The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-08 00:00:00

LITERATU iE.

Wrongs which cry
.for Redress. Letter I. By
Thomas Hopley, F.S.S. Houlston and Wright.
Mr. Hopley is well known as an earnest labourer
in the cause of human advancement. He has-striven
hard to diffuse a knowledge of the great truths of
physiology through all classes, and we have no
doubt he has been the means of instructing many
in those laws of nature, which, if infringed; bring
such a heavy punishment. The necessity of air
and exercise have formed the subjects of several of
his admirable lectures, which treat equally of the
requirements of rich and poor. But• the wants and
sufferings of the labouring classes he strives more
especially to impress upon us. He appeals to the
powerful and wealthy on behalf of those who
cannot make their own voices heard. He speaks
for those who have beyond all others a claim on the
attention of society—the honest, labouring poor,
whose highest ambition is " a fair day's wages for
a fair day's work," and whose life-long struggle
for an honest livelihood is sorely hindered
by grievances beyond their reach. He does not
solicit alms for those who can work for themselves
—he does not ask for aid for any eleemosyna7
institution—excellent as many of these undoubt-
edly are. He asks for justice, simple justice—that
men should not be forced to labour beyond their
strength for an unnatural time, on pain of offending
their employers ; but more especially that women
and children should not be forced to labour for
sixteen or eighteen hours a-day in a temperature of
130 deg.. His revelations respecting the bleaching
and dyeing works arc especially painful, and it is
with great regret we see that a motion brought
forward the other night in the House of Commons
to effect an improvement in this matter, was dis-
ntissed, on the ground that it had been decided a
year or two back, when a committee of inquiry was
held on the subject, that the time•had not arrived
for legislation, and that nothing had arisen to
change that decision. It is almost incredible that,
with such a mass of evidence before them, the noble
lords and right.honourable gentlemen who composed
that committee should have arrived at that conclu-
sion. There are plenty of eager agitators for
political questions; there is no lack of ready re-
formers on other points, of eloquent speakers to up-
hold the dignity of the constitution, and to descant
on the danger of its overthrow. Diplomacy, cur-
rency, the reform of the representation, the im-
provement of our military and naval services, can
find advocates, orators, logicians, but the plea of
the women carried fainting to the " wasting shops,"
and the children falling asleep standing at their
work, is no reason for interfering with the interests
of the master manufacturers. A few extracts from
the evidence will speak for themselves.
State to the committee what the usual hours were ? . . •

The cases that I particularly noticed were those of young
children and women, in which a set of young persons of
the ages of from nine to nineteen, twenty, and twenty-two,
worked, as an ordinary thing, from six in the morning to
twelve at night (eighteen hours) ; that was varied on the
Friday, in which, beginning on Friday morning, they
worked all Friday night, and down to tea-time, which was
about five or six on the Saturday evening (thirty-five or
thirty-six hours).
Did that frequently occur ?--That was, with some sets,
the constant work. . . . A young woman suffered from
it, which caused me to investigate the case, and she, I know,
had been working at that rate for three weeks constantly ;
. . . her constitution suffered so much that she never
recovered ; she died under my ministration.
Do you recollect any other particular instance of over-
work ?—I asked her the longest time she ever worked at a
stretch, and she said " three nights and two days ;" being
about sixty hours; in which she never left the works, and
never paused, except a short time for meals.
Can you tell the committee what ages girls generally
begin to work at?—They work as young as nine or ten; I
think nine and ten, to eleven.
Are you able to say whether girls of that very young age
workhours ;
the a 8
:t numberalllmeustivork
together.
Will F—They work the same
Will you give your opinion as to the effect of these long
hours upon the workers ?—lt struck me that it was injur-
ing their health very seriously ; that they prematurely grew
old,
and, except the strong ones, none could stand it. Many
of them died.
[Witness " did not single Mr. t
out for especial
animadversion, but spoke again;
Ainsworth credit for being t the system;" he gave Mr.
" most anxiousi
to mprove the
condition of his people."]
Lord John Manners—Therefore you would, upon the
whole, think that Mr. Ainsworth's works afforded rather a
favourable than an unfavourable specimen of the manage-
ment of bleaching works hi that part of the country
should.
Mr. ButP—
Would you consider that if, under the do-
minion of a benevolent man, anxious to promote the tem-
poral and spiritual welfare of his people, these excessive
long hours prevailed it would be a very strong argument in
favour of legislative interference ?—Decidedly.
In other words they doubtless suffered more.
SAMUEL PRICE, examined—
you awaken them (alluding to the
little 113ili.lidtrt—enHofoN di
thevadbove-mentioncd establishment, when
they, fell asleep " standing at their work") F Many a time
by shouting, and at other times getting a board and rap-
ping it on the table, making a loud report that used to
startle them, and I could keep them awake then for an
hour, or more than that, perhaps, by frightening them.
I believe Mr. Ainsworth is considered a good employer ?
—Yes, he is cm sidered a very honourable gentleman.
Albert Bowley is an operative employed in the trade ; is
well acquainted with its customs ; has known numbers of
women and girls at work in a very high temperature "from
six o'clock in the morning" till "two and three" the fol-
lowing morning ; has " known them not to go home for
two or three nights ;" " they have laid down upon the
pieces to rest themselves
Mr. Davidson—Do you mean to say that if the work-
people did not worlj the extra hours, or if any one or two

