With the development of manufacturing industry and the growth of machine production, handicraftmanship lost its dominant10 position. In consequence of the industrial revolution, the guilds perished, the principle of freedom of contract was established, and in accordance with this principle the working powers of the cheapest of all objects of exploitation, children, were utilised. But the first phase of the development of capitalism11 was the most dangerous one, not only for youthful, but also for adult workers. In England, for example, it was towards the end of the eighteenth century that the conditions as regards child-labour were at their worst. The factory owners hired children from the workhouses and orphan12 asylums13. These latter institutions were far from the factories, and for this reason no official supervision14 of the children was possible, and their care was left entirely15 in the hands of the factory owners. The condition of these orphan children, similarly with that of the other youthful workers,[156] mocks every attempt at description. The most heartrending tortures were customary. They were tormented16 with the utmost refinement17 of cruelty; chained, flogged, starved to emaciation18, and driven to suicide. All this is easily comprehensible. The aim of the factory owner was to utilise as rapidly as possible the opportunity resulting from the replacement19 of hand-labour by machine-labour, to utilise it to gain wealth for himself before machine-labour became general; he therefore procured20 his labour at the cheapest possible price, and exploited the working powers of his employees to the utmost limits. Before the days of capitalism, night work was unknown, and, moreover, was quite unnecessary. But with the growth of capitalist production, there came into existence a number of industries which were carried on continuously night and day, if only for the reason that any interruption of the process of production would cause a great curtailment21 of profit. Night work is extremely injurious in its effects, it undermines the health (sleep during the day does not adequately compensate22 for loss of sleep during the night), morality, and the family life of the worker (who has no time to occupy himself with his family). All these dangers are even more serious in the case of women and children.
As regards the diffusion23 of child-labour, those branches of manufacture which take the form of home-industry are by far the worst. The manual workers fight the machine-workers with the same weapons that these latter themselves employ. These weapons flay24 the hand-workers even more than the machine-workers, because the attempt is made to compete with the machine-labour by human over-exertion25. This phenomenon becomes apparent in every branch of industry directly the use of machines begins. In agriculture, child-labour becomes a serious matter only when manufacturing industry comes to draw labour more and more from the country into the towns, so that a scarcity26 of labour begins to prevail in the country districts. Child-labour in agriculture is a necessary accompaniment of the small-holding system, because the small-holder is able transitorily to maintain his independence only through the use of cheap labour in the form of the utilisation of the working powers of all the members of his family. The[157] widely celebrated28 patriarchal conditions which were reputed to exist in agriculture have completely passed away. When the condition of the labour market renders it possible, certain factory owners, even to-day, discharge men to replace them by the cheaper labour of women and children.
Diffusion of Child-Labour.—In most countries the children, alike in the villages and in the towns, are employed in agricultural production, in trade, and in manufacturing industry. They herd29 geese, cows, sheep, and swine; work in the fields and in the mines; beg, sell matches, flowers, laces, newspapers; perform in the street, at the theatre, the circus, and the music-hall; work at home with their parents in inns and drinking saloons, and work in factories and workshops. In Germany, about two and a half million children are engaged in wage-labour, and of these more than 600,000 are of school age. Of these latter children of school age, nearly 60 per cent. are engaged in manufacturing industry. The number of children employed on Sunday is certainly not less than 100,000. In the years 1890–1894, the number of children returned as working in factories underwent a decline, for the law of 1891 and the need for notifying the employment of children drove a portion of the children previously30 employed in factories into unregulated domestic industry. In Switzerland, 50 per cent. of the children of school age are engaged in wage-labour; in Austria, only about 30 per cent.
The child at work in the open air enjoys a healthy freedom of movement. For this reason, under certain conditions (which, however, to-day can hardly be said to obtain) agricultural labour is healthier than any other. It is seasonal31 work—that is, it is in abeyance32 in certain seasons of the year, but in other seasons is pursued with the greatest diligence and the greatest possible intensity33, so that the children engaged in it must work very hard from early in the morning till late in the evening. No one who knows the wretched condition of the country schools will speak favourably34 of the school training of those children engaged in agricultural work. Child-labour in agriculture does not replace the labour of adults. Notwithstanding the increase in agricultural child-labour, the complaints of lack of labour-power in the country districts [158] are unceasing. The increased working contributions of the children are more than counterbalanced by the withdrawal35 of adult labour. This is all the more important, because, owing to the multiple character of agricultural activities and the lesser36 extent of the division of labour, agriculture demands more independence and ability from the worker than manufacturing industry.
Domestic work is an interesting field of child-labour. Working-class parents are out at work all day, and have but little time to give to housework. It is the children who attend to this. They clean out the house, and wash and dress and take care of the little ones; that is to say, such children do nearly as much work as those employed in factories or workshops. In addition, the girls have to knit, sew, mend, and cook.
Wage-earning work for children of school age is another interesting question. The number of children of school age engaged in such work is very great, and most of them are engaged in domestic industry. For a proportion of school children, the holidays mean simply harder work than ever, because, when school attendance ceases for a time, there is no hindrance37 to their exploitation.
