of starvation or was injured by accident in the mills, it mattered not to the employer, for he was not legally liable, and the worker's place could be supplied from among the thousands ready to work for even a bare subsistence. On the other hand, the body of the black slave was valuable to his master. Starvation or injury which diminished his power as a worker rendered him of less value to his owner, who was thus financially interested, at least, in some degree in the tolerable condition of his property. Contemporary reports, resolutions, personal accounts, and the Blue Books are so terrible that the reader to-day can scarcely believe that such ghastly stories of inhuman and infernal treatment can have a shadow of truth. For more than fifty years the reign of terror held sway in the peaceful walks of industry-a reign of terror that rivals that of the French Revolution, because it was so long, so coolly accepted, and even defended by political economists and servants of the Man of Galilee.

As early as 1795, Dr. Aikin noted that the invention of machinery to shorten labour had not only extended the trade, but had also called into the mills hands from all parts, and particularly children for the cotton factories. Mill owners arranged with the overseers of the poor, and, after inspection of the paupers, selected the best, and had them shipped to the factories to wear their lives out as slaves to machinery. There were even regular traders in human flesh who acted as brokers in paupers for the mills. As soon as the children were in the hands of the mill proprietors, "they were simply at the mercy of their owners, nominally as apprentices, but in reality as mere slaves, who got no wages, and whom it was not worth while even to feed or clothe properly,

F

because they were so cheap, and their places could be so easily supplied." These little slaves worked day and night in relays, so that the beds in which they slept never cooled, one batch following another in turn for its share of rest in the filthy rag piles. In the Parliamentary reports we read of children being knocked down and beaten as many as ten times a day; of boys working in heated glass factories, and being rewarded for negligence or failure to please the brutal overseer by severe beatings with irons. Children less than five years of age were found at work in coal mines, while in the pin factories, lads five years old were worked at full capacity for twelve hours a day. The story of adult labour is no less horrifying than that of child labour.

Carien and women were often worked just as long as the

Treated

utmost limits of physical endurance would permit. Sanitary arrangements were generally of the most indecent sort, and diseases and malformations were prevalent. The Parliamentary report of 1833 classifies the sources of unhealthiness among the workers as follows:-Confinement; heated, close atmosphere; admission of foreign matter into the lungs; constant upright position; wet feet and person in wet spinnings; hurried eatings; sudden transitions of temperature; accidents from machinery; syphilitic taint; want of cleanliness; gas lights in closed rooms in winter; personal labour the only means of support; attention obliged to be as unremitting as the motion of the steamengine. "We hear of children and young people in factories overworked and beaten as if they were slaves; of diseases and distortions only found in the manufacturing districts; of filthy, wretched homes where people huddle together like beasts; we hear of girls and

ealthy

conditions

women working underground in the dark recesses of the coal-mines, dragging loads of coal in cars in places where no horses could go, and harnessed and crawling along the subterranean pathways like beasts of burden. Everywhere we find cruelty and oppression, and in many cases the workmen were but slaves, bound to fulfil their master's commands under fear of dismissal and starvation." A Manchester writer said, in 1842: “I never behold a poor factory child, but I instinctively picture to myself the misery which this cursed system (factory) entails upon the human family. I was once in the habit of visiting the hand-loom weavers, about ten or twelve years ago, and I invariably found them a happy and contented people; their cottages were comfortable homes; they had hours of relaxation, and gardens for profit and amusement, but now factories are at work in those districts in which they resided, and poverty, wretchedness, and discontent are the inmates of every dwelling."

These bits gathered from various sources give glimpses of the condition of the workers inside the mills before legislation and enlightened public opinion laid any restrictions upon the new factory system.

Sec. 7.-The Population and the New Towns. There were great changes brought about in the condition of the workers when they were placed under the factory system. At the same time, the whole social life of the nation was altered by the increase and shifting of the population and the rise of the factory towns. The increase in population in England and Wales, from 1770 to 1800, has been estimated at 1,959,590, or 27% per cent., and from 1800 to 1830 at 5,024,207, or 56% per cent.; but as Hobson has pointed out, eighteenth century

because they were so cheap, and their places could be so easily supplied." These little slaves worked day and night in relays, so that the beds in which they slept never cooled, one batch following another in turn for its share of rest in the filthy rag piles. In the Parliamentary reports we read of children being knocked down and beaten as many as ten times a day; of boys working in heated glass factories, and being rewarded for negligence or failure to please the brutal overseer by severe beatings with irons. Children less than five years of age were found at work in coal mines, while in the pin factories, lads five years old were worked at full capacity for twelve hours a day. The story of adult labour is no less horrifying than that of child labour Men and women were often worked just as long as t1utmost limits of physical endurance would per Sanitary arrangements were generally of the indecent sort, and diseases and malformations prevalent. The Parliamentary report of 1833 the sources of unhealthiness among the w follows:--Confinement; heated, close admission of foreign matter into the lun pright position; wet feet and person in hurried eatings; sudden transitions c accidents from machin

cleanliness; gas

personal labour t

ebliged to be as t

engine. We b factories overwer of diseases and facturing distr people bude

hilitic