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In
proportion
as
machinery,
with
the
aid
of
a
relatively
small
number
of
workpeople,
increases
the
mass
of
raw
materials,
intermediate
products,instruments
of
labour,
&c.,
the
working-up
of
these
raw
materials
and
intermediate
products
becomes
split
up
into
numberless
branches;
social
production
increases
in
diversity.
The
factory
system
carries
the
social
division
of
labour
immeasurably
further
than
does
manufacture,
for
it
increases
the
productiveness
of
the
industries
it
seizes
upon,
in
a
far
higher
degree.
The
immediate
result
of
machinery
is
to
augment
surplus-value
and
the
mass
of
products
in
which
surplus-value
is
embodied.
And,
as
the
substances
consumed
by
the
capitalists
and
their
dependents
become
more
plentiful,
so
too
do
these
orders
of
society.
Their
growing
wealth,
and
the
relatively
diminished
number
of
workmen
required
to
produce
the
necessaries
of
life
beget,
simultaneously
with
the
rise
of
new
and
luxurious
wants,
the
means
of
satisfying
those
wants.
A
larger
portion
of
the
produce
of
society
is
changed
into
surplus-produce,
and
a
larger
part
of
the
surplus-produce
is
supplied
for
consumption
in
a
multiplicity
of
refined
shapes.
In
other
words,
the
production
of
luxuries
increases.141The
refined
and
varied
forms
of
the
products
are
also
due
to
new
relations
with
the
markets
of
the
world,relations
that
are
created
by
modern
industry.
Not
only
are
greater
quantities
of
foreign
articles
of
luxury
exchanged
for
home
products,
but
a
greater
mass
of
foreign
raw
materials,
ingredients,
and
intermediate
products,
are
used
as
means
of
production
in
the
home
industries.
Owing
to
these
relations
with
the
markets
of
the
world,
the
demand
for
labour
increases
in
the
carrying
trades,
which
split
up
into
numerous
varieties.142
The
increase
of
the
means
of
production
and
subsistence,
accompanied
by
a
relative
diminution
in
the
number
of
labourers,
causes
an
increased
demand
for
labour
in
making
canals,
docks,
tunnels,
bridges,and
so
on,
works
that
can
only
bear
fruit
in
the
far
future.
Entirely
new
branches
of
production,
creating
new
fields
of
labour,
are
also
formed,
as
the
direct
result
either
of
machinery
or
of
the
general
industrial
changes
brought
about
by
it.
But
the
place
occupied
by
these
branches
in
the
general
production
is,
even
in
the
most
developed
countries,
far
from
important.
The
number
of
labourers
that
find
employment
in
them
is
directly
proportional
to
the
demand,
created
by
those
industries,
for
the
crudest
form
of
manual
labour.The
chief
industries
of
this
kind
are,
at
present,
gas
works,
telegraphs,
photography,
steam
navigation,
and
railways.
According
to
the
census
of
1861
for
England
and
Wales,
we
find
in
the
gas
industry
(gas-works,production
of
mechanical
apparatus,
servants
of
the
gas
companies,
&c),
15,211
persons;
in
telegraphy,2,399;
in
photography,
2,366;
steam
navigation,
3,570;
and
in
railways,
70,599,
of
whom
the
unskilled\"navvies,\"
more
or
less
permanently
employed,and
the
whole
administrative
and
commercial
staff,make
up
about
28,000.
The
total
number
of
persons,therefore,
employed
in
these
five
new
industries
amounts
to
94,145.
Lastly,
the
extraordinary
productiveness
of
modern
industry,
accompanied
as
it
is
by
both
a
more
extensive
and
a
more
intense
exploitation
of
labour
power
in
all
other
spheres
of
production,
allows
of
the
unproductive
employment
of
a
larger
and
larger
part
of
the
working-class,
and
the
consequent
reproduction,
on
a
constantly
extending
scale,
of
the
ancient
domestic
slaves
under
the
name
of
a
servant
class,
including
men-servants,
women-servants,lackeys,
&c.
According
to
the
census
of
1861,
the
population
of
England
and
Wales
was
20,066,244;
of
these,
9,776,259
males,
and
10,289,965
females.
If
we
deduct
from
this
population
all
who
are
too
old
or
too
young
for
work,
all
unproductive
women,
young
persons
and
children,
the
\"ideological\"
classes,
such
as
government
officials,
priests,
lawyers,
soldiers,
&c.;further,
all
who
have
no
occupation
but
to
consume
the
labour
of
others
in
the
form
of
rent,
interest,
&c.;
and,lastly,
paupers,
vagabonds,
and
criminals,
there
remain
in
round
numbers
eight
millions
of
the
two
sexes
of
every
age,
including
in
that
number
every
capitalist
who
is
in
any
way
engaged
in
industry,
commerce,
or
finance.
Among
these
8
millions
are:
All
the
persons
employed
in
textile
factories
and
in
mines,
taken
together,
number
1,208,442;
those
employed
in
textile
factories
and
metal
industries,taken
together,
number
1,039,605;
in
both
cases
less
than
the
number
of
modern
domestic
slaves.
What
a
splendid
result
of
the
capitalist
exploitation
of
machinery!
Section
7:
Repulsion
and
Attraction
of
Workpeople
by
the
Factory
System.