The Causes of Child-Labour.—Capitalism, notwithstanding the ever-increasing utilisation of machines, still needs a larger and larger supply of human labour-power. Competition becomes increasingly fierce, and therefore the capitalists are driven to seek cheaper and ever cheaper human labour-power. The material needs of children are much smaller than those of adults. In Austria, the earnings38 of children engaged in domestic industry for eight hours a day, in addition to their school work, amount to from 6 to 20 keller (6d. to 2d.) daily. In Germany, the wages of children per hour seldom exceed 7 or 8 pfennig (about one penny). The development of technical science leads to a simplification of the process of manufacture by means of a continually-increasing division of labour. This renders it possible to employ in the work of production persons who have no technical training whatever, and whose bodily powers are very small. In the case of children, technical training and bodily strength are less than[159] in the case of adults. The employers gladly make use of the working powers of children for the following reasons: the children are inexperienced, they are less inclined to combine with their fellow-workers, they can more readily be forced to accept unfavourable conditions of work, and in the struggle with his adult employees the possibility of replacing their labour by that of children can be used by the employer as a trump40 card. Through the employment of the labour of children, the total quantity of labour available for employment is increased. It is owing to this fact, and to the greater cheapness of their labour, that the employment of children in wage-labour helps to force down the wages of adults. It is through poverty as a rule that children are forced to adopt wage-labour. The earnings of the parents and of other adult members of the family are so small that the earnings of the children are absolutely indispensable, and constitute no inconsiderable addition to the family income. The parents, who, according to the existing laws, for the most part have full control over the earnings of children under age, have a direct interest in sending the child to work. Many parents even believe that they have unrestricted rights over their children, and that there is no reason why they should not send the latter to the hardest possible work in the earliest years of childhood. Many parents think that it is good alike for them and for their children that the latter should work for wages. They are too ignorant to understand that this expectation will prove illusive41, and that the actual result will be the precise opposite of what they suppose. Many children are themselves pleased to go out to work, which saves them from having to spend every day and all day in their dull and gloomy parental42 home, saves them from spending all their time under the eyes of their parents, and secures for them freedom and independence, and opportunity for all kinds of lawful43 and unlawful pleasures.
Women’s Labour.—The parts played by the two sexes in production and consumption differ in consequence of sexual differences. It is for this reason that in earlier times women’s labour was concerned to a small extent only with production, and was mainly employed in the regulation of consumption[160] within the household. With the development of commerce, manufacturing industry, and town life, as a sequel of the modern economico-technical changes resulting from the evolution of capitalism, which rendered home industry more difficult, women’s work entered upon a new phase. Women gradually adopted work for wages, completely divorced from the home and its labours. Whereas formerly44 women’s work was performed on behalf of certain specific persons, under conditions largely of the women’s own choice, women’s work had now to be conducted in accordance with a prescribed code of rules, and the products were for consumption by unknown persons. It is widely maintained that this change was referable to the development of the movement for women’s emancipation45, to the desire of women for independence, but this view is erroneous. The change just mentioned, far from contributing to the emancipation of women, has tended rather to fix the yoke46 more firmly on their shoulders. The character of women’s work naturally experienced these changes in the towns earlier than in the country, in manufacturing districts earlier than in agricultural. Such wage-labour as women to-day carry on in their own homes is urban, not rural, in character. Of late, therefore, ever more and more women leave the domestic hearth47 to sell their labour in the industrial market. Wage-labour employs an ever-increasing number of women. The census48 returns of all civilised countries show that in the last decade, notwithstanding special legislation for the regulation of the work of female wage-earners, there has been a marked increase in women’s work, and that this increase is proportionally greater than that of the wage-labour of men. In countries in which capitalist production is fully49 established, wage-earning men constitute about 60 per cent. of the total adult male population, whereas 25 to 30 per cent. of the adult female population are wage-earning women. In the factories of Germany, more than 1,000,000 women are employed, of whom more than 30,000 are married.
The labour-force of women is utilised by capitalism on much the same grounds as that of children. Female labour is cheap, the customary wage for women being one-half to one-third of that for men. The reasons for this are as follows.[161] On the average women are more subject than men to bodily disorders50 whereby their ability to work is interrupted. In many women, wage-labour is merely a subsidiary occupation. Such women are willing to accept lower pay, and thus depress the wages of other women doing the same classes of work. Moreover, they are unorganised, for the obvious reason that in the case of women much less often than in the case of men does wage-labour constitute their permanent life-work, and the centre of their life’s interest is to be found in their actual or expected family life. Women are dexterous52 and quiet workers, conscientious53, punctual, change their dwelling54-place less readily than men, and are willing to undertake the most disagreeable and difficult kinds of work (married women do this for the sake of their families). Many girls are compelled to work for absolute vital necessities. In the case of a married couple, the husband’s earnings may be so small that vital necessities can be supplied only when the wife also goes out to work. The most tragic55 feature of such cases is that the woman is usually forced to go out to work precisely56 at the time when, in consequence of illness, the large size of the family, &c., she is especially needed at home.
The Consequences of Child-Labour.—A moderate amount of occupation for children accustoms57 them to bodily and mental activity, cultivates in them a sense of diligence and economy, and safeguards them against idleness and other evil courses. Work affords an important educational influence, and one whose value must not be underestimated. A moderate amount of bodily work in addition to the mental work of school is not merely harmless, but is in most cases desirable. It is not wage-labour in and by itself which is harmful, but the conditions under which that labour is usually carried out. (This applies equally to the labour of women and of children.) The greed of employers, the deficient58 resisting powers of children, and the poverty of the children’s relatives, make child-labour dangerous in manifold ways for the bodily, mental, and moral health of the child. (a) Character: the work is monotonous59, difficult, carried on in dusty, evil-smelling, damp places, very early in the morning or late at night. (b) Duration: many children work five to six or even eight to ten[162] hours, in addition to their school work. (c) Age: even to-day, hundreds of children of six, seven, or eight go out to work for wages; in home-industries, children even of four or five are employed. (d) Other conditions: the tragical60 revelations of official inquiries61 display very clearly certain other disastrous62 results of child-labour.
