ABSTRACT
I find that these long hours are attended with the same evils as at other factories, making cripples, keeping the work-people in a state of ignorance, and inducing immoral habits. I have been to visit one of their cripples, who is now living in Cromford. He is a sadly deformed young man, and teils his pitiful tale as follows :—
“ My name is John Reed, I went to work in the p
cotton factory of Messrs. A r k w r i g h t , at Matlock Baths, at the age of nine years. I was then a fine, strong, healthy lad, and straight in every limb. I had in the first instance 2s. per week, for seventytwo hours’ work, or one farthing and one-third of a farthing per hour. I continued to work in this fac tory for ten years, getting gradually advanced in wages about 3d. or 6d. per annum, tili I had 6s. 3d. per week; which were the highest wages I ever had. I never worked in any other factory than the one in which I commenced. I gradually became a cripple, tili at the age of nineteen I was unable to stand at the machine, and was obliged to give it up. My lost time in sickness and lameness was about three months. My over-time, viz., over and above seventytwo hours per week, amounts in all to about six months. The total amount of my earnings was about 130Z., and for this sum I have been made a miserable cripple, as you see, and cast off by those who reaped the benefit of my labour, without a single penny to bless myself with.”
