Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-12-01
A MELANCHOLY STORY.


Female Labor In England.
A letter from Lord Shaftesbury il
the London Times draws fresh attentio,
to the recently issued report of the In
spector of Factories and to the valuabl,
and painful information which it con
tains on the subject Of female labor il
the Black Country and neighborhood
The account given by Mr.. Sub nspec
tor Brewer of the state of things pre-
valllng in what is known as "the mai
and chain district is of especial inter
est. From both the nail and chair
trades there are, he says, "strong rep
RESERVATIONS made against the labor OF
women, whether as to the numbers en-
ployed or the size of tho articles made.
The women are said to take the place
OF fathers as well as husbands, while
the men are idle and drunken" On
entering nail shop in the outskirts of
large manufacturing town, Mr.. Brew
er was greeted with the remark, 81
thought this was free country" and,
on his inquiring what was the
matter, he was met by the
question. "Do you call this a
free country where women unemployed
IN such trades as these?" Mr.. Brewer
replied that he had again and again
discussed this question with working
men around him; and he adds: 81 am
now continually asked whether I cam
not do something to stopwomen's labor,
especially in and around Halesowen,
where hundreds work (the manufacture
OF the larger class of nails and spikes)
is the order of the day, and is far filter
for mems work than women's. The
root OF ssall evil in the Black Country
appears to be drunkenness; no matter
whether the drinker be a puddler, col
her, chain or nail maker. The outcry
against the GOLFERS and puddlcrs'
wives working is very great; not, per
ha s, SO much from the influx into the
trade, but from the fact that they work
night and day, toll and slave; and for
whata Not for the price that straight
forward masters would give, but for any
price any crafty knave of a
master chooses to offer" In
the meantime the husband is
luxurlatlng IN some public
house, at his ease, and "training his
whiffet for some future running on
beefsteaks and the best of good fare"
Nor Is it only in the nail and chain
trade that the practice of husbands liv
ing on their wives labor prevails. A
young woman, addressing Mr.. Brewer,
said, Master, wish you would make
my man do little more work, and me
less. / married swell, I did" To
the inquiry what she meant by a swell,
the reply was, Why, when, 1 married
him in the morning he had smart gold
watch and chain, and smart dickey,
but when we came to go to bed at night
I'm blessed if he had e'r shirt on, and
ever since rs had to keep him by
working in the brickyard, and not only
keep him, but find him money to
drink" And it is, it seems, growing
custom for idle, lazy young lads to look
out for skilled, Industrious wives in or
der to obtain an "easy life." To
question addressed by Mr.. Brewer
to some g intelligent and we'll
meaning chain-makers, the an
swer was that one of the evils arising
from female labor is the number Of
hours women are allowed to work being
SO many in excess of q great deal of
male labor. eve would suggest that
all females commence work not earlier
than 8 A. NJ, and not work later than 7
P. NJ. We would suggest that every oc-
cupier or owner of chain shop should
be served with copy of the rules, i. e.,
the rules of the trade, which it should
be compulsory by law to have hung up
In the shop, and that the Factory Act
holidays be applied to chain shops. !"
The sanitary condition of the shops,
Mr.. Brewer says, is often bad. Women
work often in an advanced state of
pregnancy, and shocking story is told
of girl working at brickyard "look.
ing exceedingly ill., and who, to re-
mark of the manager 6 that she did
not look up to much this morning." re-
Piled " No more would you if you had
had child during the night"