Part 4

Lighting and ventilation of closets is frequently faulty, and stress must be laid on the necessity for washing facilities, generally entirely lacking in textile factories.

Meals.--Attention has been drawn in the section devoted to hours to the value of good feeding in mitigating the injurious effects of long hours of labour. It must be remembered that the evidence from the engineering industry was collected towards the end of 1916, so that the reports refer to the period before the increase in food prices had balanced the rise in wages. It seems to be fairly established that where good wages are earned adequate food is eaten, though one or two observers reported that girls are still eating unsuitable food, with the result that gastric troubles are common. As a general rule, however, particularly where canteens have been set up, good meat dinners are eaten, and the girls appear to be well nourished. Welfare Workers report on the improvement in health which follows the opening of canteens, and they note especially how anaemia is reduced. Inquiries by club secretaries and the experience of district nurses who visit working-class households show that improved feeding invariably follows an increase in wages. As one witness says, "If they have the money they eat good food, and once in the habit they do not easily fall back." This is encouraging in face of the widespread belief that girls are careless about their food and willingly live on tea and bread. The only complaints concern the lack of variety in the food provided in the canteens. One Welfare supervisor lays great stress on the value of a long dinner-hour, and she attributes the absence of digestive troubles at her factory to the hour and a half allowed at midday.

One witness pointed out that when work starts at 8 A.M. many girls get no breakfast, and when dinner-time comes at 12 or 12.30 they do not feel able to eat ordinary food and take only bread and tea, or something "tasty," but not nourishing. This point should be borne in mind when the arrangement of hours is under discussion, especially in view of the suggestion of one doctor who thought that the ideal working-day when long hours are necessary for output, would be from 7 A.M. to 12 and 1 P.M. to 6 P.M., with ten minutes break for tea, etc., in the middle of each spell. His reason for opposing an earlier start with a breakfast interval at 8 o'clock depended on the fact that the earlier spell (6 A.M.-8 A.M.) would probably be worked fasting, which he considered to be very injurious. How much more harmful then must be a whole morning's work with only a very light refreshment at the interval. The Sick Visitor of the United Garment Workers' Union at Hebden Bridge also draws attention to the difficulty of obtaining an adequate breakfast at 7 o'clock in time for the 7.30 A.M. start general at Hebden Bridge, and she attributes the prevalent trouble of indigestion to this cause.

In the textile industries such amenities as dining-rooms are practically unknown. A benevolent employer here and there, or a Co-operative Wholesale Society, may provide a canteen, but such examples are exceedingly rare. In south-east Lancashire most operatives who work at a distance from their homes arrange with a family in the neighbourhood of the mill to provide them with hot water for tea, and possibly to cook some food for them, for breakfast and dinner. Those who do not do this take their meals in the mill, and as seats are non-existent they have to sit on skips or on the floor. When one realises the atmospheric conditions of most mills, the heat, the damp resulting from steaming, to say nothing of the smell from oil and size, one cannot imagine a worse arrangement. In north Lancashire conditions are somewhat better in that most mills provide hot water for tea at a charge of 1d. or 2d. per week, and a certain few provide ovens for heating food, but here again the meals have to be taken in the vitiated atmosphere of the mill. Practically all operatives remain at the mill for their breakfast, but the majority go home to dinner. The standard of living is high, but too much carbo-hydrate and too little protein food is general; bread and tea, chips and fish (mostly batter), and cakes and pasties, and potato pie with very little meat, form the staple diet. Doctors especially remark on this, and they attribute the distaste for nourishing food to the long hours of confinement in the close atmosphere of the mill. Industrial employment of the mothers is also held to be responsible for faulty feeding, and when the mother leaves the mill to look after the needs of a large family the taste for unsuitable food is settled, and the diet continues as before.

GENERAL EFFECTS OF INDUSTRY ON PHYSICAL CONDITION

In addition to the influence of these special considerations on the health of girls in factory employment, certain ailments and forms of physical disability which may not of themselves be immediately incapacitating may be induced by the general unfavourable environment of industrial life Amongst such disorders may be classed:

1. Anaemia. 2. Gastric disorders. 3. Nervous affections. 4. Disturbances of menstrual function.

Growing girls are particularly liable to these disorders, so that their extent was made the subject of special inquiry.

Anaemia.--The absence of an absolute standard and complete lack of statistical information render the evidence under this heading vague and inconclusive. Most of the Welfare Workers in the various munition factories visited stated that very few girls suffer from anaemia; two or three stated that many girls were anaemic when they started their industrial life, but that after a short time, thanks, as they believed, to better feeding and a regular life, the disorder passed off. On the other hand, the doctors and club workers interviewed were confident that the long hours worked were increasing the proportion of anaemic girls. One doctor, when recording the prevalence of anaemia among industrially employed girls, attributed it to the fatigue following inadequate rest, coupled in many cases with excessive menstruation, due similarly to the fatigue of long hours. There was considerable divergence of opinion as to the age incidence of anaemia, some observers stating that the period immediately following the taking up of employment, 14 to 16, showed the worst record, whilst others found the years 16 to 20 were responsible for most of the anaemia. It is interesting to note that some of the Coventry witnesses found anaemia much reduced since the War, no doubt as a result of the better feeding, and one Welfare Worker stated that only those girls who were found to be eating insufficient food or who came from long distances without breakfast suffered in this way.