Let us consider, for example, the case of the apprentices. Although children of fourteen to sixteen years of age are not so strong as the adult workers, they have to rise at an earlier hour to put the workshop in order; for the same reason they leave later than the adult workers. They have to serve the master, his family, and his assistants, and, in addition, to attend school. Thus most apprentices have to work very hard from early in the morning till late at night, and this not only in the workshops, but also at domestic work. At the same time they are often very badly treated. Many employers engage many more apprentices than are really needed, simply in order to be able to dispense63 with the services of assistants and servants, whose duties are performed by the apprentices. In course of time this ill-treatment of apprentices becomes more widely diffused64. The misery65 of the apprentices is greater in proportion to the poverty of the factory or workshop in which they are employed. No one need be surprised that there is universal complaint of the lack of apprentices. They are so badly treated that no parents want their own child to become an apprentice8. Moreover, many families are so poor that their children must earn money as soon as possible, and therefore cannot be apprenticed66. The relationship between apprentice and master involves a contract on the one side to give care, protection, and instruction, and on the other to do work. Thus the relationship of the apprentice to the master is a twofold one, the apprentice being a pupil, but also a workman. It is the duty of the master to instruct the apprentice. For this purpose the apprentice is wholly entrusted67 to the master’s care, and must carry out the duties ordered by the master. The master is the stronger party economically, and possesses a kind of parental authority over the apprentice, so that the former’s rights and duties in respect of the contract of service cannot be very precisely defined. Such protective rules as[163] exist for apprentices practically ignore the smaller industries and home-work, for in these the difficulties of proper supervision appear almost insuperable. What has been said will have shown that there are sufficient causes for the miseries68 of apprentices.
Thus it appears that factory work is not the worst of all for children. The influence of factory work appears in such a bad light simply because, owing to its being more readily supervised, and owing to the facility for statistical69 statement of its results, the data are in this case more readily obtainable.
The lives of children employed in circuses and similar spectacular public entertainments are always in danger. Any work which is disproportionate to the powers of the weak and undeveloped body of the child is injurious to the latter’s health. Arduous70 work interferes71 with proper growth, and the effects of such work may be especially disastrous in the female sex, giving rise to pelvic contraction73, &c. By interfering74 with the proper development of individual organs, different forms of child-labour give rise to characteristic deformities. It is a well-known fact that the disease-rate and the death-rate are higher in youthful wage-workers and in apprentices than in other children. In this connection it suffices to refer to the so-called “diseases of occupation.” It is a matter of general knowledge that in those districts in which children engage in very arduous wage-labour, the percentage of adults found to be fit for military service is exceptionally small. The best example of this is found in those districts of Sicily in which children work in the sulphur mines. In the year 1827, King William III of Prussia ordered measures to be taken against excessive child-labour, in consequence of reports made to him to the effect that a large proportion of child-workers subsequently proved unfit for military service.
When a child begins in early youth to work for wages, his school attendance is interfered75 with. If the child-worker does attend school, it is so tired that it cannot follow the teacher with sufficient attention. In districts in which a large percentage of the children are at work, the educational development of the whole population suffers, and not merely that of those who work for a living. Children whose occupation involves a[164] very restricted use of their faculties76 become unfitted for other occupations, and, indeed, lose almost entirely the faculty77 of adaptation. In the streets of great manufacturing towns, large seaports78, and like places, we find numbers of children engaged in the sale of matches, flowers, newspapers, &c., and they hawk79 such wares80 also in public-houses, coffee taverns81, and the like. Most of them use this traffic merely as an excuse for vagabondage, begging, criminal practices, or the offer of their persons for use by sexual perverts82. They frequent the streets by night as well as by day, and make no secret of the fact that their aim is to beg rather than to sell their wares. It will readily be understood that in the streets and other places in which they hawk their wares, such children get into very bad company, and are likely to become completely depraved. Those children who work in factories or workshops, and those who are employed in agriculture, are in continuous contact with adult workers, by night as well as by day, listen to their obscene conversation, and watch their improper acts. Some youthful workers are quite independent and free from all supervision. Such workers often earn comparatively good wages, and this early command of money is in such circumstances apt to be fruitful of evil in various ways.
Excessive work awakens84 in the child an aversion, and even a hatred85, to work. Such a child works only from compulsion and under the influence of fear. The hatred of work thus engendered86 becomes a cause of truancy87 and idleness. Vagabondage and begging are easier and more lucrative88 than incessant89 toil90. When the child perceives that its lot is one of arduous toil, whilst others live, not comfortably merely, but in luxury, anti-social sentiments are aroused. When such a child grows up, we have an adult disinclined for exertion and taking pleasure in nothing. Owing to the monotony of his occupation and the neglect of his education, his intelligence is dull and stupid. He sees that his parents force him to work and otherwise neglect him, and this destroys his affection for his relatives. The foundation of the authority of family life, namely, the economic dependence27 of the other members of the family upon its head, is undermined by child-labour. Some wage-earning children are entirely dependent upon their[165] work, and, if unemployed91, as often happens, they lose their only legitimate92 means of support, and are forced into vicious modes of livelihood93. It is proved by statistical data that a larger percentage of youthful wage-earners than of other children become criminals; and, further, that in those districts in which child-labour especially prevails, criminality is more extensive than in others.
