The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1882-09-09
ABOUT FACTORY LIFE
THE SOCIAL, SCIENCE CONVENTION

The SOCIAL, SCIENCE SoNVeN i0N'
A Woman's Views on tho Hours OF Factory Labor.
4 Plea for Tea Hours work-Th Factory
| M an Element Of Civllratlon-Arsu. 3
Il ments Favorable to the Workiusniau. Z
| SARATOGA, September SIN tho Social
Science Association report was read on
tho hours Of factory labor, advocating the
restriction Of the law OF ten hours for q
days work. Lucy Larcom read the follow.
| Ing paper on factory life: III -
The past has All interest OF It's own, but
| its chief value lies in It's relation to the fu.
ture. Progress being the natural order,
every good thing Innkes lis hope for bet.
ter. The history OF American cotton manu-.
iaclures lias been record OF external
prosperity. Fortunes have been made,
machinery has been improved, 'nnd enl-
ployment has been given to vast numbers
OF people. Can pro sress bD traced in the
condition and character OF the t0ilers; at
iuctory labor? comparing the past with
the present we may sum up what was best
in the earlier life ut Lowell, for 80 many
years the. representative manufacturing
city of the United States. First, nnd last,
too, in importance was the character OF the
toilers themselves. y They .:were n nj.
most all :. New - Englnnd - women,
Intelligent, industrious and conscientious,
such young women ns grow up around our
country firesides and in our village schools
and academies. They were the daughters
OF the lind who have since becomes its
mothers anti teachers. : Is there any large
proportion OF such women in our cotton
mills now? To SEQ why there is not there
must follow brief consideration Of manu-.
featuring life in the general traits and in
its early character ut Lowell, a feature Of
the social life not to be overlooked was the
great care for the morals OF those employed,
us shown by certain restrictions and regu.
lations, which grew out OF the moral: senti.
ment oi the community itself. All the pre-.
yious associations OF the Lowell mill girl
required high slandardof personal char
acter among the people where she lived
and worked. Employers and employed
svmpathized entirely in this matter, The
churches were not only filed but often
almost entirely supported by those who
worked in the mills. Intellectual tastes
formed Il common ground upon which they
all met. SO that for many years Lowell; was
looked upon much in the light OF q school
for mental and moral development In
this way the gathering Of 20 many young
strangers together WIS an advantage rather
than. the .injury which might have been
feared. Close and intliscriminate contact
has been, and must perhaps always be,
one Of the unmanageable difficulties in the
way OF factory toilers. 1n other respects
things are certainly. easier for them now
than then. There is more leisure, ten
hours Of labor daily instead Of thirteen or
fourteen higher wages are paid, and We
hear OF libraries and rtading.roonls ior1nill
people in some places Judging the pres.
eut from the past, We should look for more
cultivation, 0but the general report Is that
the reverse is true. The reason OF the
change is in the different sor, of persons
employed. They are mostly foreigners
from the lower stratiGcations OF European
society, without the tastes or aspirations
which have always characterized New
Englanders. we 30 back to the question
how irwas thatthis was inevitable. a mill
girl among her spindics and shuttles thirty
or forty years ago, had not the slightest
idea OF always remaining there. Her work
was not It's own end, aud it was
pursued for A. purpose beyond itself;
for M opening into frcer Ii ie. When
she went back to her country
life and saw her young daughters growing
up around her in home OF her own, she
did no, expect to see them toll in the mills
as she had done, but 10 teach or take some
other useful position in socitlS, and she
used the money she had earned to give
them M education, or laid it by ior dow
nv. So it became for the interest OF EN-.
ployers to introduce laborers who should
he more permanent. =. In this way,a dis.
tinct manufacturing population has ap.
peared in our larger cities, andi is from
what these are and will be that the inilu.
ence OF factories is to be hereafter Judged.
We have now not SO much our own people
IS the undcveloped population Of Europe
to deal with, and we cannot expect OF
them thei intellect, the; morals: and the
Christianity that pervnded our first manu-.
featuring towns, and made their atmos-
phere as pure and sweet MS that OF 4 sum.
mer day among the White Hills. 1t is the
factory people Of the Old World who now
fill our mills; it il, in effect, Great Britain 5
unanswered labor problem that is handed
over to us to be solved. No better s,audard
OF civilization than that OF our fore
| fathers has been set up, namely, the Intel.
ligence, the morals and humanity OF the
people themselves Of whatever Sex, station
or occupation And our foreign mill labor
ers must be educated up to the idea OF
American citizenship, and learn to hold
themselves responsible members OF the
nation which has adopted them, Or. our
manufacturing cities vii! become rs great
n disgrace to US as Ensland's arc 10 her;
and until the laborers see this for them
selves employers must be larEly responsible
for them: The more ignorant must be
dealt with patiently, like children, and
every opportunity ior mental and moral
development placed within reach OF all.
Never for moment can we afford to allow
in ourselves contempt ior, the lower
I.,t, I,nt tt,lv ,liII NrH