Crises
in
the
Cotton
Trade
All
political
economists
of
any
standing
admit
that
the
introduction
of
new
machinery
has
a
baneful
effect
on
the
workmen
in
the
old
handicrafts
and
manufactures
with
which
this
machinery
at
first
competes.
Almost
all
of
them
bemoan
the
slavery
of
the
factory
operative.
And
what
is
the
great
trump-card
that
they
play
That
machinery,
after
the
horrors
of
the
period
of
introduction
and
development
have
subsided,instead
of
diminishing,
in
the
long
run
increases
the
number
of
the
slaves
of
labour!
Yes,
Political
Economy
revels
in
the
hideous
theory,
hideous
to
every
\"philanthropist\"
who
believes
in
the
eternal
Nature-ordained
necessity
for
capitalist
production,that
after
a
period
of
growth
and
transition,
even
its
crowning
success,
the
factory
system
based
on
machinery,
grinds
down
more
workpeople
than
on
its
first
introduction
it
throws
on
the
streets.146
It
is
true
that
in
some
cases,
as
we
saw
from
instances
of
English
worsted
and
silk
factories,
an
extraordinary
extension
of
the
factory
system
may,
at
a
certain
stage
of
its
development,
be
accompanied
not
only
by
a
relative,
but
by
an
absolute
decrease
in
the
number
of
operatives
employed.
In
the
year
1860,
when
a
special
census
of
all
the
factories
in
the
United
Kingdom
was
taken
by
order
of
Parliament,the
factories
in
those
parts
of
Lancashire,
Cheshire,and
Yorkshire,
included
in
the
district
of
Mr.
Baker,the
factory
inspector,
numbered
652;
570
of
these
contained
85,622
power-looms,
6,819,146
spindles(exclusive
of
doubling
spindles),
employed
27,439
horse-power
(steam),
and
1,390
(water),
and
94,119
persons.
In
the
year
1865,
the
same
factories
contained,
looms
95,163,
spindles
7,025,031,
had
a
steam-power
of
28,925
horses,
and
a
water-power
of
1,445
horses,
and
employed
88,913
persons.
Between
1860
and
1865,
therefore,
the
increase
in
looms
was
11%,
in
spindles
3%,
and
in
engine-power
3%,
while
the
number
of
persons
employed
decreased
5%.147Between
1852
and
1862,
considerable
extension
of
the
English
woollen
manufacture
took
place,
while
the
number
of
hands
employed
in
it
remained
almost
stationary,
\"showing
how
greatly
the
introduction
of
new
machines
had
superseded
the
labour
of
preceding
periods.\"148
In
certain
cases,
the
increase
in
the
number
of
hands
employed
is
only
apparent;
that
is,
it
is
not
due
to
the
extension
of
the
factories
already
established,but
to
the
gradual
annexation
of
connected
trades;for
instance,
the
increase
in
power-looms,
and
in
the
hands
employed
by
them
between
1838
and
1856,was,
in
the
cotton
trade,
simply
owing
to
the
extension
of
this
branch
of
industry;
but
in
the
other
trades
to
the
application
of
steam-power
to
the
carpet-loom,
to
the
ribbon-loom,
and
to
the
linen-loom,
which
previously
had
been
worked
by
the
power
of
men.149Hence
the
increase
of
the
hands
in
these
latter
trades
was
merely
a
symptom
of
a
diminution
in
the
total
number
employed.
Finally,
we
have
considered
this
question
entirely
apart
from
the
fact,
that
everywhere,
except
in
the
metal
industries,
young
persons
(under
18),
and
women
and
children
form
the
preponderating
element
in
the
class
of
factory
hands.
Nevertheless,
in
spite
of
the
mass
of
hands
actually
displaced
and
virtually
replaced
by
machinery,
we
can
understand
how
the
factory
operatives,
through
the
building
of
more
mills
and
the
extension
of
old
ones
in
a
given
industry,
may
become
more
numerous
than
the
manufacturing
workmen
and
handicraftsman
that
have
been
displaced.
Suppose,
for
example,
that
in
the
old
mode
of
production,
a
capital
of
￡500
is
employed
weekly,
two-fifths
being
constant
and
three
fifths
variable
capital,
i.e.,
￡200
being
laid
out
in
means
of
production,
and
￡300,
say
￡1
per
man,
in
labour-power.
On
the
introduction
of
machinery
the
composition
of
this
capital
becomes
altered.
We
will
suppose
it
to
consist
of
four-fifths
constant
and
one
fifth
variable,
which
means
that
only
￡100
is
now
laid
out
in
labour-power.
Consequently,
two-thirds
of
the
workmen
are
discharged.
If
now
the
business
extends,
and
the
total
capital
employed
grows
to￡1,500
under
unchanged
conditions,
the
number
of
operatives
employed
will
increase
to
300,
just
as
many
as
before
the
introduction
of
the
machinery.If
the
capital
further
grows
to
￡2,000,
400
men
will
be
employed,
or
one-third
more
than
under
the
old
system.
Their
numbers
have,
in
point
of
fact,
increased
by
100,
but
relatively,
i.e.,
in
proportion
to
the
total
capital
advanced,
they
have
diminished
by
800,
for
the
￡2,000
capital
would,
in
the
old
state
of
things,have
employed
1,200
instead
of
400
men.
Hence,
a
relative
decrease
in
the
number
of
hands
is
consistent
with
an
actual
increase.
