The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-31 00:00:00

EVENING

THE TEN HOURS FACTO!
QUESTION.
A REPORT ADDRESSED To THE SHORT-TIME CON
TEES OF THE WEST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE, OF
TAI) CONFERENCES HELD WITH THE RIGHT HON
ROBERT PEEL, BART., M.P., AND SEVERAL OF HIS
LEAGUES, ON THE SUBJECT OF THE TEN HOURS
TORY QUESTION, AND OTHER IMPORTANT MATTER
Having been deputed by you to wait upon the
ing members of the present Administration, to ti
r upon their attention the necessity and importance c
Bill for the better regulation of infantile arid youtl
labour in factories, we beg to present to you an abstr
of our proceedings in the various interviews with wh.
we were honoured, as the best mode of laying befoi
)ou the results of our labours in the discharge of th
duty confided to us.
INTERVIEW WITH SIR ROBERT PEEL, BART., FIRST LORI
OF THE TREASURY, ETC.
The first visit of the deputation was to Sir Robe.
Peel, upon whom they waited by appointment on th.
23th of October, at his official residence, Downing
street. Sir Robert received the deputation in th
most courteous manner, and awaited in silence thei
statement.
The Deputation opened the business by saying " t
have been deputed to wait upon you, Sir Robert, bs •
the short-time Committees of the West Riding o.
Yorkshire, in consequence of a letter from Lord Ashley, ,
stating that Sir Robert Peel's opinions were not yet-
matured upon the Factory question. We weres in
hopes that you would have come, by this time, -to a
satisfactory conclusion respecting the Ten-hours. Bill,
and we now press upon your attention the necessity
which exists for introducing such a Bill at an early
period of the ensuing session—a Bill for the better re-
gulation of labour in factories.
Sir ROBERT—" Will you please first to explain th.
.1
nature of the Bill you propose ?" The deputation ex
plained that the leading provisions they were anxious t
see enacted were—
" 1. A clause declaring that in future no person Ve
tween 13 and 21 years of age should be employed more!
than ten hours per day in any mill or factory." Thre
Deputation added that it was more urgent now thz.n
ever to have a legislative protection for those above 73
years of age, owing to the immense increase in the pro-
portion of females now working in factories.
"2. That to insure the fulfilment of this clause, no
young person should be permitted to stay or be found
in the mills between six o'clock in the evening and six
o'clock- in the morning. The mill-owner or manager
infringing the law to be subjected to the penalty of im-
prisonment.
"3. The gradual withdrawal of all females from the
rs.ctories.
"4. The boxing off of all dangerous parts of ma-
eihinery, under a heavy penalty, with a power of re-
el svering compensation for any injury sustained through
n eglect of this provision.
Sir ROBERT said—" The last point is a mere mat-
ter of detail ; but don't you think there would be very
great hardship in the proposal respecting female labour?
Suppose a widow, with two daughters, without any
other means of support than her and their labour.,
Would it not be very unjust to step in between her an d
in honest employment, and say, you shall not be el.
I bwed to support yourselves by your own labour e'
The Deputation—" There are certainly difficulties
:onnected with this portion of the subject, and the one
o strongly stated by you is not the least. Such cases,
however, would be the exception, not the rule ; and it
is. the latter, not the former, to which all legislation is
directed. Special cases might be provided for by
special enactments. We do not believe that any.
evils which might arise from even a rigourous and
ea tire prohibition of female labour could he compared
with those which spring from the present system.
T 1 le females employed in factories are generally
tl to offspring of parents who have been similarly situated.
'l'hey get little, if any, education worthy the name pre-
y; bus to entering the mills ; and, as soon as they enter
t' rem (generally at a very early age, in consequence of
ti le connivance of parents, medical men, and factory
o tuners, to evade the present law) they are surrounded
b y influences of the most vitiating and debasing nature.
1 'hey grow up is total ignorance of all the true duties
of woman. Home, its cares and its employments, is
woman's true sphere, but these poor things are totally
=fitted for attending to the one, or participating in the
other. They neither learn, in the great majority of cases,
to make a shirt, darn a stocking, cook a dinner, or cleats
a. house. In short, both in mind and manners, they are
altogether unfitted for the occupancy of a domestic posi-
tion, as is evidenced by the fact that the wealthy and
middle classes very rarely engage any of this class as
servants. Yet those who are thus considered unfit even to
fill the office of menial to the rich, are the only parties
among whom, ordinarily, the male factory labourer has
a chance of obtaining a wife. They are married early.
Many are mothers before 20. Thriftlessness and waste
even of their small incomes, and consequent domestic dis-
comfort and unhappiness, generally succeed. Through
these means is engendered a vast amount of immo-
rality and misery, and while such are its results as re-
spects private life, the operation of the system is not less
injurious in a national point of view. It. throws the bur-
den of supporting the family on the wife and the child,
and conweis the adult male, upon whose shoulders the
duty ought rightfully to fall, to be reluctantly idle. It
is an inversion of the order of nature and of Providence
—a return to a state of barbarism, in which the woman
does the work while the man looks idly on. The conse-
quence of throwing loose such a mass of partially-
informed men in such circumstances, cannot fail to be
_fraught with danger to the State. Disaffection and dis-
content must be engendered among parties so situated.
If, therefore, such evils, both private and public, can be
distinctly traced to this source, we think it is the im-
perative duty of Government and the Legislature to
step in and arrest their operation to the utmost practi-
cable extent."

