The Cotton Factory Times. — 1901-06-21 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

YORKSHIRE OPINION.  The Yorkshire Factory Times comments as follows: —A lurid light has been cast upon the system of " driving " in weaving sheds by the investigation into the sad affair at Darwen, after reading the particulars of which we are constrained to say, "Perish the industry altogether that cannot be carried on without recourse to such devices." A rational being might suppose that the practice would receive its quietus once for all after the revelations brought out at the inquest on Friday, did he not know that it has been in existence so long, and has continued to bear its rich harvest of misery and even death in spite of all exposures. The worst of it is, too, that its cruel effects for the most part fall on the weaker vessels—our mothers and sisters and daughters— and actually make life for so many of them not worth living, as here demonstrated. Perhaps the most aggravating and disgraceful feature of the Darwen case is that a mere girl of seventeen or eighteen is ruthlessly cast adrift because she fails to earn more than 225. a week—earnings which thousands of stalwart men would only be too glad to lay claim to in return for their labour. Has our chivalry quite departed ? The irony of the matter, too, lies in the fact that so many workers allow themselves to labour under a yoke which they have it in their power to cast off with comparative facility. But having eyes they see not, and having ears they bear not, and do not remember. Philosophers may suggest that the girl M'Cartney must have had a predilection for suicide ; that she evidently lacked a well-balanced temperament, and might have yielded to the same fatal impulse under any other cross or disappointment. Even so, that affords no justification for mercilessly thrusting our weaker and more sensitive sisters to the wall, unless our Christianity is a mere cloak to assume on occasien. The overlooker West certainly appears to have tendered his evidence at the inquest in a cool and heartless fashion, yet the coroner was perhaps too hard in placing on his shoulders so much responsibilty for the girl's death. Mau is very largely made by his environments, and certainly West did not invent the driving system any more than did his employers or their manager; and to overstep his duo apportionment of blame would be to err in the direction that he has erred. The poundage system may be unobjectionable up to a certain point ; it is certainly better for the weaver when her overlooker, whose wages are dependent on hers, is ever ready and willing to give her any attention that is required; but on her part has not the weaver a sufficient incentive, being paid by piece, to put forth her best efforts without brutal threats of exposure and discharge? Most certainly. The careless and inefficient weaver must take her chances of obtaining or keeping in employment. But such a one stands in a different category altogether to a girl who can average 225. per week off four looms, even when her more experienced neighbours can average two shillings more. As a matter of fact the average for the week was stated by the manager to be but lie. Gad., presumably for a pair of looms. It is to be hoped we have heard the last of " driving " for a long time to come. In Yorkshire this system is happily very rare. Indeed, in the Huddersfield district such a thing as driving is, we believe, almost unknown. Of coarse this may be largely because the practice of paying overlookers by results is also very rare. We do not believe that one per cent of the overlookers or " tuners " in the Huddersfield district are paid by piecework, and, if they were, it is almost a certainty that the men weavers in the district would refuse to be driven in each a way as to make life intolerable.  :A report of the inquest on the. body of the girl 111'Curtney, the weaver who committed suicide at Darwen en Wednesday last week, will be /Gland on pace 7 of tins ieaue.j