improve human beings. Hence, it was naturally there
that the evils growing out of the excessive toil of
women and children in the polluting atmosphere of
the factory and workshop first forced themselves upon
the attention of statesmen.
In the name of humanity and decency, legislation
FACTORY OPERATIVES' CONDITION IN 1800. 287
upon the hours of labor began to be demanded at the
very commencement of the present century — indeed,
as soon as the factory system had become fairly organ-
ized. At that time (1800) before any legislation re-
ducing the hours of labor, providing half-time schools
for working children, or in any other way increasing
the social opportunities of the masses had been
adopted, the social condition of the factory operatives
in the north of England was very little, if any, better
than that of the agricultural laborers of the south.*
The conditions under which the factory population
in England at that time lived and labored was such
that I have no power to adequately describe it. In
the earlier years of the factory system, before steam-
power was much used, factories were driven by water,
and had, therefore, to be located on the banks of
streams, mostly in the country. The inventions of
Hargreaves and Arkwright made it possible to employ
a large number of children and women in productive
industries. The opposition of the spinners and hand-
loom weavers to the use of the new machines, which
they regarded as their deadly enemy, was such that
for a time it was difficult to obtain a sufficient number
of children, minors, and women to run the machines,
especially as the factories were, for the most part,
located in sparsely-populated districts. Accordingly,
the apprentice system, which had been in vogue since
the early days of Elizabeth, in all the branches of
artisan labor, was applied to the factory operatives.
Under these circumstances, in order to keep down
* Rogers thinks the condition of the factory operative was even
worse than that of the agricultural laborer at that time. See " Work
and Wages." p. 495.
288 WEALTH AND PROGRESS.
the "poor rates," the inmates of the poor-houses were
forced into the factories. The poor-law authorities
transferred (practically sold) pauper children to distant
manufacturers, whose only responsibility was to fur-
nish such food, clothing, and shelter as was indis-
pensable to keep them in working condition.
With this almost absolute power over the laborers,
the manufacturers were enabled to compel the oper-
atives to work under whatever conditions and as many
hours as they chose, without let or hindrance. Ac-
cording to the testimony taken before Parliamentary
committees, and from other official statements upon
the subject at that time, women and children, from
seven years of age and upward, were compelled to
work under the most unwholesome and immoral con-
ditions from fourteen to sixteen hours a day, and in
some cases more, often forcing the children to work
part of the day on Sunday.* The debasing conse-
quence of these conditions was such that, in 1802, Sir
Robert Peel, who was one of the largest cotton manu-
facturers in England, introduced a bill into Parliament
reducing the time of labor for apprentices in factories
to twelve hours per day. This bill, which was regarded
as very radical, if not revolutionary, provided : (i)
For the washing and ventilation of factories. (2) For
the proper clothing of the apprentices. (3) For the
* " Every Sunday children are employed in cleaning the machinery.
Their orders are to work from six to twelve at noon. I have
known children to work for three weeks together from five in the
morning till nine or ten o'clock at night, with the exception of one
hour for meals. I have frequently found the children asleep on the
mill floor." — Testimony of John Moss, a manager of mill apprentices at
Backbarrow, before Sir Robert Peel's Committee, 1816. See Grant's
" History of Factory Legislation in England," p. 10.
THE FACTORY LAW OF 1802. 289
limitation of their labor to twelve hours per day. (4)
For the instruction of apprentices in reading and writ-
ing during the first four years of their apprenticeship.
(5) For the separation of the sexes. (6) For Sunday
instruction for apprentices and attendance at divine
service. iff) For justices at quarter sessions to appoint
persons to visit such factories. This bill became a
law, and, although its provisions relating to the sani-
tary condition of the factories, the education of the
apprentices, etc., were never enforced, it accomplished
one important result : it practically reduced the
working time of the operatives about two hours a
day, and greatly reduced, if it did not abolish, Sunday
and night work for women and children.
