Seth Luther Addresses the Working-Men of New England in 1833

The highly-profitable cotton mills of early-1800s New England were fueled by the slave labor of Southern plantations raising raw cotton. Previously a labor intensive and unprofitable venture, cotton production was turbocharged by New England tinkerer Eli Whitney’s invention.  Add to this the credit extended to Southern planters by Manhattan banks to expand their cotton lands and production to feed the New England mills and their wage-slaves, one understands who exactly perpetuated African slavery in the American South.  

 

Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"

 

Seth Luther Addresses the Working-Men of New England in 1833:

 

“A [Western] member of the United States Senate seems to be extremely pleased with cotton mills. He says in the Senate, "Who has not been delighted with the clockwork movements of a large cotton manufactory? He had visited them often, and always with increased delight."  And the grand climax [says the western senator] is that at the end of the week, after working like slaves for thirteen or fourteen hours every day, "they enter the temples of God on the Sabbath, and thank him for all his benefits. . . ."  We remark that whatever girls or others may do west of the Allegheny Mountains, we do not believe there can be a single person found east of those mountains who ever thanked God for permission to work in a [New England] cotton mill. . . .

 

We would respectfully advise the honorable Senator to travel incognito when he visits cotton mills. If he wishes to come at the truth, he must not be known. Let him put on a short jacket and trousers, and join the "lower orders" for a short time. . . . In that case we could show him, in some of the prisons in New England called cotton mills, instead of rosy cheeks, the pale, sickly, haggard countenance of the ragged child--haggard from the worse than slavish confinement in the cotton mill.

 

He might see that child driven up to the "clockwork" by the cowskin [whip], in some cases. He might see, in some instances, the child taken from his bed at four in the morning, and plunged into cold water to drive away his slumbers and prepare him for the labors of the mill. After all this he might see that child robbed, yes, robbed of a part of his time allowed for meals by moving the hands of the clock backwards, or forwards, as would best accomplish that purpose. . . . He might see in some, and not infrequent, instances, the child, and the female child too, driven up to the "clockwork" with the cowhide, or well-seasoned strap of American manufacture.

 

We could show him many females who have had corporeal punishment inflicted upon them; one girl eleven years of age who had her leg broken with a billet of wood; another who had a board split over her head by a heartless monster in the shape of an overseer of a cotton mill "paradise."  We shall for want of time….omit entering more largely into detail for the present respecting the cruelties practiced in some of the American mills. Our wish is to show that education is neglected,….because if thirteen hours' actual labor is required each day, it is impossible to attend to education among children, or to improvement among adults.”

 

[Luther also noted the one-sided nature of labor contracts in the 1830s, the following from Cocheco Manufacturing Company (a textile firm operating in Dover, New Hampshire]

 

We, the subscribers [the undersigned], do hereby agree to enter the service of the Cocheco Manufacturing Company, and conform, in all respects, to the regulations which are now, or may hereafter be adopted, for the good government of the institution.

 

We further agree to work for such wages per week, and prices by the job, as the Company may see fit to pay, and be subject to the fines as well as entitled to the premiums paid by the Company.

 

We further agree to allow two cents each week to be deducted from our wages for the benefit of the sick fund.

 

We also agree not to leave the service of the Company without giving two weeks' notice of our intention, without permission of an agent. And if we do, we agree to forfeit to the use of the Company two weeks' pay.

 

We also agree not to be engaged in any combination [union] whereby the work may be impeded or the Company's interest in any work injured. If we do, we agree to forfeit to the use of the Company the amount of wages that may be due to us at the time.

 

We also agree that in case we are discharged from the service of the Company for any fault, we will not consider ourselves entitled to be settled with in less than two weeks from the time of such discharge.”

 

(Seth Luther, An Address to the Working-Men of New-England, Seth Luther, 1833, Boston, pp. 17-21, 36)