WING'S EVILS OF THE FACTORY SYSTEM.
Ix despite of an amiable leaning to one side of the question, Mr. WING'S volume contains a very complete digest of facts and opinions relative to the Factory System, together with a brief his- torical prkis of the subject. Dividing his bulky book itito two parts, he devotes the first to an exposition of his own views of the question, intermingled with the leading statements of the physi- cal and moral evils which it is alleged the factory system produces, and a refutation of the arguments brought forward by its up- holders ; appended to o hich is the evidence of the medical wit- nesses, headed by BAILLIE and COOPER, who were examined be- fore the Parliamentary Committees of 1816-18-19, extracts from Dr. HAWKINs' Report of 1834, and a variety of factory statis- tics, relating to longevity, sex, mortality, earnings, edocation, and so forth. The second part is occupied with similar matters, but of a later date. It contains aim abridgment of the general evidence taken before Mr. SADLER'S Committee in 1832 : the evi-
dence of the medical witnesses in full ; a report of the debate upon the Bill ; the two Reports of the Commission appointed to inquire into the working of the system, and, besides the Factory
Regulation Act of 1533, and some other documents, the debate of
last May on the second reading of the abortive bill introduced by
Mr. POULETT THOMSON.
The leading conclusions, so far as conclusions can be formed on so vast and complex a subject, seem to be—(1.) That a large capital is essential to the favourable development of the physical iiillueoces in factories ; the temperature, ventilation, and all the conveniences which contribute to the physical wellbeing and the nu wal decencies being extremely well arranged in modern and extensive e-tublish- ments, and but little cared 14 or totally disregarded in the older or smaller buildings. (2.) That the tyranny and ill usage to which children are exposed in the factories, are chargeable upon the in- dividual masters, not the system ; for, by establishing and enfor- cing proper regulations, the brutality of subordinates way be pre- vented. Except in very peculiar circumstances, however, the more dangerous, because all-pervading mischiefs that nri,e from over-working children, can only be checked by law inasmuch as the pecuniary interest of the proprietors is too strong for their humanity, and the desires of a few would be defeated by the com- petition of the niany. (3.) Putting aside all other testimony, the medical and physiological evidence of the first practitioners shows, that a regulation in the hours of labour, as regards chil- dren, is necessary as a matter of police, if the state be in any way bound to protect such of its subjects as cannot protect themselves. (4.) That the present act, by which children under thieteeu are only allowed to work eight hours a day, is difficult of execution, harsh, and in a measure inoperative : difficult, because of the uncertainty of any true test as regards the age of children, and the extreme rarity of being able to establish relays; harsh, be- cause if the relays are not procured the adult is limited to eight hours, and if they are he is compelled to work sixteen; inopera- tive, because the interests of masters, workmen, and parents, are opposed to the execution of the Act, and there is not a sufficient number of officers to detect its violation.
For a variety of reasons, cogeot unquestionably in a limited view, Mr. WING prefers a bill which should limit all labour in factories to ten hours as, though it would add two hours, or two nominal hours, to the children's work, " it would protect them better than the preseut act ;" and our author assumes there ie no way of protecting the children but by limiting the labour of adults, who, though anxious to work no more than ten hours, are, from their necessities, tunable to enforce this limitation. That the whole question is beset with difficulties, and that it is much easier to point out faults in other people's plans than to discover an effective re- medy, are truths, but it strikes us that Mr. WING is rather cutting the Gordian knot than untying it. A factory operative may, as al- leged, be in the power of his master ; but he is only in his power to the same extent as every other person living by labour is in the power of these NV110 employ him. The lives of hundreds and thousands of men are abbreviated, or supposed to be abbreviated, by their employments, and their children affected as grievously as tha:=e labouring, in fictories. Sailors, perhaps soldiers, and cer- tainly numbers of those peasantry to whom the humane but one- sided advocates of interference constantly refer, are often reduced to a premature old age, by exposure, toil, and hard living. Plumbers, painters, men engaged in lead-works, and in many other deleterious trades, are generally afflicted by certain diseases, very often cut off in the prime of life, and seldom live to attain age. Pursue the principle further, how many clerks and shopmen are confined at the risk, not perhaps of life, nor of any malady im- mediately threatening life, but of a general derangement of' health (which seems the result of factory labour.) Go still higher, how many youths destined for professions sink under the exertions of their prohationership or permanently injure their constitutions ; how many candidates for professional employment ruin their health through the dernantls of their situation, and become ready *victims to the first attack of severe disease. Men die of the bar, the dissecting-room, the college, the press, the stage, and evi n the senate, not out of any ardent love for exhausting toil, but tecause they are compelled to obey the exigencies of their posi- lion. A proposal to legislate for all these pursuits would at once be scouted ; partly because it is obvious that we should be legis- lating for symptoms; partly because the individuals who make up the aggregate are fewer in number and more scattered than the factory operatives, and perhaps because they are less cla- morous and better-informed. This, however, may be taken as a truth : if, from the number of hands in the market, the master has the sole power of regulating the hours of labour, he has an • equal power over wages, and any legislative enactment will only give the workmen ease with the concomitant of hunger. If the suggestions of those who are interested in the subject cannot frame a body of workable regulations,—if the deductions of science and the practical dexterity of habit cannot in conjunction with per- sonal inquiry determine the age of children,—and if a sufficient number of Inspectors (and should the number be insufficient it ought to be be increased) cannot so harass the factories as to secure the general submission to the law,—then the case is beyond the reach of an Act of Parliament ; and we must wait for a better age, trying to hasten its approach by encouraging education and emigration, and striving for the abolition of the Corn-laws and real freedom of trade.
Some facts and observations are introduced in the course of the work, not merely relating to the mortality of factories, but institu- ting a sort of comparison between manufacturing cities in general, and rural districts or towns where no manufactures are carried on. In a scientific sense, the knowledge of these differences is desirable ; for legislative purposes, ridiculous. Nor are they true in any large sense. Bad as we may be in regard to carnal comforts, -we are the best age the world has yet seen. The truest test of the condition of a people, is the ratio of mortality, or the average value of life. Run over various social systems, from the savage, who abandons the old, the impotent, the sick of all ages, and every infant which shows signs of weakness, to the generations of the last century, and it will be found that more people live now-a-days than ever lived before, and that the average mortality is less in Great Britain than anywhere else.
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