One witness pointed out that when work starts at 8 A.M. many girls
get no breakfast, and when dinner-time comes at 12 or 12.30 they do
not feel able to eat ordinary food and take only bread and tea, or
something "tasty," but not nourishing. This point should be borne in
mind when the arrangement of hours is under discussion, especially
in view of the suggestion of one doctor who thought that the ideal
working-day when long hours are necessary for output, would be from
7 A.M. to 12 and 1 P.M. to 6 P.M., with ten minutes break for tea,
etc., in the middle of each spell. His reason for opposing an earlier
start with a breakfast interval at 8 o'clock depended on the fact that
the earlier spell (6 A.M.-8 A.M.) would probably be worked fasting,
which he considered to be very injurious. How much more harmful then
must be a whole morning's work with only a very light refreshment at
the interval. The Sick Visitor of the United Garment Workers' Union
at Hebden Bridge also draws attention to the difficulty of obtaining
an adequate breakfast at 7 o'clock in time for the 7.30 A.M. start
general at Hebden Bridge, and she attributes the prevalent trouble of
indigestion to this cause.
In the textile industries such amenities as dining-rooms are
practically unknown. A benevolent employer here and there, or a
Co-operative Wholesale Society, may provide a canteen, but such
examples are exceedingly rare. In south-east Lancashire most operatives
who work at a distance from their homes arrange with a family in the
neighbourhood of the mill to provide them with hot water for tea,
and possibly to cook some food for them, for breakfast and dinner.
Those who do not do this take their meals in the mill, and as seats
are non-existent they have to sit on skips or on the floor. When one
realises the atmospheric conditions of most mills, the heat, the damp
resulting from steaming, to say nothing of the smell from oil and size,
one cannot imagine a worse arrangement. In north Lancashire conditions
are somewhat better in that most mills provide hot water for tea at
a charge of 1d. or 2d. per week, and a certain few provide ovens for
heating food, but here again the meals have to be taken in the vitiated
atmosphere of the mill. Practically all operatives remain at the mill
for their breakfast, but the majority go home to dinner. The standard
of living is high, but too much carbo-hydrate and too little protein
food is general; bread and tea, chips and fish (mostly batter), and
cakes and pasties, and potato pie with very little meat, form the
staple diet. Doctors especially remark on this, and they attribute
the distaste for nourishing food to the long hours of confinement in
the close atmosphere of the mill. Industrial employment of the mothers
is also held to be responsible for faulty feeding, and when the mother
leaves the mill to look after the needs of a large family the taste for
unsuitable food is settled, and the diet continues as before.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account