of them.declined to work the extra hours, they would be
discharged ?—Yes.
Have you known more than one instance of persons
being told that if they would not work the time they must
be discharged ?—I hitve known h to be done repeatedly in
our place. . I have known some of the girls to be
so trtated.
Henry Waring has had forty-two years' experience of
various bleaching establishments :
Mr. Kirk—Has it appeared to you that the hours of work
were too long ?—Yes ; much too long ; but if we did not do

it, they would turn us off.
[Had known " many families" go on without undressing
for more than five days and nights in succession.]
Thomas Blackledge Garstang, Esq., had been en-
gaged in professional duties among bleach-works " fifteen
or sixteen years," and during that time "had been fre-
quently in the habit of attending families of persons em-
ployed" in such works :
Mr. Butt—DO you mean to say that there is, on the part
of the working people, any reluctance to afford information
on matters of this kind ?—A very great reluctance, and
they are very suspicious if any person makes an inquiry,
lest their information should come to the proprietors of the
works, and thereby they might be dismissed.
Do you think that any persons employed in bleaching-
works could refuse to work those long hours ?—They could,
but it must be at the penalty of dismissal.
If thus dismissed, What are they to do? Persons having
been occupied from very childhood in the manner exempli-
fied by reports needs must be exceedingly ill-fitted, and
many of them totally unfitted, to turn their hands to new
employments, even though such were open. What then
arc they to do ? Parochial aid for those have been offered
work but "refuse" because the hours are too long, is alto-
gether out of the question.
JOSEPH CROOK, Esq., M.P. for Bolton, examined :
Mr. Clark—lf a man refused to work long hours, is it
your opinion that that man would be dismissed ?—Yes ; and
he could not get work, if he made that a condition, any-
where, except at Mr. Sagar's and a few other places • there
fore that man must starve. Of course women and Children
are more helpless than men.
Do the employers oblige children to work in that man-
ner ?—Certainly ; they are indispensable to the process.
Mr. Parke—lf a child were taken off the over-work,
would that involve the discharge of the parent from the
bleaeh-works ?—Yes ; the children must necessarily con-
form to the customs and rules of the bleach-works, or else
be immediately discharged.
-

Terrible as these long hours of labour must be to
the strongest men, when continued for many weeks,
the sufferings of the women and children are far
greater. The evidence of some of the young boys
and girls plainly shows this.
Mary Ann Smith.—" Last Saturday I was twelve years
old. . . . I came here nearly three years ago. Six
times in that time I have worked from six in the morning

till half-past two the next" (twenty hours and a half).
" Once I worked from six one morning till six the next
morning" (twenty-four hours). " I have to rub my instep
every night before I can get my clogs off. The skin cracks,
and I cannot abide sometimes. One of my fingers is
gathering from cut by the salvage, and the other is run-
ning."
Amelia Wood (fifteen next July).—" I have been at this
work about three years. We often begin at five or six in
the morning, and oftenest leave off at eleven or twelve. . . .
Sometimes we do not leave off till three or four in the morn-
ing. My fingers are often very bad ; the cloth wears them
through."
Sore feet, likewise—the natural consequences of standing
so many hours, and frequently upon very hot floors—are
very general, especially among the little girls :
"My feet are almost always sore" (No. 226).—" Have
had 'the aching legs' many a time" (No. 228).—" Ankle
bone was growing out " (No. !73).—" 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
the soles of my feet are blood-raw" (No. 279).—" My feet
are often blood-raw"— _

