46 HISTORY OF THE WHEEL ANt> ALLIANCE. 



Bryant & May's match factory, had aroused public indig- 

 nation. About 1,400 women and girls went out on a 

 strike. The wages paid were wretchedly low and the 

 hours of labor degradingly long. Besides, they were fined 

 on the slightest provocation or shortcoming. The women 

 averaged, according to the comparative statement, $2.80 

 per week, and the girls from 75 cents to $i. 10 per week. 

 Many of the little girls were found to be bald on account 

 of carrying boxes on their heads. They were compelled 

 to eat their meals in the factory in the fumes of the 

 phosphorus, which resulted in many cases in ulceration of 

 the jaw bone. But the profits of the company were 

 magnificent even if it was made out of the souls and 

 bodies of the girls. Last year the dividend was 23 per 

 cent. And among the stockholders are three members of 

 Parliament, and fifty-five members of the Church of 

 England. All good people, of course. And other highly 

 respected stockholders were found to be pocketing the 

 profits of the unpaid factory girls. No doubt those highly 

 respected owners of the match factory thought they were 

 doing those women and girls quite a favor in furnishing 

 them with good steady employment. What if the hair is 

 rubbed off the heads of the little girls? What does a 

 factory girl, who has to work from half-past six in the 

 morning until eight at night, want with hair on her 

 head? She has no time to get sunstruck, even if she is 

 bald. What if the jaw bone of the women ulcerate and 

 drop out? What does a woman earning from $1.25 to 

 $2.50 per week, want with either teeth or a jaw bone? 

 And besides, she is forbidden to talk in the factory. This 

 decay of the jaw bone is only the natural adaptation to 

 environments, as Darwin would testify. See how strongly 

 developed and how strong are the jaws of the members of 

 Parliament and of our Congressmen. Hence the principal 

 product of the London law factory, as well as of our Nat- 



