the majority of weavers are working at a
reduction
of 30 to 40 per cent.
Marx - Capital-Volume-I
?
?
?
?
?
?
345 Chapter 15
? ? ? ? ? ? ? Flour, cwts
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 3,819,440
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 7,207,113
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Buckwheat, cwts
? ? 1,054
? ? ? ? 19,571
? ? ? ? ? ? ? Maize, cwts
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 5,473,161
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 11,694,818
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bere or Bigg (a sort of Barley), cwts
? ? 2,039
? ? ? ? 7,675
? ? ? ? ? ? ? Peas, cwts
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 811,620
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 1,024,722
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Beans, cwts
? ? 1,822,972
? ? ? ? 2,037,137
? ? ? ? ? ? ? Total exports
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? --
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 74,083,441
? ? ? ? ? ? 155 In an appeal made in July, 1866, to the Trade Societies of England, by the shoemakers of Leicester, who had been thrown on the streets by a lock-out, it is stated: --Twenty years ago the Leicester shoe trade was revolutionised by the introduction of riveting in the place of stitching. At that time good wages could be earned. Great competition was shown between the different firms as to which could turn out the neatest article. Shortly afterwards, however a worse kind of competition sprang up, namely, that of underselling one another in the market. The injurious consequences soon manifested themselves in reductions of wages, and so sweepingly quick was the fall in the price of labour, that many firms now pay only one half of the original wages. And yet, though wages sink lower and lower, profits appear, with each alteration in the scale of wages, to increase. ? Even bad times are utilised by the manufacturers, for making exceptional profits by excessive lowering of wages, i. e. , by a direct robbery of the labourer's means of subsistence. One example (it has reference to the crisis in the Coventry silk weaving): --From information I have received from manufacturers as well as workmen, there seems to be no doubt that wages have been reduced to a greater extent than either the competition of the foreign producers, or other circumstances have rendered necessary . . .
the majority of weavers are working at a reduction of 30 to 40 per cent. in their wages. A piece of ribbon for. making which the weaver got 6s. or 7s. five years back, now only brings them 3s. 3d. or 3s. 6d. ; other work is now priced at 2s. and 2s. 3d. which was formerly priced at 4s. and 4s. 3d. The reduction in wage seems to have been carried to a greater extent than is necessary for increasing demand. Indeed, the reduction in the cost of weaving, in the case of many descriptions of ribbons, has net been accompanied by any corresponding reduction in the selling price of the manufactured article. ? (Mr. F. D. Longes Report. --Ch. Emp. Corn. , V. Rep. , 1866,? p. 114, 1. )
156 Conf --Reports of Insp. of Fact. , 31st October, 1862,? p. 30. 157 l. c. , p. 19.
158 --Rep. Insp. of Fact. , 31st October, 1863,? pp. 41-45.
159 l. c. , pp. 41-42
160 l. c. , p. 57.
161 l. c. , pp. 50-51.
162 l. c. , pp. 62-63.
163 --Rep. &c. , 30th April, 1864,? p. 27.
164 From a letter of Mr. Harris, Chief Constable of Bolton, in --Rep. of Insp. of Fact. , 31st October, 1865,? pp. 61-62.
? 346 Chapter 15
165 In an appeal, dated 1863, of the factory operatives of Lancashire, &c. , for the purpose of forming a society for organised emigration, we find the following: --That a large emigration of factory workers is now absolutely essential to raise them from their present prostrate condition, few will deny; but to show that a continuous stream of emigration is at all times demanded, and, without which it is impossible for than to maintain their position in ordinary times, we beg to call attention to the subjoined facts: -- In 1814 the official value of cotton goods exported was ? 17,665,378, whilst the real marketable value was ? 20,070,824. In 1858 the official value of cotton goods exported, was ? 182,221,681; but the real or marketable value was only ? 43,001,322, being a ten-fold quantity sold for little more than double the former price. To produce results so disadvantageous to the country generally, and to the factory workers in particular, several causes have cooperated, which, had circumstances permitted, we should have brought more prominently under your notice; suffice it for the present to say that the most obvious one is the constant redundancy of labour, without which a trade so ruinous in its effects never could have been carried on, and which requires a constantly extending market to save it from annihilation. Our cotton mills may be brought to a stand by the periodical stagnations of trade, which, under present arrangements, are as inevitable as death itself; but the human mind is constantly at work, and although we believe we are under the mark in stating that six millions of persons have left these shores during the last 25 years, yet, from the natural increase of population, and the displacement of labour to cheapen production, a large percentage of the male adults in the most prosperous times find it impossible to obtain work in factories on any conditions whatever. ? (--Reports of Insp. of Fact. , 30th April 1863,? pp. 51-52. ) We shall, in a later chapter, see how our friends, the manufacturers, endeavoured, during the catastrophe in the cotton trade, to prevent by every means, including State interference, the emigration of the operatives.
