260 SMALL INDUSTRIES AND 



probably be astonished to learn that even in 

 the cotton industry a great number of quite 

 small factories continue to exist up to the 

 present day. Even in the West Riding dis- 

 trict, which is second only to Lancashire for 

 the number of its cotton mills, and where we 

 find nearly one-third of all the workpeople em- 

 ployed in the cotton industry (237,444 persons), 

 the average for all the 3,210 factories of this 

 district is only seventy-three persons per factory. 

 And even in Lancashire, where we find nearly 

 one-half of all the workpeople employed in the 

 textiles, these 434,609 men, women, and children 

 are scattered in 3,132 factories, each of which 

 has thus an average of only 139 workers. If 

 we remember that hi this number there are 

 factories employing from 2,000 to 6,000 persons, 

 one cannot but be struck by the quantity of 

 small factories employing less than 100 persons, 

 and which continue to exist by the side of the 

 great cotton mills. But we shall just see that 

 the same is true for all industries. 



As to Nottinghamshire, which is a centre 

 for machine-made lace and knitting, its 18,434 

 workpeople are, most of them, working in 

 small factories. The average for the 386 estab- 

 lishments of this county is only forty-eight 

 persons per factory. The great industry is thus 

 very far from having absorbed the small one. 



