92 LOWELL FACTORIES. [CHAP. VI. 



sign an agreement to give a fortnight s notice to quit. He also 

 maintained that, on the contrary, they are truly democratic insti 

 tutions, the shares being as low as 500 dollars, and often held 

 by the operatives, as some of them were by his own domestic 

 servants. By this system the work-people are prevented from 

 looking on the master manufacturers as belonging to a distinct 

 class, having different interests from their own. The holders of 

 small shares have all the advantages of partners, but are not 

 answerable for the debts of the establishment beyond their de 

 posits. They can examine all the accounts annually, when there 

 is a public statement of their affairs. 



An English overseer told me that he and other foremen were 

 receiving here, and in other New England mills, two dollars and 

 two and a half dollars a day (8s. 6d. and 10s. 6d.), 



