ANDREW URE The Philosophy of Manufactures (1835)

SOURCE: From Andrew Ure, The Philosophy of Manufactures, or, an Exposition of the Scientific, Moral, and Commercial Economy of the Factory System of Great Britain, 3rd ed. (London: Bohn, 1861, pp. 278-280, 300-301, 309-312, 328-330, 333-336, 349-350, 379-380, 385-388. (The first edition was published in 1835.)

When the wandering savage becomes a citizen, he renounces many of his dangerous pleasures in return for tranquility and protection. He can no longer gratify at will a revengeful spirit upon his foes, nor seize with violence a neighbor's possessions. In like manner, when the handicraftsman ex- changes hard work with fluctuating employment and pay, for continuous work of a lighter kind with steady wages, he must necessarily renounce his old prerogative of stopping when he pleases, because he would thereby throw the whole establishment into disorder. Of the amount of injury resulting from the violation of the rules of automatic labor he can hardly ever be the proper judge; just as mankind at large can never fully estimate the evils consequent upon an infraction of God's moral law. Yet the factory operative, little versant in the great operations of political economy, cur- rency, and trade, and actuated too often by an invidious feeling toward the capitalist who animates his otherwise torpid talents, is easily persuaded by artful demagogues, that his sacrifice of time and skill is beyond the proportion of his recompense, or that fewer hours of industry would be an ample equivalent for his wages. This notion seems to have taken an early and inveterate hold of the factory mind, and to have been riveted from time to time by the leaders of those secret combinations, so readily formed among a peculiar class of men, concentrated in masses within a narrow range of country.

Instead of repining as they have done at the prosperity of their employers, and concerting odious measures to blast it, they should, on every principle of gratitude and self-interest, have rejoiced at the success resulting from their labors, and by regularity and skill have recommended themselves to monied men desirous of engaging in a profitable concern, and of procuring qualified hands to conduct it. Thus good workmen would have advanced their condition to that of overlookers, managers, and partners in new mills, and have increased at the same time the demand for their companions' labor in the market. It is only by an undisturbed progression of this kind that the rate of wages can be permanently raised or upheld. Had it not been for the violent collisions and interruptions resulting from erroneous views among the operatives, the factory system would have developed still more rapidly and beneficially for all concerned than it has, and would have exhibited still more frequently gratifying examples of skilful workmen becoming opulent.proprietors. Every misunderstanding either repels capital altogether, or diverts it from flowing, for a time, in the channels of trade liable to strikes.

No master would wish to have any wayward children to work within the walls of his factory, who do not mind their business without beating, and he therefore usually fines and turns away any spinners who are known to maltreat their assistants. Hence, ill-usage of any kind is a very rare occurrence. I have visited many factories, both in Manchester and in the surrounding districts, during a period of several months, entering the spinning rooms, unexpectedly, and often alone, at different times of day, and I never saw a single instance of corporal chastisement inflicted on a child, nor indeed did I ever see children in ill-humor. They seemed to be always cheerful and alert, taking pleasure in the light play of their muscles-enjoying the mobility natural to their age. The scene of industry, far from exciting sad emotions in my mind, was always exhilarating. It was delightful to observe the nimbleness with which they pieced the broken ends, as the mule-carriage began to recede from the fixed rollerbeam, and to see them at leisure, after a few seconds' exercise of their tiny fingers, to amuse themselves in any attitude they chose, till the stretch and winding-on were once more completed. The work of these lively elves seemed to resemble a sport, in which habit gave them a pleasing dexterity. Conscious of their skill, they were delighted to show it off to any stranger. As to exhaustion by the day's work, they evinced no trace of it on emerging from the mill in the evening; for they immediately began to skip about any neighboring play-ground, and to commence their little amusements with the same alacrity as boys issuing from a school. It is moreover my firm conviction, that if children are not ilf-used by bad parents or guardians, but receive in food and raiment the full benefit of what they earn, they would thrive better in our modem factories than if left alone in apartments too often ill-aired, damp and cold.

Of all the modem prejudices that exist with regard to factory labor, there is none more unfounded than that which ascribes to it excessive tedium and irksomeness above other occupations, owing to its being carried on in conjunction with the "unceasing motion of the steam-engine." In an establishment for spinning or weaving cotton, all the hard work is performed by the steam-engine, which leaves for the attendant no hard labor at all, and literally nothing to do in general; but at intervals to perform some delicate operation, such as joining the threads that break, taking the cops off the spindles, etc. And it is so far from being true that the work in a factory is incessant, because the motion of the steamengine is incessant, that the labor is not incessant on that very account, because it is performed in conjunction with the steamengine. Of all manufacturing employments, those are by far the most irksome and incessant in which steam-engines are not employed, as in lace-running and stockingweaving; and the way to prevent an employment from being incessant is to introduce a steam-engine into it....

Occupations which are assisted by steamengines require for the most part a higher, or at least a steadier, species of labor than those which are not; the exercise of the mind being then partially substituted for that of the muscles, constituting skilled labor, which is always paid more highly than unskilled. On this principle we can readily account for the comparatively high wages which the inmates of a cotton factory, whether children or adults, obtain. Batting cotton by hand for fine spinning seems by far the hardest work in a factory; it is performed wholly by women, without any assistance from the steam-engine, and is somewhat similar in effort to threshing corn; yet it does not bring those who are engaged in it more than 6s. 6d. weekly, while close by it the stretching-frame, which remunerates its renters or superintendents, women, and even children fourteen years old, with double wages for far lighter labor. In power-loom weaving also, the wages are good, and the muscular effort is trifling, as those who tend it frequently exercise themselves by following the movements of the lay, and leaning on it with their an-ns. It is reckoned a very healthy occupation, as is shown by the appearance of the females engaged in it, in every well-regulated establishment in England and Scotland....

