B. INFANT INDUSTRIES

1. Adam Smith on child power as the nation's wealth, 1776

Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, I (London, 1819), 94-95; first published in 1776.

Those who live to old age, it is said, frequently see there [North America] from fifty to a hundred, and sometimes many more descendants from their own body. Labor is there so well rewarded that a numerous family of children, instead of being a burden, is a source of opulence and prosperity to the parents. The labor of each child before it can leave their house, is computed to be worth a hundred pounds clear gain to them. A young widow with four or five young children, who, among the middling or inferior ranks of people in Europe would have so little chance for a second husband, is there frequently counted as a sort of fortune. The value of children is the greatest of all encouragement to marriage. We cannot, therefore, wonder that the people in North America should generally marry very young. Notwithstanding the great increase occasioned by such early marriages, there is a continual complaint of the scarcity of hands in North America.

2. Value of children among Pennsylvania Germans, 1789

Benjamin Rush, "An Account of the Manners it of the German Inhabitants of Pennsylvania," in Essays, Literary, Moral, and Philosophical, 2d ed. (Philadelphia, 1806), pp. 232-233.

The Germans seldom hire men to work upon their farms. The feebleness of that authority which masters possess over hired servants, is such that their wages are seldom procured from their labour, except in harvest, when they work in the presence of their masters. The wives and daughters of the German farmers frequently forsake, for a while, their dairy and spinning wheel, and join their husbands and brothers in the labour of cutting down, collecting and bringing home the fruits of their fields and orchards. The work of the gardens is generally done by the women of the family.

The favourable influence of agriculture, as conducted by the Germans in extending human happiness, is manifested by the joy they express upon the birth of a child. No dread of poverty, nor distrust of Providence from an encreasing family, depress the spirits of these industrious and frugal people. Upon the birth of a son, they exult in the gift of a ploughman or a waggoner; and upon the birth of a daughter, they rejoice in the addition of another spinster, or milkmaid to their family. Happy state of human society! what blessings can civilization confer, that can atone for the extinction of the ancient and patriarchal pleasure of raising up a numerous and healthy family of children, to labour for their parents, for themselves, and for their country; and finally to partake of the knowledge and happiness which are annexed to existence! The joy of parents upon the birth of a child is the grateful echo of creating goodness. May the mountains of Pennsylvania be for ever vocal, with songs of joy upon these occasions! They will be the infallible signs of innocence, industry, wealth and happiness in the state.

Arguments in support of manufacturing, 1775-1791

To overcome the prejudice against manufacturing--as inimical to and less desirable than agriculture--advocates regularly cited the usefulness of manufacturing as a means of providing employment for young children and women. Daniel Roberdeau (1727-1795), a Philadelphia merchant, was president of the Pennsylvania Society for the Encouragement of Manufactures; Tench Coxe, also a Philadelphian and president of the Society for the Encouragement of Manufactures, was assistant secretary of the treasury at the time Hamilton, as secretary, presented his "Report on Manufactures."

1. Child labor will make cloth cheap, 1775

Daniel Roberdeau, "A Speech Delivered in Carpenter's Hall . . . before the Subscribers towards a fund for establishing Manufacturing . . . in the City of Philadelphia, 1775," in Peter Force, ed., American Archives. . . , 4th ser., II (Washington, D.C., 1839), 143.

. . . There is an endless variety in the geniuses of men; and it would be to preclude the exertion of the faculties of the mind to confine them entirely to the simple arts of agriculture. Besides, if these Manufactories were conducted as they ought to be, two-thirds of the labour of them will be carried on by those members of society who cannot be employed in agriculture, namely, by women and chidren.

A second objection is, that we cannot manufacture cloths so cheap here, as they can be imported from Britain… The expense of manufacturing cloth will be lessened from the great share women and children will have in them; and I have the pleasure of informing you that the machine lately brought into this City for lessening the expense of time and hands in spinning, is likely to meet with encouragement from the Legislature of our Province. In a word, the experiments which have been already made among us, convince us that woollens and linens of all kinds may be made and bought as cheap as those imported from Britain; and I believe everyone who has tried the former, will acknowledge that they wear twice as well as the latter.

2. "We shall deliver them from the curse of idleness"

A plain, but real Friend to America, "On American Manufactures," American Museum, I (Feb. 1787), 118-119.

. . . What period shall we appoint for ourselves when to begin? How long will it take us until we arrive at sufficient age, and are fit to go to work?--Surely, the time of youth is a very proper period to serve our apprenticeship. This I have found in common life. We seldom see a person fond of labour in old age, who has lived an idle life when young. But if we neglect arts and manufactures much longer, we shall find it still more difficult to begin.

