Star.
London, England, 1818-04-02 00:00:00

manufactures, carried on in buildings in which the
atmosphere is by no means the most favourable to
human life.
If the well-being of our fellow creatures be a more
important object than a fractional diminution of the
prime cost of a few articles of commerce—often very I
useless ones—and if that object be a primary consi-
deration in any change ist the practices and habits of
society, then surely the -resent generation has gout
far astray from the right course, when, it has ex-
changed nine hours of healthy and really productive
labour,for fourteen hours of unhealthy, and often of
useless or pet nicious employment. To mark the con-
trast of the two systems, look at the healthy, compa-
ratively well trained, Scottish peasant boy, who at-
tends the parochial school until he is fourteen or
fifteen years old,—and then turn your eyes to the
feeble, pale, and wretched flax or cotton spinning
children, who, at an early age, are doomed all the
year round to one unvarying occupation for fourteen
or fifteen hours a-day, going to their work in winter
before it is light in the- morning, and returning lor-g
after dark. And here I may well ask—how should
we like our children, girls as well as boys, to be thus
employed ? Would any of us permit our slaves, if
we were obliged to maintain them, to be so treated?
Surely it is but necessary to call your attention to
these facts, and you must instantly be aware of the
injustice and useless cruelty, which we thus inflict
upon the most helpless beings in society. At this
moment I feel almost ashamed to address any human
being on such a subject.
You may perhaps admit that the Legislature has a
right to regulate the labour of these helpless children,
And that you would not suffer much inconvenience
from being obliged to employ persons of more ad-
vanced age in their place : but the free labourer, you
may say, should be permitted to work, as long as he
is willing, for hire. If the operatives in our manu-
factures were really free, and had the option to work
nine or fifteen hours a day, it might be less necessary
to legislate on this subject. But What is their actual
situation in this respect? Are they, in any thing but
appearance, free labourers ? Would they not, in fact,
be compelled to work the customary gOurs though
they were twenty? What alternative have they—or
what freedom is.there in this ease, but the liberty of
starving T An excess of labour and confinement pre-
maturely weakens and destroys all the functions of
the animal frame; and few constitutions can be pre-
served in health and vigour, under a regular occu-
pation in our manufactures for more than ten hours
per day, exclusive of the time requisite for meals. It
may, however, perhaps appear to you that you have
no particular interest in attending to the health- and
comforts of the working classes, provided you can
get your work well and cheaply performed by them.
Every master manufacturer is most anxious to have
his work cheaply performed, and as he is perpe-
tually exerting all his faculties to attain this object,
he considers low wages to be essential to his success.
By one master or other, every means are used to re-
, duce wages to the lowest possible point, and if but
one succeeds, the others must follow in their own de-
fence. Yet, when the subject is properly considered,
no evil ought to be more dreaded by master manu-
facturers than low wages of labour, or a want of the
means to procure reasonable comfort among the
working classes. These, in consequence of their num-
bers, are the greatest consumers of all articles; and
it will always be found that when wages are high,
the country prospers; when they are low, all classes
suffer, from the highest to the lowest, but more par-
ticularly the manufacturing interest ; for food must
be first purchased, and the remainder only of the la-
bourers wages can be expended in manufactures. It
is therefore essentially the interest of the master ma-
nufacturer that the wages of the labourer should be
high, and that he should be allowed the necessary
time and instruction to enable him to expend them
judiciously—which is not possible under the exis-
tence of our present practices. And this brings me
to the main point of this letter :—ls it, or is it not,
the interest of the master manufacturers that their
operatives should be employed longer than ten hours
per day ? The most substantial support to the trade,
commerce, and manufactures of this and of every
country, are the labouring classes of its population ;
and the real prosperity of any nation may be at all
times accurately ascertained, by the amount of wages,
or the extent of the comforts, which the productive
classes can obtain, in return for their labour. It is
evident that food must be procured by the working
man and his family before he can purchase any other
article. If therefore this class of our population is
so degraded and oppressed, that they can only procure
the bare necessaries of life, they are lost as customers
to the manufacturer ; and it is to be recollected that
at least two thirds of the population of all countries
derive their immediate support from the wages of
labour, and in this country chiefly from trade and
manufactures. The working classes may be injuri-
ously degraded and oppressed in three ways : Ist,
When they are neglected in infancy. 2dly, Where
they are overworked by their employer, and are thus
rendered incompetent from ignorance to make a good
use of high wages, when they can procure them :
and, Sclly, When they are paid low wages for their
labour. But when ignorance, overwork, and low
wages are combined ; not only is the labourer in a
wretched situation, but all the higher classes are es-
sentially injured, lthough none will suffer in conse-
quence more severely than the master manufacturer,
for the reason which has been before stated. Let
your minds dwell a little longer on this subject, and
you will soon discover that it is most obviously your
I interest that your operatives should be well taught in
infancy, and during their future lives rendered
healthy, and put in possession of the means of being i
good customers to you. But they cannot be well
taught, healthy, or competent to spend moderate
wages advantageously for themselves, for you, and
for the country, if they enter into your employment
at a premature age, and are afterwards compelled to
exhaust their physical powers by unreasonable labour,
without proper relaxation and leisure. By such short-
sighted practices you cut up your prosperity by the
root, and most effectually kill the goose from which
you would otherwise daily receive the golden egg.
I can have no motive to deceive you. My whole
pecuniary interest is embarked in the same cause
with you. lam one of yourselves, and should suffer
more than the majority of you by any measure that
really injured the manufacturing system. I have
taken mach pains not to be misled on this subject;
and my view of it has been, I think, unbiassed. I