We
assumed
above
that
while
the
total
capital
increases,
its
composition
remains
the
same,
because
the
conditions
of
production
remain
constant.
But
we
have
already
seen
that,
with
every
advance
in
the
use
of
machinery,
the
constant
component
of
capital,
that
part
which
consists
of
machinery,
raw
material,
&c.,
increases,
while
the
variable
component,
the
part
laid
out
in
labour-power,decreases.
We
also
know
that
in
no
other
system
of
production
is
improvement
so
continuous,
and
the
composition
of
the
capital
employed
so
constantly
changing
as
in
the
factory
system.
These
changes
are,however,
continually
interrupted
by
periods
of
rest,during
which
there
is
a
mere
quantitative
extension
of
the
factories
on
the
existing
technical
basis.
During
such
periods
the
operatives
increase
in
number.
Thus,in
1835,
the
total
number
of
operatives
in
the
cotton,woollen,
worsted,
flax,
and
silk
factories
of
the
United
Kingdom
was
only
354,684;
while
in
1861
the
number
of
the
power-loom
weavers
alone
(of
both
sexes
and
of
all
ages,
from
eight
years
upwards),
amounted
to
230,654.
Certainly,
this
growth
appears
less
important
when
we
consider
that
in
1838
the
hand-loom
weavers
with
their
families
still
numbered
800,000,150not
to
mention
those
thrown
out
of
work
in
Asia,
and
on
the
Continent
of
Europe.
In
the
few
remarks
I
have
still
to
make
on
this
point,I
shall
refer
to
some
actually
existing
relations,
the
existence
of
which
our
theoretical
investigation
has
not
yet
disclosed.
So
long
as,
in
a
given
branch
of
industry,
the
factory
system
extends
itself
at
the
expense
of
the
old
handicrafts
or
of
manufacture,
the
result
is
as
sure
as
is
the
result
of
an
encounter
between
an
army
furnished
with
breach-loaders,
and
one
armed
with
bows
and
arrows.
This
first
period,
during
which
machinery
conquers
its
field
of
action,
is
of
decisive
importance
owing
to
the
extraordinary
profits
that
it
helps
to
produce.
These
profits
not
only
form
a
source
of
accelerated
accumulation,
but
also
attract
into
the
favoured
sphere
of
production
a
large
part
of
the
additional
social
capital
that
is
being
constantly
created,
and
is
ever
on
the
look-out
for
new
investments.
The
special
advantages
of
this
first
period
of
fast
and
furious
activity
are
felt
in
every
branch
of
production
that
machinery
invades.
So
soon,
however,as
the
factory
system
has
gained
a
certain
breadth
of
footing
and
a
definite
degree
of
maturity,
and,especially,
so
soon
as
its
technical
basis,
machinery,
is
itself
produced
by
machinery;
so
soon
as
coal
mining
and
iron
mining,
the
metal
industries,
and
the
means
of
transport
have
been
revolutionised;
so
soon,
in
short,as
the
general
conditions
requisite
for
production
by
the
modern
industrial
system
have
been
established,this
mode
of
production
acquires
an
elasticity,
a
capacity
for
sudden
extension
by
leaps
and
bounds
that
finds
no
hindrance
except
in
the
supply
of
raw
material
and
in
the
disposal
of
the
produce.
On
the
one
hand,
the
immediate
effect
of
machinery
is
to
increase
the
supply
of
raw
material
in
the
same
way,
for
example,
as
the
cotton
gin
augmented
the
production
of
cotton.151On
the
other
hand,
the
cheapness
of
the
articles
produced
by
machinery,
and
the
improved
means
of
transport
and
communication
furnish
the
weapons
for
conquering
foreign
markets.
By
ruining
handicraft
production
in
other
countries,
machinery
forcibly
converts
them
into
fields
for
the
supply
of
its
raw
material.
In
this
way
East
India
was
compelled
to
produce
cotton,
wool,
hemp,
jute,
and
indigo
for
Great
Britain.152By
constantly
making
a
part
of
the
hands\"supernumerary,\"
modern
industry,
in
all
countries
where
it
has
taken
root,
gives
a
spur
to
emigration
and
to
the
colonisation
of
foreign
lands,
which
are
thereby
converted
into
settlements
for
growing
the
raw
material
of
the
mother
country;
just
as
Australia,for
example,
was
converted
into
a
colony
for
growing
wool.153A
new
and
international
division
of
labour,a
division
suited
to
the
requirements
of
the
chief
centres
of
modern
industry
springs
up,
and
converts
one
part
of
the
globe
into
a
chiefly
agricultural
field
of
production,
for
supplying
the
other
part
which
remains
a
chiefly
industrial
field.
This
revolution
hangs
together
with
radical
changes
in
agriculture
which
we
need
not
here
further
inquire
into.154
On
the
motion
of
Mr.
Gladstone,
the
House
of
Commons
ordered,
on
the
17th
February,
1867,
a
return
of
the
total
quantities
of
grain,
corn,
and
flour,of
all
sorts,
imported
into,
and
exported
from,
the
United
Kingdom,
between
the
years
1831
and
1866.
I
give
below
a
summary
of
the
result.
The
flour
is
given
in
quarters
of
corn.
(See
the
Table
on
p.
426.)
The
enormous
power,
inherent
in
the
factory
system,of
expanding
by
jumps,
and
the
dependence
of
that
system
on
the
markets
of
the
world,
necessarily
beget
feverish
production,
followed
by
over-filling
of
the
markets,
whereupon
contraction
of
the
markets
brings
on
crippling
of
production.