166 --Ch. Empt. Comm. III. Report, 1864,? p. 108, n. 447.
167 In the United States the restoration, in this way, of handicrafts based on machinery is frequent; and therefore, when the inevitable transition to the factory system shall take place, the ensuing concentration will, compared with Europe and even with England, stride on in seven-league boots.
168 See --Rep. of Insp. of Fact. , 31st Oct. , 1865,? p. 64.
169 Mr. Gillott erected in Birmingham the first steel-pen factory on a large scale. It produced, so early as 1851, over 180,000,000 of pens yearly, and consumed 120 tons of steel. Birmingham has the monopoly of this industry in the United Kingdom, and at present produces thousands of millions of steel-pens. According to the Census of 1861, the number of persons employed was 1,428, of whom 1,268 females from 5 years of age upwards.
170 --Ch. Empl. Comm. II. Rep. 1864,? p. LXVIII. , n. 415.
171 And now forsooth children are employed at file-cutting in Sheffield.
172 --Ch. Empl. Comm. , V. Rep. 1866,? p. 3, n. 24; p. 6, n. 55, 56; p. 7, n. 59, 60.
173 l. c. , pp. 114, 115, n. 6, 7. The commissioner justly remarks that though as a rule machines take the place of men, here literally young persons replace machines.
174 See the Report on the rag trade, and numerous details in --Public Health, VIII. Rep. ? Lond. 1866, app. , pp. 196, 208.
175 --Ch. Empl. Comm. V. Rep. , 1866,? pp. xvi-xviii, n. 86-97, and pp. 130-133, n. 39-71. See also III. Rep. , 1864, pp. 48, 56.
176 --Public Health. Sixth Rep. ,? Lond. 1864, pp. 29, 31.
177 l. c. , p. 30. Dr. Simon remarks that the mortality among the London tailors and printers between the ages of 25 and 35 is in fact much greater, because the employers in London obtain from the country a great number of young people up to 30 years of age, as --apprentices? and --improvers,? who come for the purpose of being perfected in their trade. These figure in the census as Londoners, they swell out
? ? 347 Chapter 15
the number of heads on which the London death-rate is calculated, without adding proportionally to the number of deaths in that place. The greater part of them in fact return to the country, and especially in cases of severe illness. (l. c. )
178 I allude here to hammered nails, as distinguished from nails cut out and made by machinery. See --Child. Empl. Comm. , Third Rep. ,? pp. xi. , xix. , n. 125-130, p. 52, n. 11, p. 114, n. 487, p. 137, n. 674.
179 --Ch. Empl.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? Flour, cwts
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 3,819,440
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 7,207,113
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Buckwheat, cwts
? ? 1,054
? ? ? ? 19,571
? ? ? ? ? ? ? Maize, cwts
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 5,473,161
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 11,694,818
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Bere or Bigg (a sort of Barley), cwts
? ? 2,039
? ? ? ? 7,675
? ? ? ? ? ? ? Peas, cwts
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 811,620
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 1,024,722
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Beans, cwts
? ? 1,822,972
? ? ? ? 2,037,137
? ? ? ? ? ? ? Total exports
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? --
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 74,083,441
? ? ? ? ? ? 155 In an appeal made in July, 1866, to the Trade Societies of England, by the shoemakers of Leicester, who had been thrown on the streets by a lock-out, it is stated: --Twenty years ago the Leicester shoe trade was revolutionised by the introduction of riveting in the place of stitching. At that time good wages could be earned. Great competition was shown between the different firms as to which could turn out the neatest article. Shortly afterwards, however a worse kind of competition sprang up, namely, that of underselling one another in the market. The injurious consequences soon manifested themselves in reductions of wages, and so sweepingly quick was the fall in the price of labour, that many firms now pay only one half of the original wages. And yet, though wages sink lower and lower, profits appear, with each alteration in the scale of wages, to increase. ? Even bad times are utilised by the manufacturers, for making exceptional profits by excessive lowering of wages, i. e. , by a direct robbery of the labourer's means of subsistence. One example (it has reference to the crisis in the Coventry silk weaving): --From information I have received from manufacturers as well as workmen, there seems to be no doubt that wages have been reduced to a greater extent than either the competition of the foreign producers, or other circumstances have rendered necessary . . .
the majority of weavers are working at a reduction of 30 to 40 per cent. in their wages. A piece of ribbon for. making which the weaver got 6s. or 7s. five years back, now only brings them 3s. 3d. or 3s. 6d. ; other work is now priced at 2s. and 2s. 3d. which was formerly priced at 4s. and 4s. 3d. The reduction in wage seems to have been carried to a greater extent than is necessary for increasing demand. Indeed, the reduction in the cost of weaving, in the case of many descriptions of ribbons, has net been accompanied by any corresponding reduction in the selling price of the manufactured article. ? (Mr. F. D. Longes Report. --Ch. Emp. Corn. , V. Rep. , 1866,? p. 114, 1. )
156 Conf --Reports of Insp. of Fact. , 31st October, 1862,? p. 30. 157 l. c. , p. 19.
158 --Rep. Insp. of Fact. , 31st October, 1863,? pp. 41-45.
