The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844: with a Preface written in 1892Engels, Friedrich
History
The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844: with a Preface written in 1892
Engels, Friedrich
Great Britain -- Economic conditions; Working class -- Great Britain
subject to the factory system, and then, referring the reader to what has
already been said of that, we can pass on.
Of the remaining workers employed in the manufacture of clothing stuffs
little remains to be said; the bleachers' work is very unwholesome,
obliging them to breathe chlorine, a gas injurious to the lungs. The
work of the dyers is in many cases very healthful, since it requires the
exertion of the whole body; how these workers are paid is little known,
and this is ground enough for the inference that they do not receive less
than the average wages, otherwise they would make complaint. The fustian
cutters, who, in consequence of the large consumption of cotton velvet,
are comparatively numerous, being estimated at from 3,000 to 4,000, have
suffered very severely, indirectly, from the influence of the factory
system. The goods formerly woven with hand-looms, were not perfectly
uniform, and required a practised hand in cutting the single rows of
threads. Since power-looms have been used, the rows run regularly; each
thread of the weft is exactly parallel with the preceding one, and
cutting is no longer an art. The workers thrown out of employment by the
introduction of machinery turn to fustian cutting, and force down wages
by their competition; the manufacturers discovered that they could employ
women and children, and the wages sank to the rate paid them, while
hundreds of men were thrown out of employment. The manufacturers found
that they could get the work done in the factory itself more cheaply than
in the cutters' workroom, for which they indirectly paid the rent. Since
this discovery, the low upper-storey cutters' rooms stand empty in many a
cottage, or are let for dwellings, while the cutter has lost his freedom
of choice of his working-hours, and is brought under the dominion of the
factory bell. A cutter of perhaps forty-five years of age told me that
he could remember a time when he had received 8d. a yard for work, for
which he now received 1d.; true, he can cut the more regular texture more
quickly than the old, but he can by no means do twice as much in an hour
as formerly, so that his wages have sunk to less than a quarter of what
they were. Leach {196} gives a list of wages paid in 1827 and in 1843
for various goods, from which it appears that articles paid in 1827 at
the rates of 4d., 2.25d., 2.75d., and 1d. per yard, were paid in 1843 at
the rate of 1.5d., 1d., .75d., and 0.375d. per yard, cutters' wages. The
average weekly wage, according to Leach, was as follows: 1827, 1 pounds
6s. 6d.; 1 pounds 2s. 6d.; 1 pounds; 1 pounds 6s. 6d.; and for the same
goods in 1843, 10s. 6d.; 7s. 6d.; 6s. 8d.; 10s.; while there are hundreds
of workers who cannot find employment even at these last named rates. Of
the hand-weavers of the cotton industry we have already spoken; the other
woven fabrics are almost exclusively produced on hand-looms. Here most
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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