The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-08 00:00:00

WRONGS IVII lell CRY ---i----oniek--;TeEss.

Mr. Crook's bill for the Protection of Women
and Children employed in Bleach Works, cox., will
be proposed toward; the end of March.if, be-
tween this and then, popular opinion is not brought
to bear on this most atrocious question, it shall be
no fault of ours. We purpose that this article
shall appear in our columns frequently, until the
bill has again been brought before the house; and
we implore our brethren of the press to help the
country, and especially the tegi.slati..e Body, to a
right way of thinking on these horribly cruel mat-
ters. Our extracts are taken almost at random
from Mr. Hopley's pamphlet :
Samuel Price examined—" I was in the employment of
Messrs. Ainsworth, near Bolton. They emptoy about four
hundred people. It was mostly from eleven till two o'clock
in the morring befo"a we-left off. In the last yeet I was
with them, from April, 1853,-to April, 1854, we were busy,
as well as I can remember, through the spring and through
the summer, for six or eight months of the year; that is,
we went to work from six to half- past six, sometimes at
four, and left off from ten to twelve, one or two in the
morning, and sometimes after that. * * * All the
people in the works averaged these number of hours—son. e
even more."

[Observe that this dreadful toil was not an occasional or

exceptional fact. Girls and boys were thus working,
"through the spring and through the summer, for six Or
eight months ofthe year."]
"At times, if a sudden order has come, we have not been
in- bed mole than 16 or 18 hpurs in the week (averaging
more than 211 hours of unrest out of the 24 during seven
successive days and nights for girls and boys, sonic of
them no more than 12 years old)." Report of the Com-
missioner appointed to inquire how far it may be advisable
to extend the Provisions of the Acts for the better Regu-
lation of Mills and Factories to Bleaching Works, pp.
10, 11, Nos. 81-84.
William Johnson, finisher—" I am twenty-foui years of
age. I was eleven when I first went to work. I worked
first for Mr. Fletcher, Leylands, ten years. At my com-
mencement" (that is, when ho was a child of eleven) " I
began at twelve o'clock on Sunday night, and worked till
eight on Monday night (20 hours) ; then we started at
six o'clock on Tuesday morning, and worked till 12 al
night (18 hours) ; and we did that for two or three months
without stopping. * • * I have been at a worse place
than that for long hours since; at Mr. Whowell's, Two
Brooks. * * * There were a deal of young girls, one
or two under ten years of age.—lbid., p. 9, No. 68.
[To have a full perception of the severity of this toil, it
should be borne in mind that a very large number of the
workers in these establishments are standing and " work-
ing hard" (as rapidly as possible) during almost the whole
of these lengthened periods. It is shown in evidence that
sometimes for days in succession the girls and boys have
no opportunity whatever of sitting down (save for their
hastily-snatched meals during the whole of the time spent
at the works.—Reports, passim.]
John Hamer, finisher—" I have been 15 years in tl •
bleaching trade. I was employed at Messrs. Hollins',
Tootle Bridge, Bolton. a * * One morning we went to
work at five o'clock and worked till six,the morning after"
(25 hours.) " All the sets were working the same hours"
.(the young with the adults). * a * " I have been so
tired, though I am a strong and healthy man, that I have
often to sit at my bed-side when I get up of a morning,
and my fingers are so stiff and sore that I cannot dress my-
self. If I feel thus tired, what must the young girls and boys
eel P"—lbid., p. 8, Nos. 61, 64.

