The National tribune., 1883-09-20
TIE DOWN -TR0DDEg.
Laws which Alleviate but Do Not
Cure LabOr'S SufeTingS.
Special Correspondents National Tribune.

Cradley, place of ehainmakers as Lye-Waste
is place OF naiImakers 1t IS Characteristic Ok
the neighborhood Of Birmingham that each
village has one industry; thus naiIers aud
ehainmakers are as thoroughly separated az
though their work differed radically and sepa-
ration were needed. But the difference be-
tween Lye-WaSte and CradIey IS slight There
are the same forges, the same novels, the same
dusky roads, and the same Industrious people.
Te tell the story of the ehainmakers whom we
watched at their forges, is merely to repeat the
picture OF Stocking Lane and this have no
wish to do. Here and there, however, the
foTges are inteTspersed with factories and
works, and the facts as to these works Illus
trate some of the Ills TO which the nailers
eagerly fly in their effort to escape from their
peculiar slavery.
In one establishment we were shown
young women at work gslvanizing pails
and our guide (who had come over from Lye-
Waste for cur benefitl observed privately con-
corning them, They IN fyin from naiiin', and
they thinks its a fine thing to get seven shil-
Inns week. But they gets poorly, and then
they gets sick, and then their parents has to
keep 'em, and they don't earn nOthin' for a
long time till they'm well again." This we
were prepared to believe for we found diff
Guilty IN breathing in the first room TO which
an intelligent foreman showed Us. This was
large, dusky room with high ceiling and ar
rangements for ventilation with which we
could find no fault. But in the middle Of the
room stood seething cauldrOn of a steaming
fluid. Back OF this stood man dipping pals
in the cauldron and handing them 70 young
girls, who swiftly rolled each pail IN heap Of
sawdust, then deity brushed the fluid over
the metal surface, assuring an equal coating TO
every part. few moments of breathing the
fumes from the eauldTon made our retreat TO
the sulsry outdoor air very refreshing, and
TO,
nature of this work, even before we noticed
long rows of carbOys of vitriol which furnish
one ingredient of the galvanizing fluid. The
inspection is severe" observed the foreman.
" The works are closely watched, and if girl
works half hour over time we're brought up
rOundly. It's very unwhOlesOnie work" The
hours are from a. m. to 8 p m with half
hour for breakfast at 8 and an hour at noon. and
the pay is a shilling week higher than the
best pay of the girls in the briekyards. There
is no question concerning the factory act here.
1t is vigorously enforced. So far as the Eng
lish government can by local treatment guard
/ the English working woman, it does guard her
with merciless VigOr. But, IN spite of It's care,
here are young girls taking their lives in their
hands and eagerly entering upon work which
is notOriOusly destruetive-eagerIy entering it
because it yields them seven shiiEngs or one
dollar and seventy-fve cents per week
Cradley, indeed, afforded several illustrations
of the limitations of the factory and school acts.
POOR CHILD.
single example Of q chainmaker who was
marked exception among the class, one who
| had not the fine fiber that ehaTacteFizes these
| workers, will serve to illustrate the hardship5
| that may be inflicted upon children among
| both nailers and chainmakeFs. in spite of the
| admirable administration of both school laws
/ and factory acts As We walked along a street
/ of chainmakers' houses / saw little fgurs
/ walking slowly towards me, such Is | had not
seen in all the variety of wFstehedness which
/ I have studied in London and IN the Black
/ country. 1t was a little girl, who looked ten
years old, stout and erect, but perfectly black,
/ except the whites of her eyes. Her hair, her
/ skin and her rags were alike ingrained with
/ eoaldust, like the worst Of the sweeps whom
/ Sydney Smith described On her head this
I child carried bulky sack of gledes, or finely
i broken coal, and as she passed n0iselessly along
/ l followed her, and holding oat penny, which
/ she silently snatehed, / bought permission TO
see her home. This was not far away, but
when we turned into a grIDy room and the
/ child threw down her burden IN a corner did
! not recognize this as home, and innOcently
/ asked why she stopped here This is where
/ / lives" was the answer, spoken IN q sulen
tone, with total absence OF expression. 1t
| was living room without one vestige Of
| furniture. In its single window there was no
/ whole pane of glass, the little fireplace was
/ empty, the floor of broken earthenware tiles
/ was black with COalduSt, and the Scared walls
| showed none of the usual humble attempt at
decoration. tiny child, with bent legs and
| puny face, sat in the doorway, a wretehed ex-
/ ceptiOn among It's rosy nelghb0Fs- Ihe mother
| of these children said readily that the elder
| girl, the sturdy, sullen goblin of the cOalbags
/ was Just turned thirteen and, therefore, out OK
school and privileged 70 carry all the giedes or
coals used at the mothers forge. This one
| woman alone among all the nailsTs whom
| saw was drunkaTd, was her husband also;
and the school law powerless longer 20
protect her daughter. From her fifth 10 her
| thirteenth birthdays this WTetehed little child
was snatehed through q few hours OF every
school day from the foul atmosphere of her
home. But with the fatal thirteenth birthday
comes the surrender OF governmental control.
and the girl hencefOrth is her mothers ehattel-
In describing HaleSOwen / mentioned little
girl of fourteen who was tOiling sc a nailer'S
forge, a little slave whom the law OF the land
cannot free. But the HaIesowen ehild's lot IS
life of blessedness compared with the little
gnone of Cradley.
HOW TEE LAWS ARE ADMINISTERED.
Another limitation Of the school law and the
factory acts lies IN the direction Of child labor
in the home and che single forge Ous of school
hours The factory acts apply only 70 eStab-
lishments employing certain number Of chill
dren, and individual children, provided only
that they are in school in certain hours, may be
condemned TO exhausting toll at home. Still
another limitation of the acts is shown by the
appearance upon city streets until very late az
night of swarms of tiny boys and girls selling
matches and newspapers, their shriH voices
and ragged figures marring most painfully the
splendid beauty Of every great thOroUghfare-
But this limitation is not directly exemplihed
in Cradley, and / mention it here only to en-
phasize the haTdshipS Of childhood IN England
as these exist in spite 0fan administration Of the
law which commands increasing respect with
every day. When the fullest statement Of the
limitations of the law has been made. however, it
remains true that the English provisions put TO
shame the law of my own State, Pennsy yivaaia,
and they are administered with relentless
energy of which I never dreamed.
Yet the effect of local treatment is merely
| palliative 1t cannot cure the ills it lessons.
The suffering of the people whom l have de-
scribed comes Of their industrial circumstances.
, and the nailers aud chaiunakers grow every
year more wretehed in the face of governmental
: care undreamed Of in America
. Every day am more impressed by the wide
variety of the help that is bestowed upon the
English working people. Penny postal savings
banks and penny school savings banks eneOUr-
age thrift, and have already shown how sternly
the government enforees parental care for
elementary education. Good municipal gov