Part 5

In Prussia, Mr. Plunkett states that there is a universal tendency to reduce the hours of labour, and to raise the rate of wages. The Breslau Chamber of Commerce state that, in consequence of the increased cost both of labour and raw material, the prices of cotton carded yarn had advanced 10 per cent. on the best and 16 per cent. on the ordinary qualities. In the Silesian cloth trade, in 1871, prices rose 15 per cent.

In the spinning and weaving factories in Silesia, according to a statement by Dr. G. Reichenheim, quoted by Mr. Plunkett, the increase in the rate of wages in the last ten years has been about 30 per cent. for female weavers, while in the case of male labour it is more than double. The same complaints are made, which we hear in this country, as to the effect of higher pay in rendering the operatives less careful in their work, and more insubordinate than formerly.

Low wages and cheap production not convertible terms.

The most recent inquiries tend to establish the fact, which I have, on former occasions, endeavoured to urge on the attention of employers, that underpaid labour is by no means the most economical. It does not follow that, when a workman receives more pay for exactly the same amount of labour, there is no increase in the cost of production. It would be absurd to put such an interpretation on the axiom assumed by my father, when estimating the cost of work, that the cost of labour in a fully peopled country was, as a general rule, the same, whatever might be the nominal rate of daily wages. But, where the principle of payment by the piece is adopted, (and, trades-union opposition notwithstanding, no other system of payment can be really equitable), there it will be found that labour, when stimulated by a liberal reward, is far more productive than that of the ill-paid operative. The reports to which I have referred are full of illustrations on this point.

Belgium.

In Belgium, all the factory occupiers are of opinion that the English operatives are far superior to the Flemish. An Englishman, being better fed, possesses greater physical power, produces as much work in ten hours as a Fleming in twelve, and, understanding the machinery which he works, he can point to the cause of an accident; whereas in Ghent half-an-hour is constantly lost in seeking for the reason of a stoppage. Although the rates of wages are lower, and the hours of labour longer; English manufacturers have but little to fear from Belgian competition.

Russia.

Mr. Egerton states, that, in Russia, 13 hours a day is the average length of the hours of labour, children generally working the same time as men; and yet there is no country in which there is so great a waste of labour. In mills where the best and newest machinery is used, it is necessary to limit the earnings, which, if large in amount, would be expended in drinking. In England a spinner will, with his assistants, attend to 2,000 spindles. In Russia, he never has more than 1,000, and generally 500 spindles under his charge.

Switzerland.

Mr. Gosling says of the Swiss workman, that he is inferior to the British workman in physical strength and energy.

France.

The French manufacturers insist strongly on the greater cost of production in their country as compared with England. They estimate the cost of wages per week for the hands employed upon 10,000 spindles at £59. 10s., as compared with £41, which would be the corresponding amount in an English factory. ‘The value of the English workman,’ says Mr. Redgrave, ‘still remains pre-eminent, although the interval between him and his competitors is not so great as it was; he has not retrograded, but they have advanced.’ We see too much of intemperance in England, but there is much reason to complain in Belgium and the manufacturing districts of France, where the cheapness of intoxicating liquors is a fearful temptation to the working classes.

Increasing production with the same number of hands.

The progressive development in the skill of our factory operatives has been clearly shown in the comparison, instituted by Messrs. Bridges and Holmes, of the tasks, now performed, with the amount of work allotted to the hands, as ascertained by the Factory Commission of 1833. Messrs. Bridges and Holmes estimate that the proportion of spindles in 1833 was 112 to each hand, while the corresponding number at the present day would be 517 spindles. The speed of the mule has been so much increased, that more stretches are now made in 10½ hours than formerly in twelve. In 1848 a female would have had only two looms, now she will attend to four. The speed of the power looms in 1833 varied between 90 and 112; it now varies between 170 and 200 picks a minute. Notwithstanding all the improvements of mechanism, the cotton-weaver of the present day is subject to a greater strain than his predecessor of forty years ago.

From a consideration of all these facts, we have reason to congratulate employers in England on the possession of a body of workmen superior to those of any other country. We may also assert, on their behalf, that in no other country of the Old World is the same solicitude displayed for the welfare of the workmen.