[The frightful state of prostration—often ending in death
—to which the young girls and boys are reduced in some of
these establishments will be touched on presently ]
Ann Simpson (14 years 0187 Elizabeth Hilton (15)
rih Higson. (16)--" We came to work last Friday morn-
ing at half-past six" (at Mr. Ridgway Bridson's Bleach-
works, Bolton). "We worked all Friday night till half-
past five on Saturday morning" (twenty-thl ee hours). " We
did not sleep any time in the night, except on Saturday
morning at half-past five we laid Mown to sleep on the
honking-box, and slept till a little after seven" (less than
two hours' sleep—and with the clothes still on—after
twenty-three hours' work) ; " then we went to breakfast for
half-an-hour, and then came and worked till ten minu t
past Pleven."—lbid., p. 25, No. 236.
William Crompton—" I am 17. I have been four years
and a hell" (that is, since he was twelve years and a'half
old) "in the dressing-shop. We go on till different hours,
sometimes early, sometimes late. I worked once three days
and three nights" (he is only one, remember, among mul-
titudes—children as well as adults—who toil in the same
way) ; "and not long since I began w, rk on Friday morn-
ing at four and worked till five on Saturday night" (37
hours). "I mostly slept at meal times, and only stopped
one hour for meals ' • the rest I ate while I was working."--
Ibid., p. 26, No. 246.
Surely all this is very terrible. But read on :
" James Thomson (Mr. Wallace's Bleaching, Scouring,
and Finishing Works for Cotton and Woollens, Burn-
bank, Glasgow)—" I am manager of these works, and
nephew of the owner. In summer same of the hands work
occasionally from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m." (18 hours) " the whole
week through; we did this last summer several times.
Three days we worked 20 hours each day. The ages of most
of our girls is from 10 to 18." (Observe these ages—some
of the girls mere children.) "The stove-rooms in which
they work are in winter heated up to 100 or 110 deg. ; in
summer the heat is from 120 to 130 deg." (and at times very
much higher, as stated by the same witness in evidence
given at a subsequent page.) " I feel, when lam urging
the females to work these long hours that I am doing what
is not right, but I have been urged to do it to get a lot of
goods finished. Sometimes they stay here all night, and
then we make a place for them to lie down upon in a store-
room upon the pieces of goods unfinished. Sometimes 14
or more girls will pass the night in this manner, after work-
Inc,' 19 hours, and coming out of those hot places dripping
wet with perspiration, and their elothes wet through with
it."--Ibid., p 59, Nos. 643-645.
And this in the country which is energizing through the
world to put down slavery !
Alexander King.—" I work at Mr. James Young and
Son's bleachworks, Auldhousefield, Pollockahaws. There
are about 300 hundred hands employed • of these 260 are
n l
females. When we are busy the number is about 400.
* * * Sometimes, about once a week, one shift will be-
gin at 6 a.m., and go on till 6 the next morning" (24 hours).
" This has happened once a week on an average for the last
six months. The females all work in the stoves."—lbid.,
p. 61, Nos. 682, 633.
What a spectacle—what a hideous, sickening spectacle—
must 400 workers present at the close of their 24 hours'
toil I " The females all work in the stoves 1 " Among
them "will be some from 10, 11, to 13 years of age ; the rest
chiefly between that and 20 ;"—toiling, bear in mind, in a
temperature, exceeding, by some 20 deg. or 30 deg., the
general temperature of an Indian summer