Simple and limited as this law was, its beneficial
effect upon the operatives soon became apparent, as
the testimony of physicians, overseers, and others
before Parliamentary committees conclusively show.*
This kind of legislation at that time, as it has ever
since, met with the bitterest opposition from the manu-
facturing and employing classes. Consequently, every
opportunity was taken to defeat or evade it. A few
years after the passage of this law a circumstance oc-
curred which greatly favored the designs of the manu-
facturers to escape from what they regarded as the
* " Having the assistance of Dr. Percival and other eminent medical
gentlemen of Manchester, together with some distinguished characters
both in and out of Parliament, I brought in a bill in the forty-second
year of the king (1802) for the regulation of factories containing such
parish apprentices. The hours of work allowed by that bill being
fewer in number than those formerly practised, a visible improve-
ment in the health and general appearance of the children soon be-
came evident, and since the complete operation of the act contagious
disorders have rarely occurred." — Speech of Sir Robert Peel before the
Committee of the House of Commons, May 21, 1816.
14
290 WEALTH AND PROGRESS.
terrible hardships this legislation imposed upon them.
The improvement of the steam-engine by James Watt,
which had adapted it to the production of rotary
motion, and its application to the driving of the new
machines, including the power-loom, finally became
practicable in 1806, and relieved the manufacturer from
his dependence upon the water-wheel and the country
stream for his motive power.
With this improvement in motive power, it became
possible for the first time to build factories in the midst
of populous towns and drive them by steam. The
factory was thus brought to the door of the mass of
the laboring population. It now became possible for
children to work in the factories and live at home
with their parents, and thereby avoid the necessity,
and with it the hardships, of the apprenticeship sys-
tem. Much as the manufacturers wanted the absolute
control over the children which that system gave
them, they had a still stronger desire to get from under
the jurisdiction of the law, which prevented them from
working children more than twelve hours a day, and
prohibited their employment nights and Sundays.
Accordingly, as the factory system extended — and it
grew very rapidly at this period — the factories became
centred mainly in the large towns.
By this means the employers were enabled to obtain
the labor of children without apprenticeship con-
ditions. They could also procure a larger number of
them than were to be had in the rural districts. Thus
the master succeeded in getting entirely outside the
purview of the factory law, at the same time avoiding
all responsibility for the food, clothing, shelter,
health, and education of the working children. The
consequence was that, with something of the zest that
THE EVASION OF THE LAW, 291
the cannibal devours the flesh of his fellow-man, the
manufacturers returned to the long-hour, Sunday, and
night work system, with all its barbarities.*
Fortunately, however, sufficient time had elapsed
before the return to the old system could become
general to enable the advantages of the reduced
hours to be established beyond doubt. This was clear
to all except the manufacturers, who, like their breth-
ren of to-day, erroneously believed their interests to be
on the side of long hours and oppressive conditions
for the laborers.
The employers had now escaped even the little re-
sponsibility for the life and physical condition of the
children imposed by the apprentice system. A few
years of real laissez /aire, however, was sufficient to
demonstrate the evils of the unlimited-hour system.
For the same reason that to be remanded back into
slavery is more galling than to never have been free,
to return to the unlimited-hour system, after having
had a taste of the advantages of a short-hour factory
law, seemed even worse than the old regime. The
greater speed of the steam machinery became an in-
creased tax upon the energies of the operatives.
The effect upon the physical condition, to say noth-
* " Large buildings are now erected, not only, as formerly, on the
banks of streams, but in the midst of populous towns, and, instead of
parish apprentices being sought after, the children of the surrounding
poor are preferred, whose masters, being free from the operation of
the former act of Parliament, are subjected to no limitation of time in
the prosecution of their business, though children are frequently ad-
mitted there to work thirteen to fourteen hours per day at the tender
age of seven years, and even in some cases still younger. I need
not ask the committee to give an opinion of the consequences of such
a baneful practice upon the health and well-being of these little crea-
tures." — Speech of Sir Robert Peel before Parliamentary Committee, 1816.
