Page:The Economic Journal Volume 1.djvu/684

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

662 THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL ment in its remuneration arising merely from collective bar- gaining. ? The following recent comparison between the women workers in Lancashire, where they have long been well crganised, in alliance with their male colleagues, and those in Glasgow, whose organisation is very defective, is suggestive: ' The contrast between a Scotch and a Lancashire weaving factory .... is very remarkable. The Lancashire operative works with a will, she earns a high wage (on an average double that of her Scotch sister on the same class o! work), and is anxious to maintain it. She will take charge o! four power looms without hesitation .... In Scotland, on the other hand, it is common to find weavers with experience with only two power looma, and it is with difficulty that they can be persuaded to take a third .... Practically there are almost no men employed in the cotton manufacture in Scotland, all the spinning and the weaving is done by women and young girls. The wages earned are low, and the best class o! female operatives will not readily enter a Iactory.'--(Report o! Chief Inspector o! Factories, 1890, p. 7, C?. 6830.) SIDNEY WEBB.