The textile industry presents a more uniform picture, and there is much evidence to show that a large proportion of the girls employed in the cotton and the worsted trades suffer excessively from this disorder. Some observers state that many girls are anaemic about the age of 12 when they start work, and then again between 18 and 22; others declare that most girls suffer from anaemia at some time between the ages of 13 and 18. As far as the actual sickness returns of the Trade Union Insurance Societies are concerned, it appears that anaemia is more frequent after 21 than before, but these refer to anaemia of such severity that absence from work is necessary, and the Sick Visitors say that many girls under 21 suffer from anaemia for lengthy periods without medical attention or sickness pay.

Doctors are inclined to attribute the excessive anaemia to the fatigue of long hours of labour in a close atmosphere, continued standing, insufficient sleep due to the early morning start, and faulty feeding.

The sedentary nature of the clothing industry renders the girls very liable to anaemia, and though the employers frequently deny this, the evidence from the Trade Union Secretaries and the Sick Visitors with their actual record of cases outweighs the observations of the employers. Witnesses from girls' clubs and evening classes often state that the clothing trade is responsible for a higher proportion of anaemic girls than any other industry.

Gastric Disorders.--Most witnesses report that indigestion and other gastric disorders are general among girls, though it is often noted that men and older women suffer more frequently from these complaints. Seldom is the actual work held to be responsible. Girls working with powder in munition factories or where the smell of oil is disagreeable appear to be more liable than others, and weavers who are taller than the average--only a small proportion--find the constant bending over the loom aggravates a tendency to indigestion, but beyond these few cases faulty and irregular feeding seems to be the main cause for the prevalent gastric troubles. It is interesting to note that hygiene and physiology classes are doing much to inculcate sound notions of diet, which, taken in conjunction with increased wages and easy accessibility of food in canteens, are doing much to prevent gastric disorders. Irregular and hurried feeding depends mainly on the arrangement of hours of labour, and can only be overcome when these are based on more rational lines. One Welfare Worker records a very small proportion of digestive troubles, and this she attributes to the hour and a half allowed for the midday meal.

Where work starts at 7.30, as in the clothing trade at Hebden Bridge, many girls take only a cup of tea or a piece of bread before commencing work, and then have to wait until 12.30 before they can get a proper meal. Doctors point out how the long hours of labour in the close atmosphere of mills and factories engender a poor appetite, so that nourishing food becomes distasteful, and tea and confectionery frequently form the staple diet, with disastrous results to the digestive functions.

Headaches.--Headaches appear to be extremely common amongst girls in all the industries reviewed, the reasons advanced to account for this being variously the noise of machinery, the smell of oil and size, inadequate ventilation, and eye-strain consequent on close attention to the work.

Ventilation is notoriously bad in those factories where previously only men were employed, but new and large factories, particularly where there is a Welfare Worker, show much improvement, and under such conditions headaches are said to be rare. Defective eyesight is a frequent cause of headaches, and here again a careful Welfare supervisor can do much good by advising a visit to the optician or eye hospital. Clothing operatives are especially liable to eye-strain, and care in lighting arrangements is very necessary. Mending in the worsted industry is also trying for the eyes. In one large mill visited a superior woman overlooker was in charge of the mending and burling, and she was careful to vary the work so that the tedious pieces did not always come to the same girls. By this means, and by the use of eye-shades to keep off the glare of the light, she finds headaches can be largely prevented. It is to be feared that such care is not general in the industry, as a Trade Union representative reports that headaches are very common.

Nervous Disorders.--The evidence here is extremely scanty. One doctor drew attention to the danger of automatism. When very monotonous and restricted movements are employed, a whole room of girls may become nervous and hysterical. He has known this to occur in the making of nails, where the difference between the various processes is so slight that the monotony cannot be obviated by periodically transferring the girls to different kinds of work. Two other witnesses drew attention to the effect of piece-work at high pressure in causing a tendency to hysteria and other nerve disorders, and doffing in the worsted spinning rooms is said to be responsible for the noisy excitability which is so marked among the younger boys and girls. The more common experience, however, is the absence of nervous disorders among industrially employed girls. Various doctors in Lancashire and Welfare Workers and others in Birmingham and Coventry commented on this, and recorded their conviction that the social influences at work, cheerful companionship and an increased interest in life, are powerful antidotes to possible nervous afflictions.

