card- and blowing-room operatives began -to accept women members about 1870, or a little later. Women are now -organised in the same Union with men, and form about 90 per cent of the -workers. The work forms part of the process of preparing cotton for -spinning, and is heavy and dangerous in character. The conditions under -which, and the purposes for which, benefit is granted resemble those of -the weavers' Unions. The organisation of card-room operatives was greatly -improved from 1885 to 1890 or 1894, and may be now considered to have -reached a condition of comparative permanence and stability. The usual -complaint is, however, made that women are apathetic and take little -interest in Union affairs. This state of things is keenly regretted by the -secretary, who would gladly see women members on the Committee. The -difficulties in effective organisation of industries with so large a -proportion of young and irresponsible workers are seen in a recent report -of a card-room operatives' society. "Ring-room doffers are about the most -difficult class we have to deal with in the matter of keeping them -organised, and we can only assume, as most of them are young persons, that -it is mostly their parents who are to blame for this apparent -carelessness. So we appeal to the parents of this class of operative to -take a keener interest in the welfare of those for whom they are -responsible, and would remind them that the writer of this article well -remembers the time when this class of operative was looked upon as well -paid at 5s. 2d. per week, while at the present time the lowest wage paid -to our knowledge is 9s. 3d., an advance of 4s. 1d. per week. Surely the -few coppers required could easily be spared from this advance, and the -benefits returnable are as good an investment as it is possible to find." - -Card-room operatives have usually been regarded as socially somewhat -inferior to the weavers, the work being more arduous and done in more -dangerous conditions and the women usually of a rougher class. It seems, -however, probable that this condition is changing. Card-room work is -becoming more popular as comparatively good wages come at an earlier age -than in weaving. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of -effective organisation to this class of workers. In its absence the large -proportion of women can be taken advantage of to lower conditions of work -all round. Closer co-operation with Unions of other classes of workers -might be very useful, especially on the question of speeding up. The -card-room operatives are speeded and "rushed," working under high -pressure, and at the same time the winder, beamer and warper complain of -bad cotton, and the weaver strikes on account of the same grievance. -Surely the remedy is obvious. - -Ring-spinners are often included in the same Union with card-room -operatives, and quite recently a special effort has been made to improve -the organisation of ring-room workers. A "universal list" was obtained in -1912.[29] - -_Other Workers._--Outside the cotton operatives there are a comparatively -small number of women organised with men in Unions of varying strength and -effectiveness. As regards linen and jute there is a Union at Dundee which -includes over 5000 women, but appears to have made little progress in -numbers in quite recent years. The secretary states that the majority of -women in the jute trade have very little conception of what Trade Unionism -really means, but that the same applies also to many of the men. He -considers that the women's outlook has become broadened within recent -years. There are some women now serving on the Committee, and the women -generally are reported to take a "fair amount of interest" in the work of -the society. The other Unions belonging to this industry are scattered -over Ireland and Scotland. - -Wool and worsted is backward in organisation, both for men and women. The -Union at Huddersfield includes 4000 women, but a correspondent writes that -the General Union, which has branches in all the important textile centres -of the West Riding, in actual strength is scarcely one in ten of its -possible membership. The apathy of the women, in the Huddersfield district -at all events, cannot be due to poverty, for the subscriptions are low -while the women's average wage is high. Nor is it due to the temporary -nature of women's work, for in this district many continue work after -marriage. The Yorkshire women are said by one correspondent to take little -interest in public affairs in any way; by another, "not as much as they -should, but more than they used to do. It's a big work organising and -keeping women in. Marriage, flightiness, lack of vision, lack of help and -encouragement from fathers and brothers all tend to make it hard. The -lower the wages, the harder the task of making them into Unionists." The -difficulty of organising them is great, and outside Huddersfield they are -extremely badly paid--so badly, indeed, that in our correspondent's -opinion the trade needs to be scheduled under the Trade Boards Act. At -Bradford considerable efforts have been made from time to time to get the -women into the Union, but these have failed; and even during the last -boom, due to the flourishing state of trade and to the Insurance Act, very -little progress has been made. - -The Clothing Unions are making rapid progress, including nearly 10,000 -women in 1912, and the Trade Boards will assist the movement. In Leeds -there has been some natural indignation at the low minimum fixed, which -has impelled to organisation. The Unions follow the Lancashire pattern in -organising women along with men. The standard rate for women in the -Amalgamated Society of Clothiers operatives at Leeds is 4d. an hour, which -is held to be achieved if the piece rates yield as much to 70 per cent of -any section or grade of work. In the Boot and Shoe Unions a considerable -percentage increase was registered for 1910 to 1912, and the numbers -reached 8720 in the latter year. - -Printing offers some of the most difficult problems connected with the -organisation of women.[30] Men in these trades have undeniably offered -serious obstacles to the inclusion of women. In 1886 a Conference of -Typographical Societies of the United Kingdom and of the Continent, held -in London, being "of the opinion that women are not physically capable of -performing the duties of a compositor," resolved to recommend their -admission to societies upon the same conditions as journeymen, to be paid -strictly the same rate. This resolution was adopted by the London Society -of Compositors, and it became practically impossible for a woman to join -the society, as women could not keep up to the standard and efficiency of -men. One woman joined in 1892, but subsequently left. The women were -practically excluded from the Compositors' Union by the fixing of equal -rates of pay. This was not so much discrimination against women because -they were women, as a demonstration against the black-leg competition of -the unskilled against the skilled. It is stated that women compositors are -regarded as so inferior to men that only among employers in a small way of -business, working with small capital, where low wages constitute an -advantage sufficient to counter-poise the lack of technical skill, can -they find employment. In 1894 a militant Union of women was organised, and -struck for increased wages and improved conditions, the women going out to -show their sympathy with the men, who had been locked out. In recognition -of the women's sympathy the men gave some help and support to this Union, -which, however, after increasing to 350 began to decline. It was -subsequently recognised as a branch of the Printers, Stationers, and -Warehousemen. - -In the cigar trade, as in printing, it has to be owned that women came in -"not for doing more, but for asking less." Their labour was at first -employed chiefly for the less skilled branches, a small number only being -employed in skilled work; but in both divisions they worked for a lower -rate than men. It was not until 1887 that a Union for women was -established. They still, unfortunately, continued to undersell men, until -at last the men, who at first were hostile to their female competitors, -saw that it was hopeless to try and keep them out, and that for their own -sakes amalgamation was the wiser course. The adjustment of the wage-scale -was a problem of some delicacy. To raise the scale of women's wages to the -same as men's would probably have meant driving the women from the trade; -to leave them on the lower scale would mean that women would contrive to -undersell men. It was finally decided to take the highest existing rates -of pay for women as the basis of the women's Union rates. After the -Amalgamation had been achieved, women's wages rose 25 per cent, and the -recognised policy of the Union was to make advantageous terms with each -employer opening a new factory. Women are not, on the whole, such valuable -workers as are men; they are slower, and often do not remain very long in -the trade.[31] Lower rates of pay, as long as they are not permitted to -fall indefinitely, are a distinct advantage to women in getting and -keeping employment. The numbers in Unions in food and tobacco were only -2000 in 1910, and have since fallen slightly. - -There are also a good many small Unions of women only, some of which are -affiliated to the Women's Trade Union League. The numbers of women -organised in the trades especially their own, such as dressmaking, the -needle trades, and domestic work, are disappointingly small. It has to be -remembered, however, that such occupations as these are still for the most -part carried on either in the employers' or the workers' homes. The -factory system has begun to make some way in dressmaking, but not to a -considerable extent. It is not surprising that the workers in these -industries are behind the factory workers in learning the lesson of -combination for mutual help and protection. - -Unions in the lower grade industries, which till lately have been -unorganised, will be treated in a later section. - -_The Women's Trade Union League._--The Society now known as the Women's -Trade Union League was founded mainly by the efforts of a remarkable woman -named Emma Smith, afterwards Mrs. Paterson (1848-1886). She was the -daughter of a schoolmaster and became the wife of a cabinet-maker. Her -life from the age of eighteen was devoted to endeavours on behalf of the -working class and especially of women. Being a woman of natural ability -and remarkable concentration of purpose, she succeeded in starting pioneer -work of a difficult and unusual kind. She was secretary for five years to -the Workmen's Club and Institute Union, and afterwards secretary to the -Women's Suffrage Association. She was the first woman admitted to the -Trade Union Congress, and attended its meetings from 1875 until 1886, with -the exception only of one year, in which her husband's last illness -prevented her attendance. Although the name of the League has been -altered, and its policy considerably widened and in some measure modified, -it is pleasant to note that it still keeps up a continuity of tradition -with Mrs. Paterson's Protective and Provident League. Her portrait, as -foundress, hangs upon the office wall, and the annual Reports are numbered -continuously from the start in 1875. - -Sick benefit was the main feature of the propaganda initiated by the -League in its early years. The first society formed was for women employed -in the printing trade. The need of a provident fund had been badly felt -by these women during a trade depression three years previously, and there -was no provision for the admission of women as members of the men's -societies, even if women's wages had been (as they were not) sufficient to -pay the necessary subscription to the men's society. Mr. King, Secretary -of the London Consolidated Society of Bookbinders, however, promised to -support and assist the efforts to organise women in this trade. The appeal -for a separate organisation of women met with a ready response. Some -hundreds of women employed in folding, sewing, and other branches of the -bookbinding trade, attended the first meeting, held in August 1875; a -provisional committee was formed, and in October the society was formally -established with a subscription of 2d. per week, and an entrance fee of -1s. Its history, however, was uneventful. It refused to join with men in -making demands upon the employers, and its representatives at Trade Union -Congresses and elsewhere were imbued with Mrs. Paterson's prejudice -against the Factory Act, and resisted legal restrictions upon labour. -Employers have been known to urge the formation of "a good women's Union," -on the ground that the fair-minded employer was detrimentally affected by -the "gross inequalities of price" that existed. The backwardness and -narrow views of the Women's Union were resented by the men, and in the -time of the eight hours agitation, 1891-1894, would not take part, and -there was considerable ill-feeling between the two sections. This society -was mainly a benefit club, and the same remark holds good of other early -societies established by the Women's Protective and Provident League, -which included societies for dressmakers, hat-makers, upholsterers, and -shirt- and collar-makers. The foundress, although a woman of unusual -energy and initiative, whose efforts for the uplifting of women-workers -should not be forgotten, was in some degree hampered by the narrow -individualism characteristic of what may be designated as the Right Wing -of the Women's Rights Movement. She was an opponent of factory legislation -for grown women, and did not lead the Unions under her control to attempt -any concerted measures for improving the conditions of their work. The -first Report of the League indicates her attitude in the remarks which she -reports (evidently with sympathy) from a Conference held in April 1875: -"It was agreed" (viz. at this Conference) "that any further reduction of -hours, if accompanied by a reduction of wages, _as it probably would be if -brought about by legislation_, would be objectionable." (Italics added.) -In the same Report (pp. 14-15) the writer, doubtless Mrs. Paterson -herself, sums up the advantages to be obtained for women through union. -The League is to be a "centre of combined efforts" to "improve the -industrial and social position of ... women"; it is "to acquire -information which will enable friends of the working classes to give a -more precise direction than at present to their offers of sympathy and -help. _Without interfering with the natural course of trade_, the -Societies will furnish machinery for regulating the supply of labour...." -(Italics added.) "The object of the League is to promote an _entente -cordiale_ between the labourer, the employer, and the consumer; and -revision of the contract between the labourer and employer is only -recommended in those cases in which its terms appear unreasonable and -unjust to the dispassionate third party, who pays the final price for the -manufactured goods and is certainly not interested in adding artificially -to their cost." No direct action for raising wages is suggested. - -Delegates from three Women's Societies--shirt-makers, bookbinders, and -upholsterers--were admitted to the 8th Annual Trade Union Congress, held -at Glasgow, October 1875.[32] At the meeting of the T.U. Council in 1879, -five women representing Unions were not only present but took an active -part in the proceedings, successfully moving a resolution for additional -factory inspectors, and for the appointment as such of women as well as -men. - -In 1877, the Amalgamated Society of Tailors having been asked by one of -its branches to resist the increasing employment of women in that trade, -resolved instead that the work of women should be recognised, and the -women organised and properly paid. The League was asked to co-operate in -forming a Union, and a Tailoresses' Union was subsequently formed. At -Brighton a Union of Laundresses was formed. Various other societies were -formed in these early years, many of which are now defunct. - -Mrs. Paterson died in 1886, at the sadly early age of thirty-eight. During -the years following, the policy of the League was enlarged and developed -in a very considerable degree. Miss Clementina Black was secretary for a -few years, and her second Report (1888) contains interesting remarks on -the position of women: "All inquiry tends to show more and more that -disorganised labour is absolutely helpless; good wages, lessened hours, -better general conditions, and, on the whole, better workmanship prevail -in the trades that are most completely organised. It also tends to show -the injury done to men and women alike by the payment to women of -unfairly low wages.... Even in employments in which the work can be done -by women at least as well as by men, the wages of women are greatly -inferior to those of men. And in those branches in which superior -efficiency is shown by the male workers, the inferiority of the wages of -the female employees is altogether out of proportion to the difference in -the character of the work done by the two sexes. From this cause--the -payment of unfairly low wages to women simply because they are -women--arises a desire on the part of grasping employers to reduce the -wage-standard by engaging women in preference to men, while in many cases -the conditions of female employment are onerous and oppressive to an -extent which involves the greatest danger to health." - -In 1889 the representation of the Society of Women Bookbinders at the -Trade Union Congress, held at Dundee, moved a resolution in favour of the -appointment of women factory inspectors, which was adopted. In the same -year, at the International Workers' Congress, held in Paris, the -representative of the London Women's Trade Council, Miss Edith Simcox, -moved the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted by the -representatives of all nationalities: "That the Workmen's Party in all -countries should pledge itself to promote the formation of trade -organisations among the workers of both sexes." - -The policy of the League in regard to legislation was broadened. The -protection of women through the instrumentality of the Factory Act was no -longer resisted, but was recognised as a powerful force for good, to be -aided in its administration and developed whenever possible. The League -also indicated by the adoption of the title "Trade Union League," and by -gradually dropping the former style, "Protective and Provident," that it -was inaugurating a more active policy. As a matter of tactics the League -officials when appealed to for help in labour difficulties among -women-workers, always endeavour _first_ to get the matter settled by -negotiation; but direct action is now by no means excluded from their -programme, and strikes have been called in recent years, sometimes with -considerable success. - -The W.T.U.L. is not a Union: it has no strike fund and pays no benefits. -It is an organisation to promote, foster, and develop the formation of -Unions among women. Any Union of women, or Union in which women members -are enrolled, can be affiliated to the W.T.U.L. All secretaries of -affiliated London Unions are _ex-officio_ members of the League Committee, -on which also are a certain number of members elected at the Annual -Meeting. The W.T.U.L. also enjoys the services of an Advisory Committee of -leading Trade Unionists, who are present at the Annual Meeting. - -The officials of the League are a Chairman, a Secretary, two Official -Organisers, and an Honorary Treasurer. The League acts as the agent of -women Trade Unionists in making representations to Government authorities -or Parliamentary Committees in regard to the legislation required. Abuses -or grievances in particular industries are brought forward in the House of -Commons by members who are in touch with the League. Complaints of -breaches of the Factory and Workshop Acts can be sent to the League, and -are investigated by its officials and forwarded to the proper department. -A legal advice department also forms part of the League's functions, and -deals with such matters as the assessment of compensation, disputes with -Insurance Companies, deductions from wages, non-payment of wages, wrongful -dismissal, claims for wages in lieu of notice, and such cases. A few -instances, culled from recent Reports, will give an idea of the range and -complexity of these cases. - -A worker in a sweet-factory was injured by the strap of the motor falling -on her head, and suffered from shock and chorea. The employers were -foreign, and it was with special difficulty that they were got to admit -that the accident had even happened. Being threatened with proceedings, -the matter was referred to their Insurance Company, who eventually paid -the full wages during incapacity. - -In the slack season seven dressmakers' hands, some of whom had been three -years in employment, were dismissed without notice. The League's adviser -applied for a week's wage in lieu of notice for each worker. After some -correspondence the money owing was handed over. This last case is a sample -of many similar ones, and points to the urgent need of organisation in the -dressmaking trade. - -A syrup boiler in a jam-factory slipped on the boards which, owing to -imperfect drainage, were slippery with syrup, and fractured her left arm. -Compensation was paid at the rate of 5s. 6d. a week. - -The League has always been singularly successful in attracting the -sympathy, interest, and service of able and gifted helpers, both men and -women. It has been also happy in securing active co-operation with many -Trade Unions, and also with societies such as the British Section of the -International Association for Labour Legislation, and the Anti-Sweating -League, with both of which it is closely connected in work and sympathy. -No less than 170 societies--societies, that is to say, constituted wholly -or partly of women members--are now affiliated to the League. The most -recent activities of the League have been a campaign of instruction and -organisation to explain the provisions of the Insurance Act, and a special -effort of propaganda and organisation among the workers in some of the -low-grade and ill-paid industries now coming under the Trade Boards Act. - -A comparison of the list of affiliated societies now appended to the -League's Report with the societies first enrolled shows not only, as would -be expected, a considerable widening of the field, but also a change in -character. Whereas the societies first formed were of women only, and in -London, nearly all the societies at present enrolled are mixed, and most -of them are not London societies at all. The great textile societies, the -weavers, winders, beamers, twisters, and drawers, card-room operatives, -and so forth, form the great majority of organised women; and in these, -women are organised either together with, or in close connection with, -men. Some of the largest are many years older than the League, but have -affiliated in comparatively recent years. There are also a vast number of -Unions of miscellaneous trades--tobacco, food, tailoring, etc.; and even -societies mainly masculine are affiliated, such as the London Dock and -General Workers' Union (including sixty women in 1910). Many Trade Unions -consisting wholly of men make donations to the League as a recognition of -the importance of its work in organising women. - -In Manchester there are two societies to promote the organisation of -women-workers, which are doing excellent educational work in fostering the -habit or tradition of association among workers in miscellaneous trades, -many of which are totally unorganised and grievously underpaid. If we -compare these Manchester societies with the policy of the Women's Trade -Union League in London, a certain difference of outlook is perceptible. -The Manchester societies prefer organising women by and for themselves; -the Women's Trade Union League is in touch with the larger Labour Movement -and favours joint organisation wherever possible. - -_The Movement among Unorganised Workers._--The "New Unionism for Women," -if we may so term it, first attracted public attention in July 1888, when -a few scattered paragraphs found their way even into the dignified columns -of the _Times_. There was a strike among the match-girls in the East End. -Meetings were held, and next came the inevitable letters from the -employers, representing the admirable condition of their factory, the -desire of terrorised workers to return to work, the responsibility of -"agitators" for the strike. Then a small Committee of Inquiry was started, -its headquarters being at Toynbee Hall, and this Committee reported that -it found the girls' complaints to be largely justified. The piece rates -had been cut down on the introduction of machinery more than in proportion -to the saving of labour per unit produced. Vexatious charges for brushes -and excessive fines were imposed without reckoning or explanation. The -wages ranged upwards from 4s.--4s. to 6s. predominantly--and never -exceeded 13s. - -Such were the charges, among others which were considered to be -substantiated by the investigations of the four social workers, who showed -their impartiality by the careful letter in which they reproduced the -explanations and defence of the employers. The Toynbee Hall Committee in -its third letter characterised the relation of employer and employed in -this factory to be deplorable, and the wages paid as so small as to be -insufficient to maintain a decent existence. - -On the 16th, the _Times_ had a small paragraph describing the strike as -being "the result of the class-war which the body of Socialists have -brought into action." Subsequently the London Trades Council took up the -match-girls' cause, distributed strike pay to the amount of £150 among 650 -boys, girls, and women, and formed a Committee of the girls to co-operate -with the London Trades Council. The employers agreed to receive a -deputation. - -On Wednesday 18th July, the strike was declared to be at an end, after the -meeting of the first deputation from the L.T.C. and the match-girls' -representatives with the directors. The directors agreed to abolish fines -and the deductions complained of, to recognise an organised Trade Union -among the employees in order that grievances might be represented straight -to the heads instead of through the foreman, and to reinstate the workers -concerned in the strike. The extraordinary success of this strike appears -to have been due to the unusual steadiness and unity of the girls -themselves, to the able and tactful generalship of Mrs. Besant, and -largely also, of course, to the support of the London Trades Council. - -As a result of this strike a Match-makers' Union was formed, and seems to -have lasted until 1903; but it subsequently disappears from the Women's -Trade Union League Reports, and is known no more. - -About the time of the great Dock Strike, 1889, a concerted effort to -organise East End women-workers was made by Miss Clementina Black, Mrs. -Amie Hicks, and Miss Clara James. Mrs. Hicks had been in the habit of -meeting some of the women rope-makers in connexion with the parochial work -of St. Augustine's Church, and had observed that many of them had bandaged -hands and were suffering from injuries resulting from machinery accidents. -Inquiries made by her brought to light the fact that the women's wages -were only about 8s. to 10s. Disputes were frequent in the trade. Mrs. -Hicks determined to open her campaign of organisation with the -rope-makers, although she was warned that she would find them a rough, -wild and even desperate class of women. Nothing daunted, she called on -several, and invited them to a meeting. The supposed viragos said they -were afraid, and Mrs. Hicks advised them to come all together. A room was -hired, and about 90 to 100 women walked there in a body, a proceeding -which greatly alarmed the inhabitants, some of whom fled into their houses -and barred the doors. The meeting, however was successful. Nearly all the -women signed their names as members of a Union, and Mrs. Hicks became -their secretary, a post which she retained for ten years. It is recorded -that not one of the original members was lost to the Union otherwise than -by death, and that not one of them ever "said a rough word" to their -secretary. - -Mrs. Hicks and Miss James, after making urgent representations, were -admitted to give evidence before the Labour Commission, which apparently -had not originally contemplated hearing women witnesses at all. Mrs. Hicks -was able to show that the conditions of the work were most unhealthy, the -air being full of dust, and no appliance provided to lay it. In some works -even elementary sanitary requirements were not provided. Cases were known -of the women being locked in the factory, and in at least one instance a -fire occurred which was fatal to the unfortunate women locked in. In spite -of these shocking conditions, however, many women refused to join the -Union for fear of victimisation and dismissal. As Mrs. Hicks put it, the -condition of the women was so bad in East London that an employer had only -to say he wanted some work done, fix his own rate of pay, and he would -always find women glad to take it. - -Miss Clara James also gave evidence in regard to the Confectioners' Trade -Union. The Union was very weak in numbers, the women being afraid to join, -several, including the witness, having been dismissed for joining a Union. -In one factory six girls who had acted as collectors for the Union were -dismissed one after another, although the Union had never acted -offensively or used threats to the employer. In this trade the workers -were subjected to very bad sanitary conditions, rotting fruit, syrup, -etc., being left a week or more in proximity to the workrooms. Wages were -stated at from 7s. to 9s., 12s. being the highest and very unusual, but -even these low rates were subject to deductions and fines, and workers -might be dismissed without notice. In both these trades it will be evident -at once that the great need for women workers was to combine and stand -together, but owing to their poverty and dread of dismissal this was -precisely what it was most difficult for them to do. The frequent disputes -mentioned by both witnesses are, however, a sign that the traditional -docility of the woman-worker was even then beginning to give place to a -more militant spirit. - -In other industries there have been many signs of activity in more recent -years. In October 1906 the ammunition workers at Edmonton struck against -a reduction of wages, and the matter being referred to arbitration, was -compromised in a manner fairly favourable to the workers, and other -concessions were subsequently secured. A Union was formed as a branch of -the National Federation of Women Workers, and this Union is still in -active existence. Members are entitled to strike pay and also have a sick -benefit fund in addition to the Insurance Act benefit, and a thrift -section. The secretary is a convinced believer in the value of -organisation to women, and thinks that women are beginning to appreciate -it themselves far more than formerly. - -In 1907 Miss Macarthur succeeded in reorganising the Cradley Heath -chain-makers, whose Union, always feeble, had all but flickered out. The -making of small chains is an industry largely carried on by women in homes -or tiny workshops, and although the district does an enormous trade in the -world market, this had not prevented the local industry becoming almost a -proverb for sweating. The reorganisation of the Union, however, was -effected in the nick of time. The society was affiliated to the National -Federation of Women Workers, an association which has been formed in -co-operation with the W.T.U.L., to bring together the women in those -industries where no organisation already exists for them to join. - -In 1909 the Trade Boards Act was passed, and the making of small chains -was one of the group of sweated trades first included under the Act. The -organisation which had already been started was now of great service in -facilitating the administration of the Act, the Women's Union being able -to choose the persons who should represent it on the Board. Subsequently -when the Board of Trade called a meeting to elect workers' -representatives, the candidates chosen by the Union were voted for by the -women with practical unanimity, and as the work of the Board progressed it -was possible at each stage to consult the workers and obtain their -approval for the action taken by their representatives in their name. In -the absence of effective organisation this would have been much more -difficult. - -The history of the first determination of the chain-makers' Board forms -one of the most singular passages in industrial history. The Board, -constituted half of employers and half of employed, having got to work, -found itself compelled to fix a minimum wage which amounted to an increase -in many cases of 100 per cent, or even more. The previous wages had been -about 5s. or 6s., and the minimum wages per week, after allowing for -necessary outlay on forge and fuel, was fixed at 11s. 3d. Poor enough, we -may say. But so great an improvement was this to the workers themselves -that their comment is said to have been: "It is too good to be true." The -change did not take effect without considerable difficulties. The Trade -Boards Act provides that three months' notice of the prices fixed by the -Board shall be given, during which period complaints and objections may be -made either by workers or employers. At Cradley this waiting period was -abused by some of the employers to a considerable extent. Many of them -began to make chains for stock, and trade being dull at the time they were -able to accumulate heavy reserves. Thus the workers were faced with the -probability of a period of unemployment and starvation, in addition to -which a number of employers issued agreements which they asked the women -to sign, contracting out of the minimum wage for a further period of six -months. This was not contrary to the letter of the law, but was terribly -bitter to the poor workers, whose hopes, so near fulfilment, seemed likely -again to be long postponed. They came out on strike, and were supported by -the National Federation of Women Workers, in conjunction with the Trade -Union League and the Anti-Sweating League. A meeting was arranged between -the workers' representatives and the Manufacturers' Association, at which -the latter body undertook to recommend its members to pay the minimum rate -so long as the workers continued financial support to those women who -refused to work for less than the rates. This practically of course -amounted to a request from the employers that the workers' Trade Union -should protect them against non-associated employees. It has been remarked -that this agreement is probably unique in the annals of Trade Unionism. - -After long consideration the workers agreed. An appeal for support was -made to the public, and met with so good a response that the women were -able to fight to a finish and returned to work victorious. Every employer -in the district finally signed the white list, and more recently the Board -has been able to improve upon its first award. The organisation has so far -been maintained. Thus a real improvement has been achieved in the -conditions of one of the most interesting, even picturesque of our -industries, though unfortunately also one of the most downtrodden and -oppressed. - -No one who has ever visited Cradley can forget it. The impression produced -is ineffaceable. So much grime and dirt set in the midst of beautiful -moors and hills--so much human skill and industry left neglected, despised -and underpaid. The small chains are made by women who work in tiny sheds, -sometimes alone, sometimes with two or three others. Each is equipped with -a bellows on the left of the forge, worked by the left hand, a forge, -anvil, hammer, pincers, and one or two other tools. The chains are forged -link by link by sheer manual skill; there is no mechanical aid whatever, -and we understand that machines for chain-making have been tried, but have -never yet been successful. The operation is extremely ingenious and -dextrous, and where the women keep to the lighter kind of chains there -would be little objection to the work, if done for reasonable hours and -good pay. It is carried on under shelter, almost in the open air, and is -by no means as drearily monotonous as many kinds of factory work. On the -other hand, in practice the women are often liable to do work too heavy -for them, and the children are said to run serious risks of injury by -fire. - -At the time of the present writer's visit, now about ten years ago, these -poor women were paid on an average about 5s. 6d. a week, and were working -long hours to get their necessary food. Most have achieved considerable -increases under the combined influence of organisation and the Trade -Board, and probably 11s. or 12s. is now about the average, while some are -getting half as much again. When the strike was over there was a -substantial remainder left over from the money subscribed to help the -strikers. The chain-makers did not divide the money among themselves, but -built a workers' Institute. Surely the dawn of such a spirit as this in -the minds of these hard-pressed people is something for England to be -proud of. - -In August 1911 came a great uprising of underpaid workers, and among them -the women. The events of that month are still fresh in our memories; -perhaps their full significance will only be seen when the history of -these crowded years comes to be written. The tropical heat and sunshine of -that summer seemed to evoke new hopes and new desires in a class of -workers usually only too well described as "cheap and docile." The strike -of transport workers set going a movement which caught even the women. In -Bermondsey almost every factory employing women was emptied. Fifteen -thousand women came out spontaneously, and the National Federation of -Women Workers had the busiest fortnight known in its whole history of -seven years. - -Among the industries thus unwontedly disturbed were the jam-making, -confectionery, capsule-making, tin box-making, cocoa-making, and some -others. In some of the factories the lives led by these girls are almost -indescribable. Many of them work ten and a half hours a day, pushed and -urged to utmost speed, carrying caldrons of boiling jam on slippery -floors, standing five hours at a time, and all this often for about 8s. a -week, out of which at least 6s. would be necessary for board and lodging -and fares. Most of them regarded the conditions of their lives as in the -main perfectly inevitable, came out on strike to ask only 6d. or 1s. more -wages and a quarter of an hour for tea, and could not formulate any more -ambitious demands. An appeal for public support was issued, and met with a -satisfactory response. The strike in several instances had an even -surprisingly good result. In one factory wages were raised from 11s. to -13s.; in others there was 1s. rise all round; in others of 2s. or 2s. 6d., -even in some cases of 4s. In one case a graduated scale with a fixed -minimum of 4s. 7d. for beginners at fourteen years old, increasing up to -12s. 4d. at eighteen, was arranged. One may hope that the moral effect of -such an uprising is not wholly lost, even if the resulting organisations -are not stable; the employer has had his reminder, as a satirical observer -said in August 1911, "of the importance of labour as a factor in -production." - - * * * * * - -Many women were enrolled in new branches of the National Federation of -Women Workers. Not all of these branches survive, but there was some -revival of Unionism in the winter, 1913-14, and many of the workers who -struck in 1911 will be included under the new Trade Boards. - -Perhaps even more remarkable was the prolonged strike of the hollow-ware -workers in 1912. Hollow-ware, it may not be superfluous to remark, is the -making and enamelling of tin vessels of various kinds. This was once a -trade in which British makers held the continental markets almost without -rivalry; it was then chiefly confined to Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and -Bilston. But small masters moved out into the country in search of cheaper -labour, and settled themselves at Lye and Cradley, outside the area -protected by the men's Unions. In 1906 the Unions endeavoured to improve -conditions for the underpaid workers, and drew up a piece-work list of -minimum rates applicable to all the centres of the trade. But they had not -strength to fight for the list, and wages went down and down. As one -consequence, the quality of the work had deteriorated, shoddy goods were -sent abroad, and foreign competitors improved upon them.