The
life
of
modern
industry
becomes
a
series
of
periods
of
moderate
activity,prosperity,
over-production,
crisis
and
stagnation.
The
uncertainty
and
instability
to
which
machinery
subjects
the
employment,
and
consequently
the
conditions
of
existence,
of
the
operatives
become
normal,
owing
to
these
periodic
changes
of
the
industrial
cycle.
Except
in
the
periods
of
prosperity,
there
rages
between
the
capitalists
the
most
furious
combat
for
the
share
of
each
in
the
markets.
This
share
is
directly
proportional
to
the
cheapness
of
the
product.
Besides
the
rivalry
that
this
struggle
begets
in
the
application
of
improved
machinery
for
replacing
labour-power,
and
of
new
methods
of
production,
there
also
comes
a
time
in
every
industrial
cycle,
when
a
forcible
reduction
of
wages
beneath
the
value
of
labour-power,
is
attempted
for
the
purpose
of
cheapening
commodities.155
A
necessary
condition,
therefore,
to
the
growth
of
the
number
of
factory
hands,
is
a
proportionally
much
more
rapid
growth
of
the
amount
of
capital
invested
in
mills.
This
growth,
however,
is
conditioned
by
the
ebb
and
flow
of
the
industrial
cycle.
It
is,
besides,constantly
interrupted
by
the
technical
progress
that
at
one
time
virtually
supplies
the
place
of
new
workmen,at
another,
actually
displaces
old
ones.
This
qualitative
change
in
mechanical
industry
continually
discharges
hands
from
the
factory,
or
shuts
its
doors
against
the
fresh
stream
of
recruits,
while
the
purely
quantitative
extension
of
the
factories
absorbs
not
only
the
men
thrown
out
of
work,
but
also
fresh
contingents.
The
workpeople
are
thus
continually
both
repelled
and
attracted,
hustled
from
pillar
to
post,
while,
at
the
same
time,
constant
changes
take
place
in
the
sex,
age,and
skill
of
the
levies.
The
lot
of
the
factory
operatives
will
be
best
depicted
by
taking
a
rapid
survey
of
the
course
of
the
English
cotton
industry.
From
1770
to
1815
this
trade
was
depressed
or
stagnant
for
5
years
only.
During
this
period
of
45
years
the
English
manufacturers
had
a
monopoly
of
machinery
and
of
the
markets
of
the
world.
From
1815
to
1821
depression;
1822
and
1823
prosperity;
1824
abolition
of
the
laws
against
Trades'
Unions,
great
extension
of
factories
everywhere;
1825
crisis;
1826
great
misery
and
riots
among
the
factory
operatives;1827
slight
improvement;
1828
great
increase
in
power-looms,
and
in
exports;
1829
exports,
especially
to
India,
surpass
all
former
years;
1830
glutted
markets,
great
distress;
1831
to
1833
continued
depression,
the
monopoly
of
the
trade
with
India
and
China
withdrawn
from
the
East
India
Company;
1834
great
increase
of
factories
and
machinery,
shortness
of
hands.
The
new
poor
law
furthers
the
migration
of
agricultural
labourers
into
the
factory
districts.
The
country
districts
swept
of
children.
White
slave
trade;1835
great
prosperity,
contemporaneous
starvation
of
the
hand-loom
weavers;
1836
great
prosperity;
1837
and
1838
depression
and
crisis;
1839
revival;
1840
great
depression,
riots,
calling
out
of
the
military;1841
and
1842
frightful
suffering
among
the
factory
operatives;
1842
the
manufacturers
lock
the
hands
out
of
the
factories
in
order
to
enforce
the
repeal
of
the
Corn
Laws.
The
operatives
stream
in
thousands
into
the
towns
of
Lancashire
and
Yorkshire,
are
driven
back
by
the
military,
and
their
leaders
brought
to
trial
at
Lancaster;
1843
great
misery;
1844
revival;
1845
great
prosperity;
1846
continued
improvement
at
first,then
reaction.
Repeal
of
the
Corn
Laws;
1847
crisis,general
reduction
of
wages
by
10
and
more
per
cent.
in
honour
of
the
\"big
loaf\";
1848
continued
depression;Manchester
under
military
protection;
1849
revival;1850
prosperity;
1851
falling
prices,
low
wages,frequent
strikes;
1852
improvement
begins,
strikes
continue,
the
manufacturers
threaten
to
import
foreign
hands;
1853
increasing
exports.
Strike
for
8
months,and
great
misery
at
Preston;
1854
prosperity,
glutted
markets;
1855
news
of
failures
stream
in
from
the
United
States,
Canada,
and
the
Eastern
markets;
1856
great
prosperity;
1857
crisis;
1858
improvement;
1859
great
prosperity,
increase
in
factories;
1860
Zenith
of
the
English
cotton
trade,
the
Indian,
Australian,and
other
markets
so
glutted
with
goods
that
even
in
1863
they
had
not
absorbed
the
whole
lot;
the
French
Treaty
of
Commerce,
enormous
growth
of
factories
and
machinery;
1861
prosperity
continues
for
a
time,
reaction,
the
American
Civil
War,
cotton
famine:
1862
to
1863
complete
collapse.
