K. Marx. The English Factory System
London, April 10, 1857
The Reports of the Inspectors of Factories in the United Kingdom for 1856(1) contain detailed returns relating to factory statistics, such as the number of factories, the amount of horse-power employed, the quantity of machinery, and the number of persons set to work. Similar returns were ordered by the House of Commons in 1835, 1838 and 1850, the information being compiled from schedules filled up by the mill-owners. Ample materials are thus afforded for comparing different periods of the factory system, which, in its legal sense, comprises the manufactories only where steam or water-power is employed for the production of textile fabrics.
The most characteristic feature of the social history of the United Kingdom during the last six years is, undoubtedly, to be found in the rapid extension of that system.
The following are the numbers of factories at the dates of the last three returns(2):
1838. 1850. 1856.
Cotton Factories 1,819 1,932 2,210 Woolen Factories 1,322 1,497 1,505 Worsted Factories 416 501 525 Flax Factories 392 393 417 Silk Factories 268 277 460
Total 4,217 4,600 5,117 The average increase of factories, therefore, which from 1838 to 1850 had been at the rate of 32 per annum, was almost tripled from 1850 to 1856, when it reached the rate of 86 yearly. An analysis of the aggregate increase during either epoch is given in the following summary (3):
3
Per Cent.
6
Aggregate In< to
Cotton Factories
:rease 1856.
from 1850
Per Cent.
14.2 13
Aggregate In< to
Cotton Factories
0.5 20
Silk
4.7 6.1 66.0
Aggregate Increase from li to 1850.
Cotton Factories Woolen Worsted
From this table, it will be seen that during the former period the increase was confined to the cotton, woolen and worsted manufacture, while in the latter period it also embraces the flax and silk factories. The proportions in which the various branches share in the aggregate increase differ also in the two periods. During 1838-50, the principal increase took place in the worsted and woolen trade, the latter of which appears almost stationary from 1850-56, and the former falling back to a four times lesser speed of expansion. On the other hand, cotton and silk top the movement during the latter period, the silk manufacture occupying the first rank in the proportional increase, and the cotton manufacture when the absolute increase is considered.
The localities of this expansion have varied considerably, there taking place a migration, as it were, from one part of the country to the other. Hand in hand with the general increase, there goes a local decrease, amounting in many counties and boroughs to a complete extinction of manufactories before existing. The general law ruling these changes of decay as well as of growth is the same law which pervades modern industry in all its directions — the law of concentration. Thus Lancashire, and the parts of Yorkshire adjoining it — the principal seat of the cotton manufacture — have drawn the trade from other parts of the kingdom. The number of cotton factories in Lancashire and Yorkshire having increased from 1838-56 by adding 411 to the previous number, they have decreased by 52 in the counties of Lanark (Glasgow), Renfrew (Paisley), and Antrim. So, too, the woolen trade is becoming concentrated in Yorkshire; while 200 woolen manufactories have been added there, we find a corresponding decrease of 82 in Cornwall, Devon, Gloucester, Monmouth, Somerset, Wilts, Wales and Clackmannan. The worsted manufacture is almost exclusively confined to Yorkshire, in which county there has been an increase of 107 factories. The flax-trade is now more vigorous in Ireland than in any other part of the United Kingdom; but the increase of 59 flax factories in Antrim, Armagh, Down and Tyrone, is accompanied by a decrease in Yorkshire of 31, in Devonshire, Dorsetshire and Gloucestershire of 9, and in Fifeshire of 18. To the increase of 76 silk factories in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Gloucestershire, there corresponds a decrease by 13 in Somersetshire. In some instances, the decay in one manufacturing branch is compensated by the growth of another, so that the industrial migrations would appear to be only a more definite working out of the principle of the division of employments on a large scale. Yet, on the whole, this is not the case — the progress of the system rather tending to establish a division between industrial and agricultural provinces. In England, for instance, the southern counties of Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Gloucester, are being rapidly divested of their manufactures, while the northern counties of Lancashire, Yorkshire, Warwick, Nottingham, are strengthening their industrial monopoly. Of the aggregate increase of factories in the United Kingdom from 1838 to 1856, reaching the number of 900, Lancashire alone claims 360, Yorkshire 344, Warwick 71 and Nottingham 46 — the increase in the two last-named counties having been caused by the introduction of improved machinery in two special trades — the adaptation of power to the stocking-frame at Nottingham, and the weaving of ribbons by power at Coventry.