[33] This in turn -was used as an excuse for further driving down wages. The hollow-ware -trade, like chain manufacture, employs women as well as men. In 1912 many -of these women were working for a penny an hour, tinkering and soldering -buckets, kettles, pots and pans from early morning until night; at the -week-end taking home 6s. for their living. - -It should also be remembered that some processes, especially the making of -bright frying-pans, entail serious risk of lead-poisoning. Galvanised -buckets are dipped in baths of acid, and the fumes are almost blinding, -and stop the breath of an unaccustomed visitor. The work done by women is -hard enough. But they did not take much notice of the hardness or of the -risk of industrial disease. Their preoccupation was a more serious one: -how to get their bread. Wages were rarely more than 7s. a week, and in -1912 a considerate and attentive visitor found their minds concentrated on -the great possibility of raising this to--12s.? 14s.? 15s.? What the -hollow-ware workers of Lye and Cradley had set their minds on was merely -10s. a week, and to attain this comparative affluence they were ready to -come out weeks and weeks on end. As a result of conferences between -representatives of the National Federation of Women Workers and twenty of -the principal employers, during the summer 1912, it was decided to demand -a minimum wage of 10s. for a fifty-four-hour week. Not, of course, that -the officials considered this a fair or adequate wage, but because they -hoped it would give the women a starting-point from which they could -advance in the future, and because, wretched as it seemed, it did in fact -represent a considerable increase for some of the women. - -The best employers yielded at once, but several refused to adopt the terms -proposed. In October 840 men handed in their notices for a 10 per cent -increase of wages and a fifty-four-hour week. Twelve firms conceded these -terms at once, leaving 600 men still on strike against thirty-three firms. -As a result many women-workers were asked to do men's work, and it seemed -not unlikely that the men might be thus defeated. The National Federation -of Women Workers decided to call out the women to demand a 10s. minimum, -and at the same time support the men in their demands. All the women -called out received strike benefit. There was, however, another body of -women and girls, whose work stopped automatically because of the strike, -and these were not entitled to any strike pay. A public appeal was -therefore issued by the _Daily Citizen_ and also by the Women's Trade -Union League, and the response evoked was sufficient to tide the workers -over the crisis. The struggle ended with complete victory for the workers, -and as an indirect but most important result, the trade was scheduled for -inclusion in the Revisional Order under the Trade Boards Act. - -In the North also the last two or three years have witnessed increased -activity in the organisation of underpaid trades. In the flax industry the -strike of a few general labourers employed in a certain mill resulted in -the locking out of 650 women flax-workers. Although the preparing and -spinning of flax is a skilled industry, the highest wage paid in the mill -to spinners was 11s. including bonus, reelers occasionally rising to 13s., -and the common earnings of the other workers were from 7s. 6d. to 9s. -Several small strikes had taken place, but the women being unorganised -and without funds were repeatedly compelled to return to work on the old -terms. By the efforts of the Women's Trade Union Council of Manchester a -Union was now formed, and a demand made for an increase of 2s. all round. -With the help of public sympathy and financial support the women were able -to stand out, and after a lock-out of nearly three weeks a settlement was -arrived at under which the women got an increase of 1s. all round and the -bonus was rearranged more favourably for the workers. The whole of the -women involved in this dispute joined the Union. - -A dispute in another flax mill was much more prolonged, and lasted for -over sixteen weeks. It was eventually arranged by the intervention of the -Board of Trade, and some concessions were obtained by the workers. In both -these disputes the men and women stood together. There is perhaps no -feature so hopeful in this "new unionism" of women, as the fact that women -are beginning to refuse to be used as the instruments for undercutting -rates and injuring the position of men. - -Many other such efforts might be recorded did space permit. Many of them -do not unfortunately lead to stable forms of association. The difficulties -are enormous, the danger of victimisation by the employers is great, and -in the case of unskilled workers their places, as they know so well, are -easily filled from outside. A correspondent writes to me that "fear is the -root cause of lack of organisation." The odds against them are so great, -the hindrances to organisation and solidarity so tremendous, that the -instances recorded in which these low-grade workers do find heart to stand -together, putting sex jealousy and sex rivalry behind them, disregarding -their immediate needs for the larger hope, are all the more significant. -Several of the labourers' Unions now admit women, notably the Gas-Workers' -and General Labourers' Union and the Workers' Union. - -_The National Federation of Women Workers._--The most important Union for -women among the ill-defined, less skilled classes of workers is the -National Federation of Women Workers, which owes its existence mainly to -the initiative and fostering care of the Women's Trade Union League. The -form of organisation preferred by the Women's Trade Union League in the -twentieth century is that men and women should wherever possible organise -together. This is the case with the firmly-established Lancashire weavers -and card-room operatives and with the progressive Shop Assistants' Union. -In the numerous trades, however, in which no Union for women exists, a new -effort and a new rallying centre have been found necessary. The National -Federation of Women Workers was formed in 1906 for the purpose of -organising women in miscellaneous trades not already organised. It has -made considerable progress in its few years of existence, and has a number -of branches in provincial and suburban places. The National Federation is -affiliated to the Trades Union Congress and to the General Federation of -Trade Unions, and insured in this last for strike pay at the rate of 5s. -per week per member. The branches are organised in different trades, have -local committees and local autonomy to a certain extent. Each branch -retains control of one-sixth of the member's entrance fee and -contribution, together with any voluntary contributions that may be raised -for its own purposes. The remainder of the funds go to a Central -Management Fund from which all strike and lock-out money is provided, and -a Central Provident Fund. Branches may not strike without the permission -of the Executive Council. - -The National Federation of Women Workers has an Insurance Section in which -about 22,000 women were enrolled in 1913. At the time of writing a special -effort is being made for the organisation of women in those industries to -which the Trade Boards Act has recently been extended. - -_Women's Unions in America._--In America women are fewer in numbers in the -Trade Union movement, but they have occupied a more prominent place in it -there than in our own country. The American labour movement may roughly be -dated from the year 1825. In that year the tailoresses of New York formed -a Union and went on strike, and from that time to the present women -wage-earners have constantly formed Unions and agitated for better pay and -conditions of work. - -The first women to enter factory employment were native Americans, largely -New England girls, the daughters of farmers, girls who would naturally be -more independent and have a higher standard of comfort than the factory -hand in old countries. Several important strikes occurred among the -cotton-mill girls at Dover, New Hampshire, in 1828 and again in 1834, and -also at Lowell in 1834 and 1836. It does not appear that these strikes -resulted in any stable combinations. - -Subsequently, between 1840 and 1860, a number of labour reform -associations were organised, chiefly among textile mill girls, but -including also representatives of various clothing trades. These societies -organised a number of successful strikes, increased wages, shortened the -working day, and also carried on a successful agitation for protective -legislation. The leader of the Lowell Union, Sarah Bagley, had worked for -ten years in New England cotton mills. She was the most prominent woman -labour leader of the period, and in 1845 became president of the Lowell -Female Labour Reform Association, which succeeded in obtaining thousands -of operatives' signatures to a petition for the ten hours' day. - -The Female Industrial Association was organised in New York, 1845, a Union -not confined to any one trade but including representatives from -tailoresses, sempstresses, crimpers, book-folders and stitchers, etc. -Between 1860 and 1880 local branches were formed and temporary advantages -gained here and there by women cigar-makers, tailoresses and sempstresses, -umbrella sewers, cap-makers, textile workers, laundresses and others. -Women cigar-makers especially, who were at first brought into the trade in -large numbers as strike breakers, after a struggle were organised either -as members of men's Unions or in societies of their own, and once -organised "were as faithful to the principles of unionism as men." The -Umbrella Sewers' Union of New York gave Mrs. Paterson, then visiting -America, the idea of starting the movement for women's Unions in London. -The women shoemakers formed a national Union of their own, called the -Daughters of St. Crispin. - -In this period there was little organisation among the women of the -textile mills, and the native American girls were to some extent ousted by -immigrants having a lower standard of life. There were, however, a number -of ill-organised strikes which for the most part failed. - -In the war time the tailoresses and sempstresses, already suffering the -double pressure of long hours and low wages, had their condition -aggravated by the competition of the wives and widows of soldiers, who, -left alone and thrown into distress, were obliged to swell the market for -sewing work as the nearest field for unskilled workers. Efforts, however, -were made to form Trade Unions among the sewing women; many of these were -short-lived and unsuccessful. The growing tendency among men to realise -the importance of organising women is seen in a resolution passed by a -meeting of tailors in June 1865: - - RESOLVED that each and every member will make every effort necessary - to induce the female operatives of the trade to join this association, - inasmuch as thereby the best protection is secured for workers as well - as for the female operatives. - -In 1869 the International Typographical Union admitted women to equal -membership, after years of opposition, to the entrance of women into the -printing trade. - -In 1873 and onwards Trade Unionism among women, as among workers -generally, suffered from the trade depression of those years. During this -period, however, a number of eight-hour leagues were formed, both of men -and women members, who found in the short-time idea a significant and -vital measure of reform. The Boston League (1869) was the first to admit -women. In this and other similar societies they served as officers and on -committees. - -A remarkable organisation of female weavers was formed in Fall River in -January 1875. The Male Weavers' Union had voted to accept a reduction of -10 per cent; but the women called a meeting of their own, excluding all -men excepting reporters, and voted to strike against the reduction. The -male weavers, encouraged by their action, decided to join the movement. -Three thousand two hundred and fifteen strikers, male and female, were -supported by the Unions, and the strike was successful. Work was resumed -late in March. - -From 1880 the organisation of women again progressed in the labour -movement of the Knights of Labour. For the first time in American Labour -history women found themselves encouraged to line up with men on equal -terms in a large general organisation. They could also form their own -Unions in alliance with the Knights of Labour, and almost every -considerable branch of women's industry was represented in these -organisations, the most prominent being the Daughters of St. Crispin -(shoe-workers). The first women's assembly under the Knights of Labour was -held in September 1881. From its first institution this association had -realised the necessity of including women. The preamble to this -constitution, adopted by the first national convention of the Knights of -Labour in January 1878, included on this subject two significant -provisions. One called for the prohibition of the employment of children -in workshops, mines and factories before attaining their fourteenth year. -The other gave as one of the principal objects of the order: "To secure -for both sexes equal pay for equal work." And the founder of the Order, at -the second national convention in 1879, asked for the formulation of an -emphatic utterance on the subject of equal pay for equal work. "Perfected -machinery," he said, "persistently seeks cheap labour and is supplied -mainly by women and children. Adult male labour is thus crowded out of -employ, and swells the ranks of the unemployed, or at least the -underpaid." The women not only demanded better wages but appealed for -protective legislation. - -The numbers increased steadily till May 1886, when twenty-seven local -branches, entirely composed of women, were added in a month. But a decline -set in, and in the next following six years, the whole strength of female -Unionism under the Knights of Labour disappeared. It had probably never -exceeded 50,000.[34] - -The policy of labour organisations generally has, however, considerably -developed in regard to the affiliation and membership of women. The -General Federation of Trade Unions, which formerly had been indifferent or -hostile to women-workers, had come to recognise even in the 'eighties that -women occupied a permanent place in industry, and that it was both -necessary and desirable that they should be organised. The position was -summarised in an article in the _Detroit Free Press_.[35] - - _An Equal Chance._ - - Woman is now fairly established in the labour-market as the rival of - man. Whether this is the normal condition of things is a point doubted - by some political economists; but whether it be so or not, it is - likely to remain the order of things practically for generations to - come. This being so it must be accepted, and every fair-minded person - must wish her to have an equal chance in the competition. A woman - supporting her mother and little brothers and sisters is a very - common spectacle; and the fact that Professor Somebody regards her as - abnormal does not make her bread and butter any cheaper. She is - entitled to at least as much sympathy as the man who supports a wife - and children. For his charge, it must always be remembered, is - voluntary--he took it on himself. She could not help her - responsibilities; he assumed his of his own accord. It is therefore - quite just that she should have an equal chance. - -In more recent years the growth of industry and the increasing use of -mechanical power has constantly tended towards larger utilisation of -women's labour. The American Federation's declared policy is to unite the -labouring classes irrespective of colour, sex, nationality, or creed. -Unionism among working women has been promoted, women delegates have been -appointed to serve at the Convention, and local Unions of women have been -directly affiliated. Many national Unions, of course, are not directly -concerned with female labour, and a small number entirely forbid the -admission of women. Of these are the barbers, watch-case engravers, and -switchmen. - -Moulders do not admit women, and penalise members who give instruction to -female workers in any branch. Core-making, for instance, employs some -women, and the Union seeks to restrict or minimise it. The operative -potters, upholsterers, and paper-makers admit women in certain branches -but not in others. The upholsterers admit them only as seamstresses. But -in all trades making these restrictions the number of women employed is -small, and the effect of the restrictions is probably insignificant. Other -Unions encourage the organisation of women-workers. In some of these men -predominate, as in the printers, cigar-makers, boot- and shoe-makers, and -women compete only in the lighter and less-skilled branches. In others -women predominate, as among the garment workers, textile workers, laundry, -glove, hat and cap workers. Some Unions make special concessions to women, -_e.g._ a smaller registration and dues, in order to induce them to join. -The motive for these concessions is clear, as the proportion of women to -men in these industries is much higher than the same proportion in the -Union. - -In San Francisco the steam laundry workers have been organised with -considerable success. Down to 1900 the condition of these women was -extremely bad. "Living in" was the prevailing custom. The food and -accommodation were wretched in the extreme, the hours inhumanly long, -sometimes from 6 A.M. to midnight, wages eight to ten dollars a month for -workers living in, ten to twenty-five for other workers. An agitation was -started to give publicity to these facts, and an ordinance was passed to -prohibit work in laundries on Sundays or after 7 P.M. The ordinance was -not observed, however, and the girls formed a committee and complained to -the press. It was proposed to form a Union. Three hundred men employed in -the industry applied for a charter to the Laundry Workers' International -Union. The men did not wish to include girls as members, but the -International would not give the charter if women were excluded. On the -other hand, the women were timid and afraid of victimisation. One girl -with more courage or more initiative than the others, however, was chosen -to be organiser, and carried on her work secretly for about sixteen weeks -with extraordinary energy and effectiveness. Suddenly it came out that a -majority of employees in every laundry had joined the Union. They had -refrained from declaring themselves until they had a large and -influential membership, and then came out with a formal demand for shorter -hours, higher wages, and a change of system. Public sympathy was aroused, -and by April 1901 the conditions in the San Francisco laundries were -revolutionised. Boarding was abolished, wages were increased, hours -shortened to ten daily, with nine holidays a year. In more recent years -these capable organisers have succeeded in obtaining the eight hours day -by successive reductions of the working time. - -In the same city an interesting case is recorded in which the girls in a -cracker (or biscuit) factory struck against over-pressure. The packers, -who had to receive and pack the crackers automatically fed into the bins -by machinery, found the work speeded up to such a degree that they could -not cope with it. Their complaints were received with apparent respect and -attention, but after a short interval the same speeding-up occurred again. -With some difficulty, many of the girls being Italian and speaking little -English, a Union was formed and affiliated to the Labour Council, whose -representative then approached the employers. The matter was settled by -arranging to have extra hands so as to meet the extra work occasioned by -speeding, and an arrangement was also made to allow each girl ten minutes' -interval for rest both in the morning and afternoon spell. - -The Industrial Workers of the World, a Labour Society with a revolutionary -programme, has a large membership of unskilled workers, in textile and -other industries. It doubtless includes many women, for women took part in -a conflict with the city government of Spokane, Washington, over the -question of free speech, the city having attempted to prevent street -meetings. The workers were successful, but not without a severe struggle, -in the course of which 500 men and women went to jail, many of whom -adopted the hunger-strike. - -In the great strike of textile workers in Lawrence, Mass., in 1912, a -remarkably spontaneous effort was made by the Polish women-weavers at the -Everett mill. The hours of work had been reduced by legislation from 56 to -54 per week, and the employees demanded that the same money should be paid -to them as before the change. In the Everett mill about 80 per cent of the -weavers were Poles. In one of the weave-rooms the Polish weavers, almost -all women, stopped their looms after receiving their money on January 11, -and tried to persuade the workers in some other sections of the mill to -come out with them.[36] The story of this strike shows that women are -fully capable of feeling the wave of class-consciousness that brings about -the development of what is called "New Unionism"; but probably the -difficulty of their taking a serious part in control and management is -even greater than in craft Unions. Information is, however, very scanty as -to the relation of women to the I.W.W., which in its literature is quite -as prone as the more aristocratic craft Union to ignore the part taken by -women in organisation. - -In 1908, when the Bureau of Labour made its enquiry into the conditions of -women wage-earners in the U.S.A., the number of Unions containing ten or -more female members was 546, and the number of female members was only -63,989, estimated at only 2 per cent of the total membership of the -Unions. - -The largest group of women Unionists are those engaged in the making of or -working at men's garments; these number over 17,000. The textile workers -came next with 6000; the boot and shoe workers, hat and cap workers, and -tobacco workers form three groups of over 5000 each. - -This census, however, was taken at a most unfavourable moment, when many -Unions were suffering from the trade depression of the previous autumn and -winter. It is also true that the numbers in actual membership are not a -complete measure of the numbers under the direct influence and guidance of -the Unions. It has been found that the numbers of women ready to come out -on strike and enrol themselves in Unions or enforce a particular demand at -a particular moment are considerably in excess of the number normally -enlisted. - -At the same time there is little use in denying that, speaking generally, -the results attained by women's organisations, after eighty or ninety -years of effort, are disappointing. Women's Unions in America have been -markedly ephemeral in character, usually organised in time of strikes, and -frequently disappearing after the settlement of the conflict that brought -them into being. - -A great obstacle to the organisation of women is no doubt the temporary -character of their employment. The mass of women-workers are young, the -great majority being under twenty-five. The difficulty of organising a -body of young, heedless, and impatient persons is evident, especially in -the case of girls and women who do not usually consider themselves -permanently in industry. In the words of the Commissioner: - - To the organiser of women into Trade Unions is furnished all of the - common obstacles familiar to the organiser of male wage-earners, - including short-sighted individual self-interest, ignorance, poverty, - indifference, and lack of co-operative training. But to the organisers - of women is added another and most disconcerting problem. When men - marry they usually become more definitely attached to the trade and to - the community and to their labour Union. Women as a rule drop out of - the trade and out of the Union when marriage takes them out of the - struggle for economic independence. - -Another great difficulty is the opposition of the employers. "Employers -commonly and most strenuously object to a Union among the women they -employ." When once an organisation has attained any size, strength, or -significance, the employers almost always set themselves to break it up, -and have usually succeeded. In Boston, for instance, a Union of some 800 -members was broken up by the posting of a notice by the firm that its -employees must either join its own employers' Union or quit work. Some -employers look upon female labour as the natural resource in case of a -strike, as see the case quoted by Miss Abbott (_Women in Industry_, p. -206). There are reasons why employers object even more strongly to Unions -among women than among men. In a number of cases production is mainly -carried on by women and girls, only a few men being required to do work -requiring special strength and skill. In such instances the employers do -not particularly object to the organisation of their few men, whom, as -skilled workers, they would anyhow have to pay fairly well. But when it -comes to organising women and demanding for them higher wages and shorter -hours, the matter is much more serious. - -The present unsatisfactory condition of women's Unions is, however, only -what might be expected in the early years of such a movement. Men's Unions -have all gone through a similar period of weak beginnings, and in America -there are special difficulties arising from the presence of masses of -unskilled or semi-skilled workers of different races and tongues, and -varying in their traditions and standard of life. There is much -encouragement to be derived from the fact that the leaders in men's -Unions, both national and local, now have more faith than formerly in -Unionism for women. The American Federation of Labour calls upon its -members to aid and encourage with all the means at their command the -organisation of women and girls, "so that they may learn the stern fact -that if they desire to achieve any improvement in their condition it must -be through their own self-assertion in the local Union." From 1903 onward -every Convention has favoured the appointment of women organisers. Women -also are developing a greater sense of comradeship with their fellows and -of solidarity with the Labour Movement generally. As we have seen, there -are now few Unions which discriminate against women in their -constitutions, and the universal Trade Union rule is "equal pay for equal -work for men and women." - -Even the special condition of this instability in industry, the temporary -nature of women's work, which is so great an obstacle to organisation, is -thought to be changing. Within the last thirty or forty years, changes in -industrial and commercial methods have opened up numerous lines of -activity to women, in addition to the factory work, sewing and domestic -service, which used to be her main field: "marriage is coming to be looked -upon less and less as a woman's sole career, and at the same time the -attitude in regard to wage-earning after marriage is changing. The -tendency of these movements is to create an atmosphere of permanency and -professionalism for woman as a wage-earner, especially among women in the -better-paid occupations, which in time may markedly change her attitude -toward industrial life." Such a change of outlook and habits of mind must -doubtless be slow, but there are signs that it is in progress on both -sides of the Atlantic. The future of Unionism for women is therefore not -without hope, however unsatisfactory the immediate prospect may be. Miss -Matthews, the writer of an interesting study of women's Unions in San -Francisco, sums up her observations on the subject as follows: - - Experience in contesting for their rights in Union seems to have - developed leaders among the Trade Union women. Wages, hours, and shop - conditions have all shown the impress of the influence exerted by the - organised action of the workers. But if wages, hours, and shop - conditions did not enter into the question at all, still Trade - Unionism among women would show its results in a higher moral tone - made possible by the security which comes from the knowledge that - there are friends who will protest in time of trouble and offer hope - for better days; it would display its influence in a more awakened and - trained intelligence; it would make evident its effort in a happier - attitude towards the day's work, arising from the fact that the worker - herself has studied her industry and has participated in determining - the conditions under which she earns her livelihood. - -In 1903-4 a Women's Trade Union League, on the lines of the organisation -of the same name in England, was formed, and is doing excellent work to -promote solidarity and union among women-workers. - - - - -CHAPTER IVA. - -WOMEN IN UNIONS (_continued_). - - -_Women's Unions in Germany._[37]--In Germany the obstacles have been far -greater than in England. The relative prevalence of "Hausindustrie" and -the greater poverty stood in the way of women's organisation, and until a -few years back the law did not allow women to join political societies. -Women were not, it is true, prohibited from joining Trade Unions, but the -line between political and trade societies is not in practice always easy -to draw, and full membership of Unions has thus been often hindered. - -The first Women's Unions were started in the early 'seventies of the last -century, by middle-class women who were also in the forefront of the -battle for the Suffrage. The authorities dissolved the societies. -Women-workers did not long maintain the alliance with the "Women's Rights" -Party. An independent organisation was formed, which greatly exceeded the -previous efforts in numbers and significance. The immediate impulse to the -formation of this Union was given by the proposal of the Government to put -a duty on sewing-thread, which would have been a great burden on the -needle-women who had to provide the thread. Three societies were formed, -the first being the "Verein zur Vertretung der Interessen der -Arbeiterinnen," which was followed by the "Nordverein der Berliner -Arbeiterinnen" and the "Fachverein der Mäntelnäherinnen," both of which -were founded and controlled by working women. Investigations of the wages -and conditions of working women were undertaken by these societies, in -consequence of which a debate in the Reichstag took place, followed by an -official enquiry into the wages of the women-workers in the manufacture of -underclothing and ready-made garments, which only confirmed the conclusion -already reached by private enquiry. The Truck Act was made more stringent, -in response to the working women's movement, but as a secondary result all -the societies were dissolved and the leaders prosecuted. The authorities -were taking fright at the increase in the Socialist vote and in the -membership of Trade Unions; and the Reichstag, under the tutelage of -Bismarck, in 1878 passed the notorious Anti-Socialist Law, under which not -only Socialist societies but even Trade Unions were harassed and -suppressed. During the twelve years in which the law was in force, -however, propaganda work was still carried on with heroic courage and -perseverance, and the solidarity and class-consciousness of the workers, -both men and women, was developed and strengthened by their natural -indignation against the persecution suffered. - -The men's attitude towards the women-workers, which had been formerly -reactionary and sometimes hostile, gradually changed, partly because of -the energy and courage the women had shown, partly through a growing -recognition, which was intensified by the enormous increase in women -industrial workers shown in the Census Report, 1895, that exclusion of -women from the men's Unions could only exasperate industrial competition -in its worst form. In 1890 a Conference was held at Berlin at which the -Central Commission of German Trade Unions was founded, and its attitude -towards women was indicated by the fact that a woman was a member of its -Committee. Measures were taken that in the committees of societies which -excluded women from membership, resolutions should be proposed for an -alteration of rules, and in most cases these were adopted. Under their -guidance an agitation was set on foot to induce women to join Unions. Into -this agitation the women organisers put an energy, patience, and -self-sacrifice that is beyond praise. Now the German Free Unions ("freie -Gewerkschaften") are not identified with any political propaganda, and -cannot legally spend money for political purposes if they have members -under eighteen. But in practice they are largely led and controlled by -members of the Social Democratic Party, and thus it has happened that -working women, who were forced to abandon their own societies and to join -forces with the general Labour Movement, are now largely under the -influence and identified with the movement for social democracy. It is -incorrect to speak of the Unions as "Social Democratic Unions," and yet in -fact the two forces do work in harmony. - -In the Labour Movement women found their natural allies. Their -co-operation secured men against "blackleg" competition, and on the other -hand the social democrats have worked for women. In 1877 they petitioned -for improvements in the working conditions of women, and in 1890, that -women should have votes for the industrial councils that were then under -consideration. Bebel's _Die Frau und der Sozialismus_ appeared about this -time, and made a profound sensation. In this work the relations of the -social question with the woman question were analysed. "Nothing but -economic freedom for woman," said Bebel, "could complete her political and -social emancipation." - -In 1908 some of the remaining obstacles that impeded women from taking -part in political and trade societies were done away with by the Federal -Association law. The outstanding fact at the present time is the enormous -relative increase in the numbers of women Unionists. Frau Gnauck gives the -numbers in 1905 as 50,000 in the "Free" or social democratic Unions, -10,000 in the Christian. The figures for 1912, from the _German -Statistical Year-Book_, will be found at the end of the section.[38] It -will be observed that although, as with us, the largest group of organised -women is in the textile trades, the members are more generally -distributed, and the non-textile Unions show larger numbers, both -absolutely and relatively, than is the case in England. - -The centralised Unions undoubtedly owe their origin chiefly to the Social -Democratic exertions, and are strongly class-conscious. They, however, -favour the view that it is the duty of the State to protect the workers by -legislation from excessive exploitation, and that it is the main business -of the Unions to achieve as far as possible immediate improvements in -wages and labour conditions. The comparative ease with which new Unions -have been built up and existing Unions amalgamated is very largely due to -Social Democratic influence. Before Trade Unions existed to any extent -worth mentioning, Lassalle's campaign for united action had taught the -workers that the engineer and his helper, the bricklayer and his labourer, -were of one class and had one supreme interest in common; that there was -only one working class, and varieties of calling and degrees of skill were -not the proper basis of organisation even for trade ends. The ideal no -doubt is one great Union of all workers, regardless of occupation. This is -in practice unattainable; but the Germans, in whom class-consciousness is -so strong, are reducing the Unions to the smallest possible number, and -are also linked closely together by means of the General Commission. - -The General Commission of Trade Unions has its office in Berlin. It -publishes a weekly journal called a _Korrespondenzblatt_, containing -information of value to Trade Unionists and students of Trade Unionism. -Connected with the Commission is a secretariat for women, the work of -which is to promote organisation among women-workers. Still more recently -it has been arranged that each Union with any appreciable membership of -women should have a woman organiser. The rapid increase among women -members is an indication of the increasing interest taken by the women -themselves. Considerable diversity in the scale of contributions is one -characteristic--young persons, as well as women, being admitted members -along with adult males. - -It is evident that the German form of organisation is much better -calculated to catch the weaker and less-skilled classes of workers than is -the more aristocratic and old-fashioned craft Union of our own country. -The Germans hold that the organisation of the unskilled labourer is as -important as that of the mechanic, and their great industrial combinations -include all men- and women-workers within the field of operations, -irrespective of their particular grade of skill. Endeavours are made to -enrol all workers in big effective organisations, and the success of these -tactics has been most significant. While in Germany two and a half million -workers are organised in forty-eight centralised Unions, all affiliated to -the General Commission as the national centre, in England there are more -than a thousand separate Unions with about the same total membership. In -England barely one million Unionists out of the two and a half belong to -the General Federation. These facts are not without bearing on the -position of women-workers. English working men complain of the competition -of women; the moral is, organise the women. - -Another important field of Trade Union activity is in the education of -their members. There is a Trade Union School at Berlin supported entirely -by Trade Union funds and managed by Trade Unionists. Care is also taken -that members of Unions should be politically educated to understand their -rights and duties as citizens. Women-workers in all the "freie -Gewerkschaften" enjoy the same privileges as men, and are eligible for all -boards or elected bodies of their respective Unions. There are as yet, -however, only two Unions in Germany which have a woman president, and the -majority on the executives of the other Unions are men. This is not due to -opposition by men, or to rules impeding the appointment of women on these -bodies, but rather to the indifference of many women-workers, who, as in -England, fail to interest themselves in the affairs of their Unions. This -lack of enthusiasm on the part of women is ascribed to their position in -the home and to the difficulty that they have in combining household work -with wage-work, and at the same time retaining any leisure or energy to -concern themselves with Union matters. - -Contributions and benefits are usually somewhat lower than in the case of -men, because women's earnings are usually less. Five national Unions have, -however, adopted the principle of equal scales for men and women. In these -cases the amount of contribution varies according to the wages earned, and -benefits are graduated to prevent the risk of women becoming a greater -burden on the funds than men. - -It is a patent fact that the number of organised women-workers is very -small when compared with men in the same organisation, but the relative -increase is great, and the spirit of association is said to be gaining a -strong hold on women. The fact that so many German women continue work -after marriage is said to be one cause of the increasing interest taken in -Unions, their position as wage-earners being not merely a temporary one, -to be abandoned in a few years' time. - -The "Christian" Trade Unions contain no very large numbers of women -compared to the "free" societies. They were also considerably later in -coming into existence, and appear, though ostensibly non-political, to be -largely due to reactionary political influences, and organised in -opposition to the Socialist party. The Home Workers' Union is mainly -philanthropic and controlled by ladies. The Christian Unions have -enemies on both sides, as they are naturally regarded with considerable -suspicion by the "Free" or "Central" Unions, but nevertheless are -also disapproved of by the authorities of the Catholic Church. The -Christian Unions started with the aim of being inter-denominational -("interkonfessionelle"), including Protestants as well as Catholics, and a -considerable degree of sympathy with labour was combined with their mainly -reactionary propaganda; they even considered strikes a possible and -ultimate resource, although they desired to avoid them. In many cases, -pressed forward perhaps by the rank and file, they have co-operated with -the "Free" Unions, who are so much stronger in numbers and finance than -themselves. These tendencies excited the displeasure of the strict -Catholic body, and not only the German Bishops, but the Pope himself, have -shown hostility to the Christian Unions, which have thus been rent by -internal dissensions. Catholic Unions of a strictly denominational type -have been formed in opposition to the inter-denominational Christian -Unions, and though the former are of little importance as organisations, -they no doubt have some effect in weakening the body from which they have -branched off. However that may be, the numbers in the Christian Unions, -though showing a considerable percentage increase, are insignificant -compared to the large "Free" Unions. In quite recent years the Christian -Unions have lent themselves to strike-breaking and are becoming -discredited in the labour world. The Hirsch-Duncker Unions have only a -very small number of women members, and are of little importance for the -women's labour movement. These Unions were founded and are partly -controlled by middle-class Liberals. - -It may be interesting here briefly to compare the views of two -distinguished German women writers on the question of Trade Unionism for -women. Frau Braun, writing in 1901, says that the development of the -great industry is the force that impelled men to combine successfully -together, but industrially women are about a century behind men, and -before they can be successfully organised, home-work must be repressed in -every form, and women's work must develop into factory industry much more -completely than it has yet done. Home-work tends to perpetuate the -dependence of women, enabling the home-keeping wife or daughter to carry -on a bye-industry, and is therefore an evil. Again, the poverty of women -is a great obstacle to their organisation. Economic history shows that -well-paid workers organise more quickly and effectively than those who are -isolated, oppressed and degraded. Women-workers most urgently need to be -enlightened, but this cannot happen until they have been lifted out of the -intense pressure of physical need; they must be given time to read, to -follow the news of the day, to get beyond the horizon of their own four -walls. This cannot be attained by Trade Union action alone. Legislative -measures must be taken for the relief of the women-workers. English -history shows that Lancashire women weavers before the Factory Act were as -incapable of organisation, as easy a prey to the exploiter of their work, -as the majority of women-workers are to-day. It was only after the law had -restricted their hours of work that they began to organise in Trade Unions -and Co-operative Societies. - -In Frau Braun's opinion women-workers will lose more than they gain by -adopting the style of the women's movement in the bourgeois sense. Save -where absolutely necessary, organisation for women only is a source of -weakness to the women-workers' movement. The numerous societies for -women-workers' education, the independent Socialist women's congresses, -and especially the women's Unions promoted by the advocates of "women's -rights," all these are dangerous. - -A working woman's movement fully conscious of its aims and principles will -permit this class of organisation only in the case of Unions for trades -exclusively feminine, or of educational clubs or institutes when no other -is accessible to women-workers. In principle they should all be avoided, -for they can only confuse the issue, and exaggerate the one-sided feminist -point of view which leaves out of account the class solidarity of workers -and women-workers, the indispensable condition of any successful effort by -the proletariat. And it follows from this point of view that co-operation -with the bourgeois woman's movement should be refused, whether in the form -of admission to "bourgeois" women's societies or the inclusion of -"bourgeois" advocates of women's rights in women-workers' societies. Both -England and France, Frau Braun thinks, offer examples of the reactionary -effect of such co-operation; the numberless work-girls' clubs, holiday -homes and the like, managed by ladies of the upper and middle classes in -England are one cause of the political backwardness of the English working -women. Co-operation is too apt to degenerate into tutelage. The German -women's movement has steadily refused any co-operation with the bourgeois -movement, because it recognises the complete divergence of principle lying -at the back of the two movements, and the difference of standpoint as well -as of aim. - -Not that every Socialist is sound on the woman question! Far from it. Frau -Braun recognises that in many a Social democrat there lurks the old -reactionary philistine feeling about woman: "Tout pour la femme, mais -rien avec elle." The increase of women's employment has considerably -shaken this conviction in the Trade Unions, because the organisation of -women is seen more and more to be a condition of their very existence. But -more than this, they need to recognise the vast importance of educating, -enlightening the working woman, binding her closer and closer to the -Socialist cause. Women have the future destiny of men in their hands. They -mould and shape the character of the children. If Socialism can gain the -women, it will have the future with it. To bring the women into closer -community with the labour movement, to translate their paper equality into -living fact, is no fantastic dream; it is part of the obligation of the -modern "knights of labour" in the interest of themselves and their cause. - -Frau E. Gnauck-Kühne writes in sympathy with the Catholic Unions of the -older type, viz. the "Interkonfessionelle." Like Frau Braun, she greatly -prefers organisation for working women along with men to separate Unions. -Separate organisations, she remarks, require double staff, double expenses -of book-keeping, finance and secretarial arrangements, and are more -costly, not to mention that the women's wages are so low, the -contributions they can make are so small that a sound and effective Union -of women only is scarcely possible. Frau Gnauck lays stress on the -psychological difficulties of organising women. For ages men have been -accustomed to work in common, to subject themselves to discipline; their -work brings them into relation with their fellows of the same calling, -with their equals. The traditional work of women, on the contrary, has -kept them in isolation; the private household was, and is still, a little -world in itself, and in this world the woman has no peers--she has as -housewife no relation to other housewives, and there is nothing to connect -her work at home with the outside world or public matters. She is very -slow to perceive the advantages of new methods, labour-saving devices, -co-operation and so forth, which might so greatly lessen domestic toil if -intelligently applied. With a certain sly humour Frau Gnauck points out -that the housewife has no expert criticism to undergo, for her husband is -often out the whole day, and understands nothing of housekeeping or the -care of children if he were at home. The housewife as worker (not, be it -observed, as wife) is in the position of an absolute ruler; she has no -one's opinion to consider but her own, no inspection or control to regard; -she is a law unto herself. This habit of mind is not calculated to fit -woman for combined action; rather does it tend to promote individualism -and a lack of discipline, which hinders concerted effort in small things -or in great. This is not to deny that many women are capable of the -greatest devotion and sacrifice, even to the point of self-annihilation. -The loftiest courage for personal action and self-sacrifice, as Frau -Gnauck keenly remarks, is nevertheless in its way an emphasis of -individual will and action, a heightening of self, even though for -unselfish ends. Concerted action demands a surrender of individuality, the -power to find oneself in the ranks with one's equals. Men are better -trained for this kind of corporate action than women normally are. The -older women are too much burdened, and continually oppressed with the -thought of meeting the week's expenses, the young ones are indifferent -because they expect to get married. - -Frau Gnauck, however, refuses to despair even of organising the -woman-worker. We must, she says, put ourselves in her place; we must -realise that as no man can see over his horizon, we must bring something -that the woman worker _can_ see over her horizon, something that will -strike her imagination, something that will build a bridge from her over -to those large ideas, "class-interest," "general good," which so far she -has neither time, spirit, nor money enough to understand. She must be -drawn at first by the prospect of some small but concrete improvement in -her own condition, which will make it seem worth while to give the time -and money that the Union wants. Appeal to the feeling all women have for a -home of their own. Explain to them in simple language that the Union would -prevent underbidding and undercutting, and thus raise men's wages. More -men could marry on these higher wages, married women need not go to work, -and both the single woman and the married would benefit. - -Frau Gnauck is in agreement with Frau Braun as to the advisability of -common organisation, for if the women cannot join the men's Unions, they -are helpless, and if they form a Union of their own, they will probably be -too weak to avoid being played off against the men. She takes, on the -other hand, a much more favourable view than Frau Braun of the various -philanthropic clubs and societies formed by women of a superior class. -These organisations do not of course do anything to improve the economic -position, they cannot in any way take the place of Trade Unions, but they -provide a kind of preparatory stage, a training in association, an -opportunity for discussion, and in the present circumstances, with the -isolated condition in which working women and girls so often have to live, -all these experiences are a means of development and an educational help -to more serious organisation later on. This is borne out by Dr. -Erdmann,[39] who, whilst opposed to the Catholic Unions as reactionary, -admits that even in these Unions the workers soon begin to feel the need -of Trade Union organisations, and often end by joining the Socialist -Union. - -NUMBERS OF WOMEN IN UNIONS--GERMANY. - - +--------------------------------------------------------------+ - | Largest Occupation Groups. | Number.