There  are,  or  have  been,  some  occupations,  the  result  of  evil  laws
or  customs,  the  outcome  of  bygone  wrongs,  which  have  been  pro-
hibited ;  and,  in  particular,  the  premature  employment  of  children
and  of  women  in  some  severe  and  degrading  callings.  These  were  the
outcome  of  the  past  restraints  on  labour.  It  is  very  rarely  that  I  find
in  the  earlier  accounts  which  I  have  inspected  entries  of  children's  or
women's  labour  in  the  fields.  When  the  detestable  assessments  of
the  justices  were  legal  they  became  common.  When  machinery
began  to  supersede  human  labour,  and  adult  strength  was  no  longer


rj?^  FACTORY  ACTS  AND  LOUD  SEA^FTBSBUBY.      855

■flO  aecessary,  "they  became  commoner.  At  l^ist  the  practioerbepanie
intolerable,  and  it  was  attacked  by  the  ^ar].ier  factory  legislation.
.Since  that  time,  to  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  laissez  faire  people,  the
legislation  has  been  fextended,  and  there  is  strong  reason  to  believe
that  greater  restraint  wUl  be  put  on  certain  very  continuous  employ-
ments. When  I  served  on  Sir  John  Lubbock's  committee,  I  was
surprised  to, flod  that  the  greatest  amount  of  overwork  was  exacted
in  the  wholesale  City  warehouses,  which  close  to  appearance  with  or

.shortly  after  dayUght,  but  sometimes  contii^ue  with  closed  doors  to

■very  late  hours.
The  argument  for  the  Factory  Acts  was  that  the  children  were  in
the  power  of  their  parents,  and  eked  put  miserable  earnings  by  their
premature  toil,  that  it  entirely. prevented  education,  and  thg,t  it

.weakened  the  vital  powers  of  the  chUd.  It  was  further  alleged,  and
truly,  that  this  labour  was  not  advantageous  in  the  end,  that'  long

-hours,  apart  from  pther  considerations,  were  a  loss,  and  that
employers  did  not  know  their  own  interest  when  they  exacted  them.