From the increase in the number of factories must be distinguished the increase in the amount of horse-power employed, the latter not only depending on the addition of new mills, but also on the erection of more powerful engines in the old ones, the substitution of the steam-engine for water-power, the addition of steam-power to the waterwheel, and other similar contrivances. The following table contains a comparison of the nominal power of the factories in 1838, 1850 and 1856(4):
Horse-power employed in the factories in the United Kingdom.
1838.
Steam. Water. Total. Cotton 46,826 12,977 59,803 Woolen 11,525 9,092 20,617 Worsted 5,863 1,313 7,176 Flax 7,412 3,677 11,089 Silk 2,457 927 3,384
Total 75,083 21,986 102,069
1850.
Steam. Water. Total.
Cotton 71,005 11,550 82,555 Woolen 13,455 8,689 22,144 Worsted 9,890 1,625 11,515 Flax 10,905 3,387 14,292 Silk 2,858 853 3,711
Total 108,113 26,104 134,217
1856.
Steam. Water. Total.
Cotton 88,001 9,131 .97,132 Woolen 17,490 8,411 25,901 Worsted 13,473 1,431 14,904 Flax 14,387 3,935 18,322 Silk 4,360 816 5,176
Total 137,711 23,724 161,435
Great as the increase of the power apparent from the figures undoubtedly is — 59,366 horse-power between 1838 and 1856 — it falls, nevertheless, much below the actual additional force available and in motion for manufacturing purposes. The figures given in the return all relate to the nominal power only of the engines and wheels, and not to the power actually employed or capable of being employed. The modern steam-engine of 100 horse-power is capable of being driven at a much greater force than formerly, arising from improvements in its arrangements, the capacity and construction of the boilers, etc.; and thus its nominal power cannot be considered as other than an index from which its real capabilities may be calculated. Mr. Nasmyth, the civil engineer, after an explanation of the nature of recent improvements in the steam-engine, by which the same engine can be made to perform more work with a diminished consumption of fuel, sums up results as follows[3]:
"From the same weight of steam-engine machinery, we are now obtaining at least 50 per cent, more work performed, on the average, and, in many cases, the identical steam-engines which, in the days of the restricted speed of 220 feet per minute, yielded 50 horse-power, are now yielding upward of 100."
By comparing the increase of horse-power with that of factories, the concentration of the woolen industry in some few hands becomes evident. Though in 1856 there were but eight more woolen factories than in 1850, yet the power employed in them had increased 3,757 horses during the same period. The same tendency to concentration is evidently working in the cotton, worsted and flax-spinning factories. The number of spindles in the United Kingdom amounting respectively in 1850 and 1856 to 25,638,716 and to 33,503,580, the average number of spindles in each factory was as follows(5):
1850. 1856.
Cotton 14,000 17,000 Worsted 2,200 3,400 Flax 2,700 3,700
In the weaving factories, it is true, the tendency seems to be to an extension of the trade among many occupiers rather than to its concentration among a few, the total number of looms being 369,205 in 1856, against 301,445 in 1850, while the average number employed by each manufacturer is less in 1856 than in 1850. However, this apparent deviation from the general tendency of the British factory system is easily accounted for by the fact that in the weaving department the introduction of the factory system is of comparatively recent date, and has not yet quite superseded the hand-loom system. In 1836, steam power was employed almost exclusively for cotton looms, or for fabrics mixed with cotton; but some years later there was a rapid increase in the number of power-looms for all fabrics, for fabrics of woolen, Worsted, flax and silk, and this increase continues to the present time. The following statement shows the increase of power-looms since 1836(6):
1836. 1850. 1856.
Cotton 108,751 249,627 298,847 Woolen 2,150 9,439 14,453 Worsted 2,969 32,617 38,956 Silk 1,714 6,092 9,260 Flax 209 3,670 7,689
Total 115,793 301,445 369,205 The increase of cotton looms resulted from the extension of trade, not from the appliance of power to articles formerly woven by hand solely; but in the other fabrics power is now applied to the carpet loom, the ribbon loom, and the linen loom, where it had hitherto been little used. The application of power to wool combing, which has come extensively into operation since the introduction of the combing machine, especially of Lister's, has also had the effect to throw a large number of men out of work.