| Per cent of Total.| - |---------------------------------|--------|-------------------| - | FREIE GEWERKSCHAFTEN. | | | - | (Total women, 216,462.) | | | - |Textile workers | 53,363 | 24·6 | - |Metal | 26,848 | 12·4 | - |Factory workers | 25,146 | 11·6 | - |Tobacco | 17,918 | 8·2 | - |Bookbinders | 15,979 | 7·4 | - | CHRISTIAN UNIONS. | | | - | (Total women, 28,008.) | | | - |Textile workers | 12,811 | 45·7 | - |Home workers | 8,188 | 29·2 | - |Tobacco | 3,088 | 11·0 | - | HIRSCH-DUNCKER UNIONS. | | | - | (Total women, 4950.) | | | - |Textile workers | 1,880 | 38·0 | - +--------------------------------------------------------------+ - -_The Outlook._--It will be seen from the preceding chapter and section -that a general view of women in Unions presents a somewhat ambiguous and -contradictory picture. In one industry, cotton, there are in England two -large Unions of remarkable strength and effectiveness, in which women are -organised with men, and form a majority of the Union. The women cotton -weavers and card-room operatives form nearly 70 per cent of all the -organised women. In the other textile industries, in the clothing trades, -and some others, a comparatively small number of women are organised, -either with men, or in branches closely in touch with the men's Unions, -but these Unions are of various degrees of strength, and in no case -include a large proportion of the women employed. There are also some -women organised in Unions of general labourers and workers, and their -numbers have increased rapidly in the last few years, but are not as yet -considerable. We also find many small Unions of women only in various -occupations, but it is a curious fact that women have so far evolved very -little organisation in their most characteristic occupations such as -domestic service, nursing, dressmaking and millinery. Unions of some kind -in these occupations are not unknown, but they are quite inconsiderable in -comparison with the numbers employed. Yet the strategic position of the -workers in some of these occupations is in some respects strong. A fairly -well-organised strike of London milliners in the first week in May, or of -hotel servants and waitresses along the south coast, say about the last -week in July, would probably be irresistible. The same applies to women in -certain factory processes when the work is a monopoly of women and cannot -be done by men's fingers. Paper-sorting is a typical instance; a -paper-sorters' strike just before the Christmas present season might be -highly effective. In such occupations as these, nevertheless, Unionism is -mostly conspicuous by its absence. - -There is little use in denying that there are special difficulties in the -way of the organisation of women. The old difficulty of the hostility of -men Unionists is largely a thing of the past, but many others remain. -There are difficulties from hostility and indifference on the part of the -employers; long hours of work; family ties and duties; educational -deficiencies among working women themselves, and the intellectual and -moral effects that result from ignorance. An immense difficulty is the low -rate of wages characteristic of so many women's employments, which makes -it impossible in most cases to pay contributions sufficient for adequate -benefit during a strike. Competition is another difficulty, especially in -low-grade and unspecialised trades, where places can easily be filled. -There is the constant dread among workers of this class and low-grade home -workers that, if they attempt any resistance, some other woman will go -behind them and take the work for still less wages. Even collecting -contributions is often a considerable difficulty; if it is done at the -factory it may subject the collector to disfavour and victimisation; if -not, the labour is very considerable. Another great difficulty in -organising women is the prospect of marriage. A girl looks upon her -industrial career as merely a transition stage to getting married and -having a home of her own. This need not in itself hinder her being a "good -trade unionist," for after all the industrial career of a girl, beginning -at twelve, thirteen, or fourteen, may well be eight or ten years long, -even if she marries young, but it no doubt does tend to deflect her -energies and sentiment from Unionism. The prospect of marriage, which to a -young man is a steadying influence, making for thrift and for the -strengthening of his class by solidarity and corporate action, is to a -young girl a distraction from industrial efficiency, an element of -uncertainty and disturbance. - -Again, the position of women renders them especially amenable to social -influences. Social differences between different grades of workers keep -them apart from one another and make combination difficult. Women are more -susceptible than men to the influence of their social superiors. In the -past, and even in the present, though less than formerly, no doubt, the -influence of upper class women has been and is used against the Trade -Union spirit. Charity and philanthropy have tended to counterbalance the -forces that have been drawing the working class together. Miss Collet -found in investigating for the Labour Commission that the homes and -hostels for the working girls run by religious and benevolent societies -had an atmosphere unfavourable to Trade Unionism, and influenced the girls -to look coldly on agitation for improved material conditions. Lack of -public spirit is, in short, the great difficulty with women. Their -economic position, their training and education, the influence of the -classes considered superior, above all perhaps the pressure of custom and -tradition, all these have combined to prevent or postpone corporate action -and class solidarity. - -Must we admit that women are inherently incapable of organisation, which -by a kind of miracle or chance has been achieved successfully in one -district and in one industry only? A further consideration of the Board of -Trade figures gives a rather different complexion to the matter. - -In the building, mining, metal and transport trades there are practically -no women unionists, but with the exception of metal there are only a very -few women employed in these trades at all. In the other non-textile -trades the proportion of women organised is very small, and the proportion -of organised women to organised men is also small. But it happens that in -most of these trades the women employed are also few compared with the -men, and the men themselves are not strongly organised. In the woollen and -worsted trade organisation is not strong for either sex. In cotton alone -do we get a really strong organisation of both men and women. It begins to -dawn upon us at this point that the weak organisation of women is after -all part and parcel of the general problem of organisation in those -trades. No doubt it is an extremer and specially difficult form of the -problem. But on the whole, with the exception of the metal trades, it -holds good that where women are employed together with men, they are -strongly organised where men are strongly organised, weak where men are -weak. Even in metal trades the exceptions are more apparent than real. The -strong Unions are in branches of work that women do not do; and a glance -down the list of those metal workers who make the small wares and fittings -in which women's employment is increasing does not reveal any great -strength of male Unionism, except perhaps in the brass-workers, who -exceeded 7000 in 1910. Directly we realise this intimate connexion of -women's unionism with the Labour Movement as a whole, a light is thrown on -many puzzling discrepancies. - -In the case of women there have been in the last forty years or so two -tendencies at work. One is towards the sporadic growth of small -unco-ordinated Unions of women only. Financially weak and in some cases -governed by a retrograde policy, numbers of such Unions spring up and die -down again. A few achieve some measure of success, and occasionally a -very small Union will show a very considerable degree of persistence and -vitality without perceptible increase of numbers. Occasionally such Unions -are competing with mixed Unions in the same occupation, each of course -regarding the other as the intruder. It matters very little who is to be -blamed for the overlapping. The only important thing is to recognise that -such tactics mean playing into the enemy's hands, with disastrous results -for labour. Apart from such unfortunate instances, it would be foolish to -deny that the small Unions of women only have provisionally at least a -considerable usefulness. The women must be roped in somehow, and even the -most precarious organisation may have a distinct educational value in -evoking in its members the germ of a sense of class-solidarity and -membership with their fellows. I am almost tempted to say that any force -that brings women consciously into association with aims higher than petty -and personal ones is ultimately for good, however destructive it may seem -to be in some of its manifestations. - -The other tendency is towards the organisation of women either jointly -with men or in close connexion with men's Unions. In these cases there -have been many failures and some successes. The question of adjustment is -highly complicated, and cannot be settled on broad lines as with the -cotton weavers. "Equal pay for equal work" is not a ready-made solution -for all difficulties, for the work is very often not equal at all. In most -cases it is absolutely distinct, and in many there is a troublesome margin -where the work of men and women is very nearly the same but not quite. - -The men often regard women as unscrupulous competitors, and though they -have mostly abandoned the old policy of excluding women, they are apt to -try and organise them from their own point of view, without regard to the -women's special interests. Rough measures of this kind only give a further -impulse to schism, confusion and bitterness. At present undeniably there -is here and there a good deal of ill-feeling, especially in districts like -Manchester or Liverpool, with a number of ill-organised, ill-paid trades, -and competing unco-ordinated Unions. - -If Trade Unionism is to be effective, if membership is to be co-extensive -with the trade and compulsory, as in the future we hope it will, there is -no question that better methods are needed, greater centralisation, a more -carefully thought-out policy, to avoid the present waste and competition. - -It is not so much a change of heart as a coherent policy that is needed. -The organisation of women has been taken up merely where it was obviously -and pressingly needful, in order to safeguard the interests of the men -immediately concerned. In the case of the cotton weavers, an altogether -special and peculiar class, the problem was comparatively simple. It was -of vital importance to the men to get the women in, and on the other hand, -the men could do for the women a great deal which at that stage of social -development and opinion the women could not possibly have done for -themselves. The cotton weavers exhibit an interlocking of interests, so -patent and unmistakable that it was not only perceived but acted upon. The -card-room operatives lagged behind for a time, the organisation of women -being not quite so evident and apparent a necessity, but they have now -almost overtaken the weavers. In other industries the problem is more -complicated and has taken much longer to grasp. Take the interesting and -suggestive industry of paper-making. How is the strongly organised, -highly-paid paper-maker to realise that it matters very much that women -should be organised in his trade? His daughter may earn pocket-money at -paper-sorting, but merely as a temporary employment. She will marry a -respectable artisan and abandon work on marriage. The rag-cutters, on the -other hand, belong to an altogether different class, being usually wives -or widows of labourers. There is not enough class feeling to bind together -such different groups. It is true enough that the problem of labour is a -problem of class-solidarity, and that the women must in no wise be left -out. "Whoever can help to strengthen Trade Unionism among women workers -will be conferring a benefit on more than the women themselves."[40] But -the depth and truth of this statement is by no means fully realised, and -in many cases women have little chance of being organised by the men of -their own trade. As Mr. Cole has told us, the weakness of British labour -is the lack of central control and direction. - -Outside the special case of the skilled workers in cotton, the -organisation of women becomes more and more a question, not of craft, but -of class. This is seen in the different form and type of organisation -demanded by the "new unionism." The cotton weavers need in their secretary -before all things the closest and minutest acquaintance with the technical -mysteries of the craft. The secretary of a modern labour Union including -all sorts of heterogeneous workers cannot possibly possess intimate -technical knowledge of each. Personality, power of speech, the force and -warmth of character that can draw together oppressed and neglected workers -and make them feel themselves one, these are the elementary gifts needed -to start a workers' Union, whether of men, women, or both together. But -also if such a body is to be kept together and do effective work, it is -especially in the "new unionism" that the need of central control and -direction is felt. A national policy must take into consideration the -needs of women and harmonise their interests with those of men. The -success of the Women's Trade Union League is very largely due, not merely -to the personality of its leaders, though no doubt that has been a -considerable asset, but to the fact that it has a national policy and a -definite aim. - -Frau Braun eleven years ago saw that the labour woman ran some danger of -being caught into the feminist movement and withdrawn from her natural -place as an integral part of the Labour Movement itself. It is to be hoped -that she has followed English social history in the interval with -sufficient closeness to be aware of the far-sighted statesmanship shown by -the leaders of the Trade Union League in avoiding such a pitfall. - -However unsatisfactory and inadequate the organisation of women has been -and still is, a review of the situation does not suggest any inherent -incapacity of women for corporate action. In the cotton weavers' -societies, although the main responsibility for organisation has rested on -men's shoulders, yet the women and girls have consistently paid -contributions amounting now to a relatively high figure, and they have -constantly aided in the work of recruiting new members. Experience is now -showing that in certain districts where the industry is becoming more and -more a woman's trade, the women have not been lacking in capacity to take -over the work of managing the Union's affairs. The absence of women from -the Committee of so many weavers' Unions at the present day is due to -inertia and long surviving habit rather than to any real incapacity. In -the recent ballot on the question of political action, the enormous -proportion of votes recorded shows that a large proportion of women must -have used the vote. In many of the small women's societies in Manchester a -working woman is the secretary. In certain cases local Unions of women -have been successful, notably the Liverpool upholstresses, the Edmonton -ammunition workers and some others. The working woman is in fact beginning -to show powers, hitherto unsuspected, of social work and political action. -The Insurance Act has demanded women officials as "Sick Visitors" and "Pay -Stewards," and the new duties thrown on the secretaries and committee by -that Act are likely to bring about an increasing demand for the -participation of women. The rapidly increasing numbers of women in the -Shop Assistants' Union, the movement for a minimum wage in the -co-operative factories, the increasing number of women in general labour -Unions, all these are hopeful signs of a movement towards unity. The -milliner and dressmaker in small establishments and the domestic servant -will probably be the last to feel the rising wave. Even of these we need -not despair. With the development of postal facilities, easy transit and -opportunities for social intercourse, such as we may foresee occurring in -the near future, there may be a considerable development of -class-consciousness even among the workers among whom it is now most -lacking, while the Women's Co-operative Guild and the Women's Labour -League, in their turn, are finding a way for the association of -non-wage-earning women in the working class. - -FEMALE MEMBERSHIP OF TRADE UNIONS, 1913. - - +----------------------------------------------------+ - | | |Per cent| - |Occupation |Numbers.| of | - | | | Total. | - |----------------------------------|--------|--------| - |Textile-- | | | - | Cotton preparing | 53,317| 14·9 | - | Cotton spinning | 1,857| 0·5 | - | Cotton weaving | 155,910| 43·8 | - | Wool and worsted | 7,738| 2·2 | - | Linen and jute | 20,689| 5·8 | - | Silk | 4,247| 1·2 | - | Hosiery, etc. | 4,070| 1·1 | - |Textile printing, etc | 9,453| 2·6 | - | |--------|--------| - | Total | 257,281| 72·1 | - |Non-Textile-- | | | - | Boot and shoe | 9,282| 2·6 | - | Hat and cap | 3,750| 1·1 | - | Tailoring | 9,798| 2·7 | - | Printing | 5,893| 1·7 | - | Pottery | 2,600| 0·7 | - | Tobacco | 2,060| 0·6 | - | Shop assistants | 24,255| 6·8 | - | Other trades | 8,742| 2·4 | - | General labour | 23,677| 6·6 | - | Employment of Public Authorities| 9,625| 2·7 | - | |--------|--------| - | Total | 99,682| 27·9 | - | |--------|--------| - | Grand Total | 356,963| 100·0 | - +----------------------------------------------------+ - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION OF PART I.[41] - - -_Changes effected by the Industrial Revolution._--We have seen that the -industrial employment of women developed partly out of their miscellaneous -activities as members of a family, partly out of their employment as -domestic servants, partly out of the work given out from well-to-do -households to their poorer neighbours. Weaving and spinning, the most -typical and general employments of women, were carried on by them as -assistants to the husband or father, or as servants lending a hand to -their masters' trade, or were done direct for customers. In the last case, -the work might be done either for the use of the manor or some other -well-to-do household, or in the case of spinning and winding, the product -might be sold to weavers directly or through a middleman. To a more -limited extent, the same kind of conditions probably applied to work other -than textile. The women acted as subordinate helpers or assistants, -whether in the family or out of it. In the former case they were probably -not paid but took their share of the family maintenance; in the latter -they were earners. When the circumstances of the trade were favourable, -_e.g._ when the demand for yarn exceeded the supply, women-workers may -have earned very fair wages; but on the whole it appears that they were in -an unfavourable position in selling their labour. The fact of working for -nothing, as many did in the home, would not promote a high standard of -remuneration, and the women who took in work from the manor or other -wealthy households would probably be expected to regard employment as a -favour.[42] - -When the industrial revolution came, and the man with capital found -himself in the exciting position of being able to obtain large returns -from his newly-devised plant and machinery, the women and children were -there waiting to be employed. Enormous profits were made out of the cheap -labour of women and girls. The only alternative occupation of any extent -was domestic service, then an overstocked and under-paid trade. The women -and girls, accustomed to work at home, were not aware how greatly their -productive power had increased, and had no means of justifying claims to -an increased share of the produce, even if they had known how to make -them. Many, as we have seen in Chapter II., were reduced to terrible -poverty through the failure of work to the hand-loom weavers, and were -ready to take any work they could get to eke out the family living. - -_The Survival of Previous Standards and Conditions._--The development of -the great industry, the use of machinery and the concentration of capital, -came at a time when the working class was peculiarly helpless to help -itself, and the governing class was unable or unwilling to initiate any -adequate social reform. The Enclosure Acts had weakened the spirit and -independence of the agricultural working-class and increased destitution -and pauperism, while wages were kept down through the operation of the -allowance system under the Old Poor Law. Local depopulation in rural -districts sent numbers of needy labourers, strong, industrious, and inured -to small earnings, to swell the industrial population of towns.[43] But -the crowning cruelty, the extremest folly, was the prohibition to combine. -The special characteristic of the industrial revolution was the -association of operatives under one roof, performing co-ordinated tasks -under one control to produce a given result. Now this new method of -associated labour was not only immensely more productive, but it also -potentially held advantages for the workers. It brought them together, it -gave them a common interest, it brought all sorts of social and civic -possibilities within their reach. But to realise these possibilities it -was essential that they should be able to join together, to take stock of -the bewildering new situation which confronted them, to achieve some kind -of corporate consciousness. This was denied them under various pains and -penalties. Yet the State did not for a long time itself take action to -give the factory class the protection they were forbidden to seek for -themselves. The effect was that while the workers were bound, the -employers were free or were restricted only to the very slight extent of -the regulations of the early factory acts, and could impose very much such -conditions of work as they pleased. What those conditions were has been -reiterated often enough. Work far into the night, or even both night and -day; sanitation of the rudest and most defective kind where it was not -absent altogether; industrial disease from dust, fluff and dirt, or from -damp floors and steaming atmosphere; workrooms overheated or dismally -cold; wages low, and subject to oppressive fines and fraudulent -deductions,--such, and worse, is the dreary recital of the treatment meted -out to the workers. The introduction of power machines was not _per se_ -the cause of these evils. Women had been accustomed to do the work that no -one else wanted to do. The servile position of the woman-worker, the -absence of combination among the operative class, and the lack of State or -Municipal control over the conditions of industry and housing, all -combined to provide "cheap and docile workers" for the factory system. And -no doubt the factory system took full advantage of the opportunity. -Capital inevitably seeks cheap labour. The governing class had carefully -and deliberately provided that labour should be cheap. - -_What the Factory Act has done._--The awakening class-consciousness of the -factory workers in Lancashire and Yorkshire led to agitation and petitions -for a restriction of the hours of work. Leaving out of account the earlier -Factory Acts, which were ill-devised and weak, the first effective -regulation was the Factory Act of 1833. This Act was timid in the -regulations imposed, which were too elastic to effect very much, but in -the providing for the appointment of a staff of factory inspectors it -asserted the right and duty of the State to control the conditions of -industry, and also indirectly secured that the Government should be kept -in possession of the facts. Only young persons under eighteen were -included under this Act, but in 1844 women also were included, and in 1847 -and 1850 the working day was restricted to ten hours, and the period of -employment was carefully defined to prevent evasion. In 1864 some -dangerous trades were brought within the scope of the Acts, which had -previously included textile and allied industries only, and in 1867 other -non-textile industries and workshops were added. In 1878 a consolidating -Act was passed to bring the employment of women and young workers under -one comprehensive scheme. The plan of the Act of 1878 was retained in the -Act of 1901, but a considerable number of new regulations, especially in -regard to health and safety, were included. In 1893 a step of great -importance for working women was taken, in the appointment of women -factory inspectors. - -It does not come within the scope of this volume to describe the history -of factory regulations and control, but we may here ask ourselves the -question, How much has been done for the women in industry by the State? -What is the present position of the woman-worker? - -In the first place, we note that sanitary conditions in factories and -workshops are greatly improved and conditions as to health are more -considered than was formerly the custom. This is not entirely due to the -regulations of the Factory Act, but partly to the progress of public -health generally, and to the development of scientific knowledge and -humaner ideals of social life and manners. It is true that we are only at -the beginning of this movement, and much remains to be done, as any one -can satisfy himself by getting into touch with industrial workers, or by -studying the Factory Inspectors' Reports, but it can hardly be doubted -that the woman-worker of to-day has a very different, a very much more -civilised industrial environment than had her mother or her grandmother. -The appointment of women inspectors counts for a great deal here, for in -earlier times the needs of women-workers were not considered, or if -considered were not known with any accuracy. In the second place we note -that there has been a considerable development of special precautions for -dangerous trades, and that in one instance of a dangerous substance, viz. -white phosphorus, its use has even been prohibited, and the terrible -disease known as "phossy jaw," formerly the bane of match-makers, has been -stamped out. In regard to certain sweated industries measures have been -taken to regulate wages through the instrumentality of the Trade Boards, -and, as it appears, with a considerable measure of success. - -_Present Position of the Woman-Worker._--Otherwise it is strange to notice -how very little the position of the woman-worker has been improved in -recent years. She is still liable to toil her ten hours daily, just as her -grandmother did, for five days in the week, though on Saturdays the hours -have been somewhat curtailed. In non-textile factories ten and a half -hours are permitted, though in many of the industries concerned a shorter -day has become customary, whether through Trade Union pressure or a -recognition on the employers' part that long hours "do not pay." Ten -hours, or ten and a half, with the necessary pauses for meal-times, -involve working "round the clock," which is still the recognised period of -employment even for young persons of fourteen and over. The five hours' -spell of continuous work is still permitted in non-textile factories and -workshops, although the inspectors have long been convinced that it is -too long for health and energy, and Miss Squire reports that it is now -condemned by all concerned with scientific management. In certain trades -overtime is permitted, and the result is that girls and women may be -employed fourteen hours a day, and if the employer takes his full -advantage of it, as occasionally he does, the inspector can do nothing, -the proceedings being perfectly legal.[44] - -While the hours of work have been but very little shortened since 1874, -the strain of work has been considerably increased, as we have seen, -through the increased speed at which the machines are run. This is -especially the case in the cotton trade, though it occurs in other factory -industries. The demand upon the worker is much greater than formerly, and -the reduction of hours has by no means kept pace with the increased -strain. The backwardness of the Factory Act in these and some other -matters is almost inconceivable. So important a matter as the lighting of -work-places is still outside the scope of regulation. The nervous strain -and serious risk to eyesight involved by doing work requiring close and -accurate visual attention in a bad light need hardly be emphasised. The -inspectors receive many complaints of badly-adjusted or otherwise -defective artificial lighting of work-places, but have no weapon to use -but persuasion, which happily is in some cases successfully invoked. - -Another serious factor in the working woman's position is the weakness of -the Truck Act, especially in regard to fines and deductions. Deductions, -_e.g._ for spoilt work, are sometimes made on a scale altogether out of -proportion to the weekly wages, and fines for being a few minutes late, or -for trivial offences of various kinds, are often oppressive to a degree -which can only be described as preposterous when compared with the value -of the worker's time and attention measured in the payments they receive. -In some cases convictions and fines are secured, and in other cases, even -in some which are outside the law, the inspectors are able to obtain the -adoption of reforms by employers, but many hard cases remain unredressed -owing to the difficulty of interpreting the Acts. - -All along the line our social legislation has been characterised by -timidity and procrastination. Dr. Thomas Percival's statement of the case -for State interference in factories (1796) was left for six years without -notice from the Central Government, and the first Factory Act, 1802, was -applied to apprentices only at a time when the apprenticeship system was -falling into disuse. Later on, in response to the high-souled agitation of -Sadler, Oastler, and Lord Ashley (afterwards Shaftesbury), after years of -hesitation and vacillation, various inadequate measures were taken, but -never quite the right thing at the right moment, never designed as part of -a far-sighted policy that would recreate English industrial life and make -it worth living--as it might be made--for the toilers of field and -factory, workshop and mine. This weakness and backwardness in the policy -of the Home Department is no doubt largely due to the covetousness of the -capitalist and the control he is able to exercise on politics. It should -be remembered, however, that the capitalist, or rather the capitalist -employer, does not present an unbroken front. In point of fact the best -manufacturers do not oppose social legislation. They understand the need -of a common rule, and the regulations of the Factory Acts have usually -been modelled on the existing practice of the better kind of employer. -Labour legislation is weakened and kept back by several causes other than -the greed of employers. Among these may be mentioned the cumbersome and -out-of-date procedure of the House of Commons, and the interminable delays -that dog the progress of non-Governmental measures, even when these have -the approval of all parties. Other causes are to be found in the class -selfishness of the upper strata of society, their indifference to the -needs of the people, their ignorance of the whole conditions of the -industrial population's life. With bright exceptions, such as the late -Lord Shaftesbury and some now living whose names will occur to the reader, -not only the aristocracy and the very rich, but the conservative -middle-class, the dwellers in suburbs and watering-places, cling to the -idea of a servile class. They object to industrial regulations which give -the workers statutory rights amongst their employers; they object to -increasing the amenity of factory life and diminishing the supply of -domestic servants. Labour legislation remains backward and undeveloped for -want of the support of an enlightened public opinion. - -_The Strain of Modern Industry._--With the ill effects of the present -system it is impossible for a non-medical writer to deal fully, but no one -can have any talk with a doctor or a sick visitor under the Insurance -Committee in a big industrial town without hearing terrible facts about -the injury to women from the persistent standing at work. It seems likely -also that these injuries are not only due to overstrain among women after -marriage and before and after confinement, but result in part from the -fatigue endured by adolescent girls. Parents are too anxious to send -children to work, and girls of fourteen and upwards are sometimes working -in competition with boys, and suffer from trying to do as much. Pressure -is put on girls to work three looms or even four, before they are really -equal to the effort. It may, of course, be admitted that some of this -strain and drive is self-inflicted. It is part of the admirable tenacity, -self-reliance, and high standard of life of Lancashire women that they are -keen about their earnings, and I have been told of girls who will return -to the shed during meal-hours, or even go to work at 5.30 in summer-time, -busying themselves in sweeping or making ready for work before the engine -starts. These practices are illegal, and the employers often protect -themselves by putting up a notice that any woman or young worker found in -the shed out of working hours will be dismissed, or by sending an employee -to clear the shed at the proper hour. Nevertheless in many cases the -employer has a certain moral responsibility for these evasions of the law, -although they appear to indicate perversity on the worker's part. Girls -and women are indirectly set to compete one with another, and with boys -and men. There is a constant pressure on the weaker to keep pace with the -stronger, the immature or old with the worker in the full flower of -strength. The overlooker usually receives a small percentage on all the -earnings of all the weavers, and has therefore an incentive to keep them -at full tension, and the overlooker's average is again criticised by the -manager. Lancashire people are remarkably articulate and also quick in -apprehension, and the sarcasms launched at girls who, on pay-day, have -earned less than the average are pointed enough to be well understood. The -whole system is like an elaborate mechanism to extract the last unit of -effort from each worker, and dismissal hangs always over the head of the -slower and less competent worker. In the Factory Inspectors' Report for -1913 Miss Tracey tells how children lose their colour and their youthful -energy in the drudgery of their daily toil, how the girls fall asleep at -their work and grow old and worn before their time. "Sometimes one feels -that one dare not contemplate too closely the life of our working women, -it is such a grave reproach." I have myself been seriously assured that -cases of suicide result from the difficulty of maintaining at once the -quantity and quality of work under such conditions. - -Anaemia is a frequent result of overstrain, not to mention the constant -colds and rheumatism due to overheated rooms. The sickness among women -from these and other worse evils alluded to above have become apparent for -the first time through the serious strain put on sick benefit funds in the -first year of the Insurance Act. At one very important centre of the -cotton trade, out of 8056 members 2800 received sick benefit in the first -twelve months. The Insurance Act, whatever its defects, has at all events -given many poor women the chance to take a little rest and nursing that -they sorely needed and could not afford. The sneer of "malingering" is -easily raised, but it is doubtful whether real malingering has much to do -with it. The conditions of industry, greatly improved as they are from the -sanitary point of view, are certainly increasing the kind of strain that -women are constitutionally least able to bear. The industrial efficiency -in the young girl that she and her employer are often so proud of may be -paid for later in painful illness and incapacity. Mr. Arthur Greenwood -quotes medical opinion to the effect that the industrial strain to which -several generations of women in the textile districts have now been -subjected is responsible not only for serious disease, but even for -sterility among women.[45] So far the subject of the declining birth-rate -has been discussed chiefly as a theme for homilies on the "selfishness" of -women, who, it is alleged, prefer ease and comfort to unrestricted -child-bearing. If Mr. Greenwood is right, the cause, in part at all -events, is the force of capitalistic competition feeding on the very life -of the people. Surely the subject needs medical study and investigation of -a more searching kind than it has yet received. - -_The Exclusion of Women: A Counsel of Despair._--In view of the tremendous -strain incidental to certain kinds of industrial work, as at present -organised, there occurs the difficult problem, what kind of work women are -to do. In the case of work underground in mines, and also of a few -industrial processes specially injurious to women, the State has exercised -the right to exclude women altogether, and however undesirable such -legislative exclusion may be in the abstract, there can be little doubt -that it was justified in the cases referred to, the evils being flagrant -and the women concerned as yet unorganised and with no means of demanding -adequate regulations for their own safety. There are even those who doubt -whether woman should take part in manufacturing industry at all, and hope -that ultimately she may disappear from it altogether. Those who take this -view should clear their minds as to what exactly they mean by industry. -They probably do not wish to exclude women from those occupations which -are almost a feminine monopoly, such as dressmaking, needlework and -household work. But to restrict any class of workers to a narrow range of -occupations undoubtedly has a very depressing effect on their wages. We -may also note that improvements in the position and conditions of the -woman-worker have begun always outside, not inside; in the factory before -the workshop; in the workshop before the home; in industry before -needlework. The Wage Census of 1907 shows that women's wages are higher in -the great industry than in the smaller and more old-fashioned -establishment. State regulation of factory work in the first half of the -nineteenth century led to enquiries into the condition of needlewomen and -others, who, as the Children's Employment Commission showed, were in worse -case than factory workers. The factory industry, it was immediately -recognised, was more amenable to control either by the State or by -Unionism, or both, than was the home worker, or the worker in small -workshops. Through the factory, in spite of its many abuses, women have -attained not only an improvement in their economic circumstances, but also -the experience of comradeship and even of a citizenship which, although -incomplete, is very real as far as it goes. - -Women have undoubtedly gained on the whole by the widening of their sphere -of employment. But women cannot possibly do all kinds of industrial work, -and to leave the matter unregulated either by law or by Trade Union action -is to leave too much to the discretion of the employer, with whom profit -is naturally the first consideration. - -If the matter is fought out between the employer and the men's Unions, the -women's interests are not sufficiently considered. Some years ago at -Birmingham the question was being disputed whether women should or should -not polish brass in brass-works. The Trade Union pronounced polishing to -be filthy and exhausting work, and degrading to women, and declared the -employers only wanted to set women on it for the sake of cheapness. The -employers on the other hand said the Union only opposed the employment of -women because they wanted to keep women out of the trade as much as -possible. Probably motives were mixed on both sides. - -Such disputes not infrequently arise in manufacturing industry, and the -middle-class person arriving on the scene is very apt to take a one-sided -view. If he is a mildly reactionary, conservative, sentimental person, he -probably wants women to be prevented from doing anything that looks -uncomfortable and happens to be under his eyes at the moment. If he (or -particularly if she) happens to be burning with enthusiasm for the rights -of women as individuals and scornful of old-fashioned proprieties and -traditions, he (or she) will most likely jump to the conclusion that the -objections raised to the employment of women in the particular process are -merely sex-prejudice and sex-domination. Neither the sentimentalist nor -the individualist, however, sees the full bearing of the situation. In -this connection an article by Mr. Haslam[46] may be studied with advantage -as being eminently thoughtful and fair-minded. In the Lancashire cotton -trade a peculiarly complicated instance of the woman question occurs in -mule-spinning. In this, the best paid and most highly skilled process in -the industry, a shortage of boy labour has somehow to be met. The -proportion of helpers or "piecers" needed is much larger than the -proportion of boys who can hope to find a permanent occupation in -mule-spinning. With advancing education, aided, no doubt, by recent good -trade and demand for labour in the trades, boys and their parents have -become increasingly aware of the disadvantages of "piecing" as a trade, -and as a result the deficiency of juvenile labour threatens to become -acute. An obvious solution is to introduce girls as piecers, which, as it -happens, is not a new idea but the revival of an old one. Girls were -formerly employed to some extent at piecing, but were prohibited by the -Union twenty-six or twenty-seven years ago, so far as the important -centres of cotton-spinning are concerned. The prohibition was removed some -years later, but for a long time women showed no inclination to return to -this work. Only in quite recent years, with the increasing shortage of -boy-labour, have women and girls been induced to go back to the -mule-spinning room. Now women never become mule-spinners; the Union will -not allow it. A peculiar feature of the occupation is that the operative -spinners themselves, who employ and pay their piecers, are thus interested -in obtaining a supply of cheap labour, just as any capitalist employer is, -or supposes himself to be. They consistently oppose women becoming -spinners, usually alleging physical and moral objections to this -occupation, but are willing to allow them to become piecers in order to -supply the deficiency of boy-labour, and to lessen the prejudice against -piecing as a "blind-alley" occupation for boys. Now, as Mr. Haslam points -out, the employment of women as piecers is both physically and morally -quite as objectionable as their working as spinners.