which 22,094 hands were employed, only 143!! were above 45 years of age.
In the large factory towns, a great proportion of the poor persons selling oranges, nuts, &c. in the streets, are worn out factory workers;—thus in Manchester, of 37 hawkers of nuts, &c., 32 were factory hands; of 28 hawkers of boiled sheep's feet, 22 were factory hands. Hard return for a life of toil and industry.
LETTER XVII.
WAGES—STRIKES AND TURN-OUTS FOR WAGES—MEANS USED BY THE MANUFACTURERS TO PREVENT THEM—TEN HOUR SYSTEM—CONCLUSION.
Wages. Smith, in his "Wealth of Nations," has the following important truth. "What are the common wages of labor, depends everywhere upon the contract usually made between two parties, whose interests are by no means the same; the workman desires to get as much, and the master to give as little as possible. The former is disposed to combine in order to raise, the latter in order to lower the wages of labor."
In no country has this truth been exemplified in a more striking manner, than in England. Trades Unions have been introduced, on the one hand, for the purpose of protecting the wages of the laborers; and combinations of the manufacturers on the other, to reduce wages to the lowest possible amount.
The following table will shew the amount of money lost in the following strikes.