By manufacturing ourselves, and employing our own people, we shall deliver them from the curse of idleness. We shall hold out to them a new stimulus and encouragement to industry and every useful art. We shall open an extensive field to many laudable pursuits. The speculative, the ingenious, as well as the laborious, may all employ their time and talents to valuable purposes. Idleness may be justly termed the bane of the mind, and the grand inlet to numerous vices. Nations that are remarkable for idleness and sloth, are for the most part prone to luxury, effeminacy, and extravagance. What hasty strides have we not taken since the peace to gain the summit of those refinements! O may the good genius of America now step forth, and inspire her infatuated sons, to make a solemn pause, to consider, and to amend!

3. The employment of persons who would otherwise be idle, 1791

Alexander Hamilton, "Report on Manufactures, December 5,1791," Works, III (New York, 1850), 207-208.

This is not among the least valuable of the means, by which manufacturing institutions contribute to augment the general stock of industry and production. In places where those institutions prevail, besides the persons regularly engaged in them, they afford occasional and extra employment to industrious individuals and families, who are willing to devote the leisure resulting from the intermissions of their ordinary pursuits to collateral labours, as a resource for multiplying their acquisitions or their enjoyments. The husbandman himself experiences a new source of profit and support, from the increased industry of his wife and daughters; invited and stimulated by the demands of the neighbouring manufactories.

Beside this advantage of occasional employment to classes having different occupations, there is another of a nature allied to it, and of a similar tendency. This is, the employment of persons who would otherwise be idle (and in many cases a burden on the community), either from the bias of temper, habit, infirmity of body, or some other cause, indisposing or disqualifying them for the toils of the country. It is worthy of particular remark, that, in general, women and children are rendered more useful, and the latter more early useful, by manufacturing establishments, than they would otherwise be. Of the number of persons employed in the cotton manufactories of Great-Britain, it is computed that four-sevenths nearly are women and children; of whom the greatest proportion are children, and many of them of a tender age.

And thus it appears to be one of the attributes of manufactures, and one of no small consequence, to give occasion to the exertion of a greater quantity of industry, even by the same number of persons, where they happen to prevail, than would exist, if there were no such establishments.

4. Manufactories keep children from idleness and rambling, 1794

Tench Coxe, A View of the United States of America (Philadelphia, 1794), pp. 54-55.

Opinions had prevailed in America, that manufacturing employments were injurious to the best interests of the country; that the pursuit of agriculture should occupy all our citizens; and that labour was so dear, as to preclude all chances of success. Yet it was observed, that many emigrators, and others in the manufacturing branches, had actually succeeded; and it was manifest, that the civil and religious freedom of the country, and the low price of food, of fuel, and of raw materials, would continue to attract persons of that description. Further investigation and reflection threw new and pleasing lights upon the subject. It was perceived, that children, too young for labour, could be kept from idleness and rambling, and of course from early temptations to vice, by placing them for a time in manufactories, and that the means of their parents to clothe, feed, and educate them, could be thereby increased; that women, valetudinarians, and old men, could be employed; that the portions of time of housewives and young women, which were not occupied in family affairs, could be profitably filled up; that machinery, horses, fire, water, and various processes requiring only some incipient labour, were the principal means of manufacturing in Britain; that manufactures, instead of impeding agriculture in that country, are actually its greatest and most certain support, and that, in truth, they are indispensably necessary to the prosperity of its landed interest.

1. George Washington favorably impressed by the work of young girls in a duck factory, Boston, 1789

John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Diaries of George Washington, 1748-1799, IV (Boston, 1925), 37-38.

October 28, 1789. Went after an early breakfast, to visit the duck manufacture, which appeared to be carrying on with spirit, and is in a prosperous way. They have manufactured 32 pieces of duck of 30 or 40 yds. each in a week; and expect in a short time to increase it to [ ]. They have 28 looms at work; and 14 girls spinning with both hands (the flax being fastened to their waste). Children (girls) turn the wheels for them, and with this assistance each spinner can turn out 14 lbs. of thread per day when they stick to it, but as they are paid by the piece, or work they do, there is no other restraint upon them but to come at 8 o'clock in the morning, and return at 6 in the evening. They are the daughters of decayed families, and are girls of character--none others are admitted. The number of hands now employed in the different parts of the work is [ ] but the managers expect to increase them to [ ]. This is a work of public utility and private advantage.

2. Boy-power in James Davenport's industry, 1794

Advertisement in Massachusetts Mercury, Aug. 24, 1798, in William R. Bagnall, Textile Industries of the United States, I (Cambridge, Mass., 1893), 225.

James Davenport received the first patent issued in the United States for his spinning machinery in Philadelphia (1794). He set up his machinery for spinning and weaving by water power at the Globe Mills, Philadelphia. The labor was chiefly performed by boys, one of whom was able to spin 292,000 feet of flax or hempen thread in a day of ten hours.

Spinning by Machinery

Into Thread and Twine

James Davenport proposes to sell or erect his Machine for spinning Hemp, Flax and Tow; he will complete it, and let it to work, and instruct any person inclined to purchase. These who have seen the machine at work will allow that the subjoined statement is strictly correct.