The
history
of
the
cotton
famine
is
too
characteristic
to
dispense
with
dwelling
upon
it
for
a
moment.
From
the
indications
as
to
the
condition
of
the
markets
of
the
world
in
1860
and
1861,
we
see
that
the
cotton
famine
came
in
the
nick
of
time
for
the
manufacturers,
and
was
to
some
extent
advantageous
to
them,
a
fact
that
was
acknowledged
in
the
reports
of
the
Manchester
Chamber
of
Commerce,
proclaimed
in
Parliament
by
Palmerston
and
Derby,
and
confirmed
by
events.156No
doubt,
among
the
2,887
cotton
mills
in
the
United
Kingdom
in
1861,
there
were
many
of
small
size.According
to
the
report
of
Mr.
A.
Redgrave,
out
of
the
2,109
mills
included
in
his
district,
392,
or
19%employed
less
than
ten
horse-power
each;
345,
or
16%
employed
10
H.
P.,
and
less
than
20
H.
P.;
while
1,372
employed
upwards
of
20
H.
P.157The
majority
of
the
small
mills
were
weaving
sheds,
built
during
the
period
of
prosperity
after
1858,
for
the
most
part
by
speculators,
of
whom
one
supplied
the
yarn,
another
the
machinery,
a
third
the
buildings,
and
were
worked
by
men
who
had
been
overlookers,
or
by
other
persons
of
small
means.
These
small
manufacturers
mostly
went
to
the
wall.
The
same
fate
would
have
overtaken
them
in
the
commercial
crisis
that
was
staved
off
only
by
the
cotton
famine.
Although
they
formed
one-third
of
the
total
number
of
manufacturers,
yet
their
mills
absorbed
a
much
smaller
part
of
the
capital
invested
in
the
cotton
trade.
As
to
the
extent
of
the
stoppage,
it
appears
from
authentic
estimates,
that
in
October
1862,60.3%
of
the
spindles,
and
58%
of
the
looms
were
standing.
This
refers
to
the
cotton
trade
as
a
whole,and,
of
course,
requires
considerable
modification
for
individual
districts.
Only
very
few
mills
worked
full
time
(60
hours
a
week),
the
remainder
worked
at
intervals.
Even
in
those
few
cases
where
full
time
was
worked,
and
at
the
customary
rate
of
piece-wage,
the
weekly
wages
of
the
operatives
necessarily
shrank,owing
to
good
cotton
being
replaced
by
bad,
Sea
Island
by
Egyptian
(in
fine
spinning
mills),
American
and
Egyptian
by
Surat,
and
pure
cotton
by
mixings
of
waste
and
Surat.
The
shorter
fibre
of
the
Surat
cotton
and
its
dirty
condition,
the
greater
fragility
of
the
thread,
the
substitution
of
all
sorts
of
heavy
ingredients
for
flour
in
sizing
the
warps,
all
these
lessened
the
speed
of
the
machinery,
or
the
number
of
the
looms
that
could
be
superintended
by
one
weaver,
increased
the
labour
caused
by
defects
in
the
machinery,
and
reduced
the
piece-wage
by
reducing
the
mass
of
the
product
turned
off.
Where
Surat
cotton
was
used,
the
loss
to
the
operatives
when
on
full
time,amounted
to
20,
30,
and
more
per
cent.
But
besides
this,
the
majority
of
the
manufacturers
reduced
the
rate
of
piece-wage
by
5,
7,
and
10
per
cent.
We
can
therefore
conceive
the
situation
of
those
hands
who
were
employed
for
only
3,
3
or
4
days
a
week,
or
for
only
6
hours
a
day.
Even
in
1863,
after
a
comparative
improvement
had
set
in,
the
weekly
wages
of
spinners
and
of
weavers
were
3s.
4d.,
3s.
10d.,
4s.
6d.
and
5s.1d.158Even
in
this
miserable
state
of
things,
however,the
inventive
spirit
of
the
master
never
stood
still,but
was
exercised
in
making
deductions
from
wages.These
were
to
some
extent
inflicted
as
a
penalty
for
defects
in
the
finished
article
that
were
really
due
to
his
bad
cotton
and
to
his
unsuitable
machinery.Moreover,
where
the
manufacturer
owned
the
cottages
of
the
workpeople,
he
paid
himself
his
rents
by
deducting
the
amount
from
these
miserable
wages.
Mr.Redgrave
tells
us
of
self-acting
minders
(operatives
who
manage
a
pair
of
self-acting
mules)
\"earning
at
the
end
of
a
fortnight's
full
work
8s.11d.,
and
that
from
this
sum
was
deducted
the
rent
of
the
house,
the
manufacturer,
however,
returning
half
the
rent
as
a
gift.
The
minders
took
away
the
sum
of
6s.
11d.
In
many
places
the
self-acting
minders
ranged
from
5s.
to
9s.
per
week,
and
the
weavers
from
2s.
to
6s.
per
week,
during
the
latter
part
of
1862.\"159
Even
when
working
short
time
the
rent
was
frequently
deducted
from
the
wages
of
the
operatives.160No
wonder
that
in
some
parts
of
Lancashire
a
kind
of
famine
fever
broke
out.
But
more
characteristic
than
all
this,
was,
the
revolution
that
took
place
in
the
process
of
production
at
the
expense
of
the
workpeople.
Experimenta
in
corpore
vili,
like
those
of
anatomists
on
frogs,
were
formally
made.
