146

SEX IN INDUSTRY.

might yet be enumerated, will powerfully act for the amelioration of the condition of the working female of whatever age, but have especial powers of good for the forming girl.

The walls of the factories at Wakefield and other places, blackened by the foul va­pors escaping from their privies, attest the character of the atmosphere the operatives breathe. The foul condition and exposed location of these privies have been already shown. Wet floors, draughty rooms, and severe toil, so widely the rule in manufactur­ing establishments, have forced upon many a working girl an overthrow of her special forces, that ended in clouded intellect, brok­en health, and early death.

It behooves the state, therefore, to stand, first , as the legal protector of its most weighty interests, its perpetuity and prog­ress : and, second , as the patron and pro­moter of whatever will aid therein. It has been deemed wise to stimulate, from time to time, special thought and inventive genius in