I observe with regret the frequently repeated manifestations of disaffection on the part of the working classes on the Continent towards their employers. Lord Brabazon, in his able report on the condition of the industrial classes in France, quotes some painful illustrations of the entire want of confidence between class and class in that distracted country, where ‘Communistic principles have done so much to alienate the affections of the workmen from their employers,’ and where a large proportion of those engaged in manufacturing industry live in a condition of wretchedness and misery, of which, I venture to hope, very few of those, who can command regular employment in this country, have any experience. At Elbœuf we are told of a certain manufacturer who, during the period of dearth, bought a large quantity of provisions, with the view of reselling them to his workmen at a low rate, but who was obliged to renounce his humane project; because the workpeople imagined it was a pretext for making money out of their misery. At Lyons, where no social distinctions keep asunder the numerous small employers from the employed, the sympathy which formerly existed between the owner of the loom and his assistants is no longer found.

When I turn from this gloomy picture to those bright recollections, the most precious portion of the heritage, which I have received from my lamented father, and call to mind the cordial relations, which he always preserved with vast multitudes of workmen, and with a large staff of agents of every grade and disposition of mind; still more, when I see among contemporary employers so many evidences of the same success in conciliating their dependents, I thank my God from the very bottom of my heart, that I was born an Englishman.

Employment of children in Belgium.

While in England we are happily doing away with the great evil of employing young children in our factories, all the Chambers of Commerce in Belgium unite in deploring the increasing moral and physical degeneracy of the working classes, owing to the premature employment of children. In the Belgian factories for spinning and weaving flax, cotton, and wool, children from ten to twelve years old are very generally admitted, and work twelve hours a day. In the Belgian coal-pits 8,000 children under fourteen years of age, of both sexes, are employed. Of children between ten and twelve 2,400 are employed, 700 above and 1,700 below ground.

In 1866, out of their total population of 4,827,000, more than one-half were unable to read or write. The necessity for the employment of children is best proved by the description given by Mr. Kennedy, of the position of the Belgian operatives at Alost and Tirmonde, where a first-class hand earns £28 a year, while the smallest sum on which a man can exist is £20 a year. Indeed, existence is only made possible by the employment of children in factories, and by the possession of a small garden in which vegetables are raised.

Employment of women in England.

In the English factories, where a larger proportion of women are employed than in the factories abroad, it has recently been proposed that the number of hours of labour should be limited by law. The proposal is supported by Messrs. Bridges and Holmes, on the ground that, by exciting a spirit of rivalry between them, women can be goaded on to over-exert themselves in a manner, which would not be observed among men. A woman, we are told, who can mind four looms without an assistant has a certain position, and becomes an object of attention. ‘Hoo’s a four-loomer; hoo’s like to be wed,’ will be commonly remarked of such an one.

The Association of Employers, though differing on almost every other subject from Messrs. Bridges and Holmes, suggest that women should be excluded from factories for three months after their confinement. Great evils have been found, by experience, to ensue from the too early return of the mothers to factory labour. Let us venture to hope that another Session of Parliament will not be allowed to pass by, without placing on the Statute Book a legal prohibition against a practice, which is universally condemned by those most competent to form an opinion.

Shorter hours of labour.

The demand for a reduction of the hours of labour, which has been so strongly and successfully urged by certain classes of our operatives, is not universally supported either at home or abroad.

The average length of a working day in Switzerland is twelve hours, exclusive of the time for meals. The general tendency is to a reduction of hours, and laws have been passed, limiting the length of the working day in some cantons to twelve hours. These changes are, however, almost entirely due to the efforts of local politicians. A proposal of this nature recently made in Zurich, and sanctioned by the Cantonal Legislature, was eventually thrown out by the popular vote.

At Rouen, Mr. Redgrave found no strong desire for a diminution of the hours of labour in the cotton factories. The operatives were chiefly solicitous for a rise of wages. On this subject the workpeople of all countries seem to entertain similar views. Messrs. Bridges and Holmes, in their report on the condition of operatives in English factories, say that the workpeople are by no means unanimous. Among the women especially, many are apathetic, and some are positively opposed to a limitation of the working hours.

In the United States, at Lowell, near Boston, I ascertained by personal inquiry on the spot, that the working hours were sixty per week, and that no indication had yet been given of a disposition among the operatives to reduce the hours.