\"Although,\"
says
Mr.
Redgrave,
\"I
have
given
the
actual
earnings
of
the
operatives
in
the
several
mills,
it
does
not
follow
that
they
earn
the
same
amount
week
by
week.
The
operatives
are
subject
to
great
fluctuation
from
the
constant
experimentalising
of
the
manufacturers
...
the
earnings
of
the
operatives
rise
and
fall
with
the
quality
of
the
cotton
mixings;
sometimes
they
have
been
within
15
per
cent.
of
former
earnings,and
then,
in
a
week
or
two,
they
have
fallen
off
from
50
to
60
per
cent.\"161
These
experiments
were
not
made
solely
at
the
expense
of
the
workman's
means
of
subsistence.
His
five
senses
also
had
to
pay
the
penalty.
\"The
people
who
are
employed
in
making
up
Surat
cotton
complain
very
much.
They
inform
me,
on
opening
the
bales
of
cotton
there
is
an
intolerable
smell,
which
causes
sickness....
In
the
mixing,
scribbling
and
carding
rooms,
the
dust
and
dirt
which
are
disengaged,
irritate
the
air
passages,and
give
rise
to
cough
and
difficulty
of
breathing.A
disease
of
the
skin,
no
doubt
from
the
irritation
of
the
dirt
contained
in
the
Surat
cotton,
also
prevails....
The
fibre
being
so
short,
a
great
amount
of
size,
both
animal
and
vegetable,
is
used....Bronchitis
is
more
prevalent
owing
to
the
dust.Inflammatory
sore
throat
is
common,
from
the
same
cause.
Sickness
and
dyspepsia
are
produced
by
the
frequent
breaking
of
the
weft,
when
the
weaver
sucks
the
weft
through
the
eye
of
the
shuttle.\"
On
the
other
hand,
the
substitutes
for
flour
were
a
Fortunatus'
purse
to
the
manufacturers,
by
increasing
the
weight
of
the
yarn.
They
caused
\"15
lbs.
of
raw
material
to
weigh
26
lbs.
after
it
was
woven.\"162
In
the
Report
of
Inspectors
of
Factories
for
30th
April,
1864,
we
read
as
follows:
\"The
trade
is
availing
itself
of
this
resource
at
present
to
an
extent
which
is
even
discreditable.
I
have
heard
on
good
authority
of
a
cloth
weighing
8
lbs.
which
was
made
of
5
1\/4
lbs.
cotton
and
2
3\/4
lbs.
size;
and
of
another
cloth
weighing
5
1\/4
lbs.,
of
which
2
lbs.
was
size.
These
were
ordinary
export
shirtings.
In
cloths
of
other
descriptions,
as
much
as
50
per
cent.
size
is
sometimes
added;
so
that
a
manufacturer
may,
and
does
truly
boast,
that
he
is
getting
rich
by
selling
cloth
for
less
money
per
pound
than
he
paid
for
the
mere
yarn
of
which
they
are
composed.\"
163
But
the
workpeople
had
to
suffer,
not
only
from
the
experiments
of
the
manufacturers
inside
the
mills,
and
of
the
municipalities
outside,
not
only
from
reduced
wages
and
absence
of
work,
from
want
and
from
charity,
and
from
the
eulogistic
speeches
of
lords
and
commons.
\"Unfortunate
females
who,
in
consequence
of
the
cotton
famine,
were
at
its
commencement
thrown
out
of
employment,
and
have
thereby
become
outcasts
of
society;
and
now,
though
trade
has
revived,
and
work
is
plentiful,
continue
members
of
that
unfortunate
class,
and
are
likely
to
continue
so.
There
are
also
in
the
borough
more
youthful
prostitutes
than
I
have
known
for
the
last
25
years.\"
164
We
find
then,
in
the
first
45
years
of
the
English
cotton
trade,
from
1770
to
1815,
only
5
years
of
crisis
and
stagnation;
but
this
was
the
period
of
monopoly.
The
second
period
from
1815
to
1863
counts,
during
its
48
years,
only
20
years
of
revival
and
prosperity
against
28
of
depression
and
stagnation.
Between
1815
and
1830
the
competition
with
the
continent
of
Europe
and
with
the
United
States
sets
in.
After
1833,
the
extension
of
the
Asiatic
markets
is
enforced
by
\"destruction
of
the
human
race\"
(the
wholesale
extinction
of
Indian
hand-loom
weavers).
After
the
repeal
of
the
Corn
Laws,
from
1846
to
1863,
there
are
8
years
of
moderate
activity
and
prosperity
against
9
years
of
depression
and
stagnation.
The
condition
of
the
adult
male
operatives,
even
during
the
years
of
prosperity,
may
be
judged
from
the
note
subjoined.165
Section
8:
Revolution
Effected
in
Manufacture,
Handicrafts,and
Domestic
Industry
by
Modern
Industry
A.
Overthrow
of
Co-operation
Based
on
Handicraft
and
on
the
Division
of
Labour
We
have
seen
how
machinery
does
away
with
co
operation
based
on
handicrafts,
and
with
manufacture
based
on
the
division
of
handicraft
labour.
An
example
of
the
first
sort
is
the
mowing-machine;
it
replaces
co-operation
between
mowers.
A
striking
example
of
the
second
kind,
is
the
needle-making
machine.According
to
Adam
Smith,
10
men,
in
his
day,
made
in
co-operation,
over
48,000
needles
a-day.
