The Sun.
London, England, 1819-03-06 00:00:00

COTTON FACTORIES.

The following are the Statements and Deduc-
tions to which in a former Article on this subject
reference was recently made in our Columns;
and we venture to think, that they will be found
to justify the promise which we then gave, of " a
brief unvarnished tale, which will nit require ten
minutes for the perusal, and which, once read,
can never be forgotten."

FACTS AS TO THE AGES ANtl HEALTII OF' PER-
SONS EMPLOYED IN COTTON FACTORIES.
It is proper to premise, for the Reader's infor-
mation, that it has been an object with certain
of the Master-Spinners to spew, that both in re-
spect of Happiness and of Health, the condition
of the Persons employed in their Trade is good,
and not less favourable than that of those eu-
gaged in other Trades generally. It seems to
have been with this view, and in order to inva-
lidate the purpose of Sir Robert Peel's Bill, that
in the lait Session of Parliament they presented
in evidence before Committees of the House of
Lords, certain Reports from eleven Cotton Fac-
tories in Manchester (see Apr, to ihe Minutes of
l?,vidence before the Lords), exhibiting the Names
of those employed therein, with the Age and state
of Health of each Hdividual. lts !tine of those
Schedules tie time was also specified (luting which
each Person (k, irb a very few exceptions) had
worked in a Cotton Mill The ag,,iregate num-
ber thus particularized in those nine Factories
is 4 938.
Although the Factories in question were select-
ed by the Master-Spinners themselves, and their
purpose in that selection is to chew, that the
Health of their Labourers is good, they have un-
warily supplied Documents which go to establish
inferences that very little Correspond with such
a result. This , is deducible on the following
grounds :—The Ages of the Persons then actually
employed being given, and, also the Number of
Years during which each had been in that occo-
pation, the difference is presumed to be the Age
at which the said Persons first began to work in
a Cotton Factory. Un this presumption we have
from those aforesaid Reports the followiug re-
sults, viz :

discs (at the time when the Schedules were made out) of the
4,938 Individuals employed in Nine Factories, selected by
the MaSter-Spiuners themselves, viz :-
80 of them under 9 Years old
764

1-271

781
715

533

25 to 2 9 do.
30 to 34 do.
2tl
igc

317 ...

10

4,938

Their ages, on their first going to a Cotton M.
appear to have been as follows, viz :

1658'

16(57 . from 9. to n, both inclusive.;

770

371 ...

.9.33 •

16 to 19 do.
20 to 24 do.
25 to 29 do.

30 to 34 do.

3.3 to .99 do.
do.

21

5O and upwards.

4,933

It follows, therefore, that upwards of a third
part of the above 4938 persons began to work in
a Cotton-Mill before they were vine years of age,
and more than two-thirds before they were twc/re;
and, strange as it may seem, it is a direct inference
from the said statements, that of 3326, who be-
ran their labours in a Factory when tinder time
age of 12, only 197 had attained to their 30th
year ; Ig to their 40th, and two to their 50th
years.

The Reports, from which these Statements are
drawn, having been voluntarily presented by the
opponents of the Bill, it is reasonable to con-
clude that they were as favourable to their cause as
circumstances would admit of ; and this inference
has the more force when it comes to be consi-
dered, that the Factories whence they were fur-
nished have the reputation of being well-conduct-
ed establishments. On the presumption, then,
that these woiks exhibit a fair standard of the
state of Cotton. Mills in the town of Manchester ;
and that the ages of ttre persons employed in them
generally (at the time of their first going to wwk
in a Cotton Mill), have been, on an average, for
a series of years, commensurate with the ages at
which tl►e above 4938 persons began tl►e like
work, and that, in other respects, they were
similarly circumstanced, the following conclu-
sions will necessarily follow, viz.--
That of those who are subjected to the labour
and confinement of a Cotton Mill at all ages un-
der twelve, not more than one in sixteen, who
have attained to the age of 30, is (wind in any
such works, nor more that► one in 170 who have
reached their 40th year.

. -
That of 4938 persons engaged in these Cotton
only seventy who survive to the age of
fifty remain in the employment ; and it is a re-
markable fact, that only eleven out of 4466, who
begin their labours in these works at all ages un-
der twenty, are of that number.
That of 4914 persons who commence their la-
bours at all ages under 40, only 242 who arrive
at their 40th year continue to be employed in
any such Mills ; and only 86 out of 4466, who
'begin the work at all ages under 20, are of that
number.

That of 4888 persons who commence their la-
bours in a Cotton Mill at all ages under 35, only
427 who arrive at their 35th year continue to
have employment in any such works ; anti' only
218, out of 4466 who begin the work at all ages
under 20, are of that number.
That of 4841 persons, therefore, who begin
their labours in a Cotton Mill at all ages under
30, only 698 who arrive at their 30th year con-