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Factory Rules For The Hamilton Manufacturing Company

The document outlines rules and regulations for employees at the Hamilton Manufacturing Company in the 1800s. It describes rules for overseers, attendance, notice for leaving employment, conduct including church attendance, prohibitions against theft, payment schedules, boarding house rules regarding tenants and cleanliness, and factory work schedules and conditions including 13 hour work days, meal times, and the noisy and dusty environment in large factories.

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Steve G
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140 views

Factory Rules For The Hamilton Manufacturing Company

The document outlines rules and regulations for employees at the Hamilton Manufacturing Company in the 1800s. It describes rules for overseers, attendance, notice for leaving employment, conduct including church attendance, prohibitions against theft, payment schedules, boarding house rules regarding tenants and cleanliness, and factory work schedules and conditions including 13 hour work days, meal times, and the noisy and dusty environment in large factories.

Uploaded by

Steve G
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Factory Rules for the Hamilton Manufacturing Company

REGULATIONS TO BE OBSERVED by all persons employed in the factories of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company. The overseers are to be always in their rooms at the starting of the mill, and [will not leave] during working hours. They are to see that all those employed in their rooms, are in their places and keep a correct account of their time and work. All persons in the employ of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company are to observe the regulations of the room where they are employed. They are not to be absent from their work without the consent of the over-seer, except in cases of sickness, and then they are to send him word of the cause of their absence Those intending to leave the employment of the company, are to give at least two weeks' notice thereof to their overseer. All persons entering into the employment of the company are considered as engaged for twelve months, and those who leave sooner, or do not comply with all these regulations, will not be entitled to [a full years pay]. The company will not employ any one who is [consistently] absent from public worship on the Sabbath, or known to be guilty of immorality (sins) Any one who shall take from the mills or the yard, any yarn, cloth or other article belonging to the company, will be considered guilty of stealing and be liable to prosecution. Payment will be made monthly, including board and wages. These regulations are considered part of the contract, with which all persons entering into the employment of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company [must agree].

Daily Work Schedule for the Hamilton Manufacturing Company


Begin work Spring/Summer at 5 oclock Fall/Winter as soon as they can see Breakfast Spring/Summer at 7 oclock Fall/Winter before going to work Lunch Through the year at 12 oclock Spring/Summer return to work in 45 minutes Fall/Winter return to work in 30 minutes Quit work From 1st May to 31st August, at 7 o'clock. From 1st September to 19th September, at dark. From 20th September to 19th March, at 7 o'clock. From 20th March to 30th April, at dark. Lamps are never lighted on Saturday evenings. There are four days in the year which are observed as holidays, and on which the mills are never put in motion. These are Fast Day, Fourth of July, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. [This makes] one day more than is usually devoted to [vacation] in any other [factory] in New England.

Boarding House Rules for the Hamilton Manufacturing Company


REGULATIONS FOR THE BOARDING-HOUSES of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company. The tenants of the boarding-houses are not to board, or permit any part of their houses to be occupied by any person, except those in the employ of the company, without special permission. They will be [have to answer] for any improper conduct in their houses, and are not to permit their boarders to have company at unseasonable hours. The doors must be closed at ten o'clock in the evening, and no person admitted after that time, without some reasonable excuse. The keepers of the boarding-houses must give an account of the number, names and employment of their boarders, when required, and report names of [those] guilty of any improper conduct, or [of those] not in the regular habit of attending public worship. The buildings, and yards about them, must be kept clean and in good order; and if they are [broken], other-wise than from ordinary use, all necessary repairs will be made, and charged to the occupant. The sidewalks, also, in front of the houses, must be kept clean, and free from snow, which must be removed from them immediately after it has ceased falling; if neglected, it will be removed by the company at the expense of the tenant. Some suitable chamber in the house must be reserved for the use of the sick, so that [they do not have to sleep in the same room as the others.]

Factory Life at the Hamilton Manufacturing Company


In Lowell live between seven and eight thousand young women, who are generally daughters of farmers of the different States of New England. The [women] work thirteen hours a day in the summer time, and from daylight to dark in the winter. At half past four in the morning the factory bell rings, and at five the girls must be in the mills. A [watchman] observes those who are a few minutes behind the time, and [hands out punishment to encourage punctuality] At seven the girls are allowed thirty minutes for breakfast, and at noon thirty minutes more for [lunch]. But within this time they must hurry to their boarding-houses and return to the factory through the hot sun, or the rain and cold. A meal eaten under such circumstances [is bad for your health], as any medical man will inform us. At seven o'clock in the evening the factory bell sounds the close of the days work. Thus thirteen hours per day of close attention and monotonous labor are [taken] from the young women in these [factories]. . . So fatigued are numbers of the girls, that they go to bed soon after their evening meal [as they try to prepare] their weakened frames for the toils of the coming day. Now let us examine the nature of the labor itself, and the conditions under which it is performed. Enter with us into the large rooms, when the looms are at work. The largest that we saw is in the Amoskeag Mills at Manchester. It is four hundred feet long, and about seventy broad; there are five hundred looms, and twenty-one thousand spindles in it. The clatter of these five hundred looms [in] full operation, struck us on first entering as something frightful It seemed such [an obvious] violation of [ones] sense of hearing. After a while we became [used] to it, and by speaking quite close to the ear of a [worker] and quite loud, we could hold a conversation. The girls attend upon an average three looms; many attend four, but this requires a very active person. However, a great many do it The [air quality in] such a room cannot be pure; on the contrary it is [full of] cotton filaments and dust, which, we were told, are very injurious to the lungs. On entering the room, although the day was warm, we remarked that the windows were down; we asked the reason, and a young woman answered very naively that "when the wind blew, the threads did not work so well." After we had been in the room for fifteen or twenty minutes, we found ourselves in quite a [sweat]. The young women sleep upon an average six in room; three beds to a room. There is no privacy it is almost impossible to read or write alone, as the parlor is full and so many sleep in the same [room]. A young woman remarked to us, that if she had a letter to write, she did it on the [top of a shoe box], sitting on a trunk, as there was not space for a table. So live and toil the young women of our country in the boarding-houses and [factories], which the rich and influential of our land have built for them.

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