Thread. Two boys and one man can spin from 20 to 60 lb. per day; according to the fineness, regular and even.

Twine, Seine, or Sewing. This Machine will double twist, and finish from 50 to 60 lbs. per day, with 3 boys from 10 to 12 years old, which for regularity and excellence cannot be surpassed by the twisting by hand of the best workmen.

Any person willing to treat for the purchase of this invaluable invention, may hear the terms by applying to J. Davenport, at John Baker's Hotel, Water-street.

Wanted, A Partner, who will find it advantageous.

3. Impressions of Henry Wansey, the Wiltshire clothier, of his visit to the Dickson, Livingston & Co. factory, Hellgates, New York, on May 31,1794

Henry Wansey, Journal of an Excursion to the United States (London, 1798), p. 60.

Went with a party to see Dickson's Cotton Factory at Hell-Gates, about five miles from New York. It is worked by a breast water-wheel, twenty feet in diameter. There are two large buildings, four stories high, and eighty feet long. In one shop, I saw twenty-six looms at work, weaving fustians, calicoes, nankeens, nankinets, dimities, &c., and there are ten other looms in the neighbourhood. They have the new-invented spring-shuttle. They also spin by water, using all the new improvements of Arkwright and others. Twelve or fourteen workmen I are from Manchester. All the machinery in wood, steel, and brass were made on the spot t from models, brought from England and Scotland. They are training up women and children to the business, of whom I saw twenty or thirty at work. They give the women two dollars a week, and find them in board and lodging. The children are bound apprentices till twenty-one years of age, with an engagement to board, clothe, and educate them. They have the machine called the mule, at which they have spun cotton so fine as twenty-one hundred scains to the pound, and they propose making muslins.

4. "Pity those little creatures. . . ," 1801

"Journey of Josiah Quincy through Southern Parts of New England, 1801," MHS Proceedings, 2d ser., IV (1887-1889), 124.

Josiah Quincy, later Mayor of Boston, and subsequently president of Harvard, expressed compassion for toiling children. His position was exceptional at a time when child labor was generally viewed as beneficial to the child and society.

These consist chiefly of Iron, paper, and cotton works, in the last of which a very complicated and ingenious machinery performs all the requisite labor. . . All the processes of turning cotton from its rough into every variety of marketable thread state, such as cleaning, carding, spinning, winding, etc., are here performed by machinery operating by water wheels only by children from four to ten years old, and one superintendent. Above one hundred of the former are employed at the rate of from 12 to 25 cents for a day's labor. Our attendant was very eloquent on the usefulness of this manufacture, and the employment is supplied to so many poor children. But an eloquence was exerted on the other side of the question more commanding than this, which calls us to pity those little creatures, plying in a contracted room, among flyers and coggs, at an age when nature requires for them air, space and sports. There was a dull dejection in the countenance of all of them.

5. Advertisement for child workers, eight to twelve years old, 1808

Federal Gazette (Baltimore), Jan. 4, 1808.

Baltimore Cotton Manufactory. This manufactory will go into operation in all this month, where a number of boys and girls, from eight to twelve years of age, are wanted, to whom constant employment and encouraging wages will be given; also, work will be given out to women at their homes, and widows will have the preference in all cases where work is given out, and satisfactory recommendations will be expected. This being the first essay of the kind in this city, it is hoped that those citizens, having a knowledge of families, having children destitute of employment, will do an act of public benefit, by directing them to this institution. Applications will be received by Thomas White, at the Manufactory, near the Friends' Meetinghouse, Old Town, or by the subscriber.

Isaac Burneston, No. 196 Market Street.

6. Women and children in the early textile laborforce, 1811

Albert Gallatin, "Manufactures, April 19, 1810," American State Papers, Finance, II (1832), 427.

Returns have been received of eighty-seven mills, which were erected at the end of the year 1809; sixty-two of which (forty-eight, water, and fourteen, horse, mills) were in operation, and worked, at that time, thirty-one thousand spindles. The other twenty-five will all be in operation in the course of this year, and, together with the former ones, (almost all of which are increasing their machinery) will, by the estimate received, work more than eighty thousand spindles at the commencement of the year 1811.

The capital required to carryon the manufacture, on the best terms, is estimated at the rate of one hundred dollars for each spindle; including both the fixed capital applied to the purchase of the mill-seats, and to the construction of the mills and machinery, and that employed in wages, repairs, raw materials, goods on hand, and contingencies. But it is believed that no more than at the rate of sixty dollars for each spindle is generally actually employed. Forty-five pounds of cotton, worth about 20 cents a pound, are, on an average, annually used for each spindle; and these produce about thirty-six pounds of yarn, of different qualities, worth, on an average, one dollar and twelve and a half cents a pound. Eight hundred spindles employ forty persons, viz: five men and thirty-five women and children. On those data, the general results for the year 1811, are estimated in the following table:

Persons employed

Mills Spindles Men Women and children Total

87 80000 500 3,500 4,000

The increase of carding and spinning of cotton by machinery, in establishments for that purpose, and exclusively of that done in private families, has, therefore, been fourfold, during the two last years, and will have been tenfold in three years.

