Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1855-04-27
Factory Operatives.
BY PROF. sANBoRN OF DARTMOUTH,


The recent strike of the laborers in the
mills at Manchester, n. H., is sirnifca~. u
instructive. 1t is significant of tw" facts
s-st that our inteIIbV"e young men anu
women uV .,Vt mean to be slaves secondly,
that the price of personal labor is relatively
too high in factories. During the high
pressure system of manufacturing which
grew up, by the aid of protective tariff,
exorbitant wages were paid to induce ope-
ratives to enter the mills and to defeat the
success of rival factories. The strike above
alluded to is instructive in several particu-
lars. 1t shows that the business of manu-
featuring has advanced farther than other
departments of labor. 1t has in some respects,
become the riral instead Of the ally of agri-
culture. The two processes, if rightly man
aged, mutually assist each other. The manu-
factury gives employment to surplus laborers
and furnishes a ready market for surplus
produce. If a farmer has more sons or
daughters, than can be proftably employed
at home, it is exceedingly desirable that
some of the children should find employment
in manu- ufactories. Then, instead of beings
burden at home, they can aid the father in
providing new homes for the children as they
successively attain to their majority. Again,
If u farmer raises more than he needs for the
support of his family, he finds a ready mar
ket for his produce at a ncighboring manu-
factory. Let the two interests, thus assist
each other, and they promote the prosperity
of the whole community But, when the
mills offer such inducements to the young as
to draw away the necessary laborers from the
old homestead, and cause them to leave the
place of their birth, to decay, doubt if
such degree of prosperity in manufacturers,
is desirable. For the last twenty years, the
facilities of earning money at the factories,
have been so great, that neither % love nor
money could command the 90 help needed
in the country, for the ordinary duties of
domestic life Housekeeping has lost Its
charms for girls. They prefer to work eleven
hours amid the incessant din of machinery
and inhale the dust and stencil Of the hot
and steaming factory, during all this time,
rather than TO labor in the kitchen fee hours
| for about the same price After spending
several wears in the unhealthy and debilitat-
ing employment and expending half their
wages in adorning their persons in style
which they can i'll afford, they return to
their homes entirely untitled for house-keep-
ing, which is the end and aim of all their
tolls. Is this the best kind of discipline for
those who are destined to be the wives of our
I farmers and mechanics ! 1t is a notorious
fact that throughout the New England States
it is almost impossible to hire at any price,
American girls for domestic service. The
reason is obvious. They prefer factory labor
and factory wages. Recently, the business
/ OF mas ueCllHeu- II uOSS NV
pay a it once did, when the duties on import
ed fabrics were higher, The result has been
that the proprietors are obliged to dimin-
| ish the pay or increase the hours of labor
In Manchester they adopted the latter course.
The operatives were required to work twelve
hours each day. Now, anybody who knows
anything of the laws of life and health,
knows that the human constitution cannot
long sustain such an amount of labor with
out loss of health. The operatives, there
fore, do we'll to leave the factories and return
! to their native hills and breathe the pure air
that circulates so freely round the old home
steads. There can scarcely be doubt that
the temporary lull in the business ofspinning
and weaving, will prove advantageous to
agriculture, and through that to the highest
interests of the community. am so anti
quated in my notionsas to prefer the influence
of home upon young and tender maidens to
that of the factory. None ought to engage
IN the service but adults whose health is firm
and whose principles are we'll established. -
The refinement which is acquired by aping
the manners and habits of the rich and the
morals that are taught in .crowd, do not
furnish the best " hitting -out" for young
candidate for matrimony. Tho farm house
now offers greater inducements to the indus
trious than the factory, and it is an omen of
good to our country Nor thern Farmer.