TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 731 



into prominence. The third conclusion is that the conditions of success are now 

 ascertained, and consist in organisation. The commissioners express this opinion 

 in definite language, although they enter a caution against hasty inference from it, 

 and the secretary's report of the position in other countries shows that an absence 

 of conciliatory methods accompanies immaturity of organisation. The fourth and 

 last conclusion is that little room is left for the intervention of the State, save in 

 the role of pacific counsellor. This conclusion is endorsed by the minority, in spite 

 of their collectivist tendencies, and various difficulties attach to the substitution 

 of the compulsory legal authority of the State for the moral influence of voluntary 

 organisation. The report of the Commission may seem petty and impotent when 

 contrasted with the vastness of the inquiry, but probably it will recommend itself 

 to sober common-sense. 



Bi/ Miss Maitland. 



6. On Girl Life in an Industrial Centre} ByMissKETiyfARD. 



Subject of woman's work too large and complicated to allow of sweeping con- 

 clusions from an inquiry limited, as the present one, to a particular industrial 

 centre. 



The centre chosen is the district of the non-textile industries at Birmingham. 

 Principal trades: Brass, steel, iron, tubes, guns, ammunition, jewellery, screws^ 

 nails, steel pens, bedsteads, chandeliers. 



The number of registered factories is three thousand, and, roughly, six men 

 employed to every woman. Result : Girls' labour market overstocked and com- 

 petition keen. The trade depression of late years makes this increasingly felt. 

 This condition is aggravated by growing aversion of girls to domestic service. 

 Reasons for this aversion are the unbusinesslike relations of the latter ; the cry 

 for liberty, which is greater than the cry for wages. This spirit of independence 

 of thought and control is fostered by the spread of education. The remedy for 

 equalising the factory and service markets is to place the two on an equal footing 

 as regards contract and inspection. 



Conditions of service are more desirable than conditions of the factory, because of 

 the evils produced by competition such as (a) starvation wages, which oblige girls to 

 eke out a livelihood dishonestly ; (b) frauds and deceits practised by women to 

 obtain and keep work. Suggestions : — 



Possibility of labour agencies. Inspection in warehouses unattached to factories, 

 and in shops and laundries. 



Position of centre as regards — 



(I) Wages. — For unskilled labour 7s., 8s., 9s. a week, as a rule ; 10s. a week high. 

 Girls of fifteen and sixteen earn 3s. 6(/. to 4s. Qd. a week. Centre probably stands, 

 midway as compared with Lancashire, Wales, Ireland. 



(II) Health. — Lowered vitality rather than actual disease ; pMhisis and anfemia 

 common ; epileptic and fainting seizures also prevalent. Specially unhealthy work ; 

 lacquering and enamelling of iron plates. Precautions against lead poisoning and 

 their disuse. 



(III) The Moral Tone of Factory Life. — Effect of married women in factories 

 bad. Illustrations, betting, drinking, and immorality are due in large measure to their 

 influence, Eflect of ' clubs,' ' rum teas,' ' free-and-easies ' on a girl's life. Position 

 of girl in home as semi-lodger, monotony, and long hours of factory tend in the 

 same direction, producing a desire i'or unrestrained licence. 



Improvements possible partly through legislation, combination, and partly 

 through the raising of relations between employer and employed from mere cash 

 ones, 



' Published in exteruo in Women Workers, September 1894. Birmingham. 



