Page:The Laboring Classes of England.djvu/122

 Let us now turn to the second class of factory cripples, viz: those made so by machinery.

Accidents by machinery arise from three causes, viz: from cleaning the machinery while in motion, from the carelessness of the manufacturer in not having the machinery properly guarded, and from the carelessness of the work-people in passing and re-passing the machines. Little children, whose intellects are not sufficiently advanced to enable them to form a proper estimate of the dangers by which they are surrounded, show their tempers, have their quarrels, and push each other about, when almost in immediate contact with the most dreadful kinds of machinery; accidents of a very shocking description often occur from this cause; in addition to this, the young children are allowed to clean the machinery, actually while it is in motion; and consequently the fingers, hands and arms, are frequently destroyed in a moment. Upright and horizontal shafts, if unprotected, cause great destruction to life and limb, especially to females, whose flowing skirts get wound round while revolving at the rate of 100 to 200 times a minute. Death is frequently instantaneous.

One class of accidents arises from the shuttle in power-loom weaving. In large rooms where there may be upwards of 1000 shuttles flying to and fro at one time, the accidents from this cause are numerous. The shuttles are tipped with steel, and travel with great velocity, and if anything turns them out of their proper course, they in many cases pounce right upon the head of the opposite weaver, and not unfrequently turns the eye completely out of its socket on to the cheek. I have known many people who have lost one eye from this cause; one young man of my acquaintance is quite blind, having lost one eye by the shuttle, and the other by sympathy.

In order to make this matter a little more clear, let us