Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1851-12-19
Vol. XXXVI.-WhOIe No. 1866.

no olher CLASS ol ldporllg people are pet
ter off, if as well.
3. WAGEs.-The wages of girl aver.
ages 81 per week. Her board is ST %
per week, SO that she receives clear 81, rs.
OF this she can lay up 81 and she does
in almost all instances. TO what purpose
this is put shall explain hereafter.
4. TME.-The time Of working hours
in the mills is fixed by regulations, al
twelve hours per day. This is the only
point in the conduct of the mills to which
| should object. But, it must be observed,
that these people are not dependents.
They come and go at their will, and
may here say that the average time, in
which the girls remain at the mills, does
not exceed two and half years, if as
much. There, this kind of life is brief to
all the operatives except few, (moslly
foreigners who have made profession of
the more artistical part of the work.
5. Wool CoNsUMED.-Int the week end
ing the 23d of August, the consumption
of wool was l2,600 pounds per day, or,
at the rate of three millions eight hundred
and ninety-three thousand four hundred
pounds per annum If this had all been
Ohio wool, it would have been one-half
the entire surplus wool of the State. But
these companies actually consume a great
deal of foreign wool, some of il is brought
from Morocco and some from South Amer
ica. This is the coarse and long staple.
But how unnatural for country like this
to import wool
e NJ
are four kinds of articles in these mills.
There are Shawls, Cassimeres, Sattinets,
and Felt Cloths for oyercoats. The prin-
cipal products are
Shawls, 900 per day;
Sattinets, 1000 yards per day;
Besides Felt Cloths, and at one time,
Rugs were made here. These great facts
will give you an idea of the magnitude of
these works, and of their inevitable effect
upon the wealth and industry of the peo-
pie. But there are other things than these
mechanical results of yet greater import
ance to the welfare of society. Go with
me while | estimate the social effects in
economy, in comfort and in the develOpe-
ment of mind. These Bav State Shawls
are now sold at from So to So each, ac-
cording to size. Mr.. John d. Jones, our
tellOw-citiZen, tells me that ten years since
they were sold at SIS each. As these
shawls are really a very useful article to
women, (who too commonly dress thin,)
we can see how great saving is made in
necessary article by the reduction of
price one-half. How much greater saving
it is when it is from our own wool, and by
our own women they are made
Let US next see how far the introduction
of this species of industry has affected the
condition and comfort of the laboring
classes. If it has deprecated that condi-
ton; if 1t has lowered the standard of
morals; if, in one word, it has made such
a population as is represented in some OF
the exaggerated pictures of the English
Manufacturing society, then it has done
an evil for which no economical advantages
can compensate. Hast? No. The very
reverse is true. There is here no manu-
featuring population, as generally under
stood, dependent on their employers none
either degraded in intellect or debased in
morals. What is their condition here
Here are twelve hundred females, nine
tenths of whom are between the ages of
sixteen and thirty. Of this great number
there is scarcely one who cannot read.
There are workmen who cannot write
their names; but they were born in other
lands, and have been nurtured under less
genial laws. Such is their intellectual
condition. What is their morals These
women board IN houses where all the sub
stanual elements of civilization are found,
and all the restraints of a moral society
exert their influence, and where tempta-
tlons are far less than in ordinary society.
What Is the temptation of one of these in
dependent operatives compared with that
of the poor workwomen of our cities
The boarding-houses are under the police
regulations OF the company, and are al
most all kept by widows, reputable and
honest, selected by the officers, who get
their rent very low, and furnish whole
some food for their boarders. That great
safeguard, a pure public sentiment, exerts
the same salutary influences here over in
dlvlduals that it does in all well regulated
society. The community guards with
Jealous care the reputation of its members.
But, with what object have these thou
sands of females entered Oh their vocation?
| have said the average time spent here,
by them, is about two and a half ears
This proves that this is not the business
of their lives, nor entered upon with any
such object, except, perhaps, in a few ex-
ceptional cases. How then, have they
come here ! They have almost all come
to get some surplus funds of their own,
for specific object, which is generally one
of three or four particular purposes.
Some have come from filial Piety, TO re-