Part 5

THE TRANSITION FROM SCHOOL TO FACTORY LIFE

In reviewing the effects of the transition from school to factory life it must be remembered that the evidence from the non-textile industries refers to girls who are over 14 years of age, while in the textile towns the large majority of the children start work either as half-timers at 12 or as full timers at 13. The general trend of the evidence shows that the taking up of non-textile employment is attended by a considerable falling-off in health. Most girls become thinner and lose their colour and vitality during their first six months at the factory, and those working long hours become "like machines, able to keep on without breakdown, but lose all their normal interests." This, however, appears to pass off after a time, and their health and vitality return.

Some witnesses had noticed that the usual manifestations of lessened vitality and anaemia were not so general as in pre-war days, and this is naturally attributed to the better feeding and consideration obtainable at the present time. My attention was drawn several times to the desirability of increased care during the critical years of early adolescence through an extension of the medical service under the National Insurance Act to all industrially employed persons. Some Welfare Workers found that constant attention was needed to prevent a widespread deterioration in health during the first period of employment, and their efforts were frequently hampered by lack of facilities for medical attention.

Some witnesses, notably those from the Hebden Bridge clothing trade, as well as from some of the miscellaneous trades investigated, state that girls are put to easier and lighter work when they first leave school and that they take their ease at it, so that no falling-off in health accompanies the transition stage, but a deterioration in physique with increased sickness shows itself at 16 or 17, when they begin to work at a high pressure.

The special problem of half-time labour in the cotton and worsted industries, dealing as it does with the employment of children as distinct from adolescents, does not concern us here, so that we will review only the taking up of full-time employment at 13. Where girls come straight from 6 hours' work at school to the full working-day of 10 hours the change involves a considerable strain, even when, as tenters and learners, they are not worked hard. Opinions vary as to the stress of work during the first few months of employment, some witnesses declaring that the children take their ease at first. This may be the case when they are earning a time-wage as back-tenters in the card room or as tenters in the weaving shed, provided they are working for kindly, considerate persons, but where they are put on piece-work the more general opinion is that the anxiety for earnings is as strong an incentive to young as to adult workers, and that all alike work at top speed. These witnesses lay stress on the inevitable deterioration which sets in at this time, and they attribute it mainly to the strain of factory life coming at the same time as the onset of puberty. This opinion is reinforced by the examples often quoted of girls who have not taken up industrial work until 15 or 16; these soon settle down without any falling-off in health. The comparison between girls who go to the mills at 13 and those who go to the secondary schools is even more striking. In most of the cotton towns, particularly in north-east Lancashire, the majority of the pupils at the secondary schools are drawn from the same class and come from the same type of homes as the girls who go to the mills, so that the different circumstances of their lives after they leave the elementary schools must be responsible for the differences in health and physique which are so marked at this period.

Many witnesses were of the opinion that the certifying factory surgeons are not careful enough in excluding girls from the factories, so that many delicate girls work at the mills who might grow out of their weakness in a more favourable environment. If the surgeons were able to postpone admission to the factory for varying periods much deterioration might be avoided.

SPECIAL PROBLEMS

Girls in the Mule Rooms.--The shortage of boy labour in the spinning branch of the cotton industry has led during recent years to a revival of the old custom of employing women and girls in the mule rooms. In strongly organised districts this means that girls are being engaged as piecers in increasing numbers, while where Trade Union organisation is weak, outside the great spinning areas, as in Wigan, they are frequently acting as mule minders. As might be expected, the influence of war conditions has been to intensify this shortage of boy labour and to increase the number of female piecers, so that the Bolton Operative Cotton Spinners' Association finds that no fewer than 1163 additional girl piecers have been brought into the mule rooms in their district since the outbreak of war, making a total of 3315. The increase will be proportional in Oldham and district.