The Consequences of Women’s Labour.—Many girls begin to work for wages before their physical development is completed, and when their sexual life is just beginning to awaken83. The injurious effects of work upon the health are much greater in women not yet fully developed than in older women. By hard work the subsequent development of the blossoming girl is disturbed. By wage-labour girls are deprived of the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the details of household management; their mode of life is free and unsupervised, so that they are apt at an early age to enter into illegitimate sexual relationships. It will be readily understood that, in different classes of workwomen, the unfavourable influence of these factors will exert itself in different ways. It will suffice to refer to the different working conditions of female factory hands and of female domestic servants.
There are many branches of manufacturing industry in which women ought not to be employed at all, because the work these branches involve is injurious to women’s health, and, in especial, to the functions of their sexual life; there are many other branches of industry in which women should only be employed if certain specific precautions have been taken, and if certain regulations are rigidly94 enforced. But at present economic pressure forces women into these occupations also, and the necessary precautions and regulations are too often ignored. Many women are engaged in the most exhausting and offensive occupations, and have to continue at work even in the later stages of pregnancy95. It may even happen that the capitalist pays a pregnant woman a smaller wage than his other women workers, notwithstanding the fact that her needs are greater. It will readily be understood how disastrous may be the influence of this upon the unborn child. The children of women who continue at work during[166] pregnancy are born earlier and are weaker than the children of other women. Occupations especially dangerous for the unborn child are those in which the mother has to sit for long hours at a time in a bent96 posture97; those in which she has to stand continuously; those in which she works in contact with mercury, phosphorus, aniline, iodine98, lead, or nicotine99. In women who continue to work during pregnancy, miscarriage100, premature101 labour, and still-births are commoner than in other women. With regard to the question of the prohibition102 of women’s work during pregnancy and lactation, another point has to be considered. If the woman remains103 away from work throughout the whole period of pregnancy and lactation, not only does she lose her place with her employer, but also she loses to a large extent her previously acquired skill and aptitude104 for work. It results from this that the woman is no longer able to work when work again becomes possible to her. If the mother of a young infant is forced to engage in wage-labour, the consequences are extremely disastrous to the child, for its care is inevitably105 neglected. The proletarian mother neglects her child in many instances not, as is so often believed, because of the lack of maternal106 affection, but simply because she is forced to go out to work.
Obviously it makes a great difference whether the mother’s wage-earning work is carried on at home or elsewhere. In the latter case the mother can do less for her child, but home-work has the great and obvious disadvantage, that it transforms the dwelling into a workshop, and thereby107 accentuates108 the already-existing hygienic defects of the proletarian home. Moreover, in domestic industry the protective regulation of women’s labour is far less complete, and the wages are also lower. If the wife goes to work instead of the husband, matters are not quite so bad as they otherwise might be, for the husband in such cases to some extent takes his wife’s place in the household. The conditions are far worse when both husband and wife go out to work. If both the parents go to work in a factory, the interests of the entire family suffer; the children receive no proper upbringing, and the whole family life is ruined. In districts in which the married[167] women go out to work in factories, the percentage of miscarriages109 and of still-births, and the death-rate and the criminality-rate among the children, are all greater than in regions in which factory work for married women does not prevail. In manufacturing regions, in times during which female unemployment is widely prevalent, there is a decline in infant mortality, in spite of the increasing poverty resulting from the lack of employment. The death-rate of the children, and more especially the death-rate of the infants, in any area, is found to increase in a direct ratio with an increase in the number of hours that the mothers work away from their homes, and to vary inversely110 with the amount of the daily earnings. The chief cause of high infant mortality is artificial feeding, or rather the diseases engendered by artificial feeding. Among the Jews, the infantile death-rate is lower than among those of other creeds111. The chief cause of this difference is that so small a percentage of the Jewish married women work for wages. But in the Jewish proletariat the conditions as regards infantile mortality are identical with those that obtain among the Christian112 proletariat.
The result of the wife’s absence from home in order to work for wages is that she is unable to attend to the work of the household; for this reason, the housekeeping of her home is at once costly113 and bad; commodities and services which in working-class homes are usually provided by the labour of the housewife have to be obtained or provided elsewhere for money—washing and mending, for instance. Owing to the prevailing114 disorder51 of the household, many articles have to be bought anew, when the old ones would have done very well for a long time if carefully mended or patched. Various housekeeping accessories are required; a servant may have to be employed. The dirt and disorder of the dwelling, the bad feeding, and the irregular family life, often drive the husband to drink; and this further increases the family expenses.
Regulation of Child-Labour.—Of all working conditions, those affecting child-labour are perhaps most unrighteously regulated. The relationship between the protection of child-labour and the protection of other kinds of labour is analogous[168] to the relationship between the sections of criminal law dealing115 with youthful offenders116 and those dealing with adult criminals. It is an actual fact that legislation for the protection of adult workmen originated in the protection of child-labour. It was in England, the true fatherland of the factory system, that the regulation of child-labour first made its appearance. The first English law for this purpose was passed in the year 1802. Even as early as this it was necessary to intervene for the protection of child-labour, for at that time the conditions were perhaps the worst in the whole history of child-labour. The individualist state, being already to some degree permeated117 by socialist118 ideas, protects women’s labour and child-labour. But this protection, like that of labour in general, was not in any way based upon ethical119 considerations; it arose simply from the need to protect the working capacity of the labourers considered as profit-making tools. Moreover, in many countries, the regulations for the protection of labour are for the most part evaded120 or ignored by the employers.
