others fell to decay for want of repair; poor people were banished as
much as possible from the agricultural districts on account of the
burden of parish settlements; even in this county I saw the ruins of
two cottages, which I was informed were the two last cottages in the
parish.
“Under such depressing causes it is not to be wondered at that we
frequently received families into our employ who did not know how to
conduct (with propriety) a decent cottage in such a manner as to
conduce either to the health or comfort of the inmates.
“About twelve years ago we had occasion to introduce a considerable
number of families into some new houses; in the course of a few months
a most malignant fever broke out amongst them, and went from house to
house, till we became seriously alarmed for the safety of the whole
establishment. We instituted an inquiry into the state of the houses
where the fever first appeared, and found that from the low habits of
the occupants, and the ignorance of the proper decencies of life, the
cottages were in so filthy a state that it was apparent we should not
long be free from a recurrence of the same evil unless we took some
active means to effect a change in the habits of these people.
“Although we felt very unwilling to do anything which appeared to
interfere with the domestic management of our workpeople, still the
urgency of the case at the time seemed to warrant such a step. We
therefore ordered an examination of every cottage in our possession,
both as regarded cleanliness and ventilation, as well as bedding and
furniture.
“The striking difference exhibited in the state of these cottages, the
neatness and cleanness of some, the gross neglect of others, appearing
to have no relation to the amount of income, convinced us that an
occasional repetition of these visits would be essential in order to
effect any permanent improvement amongst them.
“These periodical visits have now been continued through a series of
years; and as no invidious distinction or selection was ever made, do
not appear to have been viewed in the light of an intrusion; a week or
two of notice being mostly given, a laudable degree of emulation has
been excited as to whose house bedding and furniture should be found
in the best order; my brother or myself have occasionally joined in
these visits. By these means we were made acquainted with the wants
and necessities of the various families in our employ. Having had such
opportunity of observing the great inconvenience arising from small
dwellings where the families were large, both as regards bed-rooms and
living-rooms, few cottages having more than two bed-rooms; and where
there were children or young persons of both sexes, the indelicacy of
this arrangement was apparent; we therefore concluded to build larger
cottages, and make them with three bed-rooms in each. These houses
were sought after with the greatest avidity, and families allowed to
remove to them as an especial favour; the increase rent of 1_s._ to
1_s._ 6_d._ per week was a small consideration in regard to the
additional comfort afforded to a family where the income was from
24_s._ to 50_s._ or 60_s._ per week, as is frequently the case with
families employed in manufactories.”
But I am enabled to adduce evidence showing that by structural
improvements of the places of work as well as of abode which present the
bounty on and security for future adoption, constituted by experience of
pecuniary saving, the health of the manufacturing workpeople, now
amongst the lowest, may be advanced to the average of health enjoyed by
any other class.
On my return from Glasgow, I proceeded to visit and examine the cotton
manufactory and machine-making works erected and carried on under the
directions of Mr. James Smith, of Deanston, near Stirling, the inventor
of the subsoil plough, to whose valuable opinion on the subject of
drainage I have already made reference.
The principle of the improvement of places of work, which constituted
the chief object of attention at Deanston, was the erection of
manufactories in one large flat or ground floor, instead of story piled
upon story as in the old mode.
Mr. Smith had constructed a new department of the cottonmill in one room
or flat, which covered about half an acre of ground. The roof was
composed of groined arches in divisional squares of 33 feet 6 inches,
supported on cast-iron columns, which were hollow, and through which the
drainage of the roof was effected. In order to render the roof of the
building water-tight, the outer superficies of the arches were covered
with a coat of common plaster, over which, when dried, was laid a
coating of coal-tar, boiled to a pitchy consistence, and mixed with
sand, laid on to a thickness of three-quarters of an inch. Over this was
laid a surface of from 12 to 16 inches of garden-soil, which prevents
the injurious effects on the pitch of the frost in winter, and the sun
in summer.
The height of this large room was 12 feet from the floor to the spring
of the arches, and six feet rise, giving a height to the room in which
the operatives were engaged of 18 feet. The height of the ordinary rooms
in which the workpeople in manufactories are engaged is not more than
from 9 to 11 feet. This restricted space arises from various points of
economy (now considered to be mistaken) in the old modes of constructing
manufactories, which were first erected in towns where land was dear,
and in times when the immediate economy of capital was of more pressing
importance. The adverse consequences to the operatives are the
restriction of space for air; that the heat and effluvia of the lower
rooms are communicated to the rooms above; and that the difficulty of
ventilating them is exceedingly great, especially in the wide rooms,
where it is found to be practically extremely difficult to get a current
of fresh air to pass through the centre. The like difficulties have been
heretofore experienced in respect to the ventilation of large ships.