On
the
other
hand,
a
single
needle-machine
makes
145,000
in
a
working
day
of
11
hours.
One
woman
or
one
girl
superintends
four
such
machines,
and
so
produces
near
upon
600,000
needles
in
a
day,
and
upwards
of
3,000,000
in
a
week.166A
single
machine,
when
it
takes
the
place
of
co-operation
or
of
manufacture,
may
itself
serve
as
the
basis
of
an
industry
of
a
handicraft
character.
Still,
such
a
return
to
handicrafts
is
but
a
transition
to
the
factory
system,
which,
as
a
rule,makes
its
appearance
so
soon
as
the
human
muscles
are
replaced,
for
the
purpose
of
driving
the
machines,by
a
mechanical
motive
power,
such
as
steam
or
water.Here
and
there,
but
in
any
case
only
for
a
time,
an
industry
may
be
carried
on,
on
a
small
scale,
by
means
of
mechanical
power.
This
is
effected
by
hiring
steam
power,
as
is
done
in
some
of
the
Birmingham
trades,or
by
the
use
of
small
caloric-engines,
as
in
some
branches
of
weaving.167In
the
Coventry
silk
weaving
industry
the
experiment
of
\"cottage
factories\"
was
tried.
In
the
centre
of
a
square
surrounded
by
rows
of
cottages,
an
engine-house
was
built
and
the
engine
connected
by
shafts
with
the
looms
in
the
cottages.In
all
cases
the
power
was
hired
at
so
much
per
loom.The
rent
was
payable
weekly,
whether
the
looms
worked
or
not.
Each
cottage
held
from
2
to
6
looms;some
belonged
to
the
weaver,
some
were
bought
on
credit,
some
were
hired.
The
struggle
between
these
cottage
factories
and
the
factory
proper,
lasted
over
12
years.
It
ended
with
the
complete
ruin
of
the
300
cottage
factories.168Wherever
the
nature
of
the
process
did
not
involve
production
on
a
large
scale,
the
new
industries
that
have
sprung
up
in
the
last
few
decades,such
as
envelope
making,
steel-pen
making,
&c.,
have,as
a
general
rule,
first
passed
through
the
handicraft
stage,
and
then
the
manufacturing
stage,
as
short
phases
of
transition
to
the
factory
stage.
The
transition
is
very
difficult
in
those
cases
where
the
production
of
the
article
by
manufacture
consists,
not
of
a
series
of
graduated
processes,
but
of
a
great
number
of
disconnected
ones.
This
circumstance
formed
a
great
hindrance
to
the
establishment
of
steel-pen
factories.Nevertheless,
about
15
years
ago,
a
machine
was
invented
that
automatically
performed
6
separate
operations
at
once.
The
first
steel-pens
were
supplied
by
the
handicraft
system,
in
the
year
1820,
at
￡7
4s.the
gross;
in
1830
they
were
supplied
by
manufacture
at
8s.,
and
today
the
factory
system
supplies
them
to
the
trade
at
from
2
to
6d.
the
gross.169
B.
Reaction
of
the
Factory
System
on
Manufacture
and
Domestic
Industries
Along
with
the
development
of
the
factory
system
and
of
the
revolution
in
agriculture
that
accompanies
it,
production
in
all
the
other
branches
of
industry
not
only
extends,
but
alters
its
character.
The
principle,carried
out
in
the
factory
system,
of
analysing
the
process
of
production
into
its
constituent
phases,and
of
solving
the
problems
thus
proposed
by
the
application
of
mechanics,
of
chemistry,
and
of
the
whole
range
of
the
natural
sciences,
becomes
the
determining
principle
everywhere.
Hence,
machinery
squeezes
itself
into
the
manufacturing
industries
first
for
one
detail
process,
then
for
another.
Thus
the
solid
crystal
of
their
organisation,
based
on
the
old
division
of
labour,
becomes
dissolved,
and
makes
way
for
constant
changes.
Independently
of
this,
a
radical
change
takes
place
in
the
composition
of
the
collective
labourer,
a
change
of
the
persons
working
in
combination.
In
contrast
with
the
manufacturing
period,
the
division
of
labour
is
thenceforth
based,wherever
possible,
on
the
employment
of
women,of
children
of
all
ages,
and
of
unskilled
labourers,
in
one
word,
on
cheap
labour,
as
it
is
characteristically
called
in
England.
This
is
the
case
not
only
with
all
production
on
a
large
scale,
whether
employing
machinery
or
not,
but
also
with
the
so-called
domestic
industry,
whether
carried
on
in
the
houses
of
the
workpeople
or
in
small
workshops.
This
modern
so
called
domestic
industry
has
nothing,
except
the
name,in
common
with
the
old-fashioned
domestic
industry,the
existence
of
which
pre-supposes
independent
urban
handicrafts,
independent
peasant
farming,
and
above
all,
a
dwelling-house
for
the
labourer
and
his
family.
That
old-fashioned
industry
has
now
been
converted
into
an
outside
department
of
the
factory,the
manufactory,
or
the
warehouse.
Besides
the
factory
operatives,
the
manufacturing
workmen
and
the
handicraftsman,
whom
it
concentrates
in
large
masses
at
one
spot,
and
directly
commands,
capital
also
sets
in
motion,
by
means,
of
invisible
threads,
another
army;that
of
the
workers
in
the
domestic
industries,
who
dwell
in
the
large
towns
and
are
also
scattered
over
the
face
of
the
country.