292 WEALTH AND PROGRESS.
ing of the moral and social state of the operatives,
especially the children and women, was such as to
challenge the attention and enlist the sympathy of the
most indifferent classes. Despite the fact that Eng-
land was then engaged in a deadly war with Napoleon,
upon the result of which the fate of civilization itself
seemed to hang, the cries of the factory children were
distinctly heard, and the demand for a reduction of
the hours of labor for women and children again forced
itself upon the attention of statesmen.
Accordingly, in 1815, Sir Robert Peel again came to
the front as the champion of short-hour legislation.
In that year he introduced into the House of Com-
mons a motion for the appointment of a committee to
" inquire into the expediency of applying the appren-
ticeship act to children of every description." This
committee continued to take evidence upon the sub-
ject for three years, the result of which may be found
in the reports of Parliamentary proceedings for 18 16,
1 8 17, and 18 18. The effect was that, in 18 19, a law
was passed extending the provisions of the apprentice-
ship act (of 1802), not only to all children employed
in cotton factories, but also prohibiting the employ-
ment of children altogether under nine years of age,
and limiting the labor of all under sixteen to twelve
hours a day, or seventy-two hours a week, exclusive
of meals.
The beneficial effect of this measure upon the
operatives soon became so manifest that it greatly
strengthened the efforts of its friends, and modified
the opposition of its enemies.* This was clearly
* " Meagre as were its provisions, there was soon a sensible improve-
ment in the health and appearance of the children, and both masieis
THE TWELVE-HOUR LAW OF 1819. 293
shown by the fact that after passing four amendments
to this act, in order to make it more valid and effective
in its operations, in 1825 another law was passed still
further reducing the hours of labor.
The measure, which was known as " Sir John Hob-
house's bill," reduced the working time of the oper-
atives from twelve to eleven and one half hours a day,
or to sixty-nine instead of seventy-two per week.
The constant improvement in the laborer's condition
and the absence of injury to the capitalists which
accompanied this legislation was so marked that al-
though, with a few exceptions, it was bitterly opposed
by the political economists and manufacturers, it
steadily grew .in public favor. Encouraged by this
fact, the friends of reform began to renew their efforts
for a more extensive application of this legislation.
Accordingly, in 1829, the work was vigorously taken
up by the Manchester " Short-time Committee."
Such was the popular response to the work of the
committee, that in 1 S3 1 Sir John C. Hobhouse in-
troduced a measure embodying their claims, which
was seconded by Lord Morpeth. This bill proposed :
(1) That the hours of labor should be reduced to
eleven per day, or sixty-six per week. (2) That it
should include all minors under eighteen years of age,
instead of sixteen, as formerly. (3) That night-work
should be abolished for women and all persons under
twenty-one years of age ; and (4) That its operation,
together with that of all previous factory legislation,
should be extended to woollen, worsted, linen, and
silk, as well as cotton factories.
and men became more reconciled to factory legislation." — Grant's
" History of Factory Legislation in England" p. 14.
294 WEALTH AND PROGRESS.
This raised a degree of opposition among the
woollen, linen, and silk manufacturers hitherto un-
precedented. They organized, held public meetings,
and drew up a series of fourteen resolutions appeal-
ing to the public, and Parliament in particular, to
save them from the calamities which would befall
them and the whole industrial community if this
measure should become a law. They dolefully set
forth, as they do now, that to lessen the hours of labor
would reduce the wages and increase the hardships of
the poor. They also predicted that it would raise the
price and diminish the sale of manufactured products,
thereby destroying the profits of the manufacturers
and driving capital from the country, the result of
which would be to afflict the people with all the ills
in the calendar of industrial calamities.'" The conse-
quence was that they succeeded in defeating that clause
of the bill which extended its application to woollen,
linen, silk, and other industries.
This was a serious blow to the measure, but it still
reduced the working time in the cotton industry from
eleven and one half to eleven hours per day, and was ap-
plied to all under eighteen instead of sixteen years of
age, and also prohibited night-work for all under
twenty-one years of age.
