AND ON THE CONTINENT.

131

observers, just as the operatives of the great English industriesthemselves boast of a physical superiority. Nowhere in England ,says the organ of the cotton operatives (the “ Cotton FactoryTimes”), are there so many strong and healthy children as in theseats of the cotton industry. The quickness of the “doffers”(young workers who look after taking off the full and putting onthe empty bobbins in the throstle-room) is in Lancashire pro-verbial (4). Regarding the adult worker a German manufacturersays : —“ One must see them at a self-actor, with what quicknessthey doff the full bobbins, or observe the dexterity of the femaleflyer operatives. Everything is accomplished like a flash oflightning” (5).

When machinery was first coming into use physicians and Blue-Books made mention of specific mill diseases ; at the present timethe new spinning-mills of Oldham are model hygienic institutions.Phthisis was in the “thirties” a frequent illness of the spinners. To-day, as Dr. Niven, the Medical Officer of Health at Oldham , full ofsympathy for the operatives, informs me, it occurs more seldomwith spinners than any other class of people in Oldham . Theborough of Oldham contains two classes of skilled workpeople—the cotton operatives and machine workers. Statistics show thatboth classes are far less liable to consumption than the remainingpopulation (unskilled workmen, shopkeepers, etc.). The durationof the sickness is more severe with the machine workers than withthe cotton operatives (6).

The progress which the English operative has made in health aswell as capai ity compared with his forefathers, depends chieflyon an improved standard of living. The enormous progress in thenourishment of the people which England has seen during thiscentury is a most important element favourable to the capacityfor competition of English industry as opposed to the competitionof Continental industry.

4. “ Lancashire Characters and Incidents,” by T. Newbigging (Manchester :Brook and Chrystal, 1891). Compare the chapter about the “ LancashireFactory Doffers. ”

5. “ Protokolle der deutschen Enquete,” p. 81.

G. Compare “ Report of Health, Borough of Oldham, ” 1890. “ From thedetails given in connection with the experience of former years I conclude thatthe influences which materially affect the health of the population, as far aslung complaints come into consideration, are to be sought for without the factorygates ” (pp. 56-9). Compare, also, Atkinson: “Popular Science Monthly”January, 1890), pp. 317-8