New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-03-15
In the return made to the House of Commons in
EshrnnrI lSh1 the account stands thus:
Totsl................,. l,bll

From tbls tADuIar slhtemfN IL appears, t0at III
twenty. two years the number Of cotton mills has
nearly doubled, while the number OF persons en-
ployed therein has more than doubled. In tbs
wooden and worsted manufactures the cOnsid-
cradle decrease Of the number Of mills simultaneous
with an increase of more than twO-fold IN the per
sons employed therein, shows the concentration of
capital and the extinction, 10 great degree OF the
smaller mills by the larger ones. The same pro
cess, although on . smaller scale, may be observed
with regard to the fax mills. AS to the silk mills,
their number has been doubled, and the number OF
person, employed in them nearly But a.
Mr.. Homer remarks, " the increase IN the actual
number Of mills is not the only measure of pro
" erosion; for the great Improvements that have
I" been made in machinery of all kinds, have vastly
Increased their productive powers The import
ant point is, that stimulus 10 these improvements,
especially as regards the greater speed OF machines
An given time, was evidently given by the legal
restrictions Of the hours of work. These m-
provements," says Mr. Horner " aud the closer
application which the operatives are enabled TO
give, have had the effect, as / have been again
o. and sgsin assured, of as much work being turned
" of in the shortened time as used to be IN the
" longer hours"
1t is Principally in Mr.. Hcrner's district that
wifu and deliberate violations of the enaetments
that restrict the hours of work, as we'll as those
respecting the age Of the workers and the attend
anee 10 school Of children from eight TO thirteen
years who BY law are 10 work halEtime only, have
been on the increase since the recent improved state
of trade. j quote from the report:
"The temptation Of increased profits is welded 10
by those mil OwueIs in vhose code of morality DISC
beoence to an act Of Parliament s crime, sDd who
calculate that the amount Of any fine they wi have To
psy if found out viii form a very small proportion OF
the profit they make by disregardng the restrictions
III the law
To understand this trite complaint which We
meet IN all the successive reports 1t must be first
considered that, for the greater part, the msgis-
trates conslst of manufacturers their relations
that secondly the fines imposed BY law are very
small, and lastly, that young persons and women
art only held Ia be employed nni,sS he contrary
+" shall be proceed Now, MS Mr.. Homer states:
Nothing h more easy for q fraudulent mill-owner
than 70 preserve the contrary He has Ouly 10 stop his
steam engine 50 soon as the Inspector sppears snd
then all work ceases, and in every information the III
sp~ctor must prove toat the individual named in the
complaint found actually az work. so soon as ths
hegs working begiRs aud it takes place a, six differ
entpenods Of tie day, the groas daily amount b.iog
nade up OF small nstsilnsats, watch Is set TO give
poilce 81 the approach Of an Inspector and inme1-
siey on ms btiUg seen signal is given 10 stop the
engine snc to turn the people oct Of tue mill"
ton'cuons can, IN fact, be- obtained only by the
Sub-inspeetors overcoming the repugnahce natural
~ eentemen 10 resort 10 measures akin 10 those
of a detective ponce officer. Inc persons of the
Inspector and hisSub inspectors becoming soon we'll
known in their respective districts they thereby
cease 10 he able 20 detect those most skfu in break
ing the law ard she only resource left to them is to
nnll in their colleagues from neighboring districts
whO, being mistaken for foreign merchants coming
70 buy may escape the notice OF The scouts posted
by the mill-Owners on the different railway stations.
The following bulletin Of the wounded and dead