Chapter 497 Factories Act

Chapter 498 "Factories Act"

Historically, after European countries experienced the destructive exploitation of workers in the early days of the Industrial Revolution, they gradually discovered this problem and began to try to take measures.

As an industrial pioneer, Britain took the lead in promulgating the Factory Act in 1802 to ensure the basic survival of workers. 【Note 1】

The more important provisions include:

——Factories are not allowed to employ children under the age of 9. Child laborers aged 9 and above can work 8 hours a day, and children aged 14 and above can work 12 hours a day.

——Workers are not allowed to start working before 6 a.m. and cannot go to bed later than 2 a.m.

——Factories need to prepare clothing that can cover the body for workers. In the first four years after entering the factory, the factory is obliged to ensure that they receive at least two hours of basic education every day.

——Factories must ensure minimum ventilation and set up protective measures for dangerous machines, etc.

In the early days of the implementation of the Factories Act, British companies also complained, but it didn't take long for them to find that the efficiency of workers had increased significantly, and production costs were even lower than before the implementation of the Factories Act.

In particular, high-quality labor has become more abundant and recruitment has become easier - this is because workers' basic living environment has been guaranteed, the disability rate, disease death, and starvation death rate have been reduced, and most of them can survive long enough to become skilled workers.

The result is that Britain's industrial competitiveness has significantly improved, further consolidating its position as a world leader.

Today, after seeing the poor working conditions of the workers, Joseph decided to promote legislation to protect workers' rights as soon as possible.

This will not only improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers in a large country, allowing them to live a life that is at least sustainable, but also improve the efficiency of French industrial production. Moreover, the labor security law can also become a sharp weapon in France's hands.

Historically, after the UK promulgated the Factory Act, it immediately became a benchmark for human rights in Europe and was praised by workers in all countries.

Upon hearing the news, skilled workers from various countries flocked to the UK, bringing a large amount of talent and technology, which further promoted the development of the British Industrial Revolution.

Later, other European countries realized something was wrong and had to follow suit by enacting similar laws, but they fell into passivity. After all, once the benchmark is recognized by everyone, it is not so easy to change the concept.

In this life, Joseph will keep the aura of this benchmark in France!

After returning, he summoned Mirabeau and Breteuil to discuss the framework of the regulations and strive to submit them for review at the next cabinet meeting.

While he was thinking secretly, he heard Perna say from the side:

"Your Highness, you mentioned 'medical masks' just now. Does this kind of thing also play an important role in medical treatment?"

Joseph nodded:

"It's true. Masks can greatly reduce the possibility of doctors being infected by patients during treatment. Oh, in fact, the bird-head masks that doctors often wear when performing surgeries have this effect."

Perna was a little surprised:

"But some scholars believe that bird-head masks are just ignorant superstition and will increase the chance of infection. My father never wears this."

Joseph had watched a documentary introducing the history of European medicine before, and he immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said:

"That's because they rarely clean the masks and that thing has become a petri dish for germs... But the masks definitely work."

Having said this, he quickly reminded manager Dras:

"You should also wash your masks frequently, at least once every three days, and it is best for each worker to use a fixed mask and not to use them cross-wise."

When Perna heard this, her eyes lit up, as if she had seen another medical innovation.

She greatly admired His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's medical skills and firmly believed that as long as he said it would be useful, it would be fine. Previously, she wrote a paper about the "double-blind experiment" taught by His Highness, which gained her considerable reputation in the medical community. Of course, the medical community generally believes that it was something figured out by the Dauphin and her father Lamarck...

She immediately begged:

"Your Highness, I would like to distribute some masks to field hospitals and promote them to doctors across the country in the future."

"Of course, this is a good thing." Joseph nodded, and then thought of the high cost of customizing masks individually, so he simply said, "Or, we can build a factory to produce masks.

"In the future, tens of thousands of masks will be consumed every month just for medical and factory needs. It is necessary for factories to produce them in large quantities."

"Tens of thousands?" Perna said in surprise, "Your Highness, there are only more than 200 workers in the distillery. Plus the doctors across the country, they shouldn't be able to use so many, right?"

Joseph smiled and said:

"Not only gas distilleries, but also textile factories, mills, chemical plants and even construction workers need this thing. I estimate that 20,000 to 30,000 masks can be sold every month."

After talking about masks, Joseph visited the coal crushing yard under the leadership of Dras. Along the way, he talked with DuPont and other investors about the new gas distillation plants in Nancy and Tunisia.

When an investor heard that even Tunisia was going to install gas lights, with an investment of up to 2 million francs, he was a little unsure:

"Your Highness, are there any risks in terms of income when laying gas lamps in North Africa? In fact, Nancy does not seem to be a very prosperous place..."

“You have to see the long-term benefits,” Joseph said. “Gaslight has a huge impact on the attractiveness of a city.

"Nancy's industrial development zone is the most mature, and it will be a densely populated city in the future. Tunisia has added at least 40,000 to 50,000 immigrants in the past six months, and Tunisia City will surely become the center of North Africa in the future."

The investor nodded slightly, but still whispered:

"I mean, with such a large investment, maybe we should be more cautious..."

This time, before Joseph could say anything, Dupont smiled and said:

"Mr. Roland, you are too cautious. The prospects for gas street lamps are very good.

"As far as I know, the British Parliament has approved a grant of 300,000 pounds to install gas lamps in London. "

The businessman named Roland's eyes widened immediately. 300,000 pounds is 7.5 million francs. The British actually invested so much in gas street lamps! It seems that I was really worrying too much.

Joseph frowned slightly when he heard this. Historically, it is not without reason that the British can become the pioneers of the Industrial Revolution. Their keen sense of smell is far superior to other countries of the same era.

[Note 1] In the early 19th century, the so-called "Factory Act" in the UK was not actually the name of a law, but a general term for many factory-related laws at the time. The most famous of these is the "Apprentice Health and Moral Act", and there are also some fragmentary laws and regulations.