There is also in the mills of the old construction the additional
fatigue of ascending and descending to the higher rooms, and carrying
material. To avoid this, in some instances, machinery is resorted to.
The ventilation through the side windows of large rooms is generally
found to be imperfect and inconvenient in many of the processes, and
annoying to the workpeople from the influx of the air in strong
currents. The arrangements for ventilation through the roof of this room
appeared to be highly advantageous. The light was brought in from above,
through openings eight feet in diameter at the top of each groin,
surmounted by domes or cones of glass, at the apex of which there were
openings of about 16 inches in diameter, with covers that could be
opened or shut at pleasure, to admit of ventilation. The better
distribution of the light for the work from these openings was one
advantage they appeared to possess over the ordinary mode of getting
light from side windows.
The chief arrangements from below for ventilation were made by tunnels
10 feet distance from each other, carried across and underneath the
floor of the building, and terminating in the open air on either side.
The covers of these tunnels were perforated with holes of about an inch
in diameter and 12 inches apart, disposed through the floor so as to
occasion a wide and uniform distribution of fresh air throughout the
whole building, on the same principle as that adopted for the admission
of fresh air through the floor of the House of Commons. In winter time
the fresh air admitted was warmed on the same principle, by pipes of hot
water, to prevent the inconvenience of the admission of currents of cold
air. The whole building was, from its size and arrangements, kept at a
steady temperature, and appeared to be less susceptible than other
buildings to atmospheric influence. The shaftings for the conveyance of
the power were carried through the tunnels, and straps or belts from the
shafts rise through the cover of the tunnels, and, by their motion, aid
in promoting the circulation of the air. The possibility of fatal
accidents from the persons being caught by the straps and wound round
the shafts, was by this arrangement entirely prevented. The tunnelling
under this arrangement constituted a boxing off of the whole of the
shafting. Another advantage from the removal of the driving-straps from
above was that the view over the whole room was entirely unimpeded.
Another structural improvement was in the use of a thin flooring of wood
over the solid base of stone floors. The floor so arranged affords the
solidity of the stone floor, and inconsiderable danger of combustion,
whilst the advantages of the wooden surface to the workers were a
diminution of swelled ancles and rheumatic affections of the joints,
often produced by working bare-footed on stone floors.
There were no entries made from which I could obtain for comparison an
account of the amount of sickness experienced by the workpeople in this
new room, but it was obvious that the improvement must be considerable,
and it was attested by the rosy and fresh countenances of the females
and of the workpeople generally. A considerable improvement was manifest
in the health of those workpeople who had previously worked in the older
and less spacious rooms.
The improvement of the place of work was combined with improvements in
the residences of the workpeople. About one-half of the hands employed
in the mills resided in houses near the works, which were well drained;
the ashes and other refuse was cleared away from the village every
morning between six and seven o’clock, and carried to a general
dungstead at a distance, for use on their gardens. On inquiry as to the
state of the health of the workpeople living in these improved
tenements, it appeared that they had not one-half the amount of sickness
experienced by the rest of the workpeople who lived in the common
ill-regulated houses about a mile distance. The whole population had
fewer diseases than any other class of the population in the surrounding
country; they presented fewer cases of rheumatism, and there were
scarcely any lung diseases amongst them: their general health was
decidedly better than that of the adjacent agricultural population.
The chief advantages of the improved arrangements of the places of work
were, on the side of the workpeople, improved health; security for
females and for the young against the dangers of fatal accidents, and
less fatigue in the execution of the same amount of work. But beyond
these the arrangement of the work in one room had moral advantages of
high value. The bad manners and immoralities complained of as attendant
on assemblages of workpeople of both sexes in manufactories, generally
occur, as may be expected, in small rooms and places where few are
employed, and that are secluded from superior inspection and from common
observation. But whilst employed in this one large room, the young are
under the inspection of the old; the children are in many instances
under the inspection of parents, and all under the observation of the
whole body of workers, and under the inspection of the employer. It was
observed that the moral condition of the females in this room stood
comparatively high. It would scarcely be practicable to discriminate the
moral effects arising from one cause where several are in operation; but
it was stated by ministers that there were fewer cases of illegitimacy
and less vice observable among the population engaged in this
manufactory than amongst the surrounding population of the labouring
class. The comparative circumstances of that population were such as,
when examined, would establish the conclusion that it must be so.