In the more advanced countries, but only in these, we find the following legislative121 provisions for the regulation of child-labour. Child-labour and compulsory122 school attendance are contradictories123. If merely in the interest of the protection of child-labour, the State must ordain124 that every child shall attend school from the age of six to the age of twelve, and must employ every means in its power to see that the duty of school attendance is never evaded. Regulations are made for the prevention of mendicancy125 by children. In addition, the State prescribes the conditions under which children may perform in public (in the theatre, the concert-room, the music-hall, the circus, &c.). The general groundwork of these regulations is that children under fifteen shall not appear in public for money at all, and those over fifteen only by special permission of the local authorities. Apprenticeship126 is also subject to State regulation. Before the indentures127 are signed, it is necessary to obtain the consent of the local authority, and there must be a written contract between the child’s legal representative and the master. The master must employ the child only upon suitable work, and must provide proper housing, food, and education for the apprentice; the apprentice[169] must live in a place altogether apart from the workshop, and must attend an apprentices’ or continuation school; the master has no right to inflict128 corporal punishment. What has been said about apprentices applies in some degree also to juvenile129 domestic servants. The State regulates child-labour in the larger workshops and in factories. The employment for wages of children below a certain age is completely forbidden. When this age is surpassed, a child may be employed only when permission has been obtained from the local authority. Night work by children is absolutely prohibited; a maximum number of hours is prescribed for daily work (five to eight), and for weekly work (thirty to forty-eight), adapted to the child’s age and physical constitution; the intervals130 (daily and weekly) for rest and the intervals for meals, and also the minimum wage, are likewise prescribed. The State, of course, arranges that breach131 of these regulations should be visited with punishment, with withdrawal of the authority of the parent or guardian132, and with prohibition of the employment of children by the employer concerned.
Regulation of Women’s Labour.—Night labour for women is in some cases forbidden, in others allowed under certain restrictions133. The employment of women in mines and in certain other extremely dangerous occupations is forbidden. The employment of women for a certain number of weeks after childbirth is also forbidden. From various sides we hear a proposal that women should be permitted to work as half-timers—that is, for half the working day. It is suggested, to secure continuity of work, that the women should work (during the daytime only) in two shifts, half the women employees during the morning, the other half during the afternoon. The advocates of this proposal suggest that the women on the morning shift could attend to their domestic duties in the afternoon, and, conversely, that those on the afternoon shift could attend to their domestic duties in the morning, and that the supervision and care of the children could be mutually arranged by the members of the two shifts. Most of the advocates of this system propose merely its introduction as an optional measure—that is to say, that women who wish to work the whole day should not be forbidden to do so; and[170] they also propose that it should be applicable in the case of married women only. In any case, we cannot expect great things from any such system.
Reform of Apprenticeship.—To-day much thought is given to the question of the reform of apprenticeship, which indeed stands greatly in need of reform. The technical education of the present day is extremely defective134. The smaller employers are unable to give proper instruction, because they lack both time and capacity. The training of the apprentices in the larger factories is also scrappy, because the division of labour is of such a kind that none of the employees have time to give to the instruction of apprentices, and these latter therefore receive no more than a partial technical education. Moreover, the owners of the larger factories are unwilling135 to receive apprentices, because, if they do this, their factories are subjected to a number of additional inconvenient136 regulations. The apprentice no longer belongs, as in former times, to the master’s family, and no longer receives his education there; indeed, many masters do not even provide board and lodging137 for their apprentices, and in that case the latter are apt to be greatly neglected. It is obvious that great stress must be laid upon the technical education of apprentices. But no importance can be attached to the argument that through a proper education of the apprentices an improvement would be effected in the conditions of the lesser industries. What is necessary is that the State should provide technical schools, and itself undertake in these the education of apprentices. In some countries quite a number of such technical schools have been founded, but, owing to the great cost of these schools, the complete abolition138 of the system of the nominal139 instruction of apprentices at the hands of their masters is not at present to be expected. Homes of technical instruction for girls are also greatly needed, and do already exist in many places. But such homes must on no account be under the management of the Church, nor must they be dominated in any degree by the so-called religious spirit. Their sole object is to provide for these learners board and lodging on the same scale as they would have if they were in service, and to provide them with opportunities of seeking employment during their free time. A further crying need is[171] the organisation140, not of apprentices only, but of the younger workmen and workwomen generally. The organisation of the workers is the most effective means for the prevention of their ill-treatment at the hands of their employers.
The general attitude of socialists141 and trade-unionists towards apprenticeship is the following: Many trade-unions insist that in collective bargains between workpeople and their employers there should be stipulations as to the maximum number of apprentices to be employed by each individual master; before the contracts of apprenticeship are signed, the unions call the attention of the relatives of the proposed apprentice to the unfavourable position occupied by the apprentices in certain branches of industry, and warn the relatives against certain employers who are well known to treat their apprentices badly; some unions found their own technical schools. No attention whatever need be paid to the objection that such activities on the part of trade-unions tend towards the revival142 of the old guild1 system.