159 l. c. , pp. 41-42
160 l. c. , p. 57.
161 l. c. , pp. 50-51.
162 l. c. , pp. 62-63.
163 --Rep. &c. , 30th April, 1864,? p. 27.
164 From a letter of Mr. Harris, Chief Constable of Bolton, in --Rep. of Insp. of Fact. , 31st October, 1865,? pp. 61-62.
? 346 Chapter 15
165 In an appeal, dated 1863, of the factory operatives of Lancashire, &c. , for the purpose of forming a society for organised emigration, we find the following: --That a large emigration of factory workers is now absolutely essential to raise them from their present prostrate condition, few will deny; but to show that a continuous stream of emigration is at all times demanded, and, without which it is impossible for than to maintain their position in ordinary times, we beg to call attention to the subjoined facts: -- In 1814 the official value of cotton goods exported was ? 17,665,378, whilst the real marketable value was ? 20,070,824. In 1858 the official value of cotton goods exported, was ? 182,221,681; but the real or marketable value was only ? 43,001,322, being a ten-fold quantity sold for little more than double the former price. To produce results so disadvantageous to the country generally, and to the factory workers in particular, several causes have cooperated, which, had circumstances permitted, we should have brought more prominently under your notice; suffice it for the present to say that the most obvious one is the constant redundancy of labour, without which a trade so ruinous in its effects never could have been carried on, and which requires a constantly extending market to save it from annihilation. Our cotton mills may be brought to a stand by the periodical stagnations of trade, which, under present arrangements, are as inevitable as death itself; but the human mind is constantly at work, and although we believe we are under the mark in stating that six millions of persons have left these shores during the last 25 years, yet, from the natural increase of population, and the displacement of labour to cheapen production, a large percentage of the male adults in the most prosperous times find it impossible to obtain work in factories on any conditions whatever. ? (--Reports of Insp. of Fact. , 30th April 1863,? pp. 51-52. ) We shall, in a later chapter, see how our friends, the manufacturers, endeavoured, during the catastrophe in the cotton trade, to prevent by every means, including State interference, the emigration of the operatives.
166 --Ch. Empt. Comm. III. Report, 1864,? p. 108, n. 447.
167 In the United States the restoration, in this way, of handicrafts based on machinery is frequent; and therefore, when the inevitable transition to the factory system shall take place, the ensuing concentration will, compared with Europe and even with England, stride on in seven-league boots.
168 See --Rep. of Insp. of Fact. , 31st Oct. , 1865,? p. 64.
169 Mr. Gillott erected in Birmingham the first steel-pen factory on a large scale. It produced, so early as 1851, over 180,000,000 of pens yearly, and consumed 120 tons of steel. Birmingham has the monopoly of this industry in the United Kingdom, and at present produces thousands of millions of steel-pens. According to the Census of 1861, the number of persons employed was 1,428, of whom 1,268 females from 5 years of age upwards.
170 --Ch. Empl. Comm. II. Rep. 1864,? p. LXVIII. , n. 415.
171 And now forsooth children are employed at file-cutting in Sheffield.
172 --Ch. Empl. Comm. , V. Rep. 1866,? p. 3, n. 24; p. 6, n. 55, 56; p. 7, n. 59, 60.
173 l. c. , pp. 114, 115, n. 6, 7. The commissioner justly remarks that though as a rule machines take the place of men, here literally young persons replace machines.
174 See the Report on the rag trade, and numerous details in --Public Health, VIII. Rep. ? Lond. 1866, app. , pp. 196, 208.
175 --Ch. Empl. Comm. V. Rep. , 1866,? pp. xvi-xviii, n. 86-97, and pp. 130-133, n. 39-71. See also III. Rep. , 1864, pp. 48, 56.
176 --Public Health. Sixth Rep. ,? Lond. 1864, pp. 29, 31.
177 l. c. , p. 30. Dr. Simon remarks that the mortality among the London tailors and printers between the ages of 25 and 35 is in fact much greater, because the employers in London obtain from the country a great number of young people up to 30 years of age, as --apprentices? and --improvers,? who come for the purpose of being perfected in their trade. These figure in the census as Londoners, they swell out
? ? 347 Chapter 15
the number of heads on which the London death-rate is calculated, without adding proportionally to the number of deaths in that place. The greater part of them in fact return to the country, and especially in cases of severe illness. (l. c. )
178 I allude here to hammered nails, as distinguished from nails cut out and made by machinery. See --Child. Empl. Comm. , Third Rep. ,? pp. xi. , xix. , n. 125-130, p. 52, n. 11, p. 114, n. 487, p. 137, n. 674.
179 --Ch. Empl.
