Report of the Select Committee on hand loom weavers, 1834-1835
(Report of the Select Committee on Handloom Weavers, Parliamentar Papers, 1835,
XIII, pp. XI-XII; in G. M. Young and W. D. Hancock, eds., English Historical
Documents, XII(1), 1833-1874 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956), pp.952-57.
The displacement of the independent handloom weaver—an artisan working in his
cottage, with his family working by his side—became an icon of a way of life replaced
by a heartless process of industrialization. The invention of power driven weaving
machinery lagged a generation behind power spinning. During this period the increased
availability of cheap thread led to an increased demand for handloom weavers.
Handlooms were relatively cheap and even when power weaving became widespread,
handloom weavers could still find work when the economy was strong. After suffering
a series of crisis, the long term prospects for handloom weavers rapidly diminished and
this accounted for a good deal of the social unrest in textile manufacturing districts. A
Select Committee investigated the condition of the handloom weaving industry in
1834-35. The political economist, Nassau Senior, was one of the investigating
Commissioners for the Select Committee.)
Having now gone through a cursory digest of the case of the Hand-Loom
Weavers, as it was submitted to them in Evidence, and expressed their sentiments on
the remedy to which their attention was called, Your Committee venture to lay before
the House their opinion as to the general causes of this lamentable state of things.
Of the combination of causes to which the reduction of wages and consequent
distress of the Weaver may be attributed, the following appear to be the most
prominent:1st. Increase of machinery propelled by steam.
2nd. Heavy and oppressive taxation, occasioned by the war.
3rd. Increased pressure thereof, from operations on the currency and
contractions of the circulating medium in 1816, 1826, and 1829.
4th. The exportation of British yarn, and foreign competition created thereby,
from the increase of rival manufactures abroad.
5th. The impulse given by low wages and low profits to longer hours of work.
On these causes Your Committee beg to submit the following observations:
With respect to the first, viz. "Increase of machinery propelled by steam". It
would appear from the Evidence, that although the Power-Loom has been now for
some years past in operation, yet that it has but very lately, in comparison, been brought
into direct competition with the Hand-Loom; that at this very moment, even, there are
branches of the Hand-Loom business in which there is no immediate prospect of the
Power-Loom interfering with them, but which are, notwithstanding, more or less in the
same state of wretchedness and destitution described in the foregoing pages; while the
general fall in wages, and consequent distress of the Hand-Loom Weavers, has been
rapidly progressive ever since the termination of the late war; and especially marked at
the stated periods of 1816, 1826, and 1829.
This decline in the circumstances of the Weavers, Your Committee cannot
attribute to the mere transition from a state of war to that of peace, supposed by some to
have destroyed a monopoly possessed by this country in the foreign market during the
war, because the quantity of British produce and manufactures exported, measured by
the official value, has been exactly doubled since the war. Your Committee has
therefore turned their attention to other probable causes, which may have affected the
Weavers' condition. And in comparing his condition with that of other producers, in
other branches of industry, they find, whether in the produce of the land, or of the
Power-Loom, or of
articles affected neither by seasons or machinery, a
tremendous fall has taken place since 1814. Neither can Your Committee attribute this
fall in the value of every commodity to such assigned transition from war to peace;
because, in addition to the reason before stated, in all the wars of the last century, save
one, prices fell during the war, and rose on the return of peace.
Looking, on the other hand, to the constant co-incidence, during the late war, of
a rise in all prices, simultaneously, with an increase of the Bank of England and country
note circulation; and looking also to the fall in all prices, concurrently with the
preparation for payment, by the Bank of England, of its notes in gold on the return of
peace; looking, moreover, to the rise in all prices at the two distinct intervals of 1817,
1818, and 1823, 1824, and 1825, when the resumption of cash payments was either
deferred or modified, and the Bank of England was again induced to increase its
circulation; and lastly, looking to the fall in all prices, when the issues of the Bank of
England were again withdrawn in 1819 and 1826; and the extinction of one pound
notes in 1829; looking at all these circumstances in conjunction, Your Committee
cannot withhold their conviction that the Bill of 1819, commonly called Mr. Peel's Bill
(the preparation for, and completion of which has just been described,) has been the
main cause of the great pressure on industry resulting from the fall in prices.