1. The first workers in the Slater textile mill were all children, Providence, 1790

Letter of Smith Wilkinson to George White, May 30, 1835, in George S. White, Memoir of Samuel Slater, 2d ed. (Philadelphia, 1836), p. 76.

Mr. Slater came to Pawtucket early in January, 1790, in company with Moses Brown, William Almy, Obadiah Brown, and Smith Brown, who did a small business in Providence, at manufacturing on billies and pennies, driven by men, as also were the carding machines. They wove and finished jeans, fustians, thicksetts, velveretts, etc., the work being mostly performed by Irish emigrants. There was a spinning-frame in the building, which used to stand on the southwest abutment of Pawtucket Bridge, owned by Ezekiel Carpenter, which was started for trial after it was built for Andrew Dexter and Lewis Peck, by Joseph and Richard Anthony, who are now living at or near Providence. But the machine was very imperfect and made very uneven yarn. The cotton for this experiment was carded by hand, and roped on a woolen wheel by a female. Mr. Slater entered into contract with William Almy and Smith Brown, and commenced building a water-frame of 24 spindles, two carding machines, and the drawing and roping frames, necessary to prepare for the spinning, and soon after added a frame of 48 spindles. He commenced sometime in the fall of 1790, or winter of 1791. I was then in my tenth year, and went to work for him, and began tending the breaker. Four children of David Arnold--Turpin, Charles, Eunice and Ann--also Smith Wilkinson, Jabez Jenks, John and Sylvanus Jenks, and Otis Barrows, were the operatives in 1790 and 1791. These children were from seven to twelve years of age.

2. Family labor force in the Slater factory, 1813

List extracted from Time Books for 1813 in Cotton Mills, 1813-1816, Slater Papers, Harvard Business School.

1 family with 8 members working

1 family with 7 members working

2 families each with 5 members working

4 families each with 4 members working

5 families each with 3 members working

8 single men

4 single women

3. The Gifford family at the Troy mill, Fall River, Massachusetts, 1815

Quoted in Otey, "Children in the Cotton Industry," p. 63.

Daniel Gifford and family to have the following price for one year from the time of his moving into our house--which was on the 5th of 5th mo., 1815--to have one half of the 1st. one-story house at $30.

Himself per day…………………….$1.00

Oldest boy to tend picker………….. .67

2^nd boy…………………………….. .50

3^rd girl……………………………… .42

4^th do………………………………. .44

5^th do………………………………. .25

6^th boy……………………………… .25

7^th girl……………………………… .10

8th and 9th boy and girl……………. …

4. The Rier family, Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1815

Plant and Poignaud Papers in the Lancaster Town Library, in Otey, "Children in the Cotton Industry," p. 64.

Dennis Rier had the authority to sign a contract not only for his own family, but for his sister and her children as well. It is quite possible that the sister was a widow and therefore dependent on Rier.

Dennis Rier of Newbury Port has this day engaged to come with his family to work in our factory on the following conditions. He is to be here about the 20th of next month [January 1815] and is to have the following wages per week:

Himself                                                   $5.00

His son Robert Rier, 10 years of age           .83

Daughter Mary, 12 years of age                1.25

Son William, 13 years of age                     1.50

Son Michael, 16 years of age                    2.00

                                                               10.58

His sister, Abigail Smith                             2.33

Her daughter Sally, 8 years of age                .75

Son Samuel, 13 years of age                      1.50

                                                                 4.58

House rent to be from $20. to $30.[1a] Wood cut up $2. per cord.

6. Wanted, children and families for the mills

Massachusetts Spy (Worcester), May 13,1818, p. 3.

WANTED, A steady, active BOY, from twelve to fifteen years of age, as an Apprentice to the Carding Wool and Clothiers Business. One that can produce good recommendations, will meet with good encouragement.--inquire at the Spy office.

Massachusetts Spy, May 27, 1818, p. 3. Family wanted

Wanted, at Samuel Slayter's Factory, in Oxford, a FAMILY with 5 or 6 Children, to work to the Mills. One that has worked in a Mill would be preferred.

Good recommendations will be required.--Apply at the Factory

Oxford, May 20,1818.

Massachusetts Spy, March 8, 1820, p. 3.

WANTED,

At the Factory of Leland

Morse & Co. two or three FAMILIES, of four or five children each. Those who are in the habit of profanity or Sabbath breaking, and intend to continue these practices, are invited not to make application.

1. The first Sunday school in America was for factory children

White, Samuel Slater, pp. 107-108.

Mr. Samuel Slater, on the establishment of the old mill, introduced among the labourers therein such regulations, as his previous observations of cotton mills in Derbyshire had shown to be useful and applicable to the circumstances of an American population. Amongst these, that which every philanthropist will deem the most important, was the system of Sunday-school instruction--which had been for some time in full operation, at all the mills of Messrs. Strutt and Arkwright, when Mr. Slater left England.

