absence of that official tone and bias which, under contrary conditions, would almost certainly be inferred even if it were not actually present, and that what the narrative lost in fulness might conceivably be gained in popularity of treatment. I have even occasionally preferred making quotations at second hand, rather than from original sources, with the same end in view, and in every instance have sought to quote only from such sources of information as are accessible in any fairly good public library. These sources, whether the original or not, are always carefully stated. When a book is mentioned for the first time, I have generally (always when possible, or unless it were too wellknown a book to make the reference useful,) given the name of the publisher and date of publication in full, and where a quotation is made at any length have almost invariably (I have striven to do so invariably) used the author's own words. The purpose I should most of all wish the present venture to fulfil is of being a useful stepping-stone towards that really sufficient treatment of this great subject which we may surely hope for yet from English literature. In the composition of a book dealing largely with social problems of our own time it has been impossible always to avoid debatable matter, and difficult sometimes to treat it in a purely neutral way. I have not always made then this attempt. But where my personal impressions or convictions are intruded, I have laboured to state them at least temperately, and laboured also to do justice to the arguments on the other side. On some great questions, as those of Socialism, of the true sphere of Economic Science, and of the influence of machinery on the well-being of labourers, I am conscious of having written very inadequately, but these are problems even now in process of solution, and on which a thoughtful man may well dwell lightly in view of the tremendous responsibilities involved. They are, moreover, but The modern Factory indirectly connected with this history. System is an episode, not an element, in modern sociological development, and I have striven to maintain it consistently in that position. Not until this truth about it is firmly grasped is it ever likely to be thought about or dealt with in a truly philosophical way. It Finally, occasional backward glances have been cast at conditions of life and labour long ago; the ideals that vivified them, the permanent facts that underlay them, and the lessons they have left. That course has been designedly taken, and the author must regret that greater space and capacity were not at his command to drive those lessons home and make the connection with the present more apparent. is, he believes, among the great thinkers of ancient Hellas, ancient Judea, and ancient Egypt (if we knew more of them), that in all human probability the worthiest discussion of many social problems which even now, though in a new guise, confront us might be found, not in the hasty, superficial, and often sordid literature of our own day.' April, 1891. WHATELY COOKE TAYLOR. Let us consider, for instance, what light a really adequate and reliable history of ancient Egypt; which within the extremely narrow confines described by Wilkinson (“ Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians," Vol. I., p. 304) contained, according to Herodotus, 20,000 populous cities during the reign of Amasis and was the undoubted centre of the textile industry of the ancient world; might shed upon two problems of preponderating interest today: the immigration of alien and the transference of native labour from rural to urban districts: not to mention many others. THE MODERN FACTORY SYSTEM. CHAPTER I. THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. The Subject Stated-The Modern Factory System-The Revolution- THE SUBJECT STATED. AMONG problems of modern society which command increased attention as the nineteenth century draws to a close, that of the organisation of labour holds a specially prominent position, and among forms of organised labour the modern factory system is in many respects the most remarkable. It is in England too that it has displayed its qualities most freely and gained its largest measure of success. Yet neither here nor elsewhere do its real relations to contemporary phenomena and events seem to have been hitherto well understood, and that not merely by ordinary observers, but by statesmen and professed experts. It will be the endeavour of the following pages to make these B ! clearer, in the interests alike of a better comprehension of this particular mode of industry and its present condition, prospects, and results. 66 The system of industrial production called now specifically The Factory System first began to be naturalized in this country towards the close of the eighteenth century, but had been introduced fully threequarters of a century earlier, and had long been preceded, both here and elsewhere, by somewhat similar systems of combined labour. In 1719 Sir Thomas Lombe erected in Derbyshire his celebrated silk throwing mill "; which was the first English factory in the modern sense.1 In 1732 his patent for the contained machinery expired, and this building became the model upon which numerous others, adapted to like purposes, were presently to be built. By the end of the next half-century, the country in certain parts was already dotted over with such structures, and at the close of still another, the Industrial Revolution,2 of which they were the chief outward symbol, was well upon its way. From the expiry of Lombe's patent then, and during a subsequent hundred years of change, may best be dated the establishment of the new régime. But by that time (1832-3) this change in industrial methods had not only spread wonderfully, but reached a great crisis; parliament and the country were debating with extreme anxiety what was to be done in view of 1 A description of this interesting structure is given in chapter ii., p. 70. 2 For the title of this chapter, as well as for a part of its matter, and in some degree for the mode in which this is presented to the reader, I am indebted to a posthumous collection of essays by the late Mr. Arnold Toynbee, published by Messrs. Rivington in 1884. It was the expressed intention of Mr. Toynbee to use these as the basis of a larger work; and it must be ever a subject of regret to those who know how highly qualified he was-both by sympathy and attainments-for the task that he did not live to complete it. |