[47] Indeed, granting -for the sake of argument that women should be employed in the -mule-spinning room at all, by far the least objectionable arrangement -would be for them to work two together on a pair of mules, which would -diminish the physical strain and obviate the moral dangers which arise -from the present plan of subordination to a male spinner in an unhealthy -environment. In this case women need organisation and combination to -protect their interests from the operative spinners, who are virtually -their employers, almost as much as a labouring class needs to be protected -from capitalist employers. And, as Mr. Haslam shows in his weighty and -temperate statement, it is quite true that there are very great and -serious objections to female employment in this trade. The heat, the -costume, the attitudes necessitated by this work, all render it a -dangerous occupation for girls to work at in company with men. Mr. Haslam -gives painful evidence in support of this statement, for which readers can -be referred to his article. - -The moral of the whole story is by no means that unrestricted freedom of -employment for women is the way of salvation. Rather is it that women must -not only organise but must take a conscious part in the work of directing -their organisation. At present they are too often the shuttlecock between -the opposing interests of the employer and the men's Union. It is not that -the Trade Union is always wrong in wanting to keep the women out; or that -the employer (whether capitalist or operative) is always right in wanting -to take the women on. The point is that each party in these disputes is -usually influenced mainly by his own interests and easily persuades -himself that what is best for him is best also for the woman-worker -concerned. The hardest and most unhealthy work may be done by women -without a protest from men's Unions if it does not bring women evidently -into competition with men. Nothing can clear up the situation but the -enlightenment and better organisation of women themselves. They must learn -not to take their cue implicitly from the employer or from the men's -Union--certainly not from the teaching of women of another class. They -must learn--they are fast learning--to think for themselves and to see -their needs in relation to society as a whole, to become articulate and -take part in the control of their organisation. It is quite likely that -when they do so they will not adopt the ideal of complete freedom of -competition. - -I remember some years ago hearing a lecture on the subject of the mining -industry given to a society of women of advanced views, the lecturer, a -professional woman, taking the line that women should not have been -excluded from work underground in mines, as they were by the Act of 1842, -and that the evils of such work had been exaggerated. Some little time -afterwards an experienced woman cotton-operative was invited to address -the same society, and incidentally remarked in the course of her lecture -that card-room work was "not fit for women to do." The contrast was -instructive, especially taking into consideration that card-room work in -the twentieth century, whatever its objections, cannot be nearly as -dangerous and injurious as underground work in mines was in 1842. -Legislative exclusion of women from dangerous and unhealthy occupations, -is, we may admit, an undesirable remedy from many points of -view--especially perhaps because it affords too easy relief to the -conscience of the employer, who may take refuge in the idea that he need -not trouble to improve conditions if he employs only men. It is better to -make the conditions of industry fit for women than to drive women out of -industry; better to strengthen the organisation of women and give them a -voice in deciding what processes are or are not suitable to them than to -increase the competition for home work. - -It seems, however, highly improbable, from what one knows of the working -woman's point of view and outlook, that as she becomes able to voice her -wishes she will favour an indiscriminate levelling of sex-restrictions in -industry; on the contrary, it seems likely that as she becomes more -articulate and has more voice and influence in the organisation she -belongs to, she will favour regulations of a fairly stringent nature in -regard to the processes within an industry which may be carried on by -women. Many of the observations that have been made on industrial women in -recent or comparatively recent years show that although at times they are -driven by stress of need to compete with men or to do work beyond their -strength, yet that they regard themselves mainly from the point of view of -the family and believe that to keep up the standard of men's wages is as -important as to raise their own.[48] - -_The Middle-Class Woman's Movement._--There is, however, a complication -between the labour woman's movement and the woman's movement for -enfranchisement and freedom of opportunity generally, and great care is -necessary to avoid confusing the issues. The labour woman's movement is a -class movement in which solidarity between man and woman is all important. -The women's rights movement aims at obtaining full citizenship for women; -that is to say, not only the Suffrage but the entrance to professions, the -entrance without special impediments to local governing bodies and, -generally, the abolition of belated and childish restrictions that hinder -the development of personality and social usefulness. Now these two -movements are not in principle opposed, and there is no reason why the -same women should not take part in both, as in fact many do. The -opposition consists rather in a difference of origin and history. The -labour movement is born of the economic changes induced by the industrial -revolution, and tends towards a socialistic solution of the problem. The -women's rights movement is the outcome of middle-class changes, especially -the decreasing prospect of marriage, which, together with the absence of -training and opportunity for work, has produced a situation of extreme -difficulty. The middle-class woman's agitation was inevitably influenced -by the ideals of her class, a class largely engaged in competitive -business of one kind or another. Equality of opportunity, permission to -compete with men and try their luck in open market, was what the women of -this type demanded, with considerable justification, and with admirable -courage. The working woman, on the other hand, the victim of that very -unrestricted competition which her better-off sister was demanding, before -all things needed improved wages and conditions of work, for which State -protection and combination with men were essential.[49] - -There is, however, no fundamental opposition between these movements. Just -as the working classes are striving through Syndicalism to express a -rising discontent, not only with the economic conditions of their work, -but also with the fact that they have no voice in its regulation and -control, so women are striving, not only for political freedom and -economic betterment, but for a voice in the collective control of society. -Women have, until very lately, been left out from the arrangement even of -matters which most vitally concern them and their children. The following -incident in the history of the Factory Department will illustrate this -fact. In 1879 the then Chief Inspector of Factories, Sir Alexander -Redgrave, discussed in his annual report a tentative suggestion for the -appointment of women inspectors that some person or persons unnamed had -put forward. With the utmost kindliness and gentleness he negatived the -proposal altogether, first on the assumption that the inspection of -factories was work impossible for women and "incompatible with (their) -gentle and home-loving character"; secondly, on the ground that in regard -to the sanitary conditions in which women were employed "it was seldom -necessary to put a single question to a female," and consequently there -was no need to appoint women inspectors.[50] Thirteen years later came the -Labour Commission. At that time it was unheard of for women to be -appointed on Commissions, even when the subject was one in which women -were most chiefly concerned. It is said, and I see no reason to doubt the -statement, that the Labour Commission of 1892 did not at first intend even -to hear evidence from women witnesses as to conditions in which women -were employed. Having yielded to the urgency of two women who were working -hard at the organisation of sweated workers in the East End and demanded -to be heard, the Commission, as an afterthought, appointed women Assistant -Commissioners, whose researches and reports subsequently led to the -appointment of women Factory Inspectors--sixty years after the first -appointments of men. Anyone who is likely to read this book will probably -be already aware that women factory inspectors had no sooner been -appointed than they very speedily were informed of flagrant sanitary -defects in factories and workshops which had been suffered to continue -simply because no woman official had been in existence, and men, with the -best intentions, did not know what to look or ask for. The exclusion of -women had involved in this case not merely a narrowing of the field of -opportunity for professional women--a comparatively small matter--but a -scandalous neglect of the elementary decencies of life for millions of -women and girls in the working-class. It is unnecessary here to do more -than remind my readers that until lately women were excluded also from -local governing bodies which control the health, education, and conditions -of life and work of women and children. - -Men are not alone to blame for this state of affairs. If women have long -been excluded from posts in which their services were greatly needed, it -is very largely because of the ideals set up by the women themselves. The -wretched education given to girls in the Victorian era, the egotistic -passion for refinement which made it a reproach even to allude to the -grosser facts of life, much more to the perils and dangers run by women in -a lower class, all this was due quite as much to the influence of women -as of men. It was not surprising that men of the upper classes, accustomed -by their mothers and wives to believe that for women ignorance and -innocence were one, and that no painful reality must ever be mentioned -before them or come near to sully their refinement, should recoil from the -idea of trusting them with difficult duties and responsible work. It is to -the few pioneer women like Florence Nightingale, Josephine Butler, and -others who came out and braved reproach--from women as well as men--that -we owe the introduction of worthier social ideals. - -_The New Spirit among Women._--As the women's movement draws towards the -labour movement, as it is now so rapidly doing, it tends to lose the -narrow individualism derived from the middle-class ideals of the last -century. Mere freedom to compete is seen to be a small thing in comparison -with opportunity to develop. The appeal for fuller opportunity is now -stimulated less by the desire merely to do the same things that men do, -more by the perception that the whole social life must be impoverished -until we get the women's point of view expressed and recognised in the -functions of national life. On the other hand, the women Unionists, who -have long been taxed with apathy and lack of interest in their trade -organisation, are drawing from the women's movement a new inspiration and -enthusiasm. Observers in Lancashire tell you that there is a new spirit -stirring among the women. They are no longer so contented to have the -Union efficiently managed for them by men; they want to take a conscious -part in the work of organisation themselves. The same movement is visible -in the plucky and self-sacrificing efforts for solidarity made by the -workers in trades hitherto unorganised; and, at the other end of the -social scale, in the deep discontent with the life of parasitic dependence -which has been so powerfully expressed in the _Life of Florence -Nightingale_, and in Lady Constance Lytton's book on _Prisons and -Prisoners_. - -_The Potential Changes the Industrial Revolution carries with it._--We -have endeavoured to analyse the changes effected in the position of women -by the industrial revolution. Social changes, however, take a long time to -work themselves out, and many features in the position of the woman-worker -at the present day, as we have seen, are the result not so much of the -industrial revolution as of the status and economic position of women in -earlier times, and still more of the neglect of the governing classes to -take the measures necessary for the protection of the people in passing -through that prolonged crisis which may be roughly dated from 1760 to -1830. Let us now try as far as possible to free our minds from the -influence of these disturbing factors and ask ourselves what are the -potential changes in the position of the working woman effected by the -industrial revolution, and what improvement, if any, she might expect to -achieve if those changes could work themselves out more completely than -social reaction and hindrances have yet permitted them to do. Let us, in -short, pass from the consideration of What Is to the contemplation of What -Might Be. - -1. _By the use of mechanical power, the need for muscular strength is -diminished, and greater possibilities are opened up to the weaker classes -of workers._--We are accustomed to view this change with disfavour, -because it often takes the form of displacing men's labour and lowering -men's wages. But that is mainly because we see things in terms of -unorganised labour. With proper organisation we should not see women -taking men's work at less than men's wages; we should see both men and -women doing the work to which their special aptitudes are most -appropriate, each paid for their special skill. We should not see women -dragging heavy weights or doing laborious kinds of work which are -dangerous and unsuitable to them; we should see them using their special -gifts and special kinds of skill, and paid accordingly. There is no -reason, save custom and lack of organisation, why a nursery-maid should be -paid less than a coal-miner. He is not one whit more capable of taking her -place than she is of taking his. For generations we have been accustomed -to assume that any girl can be a nursery-maid (which is far from being the -truth), and from force of habit we consider the miner has to be well paid -because his occupation demands a degree of strength and endurance which is -comparatively rare, and also because he has the sense to combine and -unfortunately the nursery-maid so far has not. The factory system is doing -a great deal for women, directly by widening the field of occupation open -to them, and indirectly by heightening the value of special aptitudes, -some of which are peculiar to women. When mechanical power is used, -strength is no longer the prime qualification for work, and the special -powers of the girl-worker come into play. - -The factory system, also, by its immensely increased productivity, is -altering the old views of what is profitable, and a new science of social -economics is evolving which would have been unthinkable under the old -regime. In Miss Josephine Goldmark's recent most interesting book, -_Fatigue and Efficiency_, she has gathered together the results of many -experiments made by employers to ascertain the effects of shorter hours. -There is practical unanimity in the results of these experiments. -Obviously there must be a limit to the degree in which shortening hours of -work would increase the output, but no one appears yet to have reached -that limit. In the Factory Inspectors' Report for 1912 many cases are -mentioned where employers have voluntarily reduced hours of work and find -that they, as well as their work-people are benefited by the change. In -one case of a large firm which had formerly worked from 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. -it was arranged to cease at 7, a decrease of a whole hour, which -necessitated engaging extra hands, but at the end of the year it was found -that the annual cost of production was slightly diminished and the output -considerably increased. Others expressed an opinion that 8 to 6.30 was -"quite long enough," and that if these hours were exceeded the work -suffered next morning. The same may be said in regard to other -improvements in working conditions, such as ventilation, cleanliness, the -provision of baths, refectories, medical aid, means of recreation; those -who have taken such measures have found themselves rewarded by increased -output. Even from the commercial standpoint we do not appear to have -nearly exhausted the possibilities of betterment. There can be little -doubt, judging from existing means of information, that if the whole of -the industry of the country were run on shorter hours, higher wages, and -greatly improved hygienic conditions, it would be very much more -productive than it is. From the social point of view such betterment is -greatly needed, especially in the case of the young of both sexes, whose -health is most easily impaired by over-strain, and who are destined to -be the workers, parents, and citizens of the next generation. - -2. _Status._--A still more important result of the industrial revolution -is _the changed status of the wage-earner_. Here it appears to me that -women have profited more than men. Broadly speaking, men, whatever their -ultimate gain in wages, lost in status through the industrial revolution. -The prospect of rising to be masters in their own trade, though not -universal, was certainly very much greater under the domestic system of -working with small capital than under the modern system of large -concentrated capital. In this respect women did not lose in anything like -the same proportion as did men, because they had very much less to lose. -The number of women who could rise to be employers on their own account -must have been small. No doubt a larger number lost the prospect of -industrial partnership with their husbands in the joint management of a -small business. But for women wage-earners the industrial revolution does -mean a certain advance in status. The woman-worker in the great industry -sells her work per piece or per hour, not her whole life and personality. -I shall perhaps be told indignantly that the poor woman in a low-class -factory or laundry is as veritable a drudge as the most oppressed serf of -mediaeval times, and I do not attempt to deny it. But we are here -discussing potential changes, not the actual conditions now in force. The -drudgery performed by women under the great industry is of the nature of a -survival, and results from the fact that women can still be got to work in -such ways for very low wages. These conditions are largely the heritage of -the past and can be changed and humanised whenever the women themselves -or society acting collectively makes a sufficiently strong demand. - -Nor must it be forgotten that in modern industry women have a further -advantage in being paid their own wages instead of being merely -remunerated collectively in the family, as was often the case formerly. -Modern industry thus holds for the woman-worker the possibility of a more -dignified and self-respecting position than the domestic system of the -near past. - -3. _The Possibilities of State Control._--We next note that _the -industrial revolution has led to State control_, and that the Factory Act, -whatever its defects in detail and its inadequacy to meet the situation, -has greatly improved the status of the woman-worker by giving her -_statutory rights against the employer_. This aspect has often been -overlooked by leaders of the women's rights movement, who at one time -tended to regard factory legislation as putting the woman in a childish -and undignified position. But the true inwardness of the Factory Act is -the assertion that workers are _persons_, with rights and needs that are -sufficiently important to override commercial requirements. It has not -only aided the progress of industrial betterment, but it has taught women -that they are of significance and importance to the State, and has brought -them out of the position of mere servility. A great deal more may be -effected in the future when the governing class attain to more enlightened -views of civics and economics, and when the women themselves become -politically and socially conscious of what they want. - -4. _Association. The factory system has also made it possible for women to -strengthen their position by association and combination._--Such -association affords women the best opportunity they have ever yet had of -attaining economic independence on honourable conditions. And it is -interesting to note that just as women are now awakening to social -consciousness, and beginning to feel themselves members of a larger whole, -so the Trade Unions are now reaching out to issues broader than the mere -economic struggle, and are beginning to give more attention to social care -for life and health. In the past the Unions have very largely taken what -might be termed a juristic view of their functions. They have been -concerned mainly with wage-questions, with the prevention of fraud through -"truck," oppressive fines and unfair deductions; they have penalised -backwardness in the improvement of machinery. As the management of a -cotton mill concentrates on extorting the last unit of effort from the -workers, so the Unions in the past have very largely concentrated on -securing that the workers at any rate got their share of the results. But -in more recent years the Unions are beginning to see that this, though -good, is not enough. Industrial efficiency may be too dearly bought if it -involves a loss of health, character, or personality, and recent reports -of the cotton Unions show that the officials are increasingly aware of the -seriousness of this matter from the point of view of health. _E.g._, the -heavy rate of sickness among women-workers disclosed by the working of the -Insurance Act has turned the attention of the Weavers' Amalgamation -towards the insanitary conditions in which even now so many operatives do -their work. "Fresh air, which is such an essential to health, is a bad -thing for the cotton industry; what is wanted is damp air, and calico is -more important than men and women. When they are not well they can come on -the Insurance Act. We want to talk less about malingering and more about -insanitary conditions, which is the real cause of excessive claims."[51] -Just as the woman's movement is widening its vision to understand the -needs of labour, so the Unions now are widening theirs to understand the -claims of life and health. The officials are already alive, if -unfortunately the Lancashire parents are not, to the evils of the -half-time system. And the co-operation of women in the active work of the -Union will strengthen this conviction. - -_The Future Organisation of Women._--As women come more and more into -conscious citizenship they will, as Professor Pearson prophesied twenty -years ago, demand a more comprehensive policy of social welfare. We may -expect in the future that the care of adolescence and the care of -maternity will be considered more closely than it ever has been; also that -such social provision for maternity as may be made will be linked up with -the working life of women, so that marriage shall not be penalised by -requiring women against their will to leave work when they marry, and on -the other hand, that the home-loving woman of domestic tastes shall not be -forced, as now so often happens, to leave her children and painfully earn -their bread outside her home. - -One of the great obstacles in the way of attaining such measures of reform -has been, not only the comparative lack of organisation of women-workers -but the difficulty of adapting existing organisations, devised for the -trade purposes of the workers at a single industrial process, to these -broader social purposes. The majority, as we have seen, in Chapter III., -leave work on marriage, and the problem results, how to bridge the -"cleft"[52] in the woman's career and give her an abiding interest in -organisation. How, the old-fashioned craft organiser asks with a mild -despair, how is he to organise reckless young people for whom work is a -meanwhile employment, who go and get married and upset all his -calculations? How are women, whose work is temporary, to be given a -permanent interest in their association? For some women, no doubt, their -work _is_ a life-work, but it is most unlikely it will ever be so for the -majority. Mr. Wells's idea, shared with the late William James, of a kind -of conscription of the young people to do socially necessary work for a -few short years has a curious applicability to women. There are certain -distinct stages in a woman's life which the exigencies of the present -commercial society fit very badly. One can foresee a society arranged to -do more justice to human needs and aptitudes in which girls might enter -certain employments as a transition stage in their careers; then marry and -adopt home-making and child-tending as their occupation for a period; -then, when domestic claims slackened off in urgency, devote their -experience and knowledge of life to administrative work, social, -educational, or for public health. Other women with a strong leaning to a -special skilled occupation might prefer to carry it on continuously. -Different types of organisation will be needed for different types of -work. If the craft Union cannot fit all types of male workers, much less -can it fit all women. Trade Unionism as we have known it mostly -presupposed a permanent craft or occupation, and one of the great troubles -of Trade Unions for women is that so many women do not aspire to a -permanent occupation. The "clearing-house" type of Union suggested by Mr. -Cole to accommodate workers who follow an occupation now in one industry, -now in another, might possibly be adapted to meet the needs of women. -Perhaps a time will come when the Unions that include the "woman-worker" -will be linked up with societies like the Women's Labour League or the -Women's Co-operative Guild, whose membership consists mainly of "working -women," that is to say of women of the industrial classes who are not -themselves earners. - -These speculations may seem to run ahead of the industrial world we now -know. But all around us the Trade Unions are federating into larger and -larger bodies, and when these great organisations have attained to that -central control and direction they have been feeling after for -generations, they will certainly discover that it is essential for them to -develop a considerable degree of interdependence between the Trade Unions -and consumers' co-operation. Therewith they can hardly fail to grasp the -latent possibilities of the membership of women. The woman is much less an -earner, much more a consumer and spender than is the man; she is more -interested in life than in work, in wealth for use than in wealth for -power. She suffers as a consumer and a spender both when prices go up and -when wages go down. It is difficult to believe that the working classes -will not before long develop some effective organisation to protect -themselves against the exploitation that is accountable, in part at least, -for both processes. Mrs. Billington Greig's masterly study of the -exploitation of the unorganised consumer is a demonstration of the need of -awakening some collective conscience in a specially inert and -inarticulate class, and Miss Margaretta Hicks is making most valuable -experiments in the practical work of organising women as consumers. The -supposed apathy and lack of public spirit in women has been largely due to -the lack of any visible organic connection between their industrial life -as earners and their domestic life as spenders and home-makers. Probably -the future of the organisation of women will depend on the degree in which -this connexion can be made vital and effective. - - - - -PART II - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -WOMEN'S WAGES IN THE WAGE CENSUS OF 1906. - -BY J. J. MALLON. - - -Until a few years ago no statistics comprehensive in character relating to -women's wages were available. In 1906, however, the Board of Trade took -"census" of the wages and hours of labour of the persons employed in all -the industries of the country, and the result has been a series of volumes -which, though becoming rapidly out-of-date, nevertheless throw much light -on the general level of wages in various trades and occupations. - -The enquiry made by the Board of Trade was a voluntary enquiry: that is to -say, it was left to the public spirit and general amiability of the -employer to make a return or not as he pleased. There was no penalty for -failure to furnish information. The response to the Board of Trade efforts -was not, however, unsatisfactory, and returns were forthcoming, roughly -speaking, in respect of nearly half the wage-earners employed in the -different industries. Unfortunately, however, the fact that the -authorities were dependent for their information on the goodwill of the -employers has probably given the statistics a certain bias. The schedules -supplied were somewhat forbidding in appearance, and often troublesome to -fill in, and it may fairly be surmised that it was the good rather than -the bad employers who put themselves to the trouble of complying with the -official request. Hence of all the workers employed in the United Kingdom -it was probably those who were more fortunately placed in regard to whom -we now have statistics. The condition of those working for employers who -thought that the less said about their wages-sheets the better, still -remains obscure. The statistics upon which comments are now offered may -therefore convey a more favourable impression than the facts, if fully -known, would justify, especially when it is remembered that 1906, the year -of the census, was one of good trade. On the other hand, it needs to be -borne in mind that since the enquiry was made, the level of wages in many -trades is known to have been raised. - -The Earnings and Hours of Labour Enquiry, as it was officially called, was -directed primarily to ascertaining for each of the principal occupations -in the various trades what were _the usual earnings or wages of a worker -employed for full time in an ordinary week_, the last pay week in -September being the particular week suggested subject to the employer's -view as to its normality. - -With a view to supplementing or checking the details of actual earnings in -a particular week, information was also sought with respect to the _total_ -wages paid in an ordinary pay week in each month, and also with respect to -the total wages paid in the year. From this last-mentioned body of -information it is possible to deduce some tentative conclusions in regard -to the extent to which the industry suffers from seasonal variations. -This matter will be further considered below. It is, however, mainly the -information in regard to full-time earnings in an ordinary week with which -it is proposed to deal. Statistics, it may safely be assumed, are abhorred -of the general reader; but they are the alphabet of social study and -cannot be dispensed with, and certain tables must now be introduced -showing the relative wage level for women in a number of important -industries. It should be noted that the abstract "woman" who is dealt with -in the statistics is a female person of eighteen years of age or over. She -may be, though is not likely to be, a new recruit or learner. She may, on -the other hand, be very old and infirm, though here again the -probabilities are against it. In all cases, however, she works full time, -which roughly we may regard as being about fifty to fifty-two hours a -week. - -The following table shows the average weekly full-time earnings of women -employed in the principal textile industries. In addition to the average, -which may of course be a compound of a great many widely differing -conditions, the proportion or percentage of women whose earnings fall -within certain limits is also shown.[53] - -TABLE A - - +-----------------------------------------------------+ - | | Percentage numbers of | | - | | women working full time | | - | | in the last pay-week of | | - | | September 1906, whose | | - | | earnings fell within the| | - | Industry. | undermentioned limits. | Average | - | |-------------------------|earnings for| - | |Under| 10s. and |15s. and| full time. | - | | 10s.|under 15s.| over. | | - |--------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| - | | | | | s. d. | - |All textiles | 13·3| 38·8 | 47·9 | 15 5 | - |--------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| - |Cotton | 3·0| 20·9 | 76·1 | 18 8 | - |Hosiery | 14·5| 44·4 | 41·1 | 14 3 | - |Wool, worsted | 10·7| 55·6 | 33·7 | 13 10 | - |Lace | 18·1| 49·3 | 32·6 | 13 5 | - |Jute | 6·2| 66·4 | 27·4 | 13 5 | - |Silk | 38·9| 47·8 | 13·3 | 11 2 | - |Linen | 41·7| 49·1 | 9·2 | 10 9 | - +-----------------------------------------------------+ - -The cotton industry stands out conspicuously as showing a relatively high -level of earnings, and we find in marked contrast to the other trades in -this group that only 3 per cent of the women earned less than 10s. a week. -The results coincide of course with popular impression, it being well -known that the mill lasses of Lancashire are the best paid--probably -because the best organised--large group of women workers in the country. - -The woollen and worsted industry, like the cotton, is localised, being -confined mainly to Yorkshire, though the woollen industry of the lowlands -of Scotland is also important. In this trade the results are much less -satisfactory, the average being 13s. 10d., and considerably more than half -the total number employed earning less than 15s. It may be noted, however, -that in one town, Huddersfield, where women and men are engaged largely -on the same work, the average, 17s. 1d., is considerably higher than that -for the United Kingdom. - -Hosiery is also strongly localised, the majority of the workpeople being -employed in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and certain neighbouring -parts of Derbyshire. It will be seen that in order of average earnings -this industry stands next to, though a good distance from, cotton, the -average being 14s. 3d. The best-paid centre is Leicester itself, where the -average is 16s. 2d. Even in this relatively highly paid trade, however, -more than half of the women earned less than 15s., and it should be noted -that this result applies to factory workers only. In the hosiery trade a -considerable amount of homework is also carried on, and though statistics -are not at present available, it may safely be assumed that earnings in -the homework section of the trade are less than in the factory section. - -At the bottom of the list is the linen industry. The average here is only -10s. 9d.; less than one-tenth of the women employed earned more than 15s., -while between one-third and one-half earned less than 10s. The industry, -as is well known, is centred mainly in the North of Ireland, but is also -carried on to a considerable extent in Scotland and to a small extent in -England. The figures for Ireland, however, are not markedly lower than -those for the other districts. It is true that for the whole of Ireland -outside Belfast the average is only 9s. 9d., but the figure for Belfast -itself, namely 10s. 10d., coincides with that for England. - -The manufacture of jute is carried on almost entirely in the neighbourhood -of Dundee. The average is therefore a local average. - -The other industries require no special comment. - -The second large group of trades, important from the point of view of -women's employment, is the clothing industry. Although the averages in -this group do not show the extremes of the textile group, the industry is -nevertheless one in which a great variety of skill and remuneration -prevails. The following are the statistics, certain of the smaller trades -such as silk and felt hat-making and leather glove-making being omitted -for the sake of brevity:-- - -TABLE B - - +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ - | | Percentage numbers of | | - | | women working full time | | - | | in the last pay-week of | | - | | September 1906, whose | | - | | earnings fell within the| | - | Industry. | undermentioned limits. | Average | - | |-------------------------|earnings for| - | |Under| 10s. and |15s. and| full time. | - | | 10s.|under 15s.| over. | | - |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| - | | | | | s. d. | - | All clothing | 21·6| 45·1 | 33·3 | 13 6 | - |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| - |Dress, millinery, etc. | | | | | - | (factory). | 12·6| 39·5 | 47·9 | 15 5 | - |Tailoring (bespoke) | 15·4| 42·4 | 42·2 | 14 2 | - |Dress, millinery, etc. | | | | | - | (workshop) | 28·0| 36·2 | 35·8 | 13 10 | - |Shirt, blouse, | | | | | - | underclothing, etc. | 22·2| 46·0 | 31·8 | 13 4 | - |Boot and shoe (ready-made) | 12·4| 58·9 | 28·7 | 13 1 | - |Tailoring (ready-made) | 24·0| 46·6 | 29·4 | 12 11 | - |Laundry (factory) | 20·5| 52·0 | 27·5 | 12 10 | - |Corsets (factory) | 28·8| 48·3 | 22·9 | 12 2 | - +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ - -It will be seen that the dress, millinery and mantle-making group is -divided into two according to whether the place of manufacture is a -workshop or factory. For this purpose a workshop means a place where -mechanical power is not used, and a factory a place where such power is -used. The distinction also roughly corresponds to the difference between -ordered or bespoke and ready-made garments, ordered garments being made -principally in workshops, and ready-made garments principally though not -so exclusively in factories. This being the case it may perhaps be -surprising that the average for the workshop section, namely 13s. 10d., is -so appreciably below that for the factory section, namely 15s. 5d., and -the statistics in this respect serve to indicate that the introduction of -mechanical power and other labour-saving devices into industry by no means -implies that from the point of view of wages the workers employed will be -any worse off. - -The workshop section of the dress, etc., trade is almost entirely a -woman's trade, the number of men and boys being insignificant. Within the -trade itself a considerable range of earnings exists. Fitters and cutters -form the aristocracy of the profession, but one which is recruited from -the humbler ranks. The average earnings for the United Kingdom of those -who "lived out" amounted to 33s. 5d., and of those who "lived in" 27s. 9d. - -The practice of "living in" and being provided with full board and -lodging, or at any rate being provided with partial board, is a feature of -this section of the trade, some 2500 women and girls out of 40,000 -included in the returns being noted as receiving payment in kind in -addition to their cash wages. - -Another feature of the trade is the relatively large number of apprentices -or learners who received no wages at all, 8·7 per cent of the women and -girls in the dressmaking trade, 43 per cent of the milliners, and 17 per -cent of the mantle-makers being so returned. These, of course, would be -mostly under eighteen years of age, and their inclusion in the statistics -would not affect the average given in the table for women. Considering the -general level of earnings which the statistics disclose, one can only -conjecture that, as in certain men's professions, the existence of a few -well-paid posts exercises an attraction to enter the trade, the strength -of which is out of all proportion to the chance of obtaining one of these -prizes. - -Factory dressmaking is at present a relatively small but at the same time -rapidly-growing group. Being confined mainly to the production of -ready-made clothes the process of cutting is capable of being standardised -and systematised in such a way that the degree of skill required is much -less than that looked for in the highly-paid cutter and fitter of the -"made-to-order" workshop. The other processes also tend to conform to a -certain uniform standard of skill. Hence the range of earnings is much -less wide than in the workshop section of the trade, though as before -noted the general level is higher. It should also be observed that while -time-work is the usual method adopted in the workshops, payment by piece -is very common in factories, and the detailed statistics furnished in the -official report make it clear that this method gives the diligent and -rapid worker a distinct advantage. It is worth noting that the group -showing the highest earnings is that of hand or foot machinists on piece -work. In the dress and costume section the average was 16s. 2d., and in -the mantle section 17s. 8d., as compared with 15s. 5d. for all women. -Statistics also indicate that the fluctuations of employment are much less -extreme in the factory than in the workshop section of the trade, and on -the whole, therefore, it is probably not a matter for regret that the -factory-made article is tending to displace that of the workshop. That the -process of displacement is rapid is indicated by the fact that while, -according to returns made in connection with the Factory and Workshop -Acts, the employment of women in dress, millinery and mantle-making -factories increased by 16 per cent between 1904 and 1907, the numbers -employed in workshops diminished by 7 per cent. The change from the one -system to the other does not always imply a change of workers or even of -premises. The introduction of an electric motor to drive some of the -sewing-machines is sufficient to alter the denomination of an -establishment from workshop to factory; though at the same time it is -probable that such an innovation would not take place unless some -alteration in the general method or organisation of work were also -contemplated. - -The tailoring trade has many points of contact with the dress and -mantle-making trade which has just been reviewed. It too is divided with -some sharpness into a made-to-order or bespoke, and a ready-made section. -The distinction does not imply perhaps quite so clear a division between -factories and workshops, though in this trade also it may be taken as -broadly true that the bespoke is the workshop and the ready-made is the -factory section. In this connection one interesting point of contrast is -presented by the statistics, for it will be seen that while, as before -noted, the factory section of the dress and mantle-making trade showed a -higher general level of earnings than the workshop section, the reverse is -true of the tailoring trade. This is probably due principally to two -facts. The first is that while the work in the bespoke shop is usually -skilled, it does not necessitate any exceptionally well-paid work such as -that done by cutters and trimmers in the dressmaking establishment. The -cutting and other highly-skilled work is done by men, so that women enter -the trade without the inducement afforded by the chance, however small, of -rising to 35s., £2, or even £3 a week which is offered by the dressmaking -workshop. It is probable, moreover, that the small dress and mantle-making -shop enjoys a certain reputation of "gentility" which is less marked in -the tailoring establishment, and finds its equivalent in higher wages. The -second fact is that the processes of simplification and subdivision which -broadly are the characteristics of factory as distinct from workshop -methods can be carried further in the manufacture of men's suits than in -that of ladies' dresses and costumes, so that the general level of skill -requisite to the factory worker is somewhat lower in the one case than in -the other. We thus find that while the average in tailoring workshops is -14s. 2d. as compared with 13s. 10d. in dressmaking shops, the average in -tailoring factories is 12s. 11d. as compared with 15s. 5d. in dressmaking -factories. - -Since the statistics were compiled minimum rates have been fixed under the -Trade Boards Act to apply to the ready-made and wholesale bespoke sections -of the tailoring trade, and there is no doubt that with the minimum rate -of 3-1/4d.