In this inquiry the evidence as to the effects of such work was drawn entirely from non-medical sources, as it was impossible to get definite medical experience of the problem. Consequently the conclusions are more general than exact. Many employers and overlookers and some Trade Union witnesses were firmly of the opinion that mule-room work exerted no injurious influence on the health of girls, but it must be noted that these witnesses were drawn entirely from Wigan and Leigh, where the proximity of coal-mines with the attraction of higher wages absorbs most of the available boy labour, so that the shortage has been acute for some years, and the witnesses have got so accustomed to the presence of girls in the mule rooms that they can see nothing against it. All the more striking, therefore, is the testimony of some overlookers in these districts who declared that the work made girls thin, weak-chested, and anaemic. The temperature of the mule room frequently exceeds 90°F. and girls and men work in very scanty clothing, and the liability to colds on leaving the overheated atmosphere is very marked. Girls are on their feet the whole day, with no opportunity for rest, and by the end of the day they have walked many miles. One witness said that girls get very tired, but that no permanent ill-effects are noticed; but he advocated that rest-rooms be provided in order to prevent undue fatigue. More than one mule-room overlooker declared that no daughter of his should ever work in the spinning room, and the opposition to such work was based on physical as well as on moral grounds. One manager pointed out that "wiping down" the mule is particularly "nasty work" for girls: every two hours or so the little piecer has to run down the mule under the ends and clean with both hands as she runs, and this has to be done with great speed, as the spinners object to the mules being stopped for more than a minute or so.

A small meeting of mule-room women workers, joint minders, and piecers whom I interviewed were very resentful that their work should be considered harmful, probably from fear of losing their employment, so it was difficult to get any definite evidence. The only reform for which they pressed dealt with the provision of cloak-rooms where men and women work together. As mentioned above, the heat is so intense that very little clothing is worn--men wear a pair of linen drawers and a shirt, the women and girls frequently only a skirt and blouse; and they dress and undress in sight of one another. The moral effects of mule-room work are outside the scope of this investigation, but attention must be drawn in passing to the undesirable position occasioned by the heat, the scanty clothing, the attitudes necessary for the work, and the subordination of women and girls to the male minders in an unhealthy atmosphere. In Wigan, where women minders or joiner-minders are the rule, these moral objections seldom occur.

Witnesses from mills that do not employ girls in mule-room work were very insistent on the objectionable moral and physical effects of such work, agreeing with Mr. James Haslam that it makes girls "sallow and tired, crooked in limbs, bloodless and dyspeptic."

Speeding up.--We have already referred to the driving effect of piece-work on simple automatic processes, but it is difficult to deduce any definite conclusions from the evidence of the non-textile industries. Thus some Welfare Workers and employers say that the girls take full advantage of the liberty allowed them, and are frequently to be seen wandering into other rooms and workshops for conversations with their friends. This seems to contradict the view that anxiety to earn a good wage causes excessive speeding up, but other witnesses find that the incentive to increase output which piece-wages provide is so strong that girls will not make use of rest-pauses when these are allowed, and sometimes consequently become exceedingly nervous. The pace is set by the quickest workers, and the effort to keep up is very wearying to weaker and slower girls, who will not sit down or rest even when seats are provided. Some interesting observations were made by the director of a factory employing about a thousand female workers. He has found that continuous piece-work on simple processes has a cramping mental effect, so that the girls become perfect machines. Thus young women who have been in the works for about six years will not face the responsibility of an overlooker's position, and seem to have no interests outside their output and their wages. On the other hand, a small proportion of the workers do not work at top speed if they can get a moderate wage which seems to supply their ordinary needs. Some girls previously earning 16s. per week on piece-work are still getting the same money, although they now get 3s. or 4s. war bonus, plus their piece-earnings.