Menstrual Disorders.--As far as can be ascertained from an inquiry based on the general experiences of persons in touch with girls either inside or outside the factory, the extent of menstrual disorders appears to be much slighter than is generally supposed. In most of the non-textile industries reviewed, opportunities for sitting down were fairly general, and here painful or excessive menstruation was exceedingly rare. Nurses in charge of rest-rooms and surgeries report that only a small proportion of girls are troubled in any way, and those who make use of the rest-rooms during their periods are always the same ones each month, so it may be presumed that these are constitutionally delicate, and that the work is not responsible for their disorder. Doctors declare that if the general health is good, industrial work for a reasonable number of hours has no ill-effects, but, on the contrary, the active movements involved are a positive advantage. When, however, the hours worked are so long as to cause extreme fatigue, excessive and painful menstruation frequently results. Nurses and Welfare Workers notice that many girls of 14 have not commenced their menstrual periods when they start work, and they point out that the active life and the chance of good nourishment which wage-earning ensures has a good effect in bringing on normal periods.

Some witnesses report that girls who have no opportunity of sitting down suffer much pain during menstruation and get very fatigued, but the evidence on this point was not unanimous.

Evidence from the textile industry is not so satisfactory. As was pointed out when the provision of seats was under discussion, cotton and worsted factories are lamentably behind other industries in this respect, and as hours are uniformly 10 per day and the pressure of work generally very considerable, it is not surprising that menstrual disorders are reported more frequently than in non-textile trades. It must also be remembered that the large majority of textile operatives start work at 12 or 13 years of age, just at the onset of puberty, while in other industries 14 is the general school-leaving age.

Many girls find the long hours of continued standing very tiring during menstruation, and as these factors conduce to anaemia, failure of the menses and dysmenorrhoea are more common than in other industries.

Most witnesses laid stress on the need for seats and rest-rooms in textile factories as a means of preventing painful menstruation; in many mills girls are not even allowed to snatch a few minutes' rest by sitting on the waste-boxes or on straps slung between their looms, and they frequently experience difficulty in getting permission to go home when feeling unwell unless they can get a substitute. Two men overlookers drew attention to the advantage which results when the foremen and overlookers are married, as they are then more sympathetic about periodical lost-time and are more willing to allow girls to go home at the half-day.

But the doctors interviewed are unable to attribute any permanent menstrual disorders or resultant injuries to these causes, and they are inclined to believe that the active life of the mill is a help rather than a hindrance to the menstrual function.

REALISATION OF THE NEEDS OF ADOLESCENTS

Any realisation of the particular problems and needs of adolescents by attempts to fit work to their physical capacity is so rare that the few cases where such provisions are made stand out in marked contrast. In munition and other factories where Welfare Workers are in charge, efforts are generally made to limit overtime and night work to those over 18, but at the time the inquiry was made in Birmingham and Coventry girls over 16 were in most cases expected to take their turn at night work with the older workers, while in some factories, after the first few weeks' probationary period is over, old and young alike have to work on the alternate night and day shifts, although it is now generally acknowledged that night work is more detrimental for young than for adult workers. At one of the larger factories visited, girls under 16 always stop work at 6 P.M. after a 9-3/4-hour day, while those over 16 work another hour, and when overtime is being worked, another two hours. At another factory all the girls under 18 were engaged on light sedentary work for 42 hours per week, while the heavy work on presses and capstan lathes was done by girls and women over 18 for 53 hours. In some works the majority of the younger workers are on light work, such as "examining," and in others the foremen are willing to transfer girls from work they find specially fatiguing, on the recommendation of the Welfare Worker. This, however, is not general, and few foremen exercise care in the selection of girls for heavy processes. As one witness pointed out, girls are chosen for their bright and intelligent appearance, with little attention to physical capacity.

In the cotton industry the position is even worse. Girls entering the mill at 12 as half-timers or at 13 for full time are expected to conform in every way to factory life. Voluntary reduction of hours by employers for younger workers is completely unknown, and instead of suiting the work to the capacity of young workers, the girls have to adapt themselves to the requirements of their work. As soon as a girl has her own looms--at the present time weavers are on two looms at 13, and frequently on four at 14 or 15--the manager expects her to produce the average output every week, and the strain to do this is responsible for much deterioration in health. The competition between weavers is encouraged by overlookers and managers, and no effort is ever made to teach girls to conserve their energies.

In the worsted industry the majority of the younger workers are employed in the spinning rooms, first as doffers and then as spinners, which one witness describes as the hardest process in the industry. Few girls remain at spinning after they are 18, as the money earned here seldom exceeds 18s. per week, but it is during the critical years of adolescence that they are engaged on this exceedingly fatiguing work, and no effort is made to reduce the burden of their employment.

In the clothing trade of Hebden Bridge the Trade Union officials report that the younger workers are not subjected to heavy pressure of work, and are able to take their ease at the workshops if they so desire, the peculiar circumstances of the trade here preventing any attempt to speed them up by threat of dismissal. In one or two factories learners and young operatives work in a separate room in charge of women overlookers, and in most cases these supervisors are careful about the health of their charges and prevent them working at an excessive pace.