The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-11-27


A letter from Lord Shaf1esbur1 Ii
the London Times draws fresh atten-
ton to the recently issued report of
the Inspector of Factories and to the
valuable and painful information
which it contains on the subject of
female labor in the Black Country and
Ieighborhood. The account sriveh by
Mr.: shb-inspcctor Brewer of the state
of things prevailing in what is known
lis ''the nail and Chain district" is of
especial interest. From both the nail
and chain trades there are, lie says,
"str6ng representations made against
the labor of women, whether as to the
number employed or the size of the
articles made. The women are said to
take the place of fathers us well as
husbands, while the men are Idle and
drunken" On entering nail shop in
the outskirts of large manufacturing
town, Mr.. Brewer 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. ''Dovou call this a free coun-
try where women are employed in such
trades Us these2' Mr.. Brewer replied
that he had again and again discussed
this question with working meh around
him; and he adds: 81 am now con-
tinually asked whether [ cannot do
something to stop women's labor, espe-
cIally in and around Halesowen, where
hundreds work (the manufacture of
the large class of nails and spikes is
the order of the day, and Is far filter
for mems work than women's. The
root of all evil in the Black Country
appears to be drunkenness; no matter
whether the drinker be puddler, col
lier, chain or nail maker. The cutlery
against the GOLFERS and puddlers
wives working is very great; not, per-
haps, so much from the influx into the
trade, but from the fact that they
work night and day, toll and slave; and
for what? Not for the price that
aight-forward masters would give,
but for any price any crafty knave of
master chooses to offer" In the mean
time the husband is luxuriating 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 living on their wives labor
prevails. A young women, address
ing Mr.. Brewer, said, ''Master, l
wish you would make my man do a
little more work, and me less. / mar
ried a swell, | did" To the inquiry
what she meant by swell, the reply,
was, "Why, when l married him in
the morning he had a smart gold
watch and chain, and a smart dickey,
but when we came to 90 to bed at
night Pm blessed if he had en- 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 order to obtain an "easy life" To
question addressed by Mr.. Brewer
to some Intelligent and wellmeaning
chain-makers," the answer was that one
of the evils arising from female labor
is the number of hours women are al
lowed to work being so many in excess
of a great deal of male labor. "We
would suggest that all females COM
mence work not earlier than 8 A. NJ,
and not work later than T. NJ. eve
would suggest that every occupier or
owner Of chain shop should be served
with a copy of the rules, i. e., the
rules of the trade, which it should be
compulsory by law to have hung 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. Wo-
men work often in an advanced state
of pregnancy, and shocking story is
told Of girl working at brickyard
cooking exceedingly ILL.," and who, to
a remark of the manager ''that she
did not look up tomuch this morning"
replied, "No more would you if you
had had child during the night"