Two further arrangements contribute especially to force the operative under the dominion of the manufacturer; the Truck system and the Cottage system.  The truck system, the payment of the operatives in goods, was formerly universal in England.  The manufacturer opens a shop, “for the convenience of the operatives, and to protect them from the high prices of the petty dealers.”  Here goods of all sorts are sold to them on credit; and to keep the operatives from going to the shops where they could get their goods more cheaply—­the “Tommy shops” usually charging twenty-five to thirty per cent. more than others—­wages are paid in requisitions on the shop instead of money.  The general indignation against this infamous system led to the passage of the Truck Act in 1831, by which, for most employees, payment in truck orders was declared void and illegal, and was made punishable by fine; but, like most other English laws, this has been enforced only here and there.  In the towns it is carried out comparatively efficiently; but in the country, the truck system, disguised or undisguised, flourishes.  In the town of Leicester, too, it is very common.  There lie before me nearly a dozen convictions for this offence, dating from the period between November, 1843, and June, 1844, and reported, in part, in the Manchester Guardian and, in part, in the Northern Star.  The system is, of course, less openly carried on at present; wages are usually paid in cash, but the employer still has means enough at command to force him to purchase his wares in the truck shop and nowhere else.  Hence it is difficult to combat the truck system, because it can now be carried on under cover of the law, provided only that the operative receives his wages in money.  The Northern Star of April 27th, 1843, publishes a letter from an operative of Holmfirth, near Huddersfield, in Yorkshire, which refers to a manufacturer of the name of Bowers, as follows (retranslated from the German): 

“It is very strange to think that the accursed truck system should exist to such an extent as it does in Holmfirth, and nobody be found who has the pluck to make the manufacturer stop it.  There are here a great many honest hand-weavers suffering through this damned system; here is one sample from a good many out of the noble-hearted Free Trade Clique.  There is a manufacturer who has upon himself the curses of the whole district on account of his infamous conduct towards his poor weavers; if they have got a piece ready which comes to 34 or 36 shillings, he gives them 20s. in money and the rest in cloth or goods, and 40 to 50 per cent. dearer than at the other shops, and often enough the goods are rotten into the bargain.  But, what says the Free Trade Mercury, the Leeds Mercury?  They are not bound to take them; they can please themselves.  Oh, yes, but they must take them or else starve.  If they ask for another 20s. in money, they must wait eight