Enforcement of such Regulations.—To secure a really effective protection for women’s labour and child-labour, it is necessary that women and children should be protected in all branches of labour, including agriculture and domestic service. If the protection and regulation are limited to certain branches of labour, the inevitable result is that women and children are driven out of the protected and regulated, into the unprotected and unregulated trades. (This was the experience in Germany, for example, as a sequel of the law passed in the year 1891.) It is, above all, necessary that home industry should be regulated, as, in default of this, no satisfactory results can be expected. It is further essential that all children should be protected, regardless of the relationship they may bear to the employer. Employers related to the children they employ must be subject to regulation just as much as others, for it is well known that relatives who have once begun to exploit their own children tend to become the most inconsiderate of all those who overdrive youthful workers.
In the larger workshops, and in factories, the requisite143 strict and continuous regulation of all the circumstances which might affect children unfavourably is rendered fairly[172] easy, owing to the fact that the number of such large establishments is comparatively small. But the stringency144 and reality of the supervision still leave much to be desired, owing to the great influence possessed145 by wealthy property owners. In almost every country, year after year, the factory inspectors146 report that the regulations for the protection of children working in factories are evaded, and yet the local authorities are powerless to remedy these abuses. Where children work in their own families, or in small workshops, the conditions are always less favourable39, owing to the close and intimate relationship that obtains in these cases between child and employer. Inasmuch as the number of families engaged in home industries and employed at small workshops runs into millions, and in view of the circumstance previously mentioned, that the protection of child home-workers involves an interference with parental authority, regulation is here a much more difficult matter.
The executive authorities to which is entrusted the enforcement of these protective regulations are: medical practitioners148, factory inspectors, local governing bodies, police, and school teachers. It is essential that the part played by the medical practitioner147 should be largely extended. Permission for a child to undertake wage-labour should depend absolutely upon the permission of a certifying149 physician; the doctors should examine all the workplaces with an eye to their hygienic requirements; and from time to time they should examine the female and youthful employees, to make sure that their work is not injurious to their health. But we are still far from the adoption150 of these simple and yet essential measures. The r?le of the factory inspectors is especially important, because the enforcement of regulations for the protection of labour is one of their principal and specific duties. In many of the States of the American union, in France, in England, and in many of the federated States of the German Empire, there already exist female factory inspectors. The school teachers play an important part in regulation. They are constantly in contact with the children, know their special circumstances, are in a position to note abnormalities as they appear, and readily ascertain151 the causes of such abnormalities. Above all,[173] is their r?le an important one in relation to the control of domestic industry.
Objections to the Protective Regulation of the Labour of Women and Children.—Many objections have been advanced, chiefly by the employers of labour, against the protective regulations we have been considering. Most of these objections were first heard in England more than a century ago, at the time of the first legislation for the protection of child-workers; but they are continually and loudly reiterated152 to-day. They are the following: (a) Arduous physical toil, the work of the proletarians, women’s labour, are merely parts of the struggle for existence with which we have no business to interfere72. (b) The work of women and children is indispensable to modern industry, for certain of its processes can be carried out only by women, or by children, as the case may be. (c) The work is not injurious to the health either of women or of children; on the contrary, it does them good. (d) The children ought to be at work, otherwise they are either loafing about the streets or making themselves a nuisance to their parents at home. (e) To abolish women’s labour and child-labour would simply be to deprive them of their means of livelihood. (f) The suppression of women’s labour and child-labour renders it more difficult for national industry to compete with foreign industry; indeed, it threatens the very existence of the national industry. (g) Many advocates of the emancipation of women oppose the protection of women’s labour on the ground that such protection limits women’s right to sell their labour. (h) In regions inhabited by two or more nationalities regarded as being of unequal value, it is thought to be permissible153 to exploit the labour of the women and children of the reputedly inferior race. (In the United States of America, for example, we are told that the question is not one concerning American children, but one concerning Slavonic and Italian children, which, however hard they may have to work, are yet better off than they would have been in their own fatherland. It is worthy154 of remark that in the United States of America, especially in the Southern and the Western States, the conditions in the matter of child-labour are much the same as those that obtained in England at the beginning of the nineteenth century.)
