The Labor enquirer., 1884-07-12

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i In the early dawn of the sixteenth
century the church lands, nearly one
1 third of the entire country, we're seized !;
this was followed by numerous seizures
of commons. From that time onward
{ there is but a continued record of confs-
cations In the middle of the eighteenth
| century it may be said that the Indus
trial Revolution began. Large factories
4 containing hundreds of workers arose,
| the production of wealth became social
kized, while the appropriation remained
1 on an individualistic basis. The com
munity made. but class claimed owner
ship. Gradually but keenly the iron
rule of capitalism began to tell upon the
people. Production was carried on with
the sole object of profit in view. The
health and'well being Of the community
were never considered Itwas to the in
terest of the capitalist to get his hands
to work for as long a time and as little
j payment as possible. Constant improve
ments in labor-saving machinery often
threw hundreds of workers out Of en-
ployment And frequently the workmen
wreaked their wrath upon the machines,
instead of upon the capitalists. The
number of unemployed in the market
brought competition for work. If one
man was receiving a wage which kept
his family comfortably another would
offer his services for a much smaller
amount, say as much as would merely
maintain him. This forced wages down
to minimum, and they were then as
they are now regulated at the amount
which would give bare living. 1t was
found that many of the machines could
be tended as well by women and chill
/ dren as by men. The introduction of
child and female labor made competition
keener, and put the proletariat more
than ever at the mercy of the bour-
geoisie. The condition of the people
became miserable in the extreme. DR..
! Percival wrote to the Manchester board
of health in 1896: "The large factories
are generally injurious to the constitu-
tions of those employed in them, even
where no particular diseases prevail, from
the debilitating effects of hot or impure
air, and from the want of the active ex-
ercises which nature points out as essen
tial in childhood and growth, to invigor-
ate the system and to fit our species for
the employments and duties of manhood.
The untimely labor of the night and the
protracted labor of the day, with respect
to children, not only tends to diminish
future expectations as to the general sum
of life and industry, by ippairing
strength and destroying the vital stam-
ina of the rising generation. ."-Hynd-
mans Historical Socialism"
Robert Owen tells US that the chill
dren were admitted to the mills at five
and six years of age, and worked usually
fourteen hours, often fifteen and some
ltimes sixteen hours per day, and these
children were ffogged if they did not
perform their task quickly or efficiently
enough. During this time no relief could
be hoped for from the government; it
was then as now an institution for car
rying out the DEGREES of capitalists. A
law was passed in the reign of Elizabeth
which empowered courts to fix the rate
of wages; the law became unavoidable
and led to some strife between masters
and men. The employers demanded its
repeal and presented petition with
1000 signatures against it. The workers
demanded its amendment and presented
petition with $1,000 signatures in favor
of it. But capital dominated parliament
and the law was repealed. Robert Owen
said that the white slaves in English
manufactures were much worse off than
the black slaves of America and the
4 West Indies. The children in the work
houses of London were sold as appren1
tices to Lancashire factory lords. The
degradation brought about by grasping
capitalism is revolving. In Manchester,
in 1916, nearly two-thirds of the factory
hands were under eighteen years of age.
Of the sick in the hospitals so per cent
were suffering from scrofula, whilst in
Liverpool, where there were no factories.
only per cent we're suffering from this
disease. In 1874, in speaking in favor of
bill limiting the working day to ten
hours, Lord Shaftesbury proved that
women employed in spinning yarns bad
to walk backwards and forwards a dis
lance of from nineteen to twenty-nine
miles day, turning 1000 or 5000 times,
(which added greatly to the exhaustion of
the work. .. -"
The condition of women and chill
dren employed in agricultural pursuits
was, if possible, still worse. -.. -.
Mr.. Hyndman says: ''The report on
women and children employed in agri-
culture of the year 1S43, discloses truly
abomlnableNs state of things, under the
very eyes and noses of our patriots
mobiles and squires. Children of 5 and 6
years old were employed at the most
4 exhausting labor, after walking several
miles to their work. The gang master,
who was land isy literally slave driver
in the old sense, simply gets his gang
together and undertakeS,a contract. All
he has to do is to. finish the work as
quickly as possible. HeAis not in the