Speeding up of the machinery in the cotton industry has been very marked during recent years. In each department unremitting attention is necessary if even a moderate wage is desired. The standard of comfort is higher in Lancashire than in any other industrial district, and a good family income is considered essential. Consequently children and young persons are just as keen on their output as adult workers. Some witnesses pointed out that doffers and back-tenters and other beginners who are paid a time-wage are saved from the excessive speeding up which results from piece-wages, and that they get time to sit down and rest in the intervals of doffing, etc. But any one who has watched the gang of doffers passing from frame to frame in the ring spinning rooms of the cotton industry or at fly or cap spinning in the worsted trade will be inclined to disagree with this view; and indeed the textile master at the technical schools of one of the West Riding worsted centres said that doffing was done at top speed amid deafening noise, so that the work was more fatiguing than any other occupation in the mill.

Weavers and winders suffer from increased speed as much as the card- and spinning-room workers. Attention has been drawn to the spirit of competition which managers and overlookers encourage between weaver and weaver. Boys and girls, men and women, are indirectly set to emulate each other. Some witnesses believe that women and girls work at higher pressure than men and boys, and since the former invariably have domestic work when the factory day is over, the strain is considerably increased. At the present time girls are given responsible work before they are equal for it. Teachers frequently find half-time scholars, who have not been at the mill more than a couple of months, announcing that they were working "for sick," that is, minding the looms for a weaver who is away ill. Such girls will get two looms of their own before they are on full time, and at 14 they have four looms under their charge. It was no uncommon thing in north-east Lancashire to find that girls have been working their mother's four looms for some months while the mothers are minding the soldier father's six looms. In some cases girls of 16 have six looms, and Sick Visitors report that cases of heart trouble, anaemia, and general weakness are most common at the present time amongst these girls; "the possible lasting effects of this severe strain are terrible to contemplate." The Sick Visitors of another Union say that the falling-off in health which is marked in adolescent workers, shows itself most when the girl is put on to three looms. Even in normal times girls mind three looms at 16, and the strain is considerable. These witnesses believe that the average girl should not be in charge of three looms until she is 18, and that 21 is soon enough for four looms. In this connection the evidence of one large mill where the quality of the weaving is above the average is particularly instructive. The manager reported that the standard of health was extremely satisfactory, and he pointed out that girls are not allowed to take three or four looms until they are strong and capable enough to manage them, and he had found by experience that it is seldom advisable to put them on the full number of looms until 17 or 18.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The greater part of the evidence considered in this report was based on opinions derived from personal observations with very little scientific and no statistical groundwork. The complete report leaves us with a fairly accurate picture of the conditions under which a large proportion of the adolescent workers of the country are employed, with some general notions as to how these conditions react on their health and physique. Exact conclusions as to the particular effects of the conditions of labour cannot be obtained, as no records dealing with the health of girls in factories are in existence. The impossibility of securing scientific and reliable data was apparent at an early stage of the inquiry, but it was felt that by reviewing the conditions of adolescent labour and by noting general tendencies the way might be cleared for further investigation on a more scientific basis.

It is now generally recognised that "fatigue has a larger share in the promotion and permission of disease than any other causal condition," and as adolescents need a sufficient reserve of energy to maintain growth as well as health, it is obvious that conditions of work that exert no injurious effect on adults may be unduly fatiguing for juvenile workers with their twofold need. Consequently the best criterion for judging the effects of industry on the health of adolescent girls will be based on observations as to the incidence of fatigue with different industrial occupations.

The presence of fatigue among girl workers has been frequently noted in the course of the investigation, but in every case the evidence is deduced merely from the observations of those in contact with the girls or from the testimony of the girls themselves. Physiological research has conclusively proved that subjective sensations are not a measure or even an early sign of fatigue, and that real or objective fatigue is shown and is measurable only by the diminished capacity for performing the act that caused it. Considerable attention has been devoted to the subject of industrial fatigue during recent years, and various tests for the detection of latent fatigue have been employed. Measurement of the output of work gives the most direct test of fatigue provided allowance is made for all variable factors except the worker's changing capacity. In addition, the observation of certain secondary symptoms supplies a useful index to the degree of fatigue which work induces. Lack of co-ordination, one of the earliest manifestations of nervous fatigue, results in increased accidents. The accident rate in factories tends to be 25 to 55 per cent higher for boys and girls than for men and women. In 1912 there were 4914 accidents to female young persons in factories and workshops. Much light might be thrown on the presence of fatigue amongst industrially employed girls by records of the accident rates in factories, corrected with reference to the hours and conditions of labour and to the speed of work as shown by the output curves.

