FAMILY LIFE.

NZ Truth, Issue 79, 22 December 1906, Page 7

FAMILY LIFE.

DESTROYED BY CAPITALIST The Seduction of Wives. SGANTILY-GLOTHED FACTORY WOMEN. Compulsory Indecent Exposures. Employers who Seduce Their Employees. The Sufferings of Enceinte Women.

One of the favorite lies alleged to be spread by the female canvassers employed by the candidates of capital during the present contest is that if the "Socialists" got into power they would destroy family life. Of course, this impudent lie is quite unjustifiable, but it is thought that it will prove particularly valuable m imposing on uninformed women. The fact is, however, that the most deadly enemy to the "sanctity .pf the home" is the present organisation, of society, and this is abundantly clear to' anybody who has made a study of the factory system of producing wealth, which system already exists m Australia, and is spreading. England, however, is the land where the system is seen m its worst form, and there it is that the immoral, family-destroying effects of capitalism can be most clearly perceived. They are. described m detail m. a pamphlet published at Bolton, England, which pamphlet is entitled "The Effects of the Factory System on Men, Women, and Children." The brochure is the work of one Allan Clarke. It may be procured m Australia from • bookseller E. W. Cole. Now here. is what the author has to say about factory morality, and the " .

TREATMENT OP MARRIED "WOMEN m the English textile factories: —

We have seen the effects of the factory system on body and mind; let us now consider' how it affects morality and female workers. The female factory workers of today are mostly weavers and card-room hands. Formerly females used to work with the male spinners, but the men's trade union has m most places put a stop to female employment m tho spinning-room, though there is .one mill' at tbe present time, situated at Lostock, near Bolton, where there are. still women spinners. The Bolton operative spinners, however, refuse to have the women m their union, or even to admit tho men who work 'for the same firm. Practically, today the male operatives have a monopoly of the mule-spinning, but m weaving the women have almost entirely superseded tho men, except on heavy looms. The machineiy that ousted the handloom weaver has also ousted the men; one female can nowadays manage four looms with the assistance of a girl.

Factory morality has improved since the days when men and women

WORKED TOGETHER HALF-NAKED, the females with short skirts and bare legs, and, from the nature of their duties, frequently making cqmpdleory indecent exposures of their person as they -reached _ove_r the mule-carriage to "piece up." Some operative spinners, (as bad as their masters) - used to make seduction one of the conditions under which they engaged a young woman. But matters are bad enough still. How can they help but be m. a state of society where managers and overseers have | almost life-and-deafch power over female employees? One cannot give statistics to demonstrate this evil, but a few instances will suffice. There is alive to-day (or was not long ago) not far from Manchester an employer who makes seduction one. of the conditions on which females may have work at his establishment. If they decline, they most quit. Single or married makes no difference, and the same rule applies to the girl of 16 and the woman of 30. How many victims I have fallen to this gentleman it would be I difficult to estimate, but he has been enforc- 1 ing this game for many many years; . There are MANY EMPLOYERS LIKE HIM: I knew two or three myself some years ago. Last year, m the "Factory Times," there was an acoount of a woman who was discharged because she refused 'to be seduced by the mill manager. Not that the villain was fool enough to give that as a reason for the dismisal j some trifling fault, easily found or made m a factory, with the woman's work, was the reason given for s the discharge. For one case of this sort that gets into print there are dozens never heard of beyond the locality m which they occur. The loose sanitary arrangements of most mills produce loose conduct. The conveniences are often m a place exposed, to the gaze of all the operatives. I know a modern mill where tbe male operatives have to pass through the female workers to the closets, which lie right alongside the machines on which the women work.

