THE ECONOMIC DISTURBANCES SINCE 1873. 589 



ployment of men with the labor of women and children. The whole 

 number of employes in the cotton-mills of tbe United States, accord- 

 ing to the census of 1880, was 172,544 ; of this number, 59,685 were 

 men, and 112,859 women and children. In Massachusetts, out of 61,246 

 employes in the cotton-mills, 22,180 are males, 31,496 women, and 

 7,570 children. In the latter State certain manufacturing towns, 

 owing to the disparity in the numbers of men and women employed, 

 and in favor of the latter, are coming to be known by the appellation 

 of " she-towns." * 



Another exceedingly interesting and developing feature of the new 

 situation is, that as machinery has destroyed the handicrafts, and asso- 

 ciated capital has placed individual capital at a disadvantage, so ma- 

 chinery and associated capital in turn guided by the same common in- 

 fluences, now war upon machinery and other associated capital. Thus, 

 the now well-ascertained and accepted fact, based on long experience, 

 that power is most economically applied when applied on the largest 

 possible scale, is rapidly and inevitably leading to the concentration 

 of manufacturing in the largest establishments, and the gradual ex- 

 tinction of those which are small. A cotton-mill which, with a profit 

 (formerly not unusual) of a cent a yard, could easily pay ten per cent 

 per annum on a given capital, with a reduction of profit to a quarter 

 of a cent per yard, would have to make and sell four times the number 

 of yards to earn the same gross profit, which even then would fall very 

 far short of paying the former rate of percentage on the increased 

 capital, machinery, buildings, etc., necessary to effect the increased 

 production. Such also has already been, and such will continue to be, 

 the outcome of railroad, telegraph, and steamship development and ex- 

 perience ; and another quarter of a century, unless legislation interferes, 

 will not unlikely see all of the numerous companies that at present 

 make up the vast railroad system of the United States consolidated, 

 for sound economic reasons, under a comparatively few organizations 

 or companies. In this respect the existing situation in Great Britain 

 (which corresponds to that in all other countries) has thus been repre- 

 sented : " Trade after trade is monopolized, not necessarily by large 



* " The tendency of late years is toward the employment of child-labor. We see 

 men frequently thrown out of employment, owing to the spinning-mule being displaced 

 by the ring-frame ; or children spinning yarn, which men used to spin. In the weave- 

 shops, girls and women are preferable to men, so that we may reasonably expect that, 

 in the not very distant future, all the cotton-manufacturing districts will be classed in 

 the category of ' she-towns.' But people will naturally say, What will become of the 

 men ? This is a question which it behooves manufacturers to take seriously into con- 

 sideration, for men will not stay in any town or city where only their wives and children 

 can be given employment. Therefore, a pause at the present time might be of untold 

 value in the future, for, just as sure as the world goes round, women and children will 

 seek fresh pastures, where work can be found for the husband and father, in preference 

 to remaining in places where he has to play the part of the ' old woman,' while they go 

 to work to earn the means of subsistence." Wade's Fiber and Fabric. 



