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1922
THE FACTORY SYSTEM
397
The enforced concentration of Oldknow upon his enterprise at Mellor opened a new phase in his career which lasted for the remaining thirty years of his life, for the history of which down to 1812 the material is fairly abundant. We cannot better take leave of him on the threshold of this decisive change than by citing a document that strikingly illustrates the difference between the new phase and the old. It is a rough estimate of the main outlines of the new factory economy dated August 1798.
Rent of Mellor Mill 1,600 (£) a year
| £ | s. | d. | |
| Rent of a week is 2d. a pound on 3,700 lb. | 30 | 16 | 8 |
| Rent or interest of machinery is, at 10 per cent. on £16,000, the same as the rent, and on 3,700 lb. is 2d. a pound | 30 | 16 | 8 |
| Management, Clerks, Smiths, Joiners, &c., Insurance, Carriage, Postage taken at 2d. a lb. on 3.700 spun per week | 30 | 16 | 8 |
Per week or 6d. a lb. on 3,700 |
92 | 10 | 0 |
Wages per week: |
|||
| 318 mill hands | 74 | 0 | 0 |
| 100 apprentices | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 94 | 0 | 0 |
That 12d. a lb. on 3,700 is the real cost of Spinning and £1 10s. 0d. over.
George Unwin.