[54] an hour, fixed for Great Britain, statistics relating to -the present time would show a marked improvement on those relating to -1906, since a _minimum_ rate of 3-1/4d. probably implies in most cases an -average rate of 3-1/2d. or even 3-3/4d. Moreover, on the testimony of -employers themselves the introduction of a minimum rate has had a -stimulating effect on the trade, bringing about on the part of employers a -vigilance and alacrity to make improvements in organisation, which have -had an effect on the efficiency of the workers and consequently on their -earnings, so that in many cases the Trade Board minimum has become merely -a historical landmark left behind on a road of steady progress. - -So far as the 1906 figures are concerned it will be seen that the average -for the United Kingdom in the bespoke section was 14s. 2d. The detailed -statistics show that London was the highest-paid district, with 16s. 2d., -and Ireland the lowest, with 12s. - -As ladies' costume-making has points of contact with men's tailoring, so -the tailoring trade merges almost imperceptibly through various gradations -of linen and cotton jackets, overalls, etc., into the shirt-making trade, -and this again is closely combined, and, indeed, for statistical purposes -forms one group with the manufacture of blouses and underclothing. - -The shirt, blouse and underclothing trade has become a factory trade to a -much more marked extent than either dressmaking or tailoring. By tradition -shirt-making is the sweated trade _par excellence_. But, as in many other -instances, tradition has outlived the fact, the statistics showing that -while the average earnings, 13s. 4d., are low absolutely, the trade is -nearer the top than the bottom of the clothing trade list, notwithstanding -the fact that the manufacture of shirts is combined for the purpose of the -statistics with that of articles, such as baby linen, in respect of which -the wages are almost certainly much lower than those for men's shirts. It -should be noted, however, that the wages of home-workers are nowhere -included in the statistics. - -The boot and shoe trade, unlike most of the others in the clothing group, -is mainly a man's trade, considerably more than half of the total number -employed being males. Women are employed chiefly as machinists or upper -closers, or as fitters in both cases, being concerned with the manufacture -of the top or upper. The trade is carried on in many centres, the -principal being, perhaps, Leicester, Northampton, Kettering, Bristol, -Norwich, Leeds, and Glasgow. The highest earnings of women are recorded -for Manchester, the average being 17s. 6d., and the lowest for Norwich, -where the average is only 10s. 6d. It is worth noting that the high -average for women in Manchester is combined with a relatively low average -for men, namely, 27s. 8d. - -The laundry trade gives employment to a large number of women, the Factory -Returns for 1907 showing that 61,802 were employed in laundries using -mechanical power, and 26,012 in laundries where such power was not used. -For the whole of the United Kingdom the averages for power and for hand -laundries were practically the same, being 12s. 10d. in the one case and -12s. 9d. in the other. In the case of power laundries Ireland is at the -bottom of the list with an average of 10s. 4d., and the best-paid -districts, namely, London, show an average of only 13s. 6d. A recent -attempt to bring the power laundry industry within the scope of the Trade -Boards Act has failed, the employers opposing the Provisional Order mainly -on the ground of certain alleged technical defects of definition. - -Of other trades in which women are largely employed the following -selection may be made forming a somewhat miscellaneous group. - -TABLE C - - +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ - | | Percentage number of | | - | | women working full time | | - | | whose earnings in the | | - | | last pay-week of | | - | Industries. | September 1906 fell | | - | | within the | | - | | undermentioned limits. | Average | - | |-------------------------|earnings for| - | |Under| 10s. and |15s. and| full time. | - | | 10s.|under 15s.| over. | | - |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| - |All paper, printing, etc., | | | | s. d. | - | trades | 26·5| 52·2 | 21·3 | 12 2 | - |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| - |Bookbinding | 19·3| 55·4 | 25·3 | 12 10 | - |Printing | 28·0| 49·2 | 22·8 | 12 3 | - |Cardboard, canvas, etc., | | | | | - | box manufacture | 24·7| 55·1 | 20·2 | 12 3 | - |Paper stationery manufacture| 30·4| 49·5 | 20·1 | 11 11 | - |Paper manufacture | 25·9| 55·8 | 18·3 | 11 11 | - |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| - |All pottery, brick, glass, | | | | | - | and chemical | 31·0| 49·7 | 19·3 | 11 10 | - |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| - |Explosives | 32·3| 35·0 | 32·7 | 13 1 | - |Soap and candle | 24·3| 50·5 | 25·2 | 12 5 | - |Porcelain, china, and | | | | | - | earthenware | 29·0| 50·0 | 21·0 | 11 11 | - |Brick, tile, pipe, etc. | 25·7| 64·4 | 9·9 | 11 5 | - |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| - |All food, drink, and tobacco| 37·8| 44·2 | 18·0 | 11 5 | - |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| - |Tobacco, cigar, cigarette, | | | | | - | and snuff | 31·1| 46·0 | 22·9 | 12 0 | - |Cocoa, chocolate, and sugar | | | | | - | confectionery | 40·5| 37·2 | 22·3 | 11 9 | - |Preserved food, jam, pickle,| | | | | - | sauce, etc. | 44·4| 43·0 | 12·6 | 10 11 | - |Biscuit making | 33·6| 53·5 | 12·9 | 10 10 | - |Aerated water, etc., | | | | | - | manufacture and general | | | | | - | bottling | 54·8| 42·7 | 2·5 | 9 7 | - |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| - |Miscellaneous | .. | .. | .. | 12 4 | - |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| - |Umbrella, parasol, and | | | | | - | stick making | 10·1| 38·5 | 51·4 | 15 7 | - |Portmanteau, bag, purse, and| | | | | - | miscellaneous leather | | | | | - | manufacture | 20·3| 56·3 | 23·4 | 12 8 | - |India-rubber, gutta-percha, | | | | | - | etc. | 14·7| 68·3 | 17·0 | 12 8 | - |Saddlery, harness, and whip | | | | | - | manufacture | 37·5| 55·7 | 6·8 | 10 7 | - |Brush and broom | 47·0| 42·5 | 10·5 | 10 6 | - +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ - -Of the above trades, cardboard box-making, sugar confectionery, -jam-making, and food preserving come within the scope of the Trade Boards -Act, and for these occupations minimum wages have been fixed. The jam and -food preserving trade showed in 1906 the low average for women of 10s. -11d., 45 per cent of the women employed earning less than 10s. and over 26 -per cent less than 9s. for a full week. This trade is also remarkable for -heavy seasonal fluctuations. - -By whatever standard the average weekly earnings of women in the trades -which have been noted are judged, the outstanding conclusion is that they -are generally low to a degree which suggests a serious social problem. -Averages of less than 13s. are frequent in all three Tables which have -been presented, and the reader should be again reminded that these -averages are for women over eighteen years of age working a _full_ week. -Girls and also women working short time have been excluded. For the sake -of brevity, details have not been given in many cases of the percentages -of women earning wages between certain stated limits. But it needs to be -recognised that an average suggests wages which are below as well as above -that figure. Generally it may be stated that where an average is given, -from 40 to 50 per cent of the women employed earn wages at less, and in -many cases at very much less than the average. - -Various attempts have been made to calculate the minimum sum required by a -woman living independently of relatives to maintain herself in decency and -with a meagre degree of comfort. The estimates point to a sum of from 14s. -6d. to 15s. a week as the minimum requirement, and this assumes that the -worker possesses knowledge, which she has probably in fact had no chance -to acquire, of how best to spend her money and satisfy her wants in the -order not of her own immediate desires, but of their social importance. At -present prices the minimum would be 17s. or 18s. - -In the light of this estimate we may note that in the clothing trade -group, for example, 25·9 per cent of those returned earned less than 10s. -per week, and applying this percentage to the total number as shown by the -Factory Returns to have been employed in this particular industry in 1907, -namely, 432,668, we arrive at the conclusion that no fewer than 111,681 -women were in receipt of wages which, measured by a not very exacting -standard, were grossly inadequate. - -The figures with which we have been dealing are, however, those for a week -of full time. No allowance has been made for sickness or holidays, and -what is more important, short time or slackness. - -Almost every trade fluctuates throughout the year, and in many cases this -fluctuation is considerable. For example, in the Dress, Millinery -(workshop) Section the wages paid in the month of August were only 78 per -cent of the monthly average, or, for London alone, 66 per cent. Though -short time in one month is partially offset by overtime in another, there -is but little doubt that in most trades and in most years the balance -comes out on the wrong side, and, properly studied, the Wage Census -volumes reveal the fact that unemployment and short time are important -factors when considering women's wages from the point of view of the -maintenance of decent conditions of living. - -In many respects the wages for a full-time week which we have so far been -considering are indeed an artificial figure. High weekly wages in a trade -where there is much slackness may obviously be less than the equivalent of -low wages in a trade where conditions are steadier. If we are to consider -wages in relation to the needs of the worker, therefore, it is the year -rather than the week which should be taken as the unit. For many reasons, -however, earnings _per year_ are extremely difficult to determine, and -nothing more than an approximation is practicable. - -Dr. Bowley's[55] method is to compare the full-time weekly wage multiplied -by fifty-two with the total wage bill for the year, divided by the number -employed in the busiest week: that is, the week when it may be assumed -that all persons dependent on the trade will be employed except those who -are prevented by ill-health. Supposing, for example, the total wages bill -in a certain trade were £400,000, and the number of persons employed in -the busiest week were 16,000. The average amount per person per year would -be £25 as compared with, say, £29 : 5s., which represents 52 times an -assumed full-time weekly wage of 11s. 3d. We can thus say in this -supposititious case that the yearly earnings of the workers in fact equal -only 52 × 25/29-1/4, or 44 weeks at the full-time weekly wages. - -Owing to certain gaps in the statistical information these results are -subject to certain qualifications of a nature somewhat too technical to -enlarge upon in such a book as this. They may be accepted, however, as -substantially establishing the fact that overtime does not in general -counterbalance short time and slackness, and that in the foregoing review -of earnings on the basis of a full-time week we have been dealing with -figures which are distinctly rosier than the facts warrant. - - -THE MOVEMENT AND TENDENCIES OF WOMEN'S WAGES - -A retrospect of women's wages based on such data as are available confirms -the view that, low as is the present level, the movement is nevertheless -in an upward direction. - -In the cotton trade, employing more than half the women in all textile -trades, women's wages have risen continuously throughout the period of -which we have information. Mr. G. H. Wood, F.S.S., who has made the -movement of wages his special study, estimates that taking the general -level of women's wages in 1860 as 100, the level in 1840 would be -expressed by 75 and in 1900 by 160, so that in the period of sixty years -covered by these figures women's rates of wages would appear to have -increased by more than 100 per cent. Though perhaps not so considerable, a -similar movement has occurred in other trades, and it is interesting to -note that in Mr. Wood's view women's wages have risen relatively more than -men's. Unfortunately, however, the statistics which are available, and on -which his conclusion is based, do not include the great clothing and -dressmaking industry which, from the point of view of women's employment, -is so important. An enquiry on the lines of the 1906 Census was indeed -attempted in the year 1886, but the results are meagre. It may be noted, -however, that comparison of the results with those for 1906 tends to show -that in some branches of the clothing trades wages declined. This fall in -the rate of wages, if such a conclusion is justified, is, however, -probably to be regarded as an exception to the general tendency as -exhibited in the cotton and certain other trades. - -The occupation of women in many fields of employment with which they are -still principally associated, such as spinning and the making of clothes, -is probably as ancient as the industries themselves. The employment of -women as wage-earners in such work is, however, comparatively recent. As a -member of a family, or as a servant or retainer, woman has worked for -generations in many tasks which formerly were, but now, with the increased -specialisation of industry, have ceased to be, part of the ordinary -routine of domestic activity. From this condition it was an easy -transition to the frequent employment of women to assist in their master's -craft, or in the deliberate production for sale of a surplus of articles -beyond what were required for family needs. - -It was probably not until the factory system developed, however, in the -latter half of the eighteenth century, that women were employed to any -considerable extent as wage-earners in industry, and even when they were -so employed there was an intermediate stage in which it was not unusual -for the father or head of the family to appropriate their earnings and -apply them as he pleased. Gaskell lamented the fact that the custom was -creeping in of paying individual wages to women and children, thinking -that it would break family ties. Though it still sometimes happens that -members of a family work together in mills, Gaskell's fears were -undoubtedly justified. Family ties, however, are of many kinds, and it is -probably not correct to assume that the disintegration of the family as a -producing or industrial unit indicates a relaxation of these emotions of -affection, loyalty, and responsibility which spring to mind when the -family is regarded in its social and ethical relationships. - -The fact must, moreover, be noted as bearing directly upon the chief -problem of women's wages that although the family as a producing unit is -no longer of considerable importance, as a spending unit it exercises a -fundamental influence on the industrial system. From the point of view of -food, lodging, medicine, and other items of expenditure, a person is more -interested as a rule in the collective income of the family group to which -he belongs than in his own individual contribution. Many mining districts -in which men can earn large wages show a low wage level for women, while -in such a district as Hebden Bridge, where, as the phrase goes, it pays a -man better to have daughters than sons, the opposite condition prevails. -In both cases the wages are influenced, broadly speaking, by the standard -of comfort of the family rather than by that of the individual. - -If it were the invariable rule for a worker to belong to a family group, -and if families were uniform as regards the number and sex distribution of -their members, there would be no great cause to regret the influence of -the collective family budget upon wages. But conditions are not uniform, -and in districts or trades in which the wage level is largely affected by -the presence of women whose fathers and brothers are relatively -well-to-do, the position of a woman living alone in lodgings is apt to be -a hard one. Where a father earns enough to maintain his family in -reasonable comfort, the daughters going to work in a factory may be -willing to accept wages no more than sufficient to provide them with -clothes and pocket-money, but quite inadequate to afford their workmate -who is living independently a sufficient livelihood. - -These considerations are closely connected with the question whether, in -estimating what is a fair wage for a woman, we should proceed on the basis -of a woman living alone in lodgings, or whether we should admit as a -proper consideration the fact that in many cases the woman would live with -her parents and family, and would have the advantage, if not of assistance -from them, at least of that economy in expenditure which the family group -represents. - -Statistics as to the number of women who live independently are difficult -to obtain, and it is doubtful whether such women form the majority of -those employed. It may be granted, however, that in certain districts and -certain trades the proportion is small, and in these cases it might be -asked whether we should not ignore the type which is exceptional and -consider the wages paid on the basis of actual rather than hypothetical -needs. This, it may be argued, is already done in the case of children or -young persons, in connection with whom the question is never asked whether -the wages paid are sufficient to maintain them independently. - -The answer appears to be clear, though it brings us up against certain -moral considerations. It may be true that the women in a certain industry -or town, in spite of low wages, are all in fact well nourished and -comfortable, members as they are of families which as families are -well-to-do. Great as may be the respect which kinship deserves, it is -submitted, however, that no normal woman should be compelled by economic -exigencies to live with persons towards whom she has not voluntarily -undertaken responsibilities, and that the freedom which economic -independence implies is a right to which every woman willing to work may -properly lay claim. - -Even, therefore, though we dismiss from consideration the great number of -women who have no choice but to live entirely on their own earnings, there -are still grounds on which the position can be maintained that the single -woman living alone with reasonable frugality is the proper test by which, -from the point of view of what is right and desirable, wages should be -measured. - -It should be noted, moreover, that the issue is not solely between women -who live alone and women who are partly supported by their families. There -are also the women who have dependents. According to the 1911 population -Census over one-fifth[56] of occupied women were not single, but married -or widowed, and many of these doubtless have children to support. The -Fabian Women's Group enquiry showed that about half the women workers -canvassed had dependents. The Labour Commission of the United States, in -course of investigating the condition of women and child wage-earners, -found that in a group of 300 families 43 per cent of the family income was -contributed by unmarried women over sixteen.[57] Again, Miss Louise -Bosworth, in a study of _The Living Wage of Women Workers_, published in -1911, found that "the girls working for pin-money were negligible -factors." So far from girl workers being mostly supported at home, it -appears that in many cases the earnings of the single daughter or sister -living with her family, small as they are, are an important element in the -family income. - -It has been shown in the previous section that even in the relatively -well-paid women's trades there are large numbers of adult women in receipt -of wages which are scarcely compatible with mere physical existence, much -less a decent and comfortable life. Men's wages, even in low-paid trades, -are usually sufficient to enable a man who has not undertaken family -responsibilities--which after all are entirely voluntary--to obtain a -sufficiency of food and warmth. The remuneration of working-class women -are in the majority of cases, however, barely adequate to satisfy this -austere standard. We naturally ask, therefore, why this difference should -exist. - -The occupations in which men and women are indifferently employed are -relatively few in number. Even where men and women are employed side by -side in the same trade they are usually engaged on different processes. -The points where overlapping occurs are, however, sufficiently numerous to -enable us to make the generalisation that in those industrial processes in -which both men and women are employed the efficiency or output of the man -is greater than that of the woman worker. In other words, the man is -_worth_ more, and his higher wages are an expression of this fact. - -Even where the man's dexterity or skill is no greater than that of the -woman's his wages still tend to be greater. Usually if an employer can get -both men and women workers he is prepared to pay somewhat more to a man -even though the man's output per hour is no greater than that of a woman. -Put bluntly, a male worker is less bother than is a female worker. A -female staff is always to some extent an anxiety and a source of trouble -to an employer in a way that a male staff is not, and to many employers it -has the great defect of being less able to cope with sudden rushes of -work. Men are, after all, made of harder stuff than women, and only in the -grossest cases do we ever give a thought to men being overworked. With -women, however, not only the Factory Act, but also decent feeling requires -an employer to be vigilant to see that undue strain is not placed on them. - -The greater remuneration of men in those occupations where both men and -women are employed on the same processes is then due to the fact that the -men are preferred to women, and employers are accordingly willing to pay -more to get them. - -Such occupations, however, probably form the exception rather than the -rule, and we have to consider the cases where there is apparently no sex -competition whatever. The nursery-maid wheels the baby's perambulator on -the pavement; the mechanic drives his motor van in the road. They do not -compete for employment in any sense. Generally, indeed, custom has -indicated with a fair degree of preciseness what are men's occupations and -what are women's. Why, then, in distinctively women's occupations should -the wages paid be lower than men's? The answer is not easy, but the key to -the problem is to be found in the broad statement that the field of -employment of women is much more restricted than that of men. Hence the -competition of women for employment reduces their general wage level to a -lower point than that of men, or, as an economist would put it, the -marginal uses of female labour are inferior to those of male labour. - -What is needed, therefore, is an enlargement of the sphere in which women -can find employment; not, be it noted, an increase merely in the number of -occupations, but in the _kinds_ of occupations. Pursuit of this end will -no doubt raise questions regarding the displacement of male labour, but it -is fortunate that in many cases woman's claim would be most strenuously -contested in respect of those occupations which are least suited to her, -and which she ought not to enter. The need of discrimination must be -emphasised. An excursion to the black country should convince even the -most ardent feminist that at the present time tasks are permitted to women -which from every point of view--their dirtiness, their arduousness, and -the strain which they impose on certain muscles--are entirely unsuitable. -It would be folly to increase the number of such tasks. Attention should -be directed to those occupations in which womanly characteristics would -have their value, and in which a woman would not be physically at a -disadvantage. It is to be hoped that public sentiment would then be the -ally rather than the enemy of the movement. The displacement of male -typists by female typists, and the larger employment of women in clerical -occupations, and as shop assistants, to say nothing of the introduction of -women officials in the sphere of local and central government, undoubtedly -represent an advance in the right direction. Paradoxical as it may seem, -an effective means of enlarging the field of women's activities might be -found in the awakening of public feeling against employments which are -unsuitable. The process of analysis and comparison which is implied by -criticism of such employments would undoubtedly indicate directions in -which women's work could be utilised more satisfactorily. This is a -consideration of paramount importance in view of the opportunities and -necessities to which the present war has given and will give rise. It is -for those who influence public opinion to see that in the readjustment of -the economic relationship between men and women reasonable discrimination -is exercised. - -The prohibition of the employment of women on unsuitable work, combined -with educational effort which would make women capable of better and more -responsible work, would give women-workers access to many kinds of -employment from which they are practically excluded at present. Much that -is unsatisfactory and regrettable in industrial life is the result of -sheer inertia and drift, and many an employer would find new and cleaner -and more remunerative methods of employing women if stimulated by the law -and encouraged by an ability on the part of the women to respond to new -methods. The principle of the Factory Acts, and of the minimum wage, -requiring a minimum of safety or comfort and of remuneration, should be -reinforced and strengthened not merely for the sake of its face -value--great though it is--but also for the sake of its stimulating effect -on the management of businesses and its consequent tendency to increase -remuneration. At the same time an attempt should be made to encourage in -girls some sense of craftsmanship and loyalty to their callings, so that -their organisation in trade unions or guilds would become possible. With a -few exceptions collective bargaining and the collective maintenance of a -standard of remuneration are, as regards women's employment, merely -sporadic and intermittent. It is the young woman, the irresponsible -immature untrained amateur worker, without an industrial tradition to -guide her, who is the despair of organised labour. The irresponsibility -and indifference to organisation which she displays are, as often as not, -due to the fact that her employment may not afford a decent livelihood, -and that she is forced to look forward to and seek marriage as the only -way out of an impossible life. But it is also true to say that her -inadequate wages are due to her irresponsibility and indifference. There -is inextricable confusion between cause and effect--a vicious circle which -can only be broken by patient methods of training, helped by the initial -impulse of a legal minimum wage and a legally prescribed standard of -general conditions. - - - - -CHAPTER VII[58] - -THE EFFECTS OF THE WAR ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN - - -_The Shock of War._--The great European War broke out in the summer of -1914. - -The shock was felt at once by trade and industry. July ended in scenes of -widespread trouble and dismay. The Stock Exchange closed, and the August -Bank Holiday was prolonged for nearly a week. Many failures occurred, and -there was at first a general lack of confidence and credit. Energetic -measures were promptly taken by the Government to restore a sense of -security, and unemployment among men during the ensuing year was much less -than had been anticipated. Unemployment among women was for a time very -severe. For this unfavourable position of women there are several reasons. - -In the first place, any surplus of male labour was met at once by a -corresponding new demand for recruits and the drafting of many hundreds of -thousands of young men into the army, aided by the rush of employment in -Government factories and workshops, served to correct the dislocation of -the male labour market. Women were unfortunate in that the cotton trade, -by far the largest staple industry in which a majority of the employees -are women, was also the trade to suffer the greatest injury by the war. - -_The Cotton Trade._--Employment had begun to be slack some time -previously, and the cutting off of the German market was naturally a -considerable blow. Exact statistics are almost impossible to obtain, as -the numbers of looms stopped or working short time varied from week to -week; but figures collected for the week ending October 3 show that -between 58,000 and 59,000 members of the Amalgamated Weavers' Association -were out of work, and over 30,000 were on short time. At Burnley, over -half the looms were stopped; at Preston, over a third. In November, when -things had greatly improved, about 36 per cent of the looms were still -standing idle. - -The amount of short time, or "under-employment," was also very -considerable, as is shown by the fact that the reduction in earnings -exceeded the reduction in numbers employed. The following table is taken -from the _Labour Gazette_, December 1914, and shows the state of -employment in the principal centres of the cotton trade. The figures -include men as well as women; but as women predominate in the industry, -they may be considered as a fair index to the women's position. - -WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 28, 1914, COMPARED WITH SAME MONTH IN PREVIOUS YEAR. - - +-------------------------------------------------+ - | |Decrease per cent in| - | Districts. | Numbers | Amount of| - | |Employed.| Earnings.| - |----------------------------|---------|----------| - |Ashton | 17·6 | 26·2 | - |Stockport, Glossop, and Hyde| 11·6 | 22·0 | - |Oldham | 8·4 | 17·5 | - |Bolton | 2·6 | 13·5 | - |Bury, Rochdale, etc. | 7·4 | 17·7 | - |Manchester | 3·3 | 15·5 | - |Preston and Chorley | 14·6 | 31·7 | - |Blackburn, etc. | 18·0 | 40·9 | - |Burnley, etc. | 4·3 | 47·6 | - |Other Lancashire towns | 15·4 | 32·0 | - |Yorkshire towns | 13·0 | 20·1 | - |Other districts | 11·2 | 20·6 | - | |---------|----------| - | Total | 12·1 | 27·1 | - +-------------------------------------------------+ - -In all these districts women would be affected much the same as men, and -would be out of work in about the same proportion, but as women form a -majority of the occupation, a much larger number of women were in distress -and were without any resource comparable to that open to the men of -recruiting age. In these circumstances the funds of the Unions suffered a -terrible strain. The workers' organisations were faced with the dilemma -whether to pay stoppage benefit to members with a generous hand, in which -case they ran the risk of depleting their funds and losing the strength -necessary for effective protection of the standard of life; or, on the -other hand, to guard their reserve for the future and leave many of their -members to suffer distress with the inevitable result of loss of health -and efficiency. - -As the winter 1914-15 wore onwards unemployment in the cotton trade -gradually became less acute, but for several months the suffering of the -operatives must have been considerable. - -_Some other Trades._--In London the position was of course extremely -unlike that of Lancashire, but we again find the women suffering heavily, -and (but for comparatively a few) without the support and assistance of a -union. At the first news of war, dressmakers, actresses, typists, -secretaries, and the followers of small "luxury trades" (toilet -specialities, manicuring, and the like) were thrown out of work in large -numbers. Not only in London, but in the country at large, the following -trades were greatly depressed: dressmaking, millinery, blouse-making, -fancy boot and shoe-making, the umbrella trade, cycle and carriage making, -the jewellery trade, furniture making, china and glass trades. In some -cases the general dislocation was intensified by a shortage of material -due to war: the closing of the Baltic cut off supplies of flax from -Russia, on which our linen trade largely depends. The closing of the North -Sea to fishers stopped the curing of herrings, which normally employs -thousands of women, and both the chemical and confectionery trades -suffered from the stoppage of imports from Germany. - -The Board of Trade's Report on the State of Employment in October 1914 -gave the reduction of women's employment in London as 10·5 per cent in -September, 7·0 per cent in October. But this estimate was for all -industries taken together, some of which were in a state of "boom" owing -to the war, and it is certain that the occupations referred to above must -have suffered much more heavily than the average. Many girls spent weeks -in the heart-sickening and exhausting search for employment. In November -the dressmaking, mantle-making, and shirt- and collar-making were in a -worse condition than in the previous month, although trade generally had -improved. - -_The Woollen and Clothing Trades._--In these trades the war brought a -veritable "tidal-wave" of prosperity. The industrial centres of our Allies -were to a considerable extent in the hands of the enemy; thus, not only -new clothes for our regular troops and reserves, and uniforms for the new -armies that were shortly recruited, but also those for the troops of our -Allies were called for in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The woollen towns -of this district became the busiest places in the world, and orders -overflowed into Scotland and the somewhat decayed but still celebrated -clothing region of the West of England. - -The first expedient to cope with the enormous pressure of orders was to -relax the Factory Act. In normal times no overtime is allowed in textile -industries to workers under the operation of the Act (viz. women, girls -under eighteen, boys under eighteen, and children), and employment is -limited to ten hours a day. In view of the tremendous issues involved, -permission was given to employ women and young persons for two hours' -overtime. The results, as it turned out, soon showed, however, that -overtime is bad economy, for the number of accidents increased greatly in -the period of greatest pressure, and averaged one a day in the December -quarter, and the secretary of the Union also reported that the period -during which these very long hours were worked coincided with a -remarkable increase of illness among the operatives involved. Probably -one-third more cases were on the Approved Societies' books during December -than in September and October.[59] Although the women rose most pluckily -to the occasion and did their heavy task cheerfully in the consciousness -of supplying their country's need, it is certain that many were taxed -beyond their strength, and in January 1915 the overtime permitted was -reduced to nine hours weekly. The women, when they complained, complained -not of overwork but of insufficient pay. An increase of 1-1/2d. per hour -during overtime was asked, and considering the strain involved, seems a -far from excessive demand; but the trade is unfortunately much less well -organised than the cotton trade, and female workers--73 per cent of the -whole--could not in most districts enforce this claim. Khaki is more -trying to the operatives than some other kinds of cloth to which they are -better accustomed, and it is more difficult to weave. Even with overtime -work the women did not earn much more than they would working usual hours -on ordinary cloth. The wages paid appear to have been, as so often is the -case with women's work, chaotic. Many employers honourably paid a fair or -recognised price; others took advantage of the weakness of the workers to -pay rates not far from sweating prices. In the clothing trade the -Government was conscientiously paying handsome rates to contractors for -the making of uniforms, but without effectively enforcing the payment of -fair wages to labour by the contractors. Hence even the Trade Board -minimum--a low standard, especially considering the rise of prices--was -successfully evaded by some firms.[60] - -_Maladjustment and Readjustment._--The question may well be asked, why -women should suffer unemployment in war-time at all. War produces an -urgent demand for a great deal of the work women are best fitted to do, -such as nursing, the making of clothes and underclothes, the manufacture -of food stuffs and provisions on a large scale, the organisation of -commissariat and hospitals, the collection and overlooking of stores. In -point of fact, the requirements of the troops, as we have seen, provided -increased employment for some women, though probably not for nearly as -many as those who suffered from the shrinkage of ordinary trade at the -beginning of the winter; later on the demand became so great that there -was an actual scarcity of women workers in many trades. - -One strange feature of those autumn months of 1914 was that while recruits -were continually to be seen marching in plain clothes, without a uniform, -numbers of London tailors and tailoresses were without employment. Many of -the recruits were also, at first at all events, unprovided with needful -elementary comforts, and amateurs were continually pressed to work at -shirts and knitting for them. Women employed in the manufacture of stuffs -or clothing for the troops or in certain processes of the manufacture of -armaments or appurtenances were overworked, while other women were totally -or partially out of work. The characteristic immobility of labour was -perhaps never more clearly seen. - -It may be admitted of course that a wholesale transference of workers from -the area of slump to the area of boom would never be possible all at once. -The machines necessary for special work will not at first be forthcoming -in numbers sufficient to meet a demand suddenly increased in so enormous a -proportion. Then, again, a new demand for labour is usually a demand -predominantly for young workers, and the older women thrown out of work -may find it very difficult to adapt themselves to new requirements. Skill -and practice in the handling of machines are necessary; machines differ -very greatly. A dressmaker cannot, off-hand, be set to make cartridges or -even uniforms. In some branches of industry a high degree of specialised -skill may be a positive disadvantage in acquiring the methods of an allied -but lower skilled trade; _e.g._ it has been found that tailors and -tailoresses who have become expert in the handwork still largely used for -the best "bespoke" work, the aristocracy of the trade, cannot easily adapt -themselves to the modern "team work" tailoring, in which division of -labour and the use of machinery play a considerable part; they may even -impair their own special skill by attempting it.[61] In some processes a -delicate sensitiveness of finger is a first essential for the work, and -the operatives dare not take up any rough work which might impair this -delicacy, their stock-in-trade and capital. Again, the difference of -wage-levels in different industries is a cause of immobility of labour. -Lancashire cotton workers might have adapted themselves without much -difficulty to the processes of the Yorkshire woollen trade, but they could -not have accepted the rates current in an imperfectly organised trade, and -there would have been obvious difficulty in paying imported workers at a -scale higher than those enjoyed by the local operatives. - -A good deal of dovetailing, however, can be done to bring the work to the -workers or the workers to the work, and much more could have been done if -the Local Government Board had taken the question of unemployment more -seriously in the years preceding the war. But the local bodies were -uninstructed, and in many cases had little idea of anything better than -doles. In spite of the funds collected, there can be little doubt that -much suffering, especially among women, was neglected and let alone, and -the irregular payment of separation allowances at the beginning of the war -added to the distress. - -Voluntary effort, it needs hardly saying, was instantly ready to do its -best to meet the occasion. The Suffrage Societies, in especial, did -splendid work in improvising employment bureaux and relief workrooms for -the sufferers. A special fund and committee were also formed, under the -style of the Central Committee for Women's Employment, to find new -channels of employment for women. This Committee was presided over by the -Queen, and was aided in its labours by specialists highly versed in -industrial conditions, and its efforts for adjustment are full of -interest. - -The primary aim of this Committee was to equalise employment in factories -and workshops. The problem was how to achieve the adaptation, as far as -possible, of unemployed firms and workers to new and urgent national -needs. It had been supposed that only certain special firms could make -army clothing, and that the numerous women and girls thrown out of work in -ordinary wholesale tailoring would be unable to do unaccustomed work. A -business adviser of the Committee suggested to the War Office authorities -some simplifications in the make of military greatcoats and uniforms. The -experiment was tried, with the result that many thousand great-coats and -uniforms were made by firms which under the dominance of red tape must -have stopped work. In the shirt-making, also, much unemployment occurred -at first, and the Committee gave information to firms not previously -employed by Government that they could apply for contracts. Carpet-yarn -factories were utilised for the supply of yarn to satisfy the enormous -demand created by the war. Numbers of orders for shirts, socks, and belts -were placed in dressmakers' workrooms, and carried out by women whose -normal occupation had failed them. - -Another field of this Committee's work was to stimulate the introduction -of new trades and open new fields of work for women wage-earners. This is -a difficult undertaking at a time when spending power must be much -curtailed, but it may be destined to have good results in happier times, -and in any case any widening of the field of employment for women, any -development of their technical skill, is much to be welcomed.[62] - -Besides these deeply interesting attempts at regulating and adjusting the -market for skilled labour, there remains the vast army of the unskilled. -Here we had during the first winter of war the influence of a new idea -working, the perception that something better than relief work, something -infinitely better than charity, was possible. In some of the workrooms -started by voluntary effort orders were obtained for underlinen, toys, -etc. On a small scale there need be no great objection to this if the -educational factor were prominent, but it is necessary to point out that -no real adjustment of the labour market is effected by inducing ladies to -make purchases in a workroom that they might otherwise have made in an -ordinary shop, the employees of those shops probably themselves suffering -from shortage of employment. The workrooms started under the Central -Committee for this class of workers adopted the plan of setting them to -make useful articles, not for sale but for distribution among the poor, -such as layettes for infants and clothing for necessitous mothers, also to -the mending or remodelling of old clothes, the manufacture of cradles from -banana crates, and so forth. In most workrooms a good meal was provided in -the middle of the day, and some of the women were instructed in its -cooking and service. - -The leading idea of workrooms on these lines is that temporarily the -workers should be taken off the labour market altogether, that they should -be paid not wages but relief, and that the relief should be robbed of its -degrading associations by being combined with a system of training the -women to do something they could not do before, or at all events to do it -better than before. The requirement of attendance at the workroom (usually -for forty hours weekly) was a guarantee of genuine need. This method of -dealing with the problem of distress is probably as satisfactory as any -that could be devised off-hand, though the workrooms did not escape -criticism on the score of attracting girls away from "normal -employment."[63] This is no doubt possible, the scale of women's wages in -"normal employment" being still unfortunately so low. Ten shillings a week -would not attract workers away from decently paid work done under decent -conditions. The criticisms, however, point to the desirability of such -arrangements being carefully co-ordinated to avoid overlapping, especially -with the technical training provided by the Education Authority. - -Although the working of the plan was good as far as it went, it went -unfortunately only a little way. By the first week in November a couple of -dozen centres of employment had been started, and perhaps 1 per cent of -the unemployed women had been provided with work in the workrooms.