Having secured this much, the friends of reform de-
cided to make another effort to obtain the lost portion
of their measure. The benefit of each instalment of
social opportunity thus acquired was so manifest in
the improved condition of the operatives, that it
steadily gained in its hold upon the sympathy and
* See Grant's " History of Factory Legislation," pp. 22, 23, 24,
25, 26.
THE CHILD LABOR LA W OF 1833. 295
support of the public. The movement had now
reached the point where it had the endorsement and
active support of several prominent persons among
the wealthy classes, foremost among whom was Lord
Ashley (afterward Earl Shaftesbury).
In 1833 Lord Ashley introduced a bill to reduce
the hours of labor for women and minors in manufac-
turing establishments to ten per day. In order to
avoid the passage of what they regarded as a radical
and dangerous measure, the Government promised a
bill dealing with the whole subject, The result was
that Lord Althorpe, then Prime Minister, finally in-
troduced a bill reducing the hours of labor for children
to eight per day, with two hours' schooling each day.
This act also provided that its own provisions and
those of all previous factory acts should be applied to
all textile industries except silk, and accomplished
the object of Mr. Hobhouse's act, which the manu-
facturers defeated two years before. This was a
greater step forward in short-hour legislation than its
friends were then prepared to admit. While it did
not make a very material reduction in the working
time of operatives in cotton factories, its extension to
the woollen, worsted, and flax mills greatly increased
the number of operatives to whom this legislation ap-
plied. Thus to a very large number of workers it
was a reduction of working time two hours a day.
The extent to which such legislation is applied is often
more important than the degree in which the hours
are reduced.
The fact, however, that the last-named act reduced
the working time of the children to eight hours a
day, while all the others were working eleven, created
a disproportion in the working time, which was very
296 WEALTH AND PROGRESS.
inconvenient to the manufacturers. This was made a
pretext on the part of the employers for the starting
of a movement to repeal the law.
Meantime, however, a very much larger portion of
the laboring people had begun to receive the actual
benefits of the reduced hours of labor, and the good
effects of the law were so obvious as to be admitted
by all classes in the community, except manufacturers
and political economists, who were never-failing in
their opposition.
Accordingly, the mere mention of an attempt to
repeal the law was the signal for a simultaneous out-
burst of indignation throughout the manufacturing dis-
tricts. Instead of consenting to a plan for equalizing
the hours of labor by increasing those of the children,
as demanded by the manufacturers, the operatives
proposed to accomplish that result by reducing the
hours of the adults.
Two opposite movements were now set on foot, one
for the repeal of the law reducing the working hours
of children, and the other to extend it. The former
was supported by the wealth, intelligence, and social
influence of the manufacturers, and the latter by the
zeal and earnestness of the factory operatives, led by
Lord Ashley and a few men of means and character
in Lancashire and Yorkshire. The community con-
stituted the jury to which the case was submitted.
The masters' side consisted mainly in prophesying
that industrial depression, poverty, social degradation,
and national dishonor would speedily befall the coun-
try if the children were not permitted to work eleven
hours a day. On the other hand, the operatives
pointed to the results of factory legislation in the past.
They triumphantly referred to the fact that each re-
VICTORY FOR THE OPERATIVES IN 1839. 297
d action of the hours of labor, even when it was con-
fined to cotton factories, was followed with marked
benefits to the operatives and without injuring the
employers. When it was extended to the woollen,
flax, and other industries, the benefits were even more
than proportionately greater. Thus, while the claims
of the advocates of short-hour legislation had been
approximately sustained in every instance, the evil
prophecies of their opponents had as frequently proved
to be nothing but the ghosts of their short-sighted and
selfish fears.
As the agitation progressed, the cause of the opera-
tives gained power in Parliament and popularity in the
country. In 1839 Lord Ashley, as the leader of the
people's cause in Parliament, introduced a bill extend-
ing the Factory Acts to silk mills, which had hitherto
been exempt. After a protracted debate, the Govern-
ment, which had always stood for the employers, was
beaten by a majority of eleven.
SECTION II. — History of the Half-Time Law of 1844
and the Ten-Hour Lazv of 1847.
