The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-05-18
THIRD ANNUAL REPORT
The Bureau Of Statistics Of Labor
or MAssACmUsETm.
lCONCLUDKD.I

DOA 80 4HiS arc employed, An0 ~ the
Whiting Paper Company, at Holyoke, the
girls are described a. well dressed and
healthy looking. The DAnves Carpet
Mandatory is probably given a. one of the
worst specimens in the State, in regard "a
its uncleanliness and general appearance
within and without. The law in regard to
the employment of children was broken in
every respect and this may be said Of
nearly all the mills visited throughout the
State, the reason In many cases being given
that the parents were so poor it cost them
all they could earn, with their children, To
support their families.
The mills Of Florence, Haydenville.
Holyoke, Pitts6eld, and other places, were
visited, and the special points Of interest
duly noted.
The testimony of citizens of Blackstone
and SOuthbridge indicates q depreciation.
not only Of real estate In these towns, but
OF the moral and intellectual status of the
people, owing to the influx Of foreigners
and the Necessary conditions consequent
upon factory life. A physician of South
bridge says on page 3S7 81 believe if the
present factory system continues, we will
have in Massachusetts,, within twenty
1 JOoAo1 a bAAA5 SAHoo VI PODulAIlOn becomes
hxed, an ignorant, vicious and uncontrol-
liable mass Of people, such a. Massachusetts,
never saw in her whole history"
MIR. Sampson, Of North Adams, was wis.,
tied BY the Bureau, and the mode Of living
Of the Chinese Is briefly described. Mr..
sampson declined to give any satisfactory
information Of the result Of his experiment
at the time of the interview. The letters
1 which fnllnwyal and ha A.
given.
The Truck System, with testimony upon
its general effect, occupies ten pages Of the
Report, and is thus defined
This expression applies TO the method
of payment Of workmen by orders instead
Of cash from their employers. These or
ders are given on stores which are either
owned, with their merchandise, by the en-
ployers or by some person with whom the
employers have family or business connec-
tions, and who are therefore interested in
their maintenance and success. Stripped
Of any plausible defence, it is a method by
which the wages Of the workmen are made
q source Of profit to employers, and are
speedily returned to them to be used again,
and perhaps again, either In the business of
the manufactory or of thestore, or of both :"
This system is specially prevalent in the
Western counties Of the State.
The Bureau introduces q chapter Of acci-
| dents, with reference to the English sys-
tenn of protection therefrom, and says
1--WE are more and more convinced that
Massachusetts, before long must adopt the
English method of inspection Of mills. il
she means to protect the bodies Of her ope-
rative classes from damage by fracture. and
their minds from damage by ignorance
Only five pages are given TO Strikes,
three only having been investigated, and
these of short duration. Two Of these were
made by women-One at Lynn, against an
obnoxious rule; the other at Stoneham,
against reduction Of wages. The third
was at the Danvers Carpet Company.
Under the head of Homes Of the Work
ing Classes, vivid picture is presented Of
the tenement houses of Boston and other
large towns in the State. The Bureau
claim that their exposure Of the condition Of
the tenement houses in Boston, in 1901,
first awakened public attention, and that
with the auxiliary aid of the State Board Of
Health, ''the importance of homes for the
poor, outside Of the city, with cheap and
easy access by rail, is occupying public
thought and crystalizing into positive act by
men Of sympathy and energy. The great
and blessed change in that once filthy no
torious den known as the Crystal Palace,
on Lincoln street.-the abode Of nastiness.
robbery, drunkenness, prostitution, and
every moral and physical abomination
where riot, disorder, quarrels and police
| Jobs were the daily, nightly and hourly work
-iss most gratifying sample of positivecon
version"
The homes of the miners at Hoosac
Mountain, for which the State is claimed TO
be responsible, are described, and also tene-
ments in Danvers and Salem.
The schools for factory children at Law
renee, New Bedford and Salem were visited.
and added proof of the non-enforcement OF
the school-law observed.
Part AL. ls devoted to argument and re-
commendation. The Argument on Educa-
ton, including Half Time Schools" and
Unschooled Children in Massachusetts,, y
occupies ~ pages. We quote the opening
paragraph;
Really, If experience had not taught us
otherwise, we should hardly have supposed
il necessary to argue before the people Of
Massachusetts upon the Importance Of edu-
eating ALL her children, especially the rap
idly-increasing numbers of the working
children Of the State. Theoretically. even
they who control the large number o.
youthful employees in factories, shops and
stores, and who have within twenty-five
years past supplied or introduced a large
portion Of that class for whose education
we plead, concede (but only Theoretically,
| ika innortanco proc&ical1ry =, A. 10y
uAnce Of long hours, and in neglect of the
school law, they oppose all effort in thai
direction"
And further on they say:
"We believe that public sentiment In al.
ready ripe for action, and ready to sustain
any forceful appliances that resolute leQis.
lation viii render effective. The argument
that State interference win be trenchins
upon individual rights, may be claased witt
the arguments against the right of ths
State TO enact laws for the protection Of il,
citizens and itself against the spread Of dia
ease, either in man or beast-AQAinst il,
right TO shut up lunatics in Asylums, or vii
lains Of any degree in prison"
1t 10 claimed that ''it ia both the dutv nDd
the right Of the civil power to educate IN,
people such right and such duty restins
on two distinct principles-One economi,
and the other judicial Education add,
directly to the economic value OF men
helping them under all circumstnnces-
helping them specially when art brings for
ward new and better machinery, and scienc,
new and better methods, to accommodate,
themselves thereunto, and 30 increaain,
hn