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These Objections Answered.—(a) The answer to this and to similar arguments was given in our discussion of Darwinism in relation to child-protection. (b) There are no processes for whose performance women and children are indispensable. When, for certain stages of manufacture, women and children are unobtainable, these stages are very well performed by men or by machinery155. (c) This is true only when the conditions of work are properly regulated. (d) It is true that certain work may exercise an educative influence; but wage-labour is entirely devoid156 of moralising and educative influences. When we are told that by putting the child to work it learns to love work, that it becomes thrifty157 and diligent158, that it is restrained from vagabondage, we may answer, that under present conditions wage-labour for children has the very opposite effects. If child-labour in factories and workshops really exerted such an educative influence as the employers pretend, why do they not send their own children to work in the factories, and why do they reserve these advantages for the children of the proletariat? (f) Wherever, in certain branches of industry, woman’s labour and child-labour have been forbidden, as, for example, in England, the following results have been noted159. An improvement in working conditions is invariably followed by an increase in the intensity of the work performed, and also by an improvement in its quality. Manufacturing industry does not come to a standstill because, in consequence of regulation, certain processes previously performed by women and children have now to be carried out by machines or by men; on the contrary, as a result of this, the industry becomes more vigorous and more efficient. It does so, first of all, because the latest improvements in technique are perforce adopted when cheap labour can no longer be exploited; in the second place, because the health of the workers, upon which above all the efficiency of the industry depends, is increased. Regulation therefore actually increases the power of a national industry to make headway against foreign competition. We have also to remember that the same objections that we are now considering have been advanced against the protection of adult male labour, and have been shown by experience to be invalid[175] in this case also. This objection commonly makes its appearance in the following form: in many branches of industry the protection of the workers increases the cost of production and lowers the quality of the goods produced; this resulted, for example, when the use in certain processes of lead, mercury, phosphorus, and arsenic160 was forbidden, and the sequel was that the commodities in question were imported from countries in which such protection of labour did not exist. But this argument is in fact an argument for the internationalisation of the legislative protection of labour. For it involves an admission that the disadvantages of such regulation cease to exist when in a number of competing countries like measures of protection prevail, so that no one of the countries enjoys in this respect any commercial advantage over the others. It is an actual fact that in very recent years the international regulation of women’s labour and child-labour on uniform lines has made enormous advances. The very fact that the protection of women’s labour and child-labour tends to lead ultimately to the adoption of a uniform international code, is an extremely favourable phenomenon, in harmony with the general tendency of evolution. (g) The argument from the side of the advocates for the emancipation of women is fundamentally false. It does not tend towards women’s emancipation to leave women free to seek their own destruction. If the protection of women’s labour leads to injurious results, the only conclusion we can properly draw from this fact is that our regulation must be effected in some other manner, so that these injurious results may no longer occur. (h) The argument about the inferior races is a very dangerous one. The rights of women and children are identical, to whatever nationality they may happen to belong. We might just as well maintain that the exploitation of the labour power of the proletariat is quite justifiable161 on the ground that the proletariat is of inferior quality to the other classes of society. And if we are told that women and children are better off in the factories and workshops than they are in their own homes, the obvious answer to this is that, in that case, it is absolutely essential that the conditions of their domestic life should be improved.
[176]
Radical162 Solution of the Problem.—A radical solution of this problem is to be expected only from an increase in the wages of the adult male workers. Not until the earnings of the father of the family suffice to provide adequately for all the needs of the family, will it become unnecessary for mother and children to work for wages. It is a fact of general experience that those workmen who earn adequate wages do not let their wives and children go out to work; and also that in the case of men occupied in the so-called seasonal trades, it is only during the husbands’ slack season that the wives and children contribute by their earnings to the family income (for instance, the wives and children of bricklayers go out to work during the winter only). If women and children did not undertake wage-labour, the supply of labour in general would be much smaller, and as a result of this the wages of the adult male workers would necessarily rise. It is most probable that in course of time the adult male workers will succeed in obtaining considerably163 higher wages than they receive on the average to-day. Wage-labour on the part of women and children will then for the most part cease, and this will result in yet further increase in the wages of the men. The adult male workers should not lose sight of the fact that by allowing their wives and children to work for wages they merely succeed in making their own condition worse. For a short time after the wives and children first begin to work there may, indeed, be an increase in the family income; but the ultimate result is to make life harder, not merely for themselves, but for other workmen in general. If, on the other hand, they do not allow their wives and children to engage in wage-labour, they may sometimes suffer for the moment, by a temporary diminution164 in income; but they enter upon a path which cannot fail ultimately to lead to benefit both for their own family and for the other workers.
The Tendency of Evolution.—The tendency of evolution is towards the disappearance165 of child-labour. It is statistically166 proved that the larger any industrial undertaking167, the smaller proportionately is the number of children employed in that undertaking. But the tendency of evolution is unquestionably[177] in the direction of the development of gigantic commercial enterprises through the absorption or competitive destruction of a much larger number of comparatively small enterprises. In the future we shall attain168 a condition in which no one will be allowed to undertake work of any kind which is injurious either to himself or to his offspring in any way whatever. Much of the work of women and children for wages such as goes on to-day will unquestionably be prohibited. No doubt, wage work for women will exist in the future, and some of it perhaps will be more intensive even than to-day; but, unquestionably, whatever wage work women do will be in a form which can do no harm to the present or to future generations. Children will be properly educated, and until the years of their education are finished will engage in such work only as is educative in its influence and character. Technical manual instruction will be one of the principal methods of education. As co-operative housekeeping spreads, women will have much less domestic work to do than at present. In this department of work also, the principle of the division of labour will be applied169, and the individual details of the domestic economy of to-day will then be entrusted to the hands of professional specialists. Adult women will engage in much the same sort of work as men, with the exception of those occupations which experience shows to be injurious, for sexual reasons, either to themselves or to their offspring. In the regulation of women’s work, consideration will of course have to be paid to the physiological170 disturbances171 which periodically recur172 in women.