[How can we comment upon facts like these 2]
" are often blood-raw, and they pain me" (No. 281).—" My
feet blister at bottom, and are very sore. Mother puts some
stuff to them that makes the new skin come" (No. 285).
" I have always sore feet in summer time" (No. 533).
" My feet are often sore winter and summer" (No. 536).
" Feet often so sore that the skin conies off with my stock-
ings" (No. 504).—" If you could have seen my feet last
night" (No. 491).—" Worked when the skin was off my
feet very badly" (No. 492).—" I have often had the skin
off my feet" (No. 232).—" Her feet very often get raw"
(No. 448).—" My feet were always sore in summer;_ they
were blood-raw at bottom, and my ankles are swelled with
a deal of 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" (No.
51):—" I have had almost every day to take a board and
beat it on the table to waken them, as they were slumber-
ing at their work." (Observe the expression, reader—' at
their work'). "At that time they would be hooking cloth ;
and while they should be doing it, I see them nodding and
trying to catch the, hook" (No. 83).—" As to the older ones,
I have often and often seen them down asleep, not being
able to hold up for their work. If the manager had gone
out, they would drop down in a minute in the packinkg-
boxes and go to sleep" (No. 68)—" We have often gone to
sleep' on the tables, or with our heads on the wet cloth, or
anywhere where we could sit still" (No. 378)—'' The
little ones very often fall asleep standing to their work"—
[Mothers of little ones, you will not, you cannot read and
lay this letter by. You have a mission here. Say not that
you can do but little in the matter. Oh I woman, your
power is as immense for good as it is immense for evil. Let
but the maternal feeling of the country rouse itself, and not
another session shall pass away without the rescue of these
little ones.]—
They "fall asleep standing to their work. They fall
asleep standing before their hooks. I have to keep them
awake ; and my heart is so sore for them that I cannot
speak to them. I have worked at bleach-work, in the
finishing-room, twenty years, and it has always been so in
all the works where I have been" (No. 462).—" It falls
very hard upon the weaker boys. I have often seen them
sleeping on their legs, and I have done so often myself.
Their whole frame suffers. I have known at least eight in
the last twelve years who have fallen into consumption and
died." (No. 414).
Well may Mrs. Browning, in her pathetic " Cry of
the Children," speak of these hapless little ones as

" Martyrs by the pang without the palm."

Surely it is a disgrace to our legislation that such
a system shouldbepermitted. Without undue inter-
ference with private interests, or weak sentimen•
tality,such facts as are quoted from the parliamen-
tary " Minutes of Evidence," call loudly for imme-
diate attention. Let not those who labour in the
good cause be discouraged, let them remember the
strenuous opposition encountered by the Ea 1 of
Shaftesbury, when, as Lord Ashley, he won the
enduring gratitude of the factory labourers. And
let those legislators, who tell us that the time for
interference has not come, remember that they are
dooming hundreds of helpless women and children
to years of suffering., and perhaps lifelong infirmity
in consequence. We have no space to allude fur-
ther to the evidence of the dressmaker's appren-
tices, though that system also calls imperatively for
a thorough reformation. We can only direct the
attention of the public to the revelations of Mr.
Hopley's pamphlet, and thank him for having
brought forward the evidence and explanations in
a condensed and comprehensible form.

The Crescent and the Cross.

By Eliot Warburton

Hurst and Blaciett.

Mr. Warburton's delightful work forms the third
volume of Messrs. Hurst and Blackett's new series.
The 15th edition of a book scarcely calls for criti-
cism; we need only commend the cheap and hand-
some edition which now places it within the reach
of a large class of readers. Its success has been
unquestionable ; and, as no library would be com-
plete without it, every purchaser of moderate
means who is desirous of possessing a compact and
handsome volume should secure this opportunity of
adding it to their book shelves.

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