Under what pretext, or with what face of pretension, operatives, whose labor is assisted by steam or water power, can lay claim to a peculiar privilege of exemption from more than ten hours' daily labor it is hard to conjecture. They compare their toil with that of the small class, comparatively, of artisans, such as carpenters, bricklayers, stone-masons, etc., who, they say, work only from six to six, with two one-hour intervals for meals: a class, however, in this material respect distinguished from most factory operatives, that their work is done entirely by muscular effort, and after serving a long apprenticeship with no little outlay. But what do the factory operatives think of the numerous class of domestic operatives, the stocking or frame-work knitters, the hand-loom weavers, the wool- combers, the lace-manufacturers, and a variety of others, who work, and very hardly too, from twelve to sixteen hours a day, to earn a bare subsistence; and this frequently from a very early age, and in a state of confinement irksome to the mind and injurious to the body? ...

The factory system, then, instead of being detrimental to the comfort of the laboring population, is its grand Palladium; for the more complicated and extensive the machinery required for any manufacture, the less risk is there of its agents being injured by the competition of foreign manu- factures, and the greater inducement and ability has the mill-owner to keep up the wages of his work-people. The main reason why they are so high is, that they form a small part of the value of the manufactured article, so that if reduced too low by a sordid master, they would render his opera- tives less careful, and thereby injure the quality of their work more than could be compensated by his saving in wages....

It deserves to be remembered, moreover, that hand-working is more or less discontinuous from the caprice of the operative, and never gives an average weekly or annual product at all comparable to that of a like machine equally driven by power....

In hand-weaving ... the depreciation of wages has been extraordinary. Annexed are the prices paid at different periods in Manchester for weaving a sixty reed 6/4 cambric, as taken in the month of March each year; the weaver paying threepence out of each shilling, for winding his warp, for brushes, paste, etc. In 1795 39s. 6d. 1800 25s. 1810 15s. 1820 8s. 1830 5s.

The [admittedly] painful statements made to the factory commissioners will show in how abject a condition are our socalled independent handicraft laborers, compared with that of those much-la- mented laborers who tend the power-driven machines of the factories. The former class needs all the sympathy which Mr. Sadler's faction 2 so perniciously expended upon the latter....

Mr. T Ashton's cotton-works are agreeably grouped together on a gentle declivity, which is traversed by a little tributary stream of the Mersey. This supplies the condensing power to his steam-engines, while their expansive force is fumished from rich coal-measures immediately under the factory lands. This is the motive-element which pervades and animates the region all around. The houses occupied by his work-people lie in streets, all built of stone, and are commodious; consisting each of at least four apartments ii.e., rooms] in two stories, with a small back-yard and a mews lane. The rent for a good lodging, containing an improved kitchen-grate, with boiler and oven, is only f:8 per annum, and good fuel may be had for 9s. a ton. I looked into several of the houses, and found them more richly fumished than any common workpeople's dwellings which I had ever seen before. In one I saw a couple of sofas, with good chairs, an eight-day clock in a handsome mahogany case, several pictures in oil on the walls, freshly painted for the family, ... In another house I observed a neat wheel barometer, with its attached thermometer, suspended against the snowwhite wall. In a third there was a piano, with a little girl leaming to play upon it.

My notice was particularly attracted to a handsome house and shop, in one of the streets where Mr. Ashton's operatives dwell. On asking who occupied it, I learned it was a spinner, who having saved from his earnings E200, had embarked this capital in a retail business, now managed by his wife, a tidy-looking person, while the husband continued to pursue his profitable avocations in the mill.

The most recent, and perhaps most convincing, evidence regarding the healthiness of factory children is that given in the official report of Mr. Harrison, the inspecting surgeon appointed for the mills of Preston and its vicinity. There are 1,656 under 18 years of age, of whom 952 are employed in spinning-rooms, 468 in carding rooms, 128 at power-looms, and 108 in winding, skewering cops, etc. "I have made very particular inquiries respecting the health of every child whom I have examined, and I find that the average annual sickness of each child is not more than four days; at least, that not more than four days on an average are lost by each child in a year, in consequence of sickness. This includes disorders of every kind, for the most part induced by causes wholly unconnected with factory labor. I have been not a little surprised to find so little sickness which can fairly be attributed to mill work. I have met with very few children who have suffered from injuries occasioned by machinery; and the protection, especially in new factories, is so complete, that accidents will, I doubt not, speedily become rare. I have not met with a single instance out of the 1,656 children whom I have examined, of deformity, that is referable to factory labor. it must be ad- mitted, that factory children do not present the same blooming robust appearance as is witnessed among children who labor in the open air, but I question if they are not more exempt from acute diseases, and do not, on the average, suffer less sickness than those who are regarded as having more healthy employments. The average age at which the children of this district enter the factories is ten years and two months; and the average age of all the young persons together is fourteen years."

I examined samples of bacon as sold in several respectable shops in Manchester, and found it to be much more rank than the average of the London shops. In this piquant state, it suits vitiated palates accustomed to the fiery impression of tobacco and gin. These three stimulants are too much used by that order of work-people in Manchester who receive the highest wages, and they are quite sufficient to account for many chronic maladies of the stomach, liver, or spleen, without tracing them to mere factory labor or confinement. Were a judicious plan of cookery and diet, combining abundance of vegetable matter with light animal food, introduced among them, as it is among the families of the workpeople at Belper, Hyde, New Lanark, Catrine, etc., joined to abstinence from tobacco and alcohol, I am confident that the health of the Manchester spinners would surpass that of any class of operatives in the kingdom....

*Michael Sadler (1 780-1835): a banker, Tory M. P. for Leeds, and chairman of the parliamentary investigating committee whose findings led to the Factory Act of 1833.