ON THE KEGULATION OF WAGES IN THE COTTON INDUSTRY. 311 



amount in length in a given time, assuming the turns per inch to be the 

 same, the difference in weight would be very great. Hence where pay- 

 ment is by weight, the rate of wages increases with the number of counts 

 or fineness. There are no indicators to register the fineness of the yarn, 

 and if any mistake be made the operative may suffer. On the other hand, 

 where payment is by length, no mistake is possible, and the indicator by 

 registering the length indirectly registers the fineness of the yarn. 



(2) The second advantage claimed for the Oldham list is that it 

 divides the advantage resulting from an increased speed with the employer. 

 The employer is therefore interested in improving his machinery. It is 

 said that this principle has been one of the causes that has led to the 

 development of the Oldham spinning trade. An employer evidently has 

 no motive to adopt new and improved methods if the whole of the advan- 

 tage is reaped by the operatives. Recognising this, the Oldham employers 

 and employed have adopted the equitable rule of dividing the advantage 

 between them. The same principle is found in all the lists as regards the 

 advantage resulting from an increase in the number of spindles ; but it is 

 claimed that the Oldham list is the only one that adopts the principle in 

 regard to speed. 



(a) The normal week. — The normal week is not an absolutely fixed 

 time. An allowance is made for the necessary time that the mule is at 

 rest. The first allowance is for cleaning and accidental stoppages : for 

 this the allowance is 1^ hours. The second allowance is for doffing, that 

 is, for taking the cops off the spindles, and varies with the size of the 

 mule. For mules of sixty dozen of spindles, it is 5 minutes ; of over sixty 

 dozen and under ninety dozen, 6 minutes, and above ninety dozen, 7 minutes 

 for each doffing. Suppose, for instance, that the cops are removed ten 

 times in a week from a mule of 100 dozen of spindles, the allowance of 

 time would be 70 minutes. These new classes of allowances are deducted 

 from the maximum working week of 56^ hours, and the result is the 

 average time a mule will run during a week. 



(ti) The clraiu. — Each time that the head of the mule moves outwards 

 and returns, a certain fixed length of yarn is spun — e.gr., 63 or more inches. 

 The total amount of yarn spun in a given time evidently depends on the 

 number of times the head moves outwards and returns. The Oldham 

 list takes as a standard speed three draws or movements of 63 inches in 

 length every 50 seconds. The amount of yarn spun in 50 seconds will 

 be 63 X 3 inches on each spindle, as the length of 63 inches is constant 

 and as the speed is always calculated with reference to the number of 

 seconds required for three draws. 



The quicker the speed the greater the amount of yarn spun, and there- 

 fore in the absence of any special rule the greater the amount of wages. 

 Under such circumstances the employer would derive no advantage except 

 in so far as he was enabled to place a greater supply on the market. 

 From one point of view he would be under a positive disadvantage, as the 

 quicker speed would wear out the machinery in a shorter time than other- 

 wise would be the case. The Oldham list recognises that the employer 

 should share with the employed in the advantage resulting from increased 

 speed, and divides the advantage equally between them. A table will be 

 found in the list in which this allowance has been woi'ked out in detail, 

 and which is based on the principle that for every second less than the 

 standard number, 50, taken by the mule head to move three times, a 

 certain amount is to be added to the weekly wages, varying with the 



