Sentence:  ...are such as the cotton, woolen, and shoe factories, wherein the use of machinery has made mere human tenders of the operatives employed; or in such industries as the making of garments, wherein <WSD>light-handed</WSD> and comparatively unskilled labor, such as that of women and children, embodies the very worst features of an utterly selfish competition, and leaves the worker almost entirely at the mercy of "sweaters" and "middle-men." 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Having or requiring little strength.