That some branches of industry have been better able to stand this pressure than
others, appears to Your Committee undeniable; especially in cases where they have
been assisted by external circumstances. For instance, that part of the export trade
which consists of yarn, the produce altogether of machinery propelled by power, has
been stimulated by the increased demand of yarn for foreign Weavers. The home trade,
depending for the most part, or entirely, for its support on the well-being of the
agricultural interest, and that interest having suffered to such an extent from the fall in
the price of its produce; the result, from this adversity in the home-trade, has been to
double any disadvantage which might have befallen the Hand-Loom Weaver from the
introduction of the Power-Loom. His condition has been as if half his market were
taken away from him at the very moment that twice the number of Weavers (in the
shape of the Power Loom) were brought to contend against each other for work.
Your Committee are not in the least disposed to deny the influence the Power
Loom has had upon the condition of the Hand-Loom Weaver; but they cannot help
lamenting that such should have been the course of our legislation, that instead of
breaking the force (at its commencement) of this almost necessary evil on the HandLoom Weaver, and instead of causing it to be as gradual as possible, it has actually
gone out of its way to quicken its progress, and to aggravate, to an inconceivable
extent, the burden and the pressure of it. As an instance of this, the distress and
disemployment of agricultural and other labourers, in consequence of the fall in prices
resulting from Mr. Peel's Bill, has prevented the absorption of the Weavers in
agriculture and other pursuits, as they gradually might become supernumerary. This
would have been the natural process; it is the-mode of relief suggested by Dr. Adam
Smith in such an emergency; but, Parliament has effectually interfered to prevent their
taking advantage of it; thus giving the Weavers an unexceptionable plea for demanding
Parliamentary protection, if it is to be found, at the present moment.
In all changes, such as have been described, the most ingenious and the most
dexterous will, of course, suffer the least. Machinery propelled by steam, producing
goods at less trouble and cost than even the most ingenious artisan, may thus be looked
on in the light of the most dexterous workman, and of course has experienced in
proportion a smaller share of difficulty, especially under the circumstances of less
taxation failing upon it. Again the graduation of operatives having suffered more or less
in proportion to their skill, strength, and ability; in struggles of this kind the weakest
will go to the wall; and this is equally true whether applied to land or manufactures.
The poor soil (as respects the cost of production) may be termed the less dexterous
manufacturer of corn, as the Hand-Loom Weaver, in the same sense, is the less expert
manufacturer of goods.
In addition to the Hand-Loom Weaver being the weakest party in the contest
going on, they have had (what they consider) a disadvantage of another kind compared
with some, viz. living and working in their own houses, being spread over large
districts of country, and detached from their brethren working in the same line: this has
thrown difficulties in the way of their combinations to prevent the reduction of wages,
which of late years have so frequently taken place among the operatives employed in
masses in factories and other trades. In stating this, Your Committee would be
understood to be far from expressing any approbation of such systems of combination;
because whatever is extracted unduly out of the capital of the employer in the shape of
wages, must eventually react on the condition of the employed. It was also stated by
several witnesses, that the fear of being finally reduced to the destitute condition of the
Hand-Loom Weavers, had induced other trades to combine to prevent it.
Concluding their observations on the subject of the Power-Loom, Your
Committee beg again, to be distinctly understood that nothing can be further from their
opinion than that the Hand-Loom Weavers, in certain branches of their trade, can
ultimately resist the effects produced by the introduction of the Power-Loom. All they
have contended for, and that is supported by the evidence before them, is that the Power
Loom itself would never have been the cause of such immediate wide-spread misery
and distress, as that of which the Hand-Loom Weavers now so reasonably complain.
They report the opinion, that other causes, wholly apart and distinct from the Power
Looms, have tended to aggravate their difficulties; and that if they had to contend with
the Power-Loom alone, the difficulties, though they might have been sufficiently
apparent, would have been greatly mitigated.
With respect to the second cause operating on the condition of the Weaver, viz.
Heavy and oppressive taxation occasioned by the war", no comment appears to be
necessary.
With respect to the third cause, viz. " Increased pressure thereof, from
operations on the currency, and contractions of the circulating medium in 1816, 1826,
and 1829," it may be useful to show the feelings of the Weavers themselves on the
subject, as exhibited before Your Committee in an answer by Hugh Mackenzie, a most
intelligent Weaver, from Glasgow:
“985. Do you ascribe your distress to what is called the Corn Bill? -With respect
to the Corn Bill, there are many different opinions upon it; but as relates to us as
Weavers, we are persuaded that though the Corn Bill were off to-morrow, such is the
nature of our manufactures, and the disposition for cheapness, that they would reduce
us just exactly proportionately to the fall of corn.
