The final Report of the Select Committee of the House
of Lords on Sweating, just published, really comes to this, that very little can be done except by the operation of opinion among capitalists. Government may look after its contractors better, and Municipalities may do the same ; there may be a little more inspection of insanitary workplaces, and Acts like the Truck Act may be more rigidly enforced—particularly in Cradley Heath —and some rough kinds of labour may be pro- hibited to women ; but that is nearly all. "The real ameliora- tion of conditions must be due to an increased sense of responsi- bility in the employer, and improved habits in the employed." That is the old story, always true, and always forgotten when- ever a new "case" excites public sympathy and indignation. One of the "improved habits" of the employed should, how- ever, be combination, it being clearly proved that the worst trades are those in which part of the workers toil at home, and therefore either cannot or will not co-operate in strikes.
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