[64] -There were besides uncounted thousands whose work and wages were reduced -to a mere fraction of what they had previously been. Had the local -authorities been already educated by the Local Government Board to take a -broader view of their responsibilities and more scientific measures in -discharging them, a great deal more of the ground might have been -effectively covered. It is to be hoped that if similar measures are needed -after the war, as seems likely to be the case, the experience of 1914-15 -will bear fruit. - -_The New Demand for Women's Labour._--With the continuance of war an -unexpected situation gradually shaped itself. The clothing and -accoutrement of the great army that was speedily recruited, as well as -urgently-needed supplies for France, and for Russia, so far as they could -be transported thither, created a huge demand for labour, and by December -the shortage of skilled labour was a serious problem. More especially was -this the case with the munitions group of trades, which became the largest -and busiest of all. With some lack of foresight too many men from these -industries had been allowed to enlist, and eventually some were even -brought back from the front. Thousands of women poured into armament -making; factories have been adapted to meet the new demands; trade union -rules and legislative requirements have been considerably relaxed; women -to a limited extent are replacing men. These are some of the outstanding -features of a situation which is already bewildering in its complexity. - -The shortage of skilled workers which has formed and still forms so -serious a difficulty in supplying the army, is due not only to the -enlistment of skilled men, but also to the tendency which the past thirty -years or so have unfortunately shown to be increasing, for the -displacement of the skilled by the unskilled worker. The ignorance of -parents and the attraction of the "blind alley" occupations for the -children of poor homes, where every shilling counts, combined with the -organisation of business primarily for profit and the inadequacy of social -safeguards in this matter, have created a difficult position. The lack of -training and experience is, however, much more general among women than -among men, and has formed a serious obstacle to their employment. The -replacement of men by women in manufacturing industry has thus been less -than might have been expected. Women have to a considerable extent -replaced men in commercial and clerical work, in some occupations in and -about railway stations, also as shop assistants, lift-attendants, etc. -There are even suggestions that the underground railway service of London -might be entirely staffed with women; but up to the time of writing this -has occurred only to a limited extent. There has of course been an -enormous increase in women's employment, but a large part of the war -demand is for goods on the manufacture of which women normally -predominate, as clothing, food-stuffs, etc. Another large part of the -demand is for work on such processes as the filling of shells, and is now -swollen to an unparalleled degree. What has happened has been that -subdivision of processes and grading of labour have been introduced, as -well as mechanical adjustments to facilitate the employment of women. As -usually happens when women are introduced to a new trade or branch of a -trade, the work is more or less changed in character. No doubt the -pressure of war conditions has had the effect that women are now -performing processes that were previously supposed to be beyond their -strength or skill or both, especially in leather, engineering, and the -wool and worsted trades. The line of demarcation between men's and women's -occupations is drawn higher up. But women have not to any great extent -replaced men in the skilled mechanical trades, the immediate and -insurmountable obstacle to such replacement being their lack of skill and -training. In certain trades, however, where women have been given -opportunity and facilities to undertake work involving judgment and skill, -they have, aided by the stimulus of patriotism, shown both intelligence -and initiative, revealed unexpected powers on processes hitherto performed -by men, and done work "of which any mechanic might be proud" (see report -mentioned below; compare the _Engineer_, Aug. 20, 1915). - -The lack of training therefore may perhaps explain the very small results -that have so far followed from the appeal to women to register for -war-work, made by the Government in March 1915. As to the origin of this -appeal, little is definitely known. It may have been intended as a -recognition of the efforts and sacrifices already made by women during the -war. It may have been, as some suggest, probably not without foundation, -that the measure was instigated by the Farmers' Union, in the hope of -getting cheap labour on the land instead of raising the wages of men. The -women's organisations were not consulted, and even the Central Committee -on Women's Employment, then anxiously engaged in reviewing and where -possible adjusting the dislocation of women's employment, had, we believe, -no previous notice of the appeal. A very small proportion only of the -women who registered were called upon to work within the next few months; -only three or four thousand out of 80,000. This small result is said to be -due to the fact that only a very small proportion were capable of the -skilled jobs awaiting them.[65] In great part the new demand for labour -has been met by the overflow from other industries, though it has been -supplemented by the addition of voluntary workers of the class usually -termed "unoccupied," that is to say, not working for wages. There are -obvious risks in bringing women from the upper and middle classes into a -labour market the conditions of which are usually much against -working-women; on the other hand, such an arrangement as was made, _e.g._ -that amateurs should train so as to replace ordinary working women for the -week-end, seems an admirable device to use the superfluous energies of -the leisured so as to give the workers time for rest and recuperation. - -Another problem arising out of the present extension of women's employment -relates to the enormous strain imposed upon the women and the inadequate -pay they have in many cases received. We have touched on this point above -in connection with the wool and worsted trades. Incidentally these -conditions show that the unorganised state of women prevents their taking -full advantage of the labour market even when the position is -strategically in their favour. In some of the processes on which women -have been introduced the skill required is quite considerable, and the -output varies, depending greatly on the worker's health and strength. High -speed cannot be maintained without proper intervals of rest; prolonged -fatigue reduces capacity. The prime conditions for a persistently high -output are a scientific adjustment of hours of work, adequate food, -ventilation, and necessary comforts. These facts in the twentieth century -are not unknown, but in war-time they were practically ignored. Many of -the women on war-work were grievously overworked, and though praised for -their patriotism in working overtime, did not receive wages sufficient to -afford them the extra nourishment and comforts they should have had. In -some cases, especially if doing men's work, they were highly paid; in -others the pay was not only below the standard of a man, but was -inadequate to maintain the physical endurance required. The patriotic -feelings of women-workers were shamefully exploited, and the state of mind -revealed by persons who should have known better was deplorable. In one -case of a prosecution by the Home Office the magistrate refused to -convict, although a girl under eighteen had been employed twenty-four -hours without a break, after which she met with an accident. - -Yet another problem arises out of the substitution of women for men. We -have seen reason to suppose that this is taking place less extensively -than is supposed, but it undeniably occurs, and may assume much greater -proportions before the war is over. - -Are women who replace men to be paid merely the wages that women of the -same grade of skill usually are paid? In that case they will be -undercutting men, and preparing a position of extreme difficulty after the -war. Or are the women to be paid the same wages as the men they replace? -They certainly should, wherever the work is the same. As we have seen, in -many cases the women do not do exactly the same work as men, and indeed in -the interests of their health and efficiency it is often highly desirable -they should not do quite the same. It may be quite easy, _e.g._, for a -woman to cut off yards of cloth to sell across the counter, but it may -happen that the man she replaces not only did this but also at intervals -handled heavy bales of goods which are beyond her strength. In such cases -as this a rearrangement of work with due regard to relative strength is -desirable, and a rigid equality of wages should not be insisted on. -Organisation of all women-workers employed to replace men is become a more -pressing need than ever, to ensure first that women should not be paid -less than men merely because they are women; second, that women should not -have work thrust upon them that is an injurious strain on their -constitutions; third, that the future interests of the men now serving in -the field should not be disregarded. The point insisted on in Chapter -IV., that women need not only to be enrolled in Unions but to have a voice -in the management and control where they are organised along with men, has -been made plainer than ever. So strongly was this felt at Manchester that -a special committee was formed for the protection of women's interests in -munition work, and for co-operation with the interested trade unions in -any movement towards the organisation of the women. A special campaign for -the organisation of munition workers was initiated and carried on by the -National Federation of Women Workers. - -_The Results the War may have._--It is impossible as yet to estimate what -effects the war will ultimately have in modifying the position of women. -The surplus of women, in itself a source of much social ill, will be -increased; the young girls of to-day have a diminished prospect of -marriage. At the same time the spending power of the community must almost -certainly be curtailed, and apart from military requirements there will be -a less demand for women's work in many occupations. Thus at the very time -that women will need more than ever to be self-dependent, their -opportunities of self-dependence will be narrowed. Another aspect, a more -hopeful one, is that the scarcity of men may improve the position of women -and lead to their being entrusted with posts, not necessarily identical -with those of men, but more responsible and more dignified than those -women have usually filled. Objections of a merely conventional nature are -likely to disappear. It seems also possible that the present shifting of -women's employment out of the luxury trades that ebb and flow according to -fashion and idle caprice, into Government service and trades vitally -necessary to national existence, may remain after the war, only that -women's energies may then, as we hope, be turned once again to save life -rather than destroy it. - -There are signs that a deeper and more intimate consciousness of society -as a whole may operate in favour of women. The recruiting campaign, for -instance, may induce certain reflections. Between 1891 and 1900, 781,475 -male infants died under a year old in England and Wales alone, making an -average death-rate of 168 per thousand births. If even the very mild -measures for the improvement of sanitation and the care of infants and -nursing mothers that have been adopted in recent years had been customary -twenty years ago, we should have now in England some hundreds of thousands -more lads of recruiting age or approaching it than are actually here, and -many of those who survived the high death-rate of those years would have -escaped damage in early years and be stronger and finer men than they are. -If we now adopted much more generous measures to the same end, we could -probably save some hundreds of thousands more to serve their country in -twenty years' time. And all this would cost an infinitesimal sum in -comparison with what is now being poured forth to make these young men as -strong and fit for the field as possible. The militarists, if they were -consistent, would realise that at the back of the army stands another -army--the army of the poor working women, underfed, overworked, badly -housed, and insufficiently clad. The patriots, if they were more -clear-sighted in regard to their own desires, would spend a great deal -more time and energy in demanding, for the sake of military efficiency, -that the conditions under which the nation's babies are brought into the -world and the mother nursed and nourished should be changed in a quite -revolutionary manner. Some of us may not love this style of argument; the -view of men as "food for powder" and women as mere feeders of the army may -seem an ignoble one. Those who hold such views will, however, have to -consider their implications more closely. - -It was a curious coincidence, perhaps even not a wholly fortuitous one -(who can say?), that in the very week preceding our declaration of war, -when Europe was already resounding with the tramp of armed men and the -rumble of artillery wheels, the Local Government Board should have issued -its first memoranda on the subject of Maternity and Child Welfare. These -circulars, addressed to County Councils and Sanitary Authorities, -advocated a considerable extension of the work of Public Health -Departments in the direction of medical advice and treatment for pregnant -and nursing mothers and their infants, and an extensive development of the -system of home-visiting of women and infant children already in existence -in some places. Parliament has already voted a grant to the extent of 50 -per cent of the cost in aid of local schemes for Maternity and Child -Welfare. The immediate appeal of the War Relief Fund and the difficulties -of its administration have, no doubt, combined with the inertia -characteristic of many local authorities to efface any very bold -initiative on the more fundamental but less clamant questions raised in -the Local Government Board memorandum. Still, the fact remains that the -needs of the woman and the young child have been at last recognised as -vital, however inadequate the means taken to meet them have so far been. -These needs will be urged by Women's Societies and by labour -organisations, and the war will have the effect of bringing them into -stronger relief as time goes on, and may supply the impetus for a still -more drastic scheme, on the lines advocated by the Women's Co-operative -Guild.[66] - -It is now recognised, or is coming to be recognised, that it is not alone -the soldier who serves his country in war; the great part played by -industry in building up the nation's life is equally vital. "Industry and -commerce," writes Mr. Arthur Greenwood, "are not primarily intended as a -field for exploitation and profit, but are essential national services in -as true a sense as the Army and Navy." Such a recognition should have its -effect in raising the woman's position, the special economic weakness of -which is, that her value to the community is greater than any that can be -measured in pounds, shillings, and pence, while nevertheless she, like -others in a competitive society, is compelled to measure herself by -competitive standards. During the war industrial women have been working -day and night to supply military and naval requisites, taking their part -in national defence as truly as if they could themselves aid in -slaughtering the enemy, and not without considerable overstrain and damage -to their own health and strength. Others, again, have spent their time and -strength toiling to make good the deficiencies in Government organisation, -not only for the relief of distress and unemployment, but even for the -needs of recruits themselves. Working women in their homes bear a -disproportionately heavy share of the burden of trouble and anxiety caused -by the rise of prices in the necessaries of life. Vast numbers of women -have offered up their sons and brothers in battle; hundreds of thousands -have lost their employment and been reduced to poverty and distress. The -efforts and sacrifices made by women cannot have passed wholly unnoticed -by the Government, and we may hope that some real development of the -position of woman, especially of the working woman, will follow the -hoped-for settlement of this terrible crisis. - -Even the thoughtless sentimentality of the well-to-do leisured woman has -been touched to finer issues. Impelled to "do something" for the soldiers, -she turned instinctively to the traditional or primeval occupations of -women, and wanted to make shirts, etc., with her own hands. She was, -however, here confronted with the new idea that the needs of the -unemployed working woman must be considered. In the autumn it was -suggested those who could afford new clothes should order some to -stimulate employment. In the spring and early summer, on the contrary, the -utmost economy was advocated, capital being scarce. The most irresponsible -class in the community were thus asked to realise themselves as members of -society, to understand that philanthropy was not merely an opportunity for -them to save their own souls, that even their personal expenditure was not -a merely private matter, but that both must be considered in relation to -the needs of the commonweal.[67] - -_Constructive Measures._--The experience of the war should certainly lead -to some better-thought-out method of dealing with times of stress and -unemployment than has ever yet been in operation, especially with regard -to women. It would be beyond the scope of this volume to draw up such a -scheme in detail, but some points may be indicated. The need of better -training has become plain. To raise the upper limit of school attendance -is urgent, if education is to be worthy of the name. A better all-round -training at school would give girls more choice of occupation, and would -not leave them so much at the hazard of one particular process or trade. -Develop a girl's intelligence, train her hand and eye, and she will be -helped to master the technical difficulties of whatever occupation she may -wish to follow or work she may need to do. For older girls special -technical and domestic courses may be most valuable, especially if taught -in such a manner as to occupy the mind and increase the capacity, and not -as mere mechanical routine. It was noted during the boom of work for the -army that girls who had been trained in a trade school could adapt -themselves more readily to a new and unaccustomed process than could those -who had only ordinary workshop training. As a further development of the -education question the experience of 1914-15 should lead to the provision -of increased facilities for physical exercise in the open air (and time to -use them) for young people of both sexes. In the first winter of war we -were all amazed at the change effected by a few months' training and fresh -air, at the fine well-set-up young men who had lately been weedy clerks -and pale-faced operatives. It may perhaps dawn upon us after the war that -if the country can afford to satisfy the elementary needs of healthy life -in young men when they stand a good chance of dying for her, it might be -worth while to do something of the same kind for those who are to live for -her and make her future. Perhaps eventually even the physical health and -soundness of girls may be held to justify some provision for exercise in -the open air. - -In the second place, the local authorities should at times of stress offer -all the useful employment they possibly can find to women at fair rates of -wages. The more genuine employment a municipal body can find for women in -time of need the better, whether by anticipating work that would normally -be wanted a few months later or by increasing the efficiency of special -services, such as the educational or health services, district nursing, -cleansing and sweeping of schools and other buildings. Why not organise a -grand "spring cleaning" of neglected homes, with domestic help to aid the -overtaxed mothers of families? Special investigation of particular -industrial or sanitary conditions as to which information was needed might -well be carried out at times when educated women of the secretarial and -clerical professions are unemployed. - -It is evident that we need a better scheme of Employment Bureaux for -women. There should be a centre of information and a clearing-house where -workers, found superfluous in their previous occupation, could be drafted -into such new ones as they were capable and willing to undertake, and this -might possibly be worked in conjunction with a system of training. The -comparative success of the work hurriedly improvised, and with many -difficulties, by the Central Committee on Women's Employment, is a clear -indication that some similar organisation on a larger scale, say a -National Advisory Council, linked up with the Labour Exchanges and -representative of women's organisations, might be infinitely valuable. - -Another constructive movement that seems to be gaining ground is that for -the organisation of women as consumers. At the end of Chapter V., written -early in 1914, I ventured to prophesy that some such form of association -would be needed as a complement to the work of organising industrial -women-workers. In June 1915 a number of women's societies were engaged in -forming an association to take measures to counteract the war scarcity and -increase the supply of food, to extend agricultural and horticultural -training for women, to improve the feeding of children in schools, to -establish cost-price restaurants for the poor, and to urge the Government -to form an Advisory Committee to deal with the whole subject and take -steps to control the rise of prices, such a committee to include -representatives of women householders.[68] Such an association may have -great results, directly in the attainment of the objects set forth, -indirectly in the stimulating of public spirit and a sense of citizenship -among women. - -There is, however, little ground for hoping that the war will of itself -lead to social measures of reconstruction or to the development of a -better-organised state, whether in regard to women or in regard to labour -generally. Some can find spiritual comfort and sustenance in the idea that -by fighting German militarism we are destroying tyranny and despotism -among ourselves. On the contrary, it may be that in fighting we are -impelled to use as a weapon and may be giving a new lease of life to -precisely those tendencies, those forces in our own social life which we -are opposing among the Germans for all we are worth. Class domination, the -rule of the strongest, and the idealisation of brute force are not -peculiar to Germany, although unquestionably, as we have been driven to -see, they have there reached an extraordinary exuberance. But the same -tendencies are here, and we may be sure democracy will not come of itself, -merely as a result of the war. War inevitably means for the time the -predominance of man over woman, the predominance of the soldier over the -industrial, the predominance of reaction over democracy. It is significant -that the stress of war was quickly seized as a pretext for suspending the -protection of industrial workers by the State, and for relaxing the -Education Acts which normally interpose some hindrance to the exploitation -of children by the capitalist employer. The clamour for compulsion and the -shameless underpayment of women in some branches of war work are signs of -the same reaction. Yet in the long run the apparently weaker elements of -society are as vitally necessary as the stronger, and to ignore or silence -their needs is to strike at the heart of life. The problems offered by the -great war, gigantic and staggering as they are, are not so different in -kind from, though vaster in degree and more appalling than, the problem of -the industrial revolution itself. Each is a problem of the development of -material civilisation, which has (we know it now too poignantly) far -outdistanced the growth of civilisation on its social and spiritual side. -Each includes the question whether man is to be the master or the slave of -the mechanic powers his own genius has evoked. Neither can ever be solved -without the conscious co-operation of Woman and Labour, failing which we -must for ever fall short of the highest possibilities of our race. "If -Great Britain is to lead the way in promoting a new spirit between the -nations, she needs a new spirit also in the whole range of her corporate -life. For what Britain stands for in the world is, in the long run, what -Britain is, and when thousands are dying for her it is more than ever the -duty of all of us to try to make her worthier of their devotion."[69] - -CHANGES IN EMPLOYMENT DURING THE WAR 1914-1915. - - +---------------------------------------------------------------+ - | I. _Contraction of Employment of Women and Girls. | - | Board of Trade Figures._ | - |---------------------------------------------------------------| - | Reduction in Numbers as compared with July 1914. | - |---------------------------------------------------------------| - | Sept 1914. | Oct. | Dec. | Feb. 1915. | - |-----------------|--------------|------------|-----------------| - | 8·4 | 6·2 | 3·2 | 1·5 | - |===============================================================| - | II. _Cotton Trade. All Work-people, Women predominating._ | - |---------------------------------------------------------------| - | | Reduction of Employment | Reduction of Earnings | - | |per cent of previous year. |per cent of previous year. | - | 1914. |---------------------------|---------------------------| - | | Lancashire and | Burnley. | Lancashire and | Burnley. | - | | Cheshire. | | Cheshire. | | - |-------|----------------|----------|----------------|----------| - | Aug. | 42·1 | 46·0 | 60·9 | 70·7 | - | Oct. | 18·3 | 32·6 | 37·1 | 57·7 | - | Dec. | 9·7 | 19·3 | 20·8 | 38·5 | - | Feb. | 6·3 | 9·3 | 9·0 | 11·4 | - | April | 6·7 | 10·4 | 4·9 | 4·7 | - | June | 6·9 | 6·7 | 5·8 | 6·5 | - |===============================================================| - | III. _Percentage Increase or Decrease compared with | - | same Month in Previous Year._ | - |---------------------------------------------------------------| - | | Sept. | Nov. | Jan. |March. | May. | - | | 1914. | | 1915. | | | - |-----------------------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------| - |London Dressmakers, | | | | | | - | chiefly West End | -11·6 | -14·9 | -14·7 | -15·4 | -13·2 | - |Court ditto | -17·3 | -33·2 | -37·2 | -28·1 | -23·3 | - |Mantle, costume, etc., | | | | | | - | makers | -15·3 | -7·6 | -11·2 | - 2·5 | + 0·6 | - |Shirt and collar makers| -11·7 | 11·8 | -10·2 | - 1·5 | - 2·1 | - +---------------------------------------------------------------+ - - - - -APPENDIX TO CHAPTERS II. AND IV. - -DOCUMENTS AND EXTRACTS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE POSITION OF WOMEN DURING THE -INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. - - -_Thoughts on the Use of Machines in the Cotton Manufacture._ By a Friend -of the Poor. Manchester Reference Library, 677, 1, B. 12. (Barnes, 1780.) - -"What a prodigious difference have our machines made in the gain of the -females of the family! Formerly the chief support of a poor family arose -from the loom. The wife could get comparatively but little on her single -spindle. But for some years a good spinner has been able to get as much as -or more than a weaver. For this reason many weavers have become spinners, -and by this means such quantities of cotton warps, twists, wefts, etc., -have been poured into the country that our trade has taken a new turn. All -the spinners in the country could not possibly have produced so much as -this, as are now wanted in a small part of our manufacture. If it were -true that a weaver gets less, yet, as his wife gets more, his family does -not suffer. But the fact is that the gains of an industrious family have -been upon the average much greater than they were before these -inventions." - -Page 16. "When I look upon our machines, with a regard to the _Poor_, and -as _their friend and well-wisher_, my heart glows with gratitude and -pleasure on their account, in the full hope that, by means of them, our -manufactures will _continue_, and be _extended_ and _improved_, from age -to age. _Perhaps_, e'er long, our manufacture may be _chiefly of cotton_. -_Linen_ may be almost _laid aside_. Suppose, for instance, _common yearn_ -could be brought to market, made with _cotton warps_. What a sale might we -expect! _Such goods_ would have the demand of _all the world_. Nor is this -at all unlikely to be the case, in some future time. Already cotton yarn -has been offered to sale, as I am very credibly informed, _almost_, if not -_entirely_, as cheap as linen yarn, of the _same length_. _Germany_ and -_Ireland_ then _have_ reason to be alarmed at our machines. Their yarn -manufactures may suffer severely. But surely this will be the highest -advantage to us, by increasing the quantity of _labour_ amongst ourselves -and keeping so much _money_ at home. _Perhaps_, by new improvements, we -may vie with the _East India_ goods in fineness and beauty. And then--what -a prospect would open upon us! But you say all this is a mere _perhaps_. -It is so. And I only offer it as such. But, I ask, is it more _unlikely_ -than our present improvements were, _twenty years ago_? I believe not. -Some tradesmen thought the cotton manufacture at its _highest pitch then_. -It was _then_ but in its infancy. Perhaps it is so yet. Human ingenuity, -when spurred on by proper rewards, _may leave_ whatever has been done -_already_ at a vast distance. We may have goods brought to market, -_cheaper, finer, better_. The necessary consequence of this will be, the -demand _will increase_ and all the world become our _customers_. If we can -_undersell_ all the world, we may have the _custom_ of all the world. -Merchants are alike all the world over. They will go to the _cheapest -market_. What a pleasing thought is this! But in order to do this it is -necessary to _encourage_ our machines, and to keep them as much as -possible to _ourselves_." - - -Description of Interior of a Cotton Mill, in _A Short Essay for the -Service of the Proprietors of Cotton Mills and the Persons Employed in -Them_. Manchester, 1784. (M/c Library, 28269/4.) - -(Quotes instances of jail fever from overcrowding, etc.) - -Page 9. "The Cotton Mills are large buildings, but so constructed as to -employ the greatest possible number of persons. That no room may be lost, -the several stories are built as low as possible. Most of the rooms are -crowded with machines, about which it is necessary to employ a -considerable quantity of oil in order to facilitate their motion. From the -nature of the manufacture, a great deal of cotton dust is constantly -flying about, which, adhering to the oil and heated by the friction, -occasions a strange and disagreeable smell. The number of people who work -in the mill must certainly be proportioned to the size of it. In a large -one I am informed there are several hundreds.... The manufacturers, in -many instances, constantly labour day and night.[70] Of course a great -number of candles must be used, and scarce any opportunity for ventilation -afforded. From hence it is evident that there is a considerable effluvia -constantly arising from the bodies of a large number of persons (well or -in a degree indisposed, just as it happens), from the oil and cotton dust, -and from the candles used in the night, without any considerable supply of -fresh air. There are indeed trifling casements, sometimes opened and -sometimes not; but totally insufficient to subserve any valuable -purpose.... What consequences must we expect from so many pernicious -circumstances? What are the consequences which have actually proceeded -from them? As we have already observed, it is well known that there has -been a contagious disorder in a cotton mill in the neighbourhood of -Manchester which has been fatal to many, and infected more.... Most of the -patients that were ill, having been asked where they caught the fever, -either replied that they caught it themselves at the cotton mill or were -infected by others that had. Several were asked what kind of labour they -followed who were first seized with the disorder. They all replied, they -were the people that worked in the cotton mill." - - -Leicester, 1788. British Museum Tracts, B. 544 (10). - -Humble Petition of the Poor Spinners, which on a very moderate calculation -consist of Eighteen Thousand, Five Hundred, employed in the Town and -Country aforesaid, - -Sheweth, that the business of _Spinning_, in all its branches, hath ever -been, time out of mind, the peculiar employment of women; insomuch that -every single woman is called in law a _Spinster_; to which employment your -Petitioners have been brought up, and by which they have hitherto earned -their maintenance. That this employment above all others is suited to the -condition and circumstances of the _Female Poor_; inasmuch as not only -single women, but married ones also, can be employed in it consistently -with the necessary cares of their families; for, the business being -carried on in their own houses, they can at any time leave it when the -care of their families requires their attendance, and can re-assume the -work when family duty permits it; nay, they can, in many instances, carry -on their work and perform their domestic duty at the same time; -particularly in the case of attending a sick husband or child, or an aged -parent. - -That the children of the poor can also be employed in this occupation more -or less, according to their age and strength, which is not only a great -help to the maintenance of the family, but inures their children to habits -of industry. - - * * * * * - -It is therefore with great concern your Petitioners see that this antient -employment is likely to be taken from them--an employment so consistent -with civil liberty, so full of domestic comfort, and so favourable to a -religious course of life. This we apprehend will be the consequences of so -many spinning mills, now erecting after the model of the cotton mills. The -work of the poor will be done by these engines, and they left without -employment. - -The proprietors of the spinning mills do indeed tell your Petitioners that -their children shall be employed after the manner of the children at the -cotton mills. Your Petitioners have enquired what that manner is; and with -grief of heart they find that a vast number of poor children are crowded -together in an unhealthy place, have no time allowed them for recreation -and exercise, are kept to work for ten or twelve hours together, and that -in the night-time as well as by day; hereby they become cripples and -emaciated beyond measure. That no care is taken of their morals, as your -Petitioners can learn; though these very children are the means by which -their masters are raised to wealth and honours too; for we have heard that -a certain great _mill-monger_ is newly _created_ a knight though he was -not _born_ a gentleman. - - * * * * * - -The adventurers are turning their cotton mills into jersey mills, and new -ones are daily erecting; and our masters show what their expectations are -by undervaluing our work and beating down our wages.[71] - - -1800. Broadsheet, pp. 942, 72, L. 15 (M/c Library). - -(This broadsheet records the resolutions carried at a special meeting of -merchants, manufacturers, and cotton spinners held at Manchester, May 2, -1800, to consider proceedings of meetings recently held for the purpose of -getting Parliament to put a duty on exportation of cotton twist.) - -Resolved--1. That cotton spinning is a manufacture of the first importance -to this country. That it gives employment to a considerable part of the -national capital and to a very large portion of the poor of this county -and of several other counties, the chief part consisting of women and -children who, by means of this manufacture, are rendered highly useful to -the community at large instead of _being a burthen on it, as they would be -if not employed in cotton mills_ (italics added). - - -Broadsheet in Manchester Library (n. d.). - -(Purports to be by an old weaver, deprecating attacks on machinery.) "If -machinery is destroyed, how are your children to be employed, who now, at -an age in which children in other countries gain nothing, can support -themselves? Yes, and not only this, but can earn as much, or even more, -than a hardworking man in other countries, where there are not these -improvements? It is thus that our poor are enabled to marry early and -support a family, as the children, instead of being a deadweight upon -their parents, can more than do for themselves. So great, indeed, have -been our comforts from the demand for our cheap manufactures and the -plenty of employ, that people have flocked into Lancashire from all parts -of the kingdom by thousands, tens of thousands, aye, and hundreds of -thousands too. - - * * * * * - -"If they (machines) are destroyed, how then are you to find support for -yourselves and your families? Where will your children of seven, eight, or -nine years old find employment and money to contribute to the comforts of -all? Will our barren moors support them?" - - -From Alfred's _History of the Factory Movement_, vol. i. p. 16. - -When the first factories were erected, it was soon discovered that there -was in the minds of the parents a strong repugnance to the employment thus -provided for children: the native domestic labourers, being then able -amply to provide for their children, rejected the tempting offers of the -mill-owners, the parents preferring to rear their children in their own -homes, and to train them to their own handicrafts. For a long period it -was by the working people themselves considered to be disgraceful to any -father who allowed his child to enter the factory--nay, in the homely -words of that day, as will be remembered by the old men of the present -age, "that parent made himself the town's talk"--and the unfortunate girl -so given up by her parents in after life found the door of household -employment closed against her--"Because she had been a factory girl." It -was not until the condition of portions of the working class had been -reduced that it became the custom with working men to eke out the means of -their subsistence by sending their children to the mills. Until that sad -and calamitous custom prevailed, the factories in England were worked by -"stranger-children," gathered together from the workhouse. - -Under the operation of the factories' apprentice system parish apprentices -were sent, without remorse or enquiry, from the workhouses in England, to -be "used up" as the "cheapest raw material in the market." This inhuman -conduct was systematically practised; the mill-owners communicated with -the overseer of the poor, and when the demand and supply had been arranged -to the satisfaction of both the contracting parties, a day was fixed for -the examination of "the little children" to be inspected by the -mill-owner, or his agent, previous to which the authorities of the -workhouse had filled the minds of their wards with the notion that by -entering the mills they would become ladies and gentlemen.... It sometimes -happened that traffickers contracted with the overseers, removing their -juvenile victims to Manchester, or other towns, on their arrival; if not -previously assigned, they were deposited sometimes in dark cellars, where -the merchant dealing in them brought his customers; the mill-owners, by -the light of lanthorns, being enabled to examine the children, their limbs -and stature having undergone the necessary scrutiny, the bargain was -struck, and the poor innocents were conveyed to the mills. The general -treatment of those apprentices depended entirely on the will of their -masters; in very many instances their labour was limited only by -exhaustion after many modes of torture had been unavailingly applied to -force continued action; their food was stinted, coarse, and unwholesome. -In "brisk times" the beds (such as they were) were never cool, the mills -were worked night and day, and as soon as one set of children rose for -labour the other set retired for rest. We dare not trust ourselves to -write all we know on this subject, much less all we feel.... The moral -nature of the traffic between parish authorities and the buyers of pauper -children, may be judged from the fact that in some cases one idiot was -accepted with twenty sane children.... In stench, in heated rooms, amid -the constant whirling of a thousand wheels, have little fingers and little -feet been kept in ceaseless action, forced into unnatural activity by -blows from the heavy hands and feet of the merciless overlooker, and the -infliction of bodily pain by instruments of punishment invented by the -sharpened ingenuity of insatiable selfishness.... Some of the helpless -victims ... nightly prayed that death would come to their relief; weary of -prayer, some there were who deliberately accomplished their own -destruction. The annals of Litten Mill afford an instance of this kind. -"Palfrey the smith had the task of riveting irons upon any of the -apprentices whom the master ordered, and these were much like the irons -usually put upon felons. Even young women, if suspected of intending to -run away, had irons riveted upon their ankles, and reaching by long links -and rings up to the hips, and in these they were compelled to walk to and -from the mill and to sleep. Robert Blincoe asserts that he has known many -girls served in this manner. A handsome-looking girl, about the age of -twenty years, who came from the neighbourhood of Cromford, whose name was -Phoebe Day, being driven to desperation by ill-treatment, took the -opportunity one dinner-time, when she was alone and supposed no one saw -her, to take off her shoes and throw herself into the dam at the end of -the bridge, next the apprentice-house. Some one passing along and seeing a -pair of shoes stopped. The poor girl had sunk once, and just as she rose -above the water he seized her by the hair.... She was nearly gone, and it -was with some difficulty her life was saved. When Mr. Needham heard of -this, and being afraid the example might be contagious, he ordered James -Durant, a journeyman spinner, who had been apprenticed there, to take her -away to her relations at Cromford, and thus she escaped." - - -The Factory System. _Enquiry into the State of the Manufacturing -Population._ London, 1831. - -Page 12. "As a second cause of the unhealthiness of manufacturing towns we -place the severe and unremitting labour. Cotton factories (which are the -best in this particular) begin to work at half-past five or six in the -morning and cease at half-past seven or eight at night. An interval of -half an hour or forty minutes is allowed for breakfast, an hour for -dinner, and generally half an hour for tea, leaving about twelve hours a -day clear labour. The work of spinners and stretchers (men) is among the -most laborious that exist, and is exceeded, perhaps, by that of mowing -alone, and few mowers, we believe, think of continuing their labour for -twelve hours without intermission.... The labour of the other classes of -hands employed in factories, as carders, rovers, piecers, and weavers, -consists not so much in their actual manual exertion, which is very -moderate, as in the constant attention which they are required to keep up -and the intolerable fatigue of standing for so great a length of time. We -know that incessant walking for twenty-four hours was considered one of -the most intolerable tortures to which witches in former times were -subjected, for the purpose of compelling them to own their guilt, and that -few of them could hold out for twelve; and the fatigue of standing for -twelve hours, without being permitted to lean or sit down, must be -scarcely less extreme. Accordingly, some sink under it, and many more have -their constitutions permanently weakened and undermined. - -"III. The third cause we shall assign is perhaps even more efficient than -the last. The air in almost all factories is more or less unwholesome. -Many of the rooms are obliged to be kept at a certain temperature (say 65 -degrees Fahrenheit) for the purpose of manufacture, and from the speed of -the machinery, the general want of direct communication with the external -atmosphere, and from artificial heat, they often exceed the -temperature.... But in addition to mere heat, the rooms are often -ill-ventilated, the air is filled with the effluvia of oil, and with -emanations from the uncleanly persons of a large number of individuals; -and, from the want of free ventilation, the air is very imperfectly -oxygenated and has occasionally a most overpowering smell.[72] In a word, -the hands employed in these large manufactories breathe foul air for -twelve hours out of the twenty-four, and we know that few things have so -specific and injurious an action on the digestive organs as the inhalation -of impure air, and this fact alone would be almost sufficient to account -for the prevalence of stomachic complaints in districts where -manufactories abound. - -"The small particles of cotton and dust with which the air in most rooms -of factories is impregnated not infrequently lay the foundation of -distressing and fatal diseases. When inhaled, they are a source of great -pulmonary irritation, which, if it continues long, induces a species of -chronic bronchitis, which, not rarely, degenerates into tubercular -consumption.... - -"IV. The fourth cause of the ill-health which prevails among the -manufacturing population may be traced to the injurious influence which -the weakened and vitiated constitution of the women has upon their -children.