machine-printers were
pretty well paid. The print-works are thus wholly affiliated with the
factory system, but without being subject to the legislative restrictions
placed upon it. They produce an article subject to fashion, and have
therefore no regular work. If they have small orders, they work half
time; if they make a hit with a pattern, and business is brisk, they work
twelve hours, perhaps all night. In the neighbourhood of my home, near
Manchester, there was a print-work that was often lighted when I returned
late at night; and I have heard that the children were obliged at times
to work so long there, that they would try to catch a moment's rest and
sleep on the stone steps and in the corners of the lobby. I have no
legal proof of the truth of the statement, or I should name the firm. The
Report of the Children's Employment Commission is very cursory upon this
subject, stating merely that in England, at least, the children are
mostly pretty well clothed and fed (relatively, according to the wages of
the parents), that they receive no education whatsoever, and are morally
on a low plane. It is only necessary to remember that these children are
subject to the factory system, and then, referring the reader to what has
already been said of that, we can pass on.

Of the remaining workers employed in the manufacture of clothing stuffs
little remains to be said; the bleachers' work is very unwholesome,
obliging them to breathe chlorine, a gas injurious to the lungs. The
work of the dyers is in many cases very healthful, since it requires the
exertion of the whole body; how these workers are paid is little known,
and this is ground enough for the inference that they do not receive less
than the average wages, otherwise they would make complaint. The fustian
cutters, who, in consequence of the large consumption of cotton velvet,
are comparatively numerous, being estimated at from 3,000 to 4,000, have
suffered very severely, indirectly, from the influence of the factory
system. The goods formerly woven with hand-looms, were not perfectly
uniform, and required a practised hand in cutting the single rows of
threads. Since power-looms have been used, the rows run regularly; each
thread of the weft is exactly parallel with the preceding one, and
cutting is no longer an art. The workers thrown out of employment by the
introduction of machinery turn to fustian cutting, and force down wages
by their competition; the