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378 METHODS OF SOCIAL REFORM.
work itself out to the bitter end, by the process of natural
Mlection t Something might perhaps be said in favour of the
present apethetio mode of viewing this question if natural
selection were really securing the survival of the fittest, so
that only the weakly babes wore killed off, and the strong ones
well brought up. But it is much to bo feared that no infants
aver really recover from the test of virtual starvation to which
they aro so ruthlessly exposed. The vital powers are irreparably
crippled, and the infant grows up a stunted, miserable
specimen of humanity, the prey to every physical and moral
evil,
t7rhen looked at from tho right point of view, factory
legislation confers or maintains, rather than destroys, rights
and liberties. The Factory nnd Workshop Act of 18'78 seems
ts be a mass of vexatious restrictions : in reality it is the
Groat Charter of the working-classes. It is one of the
noblest products of legislative skill and patience. It sums up
tho experience and tho positive espcrirnents of eighty years in
the alleviation of factory life; but there is no reason to look
upon it as the ultimatum of such nlleviativo legislation. It
nffor'ds, no doubt, a resting-place; but it affords also the best
encouragement to proceed with several other measures of like
nature. Of all these, I venture to hold that the question of
married women's employment, in spite of its extent and its
difficulties, should take precedence. Tho growing wealth of
tho kingdom, nnd the ever-advnncing powers of machinery,
allow that to be dono now which might not have been done
before. Nor could any yeare bo more propitious for the
pUl-pQSe than the next five or six, which will in all probability
comprise the prosperous part of the commercial cycle. The
achievement of 8 well-designed Act upon the subject, though
causing, no doubt, aome trouble and distress for a few years,
would be followed, a few years later, by almost incredible
blessings to the ps~pls, and blessings to the realm. Many a
horns would be e home which cannot now be called by that
sweet name. The wife, no longer a mere slattern factory
hand, would become B true mother and e housekeeper; and