Testimony for the Factory Act of 1833: { Working Conditions in England ‘TESTIMONY OF THE COMMISSION OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS The account of the physical condition of the manufac- turing population in the large towns in the North- easter District of England is less favourable. It is of this district that the Commissioners state, “We have found undoubted instances of children five years old sent to work thirteen hours a day; and frequently of children nine, ten, and eleven consigned to labour for fourteen and fifteen hours.” The effects ascertained by the Com- missioners in many cases are, “deformity,” and in still more “stunted growth, relaxed muscles, and slender con- formation:” “twisting of the ends of the long bones, re- laxation of the ligaments of the knees, ankles, and the like.” “The representation that these effects are so com- mon and universal as to enable some persons invariably to distinguish factory children from other children is, I Over —>have no hesitation in saying, an exaggerated and un- faithful picture of their general condition; at the same time it must be said, that the individual instances in which some one or other of those effects of severe labour are discernible are rather frequent than rare... « Ipon the whole, there remains no doubt upon my mind, chat under the system pursued in many of the fae- tories, the chiklren of the labouring classes stand in need of, and ought to have, legislative protection against the conspiracy insensibly formed between their masters and parents, to tax them to a degree of toil beyond their strength, “In conclusion, I think it has been clearly proved that children have been worked a most unreasonable and cruel length of time daily, and that even adults have been expected to do a certain quantity of labour which scarcely any human being is able to endure. am of opine ion no child under fourteen years of age should work in a factory of any description for more than eight hours: shy. From fourteen upwards I would recommend that no individual should, under any circumstances, work more than twelve hours a day: although if practicable, physician, I would prefer the limitation of ten hos all persons who earn their hread by their industry.” TESTIMONY OF JOHN WRIGHT How long have you been employed in a silk-mill?— More than thirty years. Did you enter it as.achildl?—Yes, berwixt five and six. How many hours a day did you work then?—The those hours?—Eleven hours pet day and two over-houns overhours are working after six in the evening tll eight. The regular hours are from six in the morning to six in the evening, and two others are tw overrhours: about fifty years igo they began working over hours. Why, then, are those employed in them said to be in such a wretched condition?—In the frst place, the great number of hands congregated rogether, in some rooms forty, in some fifty in some sixty, and L have known some ay many as 100, which must be injurious to both health and growing, In the second place, the privy is in the fac- tory, which frequently emits an unwholesome smells and it would be worth while co notice in the future erection cof mills thar chere be betwixt the privy dooe and the fac- tory wall a kind of a lobby of cage-work. 3aly, The te- iousness and the everlasting sameness in the first process preys much on the spirits, and makes the hands spiritless.4thly, the extravagant number of hours a child is compelled to labour and confinement, which for one week is seventy-six ho Sthly, About six months in the year we ate obliged to use either yas, candles, oF lamps, tor the longest portion of that time, nearly six hours a day, being obliged to work amid the smoke and soot of the same; and also a large portion of oil and srease is ued in the mills. ‘What are the effects ofthe present system of labour!— From my earliest recollections, I have found the effects to bbe awfully detrimental to che well-being of the operative; Thave observed frequently children carried to factories, tunable to walk, and that entirely owing co excessive labour and confinement. The degradation of the workpeople bufles all description: frequently have two of ny sisters been obliged to be assisted to the factory and home again, until by-and-by they could go no longer, be- ing totally crippled in their legs. And in the next place, | remember some ten or twelve years ago working in one of the langest firms in Macclesfield, (Messrs. Baker and Pearson) with about twenty-five men, where they were scarce one half fit for His Majesty's service. Those that ae straight in their limbs are stunted in their growth; much inferior to their fathers in poine of strength. 3aly, Through excessive labour and confinement there is often a total loss of appetite; a kind of langour steals over the whole frame—enters to the very core—saps the founda- tion of the best constitution —and lays our strength prose trate in the dust. In the 4th place, by protracted labour there is an alarming increase of cripples in various parts of this town, which has come under my own observation and knowledge... Areal these cripples made in the silk factories? —Yes, they are, I believe TESTIMONY OF WILLIAM HARTER What effect would it have on your manufacture to re- duce the hours of labour to ten?—Ie would instantly much reduce the value of my mill and machinery, and consequently of far prejudice my manufacture. How so?—They are calculated to produce a certain quantity of work ina given time. Every machine is valu- able in proportion to the quantity of work which it will ‘umn off in a given time. It is impossible thae the machin- ery could produce «as much work in ten hours as in twelve. If the tending of the machines were a laborious ‘occupation, the difference in the quantity of work might not always be in exact proportion co the difference of working time; but in my mill, and silk-mills in general, the work requires the least imaginable labour; therefore it is perfectly impossible that the machines could produce as much work in ten hours as in twelve. The produce would vary in about the sime ratio asthe working time.