COMMITTEE. Chairman-The Right Hon. the LORD CHANCELLOR, F. R. S. Vice Chairman-Rt. Hon. LORD JOHN RUSSELL, M. P. Treasurer-WILLIAM TOOKE, Esq. F. R. S. W. Allen, Esq., F. R. S. Rt. Hon. Visc. Althorp, M. P. J. Fred. Daniell, Esq., F. R. S. Rt. Hon. G. A. Ellis, M. A., M. P. L. S. H. Hallam, Esq., F. R. S., M. A. John Cam Hobhouse, Esq.,M.P. Jas. Loch, Esq., M. P., F. G. S. Rev. Ed. Maltby, D. D., F. R. S. John Herman Merivale, Esq. James Morrison, Esq., M. P. T. Spring Rice, Esq., M, P., Dr. Roget, Sec. R. S. Dr. A. T. Thomson, F. L. S. F. R. S. H. Waymouth, Esq. J. Whishaw, Esq., M. A. F. R. S. THOMAS COATES, Secretary, 4, South Square, Gray's Inn. UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE WORKING-MAN'S COMPANION. THE RESULTS OF MACHINERY, NAMELY, CHEAP PRODUCTION AND INCREASED EMPLOYMENT, EXHIBITED: BEING AN ADDRESS TO THE WORKING-MEN OF THE AMERICAN EDITION. Philadelphia: CAREY & HART.-CHESTNUT STREET. THE RESULTS OF MACHINERY. CHAPTER I. In the year 1827, a Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to examine into the subject of emigration—that is, to see whether it was desirable and practicable to remove distressed laborers from the United Kingdom to distant places, where their labor might be profitably employed to themselves and others. The first person examined before that Committee was Joseph Foster, a working weaver, of Glasgow. He told the Committee, that he and many others, who had formed themselves into a society, were in great distress; that numbers of them worked at the hand-loom from eighteen to nineteen hours a-day, and that their earnings, at the utmost, did not amount to more than seven shillings a-week, and that sometimes they were as low as four shillings. That twenty years before that time they could readily earn a pound a-week by the same industry; and that as power-loom weaving had increased, the distress of the hand-weavers also had increased in the same proportion. A power-loom is one worked |