There is, m consequence, much indecent talk m the factories and weaving-sheds, as well as many a rude improvisation, for vulgar diversion, of Phallic ceremonies, articles _?used m the workroom, being employed for illustrative purposes. Yet, on $he .whole, I do not think the factory operatives, especially the females, are so loose m conduct as loose ih talk; though there is a good DEAL OF SEXUAL INTERCOURSE between young persons, not promiscuous, but between courting couples, before marriage. And my opinion is that this suggestive talk and stirring of animal instincts is caused by" men working ns overseers amongst the women, whose employment necessitates short skirts, scanty clothing, and consequently a 1 greater or less display of those portioais of the female, form which excite'the sex-passion m the male. < Possibly, too, tho hot atmosphere of the factories forces maturity sooner into the bodies mentally and physically weakened by mill life; and this fact is also responsible for factory foulness of mouth and morals. Engels, m bis book "The <3ondition of the v'v'orkmg Classes 'in England m 1844," expresses the same view. He writes: "An estimate of sexual morality cannot readily be reduced to figures, but if I may trust my own observations and the general opinion of those with whom I. have spoken, as weU as the tenor of the testimony furnished me, tbe aspect of the influence of factory life upon the morality of the youthful female is most depressing. ... The employment of young girls produces all sorts of irregularities during the period of development. In some tho heat of the factory hastens this process, so that m some cases girls of 13 and 14 are wholly mature. Robertson relates m the "North of England Medical and Surgical Journal" that he had seen a girl of 11 years, who was not only a wholly developed woman but pregnant, and that- it was by no means rare m Manchester for women (?) to be

CONFINED AT FIFTEEN YEARS of age. In such cases the influence of the warmth of the 'factories is the same as that of a tropical climate; and/ as m each oli-

mates, the abnormally early develop_e_r* revenges itself by correspondingly prematur age and debility. On the other hanji, r* tarded development ci the female constitutions occurs, and the breasts mature late c? not at all."

My own observation and experience— and that of male and female friends working m the factories— corroborates the foregoing even to-day. I knew the parties m a recent case m Bolton, where a mill girl of fifteen had a Child; and— if the lad's talk to his companions is. to be relied upon — by her brother. This girl would not divulge the paternity. The girl was physically a fully-developed woman. There is no necessity to detail other instances; they are frequent m all the great cotton towns,

As Engels says m other words, the female factory operatives are old women at 30. It is painfuly astonishing to note the rapid aging m factory females after the age of 20. They seem to collapse, m one shrinking, wrinkling fall, from girls to old women, especially after marrying and having the firsg child. The first pregnancy seems to break them up altogether, and they never, as they ought to do m a natural healthy state, regain

THEIR PRE-MARITAL BLOOM; whioh it is evident must be at best only a canker-bloom, destroyed by the first maternal strain on the system. I have seen many factory girls, of 25 years of age to 30, whos* heads were swiftly going grey, and looked 60 yeais old at the age of 30. It is needless to state that all these deteriorations must tell on the offspring of such females, even to tho third and fourth generation. And when to a factory mother is, added a factory father— what worth the children 'then? -..

When female factory operatives marry, they- usually continue at work till within a. day or two of the birth, of the first child. Many of them used to get back tb work again -as soon as they couici after the confinement; m many cases less than a week after. This they did mostly for fear of losing their plaoes. But now the law prevents them. The Factory Act of 1891 (cam« into force January Ist, 1893) prohibits th* employment of women within four weeks after confinement.

But> which is far more important, then* is no

PROHIBITION AB TO PREGNANCY/ The woman can only principally injure her« self by working after confinement; by working before, she injures the unborri child. A female weaver has heavy weights to lift and. ad just several times a day, and this strain must be hurtful to, both mother and embryo. Pregnant women should certainly not be ia the factory at all. I^must admit, however, that many married women like the mill. This age of competition, makes them grab* hingly selfish m the struggle for existence. Further, some women prefer the crowded factory to the quiej home, because they have a hatred for the solitary housework. I have often heard married females say that they would rather be m the factory ihaa m the house, because the comparative isolation gave, them the dumps after being used to the company of hundreds, of workmates.

I am afraid, too, that the female factory, themselves would offer great re. sistanoe to any "law proposing to restrict pregnant women. The legal editor of th« "Factory Times" agrees with me on thia point. He says: "Tho Factory Acts do not apply to a woman who is pregnant • " they only affect her so far as regards .four wcpks after confinement, during which time her employment is prohibited. When a woman is m such a condition, it rests with herself whetiher doe works or not, as an employer cannot necessarily be expected to it now. that she is .