The first expense of such a building is higher than a manufactory of the
old construction; but it appeared to possess countervailing economical
advantages to the capitalist, the chief of which are,—this same facility
of constant general supervision, the increase of the certainty of
superintendence, and the reduction of the numbers of subordinate
managers, the increase of efficiency of management, and a diminution of
its expense. Another advantage arose to the manufacturer in the superior
action of the machinery. In mills of the ordinary construction the
machinery is frequently deranged in its structure, and put out of order
by the yielding and unsteadiness of the upper floors. The machinery
erected on the ground floor has a firm basis, and a steady and more
durable action. The other advantages presented were, the saving of
labour in transporting the material from one process to another, a
labour which is often considerable in expense, as well as in
inconvenience, in lifting it into the higher rooms; the reduction of the
hazard of fire, and consequently in expense of insurance against it, as
fire could scarcely take place, and certainly could not rapidly extend
in a manufactory so constructed. These several sources of economy Mr.
Smith calculated would more than compensate for any increase of
ground-rent, even if the building were erected on land costing 1000_l._
per acre. Mr. Marshall, of Leeds, on consulting with Mr. Smith, has
constructed a new manufactory (on the principle of that in Deanston) in
Leeds, where ground is valuable. This manufactory covers more than two
acres of ground, and is reported to be eminently successful. Power looms
are frequently arranged in buildings of one story, and I was informed of
another manufactory in Lancashire, nearly as large as that of Messrs.
Marshalls, built on one floor, but it did not appear to possess the
arrangements for ventilation and warming, and the other arrangements
necessary to the complete action of a place of work on the plan of that
at Deanston.
Mr. Smith considered that the principle of arrangement for superior
inspection and management of a manufactory was equally applicable to
agricultural operations, and that it would be proportionately
advantageous in the superior ventilation and equality of temperature for
cattle, in the avoidance of labour and wet and cold, in removing from
one small separate building to another, and in the transport of produce,
to have all under one large roof, where the whole direction and
inspection of the homestead farming operations are brought under one
view.
Of the manufacturing advantages of such arrangements I have had strong
testimony: of the advantages of such arrangements to the health and
moral and social condition of the workpeople, I could not entertain the
slightest doubt. I feel confident that the more closely it is examined,
the more clearly will the coincidence which I have endeavoured to trace,
of pecuniary interest with the health and the highest physical and moral
improvement of the lowest of the labouring classes, be established. Mr.
Smith avowed his confidence in this coincidence from his own experience
and observation as a practical principle. The improved health of the
workpeople was attended by more energy and better labour; by less of
lassitude and waste from relaxed attention; by fewer interruptions from
sickness, and fewer spare hands to ensure the completion of work. Under
the persuasion of the coincidence of interest, he had endeavoured to
direct the structural alterations to the promotion of the health of the
workpeople; he believed they might be advantageously carried further,
and had it in contemplation to make arrangements to promote habitual
bathing amongst them. He had, moreover, retained the services of a
medical gentleman to inspect the workpeople from time to time, and give
them timely advice, and, as far as possible, to prevent disease. He
agreed, and had long considered, that it was in the power of the masters
of Britain “entirely to extirpate excessive and habitual drinking. We
never,” said he, “permit a man to come near the works who is in the
slightest degree intoxicated, and never permit any one to be absent one
day drinking. You never can be well or cheaply served by a dissipated
workman. The most skilful workman, the man whose services I can the
least spare, must, if he takes to drinking, leave the place. It may
occasion immediate inconvenience and even immediate loss, but if the
rule be steadily applied, it will contribute to the comfort and the
profit of the master as well as of the man.”
The importance of such beneficent influence on the health, the moral
condition and respectability of the labouring classes, is so little
understood, that I beg leave to submit further illustrations of the
value of—
_The Employers’ Influence on the Sobriety and Health of Workpeople by
modes of Payment which do not lead to Temptations to Intemperance._
The power possessed by extensive employers of labour to influence
beneficially their labourers, is not however confined to those who stand
in the combined relation of employer and landlord. In the course of
another inquiry as to the means of preventing crime, it appeared that a
large class of crimes and disorders arose from drunkenness. On carrying
the inquiry back into the causes out of which the drunkenness arose,
they appeared to be extensively removable, and that by the employers of
labour. The important influences that belong to this position will be
displayed in the effects of alterations in detail in one point of
management, namely, the mode of paying wages. The direct sanitary
effects may be best displayed in the following evidence of _Mr. Lomax_,
an army pensioner, which has been corroborated by superior officers:—
“When I was in the Life Guards, 14 or 16 years ago, there was a good
deal of ill health prevalent amongst them. Before that time the men
received part of their pay weekly, namely, 7_s._ at the end of the
week. With this 7_s._ they had to provide the food which they
required, except their dinner. The ration for dinner was
three-quarters of a pound of uncooked meat, a pound of potatoes or
vegetables, and a pound of bread. It was found, however, that many of
the men spent the whole of the 7_s._ in a single day in drink or
dissipation. During the remainder of the week the men would be on what
was called the _crib-bite_, that is, living only on their dinner
rations. I knew many of the men who drooped under this system, partly
from the excess of drinking or dissipation, and partly from the
privation of the necessaries of life and the work they had to undergo.