[73] They are often employed in factories some years after their -marriage, and during this pregnancy, and up to the very period of their -confinement, which all who have attended to the physiology of the subject -know must send their offspring into the world with a debilitated and -unhealthy frame which the circumstances of their infancy are -ill-calculated to remove; and hence, when these children begin to work -themselves they are prepared at once to succumb to the evil influences by -which they are surrounded." - -At page 27. "We hope we shall not greatly offend the prejudices either of -political economists or practical tradesmen when we state our firm -conviction, that a reduction in the hours of labour is _most important_ to -the health of the manufacturing population, _and absolutely necessary_ to -any general and material amelioration in their moral and intellectual -condition.... It will be urged in opposition that all legislative -interference in commercial concerns is, _prima facie_, objectionable, and -involves the admission of a dangerous and impolitic principle. That -legislative interference is in itself an evil we deeply feel and readily -admit; but it is an evil like many others which necessity and policy may -justify, and which humanity and justice may imperiously demand. -Legislative interference is objectionable only where it is injudicious or -uncalled for. It will also be objected, and with more sound reason, that a -reduction of the hours of labour would cause a corresponding reduction in -the quantity produced, and consequently in the wages of the workmen; and -would also diminish our power of competing with other manufacturing -nations in foreign market, and thus, by permanently injuring our trade, -would be productive of greater evils to the labouring classes than those -we are endeavouring to remove. This objection, though very reasonable, we -think is considerably overstated. That 'a reduction of the hours of labour -would cause a _corresponding_ reduction in the quantity produced' we -entirely deny. What _would_ be the actual loss consequent upon a reduction -of the hours it is impossible to state with any certainty, but it is -probable that if factories were to work ten hours instead of twelve the -loss in the quantity produced would not be one-sixth, but only about -one-twelfth, and in Mule Spinning perhaps scarcely even so much. We -_know_ that in some cases when the mills only worked four days in the -week, they have often produced five days' quantity, and the men earned -five days' wages. That this would be the case to a considerable extent -every one must be aware; as all men will be able to work much harder for -ten hours than they can for twelve. The objection above mentioned we -consider to be much over-stated; and we are convinced that the _loss_ -incurred would only amount to a _part_ of the reduction. And we think that -_all_ loss to the masters might be prevented, and the necessity of a -_real_ reduction of wages obviated, were all duties on raw materials, and -those taxes which greatly raise the price of provisions, abolished by the -legislature. It is principally the shackles and drawbacks to which the -Cotton Manufacture is subjected which renders it so difficult, and as some -think so impracticable, to adopt a measure without which all extensive and -general Plans for improving and regenerating our manufacturing poor must -approach the limits of impossibility. At present (in the cotton trade at -least, which is already restricted by law) the hours of work generally -extend from half-past five or six in the morning till half-past seven or -eight at night, with about two hours' intermission, making in all about -twelve hours of clear labour. This we would reduce to _ten_ hours (if such -a measure should be rendered practicable and safe by a removal of all -taxes on manufactures and provisions); and we again express our -conviction, after regarding the subject in every possible point of view, -that till this measure is adopted all plans and exertions for ameliorating -the moral and domestic condition of the manufacturing labourer can only -obtain a very partial and temporary sphere of operation. We say this with -confidence, because in every project of the kind which we have been -enabled to form, in every attempt for this purpose which our personal -acquaintance and habitual intercourse with the people could suggest, we -have been met and defeated by the long hours (absorbing in fact the whole -of the efficient day) which the operative is compelled to remain at his -employment. When he returns home at night, the sensorial power is worn -out with intense fatigue; he has no energy left to exert in any useful -object, or any domestic duty; he is fit only for sleep or sensual -indulgence, the only alternatives of employment which his leisure knows; -he has no moral elasticity to enable him to resist the seductions of -appetite or sloth, no heart for regulating his household, superintending -his family concerns, or enforcing economy in his domestic arrangements; no -power or capability of exertion to rise above his circumstances or better -his condition. He has no time to be wise, no leisure to be good; he is -sunken, debilitated, depressed, emasculated, unnerved for effort, -incapable of virtue, unfit for everything but the regular, hopeless, -desponding, degrading variety of laborious vegetation or shameless -intemperance. Relieve him in this particular, shorten his hours of labour, -and he will find himself possessed of sufficient leisure to make it an -object with him to spend that leisure well; he will not be so thoroughly -enervated with his day's employment; he will not feel so imperious a -necessity for stimulating liquors; he will examine more closely, and -regulate more carefully, his domestic arrangements, and what is more than -all, he will become a soil which the religious philanthropist may have -some chance of labouring with advantage. We do not say that a reduction in -the hours of labour would do everything; but we are sure that little can -be done without it." - - -Arthur Arnold. _Cotton Famine._ 1864. - -(Describing factory work.) Page 56. "In these days of automaton machinery -there are many moments in every hour when the varied and immense -production of a cotton factory would continue though 95 per cent of the -hands were suddenly withdrawn. The work is exciting but not laborious. It -quickens the eye and the action of the brain to watch a thousand threads, -being obliged to dart upon and repair any that break, lest even a single -spindle should be idle; and it strengthens the brain to do this with -bodily labour which is exercising but not exhausting. It polishes the -mental faculties to work in continued contact with hundreds of others, in -a discipline necessarily so severe and regular as that of a cotton -factory. The bodily system becomes feverishly quickened by thus working in -a high and moist temperature. Even the rattle of the machinery contributes -to preserve the brain of the operative from that emptiness which so -fatally contracts its power." - - -THE SURAT WEAVER'S SONG - -From Edwin Waugh's _Factory Folk_, p. 238. By Samuel Laycock. - - Confound it! aw ne'er wur so woven afore; - My back's welly broken, mi fingers are sore; - Aw've bin stannin' an' workin' among this Surat - Till aw'm very neer gettin' as blint as a bat. - - Aw wish aw wur fur eneagh off, eawt o' th' road, - For o' weaving this rubbitch aw'm gettin' reet sto'd; - Aw've nowt i' this world to lie deawn on but straw, - For aw've nobbut eight shillen' this fortnit to draw. - - Oh dear! if yon Yankees could nobbut just see - Heaw they're clemmin' an' starvin' poor weavers like me, - Aw think they'd soon settle their bother an' strive - To send us some cotton to keep us alive. - There's theawsan's o' folk, jist i' th' best o' their days, - Wi' traces of want plainly sin i' their face; - An' a future afore 'em as dreary as dark, - For when th' cotton gets done we's be o' eawt o' wark. - - We've bin patient an' quiet as long as we con; - Th' bits of things we had by us are welly o' gone; - Mi clogs an' mi shoon are both gitten worn eawt, - An mi halliday cloaths are o' gawn "up th' speawt"! - Mony a toime i' mi days aw've sin things lookin' feaw - But never as awkard as what they are neaw; - If there is'nt some help for us factory folk soon, - Aw'm sure 'at we's o' be knock'd reet eawt o' tune. - - -Darwen Weavers. Report, March 1911, _The Driving Evil_. - -During the last few months we have experienced a decided improvement in -the demand for cotton goods, and which has naturally provided fuller -employment for those employed in the weaving branch. We regret, however, -to state that this improvement has brought with it that curse of our -industry--the driving evil. We still have a number of employers who resort -to any artifice in order to exact the last ounce of effort out of their -work-people. Very little regard appears to be paid to the possibility that -the health of the operatives may be endangered by the process; nor is much -consideration given to the difficulties that they have to contend with in -the shape of inferior material in the loom and the higher standard of -quality demanded in the warehouse. Indeed the only thing that seems to be -of any importance is the average, and woe be to the unlucky individuals -whose earnings fall below it. The weak and the strong are set in -competition one with another, with the inevitable result that the weaker -or less efficient work-people resort to such practices as working during -the meal-hour, etc., in their efforts to keep up the unequal race, whilst -on the top of all is the dread of what may happen after making up time. -When the earnings of an overlooker's set fall below the amount required by -the management, pressure is brought to bear on the over-looker, and in -turn they (_sic_) are expected to put more pressure on the weaver to -increase the output. The methods of speeding-up the weaver are varied. -Sometimes a hint is conveyed by a distinctive mark on their wage-tickets, -in other cases the weavers are spoken to about their earnings, not always -in the best manner or in the choicest language. This is far from being an -ideal state of things for young persons or persons of a sensitive nature -to be employed in, and has in the past been responsible for some of the -tragedies that are a blot on the record of the cotton industry. We think -it is high time that a number of employers should give this matter their -careful consideration, and look upon their work-people as human beings -and not as mere machines to be worked at the utmost speed. We hope that an -early improvement will be made at some of the local concerns, otherwise -there is every probability of serious trouble. - - -EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS OF THE PRINCIPAL LADY INSPECTOR OF FACTORIES, AND -SOME OF HER COLLEAGUES, ILLUSTRATING THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE WOMAN -WORKER.[74] - -1. _Women and Girls show more Courage in voicing their Needs._ - -While we can see a great number and variety of deplorable contraventions -of the actual requirements and spirit of the law and an amount of -apparently preventable suffering and overstrain and injury to life, limb, -and health that is grievous to dwell upon (except for action in the way of -removal), we can see also, most clearly, signs of improvement and the -promise of much more. The promise lies in the fact that the movement to -secure better conditions is not confined to any one class or group. The -women and girls at last begin to press their claims for a better life than -the one they have, not only by increasing appeals to Inspectors to put the -law in motion, but also by criticism of the limitations of the law and by -signs of fresh courage in organising and voicing their needs to the -employers. Employers are initiating reforms not only as outstanding -individuals and firms, but are beginning to do so at last by associated -action and effort. Without these two responsive sides of the movement the -best efforts of social reformers and legislators would end but poorly. As -strikingly illustrating the need of betterment, I would point not only to -the instances of excessively long hours inside and outside the factories, -insanitary conditions; lack of seats, mess-rooms; accidents and unfenced -machinery; employment of young workers in operating and clothing dangerous -machines; in excessively heavy weight carrying, but behind, and through, -and over all, to the undermining influence for the real health of the -nation in the grinding methods of payment and deductions from payment of -women and girls. Even of industrial poisoning Miss Whitlock says: "Poverty -with its attendant worry and lack of nourishment appeared to be a -predisposing cause in many cases, and the youth of many of the workers -affected was noticeable," and when a woman heavily laden and worn asks, -"Is it right I should have to do this kind of work and only have 8s. a -week?" the Inspector can only listen and report. The sinister instances of -use of homework after the legal factory day to reduce piece rates, of new -deductions covering cost of employers' contributions under the Insurance -Act, of old-standing large non-payments for work done to punish small -unpunctualities in arrival at the factory, and of fine added to entire -loss of a hardly-earned week's wage for alleged damage, are only -outstanding illustrations of an extensive pressure on women's wages that -prevents them from developing their full natural vitality. In every -direction the testimony of the Inspectors to the value of the spirit of -the industrial girl or woman is the same. Of a girl of seventeen, -partially scalped, Miss Martindale says: "Her pluck and bravery were -noteworthy, in fact these qualities show themselves in a remarkable degree -in working girls when they meet a severe physical shock"; of another, -whose hand had to be amputated after vain attempts to save it, she says -that the girl mastered her disappointment, and in two or three days after -the operation began to practise writing with her left hand, and in a month -had become almost as proficient in writing as with the right hand. The -value they attach to inspection is obvious from what follows in this -report, and is shrewdly summed up in a remark overheard by a Senior Lady -Inspector in a northern mill: "Yon's a Lady Inspector, nay, but it's time -we had one." - -2. _A Factory Worker's Letter._ - -_Miss Slocock._--The complaints outside the Acts received during the year -have been interesting, and they often indicate in a remarkable way the -workers' needs and the omissions of present legislation. Irish workers -express themselves graphically and exceedingly well in writing, and the -following letter is a typical one: "Dear Madam, I am sure you will think -it presumption on the part of a factory worker to write to you however as -pen and paper refuses nothing I venture to write you this annonamos -letter. When you come to inspect a factory, does it ever strike you to -look around and see if any of these weary women and girls have a seat to -sit down on. I am a winder myself I have worked in a great many factories -for the last 30 years one looks on their workshop just like their home why -should we be denied a seat I suppose you think our work very light so it -is we have no extra heavy lifts we have mettle cups that I suppose they -would be 2 lb. weight or more we are pushing these up continually the -whole thing is tedious just look around you and you will see some winders -have not so much as a lean for their backs. I hope Dear Lady you see to -this. You would never think of putting a servant to work in a kitchen -without a chair in it, she would not stick it, the winders are an -uncomplaining lot if you asked them would they like to be provided with -seats they would smile and say they were all right, it would look to them -like making complaints behind backs but don't ask us but think about us -and do something for us and our children will rise up and call you -blessed. I hold that rest is essential to Good Health." - -3. _Lighting._ - -_Principal._--An increasing number of complaints is received with regard -to defective natural lighting and badly adjusted or otherwise defective -artificial lighting. The Inspectors do what they can to secure -improvements, though, as the matter is outside the Factory Act, in -general no contravention notice or other official action is as yet -practicable. Two bad cases concerning women compositors in different parts -of the kingdom are specially reported; in both artificial lighting was -required during the greater part of the day, and in only one of these -instances is a remedy being supplied by removal to better premises. In the -other case, when the women learned that lighting is still outside the -Factory Act so far as their case is concerned, they exclaimed to the -Senior Lady Inspector, Miss Squire, "but this is the most important thing -of all to us." - -_Miss Squire._--Badly adjusted light which hurts the eyes was found in -boot factories, where out of nine visited in one town four had the -sewing-machine rooms provided with ordinary fish-tail burners on a jointed -bracket at every machine--these, unshaded, were on a level with the -workers' eyes and close to the face. The girls complained that the light -was poor and had a smarting effect upon the eyes. The adaptation of -artificial lighting to the requirements of the work receives in general -very little attention, but I find that a desire for some guidance in the -matter is growing among employers and managers. One difficulty is that of -procuring any shade for the large metal filament electric lamps now so -largely used. The glare of these in the eyes of machine operatives in all -classes of factories is a troublesome accompaniment of the work, and one -finds much makeshift screening by workers where such individual effort is -permitted. - -4. _Sanitary Accommodation._ - -_Principal._--It is impossible to modify in any general way the adverse -description of the existing state of matters as regards actual provision -of sanitary conveniences for women and girls in factory industries which I -found it necessary to give in last Annual Report, and to that statement I -must refer again and again until there is real and complete reform. The -women Inspectors have nearly doubled their efforts to raise the standard -somewhat in factories, and notices about them to local sanitary -authorities have risen from 538 in 1912 to 1029 in 1913, in addition to -146 notices with regard to workshops. Direct contravention notices to -occupiers numbered 249, while complaints from workers numbered 170, some -of them being very strong in regard to the unsuitability of the -conveniences provided. The one important area in which a decided -improvement is reported is the potteries area, where members of this -branch have been steadily at work for many years, but on the whole the -Midlands and the Lancashire Divisions have still most work to be done in -this direction, for in the former Miss Martindale reports that 381 of the -notices to sanitary authorities touched this one matter, and in the latter -Miss Tracey reports similarly 308 notices. - -_Miss Tracey._--The outstanding defect of all others in this north-west -division is the sanitary accommodation provided for women. It is -impossible to describe in a public paper how low the standard has been and -still is, in many places, where in other respects the conditions are not -only not noticeably bad, but are quite good.... Absence of doors and -screens, uncleanliness and insanitary conditions can all be remedied by -the sanitary authority, and in the large towns at any rate notices of -these matters have received prompt attention, but there still remains the -question of unsuitability of position. Many examples might be given. In a -waterproof factory four or five girls were employed in an "overflow" -workroom of a larger factory, and worked in an upper room; in the lower -room about a dozen men and youths were at work. To reach the sanitary -convenience it is necessary for the girls to walk across the men's room -and through a narrow space between rows of machines at which the men are -sitting, and the wall at the far end of which the sanitary convenience is -situated.... There is no doubt that glass panels in doors, commoner still, -no doors, no bolts, no provision for privacy is all calculated to "prevent -waste of time," and it is a pathetic comment on employment that there -should be this improper supervision and control of decent and respectable -women. That they do sometimes stay longer than is actually necessary in -these places is of course a fact well known to me, but to my thinking it -only shows how great the strain is on women and girls that they should -desire rest so obtained. When one thinks of the perpetual striving, the -work which must never slacken, the noise which never ceases and of the -legs which are weary with constant standing, of the heads which ache, -because the noise is so great no voice can be heard above the din, one can -understand that to sit on the floor for a few moments' talk, as I have -often seen, is a rest which under even such horrid circumstances is better -than nothing. Proper conveniences and the supervision of a nice woman -would do away with all the drawbacks which employers foresee in complying -with the standard laid down in the Order of the Secretary of State so long -ago as 1903. - -5. _Fire Escapes._ - -_Miss Tracey._--In one factory I visited to see an escape recently put up -at the instance of the local authority, and I found quite a good iron -staircase and platform. This was reached by a window which had been made -to open in such a way that it completely blocked the staircase and gave -but a tiny space even on the platform, and the aid of the local officer -was again invoked. Miss Stevenson reports that in the newer cotton mills a -proper outside iron staircase with a handrail is to be found, but the -construction of the older fire escapes shows a great lack of common sense. -In the first place, the narrow, almost perpendicular ladder without a -handrail is peculiarly unsuited for the use of women. The openings from -the platform to the ladders are exceedingly small, and the exit window is -generally 3 to 4 feet above the floor level, no steps or footholds being -provided. To increase the difficulty the exit window is sometimes made to -swing out across the platform, cutting off access to the downward ladder. -In two cases the ladder, and in one case a horizontal iron pipe also, ran -right across the window, rendering egress impossible except to the -slender. In both cases the next window was free from obstruction. - -_Miss Taylor._--Sometimes as many as 100 persons are employed on each -floor of a high building, so that if the outside staircase had to be used -those in the upper floors would, as they descended, meet the occupants of -the lower floors crowding on to the landings. I have never been to a -factory where they had such a fire drill as might obviate the possibility -of overcrowding on these escapes. The women flatly, and I think, rightly, -decline to attempt the descent, on the plea that they do not wish to incur -the danger of it until it is absolutely necessary. I have sometimes been -told by the managers of the factories that they themselves would never -reach the bottom safely if they attempted to go down. Such escapes are to -be found on quite 50 per cent of the cotton mills in Lancashire, and as -they were put up on the authority of the sanitary authority it is -difficult to get rid of them, but one cannot help thinking that there may -be very serious loss of life if the circumstances of a fire should be such -that the workers were obliged to resort to these outside escapes. - -6. _Lead Poisoning._ - -_Miss Tracey._--I spent many days in visiting the cases which had been -certified, and in visiting other cases of illness which were not directly -certified, as due to lead. I visited these workers at their homes and -found them in different stages of illness and convalescence. Their pluck -will always remain fixed in my mind; although many of them were unable to -put into words the sufferings they had gone through, yet not one of them -but was eagerly wishing to be well enough to go back to work. When, as is -so common now, women are accused of malingering, I often wish that -complainants would accompany me on my investigation of cases of accident -or poisoning at the workers' homes, for I know that, like me, these people -would return in a humbled frame of mind, recognising courage and -endurance under circumstances which would break many of us. Without these -home visits it would have been impossible to gauge the extent and severity -of the outbreak of illness. - -7. _Hours of Work and Overtime._ - -_Miss Tracey._--Often we receive complaint of the burden of the long -twelve hours' day, and the strain it is to start work at 6 A.M. A -well-known man in a Lancashire town was telling me only the other day -about how he would wake in the morning to the clatter of the girls' and -women's clogs as they went past his house at half-past five in the dark on -their way to the mills. He had exceptional opportunity of judging of the -effect of the long day's work, and he told me how bonny children known to -him lost their colour and their youthful energy in the hard drudgery of -this daily toil. How the girls would fall asleep at their work, and how -they grew worn and old before their time. We see it for ourselves, and the -women tell us about it. Sometimes one feels that one dare not contemplate -too closely the life of our working women, it is such a grave reproach. I -went to a woman's house to investigate what appeared a simple, almost -commonplace, accident. She was a middle-aged, single woman, living alone. -Six weeks before my visit she had fainted at her work, and in falling (she -was a hand gas ironer) she had pulled the iron on her hand, that and the -metal tube had severely burnt both arm and hand. She was quite -incapacitated. She told me she left home at 5.15, walked 2-1/2 miles to -the factory, stood the whole day at her work, and at 6, sometimes later, -started to walk home again, and then had to prepare her meal, mend and do -her housework. This case is only typical of thousands of women workers. -She got her 7s. 6d. insurance money, and that was all. She made no effort -to enlist my sympathy, but just stated the facts quite simply. Her case is -not so bad as many, for in addition to their own needs, a married woman or -a widow with children has also to see to the needs of the family, meals, -washing and mending, and the hundred and one other duties that are -required to keep a home going. - -In Scotland Miss Vines says that the largest proportion of complaints -relates to excessive hours of employment, while on investigation they are -found sometimes to be within the legal limits, and "there is no doubt that -the working of the full permissible period of employment does sometimes -entail an intolerable strain on the workers." - -_Miss Meiklejohn._--There has again been in West London a marked decrease -in the overtime reported this year. The opinion seems to be that -systematic overtime in the season does not really help forward the work, -and that the extension should be used, as was intended, in an emergency -only. There is a tendency to shorten the ordinary working hours, as well -as to work as little overtime as possible. - -8. _Employment of Women before and after Childbirth._ - -There can be little doubt that provision of maternity benefit under the -Insurance Act has materially lightened the burden of compliance with the -limit of women for four weeks after childbirth before they may return to -industrial employment. Complaints of breach of s. 61 have dropped to eight -in 1913, and complaints (outside the scope of the section) of employment -just before confinement have dropped to one. Even in Dundee, where this -evil of heavy employment of child-bearing women has been probably the -worst in the kingdom, an improvement of the situation is seen. - -_Miss Vines._--I visited a group of twelve jute-mill working mothers -within a month after their confinement and found that only one of them had -returned to work, nine of the mothers were married and experiencing the -good effects of the Insurance Act benefit. The unmarried women were, of -course, getting less benefit, and were not so well off; one of them worked -as a jute spinner in a jute mill till 6 P.M. on the night her baby was -born. - -9. _Truck Act._ - -_Principal._--The illustrations sent me of the mass of work done in 1913 -under the modern part of the law relating to truck are too numerous to be -reproduced here. Typical instances must be selected from different -industrial centres for the main points of (_a_) disciplinary fines, (_b_) -deductions or payments for damage, short weight, etc., (_c_) deductions or -payments for power, materials or anything supplied in relation to labour -of the worker; abuses of the "bonus" system may be connected with (_a_) or -(_b_). The main features of these illustrations are the poverty of the -workers, the rigidity and poverty of mind that controls workers by such -methods, and the need for fresh and living ideas to sweep away all these -defective, obsolete ways of control. - -_Disciplinary Fines._ - -_Miss Tracey._--I had a long struggle with the occupier of a large laundry -in Lancashire over fines for coming late. The work started at 6, and it -was said that only three minutes (supposed to be five), were allowed as -grace. The weekly wages were phenomenally small, but no work was demanded -on Saturdays unless under exceptional circumstances. If a girl came to the -laundry after the gate was closed (three minutes after 6 A.M.), she was -shut out till after breakfast, a fine was inflicted for late attendance, -and if this happened more than once, one-sixth of the total wage was -deducted for Saturday, although no work was required. I found these fines -to amount to as much as 1s. 8d. out of a wage of 4s. 6d., and other sums -in proportion. This iniquitous custom had been followed for twenty years, -and I was assured that it was a case of "adjustment of wages" and did not -come under the Truck Act. However, my view eventually prevailed; certain -sums were repaid and the whole system done away with, without bringing the -case into Court. In other respects, the laundry was a good one, and no -work on Saturday is an arrangement that is of great benefit to young and -old workers alike. The plan now adopted is that a girl consistently -unpunctual during the week will be required to come in on Saturday morning -to do a few hours' work--this plan has worked so well that no one, when I -last visited, had been in the laundry on Saturday at all. - -_Miss Slocock._--(1) Two girls, aged respectively eighteen and nineteen, -employed as cutters, were fined £2 : 14s. and 11s. 2d. for cutting some -handkerchiefs badly and damaging the cloth. The deductions were made at -the rate of 1s. per week, and at the time of my visit, each worker had -already had 10s. 6d. deducted from her wages. Proceedings were considered, -but the employer, directly his attention was drawn to the matter, refunded -5s. 6d. to one worker and agreed not to make any further deduction from -the other, so that one girl paid 5s. for damage amounting to 11s. 2d. and -the other 10s. 6d. for damage amounting to £2 : 14s. These amounts, 11s. -2d. and £2 : 14s. represented exactly the whole loss to the firm caused by -the damaged work, and the employer thought that he was acting legally so -long as the deductions did not exceed that amount. The fact that the Truck -Act specifically draws attention to this limitation is constantly brought -to my notice, and used as an excuse for putting the whole cost of any -damage on the workers. The average gross weekly wage earned by these -workers for the eleven weeks during which deductions were being made was -8s. 1d. and 10s. 10-1/2d. respectively. - -(2) Two workers employed as shirt machinists were told they would both be -fined 5s. for spoiling two shirts each by mixing the cloth. The difference -in the cloth was so slight that I could hardly distinguish it in daylight, -and the workers had machined the shirts by artificial light. The contract -under which these deductions were made provided that the cost price of the -material damaged should not be exceeded; the firm admitted that the cost -price of the material was not more than 1s. 6d. each shirt, and a fine of -2s. 6d. from each worker (1s. 3d. for each shirt) was ultimately imposed. - -_Miss Escreet._--Many instances of deductions for damage have touched the -borderland where non-payment of wages for work done badly approximates to -a deduction of payment in respect of bad work. Action in such cases is -very difficult--when sums like 5s. 5d. and 3s. are deducted from wages of -10s. 7d. and 13s. 4d. in a weaving shed and metal factory respectively, -there is no question that the workers look rightly for the protection of -the Truck Acts, which were surely framed to control this very kind of -arbitrary handling of hardly earned wage. Enquiry into these cases -invariably brings to light other considerations than the mere fact of -damaged work. Some managers find it difficult to realise that bad work is -bound to be a feature attendant on pressure for great output, especially -if the workers are inexperienced and ill-taught, or if the piece-work -rates are so low that the workers cannot afford to use care, and are -obliged to trust to luck and a lenient "passer." - -10. _Lenience of Magistrates to Employer._ - -_Principal._--We have to occasionally reckon with Benches who consider a -few shillings' penalty, or even 1d. penalty, sufficient punishment for -excessive overtime employment of girls, or with others who are reluctant -to convict, or punish with more than cost of proceedings, law-breaking -employers who are shown to have been thoroughly instructed in the law they -have neglected to obey. It is in my belief an open question whether the -tender treatment of the Probation of Offenders Act was ever designed to -apply to the case of fully responsible adults officially supplied by -abstracts with the knowledge and understanding of an industrial code which -is intended to protect the weakest workers. - - -(_A Leaflet issued from a Trade Union Office_) - - -------- & DISTRICT WEAVERS, WINDERS, - WARPERS & REELERS' ASSOCIATION. - - (Branch of the Amalgamated Weavers' Association) - OFFICES: TEXTILE HALL, --------. - - WINDERS AND THE BARBER KNOTTER.[75] - A Few Facts for Non-Union Winders. - -Have you ever considered what it costs you through not joining your Trade -Union? - -Study the following facts: - -Many winders have five per cent. deducted each week from their wages for -using the "Barber" Knotter. - -Five per cent. on 15s. per week is 9d. - -9d. per week is £1 17s. 6d. for every 50 weeks you work. If you work with -one of these knotters for three years your employer has been paid =more= -than the original cost; but they continue to stop the five per cent. and -the knotter still belongs to the employer. If you work at a mill ten years -and pay five per cent. all the time you cannot take the knotter with you -when you leave. - -Think about it. You pay for it three or four times over, but it doesn't -belong to you. =Oh, no!= - -We ask you to pay =5d.= to your Trade Union so that we can =stop your -employer from keeping 9d. out of your wages=. - -If you would rather pay 9d. to your employers than 5d. to your Trade Union -you have =LESS SENSE= than we thought you had. - -"But," you say, "we can earn more money with a knotter." Quite true, but -you are paid on "=production=," so if you get more money it is only -because you turn more work off, and in turning more work off your - -Employers get a Greater Production - -but they make =YOU= pay for it. - -The knotter enables you to piece up at a quicker rate; this saves time. It -enables you to make smaller knots, thus making better work. The two -combined makes - -Quantity and Quality. - -The employers get =both= and make you pay for it. - -We say to you that it is no part of your duty to pay for improved -machinery. If it is beneficial to the employers to improve any part of any -machine they'll do it without consulting you, but we hold that if by doing -this they get a greater and better production then they ought to =ADVANCE= -your wages and not deduct five per cent. from them. - -Think! Think! Think! - -View the matter over in your own minds. - -Reason the matter from your own point of view. - -If you are satisfied with the present system, well, =DON'T GRUMBLE=. - -If you're not, =What are you going to do to stop it?= Have you a remedy? -If so, what is it? - -If you haven't, =WE HAVE!= - -Organisation is the only solution! - -Trade Unionism will solve the problem for you, but - - You'll have to pay and not pout! - " " act " shout! - -Pay 5d. and keep the 9d.! Fight and don't Funk. - -DON'T HESITATE--AGITATE! - -If you have eyes--SEE! If you have ears--HEAR! - -JOIN THE UNION! - -Bring your grievances to the Officials! - -But join--Delay is Dangerous--Join at once! - ---------, Secretary. - - - - -APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VII. - - -RESOLUTIONS SUBMITTED BY THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF WOMEN WORKERS TO THE -TRADE UNION CONGRESS, 1915. - -"(_a_) That all women who register for war service should immediately join -the appropriate trade union in the trade for which they are volunteering -service, and that membership of such organisation should be the condition -of their employment for war service, and that those trade unions which -exclude women be urged to admit women as members. - -"(_b_) That where a woman is doing the same work as a man she should -receive the same rate of pay, and that the principle of equal pay for -equal work should be rigidly maintained." - - -MANCHESTER AND DISTRICT WOMEN'S WAR INTERESTS COMMITTEE. - -The Committee was formed as a result of the Joint action of the Women's -Emergency Corps and the Manchester and District Federation of Women's -Suffrage Societies. Representatives were invited from the Women's -organisations ... and the trade unions interested in women in munition -works. The Gasworkers and the Workers' Union also asked for representation -and were accepted. - -The Committee carried through an investigation of women in munition works, -and discovered that 12s. to 15s. was the standard wage, which was lower -than the standard, or usual women's rates in the district, which were -about £1. - -It was therefore proposed that the Committee work for a minimum wage for -women in munition works, and the programme, of which a copy is enclosed, -was drawn up. This was presented to the Trade Union section of the -Lancashire No. 1 Armaments Output Committee and received their hearty -support. - -The Amalgamated Society of Engineers recognised the National Federation of -Women Workers as the organisation to take in women munition workers, and -the local secretaries were instructed to co-operate with this body -wherever a branch exists. There being no branch in the Manchester area the -Amalgamated Society of Engineers recognised the Women's War Interests -Committee as the representative women's organisation. Great help has been -given to the Committee by their officials. - -The Committee does not itself undertake to organise the women, but passed -a resolution to the effect that it would co-operate with any movement -towards organisation of the women which is undertaken as a result of joint -agreement with the interested trade unions. - - * * * * * - -The following proposals have been agreed upon by the Committee for the -employment of women in ammunition works, to form the basis of -representations to the Ministry of Munitions:-- - -_Wages._--That a guaranteed minimum of £1 per week of 48 hours should be -paid to every adult woman worker (over 18 years) employed on munitions. -Piecework rates, irrespective of class of labour employed, should remain -unaltered. - -_Hours._--That a three-shift system of 8 hours is preferable to continuous -overtime for women. No woman should be employed on night work for more -than two weeks out of six. - -_Conditions._--That ample canteen provision be provided, this to be -obligatory where night work is in operation. - - - - -AUTHORITIES. - - -CHAPTER I. - -INTRODUCTORY. - -PEARSON, KARL. Woman as Witch, in the Chances of Death, vol. ii.; and Sex -Relations in Germany, in the Ethic of Freethought, p. 402. - -MASON, OTIS. In the American Antiquarian, Jan. 1889, p. 6. - -ELLIS, HAVELOCK. Man and Woman. Fourth Edition. Introduction and chap. -xiv. - -RECLUS, E. Primitive Folk, pp. 57-8. Contemporary Science Series. 1891. - -FRAZER, J. G. The Magic Art, ii. 204. - -MAN, E. H. Journal of the Anthropological Institute. August 1893. - -SERVANTS IN HUSBANDRY. - -THOROLD, ROGERS. History of Agriculture and Prices, i. pp. 273-274, and -iv. 495. Compare Bland, Brown, and Tawney, English Economic History, p. -347, for approximation between men's and women's wages. - -EDEN, SIR FREDERICK. State of the Poor, iii. lxxxix. - -TEXTILES: WOOL AND LINEN. - -SCHMOLLER. Strassbürger Tücher- und Weberzunft, p. 354. - -Archaeologia. Vol. xxxvii. pp. 91 and 93; vol. x. Plates XX., XXI., and -XXII. - -ANDREWS. Old English Manor, p. 272. - -DELONEY. Jack of Newbury, p. 59. - -WRIGHT, T. Womankind of Western Europe, pp. 59, 177-8. - -AUBREY. History of Wiltshire. Quoted in Archaeologia xxxvii. p. 95. - -WARDEN, A. The Linen Trade. Longman, 1867. (2nd ed.), pp. 355-6. - -ROCK, D. Textile Fabrics, p. 11. 1876. - -ECKENSTEIN, LINA. Women under Monasticism. - -Ancren Riwle. Reprinted in the King's Classics, p. 317. - -BÜCHER. Industrial Evolution. Translated by S. M. Wickett, pp. 265-7. - -JAMES, JOHN. History of Worsted, p. 289. - -Victoria County History. Yorkshire, ii. p. 43. - -WRIGHT, T. Homes of Other Days, p. 434. - -CHAUCER. Wife of Bath's Prologue. - -BEARD, C. Industrial Revolution, p. 25. - -FITZHERBERT. Book of Husbandry. 1574. Edited by Skeat, par. 146. - -TEMPLE, SIR W. Quoted in Cunningham's Growth of Industry and Commerce, -Modern Times, p. 370. (Ed. 1907.) - -Shuttleworth Accounts, Chetham Society, vol. xlvi. p. 1002. - -MARKHAM, G. The English Housewife, pp. 167, 172. (Ed. 1637.) - -WEAVING AND SPINNING AS A WOMAN'S TRADE. - -ABRAM, A. Social England in the Fifteenth Century, pp. 133-4. - -Ancient Book of the Weavers' Company. (Facsimile in the British Museum -Library.) - -FOX AND TAYLOR. Weavers' Gild of Bristol, p. 38. - -UNWIN, G. Industrial Organisation in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth -Centuries, p. 229. - -LAMBERT. Two Thousand Years of Gild Life, pp. 206-10. - -THOMSON, D. The Weaver's Craft, p. 22. - -Records of the City of Norwich, ii. p. 378. - -For Rates of Pay to Weavers, etc., see a volume of tracts in the British -Museum Library, numbered 1851, c. 101. - -Howard Accounts. Published by the Roxburgh Club, vol. li. - -MARKHAM, G. The English Housewife, pp. 174-5. (Ed. 1637.) - -DUNLOP AND DENMAN. English Apprenticeship and Child Labour, chap. ix. - -DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISTIC INDUSTRY. - -UNWIN, G. In the Victoria County History, Suffolk, ii. pp. 258-9. - -BAINES, E. History of Cotton Manufacture, p. 91. - -GREEN, MRS. ALICE. Town Life in the Fifteenth Century, ii. p. 100. - -Ordinances of Worcester. Edited by Toulmin Smith. Early English Text -Society. - -HAMILTON. History of Quarter Sessions, pp. 164, 273. - -LEONARD. Early English Poor Relief. - -ASHLEY, W. J. English Economic History, Part II., chapter on the Woollen -Industry. - -YOUNG, ARTHUR. Northern Tour, vol. i. p. 137. Second edition. 1770. - -YOUNG, ARTHUR. Tour in East of England, ii. pp. 75, 81. - -WARNER, TOWNSEND. In Traill's Social England, vol. v. p. 149. - -MANTOUX. La Révolution industrielle, p. 36. - -BONWICK. Romance of the Wool Trade, p. 435. - -Lancashire Worthies, i. p. 307. - -WEBER, MARIANNE. Ehefrau und Mutter, Tübingen, 1907, p. 252. - -SILK. - -CAMPBELL, W. Materials for History of the Reign of Henry VII., pp. 13, 15, -168, 170, etc. - -Victoria County History, Derby, ii. p. 372. - -OTHER INDUSTRIES. - -TRAILL. Social England, vol. i. p. 658. - -LAPSLEY, G. T. "Account Roll of a Fifteenth-Century Ironmaster," in the -English Historical Review, vol. xiv., July 1899, p. 51. - -Victoria County History. Derbyshire, pp. 328-9, 332, 343. - -Some Account of Mines. British Museum, 444, a 49, p. 62. - -GALLOWAY. Annals of Coal Mining, pp. 91, 232, 234, 354 _passim_. - -Case of Sir H. Mackworth. British Museum, 522, m. 12 (2). - -Case of the Mine Adventurers in the same volume, No. 26. - -YOUNG, ARTHUR. Northern Tour, vol. ii. pp. 189, 254-5. Second Edition. -1770. - -YOUNG, ARTHUR. Six Weeks' Tour, pp. 150, 109. 1768. - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE COTTON INDUSTRY. - -BAINES, EDWARD. History of the Cotton Manufacture, 1836, pp. 97, 100, 115, -116 n., 446. - -GUEST. History of the Cotton Manufacture. - -RADCLIFFE, W. Origin of the New System of Manufacture, 1828, p. 59, etc. - -GASKELL, P. Manufacturing Population of England, 1833, pp. 42, 43, 60. - -BEARD, C. A. The Industrial Revolution. - -MANTOUX. La Révolution industrielle, pp. 208-11. - -ELLISON, T. The Cotton Trade of Great Britain, 1886. - -LAW, ALICE. Social and Economic History, in the Victoria County History, -Lancashire, vol. ii. p. 327. - -CHAPMAN, S. J. The Lancashire Cotton Industry. - -CUNNINGHAM, W. Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Modern Times, p. -654. (Ed. 1907.) - -THE DECAY OF HANDSPINNING. - -EDEN, SIR FREDERICK. State of the Poor, vol. iii. pp. 768, 821, 847. - -THE HANDLOOM WEAVER'S WIFE. - -GASKELL, P. Manufacturing Population, p. 40. - -MANTOUX. La Révolution industrielle, pp. 442-3. - -Report of Committee on Ribbon-Weavers, 1818, vol. ix. p. 124. - -Report on Handloom Weavers, 1834, vol. x. Evidence of Brennan. - -THE FACTORY. - -TUCKETT, J. D. History of the Labouring Population, pp. 208-9. - -AIKIN, J. Country Round Manchester, pp. 167, 192. - -URE. Philosophy of Manufactures, pp. 312-3. - -GASKELL, P. Manufacturing Population of England, chap. i. - -TAYLOR, W. COOKE. Factories and the Factory System, 1844, pp. 1, 45-6. - -FIELDEN, J. Curse of the Factory System, 1836, p. 43. - -Assistant Poor Law Commissioners. Report on Employment of Women and -Children in Agriculture, p. 25. Parliamentary Papers, 1843, xii. - -GASKELL, MRS. Mary Barton. - -THE WOMAN WAGE-EARNER. - -Report on Artizans and Machinery. Parliamentary Papers, 1824, vol. v. -Evidence of Dunlop and Holdsworth, compare evidence of M'Dougal and -William Smith. - -Report on Manufactures and Commerce. Parliamentary Papers, 1833, vol. vi. -p. 323. - -Report on Combinations of Workmen. Parliamentary Papers, 1838, viii. q. -3527-31. - -Report on Handloom Weavers, 1840, vol. xxiii. p. 307. - -GASKELL, P. Artizans and Machinery, pp. 143, 331. - -GASKELL, P. Manufacturing Population of England, pp. 186-8. - -Report on Employment of Children in Factories. Parliamentary Papers, 1834, -xix. p. 297. - -SCHULTZE-GÄVERNITZ. The Cotton Trade in England and on the Continent. -Translated by O. S. Hall. 1895. - -THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN NON-TEXTILE TRADES. - -Children's Employment Commission. 1843. Reports on Birmingham District. - -Children's Employment Commission. Parliamentary Papers. 1864, vol. xxii.; -Third Report, p. x. - -TIMMINS, S. Resources of Birmingham and the Hardware District. 1866. - -Labour Commission. Reports on Employment of Women, by Miss Orme, Miss -Collet, Miss Abraham, and Miss Irwin. Parliamentary Papers, 1893-94, vol. -xxxvii. - -British Association, 1902-1903. Reports to the Economic Section by the -Committee on the Legal Regulation of Women's Labour. - - -CHAPTER IV. - -WOMEN IN UNIONS. - -Report on Combination Laws. Parliamentary Papers, 1825, vol. iv. -Appendices 6, 10, 16. - -Board of Trade. Seventeenth Report on Trade Unions, 1912. - -Board of Trade. Sixteenth Labour Abstract, 1915. - -Articles of the Manchester Small Ware Weavers, printed at Manchester, -1756. (Manchester Library.) - -WEBB, SIDNEY AND BEATRICE. History of Trade Unionism, pp. 104-5, 121-3, -etc. - -CHAPMAN, S. J. History of the Lancashire Cotton Industry, pp. 213-5, etc. - -Report on Standard Piece Rates of Wages in the U.K. Parliamentary Papers, -1900, vol. lxxxii. - -Reports of the Women's Trade Union League, 1874 to present time. (34 -Mecklenburgh Square.) - -Women in the Printing Trades. Edited by J. Ramsay MacDonald. 1904. - -Report by Miss Busbey on Women's Unions in Great Britain. Bulletin of the -Labour Department, U.S.A. No. 83. - -Labour Commission. Evidence of Mrs. Hicks and Miss James. Parliamentary -Papers, 1892, vol. xxxv. - -Reports of the National Federation of Women Workers. (34 Mecklenburgh -Square.) - -Also reports of trade union and other societies and information given -privately. - -_America._--History of Women in Trade Unions. Vol x. of Report on Women -and Child Wage-Earners in the U.S. - -Admission to American Trade Unions. By F. Wolfe, Ph.D. Johns Hopkins -University Studies, 1912. - -Women in Trade Unions in San Francisco. L. R. Matthews University of -California Publications in Economics, vol. iii 1913. - -Making Both Ends Meet. Clark and Wyatt. New York: Macmillan, 1911. Chaps. -ii. and v. - -The World of Labour. G. D. H. Cole. Bell, 1913. Chap. v. - -Report on Strike of Textile Workers in Lawrence, Mass., in 1912. -Washington: Government Printing Office, 1912. - - -CHAPTER IVA. - -WOMEN IN UNIONS (_continued_). - -_Germany._--BRAUN, LILY. Die Frauenfrage, 1901. - -GNAUCK-KÜHNE, ELISABETH. Die Arbeiterinnenfrage. M. Gladbach, 1905. - -SANDERS, W. STEPHEN. Industrial Organisation in Germany. Special -supplement to the _New Statesman_, October 18, 1913. - -The Organisation of Women Workers in Germany. Special Report to the -International Women's Trade Union League of America. Submitted by the -Women Workers' Secretariat of the General Commission of Trade Unions of -Germany. Berlin, 1913. - -ERDMANN, A. Church and Trade Unions in Germany. Published by the General -Commission of Trade Unions in Germany. Berlin, 1913. - - -CHAPTER VII. - -EFFECTS OF THE WAR ON WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT. - -Reports of the Board of Trade on the State of Employment in the United -Kingdom in October and December 1914, and February 1915. - -Interim Report of the Central Committee on Employment of Women. - -The Labour Gazette. - -Labour in War-Time. By G. D. H. Cole. Bell, 1915. - -Report on Outlets for Labour after the War by a Committee appointed by -Section F of the British Association. Manchester Meeting. 1915. - -Articles in the _New Statesman_, _Common Cause_, _Englishwoman_, _Economic -Journal_, etc. - - - - -INDEX - - - Abbott, Edith, 151 - - Abram, Annie, 13 - - Accidents, 59, 125, 129 - - Accounts of Hen. VII., 27 - of seventeenth century, 15 - Shuttleworth, 11 - - Accrington, 96 - - Adam and Eve, 6 - - Adaptation of industry in war-time, 248 - - Administration of the Factory Act, 53, 181-2, 243, 255, 282-93 - - Adolescence, care of, 206 - - Aftalion, 72 - - Agricultural population, report on, 51 - - Aikin, 43, 50 - - Aldhelm, 7 - - Alfred, King, 5 - - Amalgamated Society of Clothiers, 116 - - Amalgamation, the, 112 - - America, 60 - Women's Unions in, _section_, 141 - - Ammunition workers' strike, 130-31 - - Anaemia, 188 - - _Ancren Riwle_, 8 - - Andrews, 7 - - Anglo-Saxon industry, 5, 7 - - Anthropology, 2 - - Anti-Combination Act, repeal of, 92 - - Anti-Socialist Law, 155 - - Anti-Sweating League, 125, 133 - - Apathy of the governing class, 52 - - Apathy of women, 104-7, 113, 115, 209 - - Apprentices, factory, 273 - - Apprenticeship, _section_, 15 - - Architects, the first, 2 - - Arkwright, 33, 35, 36, 47 - - Artizans and Machinery, Select Committee on, 53 - - Ashley, afterwards Shaftesbury, Lord, 185 - - Asses, machines worked by, 43 - - Assistance in craft industries by women and girls, 16 - - Association, _section_, 205 - - _Athenaeum_, 52 _n._ - - Attacks on the factory system, 49-51 - - Attraction of the family, 83 - - Aubrey, 7 - - - Backwardness of the Factory Act, 184 - - Bad conditions in factories, 135, 181, 273, 286 - - Bagley, Sarah, 142 - - Baines, E., 38, 44 - - Bamford, 24 - - Barber knotter, the, 294 - - Barry, Leonora, 145 - - Beam, the, 98 - - Beamers, 126 - - Beaming, 107 - - Bebel, 156 - - Berchta, 2 - - Berlin, 158, 159 - - Bermondsey, 135 - - Besant, Mrs., 128 - - Betterment, 202 - - Bill to raise wages, 1593, 20 - - Bilston, 136 - - Birmingham, 43, 62, 136 - trades, 29 - - Bishopsgate, workhouse in, 21 - - Black, Clementina, 122, 128 - - Blackburn, 33, 96, 111, 112, 113 - society, 99 - - Black Death, 4 - - Bondfield, Margaret, 259 _n._ - - Bonwick, 23 - - Bookbinders, Society of, 120 - - Boot and shoe trade, 63-4 - Unions, 116, 150 - - Boston, 151 - - Bosworth, Louise, 234 - - Bourgeois women's movement, 162, 163 - - Bowley, A. L., 228 - - Bradford, 116 - Bradford Dale, 25 - - Brass work, 66 - polishing, 191 - - Braun, Frau Lily, 69, 161-4, 175 - - Brighton, 122 - - Bristol, 14, 29, 63, 64, 65, 224 - Weavers' Gild of, 22 - - Britain, Great, what she stands for, 265 - - British Association, 64 - - Bücher, 9 - - Bureau of Labour, enquiry by, 149 - - Burnley weavers, 102 - - Burslem, 29 - - Butler, Elizabeth, 61 - - Butler, Josephine, 199 - - Button-making, 29 - - - Cadbury, E., 195 _n._ - - Capitalist employer, the, 185-6 - - Card-room operatives, 59, _section_, 113, 126, 168 - - Carpenters' Company, 17 - - Carrying loads, 65, 66 - - Cartwright, 35, 42 - - Catholic Unions, 161, 164 - - Causes of lack of organisation, 115, 139, 151 - - Census, Chap. III. - - Central Commission of German Trade Unions, 156 - - Central Committee on Women's Employment, 247 - - Central Strike Fund, 103 - - Centralisation needed, 173 - - Chain-makers, 131 - Board, first determination of, 132 - - Changes effected by industrial revolution, _section_, 178 - - Chapman, Sydney J., 92 - - Charles II., 26 - - Chaucer, 10 - - Chemicals, 63 - - Child labour in factories, 272 - report on, 57 - - Childbirth, employment after, 290 - - Children and machines, 43, 272 - exploitation of, 264 - - Children's clothes, 65 - Employment Commission, 62, 63 - - Chorley weavers, 96, 103 - - Christian Trade Unions, 160 - - Churchill, Winston, 20 - - Cigar trade, 117, 118 - - Citizenship for women, 190, 196 - - Civil conditions, statistics of, 79 - - Clarke, Allen, 45 - - Class differences and class solidarity, 174 - interest, 166 - selfishness, 186 - - Cleft, the, 207 - - Clothing trades, 64 - Unions, 116 - wages in, 218 - - Clothworkers, 14 - - Clubs for working women, 166 - - Coal-mining, women in, 29 - - Cole, G. D. H., 174, 208 - - Collectors, 105 - - Collet, Clara, 80, 170 - - Combination among rich clothiers, 17, 18 - of Workers, Committee on, 94 - - Committees of Weavers' Union, 108, 176 - - Competing Unions, 172, 173 - - Competition between men and women, 66 - for employment, 169 - - Complexity of weavers' lists, 99 - - Compositors, 116, 117 - - Compositors' Union, 117 - - Comradeship among women, 190 - - Confectioners' Union, 130 - - Confectionery works, 67 - - Constructive measures, _section_, 260 - - Consumers, women as, 208, 263 - - Consumers' co-operation, 208 - - Co-operation with bourgeois movement to be avoided, 163 - - Co-operative Guild, Women's, 208 - - Copper works, 29 - - Cop-winding, 107 - - Core-making, 64, 146 - - Corporate action, 175 - women untrained for, 165 - - Cotton, bad, 101, 114 - - _Cotton Factory Times_, 145 _n._ - - Cotton trade, 31 _et seq._, _section_, 240, 268-82 - - Cotton weavers, _section_, 96, 168, 173 - male, 60 - - Cotton-weaving, 58 - - Courtney, Janet, 263 _n._ - - Coventry, 64 - ribbon trade, 41 - - Cracker factory, strike in, 148 - - Cradley, 133-4, 136 - - Cradley Heath chain-makers, 131 - - Craft Unions, 149, 158, 207-8 - - Cunningham, W., D.D., 38 - - _Curse of the Factory System_, 47 - - Cycle industry, 64 - - - Darwen and Ramsbottom, 96 - - Death-rates, 77 - of male infants, 257 - - Deaths of women in mine explosions, 29 - - Decay of hand-spinning, _section_, 39 - - Decline of domestic manufacture, 35 - - Decrease of employment in wartime, statistics of, 241, 266 - - Deductions, 292 - - Deficiencies, educational, 169 - - Defoe, Daniel, 24 - - Delays in labour legislation, causes of, 186 - - Deloney, 6 - - Dependents on women-workers, 145-6, 233-4 - - Derby, 27, 95 - - Derbyshire, 29, 97 - - _Detroit Free Press_, 145 - - Development of capitalistic industry, _section_, 17 - - Development of women's employment, 61 - - Devon, 51 - - Devotion and self-sacrifice of women, 165 - - Difficulties in organising women, 115, 139, 151, 154, 164, 169 - - _Digby Mysteries_, 6 - - Dismissal without notice, 125 - - Disproportion of women, 77 - - Distaff, the, Chap. I., _section_ - Textiles, 5 - - Divergent views on factory system, 45 - - Division among the weavers, 97 - - Dock and General Workers' Union, 126 - - Dock Strike, 128 - - Doherty, 55 - - Domestic workers, statistics of, 84, 86 - little organisation among, 168 - - Dorset, 51 - - Dover, New Hampshire, strikes at, 141 - - Drawers, 126 - - Dressmakers, little organisation among, 168 - - Dressmaking, 64, 65, 87, 118 - factory, _d.-m._, 72, 220 - - Drudgery a survival, 203-4 - - Dundee, 115 - - Dunlop, Jocelyn, 15, 16 - - Dust-extractor, 59 - - Dust in rope-works, 129 - - - Early civilisation, 1-3 - - Early factories, conditions in, 50, 52, 181 - - Early manufactures, characteristics of, 47 - - Earning power of women, 71-2 - - Earnings and Hours Enquiry, 214 - - Earnings in 1770, 33 - of women, Chap. VI. - insufficient for health, 229 - - East End workers, 128 - - East Lancashire Amalgamated Society, 96 - - East London, 130 - - East Meon, Church of, 6 - - Economic Independence, 80 - - Economic Section of British Association, 64, 253 _n._ - - Economic self-dependence, 81 - - Eden, Sir F., 39 - - Edmonton, ammunition workers at, 130-31 - - Education by Trade Unions, 159 - - Educational deficiencies, 169 - - Edward VI., 21 - - Effects, moral, of Trade Unions among women, 153 - - Effects of the War on the employment of women, Chap. VII. - - Egotistic refinement, 198 - - Eight-hour Leagues, 143 - - Elements of Statistics, 228 - - Elizabeth, 19 - - Employers oppose Unionism, 151 - - Engineering, 64 - - Enlightenment of women, 194 - - Ephemeral character of Women's Unions, 150 - - Equal chance, an, 145 - - Equal pay for equal work, 144, 152, 172, 255 - - Equal rates of pay for women, 93 - - Equality of opportunity, 196 - - Erdmann, Dr., 167 - - Essex, 25 _n._ - - Exclusion of women, _section_, 189 - from local governing bodies, 198 - - Exeter, Justices of, 20 - - Expansion of trade, 18 - - Experience in sorting wool, 21 - - - Fachverein der Mäntelnäherinnen, 155 - - Factory, the, _section_, 43 - - Factory Act, the first, 185 - of 1833, 45, 181 - of 1844, 1847, 1850, 1864, 1867, 1878, 1901, 182 - prejudice against the, 120 - what it has done, _section_, 181 - - Factory system, beginning of, 21, 22 - disliked, 42 - - Fall of prices in weaving, 26, 37, 39 - - Fall River, strike at, 143-4 - - Family, attraction of the, 83 - women working in the, 178 - - Fatigue, 202 - - Federation of Trade Unions, 208 - American, 145, 146, 152 - - Felkin, 25 - - Female Industrial Association, 142 - - Female Membership of Trade Unions, 177 - - Feminist movement, 175 - - Ferrier, Dr., 52 - - Fielden, John, 45, 47 - - File cutlery, 64 - - Fines, unfair, 100-102, 127-8 - - Finishing goods, 67 - - Fire-escapes, 287 - - Five hours' spell, 183 - - Flax, 10, 11, 242 - industry, strike in the, 138 - - Fly-shuttle, invention of, 33 - - Folklore ceremonies, 1 - - Food trades, 63 - - Frame-work knitting, _section_, 25 - - Free Unions, German, 156, 160 - - Freedom of employment, unrestricted, 193 - - Frigga's Distaff or Rock, 5 - - Fruit-picking, 65 - - Fuegians, 2 - - Future organisation of women, _section_, 206 - - - Garment workers, 150 - - Gaskell, Mrs., 74 - - Gaskell, P., 38 _n._, 45, 47, 48, 56, 231 - - Gas-Workers' and General Labourers' Union, 140, 174 _n._ - - General Federation of Trade Unions, 140 - - _Gentlemen's Magazine_, 39 - - German Statistical Year-Book, 157 - - Germany, Women's Unions in, _section_, 154 - - Girls untrained, 16 - - Girl-workers, 73 - - Glasgow, 94, 122, 224 - spinners, 93 - - Glossop, 27 - - Gloucester, 30 - - Gloucestershire, 18 - - Gnauck-Kühne, Elizabeth, 157, 164-166, 207 _n._ - - Goldmark, Josephine, 202 - - Governing class, 52, 179, 181 - - Graham, 54 - - Grand General Union, 93 - - Grand National Union, 95 - - Grant, P., 45 - - Greenwood, Arthur, 189 - - Greig, Mrs. Billington, 209 - - Grey or Franciscan Friars, 6 - - Guest, 32 - - Guild, Women's Co-operative, 176-177 - - - Habit of association, lack of, 106 - - Half-pay apprentices, 41 - - Halifax, 39 - - Hamilton, A., 20 - - Hammond, J. L. and B, 180 _n._ - - Hand-loom Weavers, Committee on, 42 - - Hand-loom weaver's wife, _section_, 40 - - Hand-wheels thrown aside, 34 - - Hargreaves, J., 33, 42 - - Haslam, J., 191, 192, 193 - - Hat and cap workers, 150 - - Healds, 98 - - Hebden Bridge, 231 - - Henley, Walter of, 10 - - Henry VII., accounts of, 27 - - _Henry VIII._, 19 - - Hicks, Mrs. Amie, 128, 129, 130 - - Hicks, Margaretta, 209 - - Hirsch-Duncker Unions, 161 - - Holda or Holla, 2 - - Hollow-ware workers, strike of, 136-138 - - Home, work in the, 44 - - Home Workers' Union, 160 - - Horrocks, 36 - - Hostility of employers to Unions, 139, 151, 169 - - Hotel servants and waitresses, 168 - - Houldsworth, 93 - - Hours of work, 183-4, 277, 289 - - Housewife preparing wool, 11, 14-15 - position of the, 165 - - Housing in towns, 50 - - Huddersfield, 115 - - Hull, 14, 15 - - Husbandry, servants in, _section_, 3 - - Hutchins, B. L., 197 _n._, 207 _n._ - - Hyde, 93 - - - Ideals of Victorian era, 198-9 - - Ignorance of domestic work, 51 - - Importation of silk, 26 - - Improvements in working conditions, 190, 202 - - Increase of women in metal trades, 63 - - Increase of women-workers in Germany, 155 - - Industrial change, effects of, 42 - revolution, Chap. II. - - Industrial Workers of the World, 148 - - "Industry in bonds," 49 - - Inequality of wages, 123 - - Influence of Unions on conditions, 153 - - Injury from prolonged standing, 186, 187 - - Insanitary conditions in confectioners' workrooms, 130 - - Inspection of factories impossible for women, 197 - - Inspectors, factory, 181 - women appointed as, 182 - - Instability of status, 152 - - Insurance Act, 103, 108, 116, 126, 131, 176, 188, 205 - - Interdenominational Unions, 161 - - Interests, interlocking of, 173 - - "Interkonfessionelle" Unions, 164 - - International Association for Labour Legislation, 125 - - International Typographical Union, 143 - - International Workers' Congress, 123 - - Inventions, 43 - - Ipswich, 65 - Christ's Hospital at, 21 - - Ireland, 224 - - Irons on apprentices, 274 - - Ironworks, a fifteenth-century, 29 - - Isolation of women, 164-5 - - - Jacquard's loom, 42 - - Jam-making, 135 - - James, Clara, 128, 130 - - James, John, 25 _n._ - - James, William, 207 - - Jones, Lloyd, 106 - - - Kaffirs, 2 - - Kamtchatdals, 2 - - Kay, 33 - - Kendal, 39 - - Kettering, 224 - - King, Mr., 120 - - Knights of Labour, 144, 145 - - Knitting-machine, 25 - - _Korrespondenzblatt_, 158 - - - Labour, an important factor in production, 136 - - Labour Commission, 61, 63, 129, 170, 197, 198 - - Labour League, Women's, 177, 208 - - Labour legislation, weakness of and delays in, 186 - - Labour movement, 127 - - Labourers, Statute of, 4 - - Lacquering, 63 - - Lancashire, 61, 74, 96, 97, 102 - cotton spinners of, 93 - - Lapsley, 29 - - Lassalle, 158 - - Laundresses, Union of, 122 - - Laundry Workers' International Union, 147 - - Law, Alice, 36 - - Lawrence, Mass., 149 - - Lead mines, women in, 29 - poisoning, 288 - - Lee, inventor of knitting-machine, 25 - - Leeds, 23, 39, 116, 224 - - Leicester, 92, 224 - - Leland's _Itinerary_, 21 - - Lenience of Magistrate, 293 - - Levant Company, 32 - - Lighting of work-places, 184, 284 - - Linen and jute, 115, 242 - - List prices, 99, 100, 114 - - Liverpool, 173 - - Locked in factory, 129-30 - - Lombe, John, 27 - - London, 126, 242 - milliners, 168 - Trades Council, 128 - - London weavers, 13, 14 - Women's Trades Council, 123 - - Loom, the, 5 - - Low wages of women, consolation for, 57 - - Lowell, Female Labour Reform Association at, 142 - strikes at, 141 - Union, 142 - - Lye, 136, 137 - - Lytton, Lady Constance, 200 - - - Macarthur, Mary, xv, 131 - - Macclesfield, 28 - - MacDonald, J. R., 195 _n._ - - Machine work, 66 - - Machinery and skill, 68-9 - and women's employment, 69-70 - - Mackworth, Sir H., 29 - - Maladjustment and Readjustment, _section_, 245 - - Male Weavers' Union, 143-4 - - Malingering, xv, 188 - - Malmesbury Abbey, 21-2 - - Manchester, 31, 32, 47, 50, 55, 93, 126, 173, 176, 224 - societies, 126-7 - spinners, 92 - Women's Trade Union Council, 139 - Women's War Interests Committee, 256, 296 - - Mantoux, 23, 41 - - Manufactures and Commerce, Select Committee on, 54 - - Markham, Gervase, 14 - - Marriage, _section_, 78 - and organisation, 151 - decreasing prospect of, 196, 256 - prospect of, its effects on young men and women, 151, 169-70 - - Married women's work, 89-91 - - Marx, Karl, 49 - - Mary, Queen, 21 - - Match factories, 47 - workers, 183 - makers' Union, 128 - - Match-girls' strike, 127-8 - - Material progress, 51, 265 - - Maternity benefit, 103, 259 _n._ - and child welfare, 258 - care of, 206 - - Matheson, M. C., 195 _n._ - - Matthews, Miss, 153 - - Mechanical power, 200-201 - progress, 43 - - Mellor, 33 - - Men and women, division of work between, 53 - numbers of, in cotton spinning, 55 - organised together, 166, 168 - - Metal trades, increase of women's employment in, 63 - - Metal-cutting, 66 - - Middle-class women's movement, _section_, 195 - - _Mines_, an _Account of_, 29 - - Minimum, principle of the, 237-8 - requirements, 227 - - Monopoly of trade in clothing, 18 - - Moral atmosphere of factories, 50 - effects of Unionism, 153 - - Mortality, 76, 77 - - Movement of women's wages, _section_, 229 - - Mule-spinning, 191-2 - - Mundella, A. J., 250 _n._ - - Munitions work, 251-2 - - - National Federation of Women Workers, 131, 133, _section_, 140, 296 - - _Nature of Woman_, 2 - - Neath, 29 - - Needlewomen, 154 - - Nelson and District Weavers' Association, 101 _n._ - - New demand for women's labour, _section_, 250 - - New England cotton mills, 142 - - New spirit among women, _section_, 199 - - New Unionism, 127, 149, 174 - - New York, 141, 142 - - Nightingale, Florence, 199, 200 - - Non-textile trades, 28-30 - industrial revolution in, _section_, 61 - - Nordverein der Berliner Arbeiterinnen, 155 - - Northampton, 224 - - N.E. Lancashire Amalgamated Society, 96 - - Norwich, 23, 224 - - - Oakeshott, G., 118 _n._ - - Oastler, Thomas, 185 - - Occupational statistics, 81-8 - - Oldham, 95 - and district, 96 - - Opposition of landowners to Liberals, 46 - to factory legislation, 121-3 - to women's employment, 42, 43, 93, 94 - - Oppression by employers, 19 - - Ordinances of Worcester, 18 - - Organisation, early efforts at, _section_, 92 - in different trades, 171 - of German Unions, 157-60 - of women, need for, 107, 255 - of women, together with men, 172 - of young persons, difficulty of, 113 - - Outlook, the, _section_, 167 - - Overcrowding in towns, 52 - - Overstrain, 110 - in cotton industry, 59, 281, 287 - - Overtime, 184, 289 - - Owen, Robert, 44, 47, 53, 95, 106 - - - Padiham, 96, 113 - - Paper and stationery, 63 - - Paper-sorting or overlooking, 67, 168 - - Paris, 123 - - Paterson, Emma, 119-22 - - Pay-stewards, 176 - - Pearson, Karl, 1, 206 - - Peel, the elder, 53 - - Peel's Committee (1816), 41 - - Pen trade, 63 - - Percival, Dr. Thomas, 52, 185 - - Personality in Union officials, 174 - - Petition against importation of silk, 26, 27 - of weavers, 17 - - Philanthropy, 163, 166 - - Phosphorus, white, prohibition of, 183 - - Phossy jaw, 183 - - Picks, 98 - - Pictet, 5 - - Piece rates, 97-102 - - Piecers to replace spinners, 54 - women as, 192 - - Piers Plowman, 8 - - Pin manufacture, 30 - - Pittsburgh, U.S.A., 61 - - Plague, the, 4 - - Plated ware trade, 30 - - Policy, a coherent, 173 - - Polish women weavers, strike of, 149 - - Polynesians, 2 - - Poor Law, its effect on wages, 21 - of Elizabeth, 32 - - Possibilities of modern industry, 204 - of State control, _section_, 204 - - Potential changes of the industrial revolution, _section_, 200 - - Potteries, 29 - - Potters, 146 - - Power sewing-machine, 63 - - Power-loom, 35 - introduction of the, 55 - - Premature employment, effects of, 62 - - Preparing material, 65 - - Present position of the woman worker, _section_, 183 - - Press-work, 66 - - Preston, 96 - - Primitive industries, 2, 3 - - Printing, 66, 116 - - Professional women, scope for, 263 _n._ - - Professions for women, 80 - - Prohibition to combine, 80 - of women's employment, 14 - - Proportion of women in Unions, 147 - - Prosperity of spinners, 38 - - Protective and Provident League, 119-24 - - Psychological difficulties in organising women, 164 - - Public spirit, lack of, 170 - - - Queen, the, 247 - - - Radcliffe Society, 96 - - Radcliffe, William, 33 - - Rag-cutting, 65 - - Ramsay, Isle of Man, 93 - - Reaction in war-time, 264 - - Reciprocal movement between spinners and weavers, 40 - - Reed, 97 - - Reeling, 107 - - Reforms started by industrial employers, 53 - - Registrar-General, 75, 76 - - Relative wages of men and women, 231-6 - - Replacement of men by women, 55-56, 252, 255 - - Results the War may have, _section_, 256 - - Richards, factory inspector, 49 - - Rights and privileges of women, 105 - - Ring-room doffers, 113 - - Ring-spinners, 114 - - Ring-winders, 111 - - Ring-winding, 107 - - Roberts, Lewis, 32 - - Rock, Maria, 5 - - Rogers, Thorold, 4, 5 - - Rope-makers, 129 - - - Sadler, M. T., 185 - - St. Crispin, Daughters of, 142, 144 - - San Francisco, 147, 153 - - Sanitary conditions in non-textile trades, 62 - - Sanitation in town and country, 50, 51 - - Schreiner, Olive, 69 - - Schultze-Gävernitz, 44, 157 - - Screw manufactories, 62 - - Seamstresses, 146 - - Segregation of women from affairs, 109 - - Sewing women, 143 - - Shaftesbury, Lord, 185, 186 - - Shakespeare quoted, 19, 25 _n._ - - Shann, G., 195 _n._ - - Sheffield, 64 - plated ware trade, 30 - - Shifting of industrial processes, 44 - - Shirt-making, 223 - - Shock of War, _section_, 239 - - Shop Assistants' Union, 140, 176 - - Shortage of women's labour, 245 - - Shorter hours, effects of, 202 - movement for, 109-10 - - Shuttleworth Accounts, 11 - - Shyness of women, 109 - - Sick benefit, 119, 131, 188 - - Sick visitors, 108, 176 - - Sickness Benefit Claims, Committee on, xv - - Silk, _section_, 26 - - Simcox, Edith, 123 - - Sisterhood, the, 92, 271 _n._ - - Slater, G., 180 _n._ - - Small-ware weavers, 92 - - Snowden, Keighley, 136 _n._ - - Soap, 63 - - "Social and Economic History," 36 - - Social Democratic Party, 156 - - _Social England_, 29 - - Social influences, 163, 166, 170 - - Social strata in the factory, 67 - - Socialism and women, 163-4 - - Solidarity between men and women, 196 - - Sorting clothes in laundries, 65 - - Southey, 50 - - "Spear-half," 5 - - Speeding up, 58-9, 110, 281 - - Spell of work, 183 - - "Spindle-half," 5 - - Spinning, a family occupation, 24 - by young women, 9 - for the unemployed, 21 - jennies, 34, 42 - machine invented by Hargreaves, 33 - parties, 9 - - Squire, Miss Rose, 184 - - Stages in the woman's career, 207 - - Standard of life in Lancashire, 60, 105, 107, 187 - of immigrants, 142 - - Standing, effects of persistent, 186, 275 - - Statistics of domestic workers, 84, 86 - of German women in Unions, 167 - of textile workers, 87 - of unemployment in war-time, 241, 266 - of wages, Chap. VI. - of women in Unions, 177 - of women's life and employment, Chap. III. - - Statutory rights of workers, 186, 204 - - Stay-making, 65 - - Steam laundry workers, 147 - - Steam power, introduction of, 35 - - Stockport, 36, 108, 113 - strike at, 96 - - Strain of modern industry, _section_, 186 - of work, 184, 281 - - Strike-breakers, 93 - - Strikes, _see various industries_ - in 1911, 135 - - Struggle of the crafts, 19 - - Stumpe, 21 - - Suffolk clothiers, petition of, 18 - - Surats, 101, 280 - - Surplus of women, _section_, 75 - - Survival of previous standards and conditions, _section_, 179 - - Swabia, 2 - - Syndicalism, 197 - - - Tailoresses, increase of, 87 - Union of, 122 - - Tailoring, 64, 221 - - Tailors, Amalgamated Society of, 122 - - Tapestry, 8 - - Tayler, Dr. L., 2 - - Taylor, Cooke, the elder, 48, 49, 52 _n._ - - Temple, Sir William, 11 - - Textile work, as adjunct to farming, 24, 33 - societies, 126 - workers, 150 - workers, statistics of, 87 - workers, wages of, 216 - - Textiles, _section_, 5 - - Theodore, St., 8 - - Thüringen, 2 - - _Times_, the, 127, 128 - - Timidity of social legislation, 185 - - Timmins, S., 63 - - Tobacco, 63 - workers in, 127 - - Toynbee Hall, 127 - - Tracey, Anna, 188 - - Trade Boards Act, 1909, 20, 116, 126, 131, 132, 138, 183, 224, 226, 245 - - Trade Union Congress, 119, 120, 122, 123 - - Traill's _Social England_, 29 - - Transformation of some womanly trades, 61-2 - - _Treasure of Traffike_, 32 - - Truck Act, 184-5, 290 - in Germany, 155 - - Twisters, 126 - - Typographical Societies, 116 - - - Umbrella Sewers' Union, 142 - - Underclothing, 65 - - Underground, women working, 194 - - Unemployment and short time, 228 - - Unemployment among women in war-time, 240-43 - - Unions, women in, Chaps. IV. and IV.A - - U.S.A., Labour Commission of, 234 - - Unorganised trades, 102, 126 - - Unorganised workers, movement among, _section_, 127, 256 - - Unsuitable work, 194, 236 - - Unwin, Professor, 14, 18, 19, 22 - - Upholsterers, 146 - - Ure, 44, 47 - - - Variety of conditions, 46, 47 - - Ventilation, 276 - - Verein zur Vertretung der Interessen der Arbeiterinnen, 155 - - Victimisation, 96, 97, 105, 139, 169 - - - Wage census, 1906, Chap. VI. - - Wage contract, 73 - - Wages in seventeenth century, 20 - in miscellaneous trades, 225-6 - of women, Chap. VI. - raised in low-class industries, 135 - - Wagner, R., quoted, 31 - - War, effects of, on employment of women, Chap. VII. - - War, the, results it may have, _section_, 256 - - Warden, 7 - - Warehouse work, 67 - - Warner, Townsend, 23 - - Warping, 112 - - Watch-making, 64 - - Water-power, 18 - - Weavers' Amalgamation, 97, 103, 205 - - Weavers become clothiers, 17 - become wage-earners, 17 - - Weavers' Committees, 104-7, 108 - Company, 13 - Gild, 13 - secretaries, 101-2, 104, 106 - Union, 96, 111, 126 - - Weavers in Scotland, General Association of, 92 - of Edinburgh, 14 - - Weaving as a woman's trade, _section_, 12 - - Weaving, operation of, 97-8 - - Webb's _History of Trade Unionism_, 93 _n._ - - Weft, 98 - - Wells, H. G., 207 - - West Riding Fancy Union, 92 - - What is and what might be, 200 - - What the Factory Act has done, _section_, 181 - - Wider views of Union officials, 205 - - Widows, employment of, 90-91 - carry on husbands' business, 17 - - Wigan, 108 - - Wilson, Mrs. C. M., 23 _n._ - - Wiltshire, 21, 51 - - Winders, 111, 126, 294 - - _Winter's Tale_, 6 - - Winterton, 29 - - Witch, the, 1 - - Woman wage-earner, _section_, 53, and Chap. VI. - - "Women and the Trades," 61 - - Women bakers, carders, brewers, spinners, workers of wool, etc., 13 - bookbinders, 123 - chain-makers, 134 - - Women exempt from craft restriction, 12 - - Women, an important factor in industry, 21 - as individual earners, 25 - as subordinate helpers, 178 - - Women Factory Inspectors, xiv, 109, 182, 183, 282-93 - appointment of, opposed, 197 - reinforcement of, needed, xvi - - Women in an inferior position, 16 - in industrial transition, 19 - in the great industry, 203 - - Women only, Unions of, 118, 162, 171-2 - - Women weavers displacing men, 13 - - Women's employment, Central Committee on, 247 - - Women's movement and the labour movement, 199 - - Women's Rights Party in Germany, 154 - - Women's secretariat in German Commission of Trade Unions, 158 - - Women's Trade Union League, 118, _section_, 119, 175 - - Women's Trade Union League in America, 153 - - Women's wages, Chap. VI. - - Wood, G. H., 229 - - Wool and worsted, 115 - - Wool, _section textiles_, 5 - - Woollen and clothing trades, _section_, 243 - - Work done by women, three classes of, 65 - - Work done for wages outside the home, 22, 23 - - Workers' Educational Association, 74 - - Workers' Union, 140 - - Workrooms for unemployed women, 249 - - Workshop and factory, wages in, compared, 219 - - _Worsted, History of_, 25 _n._ - - Wright, Thomas, 7, 9 - - Wyatt, Paul, 33 - - - Yarn, demand for, 32, 248 - - York, 23 - - Yorkshire, 18, 97 - women, 115 - - Young, Arthur, 23, 29 - - - Zimmern, A. E., 265 _n._ - - -THE END - - -_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_. - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] _I.e._ Cots or cottages. - -[2] Departmental Committee on Sickness Benefit Claims, Evidence 40446, -Bondfield. - -[3] _Ibid._ 40462, Bondfield. - -[4] 37 Edw. III. c. 6, quoted in Cunningham's _Growth of Industry and -Commerce_, I. 353 _n._ (5th ed.). - -[5] See a volume of tracts at the British Museum numbered 1851, c. 10. - -[6] S.P. Dom. Eliz. 1593, vol. 244. Reprinted in _English Economic -History_, Bland, Brown and Tanney, p. 336. - -[7] Cf. a report of a workhouse in 1701 (catalogued as 816. m. 15. 48 in -the Brit. Mus. Library), where ten poor women were employed to teach the -children to spin. - -[8] _Tour in East of England_, vol. ii. pp. 75, 81. I am indebted to Mrs. -C. M. Wilson for drawing my attention to these passages and for suggesting -the remarks immediately following. - -[9] Defoe in his _Plan of English Commerce_ says that after the great -plague in France and the peace in Spain the run for goods was so great in -England, and the prices so high that poor women in Essex could earn 1s. or -1s. 6d. a day by spinning, and the farmers could hardly get dairymaids. -This was, however, only for a time; demand slackened, and the spinners -were reduced to misery. - -[10] James, _History of Worsted_, p. 289. This pleasant custom may remind -us of lines in Shakespeare's _Twelfth Night_, i. 4: - - "The spinsters and the knitters in the sun - And the free maids that weave their thread with bones." - -[11] Philip Gaskell, who was, however, so prejudiced against the factory -system that his views must be taken with caution, says that the wives of -manufacturers who had risen from poverty to affluence were "an epitome of -everything that is odious in manners," their only redeeming point being a -profuse hospitality, which however, Grant attributes to "a sense of -vain-glory."--_Manufacturing Population_, p. 60. - -[12] _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_, _Modern Times_, p. 654 -(ed. 1907). - -[13] _History of Cotton Manufacture_, p. 446. - -[14] Factory Inspector's Report dated August 1835, quoted in Fielden's -_Curse of the Factory System_, 1836, p. 43. - -[15] _Country round Manchester_, p. 192. Compare Mrs. Gaskell's -descriptions in _Mary Barton_, fifty years later, for a very similar -account. - -[16] _Athenaeum_, August 20 (probably 1842), quoted in W. C. Taylor, -_Factories and the Factory System_, pp. 3, 4, London, 1842. - -[17] L. Braun, _Die Frauenfrage_, p. 209. Cf. E. Gnauck-Kühne, _Die -Arbeiterinnenfrage_ 23. - -[18] _Woman and Labour_, p. 50. - -[19] Registrar-General's Report for 1912, p. xxxvii. - -[20] "Prospects of Marriage for Women," by Clara Collet, _Nineteenth -Century_, April 1892, reprinted in _Educated Working Women_, P. S. King, -1902. - -[21] The servant-keeping class often shows a tendency to regard social -questions mainly from the point of view of maintaining the supply of -domestic servants. - -[22] See Appendix, p. 270. - -[23] Webb, _History of Trade Unionism_, pp. 104-5. - -[24] _Parliamentary Papers_, 1838, viii. _qq._ 360, 1341-2. - -[25] "Select Committee on Manufactures," _Parliamentary Papers_, 1833, -vol. vi. p. 323, _q._ 5412-3. - -[26] _Rules of the Nelson and District Power-Loom Weavers' Association_, -1904, p. 13, "Advice to Members, etc." - -[27] Report of N.C. Amalgamation, June 1906. - -[28] Evidence is not unanimous on this point. - -[29] Report of S.E. Lancashire Provincial Association, Dec. 1912. - -[30] See _Women in the Printing Trade_ (edited by J. R. MacDonald) for an -excellent study of the whole circumstances and conditions of the trade. - -[31] G. Oakeshott, "Women in the Cigar Trade in London," in the _Economic -Journal_, 1900, p. 562. - -[32] Second Report of the W.T.U.L. - -[33] In Mr. Keighley Snowden's words, from which this account is taken -(_Daily Citizen_, 12, xi. 1912): "If foreign competition at last threatens -us, it is in consequence of this heartless folly." - -[34] Space does not permit us to give a full account of the efforts for -co-operative action for social purposes made by working women at this -period, or of the interesting study of social conditions made by Leonora -Barry, the investigator of women's work under the Knights of Labour. See -Report on Women's Unions, Chapter IVA. - -[35] Quoted in the _Cotton Factory Times_, September 18, 1885. - -[36] Report of the Strike of Textile Workers in Lawrence, Mass., p. 63. - -[37] This chapter was written before the outbreak of war. - -[38] It is a curious reflection on the tardiness of our Government -statistical work, that figures for German Trade Unions are here actually -accessible for a more recent date than those of English Unions. [Written -early in 1914.] - -[39] A. Erdmann, _Church and Trade Union in Germany_, 1913. - -[40] Report of Gas-workers' and General Labourers' Association, March -1897. - -[41] This chapter was written before the outbreak of war. - -[42] Many worthy folk to this day even show by the use of the phrase -"_giving_ employment" that they suppose themselves to be conferring a -benefit on persons who work for them, irrespective of wages paid, and it -is unlikely that our ancestors were more enlightened on this point than -ourselves. - -[43] G. Slater, _English Peasantry and the Enclosure of Common Fields_, -Constable, 1907, p. 266. Compare Hammond, J. L. and B, _The Village -Labourer_, chap. v. - -[44] See, _e.g._, the cases mentioned in the Factory Inspectors' Report -for 1912, p. 142, and compare the case reported by Miss Vines in the -Report for 1913, p. 97. In a Christmas-card factory the women were being -employed two days a week from 8 to 8, three days a week from 8 A.M. to 10 -P.M., and Saturdays 8 to 4. "The whole staff of workers and foremen looked -absolutely worn out." - -[45] _School Child in Industry_, by A. Greenwood, p. 7. Workers' -Educational Association, Manchester, price 1d. - -[46] See the _Englishwoman_ for June 1914. - -[47] The work of a "big piecer" is practically identical with that of a -spinner, only that responsibility rests with the latter. - -[48] See Cadbury Matheson and Shann, _Women's Work and Wages_, p. 212; -Macdonald, _Women in the Printing Trades_, p. 53. - -[49] See in Chapter IVA. pp. 162-3. Frau Lily Braun's views on the -subject. - -[50] See an article by the present writer in the _Englishwoman_, April -1911. - -[51] Northern Counties Amalgamation of Weavers, etc. Report for July 1913. - -[52] I owe the suggestion of a "cleft" (_Spalte_) in the woman-worker's -career to Madame E. Gnauck-Kühne, who developed it in her book, _Die -deutsche Frau_. Compare "Statistics of Women's Life and Employment," -_Journal of the Statistical Society_, 1909. - -[53] Earnings and Hours Enquiry: Textile Industries, Cd. 4545, 1909; -Clothing Trades, Cd. 4844, 1909. - -[54] Raised to 3-1/2d. on 19th July 1915. - -[55] _Elements of Statistics_, 2nd edition, pp. 37, 38, and 39. - -[56] 1,091,202 out of a total of 4,830,734. - -[57] _Women's Industrial News_, July 1912, p. 56; compare _The War, Women -and Unemployment_, published by the Fabian Society. - -[58] This chapter was prepared during the first year and the early part of -the second year of war. It is necessarily incomplete, as war is still -raging; but it is hoped that a brief summary of the position of -women-workers in war time, and of the expedients adopted to ease and -improve it, may not be without interest. - -[59] Article by G. H. Carter, _Economic Journal_, March 1915; see also -Notes in the _Women's Trades Union League Review_, January 1915. - -[60] Article by Jas. Haslam, _Englishwoman_, March 1915, and information -given privately. - -[61] See article by C. Black in the _Common Cause_, February 12, 1915. - -[62] _Westminster Gazette_, October 16, 1914. - -[63] See a letter by Mr. A. J. Mundella, L.C.C., in the _School Child_ for -December 1914. - -[64] _New Statesman_, November 7, 1914. - -[65] _Report on Outlets for Labour after the War_, British Association, -Section F., Manchester, 1915. - -[66] See _The National Care of Maternity_, by Margaret Bondfield, -published by the Women's Co-operative Guild. The proposals include the -administration of Maternity Benefit by the Public Health authorities in -lieu of the approved societies, the raising of maternity benefit to £5, -and other changes. - -[67] B. Kirkman Gray, _History of Philanthropy_. - -[68] _Daily News and Leader_, June 24, 1915. It may be remarked here -parenthetically, though not strictly germane to the subject, that not only -the local authorities, but the Departments, even the War Office itself, -might utilise the services of professional women more freely than they do, -with great advantage to themselves. Women have among other things a very -sharp eye for the detection of fraud and corruption. It was to the -initiative and energy of one woman that the greatest improvements in the -organisation of the Army Hospital Service in the nineteenth century were -due. It is admitted that no change in the administration of the Factory -Department has been so fruitful for good as the appointment of women -factory inspectors. Why, then, are not professional women called in to aid -in the organisation of commissariat, the inspection of clothing stores, -the "housekeeping" of the Army, especially in the case of the needs of raw -recruits? Incalculable waste, diversified here and there by actual lack of -food, is reported from the camps. The help of expert women might here be -of enormous value, and not only avoid waste, but ensure the provision of -more wholesome food and more comfortable clothing. Some valuable hints on -this subject are to be derived from an article by Mrs. Janet Courtney in -the _Fortnightly Review_, February 1915, "The War and Women's Employment." - -[69] _The War and Democracy._ Introduction by A. E. Zimmern, p. 14. -London, 1914. - -[70] It should be observed that the first proprietors of some cotton -mills, alarmed by the consequences of obliging their servants to work -incessantly, have shut up their mills in the night. - -[71] A certain manufacturer of worsted threatened a sister of ours, whom -he employed, that he would send all his jersey to be spun at the mill; and -further insulted her with the pretended superiority of that work. She -having more spirit than discretion, stirred up the sisterhood, and they -stirred up all the men they could influence (not a few) to go and destroy -the mills erected in and near Leicester, and this is the origin of the -late riots there. - -[72] It is, however, important to mention that cotton mills are materially -improved of late years in most of these particulars, and that in some -mills they exist in a much less degree than others, which shows them not -to be essential and inherent. - -[73] It is a curious circumstance, and one which amply merits attentive -consideration, that the fecundity of females employed in manufactories -seems to be considerably diminished by their occupation and habits; for -not only are their families generally smaller than those of agricultural -labourers, but their children are born at more distant intervals. Thus the -average interval which elapses between the birth of each child in the -former case is two years and one month, as we have found upon minute -enquiry, while, in country districts, we believe, it seldom exceeds -eighteen months. The causes of these facts we have at present no space to -enlarge upon. - -[74] The extracts are slightly compressed in transcription. - -[75] The barber knotter is a small appliance worn on the hand to assist -the work of winding. - - - - -BOOKS ON SOCIAL QUESTIONS - - -MATERNITY - -LETTERS FROM WORKING WOMEN - -_Collected by the Women's Co-operative Guild_ - -WITH A PREFACE BY - -THE RT. HON. HERBERT SAMUEL, M.P. - -This book is the outcome of an extensive enquiry into the conditions of -motherhood among the working-classes. Here working women tell their own -stories, and their letters form an impressive indication of the urgency of -the problem, especially at the present time, when the preservation of the -infant life of the nation is of the utmost importance. - -_2s. 6d. net_ - - -THE FUTURE OF - -THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT - -BY MRS. H. M. SWANWICK, M.A. - -WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MRS. FAWCETT - -_2s. 6d. net_ - -"Mrs. Swanwick's exposition of the claims of women is clear, bright, -forcible, well-informed and fairly reasoned. It is more likely to persuade -doubters than any other statement that has yet appeared."--Mr. J. A. -HOBSON in the _Manchester Guardian_. - - -MARRIED WOMEN'S WORK - -_Being the Report of an Enquiry undertaken by the Women's Industrial -Council_ - -EDITED BY CLEMENTINA BLACK - -This volume contains the report of an investigation organized by the -Women's Industrial Council, into the work for money of wives and widows. -The facts have been collected mainly by means of personal visits, and the -various sections have been written by different persons, quite -independently. The aggregate result is a picture, unquestionably faithful, -of life as led in thousands of working-class homes in this country. - - -ROUND ABOUT A POUND A WEEK - -BY MRS. PEMBER REEVES - -_2s. 6d. net_ - -"If any one wants to know how the poor live to-day, he will find it in -Mrs. Pember Reeves' little book. Here there is no sensation, no melodrama, -no bitter cry. It is not outcast London that we are shown, but ordinary -London, resolutely respectable; not 'the Submerged Tenth,' but somewhere -about the half."--_Nation._ - - -LIVELIHOOD AND POVERTY - -_A Study in the Economic Conditions of Working-Class Households in -Northampton, Warrington, Stanley and Reading_ - -BY A. L. BOWLEY, SC.D., AND A. R. BURNETT-HURST, B.SC. - -WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY R. H. TAWNEY, B.A. - -_3s. 6d. net_ - -"Had this book appeared at any other time than in the midst of a great -European war one can well imagine the sensation that it would have -created, and rightly created. Every newspaper would have had leading -articles upon it, and different schools of thought would greedily have -seized upon it and used its facts to draw their own particular moral from -the conditions of poverty and low wages revealed in such well-known towns -as Reading, Warrington and Northampton."--_Westminster Gazette._ - - -THE FEEDING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN - -BY M. E. 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