Free
Trade Clique. There is a manufacturer who has upon himself the curses
of the whole district on account of his infamous conduct towards his
poor weavers; if they have got a piece ready which comes to 34 or 36
shillings, he gives them 20s. in money and the rest in cloth or goods,
and 40 to 50 per cent. dearer than at the other shops, and often
enough the goods are rotten into the bargain. But, what says the
_Free Trade Mercury_, the _Leeds Mercury_? They are not bound to take
them; they can please themselves. Oh, yes, but they must take them or
else starve. If they ask for another 20s. in money, they must wait
eight or fourteen days for a warp; but if they take the 20s. and the
goods, then there is always a warp ready for them. And that is Free
Trade. Lord Brougham said we ought to put by something in our young
days, so that we need not go to the parish when we are old. Well, are
we to put by the rotten goods? If this did not come from a lord, one
would say his brains were as rotten as the goods that our work is paid
in. When the unstamped papers came out "illegally," there was a lot
of them to report it to the police in Holmfirth, the Blythes, the
Edwards, etc.; but where are they now? But this is different. Our
truck manufacturer belongs to the pious Free Trade lot; he goes to
church twice every Sunday, and repeats devotedly after the parson: 'We
have left undone the things we ought to have done, and we have done
the things we ought not to have done, and there is no good in us; but,
good Lord, deliver us.' Yes, deliver us till to-morrow, and we will
pay our weavers again in rotten goods."

The Cottage system looks much more innocent and arose in a much more
harmless way, though it has the same enslaving influence upon the
employee. In the neighbourhood of the mills in the country, there is
often a lack of dwelling accommodation for the operatives. The
manufacturer is frequently obliged to build such dwellings and does so
gladly, as they yield great advantages, besides the interest upon the
capital invested. If any owner of working-men's dwellings averages about
six per cent. on his invested capital, it is safe to calculate that the
manufacturer's cottages yield twice this rate; for so long as his factory
does not stand perfectly idle he is sure of occupants, and of occupants
who pay punctually. He is therefore spared the two chi