Elizabeth Henderson (Mr. Clark's Bleachfield, Burnbrae,
Millengood).—" We sometimes begin at one o'clock upon
Monday mornings and work sometimes till nine o'clock on
Monday night" (20 hours), "and sometimes even all Mon•
day night, and get home at six o'clock on Tuesday morning"
(29 hours from the time of commencing work).—" Home
for four hours and out here again at ten o'clock, and work
up to 11 and sometimes 12 o'clock that night. The next
day we should come out atsix and work the regular hours ;
that may go on fir a few days or a week, and then we
should commence, as before, at night-work, going horns at
seven in the evening for one hour, and working through
the night. We stop from 12 till one in the night for re-
freshment. It was rather before the new year when we
commenced to be so busy, and it has been going on this way
up to this time (March 24)."—A quarter of a year of such
toil as this I—lbid., p. 66, No. 783.
Elisabeth Edge—" lam 14 years of age. I have worked
lalutdw
noteve at
here" (at Mr. Sedden's, Breightmet Bleach-works) "four
1.,,
night.slept fourl have hours
very
ery he
ofifttesnt morning,workedt i
years. Three months since I worked" (and of course she
was not working alone upon the occasion) "two nights and
stwllothdeayne I
xt
—lbid., p. 49, No. 491.
If there be any one thing which more than another adds
to the enormity of this national iniquity,
there is not—nor ever has
. been—even so much as a ' diffi-
culty,' word.), of the name, to prevent
all these terrible shames by just a stop being put to
Mary Ann Smith.—,‘
Last Saturday I was 12 years old.
* * * 1 came here nearly three years ago. Six times
in that time I have worked from six • in the morning till
half pad two the " next (twenty hours and a half). "Once
I worked from six one morning till six the next morning"
(24 hours). " I have to rub my instep every night before I
can get my clogs off. The skin crack., and I cannot abide it
sometimes. One of my fingers is gathering from being cut
by the selvage, and the other is running."—lbid., p. 47.
No. 457.
Contemplate the condition of this poor child. It has been
at work since it was nine years old. And it be, to go on
hour after hour, day after day, the skin of its instep still
cracking and festering, the selvage still sawing against_ its
gathering, running sores. Woe to the nation that shall
hear such things and will not raise its voice I
Amelia Word (15 next July).—" I have been at this
work about three years. We ottenest begin at .
5 or 6 in the
morning, and oftenest leave off at 11 or 12. * •
Sometimes we do not leave off till 3 or 4 in the morning.
My fingers are often very bad ; the cloth wears them
through."—lbid., No. 158.
Think of it, reader. It is the every-day complaint of
suffering uailltitudes .
"The friction of the piece, in hoe king, cuts their flagons
and makes them very sure, their skeksing soft. 'Whose
finger is bleeding,' is nit an uncon.eion expression as the
blood stains the pieces ; they then have to have their fin-
gers tied up."—lbid., p. 43, No. 414.
As the blood stains the pieces !
Sore feet, likewise,—the natural consequences of stand-
ing so many hours, and frequently upon very hot floors,—
are very general, especially among the little girls :
"My feet are almost always sure" (No. 226.)—" Have
had 'the aching legs' many a time" (No. 228). "Ankle
bone was growing out" (No. 273).—" The skin comes off,
and they are very sore" (No. 274).—" I have often sore
feet ; they bleed sometimes, and my ankle bone has been
growing out" (No. 277).—"The skin is off very often, and
tho soles of my feet arc blood-raw" (No. 279).—" My feet
are often blood-raw"—
[How can we comment upon facts like these ?)
"are often blood-raw, and they pain me" (No. 2i11.)
"My feet blister at bottom, and are very sore. Mother
puts some snuff to them that makes the new akin come"
so. 285).—" I have always sore feet in
summer
time" (No. 533.)— My feet are often sore •
winter and
summer" (No. 636).—" Feet often so sore that the skin
comes off with my stockings" , (No. 504). l 4
have seen my feet last night" (No. J 4, If you could
1)...--,' Worked when
the skin was off my feet very badly "
often had the skin off my feet" (No (No. 4921.1.—"1 have
often get raw" (No. 448).—,, 1 Y
• 232).—" er feet very
1 feet were always sore in
summer : they were blood
are swelled with a deal of -raw at bottom, and my ankles
pain" (No. 463).
Equally painful to contemplate is the " dead -beaten"
state of the workers :

" I have scores of times seen both men and children.
asleep at their work. and very dangerous work too" (No.
10),---“ Very often they go to sleep over their work" (Ne .
51).—" I have almost every day to take a board and beati&
on the table to waken them, as they were slumbering at the,t
work." (Observe the expression, reader—' at theft. wor'z),
" At that time they would be hooking cloth ; and while
they should be doing it, I see them nodding and P•ying to
catch the hook" (No. 83).—" As to the older on As, I have
often and often seen them down asleep, not I,,,ing able t•
hold up for their work. If the manager had gone out, they
would drop down in a minute in the packir
,g-boxes and go
to sleep" (No. 68).—" 'We have often g9' re to sleep on the
tables, or with our heads on the wet e joth, or anywhere
where we could sit still" (No. 373).—" The little ones very
often fall asleep standing to their wcAlr:"—.
Mr. Crook's Bill will be brour,.cht forward for a second
reading towards the latter end c/, March..