95
to one and a half million spindles and nearly forty thousand looms.

In the 'seventies there was no dispute as to England's substantial
lead in respect of efficiency. Alexander Redgrave, the chief factory
inspector, made inquiries on the continent both in 1873, when
Lancashire was anxious as to the comparative cost of production abroad
because of the short-time bill then before parliament, and previously,
and reported most unfavourably upon the state of the industry in
Germany. Hours were long, the skill of the hands was inferior, speeds
were low and time was wasted. In several important respects his views
were corroborated by M. Taine in his _Notes on England_, and by the
evidence adduced before the German commission upon the cotton and
linen industries in 1878. A marked contrast is noticeable between the
sketches drawn of this period and the careful picture presented by
Professor Schulze-Gaevernitz of the early "'nineties," but even in the
latter the advantage of England is represented as substantial in every
essential respect. The gap which existed has narrowed, but it is
still unmistakable. To give one example, according to Dr Huber's
figures there were in Saxony at the end of the 19th century 106
spindles to an operative and about as many weavers as looms, whereas
in England there were about twice as many spindles to an operative and
twice as many looms as persons engaged in weaving sheds.[61] As
regards manufacturing, the character of the product may partly explain
the difference, but it will not entirely. The reader need hardly be
warned that the comparison drawn is exceedingly rough. German cotton
operatives taken all round are certainly less efficient than English
labour of the same kind. The reason is partly that the proportion of
the German workpeople who have been for long specialized to the
industry, and look forward to continuing in it all their lives, is not
high. Complaint is constantly made of the number of vacancies created
in the mills each year by operatives leaving, and of the impossibility
of filling them with experienced hands. Many of the vacancies are
caused by the return of workpeople to the country parts. Sometimes the
mills are in the country, or within easy reach of it, and labour is
obtained from the unoccupied members of peasants' families. In these
cases the factories do not always succeed in attracting the most
ca