In 1840 Lord Ashley introduced a motion to ap-
point a committee to investigate the condition and
the employment of children in coal and iron mines,
foundries, brick-yards, and other industries not affected
by the Factory Acts, with the view of bringing them
under the influence of such legislation, which was also
adopted.
From this and other similar experiences, it became
clear to the leaders of the " masters' " movement that
the opinion of the jury, both in and out of Parliament,
298 WEALTH AND PROGRESS.
was steadily tending toward the side of the operatives,
and that unless the case was brought to an early close
the verdict would be to grant their whole claim.
In order to prevent this result, an effort was made to
check the operatives' movement by depriving it of its
most powerful leaders. To this end, in 1841, Sir
Robert Peel, son of the author of the first factory bill,
offered Lord Ashley a seat in the cabinet, that being
regarded as the most effectual mode of disposing of a
powerful antagonist. His lordship, however, true to
the cause he had espoused, would accept it only on
condition that the Government would introduce his
Ten-Hour Bill. This being the very thing his entrance
into the cabinet was intended to avoid, this offer was,
of course, declined, and his lordship refused the office
and its honors, and continued his work as a commoner
on the floor.
It now became clear that the only way to avoid the
granting of the whole of the operatives' demands, and
pass a ten-hour law, was to offer a compromise. Ac-
cordingly, in 1843, Sir James Graham, then Home
Secretary, promised that if Lord Ashley would desist
in pressing his bill, the Government would introduce
a measure dealing with the subject.
After several postponements and delays, on the 6th
of February, 1843, Sir James Graham introduced a
bill reducing the working hours of women, which had
hitherto, like those of men, been unlimited, to eleven
per day. It also reduced the working time of children
from eight hours a day to half time, compelling attend-
ance at school the other half. The objections raised
to the previous law — that making irregular working
hours disturbed the business — were entirely obviated
by the provisions of this act.
THE HALF-TIME BILL INTRODUCED IN 1843. 299
Reducing the working hours of children to half
time, and prohibiting the employment of a child any
portion of both forenoon and afternoon in the same
day, reduced the employment of children to a simple
and uniform basis. All that was necessary, in order to
have the time fully occupied, was to employ two sets
of children, one to work in the forenoon and the
other in the afternoon— each attending school the
alternate half day.
This measure contained two elements which tended
to make its operation smooth and automatic : (1) The
attendance of the children at school being made an
indispensable condition of their employment, tended
to secure the aid of parents to enforce the school law.
Even those parents who were the most ignorant and
indifferent to the education of their children now
became very eager to keep them constant in their
school attendance, because it was the only means of
securing their meagre earnings. (2) Two children
being employed, each to work half of the time, no
child could be employed a whole day without de-
priving another of half a day's employment. To do
this would inflict the loss of half a day's wages upon
the other child, which would be vigorously resisted.
The violation of the law would thus be exposed,
and, indeed, made practically impossible, by the self-
interest of the operatives themselves. In other words,
its operation was substantially automatic. These feat-
ures, together with the fact that the law applied to
children in all the leading industries, outside of agricul-
ture, made this the most important labor measure that
had ever been adopted. It provided a greater degree
of social opportunity for the masses than the world
had ever before seen. From this time every work-
3°o WEALTH AND PROGRESS.
ing child in England was spending as much time in
school as in the workshop. In this way over-cramming
in the former and overwork in the latter were safely-
guarded against.
The foundation for a degree of intellectual and
social development among the masses was thus laid
that had never before been dreamed of. It is from
the passage of this law that the educational and social
progress of the English laboring classes really dates.
The extraordinary benefits this measure conferred
upon the children soon conclusively established the
economic and social expediency of short-hour legisla-
tion. Accordingly, instead of serving as a compromise
to head off Lord Ashley's ten-hour bill, as the Gov-
ernment had supposed, this law had the opposite
effect, and made its long delay an impossibility.
Having secured this great boon for the children, the
efforts to obtain a ten-hour law, at least for women
and minors under eighteen years of age, were now