e to deal at another
point. It is sufficient to say here, that the struggle for
factory-workers became more and more severe, and has remained so to the
present day.

The increase of women workers in this field had been steady. In 1865
women operatives in the factories of Massachusetts were 32,239, or
nineteen per cent of men operatives. In 1875 they were 83,207, or
twenty-six per cent; and the increase since that date has been in like
proportion. From the time of their first employment in mills the
increase has been on themselves over three hundred per cent. In
Massachusetts mills women and children are from two thirds to five
sixths of all employed, and the proportion in all the manufacturing
portions of New England is nearly the same.

In judging the factory system as a whole, it is necessary to glance at
the conditions of home work preceding it. These are given in full detail
in historical and economical treatises, notably in Lecky's "History of
the Eighteenth Century," and in Dr. Kay's "Moral and Physical Condition
of the Working Classes." A list of the more important authorities on the
subject will be found in the general bibliography at the end.

The conditions that prevailed in other countries were less strenuous
with us, but the same objections to the domestic system held good at
many points. In weaving, the looms occupied large part of the family
living space, and overcrowding and all its evils were inevitable.
Drunkenness was more common, as well as the stealing of materials by
dishonest workers. Time was lost in going for material and in returning
it, and only half as much was accomplished. Homes were uncared for and
often filthy, and the work was done in half-lighted, airless rooms.

These conditions are often reproduced in part even to-day in buildings
not adapted to their present use; but as a whole it is certain that the
homes of factory-workers are cleaner, that regulation has proved
beneficial, that light and air are furnished in better measure, and that
overcrowding has become impossible. This applies only to textile
manufactures, where machines must have room.

In an admirable chapter on the "Factory System," prepared by Colonel
Carroll D. Wright for the Tenth Census of the United States, he takes up
in detail the objections urged against it. These are as follows:--

A. The factory system necessitates the employment of women and
children to an injurious extent, and consequently its ten