HOMES OF FACTORY OPERATIVES.

The institution of the factory system changed the workshop home of the domestic system to the home proper by transferring work to the factory. As a result, the homes of the operatives under the factory system have undergone a great change, and are still undergoing changes, which are making the English significance of the word “home” a reality to the poorest. It is perfectly true that in every large factory town one can find loathsome dwellings occupied by groups of persons called families. In most factory towns, both in America and Europe, it is easy to find dwellings occupied by factory operatives which are a disgrace to the owners and the municipality. Yet, taking the operative population of such towns as a class, they are very comfortably housed, and about as well housed in one country as another. The personal inspection of more than 1,000 homes of factory operatives leads Mr. Carroll D. Wright to this conclusion, he having written a special report on the “Factory System of the United States” for the Census Bureau.

British factory houses being floored with stone, as a rule, present a cold and cheerless look. The dimensions of the British house are much smaller than factory houses in America. The tenements of three rooms have much less space than tenements of three rooms here. This is generally true of all European factory towns. But the houses of the operatives are, as a rule, separate ones, the tenement house being quite unknown except where what is termed the “model workingmen’s houses” are being tried. The boarding house is not an institution for factory operatives.

OPERATIVE’S HOUSE AT WILLIMANTIC FACTORIES.

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At Saltaire, near Bradford, the homes of the work‐people are excellent; rents vary from $30 to $100 per year for three to five room houses. The houses are neat, tidy, and prettily furnished. At Queensbury, where John Foster & Son have works, the weavers earn 15 to 18 shillings per week full run, and the rents are 84 cents per week for three rooms. Some of the best houses in England are at Copley village, in Halifax, built by James Akroyd & Sons. They rent three rooms for £10 per year, and the operatives are helped to acquire a freehold. The Crowleys at Halifax employ 5,000 people, who have good houses. The houses at Salford and Manchester are not so good. The factories at Paisley are excellent evidences of the good influence which arises from proper interest in employes. The works of the Messrs. Clark and Messrs. Coates are model establishments and the influence of model works extends to the houses of the people employed, which are here very comfortable. Rents vary from 72 cents to $2 per week, according to number of rooms.

In Glasgow no cellarages can now be found. The operatives have gone to the suburbs, where they have changed their cramped city abodes for clean and light houses. Belfast, Ireland, is improving the dwellings of the linen factory operatives. The houses are tidy, and rents are from 48 to 60 cents per week for four rooms. There are houses with flats in Belfast. In the west and east of Scotland the operatives live very largely in flats; rents in Dundee and Dunfermline being for two rooms from $15 to $30 per year, and for three or four rooms from $30 to $50 per year.