Indiana State University - Sycamore Yearbook (Terre Haute, IN)

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12 Dyeing Acts, and the Blakehouse Act. After this a royal commission was appointed in 1861, whose reports revealed the necessity of making laws to overcome the evils and abuses which existed in the trade of letter-press printing, book binding, brick and tile making straw plaiting, silk weaving, hosiery and lace mak- ing in manufacturing articles of wearing ap- parel, paper staining and fashion cutting. When these unfavorable reports were made known a bill was introduced to protect these laborers which became law in 1864. This law was a death blow to the conventional notion of. factory legislation, and included not only tex- tile industries but a great many others, such as paper manufacturing, glass, tobacco7 lettere press printing, etc. It did not change the age of protected persons, nor the normal hours of labor, nor the mode of administration hitherto found effective. The chief purpose of the law was to extend the protection of the State to other industries besides textile. Thus far no provisions had been made for domestic occupations, small handicrafts, and all forms of manual labor carried on in work places, where less than fifty persons were ein- plot'yed. After a long consideration the Work- shop Regulation Act was passed. This act was to be enforced through the local authori- ties in the several districts where the work- shops were situated. There were other pro- Visions in the law, which differed from those in previous laws. The interaction of the two statutes that is the 4tFactory Act,7 and the g4Workshop Regulation Act? caused great dis- content among the laborers and the inspectors. Finally in 1871 a Factory and Workshop Act was enacted by which the enforcement of the Workshop Regulation Act was transferred from the local bodies to the inspectors of fac- tories. In this way the workshops were also brought under government control. Ever since the act of 1844 had been passed, THE NORMAL ADVANCE a great agitation of adult labor was prevailing. The question under debate was whether adult labor should be controlled by the government or not, and whether there should be a sex dis- tinction. The subject was greatly debated upon, but was left for the future to decide. The next act of importance was the one of 1878 which consolidated and amended the eX- isting acts, so that the discrepancies prevailing among them would be removed, the minor in- dustries relieved from the pressure of legisla- tion, and the independence of. adult labor would be more secure. It was called the Fae- tory Consolidation Act. The act of 1891 con- sisted of sanitary provisions7 safety, special rules and requirements, period of employment, holidays, condition of employment and other miscellaneous provisions. In 1895 another one was passed which protected those working in the laundries7 while in 1900 Sir Matthew White Ridley introduced a bill with regard to dangerous trades, especially diseases of occupa- tions, which became law. Thus we have enum- erated some of the later and recent acts per- taining to factories. A retrospect of the history of factory legis- lation will give us a more concise idea of the subject. First, the industrial revolution con- stituted the origin of the labor agitation or rather the labor agitation grew out of the in- dustrial revolution. Capital became concen- trated in the hands of the capitalists, factories were constructed, women and children were employed almost more than men, and here the horrible evils of the factory system began. At first acts were passed protecting only laborers in textile industries, chiefly apprentices. Grad- ually governmental control were extended to other industries. There were a great many minor acts passed which have not been men- tioned, but the more important ones will suliice to comprehend the factory acts.

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THE NORMAL ADVANCE 11 made factory legislation a political issue. This was the agitation for parliamentary reform on the part of the democrats, who were supported by the factory masters. The agitators now played off factory reform against parliamen- tary reform, and they became so encouraged that they demanded nothing less than a ctTen Hours Billstl which was introduced by Sadler in 1832. Thereupon a special commission was appointed to consider the subjects and to ob- tain evidence from the factories. After an eX- amination of the witnesses, Sadlerts bill was again introduced by Lord Ashley. He pro- posed to abolish the work of children under nine in the factories, and that those under eighteen should not be allowed to work more than ten hours daily. The government should appoint inspectors to enforce these regulations and to provide some education for the chil- dren. The bill was passed. Trade was not ruined, as had been argued by the opposers to the law, but on the contrary flourished. The great j 0y and ease brought into many youthful lives did not cause the diminution in produc- tion. The act of 1838 did not remedy all the evils, although it was a great step toward advance- ment, and laid the fundamental basis of fac- tory legislation. The result of this act was the origin of the relay system by which employers arranged the legal hours of work at any time they chose so that the inspectors could not tell when they began or when they ended. Another defect was that there was no registration act, therefore the ages of children could not be as- certained and the certificate of any physician, founded on personal examination, was accepted as sufficient proof of age. Then again the re formers thought that the government- did not heartily approve of its own legislation, with regard to factories. Therefore the agitation was renewed with increased vigor, and the ttTen Hours Bill77 was reintroduced several times only to be suppressed. Nevertheless, it finally became law in 1847, while the Whigs were in oHice with Lord J ohn Russel as Prime Minister. This practically closed the struggle for a ten hour bill. This bill also contained a fatal defect. It did not provide the exact time when the ten hours were to be worked, from which resulted the immediate reintroduction of the relay system. In 1850 Lord Ashley brought the matter forward for debate and Sir Grey, the Home Secretary, proposed a com- promise to fix the hours of labor for protected persons from six in the morning till six in the evening in summer and from seven to seven in the winter. Work should cease at two olclock on Saturday. After a short and sharp con- test the measure containing these provisions became law. This law was one of the subse- quent enactments of the laws passed in 1844 and in 1847. One of the most important acts in the his- tory of factory legislation was the one of 1844. It was directed thoroughly and systematically against the defects which prevented the other laws from becoming effective. The hours of work for women and children were shortened, and they were to have eight half holidays each year, besides Christmas, Good F riday and the interval. on Saturdays. A provision was made for the regulations for recovering lost time. Surgeons were to be appointed to grant certi- ficates of age. Accidents were to be reported by the physician to the inspectors. Dangerous machinery was to be fenced. A notice was to be hung up in the factory, on which was writ- ten the name of the inspector, the hour of com- mencing and ceasing work, and the name of some public clock by which the hours of labor were to be regulated. A register was to be kept in which should be written the names of the persons employed, the dates of lime-wash- ing, and some other particulars. Children were also to be educated and the employer was held responsible for the school fees. This law was mainly confined to textile industries. Although this law did not settle troubles in that sphere, it was a Vigorous measure of reform. Other industries besides textile industries demanded reform. These demands were fol- lowed by the enactment of several laws, for in- stance, the Print Work Act, the Bleaching and

