FACTORY

(from factor), a name which appears originally to have been given to establishments of merchants and factors resident in foreign countries; it now more commonly signifies a place in which the various proce es of a particular manufacture. are carried on simultaneously. The rapid growth of factories in this sen so. is a comparatively recent development of industry, resulting from the free use of machinery and the conse= quent subdivision of labour. Amongst the advantages of the factory system are generally counted: first, increased productivene arising from the minute division of labour} second, the mechanical accuracy and the cheapne of the product turned out by machinery; third, the facilities for union and co-operation for common improvement afforded by bringing large ma es of workmen together. But this last consideration is probably more than counter-balaneced by the 1, European. 2, Negro smaller amount of independent intelligence called forth in the individual worker, through the monotony of the minutely subdivided operations. Decided disadvantages of the factory system are the unheal you r of the crowded rooms, where the air is full of deleterious elements; and the increasing demand on the labour of women and children, interfering as it. does with the economy of domestic life. BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. W. CookeTaylor, Factory System and Factory Acts; B. L. Hutchins, 4 History of Factory Legislation.