obeyed, and sanitary conditions are fair and often perfect, while the
tendency is toward more and more care in every respect. Operatives'
homes are often better guarded against sanitary evils than those of
farmers or the ordinary laborer.

Under "C" it is shown conclusively that the factory has diminished
intemperance,--Reybaud's "History of the Factory Movement" giving full
statistics on this point, as well as in regard to the growth of banks
and benefit societies. The standard of living is higher here, but there
are countless evidences of thrift and a general rise in condition.

In the matter of prostitution, under "D," it is shown that but eight per
cent of this class come from the factory, twenty-nine per cent being
from domestic service. In Lynn, Mass., a town chosen for illustration
because of the large percentage of factory operatives, it was found
that but seven per cent of those arrested were from this class; and this
is true of all points where the foreign-born element is not largely in
the majority.

Last comes the question of intellectual degeneracy, under "E." On this
point it is hardly fair to make comparison of the present worker with
the Lowell girl of the first period of factory labor, since she came
from an educated class, and was distinctively American. Taking workers
as a whole, a vast advance shows itself. Regularity and fixed rule have
often been the first education in this direction; and the life, even
with all its drawbacks, has the right to be regarded as an educational
force, and the first step in this direction for a large proportion of
the workers in it. There are points where the arraignment of Alfred, in
his "History of the Factory Movement," is still true.[16] He speaks of
it as a "system which jested with civilization, laughed at humanity, and