An
example:
The
shirt
factory
of
Messrs.
Tillie
at
Londonderry,
which
employs
1,000
operatives
in
the
factory
itself,
and
9,000
people
spread
up
and
down
the
country
and
working
in
their
own
houses.170
The
exploitation
of
cheap
and
immature
labour
power
is
carried
out
in
a
more
shameless
manner
in
modern
Manufacture
than
in
the
factory
proper.
This
is
because
the
technical
foundation
of
the
factory
system,namely,
the
substitution
of
machines
for
muscular
power,
and
the
light
character
of
the
labour,
is
almost
entirely
absent
in
Manufacture,
and
at
the
same
time
women
and
over-young
children
are
subjected,in
a
most
unconscionable
way,
to
the
influence
of
poisonous
or
injurious
substances.
This
exploitation
is
more
shameless
in
the
so-called
domestic
industry
than
in
manufactures,
and
that
because
the
power
of
resistance
in
the
labourers
decreases
with
their
dissemination;
because
a
whole
series
of
plundering
parasites
insinuate
themselves
between
the
employer
and
the
workman;
because
a
domestic
industry
has
always
to
compete
either
with
the
factory
system,
or
with
manufacturing
in
the
same
branch
of
production;because
poverty
robs
the
workman
of
the
conditions
most
essential
to
his
labour,
of
space,
light
and
ventilation;
because
employment
becomes
more
and
more
irregular;
and,
finally,
because
in
these
the
last
resorts
of
the
masses
made
\"redundant\"
by
modern
industry
and
Agriculture,
competition
for
work
attains
its
maximum.
Economy
in
the
means
of
production,first
systematically
carried
out
in
the
factory
system,and
there,
from
the
very
beginning,
coincident
with
the
most
reckless
squandering
of
labour-power,
and
robbery
of
the
conditions
normally
requisite
for
labour
–
this
economy
now
shows
its
antagonistic
and
murderous
side
more
and
more
in
a
given
branch
of
industry,
the
less
the
social
productive
power
of
labour
and
the
technical
basis
for
a
combination
of
processes
are
developed
in
that
branch.
C.
Modern
Manufacture
I
now
proceed,
by
a
few
examples,
to
illustrate
the
principles
laid
down
above.
As
a
matter
of
fact,
the
reader
is
already
familiar
with
numerous
instances
given
in
the
chapter
on
the
working
day.
In
the
hardware
manufactures
of
Birmingham
and
the
neighbourhood,
there
are
employed,
mostly
in
very
heavy
work,
30,000
children
and
young
persons,besides
10,000
women.
There
they
are
to
be
seen
in
the
unwholesome
brass-foundries,
button
factories,enamelling,
galvanising,
and
lackering
works.171Owing
to
the
excessive
labour
of
their
workpeople,both
adult
and
non-adult,
certain
London
houses
where
newspapers
and
books
are
printed,
have
got
the
ill-omened
name
of
\"slaughterhouses.\"172Similar
excesses
are
practised
in
book-binding,
where
the
victims
are
chiefly
women,
girls,
and
children;
young
persons
have
to
do
heavy
work
in
rope-walks
and
night-work
in
salt
mines,
candle
manufactories,
and
chemical
works;
young
people
are
worked
to
death
at
turning
the
looms
in
silk
weaving,
when
it
is
not
carried
on
by
machinery.173One
of
the
most
shameful,the
most
dirty,
and
the
worst
paid
kinds
of
labour,and
one
on
which
women
and
young
girls
are
by
preference
employed,
is
the
sorting
of
rags.
It
is
well
known
that
Great
Britain,
apart
from
its
own
immense
store
of
rags,
is
the
emporium
for
the
rag
trade
of
the
whole
world.
They
flow
in
from
Japan,
from
the
most
remote
States
of
South
America,
and
from
the
Canary
Islands.
But
the
chief
sources
of
their
supply
are
Germany,
France,
Russia,
Italy,
Egypt,
Turkey,Belgium,
and
Holland.
They
are
used
for
manure,for
making
bedflocks,
for
shoddy,
and
they
serve
as
the
raw
material
of
paper.
The
rag-sorters
are
the
medium
for
the
spread
of
small-pox
and
other
infectious
diseases,
and
they
themselves
are
the
first
victims.174A
classical
example
of
over-work,
of
hard
and
inappropriate
labour,
and
of
its
brutalising
effects
on
the
workman
from
his
childhood
upwards,is
afforded
not
only
by
coal-mining
and
miners
generally,
but
also
by
tile
and
brick
making,
in
which
industry
the
recently
invented
machinery
is,in
England,
used
only
here
and
there.
Between
May
and
September
the
work
lasts
from
5
in
the
morning
till
8
in
the
evening,
and
where
the
drying
is
done
in
the
open
air,
it
often
lasts
from
4
in
the
morning
till
9
in
the
evening.
Work
from
5
in
the
morning
till
7
in
the
evening
is
considered
\"reduced\"
and
\"moderate.\"Both
boys
and
girls
of
6
and
even
of
4
years
of
age
are
employed.
They
work
for
the
same
number
of
hours,
often
longer,
than
the
adults.
The
work
is
hard
and
the
summer
heat
increases
the
exhaustion.
In
a
精選分類
