50
especially in Alsace , at that time the number of spindles in thesingle frame appear to have risen quickly; notwithstanding whichthe production remained less than in Lancashire . The dailyproduction per 800 spindles of No. 40’s yam in England was661b., in France 481b. From the evidence of numerous employers,given before the Examining Committee quoted, as well as beforethat on Artisans and Machinery, it appears that the master-spinners examined already looked upon the possession of betterlabour as their chief strength against Continental competition.“ A spinner in England does twice as much as a Frenchman. Thelatter gets up at four o’clock and worka until 10 o’clock at night.But onr spinner does in 6 hours what he does in ten.”
With the same tendency we have also the utterances of workers,as, for instance, that in spite of shortened working hours thelabour had become far more taxing than formerly; it was com-plained that some operatives were seized by a dangerous ambitionto accomplish more than is fit for human nature (34). Thesame witness from Stockport reports that these workers, however,also developed wants unknown up to then. For instance, insteadof going to the public-house they took to books and attendedschools—all at that time still quite exceptional circumstances.Possibly this applied only to a town where, as in Stockport, thesecond generation was already spinning, and wherein numerousworkhouse children had been introduced to factory labour. Fornothing urges forward the development of the modern man asmuch as forced or willing transplantation to other fields (35).
A new type of man entered at that time into existence inLancashire— the industrial worker, born and educated for themachine. He is the latest result of the modern method of working,and determines its condition for some generations ahead. Buteven then he is only developed under favourable conditions, as inthe most advanced great industries, before all others of England and America, and still the economical power-position of a nationis dependent in an increasing degree on his possession. As theman of the future, he does not find his equal in the past. It isnot bodily power which distinguishes him, for the movements
34. Committee on Manufactures (10,552).
35. We are reminded here of colonists, who generally develop themselvesmore quickly than their former countrymen; also of how new-arising in-dustries everywhere require foreign workers. How long the later increase offactory labour was fed from the poorhouses is proved by the Committee onManufactures (11,412).