This, again, led them to much temptation. If anything was lost it was
amongst this class of men that we looked for it. The crime-book would
speak as to the further bad consequences of these habits.
“The plan was then tried of paying the men 1_s._ each day. Over and
above that the men were provided with coffee. It was universally felt
that this change was highly beneficial to their health, and it stopped
the dissipation, and the consequences of the dissipation.”
The incapacity to apportion their means for temperate consumption (which
is not however confined to the working classes) is extensively shown in
the mismanagement of the means for procuring food. It is a subject of
complaint which frequently appears in the reports, that the ignorance of
domestic economy leads to ill health, by the purchase of unsuitable, and
at the same time, expensive food. We have been frequently besought to
obtain and promulgate, for popular information, instructions in frugal
cookery, and the management of supplies. It is observed by _Mr.
Brebner_, the governor of the Glasgow bridewell, where the cost of
maintaining the prisoners in health and increased strength is on average
only 2¾_d._ per diem, that
“The regularity of diet in the prisons here is of vast importance,
both as to the quantity and the time of serving it up. If the same
persons were to get the same amount of food for a whole week, or for a
less time, at their own discretion, they would suffer from surfeit at
one time, and from long fasting at another. Irregularity of diet is
one of the most fruitful sources of disease that occur in civilized
life.”
In further illustration of the beneficial influence which employers may
often exercise to assail such vices by regulations in detail, I cite the
following instances from a communication I have received from _Mr. Edwin
Hill_, the inspector of stamping machinery for the Government:—
“During a period of nine years (from 1818 to 1827) I was engaged in
the superintendence of one of the largest works in the town of
Birmingham, consisting of two distinct mills, one employed in rolling
copper for the use of braziers and shipwrights, and the other in
rolling silver, brass, and other metals. In each mill there was a set
of skilled workmen, who undertook the work at fixed prices, and who
themselves employed numerous assistants at weekly wages.
“Owing to difficulties in the way of making up the accounts at short
intervals, it was the custom for the master to advance weekly to each
workman in the silver mill a fixed sum of money (besides advancing a
sum to pay the assistants with). The accounts were made up annually,
and the balances due to the several workmen then paid. The payments,
both weekly and annually, were almost always made not to the men but
to their wives. The earnings of the men were considerable, varying
from 80_l._ to 180_l._ a-year. The men were, almost without exception,
highly respectable in their stations, their families were well
provided for, their homes cleanly and not without pretensions to some
degree of elegance, and their children sent to school at the sole
expense of the parents. Some of them had made considerable
accumulations of money, and even become proprietors of houses and
land. The workmen employed in the copper mill, on the contrary, had
been accustomed to receive the full amount of their earnings at the
end of each week, and, after paying their assistants, to divide the
surplus. These men were much addicted to drinking and feasting at the
alehouse; and, although their earnings were nearly as great as those
of the other men, their families were in wretchedness, and their wives
obliged to eke out a slender pittance by washing and other laborious
occupations. There were also several men employed as millwrights and
engineers, at regular and good weekly wages. These men were, almost
without exception, steady and respectable, and their families well
provided for. About the year 1822 the inconvenience and annoyance, and
loss, which arose from the unsteady habits of the second set of men,
led me to inquire into the causes of their inferiority to the others,
and I was soon led to attribute much of the evil to the great
irregularity in the amount of their weekly incomes, which varied from
about 10_s._ to 4_l._ 4_s._ per man.
“The effects were as follows:—The men were reckless, trusting to their
luck to get ‘good work,’ _i. e._, that which bears a high price in
proportion to the required labour. They were enabled to deceive their
wives as to the amount of money obtained. They learned the minimum
with which their wives could contrive to keep house, and, having
learned it, they endeavoured to retain all above this minimum for
their own gratifications. Their wives, under the pressure of
necessity, picked their pockets, opened their drawers, &c., in search
of money believed to be hidden. Their wives actually desired that
their husbands might get drunk on Saturday night, because they could
the more easily abstract the money from their persons.
“Upon the termination of my inquiries I induced the men, with little
difficulty, to receive their money in the way the other men did, viz.,
by regular weekly advances, rather under their average earnings, with
a quarterly or annual settlement; and I took care that the wives
should know exactly what their husbands would receive; and from the
day the plan commenced, a most decided and permanent improvement took
place in the habits of the men, and in the appearance and general
comforts of their families. One of the men commenced saving money
immediately. This man’s savings, as I have lately been informed, now
in January, 1841, considerably exceed 1000_l._; whereas, during the
five or six years which he passed in the same occupation before the
change of plan, he made no saving whatever.”