Sir R. PEEL--" I still see great difficulties in the
way, admitting all you have stated. I believe that fe-
male and youthful labour is preferred, in consequence of
its greater cheapness ; is it not ? And also, because
it is, in some departments, better adapted for tlit pur-
pose in view than adult labour."
The DEPUTATION—" You are right as respects the
cheapness, Sir ; but the other point may admit of doubt.
For instance, it is objected that adults could not stoop.
to the machinery, to the height of which children are
perfectly adapted. But this objection could easily be
obviated by having the mules raised, and other machi-
nery fixed a little higher from the ground. And as to
dexterity of fingers, you must be aware that the utmost.
fineness of touch and quickness of movement may be.
acquired and retained by constant practice."
Sir R. PEEL—" It is et ident that the course yolk
propose would have the effect, if adopted, of compelling
the employment of a greater number of adults, and con-
s lquently higher priced labourers ; and the result of
that would be to raise the price of British manufactures,
and thus place our manufacturers under greater disad-
va,etages in foreign markets than at present. Now, the
comolaint of our manufacturers is, that the competi-
tion it. those markets is already so great that it is with
the utmost difficulty they can maintain a footing in them..
I feel deeply for the working classes of this country.
and lax sure that if any measure could be devised by
which the deep distress they now suffer could be alle-
viated it would be the duty of the Government immo-
diately to adopt them. But we have not only their
case to consider, but also the effect which such mea-
sures would have upon the employment of capital, and
the interests of those classes who hare
invested their
capital in these pursuits."
The DEPUTATION---."
Hitherto, Sir Robert, the in-
tercets of the capitalists have been attended to almost
exclusively ; and the consequence is, that the intro-
duction of self-acting machinery, and machinery re-
quiring the attendance
of women and children only,
together ,with intense
competition between our own
merchants, has thrown vast numbers out of work, and
reduced the wages of those who are employed to
the barest pittance which can support existence. This
evil is likely to he still further aggravated by the im-
mense increase of machinery abroad. The policy of
the late Government had been to allow that it should
ted• l machi has beet)
be freely expo
ntrodr
extensively introduced onate theyears Continent nery.
Belgium,
Prussia, and other places have, instead of
tSaakrognyo,ur goods, succeeded in their primary object--
that of supplying their own markets ; in some instances
they have gone farther, and now compete successfully
with us in neutral markets ; and in some articles even
come into direct competition with us in our own mar-
kets. Above all, America is a rival that threatens ul-
timately to destroy one of the staple manufactures of
this country—cotton. It can be shown that, in con-
sequence of the American manufacturer possessing the
the advantage of having the raw material almost at his
own door, he is enabled, notwithstanding a higher price
of labour, inferior machinery, and less economical
processes of management, which give an advantage
to the British manufacturer of 17 per cent.,
the American is yet enabled, with his water-
power and cheaper raw material, in all fabrics
in which quantity is more a matter of considera-
tion than quality, to beat us in the end by a small per
centage. Now, the disparity at present existing be-
tween us as respects machinery, cheap labour, and
superior management, must, in the nature of things, be
continually lessening, and a closer approximation take
place. The population of the United States of Arne.-
rica, by natural increase, aided by immigration, will
lower the cost of labour, improvements will be daily
introduced in the machinery, effecting more with a less ex-
penditure of power, and experience will improve their
modes of management, until at length they will be on
a par with us in all these points, while the substantial
and permanent drawback of having to send to America.
for our raw material, bring it home, and re-transport it
for sale in its manufactured state, will still press uptsn-us."
Sir R. PEEL—" Well, but do you not think that,
according to your own admissions, the arguments
against any interference which might aid the process
which you have so clearly and strongly described as now
going on, are very much strengthend?"
The DEPUTATION—" Pardonlus, Sir Robert, such is
not the case according to the light in which we view
the subjtct. It is an axiom in political economy, that