These schools, the first of the kind in America, are still continued at the present day. They have been copied, and extended with' the extension of the cotton manufacture through this country; and they have prompted the establishment of similar schools in our seaport towns and in foreign countries. It was from Pawtucket that they were introduced into Providence in 1815, by the young men of the latter place, one of whom, William Jenkins, had been a clerk with Mr. Slater. These institutions were at first considered as charity schools only; and the teachers paid by the young men. They were subsequently taken under the care and patronage of the different religious societies, by whom they have been made to serve the purpose of biblical instruction. In addition to these schools for Sunday instruction, the establishment and support of common day schools was promoted at all the manufactories in which Mr. Slater was interested; and in some cases, the teachers were wholly paid by himself. Regular and stated public worship, also, was liberally supported at those points where the people could be most conveniently assembled. A strict, though mild and paternal scrutiny of the conduct of the workpeople was maintained; and prudent and effectual regulations against disorderly and immoral behaviour secured the peace, harmony, and quiet, of the mill companies. The introduction of manufacturing was thus, in every place, a harbinger of moral and intellectual improvement, to the inhabitants of the vicinage, and the numerous operatives from remote and secluded parts of the country, attracted to the manufacturing villages by the employment, comforts, and conveniences which they afforded. Hundreds of families of the latter description, originally from places where the general poverty had precluded schools and public worship, brought up illiterate and with-out religious instruction, and disorderly and vicious in consequence of their lack of regular employment, have been transplanted to these new creations of skill and enterprise; and by the ameliorating effects of study, industry, and instruction, have been reclaimed, civilised, Christianised. Not a few of them have accumulated and saved, by close application and moderate economy, very handsome estates. Indeed, such have been the blessed results of concentrating and giving employment to a population formerly considered almost useless to the community, that there is among our manufacturing population at this moment, a greater number of males, of from twenty to thirty years old, who are worth from $300 to $1000 each, and of marriageable females worth from $100 to $800 each, than can be found in any population, out of the manufacturing villages.

2. Purchase of equipment for the Sunday school in the Slater-Howard mill, 1824

Woolen file, Slater & Howard Memoranda, 1827-1829, XXVI, Slater Papers.

Prior to compulsory education laws the Sunday school system was the only form of education for factory children.

Dudley, Feb. 25th 1824 Left with Slater & Howard to sell and account for or return on demand the following Books.

18 W. Spelling Books                       2.25

4 English Readers                             1.67

2 School Bibles                                1.34

1 Murray's Grammer                          .50

4 " " abridged                                     .42

1 Walker's Dictionary                         .67

2 Watts Psalms & Hymns (course)     .67

                                                       7.52

1 [?]                                                 .37

For Holbrook & Fessenden Timothy Knight

3. Conditions in the Humphreysvi1le Manufacturing Company, Connecticut, 1810

Timothy Dwight, Travels; in New-England and New York, III (New Haven, 1822), 392-394.

General David Humphreys (1752-1818), a Revolutionary war hero and Federalist statesman, became acquainted with the value of Merino sheep in 1802, while serving as United States minister to Spain. He imported Merinos to Derby, Connecticut, and subsequently established a wool manufacture. In 1810 he smuggled John Winterbotham, an expert in the manufacture of wool, out of England. Winterbotham eventually became Humphreys' partner.

The houses can accommodate, with a comfortable residence, about one hundred and fifty persons. Ten others in the neighborhood will furnish comfortable residences for upwards of one hundred and fifty more. Gardens, on a beautiful plat in the rear of the manufactories, furnish all the vegetables necessary for the establishment. The institution contains four broad and eight narrow looms and eighteen stocking-frames. The principal part of the labour in attending the machinery in the cotton and woolen manufactories is done by women and children; the former hired at from fifty cents to one dollar per week, the latter, apprentices, who are regularly instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic. The wages of the men are from five dollars to twenty-one dollars per month.

In Europe great complaints have been made of manufacturing establishiments as having been, very commonly seats of vice and disease. General Humphreys began this with a determination either to prevent these evils, or, if this could not be done, to give up the design. With regard to the health of the people it is sufficient to observe that, from the year 1804 to the year 1810, not an individual belonging to the institution died; and it is believed that, among the other equal number of persons, there has been less disease. With respect to vice it may be remarked that every person who is discovered to be openly immoral is discharged. At the commencement of the institution, discreet parents were reluctant to place their children in it, from unfavorable apprehensions concerning the tendency of such establishments. Since that time they have been offered in more than sufficient numbers.