Laboratory tests for the detection of accumulated fatigue have not sufficiently justified the trouble they involve, but observations as to complex reaction time with letter or colour tests, determination of acuity of auditory and visual sensations, and records of the systolic blood-pressure may be found to serve as an index to the incidence of fatigue when other methods are not applicable.

There is no need to amplify these points. It only remains to suggest that inquiry on such lines be applied to groups of adolescent workers to discover the extent to which industrial fatigue may be under-mining the health and physique of growing girls.

It was stated above that the absence of accurate data in the shape of records of the health of industrially employed girls made it impossible to arrive at any exact estimate of the effects of such work, but the sickness returns of industrial Insurance Societies must have been accumulating a vast mass of evidence as to the particular ailments and diseases to which employed girls are especially liable, so that an examination of these records may be extremely enlightening.

The secretary of the Insurance Section of the Northern Counties Weavers' Amalgamation informed us that at the present time the sickness returns of this Association are not tabulated according to ages, but that such tables could be obtained from the local Unions and a complete estimate made if the need be proved. One Weavers' Society, the Nelson and District Weavers' Insurance Society, No. 1882, which is outside the Amalgamation, does indeed tabulate its records according to ages, but the total number of women and girls in this society reaches only 5982, so that far-reaching conclusions cannot be drawn from its experience. Unfortunately not all the members of the Trade Union are in the Insurance section of their Society for the National Insurance Benefit, but many belong to such Approved Societies as the Prudential, the Blackburn Unity, etc., so that evidence from these sources cannot be regarded as entirely conclusive. Nevertheless, were such data available for purposes of comparison between one industry and another, considerable evidence as to the particular effects of different industries might be obtained.

During adolescence the plasticity of the human organism makes it more easily affected by external factors. Chief among the external influences which may disturb normal development are the attitudes, postures, and movements which industrial work involves. If these are cramped and constrained the healthy action of the heart and lungs and their natural development may be retarded, while if excessive muscular strain, such as that resulting from heavy lifting or prolonged standing, is experienced, active injury to vital organs may be brought about, and similarly these factors and the demands which excessive fatigue due to long hours, etc., makes on the growing organism may result in stunted growth and abnormal development. Information on these lines can only be obtained by detailed anthropometric and medical examination, and would have to be carried out on a large scale if the datum is to be of any value. But the material so collected would be the most reliable index of the effect of industry on health and physique, and if comparison be made between industrially employed and unoccupied girls by examination of different groups the final results would be invaluable. Such an inquiry might be carried out by medical women and anthropometric investigators in specific industries throughout the country. The exact conditions of the work, number of hours worked, etc., would have to be observed, and a record made of the history as well as the present physical condition of each girl examined. If groups of girls aged between 14 and 20 from different industries are thus examined, comparison can be made by similar examination amongst girls attending secondary schools. In districts like north-east Lancashire, where the pupils of the secondary schools are drawn from the same class and from the same type of home as the majority of the operatives, the exact influence of industrial work will be more accurately gauged than where the home environment differs in the two groups.

An inquiry based on methods such as these would be of vast national importance. What is needed is exact scientific information available for the guidance of those responsible for the organisation of adolescent labour, and, more important still, as a basis for new regulations controlling the extent and conditions of this labour.

TABLE I

Occupations of Girls in England and Wales, according to Census of 1911

00's omitted in Employed Columns

Key: A: Employed. B: Per cent.