Putting-out system

Theputting-out systemis a means ofsubcontractingwork, like a tailor. Historically, it was also known as theworkshop systemand thedomestic system.In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the project viaremote work.It was used in theEnglishand American textile industries, inshoemaking,lock-making trades, and making parts for small firearms from theIndustrial Revolutionuntil the mid-19th century. After the invention of thesewing machinein 1846, the system lingered on for the making of ready-made men's clothing.

The domestic system was suited to pre-urban times because workers did not have to travel from home to work, which was quite unfeasible due to the state of roads and footpaths, and members of the household spent many hours in farm or household tasks. Early factory owners sometimes had to build dormitories to house workers, especially girls and women. Putting-out workers had some flexibility to balance farm and household chores with the putting-out work, this being especially important in winter.

The development of this trend is often considered to be a form ofproto-industrialization,and remained prominent until theIndustrial Revolutionof the 19th century.

At that point, it underwent name and geographical changes. However, bar some technological advancements, the putting-out system has not changed in essential practice. Contemporary examples can be found in China, India, and South America, and are not limited to the textiles industry.

Firearms

HistorianDavid A. Hounshellwrites:

In 1854, the British obtained their military small arms through a system of contracting with private manufacturers located principally in the Birmingham and London areas... Although significant variation occurred, almost all of the contractors manufactured parts or fitted them through a highly decentralized, putting-out process using small workshops and highly skilled labor. In small arms making as in lock production, the "workshop system" rather than the "factory system" was the rule.

All of the processes were carried out under different cottage roofs. It was replaced byinside contractingand thefactory system.

European cloth and other trades

Thedomestic systemwas a popular system ofcloth productioninEurope.It was also used in various other industries, including the manufacture ofwrought ironironware such as pins, pots, and pans forironmongers.

It existed as early as the 15th century, but was most prominent in the 17th and 18th centuries. It served as a way for employers and workers to bypass theguildsystem, which was thought to be cumbersome and inflexible, and to access a rural labor force. Having the workers work in their homes was convenient for both parties. Workers wereremote worker,manufacturingindividual articles fromraw materials,then bringing them to a central place of business, such as amarketplaceor a larger town, to be assembled and sold. In other cases travelling agents or traders would tour the villages, supplying the raw materials and collecting the finished goods. The raw materials were often provided by themerchant,who received the finished product, hence the synonymous term "putting-out system". The advantages of this system were that workers involved could work at their own speed, and children working in the system were better treated than they would have been in the factory system, although the homes might be polluted by the toxins from the raw materials. As the woman of a family usually worked at home, someone was often there to look after any children. The domestic system is often cited as one of the causes of the rise of thenuclear familyin Europe, as the workers' earnings made them less dependent on their extended family. This often led to more prosperity among workers, with more furniture, and better food and clothing than they had had before. It was mostly centralized inWestern Europeand did not take a strong hold inEastern Europe.

Thomas Hood's poem "The Song of the Shirt"(1843) describes the wretched life of a woman inLambethlabouring under such a system. It was written in honour of a woman who is known only as Mrs. Biddell, a Lambeth widow and seamstress who lived in a state of poverty. In what was, at that time, common practice, she sewed trousers and shirts in her home using materials given to her by her employer, for which she was forced to give a £2 deposit. In a desperate attempt to feed her starving infants, Mrs. Biddell pawned the clothing she had made, thus accruing a debt that she could not repay. Biddell was sent to a workhouse, and her ultimate fate is unknown; however, her story motivated those who actively opposed the wretched conditions of England's working poor, who often spent seven days a week labouring under inhuman conditions, barely managing to survive and with no prospect of relief.

1795 home of a Swedish businessman who contracted up to 200 domestic workers, who came here to get the raw material and returned after a couple of weeks with textiles, which local peddlers from the city ofBoråsthen bought.

Anders Jonsson (1816–1890) was a famous Swedish entrepreneur who continued a putting-out business atHolsljunga.He contracted up to 200 domestic workers, who came to his house to get the raw material and returned after a couple of weeks with textiles, which local pedlars from the city ofBoråsthen bought and went out to sell, among other things, around Sweden and Norway.

Cottage industry

19th-century ox-powered doublecardingmachine

Queen Berthaof Burgundy instructing girls to spin flax onspindlesusing distaffs

"Cottage Industry" redirects here. For the M&D EP, seeCottage Industry (EP).

Acottage industryis anindustry—primarilymanufacturing—which includes many producers, working from their homes, and was often organized through the putting-out system. The biggest participants in this system were the merchant capitalist and the rural worker. The merchant would "put-out" basic materials to the cottage workers, who then prepared the materials in their own homes and returned the finished merchandise back to the merchant.The term originally referred to home workers who were engaged in a task such assewing,lace-making,wall hangings, or household manufacturing. Some industries which are nowadays usually operated from large, centralized factories were cottage industries before theIndustrial Revolution.Business operators would travel around the world, buying raw materials, delivering them to people who would work on them, and then collecting the finished goods to sell, or typically to ship to another market. One of the factors which allowed the Industrial Revolution to take place in Western Europe was the presence of these business people who had the ability to expand the scale of their operations.In Russia, theKustarwere rural artisans engaged in cottage industries.Such industries were very common at a time when much of the population was engaged in agriculture, because the farmers and their families often had both the time and the desire to earn additional income during the part of the year (winter) when there was little work to do farming or selling produce.

See also

• Dorset button
• Factory system
• Inside contracting
• Piece-rate list
• Ton'ya( vấn ốc ) trade brokers of ancient Japan
• FreelancersandIndependent Contractors

Bibliography

• Hounshell, David A.(1984),From the American System to Mass Production, 1800–1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States,Baltimore, Maryland:Johns Hopkins University Press,ISBN978-0-8018-2975-8,LCCN83016269,OCLC1104810110
• Williamson, Oliver E. (1985),The Economic Institutions of Capitalism,New York: The Free Press,ISBN978-0-684-86374-0