“986. Do you suppose that what is called Peel's Bill has been instrumental in
affecting either your employment or your wages; do you know what is called Peel's Bill
for reducing the quantity of money? -Yes, I have heard tell of Peel's Bill; what I
understand by it is this, that it has been a means of contracting the currency. Now,
under such circumstances as that, there is nothing more clear than that it must be a
general evil to the country. I shall illustrate this to you just now. The higher the
circulation of money in this country is, so much the better; for we stand on artificial
ground in comparison with that of the rest of the surrounding nations of Europe. This
becomes necessary on account of the very great burthen of the National Debt. If the
country has an artificial burthen to bear, it becomes absolutely necessary that it should
have artificial means of support. If the circulation of the country (that is the value of
labour) be 200,000,000£ yearly, and the taxation 50,000,00£ it is clear that there is onefourth of it in taxation, paid out of this 200,000,000£. We shall suppose, then, by Peel's
Bill, or any other measure, the currency is restricted to 100,000,000£, being still the
yearly value of labour. If we pay still 50,000,000£ of taxation, it makes the burthen
double; and I might add that if the income of all other classes, productive and
unproductive, was reduced proportionably as the Weavers are, it would be impossible
to pay the taxation, and a national bankruptcy would be the consequence."
With respect to the fourth cause, viz. "The exportation of British yarn, and
foreign competition created thereby from the increase of rival manufactures abroad",
Your Committee cannot but lament that any temporary pressure in the manufacturing
interest, subsequent to 1815, should have led to so great an increase in the export of
yarn: because, however individually profitable in the first instance, nothing can be more
certain than that, by encouraging weaving abroad, we allow the foreigner to get
between the British manufacturer and the market, and so cut off a lasting source of
profitable employment to our fellow countrymen. That this encouragement to foreign
weaving by the export of yam has added to the disadvantageous circumstances
operating on the condition of the Hand-Loom Weaver, Your Committee sees little
reason to doubt.
With respect to the fifth cause, viz. "The impulse given by low wages, and low
profits, to longer hours of work". These longer hours of work, as it appears from the
Evidence, proceed from a hope in the minds both of masters and men, that 'increased
exertion will compensate for the fall in profits and wages; but the result of this system
is, that goods are produced more than commensurate with the demand; and the ultimate
effect, consequently, is an injurious reaction-on those engaged in it; and it has become,
in fact, the fruitful source of that "ruinous home competition" which the Weavers make
one of the principal grounds of their complaint.
These appear to Your Committee to be the efficient causes, remote and
immediate, of die suffering, demoralisation, and discontent of the Hand-Loom Weaver.
To the above enumeration of causes, Your Committee beg to add the subjoined
suggestions from one of the witnesses, Mr. James Jenkins, many of which appear to be
valuable: "I beg leave to add the following suggestions on the advantages to be derived
from the establishment of local boards of trade in Coventry: "It could decide differences between masters and workmen, and between
masters and apprentices.
"It might put into operation the livret system of France, which would enable
workmen leaving their homes for want of employment to obtain it in places where they
were unknown, and by which the losses of manufacturers by embezzlements would be
diminished.
"It would establish a school of art, the principal thing wanted to put the English
manufacturer on a level with the French.
"It would stimulate mechanical invention and skill, by distributing rewards and
honours.
"It could facilitate the introduction of the best machinery used in other places,
and improved modes of manufacture.
“It could collect statistical information, and prevent the continual necessity of
Parliamentary inquiries.
"It would be instrumental in introducing new branches of industry to take up the
surplus labour of a place.
"It would enable workmen to obtain the full market price for their labour, and
when the state of the demand justified it, would facilitate their obtaining advances in
wages.
"It could counteract the present practice of weavers bringing up their children to
branches of trade already overstocked with workmen, and assist their introduction into
other trades where labour was wanting."
Dr. Bowring also furnished Your Committee with very valuable information
respecting industrial institutions in France (similar in their nature and objects to the
above) of which he has had much recent experience, and for which information Your
Committee beg to refer to the Evidence.
Your Committee would also add the following suggestions from the Evidence,
as worthy of adoption:
1st. A more exact specification of the length and breadth of the pieces of goods
to be manufactured:
2nd. A cheaper legal form of indenture of apprentices, and a reduction of the
stamp duty to 5s.
And 3rd. A more summary and effectual protection against embezzlement of
weaving materials.
Your Committee cannot conclude this Report without pointing out to Your
Honourable House the very great disadvantages to which the Hand-Loom Weaver is
exposed by reason of such taxes as those on malt, hops, sugar, and soap, which, by
raising the price of articles of the first necessity, renders him either less able to
consume the production of Great Britain and her Colonies, or causes him to be a more
costly instrument of production than he would otherwise be to the Manufacturer: who
has thus an additional inducement to substitute mechanical for manual labour.
1 July 1835.