Facsimile PDF - Online Library of Liberty

.VARRIED WO-IIEN 1.V F.4CirORfES. 161
NOW-, D law excluding marriod women horn factories would
obviously have tho most diwtrous effects upon tkeso un-
11appy women, by banishing, in most cases, all hope of
marriage. In too many cases it is the wotnau’~ power of
earning wages which constitutes her hold upon the paramour.
Bepnd doubt, then, the exclusion of the class u marriod
women,” simply by that definition, cannot for D moment bo
contemplat.ed. It is the class rr child-bearing women,” thnt
legislation must den1 with, if at all. Opinions will differ greatly,
however, as to tho extent, means, and purpose of the legislibtion
required. The slightcst form of interference W O U ~ ~
consist in excluding womcu from factories for certain
nunlbcr of weeks before and after confinement. hfr. hfundeh
explained to the Factory Acts commission of 1875 that in
Glarus, and sotno other Swiss Cantons, a ~01nax1 mas obliged
to remain at homo for six weeks iu all, fixing the tima at llar
own discretion. Thcro can bo so littlo doubt as to tho hygienic
advantnges of such II law, that tho only questiou seems to bo
the possibility of enforcing tho lam. IVhat is practicable in n
small mountain district like Gkrus, whero cveryludy knows
everybody else, might tot,ally fail iu an oceau of population
liko that of Lancashire or London. It will be generally agreoti
that the employer can hardly be made responsible for deliwto
inquiries into the condition of his female mill-hands. Tho
Factory Act Commissioners bring forward, moreover, other
serious difficulties ; for instance, ths danger of adding a new
and very powerful motive for concealment of birth.
It appears pretty plain that if there is to bo legislation
concerning child-bearing women something more thorough is
required. The women may be quite fit for work in one month ;
but what about the infant ? The latter is pretty sure to bo
relegated to that scourge of infant life, the dirty funpsbearing
bottle. I do not think that it will be possible for the
Legislature much longer to leave untouched- the sad abuses
which undoubtedly occur in the treatment of infants, especiaI]y
in the manufacturing districts. The existence of such abuses
is sufficiently indicated by the high
rate of infant mortality
dmdy alluded to. More than ten years ago (May to JulyJ
m