In 1813 the Legislature, at the instance of General Humphreys, passed a law, constituting the selectmen and magistracy of the several towns, in which manufactories had been or should be established, visitors of those institutions. This law required the proprietors to control, in a manner specified, the morals of all their workmen and to educate the children as other children, in plain families throughout the State, are educated. [2a] The visitors were directed to inquire annually into the manner in which the proprietors conformed to this law. The reports of the visitors in Derby concerning the establishment at Humphreysville have been, in a high degree, honorable both to the proprietor and his people.

The manufactures at Humphreysville are esteemed excellent. The best broadcloth, made here, is considered as inferior to none which is imported. None but Americans are employed in this institution. Americans make all the machinery, and have invented several kinds of machines which are considered as superior to such as have been devised in Europe for the same purposes.

In this manufactory he has, I think, fairly established three points of great importance. One is that these manufactures can be carried on with success; another, that the workmen can be preserved in as good health as that enjoyed by any other class of men in the country; and the third, that the deterioration of morals in such institutions, which is so often complained of, is not necessary, but incidental; not inherent in the institution itself, but the fault of the proprietor.

2a. See the following document.

First law in the United States requiring schooling of children in manufactures, Connecticut, 1813

"An act in addition to an act, entitled' An act relating to masters and servants, and apprentices,' " 1813--ch. 2, Public Statutes of Connecticut, Oct. 1808-May 1819, May Session, 1813 (Hartford, 1813) pp. 117-118.

The law was passed at the instigation of General David Humphreys. As with later child labor legislation, it was laxly enforced.

The president and directors of all factories which now are, or hereafter shall be legally incorporated, and the proprietor or proprietors of all other manufacturing establishments in this state, shall cause that the children employed in such factory or establishment, whether bound by indenture, by parol agreement, or in any other manner, be taught to read and write, and also that they be instructed in the four first rules of arithmetic (provided the term of their service shall be of so long duration that such instruction can be given,) and that due attention be paid to the preservation of their morals; and that they be required by their masters or employers regularly to attend public worship, as is by law provided with regard to the other citizens of this state.

The civil authority and select-men for and within such towns in which such factories or manufacturing establishments, do or may exist, or a committee by them appointed, shall be and they are hereby constituted a board of visitors; and it shall be the duty of such board of visitors, in the month of January annually, or at such other time or times as they shall appoint, carefully to examine, and to ascertain whether the requisitions of this act, which relate to the instruction and the preservation of the morals of the children employed as aforesaid, be duly observed: and if on such examination, such board of visitors shall discover that the president and directors of any incorporated factory, or the proprietor or proprietors of any manufacturing establishment have neglected to perform the duties enjoined on them by this act, such board of visitors shall report such neglect to the next county court within the county within which the same shall have occurred, and thereupon such county court shall cause the president and directors of such incorporated factory, or the proprietor or proprietors of such manufacturing establishment, to appear before such court to answer in the premises; and if on due enquiry, it shall be found that such president and directors, or the proprietor or proprietors of such establishment, do not duly attend to the education of the children by them respectively employed, as is by this act required; or that due attention is not paid to preserve the morals of such children, it shall be the duty of such court, and they are hereby authorized, at their discretion, either to discharge the indentures or contracts, relating to such minors, and by which they may be bound to render services in such establishments, or they may impose such fine or forfeiture on the proprietor or proprietors of such establishment as they may consider just and reasonable: Provided the same shall not exceed the sum of one hundred dollars.

Economic and moral justification of manufacturing and child labor, 1816-1823

1. The "Infant Industries" argument, 1816

"The Manufacturing Interest," Niles' Weekly Register, Jan. 27,1816, p. 1.

Manufactories grew up as if by magic--and they promised fair, in due season, to supply the chief part of our wants--thus releasing us of our dependence of foreigners and quieting their intrigues--and raising up an American interest to supercede the servility and devotion of those who deal in foreign goods to foreign interests. These establishments have made wonderful progress towards perfection; but they have not yet arrived at a degree of strength competent to meet, on equal grounds, the more wealthy and older institutions of Europe. They must be protected and assisted for a while by the government--which owes to the exertion of its people what a good mother owes to her child. There certainly is not much profit in raising children--a woman might assuredly earn more money if, instead of nursing her infant and nourishing it as she ought, she were to cast it on the ground and apply herself to labor. But what would we think of a calculation like this? For, altho' the mother may have no affection for her child, she owes a duty to the society in which she lives to rear it with care. It belongs to the state, and is to be added to the national strength. I consider that the manufacturers of the United States stand to the government in the precise relation of an infant to its mother--if they are cherished, they will repay, in the future peace and prosperity of the country, all that is done for them.

2. "Two hundred children create a value of 13,500 dollars a year. 317,000 children would. . . make us independent of all nations," 1816

Niles' Weekly Register, Oct. 5, 1816, pp. 86-87.

Note that the writer calculates age seven as the standard for commencement of labor.

By calculations made upon the data furnished by the census of 1810, it appears that the children under 10 years, averaged, for the middle states, are 35 per cent. of the whole population; and that those of 10 and under 16, in like manner, are about 15 per cent. making together 50 per cent. Or, in other words, that the children under 16 years of age are one half of all the inhabitants of this section of the United States.

