SPENCER'S INDIVIDUALISM 155 



had printed and spread broadcast in every 

 corner of the country. 



This is how the lion turned on the jackals: 

 "True indeed it is that the main pillar and 

 prop of the political greatness and prosperity 

 of our country is manufacture, which, as now 

 carried on, is destructive of the health, morals, 

 and social comfort of the mass of people en- 

 gaged in it. It is only since the introduction 

 of the cotton trade that children, at an age 

 before they have acquired strength or mental 

 instruction, have been forced into the cotton 

 mills — those receptacles, in too many in- 

 stances, for living, human skeletons, almost 

 disrobed of intellect, where, as the business 

 is often now conducted, they linger out ^ 

 few years of miserable existence, acquiring 

 every bad habit which they may disseminate 

 throughout society. It is only since the in- 

 troduction of this trade that children and 

 even grown people were required to labor 

 more than twelve hours in a day, not includ- 

 ing the time allotted for meals. It is only 

 since the introduction of this trade that the 

 sole recreation of the laborer is to be found 

 in the pothouse or ginshop, it is only since 

 the introduction of this baneful trade that 

 poverty, crime, and misery have made rapid 

 and fearful strides throughout the community. 



