uctions, was, in 1821, 16.5s., and, in
1831, but 6s. Since that time wages have fallen still further. Goods
which brought in 4d. weavers' wages in 1831, bring in but 2.5d. in 1843
(single sarsnets), and a great number of weavers in the country can get
work only when they undertake these goods at 1.5d.-2d. Moreover, they
are subject to arbitrary deductions from their wages. Every weaver who
receives materials is given a card, on which is usually to be read that
the work is to be returned at a specified hour of the day; that a weaver
who cannot work by reason of illness must make the fact known at the
office within three days, or sickness will not be regarded as an excuse;
that it will not be regarded as a sufficient excuse if the weaver claims
to have been obliged to wait for yarn; that for certain faults in the
work (if, for example, more weft-threads are found within a given space
than are prescribed), not less than half the wages will be deducted; and
that if the goods should not be ready at the time specified, one penny
will be deducted for every yard returned. The deductions in accordance
with these cards are so considerable that, for instance, a man who comes
twice a week to Leigh, in Lancashire, to gather up woven goods, brings
his employer at least 15 pound fines every time. He asserts this
himself, and he is regarded as one of the most lenient. Such things were
formerly settled by arbitration; but as the workers were usually
dismissed if they insisted upon that, the custom has been almost wholly
abandoned, and the manufacturer acts arbitrarily as prosecutor, witness,
judge, law-giver, and executive in one person. And if the workman goes
to a Justice of the Peace, the answer is: "When you accepted your card
you entered upon a contract, and you must abide by it." The case is the
same as that of the factory operatives. Besides, the employer obliges
the workman to sign a document in which he declares that he agrees to the
deductions made. And if a workman rebels, all the manufacturers in the
town know at once that he is a man who, as Leach says, {197} "resists the
lawful order as established by weavers' cards, and, moreover, has the
impudence to doubt the wisdom of those who are, as he ought to know, his
superiors in society."

Naturally, the workers are perfectly free; the manufacturer does not
force them to take his materials and his cards, but he says to them what
Leach translates into plain English wit