A certain town, in one of these states, well situated and healthy, had by that census 4416 inhabitants; and, consequently, the children under 16 years old may be estimated at 2208.

But we have no datum to determine what proportion of these children were under 7 years--we may suppose them at a half, or 1104; which we may also suppose incapable of any employment other than the little services they can render in domestic affairs;--and we have 1104 between the ages of 7 and 16 capable of some sorts of business not immediately connected with the concerns of the families of which they are members. By an actual enumeration of the children at school, in the town alluded to, in 1814, they amounted to 650--but of these 60 were from other places, and the number of town children was only 590, leaving of 1104 a balance of 514. Of which 514 we may suppose 100 were apprenticed--50 at school in other places, and 100 in the employ of their parents, who prefer keeping them at home to sending them to earn a living in the manufactories adjacent--deducting, then, 250 from the 514, we have 264 in the town unemployed, unless they be engaged in the cotton, woolen or card-making establishments, within it or in its neighborhood. Say 200--and let us attempt to calculate the difference to the community in employing them and suffering them to remain unemployed.

A cotton manufactory of 5 or 6000 spindles will employ those 200 children, and their wages may be reckoned as follows:

100 at 125 cents per week,                   $125 00

50 at 150 do.                                            75 00

50 at 200 do.                                          100 00

                                                               300 00

Say for 45 weeks in the year,           \$13,500 00

Calculations pretty accurately made show that it will require $25 a year to clothe a child of 7 years old, in an economical way--the clothing of these children would cost 5000 dollars, leaving 8,500 dollars towards their board and education. If we suppose, that, before the establishment of these manufactories, there were 200 children, between 7 and 16 years of age, that contributed nothing towards their maintenance and that they are now employed, it makes an immediate difference of 13,500 dollars a year to the value produced in the town, and may also make a considerable saving by reducing the cost of clothing. Let us see the effects of this employment on agriculture and commerce.

Daily experience teaches us, that as the means of subsistence are facilitated, the people are disposed to enjoy what is called the comforts of life--to eat better or richer food, and wear better or more costly clothing; and as these 200 children create a value of 13,500 dollars a year, we may fairly suppose that nearly so much more will be expended for these things...

If such be the effects of the introduction of manufactures into a small district (I do not wish to be understood as meaning only those of cotton and wool, but of all that give employment to children from 7 to 16 years of age) let us see how the calculation will apply to all the United States.

It is pretty clear that a gross population of 4,416 persons may have 200 children wanting employment--the United States contains 7 millions of white inhabitants, and, by the same ratio, may have 317,000 such children, whose annual wage, as above, would amount to $21,397,500. This is more than the average annual revenue of the general and state governments, united, and equal to about half the value of our exports of domestic produce and manufacture.

But it cannot be thought possible to employ all the children in the United States as calculated above: 1st, because they are too widely scattered to be brought into such employment; and 2ndly, because it supposes a progress in manufactures that we may not attain to for a generation to come, if so soon as that--for to employ 317,000 children would require the establishment of nearly 8 millions of cotton spindles, or of something else equivalent thereto--an increase not to be expected or desired: but there are a great variety of businesses yet to be introduced amongst us, necessary to secure to us what we consider the comforts, if not the necessaries of life, and make us independent of all nations . . .

3. Factories as seats of health, cheerfulness, and learning, 1817

Address of The American Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Manufactures, To the People of The United States (New York, 1817), p. 14.

. . . Our fabrics will not require to be situated near mines of coal, to be worked by fire or steam, but rather on chosen sites, by the fall of waters and the running stream, the seats of health and cheerfulness, where good instruction will secure the morals of the young, and good regulations will promote, in all, order, cleanliness, and the exercise of the civil duties. This, with the beneficial clauses usual in our indentures of apprenticeship, and the vigilant eye of the magistrate to enforce them, will obviate every apprehension. And we hazard nothing by the assertion, that some of the best educated of the poorer class, in this country, are those brought up in factories, and such as would otherwise have been destitute of education altogether; and those whose tenderness inclines them to make this objection are requested to reflect, that the paternal regard of the legislature is awake to this subject; and that, to every institution of this kind a school will be appendant.

