Changes in Employment during the War 1914-1915.
APPENDIX TO CHAPTERS II. AND IV.
DOCUMENTS AND EXTRACTS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE POSITION OF WOMEN DURING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.
Thoughts on the Use of Machines in the Cotton Manufacture. By a Friend of the Poor. Manchester Reference Library, 677, 1, B. 12. (Barnes, 1780.)
“What a prodigious difference have our machines made in the gain of the females of the family! Formerly the chief support of a poor family arose from the loom. The wife could get comparatively but little on her single spindle. But for some years a good spinner has been able to get as much as or more than a weaver. For this reason many weavers have become spinners, and by this means such quantities of cotton warps, twists, wefts, etc., have been poured into the country that our trade has taken a new turn. All the spinners in the country could not possibly have produced so much as this, as are now wanted in a small part of our manufacture. If it were true that a weaver gets less, yet, as his wife gets more, his family does not suffer. But the fact is that the gains of an industrious family have been upon the average much greater than they were before these inventions.”
Page 16. “When I look upon our machines, with a regard to the Poor, and as their friend and well-wisher, my heart glows with gratitude and pleasure on their account, in the full hope that, by means of them, our manufactures will continue, and be extended and improved, from age to age. Perhaps, e’er long, our manufacture may be chiefly of cotton. Linen may be almost laid aside. Suppose, for instance, common yearn could be brought to market, made with cotton warps. What a sale might we expect! Such goods would have the demand of all the world. Nor is this at all unlikely to be the case, in some future time. Already cotton yarn has been offered to sale, as I am very credibly informed, almost, if not entirely, as cheap as linen yarn, of the same length. Germany and Ireland then have reason to be alarmed at our machines. Their yarn manufactures may suffer severely. But surely this will be the highest advantage to us, by increasing the quantity of labour amongst ourselves and keeping so much money at home. Perhaps, by new improvements, we may vie with the East India goods in fineness and beauty. And then—what a prospect would open upon us! But you say all this is a mere perhaps. It is so. And I only offer it as such. But, I ask, is it more unlikely than our present improvements were, twenty years ago? I believe not. Some tradesmen thought the cotton manufacture at its highest pitch then. It was then but in its infancy. Perhaps it is so yet. Human ingenuity, when spurred on by proper rewards, may leave whatever has been done already at a vast distance. We may have goods brought to market, cheaper, finer, better. The necessary consequence of this will be, the demand will increase and all the world become our customers. If we can undersell all the world, we may have the custom of all the world. Merchants are alike all the world over. They will go to the cheapest market. What a pleasing thought is this! But in order to do this it is necessary to encourage our machines, and to keep them as much as possible to ourselves.”
Description of Interior of a Cotton Mill, in A Short Essay for the Service of the Proprietors of Cotton Mills and the Persons Employed in Them. Manchester, 1784. (M/c Library, 28269/4.)
(Quotes instances of jail fever from overcrowding, etc.)