GOING TO HATE A CHILD ; and if any further factory legislation was introduced dealing with the matter, it would mean a loss of work which the women hands would be likely to resent."

Truly this is a sad state of things for a Christian and civilised nation; that a wouian should be<obliged' to consider everything else before her highest and holiest duty—mater. nity. ■ We are more humano with our.£;i>.t-ie than with our- women. ; ,

liistances of children actually born m weav-ing-sheds are numerous. There was a report ojf one m tbe "Factory Times" not long iigo; the woman was delivered m the midst of thundering looms, m a shed full of other operatives, male and female, young. and old. The child died while itself and riictber w^ra being taken m a cab to the hospital. It is horrible to think how many child rea' are blighted and blasted even before ' they are born by suffering gestation under surfi conditions; at a period when, for the'sak* of the life that aho carries within hii:r, a woman ought to dwell m the kindest am} sweetest surroundings, under btst hygienks influences, kept heaFthy by easy exerc's;. iii fresh air, and not fagged and enfeebled by grinding hard labor m a foul, steamy, hot atmosphere; Erigels states the case ofl a factory woman m the

LAST STAGE OF PREGNANCY, ' who was fined 6d for sitting down. That; was 50 j-ears ago. . Tfc-day she dare no*;— -she cannot — sit down. The relentless machinery, will not let her. " .

For all this folly, for all this cruej'tr-jat-nu_nfc of women caused by the present factory system, the innocent children (as usual!) have to pay— have to pay m iives thu; ara not lives, but merely suffering existences L.h___\ were better ended and best never begun.

Often factory mothers (who are at work during the child suckling period) endure great pain from

BIH3ASTS FULL OF MILK that runs from tliem m waste instead oil feeding; those for whom nature produced it. Yet these women cannot leave their toil t«£ go home, and feed their babies; these la.tejj are being brought up on "the battle" by} some neighbour; and all medical men agre* that, the "'feeding-bottle" is but a. poor sub* statute for mothers' milk. Not content vvitlft sweating the fathers and mothers the face tory system _ust needs rob the babies 08 their? natural dues: nay, must, as has been showhi actually begin to injure them -before they" are- borh* '

My wife's mother tells me that when she! wa3 a weaver the milk from her briasU, baa ruin till she has been wet through, and .ilia has been . m such pain that her husband (who. worked m the same shed) has, at tha risk of being detected and reprimanded o_J losing his place, left his work to fetch bho child to the mother's relief. Why di<f she nob stay at home? We'll,. she was forced to. work with her husband to keep' the 'fa;n_Q*g m food.

And I know the ease of my own niothec She was a "winder^" and I was bora during] the "cotton panic," when my father was out of work, and my MOTHER WAS COMPELLED

to become the bread-winner . I was nuresd by my grandmother while my mother toiled at a factory a couple of miles distant from our dwelling. During the dinner-hour— 6o minutes nominally, offceD only 40 or 50 really — my mother would run home m order to> 'suckle me, get hor own meal, aad be back afc the mill before work restarted. . What sor* of milk, poisoned by the worry and hurry, must that have been for me.

I So far, I have tried to writo these article* as inatter-of-faot'y as a maliiernatjcum," giving tho facts and figures with as iittk. comment as possible,a..d without any attempt, at literary polish for tho sake of effect: but when I think of the atrocities I hj.v.-. just briefly narrated, my soul ilam_, ami I <uiuld wish my pen itero s sword. HowsYor I will keep cool. This must not be a tvr.ta.ig of passion, but a oold-biooied, pr-acfciet.l indictment and onexcitad denunciation, siting forth broken fce&Hh. brokt-n hn.t_rt.r., ;.ifol;cn brains, and broken lives— not m b.'e.u. _m<J cruelty and mu.-d*r calling, for *--i.!i;ronjjc«k but m frigid l-guivs that one can:;.', sna writhing nor hear groa.ninj n«jdt.r a living misery that cannot !<•; shown m dead ;. tatiaUto.