4. Work people, six to twelve years old, 1817 Niles' Weekly Register, June 7, 1817, pp. 226-227.

The great objection to manufactures was, that they abstracted labor from the more profit- able and more healthy pursuits of agriculture. And this might have been a reasonable objection when able-bodied men were doing the work that is now better done by little girls from six to twelve years old. . . Messrs. Robert and Alexander M'Kim have a cotton mill in Baltimore, driven by steam, capable of making a certain quantity of yarn per annum. The cost of the raw material used, at its present high price, is estimated at $35,200, and the value of the yarn produced, at its present low rate, at $58,500. The difference between these sums ($23,300) variously disbursed, and some part retained for profit or interest on capital employed, is nearly as much as value created and thrown into the general wealth, as if the Messrs. M'Kims were capable of transmitting some useless substance into pure gold of that value; for in the whole establishment they employ but two or three men;--all the rest, in number about 100, are girls from 6 to 12 or 13 years of age, and a few women; who, without this employ, would earn nothing at all. Mr. A. M'Kim (the late member of congress from this city) informs me, that many of his little work-people read and write handsomely. They live with their parents, who are generally poor, but not the most indigent; and their wages assist in sending them to school or furnish them with clothes to appear decently there. The little girls often seek employment for the avowed purpose of earning money to buy clothes to go to school in, and no difficulty is found in obtaining as many hands as are wanted. We feel warranted in saying that this factory is a blessing and a comfort to many families in its neighborhood. The yarn spun at this mill, if wove into cloth, would give us about 315,000 yards 7-8 wide, at 25 cents per yard, or $78,750, and leave a gross value created of $43,550, per annum--but the weaving is chiefly done by men.

5. Edifying impact of manufactures on poor children, 1819

Letter to editor, Niles' Weekly Register, Jan. 30, 1819, pp. 418-419.

I am unfortunately concerned in three cotton factories--one of them has for a long time been standing still--the other two were in operation about 18 months, when we stopped one of them; the last is yet going, but it is doubtful whether we shall keep it working much longer. The latter originally cost 150,000 dollars--we bought it at sheriff's sale for 50,000--and since May 1817 have had upwards of 4000 spindles running in it--but I do not believe that the profit made is equal to one cent per spindle, per annum--we therefore think of stopping them. This factory is well situated, and known to have made the very best goods. The children employed were chiefly taken from the poor-masters of the country towns, and from the alms-house in this city, where there are now upwards of 700 of them, many of whom might be usefully employed in such establishments--the remainder were orphans, or children of infirm parents or widows, some of the latter also, were in our employ. It is a pleasing fact, that the young man who is the clerk of our factory and keeps our books, being a cripple, was taken from the overseers of the poor of a country town about six years ago, and is indebted for his learning to the school of the factory, where all the children enjoy the same advantages he did. The value that these children, assisted by machinery, have produced, is to the country as so much specie gained without any labor at all--a clear profit to its whole amount. To estimate this properly, we must understand that one girl, at Manchester, fully assisted by machinery, produces as much value as eight laborers in our field. . .

6. Idle man's life altered by labor of his children, 1823

Niles' Weekly Register, Nov. 29,1823, p.195.

Many persons apprehend that large manufacturing establishments are the great seats of vice and immorality. Whatever may be the case in Europe, they are not so in the United States, nor will they be, until our population is much more dense than it is, and our immense tracts of vacant lands are occupied; then, if the people shall also have lost the rights and privileges which they at present enjoy, perhaps the manufacturers may become as corrupt as the population of some of our cities is now.

An able correspondent of the New York "Statesman" gives the following account of a visit to the Matteawan Factory, near the Fish-kill mountains, when the proprietor, Mr. Schenck, gave him the following narrative:

"Before I commenced the erection of these works, said Mr. S., and established in this place the branch of cotton manufacture, the process of which you have been just examining, the man who built, and now owns that neat little tenement, had no place to shelter himself and his numerous family, but the wretched hovel which you may observe at a few rods distance from his present abode. At that time, continued my informant, his only occupation was that of fishing: or rambling in the mountains in pursuit of such game as chance might throw in his way. Of the little he obtained by this occasional and precarious mode of subsistence, a large proportion was expended in the purchase of rum; in the use of which he indulged to such an extent as to brutalize his faculties, and render him a pest to society, as well as a curse to his family; which he kept in a state of the most deplorable and squalid poverty. Of his children three or four were daughters, of various ages, from seven or eight to fourteen years; these, said Mr. S. on commencing my establishment, I took into the factory; where, from that period to the present time, they have always had constant and regular employment. The proceeds of their first week's labor, amounting to six or seven dollars, when paid and taken home to their parents, was an amount which, it is probable, they never before at anyone time possessed. The almost immediate effect on the mind of the father appears to have been a conviction that his children, instead of being a burthen which he despaired of supporting, and, therefore, never before made an effort to accomplish, would, on the contrary, by the steady employment now provided for them, be able, by their industry, not only to sustain themselves, but also contribute to the maintenance and support of the other members of the family. From that moment, it would appear, as if he had determined to reform his vicious habit, and to emerge from that state of degradation and wretchedness into which he had plunged himself and his family. He has done so, said Mr. S. and, instead of being a pest, he has become a useful member of society; instead of being a curse to his family, and occupying with them that wretched hovel yonder, fit only for swine to wallow in, he has by his own exertions, aided by the industry and good conduct of his children, lately purchased the soil, and erected the comfortable cottage, which, said Mr. S. smiling, appears so powerfully to attract your notice."