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1
guild
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| n.行会，同业公会，协会 | |
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guilds
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| 行会，同业公会，协会( guild的名词复数 ) | |
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improper
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| adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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statutes
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| 成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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craftsmen
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| n. 技工 | |
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apprentice
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| n.学徒，徒弟 | |
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apprentices
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| 学徒，徒弟( apprentice的名词复数 ) | |
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dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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capitalism
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| n.资本主义 | |
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orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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asylums
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| n.避难所( asylum的名词复数 )；庇护；政治避难；精神病院 | |
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supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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emaciation
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| n.消瘦，憔悴，衰弱 | |
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replacement
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| n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品 | |
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procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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curtailment
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| n.缩减，缩短 | |
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compensate
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| vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消 | |
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diffusion
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| n.流布；普及；散漫 | |
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flay
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| vt.剥皮；痛骂 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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scarcity
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| n.缺乏，不足，萧条 | |
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dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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seasonal
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| adj.季节的，季节性的 | |
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abeyance
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| n.搁置，缓办，中止，产权未定 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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favourably
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| adv. 善意地，赞成地 =favorably | |
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withdrawal
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| n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销 | |
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lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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hindrance
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| n.妨碍，障碍 | |
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earnings
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| n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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trump
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| n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭 | |
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illusive
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| adj.迷惑人的，错觉的 | |
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parental
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| adj.父母的；父的；母的 | |
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lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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emancipation
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| n.（从束缚、支配下）解放 | |
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yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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census
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| n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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disorders
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| n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调 | |
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disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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52
dexterous
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| adj.灵敏的；灵巧的 | |
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conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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55
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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57
accustoms
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| v.（使）习惯于( accustom的第三人称单数 ) | |
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deficient
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| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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tragical
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| adj. 悲剧的, 悲剧性的 | |
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61
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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63
dispense
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| vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施 | |
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diffused
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| 散布的，普及的，扩散的 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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apprenticed
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| 学徒，徒弟( apprentice的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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miseries
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| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
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statistical
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| adj.统计的，统计学的 | |
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70
arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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71
interferes
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| vi. 妨碍，冲突，干涉 | |
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72
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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73
contraction
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| n.缩略词，缩写式，害病 | |
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74
interfering
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| adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
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75
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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76
faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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seaports
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| n.海港( seaport的名词复数 ) | |
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hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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80
wares
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| n. 货物, 商品 | |
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81
taverns
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| n.小旅馆，客栈，酒馆( tavern的名词复数 ) | |
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82
perverts
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| n.性变态者( pervert的名词复数 )v.滥用( pervert的第三人称单数 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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83
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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84
awakens
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的第三人称单数 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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85
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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86
engendered
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| v.产生（某形势或状况），造成，引起( engender的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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87
truancy
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| n.逃学，旷课 | |
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88
lucrative
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| adj.赚钱的，可获利的 | |
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89
incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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90
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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91
unemployed
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| adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的 | |
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92
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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93
livelihood
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| n.生计，谋生之道 | |
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94
rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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95
pregnancy
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| n.怀孕，怀孕期 | |
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96
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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97
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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98
iodine
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| n.碘，碘酒 | |
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99
nicotine
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| n.(化)尼古丁，烟碱 | |
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100
miscarriage
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| n.失败，未达到预期的结果；流产 | |
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101
premature
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| adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的 | |
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102
prohibition
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| n.禁止；禁令，禁律 | |
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103
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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104
aptitude
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| n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资 | |
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105
inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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106
maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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107
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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108
accentuates
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| v.重读( accentuate的第三人称单数 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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109
miscarriages
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| 流产( miscarriage的名词复数 ) | |
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110
inversely
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| adj.相反的 | |
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111
creeds
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| （尤指宗教）信条，教条( creed的名词复数 ) | |
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112
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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113
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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114
prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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115
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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116
offenders
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| n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物） | |
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117
permeated
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| 弥漫( permeate的过去式和过去分词 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透 | |
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118
socialist
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| n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的 | |
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119
ethical
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| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
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120
evaded
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| 逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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121
legislative
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| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
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122
compulsory
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| n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的 | |
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123
contradictories
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| n.矛盾的，抵触的( contradictory的名词复数 ) | |
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ordain
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| vi.颁发命令；vt.命令，授以圣职，注定，任命 | |
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125
mendicancy
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| n.乞丐，托钵，行乞修道士 | |
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126
apprenticeship
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| n.学徒身份；学徒期 | |
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127
indentures
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| vt.以契约束缚（indenture的第三人称单数形式） | |
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128
inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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129
juvenile
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| n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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131
breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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132
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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133
restrictions
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| 约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则） | |
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134
defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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135
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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136
inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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137
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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138
abolition
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| n.废除，取消 | |
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139
nominal
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| adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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140
organisation
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| n.组织，安排，团体，有机休 | |
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141
socialists
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| 社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 ) | |
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142
revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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143
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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144
stringency
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| n.严格，紧迫，说服力；严格性；强度 | |
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145
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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146
inspectors
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| n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官 | |
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147
practitioner
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| n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者 | |
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148
practitioners
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| n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师） | |
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149
certifying
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| （尤指书面）证明( certify的现在分词 )； 发证书给…； 证明（某人）患有精神病； 颁发（或授予）专业合格证书 | |
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150
adoption
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| n.采用，采纳，通过；收养 | |
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151
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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152
reiterated
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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153
permissible
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| adj.可允许的，许可的 | |
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154
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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155
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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156
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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157
thrifty
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| adj.节俭的；兴旺的；健壮的 | |
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158
diligent
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| adj.勤勉的，勤奋的 | |
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159
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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160
arsenic
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| n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的 | |
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161
justifiable
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| adj.有理由的，无可非议的 | |
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162
radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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163
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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164
diminution
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| n.减少；变小 | |
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165
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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166
statistically
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| ad.根据统计数据来看，从统计学的观点来看 | |
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167
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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168
attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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169
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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170
physiological
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| adj.生理学的，生理学上的 | |
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171
disturbances
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| n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 )；打扰；困扰；障碍 | |
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172
recur
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| vi.复发，重现，再发生 | |
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