Page:The Laboring Classes of England.djvu/141

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THE TEN HOUR SYSTEM.
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turned to the place from whence he came; returned unfit for an agricultural operative. Under these circumstances the man is sent, against his will, to a new home, at a period when all his communications with that district have been interrupted, and with no means of earning an honest livelihood, a proceeding which must shock the feelings of every man who Witnesses it.

"At present, when a man, situated as the individual I have described, begins to fail in a manufacturing district—perhaps from having undergone extreme labor, or from sickness or accident, and apprehension begins to be entertained that he may become a permanent incumbrance on the parish, means are promptly taken for an early removal of that man. Again, immediately on the death of a laboring man in a manufacturing district, of which he happens not to be a native, his widow and children can be removed to the parish in which they had a previous settlement.

"We propose, that after a man has labored for a period of five years in a district, his settlement shall not be in the place where he had originally a settlement; but in the district to which his industry and labor had been given during that five years. That there shall not only be no power to remove that man, but that there shall be no power to remove his wife or his children, legitimate or illegitimate, under sixteen years of age."

In this manner the manufacturers gained their point with regard to breaking up trades unions, and reducing the wages.

The ten hour bill. I perceive by an accounts in the newspapers, that the English Parliament have at length agreed on a law for limiting the hours of labor in factories to ten per day; to go into operation in May, 1848. This ought to be a wise and good law, considering the length of time it has been before Parliament, (namely,