The extent of the increased power of production is clearly shown by comparing the export returns. In 1850, there being in activity 1,932 cotton factories, the average value of cotton goods and yarn exported in the three years ending January 5, 1850, was, in round numbers, £24,600,000. If the 2,210 cotton factories in activity in 1856 had produced goods or yarn in the same proportion only as the factories of 1850, the value of the exports would be £28,000,000. Yet the average value of these exports, in the three years ending December 31, 1855, amounted to about £31,000,000. The case with the woolen and worsted factories is similar. We see, then, that while the quantity of machinery kept in motion by each horse-power has considerably increased, the number of persons employed for each horse-power has remained stationary, viz.: 4 persons, on an average. This is shown by the following table'(7):
Total number of persons employed.
1838. 1850. 1856.
Cotton 259,104 330,924 379,213 Woolen 54,808 74,443 79,091 Worsted 31,628 79,737 87,794 Flax 43,557 68,434 80,262 Silk 34,303 42,544 56,137
Total 423,400 596,082 682,497 The aggregate working population of 682,497, appears small indeed, if it is considered that the number of handloom weavers and their families, in 1838, alone amounted to about 800,000 persons. The following table shows the centesimal proportion of the different classes of hands employed.'[1]
Children Males Females Males under 13. bet'n 13 & 18.
above 13. above 18.
5.9 16.1 55.2 22.8 6.1 11.5 55.9 26.5 6.6 10.6 57.0 25.8
Between 1838 and 1850 the number of children employed had increased, but not in proportion to the general increase. The increase in the number of children between 1850 and 1856 is very considerable, amounting, as it does, to 10,761, of which 9,655 have been absorbed by the cotton trade. It may still be mentioned that the philanthropic law of 1844 permitted children to be employed in factories at 8 years of age, while prior to that it was illegal to employ them under 9 years of age.[324]
Endnotes
[3] Marx is referring to the wars of the Spanish (1701-14) (see Note 236) and the Austrian (1740-48) Succession. As a result of the first war, under the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) Savoy obtained Sicily, Montferrato and part of the duchy of Milan. The Duke of Savoy became King of Sicily. In 1720 Savoy, Piedmont and Sardinia, which had been ceded to Savoy in compensation for Sicily seized by Spain in 1718, formed the Kingdom of Sardinia ruled by the kings of the Savoy dynasty. The War of the Austrian Succession ended with the Peace Treaty of Aachen (1748) under which the Kingdom of Sardinia received from Austria part of the Principality of Pavia and some other Austrian possessions in Italy.
[1] Besides The People's Paper, Marx also sent this article to the New-York Daily Tribune, which published it without title and signature. In the Tribune certain passages were omitted. The People's Paper was founded in May 1852 as a weekly of the revolutionary Chartists. Marx contributed to it and helped Ernest Jones, its chief editor, with the editing and organisational matters, especially in its early years. Between October 1852 and December 1856, besides publishing the articles Marx wrote specially for it, the paper reprinted the most important articles by him and Engels from the New-York Daily Tribune. At the beginning of 1856 Marx's contributions to The People's Paper became especially frequent. However, towards the end of that year Marx and Engels temporarily broke off relations with Jones and stopped contributing to his weekly because of Jones' increasing association with bourgeois radicals. The paper ceased publication in September 1858. The New-York Daily Tribune was founded in 1841 and was published until 1924. Prior to the mid-1850s it was a left-wing paper and then it became the organ of the Republican Party. Among its contributors were prominent American writers and journalists. Charles Dana, who was strongly influenced by the ideas of Utopian socialism, was one of its editors from the late 1840s. Marx contributed to the newspaper from August 1851 to March 1862. His contacts with the newspaper ceased entirely during the US Civil War.
[324] A reference to the Act to Regulate the Labour of Children and Young Persons in the Mills and Factories of the United Kingdom (1833) and the Act to Amend the Laws Relating to Labour in Factories (1844) on the employment of children, juveniles and women in the English textile industry. Under the 1833 law children from nine to thirteen years of age worked nine hours a day (48-hour week) and had to attend school (two hours a day). The working day for juveniles from fourteen to eighteen years of age was twelve hours a day (69-hour week). The 1844 law forbade the employment of children under eight years of age and introduced for children from eight to thirteen years half-shift work (six and a half hours a day). It restricted for the first time the working day for women: it was the same as for juveniles under the 1833 law.