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THE NORMAL ADVANCE The Normal Advance DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF THE INDIANA STATE NORMAL SCHOOL EDITORIAL STAFF. WILLIAM GROSE ......................... Editor-in-Chief MARIE BUDD. .......................... Associate Editor ZOE J. BQDENHAFER ...................... Literary Editor GLADYS HOPE MCCLUNG ................... Society Editor CLEM O. THOMPSON ...................... Athletic Editor GLADYs DAVIES ............. I A . 4 ., a NELLE VVALLER ............ J10031.1 and Alumni Fdltms OWEN L. MITCHELL ....................... Senior Editor JAMES W. STANDLEY ...................... Junior Editor HARRIET DELAY ...................... Sophomore Editor LEONA CAST ...................... College Course Editor BUSINESS STAFF. VICTOR C. MILLER ..................... Business Manager CARL A, SCUDDER ................... Advertising Manager MERVIN E. SWANGO ................. Circulation Manager BOARD OF CONTROL. PRES. W. W. PARSONS, Eac-ijiciot PROF. CHAst M. CURRY, Chairman. PROF. ARTHUR CUNNINGHAM. CLYDE SHAW, 11, Secretary. WILLIAM GROSE, t12. KENNETH S. MITCHELL, 1,3. LEE V. BRINTON, C. C. Published Monthly from October to June, Inclusive. Terms . . . .' ............................. $1.00 P81 Year Single Copies ................................. 15 Cents Commencement Number ....................... 35 Cents Address all Communications to THE NORMAL ADVANCE, Terre Haute, Ind. Upon change of address VANCE. A11 Alumni, as well as Undergraduates, are urged to hand in Contributions. immediately notify THE AD- Entered at the Term Haute Postoffice as Second-class Mail Matter. WVe, the students of the Indiana State Nor- mal School, for our mutual improvement, our individual enjoyment, and the promotion of our school interests, d0 establish this Constitm tion for THE NORMAL ADVANCE. y We wish to call attention to the preceding paragraph, the preamble to the Constitution of THE NORMAL ADVANCE. This paper belongs to the school. It was organized for the school and we hope the school will support it. The paper was created in order to satisfy a desire for a medium through Which the students could have access to each other and t0 the world. All the students of this school should take advan- tage of the opportunities offered them by this paper. They should contribute to the paper and they should subscribe for it. The students 13 should not wait until they are individually asked to contribute. Let them Offer anything they think is worth While. If their contribu- tions are not up to the standard they should not despair. Let them contribute again. No student should read this paper unless he has subscribed for it. If it is not worth the sub- scription price, it is not worth reading. Subscribe for THE ADVANCE; get a friend to subscribe. Contribute to THE ADVANCE; ask a friend to contribute. Patronize the advertisers that have patron- ized your paper. This is a promising year at I. S. N. Our basketball team is developing rapidly. Biany 01d players are in school. These, with the boys just in from high school, are fast be- coming a team of which we may well be proud. Dent forget to join the Athletic Association. Become a member and help support our repre- sentatives. Attend the games. If you cant play basket- ball, join a rooteris club. Do something. We regret that we were not able to place in this paper pictures of our new faculty mem- bers. The material failed to reach us from the engravers. The pictures will be placed in the next issue. t The association and literary rooms have re- ceived some long needed repairs. These rooms have been redecorated. The improvements add much to the beauty of our school. A new tier of stack rooms is being placed in the library. This addition facilitates the use Of our large library.