not
contract saving habits. The small struggling tradesman, whose income
is very little more than that of the mechanic, often makes great
exertions and practises much economy to put by a sum to assist him
in difficulty or to extend his business. It may be that the very
certainty of the wages acts as a deterrent--inasmuch as the mechanic
feels safe of his weekly money, while the shopkeeper runs much risk.
It is doubtful whether mechanics with good wages save more than
agricultural labourers, except in indirect ways--ways which are
thrust upon them. First of all, there is the yard club, to which all
are compelled to pay by their employers, the object being to provide
medical assistance in case of sickness. This is in some sense a
saving. Then there are the building societies, which offer
opportunities of possessing a house, and the mechanic who becomes a
member has to pay for it by instalments. This also may be called an
indirect saving, since the effect is the same. But of direct
saving--putting money in a bank, or investing it--there is scarcely
any. The quarter of a million annually paid in wages mostly finds
its way into the pockets of the various trades-people, and at the
end of the year the mechanic is none the better off. This is a grave
defect in his character. Much of it results from a generous, liberal
disposition: a readiness to treat a friend with a drink, to drive
the family out into the country, to treat the daughter with a new
dress. The mechanic does not set a value upon money in itself.

The effect of the existence of this factory upon the whole
surrounding district has been marked. A large proportion of the
lower class of mechanics, especially the factory labourers, are
drawn from the agricultural poor of the adjacent villages. These
work all day at the factory, and return at night. They daily walk
great distances to secure this employment: three miles to and three
miles back is common, four miles not uncommon, and some have been
known to walk six or twelve miles per day. These carry back with
them into the villages the knowledge they insensibly acquire from
their better-informed comrades, and exhibit an independent spirit.
For a radius of six miles round the poorer class are better
informed, quicker in perception, more ready with an answer to a
question, than those who dwell farther back out of the track of
modern life. Wages had materially risen long before the movement
among the agricultural laboure